Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Apollo Theater
New York, New York

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, New York!  (Applause.)  Hello, New York!  Hello, Harlem!  (Applause.)  Ah, it is good to be here tonight!  (Applause.)

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

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you so much. 

I want to begin by just thanking Ny for the incredible introduction and being such a great mom.  And we're so proud of her.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  I want to thank our emcee,     Lin-Manuel Miranda -- we appreciate you.  (Applause.) 

I want to thank the incredible performers this evening -- (applause) -- one of my favorites, India Arie in the house.  (Applause.)  There she is.  I love India.

And then to know that Reverend Al Green was here -- (applause.)  (Sings) -- "I'm so in love with you" -- (applause.)  Those guys didn’t think I would do it.  I told you I was going to do it.  (Laughter.)  The Sandman did not come out.  (Applause.)  Don't worry, Rev., I cannot sing like you.  But I just wanted to show my appreciation.  (Laughter.)

I also want to acknowledge a couple of outstanding members of Congress with us here today -- Congressman Charlie Rangel -- (applause) -- and Congressman Jerry Nadler are in the house.  (Applause.)

All right, you guys have a seat.  I've got something to say.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  No, thank you.  Because I am here tonight not just because I need your help; I’m here because your country needs your help.  (Applause.)  

There was a reason why so many of you got involved in the campaign in 2008, worked your hearts out.  And it wasn’t because you thought it was going to be easy.  When you decide to support somebody named Barack Hussein Obama for President you're not doing it because you think it's a cakewalk.  (Laughter.) 

You did it because you understood the campaign wasn’t about me.  It was about a vision that we shared for America.  A vision that wasn’t narrow and cramped.  It wasn’t an idea that in America you just look out for yourself, and the most powerful among us can just play by their own rules.  It was a vision that was big and compassionate and bold, and it said, in America, if you work hard you've got a chance.  You got a chance to get ahead.  Doesn’t matter where you were born.  It doesn’t matter what you look like.  (Applause.)  It doesn’t matter what your name is.  If you’re willing to work hard, if you got some talent, some idea, if you’re motivated, you can make it. 

And it was a vision that said we’re greater together than we are on our own.  (Applause.)  That when everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules, then we all do better.  (Applause.)  We all do better.

That’s a vision we shared.  That was the change we believed in.  And we knew it wasn’t going to come easy.  We knew it wouldn’t come quickly.  We knew there would be resistance.  We knew there would be setbacks.  But because of what you did in 2008, we’ve started to see concrete examples of that change. 

Think about it.  Change is the first bill I signed into law that enshrines a very simple proposition:  You get an equal day’s pay for an equal’s day work, because we want our daughters treated just as well as our sons.  (Applause.)  That’s what change is.

Change is the decision we made to rescue the auto industry from collapse -- (applause) -- even when there were folks saying no, and wanted to let Detroit go bankrupt.  And now, one million jobs were saved, and local businesses have picked up again, and GM is once again the largest auto company in the world.  (Applause.)  And we are seeing cars rolling off those assembly lines stamped with three proud words:  Made in America.  (Applause.)

Change is the decision we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction, and finally raised our fuel efficiency standards on our cars so that by the next decade, every car is going to be getting 55 miles per gallon.  (Applause.)  That will save you money.  That will save our environment.  It’s good for our national security.  That’s what change is.  We got that done.

Change was the fight that we had to stop sending $60 billion in unnecessary subsidies to the banks in the student loan program -- take that $60 billion out, give it directly to the students so that millions of young people all across America are able to afford a college education.  (Applause.)  That’s change. 

Change is the health care reform bill that we passed after a century of trying -- (applause) -- that says, if you get sick in America, you will not go bankrupt.  And we’ve already got 2.5 million young people with health insurance who didn't have it, and seniors getting help on their prescription drugs.  (Applause.)  And Americans won’t be denied coverage because of preexisting conditions or insurance companies dropping them right when they need the care most.  That’s what change is.  (Applause.)

Change is the fact that for the first time in our history, you don't have to hide who you love in order to serve this country that you love.  (Applause.)  “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is over.  We don't believe in discrimination in this country.  (Applause.)  That’s part of who we are.  That’s what change is. 

And change is keeping one of the first promises I made in 2008.  We ended the war in Iraq and we brought our troops home.  (Applause.)  And in the meantime, we refocused our efforts on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11.  (Applause.)  And thanks to the extraordinary men and women in uniform and our intelligence agencies, al Qaeda is weaker than it’s ever been, and Osama bin Laden will never walk this Earth again.  That’s what change is.  (Applause.)

Now, you guys have been paying attention.  None of this has been easy.  Some of it was risky.  We were opposed by lobbyists and special interests.  Millions of dollars were spent trying to maintain the status quo.  And a lot of the things we did weren’t always popular at the time, certainly not with the crowd in Washington. 

But part of the reason we were able to get it done is because of you, because I knew that all across America your voices were still being heard.  You guys were still knocking on doors.  You were making phone calls.  You were rooting for us, because you understood that as hard as this was, it was consistent with the vision that we campaigned so hard to bring about. 

You kept up the fight long after the election was over.  And that should make you proud.  And it should make you hopeful.  It shouldn’t make you complacent, it shouldn’t make you satisfied, because everything we did over the last three years is now at stake in this election.  The very core of what this country stands for -- that idea that no matter who you are, you can make it; the idea that we’re all in it together; the idea that if there’s a child somewhere who's not getting a good education, that affects me; the idea that if there’s a senior somewhere losing her home, that affects me -- that idea is at stake in this election.  (Applause.)

The crisis that struck in the months before I took office put more Americans out of work than any time since the Great Depression.  We’ve got a chart that shows in the months right before I took office, 4 million jobs lost; the months right after I took office, another 4 million, before our economic policies had a chance to take effect.

We’ve been growing ever since.  (Applause.)  We’ve been adding jobs ever since.  But this was a profound crisis.  But it was also a culmination of a decade where middle-class families fell further and further behind, and more and more good jobs, manufacturing jobs left our shores.  And suddenly, our prosperity was built on risky financial deals, or homes we couldn’t afford, or everybody running up their credit cards.  And we racked up greater and greater debt, and incomes fell and wages flat-lined, and the cost of everything from college to health care to food went through the roof. 

These problems didn’t happen overnight; we weren’t going to solve them overnight.  It’s going to take more than a few years to meet the challenges that have been decades in the making.  The American people understand that.  What they don’t understand is leaders who refuse to take action.  (Applause.)  They’re sick and tired of watching people who are supposed to represent them put party ahead of country, or the next election before the next generation.  (Applause.)  

President Kennedy once said -- after he took office he said, the thing that surprised him most about Washington was that it was as bad as he had been saying it was.  (Laughter.)  I can relate to that.  (Laughter.)  You’ve got the top Republican in the Senate who said his top priority was beating me.  (Laughter.)  That’s his top priority. 

My top priority is putting Americans back to work.  (Applause.)  My top priority is making sure our kids are getting a good education.  (Applause.)  My top priority is making sure that everybody has affordable, accessible health care.  (Applause.)

His top priority is beating me.  That shows you things aren’t on the level.  That’s how you end up with the Republicans in Congress voting against proposals that they used to support.  (Applause.) 

You saw them in December all tied up in knots because we were proposing tax cuts for workers and small businesses, and they always said they were the party of tax cuts.  Suddenly -- (laughter) -- didn’t know what to do.  Proposals to rebuild roads and bridges -- that didn't used to be a Democratic issue.  It used to be we understood building America was good for America.  Putting cops and teachers back to work, back in the classroom, back on the streets.  (Applause.)  They will fight with everything they have to protect tax cuts for me, for the wealthiest Americans, and then, suddenly, they get confused when it comes to tax cuts for the middle class.

Now, maybe they thought this was smart political strategy.  Maybe they thought it would advance Mitch McConnell’s agenda to beat me.  But it’s not a strategy to create jobs.  It’s not a strategy to strengthen our middle class.  It’s not a strategy to help America succeed. 

So we’ve got a choice this year.  We have not seen a choice this stark in years.  (Applause.)  I mean, even in 2008, the Republican nominee wasn’t a climate change denier.  (Laughter.)  He was in favor of immigration reform.  He was opposed to torture.  (Laughter and applause.) 

The contrast this year could not be sharper.  So the question is not whether people are still hurting; people are still hurting profoundly.  A lot of folks out there still out of work looking for work.  The question is, what do we do about it?  The debate that we need to have in this election is about where do we go from here. 

The Republicans in Congress, the candidates running for President, they’ve got a very specific idea about where they want to take this country.  (Laughter.)  They want to reduce the deficit by gutting our investments in education, by gutting our investments in research and technology, by letting our roads and our bridges and our airports deteriorate. 

I’ve already signed a trillion dollars’ worth of spending cuts, proposed even more.  And I think it’s time for us to reduce the deficit by asking those of us who are most fortunate to pay their fair share.  (Applause.)  To pay their fair share.  (Applause.) 

And by the way, let me just say this -- because I’ve been hearing a lot of these Republicans talking about, oh, that’s class warfare, and he just wants to redistribute, and doesn’t believe in work, and he’s trying to create an entitlement society, and this and that and the other.  Let me be absolutely clear:  I should pay more taxes, and folks in my income bracket should pay more taxes, and certainly folks who are making billions of dollars should pay more taxes, not because I want to take their money and just give it to somebody else.  It’s because we’ve got basic investments and basic functions that have to be carried out in this 21st century if we’re going to be able to compete.

We’re going to have to train our young people so that they can get the high-skilled jobs of the future.  (Applause.)  We’re going to have to make sure that we’ve got the best broadband lines and the best infrastructure to move products and services.  We’re going to have to make sure that we have the basic science and technology research that allows us to stay on the cutting-edge of innovation, because other countries are making these investments and they’re catching up.

And if we are going to do all that without leaving a mountain of debt for our kids, while still maintaining the strongest military on Earth, while still making sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for future generations, that our seniors are protected -- then all of us have to do our part.  (Applause.) 

And that should not be a Democratic idea or a Republican idea.  It’s about responsibility.  It’s about taking responsibility for the country.  (Applause.)  And when all of us take responsibility, we all do better.  That’s the idea.  (Applause.)  

The Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail, these guys running for President -- (laughter) -- want to -- why do you laugh?  (Laughter.)  They’re running for President.  (Laughter.)  They are.  And they want to take Medicare and make it a form of private insurance, so that seniors shop around with a voucher, even if it doesn’t cover the costs of their medicine or their care. 

Now, I think we can lower the cost -- we have to lower the cost of Medicare -- with reforms that still guarantee a dignified retirement for seniors, because they’ve earned it.  (Applause.)  These folks act like this is an entitlement that was unearned.  Folks paid into this system.  They worked hard to have some sense of security.  (Applause.)  Our reforms should reflect that.   

They think the best way for America to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom.  So they say, well, look, if -- China lets you pay low wages, so they want to roll back our minimum wage or our right to collectively bargain.  They say, well, if companies can pollute in some of these other countries, so they want to get rid of protections that ensure we have clean air and clean water. 

Look, we should not have any more regulation than is required for the health and safety of the American people.  Nobody likes red tape.  Nobody likes bureaucracy.  That’s why I actually -- I’ve reformed government so that we initiated fewer regulations than the previous administration, with a lot more benefit, much lower costs relative to the benefits, looking to streamline government.  We’re saving businesses billions of dollars in reduced paperwork.  So we are not interested in regulation for regulation’s sake.  But I do not believe in this notion that we should have a race to the bottom.  That shouldn’t be what we’re competing for. 

We should be competing to win that race to the top.  We should be competing to make our schools the best in the world.  (Applause.)  We should be competing to make sure that our workers have the best skills and the best training so they get the best pay.  (Applause.)  We should be making sure that college is within reach of everybody.  (Applause.) 

We should be in a race to give our businesses the best roads and airports.  We should be in a race to support the scientists and the researchers -- (applause) -- that create the next clean-energy breakthrough, or the medicine that might cure pernicious diseases.  We should be in a race to make sure that the next generation of manufacturing doesn’t take root in Asia or in Germany, but takes root in Detroit, and in Pittsburgh, and in Cleveland, and in New York.  (Applause.)  I don’t want this to be a nation that just buys and consumes and borrows.  I want us to be known for building and selling all over the world.  (Applause.)

And that’s a race -- this competition for middle-class security, for advanced technology, for having the best workers in the world -- this is a race I know we can win.  But America is not going to win if we do the same things, if we respond to our economic challenges with the same old, tired "cut taxes for wealthy people; let companies do whatever they want even if it’s harming other folks, and somehow prosperity is going to trickle down to everybody else."

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Look, we tried that.  (Laughter and applause.)  I don’t know if you remember, but we tried that.  It never worked.  It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression.  It’s not what led to the incredible boom in the '50s and the '60s that created the greatest middle class on Earth.  It did not work back in 2001 and ’02, and ’03, and ’04, and ’05, and ’06 -- (laughter) -- where we had the slowest job growth of any decade. 

We can’t go back to this brand of you’re-on-your-own economics.  I believe we’ve got a stake in everybody’s success.  If we can attract outstanding teachers by giving her the pay and the support and the training she deserves, she is going to educate the next Steve Jobs.  (Applause.)  And not only will we have whatever the next iPad is, but we’ll also all see the economy grow.

If we provide faster Internet service to some rural business somewhere and now suddenly they have access to the entire global market, or some business right here in Harlem that’s selling something that previously they could only sell in a few blocks and now they can sell it anywhere, that means suddenly they can start hiring more workers.  They’ve got customers now all over the world.  (Applause.)  Countries will do better -- our whole country will do better.

This is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea.  Abraham Lincoln, first Republican President -- he understood this -- launched the Transcontinental Railroad, the National Academy of Scientists -- or of Sciences, the first land-grant college, all while dealing with the Civil War.  A Republican. 

Teddy Roosevelt called for a progressive income tax, because he understood that you can’t pretend you’re for equality of opportunity when you have huge inequality and you’re not creating ladders for success for people.  A Republican.  

Dwigh Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System, invested in math and science education so we could compete in the race to space.  Republican. 

There were Republicans in Congress that supported FDR giving millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go college on the G.I. Bill.  (Applause.)  That idea is as old as this country. 

And that idea, it’s still there.  That sense of common purpose, it’s still there.  We tapped into it in 2008, and it’s still out there all across the country.  I see it everywhere I go.  It may not be in Washington, it may not be in Congress, but it’s out there.  You talk to folks on Main Streets, town halls, VFW halls, barbershops -- they understand this.  Our politics may be divided, but people understand we’re all in this together.  (Applause.)  They understand that no matter who we are, we rise or fall as one nation and as one people.

And that’s what’s at stake right now.  That’s what this election is about. 

Now, I know these have been three tough years.  I know that some of the change folks wanted hasn’t come as fast as people hoped for.  I know that after all the stuff that has gone on in Washington, it’s tempting sometimes to just say, you know what, it’s not possible; the system’s broken; we give up.  That’s tempting.  But remember what I used to say in the last campaign.  I said this -- I repeated it over and over again:  Real change, big change, it’s hard.  It takes time.  It takes more than a single term.  It takes more than a single President. 

What it takes is ordinary citizens like you who just keep on fighting, keep pushing, keep inching the country closer and closer and closer to our ideals.  That’s how the Greatest Generation defeated fascism and yanked us out of a Great Depression and built the largest middle class in history.  That’s how young people from every background were able to suffer billy clubs and fire hoses to ensure that our children grew up in a country where your race is no barrier to what you can become.  (Applause.)

Change is hard, but we know it’s possible.  We’ve seen it.  I’ve lived it.  I’ve lived it.  I’ve seen it. 

And so, as we go into this election year, I want everybody to understand, yes, my hair is grayer, yes, we’ve got some dings and some dents, and, yes, this financial crisis has been a wakeup call, but you know what, there is no other country that doesn’t envy our position.  They understand that this country is still that last, best hope.  (Applause.)  And they are counting -- the world is counting, and our fellow citizens are counting on us not giving up, not giving into despair. 

If you want to end the cynicism and the game-playing and the point-scoring and the sound bytes that pass for politics these days, then you’ve got to send a message this year, starting right now, that you refuse to back down; that you will not give up; that you intend to keep hoping and keep pushing and keep fighting just as hard as you did four years ago.  You are going to keep believing in change.  (Applause.) 

And if you are willing to do that, if you are going to work just as hard, if you’re able to generate that same passion and commitment, then I’ll be there next to you.  Because I’ve often said -- I said in 2008, I’m not a perfect man.  I’m not a perfect President.  But I promise you that I’ve kept that promise I made to you in 2008, I would always tell you what I thought, I would always tell you where I stood, and I would wake up every single day fighting as hard as I can for you.  (Applause.)

I am just as determined now as I was then.  (Applause.)  And if you are willing to stand alongside me, we will knock those obstacles out of the way.  We will reach for that vision of America that we believe in -- in our hearts -- and change will come.  (Applause.)  If you will work harder than you did last time, change will come.  (Applause.) 

If you keep on believing, we’ll finish what we started in 2008.  Change will come.  If you fight with me and press on with me, I promise you change will come.  And we will remind everybody just why it is that the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth.

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

END               
10:30 P.M. EST

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Bellecour Reception Area
Daniel Restaurant
New York, New York

6:15 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  Hello!  Hello!  (Applause.)  Everybody, please have a seat.  Have a seat.  Thank you.  You’re going to make me blush.  (Laughter.)  Well, it is wonderful to be back in New York and it is wonderful to be with all of you. 

I understand that you already had a chance to talk with the outstanding junior senator from New York, and Kirsten is doing a wonderful job, so all of you guys should be very proud.  I’m sure that a number of you supported her in previous campaigns and will continue to do so.

As I look around the room I see some old friends -- not in years, but -- some of you in years -- (laughter) -- but who have known me for a very long time, people who supported me in my first U.S. Senate race -- Andy supported me in my first state Senate race.

Q    Bobby Rush.  

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s exactly right. 

I’m going to speak very briefly at the top because I want to spend most of my time in conversation.  We’re obviously living through a historic time.  We just went through the worst financial crisis in our history since the Great Depression, worst financial crisis.  We have an Arab Spring that is transforming an entire region of the world.  The structure of the global economy, the changes in technology all are happening at a breathless pace.

And I think that -- when I think back to the last three years, I could not be prouder of what we’ve been able to do in averting a depression, saving an auto industry.  We’ve now seen 22 consecutive months of job growth in the private sector.  We’re starting to see manufacturing come back to the United States. 

On the international stage we’ve been able to manage the end of one war and the beginning of a transition of another.  We have been on the right side of democracy.  We’ve strengthened our alliances, restored respect for the United States around the world. 

On issues of equity and the values that we care most deeply about, we’ve made enormous advances -- ending “don’t ask, don’t tell" -- (applause) -- making sure that equal pay for equal work is -- (applause) -- appointing two really smart women to the Supreme Court.  (Applause.)

But we have so much more work to do.  We’ve got so many things that remain to tackle.  We have an economy that, although now is getting close to where we were before the financial crisis struck, continues to struggle with these long-term trends that had been going on for decades, where middle-class families felt less and less secure; where the education system wasn’t equipping our kids to compete in a global economy; where we had an absence of an energy policy; a health care system that was bleeding companies and the federal treasury dry, and not providing any care for millions of people.

And so part of our task is to tell a story about everything that we’ve gotten done over the last three years so that people have confidence that change is possible.  It’s not easy, it’s messy, there are times where it’s frustrating, sometimes we experience setbacks -- but change occurs, meaningful change that concretely helps people’s lives.  But even as we tell that story, we’ve also got to tell a story about where this country needs to go. 

I’ve never felt more confident about the capacity of America to meet the moment and assure a solid future for our kids and our grandkids.  But it’s going to require more work, and it’s going to require us making good choices.  And this year is going to be as stark a choice as we have seen -- a starker choice than we saw in 2008. 

I mean, think about it.  In 2008, I was running against a Republican nominee who agreed that we should ban torture, agreed that we should close Guantanamo, believed in climate change, had worked on immigration reform.  And so as profound as the differences were between myself and John McCain, there was some sense of convergence when it came to some very important issues. 

If you’ve been listening to the Republican debates, they have moved.  (Laughter.)  I’ve stayed here.  (Laughter.)  They’ve gone in a different direction.

Now, that’s going to make for a hugely important, hugely consequential election -- partly because we need to win this election to consolidate all the gains that we’ve made over the last three years and make sure that financial reform is actually implemented effectively and not watered down, and somebody like a Richard Cordray as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is able to prevent people from being subjected to predatory lending; partly because health care reform still has to be implemented. 

We already have 2.5 million young people who have insurance because of that bill, and millions of seniors who are saving money on prescription drugs because of that bill.  But there are a whole bunch of folks with preexisting conditions who are still going to need help, and a whole bunch of working families who still don't have health insurance and they’re going to need those exchanges that we’re setting up put in place so that they can get affordable health care. 

But it’s not just a matter of implementing many of the things we’ve already done.  It’s a matter of meeting the requirements to get to where we need to go.  We’re going to have to solve this fiscal crisis that we’re in, in a way that’s balanced and fair, and in which everybody does their fair share. 

We’re going to have to make sure that we are investing in community colleges and early childhood education, so that everybody genuinely has a fair shot.  We’re going to have to rebuild America.  In a city like New York, we’ve got tens, hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure work where we could put construction workers, right now, who are sitting at home, back to work, making ourselves more productive to meet the challenges of a 21st century economy.

We’re going to have to make sure that the budgets for the NIH and NSF and all our basic research in science is maintained so that we continue to be the leading innovators in the world.

We’re going to have to make sure that all the work we’ve done over the last three years to restore America’s standing in the world, that that’s preserved, and that people everywhere continue to see America as the one indispensable nation in assuring that there’s an international order that thinks about everybody, and not just thinks in terms of raw power.

So this is a big deal, this race.  And I am very confident about our prospects.  As tough as the economic environment is, as many headwinds as we’re experiencing, I believe we’re going to win.  But that belief is premised on my confidence in you, that you guys are going to step up, that you are going to show the same kind of resolve and determination and enthusiasm that you showed in 2008. 

If you do, then I think we’ll win the argument, because I think we have a better vision for the future.  And I continue to have this profound confidence and faith in the American people, and that a vision of a America that gives everybody opportunity and is inclusive, and considers our values important to project around the world and in our own government -- I think that’s what they want to -- that’s how they think about America as well.

So I hope all you guys are ready to go --

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Fired up.

THE PRESIDENT:  I hope you’re fired up.  (Laughter.)  And I don't -- I’m glad you guys wrote checks, but I don't just want your money.  I’m going to want your ideas and your time and your energy and your effort.  And if you give me that, I promise you I will be working harder this time than I did in 2008.  All right?

Thank you very much, everybody.  (Applause.)

END
6:25 P.M. EST