The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 09, 2012

Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event

Minute Maid Park
Houston, Texas

6:58 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Texas!  (Applause.)  Oh, it is good to be back in Houston.  (Applause.)  The weather wasn’t quite cooperating.  (Laughter.)  But we got here.  And so did you.

We've got some wonderful folks here, but first of all, can everybody please give Debra Jones a big round of applause for the wonderful introduction.  (Applause.) 

We have in the house your outstanding Mayor, Annise Parker.  (Applause.)  We've got Congressman Gene Green.  (Applause.)  We've got Congressman Al Green.  He's the one who taught me how to sing.  (Laughter.)  We've got Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.  (Applause.)  And we have all of you.  (Applause.)

It is good to be in this facility.  As a White Sox fan, I have fond memories of this facility.

AUDIENCE:  Booo -- (laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT:  I want to thank Jim Crane for helping to make it available.  And I want to thank all of you for being part of this thing here today. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I love you!

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

So I'm here today not just because I need your help.  I’m here because the country needs your help.  There was a reason why so many of you worked your hearts out back in 2008.  It wasn’t because you thought it was going to be easy.  After all, you decided to support a candidate named Barack Obama.  (Applause.)  You knew that wasn’t going to be a sure thing.  (Laughter.)  

You didn’t join the campaign just because of me.  You joined it because of your commitment to each other.  You joined it because you had a common vision for America.  Not a vision where everybody is left to fend for themselves; it was a vision where everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead -- not just those at the very top, but everybody. 

That’s the vision that we shared.  That’s the change that we believed in.  And we knew it wouldn’t come easy.  We knew it wouldn’t come quickly.  We knew problems had been building up for decades.  But, I tell you what, in just three years, because of what you did, we've begun to see what change looks like.  (Applause.)  

Change is the first bill I signed into law that says women deserve an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work.  (Applause.) Our daughters should be treated just the same and have the same opportunities as our sons. 

Change is the decision that we made that Debra alluded to, to rescue the American auto industry, save it from collapse, even when some politicians were saying let’s let Detroit go bankrupt. With 1 million jobs on the line, I wasn’t going to let that happen.  And today, GM is back as the number automaker in the world, reporting the highest profits in its history.  (Applause.) And with 200,000 new jobs created in the last two and a half years, the American auto industry is back.  (Applause.)  That's what change is.  That happened because of you.  (Applause.)

Change is the decision that we made to stop waiting for Congress to do something about our oil addiction and finally raise our fuel-efficiency standards.  And by the next decade, we will be driving American-made cars that are getting 55 miles a gallon, and that saves American families about $8,000 at the pump.  (Applause.)  That’s what change is.   That happened because of you.  

Change is the fight we won to stop handing over $60 billion in taxpayer subsidies to banks in the student loan program, give that money directly to students, and as a consequence millions of young people all across the country are getting help that they didn't have before.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  TSU loves you!  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  We’ve got TSU in the house.  (Applause.)

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

And, yes, change is health care reform that we passed after a century of trying.  (Applause.)  This is reform that makes sure that nobody in this country goes bankrupt just because they get sick.  And already 2.5 million young people have health insurance today that did not have it before because this law lets them stay on their parent's plan.  (Applause.)  Because of this law, preventive care is now covered.  And, yes, that includes preventive care for women -- checkups, mammograms, birth control. (Applause.) 

We fought for this because the top doctors, the medical experts in the country said this kind of preventive care saves women’s lives.  We fought for it because we know it saves money. It’s a lot cheaper to prevent an illness than to treat one.  So when you see politicians who are trying to take us back to the days when this care was more expensive and harder to get for women -- and I know you’re seeing some of that here in Texas -- you just remember we can't let them get away with it.  We fought for this change.  (Applause.)   We’re going to protect this change.  It’s the right thing to do.  (Applause.)

And change is keeping another promise I made in 2008.  For the first time in nine years, we do not have any Americans who are fighting in Iraq.  (Applause.)  We refocused our efforts on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11.  And thanks to our brave men and women in uniform -- and there are a lot of servicemembers and a lot of veterans in the great state of Texas -- al Qaeda is weaker than it’s ever been and Osama bin Laden will never again walk the face of this Earth.  (Applause.)

None of this has been easy.  We’ve got a lot more work to do.  There's still too many Americans out there looking for work; still too many families struggling to pay the bills or make the mortgage.  We’re still recovering from the worst economic crisis of our generation -- or many generations.  But over the past two years, businesses have added almost 4 million new jobs.  (Applause.)  Our manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  Our economy steadily has been getting stronger.  The recovery is accelerating.  America is coming back. And the last thing we can afford do is go back to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place.  (Applause.)

Of course, that’s exactly what the other folks running for this office want us to do.

AUDIENCE  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  They think you all have amnesia.  (Laughter.)  They think you’ve forgotten how we got into this mess.  They want to go back to the days when Wall Street played by its own rules.  They want to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage or jack up your premiums without any reason.  They want to go back to spending trillions of dollars more on tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals -- folks like me -- even if it means adding to the deficit, or gutting education, or gutting investments in clean energy, or gutting Medicare.  They’re philosophy is simple:  We’re better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves.

Let me tell you something:  They are wrong.  In the United States of America, we’re always greater together than we are on our own.  (Applause.)  We’re better off when we keep that basic American promise where if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family or own a home, start your own business, send your kids to college, put a little away for retirement; maybe someday own the Astros.  (Applause.)  That’s the choice we face in this election.

Look, we want everybody to succeed.  We want everybody to do well -- not just a few but everybody to have that chance.  That’s what America’s about.  No matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, if you are willing to work hard, if you are willing to roll up your sleeves, you can make it.  That’s the American way.

And this is not just another political debate -- this is the defining issue of our time.  This is a make-or-break moment for middle-class families and everybody who’s trying to get into the middle class.  We can go back to an economy that’s built on outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits; or we can fight for an economy that’s built to last. 

And that’s what we’ve been talking about for the last three years:  an economy built on American manufacturing and American energy and the skills that American workers need, the education that our kids deserve, and the values that always made this country great -- hard work and fair play and shared responsibility; everybody, from top to bottom, everybody pitching in. 

And you know what?  That’s actually what everybody wants to do.  When you hear some of these political debates -- poor people want to work hard, they want to find a job.  Wealthy people -- they believe in this country, they want to give back.  But we’ve gotten into this pattern where our politics divide us and pushes us apart.  We need to make sure that the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in Asia, not in Europe, but right here.  In Detroit and Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Houston.  (Applause.)  We don’t want to be a nation -- nobody should want us to be known for just buying and consuming things.  We want to build things, make things, invent things, sell things all around the world -- which is why we need to stop giving tax breaks to businesses that ship jobs overseas.  Let’s reward companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)

We've got to make our schools the envy of the world, and that starts with the men and women in front of the classroom.  An interesting statistic:  A great teacher can increase the lifetime incomes of a classroom by over $250,000.  Just one teacher.  (Applause.)  So I don’t want folks bashing teachers.  I don't want folks defending the status quo.  I want us to give the schools the resources they need to recruit and keep good teachers on the job, to reward the best ones.  (Applause.)

Let’s grant schools the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion.  Stop teaching to the test.  (Applause.)  Replace teachers -- train our teachers, and those who aren’t helping our kids learn, we’re going to have to replace.

And when kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge is affording the cost of college.  Right now Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt.  So this Congress -- and I know these members of Congress agree with me here -- we’ve got to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.  (Applause.)  And colleges and universities have to do their part. If they can’t stop tuition from going up, then there should be some penalties because -- because taxpayers are willing to help young people, but ultimately colleges and universities have got to do their part, too.  Higher education can’t be a luxury; it’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.  (Applause.)
An economy that's built to last is one that supports our scientists and our researchers that are trying to make the next breakthrough, invent the next product, discover the next source of clean energy right here in the United States of America.

You know, Houston -- this is an oil town.  And that's good. We need oil.  And we’ve got a high production of oil right now.  When you hear folks saying, oh, Obama is not supporting oil production -- we’ve got the highest production we’ve had in eight years.  (Applause.)  We’re opening up millions of acres to new production; got more rigs than the entire world combined right here in the United States.

But we don't need to subsidize oil companies when they're doing this well.  (Applause.)  So what I’ve said is rather than continue a hundred years of taxpayer subsidies to an industry that’s very, very profitable, let’s double down on our investments in clean energy industry.  It’ never been more promising.  (Applause.)  That will create jobs in Texas -– solar power and wind power, biofuels.  (Applause.)  We want an all-of-the-above strategy.  Yes, oil.  Yes, gas.  Yes, solar.  Yes, wind.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Yes, we can.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, we can.  (Applause.)  We can do it. 

We've got to rebuild our infrastructure.  I’m biased, I want America to have the best stuff.  I want us to have the best roads, the best airports, the fastest railroads, the quickest Internet access.  So I said let’s take the money that we’re no longer spending in Iraq, let’s use half of it to pay down our debt.  Let’s use the rest to do some nation-building right here in Houston, right here in Texas, right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)

And let’s make sure our tax system has everybody doing their fair share.  I called for something called the Buffett Rule:  If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay a lower tax rate than your secretary.  (Applause.)   And you know what, most folks who've done well, they agree.  They understand.  They understand that folks making $250,000 a year or less -- 98 percent of American families -- can't see their taxes going up.

AUIDENCE MEMBER:  That's right.

THE PRESIDENT:  You agree with that.  (Laughter.)   But folks like me, we can afford to do a little bit more if it means protecting our kids and making sure that we’re investing in the future.  This isn’t class warfare.  This isn’t about envy.  This is -- this is just basic math.   (Applause.)  Because if somebody like me gets a tax break that I don’t need, that I wasn’t asking for and that the country can’t afford, then one of two things happens:  Either it adds to our deficit, or it’s going to take something away from somebody else.  From a student -- suddenly their college tuition gets more expensive.  Or a senior citizen who suddenly is paying higher on their prescription drugs.  Or a veteran who desperately needs help to recover from sacrificing on our behalf. 

That's not right.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  It ain't right! 

THE PRESIDENT:  Not only is it not right, it ain't right.  (Laughter and applause.)  That's not who we are as Americans. 

You hear a lot of politicians during election years, they talk about values.  Well, look, I agree, we should be talking about what are our values as Americans.  Hard work -- that’s a value.  Looking out for one another -- that’s a value.  (Applause.)  The idea that we’re all in this together, as Debra said, that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper -- that's a value.  (Applause.)  

Everybody here, whatever success we have, it's because someone, somewhere, took responsibility not only for themselves but also for their kids, for their neighborhood, for their church, for their community, for our country’s future.  Our American story has never been just about what we can do on our own.  It’s about what we can do together.  (Applause.)  We're not going to be able to compete around the world, win the race for new jobs and businesses, and creating -- recreating middle-class security with the same old you-are-on-your-own economics.  It doesn’t work.  It didn’t work when it was tried right before the Great Depression.  It didn’t work when we tried it in the last decade.  Why would we think it would work now?  That's another example of amnesia some of these folks have.  (Laughter.) 

We tried what they're peddling; it did not work.  You understand that.  Look, let me give you just some examples.  You know if we attract an outstanding teacher to the profession by giving her the pay and respect and support that she deserves, and that teacher then goes on and educates the next Steve Jobs, we all benefit.  (Applause.)  If we provide faster Internet to some rural town in Texas, so suddenly that storeowner in that little town can start selling his goods all around the country and all around the world, we benefit.  The economy benefits.  America benefits.  If we build a new bridge that saves a shipping company time and money, workers, customers, that business, everybody -- we all do better. 

This isn't a Democratic idea or a Republican idea.  It was a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, who launched the Transcontinental Railroad, the National Academy of Sciences, and the first land grant colleges in the middle of a Civil War.  It was a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, who called for a progressive income tax.  Dwight Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System.  Republicans helped FDR pass the law that gave millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go to college on the G.I. Bill.  (Applause.)  

This should not be a partisan idea.  And you know what, that same spirit of common purpose that lies at the heart of America, it’s still there.  It might not be there in Washington. but out in America, it’s there.  It’s there where you talk to people in main streets or town halls or VFW halls.  It’s there when you talk to the members of our Armed Forces.  If you go into a church or a synagogue or a mosque, you’ll find out people are supporting each other and believe in the notion of everyone pulling together.

Our politics may be divided, but most Americans understand that we’re in this together.  No matter who we are or what we look like, where we come from, what our names are, we rise and fall as one nation and as one people.  (Applause.)  And that’s what’s at stake right now.  That’s what this election is all about. 

I know it’s been a tough few years.  I know the change that we fought for hasn’t always come as fast we’d like.  And after all that’s happened in Washington, sometimes it may be tempting to start feeling cynical again and think maybe change isn’t possible.  But I want you to remember what we used to say during the last campaign.  We didn’t promise easy.  You never heard me say change was easy.  Real change -- big change -- is hard.  It takes time.  It takes more than a single year, a single term.  It will take more than a single President. 

What it really requires is ordinary citizens, all across the country, committed to fighting and pushing and inching this country, step by step, closer to common ideals, our highest ideals. 

You know what else I said in 2008?  I said I’m not a perfect man; I didn’t promise I’d be a perfect President.  But what I promised you was that I would always tell you what I thought, I’d always tell you where I stood, and I would wake up every single day fighting as hard as I could, fighting as hard as I know how, for you.  (Applause.)  And I’ve kept that promise.  I have kept that promise, Texas.  (Applause.)  

So if you’re willing to keep working with me and marching with me and standing with me, pushing through the obstacles to reach for that vision that you hold in your hearts, change will come.  (Applause.)  If you’re willing to work as hard in the next election as you did in the last election, change will come.  We’ll finish what we’ve started in 2008. 

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

END               
7:21 P.M. CST 

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 09, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event

Boston, Massachusetts

6:05 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you all so much.  (Applause.)  Oh, my goodness.  All right, you guys are fired up, right?  My work here is done tonight.  No, just kidding.  (Laughter.)  You all, please, rest yourselves.  Thank you so much.  It is truly a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you. 

I’ve got so many -- so much of my history here.  We’ve got -- I’ve got former mentees, I’ve got former staff.  We got former White House staff, classmates.  This has just been just a wonderful reunion in so many ways.  But I want to start by thanking Barbara for that very kind introduction and for the outstanding work that she is doing every day to empower women all across this country.  Let’s give her a round of applause.  (Applause.)  She’s amazing. 

And I am thrilled to be in this magnificent museum.  I am so glad that we’re doing this here.  Contemporary art is something that we care passionately about, so it’s wonderful to be able to be in this magnificent space, although I will only see the kitchen -- (laughter) -- and the service entrance.  But I’ve heard it’s a really pretty building.  (Laughter.) 

I also want to recognize the extraordinary women that you all heard from earlier today -- Nancy, Stephanie, Jessica, Paula, Liz -- you guys, thank you so much for being with us this evening.  (Applause.)  I hear they had a lot of good things to say.  (Laughter.)  It’s good stuff.

And of course, I want to give a big shout out to Marianne Karmel and all of our host committee for their wonderful work in making this evening such a terrific success.  (Applause.)  And finally, I want to thank all of you, truly -- thank you for your support.  Thank you for being here with us this evening.  It means so much. 

And I know that there is a reason why you are all here -- and it’s not just to see me.  (Laughter.)  You can see me on Ellen.  (Laughter.)  But you’re here because you know that we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country.  You’re here because you know that in less than a year from now -- and the clock is ticking -- we are going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come.

And I know that you are here because you know that choice will not just affect all of us, but it’s going to affect our children, our grandchildren, for some of us, our great grandchildren, and the world we leave for them long after we’re gone. 

And that is truly why I am here today.  And I’m going to be out there all over the country as much as I can.  I’m in this for our children, for our future.

As First Lady, I have had the privilege of traveling all across this magnificent country, and I get to meet folks from all different backgrounds and all walks of life, hearing what’s going on in their daily lives.  And every day, I hear about how people are trying to keep it all together.  I hear about their struggles -- the bills they’re trying to pay, the businesses they’re trying to keep afloat.  I hear about how they’re taking that extra shift, how they’re working the extra job, how so many people are saving and sacrificing, rarely spending a dime on themselves because they desperately want something better for their kids.

And, truly, make no mistake about it, I mean, these struggles are not new.  For decades now, middle-class folks have been squeezed from all sides.  The cost of things like gas, groceries, tuition have continued to rise, but people’s paychecks just haven’t kept up.  So when this economic crisis hit, for far too many families, the bottom just completely fell out.

Now, let’s be clear -- over the past three years, your President has worked very hard to dig us out of this mess.  Yes.  (Applause.)  And we have made some very important progress.  Now, you may remember that when my husband first took office, this economy was losing an average of more than 750,000 jobs a month -- that’s when he took office.  Well, today we learn that we’ve now had 24 straight months of private sector job growth.  (Applause.)  So, for -- just in case we all got our math right, that’s two years.  (Laughter.)  Two straight years we’ve been adding private sector jobs -- a total of more than 3.9 million jobs.  So I am proud of everything my husband has done to get our economy moving in the right direction and I know that you all are too.  We’re proud of everything he has done to get this economy back on track.  But we also know that we still have a long way to go. 

We still have a long way to go in rebuilding our economy on a vision that we all share -– the belief, as my husband says, that hard work should pay off; that responsibility should be rewarded; and that everyone in this country should get a fair shot, they should do their fair share, they should play by the same rules. 

Truly, those are all the foundation for an economy that’s built to last.  They are our basic American values -- the values that so many of us were raised on, including myself.  You guys know my story by now.  My father was a blue-collar worker at the city water plant; my family lived in a little bitty apartment on the South Side of Chicago.  Neither of my parents went to college, but let me tell you what they did do:  they worked, they saved, they sacrificed everything so that me and my brother could have more than they could have ever imagined.

And more than anything else, that is what’s at stake in this election -- that fundamental promise that no matter who you are or how you started out, if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourself and yes, an even better life for your kids.

And on just about every single issue -– from health care to education to the economy -– that is the choice we face.  That’s the choice. 

For example, let’s just talk about tax cuts for middle-class folks.  When you hear all that the President is saying about those tax cuts or unemployment insurance for folks out of work, well, you hear that -- that’s about whether people will be able heat their homes; that’s about whether they’ll be able to put gas in their car so that they can even look for a job.  It’s about whether folks can send their kids to college, whether they can retire with a little dignity and security.  And it’s about whether people will have more money in their pockets, which means more money in our economy, which means more jobs.  But that’s what’s at stake.

And when it comes to jobs, I want you to think back to when all those folks in Washington were telling Barack to let the auto industry go under, with more than a million jobs on the line.  But Barack had the backs of American workers.  He put his faith in the American people.  (Applause.)  And thankfully today, the auto industry is back on its feet, and more importantly, people are back at work, back to providing for their families.  But that is what’s at stake.  That’s the choice that we face.

And think for just a minute about what this administration has done to stand up for the American consumer.  I’m talking about families getting hit with all those hidden credit card fees.  I am talking about students -- our students -- drowning in all that debt, seniors -- our parents, grandparents -- losing their homes and their savings because they were tricked into loans they couldn’t afford, probably couldn’t understand.

And that is why my husband created a new consumer watchdog with one simple mission -– and that is to protect folks from exactly those kinds of abuses.  Because when you’ve worked hard and you saved and you followed the rules, you shouldn’t lose it all to someone just looking to make some easy money.  So your President knows that that is not fair.  He knows that’s not right, and he is working to do something about it.  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)

And what about all that we’ve done together for our small businesses?  These are the companies that create two-thirds of all new jobs each year in this economy.  It’s two-thirds of all jobs.  I’m talking about the mom who opens up the dry cleaning shop on the corner to provide for her kids.  That’s who we’re talking about.  We’re talking about the family that’s been running that neighborhood diner for generations.  Or the veteran who started that startup and trying to pursue the American Dream that he fought so hard for.  That’s who we’re talking about.

These are the folks who work themselves to the bone during the day, and then they head home and pore over the books late into the night, determined to make the numbers add up.

Now, for these folks, the small business tax cuts this administration has passed, for them, this means the difference between hiring new employees or handing out pink slips, between keeping their doors open or closing up shop for good.  That’s the choice that we face.  Those are the stakes.

And how about, as Barbara said, the very first bill my husband signed into law -- the very first thing he did as President -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to make sure that women get equal pay for equal work?  (Applause.)  And he did this because he knows what it means when women aren’t treated fairly in the workplace.  He watched his own grandmother -– a woman with a high school education -– who worked her way up to become the vice president of a little community bank.  And he saw how hard she worked and how good she was at her job.  But like too many women, she hit that glass ceiling, and watched men no more qualified than she was –- men she had actually trained –- climb that corporate ladder ahead of her.  So believe me, for Barack, this issue is not abstract.  This is not hypothetical. 

He signed this bill because he knows that closing that pay gap can mean the difference between women losing $50, $100, $500 from each paycheck, or having that money in their pockets to buy gas and put school clothes on the backs of their kids, to feed their kids.  He did it because when nearly two-thirds of women are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, he knows that women’s success in this economy is the key to families’ success in this economy.  (Applause.)  That he knows. 

And he did it because, as he put it, we believe that here in America there are no second-class citizens in our workplace.  But that is what’s at stake.  We have to understand that.  Those are the choices that we face.

And let’s just talk for a minute about health care.  Because last year, we made history together by finally passing health reform.  Finally passing health reform.  (Applause.)  But now there are folks actually talking about repealing that reform.  So today, ladies, we have to ask -- and gentlemen, because I know we got a few men -- (laughter) -- we have to ask ourselves, are we going to stand by and just let that happen?

Since we passed this law, millions of our seniors have saved an average of more than $600 a year on their prescription drugs.  So are we going to take those savings away from our seniors?  Or will we make sure that our parents and our grandparents can afford to stay healthy in their golden years?  What are we going to do?  Are we going to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny our children coverage because they have pre-existing conditions -- things like cancer, diabetes, asthma?  Or will we stand up and say that in this country, no one should ever have to choose between going bankrupt or watching their child suffer because they can’t afford a doctor?  What are we going to do?  (Applause.)

And when those beautiful children grow up and they graduate from school, we know how hard it is for them to find jobs with insurance, right?  How many young people in here struggling with that?  Yes.  That is why, as part of health reform, kids can now stay on their parent’s insurance until they’re 26 years old.  And today, that is how 2.5 million of our young people are getting their coverage.  So are we going to take that insurance away from our kids?  Or will we say that we don’t want our sons and daughters going without health care when they’re just starting out, trying to build families and careers of their own?  But that’s the choice we face.  Those are the stakes.

And think, for a moment, about what has been done on education.  (Applause.)  Think about all the investments to raise standards and reform our public schools.  I mean, this is about improving the circumstances for millions of our children.  These are our children in this country -- kids we know that are sitting in crumbling classrooms today.  Kids with so much promise.  Kids who could be anything they wanted if we just gave them the chance.

And think about what my husband has been fighting for with the DREAM Act -- (applause) -- so that talented, hardworking young people who were brought to this country through no fault of their own, so they can have a chance at citizenship.  These are responsible young men and women who want to go to college, defend their country, contribute to this economy -- and it's time that we gave them a chance.  It is time.  (Applause.)

Think about how we’ve tripled investments for job training at community college.  This is about hundreds of thousands of hardworking folks who are determined to do what it takes to get the skills they need for a better job and better wages.  They’re doing everything we could ask of them.  They’re working full-time.  They’re raising their kids.  But they still make it to class every evening, study late into the night, because they desperately want something better for their families.

And make no mistake about it, this investment in our students and in our workers will determine nothing less than the future of this economy.  It will determine whether we’re prepared to make the discoveries and to build the industries that will allow us to compete with any country anywhere in the world.  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)

And let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices -- (applause) -- and for the first time in history, our daughters and sons watched three women take their seats on our nation’s highest court.  (Applause.)  But more importantly, let us not forget the impact their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come -– on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and love whomever we choose.  That is what’s at stake.  Those are the choices.  (Applause.)

And finally, let us not forget all this administration has done to keep our country safe and restore our standing in the world.  (Applause.)  Thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, we finally brought to justice the man behind the 9/11 attacks and so many other horrific acts of terror.  (Applause.)

My husband ended the war in Iraq.  He kept his promise -- brought our troops home for the holidays.  (Applause.)  And we’re working to give our veterans and their families the education, the employment and benefits they’ve earned.  (Applause.)  And of course, because my husband finally ended "don’t ask, don’t tell," our troops will never again have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love.  (Applause.)  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)

So make no mistake about it, whether it’s health care, the economy, whether it’s education or foreign policy, the choice we make will determine nothing less than who we are as a country -– but more importantly, who do we want to be.  Who do we want to be?

Will we be the country where opportunity is limited to just a few at the top? 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Coughs.)

MRS. OBAMA:  It makes you sick, doesn’t it?  (Laughter.)  I know. 

Or will we be a place where if you work hard, you can get ahead, no matter who you are or how you started out?  Right?  Who are we?  (Applause.)  Will we tell folks who’ve done everything right, but are struggling just a little bit, are we going to tell those folks, “tough luck, you’re on your own”?  Who are we?  Or will we honor that fundamental American belief that in this country, we are strongest when we’re all better off?  Who do we want to be?  That’s what we have to ask ourselves.  Will we continue all the change we’ve begun, all the progress we’ve made, or are we going to just let it all slip away -- everything we’ve fought for?  Who are we?  But that is the choice we face.  Those are the stakes.  That is it.  I am not exaggerating.

But believe me, your President, Barack Obama, knows this all too well.  He understands these issues because he’s lived them.  He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills.  And when she needed help, who stepped up?  His grandmother -- waking up every morning to take that bus before dawn to that job at the bank.  And even though she was passed over for all those promotions, she never complained.  Like so many people we know in our lives, she just kept getting up, just kept moving forward, doing her best.  That’s who we are. 

So Barack knows what it means when a family struggles.  Believe me.  He knows what it means when someone doesn’t have the chance to fulfill their potential.  These are the experiences that have made him the man, and more importantly, the President that he is today.  And we are blessed to have him.  (Applause.)

And I share this with everyone -- that is what I hear in his voice when he returns home after a long day in the Oval Office or traveling around the country.  He tells me about the people he’s met.  That’s what I see in those quiet moments late at night, long after the girls have gone to bed, and he’s still up, poring over briefings and the letters he receives from people everywhere.  The letter from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won’t cover her care.  The letter from the father struggling to pay his family’s bills.  The letters from far too many young people with so much promise, but so few opportunities. 

And I hear the passion and the determination in his voice.  He says, “You won’t believe what folks are going through.”  He tells me, “Michelle, this is not right.  We have got to fix this.  We have so much more work to do.”

See, what you need to know about your President is that when it comes to the people he meets, he has a memory like a steel trap.  (Laughter.)  It gets a little annoying at times.  (Laughter.)  He might not remember your name, but if he’s had a few minutes and a decent conversation with you, he will never forget your story.  It becomes imprinted in his heart.  And that is what he carries with him -– our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams.  That is where Barack Obama gets his passion.  That’s where he gets his toughness and his fight.

And that’s why, even in the hardest moments, when it seems like all is lost, Barack Obama never loses sight of the end goal.  He never lets himself get distracted by all the chatter and the noise.  Like his grandmother, he just keeps moving forward.  See, because your President has a vision for this country, so you have to have a vision if you're going to lead America -- and it is a vision that we all share.  I don't care who you are, we share this vision.  This is what we all want for our country.

But I have said this before, and I will say it again -- I will keep saying it:  He cannot do this alone.  That was never the promise.  That was never the promise.  He needs your help.  This has never been about him.  He needs your help.  He needs you to register those voters.  He needs you to make those phone calls.  He needs you to take those "I’m In" cards and sign them, and get your friends and your neighbors and your colleagues to sign them.  Convince them to join in this effort; that giving just a little part of themselves each week to this campaign will make a world of difference.  Let them know what's at stake. 

Because we all know that this was never about one extraordinary man -- this was never about Barack Obama.  This has always been about us.  It’s always been about us -- all of us -- coming together for the values that we believe in and the country that we want to be.  And for something like that, you've got to work for it.  You got to work for it.

Now, I’m not going to kid you, I know this all too well -- this journey is going to be long and it is going to be hard.  And there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.  We are used to that.  But the truth is, that is how change always happens in this country.  I mean, the truth is real change is slow.  Real change never happens all at once.

But if we keep showing up, and fighting the good fight, and doing what we know is right, then we eventually get there.  We always do.  That has been the history of this country.  We always get there.  Maybe not in our lifetimes; maybe in our children’s lifetimes; maybe in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.  Because in the end, that’s what this is all about.  In the end, we are not fighting these battles for ourselves.  We are fighting them for our sons and daughters, for our grandsons and our granddaughters.  We are fighting for the world we want to leave for them -- just like so many people did for us. 

And believe me, I am not fighting this battle just as a mother who wants to leave a legacy for my girls.  I’m in this as a citizen who knows what we can do together to change this country for the better.  We're already seeing it.  Because the truth is, no matter what happens, my girls will be fine.  My girls are blessed.  I tell them that all the time.  (Laughter.)  I say, get that look off your face, you're blessed.  (Laughter.)  They have plenty of advantages and opportunities in their lives.  And that is probably true for so many of the young people in this room. 

But I think the last few years have shown us the truth of what Barack has always said -- that if any child in this country is left behind, then that matters to all of us, even if he is not our son, even if she is not our daughter.  If any family in this country struggles, then we cannot be fully content with our own family’s good fortune.  Because that's not who we are.  In the end, we cannot separate our own story from the broader American story.  Because we know that in this country, we rise and we fall together.  And that's a good thing.  That's the beauty of America.   

And we know that if we make the right choices, and if we have the right priorities, we can ensure that everyone gets a fair shake and everyone has a chance to get ahead.  But that's what’s at stake.  Those are the choices.

But we have some say in this.  We have a chance to move and impact our destiny.  So it’s time for us to get moving.  It’s time for us to get to work.  It's time for us to answer one last question.  I mean, my question for you is:  Are you in?  Are you ready to do this work?  (Applause.)  I mean, I can't really hear you.  I don't know if you really feel it.  (Applause.)  Because it is going to take work.  And we are going to need all of you in. 

Because I know I am in.  I know the future I want.  I know the kind of country I want to hand over to my kids.  And I know it's going to take all of us working together.  So we are going to need you all fired up.  We're going to need you serious.  If you've got it all together in this state, go to the next state and get it together.  (Laughter.)  There is a lot at stake, and we don't have time to waste.  So we're going to need you every step of the way.

And believe me, I will be out there, my husband will be out there.  There is a wonderful story to tell of what this President has done for this country, and we need to make sure everybody knows it.  (Applause.)

Thank you all, and God bless.  (Applause.)

END               
6:34 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 09, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at Let's Move! Event

Penacook Community College
Penacook, New Hampshire

3:45 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you, everyone.  (Applause.)  Thanks so much.  Rest yourselves, because you’ve been working hard to make this community healthy.  You deserve a little sitting down.  Even as we talk about Let’s Move you can rest.  (Laughter.)

It is so wonderful to be here.  And I want to start by thanking Dr. Lynch, not just for that kind introduction, but for all of the wonderful work, the leadership, the expertise that she is bringing to this state.  Just listening to her talk backstage, it is such an advantage to have someone so knowledgeable and aware of these issues at the front lines.

You have a First Lady that understands that health, good health, is the kind of prevention that can change lives, that can change the whole status of communities.  And one of the reasons why we’re here is that New Hampshire is a model -- the entire state -- for what we want to see happening all across this country.  So please, let’s give another round of applause to your First Lady.  (Applause.)  Great work.  And she could not do what she does without leadership on the ground. 

Mayor Jim Bouley, thank you so much for being here, for the work that you’re doing.  It’s tremendous.  And I also have to thank Deb Cuddahy, as well.  We had some fun times together.  I got blue yogurt on my pants.  (Laughter.)  A little dirt on my knees.  But the kids are amazing.  Thank you and your entire staff for hosting us here today. 

I have to point out that all of these decorations were done by the kids from the center.  Correct?  Amazing.  They are just incredible.  We had apples and White House honey and yogurt.  (Laughter.)  We answered a couple of questions.  Someone wanted to know if the President was still alive.  (Laughter.)  I assured him -- (laughter) -- I assured the young man that he was in fact alive and well.  (Laughter.)  I love kids.  I mean, we could have talked -- Susan and I, we could have spent the entire afternoon with them.  They are adorable and they are enthusiastic.  They are embracing these concepts.  We were working on developing MyPlates and they were picking out their proteins and their vegetables -- and they were eating them.  (Laughter.)  I know, parents, they were eating them -- (laughter) -- the White House honey, yogurt, apples, bananas.  It was just wonderful.  So, Deb, thank you.  Thank you to the whole team here.

And of course, I want to thank everybody who has taken the time to be here.  You all are here for a very important reason.  Everything that you just heard from Mayor Bouley, everything that Dr. Lynch is working on, and everything that I’ve seen here at Penacook Community Center all are perfect examples of what we’re trying to accomplish with Let's Move.  We want to show what can happen when communities come together and take action on behalf of our children’s health -- because, really, that’s the bottom line.  We all care about our kids -- every one of us.  Regardless of where you live or what you do, we care about our kids, and we want them to be the healthiest that they can possibly be.

Two years ago, when we started Let's Move, we wanted to end our epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation so that kids growing up today would develop different habits and they would grow up healthier, and they would grow up with the tools and the information they need -- would need to make good choices.  And when we set this goal we knew it was ambitious.  And we knew that we could only reach that goal is if, as Dr. Lynch said, everyone put something on the table, if everyone got involved -- everyone from elected officials, like folks here today, to community centers like this one, to moms and dads and community leaders like all of you.  We all needed to play a role in getting our kids on track.

And that is why it is so inspiring for me to be here today, because all of you are leading the way in so many -- at so many levels.  You’ve got a First Lady and a Governor, fortunately, who are working to get people across this state up and walking, taking an active leadership role on this issue, getting the whole state involved, making it a priority from the very top, which is critical.  You’ve pulled together folks from all across this community to help make Concord a healthier place to live -- the capital of this state.  It’s an important leadership point to have the capital taking the lead.

You all are doing wonderful things, like building bike lanes, starting up farmers’ markets, which is critical.  And right here in Penacook Community Center, you’ve started a garden, I understand.  It's a little too chilly to be out there, but I'm taking your word for it that it's good stuff.  (Laughter.)  The garden to encourage the kids to try new fruits and vegetables and to teach them about where food comes from, as part of what you figure out.  Because we had a whole conversation about honey.  (Laughter.) 

Now, the staff, you guys have work to do, right?  Because now they want to know how to -- what do you do to put the bees to sleep, how do you get the honey.  (Laughter.)  A few of them tried a little more of the honey because I think they were wondering how the guy in the hat got the honey without getting stung.  (Laughter.)  So there's work to be done.  But we left you a lot of honey to help illustrate.  So the educational piece in getting kids in there, sleeves rolled up, is critical.

You’re helping kids exercise before and after school with all sorts of activities.  We also did the Bunny Hop.  (Laughter.)  I'm sure that will make the news.  (Laughter.)  It was something like this, and wiggling your tail in and out.  Yes, I did it.  (Laughter.)  But it was fun.  I worked up a little sweat.  Probably should have taken my jacket off.

You’re working with parents so that the healthy habits that kids are learning in places like this carry over into life at home.  And of course, I cannot forget to mention that you all also were part of history.  You helped me and thousands of others break a world record for the number of people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period.  We are now in the Guinness Book of World Records.  And I understand you guys were a part of that.  (Applause.)  Yes, indeed.  So we're teaching kids that this exercise and good eating stuff can be fun.  And that's really the point.  It is truly putting play back into the lives of our children, and that's a good thing.  And you all are doing so many wonderful things.   

You’re demonstrating exactly how Let's Move can work on the ground -- taking that theory, that big national concept coming out of the White House, putting it to work right here in communities.  So we want to do everything we can to support leaders like you.  And again, that's why I'm here.  I mean, one of the things that I have is a big spotlight.  Cameras seem to show up.  (Laughter.)  Hey, guys.  It's nice to see you.  (Laughter.)  But we get to shine a light on wonderful things that are going on, on the ground, which is really where change is going to happen. 

And that’s why we are trying to help, and we've tried to start other initiatives connected with Let’s Move.  We started Let's Move Child Care to provide helpful tips on how to give children a healthy start right from the very beginning.  Because many of our kids are getting a lot of nutrition; they're learning their first habits when they go to preschool.  And we’ve created a checklist, a very simple checklist with steps that child care providers can take to help their kids eat well and stay active. 

We've also developed Let’s Move Cities and Towns to give communities the tools they can use to help develop strategies that make sense for them -- because that's one thing we know, that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this.  Communities have to develop the things that work and make sense for them.  And Let's Move Cities and Towns just gives some ideas and gives a little jumpstart to some efforts on the ground.

And we’re working with mayors all across the country who are refurbishing parks and playgrounds, which is critical, because many communities don't have access to those basic things and we need to support them in those efforts.  They're hosting fun things like cooking and nutrition classes, which are critical; starting up childhood obesity task forces, which help create some unity and coalition around this issue, and so much more.

We’ve also encouraged schools across the country to take part in the HealthierUS School Challenge, through which schools make commitments to serve healthy food and keep their kids active.  And we're trying to encourage more schools to become USHealthier schools.  And there are many standards.  We're shining a light on those that reach the gold standard, which means that they are ahead of the curve in terms of bringing in nutritious foods and incorporating nutrition education.  We've seen those numbers doubled in the time that we started Let's Move.  So that's been a wonderful thing to watch.

And we’re very excited to team up with leaders like all of you in the efforts that you're doing as well.  So as of today, the Penacook Community Center is joining Let’s Move Child Care.  Yay.  Way to go.  (Applause.)  But I can tell from the short time I've been here, you guys have been doing the right things already.  So we welcome you into the fold and we want you to share those ideas with other centers across the country who are just starting to develop these ideas.  So, again, you are a role model.

But also, the city of Concord is becoming the second city in New Hampshire to join Let’s Move Cities and Towns.  Yay.  (Applause.)  And again, that is a huge commitment from the top. Really creating that leadership and setting the tone from the Mayor is an amazing boost to a community already looking to do the hard work.  So we commend you.

And the New Hampshire Department of Education will be leading a statewide effort with the goal of signing up 30 new schools for the HealthierUS School Challenge by the end of 2013, and doubling that number by the end of 2015.  So we want to help the schools in New Hampshire reach that goal and create as many rewards and incentives for schools to think about ways to make the environment even more healthy for their kids.  So we are incredibly proud of everything that’s going on here.

And we hope that these programs can help you find even more ways to make a difference for your community and for your state.  And I also want to emphasize that you all are not alone in these efforts.  I mean, that’s a part of Let’s Move, too -- it can’t just happen on the ground, because kids and families are influenced by so many other aspects of society that we’re trying to use this big umbrella to make some really bigger changes.  And we’ve seen some of that going on every day. 

For example, Congress has passed groundbreaking child nutrition legislation to help all of our schools in this country be healthier, and its changes in school meals that have -- hasn’t happened for decades.  So now, beginning in the fall, school lunches -- the standards are being raised in ways that will impact schools all across the country. 

The food and beverage industry is working to get healthier foods with less sugar, salt, and fat into supermarkets so that parents have healthier options when they go grocery shopping.  There’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to do the right thing and then you get to the aisle and you don’t have the choices that you want.  So the food and beverage industries are stepping up. 

Restaurant chains are offering healthier items on their kids’ menus because we know that many parents are too busy to cook every night, and a lot of times, eating out is the best -- and sometimes only -- way to get a meal in our kids.  But we’ve got some of the largest chains like the Olive Garden and Red Lobster that are creating and updating their kids’ menus so that the healthier choice becomes the easy choice.  It’s one of the largest restaurant chains in the world that are stepping up, on their own, to make it easier for parents who walk in those restaurants to have an option for their kids so eating out is not a fight, right?  We all applaud that, right?  (Laughter.)  

But every day, people across this country are coming together on behalf of our children.  And it feels good.  It feels good to know that when you identify a problem that’s affecting our kids, that so many people -- even when it doesn’t help their bottom line -- step up in ways big and small.  That’s why I started out by saying we all care about our kids.  We just need a little guidance and direction to figure out how do we tackle these problems. 

But it warms my heart to know that we will step up for our kids.  And I am reminded of why this kind of stuff is important.  If you listen to a young girl, Caitlin Habel, she is seven years old and she comes here, right?  She’s here.  Well, this is one of her quotes.  She says, "I like being able to play games before school because it’s really fun and it helps me wake up my heart."

See there -- and that’s what we have to remember.  That’s what this is really about.  Kids will take this and run with it.  We all know that about kids.  You give them a little information and they’ll take you down a road -- they’ll have you eating right and criticizing you when you do something wrong.  (Laughter.)  It’s a good thing.  They want to learn.  They want to do the right thing. 

And they also learn that vegetables can actually taste good. We’re still working on convincing them of that, so you guys have to agree and be like, yes, yes, vegetables are good.  They need to know that running around with their friends can make you feel better -- that it’s fun but it’s also good for your heart. 

And when kids learn these kind of lessons, the important thing is, is that it stays with them, and that they’ll have this information that they can pass on to their kids and to their kids.  So with these efforts, please know that you’re just not changing this generation -- the circumstances for this generation of children -- you’re changing the circumstances for generations to come.  And that’s the power of just a little bit of togetherness -- what it can do.  

So I am so very impressed and proud.  And I hope that other states look here for a model of what can be done when people take ahold of a problem, come together and create solutions that make sense. 

So I look forward to working with you all in the months and years ahead -- seeing your kids grow up, answering their crazy questions.  They’re all so good.  They’re all so smart.  And they deserve all of this attention and focus that we give them.  So congratulations and God bless you all.  Take care.  (Applause.)

END
4:01 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 09, 2012

Remarks by the President on Manufacturing and the Economy

Rolls-Royce Crosspointe
Petersburg, Virginia

12:57 P.M. EST
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Virginia!  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Thank you, everybody.  Wow, what a unbelievable crowd.  Everybody, please have a seat -- if you have one.  (Laughter.)
 
Well, thank you, James, for that rousing introduction and letting me hang out a little bit with your workers.  We’ve got a few other folks I want to acknowledge:  The Governor of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, is here.  (Applause.)  Outstanding Congressman Bobby Scott is in the house.  (Applause.)  We’ve got your Mayor, Brian Moore.  (Applause.)  And I want to very much say thank you to our outstanding Secretary of Commerce, Secretary Bryson, who was here and he is doing great work trying to create jobs and investment and opportunity all across the country.  (Applause.)
 
It is great to be back in Petersburg.  (Applause.)  Last time I was here was during the campaign.  I had my bus pull over so I could get a cheeseburger -- (laughter) -- at Longstreet’s Deli.  (Applause.)  You guys have eaten there.  (Laughter.)  Some of you may think this violates Michelle’s Let’s Move program -- (laughter) -- but she gives me a pass when it comes to a good burger -- (laughter) -- and fries. 
 
Now, back then, in 2008, we were talking about how working Americans were already having a tough go of it.  Folks were working harder and longer for less.  It was getting tougher to afford health care or to send your kids to college.  The economy was already shedding jobs, and in less than a decade, nearly one in three manufacturing jobs had vanished.  Then the bottom fell out of the economy, and things got that much tougher.  We were losing 700,000 to 800,000 jobs a month.  The economy was hemorrhaging. 
 
And three and a half years later, we’re still recovering from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes.  And we’ve got a lot of work to do before everybody who wants a good job can find one, before middle-class folks regain that sense of security that had been slipping away even before the recession hit, and before towns like Petersburg get fully back on their feet.
 
But here’s the good news:  Over the past two years, our businesses have added nearly 4 million new jobs.  (Applause.)  We just found out that last month in February we added 233,000 private sector jobs.  (Applause.)  More companies are bringing jobs back and investing in America.  And manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  (Applause.)  We just had another good month last month in terms of adding manufacturing jobs.  And this facility is part of the evidence of what’s going on all across the country.  This company is about to hire more than 200 new workers -- 140 of them right here in Petersburg, Virginia.  (Applause.)
 
So the economy is getting stronger.  And when I come to places like this, and I see the work that’s being done, it gives me confidence there are better days ahead.  I know it because I would bet on American workers and American know-how any day of the week.  (Applause.)
 
The key now -- our job now is to keep this economic engine churning.  We can’t go back to the same policies that got us into this mess.  We can’t go back to an economy that was weakened by outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits.  We’ve got to have an economy that’s built to last.  And that starts with American manufacturing.  It starts with you.  (Applause.)
 
For generations of Americans, manufacturing has been the ticket into the middle class.  Every day, millions clocked in at foundries and on assembly lines, making things.  And the stuff we made -- steel and cars and jet engines -- that was the stuff that made America what it is.  It was understood around the world. 
 
The work was hard, but the jobs were good.  They paid enough to own a home, and raise kids and send them to college, gave you enough to retire on with dignity and respect.  They were jobs that told us something more important than how much we were worth; they told us what we were worth.  They told us that we were building more than just products.  They told us we were building communities and neighborhoods, we were building a country.  It gave people pride about what America was about.
 
And that’s why one of the first decisions I made as President was to stand by manufacturing, to stand by the American auto industry when it was on the brink of collapse.  (Applause.)  The heartbeat of American manufacturing was at stake -- and so were more than a million jobs.  And today, the American auto industry is coming back, and GM is number one in the world again, and Ford is investing billions in American plants and factories.  (Applause.)  And together, over the past two and a half years, the entire auto industry has added more than 200,000 jobs.
 
And here’s the thing.  They’re not just building cars again, they’re building better cars.  For the first time in three decades, we raised fuel standards in this country, so that by the middle of the next decade the cars that are built in America will average nearly 55 miles to the gallon.  (Applause.)  That will save the typical family about $8,000 at the pump over time.  That’s real savings.  (Applause.)  That's real money. 
 
And it shows that depending on foreign oil doesn’t have to be our future.  It shows that when we harness our own ingenuity, our technology, then we control our future.  See, America thrives when we build things better than the rest of the world.  I want us to make stuff here and sell it over there.  (Applause.)  I don't want stuff made over there and selling it over here.  (Applause.)  And that’s exactly what you’re doing here at the largest Rolls-Royce facility in the world.  That’s what you’re doing by building the key components of newer, faster, more fuel-efficient jet engines. 
 
I just took a tour and I learned a bit about how a jet engine comes together.  Don’t quiz me on it.  (Laughter.)  I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details.  (Laughter.)  I did press some buttons back there.  (Laughter.)
 
But a few weeks ago, I actually got to see the finished product.  I went to Boeing, in Washington State, and I checked out a new Dreamliner.  I even got to sit in the cockpit, which was pretty sweet.  I didn’t press any buttons there, though -- (laughter) -- because if it had started going it would have been a problem.
 
So this plane, the Dreamliner, is going to keep America at the cutting edge of aerospace technology.  American workers are manufacturing various components for it in Ohio, and Oklahoma, and South Carolina, and Kansas, and right here in Petersburg.  In fact, the demand for their planes was so high last year that Boeing had to hire 13,000 workers all across America just to keep up.  And Boeing is gaining more and more share all the time. 
 
So think about that.  Rolls-Royce is choosing to invest in America.  You’re creating jobs here, manufacturing components for jet engines, for planes that we’re going to send all around the world.  And that’s the kind of business cycle we want to see.  Not buying stuff that’s made someplace else and racking up debt, but by inventing things and building things and selling them all around the world stamped with three proud words:  “Made in America.”  (Applause.)  Made in America.
 
Think about how important this is.  I mean, imagine if the plane of the future was being built someplace else.  Imagine if we had given up on the auto industry.  Imagine if we had settled for a lesser future.
 
But we didn’t.  We’re Americans.  We are inventors.  We are builders.  We’re Thomas Edison and we’re the Wright Brothers and we are Steven Jobs.  That’s who we are.  That’s what we do.  We invent stuff, we build it.  And pretty soon, the entire world adapts it.  That’s who we are.  And as long as I’m President, we’re going to keep on doing it.  (Applause.)  We’re going to make sure the next generation of life-changing products are invented and manufactured here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)
 
So that’s why we launched an all-hands-on-deck effort.  We brought together the brightest academic minds, the boldest business leaders, the most dedicated public servants from our science and our technology agencies all with one big goal:  a renaissance in American manufacturing.  We called it the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.  The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.  And today, we’re building on it.
 
I’m laying out my plans for a new National Network of Manufacturing Innovation –- and these are going to be institutes of manufacturing excellence where some of our most advanced engineering schools and our most innovative manufacturers collaborate on new ideas, new technology, new methods, new processes.
 
And if this sounds familiar, that’s because what you’re about to do right here at Crosspointe.  Later this summer, the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing will open its doors.  And it’s a partnership between manufacturers, including this one, UVA, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University -- (applause) -- VSU is a little overrepresented here, obviously --  (laughter) -- the Commonwealth and the federal government.  So think of this as a place where companies can share access to cutting-edge capabilities.  At the same time, students and workers are picking up new skills, they’re training on state-of-the-art equipment; they’re solving some of the most important challenges facing our manufacturers. 
 
You just got all this brain power and skill and experience coming together in this hub, and that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.  It allows everybody to learn from each other and figure out how we’re going to do things even better.  It’s going to help get that next great idea from a paper or a computer to the lab, to the factory, to the global marketplace.  And that’s especially important for the one in three Americans in manufacturing who work for a small business that doesn’t always have access to resources like these.
 
Obviously, big companies -- the Boeings, the Intels, the Rolls Royces -- they’ve got the resources, the capital, to be able to create these platforms.  But some of the small to medium-sized businesses, it’s a little bit harder.  So this gives them access and allows them to take part in this new renaissance of American inventiveness.  And we’ve got to build these institutes all across the country -- all across the country.  I don’t want it just here at Crosspointe, I want it everywhere. 
 
To do that, we need Congress to act.  Hmm.  (Laughter and applause.)  It’s true.  (Laughter.)  But that doesn’t mean we have to hold our breath.  We’re not going to wait -- we’re going to go ahead on our own.  Later this year, we’re going to choose the winner of a competition for a pilot institute for manufacturing innovation -- help them get started.  With that pilot in place, we’ll keep on pushing Congress to do the right thing because this is the kind of approach that can succeed, but we’ve got to have this all across the country.  I want everybody thinking about how are we making the best products; how are we harnessing the new ideas and making sure they’re located here in the United States. 
 
And sparking this network of innovation across the country – it will create jobs and it will keep America in the manufacturing game.  Of course, there’s more we can do to seize this moment of opportunity to create new jobs and manufacturing here in America.
 
We’ve got to do everything we can to encourage more companies to make the decision to invest in America and bring jobs back from overseas.  And we’re starting to see companies do that.  They’re starting to realize this is the place with the best workers, the best ideas, the best universities.  This is the place to be.  (Applause.)  We've got to give them a little more encouragement.
 
Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas.  Companies that choose to invest in America, they get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world.  Does that make any sense?
 
AUDIENCE:  No!
 
THE PRESIDENT:  It makes no sense.  Everybody knows it.  So it's time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas; reward companies that create good jobs right here in the United States of America.  That's how our tax code can work.  (Applause.)  That's how our tax code should work.
 
At the same time, we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure our kids get an education that gives them every chance to succeed.  (Applause.)  I’ve been told that last year’s valedictorian at Petersburg High, whose name is Kenneisha Edmonds, she had a pretty good statement.  She said her cap and gown was “the best gown that anybody can hang in their closet."  (Laughter.)  I like that.  So let’s make sure students like Kenneisha have teachers who bring out the best in them.  Let’s make sure if they want to go to college, their families can afford them to go to college.  (Applause.)
 
And let’s make sure all our workers have the skills that companies like this one are looking for -- because we've got to have folks engaged in lifelong learning.  The days when you started out at 20 at one company and you just kept on doing the same thing for 40 years -- that's not going to happen anymore.
 
So even if -- as I was meeting some of the folks here, they had been in the industry, they'd been machinists, they'd been in manufacturing for years.  But they're constantly upgrading their skills and retraining.  And some of them had been laid off and had gone back to school before they came to this company.  And so we've got to make sure those opportunities for people mid-career and onward, that they can constantly go back to a community college and retool so that they can make sure they're qualified for the jobs of tomorrow.
 
At a time when so many Americans are looking for work, no job opening should go unfilled just because people didn’t have an opportunity to get the training they needed.  And that’s why I've asked Congress -- (applause) -- I've asked Congress, join me in a national commitment to train 2 million Americans with the skills that will lead directly to a job -- right now.  (Applause.) 
 
We need to create more partnerships like the one this plant has with John Tyler Community College.  (Applause.)  We should give more community colleges the resources they need.  I want them to be community career centers -- places that teach people skills that companies are looking for right now, from data management to the kind of high-tech manufacturing that's being done at this facility.
 
So day by day, we’re restoring this economy from crisis.  But we can’t stop there.  We've got to make this economy ready for tomorrow.  Day by day, we’re creating new jobs, but we can’t stop there -- not until everybody who’s out there pounding the pavement, sending out their résumés has a chance to land one of those jobs. 
 
Every day we’re producing more oil and gas than we have in years, but we can’t stop there.  I want our businesses to lead the world in clean energy, too.  (Applause.)  We’ve got the best colleges and universities in the world, but we can’t stop there. I want to make sure more of our students can afford to go to those colleges and universities.  (Applause.)  Everybody knows we’ve got the best workers on Earth, but we can't stop there.   We’ve got to make sure the middle class doesn’t just survive these times, we want them to thrive.  We want them to dream big dreams and to feel confident about the future.
 
I did not run for this office just to get back to where we were.  I ran for this office to get us to where we need to be.  (Applause.)  And I promise you we will get there.  (Applause.)   Some of these challenges may take a year; some may take one term; some may take a decade -- but we're going to get there.  Because when we work together, we know what we’re capable of.  We’ve got the tools, we've got the know-how, we've got the toughness to overcome any obstacle.  And when we come together and combine our creativity and our optimism and our willingness to work hard, and if we're harnessing our brainpower and our manpower, our horsepower, I promise you we will thrive again.  We will get to where we need to go.  And we will leave behind an economy that is built to last.  We will make this another American century. 
 
Thank you.  (Applause.)  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)
 
END
1:20 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 08, 2012

Remarks by President Obama and President John Atta Mills of Ghana

Oval Office

3:55 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it is a great pleasure to welcome President Mills and his delegation from Ghana.  This gives me the opportunity to return the extraordinary hospitality that they showed not only me, but also Michelle and Sasha and Malia when we had the opportunity to visit last year. 

There are sometimes -- there's sometimes a tendency to focus on the challenges that exist in Africa -- and rightfully so.  But I think it’s important for us to also focus on the good news that’s coming out of Africa, and I think Ghana continues to be a good-news story. 

This is a country that has established a strong tradition of democracy, and President Mills and I were comparing notes -- we’re both up for reelection -- but what we agreed to is the fact that regardless of who wins and who loses, our countries' commitment to making sure that the people have a voice and determine who it is that represents them in their government is what gives both our countries such strength.

And Ghana has proven, I think, to be a model for Africa in terms of its democratic practices.  And I very much appreciate the efforts that President Mills has taken not only to ensure fair and free elections, but also to root out corruption, increase transparency, make sure that government is working for the people of Ghana and not just for the few.  So we’re very appreciative of those efforts.

In addition, Ghana has become a wonderful success story economically on the continent.  In part because of the initiatives of President Mills, you’ve seen high growth rates over the last several years.  Food productivity and food security is up.  There’s been strong foreign investment.  That trade and investment benefits folks back home here in the United States as well. 

In fact, the President’s government recently is collaborating with a number of American businesses to build infrastructure inside of Ghana, which will create thousands of jobs here in the United States.  And the trade that we engage in creates jobs for tens of thousands of people back in Ghana. 

So that’s a good-news story.  And what we’ve also been able to do is collaborate with the Ghanaian government through the Millennium Challenge Corporation -- they are a grant recipient  -- and it has helped to improve a wide range of infrastructure and institutions inside of Ghana.  Our Feed the Future program  -- we’ve been able to help increase productivity there, and the Partnership for Growth -- that is also another mechanism where we’re collaborating, for example, on power generation and credit to small businesses and medium-size businesses inside of Ghana.

Ghana has also been a leader, a responsible actor on the international stage, working in the region to help stabilize and reduce conflict there.  They’ve been strong partners with us in the United Nations on a whole range of international issues.  And as important, President Mills has consistently spoken out on behalf of human rights and making sure that everyone is treated fairly and not discriminated against inside of his country. 

So I am very proud of the friendship and the partnership between Ghana and the United States.  I am confident that it will continue well into the future, beyond the tenures of these two Presidents.  And I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to visit Ghana once again sometime in the future.

But in the meantime, Mr. President, welcome to the United States, welcome to your delegation, and we wish you all the best.

PRESIDENT MILLS:  Thank you, Mr. President, for this very warm reception.  My delegation and I are really honored to be here with the press to say a big thank-you to you, Mr. President, for the honor done us by singling us out for your first visit to Africa -- it's really inspired us.

And I’m also here to also thank you for the help that we have been enjoying and for the high level of cooperation and collaboration that exists between our two countries.  We share the same values of democracy.  We have come to accept that democracy is the only way. 

And democracy goes with development.  And if you come to Africa, our people are yearning for only one thing -- improvement in their daily lives.  And there can be no development without peace, which means that we should do the things which will ensure that there is peace and that there’s no room for conflict.

The United States has been a model, and I’m happy that we are cooperating with one another on all kinds of fronts and they are yielding results.  And I was telling Mr. President that when one of the roads was commissioned, and it was built with money provided by the MCC under our first compact, you should have seen the joy on the faces of the Ghanaians because there had been a radical transformation in their lives.  I mean that is what governance is all about -- to see people happy because they now have what they did not have.

So I assured the President that we have elections this year, but we are going to ensure that there is peace before, during, after the election, because when there is no peace, it’s not the elitists who will suffer, it’s the ordinary people who have elected us into office. 

So we have a big challenge, and we know that some of our friends in Africa are looking up to us, and we dare not fail them.  I have no doubt at all that we have embarked on a useful journey, and we’ll get to the very end.  I told you that both of us are facing elections, but our ships will be able to sail safely to their final destination, I want to assure you.

So thanks a lot for the wonderful reception.  We will go back with happy memories.  And of course, this will also reassure our people that the kind of cooperation we started -- from our first President -- is growing from strength to strength.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MILLS:  Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you, everybody.

END
4:03 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 08, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at International Women of Courage Awards

Department of State
Washington, D.C.

11:14 A.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Good morning, everyone.  To say it is a pleasure to be here with all of you today would be an understatement.  This is truly an important opportunity, it is an uplifting opportunity, and I am happy to be a part of it every single year.

And I have to start by thanking Secretary Clinton not just for that very kind introduction, but she has been an outstanding -- should I say that again? -- an outstanding Secretary of State.  (Laughter and applause.)  And she has been an inspiration to women and girls around the world.  She is a role model for me in so many ways.  I don't think she realizes how what she has done has made what I am doing partially possible.  So with all the respect and admiration that I can give to her, I will be wherever she needs me to be, whenever she needs me to be there.  (Applause.)

I also want to join in recognizing our special guest, First Lady Mills, who is a dear friend.  We enjoyed our visit to Ghana.  (Applause.)  And she is going to have a productive stay here in Washington, so she's going to be busy.  Just take it easy.  (Laughter.)  And of course, Secretary Vanda Pignato, who is a dear friend as well.  We are honored to have you with us as well.  I also want to thank them for taking the time to be here today.  It means so much to us all for you to be here.

I have to thank Ambassador Melanne Verveer for her terrific work she is doing -- what she is doing for -- (applause) -- for Global Women’s Issues.  This event is top-notch, and it wouldn't happen if not for her.  We are so grateful. 

And of course, I want to recognize most of all the ten Women of Courage that we're honoring here today.  These women come from all different corners of the globe.  They have taken very different journeys to this moment.  But they are all here today because somewhere along the line, they decided they could no longer accept the world as it is.  And they committed themselves to fighting for the world as they know it should be.  They saw corruption, and they worked to expose it.  They saw oppression, and they worked to end it.  They saw violence, poverty, discrimination, and inequality -- and they decided to use their voices, and risk their lives, to do something about it.

And day after day, these women have stood up and said the things that no one else could say, or would say.  Year after year, they endured hardships that few of us could bear.

At the age of 22, Zin Mar Aung was imprisoned for 11 years simply for writing a letter demanding that the elected civilian government take power in Burma.  When she was freed, she went right back to work, fighting for the rights of women and ethnic minorities and political prisoners.

Shad Begum founded a women’s NGO in Pakistan, and she ran for district council.  When she won, she intended to use her position to improve health care and education.  But when the council met, she was forced to sit in a separate side room, behind a locked door.  The microphone that was supposed to allow her to participate never worked.  But undeterred, she decided to run for an even higher elected office, saying -- and this is her quote -- “Whatever it takes, I will make them hear me.” 

And then there is Jineth Bedoya Lima, an investigative journalist in Colombia.  Back in 2000, when she was writing about an arms struggling [sic] network, she was kidnapped, brutally assaulted for hours by those who wished to silence her.  But instead of backing down, she moved from her regional newspaper to a national one, and despite continued threats against her life, she kept reporting.  She became a spokeswoman for a global campaign against sexual violence.  And for 12 years, she’s fought to hold her attackers responsible for their crimes.  (Applause.)

She has even taken her case all the way to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking justice not just for herself, but for women across her country. 

And that is why, despite the risks they face, despite the hardships they endure, these women carry on -- because they know that they are fighting not just for their own rights and freedoms, but for the rights and freedoms of so many others.  That is why, despite daunting physical obstacles, Safak Pavey didn’t just win a seat in parliament in her own country; she traveled to countries across the globe, winning support for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  She lives her life by a simple motto -- these are her words: “Whatever you experience is an example to others.”  Whatever you experience is an example to others.

The same can be said of Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo.  Despite being one of just a few women in the Rio de Janeiro military police, she has risen through the ranks, commanding more than 100 male officers.  We love that.  (Laughter and applause.)  Working in one of the toughest communities in the city and even arresting a gang of criminals who kidnapped her.  Women of all ages have been inspired by her leadership, and of them she says -- again a quote -- “They see me as an example of the fact that any woman can work in any type of activity.  It’s just a question of wanting to do it.”

And that is why each year we invite young people to join us at this event.  It is so important because we want them to learn from and be inspired by the example of these women of courage. 

We invite them because we want them -- we want to say to them and to boys and girls across America that if, despite all the obstacles these women of courage face, if they are still running for office and running organizations and serving their communities and their countries, then surely you can find a way to follow your dreams.  Surely, you can find a way to give back to your community and to your country.  If these 10 women can endure death threats and horrifying violence and years behind bars to stand up for what they believe in, then surely our young people can find a way to stand up for what they believe in.  Surely, all of you can overcome the obstacles you face in your own life.

And I’m thinking particularly of Jineth Bedoya Lima and what she endured on that day 12 years ago.  As her attackers assaulted her, they said to her, “Pay attention.  We’re sending a message to the press in Colombia.”  Well, today, with every story she writes and with every public appearance she makes, Jineth is sending her own message that she will not back down, that she will not give up, and she will never, ever allow her voice to be silenced.

And it is the same message that all of these women are sending with every act of courage they commit -– the message that injustice will not stand, that inequality will not be tolerated, and that they will not stay silenced in the face of evil. 

And to all of those who are oppressed and abused and left out and left behind, they are saying:  I am standing with you.  I am fighting for you.  You are not alone.

And on this International Women’s Day, that is the very message I wish to send to these 10 women and others like them in every corner of the globe. 

On behalf of my husband and our country, I want you to know that you are never, ever alone.  (Applause.)  The United States of America stands with you.  And we are so incredibly proud of everything that you have achieved.  And we will continue to fight with you for the causes to which you have devoted your lives.

So thank you all so much.  Enjoy this day.  Congratulations.  God bless.  (Applause.)

Now, before I sit down, I have one important honor.  I get to introduce two more women of courage who have received the highest honor for their work –- our 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman.  Please, let’s welcome them to the stage.  (Applause.)

END               
11:25 A.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 07, 2012

Remarks by the President on Energy -- Mount Holly, NC

Daimler Truck Manufacturing Plant
Mount Holly, North Carolina

12:50 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, North Carolina!  (Applause.)  Hello, Mount Holly!  (Applause.)  Thank you, Juan, for that introduction.  I did not know he was a preacher.  (Laughter.)  He must be at least a deacon.  (Laughter.)  I was hearing -- "Welll" -- (Laughter.)  He was starting to get the spirit up here.  I'm going to take Juan on the road to introduce me everywhere.  (Laughter.)  Can I hear an "amen"? 

AUDIENCE:  Amen!

THE PRESIDENT:  Amen. 

I want to thank Mark Hernandez, Ricky McDowell -- (applause) -- and Martin Daum for hosting us and being such great tour guides.  Thank you so much, everybody.  Give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.) 

We've got a few outstanding North Carolinians in the house.  You've got your Governor, Bev Perdue, is here.  (Applause.)  Your mayors, Bryan Hough and Anthony Foxx are here.  (Applause.)  Two outstanding Congressmen, Mel Watt and Heath Shuler are here.  (Applause.)  Thank you all for being here.

It is good to be in North Carolina.  Anthony Foxx pointed out that I decided to wear a tie that could be a Tar Heel -- (applause) -- but it's got a little Duke color in there, too. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  I didn’t want to get in trouble with anybody, so I was hedging my bets.  (Laughter.) 

I always tell people I am one of the best advertisers for North Carolina.  I love this state.  (Applause.)  Love this state.  Everybody here is so nice, so welcoming.  Even the folks who don't vote for me, they're nice to me.  They usually wave five fingers.  (Laughter.)  So it's just a great pleasure.

And I just had a chance to see some of the folks who are doing the work here today.  I couldn't be more impressed.  Some people have been here -- like Juan -- 32 years, 25 years.  Some folks have been here for four months, or six months, have just gotten hired.  But everybody had such pride in their work.

And the Freighterline trucks that you’re making here at this plant run on natural gas, and that makes them quieter, it makes them better for the environment, it makes them cheaper to fill up than they would be with diesel.  I hear you sold your 1,000th natural gas truck last November -– (applause) -- the first company to reach that milestone.  And it was made right here in Mount Holly.  (Applause.)  And last year, this plant added more than 1,000 workers, hiring back a lot of folks who were laid off during the recession.  (Applause.)  That is something to be proud of.

Now, here at Daimler, you're not just building trucks.  You're building better trucks.

AUDIENCE:  That’s right.

THE PRESIDENT:  You're building trucks that use less oil.  And you know that’s especially important right now because most of you have probably filled up your gas tank a time or two in the last week, and you've seen how quickly the price of gas is going up.  A lot of you may have to drive a distance to work.  Higher gas prices are like a tax straight out of your paycheck. 
And for companies that operate a whole fleet of trucks, the higher costs can make a big difference in terms of the profitability of the company. 

Now, here's the thing, though -- this is not the first time we've seen gas prices spike.  It's been happening for years.  Every year, about this time, gas starts spiking up, and everybody starts wondering, how high is it going to go?  And every year, politicians start talking when gas prices go up.  They get out on the campaign trail -- and you and I both know there are no quick fixes to this problem -- but listening to them, you'd think there were.

As a country that has 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, but uses 20 percent of the world's oil -- I'm going to repeat that -- we've got 2 percent of the world oil reserves; we use 20 percent.  What that means is, as much as we're doing to increase oil production, we're not going to be able to just drill our way out of the problem of high gas prices.  Anybody who tells you otherwise either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or they aren’t telling you the truth. 

Here is the truth.  If we are going to control our energy future, then we’ve got to have an all-of-the-above strategy.  We’ve got to develop every source of American energy -- not just oil and gas, but wind power and solar power, nuclear power, biofuels.  We need to invest in the technology that will help us use less oil in our cars and our trucks, in our buildings, in our factories.  That’s the only solution to the challenge. Because as we start using less, that lowers the demand, prices come down.  It's pretty straightforward.  That’s the only solution to this challenge. 

And that’s the strategy that we’ve now been pursuing for the last three years.  And I’m proud to say we’ve made progress.
Since I took office, America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year.  In fact, in 2010, it went under 50 percent for the first time in 13 years. 

You wouldn’t know it from listening to some of these folks out here -- (laughter) -- some of these folks -- (laughter) -- but a key part of our energy strategy has been to increase safe, responsible oil production here at home.  Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than any time in the last eight years.  Under my administration, we’ve quadrupled the number of operating oilrigs to a record high.  We’ve got more oilrigs operating now than we’ve ever seen.  We’ve opened up millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration.  We’ve approved more than 400 drilling permits that follow new safety standards after we had that mess down in the Gulf.

We’re approving dozens of new pipelines.  We just announced that we’ll do whatever we can to speed up construction of a pipeline in Oklahoma that’s going to relieve a bottleneck and get more oil to the Gulf -- to the refineries down there -- and that’s going to help create jobs, encourage more production. 

So these are the facts on oil production.  If somebody tells you we’re not producing enough oil, they just don’t know the facts. 

But how much oil we produce here at home, because we only have 2 percent and we use 20, that’s not going to set the price of gas worldwide, or here in the United States.  Oil is bought and sold on the world market.  And the biggest thing that’s causing the price of oil to rise right now is instability in the Middle East.  You guys have been hearing about what’s happening with Iran; there are other oil producers that are having problems.  And so people have gotten uncertain.  And when uncertainty increases, then sometimes you see speculation on Wall Street that drives up gas prices even more. 

But here's the thing.  Over the long term, the biggest reason oil prices will go up is there's just growing demand in countries like China and India and Brazil.  There are a lot of people there.  In 2010 alone, China added nearly 10 million cars on its roads.  Think about that -- 2010, 10 million new cars.  People in China, folks in India, folks in Brazil -- they're going to want cars, too, as their standard of living goes up, and that means more demand for oil, and that's going to kick up the price of oil worldwide.  Those numbers are only going to get bigger over time. 

So what does that mean for us?  It means we can't just keep on relying on the old ways of doing business.  We can't just rely on fossil fuels from the last century.  We've got to continually develop new sources of energy. 

And that’s why we've made investments that have nearly doubled the use of clean, renewable energies in this country.  And thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.  It also means we’ve got to develop the resources that we have that are untapped, like natural gas.  We're developing a near hundred-year supply of natural gas -– and that's something that we expect could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. 

And that’s why we've worked with the private sector to develop a high-tech car battery that costs half as much as other batteries and can go up to 300 miles on a single charge.  Think about that.  That will save you some money at the pump.  And that is why we are helping companies like this one right here and plants like this one right here to make more cars and trucks that use less oil.

When I ran for office, I went to Detroit and I gave a speech to automakers where I promised that I was going to raise fuel standards on our cars, so that they’d go further on a gallon of gas.  I said we should do the same thing on trucks.  I have to tell you, when I said it, I didn't get a lot of applause in the room, because there was a time when automakers were resisting higher fuel standards -- because change isn't easy.  But you know what, after three decades of not doing anything, we got together with the oil companies, we got together with the unions, we got together with folks who usually do not see eye to eye, and we negotiated new fuel economy standards that are going to make sure our cars average nearly 55 miles per gallon by the middle of the next decade.  That's nearly double what they get today -- nearly double.  (Applause.)

Now, because of these new standards for cars and trucks, they're going to -- all going to be able to go further and use less fuel every year.  And that means pretty soon you’ll be able to fill up your car every two weeks instead of every week -– and, over time, that saves you, a typical family, about $8,000 a year. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We like that.

THE PRESIDENT:  You like that, don't you? 

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Eight thousand dollars -- that's no joke.  We can reduce our oil consumption by more than 12 billion barrels.  And thanks to the SuperTruck program that we’ve started with companies like this one, trucks will be able to save more than $15,000 in fuel costs every year.  Think about that, $15,000.

It looks like somebody might have fainted up here.  Have we got some of the EMS, somebody.  Don’t worry about -- folks do this all the time in my meetings.  (Laughter.)  You’ve always got to eat before you stand for a long time.  That’s a little tip.  But they'll be okay.  Just make sure that -- give them a little room.  All right, everybody all right?  Okay. 

So these trucks can save $15,000 every year.  I want people to think about what that means for businesses, what it means for consumers.  It is real progress.  And it's happening because of American workers and American know-how.  It's happening because of you.  It's happening because of you.

We’re also making it easier for big companies -- some of your customers, like UPS and FedEx -- to make the shift to fuel-efficient cars and trucks.  We call it the National Clean Fleets Partnership.  And since we announced it last year, the number of companies that are taking part in it has tripled.  And that means more customers for your trucks.  (Applause.)  We're creating more customers for your trucks. 

And I am proud to say that the federal government is leading by example.  One thing the federal government has a lot of is cars and trucks.  We got a lot of cars and we got a lot of trucks.  And so what I did was I directed every department, every agency in the federal government, to make sure that by 2015, 100 percent of the vehicles we buy run on alternative fuels -- 100 percent.  (Applause.) 

So we’re one of the biggest customers in the world for cars and trucks and we want to set that bar high.  We want to set a standard that says by 2015, 100 percent of cars, alternative fuels. 

So we’re making progress, Mount Holly.  But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much natural gas, or flex-fuel or electric vehicles you have if there’s no place to charge them up or fill them up.  So that’s why I’m announcing today a program that will put our communities on the cutting edge of what clean energy can do. 

To cities and towns all across the country, what we’re going to say is, if you make a commitment to buy more advanced vehicles for your community -- whether they run on electricity or biofuels or natural gas -- we’ll help you cut through the red tape and build fueling stations nearby.  (Applause.)  And we’ll offer tax breaks to families that buy these cars, companies that buy alternative fuel trucks like the ones that are made right here at Mount Holly.  (Applause.)  So we’re going to give communities across the country more of an incentive to make the shift to more energy-efficient cars. 

In fact, when I was up in New Hampshire, in Nashua, they had already converted all their dump trucks -- they were in a process because of this program -- they were converting it to natural gas-driven trucks. 

This is something that we did in education -- we called it Race to the Top.  We said we’ll put in more money but we want you to reform.  We’re going to give you an incentive to do things in a different way.  And if we do the same thing with clean energy, we can save consumers money and we can make sure the economy is more secure.  So we’ve got to keep investing in American-made energy and we’ve got to keep investing in the vehicles that run on it.  That’s where our future is. 

And in order to continue this progress, we’re going to have to make a choice.  We’ve got to decide where our priorities are as a country.  And that’s up to all of you.  And I’ll give you an example.  Right now, $4 billion of your tax dollars goes straight to the oil industry every year -- $4 billion in subsidies that other companies don’t get.  Now, keep in mind, these are some of the same companies that are making record profits every time you fill up your gas tank.  We’re giving them extra billions of dollars on top of near-record profits that they’re already making.  Anybody think that’s a good idea?

AUDIENCE  No!

THE PRESIDENT:  Me, neither.  (Laughter.)  It doesn’t make any sense.  The American people have subsidized the oil industry long enough -- they don’t need the subsidies.  It’s time to end that taxpayer giveaway to an industry that's never been more profitable, invest in clean energy that's never been more promising.  (Applause.)

So I called on Congress, eliminate these subsidies right away.  There’s no excuse to wait any longer.

AUDIENCE:  That's right!

THE PRESIDENT:  And we should put every member of Congress on record:  They can stand up for the oil companies or they can stand up for the American people and this new energy future.  (Applause.)  We can place our bets on the fuel of the past, or we can place our bets on American know-how and American ingenuity and American workers like the ones here at Daimler.  (Applause.)  That’s the choice we face.  That’s what’s at stake right now. 

So, in between shifts, get on the phone or email or send a letter or tweet -- (laughter) -- your member of Congress; ask them where they stand on this -- because it will make a difference.  And you’ll know where I stand on this.  Let’s make sure our voices are heard.  The next time you hear some politician trotting out some 3-point plan for $2 gas -- (laughter) -- you let them know, we know better.

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  Tell them we’re tired of hearing phony election-year promises that never come about.  What we need is a serious, sustained, all-of-the-above strategy for American-made energy, American-made efficiency, American innovation, American fuel-efficient trucks, American fuel-efficient cars.  We may not get there in one term --

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  It's going to take us a while to wean ourselves off of the old and grab the new.  But we're going to meet this challenge because we are Americans.  Our destiny is not written for us; it is written by us.  We decide what that next chapter is going to be.

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE PRESIDENT:  And I'm confident, working with folks like you, the outstanding working people of Mount Holly, of this plant, of North Carolina, of states all across the country, we can pull together, and remind everybody around the world just why it is that the United States of America is the greatest nation on Earth.

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

END 
1:11 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 06, 2012

Remarks by the President at Business Roundtable

Newseum
Washington, D.C.

7:06 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much, everybody.  It is good to see all of you.  Jim, thank you for the introduction.  It is a privilege to be with the men and women of the Business Roundtable.  Over the past three years, we’ve worked together on a number of issues, and we’ve found common ground on an awful lot of them.

Some of you have dedicated your time and energy and expertise to serving on my Jobs Council or my Export Council.  Others have hosted me or Cabinet members at your companies, at your plants, at your distribution centers.  And this engagement has been incredibly productive for us.  It’s helped to shape our collective work and to get this economy growing again.  So I just wanted to say thank you for that.

Tonight, I want to keep that engagement going, so I’m going to keep my remarks at the top relatively brief.  I’m looking forward to hearing about your new “Taking Action for America” report.  And I’m going to hopefully spend as much time listening as I do talking. 

But the last time I addressed this group was just over two years ago, when we were still working to clear away the wreckage from what turned out to be the worst economic crisis that we’ve seen since the Great Depression.  And obviously we’ve got a long way to go.  We’ve still got millions of people who are out of work.  We still have a lot of folks whose homes are underwater.  There are enormous economic challenges that lie ahead, and we’re going to have to think strategically and systematically about how we restore a sense of middle-class security for Americans who are doing the right thing, working hard, looking to support their families.

The good news is, over the last two years, businesses like yours have created over 3.7 million new jobs.  The American auto industry has come back.  Companies are bringing jobs back to America.  Manufacturers are adding new jobs for the first time since the 1990s. 

And I’ve seen it firsthand in many of your companies.  Most recently, I went to the Boeing plant, out in Washington State.  And Jim informed me that last year, orders for commercial aircraft rose by more than 50 percent, and they had to hire 13,000 workers all across America just to keep up.  And I have to say that given the number of planes that I’ve been selling around the world, I expect a gold watch upon my retirement.  (Laughter.) 

So the economy is getting stronger, and the recovery is speeding up.  And the question now is, how do we make sure that it keeps going? 

I’ve been talking a lot recently about how we can do that -- how we can help companies like yours hire more workers, bring more jobs back to America; how we can leave an economy that’s not just restored to pre-crisis levels, but positions ourselves to be competitive in this 21st century economy over the long term -– an economy built to last.

I think we have to focus on our core strengths:  American manufacturing; American energy; American innovation; the best skills and education for American workers.

Right now, on the manufacturing front, I think we've got a huge opportunity.  What's happened in the auto industry can happen in other areas, and we've got to make sure that we understand even though manufacturing will not be the same percentage of our economy as it once was, it still remains this incredible multiplier for services and consumers and prosperity all across America.  That's why I want to thank Andrew Liveris -- where's Andrew?  There he is.  Andrew is helping us to do some terrific work as part of our Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.  And obviously part of our job as the federal government is to make sure that the R&D, the basic research is continuing to be done, and figuring out how we commercialize that, create products here in America, and sell them all around the world is going to be absolutely critical.

Thanks to new bipartisan trade agreements that I've signed with Panama, Colombia, and, most significantly, South Korea, we’re on track to meet our goal of doubling American exports over the next five years.  And I know the BRT was very helpful in making sure that that happened.

I think I’ve shown that I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American goods.  That’s why we worked so hard to secure Russia’s invitation into the WTO.  That’s why I have asked Congress to repeal Jackson-Vanik, to make sure that all your companies and American companies all across the country can take advantage of it.  And that's something that we're going to need some help on.

This is about creating a level, rules-based playing field in the growing Russian market.  Because when it comes to competing for the jobs and the industries of tomorrow, no foreign company should have an advantage over American companies.  When the playing field is level, American companies will win, American workers will win, and this country will win.

And one of the most important things Congress can do right now for companies like yours, to sell your ideas and your products and your services around the world, is to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank at the appropriate funding level.  This is something that we're going to be focused on in the coming weeks and months.

During the financial crisis, trade finance dried up all around the world, and the Ex-Im Bank lived up to its mission -- it stepped up to fill the void at record levels, and at no cost to taxpayers.  In fact, since 2005, Ex-Im has returned billions back to the U.S. Treasury.  So this is a smart thing to do for American businesses and American jobs.

It is an indispensable resource for our exporters, especially since many of your competitors are getting aggressive financing from their governments.  So I’m asking your help in making sure Congress does the right thing on this front.

I’ve also shown that I won't stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules.  A lot of you are expanding into growth markets, in emerging markets in Asia Pacific region.  But many of you, at least privately, have indicated to me that it gets harder and harder to do business there in terms of protecting your intellectual property, competing against indigenous innovation laws.  And so what we are doing is setting up a Trade Enforcement Unit to aggressively investigate and counter unfair trade practices all around the world, including in countries like China. 

And if you’re a CEO that’s willing to bring jobs back to America, we want to do everything we can to help you succeed.  That means working together to reform our tax system so that we are rewarding companies that are investing here in the United States, making sure that we are able to cut our tax rate here but also broaden the base.  That is going to be a difficult task.  Anybody who has been involved in tax discussions in any legislature, but especially Congress, knows that it’s like pulling teeth.  But it is the right thing to do for us to become more competitive. 

We’re also going to have to make significant investments in American energy.  I am very proud of the fact that American energy output is reaching record levels.  We are seeing the highest oil production in the last eight years.  At the same time, because so many of your companies have become more efficient, we’re actually seeing a reduction in imports -- in fact, below 50 percent for the first time back in 2010, the first time in a decade.

But we’ve got more work to do, and it’s going to require an all-of-the-above strategy.  Obviously, folks are getting killed right now with gas prices.  And that has an impact on all of your companies, because consumers are more price sensitive when it comes to filling up their gas tank than just about anything else.  That means, yes, we’ve got to produce more oil and more natural gas, and we are game for that.  It also means, though, we’ve got to invest in the energy sources of the future.

We've got to invest in clean energy.  We've got to invest in efficiency.  We've got to make sure that the advanced batteries for electric cars, for example, are manufactured here in the United States.

And then the final thing we're going to have to do is make sure that we have the skills and the training for our workers that are unmatched around the world.  There has been a lot of talk about education reform; we've actually implemented education reform.  And we've been able to get more than 40 states to raise standards, to start looking at best practices to figure out how we can train teachers more effectively; make sure that teachers who aren't doing a good job are getting the kind of training they need or they're not in the classroom; but also rewarding those folks who are stepping up to the plate and making sure our kids are prepared. 

It also means matching up companies with our community colleges to train people for the jobs that actually exist.  And I know that companies like Siemens and UPS are doing a great job on this front.  We want to continue to push that forward.

Two last points:  One is, I will not give up on the need for us to rebuild America's infrastructure.  When you think about your own businesses, if you know that you've got to make some capital investments and interest rates are historically low and it is a buyer's market, you act, understanding that you've got to project five years out, 10 years out, 20 years out.  Well, that's the situation our country faces.  I make no apologies for being chauvinistic when it comes to wanting to have the best airports, the best roads, the fastest broadband lines, the best wireless connections here in the United States of America.  And now is the time for us to do it, and we're going to need BRT's help. 

That will be good for business.  It will allow you to move goods and services more quickly around the world.  It will put people back to work.  It will be a boost for our economy.  And it will increase our productivity and efficiency over the long term.

And the final thing I just want to make mention of is the issue of how we pay for all these things.  There obviously, over the last couple of years, has been an enormous debate about deficits and debt -- and I'm sure we'll have a chance to talk about that more during the Q&A. 

The fact of the matter is that we have already made significant cuts when it comes to discretionary spending.  We are pruning this government to make sure the programs that don't work we eliminate, so that we can invest in the programs that are necessary for our growth.  We're going to have to make some continued reforms when it comes to, particularly, our health care system, because it is still too expensive and we've got an aging population that we're going to have to take care of.

But we're also going to have to deal with revenue.  And that's something that the American people instinctually understand -- that if we do this in a balanced way, we can solve our problems.  This is not a situation that is analogous to Greece.  We don't have to cut by 25 percent and raise taxes by 25 percent.  That's not the situation we find ourselves in.  These are relatively modest adjustments that can stabilize our economy, give you the kind of business confidence you need to invest, and make sure that America wins for the future.

I'm prepared to be a partner in that process.  But we're going to have to have everybody pulling together.  The business community is going to have an important voice in how that moves forward.

So with that, I want to thank you again, and I look forward to the questions and the comments.  (Applause.)

END               
7:19 P.M. EST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 05, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event

Peabody Opera House
St. Louis, Missouri

4:41 P.M. CST

MRS. OBAMA:  My goodness.  (Applause.)  Naga, what did you say to them?  They're all fired up.  It's good.  (Applause.)

Before I begin I just want to, first of all, say thank you.  I am thrilled to be here.  It's an honor.  But before I begin I just wanted to, on behalf of myself and my husband, I wanted to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all those who were affected by the storms in the state and other parts of the state.  I know that it’s been just a very difficult time for many families in this part of the country, and we will be keeping everyone in the state and elsewhere in our prayers.  So I just wanted to start with that.  (Applause.)

Now, again, back to Naga.  Thank you for that very kind introduction.  I missed it -- (laughter) -- but I know it was good.  (Laughter.)  She and her family are wonderful.  It's just great to have her here.  I also want to thank former Senator Carnahan, who I think is here.  (Applause.)  Yay!  We have  County Executive Charlie Dooley who's here.  (Applause.)  We've got your Mayor, Mayor Slay, who's just been tremendous.  He was here.  I'm not sure if he's still here, but he was.  It was great to see him. 

I just am thrilled that everyone could come and join in, in this celebration.  And of course, I have to give a big thank you to the entire host committee -- everyone who helped put this together -- you all, thank you so much.  (Applause.)  Host committee, way to go!  Many of you have been with us from the very beginning.  It's just tremendous to be back.  And of course, I want to thank all of you for making this event a success.

And finally, I want to thank everybody here for being here, for your support, for taking the time to come and see me.  And I know that there's a reason why you're all here today.  And it's not just to see me.  (Laughter.)  While I'm flattered.  But I know there's a reason.  Okay, thank you.  (Laughter.)  My exercise -- she's working out there. 

But I know you’re here because we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country.  And you’re here because you know that in less than a year from now -- the time is ticking, we're getting close to November -- we are going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come.

And you’re here because you know that choice won’t just affect all of us, but it's going to affect our children, it's going to affect our grandchildren, and it's going to affect the world that we leave behind for them long after we are gone.  And believe me, that’s why I’m here today as well.  And that's why I will be traveling around the country, working so very hard, because I know what’s at stake. 

As First Lady, I have had the privilege of traveling all across our magnificent country and I have the pleasure of meeting with folks from all different kinds of backgrounds and I get to hear what’s going on in people’s daily lives.  And every day I hear about how people are trying to keep it together.  I hear about their struggles, about the bills they’re trying to pay, about the businesses they’re trying to keep afloat.  I hear about how they’re taking that extra shift, working that extra job, doing everything they can -- saving, sacrificing -- never spending a dime on themselves, because they desperately want something better for their kids. 

And truly make no mistake about it, these challenges and struggles are not new.  For decades now, middle-class folks have been squeezed from all sides.  The cost of things like gas, groceries, tuition, have continued to rise, but people’s paychecks just have not kept up.  So when the economic crisis hit, for far too many families the bottom completely fell out --  completely fell out. 

But in the past three years, your President has worked so very hard to dig us out of this mess.  (Applause.)  And we have made some very important progress.  We’ve had 23 straight months of private sector job growth -- (applause) -- 23 straight months.  And the unemployment rate is now the lowest it has been in three years.  (Applause.) 

But we know we have a long way to go.  And your President has been working so very hard to rebuild our economy based on a vision that we all share -- the belief, as my husband says, that hard work should pay off, that responsibility should be rewarded, and that everyone should get a fair shot and do their fair share and play by the same rules.  (Applause.) 

And truly, these are basic American values.  It’s the basics, right.  They’re the values that so many of us were raised with, including myself.  You all know my story by now.  My father was a blue-collar worker, worked for the city filtration plant.  My family lived in a little-bitty apartment on the South Side of Chicago.  Mother still has that house.Neither of my parents attended college.  But let me tell you what they did do.  They worked, my parents; they saved and, God knows, they sacrificed everything, because they wanted something better for me and my brother.  That’s such a familiar story, right, I know here.

And more than anything else, that is what’s at stake in this election, that fundamental promise that no matter who you are, no matter how you started out, if you work hard you can build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids.  (Applause.)  And on just about every issue -- from health care to education to the economy -- that is the choice we face.  That's the choice.

For example, when we hear the President talk about tax cuts for middle-class families or when he is talking about the importance of unemployment insurance for folks out of work, he is talking about whether people can heat their homes.  This is about whether people can put gas in their car so that they can even look for a job.  It’s about whether folks can send their kids to college, retire with a little dignity and security.  And it’s about whether people will have more money in their pockets.  And when they have more money in their pockets, that’s more money in the economy, which means more jobs.  And that is what’s at stake.  That’s what we’re talking about.

And when it comes to jobs, I mean, just think back to when all those folks in Washington, you remember, they were telling Barack to let the auto industry go under -- with more than a million jobs on the line.  Just let it go.  But Barack had the backs of American workers.  (Applause.)  He put his faith in the American people.  And as a result, the auto industry is back.  It’s back on its feet.  (Applause.)  And, more importantly, people are back at work, providing for their families.  That’s really what it’s about.  But that’s what’s at stake.  That's the choice we face.

And think for a minute about what this administration has done to stand up for the American consumers.  We’re talking about families getting hit with those hidden credit card feeds.  I’m talking about our students, young people drowning in debt.  Our seniors losing their homes, losing their savings, because they were tricked into loans they couldn’t afford and probably couldn’t understand.  That’s why my husband created a new consumer watchdog with just one simple mission:  to protect folks from exactly these kinds of abuses because -- (applause)  -- because Barack believes that when you’ve worked and when you’ve saved and you’ve followed the rules, you shouldn’t lose it all to someone just trying to make easy money.  We all know that’s not fair -- that’s not right.  (Applause.)  And your President is working hard to do something about it, believe me. 

And what about all we’ve done together for our small businesses?  These are the kind -- yay, yes!  (Laughter.)  But these are the companies that create two-thirds of all new jobs each year -- two-thirds of our economy.  I’m talking about the mom, right?  Mom opens up the business to provide for her kids.  Or the family that’s been running that neighborhood diner for generations.  Or the veteran who -- (applause) -- yes -- who launches a start-up to try to pursue the American Dream he fought so hard for.  That’s who we’re talking about.  These are the folks who work themselves to the bone during the day and then head home to pore over the books at night, determined to make those numbers add up. 

And for these folks, the small business tax cuts that this administration has passed -- that means the difference for these people between hiring new employees or handing out pink slips.  It means the difference between them keeping their doors open or closing up shop for good.  That’s what’s at stake.  That’s the choice we face.  (Applause.) 

And how about the very first bill my husband signed into law as President -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women get equal pay for equal work.  (Applause.)  The very first thing he did as President.  And he did this because Barack knows what it means when women aren’t treated fairly in the workplace.  He watched his own grandmother, a woman with a high school education, who worked her way up to become the vice president at a little community bank.  She worked hard and she was good at what she did.  But like too many women, she hit that glass ceiling and watched men no more qualified than she was, men she had actually trained, be promoted up that ladder ahead of her.

So believe me, Barack -- for him, this issue is not abstract.  This isn’t hypothetical.  He signed this bill because he knows that closing that pay gap can mean the difference between women losing $50, $100, $500 from each paycheck, or having that money to buy gas, groceries, to put clothes on the backs of their kids.  He did it because when nearly two-thirds of women are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, your President understands that women’s success in this economy is the key to family success in this economy.  (Applause.) 

And he did it because, as he put it, we believe that here in America there are no second-class citizens in our workplace.  None at all.  But that’s what’s at stake.  That is what's at stake.  (Applause.)
 
And let’s talk about health care.  Last year, we made history together by finally passing health reform.  (Applause.)  Together.  It was a wonderful accomplishment.  But now there are folks who are talking about repealing that reform.  So the question we have to ask ourselves, are we going to stand by and let that happen?

AUDIENCE:  No!

MRS. OBAMA:  Since we passed this law, millions of our senior citizens have saved on average, more than $600 a year on their prescription drugs.  (Applause.)  So are we going to take that savings away from them?

AUDIENCE:  No!

MRS. OBAMA:  Or are we going to make sure that our parents and our grandparents can afford to stay healthy into their golden years?  What are we going to do?  Are we going to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny our children coverage for preexisting conditions -- things like cancer, diabetes, asthma?  Or will we stand up and say that in this country, no one should ever have to choose between going bankrupt or watching their child suffer because they can’t afford a doctor? 

And when those kids grow up and they get older and they graduate from school, we all know how hard it is for them to find a job that provides insurance, right?  That’s why, as part of this reform, kids can now stay on their parent's insurance until they’re 26 years old.  (Applause.)  And today, that is how 2.5 million of our young people are getting their health care.  So are we going to take that insurance away from our kids?  Or will we say that we don’t want our sons and our daughters going without health care when they’re just starting out, trying to build families and careers of their own?  But that's the choice we face.

And think, for a moment, about what your President has done on education.  (Applause.)  Think about all of the investments to raise standards and reform our public schools.  This is about improving the circumstances for millions of our children in this country -- kids we know today are sitting in crumbling classrooms; kids we know have so much promise if we only gave them a chance.

Think about how my husband has been fighting so hard for the DREAM Act, so that talented, hardworking young people who were brought in this country through no fault of their own can have a chance to earn their citizenship.  I mean, this is about responsible young men and women who want to go to college, they want to defend our country, they want to contribute to our economy -- and it's time we gave them the chance.  (Applause.)  It's time we gave them a chance.

And think about how we've tripled investments for job training at community colleges.  Tripled.  This is about hundreds of thousands of hardworking people who are determined to do what it takes to get ahead, to get a better job, better wages.  I mean, these are the folks that are doing everything we would ask them to do.  They’re working full-time, raising their kids.  But they still make it to class every evening, study late into the night, because they desperately want something better for their families.

And make no mistake about it, these kind of investments in our students and in our workers will determine nothing less than the future of our economy.  It will determine whether or not we’re prepared to make the discoveries and to build the industries that will allow us to compete with any country anywhere in the world.  But that's what’s at stake.  That's the choice we face.   

And let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices -- (applause) -- and for the first time in history, our sons and daughters watched three women take their seat on our nation’s highest court.  (Applause.)  And we cannot forget the impact that their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come -– on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and love whomever we choose.  That is what’s at stake.  That's the choice that we’re facing.  (Applause.)

And finally, let’s not forget all this administration has done to keep our country safe and restore our standing in the world.  (Applause.)  Thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, we finally brought to justice the man behind the 9/11 attacks and so many other horrific acts of terror.  (Applause.) 

My husband kept his promise and ended the war in Iraq, brought our troops home in time for the holidays.  (Applause.)  And we are working very hard to give our veterans and their families the education, the employment, and the benefits they have earned.  (Applause.)  And because my husband ended "don’t ask, don’t tell," our troops will never again have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love.  (Applause.)  That is what’s at stake.  (Applause.)  That is the choice we face. 

So make no mistake about it, I mean, whether it’s health care or the economy, whether it’s education or foreign policy, the choice we make will determine nothing less than who we are as a country.  But more importantly, who do we want to be?  I mean, who do we want to be?  Will we be the country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top, or will we be a place where if you work hard, you can get ahead, no matter who you are or how you started out?  Who are we?  Who are we?  Who do we want to be? 

Will we tell our fellow citizens who have done everything right, but are struggling just a little bit, do we tell those folks, tough luck, you’re on your own?  Is that who we are?  Or will we honor that fundamental American belief that this country is strongest when we’re all better off?  Who are we?l

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you.  Thank you so much. 

But will we continue all the change we’ve begun, all the progress that we’ve made, or will we let everything that we fought for just slip away?  Who are we?  Who do we want to be?  That is the choice we face.  Those are the stakes. 

And believe me, Barack knows this all too well.  He understands these issues, because he has lived them.  He was raised by a single mother who struggled to keep it all together, to put he and his sister through school, struggling to get herself through school, pay the bills.  And when she couldn’t handle it, needed help, who stepped up?  His grandmother -- waking up every morning before dawn to take the bus to that job at the bank.  And even though she was passed over for all those promotions, she never complained -- like so many people in our lives, right, never complained.  She just kept getting up, just kept showing up, doing her best.  How many people do we have like that in our lives?

So Barack knows what it means when a family struggles.  He knows what it means when someone doesn’t have a chance to fulfill their potential.  So these are the experiences that have made Barack the man -- but more importantly, the President -- he is today.  And we are blessed to have him.  (Applause.)  We are.

And I share this everywhere I go.  When Barack comes home after a long day traveling around the country, I hear that in his voice.  I hear him.  He tells me about all the people he has met, all the stories he hears.  That’s what I see in those quiet moments, his focus on what’s going on after the girls have long gone to bed, and he is poring over his briefings and reading letters from people they send him.  He reads them all -- the letter from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won’t cover her care.  The letter from the father struggling to pay the bills for his family.  The letters from far too many young people with so much promise but so few opportunities.

And I hear the passion and determination in his voice.  He says, Michelle, you will not believe what people are going through.  He says, this is not right and we’ve got to fix it.  We have way too much more work to do. 

See, what you need to know about your President is that when it comes to the people he meets, Barack has a memory like a steel trap.  (Laughter.)  It kind of gets on your nerves if you live with him -- (laughter) -- but it’s a good thing.  Because he might not remember your name, but if he's had a few minutes and a decent conversation he will never forget your story.  It becomes imprinted on his heart.  And that is what he carries around with him every day -- it is our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams.  And that is where he gets his passion and his toughness and his fight.  And that’s why, even in the worst moments, the hardest times when it seems like all is lost, Barack Obama never loses sight of the end goal.  Never does.  He never lets himself get distracted by all the chatter and the noise.  (Applause.)  He just keeps moving forward every day, making progress.  (Applause.)

Because your President has a vision for this country and it’s a vision that we all share.  You’ve got to have a vision.  But I have said this before and I will say it again -- he cannot do it alone.  He cannot do it alone.  That was never the promise.  He needs your help.  He needs your help. 

He needs you to make those calls, do that hard work, knock on those doors, get people registered.  Help people understand what’s at stake -- because not everybody is paying attention.  That’s why you’re here.  You’ve got to talk to people, take your “I’m In” cards -- we’ve been passing those around -- sign up!  Sign it.  Get everybody in your life to sign up.  (Applause.)  Tell them, convince them, how important it is for them to invest just a little bit of themselves each week to this campaign.  It makes a difference.  That’s how we win -- on the ground, people doing that hard work.  That’s how it happened before. 

Because we all know that this has never been about just one extraordinary man -- although I’ll admit my husband is awesome.  (Applause.)  But it has never been just about Barack Obama.  It has always been about us.  It has always been about all of us -- all of us coming together all the time.  Coming together for the values we believe in and the country we want to be. 

Now, it’s not going to be easy.  The journey will be long, be hard, and there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.  Always is, right?  But the truth is that’s how change always happens in this country.  It’s how it always does.  The reality is, change is slow.  Real change doesn’t happen all at once.  But if we keep showing up -- like those people in our lives, those grandparents -- if we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight, then eventually we get there, because we always do.  We always do.  We never move back.  We always keep moving forward.  Maybe not in our lifetimes.  Maybe not in our children’s lifetime.  Maybe in our grandchildren’s lifetimes. 

Because in the end, we cannot forget that that’s what this is all about.  In the end, we’re not fighting these battles for ourselves.  We are fighting them for our sons and our daughters.  We’re fighting them for our grandsons and our granddaughters.  We’re fighting for the world we want to leave for them.  This is all for them. 

Believe me, I’m in this fight not just as a mother who wants to leave a legacy for my children.  I’m in this as a citizen who knows what we can do to change this country for the better.  Because the truth is, for me, and I’m sure for many of you, my girls will be okay.  Malia and Sasha are blessed -- nd I tell them that every other minute -- "Girl, you better pick up that lip.  You’re blessed."  (Laughter.)  And I know the same thing is true for many of these children.  Many of our children will have the advantages and opportunities in their lives.

But I think the truth of what my husband has said for the past few years is that if any child in this country is left behind, then that matters to all of us, even if he is not our son, even if she is not our daughter.  If any family in this country struggles, then we cannot be fully content with our own family’s good fortune, because in the end we cannot separate our own story from the broader American story.  That is not who we are. 

Because we know that in this country, we rise and we fall together.  (Applause.)  And that’s a good thing.  And we know that in this country, if we make the right choices and have the right priorities, we can ensure that everyone -- everyone -- gets a fair shake and everyone has a chance to get ahead.  That’s who we are.  That’s what’s at stake.

So it is time for us to get to work.  I mean, that’s why I’m so fired up.  I am fired up because it is time for us to get to work.  We have a lot to do.  We have a lot riding on this election for ourselves and for our children. 

So I have one final question:  Are you in?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, wait, really?  Are you really in?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  Are you fired up?  I hope you are, because I am.  I’m going to be working so hard over the next few month and I need to see and know in my heart that each of you are putting in that kind of effort.  We have too much at stake.  We have too much riding on this election.  We've made too much progress. 

There is a vision that all of us shares.  We know it, regardless of race or gender or party.  The truth is our values here in this country are real and they unify us.  So we’ve got to work for them.  It’s worth the fight.  It’s worth that extra effort.  We need you all.  We need you every step of the way. 

Thank you all.  God bless.  (Applause.)

END               
5:10 P.M. CST

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release
March 05, 2012

Remarks by the First Lady at a Campaign Event

American Jazz Museum
Kansas City, Missouri

1:30 P.M. CST

MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, my goodness!  (Applause.)  Well, thank you all so much. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  You're beautiful! 

MRS. OBAMA:  Aw, you're so sweet!  (Laughter.)  It is truly a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you. 

But before I started today, I just had to say that on behalf of my husband and myself, I just want to say that our thoughts and our prayers are with those affected by the storms in this state and in several other parts of the state last week.  And I know that it’s been a very difficult time for many people in this part of the country -- and we’ll be keeping folks here in Missouri and elsewhere in our hearts and prayers as they begin to work on the recovery.  So I just wanted to start with that.  (Applause.)

But I have to also start by thanking Myra for that very kind introduction and for sharing her family’s story with all of us today.  It is because of stories like these that my husband worked so hard on health reform, and it’s because of people like Myra and all of you that we actually got it done.  So thank you.  We have a lot to be proud of.  A lot to be proud of.  (Applause.)  

I also want to recognize your Mayor, Mayor James, who is here today.  (Applause.)  He got to hang out with us hearing some blues.  As he said, he got to hear the President sing -- again.  (Laughter.)  But I want to thank him for all of his support, and for taking the time to join me here today.  And of course, I want to give a big shoutout to our co-hosts, all the people who helped to make this event a success -- Sharon Hoffman, Ursula -- thank you all for your outstanding work to make this event such a success.  Let's give them a round of applause.  (Applause.)

And finally, I have to thank all of you.  Thank you all for your support and for taking the time to be here today. 

And I know there’s a reason that you all are here.  And it's not just to see me, while I'm grateful -- I am grateful for those of you who came.  But I know that we're here because we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country.  We're here because you all know that in less than a year from now -- and the time is ticking away -- we are going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come.

And I know that you’re here because you know that choice won’t just affect all of us, it is going to affect our children, it's going to affect our grandchildren, and more importantly, it's going to affect the world that we leave behind for them long after we’re gone.

And truly, that is why I’m here as well.  That's why I'm going to be on the road, I'm going to be traveling around this country making sure that people understand what's at stake.

As First Lady, I have had the privilege of traveling all across this great country, meeting folks from all different backgrounds, all walks of life, and I get to hear what’s going on in their lives every day.  Every day, I hear about the challenges and the struggles that people are facing -- the bills they’re trying to pay, the businesses they’re trying to keep afloat.  I hear about how they’re taking that extra shift, how they're working that extra job, how they’re doing everything they can -- saving, sacrificing, never spending a dime on themselves because they desperately want something better for their kids.

And make no mistake about it, these struggles are not new.  For decades now, middle-class folks have been squeezed from all sides.  While the cost of things like gas and groceries, they've been rising, people’s paychecks just haven’t kept up.  So when this economic crisis hit, for far too many families the bottom just completely fell out for them.

Now, over the past three years, your President has worked very hard to dig us out of this mess.  (Applause.)  And we have made some magnificent and important progress.  We have had 23 straight months of private sector job growth -- (applause) -- and the unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been in nearly three years.  (Applause.)  But we also know that we have a long way to go.  We still have work to do.

And your President has been working hard to rebuild this economy based on a vision that we all share -– the belief, as my husband says, that hard work should pay; that responsibility should be rewarded; and that everyone -- everyone in this country -- should get a fair shot, and do their fair share, and play by the same rules.  (Applause.)

The truth is, is that these are basic American values.  It's the foundation of this country.  They’re the values that so many of us were raised with, including myself.  I've shared my story with so many of you:  My father was a blue-collar city worker, worked for the city water filtration plant.  My family lived in a little-bitty apartment on the South Side of Chicago.  And neither of my parents went to college, but let me tell you what they did do -- they worked, and they saved, and they sacrificed everything, because they wanted something better for me and my brother.

And more than anything else, that’s what’s at stake -- that fundamental promise that no matter who you are or how you started out, if you work hard, you can build a decent life for yourselves and, yes, an even better life for your kids.

And on just about every issue -– from health care to education to the economy -– that is the choice we face in this election. 

For example, when you hear all that talk about tax cuts for middle-class families, you hear the President talking about the importance of unemployment insurance for folks out of work, that’s about whether people can heat their homes.  It's about whether people can put gas in their car so that they can even look for work.  It’s about whether folks can send their kids to college, maybe retire with a little dignity, just a little security.  And it’s about whether people will have more money in their pockets.  More money in their pockets means more money in the economy, which means more jobs.  See, that’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)

And when it comes to jobs, I mean, just think back to when all those folks in Washington were telling Barack to let the auto industry go under, with more than 1 million jobs on the line.  But Barack had the backs of American workers.  And he put his faith in the American people.  And today, the auto industry is back on its feet -- (applause) -- and more importantly, people are back to work, back to work providing for their families.  That’s what’s at stake.  That’s the choice we face.

And think, for just a minute, about what this administration has done to stand up for the American consumer.  I’m talking about families getting hit with all those hidden credit card fees; talking about our students drowning in debt; our seniors losing their homes and their savings, because they were tricked into loans they couldn’t afford, probably couldn’t even understand.

And that’s why your President created a new consumer watchdog with just one simple mission -- and that is to protect folks from exactly these kinds of abuses.  (Applause.)  Because when you’ve worked and you’ve saved and you’ve followed the rules, you shouldn’t lose it all to someone just looking to make some easy money.  See, your President knows that’s not fair.  He says, that’s not right and we’re working hard to do something about it.  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.) 

And what about all that we have done together for small businesses?  I mean, these are the companies that create two-thirds of all new jobs each year.  That’s two-thirds of all new jobs.  I’m talking about the mom who opens up the drycleaner on the corner to help provide for her kids.  That’s who we’re talking about.  We’re talking about the family that runs that neighborhood diner that’s been in the family for generations.  That’s who we’re talking about.  Or the veteran who launches a startup just to pursue the American Dream he fought so hard for.  See, these are the folks who work themselves to the bone during the day, and then they head home at night, poring over those books trying to make the numbers add up. 

See, for these folks, the small business tax cuts that this administration has passed, that means the difference between these employers handing out pink slips or opening up their doors and hiring people.  (Alarm sounds.)  Oh, now we really got something now.  (Laughter.)  See, this is the truth talking.  (Laughter.)  You got alarms going off -- you know I’m speaking the truth.  (Applause.)  And it would be great to have a small business alarm company who could stop all that noise.  (Laughter and applause.)

But for many of these small businesses, this tax credit means whether they’re going to be able to stay open and keep jobs in place.  That’s the choice.  That’s what we’re talking about.  These issues are not abstract.

And how about the very first bill my husband signed into law -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to make sure that women get equal pay for equal work -- the very first bill he signed into law.  (Applause.)

Now, he did this because he knows what it means when women aren’t treated fairly in the workplace.  He watched his own grandmother -- that's a woman with a high school education -- work her way up to become the vice president at a little community bank.  And she worked hard.  She was good at her job.  But like so many other women, she hit that glass ceiling and she watched men no more qualified than she was -- men she had actually trained -- be promoted up the ladder ahead of her. 

So believe me, for Barack, this is not abstract or hypothetical.  And he signed this bill because he knows that closing that pay gap can mean the difference between women losing $50, $100, $500 from each paycheck, or having that money in their pockets to buy gas and groceries and to put clothes on the backs of their children.  He did it because he knows that when nearly two-thirds of women are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, he knows that the key to a family’s success is women.  That’s what he knows.  (Applause.)  And he believes that in this country, here in America, there are no second-class citizens in our workplace.  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)

And let’s talk just for a minute again about health care.  Last year, we made history together by finally passing health reform.  (Applause.)  But now there are folks talking about repealing this reform.  So today, we have to ask ourselves, are we going to let this happen, are we going to stand by and watch this happen?

AUDIENCE:  No!

MRS. OBAMA:  Since we passed this law, millions of our seniors have saved an average of more than $600 a year for their prescription drugs.  (Applause.)  So are we going to take those savings away?  Or will we make sure that our parents and our grandparents can afford to stay healthy into their golden years?  What are we going to do?  Are we going to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny our children coverage because of pre-existing conditions -- things like cancer, diabetes, even asthma?  Or will we stand up and say that in this country, no one should ever have to choose between going bankrupt or watching their child suffer because they can’t afford a doctor.  (Applause.)  

And when our children grow up and get older and they graduate from school, we know how hard it’s going to be for them to find jobs that provide insurance.  We know how hard that will be.  That’s why, as part of this reform, our kids can stay on their parent’s insurance until they’re 26 years old.  (Applause.)  And today, that is how 2.5 million of our young people are getting their coverage.  So are we going to take that insurance away from our children? 

AUDIENCE  NO!

MRS. OBAMA:  Or will we say that we don’t want our sons and our daughters going without health care when they’re just starting out, trying to build their families and build their careers.  Are we going to do that?

AUDIENCE  NO!

MRS. OBAMA:  But that’s the choice we face.  That’s the choice that we face.

And think, for a moment, about all that’s been done on education.  I mean, think about all those investments this President has made to raise standards and reform our public schools.  This is about improving the circumstances for millions of our children.  These are our kids, all of them.  Kids we know are sitting today in crumbling classrooms; kids with so much promise; kids who could be anything they wanted if we just gave them the chance.

And think about how my husband has been fighting so hard for the DREAM Act, so that talented, hardworking young people who were brought to this country through no fault of their own have a chance to earn their citizenship.  (Applause.)  This is about responsible young men and women who want to go to college, who want to defend our country, who want to contribute to our economy -- and it's time that we gave them a chance.

And think about how this President has tripled investments for job training at community colleges.  I mean, this is about hundreds of thousands of hardworking folks who are determined to get the skills they need for a better job and better wages.  These are folks who are doing everything.  They are doing everything we’ve asked of them.  They’re working a full-time job.  They’re taking care of their kids.  But they still make it to class every night, studying late because they desperately want something better for themselves and for their families.

And truly, make no mistake about it, these investments in our students and our workers will determine nothing less than the future of our economy.  It will determine whether we’re prepared to make the discoveries and to build the industries that will let us compete with any country anywhere in the world.  That’s what’s at stake. 

And let’s not forget about what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices -- (applause) -- and for the first time, our daughters and our sons watched three women take their seat on our nation’s highest courts.  (Applause.)  More importantly, let us not forget the impact their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come -– on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and yes, love whomever we choose.  But that’s what’s at stake.  That’s the choice we’re facing.  (Applause.)

And finally, let’s not forget all this administration has done to keep our country safe and restore our standing in the world.  (Applause.)  And thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, we finally brought to justice the man behind the 9/11 attacks and so many other horrific acts of terror.  (Applause.)

Your President kept his promise and he ended the war in Iraq -- (applause) -- and brought our troops home for the holidays.  We’ve been working to give our veterans and their families the education, the employment and the benefits that they’ve earned.

AUDIENCE  Yes!

MRS. OBAMA:  And because my husband ended "don’t ask, don’t tell," our troops will never again have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love.  (Applause.)  That’s what’s at stake.  That’s what’s at stake.

And I could go on, but you all are standing up.  (Laughter.)  I don’t want anybody to pass out -- it’s always a little difficult when you’ve got to stand.

But make no mistake about it, whether it’s health care or the economy, whether it’s education or foreign policy, well, the choice we make will determine nothing less than who we are as a country.  But more importantly, who do we want to be?  What kind of country do we want to be?  Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top?  Or will we be a place where if you work hard, you can get ahead, no matter who you are or how you started out?  At some point we have to ask ourselves, who are we?

Will we let folks who have done everything right, but are maybe struggling just a little bit -- do we look at those folks and we tell them, “tough luck, you’re on your own”?  I mean, who are we?  Or will we honor that fundamental American belief that this country is strongest when all of us are better off?  (Applause.)

Will we continue all the change we’ve begun and the programs we’ve made and the progress that we’ve seen?  Or will we allow everything we fought so hard for to slip away?  Who are we?  But that’s the choice.  Those are the stakes.

And trust me, wherever I go, I just reassure people that your President knows this.  Barack knows these stakes all too well.  And he understands these issues because he’s lived them.  This is who he is.  He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills.  And when she needed help, who stepped up?  His grandmother -- waking up early in the morning to catch that bus at the job at the bank.  And even though she was passed over again and again for promotions, she never complained.  She just kept moving forward, just kept showing up, doing her best.  It’s like so many people in our lives, right?

So believe me, Barack knows what it means when a family struggles.  And he certainly knows what it means when someone doesn’t have a chance to fulfill their potential.  These are the experiences that have made him the man, but more importantly, the President that he is today.  And we’re blessed to have him.  (Applause.)

And that’s what I see when -- and hear from him when he returns home from a day of traveling or working in the Oval Office, and he tells me about all the people that he’s met.  He’s always moved by the stories.  That’s what I see in those quiet moments, long after the girls have gone to bed and he’s up late at night reading those briefings, the stacks of briefings and the thousands of letters that he gets that people send him.  The letter from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won’t cover her care.  The letter from the father still struggling to pay the bills for his family.  The letters from far too many young people with so much promise but too little opportunity.

And I hear the passion and determination in his voice.  And he says, “Michelle, you won’t believe what people are going through."  He says, “This isn’t right.  We’ve got to do more.  We’ve got to fix this.”

I mean, the thing I share with everyone is that the beauty of your President is that when it comes to the people he meets and the stories he’s told, Barack has a memory like a steel trap.  (Laughter.)  Gets a little annoying at times.  (Laughter.)  Especially if you live with him.  He’s wondering, “Why don’t you remember X from this city?  He said hello.  Don’t you remember him?”  (Laughter.)  But he might not remember your name, but if he’s had a few minutes and a decent conversation with you, he will never forget your story.  It becomes imprinted in his heart.  See, and that is what he carries around with him -- it’s our collection of struggles and hopes, and it’s our dreams.  And that is where Barack gets his passion.  That’s where he gets his toughness and his fight.

And that’s why, even in some of the hardest moments, when it seems like all is lost, Barack Obama never loses sight of the end goal.  He never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise.  It’s just right here.  He just keeps moving forward, because he has a vision for this country, and it’s a vision that we all share.  We do.  We do.  That I know -- regardless of background, even party.  It’s a vision that we all -- deep down inside, we share. 

And I’ve said this before, but I will say it again:  He cannot do it alone.  He can’t do it alone.  (Applause.)  That was never the promise.  He needs your help.  He does.  He needs you to do what you’ve been doing -- make those calls, register those voters.  He needs you to take all those “I’m In” cards that you get, sign it, get your neighbors to sign it, get your church members to sign it.  Get everybody you know to sign those cards and convince them to join in in just giving a little part of their lives each week to this campaign. 

Because we all know that this is not about one extraordinary man -– although I love my husband.  I think he’s terrific.  I’m a little biased.  (Applause.)  I will admit not everyone agrees.  (Laughter.)  That’s all right.  He’s pretty awesome.  (Laughter.)  But it was never about one man.  This election was never about one man.  It’s really about all of us
-- all of us coming together for the values we believe in and the country that we want to be.

And I’m not going to kid you all, this journey, it’s going to be long.  It’s going to be hard.  And there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.  But the truth is, truly, that’s how change always happens in this country -- always does.  The reality is, is that change is slow.  Real change never happens all at once.

But if we keep showing up, and if we keep fighting the good fight, if we keep doing what we know is right, then eventually we will get there.  We always do.  We always do.  Maybe not in our lifetimes, but maybe in our children’s lifetimes, maybe in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.  (Applause.)  Because in the end, that’s what this is all about.  This is not about us.  In the end, we are fighting these battles for them.  We’re fighting for the world we want for our sons and daughters, and our grandsons and granddaughters.  This is about them.  It’s not about us. 

And believe me, I’m in this fight not as a mother who wants to leave a legacy for my kids.  I’m in this as a citizen who knows what we can do together to make this country the greatest it can be.  (Applause.)  Because the truth is Malia and Sasha will be fine.  They’re blessed, and I remind them of that every day -- "Stop complaining, you are blessed."  (Laughter.)  My girls and so many of the children in this room, the children you know, they’re going to be okay.  They will have opportunities to live their lives and do great things.  But I think the last few years have shown us the truth of what Barack has always said, that if any child in this country is left behind, then that matters to us, even if he is not our son, even if she is not our daughter.  These are our children.  All of them are our children.  (Applause.)

If any family in this country struggles, then we cannot be fully content with our own family’s good fortune.  Because, in the end, we cannot separate our individual stories from the broader American story.  Like it or not, we are all in this together.  Because we know that in this country, we rise and we fall together.  And that’s a good thing.  And we know that if we make the right choices, if we have the right priorities, we can ensure that everyone -- everyone -- gets a fair shake and everyone gets a chance to get ahead.  That’s what’s at stake.  Those are the choices.

(Cell phone rings.)  So in the end, with all that good jazz music playing -- (laughter) -- it is time for us to get moving.  It’s time for us to get to work.  This isn’t going to happen on its own.  It’s going to happen because people want that vision.  It’s going to happen because people make the decision to get up and start working and making it happen.  We did it before.  We can do it again.  But we need to know that you will be there for us.  (Applause.)

So I have one question.  One question:  Are you in?  Are you in?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  I got to hear this.  I got to know:  Are you in?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!  (Applause.)

MRS. OBAMA:  Are you ready to make this happen?  (Applause.)  Because I am in.  I am so very in.  I know the stakes, and I know the vision that we want for our children.  And we can make this happen.  We can do it together.

Thank you all for everything you've done.  We'll work hard together.  Thank you all so much.  (Applause.)

END
2:00 P.M. CST