Statement by the President on Europe

We welcome the important decisions made last night by the European Union which lay a critical foundation for a comprehensive solution to the Eurozone crisis. We look forward to the full development and rapid implementation of their plan. We will continue to support the EU and our European allies in their efforts to address this crisis as we work together to sustain the global recovery and put our people back to work.

Statement from the President on the Retirement of Congressman John Olver

In the State House and Congress, John Olver has proudly served the people of Massachusetts for over forty years. He has fought tirelessly for a cleaner environment, modern infrastructure, more affordable housing, and more accessible health care. Michelle and I join the people of Massachusetts in thanking Congressman Olver for his service, and we wish John, his wife Rose, and daughter Martha the very best in the future.

Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney aboard Air Force One en route Andrews Air Force Base

Aboard Air Force One, En Route Andrews Air Force Base

2:32 P.M. EDT

        MR. CARNEY:  So let's do this and then we can all eat.  I have no announcements to make.  It's a great pleasure to have you aboard Air Force One as we leave snowy Denver for what I am told is sunny and warm Washington, D.C.  It's been a great trip.  

        As you know, the President, this morning, was able to speak to a University of Colorado-Denver crowd about his new initiative to assist students, former students with the burden of their student loans, easing that burden a little bit through some initiatives he announced, the details of which you have.

        That's part of an effort that he's undertaken to do everything he can, broadly speaking, to help people in this difficult economy, put people back to work, and help the economy grow.  Because while he makes very clear that executive action is not a substitute for legislative action, he will do everything he can within his power to address the number-one priority that the American people have.  And so you can expect that he will continue to do that in the coming days, weeks and months.

        Q    Are you at all concerned that, when people start seeing the details of these actions, they might learn that they, by their very nature, are somewhat limited?  And, for instance, what he announced today is not going to alleviate the true burden of student debt for most people, so --

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think it is -- to suggest that an initiative doesn't entirely solve a problem, that makes it not worth doing, is I think a faulty analysis at best.  When you tell it to what I think is 1.6 million students who would be assisted and see their burden reduced by this -- by the initiatives that would simply move up the program that was going to start in 2014 and start it in 2012 -- I mean, if our economic problems or challenges were solvable by two or three proposals, I think we'd be done already.

        But as the President says, the hole we found ourselves in, as a country, because of the great recession was very, very deep. And we didn't get there overnight, and we won't climb out of it overnight.  But we are climbing out of it.  And this President is committed to doing everything he can, through working with Congress and working with his executive powers, to assist Americans -- middle-class Americans who are struggling in this economy to do better.

        Q    Jay, speaking of debt burdens, what's the current level of concern about the seeming inability of the Europeans to come to terms with the issue there?

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, as you know, we are very engaged in this. Secretary Geithner has been in constant contact with his counterparts.  The President, as you know, has also been in communication with a fair amount of regularity with European leaders on this issue.  And we have made clear that we believe that the Europeans have the financial capacity to deal with this challenge and they need to meet that capacity with political will that's necessary to meet it, and that they need to take action that will conclusively deal with this challenge -- which, of course, is important not just because these countries are all our allies, it's a very, very important part of the world, but because the situation in Europe creates headwinds for the American economy.  And this President is, again, very focused on doing everything he can to grow this economy and create jobs.

        Q    What's the assumption of where that situation is going to be when he gets to the G20 table next week?

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don't want to make predictions about the future, but we continue to discuss with and urge our European counterparts to take conclusive action to deal with this problem in a timely fashion.

        Q    They were having a big meeting today in Brussels.  Has he been briefed about that?  Is he going to talk to anybody about that?

        MR. CARNEY:  I don't have any readouts to give you or previews to give you of phone calls or discussions he may have, but he is, of course, being kept up to date, as he is every day, on events around the world, including in Europe.

        Q    China has agreed to come out and help the Europeans, investing in the bailout fund.  Is there any sense that the U.S. might do that in the future?  Is that off the table, whether or not the U.S. would intervene?

        MR. CARNEY:  I don't believe so.  I would ask that you maybe direct that question to Secretary -- rather, to the Treasury Department.

        Q    Don't believe so on what?  Sorry.

        MR. CARNEY:  That the U.S. would provide assistance directly to the Europeans.  But it's not my understanding that's our position.

        Q    Can I ask an Iraq question?  There have been some reports that the President didn’t get very personally involved in the negotiations.  Given that a lot of this had to do with Iraqi politics and unable to get to immunity, does it also show that ultimately the administration just didn’t think it was necessary --

        MR. CARNEY:  I'm glad you asked that, Scott, because that report is just categorically false to suggest that the President and the Vice President hadn’t been in communication with Iraqi leaders, and it turns out that's wrong.  The Vice President had many, many conversations with Iraqi leaders over the time period mentioned in that story.  The President spoke with Prime Minister Maliki this summer.  And it's simply erroneous.  

        The fact of the matter is, as we discussed and the President announced, the President is keeping his commitment to draw down U.S. forces to zero at the end of this year; to end the American war in Iraq in a responsible way that honors the remarkable sacrifice and service of our men and women in uniform, as well as our civilian personnel, and gives Iraq the best opportunity to build a prosperous and democratic future.  

        We will continue to have a vital and important relationship with Iraq in the years ahead.  The Strategic Framework Agreement, as you know, Scott, is very, very important to the Iraqis and it’s very important to us.  And we’re going to build on that.  We want a normal relationship, the kind of relationship we have with sovereign nations around the world -- which is why we are so puzzled by those who suggest that keeping this commitment is somehow not the right thing to do, when it was a commitment signed by President Bush, first of all, and secondly, it is -- by fulfilling this commitment, we’re demonstrating the fact that largely because of, or certainly in part because of the remarkable efforts by our American men and women in uniform and civilians, Iraq is now in control of its destiny, and able to secure its own country.

        That has been the case step by step in this process.  When the President said we would remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by the summer of 2009, people said, oh, well, that will be terrible, it will -- these critics said that will be terrible and cause a dramatic increase in violence.  The opposite happened.  

        Same thing when the President said we’d draw down to 50,000 troops and end our combat mission -- the situation improved.  And it improved because of the remarkable work that our forces have done with the Iraqi security forces.  

        So the President is very confident that this is a course of action that is good for the United States and good for Iraq.

        Q    Jay, why wasn’t there any record then of all these calls that you say occurred?  Because the McClatchy report looked at embassy logs --

        MR. CARNEY:  There was actually a readout of at least one of these calls that they seem to have missed.  But the fact is, as you know, Jim, we don’t read out every call we have, the President has or the Vice President has with foreign leaders.  

        The Vice President, as you know because he was asked to basically oversee our Iraq policy by the President at the beginning of this term, was throughout my time working for him and has continued to be in regular consultation and contact with Iraqi leaders, as well as other interlocutors who have worked with us on Iraq, including the United Nations and others.  So I’m puzzled by the piece.

        Q    In light of that, though, will you be producing some of the logs or records --

        MR. CARNEY:  I don’t know.  I mean, to produce -- to prove an utterly false story, I mean, it’s just -- and, again, some of this stuff has been read out.  I can tell you, as a fact, that the Vice President was in regular consultation with the Iraqi leaders.  The President had a conversation with Prime Minister Maliki this summer.  Again, I’m puzzled by it.

        Q    Jay, the President was interrupted today by some protestors about the Keystone Pipeline, and he responded by saying their concerns would be addressed.  What is the President’s position on Keystone and what role is he playing in the decision-making?

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, you heard the President address this in his remarks.  I’m not going to get ahead of him.  The State Department is obviously the agency tasked with -- as a matter of precedent -- with evaluating this and making a decision.  The President said today that he understands the concerns of those who have expressed themselves, as some did today.  But I’m not going to get ahead of that decision or get ahead of the President.

        Q    -- it will be by the end of the year like the State Department originally said, a decision --

        MR. CARNEY:  I just don’t know what the latest is on that.  I’d refer you to the State Department.

        Q    Is he weighing in on it at all?

        MR. CARNEY:  I don’t have anything more for you on that.

        Q    Jay, Friends of the Earth have argued and have emails that show some relationship between the Canadian company and some State Department officials.  Is the President concerned about that, or has he looked at that?

        MR. CARNEY:  Again, I just don’t have anything more on that for you.  I haven’t had that discussion with him.

        Q    Can you respond to Paul Ryan’s comments today that suggest that the President has not lived up to the promise that he set out when he launched his presidential campaign?

        MR. CARNEY:  This is the speech that Congressman Ryan gave about -- decrying the politics of division, which he gave at a conservative think tank, a very partisan conservative think tank, in which he then spent most of his speech criticizing and attacking the President?  That’s the speech you’re referring to?

        Q    That’s the speech I’m referring to.

        MR. CARNEY:  I do have something to say about that.  This President’s commitment to trying to overcome the kind of divisive politics is at the core of who he is as a leader and a politician.  The fact of the matter is, despite what Congressman Ryan says, the President’s approach, is viewed even recently -- and I’m citing somebody else’s work here that I saw, a little item -- even recently cited in a Fox News poll with a somewhat leading question about, do you believe that the approach the President is taking is bringing people together or is he deliberately dividing people -- 56 to 32 said the former.

        Q    -- what was that?

        MR. CARNEY:  Said that his approach is trying to bring people together.  This is his current approach to these problems. And that is the approach he’s taken.  This President, from the beginning, has tried repeatedly to work with Republicans, and has successfully worked with them on a number of issues.  

        I would simply remind Congressman Ryan that the Republican leader in the other body, the Senate, made clear in public statements that his number-one priority wasn’t to work with Democrats, wasn’t to work with the President, wasn’t to get things done in a way that the American people want them to get done, but to -- his number-one priority, as he said explicitly, was to do everything he could to assure that President Obama was not reelected.  It sounds like politics of division to me.

        More importantly, again -- and this is not about Congressman Ryan's motives or sincerity of his beliefs, but he put forward a budget plan that would give an average of a $200,000 tax cut to the average millionaire, and through the voucherization of Medicare, heap extraordinary new burdens on senior citizens in America.  That seems pretty divisive to me.  It's certainly not an approach that the American people support.  And I would contrast it with the kind of support the American people in survey after survey have shown for the approach the President is taking.  

        What else do we have here?  There's a familiar refrain that we heard in the speech about going after small business and punitive tax hikes on job creators -- something I always find interesting because by the way Republicans define small businesses, did you know that more than 200 of the 400 highest earning people in America, people whose average annual income is $271 million -- that they're small business owners because they're in partnership with law firms and other things, and that those are the jobs -- the small business owners that they say shouldn’t be paying a little extra.

        Q    -- responded by talking about a lot of what Republicans have done that's been divisive.  But what about just sort of addressing the core of what he's saying?  President Obama came to prominence, his whole political rise was based on the promise of bringing people together, and at the end of the day --

        MR. CARNEY:  I think the President has been very candid about this, that it's been -- that it has been a very difficult task, but it is one that he remains committed to.  And again, I know because I was there, that he went to extraordinary efforts from the very beginning of his administration to work with Republicans in a bipartisan way to take the necessary measures to prevent what was a catastrophic situation for our economy from becoming a second Great Depression -- and measure after measure where he sought Republican support.  And again, I think we know now from what we've heard quite explicitly from Republican leaders is that their priority was to prevent the President from getting that bipartisan support because they thought it was politically advantageous for them to do so.

        That's unfortunate.  But the President still believes that we can work together because that's what -- not because he has some power to make it happen, but because the American people really are fed up with the continual dysfunction we find in Washington.  You see it again and again and again when you talk to folks out in the country and you see it in data -- they're just fed up with that dysfunction.  They're fed up with people putting party ahead of country.

        And he believes that he's going to keep taking a pickaxe to the rock and try to break down that kind of resistance to the sort of bipartisan cooperation that he believes the American people are crying out for.  

        And again, I mean, he could have crafted an American Jobs Act, a proposal that was filled with ideas that only Democrats had ever supported.  Democrats would have thought, perhaps, that was a good idea.  Instead, he put it -- filled it with ideas that Republicans have traditionally supported as well, not just Democrats -- because he wanted it passed because he thought it was the right thing to do for the country, and he was realistic about the need to put something forward that Republicans could support -- because they have in the past.  And unfortunately, that, as of yet, has not occurred.

        Q    Jay, returning to the student loan question, just a kind of a technical question.  You said, the White House has said that it's no cost to taxpayers.  But if you're consolidating the loans and lowering the rate by half a point, don't you end up with a loss -- some loss of revenue out of that?

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, I believe that there is an overall actual savings, reduction to the deficit through this program.  I would -- I'll have to steer you to the policy experts on how that works.  But it is actually a deficit reducer, not a -- no burden to the taxpayer.  And I know that there are GOP talking points out there that --

        Q    -- an expectation that more would pay back --

        MR. CARNEY:  Let me see if I can find some data -- I know that there's been people out there discussing -- conference calls that have been had and policy people talking to your colleagues about how this will work.  But we're very confident that, contrary to the criticism from some quarters, that far from being a burden on taxpayers, this will be a deficit reducer -- and a huge help to students all across the country who are heavily burdened by this student debt.  And as the President said, this has become a major, major problem for Americans, and he thinks it's the right thing to do to try to help them.

        Q    Jay, can you tell us anything about the unpublicized meeting that the President had in L.A. yesterday with Hollywood executives?

        MR. CARNEY:  Well, the President has lots of meetings.  I don't have -- I saw that report, like a secret meeting.  Did that mean did he have a secret meeting with the motorcade drivers and the police officers that he does every time?  I mean, he has conversations that aren’t on the public schedule.  But I think it was just talking to supporters.  It was not a campaign event in the sense that it was not -- there was no -- it was not a fundraiser.  It was just a discussion -- brief, very brief, like 10 minutes -- with some supporters.

        Q    What do you think of Rick Perry’s flat tax, and the claim that his economic policies will create 2.5 million jobs if he’s elected?

        MR. CARNEY:  I confess I haven’t had a chance to evaluate it yet, or to talk to our folks here about it.  Our belief is that we need to, through tax reform, make sure that we don't shift an even greater burden on the middle class.  I know that -- going back to Laura’s question about Congressman Ryan -- I think he was asked about -- the new CBO report, the nonpartisan CBO report, that demonstrates the remarkable transformation that’s been happening in this country with a greater and greater concentration of wealth among the very, very top earners in this country.

        And you know what, the President’s approach is we want to make sure that more people have that kind of upward mobility; more people can move up from the lower rungs to the middle class, from the middle class higher and higher.  And, unfortunately, what we’ve seen is a reduction in the kind of opportunities, and in part because of some of the policies.  

        The middle class does not deserve new, added burdens.  They do not deserve tax hikes.  They do not deserve, we think, policies that actually would benefit those who have already benefited so greatly in the last decade -- a time when middle class incomes stagnated or even declined.

        So I haven’t had a chance, again, to look at that particular plan.  I know that that is often the issue with so-called flat tax plans, is that what they end up being very, very regressive and even -- I believe the flat tax plan proposed by one of the other candidates in the Republican primaries has been criticized by other Republicans for doing that, for shifting the tax burden away from -- onto the middle class and giving greater tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.  

        Q    So what is the President doing right now?

        MR. CARNEY:  Last I -- I talked to him right before I came out.  He asked me if I was going to gaggle.  I said, yes, I was. He said to say hello.  He hopes you enjoyed your trip.

        Q    Why does he so rarely come back here, Jay, and talk to reporters --

        MR. CARNEY:  I think he has come back a couple of times on my watch.  I mean, I think that he gives a lot of press conferences and I’m sure he'll be back to say hello in the future.

        Q    He's welcome.

        Q    Jay, do you have a comment on the State Department spending $70,000 on President Obama’s books?

        MR. CARNEY:  I saw that.  I would refer you to the State Department.  What I do know, because we looked into it -- obviously the White House didn’t have anything to do with this --I think this is an embassy-by-embassy based decision, based on what they think is, in buying books, makes sense to them in terms of advancing American foreign policy interests.

        I mean, I see in some paper that a lot of these embassies have books by Colin Powell or George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan.  But, again, in terms of this particular news story, I would refer you to the State Department.

        Thanks, guys.

END 2:56 P.M. EDT

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

W Hotel
San Francisco, California 

October 25, 2011
2:25 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, San Francisco!  (Applause.)  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Everybody have a seat.  It is wonderful to be back in San Francisco, great to be back in California. 

I want to thank a couple of people, especially, first of all, I want to thank Jack Johnson for flying from Hawaii to perform here.  (Applause.)  Terrific.  He told me the waves are good right now.  (Laughter.)  So this is a big sacrifice.  His nephew is going to Berkeley -- (applause) -- and he's trying to surf here, too, and it's a little colder, he's discovered.  (Laughter.)  But he's going to make a go at it.

I also want to acknowledge the outstanding mayor of Sacramento, who I expect to try to settle the NBA strike, along with the other work he's done -- Kevin Johnson is in the house.  (Applause.)

And even though she had to be back in D.C., I just want to make sure that everybody knows that Nancy Pelosi continues to fight on behalf of you every single day, and she's doing a great job.  (Applause.)  So we're very proud of her.

Now, as I look around the room, there's some people who've been supporting me since I was running for the United States Senate.  And some of you are relatively new to this process.  But I’m here to tell you, whether you're an old grizzled veteran -- (laughter) -- or new to the scene, I need your help.  I need your help.  But I also, more importantly, want to talk to you about how the country needs your help.

I’m here because if you thought the last election was crucial, then I've got to tell you that what happens in this year is going to be more consequential, more important to the future of our kids and our grandchildren than just about any election that we’ve seen in a very long time.

For the past three years, we’ve been wrestling with two kinds of crises -- the worst financial crisis and economic crisis since the Great Depression, but we’ve also been dealing with a profound political crisis.  

All across the country, people are crying out for action.  A lot of folks have spent months looking for work -- they’re living paycheck to paycheck; some are living day to day.  Others are doing their best just to get by.  Maybe they’re giving up going out to a restaurant or going to a movie, in order to make sure that they can pay the mortgage.  There are folks who maybe have delayed retirement so that they can send their child to college. They’re feeling enormous pressure and enormous stress. 

And they’re not looking for that much -- they’re not asking for that much.  They aren’t asking for handouts.  They don’t think that government can or should do everything to solve their problems.  But they do believe what most of you believe, which is that America should be a place where you can make it if you try. That no matter who you are, where you come from, what circumstances you’re born into, that if you’re willing to put in the work and the effort and you do the right thing, that you can make it.  A country where everybody has a fair shake, and everybody does their fair share.  That’s what people are looking for.

And those values, which are reflected in how people deal with each other every day in the workplace and at schools and in their communities and their neighborhoods, they’d like to see those values reflected in Washington as well.  And they haven’t seen enough of that. 

Most folks feel as if the economy works best when it works for everybody, not just those at the very top.  They believe that hard work should pay off, and that responsibility should be rewarded.  And these beliefs are not Democratic values; they’re not Republican values.  They’re American values.  They’re the bedrock of what this country has always stood for. 

While I was in line I met a gentleman who came here from India with 9 bucks in his pocket, and is now the president of a community bank.   This country continues to attract talent from all across the world precisely because people believe that there’s something special about this place where what you put into it means you can get that piece of the American Dream.  And that’s why so many of you worked on the campaign in 2008 -- because you have that same belief.  And you didn't see it reflected in our politics.

Now, three years later, it’s clear that Washington has not gotten the message yet.  That’s why, over the last month, I’ve been hammering at Congress to see if they can actually do something for folks who are hurting out here.  That’s why we introduced a jobs bill that could actually start putting people back to work right now. 

And this is a bill that’s filled with Democratic and Republican proposals.  These are the kinds of proposals that in the past would have gotten bipartisan support  -- tax cuts for workers and small businesses, funding to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our schools and to put construction workers back to work, funding to hire teachers and our veterans.  It’s a bill that’s fully paid for by asking those of us who've been most blessed in this society to do a little bit more, to pay a little bit more. 

So it’s all paid for.  And independent economists -- people who look at this stuff for a living, not the economists who work for me -- say it’s the only jobs plan out there that would create jobs right now, and grow the economy right now.  One economist estimated that we could see as many as 2 million jobs created as a consequence of this bill.  And polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support the proposals that are in this bill -- not just Democrats, but independents and Republicans as well.

But despite all this support, despite the fact that these are bipartisan ideas, despite all the experts who say this would give the economy the kind of jolt that it needs right now, we’ve got Republicans in the Senate who keep on voting against it. 

Last week we had a separate vote on a part of the jobs bill that would put 400,000 teachers and firefighters and police officers back on the job.  And it was paid for by asking people who make over a million dollars a year to pay one-half of 1 percent more in taxes.  So for someone making $1.1 million a year, that’s an extra $500 that would save 400,000 jobs all across the country.  And not just any jobs, but jobs that are vital to the well-being of our kids and our communities.
 
Most people I know who make more than a million dollars a year would make that contribution willingly.  (Applause.)  They’re patriots.  They want to see America strong.  But all the Republicans in the Senate, 100 percent, voted no. 

And their leader, Mitch McConnell, actually said that saving the jobs of teachers and cops and firefighters would be nothing more than a “bailout.”  A bailout?  Now, these aren’t bad actors who acted irresponsibly and recklessly to destroy the economy.  They are the men and women who teach our children, and protect our communities, and risk their lives for us every single day.  They’re heroes and they deserve our support.  And it would be good for all of us, because it would give the entire economy a boost.  

So this is the fight that we’re having right now.  And this is, frankly, what the next year is probably going to be about.  The Republicans in Congress and the folks running for president have made their agenda crystal clear.  They have two basic economic priorities -- two basic proposals:  tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations paid for by gutting investments in education and research and our infrastructure -- all the things that helped make America an economic superpower; weaken programs like Medicare and our basic social safety net.  That’s one proposal.  And the second proposal is to gut just about every regulation that you can think of.

Now, I agree that there are some rules and some regulations that put an unnecessary burden on businesses at a time when they can least afford it.  And that’s why we’ve already identified 500 regulatory reforms that will save billions of dollars over the next year.  But what we can’t do, and what I won’t do, is to let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades.  (Applause.) 

I reject an argument that says we’ve got to roll back protections that ban hidden fees by credit card companies, or rules that keep our kids from being exposed to mercury, or laws that prevent the health insurance industry from exploiting people who are sick.  And I reject the idea that somehow if we strip away collective bargaining rights that we’ll be somehow better off. 

We should not be in a race to the bottom, where we take pride in having the cheapest labor and the most polluted air and the least protected consumers.  That is not a competition we can win.  What we can win is a future in which we have the highest skilled workers, and the best technology, and the best manufacturing, and the best education system, and the best infrastructure.  That’s the race to the future that I want to win.  And I know that’s the race to the future that you want to win.  (Applause.) 

And the worst part of it is, is that it’s not as if this is a new argument that they’re making.  They’ve been making it for decades -- and we tried it for an entire decade.  For an entire decade we cut taxes for people who didn't need it and weren’t asking for it; we basically suspended environment regulations; we didn't do anything with respect to consumers; we didn't reign in health care costs and the health care industry; the financial system pretty much could go and do whatever it wanted.  And the result was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
So it’s not as if we haven’t tried what they’re talking about. 

And during that period, for middle-class families, wages and incomes actually fell, even as the economy was growing.  It’s not as if we haven’t tried what they’re selling.  We have.  And it didn't work. 

More than that, their basic idea that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is to somehow break up government and refund everybody their money through tax cuts and let every company write its own rules and tell every American that they’re on their own -- that’s not who we are.  That’s not the essence of America.   

Yes, we are rugged individualists.  And we’ve got entrepreneurs here and folks who work in Silcon Valley -- you’ve been able to take an idea and go out there and make something out of it.  It’s remarkable.  Changing the world.  And many of you have been rewarded very well for that.  So we take pride in our individualism and our creativity and our self-reliance.  We understand that it’s the drive and the initiative of our workers and our companies that make this economy prosperous.  But there's always been another thread in our history that says we’re all connected; that there are some things we can do better, as a nation, some things we can do better together. 

Because a big chunk of the entrepreneurs who are in this room -- you got an education somewhere and somebody paid for it. You got a college scholarship somewhere along the line, and somebody paid for it.  Somewhere along the line you were able to use platforms and technologies that have been developed because, collectively, we decided we were going to invest in basic research.  There were rules of the road that governed our economic system that allowed you to prosper. 

That, too, is not just a Democratic idea.  Our very first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of a civil war, invested in the Homestead Act and the National Academy of Sciences, and built the Transnational Railroad, and land-grant colleges.  Because he understood that for America to succeed, everybody had to have a shot, and to do that, all of us had to chip in to make that investment.

Dwight Eisenhower understood it when he built the Interstate Highway System and invested in all the math and science education that ended up helping us send a man to the moon.  My grandfather would not have gone to college had it not been for the G.I. Bill -- and there were Republicans in Congress who supported that along with FDR to make that happen.  And as a consequence, not only did millions of Americans end up entering the middle class, but we went on the largest economic boom that we’d ever seen in history.

It’s not just a Democratic idea -- it’s an American idea.  And that’s what we’re fighting for.  That’s what this election is all about.  That’s the reason I’m standing here -- because somebody gave me a shot.  Somebody gave me a fair shake.  And that required folks before me -- not just my mom, not just my grandparents -- but an entire society that was committed and invested in every child having opportunity for me to be able to stand here today.  And that is true for most of you.

So the question is, are we going to continue that story, are we going to continue on that journey for our kids and our grandkids?  That’s what we’re going to have to do today.  If we want to compete with other countries for good, middle-class jobs, then we’re going to have to make America the best place on Earth to do business.  And, yes, that means cutting away unnecessary regulations.  It means making government more efficient and more effective.  Yes, it means bringing down our deficit and reducing spending that we don't need so we can make investments where we do. 

But we can’t just cut our way out of prosperity.  If we want win the future, then we’ve got to invest in education, so that every single child has an opportunity not just to graduate from high school, but to get some secondary education, and get the skills and the training they need to succeed.  If we want businesses to come here, we’ve got to invest in new roads and bridges and airports and wireless infrastructure and a smart-grid.  We’re not going to be able to succeed otherwise. 

We used to have the best stuff.  Anybody been to Beijing Airport lately?  Or driven on high-speed rail in Asia or Europe? What’s changed?  Well, we’ve lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam and unleashed all the potential in this country. 

If we want industries to start here, we’re going to have to make sure that all the research and technology that was developed through programs like DARPA or over at NIH, that that continues. That’s how the next Apple or the next Google or the next Skype ends up being created.  And instead of just buying and consuming things from other countries, we need to go back to what America has always done best, and that is building and manufacturing and selling goods around the world that are stamped with three words -- “Made in America.”  That is something that we can do.  (Applause.)  

So we can’t just go back to an economy that’s built on debt, or built on outsourcing, or built on risky financial ventures that jeopardize our economy and threaten the security of the middle class.  We need an economy that is built to last and built to compete, an economy where responsibility is rewarded and hard work pays off and everybody has a chance to get ahead.  And that’s what we’re fighting for.  That’s what’s at stake right now. 

And that’s why I need your help.  I know times are tough right now, and this has been a difficult three years for a lot of Americans.  And when you look at what’s going on in Washington, it’s easier to become cynical than ever before about the possibilities and prospects of change through our politics.  But here’s what I want you to remember.  The one way to guarantee that change won’t happen is for all of us just to give up, to give in -- to go home. 

The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don’t work even harder than we did in 2008, then we’re going to have a government that tells the American people, you are on your own.  If you get sick, you’re on your own.  If you can’t afford college, you’re on your own.  If you don’t like that some corporation is polluting your air or the air that your child breathes, then you’re on your own. 

That’s not the America I believe in.  It’s not the America you believe in.  So we’re going to have to fight for the America that we believe in.  And that’s what this campaign is going to be all about. 

And change is hard.  Change takes time.  But change is possible.  It took years to overcome the Great Depression and win World War II.  But when we did we emerged as the most prosperous nation on Earth with the largest middle class in history.  And from the moment that we emerged from that war, then we had other struggles to fight.  It took years for the civil rights movement to culminate not just in Brown v. Board of Education, but ultimately the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and all the things that we now take for granted. 

It took years from the day that JFK told us we were going to the moon for us actually to get to the moon.  But eventually, because of steady progress, we made that "giant leap for mankind."
 
And even on this campaign journey that we’ve been on together -- I notice that people now have a revisionist history. They say, oh, that campaign was so easy.  It was so smooth.  (Laughter.)  That’s not how I remember it.  (Laughter.)  It was hard.  And you signed up for hard, because you decided to support a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama.  (Laughter.)  Nobody thought that was going to be easy.  (Applause.)  Nobody thought that was going to be easy, but you did it anyway.  You thought it was worth it. 

And today, even though we’ve got a hard road to travel, we can look back on the change that we’ve made over the past three years with enormous pride.  Change is the first bill I signed into law that says in this country an equal day’s work gets an equal day’s pay -- because our daughters need to have the same opportunities as all of our sons get.  (Applause.)
 
Change is not just pulling this economy out of the possibilities of a Great Depression and stabilizing and making sure we didn’t have a financial meltdown, but it’s also making sure that we restored the American auto industry so that it is more profitable than it’s been in a decade.  And, by the way, it’s profitable making cars that are more fuel-efficient than ever before.  And we’ve now doubled fuel-efficiency standards on cars and trucks, which is going to take carbon out of our atmosphere and make us less dependent on foreign oil.  (Applause.)  That’s change that you produced.  That’s what change looks like.  (Applause.) 

Change is the fact that for the first time in our history, you can serve this country that you love regardless of the person that you love.  We ended “don’t ask, don't tell.”  That is change.  (Applause.)

Change is the reforms that we made in the financial system so that you can't have credit card companies charging you hidden fees, and lenders deceiving homeowners into mortgages that they can't afford, and Wall Street banks acting so recklessly that you end up having taxpayers bail them out.  That's change.

Change is keeping the promise that I made when I started this campaign, that this December we will have all of our troops out of Iraq, back home for the holidays.  (Applause.)  And we’re transitioning out of Afghanistan.  And we’ve refocused our efforts on the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11 -- which is why we’ve been able to decimate al Qaeda and make sure that Osama bin Laden never again walks on the face of this Earth.  That's change.  (Applause.)

Change is the thousands of families who are able to pay for college because we took on the banks and the lenders and made tuition more affordable.  Change is the 1 million young adults who already have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the 30 million more that are finally going to be able to get coverage.  (Applause.)  When that law is signed, it will mean for families all across the country they won’t be bankrupt if somebody in their family gets sick. 

So change is possible.  We’ve made change.  And we’ve made it because of you.  And so the question is how committed are you going to be to continue this process. 

I keep a checklist in my drawer of my campaign promises.  About once a week I take it out and make a little check.  (Laughter.)  And we’ve gotten about 60 percent done so far -- in three years.  (Applause.)  But I need another five to get the other 40 percent done -- (applause) -- so we can get comprehensive immigration reform done, and we can have a serious energy policy that finally deals with climate change in a serious way, and make sure that we continue to grow our economy in a way that's productive and makes our kids' futures bright.

We’ve got more work to do.  We’ve got more work to do to reform our education system.  We’ve got more work to do to bring our deficit down in a balanced way.  And I can only do it with you.  You are the ones who produce change. 

This campaign has never just been about me.  It’s always been about you and your commitments to each other, as fellow Americans -- as neighbors and coworkers and friends.  Who are we? What do we believe in?  What do we care about?  What are the better angels of our nature that we want to make sure are reflected in our politics day in, day out?  That’s what you signed up for back in 2007-2008. 

We didn't promise you easy.  But we said that, together, we’ve got this vision for what we want America to look like.  So we made a lot of change, but we’ve got a lot more work to do.  And I know that I’m now a little grayer -- (laughter) -- and it’s not as trendy to be an Obama supporter as it was back in 2008, when I was sort of the new thing, sort of the new new thing.  (Laughter.)  We’ve had setbacks.  We’ve had disappointments.  I’ve made mistakes on occasion -- Michelle reminds me of those frequently.  (Laughter.)  The “Hope” poster is kind of faded and a little dog-eared.  (Laughter.) 

But that vision is still there.  That commitment is still there.  That fundamental belief in the American people is still there. 

So if you’re with me, if you’re all in, if we remind ourselves that America was built because each of us decided to believe in a big, generous, bold America -- not a cramped, small America -- if we remind ourselves that we are tougher than the times that we’re in, and if we remind ourselves that we’re better than the politics that we’ve been seeing, then I’m absolutely confident we are not just going to win this election; we’re going to remind everybody around the world just why it is that America is the greatest country in the world.

Thank you, so much, everybody.  God bless you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

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2:55 P.M. PDT