Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event -- Southern Maine Community College - South Portland, ME

Southern Maine Community College
South Portland, Maine

5:08 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Maine!  (Applause.)  Thank you!  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it is good to be in South Portland, Maine!  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I love you?

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you!  (Applause.)  Thank you.  It is wonderful to be here. 

First of all, can everybody please give Richard a big round of applause for that great introduction.  (Applause.)  A couple other people I want to acknowledge -- first of all, your outstanding Congresswoman, Chellie Pingree, is here.  (Applause.)  One of the great statesmen of our time, Senator George Mitchell, in the house.  (Applause.)  From nearby Portland, Mayor Michael Brennan is here.  (Applause.)  And the Maine Finance Committee and everybody who helped put this together -- what a wonderful event.  And whoever arranged for the great weather, good job.  (Laughter.)  You know, the last time I was in Maine it was snowing -- (laughter) -- not surprisingly, and I love snow but this is good, too.

Now, let me say this, Maine.  I am here today not just because I need your help.  I’m here because the country needs your help.  (Applause.)  A lot of you worked really hard in 2008 in our campaign.  And the reason you worked so hard wasn’t because you thought it was going to be a cakewalk.  When you decide to support a presidential candidate named Barack Hussein Obama -- (laughter) -- then you know that this is not a sure thing.  (Laughter.)   

The reason you guys worked so hard wasn’t just because of me.  It was because you shared a vision about what America is all about.  You shared a vision about who we are as a people.  (Applause.)  And that vision -- that vision said that we don’t just leave people to fend for themselves.  We don’t just let the powerful play by their own rules.  It was a vision of America where we’re all in it together.  Where everybody who works hard has the chance to get ahead -- no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, not just those at the very top, but everybody -- that that was the recipe for American success. 

That was the vision that we shared.  That was the change we believed in.  We knew it wouldn’t come easy.  We knew it wouldn’t be quick.  But when you think back over the last three years, I want you to know that because of what you did in 2008, we’ve begun to see what change looks like.  We’ve begun to see it.  (Applause.)  We've begun to see it.

Change is the first bill I signed into law -- a law that says a woman deserves an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work.  (Applause.)  That’s the kind of change we believed in.  

Change is the decision that we made to rescue the American auto industry.  There were a million jobs at stake.  There were those who said let Detroit go bankrupt.  We didn’t do it, and today GM is back on top as the world’s number-one automaker.  (Applause.)  And Detroit has never made better cars than it does today.  (Applause.)  With more than 200,000 new jobs over the last two and a half years, the American auto industry is back. And they’re making better cars, and more fuel-efficient cars than ever before.  (Applause.)  That’s what change is. 

Change is the decision that we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction and finally raise fuel-efficiency standards on cars.  And by the middle of the next decade, we’re going to be driving American-made cars that get almost 55 miles a gallon, and that will save the typical family $8,000 at the pump over time.  (Applause.)  That’s what change is.  (Applause.)  That happened because of you.

Change is the fight that we won to have $60 billion stop going to banks and instead go to lower interest rates for student loans and more help on Pell grants, so that our young people can get the college education that they need to compete in the 21st century.  (Applause.)  That’s what change is. 

And, yes, Maine, change is the health care reform that we passed after a century of trying -- (applause) -- because we believe that in America, in this great country of ours, nobody should go bankrupt just because they get sick.  And as a consequence of what you did, 2.5 million young people have health insurance now that didn’t have it before because they’re staying on their parent's plans.  (Applause.)  Millions of seniors are now paying less for prescription drugs.  Insurance companies can’t deny you coverage right at the time when you need it.  (Applause.)  People are getting preventive care that they weren’t getting before.  (Applause.)  We’re going to make sure the people with preexisting conditions are finally able to get coverage.  That’s what change is.  That happened because of what you guys did in 2008.  (Applause.)

Change is the fact that for the first time in history, you don’t have to hide who you love in order to serve the country that you love.  We ended “don’t ask, don’t tell."  Ended it.  (Applause.)

And change is keeping another promise I made in 2008 -- for the first time in nine years, we don’t have any Americans fighting in Iraq.  (Applause.)  We refocused our efforts on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11.  And thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, al Qaeda is weaker than ever before and and Osama bin Laden is no more.  We’ve begun to transition in Afghanistan to put them into the lead.  We are starting to bring our troops home.  That’s what change is.  That happened because of you.  (Applause.)

Now, Maine, none of this has been easy.  And if you notice, we haven’t gotten a lot of help from the other side.  (Laughter.)  We’ve still got more work to do.  I was listening to Richard tell his story and he’s absolutely right -- that determination, that willingness to do whatever it takes, understanding that a job is not just a matter of money, it’s also a matter of dignity and purpose and contributing to this country -- that spirit of Richard’s, that exists all across America. 

But there are still a lot of folks who are still looking for work.  We went through the worst financial crisis and the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes.  And although we’re starting to make progress, we still have too many families that are having trouble making the bills, too many folks still out of work.  We’re still recovering from this incredible storm. 

But here’s the good news.  Over the last two years, businesses have added nearly 4 million new jobs.  (Applause.)   Our manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the ‘90s.  Our economy is getting stronger.  The recovery is accelerating.  And that means the last thing we can afford to do right now is to go back to the very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place.  (Applause.)  Right?

But, of course, that’s exactly what the other side -- all those folks who are running for this office -- that’s exactly what they’re proposing.  They don’t make any secret about it.  They want to go back to the days when Wall Street played by its own rules.  They want to roll back health care so that insurance companies can jack up your rates or whatever they want.  They want to continue to spend trillions of dollars more on tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals, even if it means adding to the deficit, even if it means gutting things like education, and basic research, and clean energy and Medicare -- all those things that help this economy grow. 

Their philosophy is simple:  You’re on your own.  That’s their view -- that the only way the economy can grow is if -- if you’re out of a job, tough luck, figure it out on your own.  If you don’t have health care, too bad, you’re on your own.  If you’re a senior having trouble paying your prescription drugs that’s not our problem.  If you’re a young person coming out of poverty, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots.  (Laughter.)  That’s their vision. 

And by the way, if you look at their budget that the Republicans in the House of Representatives just passed, it’s no exaggeration -- they would gut things that we’ve always believed were the core of making America great:  education, basic research in science, caring for the most vulnerable. 

They are wrong.  They are wrong in their vision of America.  (Applause.)  In the United States of America, we are greater on our own -- we are great together than we are on our own.  (Applause.)  In the United States of America, we believe in the basic promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise your family and own a home, and send your kids to college and put a little away for retirement.

That’s the choice in this election -- different visions of America.  This is not just about another political debate.  This is the defining issue of our time at a make-or-break moment for the middle class in this country.  Who is going to be fighting for you -- that’s what this is about.  (Applause.) 

We can't go back --

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT:  We can go back to what they’re offering -- an economy built on outsourcing and phony debt and phony financial profits.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Or we can fight for an economy that works for everybody -- an economy that’s built to last, an economy built on American manufacturing and American science and American energy and American education that makes sure our kids have the skills they need.  And the values that have always made this country great:  Hard work.  Everybody having a fair shot.  Everybody doing their fair share.  Everybody operating under the same set of rules.  Shared responsibility.  That’s what we’re fighting for.  That’s the kind of America we need to build.  (Applause.)  

I don’t know about you, but I think we need to make sure the next generation of manufacturing, for example, takes root not in Asia, not in Europe.  I want it to take place right here in Maine.  (Applause.)  I want it to take place in factories in Detroit and Pittsburgh and Cleveland.  I don’t want this nation to be known just for buying and consuming things.  I want it to be known for producing and inventing and selling stuff.  That’s how America was built.  That’s the kind of economy we’ve got to get back to.  (Applause.)  

And that’s why it’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas.  Let’s start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America.  Let’s give them tax breaks.  (Applause.)

I want to make our schools the envy of the world.  And we start to do that -- not only are we putting more money into education, but we’re also insisting on reform.  And that starts with the man or woman at the front of the classroom.  A good teacher can increase the lifetime earnings of a classroom by $250,000.  (Applause.)  A great teacher can inspire a kid who's trapped in poverty, trapped in their own circumstances, to shoot for something higher, to dream big. 

So I don’t want to hear folks in Washington just bashing teachers.  I don’t want them defending the status quo.  Let’s give schools the resources they need to hire good teachers and reward great teachers.  (Applause.)  Let’s give schools the flexibility they need to teach with creativity and passion.  We can stop teaching to the test.  Replace teachers who aren’t doing the job, but let’s give them the power they need to inspire their students.  (Applause.) 

When kids do graduate, right now they’re having trouble financing their college educations.  When Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, you know that’s a problem.  And that’s why -- coming up in July, by the way, if Congress doesn’t do anything, the interest rates on student loans are going to go up, they’re going to double.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s a bad idea, which is why I’ve said, Congress, let’s get moving.  Now, they haven’t done it yet.  So you guys need to make sure that everybody understands how important this is.  And colleges and universities, they’ve got to do their part keeping tuition down.  Because higher education can’t be a luxury -- it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.  (Applause.) 

An economy built to last is one where we support scientists and research and science.  (Applause.)  Whether it’s stem cell research or climate change, we want to make sure that the great medical breakthroughs happen here in the United States and that happens because we finance research.  We want to make sure that the next breakthroughs in clean energy happen here in the United States.  That happens because we support clean energy.  (Applause.)  

We have -- we’ve subsidized oil companies for 100 years.  And I think they’re doing pretty good, last I checked.  Every time you fill up a tank, they’re doing just fine.  So I think it’s time to end 100 years of taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s never been more profitable.  (Applause.)  Let’s double down on the clean energy industry that’s never been more promising -- solar power and wind power, biofuels.  (Applause.)  

And let’s rebuild America.  We’re a nation of builders.  You go to other countries, they’ve got newer airports, better rail lines.  That’s not who -- America always had the best stuff.  (Laughter.)  I want to make sure that our businesses have access to the newest roads and airports, and the fastest railroads and Internet access for everybody.  It’s time for us to stop -- look, let’s take the money that we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, use the other half to do some nation-building here at home.  What do you think, Maine?  I think it’s time.  (Applause.)

And when it comes to our deficit, when it comes to our fiscal situation, let’s have a tax system that reflects everybody doing their fair share.  (Applause.)  Doing their fair share.  Some of you know I’ve proposed something called the Buffett Rule.  It’s a pretty simple rule that Warren Buffett happens to endorse:  If you make more than $1 million a year -- I don’t mean that you have $1 million, I mean every year you’re making more than $1 million -- you should not pay a tax rate that’s lower than your secretary’s, which is what is happening for too many folks right now.  (Applause.) 

What I’ve said is, if you make $250,000 a year or less -- like 98 percent of American families, then your taxes don’t need to go up.  Folks are still struggling.  But if you’re doing really well, you can do a little bit more.  (Applause.)  And when I say this, look, this is not class warfare, it’s not class envy.  This is just basic math.  (Laughter.)  Because if somebody like me gets a tax break that I don’t need and the country can’t afford, then one of two things is going to happen.  Either it adds to our deficit, or it takes something away from somebody else –- that veteran who needs services for his PTSD after he served our country; that student that’s trying to afford getting their college degree; that senior who's already having a tough time paying for their prescription drugs.  (Applause.)  

Why would we set up a system where I don’t do anything and somebody who's in a tougher position has to bear the entire burden?  That’s not right.  That’s not who we are.

You know, I hear some of these other folks, some of these politicians talking about values during an election year.  Well, let me tell you about values.  Hard work is a value.  Personal responsibility is a value.  Looking out for one another is a value.  (Applause.)  The idea that I’m my brother’s keeper, my sister’s keeper -- that’s a value.  (Applause.)  

You and me, all of us, we’re here just because somebody, somewhere, at some point, felt a responsibility not just to themselves, not even just to their own families, but they felt a responsibility to our fellow citizens, to our country’s future. 
I think about my own background.  Somebody had the foresight to say, let’s help people finance their college educations, and that’s why my mother, a single mom, was able to get her degree even after she had me. 

I think about -- when you listen to Michelle talk about growing up, her and her brother -- her dad, a blue-collar worker; her mom stayed at home and then went to work as a secretary; neither of them had a college degree.  But Michelle talks about how there were always like after-school programs and sports programs and activities for kids -- because somebody thought, you know what, let’s make an investment in these kids so that they might have that ladder to opportunity -- because that’s how all of America grows.  

Everybody here has a story like that.  If it’s not you, then it’s your grandparents or your great-grandparents.  We all have benefited because we didn’t just think narrowly about the here and now and me; we thought about the future and us.  (Applause.) 

This is about what we can do together.  We won’t win the race for new jobs and new businesses and middle-class security if we cling to this same old, worn-out, tired, you’re-on-your-own economics that the other side is peddling.  I mean, they act like we haven’t tried it.  We tried it.  (Laughter.)  It was tried in the decades before the Great Depression -- it didn’t work then.  It was tried in the last decade -- it didn’t work. 

The idea that you would keep on doing the same thing over and over again, even though it's been proven not to work -- that’s a sign of madness. (Laughter and applause.)  We’ve got to take this in a different direction.  (Applause.) 

And we know that from our own experience.  Look, if we attract an outstanding young person to go into teaching because we’re paying them well, we’re giving them support, professional development, and they go on to teach the next Steve Jobs, that’s good for all of us.  If we provide faster Internet service to some rural part of Maine and there’s some small business out there that suddenly has access to a worldwide market, that’s good for the entire economy.  If we build a new bridge that saves a shipping company time and money, well, workers and customers all over the country, they benefit.  

And by the way, this has never been a Democratic or a Republican idea.  The first Republican President, Lincoln, during -- in the middle of a civil war, he made investments in helping to forge the Transcontinental Railroad, and started the American Academy of Sciences, and land-grant colleges -- because he wasn’t just thinking about now, he was thinking about the greatness of this country in the future.  Teddy Roosevelt called for a progressive income tax -- a Republican.  Dwight Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System.  There were Republicans who helped FDR in Congress give millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go college on the G.I. Bill. 

So this is not a partisan idea.  This is an American idea.  (Applause.)  And that same sense of common purpose exists today.  It’s alive and well -- maybe not in Washington -- (laughter) -- but here in Maine, all across America, on Main Streets and town halls, when you talk to our men and women in uniform, and you go to folks’ places of worship, they understand this. 

Our politics may be divided.  But most Americans still understand that we’ve got a stake in each other.  We’re greater together.  It doesn’t matter what you look like, where you come from, we rise or fall as one nation, and one people.  And that’s what’s at stake right now.  That’s what this election is about.  (Applause.)  

I know it has been a tough few years.  And for all the changes we’ve made, there are times where folks have gotten frustrated or discouraged -- say, things are so tough in Washington, so dysfunctional.  Things just aren’t happening as fast as they need to.  And so it’s understandable, it’s tempting for some folks to just say, you know what, maybe the change we believed in is impossible.  But I want to remind you, during the campaign I warned you this was going to be hard.  Big change is hard.  It takes time.  It takes more than a year.  It takes more than a single term.  It takes more than a single President.

What it really requires is a committed citizenry who are willing to keep fighting and pushing, inching this closer -- inching this country closer and closer to its highest ideals.  (Applause.)  

Michelle will tell you I’m not a perfect man.  (Laughter.)    And I said that I wouldn’t be a perfect President.  But I made a promise in 2008 -- I said I’d always tell you what I think, I’d always tell you where I stood.  And I said that I’d wake up every single day, fighting as hard as I know how for you.  And I have kept that promise.  (Applause.)  I’ve kept that promise.
I have kept that promise. 

And so if you’re willing to keep pushing with me and keep fighting with me, keep reaching for that vision that we believed in, then I promise you we won’t just win another election, but we will finish what we started in 2008.  (Applause.)  And this country will be better for it.  And we will remind the world just why it is that the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth.  (Applause.)  

Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END               
5:57 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont

2:25 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Vermont!  (Applause.)  Thank you!  (Applause.)  Oh, this is a good crowd here in Vermont!  (Applause.)  It is good to be at UVM -- go Catamounts!  (Applause.)  It is good to be in Vermont.  (Applause.) 

Now, out of all 50 states, Vermont has gone the longest without a presidential visit.  (Applause.)  The last time a President stopped by was President Clinton in 1995.  So we decided that today we are going to reset the clock.  (Applause.)  

A couple of acknowledgements I want to make -- first of all, give Jeanne a big round of applause for her introduction.  You’ve got one of the best governors in the country.  (Applause.)  And when flooding came and disaster struck, he was here every single day working on your behalf.  And we couldn’t be prouder of him -- Peter Shumlin.  (Applause.)   You’ve got two outstanding senators, Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders.  (Applause.)  You’ve got an outstanding mayor-elect -- Miro Weinberger.  (Applause.)  

Give it up for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  (Applause.)  I also want to thank Carolyn Dwyer and the entire host committee for helping to organize this unbelievable event.  (Applause.) 

And one last thing I want to do -- I want to express my condolences to everybody who knew and loved Melissa Jenkins, because I know that some of the elected officials are going on to that funeral.  This is a woman, by all accounts, who devoted her life to her community and helping to shape young minds.  And I know that Vermont is heartbroken, so all we can do is live our lives in a way that pays tribute to hers -- by looking out for her students and her son.  And Michelle and I want to express our thoughts and prayers to everyone who knew her.  So I know that’s a tough situation.  (Applause.)  

Now, I’m here -- (applause) -- maybe I should just quit while I’m ahead here.  (Laughter.)  I am going to take off my jacket, though. It’s a little warm.  (Applause.)  I’m here not just because I need your help.  I’m here because the country needs your help. 

There were a lot of reasons that so many of you worked your hearts out for our campaign in 2008.  It wasn’t because it was going to be easy.  It wasn’t because it was a sure thing.  When you decided to support a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama, that’s not a guarantee of success.  (Laughter.)  You didn’t need a poll to know that might be some heavy sledding there.  (Laughter.)   

The point is you didn’t join the campaign because of me.  You joined it because we had a shared vision for America.  It wasn’t a vision where everybody is left to fend for themselves.  It wasn’t a vision where the rules are made just for the powerful.  It was a vision of an America where everybody who works hard has a chance to get ahead -- everybody.  (Applause.)  

That’s the vision that we shared.  That’s the change that we believed in.  And we knew it wasn’t going to come easy; we knew it wouldn’t come quickly.  But we had confidence, we had faith in each other.  We believed that when Americans make commitments to each other about a bold, generous vision for the country, that we can achieve it.  There’s no challenge we can’t overcome. 

And here’s what I want to report -- that in three years, because of what so many of you did in 2008, we've begun to see what change looks like.  (Applause.)  We’ve begun to see what change looks like.

Change is the first bill I signed into law -- a law that says women deserve an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work, because I want our daughters treated just like our sons.  (Applause.)  

Change is the decision we made to rescue an auto industry that was on the verge of collapse, even when some said let Detroit go bankrupt.  One million jobs were at stake, so we weren’t going to let that happen.  And today, GM is back on top as the world’s number one automaker, reported the highest profits in 100 years -- (applause) -- 200,000 new jobs over the last two and a half years.  The American auto industry is back and it's making cars that are more fuel-efficient.  So that’s helping the environment, even as we’re putting people to work.  (Applause.)  

Change is the decision we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction.  That’s why we finally raised our fuel-efficiency standards.  By the middle of the next decade, we will be driving American-made cars that get almost 55 miles to a gallon -- (applause) -- saves the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump.  That’s what change is.   

Change is the fight we won to stop handing $60 billion in taxpayer giveaways to the banks who were processing student loans.  We decided let’s give those student loans directly to students -- (applause) -- which meant we could make college more affordable to young people who need it.  That’s what change is.  That happened because of you. 

And, yes, change is the health care reform that we passed after over a century of trying.  (Applause.)  Reform that will finally ensure that in the United States of America, no one will go broke just because they get sick.  Already -- already 2.5 million young people now have health insurance who didn’t have it before because this law lets them stay on their parent's plan.  (Applause.)  Already millions of seniors are paying less for their prescription drugs because of this law.  Already, Americans can’t be denied or dropped by their insurance company when they need care the most.  Already, they’re getting preventive care that they didn’t have before.  That’s happening right now.  (Applause.)

Change is the fact that for the first time in history, you don’t have to hide who you love in order to serve the country you love, because we ended "don't ask, don't tell."  (Applause.)

Change is the fact that for the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.  (Applause.)  We refocused our efforts on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11.  And thanks to the brave men and women in uniform,

al Qaeda is weaker than it has ever been.  Osama bin Laden is no more.  (Applause.)  We’ve begun to transition in Afghanistan to put them in the lead, and start bringing our troops home from Afghanistan.  That’s what change is.  (Applause.)

Now, none of this has been easy.  We’ve had a little resistance from the other side.  (Laughter.)  We’ve got more work to do.  There are still too many Americans who are out there looking for work.  There are still too many families who can barely afford to pay the bills or make the mortgage.  We’re still recovering from the worst economic storm in generations.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  Love you back!  (Applause.) 

But over the past two years, businesses have added nearly  4 million new jobs.  Our manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  Our economy is getting stronger.  The recovery is accelerating.  All of which means the last thing we can afford to do is to go back to the same policies that got us into the mess in the first place.  (Applause.)

But that’s what the other side wants to do.  They make no secret about it.  They want to go back to the days where Wall Street played by its own rules.  They want to go back to the day when insurance companies could do whatever they wanted to.  They want to go back to the days where -- they want to continue to spend trillions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals in America, even if it means adding to the deficit, or gutting education, or gutting investments in clean energy, or hurting Medicare.

AUDIENCE:  Booo --  

THE PRESIDENT:  Their philosophy is simple:  You are on your own.  You’re on your own.  If you are out of work, can’t find a job, tough luck, you’re on your own.  You don’t have health care, -- that’s your problem -- you’re on your own.  If you’re born into poverty, lift yourself up with your own bootstraps even if you don’t have boots.  You’re on your own.  They believe that’s their -- that's how American has advanced.  That’s the cramped, narrow conception they have of liberty.  And they are wrong.  (Applause.)  They are wrong. 

In the United States of America, we are greater together than we are on our own.  (Applause.)  This country advances when we keep that basic American promise -- if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, put a little away for retirement.  And it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like.  That’s what has created this extraordinary country of ours.  That’s what we’re fighting for.  (Applause.)  That’s the choice in this election. 

This is not just your usual, run-of-the-mill political debate.  This is the defining issue of our time; a make-or-break moment for the middle class.  That’s what we’ve got to fight for.  (Applause.)   

We can go back to an economy that was built on outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits.  Or we can build an economy that’s built to last.  An economy that’s built on American manufacturing and American innovation, and American energy, and American workers who are trained and skilled, and the values that make this country great -- hard work and fair play and shared responsibility.  That’s the vision I believe in.  That’s what I’m fighting for.  (Applause.) 

We’ve got to make sure that the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in Asia, not in Europe, but in factories of Detroit and Pittsburgh and Cleveland.  I don’t want this nation just to be known for buying and consuming things.  I want us build and sell things all around the world.  (Applause.)   I want us to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas  -- reward companies that are investing right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)    

I want to make our schools the envy of the world.  (Applause.)  And by the way, that starts with the man or woman at the front of the classroom.  (Applause.)  A good teacher -- a good teacher can increase the lifetime earnings of a classroom by over $250,000.  A great teacher can help a child trapped in poverty dream and then live beyond their circumstances.  So I don’t want folks in Washington to be bashing teachers.  I don’t want them to defend the status quo.  I want us to give schools the resources they need to hire good teachers, reward great teachers.  (Applause.)  I want us to grant schools the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion, and stop teaching to the test, and replace teachers who aren’t helping kids learn.  That’s what I want to see happen.  (Applause.)

And when kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college.  When Americans owe more tuition debt than they do credit card debt, you know we’ve got a problem.  Now, the first thing we’ve got to do -- Congress has to stop interest rates that are currently scheduled to go up in July on student loans, which will be a huge problem for a lot of young people.  I’ve already asked Congress to do it.  They haven’t done it -- shocking enough -- they haven’t done it so far.  (Laughter.)  And colleges and universities have to do their part, too, to keep tuition from going up -- (applause) -- because higher education cannot be a luxury.  It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.  (Applause.) 

An economy built to last is one that supports scientists and researchers and science.  (Applause.)  Whether we’re talking about stem cell research or climate change, we don’t need science deniers.  We need people to understand that America has always succeed because of our belief in science, our investment in research.  (Applause.)  

We’ve got to make sure the next great breakthrough in clean energy happens right here in the United States of America.  We have been subsidizing oil companies for 100 years now through taxpayer giveaways.  I think it’s time -- I just talked about this yesterday -- it’s time to stop taxpayer giveaways to an oil industry that has been rarely more profitable.  Let’s double down on clean energy that has never been more promising -- solar and wind and biofuels, and energy efficiency, electric batteries.  That’s what we need to be investing in.  (Applause.)   

We’ve got to rebuild America.  I want our businesses and our people to have access to the best roads and the best airports, faster high-speed rail and Internet access.  It’s time for us to take the money we were spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, use the rest of it to start doing some nation-building right here at home.  (Applause.)

And we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a tax system that is actually fair.  Part of that is something I call the Buffett Rule.  It’s very simple:  If you are making more than $1 million a year -- I’m not saying you have $1 million, I’m saying you’re making $1 million every year -- then you shouldn’t pay a lower rate than your secretary.  (Applause.)  That’s a pretty simple proposition. 

Now, if you make less than $250,000 a year -- like 98 percent of American families -- your taxes shouldn’t go up because right now folks are struggling still to dig themselves out of this incredible recession.  But if you’re making more than $1 million a year, you can do a little more.  This is not class envy.  This is not class warfare.  This is basic math -- that’s what this is.  (Applause.) 

Look, if somebody like me gets a tax break that they don’t  need and that the country can’t afford, then one of two things are going to happen -- either it adds to our deficit, or we’re taking something away from somebody else.  That student now has to pay a higher interest rate on their student loan because we’ve got to make up the money somewhere.  Or that senior has to start paying more for their Medicare because the money has to be made up somewhere.  Or that veteran doesn’t get the PTSD care that they needed after serving our country.  Or a family that’s struggling to get by maybe is getting less home heating oil assistance. 

Look, there’s no way of getting around that.  Either folks like me are doing more, or somebody who can’t afford it is getting less.  And that’s not right.  That’s not who we are.  That’s not what America is about.  (Applause.)

I hear politicians talking about values in an election year.  I hear a lot about that.  Let me tell you about values.  Hard work, personal responsibility -- those are values.   But looking out for one another -- that’s a value.  (Applause.)  The idea that we’re all in this together -- I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper -- that’s a value.  (Applause.)   The idea that we think about the next generation and we’re taking care of our planet -- that’s a value.  (Applause.)

Each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, felt responsibility, yes, to their families, but also to their fellow citizens, also to our country’s future.  That’s the American story.  The American story is not just about what we do on our own.  Yes, we’re rugged individualists and we expect personal responsibility, and everybody out there has got to work hard and carry their weight.  But we also have always understood that we   wouldn’t win the race for new jobs and businesses and middle-class security if we were just applying some you’re-on-your-own economics.  It's been tried in our history and it hasn’t worked.  It didn’t work when we tried it in the decade before the Great Depression.  It didn’t work when we tried it in the last decade.  We just tried this.  What they’re peddling has been tried.  It did not work.  (Applause.)  

We know this from our own lives.  If we attract some outstanding young person to become a teacher by giving them the pay and the support that they deserve, and that teacher goes on to educate the next Steve Jobs, well, we all benefit.  We all do better.  America rises.  (Applause.)  If we’re providing faster Internet to rural America so that some small business owner suddenly can sell his or her goods around the world, that’s good for all of us.  If we build a new bridge that saves a shipping company time and money, then workers and customers all around the country benefit.  They do better.  That’s how America became an economic superpower. 

This has not traditionally been a Democratic or Republican idea.  It was a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who called for a progressive income tax.  It was Dwight Eisenhower who built the Interstate Highway System.  The first Republican President, President Lincoln -- who, by the way, couldn’t win the nomination for the Republican primary right now.  (Laughter and applause.)  He’d be -- in the middle of a civil war, helped to make the Transcontinental Railroad possible, the land-grant colleges, the National Academy of Scientists.  He understood that we’re in this together, we’ve got to make an investment in our futures.  It was with the help of Republicans that FDR was able to give millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go college through the G.I. Bill.  (Applause.)  

And that same spirit of common purpose, it still exists today.  Maybe it doesn’t exist in Washington.  But out here in Vermont and all across America, it’s there.  (Applause.)  It’s there when you talk to folks on Main Street.  It’s there when you go to a town hall.  It’s there when you talk to members of our armed forces.  It’s there when you talk to people in their places of worship. 

Our politics may be divided.  But most Americans still understand that no matter where you come from, no matter who you are, we rise or fall together as one nation, as one people.  (Applause.)  And that’s what’s at stake right now.  That’s what this election is about. 

So I know we’ve gone through some tough years.  And I know that for all the things we’ve done, we’ve still got so much undone.  And sometimes the change we fought for hasn’t always come as fast as we wanted.  And when you see what's been going on in Washington, I know it’s tempting sometimes to get discouraged, to kind of think, well, maybe change just isn’t possible.  Maybe it was an illusion.  But I want you guys to recall, I did say back in 2008, real change -- big change -- it’s hard.  It takes time.  It takes more than a single term and more than a single President.  What it takes is ordinary citizens who are committed to keep fighting and to keep pushing, and inching us closer and closer and closer to our country’s highest ideals.  (Applause.)  

And you know something else I used to say in 2008 -- I said, I am not a perfect man -- Michelle will tell you that -- and I'll never be a perfect President.  But I made a promise to you then that I would always tell you what I believed and I would always tell you where I stood, and I would wake up every single day fighting as hard as I know how for you.  And I have kept that promise.  (Applause.)  I have kept that promise.  (Applause.)  I have kept that promise.    

So if you’re willing to keep pushing with me through all the obstacles, through all the naysayers; if you’re willing to keep reaching for that vision of America that we all have talked about -- that commitment you didn’t just make to me or I made to you, but that we made to each other -- I guarantee you change will come.  (Applause.)  If you’re willing to work harder in this election than you did in the last one, I promise you change will come.  (Applause.)  If you’re willing to knock on some doors and make some phone calls, I promise you change will come. 

We will finish what we started in 2008.  (Applause.)   Fight with me, and press on with me, and we will remind the world once again just what America is all about. 

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
2:55 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Sheraton Burlington Hotel
Burlington, Vermont

1:04 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Oh, it is good to be in Vermont.  I had to come here because Michelle got such a reception here -- (applause) -- and everybody was saying how popular she was and how much money she had raised and how everybody loved her and -- (laughter) -- I was starting to feel a little -- a little left out.  (Laughter.)  So I said I've got to go there, too.

But part of the reason I had to come is because people like Jane and Bill and Charlie and Marie and others have just been such great friends for such a long time, and the enthusiasm that we received when I was still running when I came here was just extraordinary.  And you've got a couple of outstanding senators, a great member of Congress, just a terrific delegation that has been on the right side of issues for a very long time.  And so I just wanted to come up here and say thank you to the people of Vermont for having such good sense.  (Laughter and applause.)

Also, coming from Chicago, I thought it would be nice to enjoy just even a little taste of winter because I don't think it got below 50 degrees in Washington this entire year.
What I'm going to do is be very brief at the top so that I can spend most of my time answering questions. 

Since Jane and I first met, and Charlie and I first met, and others, obviously this country has gone through an extraordinary journey -- the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, millions of people losing their jobs, a housing market collapsing, changes internationally that very few of us could have imagined three or four or five years earlier.  And so it's been a challenging time for America.

And yet one of the things that always gave me confidence was, as I traveled around the country, both first as a candidate and then as President, what I continually saw was the incredible resilience and strength and imagination of the American people.  And so even during the darkest days of this recession, I always had confidence that America would bounce back.  It was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when.  And the question was would we be able to pull the country together and move not only to get us back to where we were before the financial crisis, but to solve these ongoing problems that we'd been putting off for decades.

And three years, three and a half years later, I'm here to report that we've made extraordinary progress.  We were losing 800,000 jobs a month the month I was sworn in; we've now seen over the last two years almost 4 million jobs created.  The unemployment rate has started to tick down.  We're seeing the strongest employment in manufacturing since the 1990s.  Exports are on track to double the goal that we set.  The economy is starting to get stronger and businesses are starting to feel more confident.

In the meantime, those issues that so many of us were talking about during the election in 2008 we've started to address.  So I said that I'd end the war in Iraq; we've ended it. I said that we would get a health care law that would provide near universal coverage so that people don't have to go bankrupt when they get sick in this country; we got it passed.  We committed to ending "don't ask, don't tell" -- "don't ask, don't tell" is history. 

We said that we needed to help our students make sure that they can go to college, that they can afford it -- and we took $60 billion that was going to the banks to subsidize them managing the student loan program and now that money is going directly to students.  And millions of students are getting higher Pell grants, or eligible for the first time, and we're on track to make sure that college is a lot more affordable for young people so that they can compete in this 21st century economy.

And so not only have we been able to right the ship and get the banking system working again and make sure that the economy has an opportunity to grow, but we're also dealing with some of those underlying issues that had challenged us for a very long time -- doubling fuel efficiency standards on cars, probably the most significant piece of environmental legislation in a very long time that could end up saving us billions of dollars and taking all kinds of carbon out of the atmosphere.

But I think all of us are here today because we know our job isn't finished.  We've got a lot more to do.  We still have to do more to make sure that people who don't have work can find work. We're going to have to do more to make sure that our housing system is working for everybody and that people can start recovering from the beating that they've taken with the decline in the real estate market. 

We still have to have an energy policy that reflects both the short-term challenges that people are feeling, the pinch that they're feeling at the pump, but also the long-term challenges that we're facing in terms of energy independence and climate change. 

We haven't reformed our immigration system yet.  And we're a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and there's no reason why we shouldn’t be able to reconcile those values to have a system that's sensible and continues to replenish America with extraordinary talent from all around the world.

We’ve embarked on an extraordinary path to reform K through 12 education through programs like Race to the Top, and we’re encouraging innovation and accountability and making sure that teachers aren’t teaching to the test but instead are able to teach creatively and passionately.  But we’ve got more work to do because there are still too many kids who are being shunted aside.

And on the foreign policy front, we’ve got to execute effective transition out of Afghanistan, leave a stable country, continue to press on those who would do us harm, and continue to forge the kind of diplomacy around the world that restores respect for America but also ensures not only our own security, but also opportunity and well-being for folks who continue to suffer from extraordinary poverty around the world.

So we’ve still got huge challenges remaining and we’re going to have to figure out how to pay for everything that we do -- which brings me to why in some ways this election I think is actually more important than 2008.  In 2008, I was running against a candidate who believed in climate change, believed in immigration reform, believed in the notion of reducing deficits in a balanced way.  We had some profound disagreements but the Republican candidate for President understood that some of these challenges required compromise and bipartisanship. 

And what we’ve witnessed lately is a fundamentally different vision of America and who we are.  It’s an America that says -- or it’s a vision that says that America is about looking out for yourself, not for other people.  It’s an America that denies something like climate change, rejects it; that takes a position on immigration that would have been unthinkable in either party just a few years ago; that when it comes to figuring out how do we pay for the investments that we need to grow, basically says those of us who are doing best don’t have to do a thing and we will balance that budget on the backs of the poor and seniors, and at the expense of basic research and basic science and investments in clean energy and increasing the cost of student loans for students. 

The recent budget that just passed the House, the budget that passed the House yesterday, if you did the math, essentially the only thing that would be left in the federal government would be defense, social security and the entitlement programs -- although those would be diminished -- interest on the national debt.  That would be about it.  You'd be looking at about 1 percent of the entire federal budget devoted to everything else
-- education, environmental protection, science, those things that historically have made us an economic superpower, but also a country in which everybody has a fair shot, everybody does their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules. 

And so, in some ways, this is going to be healthy for our democracy.  I think it’s going to be a clarifying election about who we are and what we stand for.  But it’s enormous -- a lot is at stake in this election.  And we’re going to have to fight for it.  We’re not going to be complacent and be able to deliver on what we think is the right path for our kids and our grandkids and future generations. 

And so I’m going to need your help.  And in some ways, it may be a little harder because it has lost some of the novelty, right?   When back in ’08, it was cool to say, oh, you know, I’m supporting this guy Obama -- you heard of him?  (Laughter.)  Let me tell you about him.  Now I’m old hat, I’m gray.  (Laughter.)  But my determination is undiminished.  My confidence in the core decency of the American people is undiminished.  I believe we’re on the right track.  And Jane is right -- I believe I’m going to get there.  More importantly, I believe America is going to get there with your help.

Thank you very much, everybody.  (Applause.)

END   
1:16 P.M. EDT

Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 1245(d)(4)(B) and (C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY

SUBJECT: Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 1245(d)(4)(B) and (C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, after carefully considering the report submitted to the Congress by the Energy Information Administration on February 29, 2012, and other relevant information, and given current global economic conditions, increased production by certain countries, the level of spare capacity, and the existence of strategic reserves, among other factors, I determine, pursuant to section 1245(d)(4)(B) and (C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Pub1ic Law 112-81, that there is a sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran to permit a significant reduction in the volume of petroleum and petroleum products purchased from Iran by or through foreign financial institutions.

I will closely monitor this situation to assure that the market can continue to accommodate a reduction in purchases of petroleum and petroleum products from Iran.

The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA