President Barack Obama
DNC Event
Boston Center for the
Arts
Boston, Massachusetts
May 18, 2011
5:41 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello,
Boston. (Applause.) It is good to be back in Boston.
(Applause.) It’s good to be back with one of the finest governors
in the
United States of America and my friend, Deval Patrick.
(Applause.)
It’s good to be back with one of the finest mayors in the United States
of
America, Tom Menino. (Applause.) It’s good to be back with
a great
congressional delegation, including Niki Tsongas and Bill
Keating.
(Applause.)
And this is a little tough to say,
but it’s good to be back with some Celtics. (Applause.)
See, look
at Ray. Ray was with -- Ray wishes he was in Chicago tonight,
actually. (Laughter.) But I am so grateful not only to Ray
Allen,
who is a great friend -- and just a gorgeous family. I had a
chance to
say hello to them today -- the greatest three-point shooter of all
time.
(Applause.) But to have the honor of knowing and becoming friends
with
perhaps the greatest basketball player, certainly the greatest champion
of all
time, Bill Russell, what an outstanding honor -- and his beautiful
daughter,
Karen, thank you. (Applause.) Bill knows how to win, and
he’s on my
team. (Applause.)
It is good to be back in
Boston. Back in 2004, I gave a little speech here that got some
attention. (Applause.) It’s been downhill ever since.
(Laughter.) But it’s good to get out of Washington, D.C.
Now, look,
D.C. is a nice town. It has been treating my family
wonderfully.
But the conversation you hear in Washington is very different than the
one you
hear around the kitchen table or around the water cooler.
And that’s why we decided, for our
reelection campaign, for the first time in modern history, we would be
based
outside of Washington, D.C. We were going back to Chicago --
because I
don’t want our campaign to be hearing only from lobbyists and pundits
and
insiders. I want our campaign to be hearing from the people who
sent me
to the White House. I want to be hearing from you.
(Applause.)
I want to make sure we’re putting our campaign in your hands.
(Applause.)
I want our campaign in the hands of
the same organizers, the same volunteers, the same folks who drove up
to New
Hampshire and trudged around in the snow and hung in there with us
after we lost
a primary -- (applause) -- and all the wonderful people who, in some
cases,
hadn’t been involved in politics before but felt this was a moment to
do
extraordinary things. That’s what this campaign is still about.
Now, a few things have changed
since that time. Ray Allen doesn’t get older, but I do.
(Laughter.) I’m a little bit grayer. I got a few dings and
dents.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you,
Barack!
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate
that. (Laughter.) But let’s face it, these presidential
years are
dog years, so -- (laughter.) But all of us can still remember that
night in
Grant Park, the excitement in the streets, the sense of possibility in
the
air. (Applause.) And I hope you all remember what I said
then. I said, this isn’t the end, this is the beginning.
This is
just the start of what is going to be a steep climb.
That summit is going to be the
moment when we can say that America’s promise has been fulfilled and
every
child in America has opportunity; and anybody who wants a job can find
one; and
the middle class, when they carry their responsibilities and they’re
looking
after their family and looking after their neighborhoods and looking
after
their communities, that they know they can achieve the American
Dream.
We said, at the time, the climb
would be steep. Now, it’s turned out to be a little steeper than
we
expected. (Laughter.) We took office in the middle of the worst
recession
in our lifetimes. We lost 4 million jobs in the six months before
I was
sworn in. And the few months after I was sworn in, before our
economic
policies had to take effect, we lost another 4 million. All across the
country,
folks out of work; hundreds of thousands without homes. A
recession so
severe that families all across America are still feeling the
aftershock, still
grappling with the challenges of something that we had not seen in our
lifetime
before.
And in response, we had to move
swiftly and boldly, and we had to take some tough decisions that were
not
always popular. And you know what, two and a half years later, an
economy
that was shrinking by 6 percent is now growing. Over the last
three
months alone, we’ve added about three-quarters of a million private
sector
jobs. Over the last 14 months we’ve added more than 2 million
private
sector jobs. (Applause.) And some of the things that folks
said
would not work, they worked. GM is hiring all of its workers
back.
(Applause.) The Big 3 are all making a profit again.
We still got some climbing to do,
though, so you can’t put away those hiking shoes. Just today,
there was a
story in the paper about how manufacturing jobs are coming back, in
part
because of the policies we put in place. But wages -- the wages
that are
being paid aren’t what they used to be. It used to be that if you
were
willing to work hard, you could bring home a paycheck that supported a
family. But now, even if you’ve got a job, you may be worrying
about
living paycheck to paycheck. And you can’t afford the rising cost
of everything
from health care to groceries to gas.
And the fact is, that was a problem
that we knew about before the recession hit. We talked about this
in
2007. We talked about it during the campaign, that for a decade
before
the financial crisis, even as the stock market was booming, corporate
profits
were up, the real incomes of families, the real wages of families has
actually
declined.
And so our mission was never just
to rescue ourselves from a recession. Our mission was how do we
restore
that fundamental American compact that if you work hard and act
responsibly,
you're going to be able to get ahead and you're going to be able to put
your
kids through college, and you know that they will have a better life
than you
did. You’ll be able to retire with some measure of dignity and
security;
that the country as a whole will maintain its large and optimistic
spirit.
That's what was and is at risk of
being lost. That's why I ran for President. That's why you
supported me for President. I didn’t run for this office so I'd
have a
fancy title or a nice place to live. My house in Chicago is just
fine. (Laughter and applause.) I ran for this office to
make sure
everybody in this country gets a fair shake. (Applause.) I
ran for
this office to put the American Dream back within the reach of anybody
who’s
willing to fight for it. That's why I ran. That's why you
supported
me. (Applause.)
Now, because of you we've been able
to make some great progress over these last few years. The
progress
shouldn’t make us complacent, but it should remind us that change is
possible. Change is hard. Change takes time. But it’s
possible. It should inspire us to finish what we started.
Think about it. Because of
you we were able to prevent a second Great Depression. Because of
you we
cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes 16
times for
small businesses, so that they could weather extraordinarily difficult
economic
circumstances. But in the next few years we've got to make sure
that the
new jobs and industries of our time are created right here in the
United
States. (Applause.) In the next few years, we’ve got to
make sure
that America is prepared to win the future. We’ve got more work
to
do.
Because of you, we’ve ended the
wasteful taxpayer subsidies that were going to banks, and we took that
money
and we used it to make sure college was more affordable for millions of
students -- billions of dollars going to make sure our young people get
educated. (Applause.)
We’ve raised standards for teaching
and learning in schools across the country by launching a competition
called
Race to the Top. But now we’ve got to keep that reform going
until every
child is ready to graduate, every child is ready for college, and they
can
actually afford to go, as well. That's how we’ll out-educate and
out-compete the rest of the world for the jobs of the future.
That's how
America will succeed in the 21st century. (Applause.)
Because of you, we’ve made the
largest investment in clean and renewable energy in our history.
(Applause.) And it’s already creating new jobs and new
businesses.
(Applause.) And at a time of high gas prices and instability
around the
world -- and I know folks are getting hurt by high gas prices -- that's
why
we’ve got to keep on making these investments.
That's why I was so disappointed
yesterday when Republicans in Congress voted to keep handing $4 billion
a year
in taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies at a time when they are
making
tens of billions of dollars each -- huge profits -- while you’re
struggling to
fill up your gas tank.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: It has to
stop. We could take that money and instead of subsidizing
yesterday’s
energy, we should be investing in the energy of tomorrow.
(Applause.) And we can clean up the planet in the process.
That's
the right thing to do. (Applause.)
Because of you, we’ve put hundreds
of thousands of people back to work rebuilding our crumbling
infrastructure. But now we’ve got to make sure that America is
built to
compete in the 21st century -- not just building new roads and new
bridges, but
high-speed rail and high-speed Internet and a smart grid. We used
to have
the best infrastructure, the best stuff. Other people would come
from
other countries, and they’d visit, and they’d marvel at our engineering
feats. And now we go to Beijing and we marvel at their
airports.
And we go to Europe and we marvel at their trains. That’s not the
American way. We’ve got more work to do.
Because of you we did what we have
been trying to do for almost a century. With a little assist from
the
former governor of Massachusetts -- (laughter) -- we said that health
care
should no longer be a privilege in this country.
(Applause.) It
should be affordable and available for every American. We said
that in
the United States of America, just like here in Massachusetts, you
should never
go broke because you get sick. (Applause.)
Because of you we passed Wall
Street reform, to make sure we never go through the kind of financial
crisis
that we went through, and to make sure that you’re not cheated when you
take
out a mortgage or you apply for credit card.
We passed a law that said women
should get an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work.
(Applause.)
And while we were at it, we put two more women on the Supreme Court,
including
the first Latina. (Applause.) We overturned “don’t ask,
don’t
tell,” so everybody can serve the country they love.
(Applause.)
We removed 100,000 troops from Iraq
and ended our combat mission there, just like I promised we
would.
(Applause.) We’re taking the fight directly to al Qaeda.
And
because of the bravery of our men and women in uniform, Osama bin Laden
will
never again threaten the United States of America.
(Applause.)
So we've been pretty busy the last
couple years. (Laughter.)
Along the way, we dealt with H1N1
and an oil spill and pirates. (Laughter.) Do you remember
pirates? (Laughter.) Golly. (Laughter.) Thomas
Jefferson had to deal with pirates. I thought we were past
that.
(Laughter.)
But we've got a lot more work to do
when it comes to keeping America both safe and prosperous. We
need to
keep moving forward on a whole range of challenges still facing this
nation. We're going to have to confront the challenge of
immigration. We've got to pass comprehensive immigration reform
that
upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of
immigrants.
That's the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.
(Applause.) It’s good for our economy.
And for all the progress we've made
on energy, we've got more work to do to break this cycle of endless
energy
crises. We've got to bring about real energy reform that grows
our
economy and frees us from the grip of foreign oil, cleans up our planet
for our
children. (Applause.)
We've got to keep working to leave
America better than we found it. And ultimately, that's what the
budget
debate is about that we're having in Washington right now. It’s
about who
we are; it’s about what we care about. It’s the kind of country
that we
believe in.
See, I believe in an America where
government lives within its means. We're going to have to cut
spending in
Washington. Deval has had to make tough choices. Tom Menino
has had
to make some tough choices. Sometimes there’s programs you like
but you
just can't do them right now. So that means we've got to cut some
domestic spending, we've got to cut defense spending, we've got to cut
health
care spending. We've got to cut spending in our tax code.
(Applause.)
We've got to get rid of loopholes that aren't doing anything to promote
economic growth and put people back to work.
We've got to eliminate every dime
of waste, and if we're serious about taking responsibility for the debt
we owe
-- and if you are progressive, you need to be worried about the debt
because we
can't build a foundation for a strong economy if we're in hock.
That all
means we're going to have to make some tough decisions about those
things that
we can afford to do without. And we're all going to have to share
in some
sacrifice.
But here’s what I won't do. I
will not reduce our deficit by sacrificing the things that have always
made
America prosper. I will not sacrifice our investments in education.
(Applause.) I will not sacrifice scholarships for our
students. I will not sacrifice medical research for our
scientists.
(Applause.) I will not sacrifice the safety of our highways or
airports,
or our food supply, or clean air or clean water.
(Applause.) I will
not sacrifice our investments in clean energy at a time when our
dependence on
foreign oil is causing Americans so much pain at the pump.
(Applause.) I will not sacrifice America’s future.
(Applause.) There are more than one way to mortgage America’s
future.
And, Boston, if we want to reduce
our deficit, our sacrifice has to be shared. And that means
ending tax
cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country.
(Applause.) I mean, this is the big thing for Republicans, just
making
sure that millionaires and billionaires keep their tax cuts.
That’s their
main economic prescription. And I just want to make clear to them
it’s
not because I want to punish success that I think we have to roll these
tax
cuts back. Everybody likes a tax cut. I like tax
cuts.
(Laughter.)
The easiest thing to do as a
politician is say, you don't have to do anything. That's the
easiest
thing to do, to just say to citizens, you know what, you don't have to
do
anything; keep all your stuff; get whatever benefits you want; you
don't have
to do a thing.
I want everybody here to be
successful. I want you to go as far as your dreams can take
you.
But if we’re going to ask Americans to sacrifice a little bit, we can’t
tell
folks like me that we don't have to do a thing. (Applause.)
I don't
want a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors to each
pay more
than $6,000 extra in Medicare costs. I don't want to do
that.
(Applause.)
I don't want my tax cut paid for by
cutting Head Start for kids, or doing away with health insurance for
millions
of people on Medicaid, seniors in nursing homes, or poor kids, or
middle-class
families who are raising a child with a disability like autism.
(Applause.) That's not a tradeoff I am willing to make. And I
don't
believe it’s a tradeoff that most Americans want to make, no matter
what party
you belong to. That's not who we are. We are better than
that.
(Applause.)
I said this back in 2004.
What makes America great is not just the height of our skyscrapers;
it’s not
the might of our military; it’s not the size of our GDP. What
makes this
country great is the character of our people. (Applause.)
Now, we are rugged
individualists. We’re self-reliant. We believe that each of
us is
endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. We don't
like
being told what to do. That's part of what makes us
America. But
what makes us America -- what has driven this country is that we
combine that
sense of individualism with an idea that we’re all in this together;
that I am
my brother’s keeper, that I am my sister’s keeper; and that when I look
out for
somebody else, it makes my life better. (Applause.)
If I’m driving down the street and
I pass a school, and I know in that school young people, no matter how
poor
they are, no matter what they look like, they’re getting a great
education,
that makes me smile. That makes my life better. (Applause.)
If I’m walking along the Charles
and I see a older couple holding hands, talking to each other, and I
think to
myself, well, that's me and Michelle, hopefully, when we can take a
walk again
-- (laughter) -- and knowing that after a lifetime of hard work they’ve
got the
security of Social Security and of Medicare, that makes my life
better.
If I know that somebody in a tough
neighborhood, if they’re willing to work hard, they’re going to have
opportunity, just like Deval had opportunity growing up in a tough
neighborhood
-- then I’m thinking to myself, you know, my future will be bright,
because,
who knows, that person somewhere along the way might start a new
business that
puts people to work, or might invent some medicine that saves a
life.
That's what makes us special.
When I know that other people
around me have a shot at the American Dream -- that's our vision for
America. It’s not a vision of a small America. It’s a
vision of a
big America, a generous America, a bold and optimistic America, where
we’re
living within our means but we’re still investing in our future; where
everyone
makes sacrifices and no one bears all the burden. No matter what we
look like,
where we come from, what God we worship to, no matter whether our
ancestors
landed on Ellis Island or came here on a slave ship or crossed the Rio
Grande,
we believe that we are all connected and we rise and fall together. And
that is
a strength. That is the strength of America. That's the
heart of
the idea of America. That's the heart of the idea of our
campaign.
(Applause.)
That's why I’m going to need your
help now more than ever. This campaign is still in its early
stages, but
now is the time you can help shape it, make sure it gets out of the
gate
strong.
And I know there are times where
some of you, over the last two-and-a-half years, you’ve been frustrated
because
we haven’t gotten everything done exactly how you wanted it, as quickly
as you
wanted it. I know. I know all your conversations.
(Laughter.) Why did Obama compromise with the Republicans on
that?
Why did health care take so long? Where’s our public
option?
(Applause.) Why? Why? (Laughter.) Maybe he’s
changed. (Laughter.) Although somewhere you still got that
poster. (Laughter and applause.)
Look, there are times where I felt
frustrated, too. But we knew this would not be easy. This
is a
democracy. This country is big and diverse and full of different
ideas,
and power is diffuse, which is part of what preserves our
liberty. And it
means sometimes we compromise. And it means sometimes we don’t
get our
way. And it means that things that are so obvious to us, so
self-apparent
to us, may be completely anathema to somebody else, and we’ve got to
persuade
them and argue it out, and win folks over, one mind and heart and vote
at a
time. And, yes, that’s sometimes frustrating.
We knew, on a journey like this,
there were going to be setbacks, there were going to be detours.
And
there would be times where we stumble. I love when I hear people
say,
well, he ran such a perfect campaign. What campaign were you
on?
(Laughter.) It didn’t feel perfect to me. (Laughter.)
I’ve
got the scars to prove it. (Laughter.) We screwed up all
the time.
But what we knew was that at every
juncture in our history, when our future was on the line, when our
country was
at a crossroads like we are now, we figured it out. We somehow
managed to
transform ourselves from an agricultural economy to an industrial
economy, and
then to an information economy. We somehow managed to absorb new
waves of
immigrants. We managed to take on the stain of slavery. We
managed
to figure out how to make sure women were full participants in our
democracy. We managed to move forward not as Republicans or
Democrats,
but as Americans, as one people, as one nation. (Applause.)
So when you hear people say that our
problems are too big, when you hear people say we aren’t going to bring
about
the changes that we seek, I want you to think about all the progress
that we’ve
made. I want you to think about all the unfinished business that
lies
ahead. And I want you to remember and remind everybody else those
three
simple words that we talked about in 2008 that apply right now as much
as they
did then: Yes, we can. (Applause.)
Thank you, Boston. God bless
you. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
END
6:11 P.M. EDT
President Barack Obama
DNC Event
Private Residence
Boston,
Massachusetts
May 18, 2011
7:48 P.M. EDT
THE
PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank
you. All
right, everybody, have a seat. That food looks too good to let it
get
cold. (Laughter.)
To
Frank and Eileen, first of all, I remember that drive and I came
away just having enjoyed the conversation. And that’s not always
the
case when you’re out there on the campaign trail -- you’re doing
work.
But I couldn’t think of a more wonderful couple and people who I would
have wanted to have dinner with even if I weren’t running for
office.
(Laughter.) And for you guys to open up your homes like this is
just
remarkable. I do appreciate you padding the crowd -- basically
half of
these folks are your children or grandchildren, based on what I saw
earlier. (Laughter.) But thank you very much.
To
all the other co-hosts who worked so hard, friends that I’ve seen,
some of whom have supported me since I ran for the United States Senate
and nobody could pronounce my name. And so I appreciate all of
you.
To my dear friend, Deval, one of the finest governors in the
country.
(Applause.) To Tom Menino, one of the finest mayors in the
country.
(Applause.) And to Speaker DeLeo for putting up with Mayor Menino
and
Deval Patrick. (Laughter and applause.) We are grateful for
you.
We
live in extraordinary times. And I just came back from a large
event that we did and what was especially fun about it was Bill Russell
was the person who introduced me. (Applause.) And they’re
erecting a
statue for Bill Russell. He had always resisted any monument here
in
Boston and the reason he agreed was because we encouraged everybody to
set up a mentorship program in his name along with the statue, which is
typical of who he is.
But
I tried to remind people of the fact that on that night in 2008
when I was elected, I warned people that this was the beginning, not
the end; that we were going to have a steep mountain to climb.
Now,
we didn’t realize how steep it was going to be. (Laughter.)
We didn’t
know at the time that we were going to go through the worst recession
since the Great Depression and that we had already lost 4 million jobs
in the previous six months and we would lose another 4 million in the
few months after I was sworn in. We didn’t know that the
financial
system would begin to melt down in ways that threatened the entire
global capital system. We didn’t know how severely the housing
market
would be hit. We didn’t know that the auto industry would come
this
close to liquidation.
But
what we did know was that the country was at a crossroads, even
before the crisis had hit. What we understood was that we had
gone
through a decade in which corporate profits were up. On the
surface it
seemed that the country was growing and expanding. But if you
talked
to ordinary folks, day to day, they were just barely making ends
meet.
Incomes, wages, had flat-lined for a decade. In fact, they had
actually declined slightly when you adjusted for inflation. And
people
felt as if the American Dream was slipping away. They were
working
harder and harder and they felt like they were just treading water.
And
there was a sense that it was no longer possible for us to do big
things, that the political system had entirely bogged down, and whether
it was trying to rebuild our infrastructure or make sure that we had a
health care system that worked for every American or schools that
taught every child, that somehow even if we understood what the answers
might be technically, we just couldn’t mobilize ourselves to actually
bring about the changes that were needed.
And
that’s why I ran for President, and that’s why so many of you
supported me. Now, we have spent the last two and a half years
cleaning up a big mess. And some of the decisions we took were
tough.
We had to move swiftly, we had to move boldly, and sometimes they were
controversial. But an economy that was shrinking at about 6
percent is
now growing again. Over the last 14 months we’ve created 2
million
private sectors jobs, starting to recover some of those jobs that were
lost during the crisis. The financial system is stable. The
stock
market has doubled. We’re on track to enjoy in manufacturing, for
example, some of the fastest growth and greatest expansion that we’ve
seen in about a decade.
But
some of those underlying challenges are still there. And so our
work isn’t done. Yes, we passed health care with an assist from a
former Massachusetts governor. (Laughter and applause.)
Great idea.
(Laughter.) But we still have to implement it.
And
implementation is going to be difficult because part of our task is not
just making sure that 30 million people have health care, but that
we’re starting to get a better bang for our buck; that we’re driving
down our costs, just like Massachusetts is now working on; working on
delivery system reform; making sure that the 20 percent of patients who
are chronically ill but account for 80 percent of the costs, that
they’re getting better care; making sure that health IT is working so
that the system is more efficient and has less waste. That’s
going to
require us rolling up our sleeves and paying attention to the hard
details of policy.
We’ve
made progress when it comes to energy -- made the largest
investment in clean energy in our history through the Recovery Act, and
have created entire industries. The advanced-battery
manufacturing
sector used -- we used to have 2 percent of the world’s share of
advanced batteries. We are now on track to have 40 percent of
that
market as a consequence of the investments we made. You’re seeing
solar panels and wind turbines manufacturing. Deval was just
telling
me that the wind testing facility just got set up and you already have
a backlog of --
GOVERNOR PATRICK: A year and a half.
THE
PRESIDENT: A year and a half for folks who want to use this,
creating jobs here in Massachusetts but also creating clean
energy.
But we’re nowhere near where we need to be. Folks are getting
hammered
when it comes to the cost of gas at the pump. But we go through
cycles
of shock when gas prices go up and then trance when they come back
down, and we just keep on doing the same things that we’ve been doing
for the last 40, 50 years.
We’re
-- we’ve made enormous progress when it comes to education. My
Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been barnstorming for change
all across the country. (Applause.) And as a result of the
work that
we did with No Child Left Behind, making modifications with a program
called Race to the Top, we’ve actually seen reforms in 40 states, where
suddenly folks are saying, let’s bring teachers together with
administrators, with parents; let’s focus on accountability; let’s
focus on developing teachers that are excelling in front of the
classrooms so that our kids can excel and we’re starting to see
progress.
But
we’ve still got so much work to do. We’ve still got schools where
half
the kids are dropping out. We’re still got schools where only one
out
of 10 students can read at grade level or perform math at an acceptable
level. We’ve got a lot more work to do.
We’ve
made huge investments in science and research. I was just
mentioning to Tom and Deval on the ride over here that the
possibilities of developing an electric car that gets 300 miles a
gallon, that barely uses any gasoline, that is -- that could be as
close as five years away -- if we make the investments. And Japan
is
making the investments, South Korea is making the investments, China is
making those investments, Europe is making those investments. I
want
what will be a revolutionary technology that will determine who
basically runs the auto industry, I want that to happen here in the
United States of America. So we’re going to have to keep on
making
investments in basic research. We’ve got a lot more work to
do.
And
internationally, we’ve brought 100,000 troops back from Iraq. We
are
starting in two months going to be transitioning our troops out of
Afghanistan. (Applause.) And we have put al Qaeda on its
heels.
(Applause.)
But
we’ve still got enormous challenges in terms of our security.
We’ve
got enormous challenges when it comes to dealing with international
issues like climate change and poverty around the world. We’ve
got a
huge stake in making sure that countries like Egypt are successful in
their transition to democracy. And we have not made the kind of
progress that we need to make on peace between Israelis and
Palestinians.
So
I
hope you guys aren’t tired. Because what I said in 2008 remains
true. What we have been able to do is to avert catastrophe.
But that
bigger dream, that higher mountain we still have to climb. And
it’s
going to require enormous effort.
And
part of the reason it’s going to require enormous effort is because we
have an opposition party, the other side, which has just a
fundamentally different vision about where America should go. And
this
budget debate that we’re having in Washington clarifies that. I
do not
doubt their love for our country. I do not doubt that
intentions. But
they have a fundamentally different vision about how we move America
forward.
And
if
you look at the budget documents that they’ve put forward, it is a
small, shrunken vision of America -- one in which we can’t make
investments in basic research; one in which we can’t afford to make
sure that people aren’t bankrupt if they get sick; a vision that says
that Medicare is voucherized and seniors may have to pay $6,000 more
per person for the health care that they receive; where we’re slashing
Medicaid so that poor kids or middle-class families who’ve got a child
who’s autistic or some -- has some other disability is not going to be
cared for.
That’s
not
the America I believe in. That’s not who we are. We do big
things. We are generous and we are optimistic. And so I
think this
will be a very clarifying debate between now and November of next
year. And I am confident that if we get our message out, that we
will
win. Because I think for all the distractions that the American
people
experience, the fact that a lot of them are too busy to pay attention
to the details of politics, they’ve got good instincts. And
they’re --
they remember what it took for them to achieve their American
Dream.
And they remember their parents or their grandparents or their
great-grandparents coming over here from someplace else and having to
work hard to give a better life for their kids.
And
each
of them have some story like Jack’s story or Deval’s story of
coming up the hard way and working for everything you got, but knowing
that if you did work hard and you met your responsibilities, then
someday you might be able to watch your grandchildren running around in
a house that you couldn’t have imagined having when you were a kid, or
being a governor when there were no governors like you when you were a
kid. Right?
That’s
what
this election is about. That’s what this campaign is about.
And
so I hope that all of you are all in, because it’s going to be
hard.
There will be some setbacks. It will be rocky occasionally.
It may
not have all the mystique of our first race because I’m older and
grayer. (Laughter.) We’re not as new. But that vision
is the same.
My commitments are the same. And I know yours are as well.
So
thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
(Applause.)
END
8:04 P.M. EDT