.
The White House
Office of the Press
Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 07, 2012
Remarks by the
President at the Democratic National Convention
Time Warner Cable
Arena
Charlotte, North
Carolina
September 6, 2012
10:24 P.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: I am so thrilled and so honored and so proud
to introduce the love of my life, the father of our two girls, and the
President of the United States of America -- Barack Obama. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
(Applause.) Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you so much.
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. Thank you.
(Applause.) Thank you very much,
everybody. Thank you.
Michelle, I love you
so much. A few nights ago, everybody was
reminded just what a lucky man I am.
(Applause.) Malia and Sasha, we
are so proud of you. And, yes, you do
have to go to school in the morning.
(Laughter.)
And, Joe Biden, thank
you for being the very best Vice President I could have ever hoped for, and
being a strong and loyal friend.
(Applause.)
Madam Chairwoman,
delegates, I accept your nomination for President of the United States. (Applause.)
Now, the first time I
addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger man, a Senate candidate from
Illinois, who spoke about hope -- not blind optimism, not wishful thinking, but
hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; that dogged
faith in the future which has pushed this nation forward, even when the odds
are great, even when the road is long.
Eight years later,
that hope has been tested by the cost of war, by one of the worst economic
crises in history, and by political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s
still even possible to tackle the challenges of our time.
I know campaigns can
seem small, even silly sometimes.
Trivial things become big distractions.
Serious issues become sound bites.
The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this
message, believe me, so am I. (Laughter
and applause.)
But when all is said
and done -- when you pick up that ballot to vote -- you will face the clearest
choice of any time in a generation. Over
the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington on jobs, the
economy, taxes and deficits, energy, education, war and peace -- decisions that
will have a huge impact on our lives and on our children’s lives for decades to
come.
And on every issue,
the choice you face won’t just be between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different
paths for America, a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the
future.
Ours is a fight to
restore the values that built the largest middle class and the strongest
economy the world has ever known --
(applause) -- the values my grandfather defended as a soldier in Patton’s Army,
the values that drove my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly line while he
was gone.
They knew they were
part of something larger -- a nation that triumphed over fascism and
depression; a nation where the most innovative businesses turned out the
world’s best products. And everyone shared in that pride and success, from the
corner office to the factory floor.
My grandparents were
given the chance to go to college, buy their own home, and fulfill the basic
bargain at the heart of America’s story -- the promise that hard work will pay
off, that responsibility will be rewarded, that everyone gets a fair shot and
everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules from Main
Street to Wall Street to Washington, D.C.
(Applause.)
And I ran for
President because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I began my career helping people in the
shadow of a shuttered steel mill at a time when too many good jobs were
starting to move overseas. And by 2008,
we had seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with costs that kept
rising but paychecks that didn’the; folks racking up more and more debt just to
make the mortgage or pay tuition, put gas in the car or food on the table. And when the house of cards collapsed in the
Great Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes,
their life savings -- a tragedy from which we’re still fighting to recover.
Now, our friends down
in Tampa at the Republican Convention were more than happy to talk about
everything they think is wrong with America.
But they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. (Applause.)
They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is
the same prescriptions they’ve had for the last 30 years -- Have a
surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another.
Feel a cold coming on? Take two
tax cuts, roll back some regulations and call us in the morning. (Applause.)
Now, I’ve cut taxes
for those who need it -- middle-class families, small businesses. But I don’t believe that another round of tax
breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our shores or pay down our
deficit. I don’t believe that firing
teachers or kicking students off financial aid will grow the economy, or help
us compete with the scientists and engineers coming out of China. (Applause.)
After all we’ve been
through, I don’t believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help
the small businesswoman expand or the laid-off construction worker keep his
home.
We have been
there. We’ve tried that and we’re not
going back. We are moving forward,
America. (Applause.)
Now, I won’t pretend
the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you
wanted to hear. You elected me to tell
you the truth. (Applause.)
And the truth is it
will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up
over decades. It will require common
effort and shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent
experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse
than this one. (Applause.) And, by the way, those of us who carry on his
party’s legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with
another government program or dictate from Washington.
But know this, America
-- our problems can be solved.
(Applause.) Our challenges can be
met. The path we offer may be harder,
but it leads to a better place. And I’m
asking you to choose that future.
(Applause.)
I’m asking you to
rally around a set of goals for your country -- goals in manufacturing, energy,
education, national security, and the deficit -- real, achievable plans that
will lead to new jobs, more opportunity and rebuild this economy on a stronger
foundation. That’s what we can do in
the next four years -- and that is why I’m running for a second term as
President of the United States.
(Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: We can choose a future where we export more
products and outsource fewer jobs. After
a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we’re getting back to
basics, and doing what America has always done best: We are making things again. (Applause.)
I’ve met workers in
Detroit and Toledo -- (applause) -- who feared they’d never build another
American car. And today, they can’t
build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back
on the top of the world.
(Applause.)
I’ve worked with
business leaders who are bringing jobs back to America -- not because our
workers make less pay, but because we make better products. Because we work harder and smarter than
anyone else. (Applause.)
I’ve signed trade
agreements that are helping our companies sell more goods to millions of new
customers -- goods that are stamped with three proud words: Made in America. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U.S.A!
U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE PRESIDENT: And after a decade of decline, this country
created over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half
years.
And now you have a
choice: We can give more tax breaks to
corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that
open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs here, in the United States
of America. (Applause.) We can help big factories and small
businesses double their exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a
million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. You can make that happen. You can choose that future.
You can choose the
path where we control more of our own energy.
After 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the
middle of the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of
gas. (Applause.) We have doubled our use of renewable energy,
and thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines and
long-lasting batteries. In the last year
alone, we cut oil imports by 1 million barrels a day -- more than any
administration in recent history. And
today, the United States of America is less dependent on foreign oil than at
any time in the last two decades.
(Applause.)
So now you have a
choice -- between a strategy that reverses this progress, or one that builds on
it. We’ve opened millions of new acres
for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, and we’ll open more. But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil
companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or
collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers. We’re offering a better path. (Applause.)
We’re offering a
better path, where we -- a future where we keep investing in wind and solar and
clean coal; where farmers and scientists harness new biofuels to power our cars
and trucks; where construction workers build homes and factories that waste
less energy; where we develop a hundred-year supply of natural gas that’s right
beneath our feet. If you choose this
path, we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000
new jobs in natural gas alone.
(Applause.)
And, yes, my plan will
continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet -- because
climate change is not a hoax. More
droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children’s
future. And in this election, you can do
something about it. (Applause.)
You can choose a
future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to
compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for
me. It was the gateway for
Michelle. It was the gateway for most of
you. And now more than ever, it is the
gateway to a middle-class life.
For the first time in
a generation, nearly every state has answered our call to raise their standards
for teaching and learning. Some of the
worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less for
college today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of
taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders.
(Applause.)
And now you have a
choice -- we can gut education, or we can decide that in the United States of
America, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded
classroom or a crumbling school.
(Applause.) No family should have
to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the
money. No company should have to look
for workers overseas because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here
at home. That’s not our future. That is not our future. (Applause.)
And government has a
role in this. But teachers must inspire;
principals must lead; parents must instill a thirst for learning. And, students, you’ve got to do the work. (Applause.) And together, I promise you, we
can out-educate and out-compete any nation on Earth. (Applause.)
So help me. Help me recruit 100,000 math and science
teachers within 10 years and improve early-childhood education. Help give 2 million workers the chance to
learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a job. (Applause.) Help us work with colleges and
universities to cut in half the growth of tuition costs over the next 10
years. We can meet that goal
together. You can choose that future for
America. (Applause.) That’s our future.
In a world of new
threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been tested and
proven. Four years ago, I promised to
end the war in Iraq. We did. (Applause.)
I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on
9/11. And we have. (Applause.)
We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our
longest war will be over. (Applause.)
A new tower rises
above the New York skyline; al Qaeda is on the path to defeat; and Osama bin
Laden is dead. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.!
U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE PRESIDENT: Tonight, we pay tribute to the Americans who
still serve in harm’s way. We are
forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer and
more respected. We will never forget
you. And so long as I’m Commander-in-Chief,
we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. (Applause.)
When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve
served us -- because no one who fights for this country should have to fight
for a job, or a roof over their heads, or the care that they need when they
come home. (Applause.)
Around the world,
we’ve strengthened old alliances and forged new coalitions to stop the spread
of nuclear weapons. We’ve reasserted our
power across the Pacific and stood up to China on behalf of our workers. From Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have
advanced the rights and dignity of all human beings -- men and women;
Christians and Muslims and Jews.
(Applause.)
But for all the
progress that we’ve made, challenges remain. Terrorist plots must be
disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be
contained. Our commitment to Israel’s
security must not waver, and neither must our pursuit of peace. (Applause.)
The Iranian government must face a world that stays united against its
nuclear ambitions. The historic change
sweeping across the Arab world must be defined not by the iron fist of a
dictator or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and aspirations of
ordinary people who are reaching for the same rights that we celebrate here
today. (Applause.)
So now we have a
choice. My opponent and his running mate
are new to foreign policy -- (laughter and applause) -- but from all that we’ve
seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and
blundering that cost America so dearly.
After all, you don’t
call Russia our number-one enemy -- not al Qaeda -- Russia -- unless you’re
still stuck in a Cold War mind warp.
(Applause.) You might not be
ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without
insulting our closest ally. (Applause.)
My opponent said that
it was "tragic" to end the war in Iraq. And he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in
Afghanistan. Well, I have -- and I will.
(Applause.)
And while my opponent
would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even
want, I will use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt
and put more people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and
runways. Because after two wars that
have cost us thousands of live and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do
some nation-building right here at home.
(Applause.)
You can choose a
future where we reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle
class. Independent experts say that my
plan would cut our deficit by $4 trillion.
And last summer I worked with Republicans in Congress to cut a billion
[trillion] dollars in spending -- because those of us who believe government
can be a force for good should work harder than anyone to reform it so that
it’s leaner and more efficient and more responsive to the American people. (Applause.)
I want to reform the
tax code so that it’s simple, fair, and asks the wealthiest households to pay
higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 -- the same rate we had when Bill Clinton
was President; the same rate when our economy created nearly 23 million new
jobs, the biggest surplus in history and a whole lot of millionaires to
boot. (Applause.)
Now, I’m still eager
to reach an agreement based on the principles of my bipartisan debt
commission. No party has a monopoly on
wisdom. No democracy works without
compromise. I want to get this done, and
we can get it done. But when Governor
Romney and his friends in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficits by
spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy, well, what did Bill
Clinton call it -- you do the arithmetic.
(Applause.) You do the math. (Applause.)
I refuse to go along
with that and as long as I’m President, I never will. (Applause.)
I refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for
owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire’s tax
cut. (Applause.)
I refuse to ask
students to pay more for college, or kick children out of Head Start programs,
or eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor and
elderly or disabled -- all so those with the most can pay less. I’m not going along with that. (Applause.)
And I will never -- I
will never -- turn Medicare into a voucher.
(Applause.) No American should
ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and the
dignity that they have earned. Yes, we
will reform and strengthen Medicare for the long haul, but we’ll do it by
reducing the cost of health care -- not by asking seniors to pay thousands of
dollars more. (Applause.)
And we will keep the
promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it,
not by turning it over to Wall Street.
(Applause.)
This is the choice we
now face. This is what the election
comes down to. Over and over, we’ve been
told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only
way -- that since government can’t do everything, it should do almost
nothing. If you can’t afford health
insurance, hope that you don’t get sick.
If a company releases toxic pollution into the air your children
breathe, well, that’s the price of progress.
If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my
opponent’s advice and borrow money from your parents. (Laughter and applause.)
You know what, that’s
not who we are. That’s not what this
country’s about. As Americans, we
believe we are endowed by our Creator with certain, inalienable rights --
rights that no man or government can take away.
We insist on personal responsibility and we celebrate individual
initiative. We’re not entitled to
success -- we have to earn it. We honor
the strivers, the dreamers, the risk-takers, the entrepreneurs who have always
been the driving force behind our free enterprise system, the greatest engine
of growth and prosperity that the world’s ever known.
But we also believe in
something called citizenship.
(Applause.) Citizenship: a word at the very heart of our founding; a
word at the very essence of our democracy; the idea that this country only
works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future
generations.
We believe that when a
CEO pays his autoworkers enough to buy the cars that they build, the whole
company does better. (Applause.) We believe that when a family can no longer be
tricked into signing a mortgage they can’t afford, that family is protected,
but so is the value of other people’s homes and so is the entire economy. (Applause.)
We believe the little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by a
great teacher or a grant for college could become the next Steve Jobs or the
scientist who cures cancer or the President of the United States, and it is in
our power to give her that chance.
(Applause.)
We know that churches
and charities can often make more of a difference than a poverty program
alone. We don’t want handouts for people
who refuse to help themselves and we certainly don’t want bailouts for banks
that break the rules. (Applause.) We don’t think that government can solve all
of our problems, but we don’t think that government is the source of all of our
problems -- any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions,
or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our
troubles. (Applause.)
Because, America, we
understand that this democracy is ours. We, the people, recognize that we have
responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that
a freedom which asks only "what’s in it for me," a freedom without
commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism
is unworthy of our founding ideals and those who died in their defense. (Applause.)
As citizens, we
understand that America is not about what can be done for us; it’s about what
can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating, but necessary
work of self-government. That’s what we
believe. (Applause.)
So, you see, the
election four years ago wasn’t about me.
It was about you.
(Applause.) My fellow citizens,
you were the change. (Applause.) You’re the reason there’s a little girl with
a heart disorder in Phoenix who will get the surgery she needs because an
insurance company can’t limit her coverage.
You did that. (Applause.)
You’re the reason a
young man in Colorado who never thought he’d be able to afford his dream of
earning a medical degree is about to get that chance. You made that possible. (Applause.)
You’re the reason a
young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance
to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she’s ever called
home
-- (applause) -- why
selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who they are
or who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say to
the loved ones who served us so bravely: “Welcome home." "Welcome home.” You did that.
You did that. You did that. (Applause.)
If you turn away now
-- if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible,
well, change will not happen. If you
give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will
fill the void -- the lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10
million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making it
harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to decide who you can
marry, or control health care choices that women should be making for
themselves. (Applause.)
Only you can make sure
that doesn’t happen. Only you have the
power to move us forward.
(Applause.)
I recognize that times
have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed, and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. (Applause.)
And that means I know
what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms
the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost
their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs.
If the critics are
right that I’ve made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very
good at reading them. (Laughter.) And while I’m very proud of what we’ve
achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly
what Lincoln meant when he said, "I have been driven to my knees many
times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go." (Applause.)
But as I stand here
tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America. Not because I think I have all the
answers. Not because I’m naïve about the
magnitude of our challenges. I’m hopeful
because of you.
The young woman I met
at a science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while
living with her family at a homeless shelter -- she gives me hope. (Applause.)
The autoworker who won
the lottery after his plant almost closed, but kept coming to work every day,
and bought flags for his whole town, and one of the cars that he built to
surprise his wife -- he gives me hope. (Applause.)
The family business in
Warroad, Minnesota, that didn’t lay off a single one of their 4,000 employees
when the recession hit, even when their competitors shut down dozens of plants,
even when it meant the owner gave up some perks and some pay because they
understood that their biggest asset was the community and the workers who had
helped build that business -- they give me hope. (Applause.)
I think about the
young sailor I met at Walter Reed hospital, still recovering from a grenade
attack that would cause him to have his leg amputated above the knee. Six months ago, we would watch him walk into
a White House dinner honoring those who served in Iraq, tall and 20 pounds
heavier, dashing in his uniform, with a big grin on his face, sturdy on his new
leg. And I remember how a few months
after that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded
warriors on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun
the hard path he had traveled -- he gives me hope. He gives me hope. (Applause.)
I don’t know what
party these men and women belong to. I
don’t know if they’ll vote for me. But I
know that their spirit defines us. They
remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is a "future filled with
hope."
And if you share that
faith with me -- if you share that hope with me -- I ask you tonight for your
vote. (Applause.) If you reject the notion that this nation’s
promise is reserved for the few, your voice must be heard in this
election. If you reject the notion that
our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up
in this election. (Applause.)
If you believe that
new plants and factories can dot our landscape, that new energy can power our
future, that new schools can provide ladders of opportunity to this nation of
dreamers; if you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and
everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules -- then I
need you to vote this November.
(Applause.)
America, I never said
this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder, but it leads to a
better place. Yes, our road is longer,
but we travel it together. We don’t turn
back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we
learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon,
knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be
citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.
Thank you. God bless you. (Applause.)
And God bless these United States.
(Applause.)
END
11:04 P.M. EDT
