Remarks by the President in Madison, WI

Martin Luther King Boulevard
Madison, Wisconsin

10:55 A.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Wisconsin!  (Applause.)  Are you fired up?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  Are you ready to go?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  I cannot imagine not being fired up after listening to Bruce Springsteen.  (Applause.)  I can't thank him enough for everything that he’s done for this campaign.  He is an American treasure.  He gets embarrassed when you talk about him that way.  But he tells the story of what our country is, and what it should be, and what it can be.  And I get to fly around with him on the last day that I will ever campaign -- so that’s not a bad way to end things.  (Applause.)  

This is an incredible crowd, and it’s good to be back.  (Applause.)  The weather is cooperating.  (Applause.)  It sort of feels like Chicago -- nice and brisk. 

There are a couple other people I want to thank before we get started.  Your next senator from the great state of Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin, is here.  (Applause.)  She’ll follow in the footsteps of two other outstanding Wisconsin senators -- Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, who are here.  (Applause.)  Your next congressman, Marc Pocan, is here.  (Applause.)  And let’s give it up for the Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin -- Paul Soglin.  (Applause.)   

Now, for the past week, even in the midst of all this campaigning and electioneering and way too many TV commercials, all of us -- including Bruce -- have been focused on one of the worst storms of our lifetime.  And I had a chance to visit New Jersey, and every day I've been talking to mayors and governors and local officials and families.  And we mourn those lives that have been lost. 

And whenever I talk to folks in the region, I tell them the same thing that I say whenever a tragedy besets the American family, and that is the American people come together and make a commitment that we will walk with these folks whose lives have been upended every step on the hard road ahead and the hard road to recovery.  We’ll carry on.  No matter how bad the storm is, we will be there together.  (Applause.)  No matter how bad the storm is, we recover together.  We're all in this together.  We rise or fall as one nation, and as one people.  (Applause.) 

And, you know, Madison, that spirit has guided this country along its improbable journey for more than two centuries.  It’s carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. 

In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Today, our businesses have created nearly 5.5 million new jobs.  (Applause.) The American auto industry is back on top.  Home values are on the rise.  We’re less dependent on foreign oil than any time in 20 years, and we've doubled the production of clean energy across America.  (Applause.)  

Because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over.  The war in Afghanistan is coming to a close.  Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat.  Osama bin Laden is dead.   We've made progress these last four years.  (Applause.)  

We’ve made progress these last four years.  But the reason we're all gathered here -- in addition to listening to Bruce -- (laughter) -- is because we know we've got more work to do.  We've got more work to do.  As long as there's a single American who wants a job but can't find one, our work is not yet done.  As long as there are families working harder and harder but still falling behind, we've got more work to do.  As long as there is a child anywhere in Madison, in Wisconsin, in America, who's languishing in poverty and barred from opportunity, our work is not yet done.  The fight goes on.  (Applause.)

Our fight goes on because this nation cannot succeed without a growing, thriving middle class and sturdy, strong ladders for everybody who's willing to work to get into the middle class.  Our fight goes on because we know America has always done best, we've always prospered when everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share, everybody is playing by the same rules.  That’s what we believe.  That’s why you elected me in 2008 and that is why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.  (Applause.)

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

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, Wisconsin, tomorrow you have a choice to make.  And it’s not just a choice between two candidates or two parties.  It is a choice between two different visions for America.  It’s a choice between returning to the top-down policies that crashed our economy, or a future that’s built on providing opportunity to everybody and growing a strong middle class.  (Applause.)  

Understand, Wisconsin, as Americans we honor the strivers, the dreamers, the small businesspeople, the risk-takers, the entrepreneurs who’ve been the driving force behind our free enterprise system.  And that free market is the greatest engine of prosperity and growth the world has ever known.  But we also believe that in this country, like no other, our market works, our system works only when everybody has got a shot -- when everybody is participating, when everybody has a chance to get a decent education, when every worker has the chance to get the skills they need, when we support research into medical breakthroughs and new technologies.  (Applause.)  

We believe that America is stronger -- not weaker, stronger -- when everybody can count on affordable health insurance.  (Applause.)  We believe our country is better when people can count on Medicare and Social Security in their golden years.  (Applause.)  We think the market functions more effective when there are rules in place to make sure our kids are protected from toxic dumping; to make sure consumers aren't being taken advantage of by unscrupulous credit card companies or mortgage lenders.  (Applause.)  

We believe that there’s a place for rules and regulations that make sure our people are safe.  And we also believe there are some things politicians should stay out of.  For example, we think that folks in Washington, especially men, should not try to control health care choices that women are perfectly capable of making themselves.  (Applause.)

Now, Madison, here’s the thing.  For eight years, we had a President who shared these beliefs -- his name was Bill Clinton. (Applause.)  And when he first came into office, his economic plan asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we could reduce our deficit and still invest in the skills and ideas of our people.  And at the time, the Republican Congress -- and a certain Senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney -- said Bill Clinton’s plan would hurt the economy, would kill jobs, would hurt the job creators.  Does this sound familiar?  (Laughter.)   

Turns out his math back then was just as bad as it is now.  (Laughter.)  Because by the end of President Clinton’s second term, America had created 23 million new jobs.  Incomes were up; poverty was down.  Our deficit had turned into a surplus.  (Applause.)

So, Wisconsin, our ideas have been tested.  We’ve tried them; they worked.  (Applause.)  The other side’s ideas have also been tested -- they didn’t work so well.  (Applause.)  After Bill Clinton left office, during most of the last decade, we tried giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.  We tried giving insurance companies and oil companies and Wall Street free rein to do whatever they pleased.  And what did we get?  Falling incomes, record deficits, the slowest job growth in half a century, an economic crisis that we’ve been cleaning up after ever since. 

So this should not be that complicated.  We tried our ideas; they worked.  The economy grew.  We created jobs.  Deficits went down.  We tried their ideas; they didn’t work.  The economy didn’t grow, not as many jobs, and the deficit went up. 

But here’s the thing.  Governor Romney is a very talented salesman.  And in this campaign, he’s tried as hard as he can to repackage the same old bad ideas and make them out to be new ideas -- and try to convince you that he’s all about change.  He's trying to convince you that these bad, old ideas are change.

Listen, we know what change looks like, Madison, and what he's selling ain't it.  (Applause.)  Giving more power back to the biggest banks -- that’s not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy is not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Refusing to answer questions about your policies until after the election -- that’s definitely not change.  (Laughter.)  That’s the oldest game in the book. 

Ruling out compromise by pledging to rubber-stamp the tea party's agenda in Congress -- that’s not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Changing the facts when they're inconvenient to your campaign -- not change. 

AUDIENCE:  No! 

THE PRESIDENT:  Which raises something else about this presidential campaign -- t's not just about policies, it's also about trust.  It's also about trust. 

Wisconsin, you know me by now.  (Applause.)  You may not agree with every decision I've made -- Michelle doesn’t either.  (Laughter.)  You may be frustrated at the pace of change.  I promise you, so am I sometimes.  But you know that I say what I mean and I mean what I say.  (Applause.) 

I said I'd end the war in Iraq -- and I ended it.  (Applause.)  I said I'd pass health care reform -- I passed it.  (Applause.)  I said I'd repeal "don't ask, don't tell" -- we repealed it.  (Applause.)  I said we'd crack down on reckless practices on Wall Street -- and we did.  (Applause.)  

So you know where I stand.  You know what I believe.  You know I tell the truth.  And you know that I'll fight for you and your families every single day as hard as I know how.  You know that about me.  (Applause.) 

So when I say, Wisconsin, that I know what real change looks like, you've got cause to believe me because you've seen me fight for it, and you've seen me deliver it.  You've seen the scars on me to prove it.  (Applause.)  You've seen the gray hair on my head -- (laughter) -- to show you what it means to fight for change.  And you’ve been there with me.  And after all we’ve been through together, we can’t give up now.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Because we’ve got more change to do.  (Applause.)  We’ve got more change to make.

Think about the next four years.  Change is a country where every American has a shot at a great education.  (Applause.)  And government can’t do it alone -- parents have to parent, students have to study.  But don’t tell me that hiring more outstanding teachers won’t help this economy grow.  Of course it will.  (Applause.) 

Don’t tell me that students who can’t afford to go to college should just borrow money from their parents.  That wasn’t an option for me, Madison.  I’ll bet it wasn’t an option for a lot of the students who are here today.  (Applause.)  And so that’s why I want to cut the growth in tuition in half by the next 10 years.  (Applause.)  I want to recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers so we don’t fall behind the rest of the world.  (Applause.)  Train 2 million Americans at our community colleges with the skills that businesses are looking for right now. 

That’s what change is.  (Applause.)  That’s what we’re fighting for in this election.

Change comes when we live up to this country’s legacy of innovation.  I could not be prouder that I bet on American workers and the American auto industry.  (Applause.)  But what makes me really proud is we’re not just building cars again, we’re building better cars -- cars that by the middle of the next decade will go twice as far on a gallon of gas, which will save you money, help our national security, help our environment. 

And that kind of innovation, that kind of ingenuity isn’t restricted to the auto industry.  We’ve got thousands of workers building long-lasting batteries and wind turbines all across the country.  And I don’t want to subsidize oil company profits; I want to support the energy jobs of tomorrow, the new technologies that will cut our oil imports in half, take some of the carbon out of the atmosphere.  (Applause.)  I don’t want a tax code that rewards companies for creating jobs overseas; I want to reward companies that are investing right here in Wisconsin -- (applause) -- in the next generation of manufacturing in America. That’s my plan for jobs and growth.  And that’s what we’re fighting for in this election.

Change is turning the page on a decade of war so we can do some nation-building here at home.  (Applause.)  As long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will always pursue our enemies with the strongest military the world has ever known.  But it’s time to use the savings from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to pay down our debt and rebuild America -- (applause) -- putting some hardhats back to work repairing roads and bridges; making our schools state of the art all across this country; hiring our veterans -- because if you fought for our freedom, you shouldn’t have to fight for a job, or a roof over your head, or the services you’ve earned when you come home.  (Applause.) 

And that’s what will keep us strong.  That’s my commitment to you, and that’s what’s at stake in this election.

And, yes, change is a future where we reduce our deficit, but we do it in a balanced, responsible way.  I’ve signed a trillion dollars’ worth of spending cuts, gotten rid of programs that aren't working.  I intend to do more.  But if we’re serious about the deficit, we can't just cut our way to prosperity.  We've also got to ask the wealthiest Americans to go back to the tax rates they paid when Bill Clinton was in office.  (Applause.) And, by the way, we can afford it.  I haven't talked to Bruce, but I know he can afford it.  (Laughter.)  I can afford it.  Mr. Romney, he can afford it.  (Laughter.) 

Because our budget reflects our values.  It's a reflection of our priorities.  And as long as I'm President, I'm not going to kick some poor kids off of Head Start to give me a tax cut.  (Applause.)  I'm not going to turn Medicare into a voucher just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut.  (Applause.)  

So, Wisconsin, we know what change is.  We know what the future requires.  But we also know it's not going to be easy.  Back in 2008, we talked about it.  I know everybody sometimes romanticizes the last campaign -- and the posters and all the good feeling.  But I said back then, when I talk about change, I'm not just talking about changing presidents or political parties.  I'm talking about changing how our politics works. 

I ran because the voices of the American people -- your voices -- had been shut out of our democracy for way too long by lobbyists and special interests and politicians who will say and do anything just to keep things the way they are, to protect the status quo.  And the status quo in Washington is fierce.  And over the last four years, that status quo has fought us every step of the way.  They spent millions trying to stop us from reforming the health care system; spent millions trying to prevent us from reforming Wall Street.  They engineered a strategy of gridlock in Congress, refusing to compromise on ideas that both Democrats and Republicans had agreed to in the past. 

And what they’re counting on now is that you’re going to be so worn down, so fed up, so tired of all the squabbling, so tired of all the dysfunction, that you’re just going to give up and walk away, and leave them --

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- leave them right where they are -- pulling the strings, pulling the levers, and you locked out of the decisions that impact your lives.  In other words, their bet is on cynicism. 
But, Wisconsin, my bet is on you.  (Applause.)  My bet is on you. 

And understand, I'm not making a partisan point here.  When the other party has been willing to work with me to cut middle-class taxes for families and small businesses, or some courageous Republican senators crossing the aisle to support the repeal of "don’t ask, don’t tell," I'm thrilled -- because we're not Democrats or Republicans first.  We're Americans first.  (Applause.) 

As long as I’m President, I'll work with anybody of any party to move this country forward.  And if you want to break the gridlock in Congress, you’ll vote for leaders like Tammy Baldwin -- (applause) -- whether they're Democrats or Republicans or independents -- who feel the same way, who put you first, not the next election first.

But you know what, sometimes you got to fight.  Sometimes you got to stand on principle.  If the price of peace in Washington is cutting deals to cut students off of financial aid, or get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, or let insurance companies discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, or eliminate health care for millions of folks who are on Medicaid who are poor or elderly or disabled, I won’t pay that price.  That's not a deal I’ll take.  (Applause.)  That's not bipartisanship.  That's not change.  That's surrender.  That's surrender to the same status quo that’s been squeezing middle-class families for way too long. 

That's not why I ran for President, to leave things the way they are.  I’m not ready to give up on that fight.  (Applause.)  I’m not ready to give up on that fight, Wisconsin.  And I hope you aren’t either. 

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, the folks at the very top in this country, they don't need another champion in Washington.  They’ll always have a seat at the table.  They’ll have access.  They’ll always have influence.  That's the nature of things.  The people who need a champion are the Americans whose letters I read late at night after a long day in the office; the men and women I meet on the campaign trail every day. 

The laid-off worker who’s going back to community college to retrain at the age of 55 for a new career -- she needs a champion.  The restaurant owner who’s got great food, but needs a loan to expand after the bank turned him down -- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)  The cooks and the waiters and the cleaning staff at a Madison hotel, trying to save enough to buy a first home or send their kid to college –- they need a champion. (Applause.) 

The autoworker who never thought he’d see the line again and now is back on the job, filled with pride and dignity, because it’s not just building a great car, it’s not just about a paycheck, it’s about taking pride in what you do –- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)  A teacher in an overcrowded classroom with old, outdated textbooks, digging into her own pocket to buy school supplies, frustrated sometimes, not getting the support she needs, but knowing every single day she might make a difference in that one child’s life, and that makes it all worth it -- she needs a champion.  (Applause.) 

All those kids in inner cities and small farm towns, in the valleys of Ohio, the rolling Virginia hills, or in the streets of Madison -- kids dreaming of becoming scientists or doctors, or engineers or entrepreneurs, diplomats, maybe even a President –- they need a champion.  (Applause.)  They don’t have lobbyists.  The future never has as many lobbyists as the status quo.  But it is the dreams of those children that will be our saving grace.  (Applause.)  That’s what will propel us forward.  That’s what will make America continue to be this shining light on a hill.

And that’s why I need you, Wisconsin.  To make sure the voices of those children are heard.  To make sure your voices are heard.  We have come too far to turn back now.  (Applause.)  We’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint.  Now is the time to keep pushing forward –- to educate all our kids and train all our workers, create new jobs, bring our troops home, care for our veterans, broaden opportunity, grow our middle class, restore our democracy -- and make sure that no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter how you started out, no matter what your last name is, you can make it here in America if you try.  (Applause.)  

And, Wisconsin, that’s why I need your vote.  And if you’re willing to work with me again, and knock on some doors with me, make some phone calls for me, turn out for me, we’ll win Wisconsin.  (Applause.)  We’ll win this election.  We’ll finish what we started.  We’ll renew the bonds that bind us together.  We’ll reaffirm the spirit that makes the United States of America the greatest nation on Earth.  (Applause.)  

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

END
11:19 A.M. CST

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event in Hollywood, FL

McArthur High School
Hollywood, Florida

4:05 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Florida!  (Applause.)  Are you fired up?  (Applause.)  Are you ready to go?  (Applause.)  I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.  Are you fired up? 

AUDIENCE:  Yeah!

THE PRESIDENT:  Ready to go?  (Applause.) 

Can everybody please give Annabella a big round of applause for that great introduction?  (Applause.)  Stories like Annabella’s are why I got into public service in the first place.  And I’m so proud of her and her family, and she’s going to do great things. 

Now, we also have here you former governor, Charlie Crist.  Give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Your outstanding Senator for the next six years, Bill Nelson is in the house.  (Applause.)  Representatives Corinne Brown and Ted Deutch, and the Chairwoman of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz are all here.  (Applause.)  And let’s hear it for your Mayor, Peter Bober.  (Applause.)  

Now, and all of you are here, and I’m really happy about that.  (Applause.)  

For the past several days, all of us have been focused on the storms that are taking place along the East Coast.  And obviously, Florida knows something about storms.  As a nation, we mourn those who have been lost.  And I’ve been up to New Jersey, I’ve been talking to the Governors and the Mayor every single day, and I want people to know that when I talk to them, I’m talking on behalf of America.  And I have told them that we will be with them every step of the way until they have fully recovered from the hardships and the crisis, and we’re going to do it together -- because that’s how we do in the United States of America.  (Applause.) 

And as heartbroken as we’ve been by some of the images of families whose lives have been upended, we’ve also been inspired -- seeing police officers and firefighters and EMS folks rushing into burning buildings and wading water to save lives; and neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy; leaders of different political parties working together to fix what’s broken.  We see a spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, we’ll always bounce back.  No matter how tough times are, we’re all in this together -- that we rise or fall as one nation and as one people.

Now, that spirit has guided this country along its improbable journey for more than two centuries.  And it’s carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. 

Remember, in 2008, we were in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  We were in the middle of two wars.  And today, our businesses have created nearly 5.5 million new jobs.  (Applause.)  The auto industry is back on top.  Home values are beginning to rise again.  We’re less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the last 20 years.  Because of the amazing service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over.  (Applause.)  The war in Afghanistan is coming to a close.  Al Qaeda is on the run.  Osama bin Laden is dead.  (Applause.)  

So we’ve made real progress, Florida, these past four years. But we’re here today -- all of you are here today because you know and I know we’ve got more work to do.  As long as there’s a single American who wants a job but can’t find one, our work is not yet done.  As long as there are families working harder but still falling behind, our work is not yet done.  As long as there’s a child anywhere in Florida, anywhere in the United States, who’s still languishing in poverty and barred from opportunity, we know our fight must go on. 

Our fight goes on because this nation cannot succeed without a growing, thriving middle class.  Our fight goes on because America always does best when everybody has a fair shot, and everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same rules.  (Applause.)  That’s what we believe.  That’s why you elected me in 2008.  And that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, Florida, in two days, you‘ve got a choice to make.  It’s not just a choice between two parties or candidates.  It’s a choice between two different visions of America.  On the one hand, you can choose the return to the top-down policies that crashed our economy -- or you can join me in building a future that focuses on a strong and growing middle class.  (Applause.)  

As Americans, we honor the businessmen and the strivers, the dreamers, the risk-takers who have been the driving force behind our free enterprise system, the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known.  (Applause.)  But we also believe that in this country, our economy grows best, the markets do best when everybody has a chance to succeed; when everybody is getting a good education; when every worker is learning new skills; when we’re investing in research for medical breakthroughs and new technologies. 

We think America is stronger when everybody can count on affordable, quality health insurance; when we protect Medicare and Social Security so that we guarantee dignity and respect in retirement.  We think our economy works best when there are some rules in place to protect our kids from toxic dumping, from protecting consumers from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous credit card companies or mortgage lenders. 

And there are some things we don’t want Washington to do.  For example, we don’t want politicians in Washington, most of whom are male, to control health care decisions that women can make for themselves.  (Applause.)

Now, for eight years, we had a President who shared these beliefs -- his name was Bill Clinton.  (Applause.)  And his economic plan when he first came into office, he asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we could reduce our deficit and still invest in the skills and ideas of our people.  And you know what, at the time, the Republicans in Congress -- and a Senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney --

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t want you to vote, I want you to vote.  (Applause.)  I want you to vote.

But a Republican candidate by the name of Mitt Romney said Bill Clinton’s plans would hurt the economy and kill jobs.  Turns out his math was just as bad back then as it is now.  (Laughter.) Because by the end of President Clinton’s second term, America had created 23 million new jobs, and incomes were up and poverty was down.  And our deficit had turned into a surplus.
 
So, Florida, we know that our ideas work.  We also know that their ideas don't -- because we tried their ideas, too.  We tried giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.  We tried giving insurance companies and oil companies and Wall Street free rein to do whatever they pleased.  And you know what we got?  We got falling incomes, and record deficits, and the slowest job growth in half a century, and an economic crisis we’ve been cleaning up after ever since. 

So let’s just think about this.  Here’s your choice.  You’ve got ideas that we've tried and didn’t work, and you’ve got ideas that we tried that did work.  So you think it would be a pretty clear choice.  But Governor Romney is a very talented salesman.  So in this campaign, he’s tried as hard as he can to repackage these old ideas that didn’t work and pretend that they’re new ideas, and he’s offering them up as change. 

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  But here’s the thing, Florida.  We know what change looks like -- (applause) -- what Governor Romney is offering ain’t it.  (Applause.) 

Giving more power back to the biggest banks -- that's not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Another $5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy -- that's not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Refusing to answer questions about the details of your policies until after the election -- that's definitely not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Politicians have been doing that a long time.  Ruling out compromise by pledging to rubber-stamp the tea party agenda in Congress -- not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Changing the facts when they’re inconvenient to your campaign -- that’s certainly is not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  And here’s the thing.  When you make this choice, part of what you're choosing is who do you trust. 

AUDIENCE:  Barack Obama!

THE PRESIDENT:  Because you don't know what crisis the next President is going to confront.  You don't know what challenge we may have to meet that was unexpected.  So part of what you’re focused on is how does somebody operate.  And, Florida, after four years as President, you know me by now.  (Applause.)  You may not agree with every decision I’ve made.  You know, Michelle doesn’t agree with every decision I've made.  (Laughter.)  You may be frustrated sometimes at the pace of change.  I'm frustrated by the pace of change sometimes.  But here’s the thing, is you know I say what I mean and I mean what I say.  (Applause.)

I said I'd end the war in Iraq -- I ended it.  (Applause.)  I said I'd pass health care reform -- I passed it.  (Applause.)  I said I'd repeal "don't ask, don't tell" -- we repealed it.  (Applause.)  I said we’d make sure the auto industry came back strong -- it’s come back strong.  (Applause.)

You know what I believe.  You know where I stand.  And you know that no matter what happens, I’ll fight for you and your family every single day, as hard as I know how.  (Applause.) 

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

THE PRESIDENT:  So when you're trying to compare the two candidates’ agendas and we're talking about change, you know I know what real change looks like, because I’ve fought for it.  Because I've brought it.  Because I've got the scars to prove it. (Applause.)  Because I've gotten gray hair doing it.  (Applause.) And after all we’ve been through together to bring about change, we can’t give up on it now.

AUDIENCE:  No! 

THE PRESIDENT:  Because there’s more change to do.  Change is a country where every American has a shot at a good education. Government can't do it alone -- parents, you got to parent; students, you’ve got to study.  But don’t tell me that hiring more teachers won’t help this economy grow.  It will.  (Applause.)  Don’t tell me that students who can’t afford college should just borrow more money from their parents.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  That wasn’t an option for me.  I’ll bet it’s not an option for a lot of you.  That’s why the change I want to bring is to cut the growth of tuition in half over the next 10 years.  (Applause.)  Make college more affordable.  I want to recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers so we don’t fall behind the rest of the world.  I want to train 2 million Americans at community colleges to get the skills that businesses are hiring for right now.  That’s my plan.  That’s what change is.  That’s the America we’re fighting for in this election.  (Applause.)  

Change comes when we live up to this country’s legacy of innovation.  I’m could not be prouder that I bet on American workers and American ingenuity when I bet on the American auto industry.  But what I'm really proud of is not just that we're building cars in America again, but that we’re building better cars -- because of advances, because of technology, because of innovation.  Cars that we're building now, by the middle of the next decade will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.  That will save you money.  It will help our national security.  It will help our environment. 

And it’s not just in the auto industry where we can make these kinds of strides.  There are thousands of workers all across America, including here in Florida, that are building long-lasting batteries and wind turbines and solar panels.  And I don’t want a tax code that just subsidizes oil company profits; I want to subsidize and support the energy jobs of tomorrow, the new technologies that will cut our oil imports in half.  And I don’t want a tax code that rewards companies that ship jobs overseas; I want to reward companies that are investing here in America, hiring American workers, making things stamped with three proud words:  Made in America.  That’s my plan for jobs and growth.  (Applause.)  That’s the future I see for this country.

Change is turning the page on a decade of war so we can do some nation-building here at home.  (Applause.)  As long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will pursue our enemies with the strongest military the world has ever known.  But it’s time to use the savings from ending the wars to pay down our debt and rebuild America -- rebuilding roads and bridges and making sure our schools are state of the art -- and hiring our veterans when they come home, because if you fought for this country you shouldn’t have to fight for a job when you come home. (Applause.)  That’s my plan to keep America strong.  That’s what’s at stake in this election. 

Change is a future where we reduce our deficit in a way that’s balanced and responsible.  I’ve cut a trillion dollars’ worth of spending; I intend to do more.  But if we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we’ve also got to ask the wealthiest Americans to go back to the tax rates they paid when Bill Clinton was President.  (Applause.)  Because budgets are about choices.  We can't do everything, and we've got to make sure that what we do, we pay for.

And I'm not going to turn Medicare into a voucher just to pay for another millionaire’s tax cut.  (Applause.)  I'm not going to ask young people to pay more for college just to pay for another millionaire’s tax cut.  (Applause.)  

So, Florida, we know what change is.  We know what the future requires.  And we know it’s not going to be easy.  Back in 2008, we talked about change we can believe in.  But I also said this is hard -- because I wasn’t just talking about changing presidents or changing parties.  I was talking about changing how politics is done in this country.  (Applause.)

I ran the first time because the voices of the American people -- your voices -- had been shut out of our democracy for way too long by lobbyists and special interests and politicians who will say anything and do anything just to keep things the way they are.  They want to protect the status quo.  And for the last four years, the status quo in Washington has fought us every step of the way.  They spent millions to stop us from reforming the health care system; spent millions trying to stop us from reforming Wall Street.  They engineered a strategy of gridlock in Congress, refusing to compromise even on ideas that Democrats and Republicans used to support in the past. 

And what they’re counting on now is that you’ll be so worn down, so discouraged by all the squabbling, so tired of all the dysfunction, that you’ll just give up, walk away, and leave the powers that be in power.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  In other words, their bet is on your cynicism.  But, Florida, my bet is on you and your hope.  (Applause.)

And listen.  I want all parties to work together.  We're not Democrats and Republicans first; we're Americans first.  (Applause.)  And whenever the other party has been willing to work with me to help middle-class families and to build sturdy ladders into the middle class, I've worked with them.  Some of them supported us when we cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses.  Some courageous Republican senators worked with us to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." 

As long as I’m President, I will work with anybody, of any party, to move this country forward.  (Applause.)  And if you want to break the gridlock in Congress, you’ll vote for leaders  -- whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, or independents -- who feel the same way, who put you first instead of politics first, instead of the next election first.  (Applause.) 

But sometimes you’ve got to fight for principle.  Sometimes you’ve got to fight for what’s right.  If the price of peace in Washington is cutting deals that will kick students off of financial aid, or get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, or let insurance companies discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, or eliminate health care for millions who are on Medicaid -- people who are poor, or elderly, or disabled  -- I'm not willing to pay that price.  That’s not bipartisanship.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s not change.  That’s surrender to the same status quo that has hurt the middle class and cost us jobs. And I don't know about you, but I’m not ready to give up on that fight.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  And I hope you aren’t either, Florida.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  I hope you still got some fight left in you. (Applause.)  

Listen, the folks at the very top in this country, they don’t need another champion in Washington.  They’ll always have a seat at the table and they’ll always have access, they’ll always have influence.  The people who need a champion are the Americans whose letters I read late at night after I'm done in the office; the men and women I meet on the campaign trail -- like you -- every day.
 
The laid-off worker who has to go back and retrain at a community college at the age of 55 to try to get a new career in a new field -- she needs a champion.  The restaurant owner who cooks great food but needs a loan to expand after the bank turned him down -- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)  The cooks and the waiters and the cleaning staff, working overtime at a Ft. Lauderdale hotel, trying to save enough to buy a first home or send their kids to college -- they need a champion.  (Applause.)

The autoworker who’s back on the job filled with the pride and dignity of building a great car -- he needs a champion.  The autoworker who’s back on the job, filled with pride and dignity, building a great car -- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)  The teacher who’s in an overcrowded classroom -- (applause) -- maybe digging into her pocket to buy school supplies, not getting the support she needs, but showing up every day, knowing that maybe she’s going to make that difference in that one child today -- she needs a champion.  (Applause.)

The young immigrant who was brought here, pledged allegiance to our flag, understands themselves to be Americans -- they need a champion.  (Applause.)

All those kids in inner cities and small farm towns, in the valleys of Ohio, the rolling Virginia hills, the streets of Hollywood -- kids dreaming of becoming scientists or doctors, engineers or entrepreneurs, diplomats, businesspeople, even presidents -- they need a champion in Washington.  (Applause.)   Because they don't have lobbyists.  They don't make campaign contributions, but those kids -- their dreams, that will be our saving grace.  We've got to fight for them.  (Applause.)

And that’s why I need you, Florida.  To make sure their voices are heard.  To make sure your voices are heard.  We’ve come too far to turn back now.  (Applause.)  We’ ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint.  It’s time to keep pushing forward -- to educate all our kids, to train all our workers, to create new jobs, to discover new sources of energy, to broaden opportunity, to grow our middle class, to restore our democracy  -- to make sure that no matter who you are, or where you come from, no matter how you started out, no matter what your last name is, no matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American, young, old, rich, poor, disabled, not disabled, gay, straight -- it doesn’t matter, if you work hard  you can make it here in America, too.  That's what we're fighting for.  (Applause.)

That's why I’m asking for your vote, Florida.  And if you’re willing to work with me, and knock on some doors with me, make some phone calls for me, turn out for me, we're going to win Florida.  (Applause.)  We’ll win this election.  We’ll reaffirm the bonds that hold this country together.  We'll reaffirm the spirit that makes the United States of America the greatest nation on Earth.  (Applause.)  

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

END 
4:30 P.M. EST

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney aboard Air Force One en route New Hampshire, 11/04/2012

Aboard Air Force One
En Route New Hampshire   

9:12 A.M. EST

MR. CARNEY:  Well, thank you for joining us on what promises to be a fantastic day traveling around the country.  As you know, we are joined aboard Air Force One this morning by President Clinton.  As we speak, Presidents Obama and Clinton, as well as Chief of Staff Jack Lew, David Axelrod, David Plouffe and a few others are engaged in conversation towards the front of the plane.

Q    On what, Jay?

MR. CARNEY:  On a variety of matters.

As you know, the President has been regularly engaged with his team on recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.  As you know about all of his meetings and conversations yesterday, the President will continue to receive updates today.  Later today, he’ll receive a full briefing from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security John Brennan, and Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco. 

Today, administration officials will continue to travel to storm-damaged communities in New York and New Jersey to hear from state and local officials and see firsthand the damage and recovery efforts underway.

Secretary Napolitano will travel to Monmouth County, New Jersey to visit food and water distribution centers, and visit a local shelter with the Lieutenant Governor.  In the afternoon, the Secretary and Governor Christie will survey the progress of the response and recovery effort in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Secretary Donovan will also travel to the New York area, and we’ll announce more information as it becomes available. 

With that, I turn it over to Jen. 

Q    When is that briefing?

MR. CARNEY:  I’ll get back to you on the timing of the briefing.

MS. PSAKI:  Good morning.  As I have been doing, I’m just going to tick through a few highlights of the states we’ll be visiting today.  So we are starting the day, as you all know, in New Hampshire.  In New Hampshire, last month, the number of registered Democrats in the state increased while the number of registered Republicans actually fell.

Then we’ll be moving on to sunny Florida.  Forty-four percent of Florida votes have already been cast, and the President leads by seven points among early votes, according to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.  This means Romney would need to win the remaining voters by six points in order to tie up the race.  Democrats have at least -- have a 105,000 lead over Republicans in early votes cast. 

Then we end the day, well before our final flight, in Ohio, as we like to visit the state on a daily basis these days -- 28 percent of Ohio votes have already been cast.  And according to public polling, the President leads 63-35 among those who’ve already voted.  This means Mitt Romney would need to win the remaining voters by 11 points in order to tie the race on Election Day.

With that --

Q    Don’t we end the day in Colorado?

MS. PSAKI:  Oh, sorry.  Oh, my goodness.  (Laughter.)  I forgot about an event.  We end up in Wisconsin.  My apologies, we do have another -- don't tell Dave Matthews I forgot about him.  Okay, nearly two-thirds of Colorado votes, 64 percent have already been cast, and the President leads by three points among those who have already voted.  In order to tie up the race, Mitt Romney needs to win by five points among the remaining voters.

And just so you know, I circled Colorado, knowing we’re going there.  I need a third cup of coffee this morning.  (Laughter.) 

And just to add to what Jay said, last night, as you know, President Clinton was with the President at the event.  They had the opportunity to casually chat backstage before and after the event, and I think they both really enjoyed spending that time together and also working the rope line together.  I think today will be a great day.

Q    Can you talk at all about his mood, particularly as we kind of tick through like his final rallies in some of these states?  Last night was the last in Virginia; I think Colorado and New Hampshire and probably somewhere else today are like his last stops there.

MS. PASKI:  I think the President, even in the working on -- even in the process of working on his closing argument speech, it allowed him to kind of go back to the themes and what his focus has been on throughout his public career, and that's fighting for the middle class, making sure people have a voice.  And I think that's one of the reasons people have seen him deliver that so passionately over the past couple of days, because it kind of reminds him of all the years he spent in public life.

There is a recognition among the President, among the staff who have been closely working for him, that we’re a family -- this is a family, and there are a lot of laughs, and a lot of nostalgia to all the ups and downs, the incredible roller coaster that this journey has been from the day he announced he was running February 10th, 2007, to two days before an election that will hopefully send him back for another four years.

And so there’s a lot of storytelling about remember that time, and remember when we were in this state.  And I think the President recognizes that these may be the last kind of -- these will be the last reelection rallies, reelection events, times working the rope line for his own campaign that he’ll ever do.  And I think he’s really taking in the moments and taking in the times he has backstage with the introducers, and the conversations he has along the rope line, and really helping that bolster him through the final days.

MR. CARNEY:  If I could just add on that.  I think you just sense what Jen is saying by the energy that he has at the end of very long days.  I’ll never forget at the end of the 48-hour day, or the two-day, no-hotel swing, when he got back on the plane and the rest of us were in pretty desperate shape, and he got back, like clapped his hands and talked about wanting to do another event and to go out again right away.  So he’s bringing to this a considerable amount of energy and passion, which is helping lift the rest of us up as we press towards the finish line.

Q    Could you talk a little bit about the dynamic between President Obama and President Clinton?  And do you have an updated count now on how many appearances he will have made by the end for President Obama?  Also, just -- things were not that great between them four years ago; obviously, they have a really different dynamic now.  Can you talk a little bit about that?

MS. PSAKI:  Sure.  Well, before the event last night, President Clinton had done 26 events.  I have a list, which I’m happy to send you.  I just don't want to butcher the number.  President Clinton has been a tireless -- and by tireless, I mean he’s also losing his voice; you could tell last night, I’m sure you’ll be able to tell this morning -- advocate on behalf of the President. 

And it was a hard-fought campaign four years ago.  I think they have a unique bond that you only have when you have served in the Oval Office and you’ve had the pressures you have as President, and you’re dealing with the tough decisions you have to make as President.  And I think President Obama has really enjoyed kind of the growth in their friendship and the growth in their relationship.  And they have a really easy rapport with each other.  I think they talk about a range of topics from serious to their families to campaigns, and that’s been a really enjoyable part of the last couple of weeks.

Did I answer all your questions, or what didn't I touch on there? 

Q    Yeah.

MS. PSAKI:  Okay.

MR. CARNEY:  And they’ve been -- it’s not just when they have been appearing together, or when you saw them at the convention.  They’ve been speaking on the phone with some regularity.  And I would echo what Jen says, that the relationship has grown, from our view and from the view of President Obama, quite strong.  And President Obama appreciates greatly President Clinton’s help in this campaign, and President Clinton’s capacity to articulate an argument about the kind of future we need to build, especially when it comes to economic policy. 

It is a very stark reminder when you assess the economy under the Clinton years versus the economy that President Obama inherited eight years later.  And just as a matter of policy, President Obama notes and President Clinton notes and others note that policies being espoused as an alternative direction for this country are carbon copies of the policies that helped precipitate the worst economic and financial crisis in our lifetimes.

Q    Jen, can you talk a little bit about the polls?  Ohio remains really tight -- perhaps it’s tightening even more.  What are your internals showing?  And how are you feeling in general about the numbers?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, on my second to last day with you, I’m not going to share internal polls, I’m sure to your shock.  (Laughter.)  

Look, I think we’ve always known this race would be close.  It will be close.  But we are leading or tied in every single swing state.  That’s been consistent.  In a state like Ohio, this is a place where the Romney team has spent the last few weeks essentially putting up tents and moving into the state, having both their presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee in the state, and they have been unable to move the margin.  They wouldn’t have run the ad -- the false ad we’ve talked a bit about over the last few days -- if they felt they were winning in that state, or that the margin was close.

We feel very confident about Ohio.  We feel good about where we’ve set ourselves up with early vote.  We feel great about our ground game.  And we feel great about how we’re closing this race, and confident that that’s going to be in a Democratic column on Tuesday.

But we’re out here fighting for every vote, because we know we have the votes to win, but we know we need to get the people out to win.  And so that’s what the next couple of days is about. That’s why the President is making so many stops.  That’s why he’ll see so many people between now and when the polls close on Tuesday. 

Q    Are you aware of these reports that have been out there?  I guess James Robbins had this report about General Ham. He was a former assistant to Rumsfeld.  And this General Ham sort of being forced to resign, and whether he was told to stand down on the response to Benghazi.

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think the Defense Department has responded in great detail to some of these stories.  I think you’ve named a couple of them, so I'll just refer you to the Pentagon for that.

Q    Twenty years ago, Barack Obama was running a voter registration drive for candidate Bill Clinton.  Is there sort of a through-line there in terms of tactically how he’s run this campaign?

MS. PSAKI:  I think -- in the final days, I think the President has reflected quite a bit on his roots as a community organizer, as somebody who was engaged -- running a voter registration drive and having those kind of individual one-on-one interactions with people.  And certainly, that’s been a part of his reflection.  And you can hear in his remarks that he’s been giving the last few days and will be until Tuesday that he is harkening back to the same themes that he’s been talking about since he first started running for public office.

I think it is incredible for President Obama to be here, as many ups and downs there have been in this journey -- both this election, both last election, two days away from winning reelection; President Clinton on the plane, a tireless advocate. And I think we’d far rather be us than them, with all those pieces factoring in.

END
9:26 A.M. EST

Remarks by President Obama and President Clinton at a Campaign Event in Concord, NH

Capital Square
Concord, New Hampshire

10:40 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT CLINTON:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Whoa!  (Applause.)  Hello, Concord!  (Applause.) 

Governor Lynch, Susan, thank you both so much for being here, for your service to New Hampshire, your support of the President.  Senator Shaheen, thank you.  And I'd like to thank our nominees for Congress -- Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter  -- thank you.  And I'd like to ask you to vote for them.  (Applause.)  And I want you to elect Maggie Hassan governor on Tuesday.  I hope you will.  (Applause.) 
Folks, the hour is late and the time is short, but on this beautiful day, we can still make a difference in this election.  The polls say it’s close and it could come down to what you decide. 

Twenty years and nine months ago, New Hampshire began the chance for me to become President.  (Applause.)  It’s no secret that I never tire of coming here, that I never forget anything that happened here, that I'm still looking for someplace I haven't yet been.  (Laughter.)  And it is a very good thing that in the closing days of this campaign, you have a chance to send the President back where he belongs, to four more years in the White House.  (Applause.)

The people of New Hampshire were good to me because I just sort of talked to them.  I like to talk to people -- I like to be in a place that's small enough where people want to look you in the eye and size you up and know what you think.  I have worked very hard in this campaign.  (Applause.)  But I worked hard in the last one, too -- I did 40 events for the President; Hillary did 70.  But I want you to know something.  I'm much more enthusiastic now than I was then.  (Applause.) 

And maybe because I have done this work; maybe because I know how hard it is; maybe because I know how important words are, but deeds are more important, harder to come by.  And I respect a President that goes to work every day, fights through, lives through disappointments, keeps looking for things that work.  And these are the reasons that I want you to tell your friends and neighbors who are not here that they should support the President. 

These are the reasons that I support him.  Number one, he has been a faithful Commander-in-Chief for our national security. (Applause.)  He has taken good care of our men and women in uniform.  He has ended the war in Iraq.  He is drawing down the war in Afghanistan.  (Applause.)  He has fought the terrorists with vigor, and he has pursued diplomacy with vigor, knowing we live in a complicated world where things change beyond our control, and we need to build more networks of friends and have fewer adversaries.  (Applause.)  And he’s got a very good Secretary of State.  (Applause.)

And most important to me, he is fully committed to taking care of our men and women in uniform when they come home.  (Applause.) 

Number two, he has done a good job with a difficult hand.  The whole election may come down to this.  If you listen to what Governor Romney says, it basically is:  Be very, very disappointed, because not every problem has been solved; not everyone who wants a job has one; not everyone’s income is rising.  Be disappointed.  Forget what caused it.  (Laughter.)  Don't pay too much attention to what our solutions are.  Just be disappointed -- and look at me, I look like a president.  (Laughter and applause.)  And I talk like one.  And I'm telling you it’s all going to be all right if you elect me.  (Laughter.) 
But the whole election may come down to this.  I am telling you -- I have spent years studying the economy, and I hope I have some credibility with you on what creates jobs, raises incomes and reduces poverty.  (Applause.)  I hope I have some credibility with you on balanced budgets.  (Applause.)  I am telling you, no one who ever served as President of the United States, and no one living within the borders of the United States of America could have fixed all the damage that was done from the financial crisis in just four years.  It’s not possible.  It could not have been done.  (Applause.)

So the test should be:  What did the President do?  What are the results, and compared to what? 

When he became President, don't forget -- remember all through 2007 and 2008 -- you get all the presidential candidates coming here -- you had Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, Senator Biden, and several other distinguished Democrats hauling through New Hampshire at a time when incomes were flat, poverty was up, the economy was in trouble.  It was bad before the meltdown.

Then just six weeks before the election, we have this terrible crash.  And the first thing they had to do was to stop it from becoming a depression.  To give him credit, President Bush and his administration, John McCain and Barack Obama, both running for President, didn’t take the politically easy way out. They saved the financial system from total collapse.  And then President Obama continued that work, and he made sure you got paid back -- you got all of that bank bailout money back, plus interest.  You made a profit on that.  (Applause.) 

Then we started the long road back.  We lost jobs for 15 months after that crash, including the first year and one month of the President’s term.  But in the last 33 months, as we learned yesterday, with 172,000 more jobs -- (applause) -- we have had 5.5 million private sector jobs.  (Applause.) 

Now, in the seven years of the previous administration, when they followed the same policies that Governor Romney is recommending, in the seven years before the crash and after the brief .com slowdown, they had 2.6 million jobs.  So you got 2.5 years, 5.5 million jobs; seven years, 2.6 million jobs.  The same policies.  I’m telling you, compared to what could have happened, Barack Obama has done a good job.  (Applause.)  Our unemployment rate is three points lower than the Eurozone, whose polices have been embraced by the tea party Congress and the Republican nominee.  With a tough hand, he’s done a good job.  (Applause.)  
But you just remember this when you talk to people in the next two days.  They can say it all they want to; the question should be, are we moving in the right direction, not whether we could have been fully healed.  Are we better off than we were four years ago, when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month?  (Applause.)  Are we moving in the right direction?  (Applause.) 

So I’m for President Obama because he’s been a good Commander-in-Chief and he’s done a good job.

The third reason I’m for him is he has the right philosophy about how to fix the mess we’re in.  You know, he proved, the way he handled this terrible storm, Sandy, in the Northeast -- getting off the campaign trail, putting aside politics, working with the Republican Governor of New Jersey, the independent Mayor of New York City, and the Democratic Governors of New York and Connecticut -- there is no Republican or Democratic way to deal with the aftermath of a flood, of a storm, of houses burning down, of people losing their livelihoods, and of loved ones losing their lives.  You have to begin again, and we have to work together.  It was a stunning example of how “we’re all in this together” is a way better philosophy than “you’re on your own.”  (Applause.) 

Now, he proved it in budget negotiations with the Republicans when he offered them right off the bat a trillion dollars in budget cuts over the next decade, and he said, now, can we make a deal more or less like the Simpson-Bowles deal?  And they said, no, because we won’t put up with one penny of taxes being raised on the wealthiest Americans who got the benefit of the tax cuts in the previous decade and almost all the economic growth.

But he tried, and the door is still open.  And cooperation works better than conflict.  Practical problem-solving is better than ideological extremism.  And when you keep the door open by reelecting him Tuesday, they will walk through it, and we will begin to have cooperation again.  (Applause.) 

The fourth reason I’m for the President is because of something that President Bush put in a pithy phrase.  Now, he got made fun of for it, but he told the truth.  He said the President is the “decider-in-chief.”  (Laughter.)  Remember when he said that?  But that's true.  (Laughter.)  So let’s just check some of the decisions of the two people who wish to be for the next four years the “decider-in-chief.” 

Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- (applause) -- a bill that is not just for women.  As anybody who ever lived in a house with two working parents knows, every working husband and father wants the wife and the mother to be of equal pay for equal work, for the welfare of the children and the family.  (Applause.) 

When asked in the second debate whether he would have signed it, the President’s opponent, who spent all these years telling us how decisive he is, said, “Well --“ (laughter.)  I thought we were being asked to dance.  (Laughter.)  I mean, how hard is it? He’s going to have a lot harder decisions than that to make if he gets to be President.  It’s just a yes or no answer.  It’s been on the books for two years.  How hard is it?  Zero answer.  Why? Because it might make one of his extremists mad. 

And so Barack Obama made a decision; his opponent took a dive.  I like Barack Obama as the “decider-in-chief.”  (Applause.) 

Barack Obama decided to fight for funding Planned Parenthood, and his opponent wants to de-fund it.  I agree with Barack Obama.  (Applause.) 

Barack Obama decided that America could not stop making automobiles.   And so it was not a bailout.  It was a restructuring plan that required give-ups some management, give-ups some labor.  The United States loaned money to Chrysler and General Motors.  The loans have been paid back with interest.  And we invested in their stock, and we’ll get that back, too. 

And interestingly enough, all the German and Japanese companies that make cars in America, they were all for that restructuring deal.  Why?  Because they know we’re all in this together.  And if General Motors stopped buying our auto parts, then all those auto parts manufacturers would go under, and there would be nothing to keep the German and the Japanese companies going.  They were all there. 

What happened?  We saved a million jobs, and now there are 250,000 more people making cars today than there were the day the President pushed that bill through.  (Applause.) 

His opponent decided to oppose it.  And now he’s trying to figure out how to get out of that in Ohio, where one in eight jobs is tied to the auto industry.  I said last night -- we were in Virginia -- he’s tied himself in so many knots trying to say he didn’t oppose what he clearly opposed that I expected today he’ll be offered a job as a chief contortionist at Cirque de Soleil.  (Laughter.)  But he did.  He was against it. 

Then the administration of the President did another great thing.  They reached an agreement with labor, with management, with the environmental groups, to double car mileage in the next few years.  Double it.  (Applause.)  Now, put another way, that would cut your gas bill in half.  You just figure out how much that's worth. 

Governor Romney wants to undo it.  I couldn’t believe this. He wants to undo it.  He says, yes, but putting all this new technology, which will create 150,000 new jobs -- good jobs, paying above average -- putting all this technology in place will make the cars more expensive.  It will.  Maybe they’ll cost $1,000 more, maybe $1,500 more.  But on average, every car will save $8,000 in lower gasoline costs.  You come out way ahead.  (Applause.)  He’d rather you burn the gasoline than create 150,000 jobs. 

You save the money, and we can save the planet together.  I think Barack Obama made the right decision.  (Applause.) 

Now, let’s look at the decision Mr. Romney made.  When he couldn’t get out of the fact that he actually did oppose the automobile plan, he starts saying that President Obama is allowing Jeep to move American jobs to China.  Did you see that? I take it personally because I helped Jeep locate that -- well, I helped the state of Ohio get Jeep to locate a plant in Toledo, and I know they’re expanding it.  They’ve put $500 million in it. They’re going to produce new lines there.  I know they’re expanding in Michigan.  And it’s just not true. 

They made a lot of money so they can reopen a plant they closed down in China to sell Jeeps there -- because Jeeps are heavy, you can't afford to ship them from here to China.  But they’re expanding in America. 

So when Jeep said it wasn’t so, they kept making the charge. When Chrysler said it wasn’t so, they kept making the charge.  Even General Motors said, this is not true.  They doubled down on the charge, and then they pointed out that Jeep is owned by Chrysler, is owned by Fiat.  So then the charge became, the President is working with the Italians -- (laughter) -- to move jobs to China.  (Laughter.)  In a few days they’re going to come after the Irish and I'm toast.  (Laughter.) 

Now, we're laughing, but it’s absurd.  Is that the kind of “decider-in-chief” you want?  I don't think so.

AUDIENCE:  No!

PRESIDENT CLINTON:  The guy got caught red-handed, saying something that wasn’t accurate.  But we all make mistakes.  And it’s not a lie unless you know it’s not true when you say it.  Now, when I was a kid and I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar, I sort of turned red, shrugged my shoulders and take my hand out of the cookie jar.  He’s grabbing for more cookies!  (Laughter.) 

I like Barack Obama as “decider-in-chief” better.  (Applause.) 

But, look, far more important, and what the President will talk about today, is that his plan for the future is better.  And his budget to pay for it and to pay our debt down is better.  His plan for the future essentially is to invest in 21st century jobs -- in modern infrastructure, in information technology, in clean energy, in manufacturing, in the kind of agriculture that will enable us to feed America, sustain the environment, and feed a growing world -- and to educate and empower people to do those jobs, including maintaining and improving the Affordable Care Act, which will give 30 million people, many of them with preexisting conditions, insurance for the first time next year -- (applause) -- and which, much to the chagrin of its opponents, has just given us two years with health inflation at 4 percent or less for the first time in 51 years.  We are liberating America. (Applause.)

His student loan program will allow students for the first time ever to borrow money at low cost from the federal government and pay it back as a low fixed percentage of income for up to 20 years.  This means nobody will ever have to drop out of college again because they’re afraid to borrow money or they’re afraid they can't pay it back.  (Applause.)

And he’s offered us a budget, based on arithmetic, that has $2 of spending cuts for every dollar of revenue increases, all the money to come from people like me -- I love saying this.  I never had a nickel before I left the White House.  (Laughter.) 

Don't forget, in the decade before the crash, 90 percent of the gains went to the top 10 percent, 43 percent to the top 1 percent, and we also paid -- got most of the tax cuts.  All we're being asked to do is to kick back in a little money by paying what we paid when I was President, and upper-income people did just fine, but it was the only time in the last 30 years that every quintile -- that is the bottom 20 percent, the 40 percent, the 60 percent, the 80 percent -- in percentage terms, your income went up just as much as the top 20 percent and we were all growing together.  (Applause.)  That's what President Obama wants to do.

Now, if you look at his opponent, he says, no, no, no, we need to do what we did under President Bush.  We need to have a big tax cut for high-income people, and we need to cut all these investments and cut all this education and repeal the student loan law, make college loans more expensive and increase the dropout rate.  That's their proposal.  And we need to cut the Medicaid program by a third -- this helps poor kids, most of them in working families.  Oh, and it does help Medicare seniors who are living in nursing homes, and it does help middle-class families with children with disabilities -- with autistic conditions and cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities -- whose parents could not even work if they were not helped to meet their children’s exceptional costs.  He wants to cut all that to give me another tax cut?   

And you say, well, we don't think the numbers add up, because even if you make up for this $5 trillion that you want to cut in taxes, or the $2.5 trillion you want to spend and President Obama doesn’t -- even if you could do that, you still haven't reduced the deficit one red cent. 

So give us a budget.  You know, you're the finance guy.  And he says, see me about that after the election.  (Laughter.)  See me about that.  It’s always, see me about that after the election.  When I was a kid growing up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, we had a great guy who had a bar, and at noon he quit serving beer on a school day so the kids could come in and have sandwiches.  But otherwise, he had a little sign on the bar and it said:  Wendy’s Free Beer Tomorrow.  And he had a deal with the electric company that they never turned the sign off.  So I was in there one day and this guy came in and he said, “Hi, Wendy.  I came in yesterday and had a beer.  I'd like my free beer now.”  He said, “Go out and read the sign.”  Tomorrow never came.  (Laughter.) 

So when a politician tells me, see me about that after the election, it makes me know there’s something ugly in there he doesn’t want me to see.  (Laughter.) 

My President is not afraid for you to see his budget, or his plans, or his commitments, and they are better.  We should elect Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

And I just want to tell you one other thing.  This will tell you all you need to know about this election.  Governor Romney says, if he is elected people will be so elated -- I'm being serious now -- that the economy will produce 12 million jobs in the next four years.  Now, I am sure it’s just a coincidence -- or maybe he forgot -- because as President Obama has told us, there’s this great public health epidemic, this virus sweeping across America, causing a condition known as Romnesia.  (Laughter.)  And the virus is so rampant that anybody is vulnerable to getting a little of it.  (Laughter.)  So maybe he just caught a little piece of Romnesia. 

But what he forgot to tell you is this -- just a few days before that 12 million jobs promise was made, an independent business forecaster, Moody’s Analytics, said to all of us that we will get 12 million jobs in the next four years if we just don't mess up what the President has already done.  (Applause.)

Now, because I want us to grow together, not apart; because he’s been a good Commander-in-Chief, a good “decider-in-chief,” a proven cooperator; because he’s got better plans for the future; because you and your children and our country will be better off -- I strongly recommend that we reelect the next President of the United States -- (applause) -- the current President of the United States, our President -- Barack Obama!  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, New Hampshire!  (Applause.)  Are you fired up?  (Applause.)  Are you ready to go?  (Applause.)  You’ve got to be fired up after Bill Clinton.  (Applause.) 

Let me just say, President Clinton has been traveling all across the country for this campaign.  He has been breaking it down so well that people tell me I should ask him to be “Secretary of Explainin’ Stuff.”  (Laughter.)  The only Clinton working harder than him is our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  (Applause.)  And I’m so grateful to both of them.

I also want you to give it up for your outstanding Governor, John Lynch -- (applause) -- and one of the best Senators in Washington, our friend, Jean Shaheen.  (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back!  (Applause.) 

Now, this is an unbelievable crowd.  I am so grateful to all of you.  I know that some of you came here pretty early and it’s getting a little cold, but folks from New Hampshire are tough.  (Applause.)  They are tough. 

Now, for the past several days, obviously, all of us have been focused on one of the worst storms of our lifetimes.  And New Hampshire knows about storms, but obviously what we’ve seen happen in New Jersey and New York and Connecticut just breaks our heart.  We can only imagine what families are going through who have lost loved ones in the storm.  Our hearts and prayers go out to them. 

And I had a chance to visit New Jersey, and every day I’m on the phone with our FEMA Director, and the governors and the mayors, and making sure that we’re doing everything we can.  And I think I speak for the entire country when I say we will not stop until those folks whose lives have been upended, that their lives have been rebuilt.  We will be with them every step of the way.  (Applause.)  I don't speak just as the President; I speak for every single American.  (Applause.)  We’re going to help them rebuild.  We will help them rebuild.  That’s what we do as Americans.  (Applause.)

And that’s the interesting thing, is despite the heartbreak, we’ve also been inspired these past few days.  And we see our first responders, our police officers, our firefighters, EMS folks running into buildings, wading through water, helping their fellow citizens.  We see neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy; leaders of different parties working to fix what’s broken.  A spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, no matter how tough the times are, we’re all in this together.  We rise and fall as one nation and as one people.  (Applause.)

And that spirit, New Hampshire, has guided this country along its improbable journey for more than two centuries.  It’s that spirit that carried us through the trials and tribulations of these last four years.

In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Today, our businesses have created nearly 5.5 million new jobs.  (Applause.) The American auto industry is back on top.  Home values are on the rise.  We’re less dependent on foreign oil than any time in 20 years. 

Because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform -- a whole lot of them from here in New Hampshire -- the war in Iraq is over.  The war in Afghanistan is coming to a close.  Al Qaeda is on the run.  Osama bin Laden is dead. 

We’ve made real progress.  (Applause.)  We’ve made real progress these past four years, but, New Hampshire, we’re here because we know we’ve got more work to do.  As long as there is a single American who wants a job but can’t find one, our work is not yet done.  As long as there are families who are working harder and harder but still falling behind, our work is not yet done.  As long as there is a child anywhere in New Hampshire, anywhere in this country, who is languishing in poverty and barred from opportunity, our fight has to go on.  (Applause.)  Our fight has to go on.

Our fight goes on because we know this nation can’t succeed without a growing, thriving middle class.  Our fight goes on because America has always done best when everybody gets a fair shot, and everybody is doing their fair share, and everybody is playing by the same rules.  That’s what we believe.  That’s why you elected Bill Clinton in ’92.  That’s why you elected me in 2008.  And that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States.  (Applause.)

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

THE PRESIDENT:  Now, New Hampshire, in two days, you’re all going to have a choice to make.  And it’s not just a choice between two candidates or two parties.  It’s a choice between two different visions for America; between a return to the top-down policies that crashed our economy, and an economy that’s built from the middle out and the bottom up and creates a strong, growing middle class.

As Americans, we honor the strivers, the dreamers, the small businesspeople, the entrepreneurs, the risk-takers.  They’ve always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system, and that system has been the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known.  But we also know that in this country, that system, our free enterprise system, works when everybody has got a shot, when everybody is participating, when everybody has got a chance to get a good education and learn new skills, when we support research into medical breakthroughs and new technologies that will create new businesses.

We believe America is stronger when everybody can count on affordable health care -- (applause) -- when everybody can count on Medicare and Social Security for a dignified retirement.  (Applause.)  We think the market works better when there are rules -- when there are rules in place to protect our kids from toxic dumping, rules in place to protect consumers from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous credit card companies or mortgage lenders.  (Applause.) 

And you know, folks in New Hampshire, just like folks all across the country, they don't want to do -- they don't want to see government do everything.  They want to make sure government is giving people tools to succeed.  And there are some things they don't want government meddling in -- for example, they certainly don't want politicians in Washington -- most of whom are male -- trying to control health care choices that women should be making for themselves.  (Applause.) 

Now, for eight years, we had a President who shared these beliefs -- you just heard him.  (Applause.)  President Clinton’s economic plan asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we could reduce our deficit and invest in the skills and ideas of our people.  And at the time, the Republican Congress -- and a certain Senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney -- said Bill Clinton’s plan would hurt the economy and kill jobs.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  Turns out, his math was just as bad back then as it is now.  (Laughter.)  Because by the end of President Clinton’s second term, America created 23 million new jobs, and incomes were up and poverty was down, and the deficit had become the biggest surplus in history. 

So, New Hampshire, we know our ideas work.  (Applause.)  We’ve tried them, and they worked.  They worked for middle-class families.  They created strong and sturdy ladders into the middle class for everybody who was willing to carry out their responsibilities. 

Now, just like we’ve tried our ideas, the other side, they’ve tried their ideas.  We gave those a shot.  After Bill Clinton left, we had eight years to test their ideas, to test Governor Romney’s ideas.  For most of the last decade, we tried giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.  We tried letting insurance companies and oil companies, Wall Street do whatever they pleased, giving them free license.  And what did we get?  Falling incomes, record deficits, the slowest job growth in half a century, and an economic crisis that we’ve been cleaning up after ever since. 

So let me get this straight -- we tried our ideas, they worked:  Middle class grew, America prospered, deficits became surpluses.  We tried their ideas -- incomes went down, deficit blew up, massive financial crisis we’re still cleaning up.

Now, this poses a dilemma for Governor Romney.  But he’s a very talented salesman, and in this campaign he has tried as hard as he can to repackage the same old ideas and pretend they’re new -- in fact, he’s offering them up as change; says he’s the candidate of change.

Now, let me just say this:  We know what change looks like, and what he’s selling ain’t it.  (Applause.)  It ain’t it.  Giving more power back to the biggest banks -- that’s not change. Another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy -- not change.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Refusing to answer questions about the details of your policies until after the election is over -- that’s definitely not change.  (Laughter.)  That’s the oldest trick in the book.  Ruling out compromise, pledging to rubber-stamp the tea party’s agenda in Congress -- not change.  Changing the facts when they’re inconvenient to your campaign -- that’s not change.  At least not the kind of change you want out of your President.  (Laughter.)

New Hampshire, after four years as President, you know me.  Part of this election is not just about policy.  It’s also about -- it’s also about who do you trust?  (Applause.)  The fact is what you know about me is I mean what I say and I say what I mean.  (Applause.)  I said I’d end the war in Iraq -- I ended it. I said I’d pass health care reform -- I passed it.  (Applause.)  I said I’d repeal “don't ask, don't tell” -- we repealed it.  (Applause.)  I said I’d expand opportunity for young people to go to college -- that's exactly what we did.  (Applause.)

You may not agree with every policy I’ve put forward.  There have been times where -- by the way, Michelle doesn't agree with everything I do.  (Laughter.)  You may be frustrated sometimes with the pace of change.  I’m frustrated, too, sometimes.  But you know where I stand.  You know what I believe.  You know I tell the truth.  And you know that I will fight for you and your families every single day as hard as I know how, as long as I’ve got the privilege to be your President.  (Applause.)

So when you ask yourself the question, who is going to fight for me and bring about real change, you know that I know what real change looks like, because I fought for it alongside you.  I’ve got the scars to prove it.  I’ve got the gray hair to show for it.  (Applause.)

After all we’ve been through together, we can't give up now. 
AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  So let me tell you the change we need for the next four years.  Change is a country where every American has a shot at a good education.  (Applause.)  Government can't do it alone.  Parents have to parent; students, you have to study.  But don't tell me hiring more quality teachers won’t help this economy grow.  (Applause.)  Don't tell me that students who can't afford college should just borrow money from their parents.  That wasn’t an option for me, or Bill Clinton, or Michelle, or a whole bunch of you. 

That's why I want to cut the growth of tuition in half over the next 10 years.  (Applause.)  That's why I want to recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers so our country doesn't fall behind.  I want to train 2 million Americans in our community colleges with the skills that businesses are hiring for right now. 

That's what change is.  That's what we’re fighting for in this election.  That's how we’ll grow our economy.  (Applause.)

Change comes when we live up to this country’s legacy of innovation.  I couldn’t be prouder that I bet on American workers and American ingenuity and the American auto industry.  But what makes me really proud is we’re not just building cars again, we’re building better cars -- cars that by the middle of the next decade will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.  (Applause.)

But we don't have to just stop with cars.  We -- America has always been about innovation, advanced manufacturing, making stuff.  There are thousands of workers around the country right now building long-lasting batteries and wind turbines.  I want to make sure that we’re supporting the industries and manufacturing of the future.  I don't want a tax code that subsidizes oil company profits when they're making money hand over fist.  I want to support the energy jobs of tomorrow.  I want to support the new technologies that will help us cut our oil imports in half.  I don't want a tax code rewarding companies that are shipping jobs overseas.  I want to reward companies that will create the next generation of manufacturing right here in Concord, right here in New Hampshire, right here in the United States.  (Applause.)

That's change.  That's the future I see for this country.  Change is turning the page on a decade of war so we can do some nation-building here at home.  Now, as long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will pursue our enemies relentlessly with the strongest military the world has ever known.  But it’s time to use some of the savings from ending the wars in Iraq and winding down the war in Afghanistan to pay down our debt, rebuild America.  (Applause.) 

We could, right now, put workers back to work repairing roads and bridges, making sure our schools are state of the art, laying broadband lines into rural communities.  And we can hire our veterans when they come home -- because if you fought for freedom, if you fought for this country, you shouldn’t have to fight for a job or a roof over your heads when you come home.  (Applause.)  That's how we keep America strong.  That's what's at stake in this election. 

Change is reducing our deficit in a balanced, responsible way.  You know, a lot of folks talk about deficit reduction as a political tool, but when it when it comes down to it, we’ve got to make choices.  We’ve got to make choices.  These priorities reflect our values.  I’ve got a trillion dollars’ worth of spending that we didn’t need, and I’m willing to do more.  But just as we did when Bill Clinton was President, we’ve got to ask the wealthiest to pay a little bit more so we can reduce the deficit and still invest in the things we need to grow.  (Applause.) 

I will not turn Medicare into a voucher -- (applause) -- just to give millionaires another tax cut.  I’m not going to make college more expensive for young people just to give me a tax cut.  (Applause.)  I don't need it.  I don’t want it.  Because I believe America will be stronger if we’re helping the next generation succeed.  (Applause.) 

So, New Hampshire, that's what change is.  We know what the future requires, and we know it won’t be easy.  You know, back in 2008, I spent a lot of time here in New Hampshire.  I know you guys -- you saw a lot of me.  (Laughter.)  And back then, we talked about change we can believe in.  But I said to people, you know, I’m not just talking about changing parties or changing presidents.  I’m talking about changing how our politics works. 

I ran because the voices of the American people -- your voices -- all of you, folks way in the back -- (applause) -- and folks here in the front -- (applause) -- your voices have been shut out of our democracy for way too long by lobbyists and special interests, and politicians who were willing to say anything and do anything just to keep things the way they are --the protectors of the status quo. 

And for the last four years, those protectors of the status quo, they have fought us fiercely every step of the way.  They spent millions to try to stop us from reforming the health care system; spent millions trying to stop us from reforming Wall Street.  They engineered a strategy of gridlock in Congress, refusing to compromise on ideas that traditionally both Democrats and Republicans had supported. 

And what they’re counting on now is that you’re going to be so worn down by the squabbling and the dysfunction and the arguing and the bickering that you’re just going to give up, walk away and --

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- and leave things the way they are.

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  -- leave folks who have the power right where they are.  In other words, their bet is on cynicism.  But, New Hampshire, my bet is on you.  (Applause.)  My bet is on you.

And by the way, when I talk about fighting for what we care about, this isn’t a partisan fight.  When the other party has been willing to work with me to help middle-class families, I am right there with them.  I love that.  When we cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses, we got Republican help.  When we came together to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” we had some courageous Republican senators who supported it. 

As long as I’m President, I will work with anybody of any party to move this country forward.  And if you want to break the gridlock in Congress, you’ll vote for leaders who feel the same way, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans or independents -- (applause) -- folks like John Lynch, folks like Jeanne Shaheen.  You’ll vote for candidates like Annie Kuster, Carol Shea-Porter.  (Applause.)  You’ll make Maggie Hassan the next governor of New Hampshire.  (Applause.)  Because they’re focused on you, not on politics in the next election.  And your Governor sets a great example of that. 

But you’ve also got to have principles.  You got to have something you stand for.  And if the price of peace in Washington is cutting deals to kick students off of financial aid, or get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, or let insurance companies go back to discriminating against people with preexisting conditions, or eliminate millions of people on Medicaid who rely on it for their health care -- the poor, the disabled, the elderly -- that's not a deal I’m willing to take.  That's not a price I’m willing to pay.  That's not bipartisanship, and it’s certainly not change.  That is surrender to the same status quo that has squeezed middle-class families for way too long. 

And, New Hampshire, I’m here today because I’m not ready to give up on the fight.  (Applause.)   I know I look a little older, but I got a lot of fight left in me.  (Applause.)  I am not ready to give up on the fight, and I hope you aren’t either, New Hampshire.  (Applause.)  I hope you aren’t, either.  (Applause.)

You know, the folks at the very top of this country, they don't need a champion in Washington.  They’ll always have a seat at the table.  They’ll always have access and influence.  That's the way things work.  We understand that.  The people who really need a champion are the Americans whose letters I read late at night after I come up from the Oval Office, the men and women that I meet on the campaign trail.

The laid-off paper mill worker who’s retraining at the age of 55 for a new career in a new industry -- she needs a champion. The restaurant owner who’s got great food, but needs a loan to expand and the bank has turned him down -- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)  

The cooks and the waiters and the cleaning staff working overtime at a Vegas hotel, trying to save enough to buy a first home or send their kid to college -- they need a champion.  (Applause.)  The autoworker who got laid off, thought the plant was going to close and then got called back, and now is filled with pride and dignity, building a great car -- he needs a champion.  (Applause.)

That teacher in an overcrowded classroom with outdated textbooks, digging into her own pocket to buy school supplies, and not always getting the support that she needs, but knowing every day she might reach that one child and make all the difference in that child’s life -- she needs a champion.  (Applause.) 

All those kids in inner cities and small farm towns, in the valleys of Ohio, the rolling Virginia hills, the streets of Concord -- kids dreaming of becoming scientists or doctors or engineers or entrepreneurs or buisnesspeople or teachers or diplomats or even a President -- they need a champion in Washington. 

They don't have lobbyists.  The future never has as many lobbyists as the vested interests in the status quo.  But it’s the dreams of those children that will be our saving grace.  It’s their dreams that will be the foundation of America. 

And that’s why I need you, New Hampshire -- to make sure their voices are heard.  To make sure your voices are heard.  We have come too far to turn back now.  (Applause.)  We’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint.  It’s time to keep pushing forward, to educate all our kids and all our workers, create new jobs and rebuild our roads and our bridges, and discover new sources of energy, to broaden opportunity, to grow our middle class, to restore our democracy -- and to make sure that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or how you started out, you can make it here in America.  (Applause.) 

And, New Hampshire, that’s why I’m asking you for your vote. Last night I was down in Virginia -- we had a huge rally.  And we were talking to our staff -- and our field organizers, they’re all 25 or 22 -- (laughter) -- and we were talking to them.  And I said, well, how are things looking?  And they seemed pretty confident.  And I looked at David Plouffe -- some of you know he’s my big campaign pooh-bah, smart guy -- but Plouffe and I looked at each other and we said, you know what, we’re no longer relevant now.  We’re props.  Because what’s happened is now the campaign falls on these 25-year-old kids who are out there knocking on doors, and making phone calls.  (Applause.)  

And then we realized, pretty soon, after they do their jobs, then they’re not relevant either, because it’s now up to you.  That’s how our democracy works, right -- that ultimately, it’s up to you.  You have the power.  You will be shaping the decisions for this country for decades to come right now, in the next two days.

And if you’re willing to work with me, if you’re willing to stand with me, if you’re willing to knock on some doors with me, if you’re willing to make some phone calls with me -- (applause) --  if you’re willing to turn out for me, we’ll win New Hampshire.  (Applause.)  We’ll win this election.  (Applause.)  We’ll finish what we started.  We’ll renew those bonds that do not break, and reaffirm the spirit that makes the United States of America the greatest nation on Earth.  (Applause.)

Let’s go get it, New Hampshire.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)
   
END
11:31 A.M. EST