Remarks
provided from Politico
and below.
Good
evening, Democrats! Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? I hope so.
This
is the election of a lifetime. Because more than any one candidate or policy,
what's at stake is the American dream. That dream—the ability to imagine a
better way for ourselves and our families and then reach for it—is central to
who we are and what we stand for as a nation. Whether that dream endures for
another generation depends on you and me. It depends on who leads us, too.
In
Massachusetts, we know Mitt Romney. By the time he left office, Massachusetts
was 47th in the nation in job creation—during better economic times—and
household income in our state was declining. He cut education deeper than
anywhere else in America. Roads and bridges were crumbling. Business taxes were
up, and business confidence was down. Our clean energy potential was stalled.
And we had a structural budget deficit. Mitt Romney talks a lot about all the
things he's fixed. I can tell you that Massachusetts wasn't one of them. He's a
fine fellow and a great salesman, but as governor he was more interested in
having the job than doing it.
When
I came to office, we set out on a different course: investing in ourselves and
our future. And today Massachusetts leads the nation in economic
competitiveness, student achievement, health care coverage, life sciences and
biotech, energy efficiency and veterans' services. Today, with the help of the
Obama administration, we are rebuilding our roads and bridges and expanding
broadband access. Today we're out of the deficit hole Mr. Romney left, and
we've achieved the highest bond rating in our history. Today—with labor at the
table—we've made the reforms in our pension and benefits systems, our schools,
our transportation system and more that Mr. Romney only talked about. And today
in Massachusetts, you can also marry whomever you love. We have much more still
to do. But we are on a better track because we placed our faith not in
trickle-down fantasies and divisive rhetoric but in our values and common
sense.
The
same choice faces the nation today. All that today's Republicans are saying is that
if we just shrink government, cut taxes, crush unions and wait, all will be
well. Never mind that those are the very policies that got us into recession to
begin with! Never mind that not one of the governors who preached that gospel
in Tampa last week has the results to show for it. But we Democrats owe America
more than a strong argument for what we are against. We need to be just as
strong about what we are for.
The
question is: What do we believe? We believe in an economy that grows
opportunity out to the middle class and the marginalized, not just up to the
well connected. We believe that freedom means keeping government out of our
most private affairs, including out of a woman's decision whether to keep an
unwanted pregnancy and everybody's decision about whom to marry. We believe
that we owe the next generation a better country than we found and that every
American has a stake in that. We believe that in times like these we should
turn to each other, not on each other. We believe that government has a role to
play, not in solving every problem in everybody's life but in helping people
help themselves to the American dream. That's what Democrats believe.
If
we want to win elections in November and keep our country moving forward, if we
want to earn the privilege to lead, it's time for Democrats to stiffen our
backbone and stand up for what we believe. Quit waiting for pundits or polls or
super PACs to tell us who the next president or senator or congressman is going
to be. We're Americans.
We
shape our own future. Let's start by standing up for President Barack Obama.
This
is the president who delivered the security of affordable health care to every
single American after 90 years of trying. This is the president who brought
Osama bin Laden to justice, who ended the war in Iraq and is ending the war in
Afghanistan. This is the president who ended "don't ask, don't tell"
so that love of country, not love of another, determines fitness for military
service. Who made equal pay for equal work the law of the land. This is the
president who saved the American auto industry from extinction, the American
financial industry from self-destruction, and the American economy from depression.
Who added over 4.5 million private sector jobs in the last two-plus years, more
jobs than George W. Bush added in eight.
The
list of accomplishments is long, impressive and barely told—even more so when
you consider that congressional Republicans have made obstruction itself the
centerpiece of their governing strategy. With a record and a vision like that,
I will not stand by and let him be bullied out of office—and neither should
you, and neither should you and neither should you.
What's
at stake is real. The Orchard Gardens Elementary School in Boston was in
trouble. Its record was poor, its spirit was broken, and its reputation was a
wreck. No matter how bad things were in other urban schools in the city, people
would say, "At least we're not Orchard Gardens." Today, thanks to a host of new tools, many
enacted with the help of the Obama administration, Orchard Gardens is turning
itself around. Teaching standards and accountabilities are higher. The school
day is longer and filled with experiential learning, art, exercise and music.
The
head of pediatric psychology from a local hospital comes to consult with
faculty and parents on the toughest personal situations in students' home
lives. Attendance is up, thanks to a mentoring initiative. In less than a year,
Orchard Gardens went from one of the worst schools in the district to one of
the best in the state. The whole school community is engaged and proud.
So
am I. At the end of my visit a year and a half ago, the first grade—led by a
veteran teacher—gathered to recite Dr. King's "I have a dream"
speech. When I started to applaud, the teacher said, "not yet."
Then
she began to ask those six- and seven-year-olds questions: "What does 'creed' mean?"
"What does 'nullification' mean?"
"Where is Stone Mountain?"
And as the hands shot up, I realized that she had taught the children
not just to memorize that speech but to understand it.
Today's
Republicans and their nominee for president tell us that those first-graders
are on their own—on their own to deal with their poverty; with ill-prepared
young parents, maybe who speak English as a second language; with an
underfunded school; with neighborhood crime and blight; with no access to
nutritious food and no place for their mom to cash a paycheck; with a job
market that needs skills they don't have; with no way to pay for college.
But
those Orchard Gardens kids should not be left on their own.
Those
children are America's children, too, yours and mine. And among them are the
future scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, engineers, laborers and
civic leaders we desperately need. For this country to rise, they must rise—and
they and their cause must have a champion in the White House.
That
champion is Barack Obama. That cause is the American dream. Let's fight for
that. Let's canvass and phone bank and get out the vote for that. Let's go tell
everyone we meet that, when the American dream is at stake, you want Barack
Obama in charge.
Thank
you. God bless you. And God bless the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment