"four steps towards energy security, [question: four years ago, the bush administration urged we act against a dangerous axis of evil in iraq, iran, and north korea. today, each member of the axis poses an even greater threat to our security than it did then., in iraq, a dictator is gone, and that s a good thing. but after visiting iraq earlier this month, i am more convinced than ever we are on the verge of trading him for chaos., q: iran is defying the entire international community and its reform movement is on the ropes. and north korea has increased its stockpile of fissile material by 400 percent and started testing missiles again., while the axis of evil has gotten more dangerous, this administration also has made us more vulnerable to an equally grave danger, what michael mandelbaum has called the axis of oil. it stretches from russia to iran, from saudi arabia to venezuela, from nigeria to burma., today, i will discuss what this means from a foreign policy perspective, because the widespread dependence on oil is tying our foreign policy in knots., then i will lay out f oursteps in the transportation sector that we can take immediately to set a course for a more secure energy future. i m not suggesting these steps are the only changes we need. we ll need to increase conservation. and we need all options for electrical generation on the table - nuclear, wind, solar - and to invest in research and innovation., [to state the obvious, the middle east is in turmoil. oil is $75 a barrel. if we had an energy security policy it would give the president of the united states more flexibility to defuse this kind of crisis., there is no question our oil dependence is threatening our national security. it helps fuel the fundamentalism we re fighting., our oil dependence limits our options and our influence around the world, because oil rich countries pursuing policies we oppose can stand up to us, while oil dependent allies may be afraid to stand with us., think about what we are trying to achieve around the world - and then consider how the widespread dependence on oil is undermining our efforts., china needs oil from iran so they won t confront tehran., ukraine s orange revolution is in jeopardy because moscow is using energy as a weapon of extortion., oil money makes hugo chavez believe he can take fidel castro s place as the prime anti-american trouble maker., the world is confronted with genocide again, this time in darfur, but china has threatened to veto u.s. sanctions against sudan because it has oil., regressive regimes swimming in a sea of high priced oil from the middle east, to africa, to central asia, to russia can resist the pressure to reform.nothing is more important to america s security than prevailing in the struggle between freedom and radical fundamentalism. but nowhere does oil have a more distorting effect than in the islamic and arab worlds, where its proceeds finance radical groups and prop up repressive regimes., we re familiar with the facts: we have less than 2 percent of the world s oil reserves. we import about 12 of the 20 million barrels of oil a day we consume. we use the vast majority of that in the transportation sector., add to that extraordinary growth of energy consumption in india and china. in transportation alone, china will put 120 million new vehicles on its roads by the end of the decade. according to the experts, this ensures demand will outpace the discovery of new supplies., right now excess capacity is so small the slightest disruption in production -- a terrorist act in saudi arabia, tough talk from tehran, or even a terrible storm here in america can send gas prices soaring., think about where our oil comes from: 35 percent from venezuela, nigeria, s audi arabia, and iraq - all of them unstable nations., venezuela has twice threatened to cut off oil shipments. in nigeria, civil unrest has repeatedly disrupted production. saudi arabia is an oligarchy under siege. iraq is in total disarray. and america is held hostage., today, americans are angry they re paying $3 a gallon at the pump, but that is not the real cost. what about the hidden costs?, what about the hidden military cost? does anybody believe we would allocate a significant portion of our defense budget to centcom, if not for our extraordinary dependence on oil?, q. even before the iraq war, we spent $50 billion a year to maintain our large military presence in the gulf. its primary purpose was to protect the free flow of oil that we buy., r: to be clear, i m not saying we attacked iraq for oil. but ensuring we do not leave behind a civil war that turns into a regional war is in part about oil. we are losing thousands of american lives, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to avoid that., and there are other costs. what about the hidden economic costs? high oil prices are fueling inflation, just as our economy is slowing. we re at a tipping point, and our options are limited., our oil trade deficit - $250 billion last year - is headed to a new record. to finance it, we go into hock to china and other countries, increasing the global imbalances that make our economy more vulnerable., high prices eat into family budgets, because most middle-class americans don t have the luxury of driving less, buying a more efficient car, or moving closer to work., and what about the hidden cost of climate change? the cars and trucks we drive dump more than 2 billion tons of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere every year., results are all around us: melting polar ice, increasing ocean temperatures, and stronger storms. changing, growing seasons, mass migrations, and conflicts over resources - they will be the foreign policy challenges of the future., if we don t change our policy, oil will further empower the countries that produce it, restrict our options, an undermine our economic and physical security., a lot of people are talking about energy independence. i think we should be talking about energy security., independence is a worthy aspiration. but it will not solve our foreign policy problems. our independence is not china s independence., even if we reduce our consumption, and become less sensitive to price shocks or pressure from the axis of oil, if china and india don t follow suit, our foreign policy will remain in a straitjacket., the market for oil is worldwide. if we still consumed the same amount, just reducing our imports won t affect the price. a disruption anywhere will spike prices everywhere., that is why we should focus america on energy security. and we must encourage other major countries to do the same., one place to start would be to bring india and china into the international energy agency. that would require them to develop strategic petroleum reserves and coordinate emergency response procedures with other countries. senator lugar and i have introduced legislation to accomplish this, and to promote other reforms., we need to export our clean technologies - like nuclear, clean coal, and biofuels - to the fast-growing economies of the developing world. our energy policy and our response to global warming demand it., but let s get back to the united states. where we can have the most impact is stopping our demand for oil from increasing as our economy grows., if we do, we won t run our economy off the rails if prices go up because a terrorist attack on a saudi refinery, or because we need to sanction iran., we can do this. we can absolutely do this. we can avoid another oil crisis - and we don t need to wait for hydrogen cars or next generation technology to succeed. we have the technology to make these changes today., we know where to start: expand alternative fuels and improve vehicle efficiency. americans - democrats an republicans - want more fuel efficient cars and alternative fuels., we want to pull up to the gas pump in an american flex fuel car, and buy a gallon of biodiesel or e85 made in america, by american farmers., so, i propose four steps we can take immediately to reduce our dependence on oil., first, let s understand that famous expression from a popular movie - build it and they will come. the era of american alternative cars is beginning. our fields of dreams are full of corn and switch grass., in five years, half of all cars sold in this country should be able to run on homegrown biodiesel or e85 -- a blend that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline., by 2016, every car - 100 percent of new cars sold in america - should be able to run on alternative fuel., we don  t need to redesign cars to make this switch. five million american million cars and trucks already run on e85. it costs manufacturers less than $100., second, we need to make sure people driving these cars can pull into their gas station, in their own, neighborhood and fill up their tanks., we should require half - 50 percent - of all gas stations operated by major companies to have alternative fuel pumps. that would be about 42,000 gas stations nationwide. today, just 700 have e85 pumps. gas stations of the future will offer a wider selection of fuel - ethanol, biodiesel, and gasoline., third, we must encourage the production of our home grown fuels. we now produce about 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol - that s just 3 percent of the fuel we use., by 2010, let s produce at least 10 billion gallons. by 2020, 30 billion - that would be about 25 percent of the fuel we consume. a quarter of our fuel would be grown by american farmers., we must increase the use of corn ethanol today to speed development of cellulosic ethanol tomorrow. cellulosic is made from more plentiful and less energy intensive feedstocks, like alfalfa, prairie grass, an wood chips., in order to do this we must ensure the price of alternative fuels remains competitive so investors are willing to take risks to bring new technologies to market., the single biggest risk the alternative fuel industry faces isn t technological hurdles. it is making sure deman is there so investment will follow., skeptics will tell you we don t have enough land to support ethanol production. they will argue production costs of ethanol are too high, and it takes too much energy to produce it., that s malarkey. we can produce 12 billion gallons of ethanol from corn without impacting the food supply., once production of biomass based ethanol comes on-line - - we can grow what we need to meet most of our gasoline needs here on american farms., every time we have asked american farmers to produce more, they ve always risen to the occasion. if we ask them, they will again., experts tell me that we can increase the number of gallons of ethanol per acre in the u.s. by a factor of 10 without new technology breakthroughs., i want to make it clear - i don t want ethanol producers undercut by anti-competitive practices of oil companies. at $75 a barrel, it s not a problem., one of the ways we can help the market get off the ground is to require the federal government to buy vehicles that run on alternative fuels. and states could do the same. it s already happening in delaware. we should be prepared to support the price of ethanol, until the industry is on its own feet., fourth, we need to increase fuel economy standards. if every year we increase fuel efficiency by one mile per, gallon it saves us 69 billion gallons of gas in 10 years., we haven t raised standards for cars in 20 years. not since ronald reagan was president. automotive technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since then. but most of that progress has gone toward making, our vehicles bigger and faster. it is time we harness the advances we already made and encourage new ones., as of now we are stuck in the same old debate: should we raise fuel economy requirements? can we do so without jeopardizing jobs? who should decide how much to raise them and by when?, i am not impressed by the resolve of our domestic auto industry in looking beyond short-term interests. with my colleagues on the foreign relations committee, senators lugar, obama, and coleman, along with senators bingaman, harkin, and smith, i come at this issue from a new direction., we need a new system that is flexible and protects hard-working american auto workers. instead of giving a fleet-wide average, we look at it car by car., we give the national transportation safety administration broad authority to reform the cafe system, but require predictable progress on fuel efficiency., we do that by establishing aggressive targets that increase efficiency 4 percent - - roughly one mile per gallon a year., if these targets can t be reached because it is not economically or technically feasible, or it compromises overall fleet safety, nhtsa can reduce the rate of improvement., targets will be set for individual vehicles based on attributes such as size and weight. that means manufacturers won t have to shift to small cars to meet their efficiency targets. and the distinction between cars and trucks will be eliminated. we can t wait another 20 years for congress to agree on a new café number., and, in my view, this will help keep jobs here. we know american car makers lose jobs when the price of oil goes up. if the price of gas stays high, better fuel economy would mean more sales, and more jobs. our legislation gives financial incentives to domestic manufacturers that invest in the production of clean and efficient cars., look at the competition. japan s requirements are 45 miles per gallon, and headed higher. china is increasing its standards to 37 miles per gallon. our standard is stuck at 27.5 miles per gallon., we can t afford to lag behind other countries. we absolutely have to build more fuel efficient cars., these four steps are how we ll begin the transition to alternative fuel. one hundred percent of cars running on alternative fuels, 50 percent of major gas stations selling it, at least 25 percent of what we consume being farm-grown fuel, and getting cars one mile more efficient every year., they are the steps that would give the president of the united states the ability to make this country more energy secure., we need more american fuel not from the north slope of alaska but from the prairies of kansas and the corn fields of indiana., i d rather american gas dollars go to american farmers and to revitalize our rural communities. putting money in their pockets could have a dramatic impact, between a dying rural america, and returning rural america., buying fuel from midwest farmers, instead of mid-east oligarchs could have a lasting impact on the, environment. cars powered by biomass ethanol emit well under one percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by cars powered by oil., and each of us, as consumers, must become part of the solution - whether that s choosing to fill up with e85 or buying more energy efficient light-bulbs., if we want to regain control of our national security, we must, must deal with our dependence on foreign oil. if it was not clear before, it is now. domestic energy policy is at the center of our foreign policy., in 1776, thomas paine taught us we can begin the world over again. it is time we try again. it s time we start developing new priorities for our country., thank you.,"	
"five years after 9/11: rethinking america s future security, five years ago, on september 10th, 2001, standing at this podium, i argued against this administration s fixation on national missile defense. i said: ""we will have diverted all that money to address the least likely threat while the real threats come into this country in the hold of a ship, or the belly of a plane, or are smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack."", i wasn t clairvoyant. i was making a point that was valid then and remains valid today: when it comes to america s national security, this administration has the wrong premises and the wrong priorities., the president is right, as he put it this week: we re ""a nation at war."" that makes it all the more incomprehensible that, five years after 9/11, he has failed to mobilize americans for the struggle. there is no national energy policy, no national service, no real sacrifice except from our soldiers and their families. instead, he gave us a massive tax cut for the most fortunate among us. given the opportunity to unite americans and the world, he has divided both., these failures flow from a dangerous combination of ideology and incompetence and a profound confusion about whom we re fighting. the president continues to talk about ""the war on terror."" that is simply wrong. terrorism is a means, not an end, and very different groups and countries are using it toward very different goals. if we can t even identify the enemy or describe the war we re fighting, it s difficult to see how we will win., in fact, it s a war with many fronts. the most urgent is the intersection of the world s most radical groups -- like al qaeda and the freelancers it has inspired -- with the world s most lethal weapons., but we also must confront groups that use terror not to target us directly, but to advance their own nationalistic causes. we must deal with outlaw states that support them and otherwise flout the rules. we, must face a growing civil war in iraq and a renewed war for afghanistan. we must help resolve a generational war between arabs and israelis. and we must engage in a long-term war of ideas for the hearts and minds of tens of millions of muslims., these fronts are connected. but this administration has made the profound mistake of conflating them under one label, and arguing that success on one front ensures victory on all the others. it has answered each of these distinct challenges with the same limited responses: military force and regime change., and it has picked the wrong fights at the wrong times: failing to finish the job in afghanistan, which the world agreed was the central front in the war on radical fundamentalism, and instead rushing to war in iraq, which was not a central front. as a result, this administration, which is full of patriotic people, has dug america into a very deep hole -- with very few friends to help us out., to those who doubt this harsh verdict, i say, ask yourself a simple question: are we safer today than we were five years ago? to those who share my assessment, join me in answering another question: what do we have to do so five years from now, we are safer than today?, let me start with the first question: are we safer?, maybe the best answer is that this week the administration felt compelled to issue a new strategy to fight terror, which strongly suggests the old one was not working., the facts speak for themselves. after 9/11, the administration urged we act against a dangerous axis of evil in iraq, iran, and north korea. today, each member poses an even greater threat., in iraq, a dictator is gone, and that s good. but we may be on the verge of trading him for chaos and a haven for radicalism in the heart of the middle east. meanwhile, iran is closer to the bomb and its reform movement is on the ropes. and north korea has four hundred percent more fissile material., after 9/11, the president made the case that democracy is an antidote to extremism. he was right. but today, because this administration equated democracy with elections and failed to build democratic institutions and bolster moderates, islamist groups that were already militarized have now been legitimized: hezbollah in lebanon, hamas in the palestinian territories and religious parties in iraq., five years ago, president bush pledged to capture osama bin laden. but then he redirected our military away from afghanistan and toward iraq. today, bin laden remains at large, and his videotaped messages inspire others to act., remember when secretary rumsfeld asked in a famous memo if we were capturing more terrorists than our enemies were recruiting, and if we had a plan to stop the next generation of terrorists? the answers are: no, we aren t, and no we don t. the fact is, since 9/11, terrorist attacks around the world have nearly quadrupled., thankfully, there have been no attacks on our soil since 9/11. but we should not take false comfort from that fact. this a patient enemy. just last month, the british and pakistani police prevented a new attack on our, planes and people. that plot burst this administration s rhetorical bubble that  we re fighting them over there, so we don t have to fight them here. , after 9/11, this administration grudgingly embraced the need to protect america here at home. today, we know from katrina and the repeated warnings of the bi-partisan 9/11 commission that we are still not prepared, we are still not protected., so, are we safer than we were five years ago? the american people will decide. they will look at whether the streets are more or less dangerous, at whether our enemies are more or less lethal, and at whether we have the world s respect we had when the towers came down., that brings me to the second question: what should we do - what would i do - to make america safer in five years?, i would start with iraq, for no strategy to make america safer can succeed unless we first solve iraq. iraq has already cost us dearly in lives lost and money spent. because our forces are tied down, our ability to act against our enemies is limited -- and they know it. because we hyped the intelligence before going in, our ability to convince allies -- and the american people --- of new dangers has been diminished. because we diverted our energy and resources from afghanistan, it is on the verge of failure., this administration has no strategy for success in iraq. it has a strategy to prevent defeat and pass the problem along to the next president. the overwhelming reality in iraq is a sectarian cycle of revenge. throwing more troops at baghdad won t fix this mess. we need a political settlement that allows each group to pursue its interests peacefully., i ve offered just such a plan, not unlike what we did in bosnia. it would keep iraq together by providing each group breathing room in their own regions, getting sunni buy-in by giving them a piece of the oil revenues, creating a major jobs and reconstruction program to deny the militia new recruits, and bringing in iraq s neighbors to support the political process. if we do all that, we have a chance to bring most of our troops home by the end of 2007, without leaving chaos behind., getting iraq right won t guarantee success on those other fronts we re fighting. but it will give us much more freedom, flexibility, and credibility to make the profound changes to our national security strategy these complex threats demand., and it will make it easier to put our focus back on other profoundly important developments that will shape this century, like the developing roles of china, india, and russia as major powers; the shortage of reliable sources of energy; and the growing impact of climate change., today, i am announcing a four-part plan to move america toward greater security. it flows from my conviction that protecting our homeland requires a dramatic reordering of our priorities; that real security, comes from prevention, not preemption; that working with strong partners is better than alienating them; and that advancing democracy is about more than elections., and my plan starts from the premise it is time for america to recapture the totality of our strength -- our military, economic, and diplomatic might -- and the power of our ideas and ideals. that is what won the cold war. that is what has gotten lost these past five years., first, to protect us at home, we should dramatically reorder our priorities. we should start by immediately implementing the recommendations made by the 9/11 commission., last december, the commission assessed the administration s progress in implementing their recommendations, and they got a report card riddled with ds and fs. just 5 percent of cargo containers are adequately screened at our ports, and we don t screen air cargo. our first responders still cannot talk to one another. since 9/11 this administration has cut more than $2 billion in guaranteed federal assistance for local law enforcement., why? because the administration s view is that if we cannot protect everything, we should only do the minimum necessary to give the appearance of security. their only line of defense is a questionable eavesdropping program that we should do under the law, not around it. and they have taken the view that private industry can adequately determine and implement security measures., i totally disagree. with strong federal leadership and investment we can screen 100 percent of cargo containers at ports, protect our chemical facilities and eliminate some of the most dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives, better secure our mass transit systems, ensure the security of our nuclear plants, develop screening technologies that better detect liquid explosives, and secure our borders., i would hire 1,000 more fbi agents and 50,000 more cops across the country. we must bring local law enforcement in as equal partners. we should require the networks to turn over critical communications spectrum allocations immediately, and help local agencies purchase communications equipment, so first responders can talk to one another., in our big cities we should develop locally based counter-terrorism units to stop home-grown plots. today, only new york city has a sufficient unit., for those who say we cannot pay for it, that s malarkey. for $50 billion -- $10 billion per year over the next five years -- we can make these changes. it s all about priorities., the bush tax cuts for millionaires exceed $60 billion this year alone. i am proposing we take back some of the tax cuts for people who make over a million dollars a year. if we put just $10 billion a year of this money into a homeland security trust fund we could implement all of these measures. i did this with the violent crime reduction trust fund, and it put more than 100,000 cops on the street to make our streets safer., wealthy americans are just as patriotic as poor americans - we just haven t asked anything of them., second, we must defuse threats to america s security before they are on the verge of exploding by switching from military preemption to a comprehensive prevention strategy., military preemption has long been -- and must remain -- an option. it may be our only choice against a terrorist who has no territory or people to defend, and who is amassing hidden weapons instead of massing visible armies. but turning preemption into a one-size fits all doctrine was a profound mistake based on a faulty premise., by using america s military might, the administration thought we would demonstrate our resolve and convince our enemies to give in to our will -- with or without war. in fact, this preemption doctrine is making the world even less secure for america., it says to iran and north korea their best insurance policy against regime-change is to acquire weapons of mass destruction as quickly as possible. it says to fault line states like india and pakistan, china and taiwan, russia and chechnya, israel and the arab states that it is alright to use force first and ask questions later. it requires a standard of proof for intelligence that may be impossible to meet unless we cherry pick the facts,, as we did before we went into iraq. and it has had the dire consequence of undermining our credibility around the world., there is a better path -- a comprehensive prevention strategy that would: secure loose weapons around the world, build the capacity of our partners to detect dangerous materials and disrupt terror networks, set new standards to seize suspect cargoes, and reform the entire non-proliferation system., third, instead of acting alone, we must build effective alliances and international organizations. this administration starts from the premise that because america s military might is so much greater than anyone else s, anything that could get in the way of using that might must be ignored., i start from a different premise. most of the threats we face -- radical fundamentalism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of infectious disease -- have no respect for borders. not one can be met solely with force., our main enemy is a network of fundamentalist groups that could tap into a spreading supply of dangerous, weapons. the best response to a network of terror is to build a network of our own, a network of like-minded countries that pools resources, information, ideas, and power. that s what stopped the heathrow plot. taking on the radical fundamentalists alone isn t necessary, it isn t smart, and it won t succeed., as we live by the rules, we must also insist the rules are enforced. that could have been the basis for a common approach to iraq. it can still be the foundation for stopping iran and north korea from pursuing, dangerous nuclear weapons programs. the united states should be leading others to a new understanding of state responsibility, including when using force may be necessary., civilized societies have a responsibility to protect innocents and a duty to prevent catastrophes. that s why, force was necessary in bosnia, kosovo and afghanistan, and why it is now necessary in darfur. but by hyping the intelligence about iraq and failing to level with the american people this administration has soured the american people on the use of power and hamstrung the next president s ability to use it wisely., we risk replacing a ""vietnam syndrome"" with an ""iraq complex"". that s a legacy that could haunt america for decades., fourth and finally, we must advance freedom and progress by developing democratic institutions in the middle east and beyond. we must prove to millions of people who are disenfranchised politically and economically that we offer hope, while the radical fundamentalists offer only hatred., again, this administration starts from fundamentally flawed premises. they believe democracy can be imposed by force from the outside. it cannot. they think democracy and elections are synonymous. they re not. elections are necessary, but not sufficient., we must put much more emphasis on building the institutions of democracy: political parties, an independent media and judicial system, effective government, non-governmental organizations, and labor unions., we must help bolster failing states - - which can become havens for terror -- by building schools and training teachers, opening closed economies, empowering women, relieving more debt, and redirecting the focus of international institutions., that s what we should have done in the palestinian authority, to support abu mazen against hamas. that s what we should have done in lebanon after syria left, to support its government against hezbollah. but we did not. the net effect: extremist groups gain stature and legitimacy, while we remain silent, failing to make our case to a larger muslim world., we must re-invigorate our public diplomacy to explain our policies to the world. one example is iran. our, greatest allies against the theocracy in tehran are the iranian people. they admire america. but we never get our side of the argument into iran to the people who could insist that the government change course. they never hear our voice. america, whose greatest strengths are her ideas and ideals, has become afraid to talk., if we do all this, if we recapture the totality of our strength, my students here with me today from delaware will read about this period as one chapter in our nation s history, not the final chapter., our enemies are not 10 feet tall. we will defeat the radical fundamentalists the same way my parents  generation defeated communism and fascism. we ll match military force with a commitment to project our values to the world., bin laden and his ilk are beyond reason. we must defeat them. but millions of muslims are open to our ideas and ideals. we must reach them. if we do, teenagers from baghdad to beirut, and from jedda to jakarta, will pick the promise of a better life under freedom, tolerance, and respect over the hopelessness of radical fundamentalism., ladies and gentlemen, we can do much better. the american people are full of grit and optimism. they know we need a new approach. they know there are no easy answers, they know it. and they know with the right leadership, america will prevail -- as we always have.,"	
", salvaging american interests in a united iraq, five months ago, les gelb and i laid out a detailed plan to keep iraq together, protect america s interests and bring our troops home., our plan generated a much-needed debate about alternatives beyond the bush administration s ""stay the course"" rhetoric and those calling for an immediate exit., many experts here and in iraq embraced our ideas. others raised legitimate concerns. still others mischaracterized or misunderstood our plan, calling it a ""partition,"" when in fact it is the opposite., today, i d like to explain in more detail what the plan does — and what it does not do., iraq s central realities, in july, i was in iraq with senator jack reed. it was my seventh trip., our soldiers and diplomats are making real progress, under the most difficult conditions., but that progress is prisoner to the terrible violence raging around them. its main driver is sectarianism., in fact, the central reality in iraq today is that violence between shiites and sunnis has surpassed the insurgency and foreign terrorists as the main security threat., sectarian militias are the main instruments of violence. instead of disarming, they are growing, for one simple reason — young men have no jobs and the militias give them a steady paycheck., although half the iraqi army divisions are capable of leading operations with american support, the nuts and bolts that any military needs to be self-sustaining are not there., there are enormous problems with logistics, pay systems, transportation, procurement, and food delivery., the police are in the most urgent need of reform. sectarian forces riddle their ranks. the facilities protection service — 140,000 individuals assigned to specific ministries — is heavily involved in sectarian violence., on the surface, iraq has a unity government. but privately sunnis and kurds complain that they are not part of the decision-making., political competition among the parties that make up the shi a coalition prevents any genuine outreach to the sunnis -- or any serious attempt to disarm the militias., on the other side, too many sunnis continue to aid and abet violence. as a result, the political process is stalled and polarized., while sectarianism is the major new reality in iraq, the old reality — insurgents and foreign terrorists — is still very real., al-qaeda is so firmly entrenched in al-anbar that it has morphed into an indigenous jihadist threat., as a result, iraq risks becoming what it was not before the war: a haven for radical fundamentalists. it s what i call a bush-fulfilling prophecy., no number of troops can solve the sectarian problem, and we don t have enough troops to deal definitivel with the jihadist threat., nothing makes the point more clearly than the fact we ve just pulled troops from anbar — where they were fighting insurgents and iraqi al qaeda — and sent them to baghdad, to secure neighborhood and stop sectarian violence., security operations in one neighborhood force the death squads and insurgents out., but then they regroup in unsecured areas and return to the neighborhoods we ve cleared when our troops move on to the next hot spot., a strategy for success, so that s where we are. the more important question is this: where are we going? unfortunately, this administration does not have any discernible strategy for success in iraq. its strategy is to prevent defeat and hand the problem off when it leaves office., meanwhile, more and more americans, understandably frustrated, support an immediate withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war., both are bad alternatives., the five-point plan les gelb and i laid out offers a better way., we start from the premise that the only way to break the vicious cycle of violence -- and to create the conditions for our armed forces to responsibly withdraw -- is to give shiites, sunnis and kurds incentives to pursue their interests peacefully. this requires a sustainable political settlement., to get there, we propose five steps:, first, the plan calls for maintaining a unified iraq by decentralizing it and giving kurds, shiites and sunnis their own regions., the central government would be left in charge of common interests, such as border security and the distribution of oil revenue., while we ve proposed three regions, the exact number should be left for iraqis to decide., what matters is the principle of federalism as a way to manage competing interests and visions while keeping iraq together., but federalism will only work if each group believes that it has an economically viable region to govern. the sunnis are in a unique position — they don t have any oil. they fear being permanently cut off from iraq s natural wealth. that s why some of their leaders continue to resist federalism., so the second element of our plan is a guarantee that each group will get a proportionate share of iraq s oil revenue. for the sunnis, that means about 20%., why would shi a and kurds agree to share oil revenues? because it s better for their bottom line., without an oil sharing agreement, iraq will not attract the massive investment it needs to increase production., if all sides agree to a formula for the distribution of proceeds and a unified oil policy, investment will flow, production will rise and each group will get a piece of a much larger pie., oil can become the glue that binds the country -- peacefully., the third piece of the plan is to improve the living conditions of the iraqi people and create a significant number of jobs. that requires increasing, not ending, reconstruction aid. it also requires altering the way the money is spent, and tying it to the protection of minority rights., the administration s early fixation on multinational mega projects has wasted tens of billions of dollars on mismanagement, corruption and security for the foreign reconstruction teams — with virtually no results to show in terms of electricity generation, sewage treatment, potable water or oil production., gen. chiarelli, one of our finest military leaders, described to me a project to supply drinking water to much of eastern baghdad., the massive plant is complete, but there s one problem: no pipes to bring the clean water to iraqi homes. gen. chiarelli calls the plant the ""world s largest drinking fountain."", that would be funny if these failures — and their implications — were not so serious... if they had not literall fed the frustration and violence., this incompetence on reconstruction makes more aid a tough sell. but we must ramp up and revamp our reconstruction program in concert with others, not wind it down., to fund this effort, we should insist that our gulf state allies — who have reaped huge oil profits — step up and put up., fourth, the plan calls for an international conference that would produce a regional nonaggression pact and create a contact group to enforce regional commitments., there can be no lasting solution inside iraq unless its neighbors use their influence with each faction to promote stability., most of iraq s neighbors don t want to do us any favors. but being drawn into a civil war is in none of their interests, not even iran s or syria s., even if a contact group can t prevent a civil war, the more we can restrain the interventionist tendencies of iraq s neighbors, the greater the odds that violence can be confined within iraq s borders and a regional conflagration prevented., fifth and finally, under the plan we would begin the phased redeployment of u.s. troops this year and withdraw most of them by the end of 2007., we would maintain a small follow-on force to keep the neighbors honest, strike any concentration of terrorists, and train the security forces., in the meantime, u.s. troops would concentrate on securing sectarian fault lines. what our plan is — and what it isn t, i said at the outset that some critics have mischaracterized or misunderstood parts of our plan. so let me conclude by telling you what the plan is — and what it is not., our plan is consistent with iraq s constitution, which already provides for iraq s provinces to form regions jointly or individually, with their own security forces and control over most day-to-day issues., our plan is the only idea on the table for dealing with the militias, which are likely to retreat to their respective regions instead of continuing to engage in acts of sectarian violence., our plan is consistent with a strong central government that has clearly defined responsibilities. indeed, it provides an agenda for that government, whose mere existence will not end sectarian violence., our plan is not partition -- in fact, it may be the only way to prevent violent partition and preserve a unified iraq., to be sure, the plan presents real challenges, especially with regard to large cities with mixed populations. we would maintain baghdad as a federal city, belonging to no one region, as stipulated in the constitution., and we would require international peacekeepers there and for other mixed cities to support local security forces and further protect minorities., for now, the participation of many other countries in a peacekeeping force is a non-starter., but a political settlement, a regional conference, and a contact group to demonstrate international resolve could change their calculus and willingness to participate., the example of bosnia is illustrative, if not totally analogous., ten years ago, bosnia was being torn apart by ethnic cleansing., the united states stepped in decisively with the dayton accords to keep the country whole by, paradoxically,, dividing it into ethnic federations., we even allowed muslims, croats and serbs to retain separate armies., with the help of u.s. and european peacekeepers, bosnians have lived a decade in peace. now they are strengthening their central government and disbanding their separate armies., at best, the course we re on in iraq has no end in sight., at worst, it leads to a terrible civil war that turns into a regional war... and leaves a new haven for fundamentalist terror in the heart of the middle east., this plan offers a way to bring our troops home, protect our security interests and preserve iraq as a unified country., to those who reject this plan out of hand, i have one simple question: what is your alternative?,"	
"biden remarks to the israel policy forum , ladies and gentlemen, it is good to be among good friends., tonight, i would like to talk to you about our nation s most serious and urgent priority — iraq. our current policy in iraq is a failure. we are past the point of an open-ended commitment., we are past the point of adding more troops. we are past the point of vague policy prescriptions. it is not an answer just to stay. nor is it an answer -- though it may become a necessity -- just to go, with no concern for what follows., the fundamental question we must answer is whether, as we begin to leave iraq, there are still concrete steps we can take to avoid leaving chaos behind. i believe the answer to that question is yes. but i m equally convinced neither democrats nor republicans alone will take those steps. no one wants to be blamed for, what might happen next in iraq. the only way to carve out a new path is through bipartisanship., with a united voice we can speak with strength to iraqis on the need to put their house in order, and find political protection here at home. political leaders in our country must choose to hang together rather than hang separately., we have every incentive to do so. it is flatly against the security interests of the united states to stay the current course. it also happens to be against the political interests of both parties. republicans don t want to run for re-election to congress or for the presidency in 2008 with iraq around their necks. democrats do not want to assume the presidency in 2009 saddled with a losing war., so the incentive is there to work together. but what are the principles of a policy that can bring democrats and republicans together — and start to bring our troops home responsibly? six months ago les gelb, president emeritus of the council on foreign relations, and i proposed a detailed answer to that question. if you are interested in the particulars, please take a look at our website, ""www.planforiraq.com."", we had two basic premises that were clear to us months ago — and that every passing month makes clearer and clearer: first, the main challenge in iraq is a sectarian cycle of revenge, for which there is no military solution. even if every al qaeda-inspired terrorist left iraq tomorrow, we d still have a major civil conflict on, our hands, pitting sunnis, shiites and kurds against one another. second, putting all of our chips on building a strong central government cannot pay off because there is no trust within the government... no trust of the government by the people... and no capacity on the part of the government to deliver basic services to iraqis., any plan for iraq must contend with those powerful realities. our plan does — and here s how. first, we, argued that the focus of u.s. policy in iraq must be to help forge a political settlement that gives each of its main groups incentives to pursue their interests peacefully. the most likely form for that settlement is a, federalized iraq, with three or more largely autonomous regional governments to suit the separate interests of shiites, sunnis and kurds. a central government would administer truly common concerns, such as defending iraq s borders and managing its energy infrastructure. the constitution already provides for this approach and iraq s parliament recently passed a law to implement its articles on federalism. but for federalism to work, the constitution must be amended to guarantee sunnis — who are sand rich but oil poor -- 20% of oil revenues, to be administered by the central government with international oversight. only with such revenues could a, sunni region become economically and politically sustainable. why would shiites and kurds hand over some of the oil revenues to the sunnis? because that s the price of peace -- and only with peace will iraq attract the massive foreign investment it needs to maximize oil production. oil can become the glue that holds iraq together. the final decisions will be up to the iraqis. but without us helping them arrange the necessary, compromises, as we have at every critical juncture, nothing will get done. with 145,000 americans at risk, we have a right and a responsibility to make our views known. second, we urged that the u.s. military plan for the redeployment and withdrawal of most u.s, forces by the end of 2007., redeployment by itself is not a plan. but it is a good way to get the iraqis to concentrate on the hard political decisions they must make. we have to make clear to them that the presence of our troops in their present, large numbers is not open-ended. we would begin the phased redeployment in the first half of next year, but with no artificial deadline or end date. we would maintain a small residual force in iraq or in the region whose mission would be counter-terrorism, training, logistics and force protection., even if it made strategic sense to keep 145,000 troops in iraq beyond next year, we could not do so without doing real damage to the volunteer military, including:sending soldiers back on third and fourth tours;, extending deployment times from 12 to 18 months;, ending the practice of a year at home between deployments; fully mobilizing the guard and reserves; and, returning demobilized soldiers to iraq through a back-door draft. , 	, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,"	
", opening statement in the senate foreign relations committee hearing on iraq: the current situation, today we begin the work of a new congress, with many new members, including on this committee., welcome, senators cardin, casey, corker, and webb. and welcome also to veteran members of the senate, who are new to the foreign relations committee: senators demint, isakson, menendez, and vitter. you join a committee that has tried to remain a place of sanity and civility in a polarized and partisan time., we have not always succeeded. but when we have, it largely has been due to the efforts of my friend, chairman richard lugar. no one in the senate knows more about foreign policy and no one has contributed more to the security of this country., today we are brought together by a question that dominates the national debate: what options remain to meet our goal of bringing home american troops and leaving behind a stable iraq?, over the next four weeks, this committee will seek answers to that question. first, we will hear from the bush administration. then, we will hear from experts left, right and center, in government and outside it, from, across the united states and beyond it. we will hear from men and women with very different ideas, but who are united in their devotion to this country and their desire to help see it through a difficult time., the bush administration, as well as important private groups and experts, have developed plans for iraq. it is the unique responsibility of congress — especially the senate foreign relations committee - to evaluate those plans - in public - and to help our citizens understand the very difficult choices our country faces., that is the best way to secure the informed consent of the american people for our policy in iraq, without, which that policy cannot be sustained. i have my own strongly held views about what to do in iraq. there will be time for me to talk about them in the days ahead., for now, i want to set out what sen. lugar and i hope to accomplish and how we hope to accomplish it. first, let me make clear what these hearings are not. they are not an effort to revisit the past, to point fingers or place blame. americans know that we are in a mess in iraq, but instead of arguing about how we got into it, they expect us to help get america out of it. we will start by receiving the most up-to-date, unvarnished analysis of the situation and trends in iraq and in the region., we began that inquiry yesterday, with a classified briefing from our major intelligence agencies. we continue that inquiry today with experts who will assess the political, security, economic and diplomatic realities on the ground., phebe marr, the preeminent historian of iraq, will provide a historical overview. by illuminating the past, we can better understand the present. michael o hanlon of the brookings institution will focus on the numbers:, how do we measure the current situation and the trends in terms of security, the economy and public opinion. yahia said, the director of iraq revenue watch, will speak to the political dynamics inside iraq — who are the main players and what are their interests. paul pillar, the former national intelligence officer for the near east and south asia, will address the dynamics in the region: what do iraq s neighbors want and how can they affect the outcome. the goal today, as it was yesterday, is not to discuss policy options — it is to get the facts. we want this committee and the public to have a strong foundation to evaluate the principal policy options., starting tomorrow, and over the following three weeks, we will turn to those options and ask: where do we go from here?, secretary of state rice will present the bush administration s new plan., the authors of every other major plan for iraq will present their recommendations, including those who advocate escalation, withdrawal, partition, federalism, siding with the majority, strengthening the center and so on., as we hear from them, we ll also hear from leading military, diplomatic, economic and political experts. and we will ask this country s senior statesmen and stateswomen — former national security advisers and secretaries of state — to help us put everything into context., the ultimate question for this committee is the question that will be on the minds of every american tonight, as they listen to the president: will your plan mr. president, or any other plan, put us on a better path in iraq, or will it dig us into a deeper hole, with more pain for no gain? together, we have a responsibility — and, i believe, an opportunity — to help put this country on that better path., so let s begin.,"	
"opening statement in the senate foreign relations committee hearings on iraq: the administration s plan, secretary rice, welcome., nearly four years ago, congress and the american people gave president bush the authority to destroy iraq s weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose its dictator., we now know that the weapons of mass destruction were not there and the dictator is no longer there. the iraqis have held elections., but the country — and our troops -- are embroiled in a vicious civil war. as of last night, according to the pentagon, 3009 americans have lost their lives in iraq. more than 22,000 have been wounded. we ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars. and there is no end in sight., for many months now, the american people have understood that our present policy is a failure — and they want to know where we go from here., last night, like millions of americans, i listened to president bush., they hoped and prayed as i did that the president would present us with a plan to make things better in iraq. instead, i fear that what he has proposed will make things worse., they hoped and prayed they would hear a plan that would start to bring our troops home while leaving a stable iraq behind., instead, they heard a plan to escalate the war — not only in iraq, but possibly into iran and syria as well. the president s strategy is not a solution — it is a tragic mistake., in iraq, the core of the president s plan is to send another 20,000 americans to baghdad, a city of more than 6 million people, where they will go door-to-door in the middle of a civil war., we have tried this kind of escalation twice before, in baghdad. it failed. if we try it again, it will fail again., the result will be the loss of more american lives and our military stretched to the breaking point, with little prospect for success., this november, the american people voted for a dramatic change in course in iraq., the president said that he had heard them. but now it is clear that he did not listen., and for the life of me, i do not understand how he could reject the overwhelming opposition to his plan from a broad, bi-partisan cross section of this country s leaders, military and civilian., the joint chiefs of staff opposed his plan. our commander in the region, general abizaid, opposed the plan. our commanders in iraq, starting with general casey, opposed the plan. the baker-hamilton commission opposed the plan. and so did one of our greatest soldier-statesmen, colin powell., the advice they gave the president can be boiled down to two things., first, our military cannot stop shiites, sunnis and kurds from killing each other. the iraqis must make a political accommodation. the best way to concentrate the minds of iraq s leaders and people on the hard compromises they must make for peace to be possible is to start drawing down our forces, not escalating them., second, the way to secure that political solution is to secure the support of iraq s neighbors, including iran and syria — or, if a settlement fails to take hold, to help us contain the fall out within iraq. so secretary rice, to be very blunt, i cannot in good conscience support the president s approach., but because so much is at stake, i am also not prepared to give up on finding a bi-partisan way forward that meets the twin goals most americans share: to bring home our troops while leaving behind a stable iraq., in all my years in the senate, i don t think we have faced a more pivotal moment., failure in iraq will not be confined to iraq — it will do terrible damage to our ability to protect american interests all over the world, and for a long time to come., that s why we have to continue to work together to find a solution — a solution that will gain the support of our citizens. for i learned a long time ago that no foreign policy can be sustained without the informed consent of the american people., i hope it is not too late.,"	
"senator joe biden s speech democratic national committee s winter meeting, i want to say i truly regret that words i spoke offended people i admire., i m humbled that so many of these same people, as well as you in this room, viewed those words through the prism of my history and my heart. for that i ll be forever grateful., this administration has dug us into a very deep hole:, america is more isolated., and americans are more uncertain about their future than any time in the last half century. the american people are looking for someone to guide us through the difficult decade ahead; who understands the problems and pressures facing the middle class., they are looking for someone to help restore america s greatness., in iraq, the president took us to war unnecessarily., without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work..., without enough troops., without the right equipment for the troops we sent or care for the veterans who returned... and, most of all, without a plan -- any plan., the price of that failure can be measured in the blood we have shed and the treasure we have lost. 3,067 dead., more than 23,000 wounded., and over $350 billion committed to a war with no end in sight. my fellow democrats, we must end this war., to stop the sectarian cycle of revenge in iraq, we must first separate the combatants and give them a political way forward., i have a plan to do just that., give the factions breathing room in their own regions with control over their local police. and over the fabric of their daily lives: education - marriage -- jobs., give the central government responsibility for borders, currency and the army. guarantee the sunnis their fair share of oil revenues., draw down our troops -- don t escalate -- forcing iraq s leaders to reach a political settlement., and make iraq the world s problem by having the u.n. convene a conference of the world s major powers to insist that iraq s neighbors support that settlement., mr. president, your surge is not a solution -- it is a tragic mistake., and i am doing everything in my power to stop it., mr.. president, the majority of americans oppose you on iraq. we are not emboldening the enemy., that s the one mission you have accomplished., at this moment in our history, americans need a leader with a breadth and depth of experience in world affairs., this president will leave the next one with no margin for error. the next president will have to end the war in iraq and immediately turn to other simmering hot spots before they explode., here at home, it will not be enough for the next president to have the right plans., he american people must believe that our nominee understands what they ve been dealing with in their daily, lives the last 6 years., they know we need an energy policy to free us from the axis of oil and begin to reverse global warming., but they don t believe that washington understands just how hard it is to heat their home, or fill up their tank., i understand because i remember. i remember being a kid and answering the door when the bill collector came to shut off the electricity and telling him my mother wasn t home., americans know we need national health care., but they doubt washington understands what it feels like to lie in bed, like 47 million americans without, health insurance, looking over at your pregnant wife, and wondering what happens if your baby is premature. will i lose my home?, i understand because i remember being rolled into a operating room 20 years ago, after they told me that my chances weren t good, but thanking god that at least my family wouldn t be left in debt because i had insurance., americans know that a college degree is a ticket to the middle class., but they wonder whether washington understands what it feels like for a father or mother to look in the eyes of their child knowing there is no way to pay to help them get there., i understand because i remember. i remember my father s face as he was refused a bank loan to send me to college., i understand, like many of you in this room, these struggles and aspirations of the american people. because they are ours., they represent our values., america s values., and i will fight with every fiber in my being to keep america focused on the values that unite us, rather than the wedge issues used to divide us., the american people are ready. and so am i., for not once in our history have the american people let their country down., it has been the historic role of the democratic party... from jefferson to jackson., roosevelt to clinton., to remind america of that legacy, to summon us to the moment, to make america, once again, the light of the world., and, i pledge to you, as your president that will be what i do. god bless america., and, god bless our troops.,"	
"remarks on the senator floor on the bipartisan iraq war resolution, today, the senate takes the first step in a bipartisan effort to prevent the escalation of the war in iraq - and to adopt a new strategy for leaving iraq without leaving chaos behind., that first step is to debate and vote on the resolution offered by senator warner, and re-introduced by senator levin and me as a bill, that says that the senate disagrees with the president s plan to send 17,500 more american troops into the middle of a civil war in baghdad., the question before us today is whether a minority of senators will even allow the debate to start. that s what we are about to vote on., to my colleagues who are thinking about trying to block debate, let me say this: iraq dominates our national life. it is on the minds of tens of millions of americans. it shapes the lives of hundreds of thousands of our men and women in uniform and their families., that the senate would not even debate, much less vote on, the single most urgent issue of our time, would, be a total forfeiture of our responsibility. we have a duty to debate and vote on the president s plan. we have a duty to debate and vote on our overall strategy in iraq. and we have the duty as united states senators to demonstrate the courage of our convictions., three weeks ago, secretary of state rice presented the president s plan for iraq to the foreign relations committee. its main feature is to send more american troops into baghdad, in the middle of a sectarian war. the reaction on the committee, from republicans and democrats alike, ranged from skepticism to profound skepticism to outright opposition. and that pretty much reflects the reaction all across the country., senator nagel, senator levin, senator snowe and i wrote a resolution to give senators a way to vote what their voices were saying. we believe that the quickest, most effective way to get the president to change course is to demonstrate to him that his policy has little or no support across the board., after we introduced our resolution, senator warner came forward with his. the bottom line of our resolutions is the same: mr. president, don t send more americans into the middle of civil war., there was one critical difference. as originally written, senator warner s resolution left open the possibility of increasing the overall number of american troops in iraq. we believed that would send the wrong message., we should be drawing down, not ramping up, and redeploying our forces that remain in iraq. that s the best way to make it clear to the iraqi leaders that they must begin to make the hard compromises necessary for the political solution virtually everyone agrees is necessary. we approached senator warner to work out the differences. i am very pleased to say that we succeeded in doing just that., the language senator warner removed from his resolution removed the possibility that it could be read as calling for more u.s. troops in iraq. with that change, we agreed to support his resolution., when i first spoke out against the president s planned surge before the new year, i made it clear that i hoped to build and demonstrate bi-partisan opposition to his plan because that was the fastest way to turn him around. and that is exactly what we have done., now, we have a real opportunity for the senate to speak clearly. every senator should be given a chance to, vote whether he or she approves or disapproves with the president s plan to send more troops into the middle of a civil war. the debate we will have is as important as the vote. i hope the american people listen carefully., i predict they will hear very few of our colleagues stand up and support the president s plan to send more troops into the middle of a civil war. listen to the voices - as well as the votes., just as important as what we are voting against, is what we are voting for. this bill, like the biden-hagel-levin-snowe bill makes three things clear. first, iraq needs a political settlement to end the sectarian violence., second, the united states must work with other nations to develop a ""regional, internationally-sponsored peace and reconciliation process for iraq."", third, the mission of us armed forces should be confined to counter-terrorism, training, and maintaining the territorial integrity of iraq. the mission should not include policing a sectarian civil war., that will require significantly fewer troops than we have iniraq now., 	, , as i said at the outset, this is a first step. but it can set the foundation for everything that follows. if the, president does not listen to the majority of congress and the majority of the american people, we will look at other ways to turn the surge around., even if we succeed in that effort, we still need to turn our overall iraq policy around. we need a strategy that can produce a political settlement in iraq. that s the only way to stop shiites and sunnis from killing each other and to allow our troops to leave iraq without trading a dictator for chaos., i have proposed just such a strategy, and i ll have more to say about it in the days ahead., but for today, my message is simple: the american people want us to debate iraq, the most important issue of our day. they expect it. they demand it. if we try to hide behind procedure and delaying tactics, the, american people will hold us accountable. they get it. the question is: do we?, are we for or against the president s plan to escalate the war in iraq? i am against it and i believe the majority of my colleagues are as well.,"	
"iraq s future and america s interests, this is a time of tremendous challenge for america in the world., we must contend with the on-going war in afghanistan, the genocide in darfur, nuclear programs in iran and north korea, the rise of china and re-emergence russia, the growing insecurity of our energy supply, the fragility of our climate, and the threat posed by radical fundamentalism., but one issue dominates our national debate: iraq., if we deal with it successfully, we can recover the freedom, flexibility and credibility to meet these other challenges., that s what i want to talk about today., ***, listen to the debate about iraq here in washington. it centers on a false choice that is also a bad choice: do we continue on president bush s failing course and hand off iraq to the next president? or do we just leave and hope for the best?, i believe there is a better choice. it is still possible to bring our troops home without trading a dictator for chaos that engulfs iraq and spreads to the middle east., that must be our goal., ***, leaving iraq is necessary -- but it is not a plan. we also need a plan for what we leave behind., nine months ago, with les gelb of the council on foreign relations, i proposed just such a plan. go to ""planforiraq.com."" to read its details., our plan recognizes that there is no purely military exit strategy from iraq. instead, we set out a roadmap to, a political settlement in iraq -- one that gives its warring factions a way to share power peacefully and offers us a chance to leave with our interests intact., the plan has five major pieces., first, maintain a unified iraq by decentralizing it and giving kurds, shiites and sunnis breathing room in regions — as the iraqi constitution provides. the central government would be responsible for common concerns, like guarding iraq s borders and distributing its oil revenues., second, secure support from the sunnis — who have no oil — by guaranteeing them a fair share of oil revenues. allow former baath party members to go back to work and reintegrate sunnis with no blood on their hands., third, increase economic assistance to iraq and its regions. insist that the oil-rich gulf states put up most of the money, tie it to the protection of minority rights, and create a major jobs program to deny the militia new recruits., fourth, initiate a major diplomatic offensive to enlist the support of iraq s neighbors. create an oversight, group of the u.n. and the major powers to enforce their commitments. these countries have a profound stake in preventing chaos in iraq and the credibility we lack to press for compromise by all iraqis. if a political settlement fails to take hold, these same countries are vital to any strategy to contain the fall out within iraq., fifth, instruct the military to draw up plans for withdrawing u.s. combat forces from iraq by 2008. leave behind a small force to take on terrorists and train iraqis. the best way to focus iraq s leaders on the political compromises they must make is to make it clear to them that we are leaving., ***, many of you have heard me talk about this plan before. what s new is the growing support it s receiving., that support was evident during the four weeks of hearings we just held in the senate foreign relations committee., it is evident in the new national intelligence estimate for iraq — a consensus report of all u.s. intelligence agencies., the nie and virtually all of our witnesses agreed that the fundamental problem in iraq is self-sustaining sectarian violence., yes, jihadists, baathists, criminal gangs and intra-sect violence all contribute to the growing chaos. but sunnis killing shiites and shiites killing sunnis is the heart of the matter. that s what we have to stop if we want to, leave iraq with our interests intact., how do we stop this sectarian cycle of revenge?, if history is any guide, we have to wait until one side wins or both sides exhaust themselves. that could take years of bloodletting... years that we do not have., history also suggests it is possible to short circuit sectarian strife., a decade ago, bosnia was being torn apart by ethnic cleansing, which threatened to engulf the balkans. the united states stepped in with dayton accords, which kept the country whole by, paradoxically, dividing it into ethnic federations. muslims, croats and serbs retained separate armies and presidents. since then, bosnians have lived a decade in peace. now, they are slowly coming back together., iraq presents a similar possibility. here s what the national intelligence estimate says we need:, ""broader sunni acceptance of the current political structure and federalism... [and] significant concessions b shia and kurds to create space for sunni acceptance of federalism."", that is exactly the strategy behind the biden-gelb plan., during our hearings, witness after witness — including former secretaries of states, foreign policy experts, and elected officials -- came to a similar conclusion. so have a growing number of opinion makers., what more and more people are beginning to recognize is that there are very few possible futures for iraq in the near term — and only one that protects america s interests., ***, think for a minute about iraq s possible futures., the bush administration has one vision: that iraqis will rally behind a strong, democratic central government that keeps the country together and protects the rights of all citizens equally., but since the samarra mosque bombing a year ago, that vision has been engulfed by the flames of sectarian hatred., the hard truth in iraq is that there is no trust within the central government... no trust of the government b y the people... and no capacity by the government to deliver services and security. and there is no evidence — none — that we can build that trust and capacity any time soon., there are two other ways to govern iraq from the center:, a foreign occupation that the united states cannot long sustain. or the return of a strongman, who is not on the horizon. even if he were, replacing one dictator with another would require a savagery to rival saddam s worst excesses., so where does that leave us?, it leaves us with an idea a large majority of iraqis have already endorsed in their constitution and that our plan would help make a reality: federalism., federalism would keep iraq together by vesting real power in the regions., it would bring decisions and responsibility down to the local level and give sunnis, shiites and kurds control over the fabric of their daily lives: security, education, marriage, jobs., very few have read iraq s constitution. fewer still understand that legislation to implement its articles on federalism takes effect in 15 months., federalism is iraq s best possible future., but unless we help make federalism work for all iraqis, the violence will not stop., we have to convince the major powers and iraq s neighbors that a federal iraq is the best possible outcome for them, too, and to put their weight and influence behind it. then, together, we have to bring in the sunnis and convince the shiites and kurds to make concessions., that is what the biden-gelb plan proposes. it demands the kind of sustained, hard headed diplomacy for which this administration has shown little interest or aptitude. but it offers the possibility — not the guarantee — of producing a soft landing in iraq., if we fail to make federalism work, there will be no political accommodation at the center. violent resistance will increase. the sectarian cycle of revenge will spiral out of control. at best, the result likely will be the violent break up of iraq into multiple failed states. at worst, the result will be iraq s total fragmentation into warring fiefdoms., the neighbors will not sit on the sidelines. already, iraq has aggravated a deep sunni-shiite divide that runs from lebanon through afghanistan, pakistan and india. this fault-line intersects with other cultural and political rifts — between arabs and persians, turks and kurds, jihadis and the muslim mainstream — to create the conditions for a cataclysmic explosion., iran and the arab states will back shi a and sunni extremists as part of a proxy war. eventually, they will intervene directly. sunni jihadis will flood iraq to confront the persian and shi a threat, creating a new haven for terrorists. turkey will move into the north to crush kurdish ambitions. sunni-shi a tensions will rise from beirut to karachi., individually, these would be bad developments. together, they would do terrible damage to american, interests. we must lead a determined regional and international effort to end the iraqi civil war, or contain it if we can t., ***, the bush administration is heading in exactly the wrong direction., instead of a diplomatic and political offensive to forge a political settlement, it proposes a military offensive that would send 17,500 americans into the middle of a sectarian conflict in a city of 6.2 million people., this military surge in iraq is not a solution — it is a tragic mistake. if we should be surging forces anywhere, it is in afghanistan., i m glad the president has recognized what many of us have been saying for years: unless we surge troops, hardware, money, and high-level attention into afghanistan, it will fall back into the hands of the taliban, terrorists and drug traffickers. i support the steps he announced today but i hope they are the first steps — not the last — in a recommitment to afghanistan., ***, the house is about to pronounce itself on the president s surge plan for iraq and the senate will, too., some minimize the significance of a non-binding resolution. if it is so meaningless, why did the white house and the president s political supporters mobilize so much energy against it?, opposing the surge is only a first step. we need a radical change in course in iraq. if the president won t act, congress will., but congress must act responsibly. we must resist the temptation to push for changes that sound good but produce bad results., the best next step is to revisit the authorization congress granted the president in 2002 to use force in iraq. that s exactly what i m doing., we gave the president that power to destroy iraq s weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose saddam hussein., the wmd were not there. saddam hussein is no longer there. the 2002 authorization is no longer relevant to the situation in iraq., i am working on legislation to repeal that authorization and replace it with a much narrower mission statement for our troops in iraq., congress should make clear what the mission of our troops is: to responsibly draw down, while continuing to combat terrorists, train iraqis and respond to emergencies. we should make equally clear what their mission is not: to stay in iraq indefinitely and get mired in a savage civil war., coupled with the biden-gelb plan, i believe this is the most effective way to start bringing our troops home without leaving a mess behind., ***, i want to leave you with one thought., for our sake and for the sake of the iraqi people, we should be focused on how we get out of iraq with our interests intact., everyone wants to bring our troops home as soon and as safely as possible. but tempting as it is, we can t, just throw up our hands, blame the president for misusing the authority we gave him, and walk away without a plan for what we leave behind., so i ll end where i began., leaving iraq is a necessity, but it is not a plan. we need a plan for what we leave behind. that is what i have offered., to those who disagree with my plan, i have one simple question: what is your alternative?,"	
"opening statement in the senate foreign relations committee hearing on afghanistan: time for a new strategy?, success in afghanistan is still possible ... if we surge forces anywhere, it should be in afghanistan, not iraq., today we face an issue ""at the very heart of our war on terror: the deteriorating security conditions in afghanistan. if current trends continue, we may soon find that our hard-won success on the battlefield has melted away."", i didn t write these words in preparation for this morning s hearing. i spoke them nearly five years ago, on the floor of the united states senate. [may 17, 2002], i m not bringing up old quotes to say, ""i told you so,"" but to make a simple point: the situation in afghanistan is not an unforeseen circumstance. plenty of military and civilian officials have been predicting exactly this outcome for years., what s the state of play? 0sama bin laden remains at large, right across the border in pakistan in all, probability. there are reports that he s reconstituted his terrorist training camps. given the chance to kill him at tora bora, the administration instead pulled most of our special forces, our cia teams and predators and sent them to iraq., the taliban is back -- and keeping much of afghanistan ungovernable. suicide bombings, ieds and other techniques imported from iraq made last year the bloodiest since their ouster., the government of pakistan turns a blind eye to the taliban cross-border attacks, and to the high command based in quetta. just last year, the government signed a ""separate peace"" with pro-taliban militias in waziristan., afghan reconstruction is stuck in first gear. president bush promised a marshall plan, but he s delivered less development aid in the past five years than we spend on the war in iraq every three weeks., last year afghanistan produced 92% of the world s opium. the proceeds prop up the taliban, warlords and corrupt officials. there s no serious counter-narcotics program. if the administration pursues a poorly-conceived aerial poppy eradication plan, the results could be even worse., don t get me wrong—we ve accomplished some great things. because of our efforts, millions of afghan children are in school today. we ve built roads and clinics. we ve got american troops in provincial reconstruction teams showing that the us military can be a wonderful friend as well as a fearsome enemy., president bush last month made two encouraging statements. first, he announced the deployment of an additional combat brigade to afghanistan. this is important, because our nat0 commanders desperately need not only several thousand battle-ready troops, but the helicopters, transport aircraft, and other military hardware that go with them. second, he pledged $11.8 billion in new funding over the next two years. if these figures represent new funding in addition to currently-budgeted numbers, and if we focus on projects which bring real improvement to the lives of ordinary afghans—this may be the start of a more successful strategy., i certainly hope so. because in afghanistan, success still is possible. failure is not thinkable. how can we turn things around? very briefly, we need to do three things:, first, establish security. if we should be surging forces anywhere, it s in afghanistan, not iraq. nat0 troops are necessary, but not sufficient. we ve also got to train the afghan police and army—which means, for starters, paying them decent salaries., second, we have get moving on reconstruction. we need more funds, and we need to use them better. the afghans are patient, but they re not seeing reconstruction worthy of a superpower. as gen. eikenberry has said, ""where the road ends, the taliban begins."", third, do counter-narcotics right. we should target multimillion-dollar drug kingpins, not the dollar-a-day, opium farmers. someday aerial eradication may have a place—but not until we ve got alternate livelihoods set up for those growing poppy, and a judicial system capable of taking down the drug barons. until then, we should focus on the top of the food-chain, not the bottom., we have three witnesses today who can explain these issues in detail, with authority and expertise. first, we have richard boucher the assistant secretary of state for south and central asia. we all know and respect him as a straight shooter., next we have gen. james jones who recently retired from the u.s. marine corps. gen. jones was the commander of nat0 until early this year, and he supervised the alliance s expansion to include responsibility, for all of afghanistan. and then we have ambassador james dobbins, currently at the rand corporation, who has served as special envoy for afghanistan. in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, he served as liaison to the afghan forces fighting alongside our troops to bring down the taliban. gentlemen welcome and i ll now turn it over to sen. lugar for his opening statement.,"	
"national security and civil rights, drake university school off law, since before our founding, the united states has been set apart by its uncompromising commitment to the rule of law and individual rights and civil liberties., the values embodied in our constitutional government have been the pole star by which the world has set its moral compass., they have given us the moral authority to lead our allies, and to defeat fascism and communism., in the aftermath of september 11, as the world mourned with us, we had an opportunity to lead again., the world looked to us to form a new coalition to face the threat of international terrorism and defend the very values the terrorists had attacked., regrettably, the bush administration saw it differently., the president accepted a faustian bargain. he abandoned our uncompromising commitment to the rule of, law and individual rights in the belief that it was the only way to secure the united states against the threat of terrorism., my firm belief and absolute conviction is that this faustian bargain has had the ironic effect of making us less safe, not more safe; emboldened terrorists, not dissuaded them, and diminished us in the eyes of our friends and allies., as i said on september 11—the terrorists win when we abandon our civil liberties., we need not change our national character in order to defeat terrorism. as a matter of fact, we are already defeated by the terrorists if we change our character., as a young senator in 1977, i remember hearing richard nixon, who had resigned in disgrace less than three years earlier, comment on the president s duty to obey the law. he said: ""when the president does it that means that it is not illegal."", his statement was breathtaking in its disregard for the rule of law and our constitutional system of checks and balances, but i was convinced that this was the only time in my life i would hear a president defend his actions on the grounds that he was above the law., 30 years later, here i am once again with a president claiming that because it s a time of war our laws and traditions do not apply to him., i will address today five aspects of his policy that subvert our constitutional principles and make us less safe at home and weaker abroad: the acceptance of what amounts to torture, the practice of extraordinary rendition, the operation of secret prisons, the unwarranted surveillance of americans, and the revocation of habeas corpus., i will argue that by redefining what constitutes torture, redefining international treaty obligations, and operating secret prisons, he has squandered the support of the world and the opportunity to lead it., and here at home the overly broad — definition of inherent presidential power — in the time of war — has undermined the basic civil liberties of american citizens., torture, historically, the united states has advocated outlawing torture. we played a central role in drafting the, geneva conventions and negotiating the convention against torture. and we have enacted domestic laws to severely punish those who torture., and with good reason beyond the obvious morale imperative., our efforts to outlaw torture were designed to protect the hundreds of thousands of americans soldiers, overseas by giving us the moral authority to demand that those who are captured be treated humanely., after september 11, the president, for all intent and purpose, abandoned our historical opposition to torture. the sophistry engaged in by the justice department allowed his administration to establish two new pillars of a policy regarding torture., the first narrowed the definition of torture to conduct that causes ""serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."", it created a wide class of permissible mistreatment that ""though [it] might constitute cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment . . . failed to rise to the level of torture."", the second exempted the president, as commander-in-chief, from these laws and allowed him to use torture, even though illegal, if he deems it necessary., emboldened by this analysis, the president allowed his administration to engage in practices that the rest of the world regarded as torture but he had defined as permissible., a solider who recently served in afghanistan and iraq sent the following statement to a senator: ""some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as al qaeda s, we should not be concerned. when did al qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the united states?, we are america, and our actions should be held to a higher standard. . . . i would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is `america. 2, the president s policy has damaged america s image, alienated some of our closest partners, and given significant ammunition to the most extreme terrorists to attract new recruits., the president s policy has also led to inexcusable blunders., the administration used information obtained from detained al qaeda members, who under coercion, asserted that iraq had trained al qaeda operatives to make and use ""weapons of mass destruction."", he cited this information repeatedly to justify taking us to war in iraq. this information, like almost all information that was coerced, was false. the source told his interrogators what they wanted to hear to stop the coercion., and as i said earlier, the president s policy has provided fodder to al qaeda s propagandists and recruiters,, who have broadcast images of the atrocities at guantanamo and abu ghraib around the world. imagine if an american soldier were captured by al qaeda., now --- what moral authority do we have now to demand that they treat our soldiers humanely? its time for us to stop this behavior and comply with our international treaty obligations., i call upon the president today to comply with our domestic law and our international treaty obligations. mr. president, the american people and the world have had enough of the equivocations and loop holes on this, subject. it is time for you to state clearly that we will abide by our international obligations and our policy will reflect our national values., extraordinary rendition, a policy of kidnapping a suspect and transporting him to a country that we know to use torture or secret site for interrogation — is a practice called ""extraordinary rendition""— and historically been an anathema to our national values., and although there is a place in the war on terror for rendition to justice, where a suspect is sent to another, country to face trial, the use of extraordinary rendition, or rendition to a country that we know uses torture, is, out of bounds and counterproductive., as one expert noted, ""[e]very country to which the united states has rendered a terrorism suspect since 9/ has been [recognized by the state department as] a persistent and egregious violator of human rights."", to add insult to injury, the president has claimed that his authority as commander-in-chief includes the power to order extraordinary rendition and that such an order is not subject to review by our courts or oversight by congress., the president s abuse of rendition has diminished our moral stature and sapped popular support for the united states around the world, making it difficult to get from foreign partners the cooperation and intelligence we need to effectively fight terrorism., shortly after italy indicted 25 cia agents for a 2003 rendition, italian citizens took to the streets to protest the expansion of an american military base., a canadian government commission censured the united states and canada has been reticent to share intelligence with us ever since. germany issued arrest warrants for 13 cia agents., and switzerland, the united kingdom, the european union, and the council of europe are all investigating u.s. renditions within their jurisdictions., there is also strong evidence that the administration s policy has strengthened the position of oppressive and anti-democratic security services in countries like syria and egypt., if our own security services engage in extra-legal kidnapping, detention, and mistreatment, how can we criticize foreign security services that use the same tactics to suppress democratic reform?, as president, i will stop this practice. secret prisons, some of those rendered are not turned over to brutal foreign regimes, but are held by american security services in secret prisons or ""black sites."" the president has attempted to hide these facilities from the american people and from the world., to ensure that his actions were once again beyond the reach of u.s. law, the president has located these facilities abroad., legal experts have opined, however, that these prisons often violate the laws of the countries in which they are located., and after press coverage has sparked outrage, the president has been forced to close several of them., some who have been released from black sites and several international human rights organizations have alleged that the cia uses brutal techniques at these sites, including ""waterboarding."", what kind of example are we setting for the world with such base behavior?, the president has guarded this secret prison system so closely we still know little about it. the president only disclosed the existence of the ""black site"" program after the press broke the story., as the existence of these black sites, and the techniques used in them have become known, they have become one of al qaeda s most effective recruiting tools., according to unclassified reporting on last year s national intelligence estimate, the abuses that occur at these secret prisons and at abu ghraib and guantanamo bay have stoked the jihad movement., mr. president, the american people are tired of half-truths. close the ""black sites"" that are a black stain on the name of america, and close guantanamo and bulldoze abu ghraib to the ground., warrantless wiretapping & national security letters, the president s misguided policy of attempting to protect america by violating our fundamental notions of constitutional governance and individual rights and liberties has not been confined to actions abroad., the president has also engaged in such practices here at home, including his notorious warrantless wiretapping program and his abuse of authority under the patriot act., he has secretly eavesdropped on americans without congressional authorization or a judicial approval. we fought the american revolution in part to free ourselves of intrusions on our privacy without probably cause., the fourth amendment guarantees freedom from unreasonable government searches and seizures and permits a judge to issue a warrant only after finding probable cause., it stands as a bulwark against arbitrary government invasions of our privacy, and the president is bound by it—even as we fight terrorism., president bush appears to have no patience for the fourth amendment and a caviler of americans  rights and liberties., we won t defeat terrorism by destroying the bill of rights., in 1928 justice brandeis warned that other instruments of executive power were ""but puny instruments of tyranny and oppression when compared with wire tapping."" justice holmes described wiretapping as a ""dirty, business."" they were prescient., in 1976, a senate committee chaired by frank church uncovered shocking civil liberties abuses that had occurred during decades of extra-legal surveillance., to ensure that this would never happen again, the church committee recommended reforms. in 1978, as a member of the judiciary and intelligence committees, i helped fashion the foreign intelligence surveillance, act, which enacted many of the committee s recommendations. ninety-four colleagues from both sides of the aisle voted to pass fisa., fisa ensured that the president retained the necessary tools to protect national security and collect foreign intelligence without violating americans  civil liberties. in other words, we created a framework for protecting national security and americans  privacy., fisa established a court that could examine classified evidence and issue wiretap orders. we tailored the standard for fisa wiretaps to the national security threat. instead of showing probable cause, fisa required the government to show that the subject of the warrant was a suspected terrorist or spy., to ensure national security, we included exceptions: one allows the president to wiretap a terrorist suspect in an emergency prior to obtaining a warrant, as long as he obtains a warrant within, 72 hours, and a second suspends the warrant requirement for 15 days after a congressional declaration of war., we also took pains to make clear fisa was the exclusive means by which the president could conduct national security surveillance; fisa unambiguously prohibits all such surveillance not authorized by statute., i have argued from the beginning that the president could conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists while complying with fisa., he has chosen instead to ignore fisa s clear prohibition on warrantless surveillance, arguing that he has ""inherent constitutional authority"" to conduct surveillance for national security purposes., by so doing, he has knowingly and willfully violated the law and americans  privacy, offering the same arrogant justification as president nixon — that he is above the law., it was only after the democratic party regained control of congress that the administration reluctantly subjected its surveillance program to fisa court review., through strong congressional oversight, we need to ensure that the fisa court retains jurisdiction over all the president s surveillance programs. and folks, a clear lesson can be drawn from this — elections matter!, the president has also abused the authority congress gave him under the patriot act to issue national, security letters. fbi officials issue these letters without judicial review to demand sensitive financial, credit, phone, and internet records. last month, a congressionally mandated audit revealed that the fbi has made frequent errors in its use of national security letters, sometimes getting information about the wrong people and sometimes getting information it s not entitled to under the statute., a biden administration would fight terrorism without destroying the very values we re fighting to preserve. i would require a united states attorney to approve the use of national security letters, to ensure that the government gets the information it needs without sacrificing our privacy., depriving terror detainees of habeas corpus, continuing with his assault on individual rights and liberties in the name of national security, the president has also deprived terrorism detainees of the most cherished right in our constitutional system — habeas corpus. ""habeas corpus"" is a latin term, meaning to render the body., it was conceived to prevent someone from being locked up erroneously or illegally, with no chance to contest his imprisonment. but let s be clear: it is not a get out of jail free card. and it will not result in the release of dangerous terrorists., habeas corpus is a judicial safeguard that predates our constitutional democracy., it was among british subjects  chief demands of king john on the field at runnymede in 1215, as reflected in the magna carta. alexander hamilton described habeas corpus in the federalist papers as among the ""greatest securities to liberty and republicanism that the constitution contains."", while the framers relegated most individual rights to subsequent amendments in the bill of rights, they included habeas corpus in the body of the constitution itself., in a war where many of our detainees were not captured on a battlefield by u.s. forces and were not wearing military uniforms, habeas corpus is an indispensable safeguard against erroneous detention., but perhaps most importantly, habeas corpus ensures that if the united states detains someone, it does so with full respect for the constitution and the rule of law., the president has nonetheless stripped detainees of this fundamental safeguard., his efforts to deprive detainees of habeas have been repudiated three times by a supreme court dominated by republican nominees. but still he persists., as a result, nations around the world view guantanamo not as a facility necessitated by the war on terror, but as a symbol of american disregard for the rule of law., our enemies have used it and abu ghraib to recruit additional terrorists. these prisons have become symbols, of american duplicity, not beacons of american justice once again, we should raze abu ghraib., we should not wait for another supreme court decision. we should immediately move to restore habeas and, as i have said before, we should shut guantanamo down., conclusion, the president responded to september 11, in an effort to make us safer, by cutting deeply into americans  most cherished rights and liberties and running roughshod over constitutional limitations on presidential power., but as the supreme court recently held, ""a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation s citizens."", the president s irresponsible use of power is inexcusable. it is time for congress to re-assert our constitutional role, and exercise strict oversight over the president s policies., it is time to reestablish our moral stature in the world and mend our most important foreign relationships. it is time to send a clear message to our citizens, to our men and women in uniform, and to people around the world, that we are a nation of laws and not men., that we do not choose between security and liberty, we demand both. that we neither condone torture, nor kidnap people and send them to other countries to be tortured., sending this message will be the first step toward restoring our constitutional balance, reaffirming our individual rights and liberties, and renewing our moral leadership in the world.,"	
"address to the iaff convention in portsmouth, nh, thank you very much. thank you very much. you re very kind. heck, if i had to listen to all those guys who went before me, i d stand up too, man. you must be tired., well, you know, i am one of the most important men in america... and it is nice of you to -- how the heck do you guys and women go through this, man, having all of us -- all 800 candidates showing up?, you know what i mean? i just saw dodd out there in the hall, you know? if it ain t me, go with dodd., but, you know, i mean -- but you better be me, i ve got to tell you. i ve never gone anywhere without the firefighters., mickey, thank you very much for that introduction., by the way, i wanted to see the neighborhood he was from. that s why i went down to southie with him. and let me tell you, his neighborhood and my neighborhood in claymont, delaware, they re just the same., foreign policy for him in his neighborhood was going on up to the north end., foreign policy for me in claymont was what the hell was happening in chester, pennsylvania. that was foreign policy. that s how i learned my foreign policy., and i might add, folks, by the way, all foreign policy is — i love, now that i m a so-called expert on foreign policy, i can introduce that way., all foreign policy is is a logical extension of personal relationships with a whole lot less information to act on. and that s what it is. so if you learn it in the neighborhood, you can learn it anywhere., folks, look, i want to say -- and david, thanks for letting us in your territory -- dave lang (ph), there he is --, letting in your territory here. and kevin standing is standing in for harold. i don t know what the hell is going on here. i mean, where is harold? is he in the bahamas?, england? well, i tell you what, my mother, jean finnegan, wouldn t like that., you know, i actually got a call -- this is a true story. i got a call from a local radio guy who is big in irish issues, and he called up very indignant when -- this is just when the queen was there. wanted to know one thing: ""did biden ever curtsy"" -- who the hell -- who curtsies? ""did biden ever curtsy or kiss the queen s ring?"", and i want to assure everyone, i never kissed the queen s ring. and i want you to know... she s a lovely lady. she s a lovely lady. as president bush said, he congratulated her on winning an academy award., i am only joking., just kidding guys, just kidding. no, don t want to get in too much trouble here. i guess i should move, huh, bobby?, bobby, if i had your hair, i could get elected. i know i could., i know i could make it. man, i m working on this., hey, couple things to cut right to it, if i can., i ve never gone anywhere in my life without the firefighters. i ve never gone anywhere. from the time i went to holy rosary grade school, looking across the street to the claymont volunteer fire company in my town, to just a couple years ago, every single solitary place in my life, you guys have been. and i won t go into it, but both politically and personally you have been the centerpiece of everything i ve done., i actually understand one of your guys are stealing my line. i initiated a saying in delaware in 1972. i said, ""there s three political parties in delaware. there s the democrats, the republicans and the firefighters. if i only get one, i want the firefighters."", well, the truth of the matter is, that s what this is about, guys., because the interesting thing is, you firefighters are engaged in every single thing in your community. you re the same guys that go out and -- when you re off -- and grade the little league field. you re the same guys that go out and coach. you re the same guys who show up at the boys & girls club. you are the people. you are the real deal in this country., and, as i won t -- it s not, i guess not appropriate. but you really -- i really owe you. i really owe you. and i owe the firefighters in my state, and the firefighters nationally., i mean, as i said before, my wife and daughter were killed. it was a well-trained firefighter with the jaws of life who saved my, was able -- not able to save my wife and daughter, but saved my two sons., when i had a cranial aneurysm that burst, and if i had a chance to go -- i had to get to walter reed in a, snowstorm., and they asked me what i wanted to do -- asked my brother. he said, ""get the fire company."" the fire company took me 140 miles in a snowstorm and saved my life., when, not too long ago, my wife was home alone, i was doing ""meet the press"" in washington, lightening, struck the home and just about ruined my home, within seven minutes there were three companies, saved my wife and my home., just every single place. i wouldn t be a united states senator were it not for the delaware firefighters. and that s no malarkey. that s flat-out no malarkey., you know, up in claymont, where i started off, either in my neighborhood you became, you know -- you joined a labor union, including and/or a firefighter, you became a cop, or you became a priest. i wasn t qualified to do any one of them... and so disappointed my mother. but, so, you know., and i m sure you guys find it the same way no matter where you go in the country, no matter where you go in the country, if you re at a meeting or not, you can tell whether the people you re meeting in other parts of the country are from the neighborhoods, because that s where you re all from. you can tell. you know., and so i admit to you there s a comfort zone here that sometimes i hope i don t trespass on it and take it for granted or act too familiar., but you guys own me, you guys own my heart. so the easy thing for you is, unlike the other candidates, you can endorse somebody else, that s not going to change my view of what i do, firefighters., you could be against me -- it won t change my view. nothing changes my view, because, as i said, you are -- you have just every place in my life. it s that important., there s a saying that says -- excuse the point of personal privilege, and that s all personal., we have an expression in my neighborhood: a promise made is a promise kept. we made a lot of promises to all of you, after we finally recognized, as a nation, how important you were in 9/11. it s kind of like all of a sudden there s an epiphany, as we catholics say., all of a sudden, it was like, ""my god! firefighters are really critical; they re really important."", because the problem with you all is you do your job too well, and everybody takes it for granted. they just expect -- you guys do it, you don t claim credit, you don t go around beating your chest, you don t insist on anything -- you don t insist on anything., and, but, you know, we made a lot of promises to firefighters after 9/11. and we haven t kept a whole lot of them -- haven t kept a whole lot of them., ladies and gentlemen, in order for us to regain the flexibility to be able to do the things we have to do to affect you and your union brothers and sisters in unions all across the country, and working men and women as well, in order to gain the credibility to deal with the problems we have at home, we have to do one important thing first: we ve got to end this war., this war is costing us $100 billion a year. it s sucking all the oxygen out of the air. it s taking every bit of our political, emotional and the bulk of our financial resources in order to deal with it., and, ladies and gentlemen, what s happening if you listen to the debate in washington, you had a president who took us to war unnecessarily, took us to war without a sufficient number of troops, took us to war without supplying those troops when we sent them, brought the troops home without taking care of them, but, most of all, went without any plan at all., and the price we re paying as a nation can be measured in the blood and treasure that we have expended: 3,300 dead and no end in sight, 24,000 wounded, an inordinately high percentage of amputees, people with serious brain injuries and head injuries that are going to require care for them for the rest of their lives. an accumulated responsibility will be passed down to our kids of a $1.4 trillion., folks, the most important thing the president did that would damage this is he went without a plan, and now you hear in washington, offered false choices. the one choice you hear is, you hear talking about how we, have to -- on the republican side, what they want you to do is they want you to go out there and do more of the same and hand the problem off to the next president., on the democratic side, you hear a lot of people talking about —which is understandably frustrating -- ""leave and hope for the best."", they re false choices. they re false choices., the real choice is, how do we leave without mortgage on our interest for another 20 years in that region? how do we end this in a way that prevents my son in the national guard from going over to iraq, but also doesn t do it in a way that i got to send my grandson there 15 years from now or 20 years from now?, look guys, it s -- back to this notion here, everybody says, ""look, there s no political -- there s no military solution in iraq; there s only a political solution."", you hear that all the time. you hear it from the president, you hear it from everybody running for office., but yet isn t it kind of -- find it interesting, you can t name me one single person who s suggested a political solution., a political solution means this thing can end without a war, it can by ending the war, bring our troops home., and, folks, there s only one thing we ve learned over the years. i ve put forward a political solution, a detailed solution well over a year ago. been talking about it for three years., and here s what it says: what we learned from history is real simple. there s never been a circumstance where there s been a, self- sustaining cycle of sectarian violence like going on now that s ended in any other than one of four ways., either you occupy the country for a generation. we re not the persian empire, we re not the british empire, we re not the ottoman empire, and it s not in our dna., the second way in which these wars end, these cycles end, is you impose a dictator. wouldn t that be the ultimate irony, for the united states to go back and say, ""now we got a new dictator""?, the third option is you let them fight it out or join one side until they wipe out the other side. not an option we have available to us. the last thing we need are the shia and the sunni igniting a 700-year-old fight from the mediterranean to the himalaya mountains. that s not in our interest., there s a fourth way these things end. the fourth way is you separate the parties, you give them breathing room, you give them control over the fabric of their daily lives. you let them have their own police forces., you let them have their own laws relating to their religion and relating to education, or relating to marriage and divorce; kind of like the difference between the laws in new hampshire and the laws in nevada and the laws in louisiana and the laws in alaska., so you let them be in their own regions. you decentralize power. you have a federal government that s limited, that controls the borders, that decides what the coinage is -- money, currency — and distributes the wealth, which is what? oil. oil should be the thing binding this country together., but look what everybody else is talking about. they insist on the possibility of there being a strong central government in baghdad that ll be democratic. not even in your lifetime is that going to happen. it will not happen -- not possible, in my humble opinion., and so what happens? you have the president say, ""surge troops to give breathing room."" and the question is, then what? well, the then-what he hopes is they ll get together and reach a compromise in baghdad., you have the democratic -- my colleagues saying, ""cut troops, add troops, move troops, change"" -- you ve got to ask the next question, then what? after you do what they re recommending, then what?, well, the then-what is, they think that s going to put pressure on the parties in iraq -- sunnis, shia and kurds -- to get together and have a strong central government. not going to happen., so we ve got to start to draw down our troops now, redefine their mission, tell them they can be there for the purpose of training iraqis, denying al qaida occupation of large swathes of territory, force protection,, implement their constitution by making this the world s problem., when i m your president, if this isn t over, i ll call the united nations security council -- the permanent five., i d add germany and the four largest muslim nations in the world and say, ""here s the deal. the deal is, they have to have regional power. back it up. then impose it on the neighbors by indicating stay out. you can t, get involved, turkey, iran, saudi arabia, syria."" it s not in their interests to get involved. they re all thinking of getting involved because the other guy s going to get involved., there s a way to end this. this is not rocket science. we did it in the balkans., what did we do in the balkans? we said to the -- we said to the croats and we said to the serbs and we said to the muslims, called bosniaks ""you each got your own basic territory. we even have a thing called the republika srpska. all within one government. but you have local control."", we ve had over 20,000 nato troops there for 10 years. and, knock on wood, not one has been killed. the carnage and the ethnic cleansing and the sectarian violence is stopped., and now, what are they doing? they re amending their constitution to bring it closer together, a stronger central power, to become part of europe., so what are we doing? what are we doing?, ladies and gentlemen, this is not the only war, though, this president s waged. he s waged a war on labor s house. he s waged a war on labor. he has done everything from manipulate the nlrb to try to make sure that you all -- it s harder for you to organize. he s tried to move on the courts -- individuals at the circuit court of appeals and even the supreme court that do not have a pro-labor view. these guys are lined up a hundred deep to change the contract that s been in place for 100 years, since the new deal., that s what this is about. don t kid yourself., i know you re tired -- some of you are tired of hearing me say this. you heard me say this five years ago, that this is what this is about. this is a war. these guys never take their eye off the ball., if you notice, there s three things this administration never takes its eye off: court reform, tort reform and labor reform., translate it: ""with you guys out of the way, with unions out of the way, the barbarians can get through the gate, man."" you re the only counterweight we have., and what you guys underestimate, in my opinion, is unions built the middle class in this country. the reason there is a middle class is because of unions., and, folks, it s not enough that we change the law of the free choice -- we re going to begin to change the law now that we re in control to make it easier to organize. if you get register to vote by signing your name, you ought to be able to register to join a union by signing your name., but, folks, it s more than that. it s more than that. we ve got an incredible opportunity. if we elect a president who can say the word ""union, union""... not ""organized labor"" and ""working men and women"" -- ""union""-- if we have a president who understand union and is willing to stand up before the chamber of, commerce as well as, quote, ""organized labor"" and talk about the value and necessity of unions, we can begin to remake this deal., since i ve been a senator, organized labor has declined in number every year. folks, we ve got an incredible opportunity but it s going to take presidential leadership. and what s that opportunity? white collar workers who had the benefit of union organizations but not having to join them, all of a sudden they re finding out their corporations they love ain t taking such good care of them., not a joke, right?, i ll bet you guys showing up at the neighborhood picnic or at the family barbecue, and your sister and your sister who married the brother-in-law from out of state who works for the big company, i ll bet he ain t so cocky about unions anymore. because, all of a sudden, like my next door neighbor, five, seven -- actually, now it s 11 years ago at dupont -- came and said -- you know, he always used to give me heat about how i d always stick up for the autoworkers when they d be down time and when they d lay them off and all the rest., because this guy says, ""you know, god, dupont company just sold the textile division. i ve lost my job."", my point is this, fellas -- and ladies. we ve got a chance at a new union movement that embraces people we were not able to attract before, because they didn t want to be associated with the neighborhood. they didn t think of themselves as, quote, ""labor."" all of a sudden they re figuring out they need something more than the gold watch that they get after 30 years working for the corporation., but that s going to take a president. that s not enough. it s going to take a president, for real, to change -- use the bully pulpit to talk about the value of -- the value of -- organized labor. the value of it. we ve all -- we ve been playing defense for the last 30 years., the last point i ll make to you is this, and i ll get out of your hair -- or i guess i ll take questions, if you have any., folks, look, just imagine what i can do as president of the united states of america, if in fact i m able to do what i believe i can do -- end this war. that s $100 billion a year we re now spending. $100 billion a year., number two, end the tax cut for people in the top 1 percent. you ve got to have an average of $1.4 million or $1.5 million to be in there. they re not bad people. they re as patriotic as we are. we just don t ask anything, of them., they didn t ask for the tax cut... seriously, we don t. we don t., you know, one of my problems with some of my democratic friends -- they think, ""oh, rich folks aren t patriotic."" they re patriotic. you ve just got to ask., they know they don t need that tax cut in that bracket. they know taking that tax cut away isn t going to affect the economy. and they know it could be put to good use. that s $85 billion a year., just take those two -- or let s add the interest cut that they -- the tax cut they get for profits on dividends and capital gains that got put in six years ago., that s $196 billion. just add those three up. as your president, that gives me $200 billion., so when they tell you now, ""we can t afford health care, we can t afford education opportunities, we can t, afford a massive change in our energy policy,"" tell them what my dad always used to say: ""don t tell me what you value; show me your budget. show me your budget, i ll tell you what you value."", how can we possibly value giving the top 1 percent of the country an $85 billion a year tax cut when, in fact, for $26 billion a year, we could insure every single, solitary uninsured kid in america? how can that be equal? how can we say we value our children and our health care?, how can we say we value making sure our neighborhoods are safe and homeland security is real, when for $50 billion we can restore the biden cop program, and implement every major recommendation in the 9/11 commission -- $50 billion over five years. that s $10 billion a year., they tell us we can t afford it. if we can afford over 10 years $196 billion tax cut for people cutting coupons?, folks, i m tired of it. i don t know about you. i m tired of it. we can change this country. we can change the direction of this country. and i think all we ve got to do, my party, as well as all of you, we ve got to sto being timid., we got to stop being timid., i ll conclude by saying, i think one of the things that we ve, kind of, lost is i think there s a lot of, in the, democratic party, kind of, lost faith in the american people. they think if we really tell them the truth, we tell them these are some hard decisions have to be made, they re going to back away. they re going to say, ""no, no, no, no, no, no, no, i m not so sure about that. i don t want to do that."", i think they re dead wrong., i think the american people are so ready -- so ready to step up to the ball to deal with the energy crisis, to step up to the ball to deal with the health care crisis, to step up to the ball to deal with college education, to step up to the ball to deal with regulation education needs., you know, we all make it sound really complicated. we talk about no child left behind and all. hey, it s, really simple. any one of your neighbors anybody not know the following? one, if you send kids to school at age 3 instead of age 6 they got three times the shot of doing better when they re in eighth grade, especially if they come from a dysfunctional family. is that rocket science, as my mother would say?, does anybody think we don t -- everybody doesn t understand the smaller the class size the better the chance, whether you re teaching an advanced course of kids or you re teaching kids who are remedial, the smaller the class the better the opportunity?, does anybody think in the 21st century you can get a ticket to the middle class without a college education or at leave post-graduate -- post-high school education? what are we talking about?, does anybody think it doesn t make sense for the united states government to have the first two years of college at a public institution paid for, just like we do high school, if we re going to compete around the world?, does anybody not know that we re losing all our best teachers because a whole generations of teachers is leaving, and most of the kids coming out of college now that are going into teaching, after six years they re leaving?, look what they re doing in germany, in japan, in other nations. they re literally paying their kids coming out of college to go into teaching the same what they pay their engineers in the first year., i want the kid graduating from the university of new hampshire doing two things: one, get beat by delaware., and the second thing i want them doing, is i want if they re graduating with a math degree be able to make a choice between going to work for microsoft and going to teach. you ve got to make it competitive., but why are we afraid to say that? it costs money. yes. good things cost money., and so i guess what i m trying to say is that i m not afraid about the american people s reaction to telling the truth. and i get asked sometimes by the press, why -- how could i be so certain the american public s ready to step up to the ball?, i ll tell you why, because of the neighborhood i grew up in. because what i saw, what you saw, what you did on 9/11., you know, everybody remembers a lot of things. there s two vivid memories i have beyond the towers coming down and the pentagon ablaze and the plane going down in the field. the other two things i, remember most -- well, one thing i remember most is that grizzled fireman coming out of the dust and human debris, hunched over with a look of absolute determination on his face., that one photograph lifted america off its knees — lifted america off its knees. that one image was the most profound image about the determination and grit of the american people that any was shown during that entire time., and the second thing i remember -- i think it was the cnn broadcast, but i m told it was on all the networks. after the towers came down, seeing -- looked like relatively young people between their thirties and forties lined up single file on a new york street as far as the eye could see., remember why they were all standing there? to give blood. they stood there for four, five, six, seven hours., if that wasn t a silent scream by a whole generation saying, ""let me do something to help mend this nation s broken heart,"" i don t know what was., folks, they re ready. they re ready. they re ready., i ll end by doing what chris dodd always kids me and other of my colleagues -- i m always quoting irish poets. they think i do it because i m irish; i don t do it for that reason. i do it because they re the best poets., but there s a -- my favorite modern irish poet is a guy named seamus heaney and he won the nobel prize for poetry back in the mid- 90s. and he had a poem called ""the cure at troy."" there s a stanza in there that i think summarizes where the heart of the american people are right now, whether they re democrats, republicans, independents, where i think they are, what they re ready for., and the stanza goes like this: it says, ""history teaches us not to hope on this side of the grave. but then, once in a lifetime, that longed-for tidal wave of justice rises up and hope and history rhyme."", join me. join me. we have a shot to make hope and history rhyme. it s totally within our power to change this nation now. the public is ready., and you -- you -- are the ones who can lead the charge because you are the ones who can play the most significant role in the union movement in who s likely to be the next nominee for the democratic party because of your involvement in the states that are involved, and because how up-front you ve been in the past., all i ask you is, look me over. if you like what you see, help out. if not, vote for the other guy or woman., but look me over, because, folks, i guarantee you, we will change this nation, and we ll change it now. thank you all very much., thank you very much.,"	
"remarks to afl-cio/teamsters rally, hey, folks., the president said we have a voice. we have no choice. let s get something straight: these guys have declared war not only in iraq, they declared war on labor s house, they declared war the day they came in. it s about time we just said enough is enough., ladies and gentlemen, they re standing 10 deep in this administration. they never take their eye off the ball. they know the only thing between the middle class and them is you. there is -- would be no middle class without you. middle class rises or falls based upon the union movement., and, ladies and gentlemen, this is a time where we not only can stop the slide, but by making sure that all you got to do is no more than what you do to register to vote, we can change the tide in this country so american union movement can grow., white collar workers are sick as well now. they finally figured out that those corporations they counted on ain t taking care of them. they finally figured out the only reason they have any benefits is because of unions. and they re ready to join if we give them a chance., ladies and gentlemen, let s declare war back. we ve had enough. let s pass this and move on for the second renaissance of building the union movement in the united states of america. because the public is ready, they re on your side, and you re crazy sitting out in this sun., thank you very, very much., read more about this event by clicking here.,"	
"it s great to be here. i ve been speaking to a lot of churches recently, so it s nice to be speaking to one that s so familiar. i understand you switched venues at considerable expense and inconvenience because of unfair labor practices at the place you were going to be having this synod. clearly, the past 50 years have not weakened your resolve as faithful witnesses of the gospel. and i m glad to see that., it s been several months now since i announced i was running for president. in that time, i ve had the chance to talk with americans all across this country. and i ve found that no matter where i am, or who i m talking to, there s a common theme that emerges. it s that folks are hungry for change - they re hungry for something new. they re ready to turn the page on the old politics and the old policies - whether it s the war in iraq or the health care crisis we re in, or a school system that s leaving too many kids behind despite the slogans., but i also get the sense that there s a hunger that s deeper than that - a hunger that goes beyond any single cause or issue. it seems to me that each day, thousands of americans are going about their lives - dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets, trying to kick a cigarette habit - and they re coming to the realization that something is missing. they re deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough., they want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. they re looking to relieve a chronic loneliness. and so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long road toward nothingness., and this restlessness - this search for meaning - is familiar to me. i was not raised in a particularly religious household. my father, who i didn t know, returned to kenya when i was just two. he was nominally a muslim since there were a number of muslims in the village where he was born. but by the time he was a young adult, he was an atheist. my mother, whose parents were non-practicing baptists and methodists, was one of the most spiritual souls i ever knew. she had this enormous capacity for wonder, and lived by the golden rule. but she had a healthy skepticism of religion as an institution. and as a consequence, so did i., it wasn t until after college, when i went to chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of christian churches, that i confronted my own spiritual dilemma. in a sense, what brought me to chicago in the first place was a hunger for some sort of meaning in my life. i wanted to be part of something larger. i d been inspired by the civil rights movement - by all the clear-eyed, straight-backed, courageous young people who d boarded buses and traveled down south to march and sit at lunch counters, and lay down their lives in some cases for freedom. i was too young to be involved in that movement, but i felt i could play a small part in the continuing battle for justice by helping rebuild some of chicago s poorest neighborhoods., so it s 1985, and i m in chicago, and i m working with these churches, and with lots of laypeople who are much older than i am. and i found that i recognized in these folks a part of myself. i learned that everyone s got a sacred story when you take the time to listen. and i think they recognized a part of themselves in me too. they saw that i knew the scriptures and that many of the values i held and that propelled me in my work were values they shared. but i think they also sensed that a part of me remained removed and detached - that i was an observer in their midst., and slowly, i came to realize that something was missing as well - that without an anchor for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level i would always remain apart, and alone., and it s around this time that some pastors i was working with came up to me and asked if i was a member of a church. ""if you re organizing churches,"" they said, ""it might be helpful if you went to church once in a while."" and i thought, ""well, i guess that makes sense."", so one sunday, i put on one of the few clean jackets i had, and went over to trinity united church of christ on 95th street on the south side of chicago. and i heard reverend jeremiah a. wright deliver a sermon called ""the audacity of hope."" and during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named jesus christ. i learned that my sins could be redeemed. i learned that those things i was too weak to accomplish myself, he would accomplish with me if i placed my trust in him. and in time, i came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life., it was because of these newfound understandings that i was finally able to walk down the aisle of trinity one day and affirm my christian faith. it came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. i didn t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. the questions i had didn t magically disappear. the skeptical bent of my mind didn t suddenly vanish. but kneeling beneath that cross on the south side, i felt i heard god s spirit beckoning me. i submitted myself to his will, and dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works., but my journey is part of a larger journey - one shared by all who ve ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society. it s a journey that takes us back to our nation s founding, when none other than a ucc church inspired the boston tea party and helped bring an empire to its knees. in the following century, men and women of faith waded into the battles over prison reform and temperance, public education and women s rights - and above all, abolition. and when the civil war was fought and our country dedicated itself to a new birth of freedom, they took on the problems of an industrializing nation - fighting the crimes against society and the sins against god that they felt were being committed in our factories and in our slums., and when these battles were overtaken by others and when the wars they opposed were waged and won, these faithful foot soldiers for justice kept marching. they stood on the edmund pettus bridge, as the blows of billy clubs rained down. they held vigils across this country when four little girls were killed in the 16th street baptist church. they cheered on the steps of the lincoln memorial when dr. king delivered his prayer for our country. and in all these ways, they helped make this country more decent and more just., so doing the lord s work is a thread that s run through our politics since the very beginning. and it puts the lie to the notion that the separation of church and state in america means faith should have no role in public life. imagine lincoln s second inaugural without its reference to ""the judgments of the lord."" or king s ""i have a dream"" speech without its reference to ""all of god s children."" or president kennedy s inaugural without the words, ""here on earth, god s work must truly be our own."" at each of these junctures, by summoning a higher truth and embracing a universal faith, our leaders inspired ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things., but somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. it got hijacked. part of it s because of the so-called leaders of the christian right, who ve been all too eager to exploit what divides us. at every opportunity, they ve told evangelical christians that democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design. there was even a time when the christian coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich. i don t know what bible they re reading, but it doesn t jibe with my version., but i m hopeful because i think there s an awakening taking place in america. people are coming together around a simple truth - that we are all connected, that i am my brother s keeper; i am my sister s keeper. and that it s not enough to just believe this - we have to do our part to make it a reality. my faith teaches me that i can sit in church and pray all i want, but i won t be fulfilling god s will unless i go out and do the lord s work., that s why pastors, friends of mine like rick warren and t.d. jakes and organizations like world vision and catholic charities are wielding their enormous influence to confront poverty, hiv/aids, and the genocide in darfur. religious leaders like my friends rev. jim wallis and rabbi david saperstein and nathan diament are working for justice and fighting for change. and all across the country, communities of faith are sponsoring day care programs, building senior centers, and in so many other ways, taking part in the project of american renewal., yet what we also understand is that our values should express themselves not just through our churches or synagogues, temples or mosques; they should express themselves through, our government. because whether it s poverty or racism, the uninsured or the unemployed, war or peace, the challenges we face today are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten-point plan. they are moral problems, rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man., and so long as we re not doing everything in our personal and collective power to solve them, we know the conscience of our nation cannot rest., our conscience can t rest so long as 37 million americans are poor and forgotten by their leaders in washington and by the media elites. we need to heed the biblical call to care for ""the least of these"" and lift the poor out of despair. that s why i ve been fighting to expand the earned income tax credit and the minimum wage. if you re working forty hours a week, you shouldn t be living in poverty. but we also know that government initiatives are not enough. each of us in our own lives needs to do what we can to help the poor. and until we do, our conscience cannot rest., our conscience cannot rest so long as nearly 45 million americans don t have health insurance and the millions more who do are going bankrupt trying to pay for it. i have made a solemn pledge that i will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every american and cut the cost of a typical family s premiums by up to $2500 a year. that s not simply a matter of policy or ideology - it s a moral commitment., and until we stop the genocide that s being carried out in darfur as i speak, our conscience cannot rest. this is a problem that s brought together churches and synagogues and mosques and people of all faiths as part of a grassroots movement. universities and states, including illinois, are taking part in a divestment campaign to pressure the sudanese government to stop the killings. it s not enough, but it s helping. and it s a testament to what we can achieve when good people with strong convictions stand up for their beliefs., and we should close guantanamo bay and stop tolerating the torture of our enemies. because it s not who we are. it s not consistent with our traditions of justice and fairness. and it offends our conscience., but we also know our conscience cannot rest so long as the war goes on in iraq. it s a war i m proud i opposed from the start - a war that should never have been authorized and never been waged. i have a plan that would have already begun redeploying our troops with the goal of bringing all our combat brigades home by march 31st of next year. the president vetoed a similar plan, but he doesn t have the last word, and we re going to keep at it, until we bring this war to an end. because the iraq war is not just a security problem, it s a moral problem., and there s another issue we must confront as well. today there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in america, most of them working in our communities, attending our churches, and contributing to our country., now, as children of god, we believe in the worth and dignity of every human being; it doesn t matter where that person came from or what documents they have. we believe that everyone, everywhere should be loved, and given the chance to work, and raise a family., but as americans, we also know that this is a nation of laws, and we cannot have those laws broken when more than 2,000 people cross our borders illegally every day. we cannot ignore that we have a right and a duty to protect our borders. and we cannot ignore the very real concerns of americans who are not worried about illegal immigration because they are racist or xenophobic, but because they fear it will result in lower wages when they re already struggling to raise their families., and so this will be a difficult debate next week. consensus and compromise will not come easy. last time we took up immigration reform, it failed. but we cannot walk away this time. our conscience cannot rest until we not only secure our borders, but give the 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country a chance to earn their citizenship by paying a fine and waiting in line behind all those who came here legally., we will all have to make concessions to achieve this. that s what compromise is about. but at the end of the day, we cannot walk away - not for the sake of passing a bill, but so that we can finally address the real concerns of americans and the persistent hopes of all those brothers and sisters who want nothing more than their own chance at our common dream., these are some of the challenges that test our conscience - as americans and people of faith. and meeting them won t be easy. there is real evil and hardship and pain and suffering in the world and we should be humble in our belief that we can eliminate them. but we shouldn t use our humility as an excuse for inaction. we shouldn t use the obstacles we face, as an excuse for cynicism. we have to do what we can, knowing it s hard and not swinging from a naïve idealism to a bitter defeatism - but rather, accepting the fact that we re not going to solve every problem overnight, but we can still make a difference., we can recognize the truth that s at the heart of the ucc: that the conversation is not over; that our roles are not defined; that through ancient texts and modern voices, god is still speaking, challenging us to change not just our own lives, but the world around us., i m hearing from evangelicals who may not agree with progressives on every issue but agree that poverty has no place in a world of plenty; that hate has no place in the hearts of believers; and that we all have to be good stewards of god s creations. from willow creek to the  emerging church,  from the southern baptist convention to the national association of evangelicals, folks are realizing that the four walls of the church are too small for a big god. god is still speaking., i m hearing from progressives who understand that if we want to communicate our hopes and values to americans, we can t abandon the field of religious discourse. that s why organizations are rising up across the country to reclaim the language of faith to bring about change. god is still speaking., he s still speaking to our catholic friends - who are holding up a consistent ethic of life that goes beyond abortion - one that includes a respect for life and dignity whether it s in iraq, in poor neighborhoods, in african villages or even on death row. they re telling me that their conversation about what it means to be catholic continues. god is still speaking., and right here in the ucc, we re hearing from god about what it means to be a welcoming church that holds on to our christian witness. the ucc is still listening. and god is still speaking., now, some of you may have heard me talk about the joshua generation. but there s a story i want to share that takes place before moses passed the mantle of leadership on to joshua. it comes from deuteronomy 30 when moses talks to his followers about the challenges they ll find when they reach the promised land without him. to the joshua generation, these challenges seem momentous - and they are. but moses says: what i am commanding you is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. it is not up in heaven. nor is it beyond the sea. no, the word is very near. it is on your lips and in your heart., it s an idea that s often forgotten or dismissed in cynical times. it s that we all have it within our power to make this a better world. because we all have the capacity to do justice and show mercy; to treat others with dignity and respect; and to rise above what divides us and, come together to meet those challenges we can t meet alone. it s the wisdom moses imparted to those who would succeed him. and it s a lesson we need to remember today - as members of another joshua generation., so let s rededicate ourselves to a new kind of politics - a politics of conscience. let s come together - protestant and catholic, muslim and hindu and jew, believer and non-believer alike. we re not going to agree on everything, but we can disagree without being disagreeable. we can affirm our faith without endangering the separation of church and state, as long as we understand that when we re in the public square, we have to speak in universal terms that everyone can understand. and if we can do that - if we can embrace a common destiny - then i believe we ll not just help bring about a more hopeful day in america, we ll not just be caring for our own souls, we ll be doing god s work here on earth. thank you.,"	
", over the last few years, i ve been traveling to different schools and meeting with all kinds of educators to hear about what s working, what s not, what makes the difference when it comes to educating children today., i ve gained a lot of valuable insight from these visits, but one i ll always remember is my trip to dodge elementary school in my hometown of chicago. i was talking to one of the young teachers there about the challenges they faced, and she mentioned what she called the ""these kids syndrome"" - the willingness of society to find a million excuses for why ""these kids"" can t learn. it s the idea that ""these kids come from tough backgrounds"" or that ""these kids are too far behind."" and after awhile, ""these kids"" become somebody else s problem., then she said to me, ""when i hear that term, it drives me nuts. they re not  these kids.  they re our kids."", our kids are why all of you are in this room today. our kids are why you wake up wondering how you ll make a difference and go to bed thinking about tomorrow s lesson plan. our kids are why you walk into that classroom every day even when you re not getting the support, or the pay, or the respect that you deserve - because you believe that every child should have a chance to succeed; that every child can be taught., you ve made our kids your life s work. and i believe it s time we put that work at the center of our politics once more., we have never been a ""these kids"" country. from the earliest days of our founding, we have believed in thomas jefferson s declaration that ""...talent and virtue, needed in a free society, should be educated regardless of wealth, birth or other accidental condition."", it is this belief that led our country to set up the first free public schools in small new england towns. it s a promise we kept as we moved from a nation of farms to factories and created a system of public high schools so that everyone had the chance to succeed in the new economy; one we expanded after world war ii, when we sent over two million returning heroes to college on the gi bill., and even when america fell short of this ideal and forced linda brown to walk miles to a dilapidated topeka school because of the color of her skin; even then, ordinary people marched and bled, they took to the streets and fought in the courts until the arrival of nine little children at a little rock school made real the decision that in america, separate could never be equal. and no matter what the supreme court said last week, that s still true today., the ideal of a public education has always been at the heart of the american promise. it s why we are committed to fixing and improving our public schools instead of abandoning them and passing out vouchers. because in america, it s the promise of a good education for all that makes it possible for any child to transcend the barriers of race or class or background and achieve their god-given potential., that s how america works. that s how we ve met each challenge that has come our way. we rise together, as one people. and together is how teachers, education support professionals, students, and the american people will meet the challenges we face today., we now live in a world where the most valuable skill you can sell is knowledge. revolutions in technology and communication have created an entire economy of high-tech, high-wage jobs that can be located anywhere there s an internet connection. and today, a child in philadelphia is not only competing for jobs with one in boston, but thousands more in bangalore and beijing who are being educated longer and better than ever before., in the 21st century, countries who out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and america is already in danger of falling behind. we now have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. by 12th grade, our children score lower on their math and science tests than most other kids in the developed world. sixty percent of african-american fourth graders are unable to read at a basic level, and today only 9% of low-income students will graduate from college., forty or fifty years ago, students who had trouble in school might have gone on to find a factory job that could pay the bills and support a family. but we no longer live in that world. today, the average salary of a high school graduate is only $33,000 a year. for high school dropouts, it s even closer to the poverty line - just $25,000 a year. and sadly, some folks here aren t paid that much and that s wrong., this is not only morally unacceptable for our children; it is economically untenable for our nation. and it means that today, the work you do and the difference you make has never been more important to the future of this country., in fact, new evidence shows that from the moment our children step into a classroom, the single most important factor in determining their achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it s not who their parents are or how much money they have., it s who their teacher is. it s you. it s you who can reach the most challenging students. it s you who will stay past the last bell and spend your own money on books and supplies. it s you who will go beyond the call because you believe that s what makes the extra difference. and it does., but you can t do it alone, and it s about time that washington realized that. for too long, our politics has been stuck in a cycle where we praise our educators in speeches and photo-ops, but then abandon them when it comes time to offer the resources and the support you need to do your jobs., there s no better example of this neglect than the law that has become one of the emptiest slogans in the history of politics - no child left behind., now, we all know that the goals of this law were the right ones. we know that making a promise to educate every child with an excellent teacher is right. we know that accountability and standards are right. we know that it s right to close the achievement gap that exists in too many cities and towns, and that it s right to focus on the inequitable distribution of resources and qualified teachers in our schools. we didn t need some words in a law to tell us this, we already knew it, and every one of us is still willing to do whatever it takes to make these goals a reality., but don t come up with this law called no child left behind and then leave the money behind. don t tell us that you ll put high-quality teachers in every classroom and then leave the support and the pay for those teachers behind. don t label a school as failing one day and then throw your hands up and walk away from it the next. and don t tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of the year preparing him to fill in a few bubbles on a standardized test. we know that s not true. you didn t devote your lives to testing, you devoted them to teaching, and teaching is what you should be allowed to do., this is what i ll be trying to leave behind when no child left behind comes before the senate for renewal, and if we don t fix the law then, i can assure you this - i will when i m president. let s leave behind that empty slogan., but i ll also say this - fixing the worst aspects of no child left behind is just a starting point. the status quo is still unacceptable for teachers and students. in the face of a global economy where too many children start behind and stay behind, this country doesn t need more blame or inaction or half-measures on education. what we need is a historic commitment to america s teachers, and that s the kind of commitment i intend to make as, president., we know that we have more than one million teachers who are set to retire and more kids entering school than ever before, and so we know that it s time to recruit a new generation of teachers and principals. let s do this by finally raising salaries across the board, and making it possible for professionals in other fields to become teachers, not through easy shortcuts, but through programs that allow new teachers to learn from veteran professionals. and if you re willing to put yourself through college to make the sacrifice and commitment that teaching requires, we should be willing to help you pay off some of those college loans., in the coming weeks, i ll be laying out the specific details of my plan to invest billions of new dollars into the teaching profession and recruit an army of well-trained, well-qualified teachers who are willing to stand at the front of any classroom and give every student the chance to succeed., my view is this - if we truly believe that educators are the essential professionals that we know you are, then it s time we rewarded, and supported, and honored the professional excellence you show every day., we know what we need to do here., we also know that right now, we need the best teachers in the most challenging classrooms - those underserved, underachieving schools in parts of rural and urban america where we need to make ""these kids"" ""our kids"" again., i believe in collective bargaining, and i believe that any time you re talking about wages, workers have to be at the table., so let s make a promise right now that if you re a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve. if you re willing to teach in a high-need subject like math or science or special education, we ll pay you even more., if you re willing to take on more responsibilities like mentoring, we ll pay you more., and if you excel at helping your students achieve success, your success will be valued and rewarded as well. here s the key: we can find new ways to increase pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them and not based on some arbitrary test score. that s how we re going to close the achievement gap that exists in this country and that s how we re, going to start treating teachers like the professionals you are., i commend the work you ve done in minnesota with the governor there to craft an innovative pay system that not only values your performance in the classroom, but the performance of your students as well. you helped craft it and you and your students benefit from it., we also know that when it comes to struggling schools, it s not just how much you re getting paid that matters, but how much support you re getting to do your job. we know that when you pair experienced, mentor teachers with new teachers, those new teachers are much more likely to stay in the profession. so let s make sure we start developing more mentor teachers so we can start recruiting and keeping the new generation of teachers we need., and while we re at it, let s work with teachers and principals to finally develop assessments that teach our kids to become more than just good test-takers. the goal of educational testing should be the same as medical testing - to diagnose a student s needs so you can help address them. tests should not be designed as punishment for teachers and students, they should be used as tools to help prepare our children to grow and compete in a knowledge economy. tests should support learning, not just accounting., one last point. there s a lot of talk out there about accountability in education. i share that concern, and i ve called for more accountability in our schools myself. but i also believe that before we can hold our teachers accountable for the results our schools need, we have to hold ourselves accountable for giving teachers the support that they need. that s where accountability starts with a government that puts its money where its mouth is, and parents and community members who instill the value of education in their students. i am tired of hearing teachers blamed for our collective failures., a few months ago, i had the opportunity to take a bus ride with a group of iowa teachers and discuss their thoughts on education. afterwards, one teacher said, ""i don t think any teacher minds being accountable when the measuring tool is fair to educators and not about satisfying unrealistic goals."", she s right. if we do all this - if we go into struggling schools and provide more pay and better support for our teachers; if we allow them to teach our children to their strengths instead of just a test - then the teachers i ve met wouldn t mind some accountability., but we need to start doing our part first. when it comes to education in america, we need to start holding ourselves accountable. this goes for our government and our leaders. it also goes for parents. there is no policy or program that can substitute for a parent who is deeply involved in their child s education from day one - who is willing to turn off the tv, put away the video games, and read to their child, or help with homework, or attend those parent/teacher conferences. as parents too, many of you know what i m talking about here., a few years ago, a little girl at earhart elementary in chicago was asked the secret to her academic success., she said, ""i just study hard every night because i like learning. my teacher wants me to be a good student, and so does my mother. i don t want to let them down."", we have quite a challenge ahead of us, but we ve overcome great challenges before. over the course of two centuries, we have continually upheld the promise of education for all as that which allows any child to transcend the barriers of race or class or background and achieve their god-given potential. and we have risen together as a result., it is teachers and education support professionals who have always made this possible - who have always reminded us that that little girl in chicago is not  these kids , she is our child. she doesn t want to let us down, and now it is our generation s turn to ensure that we won t let her down either. i know you ll be leading the way, and i look forward to standing with you in the, fight. thank you.,"	
", i have been running for president now for a little over five months. and in that time, i have been inspired by crowds tens of thousands of people strong - many who have come out for the very first political event of their lifetime. we have seen more americans sign up and contribute so far than any other campaign in history. they are young and old, republican and democrat, white, and black, and latino., i d like to take the all the credit here myself, but as my wife reminds me every day, i m just not that great., the real reason that so many people are coming out and signing up is because they see in this campaign the potential for the change americans are so hungry for. it s not just the kind of change you hear about in slogans or, from politicians every few years; it s the kind of bottom-up, grassroots movement that can transform a nation., la raza has always represented this kind of movement. you didn t get your start as some top-down interest group in washington, you got your start standing up for the dreams and aspirations of latinos in farm fields and barrios all across america., you got your start almost forty years ago in places like southern california, where farm workers and their children were beaten because they asked for the right to organize - because they believed that picking grapes all day in the hot sun should be rewarded with a decent wage and protection from deadly pesticides., and when a man named cesar chavez saw this injustice, he knew it wasn t right and so he went about organizing those workers. and one fateful day he decided to draw the eyes of the nation to their cause by sitting down for a hunger strike. he went without food for twenty-five days, and at one point he received a telegram from an atlanta preacher who was busy leading his own strike of sanitation workers all the way in memphis, tennessee., the telegram from dr. martin luther king, jr. to cesar chavez said this: ""as brothers in the fight for equality, i extend the hand of fellowship and good will and wish continuing success to you and your members... our separate struggles are really one. a struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity."", our separate struggles are really one. it was a belief that dr. king repeated often when he would say that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. it means that the civil rights movement wasn t just a movement of african-americans, but latino americans, and white americans, and every american who believes that equality and opportunity are not just words to be said but promises to be kept. the civil rights movement was your movement too, and its unfinished work is still the task of every american., our separate struggles are really one. if there s a child stuck in a crumbling school who graduates without ever learning how to read, it doesn t matter if that child is a latino from miami or an african-american from chicago or a white girl from rural kentucky - she is our child, and her struggle is our struggle., it doesn t matter if the injustice involves a brown man who s badgered into proving his citizenship again and again or a black man who s pulled over because the car he s driving is too nice - it s injustice either way and we all have a role in ending it., whether you re one of the 45 million americans without health care in this country, or the one in five african americans, or the one in three latinos, it will take all of us to stand up to a drug and insurance industry that spent $1 billion in lobbying to block health care reform. that s the kind of movement we need in america., it won t be enough to change parties in this election if we don t also change a politics that has tried to divide us for far too long. because when we spend all our time keeping score of who s up and who s down, the only winners are those who can afford to play the game - those with the most money, and influence, and power., that s why right now, the experience we need in the next president is the proven ability to bring people to the table and get things done. we need a leader who s willing to tell the lobbyists and special interests that while they get a seat at that table, the days of them buying every chair are over., i m running for president because i have been that kind of leader my entire life., i was too young to participate in the civil right movement, but i was inspired by leaders like king and chavez to become a community organizer. almost twenty-five years ago, i was hired by a group of churches on the south side of chicago to help turn around neighborhoods that had been devastated by the closing of nearby steel plants., i knew that change wouldn t be easy, but i also knew it would be impossible without bringing folks together and building a movement within the community. so i reached out and formed coalitions between latino leaders and black leaders on every issue from failing schools to illegal dumping to unimmunized children. and together, we made progress. we set up job training and after school programs, and we taught people on the south side to stand up to their government when it wasn t standing up for them., but i didn t stop there. when all the cynics said it wasn t possible, i kept building coalitions and making progress throughout my eight years in the illinois state senate., they told me i couldn t reform a death penalty system that had sent 13 innocent people to death row. but we did that. they told me that trying to pass new racial profiling laws to protect black folks and brown folks would stir up too much controversy. but we did that too. and they doubted whether we could put government back on the side of average people - but we put $100 million worth of tax cuts in the pockets of the low-income workers and passed health care reform that insured another 150,000 children and parents., so i want you to remember one thing, because you ll be hearing from a lot of candidates today. when i talk about hope; when i talk about change; when i talk about holding america up to its ideals of opportunity and equality, this isn t just the rhetoric of a campaign for me, it s been the cause of my life - a cause i will work for and fight for every day as your president., i will be a president who remembers that our separate struggles are really one. i will never walk away from the tough battles or the difficult work of bringing people together. and i will never walk away from the 12 million undocumented immigrants who live, work, and contribute to our country every single day., there are few better examples of how broken, bitter, and divisive our politics has become than the immigration debate that played out in washington a few weeks ago., so many of us - democrats and republicans - were willing to compromise in order to pass comprehensive reform that would secure our borders while giving the undocumented a chance to earn their citizenship., we knew that the american people believe that we are a nation of laws - that we have a right and duty to protect our borders. and we should also crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers so that we can protect jobs and wages., but the american people also know that we are a nation of immigrants - a nation that has always been willing to give weary travelers from around the world the chance to come here and reach for the dream that so many of us have reached for. that s the america that answered my father s letters and his prayers and brought him here from kenya so long ago. that s the america we believe in., but that s the america that the president and too many republicans walked away from when the politics got tough. now, there are plenty of people opposed to immigration reform for principled reasons that i happen to disagree with. but this time around, we saw parts of the immigration debate took a turn that was both ugly and racist in a way we haven t seen since the struggle for civil rights., well we didn t walk away from injustice then and we won t walk away from it today. i ll keep fighting, and i ll keep attending immigration rallies, and i ll keep believing that we can have a civil debate about immigration where we begin to recognize ourselves in one another. and when i m president, i will put comprehensive immigration reform back on the nation s agenda and i will not rest until it is passed once and for all., but you and i know that the struggle we share goes far beyond immigration. we don t expect our government to guarantee success and happiness, but when millions of children start the race of life so far behind only because of race, only because of class, that s a betrayal of our ideals. that s not just a latino problem or an african-american problem; that is an american problem that we have to solve., it s an american problem when latinos are the most likely to be uninsured even though they make up a disproportionate share of the workforce. it s an american problem when one in four latinos cannot communicate well with their doctor about what s wrong or fill out medical forms because there are language barriers we refuse to break down. it s an american problem that our health care system is broken and it s time to fix it once and for all., i have a universal health care plan that will cover every american and cut the cost of a typical family s premiums by up to $2500 a year. it s a plan that lets the uninsured buy insurance that s similar to the kind members of congress give themselves. if you can t afford that, you ll get a subsidy to pay for it. and it goes further than any other proposed plan in cutting the cost of health care by investing in technology and preventive care, breaking the stranglehold the drug and insurance industries have on the health care market, and helping business and families shoulder the cost of the most expensive conditions so that an illness doesn t lead to a bankruptcy. and i promise you this - i will sign this universal health care plan by the end of my first term in office as your president. count on it., it s also time for this country to keep the promise of a world-class education for every child, because it s an american problem when nearly half of all latino students do not receive a high school diploma. it s an american problem when too many of these students who want to learn english don t have the resources to learn english and are punished as a result., let s give our kids everything they could possibly need to have a fighting chance. let s not pass a law called no child left behind and then leave the money behind. let s finally invest in what makes the most difference in any child s education - the person standing in the front of the classroom. as president, i will launch a campaign to recruit hundreds of thousands of new teachers across the country, and i ll pay them like the professionals they are. and let s make sure any child who comes here and studies here and does well in school gets the same chance to attend a public college as anyone else. i helped pass the dream act in illinois, and i will do the same as president., and there s one other thing we can do. for millions of latinos and other americans, the cornerstone of the american dream is the ability to own your own home. you work hard for it, and you save for it, and you re willing to sacrifice to buy it., but there is an army of lenders and brokers out there who are ready and willing to take advantage of your hopes and cheat you out of your dream. they lurk in your neighborhoods and sometimes they even come into your churches and they offer you these subprime mortgage loans. they make them sound easy and affordable and they tell you to ignore the fine print and ask you to sign on the dotted line., your first couple of payments are ok, but then after months go by, the cost of your monthly payment starts jumping. then it jumps some more. pretty soon you re paying almost all of your income on your housing payments. and eventually, you re forced to foreclose on your dream. and the worst part is that the lenders knew this would happen from day one., a recent report showed that 2.2 million sub-prime loans made in recent years have failed or will end in foreclosure, costing homeowners as much as $164 billion. latinos hold up to 40 percent of these mortgages. african americans hold over half. this is no accident. these loans are discriminatory, they are dishonest, and it s time for us to treat these fraudulent lenders like the criminals that they are., when i am president, i will make law the legislation i ve already introduced that would crack down on lenders and brokers found guilty of fraud by increasing enforcement and creating new criminal penalties., we d also do more to protect homeowners from fraud in the first place by providing them counseling so they get the advice they need both before and after they buy their home. we ll even create an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand measurement called the home score that lets you figure out exactly what a mortgage will cost you both initially and down the road. no one should get tricked into losing their home so that some loan shark can make a profit, and i will make sure of that as your president. we can do that., you know, a couple of years ago, right around the time of the first immigration debate, i attended a naturalization workshop at a church in chicago. i walked down the aisle of the church and met people who were clutching their american flags, waiting to be called up so they could start the long process of becoming citizens., at one point, a little girl came up to me and asked me for my autograph. she said her name was cristina, that she was studying government, and wanted to show the autograph to her third grade class. i told her parents they should be proud of her. and as i watched cristina translate my words into spanish for them, i thought for a moment about dr. king s telegram to cesar chavez, and i knew that, in the end, our separate dreams are really one as well. it s the dream my father had when he arrived here from kenya. the dream cristina s parents had for her. and the dream that i have for my own two daughters., i chose a career in public service almost twenty-five years ago because each night that i tuck them in, i realize that their chances in life depend on our ability to create a country where what they look like and where they come from has no bearing on what they can become. that s what has guided my life s work, and if you give me the chance, that s exactly the kind of country i will work for as your president. i ask you to give me that chance. thank you."	
", , i want to start by thanking your president, lauren wolfe, for the leadership you bring to this organization and to students all across america. i d also like to thank your vice president, awais khaleel, and your executive director, latoia jones., i d like to give a special shout-out to two other college democrat leaders who i am lucky enough to have working on my campaign - bess evans is an organizer for us in iowa and ashley baia is organizing for us right here in south carolina. and i d like to especially thank the couple hundred of you who have joined my college democrats steering committee. this is an unprecedented show of support and we re very grateful to have it., but mostly i want to thank every student here for the work you re doing all across the country. you are organizing campuses, you are registering new voters, and you are breathing new life into a politics that has never needed it more, and for that you should all be very proud., each of you has made the decision to come here and get involved for a reason. maybe you want to make sure the college education you re receiving will lead to a good job that can pay off all those loans. maybe you re tired of watching our planet polluted and our climate changed forever because you know that you and your children will be the ones dealing with it., maybe you ve traveled abroad and heard people belittle america, and maybe you felt angry because you know we re a better country than this - you know we re not a country that tortures people or locks them away without ever telling them why. you know we re not a country that alienates our allies and rejects diplomacy with our enemies. we re better than that., or maybe you re here because you had to say goodbye to a friend or a classmate when they left to fight this war in iraq. you know how brave they are, and you know they ve done everything that s been asked of them, but you also know one other thing - you know that this is a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged, and it s time for that friend to come home., but no matter what the reason is that brought you here, you came because you believe that we can change all this. you believe what was said about this country in the earliest days of our revolution - that we have it within our power to begin the world anew., i want you to know that s why i m here too. that s what i have believed all my life. and that s why i m running for president of the united states., i know it s not an easy proposition to believe. especially today. not when our politics is more concerned with who s up and who s down than who s working to solve the challenges facing our generation. not when our politicians allow the oil companies to control our energy policy, and the insurance companies to control our health care policy, and whoever s got the most money and influence to control the agenda in washington. and not when we ve got a 24-hour news cycle that never fails to keep us posted on how many days paris hilton will spend in jail but doesn t always cover the continuing genocide in darfur or the recovery effort in new orleans or the poverty that plagues too many american streets., you see all this and it s easy to become cynical - to believe these same pundits when they say that the youth vote doesn t really matter; that college students don t register to vote and when they do, they never go to the polls anyway. and so it s easy to just stay home and give in to the proposition that one person really can t make a difference after all., don t believe it. if there s one thing i ve learned in my own life, it s that when you stop listening to the cynics and start trying to make that difference, extraordinary things can happen., , a few years after i graduated from college i had this crazy idea that i wanted to be a community organizer. my friends had all applied for jobs on wall street and my mother and grandparents thought i should go to law school. but i went ahead and wrote letters to every organization in the country that i could think of. and finally, this small group of churches on the south side of chicago wrote back and gave me a job for $12,000 a year helping to turn around neighborhoods that had been devastated by steel-plant closings., and i can still remember the conversation i had with an older man i had met before i moved to chicago. i told him about my plans, and he looked at me and said, ""let me tell something. you look like a nice clean-cut young man, and you ve got a nice voice. so let me give you a piece of advice - forget this community organizing business. you can t change the world, and people won t appreciate you trying. what you should do is go into television broadcasting. i m telling you, you ve got a future."", now, no offense to my friends with the microphones in the back of the room, but boy am i glad i didn t listen to that old man., i kept going to chicago, and when i got there and saw the joblessness and hopelessness that existed in those neighborhoods, i knew my job wouldn t be easy., but i worked hard to build coalitions with all kinds of community leaders, and we kept working, and we set up child care and job training programs, and we taught people to stand up to their government when it wasn t standing up for them. we didn t change the world, but we changed those neighborhoods, and i proved that old man wrong., and i ve done the same thing ever since., when i got to the illinois state senate, people said it was too tough to take on the issue of money in politics - that i couldn t do anything about a law that actually allowed politicians to pocket the money in their campaign accounts for personal use. but i brought people together, and i found a few folks on the other side of the aisle who were willing to listen, and we passed the first major ethics reform in twenty-five years., people told me i couldn t reform a death penalty system that had sent 13 innocent people to death row. but we did that. they told me that trying to pass laws to stop racial profiling would stir up too much controversy. but we did that too., they doubted whether we could put government back on the side of average people - but we put tax cuts in the pockets of the working families who needed them instead of the folks who didn t. and i passed health care reform that insured another 150,000 children and parents., so i want you to know that i ve been where you are. i looked at the world as a young man and i wanted to make a difference. and i was often told that change wasn t possible. but i learned that it was, i believe that it still is, and i m ready to join you in changing the course that we re on by bringing a new generation of leadership to the united states of america., the reason this president has failed to lead our country is because he has not been able to unite our country. he has polarized us when he could ve pulled us together. he has put what s right for his friends and supporters ahead of what s right for america., that s why the experience we need in the next president is the ability to bring this country together; to find common ground so we can meet common challenges., that s the kind of experience i will bring to the white house. i know it s not enough to just change parties or even presidents. i know that to truly change the way washington works, we need to build a movement of everyday americans who are committed to that change long after the last ballot is counted., and that s what we re doing in this campaign. we ve had more people sign up and contribute than any other campaign in history. we ve had countless people show up at our events who are coming to the first political event of their lifetime. they are young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, black, white, latino, and asian., these americans are saying it s time for a change. it s time to turn the page. it s time for a new generation of leadership in washington., it s time for a new generation of leadership to solve this health care crisis once and for all. it s time to move past the failed debates of yesterday, bring everyone to the table, and finally let the drug and insurance companies know that while they get a seat at that table, the don t get to buy every chair., i have a universal health care plan that will cover every american and cut the cost of a typical family s premiums by up to $2500 a year. it s a plan that lets the uninsured buy insurance that s similar to the kind members of congress give themselves. if you can t afford that, you ll get a subsidy to pay for it. and here s something we included after hearing about it from young people across the country - if you graduate and don t find a job that provides health insurance right away, you ll be able to stay on your parents  insurance until you re twenty-five. i can t promise they ll let you live at home for that long, but i can promise you this - i will sign this universal health care bill by the end of my first term in office as your president. it s time to get that done., it s time for a new generation of leadership to make college more affordable for any american who wants to go. it s time to tell all those private lenders and banks that we re not going to give them eight billion in taxpayer dollars every year so that they can bribe colleges to get business giving students loans at inflated prices. we re not going to make college an unaffordable opportunity or saddle our students with a lifetime of debt. it s time to end those high-priced loans and use the savings to help more kids afford a college education. and it s time we had a president who fights for that proposal instead of threatening to veto it. the very first bill i introduced when i got to the u.s. senate was a bill to make college more affordable and provide more grants to students. that s the kind of leadership we need., it s time for a new generation of leadership to save our generation from global catastrophe. it s time to tell the auto and oil industry lobbyists that they don t get to stand in the way of higher fuel standards, and renewable sources of energy, and lower carbon emissions anymore. it s time to let them know that our economy, our security, and our planet come before their profits., as president, i will place a cap on carbon emissions, and require companies who can t meet the cap to buy credits from those who can. this will generate millions of dollars to invest in renewable sources of energy and create new jobs and even a new industry in the process. i ll put in place a low-carbon fuel standard that will take 50 million cars  worth of pollution off the road. and i d raise the fuel efficiency standards for our cars and trucks because we know we have the technology to do it and it s time we did., and one more thing. it is time for a new generation of leadership to end this war in iraq and restore american leadership in the world., i opposed this war back in 2002 when i was running for the united states senate. and people told me that position might cost me the election. but i believed then that being a leader means that you do what s right and leave the politics aside because you don t get a do-over on an issue as important as war., i introduced a plan in january that would ve already started bringing our troops home by now, with the goal of bringing all combat brigades home by march 31st, 2008., george bush vetoed a bipartisan plan just like that - but he doesn t get the last word here. we are fifteen votes away in the senate from ending this war without him. so we need to keep turning up the pressure on all those republican congressmen and senators who aren t, voting the right way. and i m asking you all to help me with this. you can help bring this war to an end. some of these senators are already changing their mind. so i need you to call them up, and write them, and tell them that if they don t switch their votes on iraq, you ll be switching your votes next november., it s time to start getting our troops out of iraq so we can start focusing on the growing threat from al qaeda - because we can t win a war against the terrorists if we re on the wrong battlefield., it s time to turn the page on the era of bush-cheney diplomacy and reach out to the rest of the world again. refusing to engage in tough, smart diplomacy with world leaders we don t like doesn t show your strength, it shows your stubbornness, and we don t need another eight years of that., whether it s terrorism or climate change, global aids or the spread of weapons of mass destruction, america cannot meet the threats of this new century alone, but the world cannot meet them without america. it s time for america to show the world that we re still the last, best hope of earth. it s time for america to lead again, and we need a new generation of leadership to make that happen., that s where you come in. this country needs you. as someone who is ready to serve as your next president, i need you. we need your energy, your enthusiasm, and your commitment to this movement for change. we need you to get involved, and join or start up a students for obama chapter of your own, and i d like to especially ask each of you to go back"	
", thank you lee, for hosting me here at the wilson center, and for your leadership of both the 9/11 commission and the iraq study group. you have been a steady voice of reason in an unsteady time., let me also say that my thoughts and prayers are with your colleague, haleh esfandiari, and her family. i have made my position known to the iranian government. it is time for haleh to be released. it is time for haleh to come home., thanks to the 9/11 commission, we know that six years ago this week president bush received a briefing with the headline: ""bin ladin determined to strike in u.s."", it came during what the commission called the, ""summer of threat,"" when the ""system was blinking, red"" about an impending attack. but despite the, briefing, many felt the danger was overseas, a, threat to embassies and military installations. the extremism, the resentment, the terrorist training camps, and the killers were in the dark corners of the world, far away from the american homeland., then, one bright and beautiful tuesday morning, they were here., i was driving to a state legislative hearing in downtown chicago when i heard the news on my car radio: a plane had hit the world trade center. by the time i got to my meeting, the second plane had hit, and we were told to evacuate., people gathered in the streets and looked up at the sky and the sears tower, transformed from a workplace to a target. we feared for our families and our country. we mourned the terrible loss suffered by our fellow citizens. back at my law office, i watched the images from new york: a plane vanishing into glass and steel; men and women clinging to windowsills, then letting go; tall towers crumbling to dust. it seemed all of the misery and all of the evil in the world were in that rolling black cloud, blocking out the september sun., what we saw that morning forced us to recognize that in a new world of threats, we are no longer protected by our own power. and what we saw that morning was a challenge to a new generation., the history of america is one of tragedy turned into triumph. and so a war over secession became an opportunity to set the captives free. an attack on pearl harbor led to a wave of freedom rolling across the atlantic and pacific. an iron curtain was punctured by democratic values, new institutions at home, and strong international partnerships abroad., after 9/11, our calling was to write a new chapter in the american story. to devise new strategies and build new alliances, to secure our homeland and safeguard our values, and to serve a just cause abroad. we were ready. americans were united. friends around the world stood shoulder to shoulder with us. we had the might and moral-suasion that was the legacy of generations of americans. the tide of history seemed poised to turn, once again, toward hope., , but then everything changed., we did not finish the job against al qaeda in afghanistan. we did not develop new capabilities to defeat a new enemy, or launch a comprehensive strategy to dry up the terrorists  base of support. we did not reaffirm our basic values, or secure our homeland., instead, we got a color-coded politics of fear. patriotism as the possession of one political party. the diplomacy of refusing to talk to other countries. a rigid 20th century ideology that insisted that the 21st century s stateless terrorism could be defeated through the invasion and occupation of a state. a deliberate strategy to misrepresent 9/11 to sell a war against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11., and so, a little more than a year after that bright september day, i was in the streets of chicago again, this time speaking at a rally in opposition to war in iraq. i did not oppose all wars, i said. i was a strong supporter of the war in afghanistan. but i said i could not support ""a dumb war, a rash war"" in iraq. i worried about a "" u.s. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences"" in the heart of the muslim world. i pleaded that we ""finish the fight with bin ladin and al qaeda."", the political winds were blowing in a different direction. the president was determined to go to war. there was just one obstacle: the u.s. congress. nine days after i spoke, that obstacle was removed. congress rubber-stamped the rush to war, giving the president the broad and open-ended authority he uses to this day. with that vote, congress became co-author of a catastrophic war. and we went off to fight on the wrong battlefield, with no appreciation of how many enemies we would create, and no plan for how to get out., because of a war in iraq that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged, we are now less safe than we were before 9/11., according to the national intelligence estimate, the threat to our homeland from al qaeda is ""persistent and evolving."" iraq is a training ground for terror, torn apart by civil war. afghanistan is more violent than it has been since 2001. al qaeda has a sanctuary in pakistan. israel is besieged by emboldened enemies, talking openly of its destruction. iran is now presenting the broadest strategic challenge to the united states in the middle east in a generation. groups affiliated with or inspired by al qaeda operate worldwide. six years after 9/11, we are again in the midst of a ""summer of threat,"" with bin ladin and many more terrorists determined to strike in the united states., what s more, in the dark halls of abu ghraib and the detention cells of guantanamo, we have compromised our most precious values. what could have been a call to a generation has become an excuse for unchecked presidential power. a tragedy that united us was turned into a political wedge issue used to divide us., it is time to turn the page. it is time to write a new chapter in our response to 9/11., just because the president misrepresents our enemies does not mean we do not have them. the terrorists are at war with us. the threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world s 1.3 billion muslims, but the threat is real. they distort islam. they kill man, woman and child; christian and hindu, jew and muslim. they seek to create a repressive caliphate. to defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for., the president would have us believe that every bomb in baghdad is part of al qaeda s war against us, not an iraqi civil war. he elevates al qaeda in iraq -- which didn t exist before our invasion -- and overlooks the people who hit us on 9/11, who are training new recruits in pakistan. he lumps together groups with very different goals: al qaeda and iran, shiite militias and sunni insurgents. he confuses our mission., and worse -- he is fighting the war the terrorists want us to fight. bin ladin and his allies know they cannot defeat us on the field of battle or in a genuine battle of ideas. but they can provoke the reaction we ve seen in iraq: a misguided invasion of a muslim country that sparks new insurgencies, ties down our military, busts our budgets, increases the pool of terrorist recruits, alienates america, gives democracy a bad name, and prompts the american people to question our engagement in the world., by refusing to end the war in iraq, president bush is giving the terrorists what they really want, and what the congress voted to give them in 2002: a u.s. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences., it is time to turn the page. when i am president, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of iraq and on to the right battlefield in afghanistan and pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world s most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland., the first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists in afghanistan and pakistan., i introduced a plan in january that would have already started bringing our troops out of iraq, with a goal of removing all combat brigades by march 31, 2008. if the president continues to veto this plan, then ending this war will be my first priority when i take office., there is no military solution in iraq. only iraq s leaders can settle the grievances at the heart of iraq s civil war. we must apply pressure on them to act, and our best leverage is reducing our troop presence. and we must also do the hard and sustained diplomatic work in the region on behalf of peace and stability., in ending the war, we must act with more wisdom than we started it. that is why my plan would maintain sufficient forces in the region to target al qaeda within iraq. but we must recognize that al qaeda is not the primary source of violence in iraq, and has little support -- not from shia and kurds who al qaeda has targeted, or sunni tribes hostile to foreigners. on the contrary, al qaeda s appeal within iraq is enhanced by our troop presence., ending the war will help isolate al qaeda and give iraqis the incentive and opportunity to take them out. it will also allow us to direct badly needed resources to afghanistan. our troops have fought valiantly there, but iraq has deprived them of the support they needâ€”and deserve. as a result, parts of afghanistan are falling into the hands of the taliban, and a mix of terrorism, drugs, and corruption threatens to overwhelm the country., as president, i would deploy at least two additional brigades to afghanistan to re-enforce our counter-terrorism operations and support nato s efforts against the taliban. as we step up our commitment, our european friends must do the same, and without the burdensome restrictions that have hampered nato s efforts. we must also put more of an afghan face on security by improving the training and equipping of the afghan army and police, and including afghan soldiers in u.s. and nato operations., we must not, however, repeat the mistakes of iraq. the solution in afghanistan is not just military -- it is political and economic. as president, i would increase our non-military aid by $1 billion. these resources should fund projects at the local level to impact ordinary afghans, including the development of alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. and we must seek better performance from the afghan government, and support that performance through tough anti-corruption safeguards on aid, and increased international support to develop the rule of law across the country., above all, i will send a clear message: we will not repeat the mistake of the past, when we turned our back on afghanistan following soviet withdrawal. as 9/11 showed us, the security of afghanistan and america is shared. and today, that security is most threatened by the al qaeda and taliban sanctuary in the tribal regions of northwest pakistan., al qaeda terrorists train, travel, and maintain global communications in this safe-haven. the taliban pursues a hit and run strategy, striking in afghanistan, then skulking across the border to safety., this is the wild frontier of our globalized world. there are wind-swept deserts and cave-dotted mountains. there are tribes that see borders as nothing more than lines on a map, and governments as forces that come and go. there are blood ties deeper than alliances of convenience, and pockets of extremism that follow religion to violence. it s a tough place., but that is no excuse. there must be no safe-haven for terrorists who threaten america. we cannot fail to act because action is hard., as president, i would make the hundreds of millions of dollars in u.s. military aid to pakistan conditional, and i would make our conditions clear: pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters, and preventing the taliban from using pakistan as a staging area for attacks in afghanistan., i understand that president musharraf has his own challenges. but let me make this clear., , there are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 americans. they are plotting to strike again. it was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. if we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and president musharraf won t act, we will., and pakistan needs more than f-16s to combat extremism. as the pakistani government increases investment in secular education to counter radical madrasas, my administration will increase america s commitment. we must help pakistan invest in the provinces along the afghan border, so that the extremists  program of hate is met with one of hope. and we must not turn a blind eye to elections that are neither free nor fair -- our goal is not simply an ally in pakistan, it is a democratic ally., beyond pakistan, there is a core of terrorists -- probably in the tens of thousands -- who have made their choice to attack america. so the second step in my strategy will be to build our capacity and our partnerships to track down, capture or kill terrorists around the world, and to deny them the world s most dangerous weapons., i will not hesitate to use military force to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to america. this requires a broader set of capabilities, as outlined in the army and marine corps s new counter-insurgency manual. i will ensure that our military becomes more stealth, agile, and lethal in its ability to capture or kill terrorists. we need to recruit, train, and equip our armed forces to better target terrorists, and to help foreign militaries to do the same. this must include a program to bolster our ability to speak different languages, understand different cultures, and coordinate complex missions with our civilian agencies., to succeed, we must improve our civilian capacity. the finest military in the world is adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. but it cannot counter insurgent and terrorist threats without civilian counterparts who can carry out economic and political reconstruction missions -- sometimes in dangerous places. as president, i will strengthen these civilian capacities, recruiting our best and brightest to take on this challenge. i will increase both the numbers and capabilities of our diplomats, development experts, and other civilians who can work alongside our military. we can t just say there is no military solution to these problems. we need to integrate all aspects of american might., one component of this integrated approach will be new mobile development teams that bring together personnel from the state department, the pentagon, and usaid. these teams will work with civil society and local governments to make an immediate impact in peoples  lives, and to turn the tide against extremism. where people are most vulnerable, where the light of hope has grown dark, and where we are in a position to make a real difference in advancing security and opportunity -- that is where these teams will go., i will also strengthen our intelligence. this is about more than an organizational chart. we need leadership that forces our agencies to share information, and leadership that never -- ever -- twists the facts to support bad policies. but we must also build our capacity to better collect and analyze information, and to carry out operations to disrupt terrorist plots and break up terrorist networks., this cannot just be an american mission. al qaeda and its allies operate in nearly 100 countries. the united states cannot steal every secret, penetrate every cell, act on every tip, or track down every terrorist -- nor should we have to do this alone. this is not just about our security. it is about the common security of all the world., as president, i will create a shared security partnership program to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks from the remote islands of indonesia, to the sprawling cities of africa. this program will provide $5 billion over three years for counter-terrorism cooperation with countries around the world, including information sharing, funding for training, operations, border security, anti-corruption programs, technology, and targeting terrorist financing. and this effort will focus on helping our partners succeed without repressive tactics, because brutality breeds terror, it does not defeat it., we must also do more to safeguard the world s most dangerous weapons. we know al qaeda seeks a nuclear weapon. we know they would not hesitate to use one. yet there is still about 50 tons of highly enriched uranium, some of it poorly secured, at civilian nuclear facilities in over forty countries. there are still about 15,000 to 16,00 nuclear weapons and stockpiles of uranium and plutonium scattered across 11 time zones in the former soviet union., that is why i worked in the senate with dick lugar to pass a law that would help the united states and our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. that is, , why i am introducing a bill with chuck hagel that seeks to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, and stop the spread of nuclear weapons. and that is why, as president, i will lead a global effort to secure all nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years. while we work to secure existing stockpiles, we should also negotiate a verifiable global ban on the production of new nuclear weapons material., and i won t hesitate to use the power of american diplomacy to stop countries from obtaining these weapons or sponsoring terror. the lesson of the bush years is that not talking does not work. go down the list of countries we ve ignored and see how successful that strategy has been. we haven t talked to iran, and they continue to build their nuclear program. we haven t talked to syria, and they continue support for terror. we tried not talking to north korea, and they now have enough material for 6 to 8 more nuclear weapons., it s time to turn the page on the diplomacy of tough talk and no action. it s time to turn the page on washington s conventional wisdom that agreement must be reached before you meet, that talking to other countries is some kind of reward, and that presidents can only meet with people who will tell them what they want to hear., president kennedy said it best: ""let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate."" only by knowing your adversary can you defeat them or drive wedges between them. as president, i will work with our friend and allies, but i won t outsource our diplomacy in tehran to the europeans, or our diplomacy in pyongyang to the chinese. i will do the careful preparation needed, and let these countries know where america stands. they will no longer have the excuse of american intransigence. they will have our terms: no support for terror and no nuclear weapons., but america must be about more than taking out terrorists and locking up weapons, or else new terrorists will rise up to take the place of every one we capture or kill. that is why the third step in my strategy will be drying up the rising well of support for extremism., when you travel to the world s trouble spots as a united states senator, much of what you see is from a helicopter. so you look out, with the buzz of the rotor in your ear, maybe a door gunner nearby, and you see the refugee camp in darfur, the flood near djibouti, the bombed out block in baghdad. you see thousands of desperate faces., al qaeda s new recruits come from africa and asia, the middle east and europe. many come from disaffected communities and disconnected corners of our interconnected world. and it makes you stop and wonder: when those faces look up at an american helicopter, do they feel hope, or do they feel hate?, we know where extremists thrive. in conflict zones that are incubators of resentment and anarchy. in weak states that cannot control their borders or territory, or meet the basic needs of their people. from africa to central asia to the pacific rim -- nearly 60 countries stand on the brink of conflict or collapse. the extremists encourage the exploitation of these hopeless places on their hate-filled websites., and we know what the extremists say about us. america is just an occupying army in muslim lands, the shadow of a shrouded figure standing on a box at abu ghraib, the power behind the throne of a repressive leader. they say we are at war with islam. that is the whispered line of the extremist who has nothing to offer in this battle of ideas but blame -- blame america, blame progress, blame jews. and often he offers something along with the hate. a sense of empowerment. maybe an education at a madrasa, some charity for your family, some basic services in the neighborhood. and then: a mission and a gun., we know we are not who they say we are. america is at war with terrorists who killed on our soil. we are not at war with islam. america is a compassionate nation that wants a better future for all people. the vast majority of the world s 1.3 billion muslims have no use for bin ladin or his bankrupt ideas. but too often since 9/11, the extremists have defined us, not the other way around., when i am president, that will change. we will author our own story., we do need to stand for democracy. and i will. but democracy is about more than a ballot box. america must show -- through deeds as well as words -- that we stand with those who seek a better life. that child looking up at the helicopter must see america and feel hope., as president, i will make it a focus of my foreign policy to roll back the tide of hopelessness that gives rise to hate. freedom must mean freedom from fear, not the freedom of anarchy. i will never shrug my shoulders and say -- as secretary rumsfeld did -- ""freedom is untidy."" i will focus our support on helping nations build independent judicial systems, honest police, , forces, and financial systems that are transparent and accountable. freedom must also mean freedom from want, not freedom lost to an empty stomach. so i will make poverty reduction a key part of helping other nations reduce anarchy., i will double our annual investments to meet these challenges to $50 billion by 2012. and i will support a $2 billion global education fund to counter the radical madrasas -- often funded by money from within saudi arabia -- that have filled young minds with messages of hate. we must work for a world where every child, everywhere, is taught to build and not to destroy. and as we lead we will ask for more from our friends in europe and asia as well -- more support for our diplomacy, more support for multilateral peacekeeping, and more support to rebuild societies ravaged by conflict., i will also launch a program of public diplomacy that is a coordinated effort across my administration, not a small group of political officials at the state department explaining a misguided war. we will open ""america houses"" in cities across the islamic world, with internet, libraries, english lessons, stories of america s muslims and the strength they add to our country, and vocational programs. through a new "" america s voice corps"" we will recruit, train, and send out into the field talented young americans who can speak with -- and listen to -- the people who today hear about us only from our enemies., as president, i will lead this effort. in the first 100 days of my administration, i will travel to a major islamic forum and deliver an address to redefine our struggle. i will make clear that we are not at war with islam, that we will stand with those who are willing to stand up for their future, and that we need their effort to defeat the prophets of hate and violence. i will speak directly to that child who looks up at that helicopter, and my message will be clear: ""you matter to us. your future is our future. and our moment is now."", this brings me to the fourth step in my strategy: i will make clear that the days of compromising our values are over., major general paul eaton had a long and distinguished career serving this country. it included training the iraqi army. after abu ghraib, his senior iraqi advisor came into his office and said: ""you have no idea how this will play out on the streets of baghdad and the rest of the arab world. how can this be?"" this was not the america he had looked up to., as the counter-insurgency manual reminds us, we cannot win a war unless we maintain the high ground and keep the people on our side. but because the administration decided to take the low road, our troops have more enemies. because the administration cast aside international norms that reflect american values, we are less able to promote our values. when i am president, america will reject torture without exception. america is the country that stood against that kind of behavior, and we will do so again., i also will reject a legal framework that does not work. there has been only one conviction at guantanamo. it was for a guilty plea on material support for terrorism. the sentence was 9 months. there has not been one conviction of a terrorist act. i have faith in america s courts, and i have faith in our jags. as president, i will close guantanamo, reject the military commissions act, and adhere to the geneva conventions. our constitution and our uniform code of military justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists., this administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. i will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our constitution and our freedom., that means no more illegal wire-tapping of american citizens. no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. no more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. that is not who we are. and it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. the fisa court works. the separation of powers works. our constitution works. we will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary., this administration acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our security. it is, not. there are no short-cuts to protecting america, and that is why the fifth part of my strategy is doing the hard and patient work to secure a more resilient homeland., too often this administration s approach to homeland security has been to scatter money around and avoid hard choices, or to scare americans without telling them what to be scared of, or what to do. a department set up to make americans feel safer didn t even show up when bodies drifted through the streets in new orleans. , my administration will take an approach to homeland security guided by risk. i will establish a quadrennial review at the department of homeland security -- just like at the pentagon -- to undertake a top to bottom review of the threats we face and our ability to confront them. and i will develop a comprehensive national infrastructure protection plan that draws on both local know-how and national priorities., we have to put resources where our infrastructure is most vulnerable. that means tough and permanent standards for securing our chemical plants. improving our capability to screen cargo and investing in safeguards that will prevent the disruption of our ports. and making sure our energy sector -- our refineries and pipelines and power grids -- is protected so that terrorists cannot cripple our economy., we also have to get past a top-down approach. folks across america are the ones on the front lines. on 9/11, it was citizens -- empowered by their knowledge of the world trade center attacks -- who protected our government by heroically taking action on flight 93 to keep it from reaching our nation s capital. when i have information that can empower americans, i will share it with them., information sharing with state and local governments must be a two-way street, because we never know where the two pieces of the puzzle are that might fit together -- the tip from afghanistan, and the cop who sees something suspicious on michigan avenue. i will increase funding to help train police to gather information and connect it to the intelligence they receive from the federal government. i will address the problem in our prisons, where the most disaffected and disconnected americans are being explicitly targeted for conversion by al qaeda and its ideological allies., and my administration will not permit more lives to be lost because emergency responders are not outfitted with the communications capability and protective equipment their job requires, or because the federal government is too slow to respond when disaster strikes. we ve been through that on 9/11. we ve been through it during katrina. i will ensure that we have the resources and competent federal leadership we need to support our communities when american lives are at stake., but this effort can t just be about what we ask of our men and women in uniform. it can t just be about how we spend our time or our money., it s about the kind of country we are., we are in the early stages of a long struggle. yet since 9/11, we ve heard a lot about what america can t do or shouldn t do or won t even try. we can t vote against a misguided war in iraq because that would make us look weak, or talk to other countries because that would be a reward. we can t reach out to the hundreds of millions of muslims who reject terror because we worry they hate us. we can t protect the homeland because there are too many targets, or secure our people while staying true to our values. we can t get past the america of red and blue, the politics of who s up and who s down., that is not the america that i know., the america i know is the last, best hope for that child looking up at a helicopter. it s the country that put a man on the moon; that defeated fascism and helped rebuild europe. it s a country whose strength abroad is measured not just by armies, but rather by the power of our ideals, and by our purpose to forge an ever more perfect union at home., that s the america i know. we just have to act like it again to write that next chapter in the american story. if we do, we can keep america safe while extending security and opportunity around the world. we can hold true to our values, and in doing so advance those values abroad. and we can be what that child looking up at a helicopter needs us to be: the relentless opponent of terror and tyranny, and the light of hope to the world., to make this story reality, it s going to take americans coming together and changing the fundamental direction of this country. it s going to take the service of a new generation of young people. it s going to take facing tragedy head-on and turning it into the next generation s triumph. that is a challenge that i welcome. because when we do make that change, we ll do more than win a war -- we ll live up to that calling to make america, and the world, safer, freer, and more hopeful than we found it., ,"	
", thank you, commander kurpius, for that introduction and for your leadership, and let me acknowledge the incoming national commander george lisicki. i want to thank all of the members of the veterans of foreign wars of the united states of america for inviting me here today. i m glad to see rich coombe, the state commander for illinois. and let me say a word of acknowledgment to the 90,000 illinoisans who are vfw members., to america s veterans, our country must speak with one voice: we honor your service, and we enter into a sacred trust with you from the moment you put on that uniform. that trust is simple: america will be there for you just as you have been there for america., as a candidate for the presidency, i know that i am running to become commander-in-chief - to safeguard this nation s security, and to keep that sacred trust. there is no responsibility that i take more seriously., we know that the america we live in is the legacy of those who have borne the burden of battle. you are part of an unbroken line ofamericans who threw off the tyranny of a king; who held the country together and set the captives free; who faced down fascism and fought for freedom in korea and vietnam; who liberated kuwait and stopped ethnic cleansing in the balkans; and who fight bravely and brilliantly under our flag today in iraq and afghanistan., keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core american value and a cornerstone of american patriotism. because america s commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end., without that commitment, i probably wouldn t be here today. my grandfather - stanley dunham - enlisted after pearl harbor and went on to march in patton s army. my mother was born at fort leavenworth and my grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line. after my grandfather stood up for his country, america stood by him. he went to college on the gi bill, bought his first home with help from the federal housing authority. then he moved his family west to hawaii, where i was born, and where he and my grandmother helped raise me. he is buried in the punchbowl, the national memorial cemetery of the pacific, where 776 victims of pearl harbor are laid to rest., i knew him when he was older. but i think about him now and then as he enlisted - a man of 23, fresh-faced with a wise-guy grin - when i see young men and women signing up to serve today. these sons and daughters of america are the best and bravest among us. and they are signing up at a time when the dangers that america faces are great., since the end of the cold war, threats from distant corners of the world increasingly pose a direct danger to america. killing fields in rwanda, congo and darfur have offended our common humanity and set back the world s sense of collective security. weak and failing states from africa to central asia to the pacific rim are incubators of resentment and anarchy that can endanger those countries and ours. an assertive russia and a rising china remind us - through words and deeds - that the primacy of our power does not mean our power will go unchallenged. a new age of nuclear proliferation has left the world s most deadly weapons unlocked by more and more countries, with thousands of weapons and stockpiles poorly secured all over the world. at the dawn of the 21st century, the threats we face can no longer be contained by borders and boundaries., that is the lesson of 9/11. we will never forget the 3,000 americans killed on 9/11 - more than we lost at pearl harbor. the threat did not come from a dictator, a state, or an empire - it came from stateless terrorists. these violent extremists are a small minority in the muslim world. they distort islam. they hate america. they kill man, woman and child. and they seek, a repressive caliphate that would resemble afghanistan under the taliban., our brave young men and women have signed up to make these burdens their own. they have come face to face with the threats of the 21st century, and they have been asked to bear an evolving and ever-increasing load. peacekeeping missions. intelligence gathering. training foreign militaries. earthquake and tsunami relief. fighting with afghan allies to topple the taliban. persevering in the deserts and cities of iraq. the u.s. military has answered when called, and the verdict on their performance is clear: through their commitment, their courage, and their capability they have done us all proud., what we need is civilian leadership that lives up this service. we had a chance to deliver a decisive blow to the taliban and al qaeda and to bring this country together with unity of effort and purpose. instead, we went to war in iraq - a war that i opposed - with no plan for how to win the peace, shifting our focus, straining our military, splitting our country, and sacrificing our global standing., i want to be clear. our troops have performed brilliantly in iraq. they have done everything we have asked of them. they have won every battle they have fought. they have built schools and trained battalions. i know there are honest differences about the next steps that we should take. and the truth is - there are no good options., all of our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in iraq. and no matter how brilliantly and bravely our troops and their commanders perform, they cannot and should not bear the responsibility of resolving grievances at the heart of iraq s civil war. no military surge can succeed without political reconciliation and a surge of diplomacy in iraq and the region. iraq s leaders are not reconciling. they are not achieving political benchmarks. the only thing they seem to have agreed on is to take a vacation. that is why i have pushed for a careful and responsible redeployment of troops engaged in combat operations out of iraq, joined with direct and sustained diplomacy in the region. and that is why i will continue to push the president to change our policy., one reason to stop fighting the wrong war is so that we can fight the right war against terrorism and extremism. and my judgment - based in part on the clear findings of the national intelligence estimate - is that the most direct terrorist threat to our homeland comes from al qaeda operating in afghanistan and pakistan., that s why earlier this month, i laid out a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy. that plan has five elements. first, we need to end the war in iraq and focus on the terrorists in afghanistan and pakistan, and i would re-enforce our mission in afghanistan with at least two brigades. second, we need to develop our capabilities to take down terrorist networks and secure nuclear weapons. third, we need to dry up support for extremism, because we cannot win the long war unless we win more hearts and minds in the muslim world. fourth, we need to restore our values, because as the counter-insurgency manual reminds us, torture sets back our mission to keep the people on our side. and fifth, we need to protect our homeland by setting common sense priorities., in laying out this strategy, i am guided by the understanding that there is no more awesome responsibility that is placed in a president s hand than protecting our country and our security. i believe that this strategy is one that we must pursue, guided by the principle that we must act swiftly and strongly against clear and imminent threats to our security. i will act with proper regard for the costs and consequences of action, based on the advice of military commanders and with a clear statement of purpose and policy to the american people. because a president can choose to go to war, but the country must be prepared to sustain it. that depends upon knowing why we are fighting, what clear goal we are fighting for, and how we plan to win the peace., and as we implement this comprehensive strategy, and phase out of iraq and bolster our mission in afghanistan, i believe we can then focus on rebuilding our military and taking better care of our servicemen and women. in an obama administration, i will ensure that america goes to war with the armed forces it needs. our troops should not be over-stretched. we need to ensure that our ability to respond to threats around the world is never compromised. and i will always respect - and not ignore - the advice of military commanders. but i will also make clear that when i am president, the buck will stop in the oval office., we know our troops will answer the call. but we must issue that call responsibly. the wars in iraq and afghanistan have been marked by repeated and unpredictable deployments. aircraft bound for home have been turned around. soldiers and marines have served two, three or four tours. retention rates of west point graduates are approaching records lows. we need to keep these battle-hardened majors and captains so they can become tomorrow s generals. we need predictable rotations. we need to deploy troops at an appropriate state of, readiness., i will add 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 marines to relieve the strain on our ground forces. i will maintain our technological edge and invest in the capabilities we need to succeed in the missions of the 21st century. that means training for critical languages like arabic, for civil affairs, and for increased special forces. and i will heed the call for greater civilian capacity. our troops, trained for war, are serving as water and electricity experts in baghdad and agricultural advisors in kandahar. the finest military in the world needs civilian partners who can carry out critical missions. we need to strengthen and integrate all aspects of american might., and this is not just about programs and policies. it s about people. part of our sacred trust with the men and women who serve is also providing the equipment they need. we ve had troops deploying to iraq who had to buy life-saving equipment on-line. that s not america. that s not who we are. as president, i will ensure that every service-member has what they need to do the job safely and successfully., and the strain of service is great in a place where a threat can come from a pile by the side of the road, a seemingly friendly face in the crowd, or a mortar lobbed into a base. just the other day we learned there were at least 99 suicides in the army last year - the most in a quarter century., to keep our sacred trust, i will improve mental health screening and treatment at all levels: from enlistment, to deployment, to reentry into civilian life. no service-member should be kicked out of the military because they are struggling with untreated ptsd. no veteran should have to fill out a 23-page claim to get care, or wait months - even years - to get an appointment at the va. we need more mental health professionals, more training to recognize signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care. and to treat a signature wound of these wars, we need clear standards of care for traumatic brain injury., we also need to provide more services to our military families. let me thank the vfw for helping families with everything from repairs and errands to calling cards that bring a loved one nearer. efforts like operation uplink make a huge difference. you are filling in some of the painful spaces in peoples  lives. and anyone who has visited our military hospitals has seen wonderful spouses who don t see visiting hours as part-time. that s why i passed a bill to provide family members with a year of job protection, so they never have to face a choice between caring for a loved one and keeping a job., i have also fought to improve shameful care for wounded warriors. i led a bipartisan effort to improve outpatient facilities, slash red tape, and reform the disability review process - because recovering troops should always go to the front of the line, and they shouldn t have to fight to get there., but we know that the sacred trust cannot expire when the uniform comes off. when we fail to keep faith with our veterans, the bond between our nation and our nation s heroes becomes frayed. when a veteran is denied care, we are all dishonored. it s not enough to lay a wreath on memorial day, or to pay tribute to our veterans in speeches. a proud and grateful nation owes more than ceremonial gestures and kind words., caring for those who serve - and for their families - is a fundamental responsibility of the commander-in-chief. it is not a separate cost. it is a cost of war. it is something i ve fought for as a member of the senate committee on veterans  affairs. and it is something i will fight for as president of the united states., it s time for comprehensive reform. when i am president, building a 21st century va to serve our veterans will be an equal priority to building a 21st century military to fight our wars. my secretary of veteran s affairs will be just as important as my secretary of defense. no more shortfalls - it s time to fully fund the va medical center. no more delays - it s time to pass on-time va budgets each and every year. no more means testing - it s time to allow all veterans back into the va. i will immediately reverse a policy that led the va to turn away nearly 1 million middle and low-income veterans since 2003., the va will also be at the cutting edge of my plan for universal health care, with better preventive care, more research and specialty treatment, and more vet centers, particularly in rural areas., i will revamp an overburdened benefits system. the vfw has done a remarkable job helping more than 120,000 veterans a year navigate the broken vba bureaucracy, but you shouldn t have to do it alone. i will hire additional workers, and create an electronic system that is fully linked up to military records and the va s health network., one of the most admired principles of the u.s. military is that no one gets left behind. yet too often america does not keep faith with this principle. on any given night, more than 200,000 veterans are homeless. we re already hearing about hundreds of homeless iraq war vets. that s not right. that s not keeping our sacred trust. we must not leave these men and women behind. my principle will be simple: zero tolerance. zero tolerance for veterans sleeping on the streets. i ve fought for this in the senate, and as president i ll expand housing vouchers, and i ll launch a new supportive services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their families from sliding into homelessness., i ll also keep faith with america s veterans by helping them achieve their dreams. we need a g.i. bill for the 21st century. an obama administration will expand access to education for our veterans, and increase benefits to keep pace with rising costs. all who wear the uniform of the united states are entitled to the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the g.i. bill., and our sacred trust does not end when a service-member dies. the graves of our veterans are hallowed ground. when men and women who die in service to this country are laid to rest, there must be no protests near the funerals. it s wrong and it needs to stop. ., over 100 years ago, a handful of veterans from the spanish-american war came together in places like a tailor shop in columbus, ohio. at the time, america had no medical care, no pensions for its returning warriors. folks could raise their voice, but washington didn t listen. so these men banded together and started a movement. they cared for each other and made the case for their rights. they founded local organizations all across this country. in 1915 there were 5,000 members. today, you have nearly 2 million members., the veterans of foreign wars represents the best of america - the courage to fight for our country abroad, and coming together at home for a cause., oliver wendell holmes once remarked that ""to fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might."", the americans who fight today believe in this country deeply. and no matter how many you meet, or how many stories of heroism you hear, every encounter reminds you that they are truly special. that through their service, they are living out the ideals that stir so many of us as americans - pride, duty, and sacrifice., some of the most inspiring are those you meet at places like walter reed medical center. young men and women who may have lost a limb or even their ability to take care of themselves, but will never lose the pride they feel for serving their country. they re not interested in self-pity, but yearn to move forward with their lives. and it s this classically american optimism that makes you realize the quality of person we have serving in the united states armed forces., i know all of us don t agree on everything. i have heard those of you who disagree with me. i want you to know that i respect the views of all who come to this hall today. i will listen to them as a candidate, and i will listen to them as president. and i will be clear that whatever disagreements we have on policy, there will be no daylight between us when it comes to honoring these men and women who serve, and keeping faith with our veterans. this is not a partisan issue. this is a moral obligation. this must be a beachhead for bringing our country together., some like to say this country is divided. but that is not how i choose to see it. i see a country that all of us love - a country that my grandfather served, and that my father crossed an ocean to reach. i see values that all of us share - values of liberty, equality, and service to a common good and a greater good. i see a flag that we fly with pride. i see an america that is the strongest nation in the history of the world - not just because of our arms, but because of the strength of our values, and of the men and women who serve., as president franklin roosevelt said in his final inaugural: ""the almighty god has blessed our land in many ways. he has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. he has given to our country a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world."" with that strength comes great responsibility - to join our strength with wisdom, and to keep that light of hope burning as a beacon to the world. and there is no responsibility greater than keeping faith with the men and women who serve, so that our country serves them as well as you have served us. let that be our calling. and let history find us never wanting., as prepared for delivery, , 				, 		paid for by obama for america 		powered by obama  08 (and supporters just like you). privacy policy terms of service contact us, 				, 				,"	
", i have been running for president now for a little more than six months. and everywhere we ve gone we ve seen these huge crowds just like this one. we saw 10,000 in iowa city. 20,000 in austin. 20,000 in atlanta., it s not just the numbers themselves that are so inspiring. it s the people behind those numbers. they re young and old; black and white, latino, asian, and native american. they re democrats and independents and more than a few republicans. many are showing up to the very first political event of their lifetime., the conventional thinking in washington tells us that we re a country divided into red states and blue states; that we re doomed to fight the same tired partisan battles over and over again. they tell us we can t come together to take on big challenges like health care, or energy, or education; that we can t agree on what america should be, so we might as well settle for the way america is right now., but these crowds tell me something else. they tell me that when it comes to what s wrong with this country, the american people are not the problem. the american people are the answer., we re here today - you and i - because we believe in what this country can be. in the face of war, we believe there can be peace. in the face of despair, we believe there can be hope. in the face of a politics that s shut us out, that s told us to settle, that s divided us for too long, we believe we can be one people, reaching for what s possible, building that more perfect union., that s why we re here., we know we need a new direction. and that change begins with an end to the bush-cheney administration. their years haven t just been bad years for democrats. they ve been bad years for america., we ve seen the triumph of ideology over reason; of cronyism over competence. we ve seen the constitution of the united states treated as a nuisance instead of the founding document of our democracy. we ve seen policies that have widened the divide between wall street and main street and marginalized organized labor at a time when american workers need a voice most. we ve seen fellow citizens abandoned on rooftops after a storm. and we ve seen a disastrous war in iraq that should never have been authorized and never been waged., but we also know that, as bad as george bush has been, it s going to take more than a change of parties in the white house to truly turn this country around. george bush and dick cheney may have turned divisive, special-interest politics into an art form, but they didn t invent it. it was there before they got to washington, and if you and i don t stand up and challenge it, it will be there long after they leave., and so we face a choice in this election., do we continue the cynical math that says it s a winning strategy to divide our country in two, and simply ignore the half that doesn t agree? or do we find our stake in each other as americans, united again by a sense of common purpose and a common destiny?, do we continue the conventional washington thinking on foreign policy that led us to this tragic war in iraq? or do we recognize the challenges of a new world, and engage with friends and foes in a way that restores america s moral leadership and security?, do we continue to allow lobbyists to veto our progress? or do we finally put our national interests ahead of the special interests, and address the concerns people feel over their jobs, their health care and their children s future?, that s why i m running for president of the united states., because to meet america s challenges, changing parties isn t change enough. we need something new. we need to turn the page., there are those who tout their experience working the system in washington - but the problem is that the system in washington isn t working for us and hasn t for a long time., think about it. we ve been talking about the health care crisis in this country for decades. yet through democratic and republican administrations we ve failed to act. and you know why - because the drug and insurance industry has spent over a billion dollars on lobbying in the past ten years alone to block reform. we ve heard promises of energy independence for decades, yet every year, the oil and gas lobbyists use their clout and their money to keep us addicted to fossil fuels., too many in washington see politics as a game. and that is why i believe this election cannot be about who can play this game better. it has to be about who can put an end to the game-playing. the times are too serious; the stakes are too high. and the change that s required, this new spirit of responsibility and honesty; of seriousness and sacrifice, starts with you. it starts with millions of people across this country, coming together to demand something better., i have never seen politics as a game. from the day i decided to become a community organizer on the south side of chicago over two decades ago, i have always seen politics as a mission - as the way we hold this country up to our highest ideals. and when we ve fallen short of those ideals, it s this sense of mission that has compelled americans of all backgrounds and beliefs to put aside their differences and push their shoulder against the wheel of history in search of a better day., it s this sense of mission that led my grandfather to enlist after pearl harbor and sent my grandmother to a bomber assembly line. it s what led thousands of young people i ll never know to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses so that we all might be free. it s what led my father to keep writing letters until someone answered his prayer and gave him his ticket to america. and it s what led me to those poor neighborhoods in chicago, so that i could do my part to help folks who had lost jobs and lost hope when the local steel plant closed., it s politics as a mission. and if you don t spend your whole life in washington, it becomes easier to remember what this means. the other day i got head to out to california because the service employees  union had organized an event where i would walk in the shoes of one of their members for a day. and so i woke up at five a.m. and met up with this sixty-one-year-old woman named pauline beck who was a home care worker. every day of her life she wakes up and she takes care of two foster children who do not have a family of their own. then she goes to work and she takes care of an eighty-seven-year-old amputee. and so i went with her to work, and we scrubbed the floors and we did the laundry and cleaned the rooms., it was one of the best days i ve had on the campaign so far. because it reminded me of what we re doing here. listening to this humble woman talk about the hardships of her life without a trace of self-pity, glad she could be of some service to somebody, just wanting a little bit more pay to take care of those kids, a little more security for her retirement, maybe a day off once in awhile to rest her tired back, i was reminded that for all the noise and the pettiness coming out of washington, what holds this country together is this fundamental belief that we all have a stake in each other - that i am my brother s keeper; that i am my sister s keeper. and that must express itself not only in our churches and synagogues or in our personal lives, but in our government too., now, when the folks in washington hear me speak, this is usually when they start rolling their eyes. ""oh, there he goes talking about hope again. he s so naive. he s a hope peddler. he s a hope-monger."", well i stand guilty as charged. i am hopeful about america. apparently the pundits consider this a chronic condition, a symptom of a lack of experience., i used to wonder what they meant, this whole experience argument, because i ve been fighting for people as a public servant for over two decades - as a community organizer, a civil rights lawyer, a constitutional law professor, a state senator, and a u.s. senator., but then i came to realize that to this bunch, only the years you spend in washington count. only time in washington translates into wisdom., i think they are wrong about that. recent history suggests otherwise. there were a couple of guys named cheney and rumsfeld who had two of the longest resumes in washington and they led us into the worst foreign policy fiasco in our history. time served doesn t guarantee judgment. a resume does nothing about character., so let me tell you about a different kind of experience - the experience i bring to this race., my experience tells me that real change and progress comes not by dividing, but by bringing people together to get things done - like when i worked with police officers and civil rights advocates to reform a death penalty system that had sent thirteen innocent people in illinois to death row. or when i worked with republicans and democrats to expand health care for 150,000 illinoisans, or put $100 million worth of tax cuts in the pockets of working families. or when i worked with my republican colleague, dick lugar, to pass a law securing dangerous weapons in the old soviet union., my experience tells me that real change and reform come when we re willing to put the people s interests before the special interests and partisan interests. that s what i did in illinois when i took on money in politics and passed the first ethics reform in twenty-five years, and that s what i did in washington when i passed a law that earned me the cold shoulder from leaders of both parties - for the first time in history, washington lobbyists will have to disclose who they re raising money from and who in congress they re funneling it to., my experience tells me that real change and security come when we re willing to make foreign policy decisions based not on what s popular in washington, but what s right for america - based on a real understanding of the world. that s why i resisted the tide in my campaign for the us senate and opposed the war in iraq from the start. as we saw then, longevity in washington is no guarantee of good judgment., so let s be clear - there are a lot of people who have been in washington longer than me; who have better connections and go to the right dinner parties and know how to talk the washington talk. well i might not have the experience washington likes, but i believe i have the experience america needs right now. hope and change are not just the rhetoric of a campaign for me. hope and change have been the causes of my life. hope and change are the story of our country. and we re here today to continue that story., we re here to infuse the old washington politics with a new sense of mission - to unite people around a common purpose. to rally americans around a common destiny. we aren t just here to win an election. we are here to transform a nation., i do not accept that in the richest nation on earth we have to stand by while 47 million americans have no health care and millions more are on the verge of bankruptcy because of their medical bills. my mother died of ovarian cancer in the prime of her life and do you know what she was most worried about in those final months? she was between jobs when she was diagnosed and she wasn t sure whether insurance would cover her treatment. so i know what it s like to see a loved one suffer because of a broken health care system. i know that it s wrong. and i know that s not who we are., when i am president, we will have universal health care in this country by the end of my first term in office. it s a plan that will cover every american and cut the cost of a typical family s premiums by $2500 a year. and i will not let the drug and insurance companies spend another billion dollars to block reform - because people like my mother shouldn t have to worry about bankruptcy every time they get sick. we re better than that., i do not accept that we have to keep sending $800 million a day to hostile nations because of our addiction to foreign oil - a dependency that fuels both sides of the war on terror and is melting the polar ice caps in the bargain. we can meet our moral obligation to future generations and halt the march of global warming., i have a plan to raise our fuel standards that s won the support of some lawmakers who had never supported raising fuel standards before. and i didn t just give a speech about it in front of some environmental audience in california - i went right to detroit and said it in front of a group of automakers. now i have to admit - the room was pretty quiet. but i did it because i don t think we re going to get anywhere in this country by just telling everyone what they want to hear. we have to tell people what they need to hear. we have to tell people the truth. and you shouldn t expect anything less from your president., i don t accept that we can t give every single child in america a world-class education. we know countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. but it s bigger than that. the america we believe in isn t a country where millions of children are robbed of their opportunity by failing schools. and the answer isn t just a snappy slogan., to truly leave no child behind, we have to make a genuine commitment to educational opportunity for all, from cradle to adulthood. this country should be focusing on the most important part of any child s achievement - the person standing at the front of the classroom. as president, i will launch a campaign to recruit an army of new teachers, and we ll pay them better, and give them more support, and help them reach high standards by working with them, not working against them. i will invest in early childhood education so that every child has the best possible start in life. and while we re at it, let s finally make a college degree affordable and available to every american, and bolster our community colleges to help educate and train america s workers. we can do that., i do not accept that the american dream is a thing of the past. on this labor day, let s give american workers more than a parade. let s give them policies that actually value their work. let s provide them with a living wage. let s allow our unions do what they do best again - organize our workers and lift up our middle-class. and let s stop giving tax breaks to the companies who send them overseas and start giving them to companies who create jobs right here in america. we can do this., finally, i do not accept an america that has lost its moral standing in the community of nations. today there is no greater mission than keeping america safe and restoring america s image in the world., that starts with ending this war. i opposed the war in iraq from the start. i said then that iraq was the wrong battlefield; that we would find ourselves mired in a lengthy civil war, diverting our attention from al qaeda in afghanistan. and i introduced a plan back in january that would have gradually and responsibly removed all combat troops from iraq by march 30th, 2008. the president vetoed a plan just like this last spring, but we will be debating the war again next week. now is the time to keep the pressure on all those republican senators and congressmen who continue to support the president s failed course. we can end this war without george bush. and if we don t, then it will be the first thing i do as president of the united states., but the change that is needed extends beyond ending the war. to repair the damage, to meet the dangers and seize the opportunities of this new century, the old formulas will not do. we need to turn the page on the bush-cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don t like. that doesn t make us look tough. it makes us look arrogant. i m not afraid that i ll lose a propaganda battle with a bunch of dictators. strong countries and strong presidents shouldn t be afraid to talk to our adversaries to tell them where america stands. that s why i will - because that s how tough, principled and smart diplomacy works., i want to go before the united nations as president and say, ""america s back."" it s time for america to lead again. it s time to fight on the right battlefield in rooting out al qaeda. it s time to lead by building schools in the middle east that teach math and science instead of hatred. it s time for us to close guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus. it s time to show the world that we are not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far off countries. that we are not a country that looks away while innocents are slaughtered in darfur. that we are not a country that runs prisons which lock people away without ever telling them why they are there or what they are charged with., that is not who we are., we are the last, best hope of earth. we are the nation that liberated a continent from a madman, that lifted ourselves from the depths of depression, that won civil rights, and women s rights, and voting rights for all our people. we are the beacon that has led generations of weary travelers to find opportunity, and liberty, and hope on our doorstep. that s who we are. and that s who we can be again., i am reminded every single day that i am not a perfect man. i will not be a perfect president. but i can promise you this - i will always tell you what i think and where i stand. i will be honest with you about the challenges we face. i will listen to you when we disagree. and most importantly, i will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your own democracy again., i know what i m asking is hard. i know that politics and politicians have disappointed you so many times before, to the point where sometimes it seems easier to just tune out and walk away. but what you have to remember is that when you walk away, the same old politics wins, ,"	
", a few months ago, i met a woman who told me her nephew was leaving for iraq. as she started to tell me about how much she d miss him and how worried she was about him, she began to cry. ""i can t breathe,  she said. ""i want to know when i am going to be able to breathe again. , i have her on my mind when i think about what we ve gone through as a country and where we need to go. because we ve been holding our breath over iraq for five years. as we go through yet another debate about yet another phase of this misguided war, we ve got a familiar feeling. again, we re told that progress is upon us. again,, we re asked to hold our breath a little longer. again, we re reminded of what s gone wrong with our policies and our politics., it was five years ago today - on september 12, 2002 - that president bush made his case for war at the united nations. standing in front of a world that stood with us after 9/11, he said, ""in the attacks on america a year ago, we saw the destructive intentions of our enemies.  then he talked about saddam hussein - a man who had nothing to do with 9/11. but citing the lesson of 9/11, he and others said we had to act. ""to suggest otherwise,  the president said, ""is to hope against the evidence. , george bush was wrong. the people who attacked us on 9/11 were in afghanistan, not iraq. al qaeda in iraq didn t exist before our invasion. the case for war was built on exaggerated fears and empty evidence - so much so that bob graham, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, decided to vote against the war after he read the national intelligence estimate., but conventional thinking in washington lined up for war. the pundits judged the political winds to be blowing in the direction of the president. despite - or perhaps because of how much experience they had in washington, too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask hard questions. too many took the president at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves. congress gave the president the authority to go to war. our only opportunity to stop the war was lost., i made a different judgment. i thought our priority had to be finishing the fight in afghanistan. i spoke out against what i called ""a rash war  in iraq. i worried about, ""an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.  the full accounting of those costs and consequences will only be known to history. but the picture is beginning to come into focus., nearly 4,000 americans have been killed in iraq. five times that number have suffered horrible wounds, seen and unseen. loved ones have been lost, dreams denied. children will grow up without fathers and mothers. parents have outlived their children. that is a cost of this war., when all is said and done, the price-tag will run over a trillion dollars. a trillion dollars. that s money not spent on homeland security and counter-terrorism; on providing health care to all americans and a world-class education to every child; on investments in energy to save ourselves and our planet from an addiction to oil. that is a cost of this war., the excellence of our military is unmatched. but as a result of this war, our forces are under pressure as never before. our national guard and reserves have half of the equipment they need to respond to emergencies at home and abroad. retention among west point graduates is down. our powers of deterrence and influence around the world are down. that is a cost of this war., america s standing has suffered. our diplomacy has been compromised by a refusal to talk to people we don t like. our alliances have been compromised by bluster. our credibility has been compromised by a faulty case for war. our moral leadership has been compromised by abu ghraib. that is a cost of this war., perhaps the saddest irony of the administration s cynical use of 9/11 is that the iraq war has left us less safe than we were before 9/11. osama bin ladin and his top lieutenants have rebuilt a new base in pakistan where they freely train recruits, plot new attacks, and disseminate propaganda. the taliban is resurgent in afghanistan. iran has emerged as the greatest strategic challenge to america in the middle east in a generation. violent extremism has increased. terrorism has increased. all of that is a cost of this war., after 9/11, instead of the politics of unity, we got a political strategy of division with the war in iraq as its centerpiece. the only thing we were asked to do for our country was support a misguided war. we lost that sense of common purpose as americans. and we re not going to be a truly united and resolute america until we can stop holding our breath, until we can come together to reclaim our foreign policy and our politics and end this war that has cost us so much., so there is something unreal about the debate that s taking place in washington., with all that our troops and their families have sacrificed, with all this war has cost us, and with no discernible end in sight, the same people who told us we would be greeted as liberators, about democracy spreading across the middle east, about striking a decisive blow against terrorism, about an insurgency in its last throes - those same people are now trumpeting the uneven and precarious containment of brutal sectarian violence as if it validates all of their failed decisions., the bar for success is so low that it is almost buried in the sand., the american people have had enough of the shifting spin. we ve had enough of extended deadlines for benchmarks that go unmet. we ve had enough of mounting costs in iraq and missed opportunities around the world. we ve had enough of a war that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged., i opposed this war from the beginning. i opposed the war in 2002. i opposed it in 2003. i opposed it in 2004. i opposed it in 2005. i opposed it in 2006. i introduced a plan in january to remove all of our combat brigades by next march. and i am here to say that we have to begin to end this war now., my plan for ending the war would turn the page in iraq by removing our combat troops from iraq s civil war; by taking a new approach to press for a new accord on reconciliation within iraq; by talking to all of iraq s neighbors to press for a compact in the region; and by confronting the human costs of this war., first, we need to immediately begin the responsible removal of our troops from iraq s civil war. our troops have performed brilliantly. they brought saddam hussein to justice. they have fought for over four years to give iraqis a chance for a better future. but they cannot - and should not - bear the responsibility for resolving the grievances at the heart of iraq s civil war., recent news only confirms this. the administration points to selective statistics to make the case for staying the course. killings and mortar attacks and car bombs in certain districts are down from the highest levels we ve seen. but they re still at the same horrible levels they were at 18 months ago or two years ago. experts will tell you that the killings are down in some places because the ethnic cleansing has already taken place. that s hardly a cause for triumphalism., the stated purpose of the surge was to enable iraq s leaders to reconcile. but as the recent report from the government accountability office confirms, the iraqis are not reconciling. our troops fight and die in the 120 degree heat to give iraq s leaders space to agree, but they aren t filling it. they are not moving beyond their centuries-old sectarian conflicts, they are falling further back into them., we hear a lot about how violence is down in parts of anbar province. but this has little to do with the surge - it s because sunni tribal leaders made a political decision to turn against al qaeda in iraq. this only underscores the point - the solution in iraq is political, it is not military., violence is contained in some parts of baghdad. that s no surprise. our troops have cleared these neighborhoods at great costs. but our troops cannot police baghdad indefinitely - only iraqis can. rather than use our presence to make progress, the iraqi government has put off taking responsibility - that s the finding of a commission headed by general jim jones. and our troop presence cannot be sustained without crippling our military s ability to respond to other contingencies., let me be clear: there is no military solution in iraq, and there never was. the best way to protect our security and to pressure iraq s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. not in six months or one year - now., we should enter into talks with the iraqi government to discuss the process of our drawdown. we must get out strategically and carefully, removing troops from secure areas first, and keeping troops in more volatile areas until later. but our drawdown should proceed at a steady pace of one or two brigades each month. if we start now, all of our combat brigades should be out of iraq by the end of next year., we will need to retain some forces in iraq and the region. we ll continue to strike at al qaeda in iraq. we ll protect our forces as they leave, and we will continue to protect u.s. diplomats and facilities. if - but only if - iraq makes political progress and their security forces are not sectarian, we should continue to train and equip those forces. but we will set our own direction and our own pace, and our direction must be out of iraq. the future of our military, our foreign policy, and our national purpose cannot be hostage to the inaction of the iraqi government., removing our troops is part of applying real pressure on iraq s leaders to end their civil war. some argue that we should just replace prime minister maliki. but that wouldn t solve the problem. we shouldn t be in the business of supporting coups. and remember - before maliki, we said that we just needed to replace the last prime minister to make everything all right. it didn t work., the problems in iraq are bigger than one man. iraq needs a new constitutional convention that would include representatives from all levels of iraqi society - in and out of government. the united nations should play a central role in convening and participating in this convention, which should not adjourn until a new accord on national reconciliation is reached. to reconcile, the iraqis must also meet key political benchmarks outside of the constitutional process, including new local elections and revising debaathification., now the iraqis may come out of this process choosing some kind of soft partition into three regions - one sunni, one shia, one kurd. but it must be their choice. america should not impose the division of iraq., while we change the dynamic within iraq, we must surge our diplomacy in the region., at every stage of this war, we have suffered because of disdain for diplomacy. we have not brought allies to the table. we have refused to talk to people we don t like. and we have failed to build a consensus in the region. as a result, iraq is more violent, the region is less stable, and america is less secure., we need to launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in recent history to reach a new compact in the region. this effort should include all of iraq s neighbors, and we should also bring in the united nations security council. all of us have a stake in iraq s stability. it s time to make this less about what america is trying to do for iraq, and more about what the world can do with iraq., this compact must secure iraq s borders, keep neighbors from meddling, isolate al qaeda, and support iraq s unity. that means helping our turkish and kurdish friends reach an understanding. that means pressing sunni states like saudi arabia to stop the flow of foreign fighters into iraq, increase their financial support of reconstruction efforts, and encourage iraqi sunnis to reconcile with their fellow iraqis. and that means turning the page on the bush-cheney policy of not talking to syria and iran., conventional thinking in washington says presidents cannot lead this diplomacy. but i think the american people know better. not talking doesn t make us look tough - it makes us look arrogant. and it doesn t get results. strong presidents tell their adversaries where they stand, and that s what i would do. that s how tough and principled diplomacy works. and that s what we need to press syria and iran to stop being part of the problem in iraq., iran poses a grave challenge. it builds a nuclear program, supports terrorism, and threatens israel with destruction. but we hear eerie echoes of the run-up to the war in iraq in the way that the president and vice president talk about iran. they conflate iran and al qaeda, ignoring the violent schism that exists between shiite and sunni militants. they issue veiled threats. they suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out when we haven t even tried direct diplomacy. well george bush and dick cheney must hear - loud and clear - from the american people and the congress: you don t have our support, and you don t have our authorization for another war., george bush suggests that there are two choices with regard to iran. stay the course in iraq or cede the region to the iran. i reject this choice. keeping our troops tied down in iraq is not the way to weaken iran - it s precisely what has strengthened it. president ahmadinejad may talk about filling a vacuum in the region after an american drawdown, but he s badly, mistaken. it s time for a new and robust american leadership. and that should begin with a new cooperative security framework with all of our friends and allies in the persian gulf., now is the time for tough and sustained diplomacy backed by real pressure. it s time to rally the region and the world to our side. and it s time to deliver a direct message to tehran. america is a part of a community of nations. america wants peace in the region. you can give up your nuclear ambitions and support for terror and rejoin the community of nations. or you will face further isolation, including much tighter sanctions. as we deliver this message, we will be stronger - not weaker - if we are disengaging from iraq s civil war., the final part of my plan is a major international initiative to address iraq s humanitarian crisis., president bush likes to warn of the dire consequences of ending the war. he warns of rising iranian influence, but that has already taken place. he warns of growing terrorism, but that has already taken place. and he warns of huge movements of refugees and mass sectarian killing, but that has already taken place. these are not the consequences of a future withdrawal. they are the reality of iraq s present. they are a direct consequence of waging this war. two million iraqis are displaced in their own country. another two million iraqis have fled as refugees to neighboring countries. this mass movement of people is a threat to the security of the middle east and to our common humanity. we have a strategic interest - and a moral obligation - to act., the president would have us believe there are two choices: keep all of our troops in iraq or abandon these iraqis. i reject that choice. we cannot continue to put this burden on our troops alone. i m tired of this notion that we either fight foolish wars or retreat from the world. we are better than that as a nation., there s no military solution that can reunite a family or resettle an orphaned child. it s time to form an international working group with the countries in the region, our european and asian friends, and the united nations. the state department says it has invested $183 million on displaced iraqis this year -- but that is not nearly enough. we can and must do more. we should up our share to at least $2 billion to support this effort; to expand access to social services for refugees in neighboring countries; and to ensure that iraqis displaced inside their own country can find safe-haven., iraqis must know that those who engage in mass violence will be brought to justice. we should lead in forming a commission at the u.n. to monitor and hold accountable perpetrators of war crimes within iraq. we must also put strict conditions on u.s. assistance to direct our support to those who want to hold iraq together - not those who are tearing it apart. the risk of greater atrocities in the short-term cannot deter us from doing what we must to minimize violence in the long-term. yet as we drawdown, we must declare our readiness to intervene with allies to stop genocidal violence., we must also keep faith with iraqis who kept faith with us. one tragic outcome of this war is that the iraqis who stood with america - the interpreters, embassy workers, and subcontractors - are being targeted for assassination. an iraqi named laith who worked for an american organization told a journalist, ""sometimes i feel like we re standing in line for a ticket, waiting to die.  and yet our doors are shut. in april, we admitted exactly one iraqi refugee - just one!, that is not how we treat our friends. that is not how we take responsibility for our own actions. that is not who we are as americans. it s time to at least fill the 7,000 slots that we pledged to iraqi refugees and to be open to accepting even more iraqis at risk. it s also time to go to our friends and allies - and all the members of our original coalition in iraq - to find homes for the many iraqis who are in desperate need of asylum., keeping this moral obligation is a key part of how we turn the page in iraq. because what s at stake is bigger than this war - it s our global leadership. now is a time to be bold. we must not stay the course or take the conventional path because the other course is unknown. to quote dr. brzezinski - we must not allow ourselves to become ""prisoners of uncertainty. , george bush is afraid of this future. that is why all he can do is drag up the past. after all the flawed justifications for his failed policy, he now invokes vietnam as a reason to stay in iraq. let s put aside the strange reasoning - that all would have been well if we had just stayed the course in vietnam. let s put it aside and leave it where it belongs - in the past., now is not the time to reargue the vietnam war - we did that in the 2004 election, and it wasn t pretty. i come from a new generation of americans. i don t want to fight the battles of the 1960s. i want to reclaim the future for america, because we have too many threats to face and too many opportunities to seize. just think about what we can accomplish together when we end this war., when we end this war in iraq, we can finally finish the fight in afghanistan. that is why i propose stepping up our commitment there, with at least two additional combat brigades and a comprehensive program of aid and support to help afghans help themselves., when we end this war in iraq, we can more effectively tackle the twin demons of extremism and hopelessness that threaten the peace of the world and the security of america. that is why i have proposed a program to spread hope - not hate - in the islamic world, to build schools that teach young people to build and not destroy, to support the rule of law and economic development, and to launch a program of outreach to the islamic world that i will lead as president., when we end this war in iraq, we can once again lead the world against the common challenges of the 21st century. against the spread of nuclear weapons and climate change. against genocide in darfur. against ignorance and intolerance. corruption and greed. poverty and despair. when we end this war, we can reclaim the cause of freedom and democracy. we can be that beacon of hope, that light to all the world., when we end this war, we can recapture our unity of effort as americans. the american people have the right instincts on iraq. it s time to heed their judgment. it s time to move beyond iraq so that we can move forward together. i will be a president who listens to the american people, not a president who ignores them., and when we end the war in iraq, we can come together to give our full attention to advancing the cause of health care for every american, an energy policy that does not bankroll hostile nations while we melt the polar ice caps, and a world class education for our children. above all, we can turn the page to a new kind of politics of unity, not division; of hope, not fear., you know, i welcome all of the folks who have changed their position on the war over these last months and years. and we need more of those votes to change if we re going to change the direction of this war. that is why i will keep speaking directly to my colleagues in the congress, both republican and democratic. historically, we have come together in a bipartisan way to deal with our most monumental challenges. we should do so again. we have the power to do this - not as republicans or democrats, but as americans. we don t have to wait until george bush is gone from office - we can begin to end this war today, right now., but if we have learned anything from iraq, it is that the judgment that matters most is the judgment that is made first., martin luther king once stood up at riverside church and said, ""in this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.  we are too late to stop a war that should never have been fought; too late to undo the pain of battle, the anguish of so many families, or the price of the fight; too late to redo the years of division and distraction at home and abroad., but i m here today because it s not too late to come together as americans. because we re not going to be able to deal with the challenges that confront us until we end this war. what we can do is say that we will not be prisoners of uncertainty. that we reject the conventional thinking that led us into iraq and that didn t ask hard questions until it was too late. what we can say is that we are ready for something new and something bold and something principled., ,"	
", seventy-five years ago this week, governor franklin delano roosevelt took his campaign for the presidency to the commonwealth club in san francisco., it was a time when faith in the american economy was shaken - a time when too many of our leaders clung to the conventional thinking that said all we could do is sit idly by and wish that our problems would go away on their own., but franklin roosevelt challenged that cynicism. amid a crisis of confidence roosevelt called for a ""re-appraisal of values."" he made clear that in this country, our right to live must also include the right to live comfortably; that government must favor no small group at the, expense of all its citizens; and that in order for us to prosper as one nation, ""...the responsible heads of finance and industry, instead of acting each for himself, must work together to achieve the common end."", this vision of america would require change that went beyond replacing a failed president. it would require a renewed trust in the market and a renewed spirit of obligation and cooperation between business and workers; between a people and their government. as fdr put it, ""faith in america, faith in our tradition of personal responsibility, faith in our institutions, and faith in ourselves demands that we all recognize the new terms of the old social, contract."", seventy-five years later, this faith is calling us to act once more., we certainly do not face a test of the magnitude that roosevelt s generation did. but we are tested still. we meet at a time when much of wall street is holding its collective breath. here at the nasdaq and all across america, the tickers are being watched with heightened anxiety and considerable uncertainty. there is much anticipation about tomorrow s meeting of the fed, and with each new day, there is hope that the headlines will bring better news than the last., it is a hope shared by millions of americans, men and women, who have experienced this kind of anxiety and uncertainty long before it arrived on wall street. they are the families i meet every day who are working longer hours for a paycheck that isn t getting any bigger and can t seem to cover the rising cost of health care and tuition and taxes. they are the maytag workers i ve met in galesburg, illinois and newton, iowa - workers who believed they would retire and never have to work again; workers who now compete with their teenagers for minimum wage jobs at wal-mart because their factory moved overseas., these americans and many others were already struggling before the problems on wall street arose. now they are looking at their homes and wondering if their greatest source of wealth will still have the same value in another year, or even another month. and we re all wondering whether this will spill over to the wider economy., so we know there is a need right now to restore confidence in our markets. we know there is a need to renew public trust in our markets. but i also think that this is another moment that, requires, in fdr s words, a re-appraisal of our values as a nation., i believe that america s free market has been the engine of america s great progress. it s created a prosperity that is the envy of the world. it s led to a standard of living unmatched in history. and it has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made america a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery., but i also know that in this country, our grand experiment has only worked because we have guided the market s invisible hand with a higher principle., it s the idea that we are all in this together. from ceos to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other s success because the more americans prosper, the more america prospers. that s why we ve had titans of industry who ve made it their mission to pay well enough that their employees could afford the products they made. that s why employees at companies like google don t mind the vast success of their ceos - because they share in that success just the same. and that s why our economy hasn t just been the world s greatest wealth creator - it s been the world s greatest job generator. it s been the tide that has lifted the boats of the largest middle-class in history., we have not come this far because we practice survival of the fittest. america is america because we believe in creating a framework in which all can succeed. our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. and so from time to time, we have put in place certain rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest. we have done this not to stifle prosperity or liberty, but to foster those things and ensure that they are shared and spread as widely as possible., in recent years, we have seen a dangerous erosion of the rules and principles that have allowed our market to work and our economy to thrive. instead of thinking about what s good for america or what s good for business, a mentality has crept into certain corners of washington and the business world that says, ""what s good for me is good enough."", in our government, we see campaign contributions and lobbyists used to cut corners and win favors that stack the deck against businesses and consumers who play by the rules. massive tax cuts are shoved outside the budget window and accounting shenanigans are used to hide the full cost of this war., in the business world, it s a mentality that sees conflicts of interest as opportunities for profit. the quick kill is prized without regard to long-term consequences for the financial system and the economy. and while this may benefit the few who push the envelope as far as it will go, it s doesn t benefit america and it doesn t benefit the market. just because it makes money doesn t mean it s good for business., it s bad for business when boards allow their executives to set the price of their stock options to guarantee that they ll get rich regardless of how they perform. it s bad for the bottom line when ceos receive massive severance packages after letting down shareholders, firing workers and dumping their pensions; or when they throw lavish birthday parties with company funds., it s bad for competition when you have an administration that s willing to approve merger after merger with barely any scrutiny. such an approach stifles innovation, it robs consumers of choice, it means higher prices, and we have to guard against it., and it s bad for the market when there are over $1 trillion worth of loopholes in the corporate tax code, or when some companies get to set up a mailbox in a foreign country to avoid paying any taxes at all. this means a greater share of taxes for americans and small businesses that are trying to compete but can t afford to lobby their way to more loopholes., it also means that investment goes to the companies that are best connected instead of the ones that are most productive. economics 101 tells us special interest politics distorts the free market. after all, why would an oil company invest in research for alternative fuels that could save our environment when they can get billions of dollars in subsidies to keep drilling for oil and gas?, these anti-market, anti-business practices are wasteful, unproductive, and antithetical to the very spirit of capitalism. they benefit the undeserving few at the expense of hardworking americans and entrepreneurs who play by the rules., in fact, the danger with this mentality isn t just that it offends our morals, it s that it endangers our markets. markets can t thrive without the trust of investors and the public. at a most basic level, capital markets work by steering capital to the place where it is most productive., without transparency, that cannot happen. if the information is flawed, if there is fraud, or if the risks facing financial institutions are not fully disclosed, people stop investing because they fear they re being had. when the public trust is abused badly enough, it can bring financial markets to their knees. we all suffer when we do not ensure that markets are transparent, open and honest., we saw this during the dotcom boom of the 90s when conflicts of interest between securities analysts, whose research was supposed to guide investors, and the banks they worked for led investors to doubt the markets in general., we saw it during the enron and worldcom scandals when major public companies artificially pumped up their earnings, disguised their losses and otherwise engaged in accounting fraud to make their profits look better - a practice that ultimately led investors to question the balance sheets of all companies., and we cannot help but see some reflections of these practices when we look at the subprime mortgage fiasco today., subprime lending started off as a good idea - helping americans buy homes who couldn t previously afford to. financial institutions created new financial instruments that could securitize these loans, slice them into finer and finer risk categories and spread them out among investors around the country and around the world., in theory, this should have allowed mortgage lending to be less risky and more diversified. but as certain lenders and brokers began to see how much money could be made, they began to lower their standards. some appraisers began inflating their estimates to get the deals done. some borrowers started claiming income they didn t have just to qualify for the loans, and some were engaging in irresponsible speculation. but many borrowers were tricked into glossing over the fine print. and ratings agencies began rating bundles of different kinds of these loans as low-risk even though they were very high-risk., most everyone knew that some of these deals were just too good to be true, but all that money flowing in made it tempting to look the other way and ignore the unscrupulous practice of some bad actors, and yet, time and again we were warned this could happen. ned gramlich, the former fed governor who sadly passed away two weeks ago, wrote an entire book predicting this very situation. repeated calls for better disclosure and stronger oversight were met with millions in mortgage industry lobbying. far too many continued to put their own short-term gain ahead of what they knew the long-term consequences would be when those rates exploded., those consequences are now clear: nearly 2.5 million homeowners could lose their homes. millions more who had nothing to do with this could see the value of their own home decline - with some estimates projecting a cost of nearly $164 billion, primarily in lost home equity. the projected cost to investors is nearly $150 billion worldwide. and the impact on the housing market and wider economy has been so great that some economists are now predicting a possible recession - a prediction all of us hope does not come to pass., there are a number of lessons that we must learn from this going forward. we know that much of this could have been avoided if the market operated with more honesty and accountability. we also know we would have been far better off if there were greater transparency and more information had been available to the american people., to that extent, i believe there are a few steps we should take to prevent future crises of this kind and restore some measure of public trust in the market:, first, we need more disclosure and accountability in the housing market. to ensure that potential homeowners aren t tricked into purchasing loans they can t afford, i ve proposed updating the current mortgage rules to establish a federal definition of mortgage fraud and enact tough penalties against lenders who knowingly act in bad faith. i ve also proposed a home score system that would create a simplified, standardized metric for home mortgages, sort of like the apr. this would empower americans to make smart decisions by allowing prospective buyers to easily compare various mortgage products so they can find out whether they can afford the payments. and i believe we should finally enact the meaningful mortgage disclosure laws that the mortgage industry has been lobbying against for far too long., second, i believe that if we hope to restore trust in the markets, we must be able to trust the judgment of our rating agencies. the failure of government to exercise adequate oversight over the rating agencies will cost investors and public pension funds billions of dollars - losses we have not yet fully recognized. we cannot let the public trust be lost by a conflict of, interest between the rating agencies and the people they re rating. as arthur levitt recently reminded us, this happened when rating agencies continued to give a rosy outlook for enron despite its impending bankruptcy. and of course we saw it this year when subprime mortgage loans continued to receive strong ratings despite repeated warnings of the instability of the mortgages and the impending slowdown of the housing market., here s the real danger - if the public comes to view this like the accounting analyses of enron, the markets will be ravished by a crisis in confidence. we must take steps to avoid that at all costs, and that is why i believe there should be an immediate investigation of the relationship and business practices of rating agencies and their clients., the third thing we need to do is look at other areas in the market where a lack of transparency could lead to similar problems. many of the people who hold these subprime mortgages are now shifting their debt to credit cards, and if they do not understand the commitments they re taking on, or are subjected to predatory practices, this could fester into a second crisis down the road. that s why i m proposing a five-star credit card rating system to inform consumers about the level of risk involved in every credit card they sign up for, including how easily the company can change the interest rate. if more americans were armed with this kind of information before they purchased risky mortgage loans, the current crisis might not have happened. now that so many are in debt, we shouldn t let the same lax standards create another., finally, while it s not my place to comment on the actions of the fed, i have heard many of you say that you hope for a sizable rate cut tomorrow to soothe the market turmoil., but i also know that there are nearly 2.5 million americans who may lose their homes no matter what happens tomorrow. and so for those institutions that are holding these mortgages, i ask them to show some flexibility to folks trying to sell or refinance their houses. they are in the same liquidity pinch as companies are, but they don t have the same resources available to protect themselves., now, in addition to these immediate steps, i also believe there is a larger lesson to be learned from the subprime crisis., in this modern, interconnected economy, there is no dividing line between main street and wall street. the decisions that are made in new york s high-rises and hedge funds matter and have consequences for millions of americans across the country. and whether those americans keep their homes or their jobs; whether they can spend with confidence and avoid falling into debt - that matters and has consequences for the entire market., we all have a stake in each other s success. we all have a stake in ensuring that the market is efficient and transparent; that it inspires trust and confidence; that it rewards those who are truly successful instead of those who are just successful at gaming the system. because if the last few months have taught us anything, it s that we can all suffer from the excesses of a few. turning a blind eye to the cronyism in our midst can put us all in jeopardy. and we cannot accept that in the united states of america., so i promise you this. i will be a president who believes in your success. i will value your contribution to this country and i will do what i can to encourage it, because i understand that how well you do is inextricably linked to how well america does. and i will always be a strong advocate for a market that is free and open., but today i am asking you to join me in saying that in this country, we will not tolerate a market that is fixed. we will not tolerate a market that is rigged by lobbyists who don t represent the interests of real americans or most businesses. and we will not tolerate ""what s good for me is good enough"" any longer - because the only thing that s good enough is what s best for america., i am also asking you to join me in doing something else today. i am asking you to remind yourselves that in this country, we rise or fall as one people. and i am asking you to join me in ushering in a new era of mutual responsibility in america., right now there are millions of hardworking americans who have been struggling to get by for quite some time. they have watched their wages stagnate and their health costs rise and their pensions disappear. some have seen jobs shipped overseas and others have found new ones that pay much less. some tell their children they won t be able to afford college this year, others send their youngest to a school that is crumbling around them., i meet these americans every single day - people who believe they have been left on the sidelines by a global economy that has forever changed the rules of the game. they understand that revolutions in technology and communication have torn borders and opened up new markets and new opportunities. they know we can t go back to yesterday or wall off our economy from everyone else. their problem is not that our world is flat. it s that our playing field isn t level. it s that opportunity is no longer equal. and that s something we cannot accept anymore., for too long we have had a president who has clung to the belief that there is nothing america can do about this. he has looked away from these challenges and peddled a philosophy of ""what s bad for you is not my problem."", and if we are honest, i think we must admit that those who have benefited from the new global marketplace - and that includes almost everyone in this room - have not always concerned themselves with the losers in this new economy. there has been a tendency, during the boom times, to consider the casualties of a changing economy to be inevitable, and to justify outsized paydays or lower tax rates on wall street earnings as part of the natural order of things., indeed, rather than addressing this growing sense of uncertainty and constricting opportunity for millions of working-class and middle-class americans, this administration has accelerated these trends through its tax policies and spending priorities - to the point where there is greater income inequality now than at any time since the gilded age., it may be true, as some have argued, that larger forces are at work here - that technological advance and globalization have triggered a fundamental change in the economy. it is true as well that we cannot simply look backwards for solutions - to try to fence off the world beyond our borders, or to hope that the new deal programs born of a different era are, by themselves, somehow adequate to meet the challenges of the future., no, we are going to have to adapt our institutions to a new world as we always have. and in doing so, we have to remind ourselves that we rise and fall as one nation; that a country in which only a few prosper is antithetical to our ideals and our democracy; that those of us who have benefited greatly from the blessings of this country have a solemn obligation to open the doors of opportunity, not just for our children, but to all of america s children; and that unless we take immediate steps to realign the interests of all americans in growth and prosperity, we may generate a political climate that is inimical to both., and so, in the coming weeks, i will be laying out a 21st century economic agenda for america. it s an agenda that will level the playing field for more americans to ensure that america can compete and thrive in a global economy., it will focus on three broad areas., tomorrow, i ll lay out the first part of my agenda - a plan to modernize and simplify our tax code so that it provides greater opportunity and more relief to more americans. for far too long, our tax code has been so riddled with special-interest loopholes and giveaways that it s shifted the tax burden to small businesses and middle-class americans. at a time when most americans are facing stagnant wages and rising costs, that s not fair and it doesn t benefit our economy. my plan will give a break to middle-class americans, seniors, and the homeowners who are feeling today s anxiety and uncertainty, because i believe that we all have a stake in restoring their confidence and investing in their prosperity., the second part of my agenda will be to ensure america s competitive edge in the 21st century. this starts with providing every american with a world-class education from cradle to adulthood. we know that in this economy, countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. and we also know that china is already graduating four times as many engineers as we do and that our share of twenty-four-year-olds with college degrees now falls somewhere between bulgaria and costa rica., we can t allow ourselves to fall behind. that means investing in early child education. it means recruiting an army of new, qualified teachers who we pay more and support more because we know how important their job is to the future of this country. and it means finally making a college education affordable and available to every american. tony blair once said that ""talent is the 21st century wealth,"" and i believe we all have a stake in nurturing that talent if we hope to prosper in this century., ensuring our competitive edge also means investing more in the science and technology that has fueled so much of our nation s economic growth. and one place where that investment would make an enormous difference to the future of this country is in a renewable energy, policy that ends our addiction on foreign oil. we know this addiction isn t sustainable for our security. we know it s not sustainable for the planet. and i ve talked to countless ceos and business leaders who know it s not sustainable for our economy to be held hostage to the spot oil market. i believe that we all have a stake in a renewable future that will create thousands of new jobs and entire new industries that can fuel our prosperity well into the next century., finally, the third part of my agenda will be to modernize and strengthen america s safety net for working americans. like all of you, i believe in free trade. but we have to acknowledge that for millions of americans, its burdens outweigh its benefits. and so if we want to avoid rising protectionism in this country; if we expect working americans to accept and even embrace free trade, then i believe we all have a stake in embracing policies that will provide them with a sense of security. that means health insurance and a pension that they can always count on. that means skills and training that can actually help people find a job. and that means wages that actually make work pay., i ask for your support for this economic agenda, both in this campaign and if i should get the chance to enact these policies as your president. i will not pretend it will come without cost, but i do believe we can do achieve this in a fiscally responsible way - certainly more so than the current administration that s given us deficits as far as the eye can see., i know some may say it s anathema to come to wall street and call for shared sacrifice so that all americans can benefit from this new economy of ours. but i believe that all of you are as open and willing to listen as anyone else in america. i believe you care about this country and the future we are leaving to the next generation. i believe your work to be a part of building a stronger, more vibrant, and more just america. i think the problem is that no one has asked you to play a part in the project of american renewal., i also realize that there are some who will say that achieving all of this is far too difficult. that it is too hard to build consensus. that we are too divided and self-interested to think about the responsibilities we have to each other and to our country. that the times are simply too, tough., but then i am reminded that we have been in tougher times and we have faced far more difficult challenges. and each time we have emerged stronger, more united, and more prosperous than the last. it is faith in the american ideal that carries us through, as well as the belief that was voiced by franklin roosevelt all those years ago this week: ""failure is not an american habit; and in the strength of great hope we must all shoulder our common load."" that is the strength and the hope we seek both today - 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"it s a privilege to be a part of today s convocation and an honor to receive this degree from howard. there are few other universities that have played so central a role in breaking down yesterday s barriers and inching this country closer to the ideals we see inscribed on the monuments throughout this city., it was howard that sent the first african-american to the united states senate. it was howard that graduated the first african-american to become governor and the first to become mayor of the largest city in the country. it was here, within the halls of this campus, where thurgood marshall huddled with the brilliant minds of his day to craft the arguments in brown v. board that ignited a movement that changed the world. and it is because of these victories that a black man named barack obama can stand before you today as a candidate for president of the united states of america., but i am not just running to make history. i m running because i believe that together, we can change history s course. it s not enough just to look back in wonder of how far we ve come - i want us to look ahead with a fierce urgency at how far we have left to go. i believe it s time for this generation to make its own mark - to write our own chapter in the american story. after, all, those who came before us did not strike a blow against injustice only so that we would allow injustice to fester in our time., thurgood marshall did not argue brown so that we would accept a country where too many african-american men end up in prison because we d rather spend more to jail a 25-year-old than to educate a five-year-old., dr. king did not take us to the mountaintop so that we would allow a terrible storm to ravage those who were stranded in the valley; he would not have expected that it would take a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; that it would take a hurricane to reveal the hungry god asks us to feed; the sick he asks us to care for; the least of these he commands us to treat as our own., the teenagers and college students who left their homes to march in the streets of birmingham and montgomery; the mothers who walked instead of taking the bus after a long day of doing somebody else s laundry and cleaning somebody else s kitchen - they didn t brave fire hoses and billy clubs so that their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren would still wonder at the beginning of the 21st century whether their vote would be counted; whether their civil rights would be protected by their government; whether justice would be equal and opportunity would be theirs., and i am certain that nine children did not walk through the doors of a school in little rock so that our children would have to see nooses hanging at a school in louisiana. we have more work to do., it s a fitting reminder that the fiftieth anniversary of little rock fell on this week. because when the doors to that school finally opened, a nation responded. the president sent the united states army to stand on the side of justice. the congress passed the civil rights act of 1957. the department of justice created a civil rights division. and millions of americans took to the streets in the following months and years so that more children could walk through more doors., these were not easy choices to make at the time. president eisenhower was warned by some that sending the army down to little rock would be political suicide. the resistance to civil rights reform was fierce. and we know that those who marched for freedom did so at great risk to themselves and their families., , but they did it because they understood that sometimes there are moments when what s truly risky is not to act. what s truly risky is to let the same injustice remain year after year. what s truly risky is to walk away and pretend it never happened. what s truly risky is to accept things as they are instead of working for what could be., in a media-driven culture that s more obsessed with who s beating who in washington and how long paris hilton is going to jail, these moments are harder to spot today. but every so often, they do appear. sometimes it takes a hurricane. and sometimes it takes a travesty of justice like the one we ve seen in jena, louisiana., there are some who will make jena about the fight itself. and it s true that we have to do more as parents to instill in our children that violence is always wrong. it s wrong when it happens on the streets of chicago and it s wrong when it happens at a schoolyard in louisiana. violence is not the answer. non-violence was the soul of the civil rights movement, and we have to do a better job of teaching our children that virtue., but we also know that to truly understand jena, you have to look at what happened both before and after that fight. you have to listen to the hateful slurs that flew through the halls of a school. you have to know the full measure of the damage done by that arson. you have to look at those nooses hanging on that schoolyard tree. and you have to understand how badly our system of justice failed those six boys in the days after that fight - the outrageous charges; the unreasonable and excessive sentences; the public defender who did not call a single witness., like katrina did with poverty, jena exposed glaring inequities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out. it reminds us of the fact that we have a system that locks away too many young, first-time, non-violent offenders for the better part of their lives - a decision that s made not by a judge in a courtroom, but by politicians in washington. it reminds us that we have certain sentences that are based less on the kind of crime you commit than on what you look like and where you come from. it reminds us that we have a justice department whose idea of prosecuting civil rights violations is trying to rollback affirmative action programs at our college and universities; a justice department whose idea of prosecuting voting rights violations is to look for voting fraud in black and latino communities where it doesn t exist., we know these inequities are there. we know they re wrong. and yet they go largely unnoticed until people find the courage to stand up and say they re wrong. until someone finally says, ""it s wrong that scooter libby gets no jail time for compromising our national security, but a 21-year-old honor student is still sitting in a georgia prison for something that wasn t even a felony. that s wrong."", it s not always easy to stand up and say this. i commend those of you here at howard who have spoken out on jena 6 or traveled to the rally in louisiana. i commend those of you who ve spoken out on the genarlow wilson case. i know it can be lonely protesting this kind of injustice. i know there s not a lot of glamour in it., when i was a state senator in illinois, we had a death penalty system that had sent thirteen innocent people to death row. thirteen innocent men - that we know of. i wanted to reform the system. and i was told by almost everyone that it wasn t possible. that i wouldn t be able to get police officers and civil rights advocates; democrats and republicans to all agree that we should videotape confessions to make sure they weren t coerced. folks told me that there was too much political risk involved., but i believed that it was too risky not to act. and after awhile people with opposing views came together and started listening. and we ended up reforming that death penalty system. and we did the same thing when i passed a law to expose racial profiling. so don t ever let anyone tell you that change isn t possible. don t let them tell you that speaking out and standing up against injustice is too risky. what s too risky is keeping quiet. what s too risky is looking the other way., i don t want to be standing here and talking about another jena four years from now because we didn t have the courage to act today. i don t want this to be another issue that ends up being ignored once the cameras are turned off and the headlines disappear. it s time to seek a new dawn of justice in america., from the day i take office as president, america will have a justice department that is truly dedicated to the work it began in the days after little rock. i will rid the department of ideologues and political cronies, and for the first time in eight years, the civil rights division will actually be staffed with civil rights lawyers who prosecute civil rights violations, and employment discrimination, and hate crimes. and we ll have a voting rights section that actually defends the right of every american to vote without deception or intimidation. when flyers are placed in our neighborhoods telling people to vote on the wrong day, that won t only be an injustice, it will be a crime., as president, i will also work every day to ensure that this country has a criminal justice system that inspires trust and confidence in every american, regardless of age, or race, or background. there s no reason that every single person accused of a crime shouldn t have a qualified public attorney to defend them. we ll recruit more public defenders to the profession by forgiving college and law school loans - and i will ask some of the brilliant minds here at howard to take advantage of that offer. there s also no reason we can t pass a racial profiling law like i did in illinois, or encourage state to reform the death penalty so that innocent people do not end up on death row., when i m president, we will no longer accept the false choice between being tough on crime and vigilant in our pursuit of justice. dr. king said it s not either-or, it s both-and. we can have a crime policy that s both tough and smart. if you re convicted of a crime involving drugs, of course you should be punished. but let s not make the punishment for crack cocaine that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference between the two is the skin color of the people using them. judges think that s wrong. republicans think that s wrong. democrats think that s wrong, and yet it s been approved by republican and democratic presidents because no one has been willing to brave the politics and make it right. that will end when i am president., i think it s time we also took a hard look at the wisdom of locking up some first-time, non-violent drug users for decades. someone once said that ""...long minimum sentences for first-time users may not be the best way to occupy jail space and/or heal people from their disease."" that someone was george w. bush - six years ago. i don t say this very often, but i agree with the president. the difference is, he hasn t done anything about it. when i m president, i will. we will review these sentences to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the blind and counterproductive warehousing of non-violent offenders. and we will give first-time, non-violent drug offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior. so let s reform this system. let s do what s smart. let s do what s just., now, there is no doubt that taking these steps will restore a measure of justice and equality to america. they will also restore a sense of confidence to the american people that the system doesn t just work - it works for everyone., but there is a broader point i want to make today., if i have the opportunity to lead this nation, i will always be a president who hears your voice and understands your concerns; a president whose story is like so many of your own - whose life s work has been the unfinished work of our long march towards justice. and i will stand up for you, and fight for you, and wake up every day thinking about how to make your lives better., but the truth is, one man cannot make a movement. no single law can erase the prejudice in the heart of a child who hangs a noose on a tree; or the callousness of a prosecutor who bypasses justice in the pursuit of vengeance. no one leader, no matter how shrewd or experienced, can prevent teenagers from killing other teenagers on the streets of our cities; or free our neighborhoods from the grip of hopelessness; or make real the promise of opportunity and equality for every citizen., only a country can do these things. only this country can do these things. and that is why if you give me the chance to serve this nation, the most important thing i will do as your president is ask you to serve it too. the most important thing i ll do is call on you every day to take a risk and do your part to carry this movement forward. against great odds and amidst deep cynicism, i will ask you to believe again that we can right the wrongs we see in america., i would not have driven out to chicago after college to organize jobless neighborhoods if i didn t believe this was possible. i wouldn t have organized a voter registration drive, or become a civil rights lawyer, or a constitutional law professor, or a state senator, or a u.s. senator if i didn t believe this was possible. i would not be standing here today if i didn t believe this was possible., and i know that you believe it s possible too. one of the most inspiring things about the response to jena was that it did not begin with the actions of any one leader. the call went out to thousands across the internet and black radio and on college campuses like this one. and like the young americans of another era, you left your homes, and got on buses, and traveled south. it s what happened two years earlier when students here at howard and americans from every walk of life took it upon themselves to try and rescue a city that was.,"	
", thank you, ted. ted sorensen has been counselor to a president in some of our toughest moments, and he has helped define our national purpose at pivotal turning points. let me also welcome all of the elected officials from illinois who are with us. let me give a special welcome to all of the organizers and speakers who joined me to rally against going to war in iraq five years ago. and i want to thank depaul university and depaul s students for hosting this event., we come together at a time of renewal for depaul. a new academic year has begun. professors are learning the names of new students, and students are reminded that you actually do have to attend class. that cold is beginning to creep into the chicago air. the season is changing., depaul is now filled with students who have not spent a single day on campus without the reality of a war in iraq. four classes have matriculated and four classes have graduated since this war began. and we are reminded that america s sons and daughters in uniform, and their families, bear the heavy burden. the wife of one soldier from illinois wrote to me and said that her husband ""feels like he s stationed in iraq and deploys home."" that s a tragic statement. and it could be echoed by families across our country who have seen loved ones deployed to tour after tour of duty., you are students. and the great responsibility of students is to question the world around you, to question things that don t add up. with iraq, we must ask the question: how did we go so wrong?, there are those who offer up easy answers. they will assert that iraq is george bush s war, it s all his fault. or that iraq was botched by the arrogance and incompetence of donald rumsfeld and dick cheney. or that we would have gotten iraq right if we went in with more troops, or if we had a different proconsul instead of paul bremer, or if only there were a stronger iraqi prime minister., these are the easy answers. and like most easy answers, they are partially true. but they don t tell the whole truth, because they overlook a harder and more fundamental truth. the hard truth is that the war in iraq is not about a catalog of many mistakes - it is about one big mistake. the war in iraq should never have been fought., five years ago today, i was asked to speak at a rally against going to war in iraq. the vote to authorize the war in congress was less than ten days away and i was a candidate for the united states senate. some friends of mine advised me to keep quiet. going to war in iraq, they pointed out, was popular. all the other major candidates were supporting the war at the time. if the war goes well, they said, you ll have thrown your political career away., but i didn t see how saddam hussein posed an imminent threat. i was convinced that a war would distract us from afghanistan and the real threat from al qaeda. i worried that iraq s history of sectarian rivalry could leave us bogged down in a bloody conflict. and i believed the war would fan the flames of extremism and lead to new terrorism. so i went to the rally. and i argued against a ""rash war"" - a ""war based not on reason, but on politics"" - ""an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences."", i was not alone. though not a majority, millions of americans opposed giving the president the authority to wage war in iraq. twenty-three senators, including the leader of the senate intelligence committee, shared my concerns and resisted the march to war. for us, the war defied common sense. after all, the people who hit us on 9/11 were in afghanistan, not iraq., but the conventional thinking in washington has a way of buying into stories that make political sense even if they don t make practical sense. we were told that the only way to prevent iraq from getting nuclear weapons was with military force. some leading democrats echoed the administration s erroneous line that there was a connection between saddam hussein and al qaeda. we were counseled by some of the most experienced voices in washington that the only way for democrats to look tough was to talk, act and vote like a republican., as ted sorensen s old boss president kennedy once said - ""the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war - and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears."" in the fall of 2002, those deaf ears were in washington. they belonged to a president who didn t tell the whole truth to the american people; who disdained diplomacy and bullied allies; and who squandered our unity and the support of the world after 9/11., but it doesn t end there. because the american people weren t just failed by a president - they were failed by much of washington. by a media that too often reported spin instead of facts. by a foreign policy elite that largely boarded the bandwagon for war. and most of all by the majority of a congress - a coequal branch of government - that voted to give the president the open-ended authority to wage war that he uses to this day. let s be clear: without that vote, there would be no war., some seek to rewrite history. they argue that they weren t really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or for diplomacy. but the congress, the administration, the media, and the american people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002. this was a vote about whether or not to go to war. that s the truth as we all understood it then, and as we need to understand it now. and we need to ask those who voted for the war: how can you give the president a blank check and then act surprised when he cashes it?, with all that we know about what s gone wrong in iraq, even today s debate is divorced from reality. we ve got a surge that is somehow declared a success even though it has failed to enable the political reconciliation that was its stated purpose. the fact that violence today is only as horrific as in 2006 is held up as progress. washington politicians and pundits trip over each other to debate a newspaper advertisement while our troops fight and die in iraq., and the conventional thinking today is just as entrenched as it was in 2002. this is the conventional thinking that measures experience only by the years you ve been in washington, not by your time spent serving in the wider world. this is the conventional thinking that has turned against the war, but not against the habits that got us into the war in the first place - the outdated assumptions and the refusal to talk openly to the american people., well i m not running for president to conform to washington s conventional thinking - i m running to challenge it. i m not running to join the kind of washington groupthink that led us to war in iraq - i m running to change our politics and our policy so we can leave the world a better place than our generation has found it., so there is a choice that has emerged in this campaign, one that the american people need to understand. they should ask themselves: who got the single most important foreign policy decision since the end of the cold war right, and who got it wrong. this is not just a matter of debating the past. it s about who has the best judgment to make the critical decisions of the future. because you might think that washington would learn from iraq. but we ve seen in this campaign just how bent out of shape washington gets when you challenge its assumptions., when i said that as president i would lead direct diplomacy with our adversaries, i was called naãve and irresponsible. but how are we going to turn the page on the failed bush-cheney policy of not talking to our adversaries if we don t have a president who will lead that diplomacy?, when i said that we should take out high-level terrorists like osama bin laden if we have actionable intelligence about their whereabouts, i was lectured by legions of iraq war supporters. they said we can t take out bin laden if the country he s hiding in won t. a few weeks later, the co-chairmen of the 9/11 commission - tom kean and lee hamilton - agreed with my position. but few in washington seemed to notice., some people made a different argument on this issue. they said we can take out bin laden, we just can t say that we will. i reject this. i am a candidate for president of the united states, and i believe that the american people have a right to know where i stand., and when i said that we can rule out the use of nuclear weapons to take out a terrorist training camp, it was immediately branded a ""gaffe"" because i did not recite the conventional washington-speak. but is there any military planner in the world who believes that we need to drop a nuclear bomb on a terrorist training camp?, we need to question the world around us. when we have a debate about experience, we can t just debate who has the most experience scoring political points. when we have a debate about experience, we can t just talk about who fought yesterday s battles - we have to focus on who can face the challenges and seize the opportunities of tomorrow. because no matter what we think about george bush, he s going to be gone in january 2009. he s not on the ballot. this election is about ending the iraq war, but even more it s about moving beyond it. and we re not going be safe in a world of unconventional threats with the same old conventional thinking that got us into iraq. we re not going to unify a divided america to confront these threats with the same old conventional politics of just trying to beat the other side., in 2009, we will have a window of opportunity to renew our global leadership and bring our nation together. if we don t seize that moment, we may not get another. this election is a turning point. the american people get to decide: are we going to turn back the clock, or turn the page?, i want to be straight with you. if you want conventional washington thinking, i m not your man. if you want rigid ideology, i m not your man. if you think that fundamental change can wait, i m definitely not your man. but if you want to bring this country together, if you want experience that s broader than just learning the ways of washington, if you think that the global challenges we face are too urgent to wait, and if you think that america must offer the world a new and hopeful face, then i offer a different choice in this race and a different vision for our future., the first thing we have to do is end this war. and the right person to end it is someone who had the judgment to oppose it from the beginning. there is no military solution in iraq, and there never was. i will begin to remove our troops from iraq immediately. i will remove one or two brigades a month, and get all of our combat troops out of iraq within 16 months. the only troops i will keep in iraq will perform the limited missions of protecting our diplomats and carrying out targeted strikes on al qaeda. and i will launch the diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives that are so badly needed. let there be no doubt: i will end this war., but it s also time to learn the lessons of iraq. we re not going to defeat the threats of the 21st century on a conventional battlefield. we cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors. we re not going to win a battle of ideas with bullets alone., make no mistake: we must always be prepared to use force to protect america. but the best way to keep america safe is not to threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons - it s to keep nuclear weapons and nuclear materials away from terrorists. that s why i ve worked with republican senator dick lugar to pass a law accelerating our pursuit of loose nuclear materials. and that s why i ll lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials during my first term in office., but we need to do much more. we need to change our nuclear policy and our posture, which is still focused on deterring the soviet union - a country that doesn t exist. meanwhile, india and pakistan and north korea have joined the club of nuclear-armed nations, and iran is knocking on the door. more nuclear weapons and more nuclear-armed nations mean more danger to us all., here s what i ll say as president: america seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons., we will not pursue unilateral disarmament. as long as nuclear weapons exist, we ll retain a strong nuclear deterrent. but we ll keep our commitment under the nuclear non proliferation treaty on the long road towards eliminating nuclear weapons. we ll work with russia to take u.s. and russian ballistic missiles off hair-trigger alert, and to dramatically reduce the stockpiles of our nuclear weapons and material. we ll start by seeking a global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons. and we ll set a goal to expand the u.s.-russian ban on intermediate-range missiles so that the agreement is global., as we do this, we ll be in a better position to lead the world in enforcing the rules of the road if we firmly abide by those rules. it s time to stop giving countries like iran and north korea an excuse. it s time for america to lead. when i m president, we ll strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty so that nations that don t comply will automatically face strong international sanctions., this will require a new era of american diplomacy. to signal the dawn of that era, we need a president who is willing to talk to all nations, friend and foe. i m not afraid that america will lose a propaganda battle with a petty tyrant - we need to go before the world and win those battles. if we take the attitude that the president just parachutes in for a photo-op after an agreement has already been reached, then we re only going to reach agreements with our friends. that s not the way to protect the american people. that s not the way to advance our interests., just look at our history. kennedy had a direct line to khrushchev. nixon met with mao. carter did the hard work of negotiating the camp david accords. reagan was negotiating arms agreements with gorbachev even as he called on him to ""tear down this wall."", it s time to make diplomacy a top priority. instead of shuttering consulates, we need to open them in the tough and hopeless corners of the world. instead of having more americans serving in military bands than the diplomatic corps, we need to grow our foreign service. instead of retreating from the world, i will personally lead a new chapter of american engagement., it is time to offer the world a message of hope to counter the prophets of hate. my experience has brought me to the hopeless places. as a boy, i lived in indonesia and played barefoot with children who could not dream the same dreams that i did. as an adult, i ve returned to be with my family in their small village in kenya, where the promise of america is still an inspiration. as a community organizer, i worked in south side neighborhoods that had been left behind by global change. as a senator, i ve been to refugee camps in chad where proud and dignified people can t hope for anything beyond the next handout., in the 21st century, progress must mean more than a vote at the ballot box - it must mean freedom from fear and freedom from want. we cannot stand for the freedom of anarchy. nor can we support the globalization of the empty stomach. we need new approaches to help people to help themselves. the united nations has embraced the millennium development goals, which aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. when i m president, they will be america s goals. the bush administration tried to keep the un from proclaiming these goals; the obama administration will double foreign assistance to $50 billion to lead the world to achieve them., in the 21st century, we cannot stand up before the world and say that there s one set of rules for america and another for everyone else. to lead the world, we must lead by example. we must be willing to acknowledge our failings, not just trumpet our victories. and when i m president, we ll reject torture - without exception or equivocation; we ll close guantanamo; we ll be the country that credibly tells the dissidents in the prison camps around the world that america is your voice, america is your dream, america is your light of justice., we cannot - we must not - let the promotion of our values be a casualty of the iraq war. but we cannot secure america and show our best face to the world unless we change how we do business in washington., we all know what iraq has cost us abroad. but these last few years we ve seen an unacceptable abuse of power at home. we face real threats. any president needs the latitude to confront them swiftly and surely. but we ve paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power. the constitution is treated like a nuisance. matters of war and peace are used as political tools to bludgeon the other side. we get subjected to endless spin to keep our troops at war, but we don t get to see the flag-draped coffins of our heroes coming home. we get secret task forces, secret budgeting, slanted intelligence, and the shameful smearing of people who speak out against the president s policies., all of this has left us where we are today: more divided, more distrusted, more in debt, and mired in an endless war. a war to disarm a dictator has become an open-ended occupation of a foreign country. this is not america. this is not who we are. it s time for us to stand up and tell george bush that the government in this country is not based on the whims of one, person, the government is of the people, by the people and for the people., we thought we learned this lesson. after vietnam, congress swore it would never again be duped into war, and even wrote a new law -- the war powers act -- to ensure it would not repeat its mistakes. but no law can force a congress to stand up to the president. no law can make senators read the intelligence that showed the president was overstating the case for war. no law can give congress a backbone if it refuses to stand up as the co-equal branch the constitution made it., that is why it is not enough to change parties. it is time to change our politics. we don t need another president who puts politics and loyalty over candor. we don t need another president who thinks big but doesn t feel the need to tell the american people what they think. we don t need another president who shuts the door on the american people when they make policy. the american people are not the problem in this country - they are the answer. and it s time we had a president who acted like that. i will always tell the american people the truth. i will always tell you where i stand. it s what i m doing in this campaign. it s what i ll do as president. i ll lead a new era of openness. i ll give an annual ""state of the world"" address to the american people in which i lay out our national security policy. i ll draw on the legacy of one our greatest presidents - franklin roosevelt - and give regular ""fireside webcasts,"" and i ll have members of my national security team do the same., i ll turn the page on a growing empire of classified information, and restore the balance we ve lost between the necessarily secret and the necessity of openness in a democratic society by creating a new national declassification center. we ll protect sources and methods, but we won t use sources and methods as pretexts to hide the truth. our history doesn t belong to washington, it belongs to america., i ll use the intelligence that i do receive to make good policy - i won t manipulate it to sell a bad policy. we don t need any more officials who tell the president what they want to hear. i will make the director of national intelligence an official with a fixed term, like the chairman of the federal reserve - not someone who can be fired by the president. we need consistency and integrity at the top of our intelligence agencies. we don t need politics. my test won t be loyalty - it will be the truth., and i ll turn the page on the imperial presidency that treats national security as a partisan issue - not an american issue. i will call for a standing, bipartisan consultative group of congressional leaders on national security. i will meet with this consultative group every month, and consult with them before taking major military action. the buck will stop with me. but these discussions have to take place on a bipartisan basis, and support for these decisions will be stronger if they draw on bipartisan counsel. we re not going to secure this country unless we turn the page on the conventional thinking that says politics is just about beating the other side., it s time to unite america, because we are at an urgent and pivotal moment., there are those who suggest that there are easy answers to the challenges we face. we can look, they say, to washington experience - the same experience that got us into this war. or we can turn the page to something new, to unite this country and to seize this moment., i am not a perfect man and i won t be a perfect president. but my own american story tells me that this country moves forward when we cast off our doubts and seek new beginnings., it s what brought my father across an ocean in search of a dream. it s what i saw in the eyes of men and women and children in indonesia who heard the word "" america"" and thought of the possibility beyond the horizon. it s what i saw in the streets of the south side, when people who had every reason to give in decided to pick themselves up. it s what i ve seen in the united states senate when republicans and democrats of good will do come together to take on tough issues. and it s what i ve seen in this campaign, when over half a million americans have come together to seek the change this country needs., now i know that some will shake their heads. it s easy to be cynical. when it comes to our foreign policy, you get it from all sides. some folks on the right will tell you that you don t love your country if you don t support the war in iraq. some folks on the left will tell you that america can do no right in the world. some shrug their shoulders because washington says, ""trust us, we ll take care of it."" and we know happened the last time they said that., yes, it s easy to be cynical. but right now, somewhere in iraq, there s someone about your age. he s maybe on his second or third tour. it s hot. he would rather be at home. but he s in his uniform, got his combat gear on. he s getting in a humvee. he s going out on patrol. he s lost a buddy in this war, maybe more. he risked his life yesterday, he s risking his life today, and he s going to risk it tomorrow., so why do we reject the cynicism? we reject it because of men and women like him. we reject it because the legacy of their sacrifice must be a better america. we reject it because they embody the spirit of those who fought to free the slaves and free a continent from a madman; who rebuilt europe and sent peace corps volunteers around the globe; because they are fighting for a better america and a better world., and i reject it because i wouldn t be on this stage if, throughout our history, america had not made the right choice over the easy choice, the ambitious choice over the cautious choice. i wouldn t be here if i didn t think we were ready to move past the fights of the 1960s and the 1990s. i wouldn t be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation - to unite this country at home, to show a new face of this country to the world. i m running for the presidency of the united states of america so that together we can do the hard work to seek a new dawn of peace and prosperity for our children, and for the children of, ,"	
", two weeks ago, representatives from some of the world s largest emitters of greenhouse gases were invited to washington by the president for a global conference on climate change., for a brief moment, there was a hope that maybe this conference would be different - that maybe america would finally commit to the steps that nearly every scientist and expert believes we must take; that maybe the planet s only superpower would finally lead the world - or at the very least, follow it - in taking on the planet s greatest threat., instead, the world traveled thousands of miles to washington only to find that washington is still miles away from the world in its willingness to address one of the most urgent challenges of our generation. some of the attendees said they were amazed at how isolated the white house view had become. others dismissed the president s credibility entirely. and another headline noted that when it comes to the global debate on climate change, our country is struggling just to stay relevant., struggling just to stay relevant., that is not the america we know. it is not the america we believe in. we are a nation that has led the world ever since the moment a lowly band of colonists proved that freedom could triumph over tyranny. we are the country that summoned the courage of its people to build, an arsenal of democracy that freed a continent and brought peace to a world at war. we are a land of moon shots and miracles of science and technology that have touched the lives of millions across the planet. and when that planet is challenged or when it is threatened, the eyes of the world have always turned to this nation as the ""last, best hope of earth."", that is the america i want to lead as president. i believe that when it comes to the issue that will determine the very future of life on this earth, we are still earth s best hope. and when the world arrives at the doorstep of the white house to hear what america has to say about climate change, i will let them know that america is up to the challenge. that america is ready to lead again., we have not fallen behind on energy due to a lack of ingenuity or initiative from the american people. i have seen too much innovation and possibility in this country to believe that. right here in new hampshire, i ve filled up at a biodiesel pump at unh, where this year students and faculty will remove over 200 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. new hampshire is already reducing its greenhouse gas pollution as part of the regional greenhouse gas initiative, and thanks to the leadership of senator martha fuller clark and governor lynch, you ll get 25% of your energy from renewable sources by 2025. keene is one of america s greenest cities, and i understand that 164 towns have now passed a resolution demanding that washington take action on climate change, but washington hasn t acted; and that is the real reason why america hasn t led., washington s failure to lead on energy is the failure of a president who spent most of his time in office denying the very existence of global warming - a president who put more faith in the spin of a science fiction writer than the science facts of real experts. it s the failure of an administration that developed america s energy policy with a secret task force that opened the door to oil lobbyists and then shut it to every other viewpoint. it s a failure of leadership that has never called on the american people to do anything more than go shopping., and it s also a failure of our politics that pre-dates the presidency of george w. bush. we have heard promises about energy independence from every single u.s. president since richard nixon - republicans and democrats. we ve heard proposals to curb our use of fossil fuels in nearly every state of the union address since the oil embargo of 1973. back then we imported about a third of our oil. now we import over half. back then global warming was just the theory of a few scientists. now it is a fact that threatens our very existence., the truth is, our energy problem has become an energy crisis because no matter how well-intentioned the promise - no matter how bold the proposal - they all fall victim to the same washington politics that has only become more divided and dishonest; more timid and calculating; more beholden to the powerful interests that have the biggest stake in the status quo., there are some in this race who actually make the argument that the more time you spend immersed in the broken politics of washington, the more likely you are to change it. i always find this a little amusing. i know that change makes for good campaign rhetoric, but when these same people had the chance to actually make change happen, they didn t lead. when they had the chance to stand up and require automakers to raise their fuel standards, they refused. when they had multiple chances to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in renewable fuels that we can literally grow right here in america, they said no., now, i know that some of these policies are difficult politically. they aren t easy. but being president of the united states isn t about doing what s easy. it s about doing what s hard. it s about doing what s right. leadership isn t about telling people what they want to hear - it s about telling them what they need to hear., when i arrived in the u.s. senate, i wanted to do whatever i could to make real progress toward energy independence. i reached across the aisle to pass a law that will give more americans the chance to fill up their cars with clean biofuels. i passed a law that will fuel the research needed to develop a car that will get 500 miles to the gallon. i even voted for an energy bill that was far from perfect because i was able to ensure that it contained some real investments in renewable sources of energy. and i ve fought to eliminate the tax giveaways to oil companies that were slipped into that bill - oil companies that have spent half a billion dollars lobbying congress in the last ten years while their profits have risen to record highs., and i did something else. i knew that america hadn t raised the fuel standards for our cars in twenty years. even though we had the technology on the shelf. even though japanese car companies that make more fuel-efficient cars are running circles around our own car companies. even though we send hundreds of millions of dollars a day to some of the world s most dangerous regimes for their oil., so i decided to try something new. i reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise our fuel standards that won support of lawmakers who had never supported raising fuel standards before. and i didn t just give a speech about it in front of some environmental audience in california. i went to detroit, i stood in front of a group of automakers, and i told them that when i am president, there will be no more excuses - we will help them retool their factories, but they will have to make cars that use less oil., now i have to admit - the room was pretty quiet after that. but i said what i did because i believe america has had enough of politicians who just tell everyone what they want to hear. we have to tell people the truth. and the truth is that we can t afford to let the same old politics stand in the way of our future anymore., we can t afford the same kind of caution when the future of our security is at stake. we know that the money that america spends on foreign oil is funding both sides of the war on terror; that it pays for everything from the madrassas that plant the seeds of terror in young minds to the sunni insurgents that attack our troops in iraq. we know this money corrupts budding democracies and allows dictators from hostile regimes to threaten the international community. it even presents a target for osama bin laden, who has told al qaeda to, ""focus your operations on oil, since this will cause [the americans] to die off on their own."", we can t be afraid to stand up to the oil and auto industry when the future of our economy is at stake. when we let these companies off the hook; when we tell them they don t have to build fuel-efficient cars or transition to renewable fuels, it may boost their short-term profits, but it is killing their long-term chances for survival and threatening too many american jobs. the global market is already moving away from fossil fuels. the question is not if a renewable energy economy will thrive in the future, it s where. and if we want that place to be the united states of america, we can t afford to wait any longer., most of all, we cannot afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake. global warming is not a someday problem, it is now. in a state like new hampshire, the ski industry is facing shorter seasons and losing jobs. we are already breaking records with the intensity of our storms, the number of forest fires, the periods of drought. by 2050 famine could force more than 250 million from their homes - famine that will increase the chances of war and strife in many of the world s weakest states. the polar ice caps are now melting faster than science had ever predicted. and if we do nothing, sea levels will rise high enough to swallow large portions of every coastal city and town., this is not the future i want for my daughters. it s not the future any of us want for our children. and if we act now and we act boldly, it doesn t have to be. but if we wait; if we let campaign promises and state of the union pledges go unanswered for yet another year; if we let the same broken politics that s held us back for decades win one more time, we will lose another chance to save our planet. and we might not get many more., i reject that future. i would not be running for president if i didn t believe that this time could be different. not because i have some perfect solution that every other expert and candidate has somehow missed. not because i think i can lock myself in the white house with a secret, task force and get this done on my own. but because i believe the american people are ready for a president who can unite us around a common purpose again. i believe that we are, ready to lead again., make no mistake - developing the next generation of energy will be one of the greatest challenges that this generation of americans will ever face. it will not be easy. it will not come without cost or without sacrifice. and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they are either fooling themselves or trying to fool you., i will set big goals for this country as president - some so large that the technology to reach them does not yet exist. but that has not stopped us before. when president roosevelt s advisors informed him that his goals for wartime production were impossible to meet, he waved them off and said ""believe me, the production people can do it if they really try."" and they did. when the scientists and engineers told john f. kennedy that they had no idea how to put a man on the moon, he told them they would find a way. and we found one., i believe we will again., in the speech i gave in detroit, i laid out the first part of my comprehensive energy plan - a proposal that will require our cars to use less oil and our fuels to use less carbon. it s a proposal that alone removes 50 million cars  worth of pollution from the road and reduces our oil consumption 2.5 million barrels a day by 2020 - the equivalent of all the oil we import from the persian gulf today., today i want to lay out the second part of my plan - a set of proposals that will allow america to lead the world in combating global climate change. from the moment i take office as president, i will call together scientists and entrepreneurs; heads of industry and labor; democrats, republicans and americans from all walks of life to help develop and deploy the next generation of energy that will allow us to build the next generation s economy., after all, in meeting the challenges of earlier generations, we didn t just end a costly war or beat the soviets to the moon - we also unleashed opportunities we had never dreamed of. the gi bill sent an entire generation of americans - including my grandfather - to college and then on to the middle-class. legions of scientists and engineers emerged from our race to space whose discoveries and innovations have forever changed the world., this same opportunity exists today. that s why my plan isn t just about making dirty energy expensive, it s about making clean energy affordable - a project that will create millions of new jobs and entire new industries right here in america., the first step in doing this is to phase out a carbon-based economy that s causing our changing climate. as president, i will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming - an 80% reduction by 2050. to ensure this isn t just talk, i will also commit to interim targets toward this goal in 2020, 2030, and 2040. these reductions will start immediately, and we ll continue to follow the recommendations of top scientists to ensure that our targets are strong enough to meet the challenge we face., in addition to this cap, all polluters will have to pay based on the amount of pollution they release into the sky. the market will set the price, but unlike the other cap-and-trade proposals that have been offered in this race, no business will be allowed to emit any greenhouses gases for free. businesses don t own the sky, the public does, and if we want them to stop polluting it, we have to put a price on all pollution. it s time to make the cleaner way of doing business the more profitable way of doing business., there is no doubt that this transition will be costly in the short-term. to make it easier, we will provide assistance to americans who need help with their energy bills. we ll help families make their homes more energy efficient, and we ll help workers and factories retool their facilities so they can compete and thrive in a clean energy economy. and once we make america more energy efficient and start producing more renewable energy, we will save money and bring energy costs down in the long-run. but we must act now., once we make dirty energy expensive, the second step in my plan is to invest $150 billion over the next decade to ensure the development and deployment of clean, affordable energy., that starts with the next generation of biofuels. we know that corn ethanol has been the most successful alternative fuel we have ever developed. i ve been a champion for ethanol. in just two years, the renewable fuel standard i helped pass has sparked an historic expansion of ethanol production. it has helped displace foreign oil and strengthen our rural economy. and we should fight the efforts of big oil and big agri-business to undermine this emerging industry., but the truth is, corn ethanol is neither the perfect nor the permanent answer to our energy challenge. there are legitimate economic and ecological concerns about an over-reliance on corn-based ethanol. and even if we double or triple its production, it won t replace even a tenth of our demand for gasoline. that s why we must invest in the next generation of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol that can be made from things like switchgrass and woodchips. the struggling paper mills in new hampsire would be back in business if they could use wood to produce biofuels. we should set a goal to produce the first two billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2013. and we should make sure that more local farms and local refineries have the chance to be a part of this new industry., we ll also invest in clean energy sources like wind power and solar power, so that by 2025, america can meet a new standard that will require 25% of all our electricity to come from renewable sources., and we must find a way to stop coal from polluting our atmosphere without pretending that our nation s most abundant energy source will just go away. it won t. it will also require taking steps to ensure that china s coal emissions are curbed as well. already, some coal pollution from china s dirty plants is making its way to california. that s why we must invest in clean coal technologies that we can use at home and share with the world. until those technologies are available, i will rely on the carbon cap and whatever tools are necessary to stop new dirty coal plants from being built in america - including a ban on new traditional coal facilities., we will also explore safer ways to use nuclear power, which right now accounts for more than 70% of our non-carbon generated electricity. we should accelerate research into technologies that will allow for the safe, secure treatment of nuclear waste. as president, i ll continue the work i began in the senate to ensure that all nuclear material is stored, secured and accounted for - both at home and around the world. there should be no short cuts or regulatory loopholes - period., many of these clean energy technologies - from biofuels to solar power to carbon sequestration - are being developed in research labs and facilities all across america at this very moment. the problem is they might never get further than that. u.s. venture capital funding does a great job investing in research and development, but we don t do enough to take the risk out of bringing new discoveries to the wider marketplace. and so we see technologies that are invented here in america - like wind turbines, solar panels, and compact fluorescent bulbs - developed overseas and then sold back to american consumers., this will change when i am president. i will launch a clean technologies venture capital fund that will provide $10 billion a year for five years to get the most promising clean energy technologies off the ground. this venture capital fund will get new technologies from the lab to the marketplace so that in the next few years, the american economy can benefit from america s innovations., the third step in my plan to combat climate change is to call on businesses, government, and the american people to make america 50% more energy efficient by 2030. this is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to curb our emissions and save money at the same time. since dupont implemented an energy efficiency program in 1990, the company has significantly reduced its pollution and cut its energy bills by $3 billion, and cities like keene and portland, oregon have led in meeting new efficiency standards. there is no reason the rest of america can t do the same., we will start by dramatically improving the efficiency of our buildings, which currently account for nearly half of all carbon emissions in america today. when i am president, we ll set a goal of making our new buildings 50% more efficient within several years. the federal government will lead by making all of its buildings carbon neutral by 2025. and i will set a national goal of making all new buildings in america carbon neutral by 2030., ,"	
"let me start by congratulating a great american, al gore, for being named this year s winner of the nobel peace prize. vice president gore has been an extraordinary leader for this, country. through his many years of public service; his early and vocal opposition to the war in iraq; and -- above all -- his singular leadership in drawing attention to the global, climate crisis, al gore has advanced the cause of peace at home and around the world. this award is richly deserved., you know, it was five years ago, yesterday that the united states, senate voted to give president bush the authority to wage war in iraq. at the time, i was a candidate for the u.s. senate and i spoke out strongly in opposition to going to war. nearly all of my opponents for the democratic nomination for president made a different choice, and voted to authorize the war., now, some have asked me, ""why are you always reminding us that you opposed the war? isn t that yesterday s news? is that experience really relevant?"", and what i always say is this -- this isn t just about the past, it s about the future. i don t talk about my opposition to the war to say ""i told you so."" i wish the war had gone differently. but the reason i talk about it is because i truly believe that the judgment, and the conviction, and the accountability that each of us showed on the most important foreign policy decision of our lives is the best indicator you have of how each of us will make those decisions going forward., how we made that decision, and how we talk about it, is critical to understanding what we would do as president. will we carefully evaluate the evidence and the consequences of action, or will we skip over the intelligence and scare people with the consequences of inaction? will we make these decisions based on polls, or based on our principles? will we have the courage to make the tough choice, or will we just choose the course that makes us look tough?, these decisions aren t just washington parlor games about who s up and who s down. these are life and death decisions. they impact your safety and security. above all, they impact the soldier from iowa, or the airman from illinois, and every single one of our brave young men and women who are in harm s way, and all of their families and friends back home., now, it s easy to oppose a war after it has gone wrong. it s easy to say -- years later -- that the war shouldn t have happened, given what we know now about how badly it has turned out. but every single one of us running for president only had one chance to make a judgment about whether or not to go to war., as i travel around the country, so many americans ask me: how did we go so wrong in iraq? and they re not just asking because they want to understand the past -- they re asking because they don t want their leaders to make the same mistakes again in the future. they don t want leaders who will bog us down in unnecessary wars; they don t want leaders who allow america to lose its standing; and they don t want leaders who tell the american people anything less than the full truth about where they stand and what they ll do., that is a big part of what this campaign is about. because we need to learn the painful lessons of the iraq war if we re going to secure this country and renew america s leadership., the first thing we have to understand is what happened in iraq. because there are two ways to look at this. the first way is to say that iraq is a disaster because of george bush s mismanagement. or because of the arrogance and incompetence of dick cheney or donald rumsfeld in prosecuting the war. or because iraq s prime minister just hasn t been up to the job., but i take a different view. i think the problem isn t just how we ve fought the war -- it s that we fought the war in the first place. because the truth is, the war in iraq should never have been authorized, and it should never have been waged. the iraq war had nothing to do with al qaeda or 9/11. it was based on exaggerated fears and unconvincing intelligence. and it has left america less safe, and less respected around the world., five years ago, my friends warned me not to speak up against the war. going to war was popular. so was president bush. you ll be putting your political career on the line, they said. but i just didn t see how saddam hussein posed an imminent threat. i was convinced that a war would distract us from afghanistan and al qaeda, and fan the flames of extremism and terrorism. and i didn t get into politics to stay silent on the tough issues, or to tailor my positions to the polls. i didn t want to look back, after an unnecessary war had been waged, and regret that i didn t speak out against going to war just because going to war was popular. so i spoke out against what i called a ""rash war"" -- a ""war based not on reason but on politics."", but the conventional thinking in washington lined up for war. the president and his advisors told us that the only way to stop saddam hussein from getting a nuclear weapon was to go to war, that we couldn t let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud. leading democrats -- including senator clinton -- echoed the erroneous line that there was a connection between saddam hussein and al qaeda. we were counseled by some of the most experienced voices in washington that the only way for democrats to look tough was to talk, act, and vote like republicans., there is no doubt that president bush failed us in the run-up to war. but the american people weren t just failed by the president -- they were failed by the congress. too many members of congress failed to ask hard questions. too many members of congress, including some of my opponents in this race, failed to read the national intelligence estimate for themselves -- an intelligence report that was so unconvincing, and so filled with qualifications, that the chairman of the senate intelligence committee decided to vote against the war when he read it for himself. too many democrats fell in line with george bush, and voted to give him the open-ended authority to wage war that he uses to this day. so let s be clear: without that vote, there would be no war., senator edwards voted for the war in 2002. he has renounced that vote, instead of pretending that it was a vote for anything but war. but senator clinton makes a different argument. she says that she wasn t really voting for war back in 2002, she was voting for more inspections, or she was voting for more diplomacy. but all of us know what was being debated in the congress in the fall of 2002. we didn t need to authorize a war in order to have united nations weapons inspections. no one thought congress was debating whether or not to conduct diplomacy. the headlines on october 12, 2002 did not read: ""congress authorizes diplomacy with iraq"" -- the headlines on october 12, 2002 read ""congress backs war."", in the course of this campaign, we haven t just seen different candidates talk about their vote in different ways -- we ve seen how different candidates have drawn different lessons from their experience of the iraq war., five years later, we should all have learned the lessons of that vote -- we should all have learned that you can t give this administration an excuse to wage war. but just last month, the senate voted for an amendment that raises the risk that we could repeat the mistake of iraq., here is why this amendment is so reckless. it opens with seventeen findings that highlight iran s influence inside of iraq. then it says we have to structure our military presence inside iraq to counter iran. it goes on to say that it is ""a critical national interest of the united states"" to prevent the iranian government from exerting influence inside iraq. why is this amendment so dangerous? because george bush and dick cheney could use this language to justify keeping our troops in iraq as long as they can point to a threat from iran. and because they could use this language to justify an attack on iran as a part of the ongoing war in iraq., i don t want to give this president any excuse, or any opening for war. because as we learned with the authorization of the iraq war -- when you give this president a blank check, you can t be surprised when he cashes it., senator clinton is the only democratic candidate for president who supports this amendment. she said, like she did five years ago, that it is a way to support diplomacy. i disagree. we all know that iran poses a threat. we do need to mount international pressure to stop iran s nuclear program. we do need to tighten sanctions on the iranian regime -- particularly on iran s revolutionary guard, which supports terrorism. but this must be done separately from any saber-rattling about checking iranian influence with our military presence in iraq., we should not be arguing that our troops have to stay in iraq to counter iran. now is the time to end the war in iraq. now is the time to start bringing our troops out of iraq -- immediately. that s why i have a plan to remove one or two combat brigades a month so that we get all of our combat troops out of iraq within 16 months -- that s as quickly and responsibly as we can do this. the only troops i will keep in iraq for a limited time will protect our diplomats and carry out targeted strikes on al qaeda -- not sustained combat. and i will launch the diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives that are so badly needed. so let there be no doubt: i will end this war., now is not the time to give george bush and dick cheney any excuse to escalate this war. now is not the time for the congress to send mixed messages. that s why my position today is the same as it was when i stood up in iowa on september 12 and said: ""george bush and dick cheney must hear -- loud and clear -- from the american people and the congress: you don t have our support, and you don t have our authorization for another war."", five years after that vote for war, we should all have learned the lesson that the cowboy diplomacy of not talking to people we don t like doesn t work. we do need tougher diplomacy with iran. but the way to support tough diplomacy is not to vote for reckless amendments -- the way to support diplomacy is to actually pursue it. that s what i ve called for throughout this campaign -- direct diplomacy, without preconditions. and that s what i ll do as president. not the bush-cheney diplomacy of talking to our friends and ignoring our enemies. real, direct, and sustained diplomacy., a couple of months ago, senator clinton called me ""naïve and irresponsible"" for taking this position, and said that we could lose propaganda battles if we met with leaders we didn t like. just yesterday, though, she called for diplomacy with iran without preconditions. so i m not sure if any of us knows exactly where she stands on this. but i can tell you this: when i am president of the united states, the american people and the world will always know where i stand., i don t see how we can rally the world unless we have a president who is willing to lead. i m not afraid that america will lose a propaganda battle with a petty tyrant -- we need to go before the world and win those battles. and as president, i will., you know, the cautious, conventional thinking in washington says that democrats can t take these positions. or that we need to say one thing in a caucus and primary campaign, but another in a general election. this is the conventional thinking that said that democrats had to vote for war in 2002 because there was an election coming up -- an election that we lost. the conventional thinking that says that democrats can t win elections, unless they talk, act and vote like republicans when it comes to foreign policy and national security., well, i m not running to conform to washington s conventional thinking -- i m running to challenge it. that s what i did in 2002. that s what i did in 2004. and that s what i will do as president of the united states., because i think the pundits have it wrong. i think the american people have had enough of politicians who go out of their way to look tough, who say one thing in a caucus and another in a general election. when i am the nominee of our party, the choice will be clear. my republican opponent won t be able to say that we both supported this war in iraq. he won t be able to say that we really agree about using the war in iraq to justify military action against iran, or about the diplomacy of not talking and saber-rattling. he won t be able to say that i haven t been open and straight with the american people, or that i ve changed my positions. and you know what? the american people want that choice. because i believe that s what we need in our next president., we ve had enough of a misguided war in iraq that never should have been fought -- a war that needs to end., we ve had enough of presidents who put tough talk ahead of real diplomacy., and we ve had enough of politicians who put power over principle, of a government in washington that shuts you out, and of presidents who don t hold themselves accountable., this is about what we stand for as democrats. but much more than that -- it s about what we stand for as americans. because there are plenty of democrats and plenty of independents and, yes, plenty of republicans out there who are ready to turn the page on the broken politics and blustering foreign policy coming from washington. that s how we re going to bring this country together. that s how we re going to restore our security and renew our standing in the world. not by shifting with the political winds, but by standing strong in any storm, and standing up for what we believe., i would not be on this stage today if the promise of america had not brought my father across an ocean. i would not be on this stage if generations of americans had not fought before me so that the american dream could be extended to a man named barack obama. that s why i have spent my own life fighting for that dream, no matter how difficult it s been, no matter how tough it was to take a stand. that s why i will always tell you where i stand and what i believe. and when i am president, that is how we will meet the hard challenges, and reclaim that dream, and make the united states of america a light to the world once more."	
"one year from now, you will have the chance to walk into a voting booth, pull back the curtain, and choose the next president of the united states., here s the good news - for the first time in a long time, the name george bush will not appear on the ballot. the name dick cheney will not appear on the ballot. the era of scooter libby justice, and brownie incompetence, and the karl rove politics of fear and cynicism will be over., but the question you will have to ask yourselves when you pick up your ballot a year from today is, ""what next?"" how do we repair the enormous damage of these dismal years and recapture that sense of common purpose that has seen america through our toughest times?, i m running for president because i believe we find ourselves in a moment of great challenge and great promise - a moment that comes along once in a generation., it s a moment of challenge because america is less safe and less respected than at any time in recent history. we are more dependent on oil from dictators and closer to the day when climate change becomes a climate catastrophe., in the midst of great prosperity, families all across this country feel further from the american dream. you know this from your own lives. most americans are working harder for less and paying more for health care and college than ever before. it s harder to save. harder to retire. and the policies of the last seven years have added to that unfairness., george bush said whatever the politics of the moment required in order to get elected in 2000. and those seven years of broken promises have left the american people with less trust in their leaders and less faith in their government than they have in years., we were promised compassion and conservatism but we got katrina and wiretaps., we were promised a uniter, but we got a divider who couldn t even lead the half of the country who voted for him., we were promised a kinder, gentler washington but got a town that s more bitter, secretive, and corrupt than ever before. and the only mission ever accomplished was using fear and falsehoods to take us to a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged., this catastrophic failure of leadership has led us to a moment where it s not just democrats who are listening to what we have to say, but independents and republicans who have never been more disillusioned with what the state of our leadership in washington has done to this country., that s why this is also a moment of great promise. it s a chance to turn the page by offering the american people a fundamentally different choice in 2008 - not just in the policies we offer, but in the kind of leadership we offer. it s a chance to come together and finally solve the challenges that were made worse by george bush, but existed long before he took office - challenges like health care and energy and education that we haven t met for decades because of a political system in washington that has failed the american people., and that s what this debate in our party right now is all about., much has been said about the exchanges between senator clinton and myself this week. now, understand that hillary clinton is a colleague and a friend. she s also a skilled politician, and she s run what washington would call a ""textbook"" campaign. but the problem is the textbook itself., it s a textbook that s all about winning elections, but says nothing about how to bring the country, together to solve problems. as we saw in the debate last week, it encourages vague, calculated answers to suit the politics of the moment, instead of clear, consistent principles about how you would lead america. it teaches you that you can promise progress for everyday people while striking a bargain with the very special interests who crowd them out., now, senator clinton is certainly not the only one in washington to play this game. it s gone on for years, and i understand the reasoning behind it. it s a game that usually gets politicians where they need to go. but i don t believe it gets america where we need to go. when it comes to issues like war and diplomacy; energy and health care, i don t believe we can bring about real change if all we do is change our positions based on what s popular or politically convenient. if we are going to seize this moment of challenge and promise, the american people deserve more when they head to the voting booth in 2008., i believe that our party has made the most difference in people s lives and the life of this country when we have led not by polls but by principle; not by calculation but by conviction; when we ve been able to summon the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. that s how roosevelt led us through war and lifted us from depression. it s how kennedy called on a new generation to ask what they could do for america. and i am running for the democratic nomination for president of the united states because that s the kind of leadership america needs right now., i don t pretend to be a perfect man, and i will not be a perfect president. but i am in this race because i believe that if we want to break from the failures of the past and finally make progress as a country, we can t keep telling different people what we think they want to hear - we have to tell every american what they need to know. we have to be honest about the challenges we face., when i called for higher fuel standards so we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, i didn t say it to some environmental group in california - i said it in front of automakers in detroit. when i called for corporate responsibility so that middle-class americans could get a tax cut, i said it in front of ceos on wall street. and when i was invited to speak out against george bush s plan to invade iraq as a, senate candidate five years ago, i didn t listen to those who warned me that it was politically risky position to take, i listened to my gut, and i said loud and clear that this was the wrong war at the wrong time and congress should stand up and say so., that s the kind of leadership we need right now. that s why i m this race. because i don t think you should settle for a president who s only there for you when it s easy or convenient or popular - i think you deserve a president who s willing to fight for you every hour of every day for the next four years., that s the change we can offer in 2008 - not change as a slogan, but change we can believe in., one year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in washington are over. i have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and i ve won. i don t take a dime of their money, and when i am president, they won t find a job in my white house. because real change isn t another four years of defending lobbyists who don t represent real americans - it s standing with working americans who have seen their jobs disappear and their wages decline and their hope for the future slip further and further away. that s the change we can offer in 2008., when i am president, i will end the tax giveaways to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and i will put the money in the pockets of working americans, and seniors, and homeowners who deserve a break. i won t wait ten years to raise the minimum wage - i ll raise it to keep pace every single year. and if american workers are being denied their right to organize when i m in the white house, i will put on a comfortable pair of shoes and i will walk on that picket line with you as president of the united states., one year from now, we can stop campaigning on the outrage of 47 million uninsured americans and finally start doing something about it. i reformed health care in illinois, and i didn t do it alone - i did it by reaching out to democrats and republicans. we took on the insurance industry, and we won. that s how i ll pass a universal health care bill that allows every american to get the same kind of health care that members of congress get for themselves and cuts every family s premiums by up to $2500. and mark my words - i will sign this bill by the end of my first term as president. that s the change we can offer in 2008., one year from now, we can stop sending our children down corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. when i am president, we will stop passing bills called no child left behind that leave the money behind and start making real investments in education from cradle to adulthood. that means early childhood education. that means recruiting an army of new teachers, and paying them better, and supporting them more so they re not just teaching to test, but teaching to teach. and it means finally putting a college education within reach of every american. that s the change we can offer in 2008., one year from now, we can stop sending hundreds of millions of dollars to dictators for their oil while we melt the polar ice caps in the bargain. i will raise our fuel standards, and put a cap on carbon emissions to reduce then 80% by 2050. we ll tell polluters that they have to pay for their pollution,, because they don t own the skies, the american people own the skies. and we ll use the money to invest in the clean, renewable fuels that are our future. that s the change we can offer in 2008., in this election, we have the chance to turn the page on the last six years of being told that the only way for democrats to look tough on national security is to talk, and act, and vote like george bush republicans., when i m your nominee, my opponent won t be able to say that i was for the war in iraq before i was against it; or that i supported an extension of the iraq war into iran; or that i support the bush-cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don t like. and he won t be able to say that i flip-flopped on something as fundamental as whether our nation should use torture. because we are not a nation that makes excuses for torture, we are a nation that rejects it. that s the change we can offer in 2008., when i am president, i will end this war in iraq. i will bring our troops home within sixteen months. i ll finish the fight against al qaeda in afghanistan. and i will lead the world against the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. that s what democrats must stand for, and that s what america must stand for. and i ll be a president who finally sends a message to the black, white, and brown faces beyond our shores; from the halls of power to the huts of africa that says, ""you matter to america. your future is our future. and our moment is now."", america, our moment is now. now is our chance to turn the page. now is our chance to write a new chapter., i am in this race because i don t want to see us spend the next year re-fighting the washington battles of the 1990s. i don t want to pit blue america against red america, i want to lead a united states of america. i don t want this election to be about the past, because if it s about the future, we all win. if this election is about whether or not to end this war, or pass universal health care, or make more college affordable, it won t just be a democratic victory; it will be an american victory., that s the victory this country needs right now. this election and this moment are too important to settle for what we already know. the time has come to reach for what we know is possible., i am not running for this office to fulfill any long-held plans or because i believe it is somehow owed to me. i never expected to be here, and i always knew the journey would be improbable. i ve never been on one that wasn t., i am running because of what dr. king called ""the fierce urgency of now."" i am running because i do believe there s such a thing as being too late. and that hour is almost here., i m running because i don t want to wake up one morning four years from now, and turn on one of those cable talk shows, and see that washington is still stuck in the same food fight it s been in for over a decade. i don t want to see that more americans lost their health care and fell into bankruptcy because we let the insurance industry spend millions to stop us for yet another year. i don t want to see that., i don t want to see that the oceans rose another few inches and the planet has reached the point of no return because we couldn t find a way to stop ourselves from buying oil from dictators. i don t want to see that., i don t want to see that we risked more american lives in another misguided war because no one had the judgment to ask the tough questions before we sent our troops to fight. i don t want to see that., i don t want to see homeless veterans on the street. i don t want to send another generation of children through corridors of shame. i don t want this future for my daughters and i do not accept this future for america. it is time to turn the page., i run for the presidency for the same reason i drove halfway across the country over two decades ago to bring jobs to the jobless and hope to the hopeless on the streets of chicago; for the same reason i stood up for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason i ve fought for illinois families for over a decade. because i will never forget that the only reason i am standing here today is because someone, somewhere stood up when it wasn t popular, when it was risky; when it was hard. and because that someone stood up, a few more did. and then a few thousand. and then a few million. and together, they changed the world., that s why i run in this election. i run to give my children and their children the same chances that someone, somewhere gave me. i run so that a year from today, there is a chance that the world will look at america differently, and that america will look at itself differently. and i run to keep the promise of the united states of america alive for all those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for equality and long to believe again., that is the change that s possible in this election. that is the moment i want to seize as president. and i ask you all to join me in this journey. thank you., , ,"	
"it s wonderful to be here today. i feel right at home in bettendorf, which is just a stone s throw from my home state of illinois. but the truth is, we share more than the banks of a great river., if you spend time in washington, you, hear a lot about the divisions in our country. about how we re becoming more separated by geography and ideology; race and religion; wealth and opportunity. and we ve had plenty of, politicians who try to take advantage of these divisions - pitting americans against one another, or targeting different messages to different audiences., but as i ve traveled around iowa and the rest of the country these last nine months, i haven t been struck by our differences - i ve been impressed by the values and hopes that we share. in big cities and small towns; among men and women; young and old; black, white, and brown - americans share a faith in simple dreams. a job with wages that can support a family. health care that we can count on and afford. a retirement that is dignified and secure. education and opportunity for our kids. common hopes. american dreams., these are dreams that drove my grandparents. after my grandfather served in world war ii, the gi bill gave him a chance to go to college, and the government gave them a chance to buy a home. they moved west, worked hard at different jobs, and were able to provide my mother with a decent education, to help raise me, and to save enough to retire., these are dreams that drove my father-in-law. a city worker in chicago, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 30. but every day, even when he had to leave an hour earlier in the morning and rely on a walker to get him there, he went to work while his wife stayed home with the kids. and on that single salary, he provided for his family and sent my wife michelle and her brother to college. his dream was to see them do better. and they have., these are dreams that drove my mother. a single mom - even while relying on food stamps as she, finished her education, she followed her passion for helping others, and raised my sister and me to, believe that in america there are no barriers to success - no matter what color you are, no matter where you re from, no matter how much money you have., and these are the dreams that led me to chicago over two decades ago to become a community organizer. the salary - $12,000 a year - wasn t what my friends would make in the corporate world or at law firms. i didn t know a single person in chicago. but i knew there were folks who needed help. the steel plant had closed. jobs were disappearing. in a forgotten corner of america, the american dream was slipping away. and i knew dreams are worth fighting for., what is unique about america is that we want these dreams for more than ourselves - we want them for each other. that s why we call it the american dream. we want it for the kid who doesn t go to college because she cannot afford it; for the worker whose wondering if his wages will pay this winter s heating bill; for 47 million americans living without health care; for the millions more who worry if they have enough to retire with the dignity they have earned., when our fellow americans are denied the american dream, our own dreams are diminished. and today, the cost of that dream is rising faster than ever before. while some have prospered beyond imagination in this global economy, middle-class americans - as well as those working hard to become middle class - are seeing the american dream slip further and further away., you know it from your own lives. americans are working harder for less and paying more for health care and college. for most folks, one income isn t enough to raise a family and send your kids to college. sometimes, two incomes aren t enough. it s harder to save. it s harder to retire. you re doing your part, you re meeting your responsibilities, but it always seems like you re treading water or falling behind. and as i see this every day on the campaign trail, i m reminded of how unlikely it is that the dreams of my family could be realized today, i don t accept this future. we need to reclaim the american dream. and that starts with reclaiming the white house from george bush and dick cheney. we re tired of tax cuts for the wealthy that shift the burden onto the backs of working people. we re tired of waiting ten years for the minimum wage to go up while ceo pay is soaring. we re tired of more americans going without health care, of more, americans falling into poverty, of more american kids who have the brains and the drive to go to college - but can t - because they can t afford it. we re ready for the bush administration to end, because we are sick and tired of being sick and tired., but this is about more than george bush. he s just the beginning of the change that we need. these problems didn t start when he came to office and they won t end just because he s leaving. we re not going to reclaim that dream unless we put an end to the politics of polarization and division that is holding this country back; unless we stand up to the corporate lobbyists that have stood in the way of progress; unless we have leadership that doesn t just tell people what they want to hear - but tells everyone what they need to know. that s the change we need., i believe that americans want to come together again behind a common purpose. americans want to reclaim our american dream. that s why i m running for president of the united states. it s the same reason i packed up my car and moved to chicago. because in this country, that dream is worth fighting for - not just for ourselves, but for each other. and that s why i don t think you should settle for a president who s only there for you when it s easy or convenient or popular - i think you deserve a president who you can trust will fight for your dreams every hour of every day for the next four years. that s the change we need., this starts with an economy that works for working people. americans don t expect government to solve all our problems. but you re tired of a government that works for special interests, and not for you. it s time that we had leadership that worried as much about main street as it does about wall street. that s why i m introducing an american dream agenda - to put some wind at the backs of working people, to lower the cost of getting ahead, and to protect and extend opportunity for the middle class., we need to give working families a break. for twenty-five years, we ve seen gaps in wealth grow larger, while our tax code that favors wealth over work. that s why i ve proposed an income tax cut to offset the payroll tax that working americans are already paying. this will be worth up to $1000 for a working family. i ll make retirement more secure for america s seniors by eliminating income taxes for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year. and i won t wait ten years to raise the minimum wage - i ll guarantee that it goes up every single year. that s the change that working americans need., we know that the cost of the american dream must never come at the expense of the american family. you re working longer hours. more families have two parents working. meanwhile, it s hard to get a hand. it s even harder to get a break. that s why i ll double spending on quality after-school programs - so that you can know your kids are safe and secure. and that s why i ll expand the family medical leave act to include more businesses and millions more workers; to let parents participate in school activities with their kids; and to cover elderly care. and we ll finally put federal support behind state efforts to provide paid family and medical leave. we also need to change a system that is stacked against women. forty percent of working women do not have a single paid sick day. more and more women are denied jobs or promotions because they ve got kids at home. as the son of a single mother, that is not the america that i believe in. i ll be a president who stands up for working parents. we ll require employers to provide seven paid sick days each year. we ll enforce laws that prohibit caregiver discrimination. and we ll encourage flexible work schedules to better balance work and parenting for mothers and fathers. that s the change that working families need., we also need a housing market that is honest, open and accountable. i ve introduced a bill in the senate that cracks down on mortgage fraud. as president, i ll get tough on enforcement and raise penalties on lenders who have broken the rules. for homeowners facing foreclosure through no fault of their own, we ll create a fund and reform bankruptcy laws to give them a shot at avoiding foreclosure. we ll mandate that prospective homebuyers have access to accurate and complete information about their mortgage options. and we ll give middle class homeowners added relief by providing a tax credit that covers 10 percent of a family s mortgage interest payment each year. that s the change that america s homeowners need., since many people who hold subprime mortgages are shifting their debt to credit cards, we have to make sure that they understand their commitments - otherwise credit cards could be the next stage in the subprime crisis. to make sure that americans know what they re signing up for, i ll institute a five- star rating system to inform consumers about the level of risk involved in every credit card. and we ll establish a credit card bill of rights that will ban unilateral changes to a credit card agreement; ban rate changes to debt that s already incurred; and ban interest on late fees. americans need to pay what they owe, but they should pay what s fair., this same principle of fairness is needed in our bankruptcy laws. for far too long, the same politicians in washington who have been cutting back the safety net for working people have been protecting golden parachutes for the well-off - so workers lose their pensions and their health care, while ceos get multi-million dollar payoffs., i fought against a bankruptcy reform bill in the senate that did more to protect credit card companies and banks than to help working people. i ll continue the fight for good bankruptcy laws as president. no more bonuses for executives while pensions disappear. we ll press firms to put more money into their pension funds, and require firms to disclose their pension fund investments. and we ll increase the amount of wages and benefits that workers can claim in bankruptcy court. that s the change we need in our bankruptcy laws., and if you can demonstrate that you went bankrupt because of medical expenses, then there must be a process that relieves that debt and lets you get back on your feet. i don t accept an america where we let someone go over a cliff just because they get sick. that is not who we are., every four years politicians come before you to talk about health care. you hear the same promises. and then you see the same results. well it s time to end the outrage of 47 million uninsured americans. it s time to finally do something about it. i reformed health care in illinois, and i didn t do it alone - i did it by reaching out to democrats and republicans. we took on the insurance industry, and we won. that s how i ll pass a universal health care bill that cuts a typical family s premiums by up to $2500. and mark my words - i will sign this bill by the end of my first term as president. that s the change that america is waiting for., and health care isn t the only cost that we re not keeping up with. americans who work hard their entire lives have earned a secure retirement. but right now, we ve got 75 million working people in this country who don t have employer-based retirement plans. personal saving is at an all-time low. a part of the american dream is at risk., that s why i ll establish an automatic workplace pension policy. employers will be required to enroll workers in a direct deposit retirement account that places a small percentage of each paycheck into the account. then you ll have the choice of opting out, matching, or adding to this account. when you change jobs, your savings will roll over into your new employer s system, or into a system that you control if you leave the workplace or become self-employed. and the federal government will match savings for working families. this will dramatically increase the number of americans who save for retirement, and lift up the amount of savings in this country. that s the change we need to help americans achieve the retirement they are working for., but we need to do more than put the american dream on a firmer foundation. every american has the right to pursue their dreams. but we also have the responsibility to make sure that our children can reach a little further and rise a little higher than we did. when i am president, we will stop passing bills called no child left behind that leave the money behind, and start making real investments in education. that means early childhood education. that means recruiting an army of new teachers, and paying them better, and supporting them more so they re not just teaching to test, but teaching to teach., it also means putting a college education within reach of every american. that s the best investment we can make in our future. i ll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. i ll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don t have a million students who aren t applying for aid because it s too difficult. i will start by eliminating the current student aid form, altogether - we ll use tax data instead., and i ll tap the tremendous resource of community colleges, which educate half the undergraduates in this country, by creating a new community college partnership program. we ll help schools determine what skills and technical education are needed to help local industry; we ll expand new degrees for emerging fields; and we ll reward schools that graduate more students. that s the change we need so that our young people can achieve their dreams., this is what we must do to reclaim the american dream. we know it won t be easy. we ll hear from the can t-do, won t-do, won t-even-try crowd in washington; the special interests and their lobbyists; the conventional thinking that says this country is just too divided to make progress., well i m not running for president to conform to this conventional thinking - i m running to challenge it. there is too much at stake. too much at stake for the family that can t get ahead; the elderly worker who faces a retirement filled with worry; the kid who doesn t believe america has a place for her dreams. to stand up for these americans, i don t want to settle for anything less than real change, fundamental change - change we need - change that we can believe in., it s change that i ve been fighting for since i moved out to chicago over two decades ago. because those dreams - american dreams - are worth fighting for. and because i wouldn t be standing on this stage today if it weren t for the dreams of those who came before me., the dreams of my grandfather - who marched in patton s army and moved his family west in search of opportunity., the dreams of my grandmother - who was up at dawn and worked twice as hard at her job because a woman had to work harder to get ahead., the dreams of my father who crossed an ocean because america offered that light to the world., the dreams of my mother - a single mom who understood that a life rich in family and experience was more important than a life of riches., the dreams of those men and women on the south side of chicago, who fought with me to create a future for their community after the steel plant was shuttered., there has been a lot of talk in this campaign about the politics of hope. but the politics of hope doesn t mean hoping that things come easy. it s a politics of believing in things unseen; of believing in what this country might be; and of standing up for that belief and fighting for it when it s hard., america is the sum of our dreams. and what binds us together, what makes us one american family, is that we stand up and fight for each other s dreams, that we reaffirm that fundamental belief - i am my brother s keeper, i am my sister s keeper - through our politics, our policies, and in our daily lives. it s time to do that once more. it s time to reclaim the american dream., ,"	
", now, here s the good news - the name george w. bush will not be on the ballot. the name of my cousin dick cheney will not be on the ballot. we ve been trying to hide that for a long time. everybody has a black sheep in the family. the era of scooter libby justice, and brownie incompetence, and karl rove politics will finally be over., but the question you re going to have to ask yourself when you caucus in january and you vote in november is, ""what s next for america?"", we are in a defining moment in our history. our nation is at war. the planet is in peril. the dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it s slowly slipping away. we are working harder for less. we ve never paid more for health care or for college. it s harder to save and it s harder to retire. and most of all we ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it., we were promised compassionate conservatism and all we got was katrina and wiretaps. we were promised a uniter, and we got a president who could not even lead the half of the country that voted for him. we were promised a more ethical and more efficient government, and instead we have a town called washington that is more corrupt and more wasteful than it was before. and the only mission that was ever accomplished is to use fear and falsehood to take this country to a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged., it is because of these failures that america is listening, intently, to what we say here today - not just democrats, but republicans and independents who ve lost trust in their government, but want to believe again., and it is because of these failures that we not only have a moment of great challenge, but also a moment of great opportunity. we have a chance to bring the country together in a new majority - to finally tackle problems that george bush made far worse, but that had festered long before george bush ever took office - problems that we ve talked about year after year after year after year., and that is why the same old washington textbook campaigns just won t do in this election. that s why not answering questions ‘cause we are afraid our answers won t be popular just won t do. that s why, telling the american people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the american people what they need to hear just won t do. triangulating and poll-driven positions because we re worried about what mitt or rudy might say about us just won t do. if we are really serious about wining this election democrats, we can t live in fear of losing it., this party - the party of jefferson and jackson; of roosevelt and kennedy - has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the american people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. and i run for the presidency of the united states of america because that s the party america needs us to be right now., a party that offers not just a difference in policies, but a difference in leadership. a party that doesn t just focus on how to win but why we should., a party that doesn t just offer change as a slogan, but real, meaningful change - change that america can believe in., that s why i m in this race. that s why i am running for the presidency of the united states of america - to offer change that we can believe in., i am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in washington are over. i have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists - and won. they have, not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my white house, and they will not drown out the voices of the american people when i am president., i m in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard working americans who deserve it. and i won t raise the minimum wage every ten years -i will raise it to keep pace so that workers don t  fall behind., that is why i am in it. to protect the american worker. to fight for the american worker., i m in this race because i want to stop talking about the outrage of 47 million americans without health care and start actually doing something about it. i expanded health care in illinois by bringing democrats and republicans together. by taking on the insurance industry. and that is how i will make certain that every single american in this country has health care they can count on and i won t do it twenty years from now, i won t do it ten years from now, i will do it by the end of my first term as president of the united states of america., i run for president to make sure that every american child has the best education that we have to offer- from the day they are born to the day they graduate from college. and i won t just talk about how great teachers are - as president i will reward them for their greatness - by raising salaries and giving them more support. that s why i m in this race., i am running for president because i am sick and tired of democrats thinking that the only way to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting, and voting like george bush republicans., when i am this party s nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that i voted for the war in iraq; or that i gave george bush the benefit of the doubt on iran; or that i supported bush-cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don t like. and he will not be able to say that i wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for america to torture - because it is never ok. that s why i am in it., as president, i will end the war in iraq. we will have our troops home in sixteen months. i will close guantanamo. i will restore habeas corpus. i will finish the fight against al qaeda. and i will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. and i will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, ""you matter to us. your future is our future. and our moment is now."", america, our moment is now., our moment is now., i don t want to spend the next year or the next four years re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s., i don t want to pit red america against blue america, i want to be the president of the united states of america., and if those republicans come at me with the same fear-mongering and swift-boating that they usually do, then i will take them head on. because i believe the american people are tired of fear and tired of distractions and tired of diversions. we can make this election not about fear, but about the future. and that won t just be a democratic victory; that will be an american victory., and that is a victory america needs right now., i am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because i believe it s somehow owed to me. i never expected to be here, i always knew this journey was improbable. i ve never been on a journey that wasn t., i am running in this race because of what dr. king called ""the fierce urgency of now."" because i believe that there s such a thing as being too late. and that hour is almost upon us., i don t want to wake up four years from now and find out that millions of americans still lack health care because we couldn t take on the insurance industry., i don t want to see that the oceans have risen a few more inches. the planet has reached a point of no return because we couldn t find a way to stop buying oil from dictators., i don t want to see more american lives put at risk because no one had the judgment or the courage to stand up against a misguided war before we sent our troops into fight., i don t want to see homeless veterans on the streets. i don t want to send another generation of american children to failing schools. i don t want that future for my daughters. i don t want that future for your sons. i do not want that future for america., i m in this race for the same reason that i fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of chicago; for the same reason i fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason that i fought for illinois families for over a decade., because i will never forget that the only reason that i m standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. stood up when it was hard. stood up when it wasn t popular. and because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. and then a few thousand stood up. and then a few million stood up. and standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world., that s why i m running, iowa - to give our children and grandchildren the same chances somebody gave me., that s why i m running, democrats - to keep the american dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality., that s why i m asking you to stand with me, that s why i m asking you to caucus for me, that s why i am asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept. in this election - in this of 4,"	
"we meet at a difficult time for organized labor. a while back, i went to a maytag plant in galesburg, illinois that was moving to mexico. and i met workers who were having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour. a few months ago, i traveled to newton, where maytag was shutting its doors after 114 years. one worker who d been there more than a decade said, ""i just thought i would retire from here and never have another job. i m scared."", i m scared., it makes us outraged to hear these stories. and we ve been hearing them for a long time. it was stories like these that led me more than two decades ago to walk away from a career on wall street and become a community organizer in chicago, so i could help folks who d lost jobs and lost hope when the nearby steel plants closed down. i didn t know a soul in chicago, but i knew i didn t like the idea of working people being laid off and not having anybody fighting for them. i knew i wanted to do my part to make sure they had a decent future., so when i go to places like galesburg or newton, it reminds me why i entered public service. and it reminds me why i m a democrat. because if the democratic party means anything, then it has to mean we value labor. if the democratic party stands for anything, then it has to stand up for your rights, and your future. if the democratic party has a vision for america - then it has to be an america that s working for working americans., but we all know that for a long time now, we ve had a president who doesn t see it that way. we have lived through six years of the most anti-labor administration in generations. they don t believe in unions. they don t believe in organizing. they ve packed the labor relations board with their corporate buddies. well, we ve got news for them - it s not the department of management, it s the department of labor, and we re going to take it back., but despite six years of them doing everything they could to tear labor down - as i look out on this crowd and as i travel across this country, the one thing i know for certain is that the uaw is still fighting. the uaw is still mobilizing. the uaw is still organizing., i m tired of playing defense. i know the uaw is tired of playing defense. we re ready to play some offense. we re ready to play offense for a secure retirement. we re ready to play offense to enforce labor laws., we re ready to play offense for universal health care. i m tired of seeing unions go to the bargaining table and fight for the benefits they negotiated a long time ago, instead of fighting for better wages to support their families. i reformed health care in illinois. and i did it by reaching out to democrats and republicans. we took on the insurance industry, and we won. and that s what i ll do as president. i ve got a plan that cuts costs for the typical family by up to $2,500 a year - more than any other plan that s been offered in this race. and i make this solemn pledge to you - i ll sign my universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term., we re ready to play offense for american workers. when i m president, we re not going to wait twenty years or ten years to raise the minimum wage - we ll raise it to keep pace with inflation every year so that american workers aren t falling behind. and we ll take tax breaks away from companies that ship our jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of working americans who deserve it., we re not going to stop globalization in its tracks, but we shouldn t be standing idly by while american jobs are shipped overseas. it s time to put main street ahead of wall street when it comes to trade. the only trade agreements i believe in are ones that put workers first - because trade deals aren t good for the american people if they aren t good for working people. that s why i opposed cafta. that s, why i oppose the south korea free trade agreement. that s why i voted to block mexican trucks from entering this country. and that s why we need to amend nafta., we re ready to take the offense for organized labor. it s time we had a president who didn t choke saying the word ""union."" we need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best - organize our workers. if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. it s that simple. we need to stand up to the business lobby that s been getting their friends in congress and in the white house to block card check. that s why i was one of the leaders fighting to pass the employee free choice act. that s why i m fighting for it in the senate. and that s why we ll make it the law of the land when i m president., there are few more important unions in this country than the uaw. you created the auto industry. you secured good-paying jobs for generations of workers. and you built the american middle class - the backbone of our economy. so i know someone once said what s good for gm is good for america. but it s time we also recognized that what s good for the uaw is good for america., we need to help you compete with workers around the world by helping the auto industry compete with car companies all over the world. yes, that means raising our fuel standards so we can make the fuel- efficient cars that are the future of your industry. but it also means giving you the help you need to retool your plants so we can build these cars right here in america. and if we can do that, we ll create thousands and thousands of jobs in the process., but if we re serious about helping you compete abroad, we need to stand up for you here at home. that s why i called mike sheridan with local 95 in wisconsin the day they decided to strike gm, and gave him my support. and i made the same call to dan kirk with local 72 when chrysler workers went on strike. and larry sharpe and his members in local 6 from my home state of illinois can t be here today because they re striking international truck and engine, but larry knows he has my support. because when you hit the picket lines - whether it s with gm or chrysler or anybody else - you aren t just fighting for your own rights, you re fighting for the rights of every american worker., but it s going to be hard to do all this - it s going to be hard to make the uaw s agenda america s agenda - until we end this war in iraq. this is a war i opposed in 2002. it s a war i opposed in 2003. and in 2004, and 2005, and 2006. this is a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. and we shouldn t compound the mistake of going in by waiting any longer to pull our troops out. that s why i ve called for us to start withdrawing troops not next month, not next year - now., this is a defining moment in our history. our nation is at war. the dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it s slowly slipping away. we are working harder for less. we ve never paid more for health care or for college. it s harder to save and it s harder to retire. and most of all we ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it., and it is because of this that america is listening, intently, to what my fellow candidates and i are saying - not just democrats, but republicans and independents who ve lost trust in their government, but want to believe again. so in this election, we have a chance to bring the country together in a new majority - to finally tackle problems that george bush made far worse, but that had festered long before george bush ever took office - problems that we ve talked about year after year after year after year., and that is why the same old washington textbook campaigns just won t do in this election. that s why not answering questions because we re afraid our answers won t be popular just won t do. that s why telling the american people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the american people what they need to hear just won t do. triangulating and poll-driven positions because we re worried about what mitt or rudy might say about us just won t do. if we re really serious about winning this election, we can t live in fear of losing it., the democratic party has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the american people when we ve led not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. and i run for the presidency of the united states of america because that s the party america needs us to be right now., a party that offers not just a difference in policies, but a difference in leadership. a party that doesn t just focus on how to win but why we should., a party that doesn t just offer change as a slogan, but real, meaningful change - change that america can believe in., that s why i m in this race. that s why i am running for president of the united states of america., now, i know we ve got a lot of good candidates in this race, and i know they re saying the right things when they come and talk to you. but politicians often say they re pro-labor at election time no matter what they ve said or done before. and that leaves you wondering what they will say or do after the election. so when a candidate rails against nafta today, it s fair to ask her where she s been before. when a candidate says he opposes right-to-work laws or trade rules that hurt workers today, ask him where he s been before. because what you need, what america needs, is a president who will fight for you when it s hard, and not just when it s politically convenient., and that s exactly what i intend to do. because politics didn t lead me to working folks - working folks led me into politics. i was standing with american workers on the streets of chicago twenty years ago, and the reason i m here today is because i don t want to wake up one day many years from now and see that we re still standing by while american jobs get shipped overseas., so i m not just here to give a speech. i don t like just talking about the problems we face in this country. i want to solve them. so i m here to ask for your support, region 4. i m here to ask you to believe not just in me, but in your own sense of possibility, your own imagination about what america might be., imagine a president whose life s story was like so many of your own, who knows what it s like to go to college on scholarships, who knows what it s like to see his mother get sick and worry that maybe she can t pay the medical bills., imagine a president who knows what it s like to put on a comfortable pair of shoes and walk with you on that picket line. who gives denny williams a call before any major piece of labor legislation crosses his desk, so even if we don t see eye to eye on everything, your voice will be heard., imagine an america where we don t have to keep playing defense because we can finally play some offense., that future is within our grasp. we can build that america together if you join me., but each of us has to do our part. so i just want to close with a story about the difference that one voice can make., ,"	
"less than a year from now, you will go into the voting booth and you will select the president of the united states of america., now, here s the good news - the name george w. bush will not be on the ballot. the name of my cousin dick cheney will not be on the ballot. we ve been trying to hide that for a long time. everybody has a black sheep in the family. the era of scooter libby justice, and brownie incompetence, and karl rove politics will finally be over., but the question you re going to have to ask yourself when you vote this year and next is this: ""what s next for america?"", we are in a defining moment in our history. our nation is at war. the planet is in peril. the dream that so many generations fought for feels as if it s slowly slipping away. we are working harder for less. we ve never paid more for health care or for college. it s harder to save and it s harder to retire. and most of all we ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it., we were promised compassionate conservatism and all we got was katrina and wiretaps., we were promised a uniter, and we got a president who could not even lead the half of the country that voted for him., we were promised a more ethical and more efficient washington, and instead we have a town that is more corrupt and more wasteful than it was before. and the only mission that was ever accomplished is to use fear and falsehood to take this country to a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged., it is because of these failures that america is listening, intently, to what we say here today - not just democrats, but republicans and independents who ve lost trust in their government, but want to believe again., and it is because of these failures that we not only have a moment of great challenge, but also a moment of great opportunity. we have a chance to bring the country together in a new majority - to finally tackle problems that george bush made far worse, but that had festered long before george bush ever took office - problems that we ve talked about year after year after year., and that is why the same old washington textbook campaigns just won t do in this election. an electoral strategy that starts out leaving half the country behind just won t do. telling the american people what we think they want to hear instead of telling the american people what they need to hear just won t do. triangulating and poll-driven positions because we re worried about what mitt or rudy might say about us just won t do. if we are really serious about wining this election democrats, we can t live in fear of losing it., this party - the party of jefferson and jackson; of roosevelt and kennedy - has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the american people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose. and i run for the presidency of the united states of america because that s the party america needs us to be right now. a party that doesn t just offer change as a slogan, but real, meaningful change - change that america can believe in., that s why i m in this race. i am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in washington are over. i have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists - and won. they have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my white house,, and they will not drown out the voices of the american people when i am president., i m in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard working americans who deserve it. and i won t raise the minimum wage every ten years -i will raise it to keep pace so that workers don t  fall behind., that is why i am in it. i m in this race because i want to stop talking about the outrage of 47 million americans without health care and start actually doing something about it. i expanded health care in illinois by bringing democrats and republicans together. by taking on the insurance industry. and i have put forth a universal health care plan that will do more to cut the cost of health care than any other proposal in this race. here s the truth - if you can t afford health insurance right now, you will when i m president. anyone who tells you otherwise is more interested in scoring points than solving problems. and i m in it because we ve had enough of that., i run for president to make sure that every american child has the best education that we have to offer- from the day they are born to the day they graduate from college. and i won t just talk about how great teachers are - as president i will reward them for their greatness - by raising salaries and giving them more support. that s why i m in this race., i am running for president because i am sick and tired of democrats thinking that the only way to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting, and voting like george bush republicans., when i am this party s nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that i voted for the war in iraq; or that i gave george bush the benefit of the doubt on iran; or that i supported bush-cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don t like. and he will not be able to say that i wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for america to torture - because it is never ok. that s why i am in it., as president, i will end the war in iraq. we will have our troops home in sixteen months. i will close guantanamo. i will restore habeas corpus. i will finish the fight against al qaeda. and i will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. and i will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, ""you matter to us. your future is our future. and our moment is now."", america, our moment is now. our moment is now., i don t want to spend 2008 re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s. that s exactly what mitt and rudy want. that s they re only hope of winning because they know that if this election is about health care, or ending this war, or making college affordable, then they will lose. they are counting on the same bitter partisanship and the same electoral map we ve had for far too long., i believe i can transform that map. in my senate race i won some of the reddest, most republican counties in illinois. in 2006, when house and senate candidates in states like missouri, and nebraska, and tennessee, and virginia, and indiana needed someone to come campaign for them, i was the one they called. and i m attracting more independents and republicans to our cause than anyone else in this campaign., it s because i believe we can build that new majority - not just to win, but to govern - to actually get something done. i don t want to pit red america against blue america, i want to be president of the united states of america. and that won t just be a democratic victory; that will be an american victory., and that is a victory america needs right now., i am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because i believe it s somehow owed to me. i never expected to be here, i always knew this journey was improbable. i ve never been on a journey that wasn t., i am running in this race because of what dr. king called ""the fierce urgency of now."" because i believe that there s such a thing as being too late. and that hour is almost upon us., i don t want to wake up four years from now and find out that millions of americans still lack health care because we couldn t take on the insurance industry., i don t want to see that the oceans have risen a few more inches. the planet has reached a point of no return because we couldn t find a way to stop buying oil from dictators., i don t want to see more american lives put at risk because no one had the judgment or the courage to stand up against a misguided war before we sent our troops into fight., i don t want to see homeless veterans on the streets. i don t want to send another generation of american children to failing schools. i don t want that future for my daughters. i don t want that future for your sons. i do not want that future for america., i m in this race for the same reason that i fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on, the streets of chicago; for the same reason i fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason that i fought for illinois families for over a decade., because i will never forget that the only reason that i m standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. stood up when it was hard. stood up when it wasn t popular. and because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. and then a few thousand stood up. and then a few million stood up. and standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world., that s why i m running, democrats - to give our children and grandchildren the same chances somebody gave me., that s why i m running - to keep the american dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality., that s why i m asking you to stand with me, that s why i m asking you to vote for me, that s why i am asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept. in this election - in this moment - let us reach for what we know is possible. a nation healed. a world repaired. an america that believes again. thank you very much everybody.,"	
"ten months ago, i stood on the steps of the old state capitol in springfield, illinois, and began an unlikely journey to change america., i did not run for the presidency to fulfill some long-held ambition or because i believed it was somehow owed to me. i chose to run in this election - at this moment - because of what dr. king called ""the fierce urgency of now."" because we are at a defining moment in our history. our nation is at war. our planet is in peril. our health care system is broken, our economy is out of balance, our education system fails too many of our children, and our retirement system is in tatters., at this defining moment, we cannot wait any longer for universal health care. we cannot wait to fix our schools. we cannot wait for good jobs, and living wages, and pensions we can count on. we cannot wait to halt global warming, and we cannot wait to end this war in iraq., i chose to run because i believed that the size of these challenges had outgrown the capacity of our broken and divided politics to solve them; because i believed that americans of every political stripe were hungry for a new kind of politics, a politics that focused not just on how to win but why we should, a politics that focused on those values and ideals that we held in common as americans; a politics that favored common sense over ideology, straight talk over spin., most of all, i believed in the power of the american people to be the real agents of change in this country - because we are not as divided as our politics suggests; because we are a decent, generous people willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations; and i was certain that if we could just mobilize our voices to challenge the special interests that dominate washington and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there was no problem we couldn t solve - no destiny we couldn t fulfill., ten months later, iowa, you have vindicated that faith. you ve come out in the blistering heat and the bitter cold not just to cheer, but to challenge - to ask the tough questions; to lift the hood and kick the tires; to serve as one place in america where someone who hasn t spent their life in the washington spotlight can get a fair hearing., you ve earned the role you play in our democracy because no one takes it more seriously. and i believe that s true this year more than ever because, like me, you feel that same sense of urgency., all across this state, you ve shared with me your stories. and all too often they ve been stories of struggle and hardship., i ve heard from seniors who were betrayed by ceos who dumped their pensions while pocketing bonuses, and from those who still can t afford their prescriptions because congress refused to negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available price., i ve met maytag workers who labored all their lives only to see their jobs shipped overseas; who now compete with their teenagers for $7-an-hour jobs at wal-mart., i ve spoken with teachers who are working at donut shops after school just to make ends meet; who are still digging into their own pockets to pay for school supplies., just two weeks ago, i heard a young woman in cedar rapids who told me she only gets three hours of sleep because she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can t afford health care for a sister with cerebral palsy. she spoke not with self-pity but with determination, and wonders why the government isn t doing more to help her afford the education that will allow her to live out her dreams., i ve spoken to veterans who talk with pride about what they ve accomplished in afghanistan and iraq, but who nevertheless think of those they ve left behind and question the wisdom of our mission in iraq; the mothers weeping in my arms over the memories of their sons; the disabled or homeless vets who, wonder why their service has been forgotten., and i ve spoken to americans in every corner of the state, patriots all, who wonder why we have allowed our standing in the world to decline so badly, so quickly. they know this has not made us safer. they know that we must never negotiate out of fear, but that we must never fear to negotiate with our enemies as well as our friends. they are ashamed of abu graib and guantanamo and warrantless wiretaps and ambiguity on torture. they love their country and want its cherished values and ideals restored., it is precisely because you ve experience these frustrations, and seen the cost of inaction in your own lives, that you understand why we can t afford to settle for the same old politics. you know that we can t afford to allow the insurance lobbyists to kill health care reform one more time, and the oil lobbyists to keep us addicted to fossil fuels because no one stood up and took their power away when they had the chance., you know that we can t afford four more years of the same divisive food fight in washington that s about scoring political points instead of solving problems; that s about tearing your opponents down instead of lifting this country up., we can t afford the same politics of fear that tells democrats that the only way to look tough on national security is to talk, act, and vote like george bush republicans; that invokes 9/11 as a way to scare up votes instead of a challenge that should unite all americans to defeat our real enemies., we can t afford to be so worried about losing the next election that we lose the battles we owe to the next generation., the real gamble in this election is playing the same washington game with the same washington players and expecting a different result. and that s a risk we can t take. not this year. not when the stakes are this high., in this election, it is time to turn the page. in seven days, it is time to stand for change., this has been our message since the beginning of this campaign. it was our message when we were down, and our message when we were up. and it must be catching on, because in these last few weeks, everyone is talking about change., but you can t at once argue that you re the master of a broken system in washington and offer yourself as the person to change it. you can t fall in line behind the conventional thinking on issues as profound as war and offer yourself as the leader who is best prepared to chart a new and better course for america., the truth is, you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. mine is rooted in the real lives of real people and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change. i believe deeply in those words. but they are not mine. they were bill clinton s in 1992, when washington insiders questioned his readiness to lead., my experience is rooted in the lives of the men and women on the south side of chicago who i fought for as an organizer when the local steel plant closed. it s rooted in the lives of the people i stood up for as a civil rights lawyer when they were denied opportunity on the job or justice at the voting booth because of what they looked like or where they came from. it s rooted in an understanding of how the world sees america that i gained from living, traveling, and having family beyond our shores - an understanding that led me to oppose this war in iraq from the start. it s experience rooted in the real lives of real people, and it s the kind of experience washington needs right now., there are others in this race who say that this kind of change sounds good, but that i m not angry or confrontational enough to get it done., well, let me tell you something, iowa. i don t need any lectures on how to bring about change, because i haven t just talked about it on the campaign trail. i ve fought for change all my life., i walked away from a job on wall street to bring job training to the jobless and after school programs to kids on the streets of chicago., i turned down the big money law firms to win justice for the powerless as a civil rights lawyer., i took on the lobbyists in illinois and brought democrats and republicans together to expand health care to 150,000 people and pass the first major campaign finance reform in twenty-five years; and i did the same thing in washington when we passed the toughest lobbying reform since watergate. i m the only candidate in this race who hasn t just talked about taking power away from lobbyists, i ve actually done it. so if you want to know what kind of choices we ll make as president, you should take a look at the choices we made when we had the chance to bring about change that wasn t easy or convenient., that s the kind of change that s more than just rhetoric - that s change you can believe in., it s change that won t just come from more anger at washington or turning up the heat on republicans. there s no shortage of anger and bluster and bitter partisanship out there. we don t need more heat. we need more light. i ve learned in my life that you can stand firm in your principles while still reaching, out to those who might not always agree with you. and although the republican operatives in washington might not be interested in hearing what we have to say, i think republican and independent voters outside of washington are. that s the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have in this election., for the first time in a long time, we have the chance to build a new majority of not just democrats, but independents and republicans who ve lost faith in their washington leaders but want to believe again - who desperately want something new., we can change the electoral math that s been all about division and make it about addition - about building a coalition for change and progress that stretches through blue states and red states. that s how i won some of the reddest, most republican counties in illinois. that s why the polls show that i do best against the republicans running for president - because we re attracting more support from independents and republicans than any other candidate. that s how we ll win in november and that s how we ll change this country over the next four years., in the end, the argument we are having between the candidates in the last seven days is not just about the meaning of change. it s about the meaning of hope. some of my opponents appear scornful of the word; they think it speaks of naivete, passivity, and wishful thinking., but that s not what hope is. hope is not blind optimism. it s not ignoring the enormity of the task before us or the roadblocks that stand in our path. yes, the lobbyists will fight us. yes, the republican attack dogs will go after us in the general election. yes, the problems of poverty and climate change and failing schools will resist easy repair. i know - i ve been on the streets, i ve been in the courts. i ve watched legislation die because the powerful held sway and good intentions weren t fortified by political will, and i ve watched a nation get mislead into war because no one had the judgment or the courage to ask the hard questions before we sent our troops to fight., but i also know this. i know that hope has been the guiding force behind the most improbable changes this country has ever made. in the face of tyranny, it s what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire. in the face of slavery, it s what fueled the resistance of the slave and the abolitionist, and what allowed a president to chart a treacherous course to ensure that the nation would not continue half, slave and half free. in the face of war and depression, it s what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation. in the face of oppression, it s what led young men and women to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through the streets of selma and montgomery for freedom s cause. that s the power of hope - to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before., that s the change we seek. and that s the change you can stand for in seven days., we ve already beaten odds that the cynics said couldn t be beaten. when we started ten months ago, they said we couldn t run a different kind of campaign., they said we couldn t compete without taking money from washington lobbyists. but you proved them wrong when we raised more small donations from more americans than any other campaign in history., they said we couldn t be successful if we didn t have the full support of the establishment in washington. but you proved them wrong when we built a grassroots movement that could forever change the face of american politics., they said we wouldn t have a chance in this campaign unless we resorted to the same old negative attacks. but we resisted, even when we were written off, and ran a positive campaign that pointed out real differences and rejected the politics of slash and burn., and now, in seven days, you have a chance once again to prove the cynics wrong. in seven days, what was improbable has the chance to beat what washington said was inevitable. and that s why in these last weeks, washington is fighting back with everything it has -- with attack ads and insults; with distractions and dishonesty; with millions of dollars from outside groups and undisclosed donors to try and block our path., we ve seen this script many times before. but i know that this time can be different. because i know that when the american people believe in something, it happens., if you believe, then we can tell the lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in washington are over., if you believe, then we can stop making promises to america s workers and start delivering - jobs that pay, health care that s affordable, pensions you can count on, and a tax cut for working americans instead of the companies who send their jobs overseas ., if you believe, we can offer a world-class education to every child, and pay our teachers more, and make college dreams a reality for every american., if you believe, we can save this planet and end our dependence on foreign oil., if you believe, we can end this war, close guantanamo, restore our standing, renew our diplomacy, and once again respect the constitution of the united states of america ., that s the future within our reach. that s what hope is - that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us around the corner. but only if we re willing to work for it and fight for it. to shed our fears and our doubts and our cynicism. to glory in the task before us of remaking this country block by block, precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state., there is a moment in the life of every generation when, if we are to make our mark on history, this spirit must break through, this is the moment. this is our time., and if you will stand with me in seven days - if you will stand for change so that our children have the same chance that somebody gave us; if you ll stand to keep the american dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for justice; if you re ready to stop settling for what the cynics tell you you must accept, and finally reach for what you know is possible, then we will win this caucus, we will win this election, we will change the course of history, and the real journey - to heal a nation and repair the world - will have truly begun., thank you.,"	
"thank you, iowa., you know, they said this day would never come. they said our sights were set too high., they said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose., but on this january night - at this defining moment in history - you have done what the cynics said we couldn t do. you have done what the state of new hampshire can do in five days. you have done what america can do in this new year, 2008. in lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and big cities; you came together as democrats, republicans and independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come., you said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that s consumed washington; to end the political strategy that s been all about division and instead make it about addition - to build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states. because that s how we ll win in november, and that s how we ll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation., we are choosing hope over fear. we re choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to america., you said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don t own this government, we do; and we are here to take it back., the time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. and in new hampshire, if you give me the same chance that iowa did tonight, i will be that president for america., thank you., i ll be a president who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single american the same way i expanded health care in illinois - by--by bringing democrats and republicans together to get the job done., i ll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle- class tax cut into the pockets of the working americans who deserve it., i ll be a president who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all., and i ll be a president who ends this war in iraq and finally brings our troops home; who restores our moral standing; who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes, but a challenge that should unite america and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century; common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease., tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of america because of what you did here in iowa. and so i d especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains; the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible., and while i m at it, on ""thank yous,"" i think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the obama family, the closer on the campaign trail; give it up for michelle obama., i know you didn t do this for me. you did this-you did this because you believed so deeply in the most american of ideas - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it., i know this-i know this because while i may be standing here tonight, i ll never forget that my journey began on the streets of chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in iowa - organizing, and working, and fighting to make people s lives just a little bit better., i know how hard it is. it comes with little sleep, little pay, and a lot of sacrifice. there are days of disappointment, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this - a night-a night that, years from now, when we ve made the changes we believe in; when more families can afford to see a doctor; when our children-when malia and sasha and your children-inherit a planet that s a little cleaner and safer; when the world sees america differently, and america sees itself as a nation less divided and more united; you ll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began., this was the moment when the improbable beat what washington always said was inevitable., this was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long - when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave americans who d never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so., this was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. this was the moment., years from now, you ll look back and you ll say that this was the moment - this was the place - where america remembered what it means to hope., for many months, we ve been teased, even derided for talking about hope., but we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. it s not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. it s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it., hope is what i saw in the eyes of the young woman in cedar rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can t afford health care for a sister who s ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams., hope is what i heard in the voice of the new hampshire woman who told me that she hasn t been able to breathe since her nephew left for iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return., hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through selma and montgomery for freedom s cause., hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from kenya; a mother from kansas; and a story that could only happen in the united states of america. hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be., that is what we started here in iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to new hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of red states and blue states, we are the united states of america; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. thank you, iowa.,"	
"the scripture tells us that when joshua and the israelites arrived at the gates of jericho, they could not enter. the walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. and so they sat for days, unable to pass on through., but god had a plan for his people. he told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram s horn, they should speak with one voice. and at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of jericho came tumbling down., there are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. as i was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern civil rights era., because before memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in selma and the march on washington; before birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was king the icon and his magnificent dream, there was king the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression., and on the eve of the bus boycotts in montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, king inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:, ""unity is the great need of the hour"" is what king said. unity is how we shall overcome., what dr. king understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved. but maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake. if a few more women were willing to do what rosa parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show. if teenagers took freedom rides from north to south, maybe a few bricks would come loose. maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway. and if enough americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, north and south, rich and poor, christian and jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream., unity is the great need of the hour - the great need of this hour. not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country., i m not talking about a budget deficit. i m not talking about a trade deficit. i m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans., i m talking about a moral deficit. i m talking about an empathy deficit. i m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother s keeper; we are our sister s keeper; that, in the words of dr. king, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny., we have an empathy deficit when we re still sending our children down corridors of shame - schools in the forgotten corners of america where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education., we have a deficit when ceos are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can t afford a doctor when their children get sick., we have a deficit in this country when there is scooter libby justice for some and jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century., we have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of darfur; when young americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged., and we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that god calls on us to feed; the sick he calls on us to care for; the least of these he commands that we treat as our own., so we have a deficit to close. we have walls - barriers to justice and equality - that must come down. and to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour., unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we ve come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap. we ve come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily - that it s just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved., all too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick. we long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price., but of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. it starts with a change in attitudes - a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts., it s not easy to stand in somebody else s shoes. it s not easy to see past our differences. we ve all encountered this in our own lives. but what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart - that puts up walls between us., we are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don t think like us or look like us or come from where we do. the welfare queen is taking our tax money. the immigrant is taking our jobs. the believer condemns the nonbeliever as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant., for most of this country s history, we in the african-american community have been at the receiving end of man s inhumanity to man. and all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system., and yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. if we re honest with ourselves, we ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to king s vision of a beloved community., we have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. the scourge of anti-semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. for too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity., every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. it is played out on television. it is sensationalized by the media. and last week, it even crept into the campaign for president, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation., so let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. the division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others - all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face - war and poverty; injustice and inequality. we can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. we can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. it is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late., because if dr. king could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts., but if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there. it is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools. it is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms. it is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort., the scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed. and if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country s ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina., and that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. the changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we , want to hear. all of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice. none of us will be exempt from responsibility. we will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents. we will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip., that is how we will bring about the change we seek. that is how dr. king led this country through the wilderness. he did it with words - words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the christian but the jew; not just the southerner but also the northerner.	, , he led with words, but he also led with deeds. he also led by example. he led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. he led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. he led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. dr. king understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination., that is the unity - the hard-earned unity - that we need right now. it is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope - the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before., the stories that give me such hope don t happen in the spotlight. they don t happen on the presidential stage. they happen in the quiet corners of our lives. they happen in the moments we least expect. let me give you an example of one of those stories., there is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named ashley baia who organizes for our campaign in florence, south carolina. she s been working to organize a mostly african-american community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there., and ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. and because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. they had to file for bankruptcy, and that s when ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom., she knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. because that was the cheapest way to eat., she did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too., so ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they re supporting the campaign. they all have different stories and reasons. many bring up a specific issue. and finally they come to this elderly black man who s been sitting there quietly the entire time. and ashley asks him why he s there. and he does not bring up a specific issue. he does not say health care or the economy. he does not say education or the war. he does not say that he was there because of barack obama. he simply says to everyone in the room, ""i am here because of ashley."", by itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. it is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children., but it is where we begin. it is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake. and if they can shake in that room, they can shake in atlanta., and if they can shake in atlanta, they can shake in georgia., and if they can shake in georgia, they can shake all across america. and if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down. the walls of jericho can finally come tumbling down. that is our hope - but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together., brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone., in the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone., in the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone, in the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone., so i ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an america that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. may god bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may god bless the united states of america.,"	
"over two weeks ago, we saw the people of iowa proclaim that our time for change has come. but there were those who doubted this country s desire for something new - who said iowa was a fluke not to be repeated again., well, tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of south carolina., after four great contests in every corner of this country, we have the most votes, the most delegates, and the most diverse coalition of americans we ve seen in a long, long time., they are young and old; rich and poor. they are black and white; latino and asian. they are democrats from des moines and independents from concord; republicans from rural nevada and young people across this country who ve never had a reason to participate until now. and in nine days, nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again, but if there s anything we ve been reminded of since iowa, it s that the kind of change we seek will not come easy. partly because we have fine candidates in the field - fierce competitors, worthy of respect. and as contentious as this campaign may get, we have to remember that this is a contest for the democratic nomination, and that all of us share an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies of the current administration., but there are real differences between the candidates. we are looking for more than just a change of party in the white house. we re looking to fundamentally change the status quo in washington - a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. and right now, that status quo is fighting back with everything it s got; with the same old tactics that divide and distract us from solving the problems people face, whether those problems are health care they can t afford or a mortgage they cannot pay., so this will not be easy. make no mistake about what we re up against., we are up against the belief that it s ok for lobbyists to dominate our government - that they are just part of the system in washington. but we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem, and this election is our chance to say that we re not going to let them stand in our way anymore., we are up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in washington or proximity to the white house. but we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally americans from all walks of life around a common purpose - a higher purpose., we are up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together to make college affordable or energy cleaner; it s the kind of partisanship where you re not even allowed to say that a republican had an idea - even if it s one you never agreed with. that kind of politics is bad for our party, it s bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all., we know that this is exactly what s wrong with our politics; this is why people don t believe what their leaders say anymore; this is why they tune out. and this election is our chance to give the american people a reason to believe again., and what we ve seen in these last weeks is that we re also up against forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation. it s the politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon. a politics that tells us that we have to think, act, and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us. the assumption that young people are apathetic. the assumption that republicans won t cross over. the assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor, and that the poor don t vote. the assumption that african-americans can t support the white candidate; whites can t support the african-american candidate; blacks and latinos can t come together., but we are here tonight to say that this is not the america we believe in. i did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white south carolina or a black south carolina. i saw south carolina. i saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children. i saw shuttered mills and homes for sale that once belonged to americans from all walks of life, and men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. i saw what america is, and i believe in what this country can be., that is the country i see. that is the country you see. but now it is up to us to help the entire nation embrace this vision. because in the end, we are not just up against the ingrained and destructive habits of washington, we are also struggling against our own doubts, our own fears, and our own cynicism. the change we seek has always required great struggle and sacrifice. and so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we re willing to work for it., so let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. that change will take time. there will be setbacks, and false starts, and sometimes we will make mistakes. but as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. because there are people all across this country who are counting us; who can t afford another four years without health care or good schools or decent wages because our leaders couldn t come together and get it done., theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from south carolina., the mother who can t get medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child - she needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single american., the teacher who works another shift at dunkin donuts after school just to make ends meet - she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay, and more support, and her students get the resources they need to achieve their dreams., the maytag worker who is now competing with his own teenager for a $7-an-hour job at wal-mart because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors - he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working americans who deserve it. and struggling homeowners. and seniors who should retire with dignity and respect., the woman who told me that she hasn t been able to breathe since the day her nephew left for iraq, or the soldier who doesn t know his child because he s on his third or fourth tour of duty - they need us to come together and put an end to a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged., the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. it s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white., it s about the past versus the future., it s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today, or whether we reach for a politics of common sense, and innovation - a shared sacrifice and shared prosperity., there are those who will continue to tell us we cannot do this. that we cannot have what we long for. that we are peddling false hopes., but here s what i know. i know that when people say we can t overcome all the big money and influence in washington, i think of the elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day - an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside. so don t tell us change isn t possible., when i hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and latinos can t join together and work together, i m reminded of the latino brothers and sisters i organized with, and stood with, and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of chicago. so don t tell us change can t happen., when i hear that we ll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, i think about that republican woman who used to work for strom thurmond, who s now devoted to educating inner-city children and who went out onto the streets of south carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. don t tell me we can t change., yes we can change., yes we can heal this nation., yes we can seize our future., and as we leave this state with a new wind at our backs, and take this journey across the country we love with the message we ve carried from the plains of iowa to the hills of new hampshire; from the nevada desert to the south carolina coast; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words:, yes. we. can.,"	
", hope and achievement. and i think my own sense of what s possible in this country comes in part from what they said america was like in the days of john and robert kennedy., i believe that s true for millions of americans. i ve seen it in offices in this city where portraits of john and robert hang on office walls or collections of their speeches sit on bookshelves. and i ve seen it in my travels all across this country. because no matter where i go, or who i talk to, one thing i can say for certain is that the dream has never died., the dream lives on in the older folks i meet who remember what america once was, and know what america can be once again. it lives on in the young people who ve only seen john or robert kennedy on tv, but are ready to answer their call., it lives on in those americans who refuse to be deterred by the scale of the challenges we face, who know, as president kennedy said at this university, that ""no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings."", and it lives on in those americans - young and old, rich and poor, black and white, latino and asian - who are tired of a politics that divides us and want to recapture the sense of common purpose that we had when john kennedy was president., that is the dream we hold in our hearts. that is the kind of leadership we need in this country. and that is the kind of leadership i intend to offer as president., so make no mistake: the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. it s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. it s about the past versus the future., it s about whether we re going to seize this moment to write the next great american story. so someday we can tell our children that this was the time when we healed our nation. this was the time when we repaired our world. and this was the time when we renewed the america that has led generations of weary travelers from all over the world to find opportunity, and liberty, and hope on our doorstep., one of these travelers was my father. i barely knew him, but when, after his death, i finally took my first trip to his tiny village in kenya and asked my grandmother if there was anything left from him, she opened a trunk and took out a stack of letters, which she handed to me., there were more than thirty of them, all handwritten by my father, all addressed to colleges and universities across america, all filled with the hope of a young man who dreamed of more for his life. and his prayer was answered when he was brought over to study in this country., but what i learned much later is that part of what made it possible for him to come here was an effort by the young senator from massachusetts at the time, john f. kennedy, and by a grant from the kennedy foundation to help kenyan students pay for travel. so it is partly because of their generosity that my father came to this country, and because he did, i stand before you today - inspired by america s past, filled with hope for america s future, and determined to do my part in writing our next great chapter., so i m asking for your hands. i m asking for your help. and i m asking for your hearts. and if you will stand with me in the days to come - if you will stand for change so that our children have the same chance that somebody gave us; if you ll stand to keep the american dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for justice; if you re ready to stop settling for what the cynics tell you you must accept, and finally reach for what you know is possible, then we will win these primaries, we will win this election, we will change the course of history, and light a new torch for change in this country - and ""the glow from that fire can truly light the world."", ,"	
", tonight, for the seventh long year, the american people heard a state of the union that didn t reflect the america we see, and didn t address the challenges we face. but what it did do was give us an urgent reminder of why it s so important to turn the page on the failed politics and policies of the past, and change the status quo in washington so we can finally start making progress for ordinary americans., tonight s state of the union was full of the same empty rhetoric the american people have come to expect from this president. we heard president bush say he d do something to cut down on special interest earmarks, but we know these earmarks have skyrocketed under his administration., we heard the president say he wants to make tax cuts for the wealthiest americans permanent, when we know that at a time of war and economic hardship, the last thing we need is a permanent tax cut for americans who don t need them and weren t even asking for them. what we need is a middle class tax cut, and that s exactly what i will provide as president., we heard the president say he has a stimulus plan to boost our economy, but we know his plan leaves out seniors and fails to expand unemployment insurance, and we know it was george bush s washington that let the banks and financial institutions run amok, and take our economy down this dangerous road. what we need to do now is put more money in the pockets of workers and seniors, and expand unemployment insurance for more people and more time. and i have a plan that to do just that., and finally, tonight we heard president bush say that the surge in iraq is working, when we know that s just not true. yes, our valiant soldiers have helped reduce the violence. five soldiers gave their lives today in this cause, and we mourn their loss and pray for their families., but let there be no doubt - the iraqi government has failed to seize the moment to reach the compromises necessary for an enduring peace. that was what we were told the surge was all about. so the only way we re finally going to pressure the iraqis to reconcile and take responsibility for their future is to immediately begin the responsible withdrawal of our combat brigades so that we can bring all of our combat troops home., but another reason we need to begin this withdrawal immediately is because this war has not made us safer. i opposed this war from the start in part because i was concerned that it would take our eye off al qaeda and distract us from finishing the job in afghanistan. sadly, that s what happened. it s time to heed our military commanders by increasing our commitment to afghanistan, and it s time to protect the american people by taking the fight to al qaeda., tonight was president bush s last state of the union, and i do not believe history will judge his administration kindly. but i also believe the failures of the last seven years stem not just from any single policy, but from a broken politics in washington. a politics that says it s ok to demonize your political opponents when we should be coming together to solve problems. a politics that puts wall street ahead of main street, ignoring the reality that our fates are intertwined; a politics that accepts lobbyists as part of the system in washington, instead of recognizing how much they re a part of the problem. and a politics of fear and ideology instead of hope and common sense., i believe a new kind of politics is possible, and i believe it is necessary. because the american people can t afford another four years without health care, decent wages, or an end to this war. the woman who s going to college and working the night shift to pay her sister s medical bills can t afford to wait. the maytag workers who are now competing with their teenagers for $7 an hour jobs at wall mart can t afford to wait. and the woman who told me she hasn t been able to breathe since her nephew left for iraq can t afford to wait., each year, as we watch the state of the union, we see half the chamber rise to applaud the president and , half the chamber stay in their seats. we see half the country tune in to watch, but know that much of the country has stopped even listening. imagine if next year was different. imagine if next year, the entire nation had a president they could believe in. a president who rallied all americans around a common purpose. that s the kind of president we need in this country. and with your help in the coming days and weeks, that s the kind of president i will be.	, , , text hope to 62262, , , learn issues media news blog action states store donate privacy policy terms of service contact us,"	
", i want to thank governor sebelius for her support in this campaign, for the leadership she s provided the state of kansas, and for the example she s set for democrats all across america., in her two terms as governor, kathleen sebelius has proved that new jobs and good schools; affordable health care and clean energy are not democratic ideas or republican ideas, they are american ideas. and she has shown america that the democratic party is a party that can run anywhere and win anywhere and lead anywhere as long as we re the party of change - the party of the future. governor sebelius is a bright part of that future, and we are grateful to have her with us here today., you know, we have been told for many years that we are becoming more divided as a nation., we have been made to believe that differences of race and region; wealth and gender; party and religion have separated us into warring factions; into red states and blue states made up of individuals with opposing wants and needs; with conflicting hopes and dreams., it is a vision of america that s been exploited and encouraged by pundits and politicians who need this division to score points and win elections. but it is a vision of america that i am running for president to fundamentally reject - not because of a blind optimism i hold, but because of a story i ve lived., it s a story that began here, in el dorado, when a young man fell in love with a young woman who grew up down the road in augusta. they came of age in the midst of the depression, where he found odd jobs on small farms and oil rigs, always dodging the bank failures and foreclosures that were sweeping the nation., they married just after war broke out in europe, and he enlisted in patton s army after the bombing of pearl harbor. she gave birth to their daughter on the base at fort leavenworth, and worked on a bomber assembly line when he left for war., in a time of great uncertainty and anxiety, my grandparents held on to a simple dream - that they could raise my mother in a land of boundless opportunity; that their generation s struggle and sacrifice could give her the freedom to be what she wanted to be; to live how she wanted to live., i am standing here today because that dream was realized - because my grandfather got the chance to go to school on the gi bill, buy a house through the federal housing authority, and move his family west - all the way to hawaii - where my mother would go to college and one day fall in love with a young student from kenya., i am here because that dream made my parents  love possible, even then; because it meant that after my father left, when my mother struggled as a single parent, and even turned to food stamps for a time, she was still able to send my sister and me to the best schools in the country., and i m here because years later, when i found my own love in a place far away called chicago, she told me of a similar dream. michelle grew up in a working-class family on the south side during the 1960s. her father had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at just thirty years old. and yet, every day of his life, even when he had to rely on a walker to get him there, fraser robinson went to work at the local water filtration plant while his wife stayed home with the children. and on that single salary, he was able to send michelle and her brother to princeton., our family s story is one that spans miles and generations; races and realities. it s the story of farmers and soldiers; city workers and single moms. it takes place in small towns and good schools; in kansas and kenya; on the shores of hawaii and the streets of chicago. it s a varied and unlikely journey, but one that s held together by the same simple dream., and that is why it s american., that s why i can stand here and talk about how this country is more than a collection of red states and blue states - because my story could only happen in the united states., that s why i believe that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that the dream we share is more powerful than the differences we have - because i am living proof of that ideal., and that is what i have seen all across this country over the course of this campaign., i ve seen crumbling schools in south carolina that are stealing the future of black children and white children., i ve been told of the injustice in the growing divide between main street and wall street by the lowest-paid workers and the wealthiest billionaires., i ve met autoworkers in iowa and teachers in new hampshire and dishwashers in nevada who are all fighting the same fight for better wages and good benefits and a retirement they can count on., and i ve talked to young people and old people; democrats, independents, and republicans who love their country, support their troops, and believe it is time to bring them home from iraq., we are not as divided as our politics suggest. yes, we disagree. yes, we have interests and ideologies that don t always align. yes, we have real differences., but the biggest divide in america today is not between its people, it is between its people and their leaders in washington, dc. that is where our collective dream has been deferred. that s where the money and influence of lobbyists kill our plans to make health care more affordable or energy cleaner year after year after year. that s where campaign promises to keep jobs in america or put tax cuts in the pockets of working families are cast aside to make room for the politics of the moment. and that s where politicians would rather demonize each other to score points than come together to solve our common challenges., that is where the real division lies - in a politics that echoes through the media and seeps into our culture - the kind that seeks to drive us apart and put up walls where none exist., it s the politics that tells us that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don t think like us or look like us or come from where we do. the welfare queen is taking our tax money. the immigrant is taking our jobs. the gay person must be immoral, and the believer must be intolerant., well we are here to say that this is not the america we believe in and this is not the politics we have to accept anymore. not this time. not now., this will not be easy. because the change we seek will not just come from overcoming the ingrained and destructive habits of washington, it will require overcoming our own fears and our own doubts. it will require each of us to do our part in closing the moral deficit - the empathy deficit - that exists in this nation. it will take standing in one another s shoes and remembering that we are our brother s keeper; we are our sister s keeper., this will not be easy, but america s story tells me it s possible. my story tells me it s possible. what began here in kansas all those years ago tells me it s possible., because as we face another time of anxiety and uncertainty - a time where foreclosures sweep the nation and families struggle to stay afloat; where loved ones leave for war and parents wonder what kind of world their children will inherit - i believe that this nation can rally around the simple dream that my grandparents held on to even in the darkest of days., it s a dream that we can find a job with wages that support a family. that we can have health care that s affordable for when we get sick. that we can retire with dignity and security. and that we can provide our children with education and opportunity - so that they can be what they want to be and live how they want to live. they are the common dreams that can finally unite a nation around a common purpose., there are those who will continue to tell us we cannot do this. that we cannot come together. that the divisions in our politics run too deep. that we are offering the american people false hopes., but here s what i know., i know that when i hear people say that we can t come together to lift up working families who are struggling in this economy, i think back to the streets of chicago, where i began my career as a community organizer twenty-five years ago. in the shadow of a closed steel mill, we brought white people and black people and latinos together to provide job training to the jobless and after school programs for children. block by block, we restored hope and opportunity to those neighborhoods, and i can believe we can do the same thing for the working families of america., right now, there s an economic stimulus package moving through congress that will provide a boost to the economy and to working families. it s similar to the one i proposed a few weeks ago, and would provide immediate tax relief for working families. i hope that when it s final, it will also provide relief to seniors and extend unemployment insurance to those who ve lost their jobs., but we need to do even more to restore fairness and balance to our economy. last night, we heard the president say that he wanted to make his tax cuts for the wealthiest americans permanent - again. well we can t afford more george bush tax cuts for those who don t need them and weren t even asking for them. it s time to give tax relief to the middle-class families who need it right now., when i am president, we ll stop giving tax breaks to companies who ship our jobs overseas, and i ll put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working families. this tax cut will be worth up to $1000 for a working family. we ll provide struggling homeowners some relief by giving them a tax credit that would cover ten percent of a family s mortgage interest payment every year. and we re also going to give seniors a break by eliminating income taxes for any retiree making less than $50,000 a year, because every single american should be able to retire with dignity and respect., that also means helping americans save for retirement when they re still working. when i m president, employers will be required to enroll every worker in a direct deposit retirement account that places a small percentage of each paycheck into savings. you can keep this account even if you change jobs, and the federal government will match the savings for lower-income, working families., it s also time we had a president who won t wait another ten years to raise the minimum wage. i will raise it to keep pace every year so that workers don t fall behind. i ll institute a credit card bill of rights that will ban credit card companies from changing the agreement you signed up for, changing the interest rate on debt you ve already incurred, or charging interest on late fees. americans should pay what they owe, but they should also pay what s fair, not just what s profitable for some credit card company., the same principle should apply to our bankruptcy laws. i opposed the credit card industry s bankruptcy bill that made it harder for working families to climb out of debt, and when i m president, i ll make sure that ceos can t dump your pension with one hand while they collect a bonus with the other. that s an outrage, and it s time we had a president who knows it s an outrage., it s also time we had a president who stopped talking about the outrage of 47 million uninsured americans and started doing something about it. when i hear that we can t come together and expand health care to the uninsured, i think back to how i was able to bring democrats and republicans together in illinois to provide health insurance to 150,000 children and parents. and when i m president, we ll finally pass a universal health care plan that will make sure every single american can get the same kind of health care that members of congress get for themselves. my plan does more to cut costs than any other plan in this race - up to $2500 for a typical family. and we won t pass it twenty years from now, not ten years from now - we ll pass health care by the end of my first term in office., when i hear that there s no way we can overcome the power of lobbyists and special interests, i think about how i was able to pass the first major ethics reform in illinois twenty-five years. i think about how in washington, i was able to bring democrats and republicans together to pass the strongest lobbying reform in a generation - we banned gifts from lobbyists, meals with lobbyists, subsidized travel on fancy jets, and for the first time in history, we forced lobbyists to tell the american public who they re raising money from and who in congress they re funneling it to. washington lobbyists haven t funded my campaign, they won t run my white house, and they will not drown out the voices of working americans when i am president., and when i hear that some of our kids just can t learn; that we can t do anything about crumbling schools and rising tuition, i think back to the chances that somebody, somewhere gave my family. the ticket my father got to come study in america. the opportunity my mother had to put herself through graduate school. the chance i had to go to the best schools in the country, even though we didn t have much., it is time to give every child in america that kind of chance - no matter what they look like or where they come from. when i am president, we will provide all our children with a world-class education, from the day they re born until the day they graduate college. that means early childhood education to give them the best possible start. that means not just talking about how great teachers are, but rewarding them for their greatness, with better pay, and more support. and it means providing every american with a $4,000 a year tax credit that will finally help make a college education affordable and available for all., this election is our chance - our moment - to restore the simple dream of those who came before us for another generation of americans. but only if we can come together and like previous generations did and close that divide between a people and its leaders in washington., because in the end, the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. it s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white., it s about the past versus the future., it s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today, or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation; of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity., in the face of war and depression; through great struggle and tremendous sacrifice, that is the future that my grandparents  generation forged for their children. it is why that little girl who was born at fort leavenworth could dream as big as the kansas sky. and it is why i stand before you today - because there are two little girls i tuck in at night who deserve a world in which they can dream those same big dreams; in which they can have the same chances as any other child living any other place. it is a dream i share for your children and all of our children, and that is why it s american - always hoping, always reaching, always striving for that better day ahead. i hope you ll join me on that journey, and i thank you for welcoming me back to the place my family called home., learn issues media news blog action states store donate privacy policy terms of service contact us,"	
", thank you caroline - for your introduction, your support, and your lifetime of service to a grateful nation. you continue to inspire americans of all ages and walks of life., let me also say a few words about another american who has called us to a common purpose. john edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling. at a time when our politics is too focused on who s up and who s down, he made us focus on who matters - the new orleans child without a home, the west virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other america that is not seen or heard or talked about in washington. john and elizabeth edwards believe deeply that two americans can become one. their campaign may have ended, but this cause lives on for all of us who believe that we can achieve one america., seven months from now, the democratic party will gather here in denver to nominate our candidate for president of the united states., we will come together after a long and hard fought primary campaign - and that s a good thing. because it is through campaigns that we hear directly from the american people, set our common goals, and debate our differences. it is through campaigns that we bring new people into the process; build new coalitions; and renew who we are and what we stand for as a party., it is fitting that the journey leads to denver - a city that is younger than the democratic party itself, but filled with the promise that our party has always fought for. this city, built at the base of the rocky mountains, stands as a monument to a uniquely american belief in things unseen. here, in denver, fur trappers and traders; gold rushers and ranchers; came in search of opportunity, and made the future their own., the story of america leads west. it is a story of ideals that know no boundaries. it is a story of immigrants who set out from distant shores; pioneers who persevered; and people of all races, religions, and ethnic groups who put aside their doubts to seek a new frontier., my own family s journey moved west - from kansas, where my grandparents met and married, and my mother was born; to the pacific coast after world war ii; and then across an ocean to hawaii. their journey - like so many others - speaks to a simple truth written into the story of america. it s a truth at the foundation of the democratic party s purpose, denver s progress, and our nation s promise: in america, the future is what we decide it s going to be., as candidates, we must give new meaning to that promise. and seven months from now, one of us will stand before that convention hall, and give voice to the hopes, and dreams, and determination of americans all across our country. in six days, you get to choose who will be that voice. you get to choose who will be able to build a new majority of not just democrats - but independents and republicans - to win in november, and transform our country. and if you put your trust in me, i will stand up at that convention and say that our divisions are past, our hope is the future, and our time for change has come., now there is one thing we know for certain about the election in november: the name george bush will not be on the ballot. the name of my cousin - dick cheney - will not be on the ballot. but the choice before you is about what comes next. because we need to do more than turn the page on the failed bush-cheney policies; we have to turn the page on the politics that helped make those policies possible., lobbyists setting an agenda in washington that feeds the inequality, insecurity, and instability in our economy., division and distraction that keeps us from coming together to deal with challenges like health care, and clean energy, and crumbling schools year after year after year., cronyism that gave us katrina instead of competent government. and secrecy that made torture permissible and illegal wiretaps possible., it s a politics that uses 9/11 to scare up votes; and fear and falsehoods to lead us into a war in iraq that should ve never been authorized and should ve never been waged., each candidate running for the democratic nomination shares an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies of the current administration. but we must decide - in the debate that leads to denver - just what kind of party we want to be, and what lessons we ve learned from the bitter partisanship of the last two decades. we can be a party that tries to beat the other side by practicing the same do-anything, say- anything, divisive politics that has stood in the way of progress; or we can be a party that puts an end to it., i am running for president because i believe that we need fundamental change in america. not just a change of party in the white house, but change in washington that the american people can believe in - unity instead of division; hope instead of fear; a politics that leaves behind the fights of the past so that we can finally take hold of our future., we began this campaign one year ago on the steps of the old statehouse in springfield. at the time, we made a bet on the american people. that bet was simple - we weren t going to change anything by relying on the same washington games; instead, we were betting on the american people s hunger for change, and your ability to make change happen from the bottom-up., and we are showing america what change looks like. from the snows of iowa to the sunshine of south carolina, we have built a movement of young and old; rich and poor; black and white; latino, asian and native american. we ve reached americans of all political stripes who are more interested in turning the page than turning up the heat on our opponents. that s how democrats will win in november and build a majority in congress. not by nominating a candidate who will unite the other party against us, but by choosing one who can unite this country around a movement for change., if you choose change, you will have a nominee who doesn t take a dime from washington lobbyists and pacs. we don t need a candidate who agrees with republicans that lobbyists are part of the system in washington. they re part of the problem. and when i m president, their days of setting the agenda in washington will be over., if you choose change, you will have a nominee who doesn t just tell people what they want to hear. poll- tested positions and calculated answers might be how washington confronts challenges, but it s not how you overcome them; it s not how you inspire our nation to come together behind a common purpose; and it s not what america needs right now., if you choose change, you will have a nominee who isn t just playing on the same electoral map where half the country starts out against us, because you will have a nominee who has already brought in more independents and republicans; young people and new voters; than we have seen in a generation., i know it is tempting - after another presidency by a man named george bush - to simply turn back the clock, and to build a bridge back to the 20th century. there are those will tell us that our party should nominate someone who is more practiced in the art of pursuing power; that s it s not yet our turn or our time. there was also a time when caroline kennedy s father was counseled by a former president to “be patient,” and to step aside for “someone with greater experience.” but john f. kennedy responded by saying, “the world is changing. the old ways will not do...it is time for a new generation of leadership.”, it is time for a new generation of leadership, because the old politics just won t do. i am running for president - right now - because i have met americans all across this country who cannot afford to wait another day for change. that is why the real choice in this campaign is not between regions or religions or genders. it s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white., it is about the past versus the future. and when i am the nominee, the republicans won t be able to make this election about the past because you will have already chosen the future., it s time for new leadership for an economy where families are being forced to foreclose on their dreams, and workers have seen their pensions disappear., in the short-term, we need what i have consistently called for - a stimulus plan that gives the american people a tax rebate, and that also extends relief to seniors and expands unemployment insurance. and in the long-term, we need to put the american dream on a firmer foundation. we re not going to offer the american people the choice they need by nominating a candidate who voted to put the banks and big business ahead of hard-working americans. i ve been fighting for working people my entire public life. and when i am president, i ll make sure that ceos can t dump your pension with one hand while they collect a bonus with the other. i ll pass bankruptcy laws that protect workers instead of banks. and i ll crack down on fraudulent mortgage lenders, and credit card companies that change your rates to push you further into debt., it s time for new leadership for the maytag worker who is now competing with his own teenage son for a $7 an-hour job at walmart because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors., we re not going to offer the american people the choice they need by nominating a candidate who argues, year after year for trade that isn t fair, but calls for a time-out on trade when they run for president. i will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working americans. i will stop giving the wealthiest americans tax cuts that they don t need and didn t ask for, and restore fairness to our economy. i ll give a tax cut to working people; provide relief to homeowners; and eliminate the income tax for seniors making under $50,000 so they can retire with the dignity and security they have earned., it s time for new leadership for the woman i met who can t get medicaid to cover the needs of her sick child., she can t afford to wait another four years or another fifteen years to get health care because we ve put forward a nominee who can t bring democrats and republicans together to get things done. i know that the reason americans don t have health care isn t because no one is forcing them to buy it - it s because they can t afford it. that s why my plan cuts costs by up to $2500 for a typical family, and makes health care available and affordable for every single american. that s the plan that i ll pass in my first term as president., it is time for new leadership for children going to overcrowded schools in east l.a.; for the teacher i met who is working at dunkin donuts to make ends meet; for the young people who are ready to go to college but can t afford it., when i m president, we ll rally this country to the cause of world-class education. that means putting our kids on a pathway to success with universal, quality, affordable early childhood education. that means paying our teachers more, and making sure they re not just teaching to the test - but teaching art and music and literature. that means giving our young people an annual $4,000 tax credit for college tuition if they serve their community; and that means expanding americorps to 250,000 slots, and issuing a call to service for a new generation. but that also means calling on parents to do their part - to get off the couch, turn off the television, and read to our children. because responsibility for education starts at home., it s time for new leadership so that my daughters and your children don t grow up in a century where our economy is weighed down by our addiction to oil; our foreign policy is held hostage to the whims of dictators; and our planet passes a moment of no return., when i m president, we won t wait any longer to reduce emissions. when i called for higher fuel efficiency standards, i didn t do it in front of an environmental group in california or in boulder - that would have been the easy thing to do. i did it in front of the automakers in detroit. now it was pretty quiet - i didn t get a lot of . but we need leadership that tells the american people not just what they want to hear, but what we need to know. that s what i ll do. we cannot wait to invest in the next generation of biofuels, and wind and solar. if president kennedy could send us to the moon in less than a decade - then we can meet this great challenge our generation. we can set the goal of an 80% reduction in global emissions by 2050, and we can lead the world to confront the climate crisis., and it s time for new leadership for the woman who told me that she hasn t been able to breathe since the day her nephew left for iraq, and the soldier who doesn t know his own child because he s on his third or fourth tour of duty., i will end the mentality that says the only way for democrats to look tough on national security is by talking, acting and voting like george bush republicans. it s time to reject the counsel that says the american people would rather have someone who is strong and wrong than someone who is weak and right - it s time to say that we are the party that is going to be strong and right., it s time for new leadership that understands that the way to win a debate with john mccain is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for the war in iraq; who agreed with him by voting to give george bush the benefit of the doubt on iran; who agrees with him in embracing the bush-cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don t like; and who actually differed with him by arguing for exceptions for torture before changing positions when the politics of the moment changed., we need to offer the american people a clear contrast on national security, and when i am the nominee of the democratic party, that s exactly what i will do. talking tough and tallying up your years in washington is no substitute for judgment, and courage, and clear plans. it s not enough to say you ll be ready from day one - you have to be right from day one., i opposed this war in iraq from the start, and i have never, ever wavered in that opposition. i warned about taking our eye off of osama bin laden, and overstretching our troops and their families as we have seen in communities across this country like fort carson. and when i am president, i will immediately begin to remove our troops, i will finally put meaningful pressure on iraq s leaders to reconcile, and i will end this war. and i will do what we should have done back in 2002: increase our commitment to afghanistan, press pakistan to take action against terror, and finish the fight with al qaeda., i will challenge the conventional thinking that says we can t conduct diplomacy with leaders we don t like. strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries as well as their friends, and that s what i ll do. and when i am president, we will keep nuclear weapons from terrorists by securing all loose nuclear materials around the world during my first term in office. we will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and we will pursue it., it s time for new leadership that reaches out, as president kennedy did to my own father, to people “in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery.”, it s time to restore our moral leadership by rejecting torture without equivocation; by closing guantanamo; by restoring habeas corpus; and by again being that light of justice to dissidents in prison camps around the globe. it s time for america to lead the world against the common threats of the 21st century - terrorism and nuclear weapons, but also climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. i will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, “you matter to us. your future is our future. and our moment is now.”, this is what the moment demands of us - to cast off our doubts; to reach once more for what america can be if we have the courage to make the future our own., we ve been warned, in these last few weeks, that this kind of change isn t possible. that we re peddling false hopes. that we need a reality check., and we ve faced forces that are not the fault of any one campaign - forces that open american wounds. the politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon. a politics that tells us what we have to think and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us. the assumption that young people are apathetic. the assumption that republicans won t cross over. the assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor, and that the poor don t vote. the assumption that african-americans can t support the white candidate; whites can t support the african-american candidate; and blacks and latinos can t come together., but our party - the democratic party - has always been at its best when we rose above these divisions; when we called all americans to a common purpose, a higher purpose; when we stood up and said that we will write our own future, and the future will be what we want it to be., we followed a king to the mountaintop, and a kennedy who called on us to reject the mindless menace of violence., we re the party of a young president who asked what we could do for our country, and who put us on a path to the moon., we re the party of a man who overcame his own disability; who told us that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself; and who faced down fascism and liberated a continent from tyranny., we re the party of jackson, who took back the white house for the people of this country., and we re the party of jefferson, who wrote the words that we are still trying to heed - that all of us are created equal - and who sent us west to blaze new trails, to make new discoveries, and to realize the promise of our highest ideals., that is who we are. that is the party that we need to be, and can be, if we cast off our doubts, and leave behind our fears, and choose the america that we know is possible. because there is a moment in the life of every generation, if it is to make its mark on history, when its spirit has to come through, when it must choose the future over the past, when it must make its own change from the bottom up., this is our moment. this is our message - the same message we had when we were up, and when we were down. the same message that we will carry all the way to the convention. and in seven months time - right here in denver - we can realize this promise; we can claim this legacy; we can choose new leadership for america. because there is nothing we cannot do if the american people decide it is time.,"	
", it s good to be back in new orleans. i m just sorry that i m a few days late for mardi gras., new orleans is a city that has always shown america what is possible when we have the imagination to see the unseen, and the determination to work for it., it s a city where slaves met in congo square to raise their voices in improbable joy; and a young man named louis from ""back of town"" played his first tunes., it s a city where jackson turned back the british; and a great port connected america s heartland to the gulf., it s a city where races and religions and languages all mixed together to form something new; something different; and something special - an imperfect place made more perfect through its promise of forgiveness., now, in the wake of this quintessentially american city s greatest test, we see the stirrings of a new day. this great university is well into another academic year. the st. charles streetcar is rattling downtown. the endymion {en-dim -ee-uhn} parade again winds through the streets of mid-city. a son of new orleans - eli manning - even won an improbable super bowl victory., most importantly, with each passing day, with each student who goes to school; with each business that opens its doors; with each worker who puts in a shift; new orleanians are reclaiming their future, and showing america just what can be done in this country when citizens lift up their communities., but there is another side to this story. because we know that this city - a city that has always stood for what can be done in this country - has also become a symbol for what we could not do., to many americans, the words ""new orleans"" call up images of broken levees; water rushing through the streets; mothers holding babies up to avoid the flood. and worse - the memory of a moment when america s government failed its citizens. because when the people of new orleans and the gulf coast extended their hand for help, help wasn t there. when people looked up from the rooftops, for too long they saw empty sky. when the winds blew and the floodwaters came, we learned that for all of our wealth and power, something wasn t right with america., we can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005. and we should. we can talk about levees that couldn t hold; about a fema that seemed not just incompetent, but paralyzed and powerless; about a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane. we can talk about a trust that was broken - the promise that our government will be prepared, will protect us, and will respond in a catastrophe., but we also know the broken promises did not start when a storm hit, and they did not end there., when president bush came down to jackson square two weeks after the storm, the setting was spectacular and his promises soaring: ""we will do what it takes,"" he said. ""we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives."" but over two years later, those words have been caught in a tangle of half-measures, half-hearted leadership, and red tape., yes, parts of new orleans are coming back to life. but we also know that over 25,000 families are still living in small trailers; that thousands of homes sit empty and condemned; and that schools and hospitals and firehouses are shuttered. we know that even though the street cars run, there are fewer passengers; that even though the parades sound their joyful noise, there is too much violence in the shadows., to confront these challenges we have to understand that katrina may have battered these shores - but it also exposed silent storms that have ravaged parts of this city and our country for far too long. the storms of poverty and joblessness; inequality and injustice., when i was down in houston visiting evacuees a few days after katrina, i met a woman in the reliant center who had long known these storms in her life., she told me, ""we had nothing before the hurricane. now we got less than nothing."", we had nothing before the hurricane. now we got less than nothing. i think about her sometimes. i think about how america left her behind. and i wonder where she is today., america failed that woman long before that failure showed up on our television screens. we failed her again during katrina. and - tragically - we are failing her for a third time. that needs to change. it s time for us to restore our trust with her; it s time for america to rebuild trust with the people of new orleans and the gulf coast., when i am president, i will start by restoring that most basic trust - that your government will do what it takes to keep you safe., the words ""never again"" - spoken so often in those weeks after katrina - must not fade to a whisper. the army corps of engineers has rebuilt levees that were most damaged by the storm, but funding has sometimes stalled, and new orleans remains unprotected., we can t gamble every hurricane season. when i am president, we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011, with the goal of expanding that protection to defend against a category 5 storm. we also have to restore nature s barriers - the wetlands, marshes and barrier islands that can take the first blows and protect the people of the gulf coast., if catastrophe comes, the american people must be able to call on a competent government. when i am president, the days of dysfunction and cronyism in washington will be over. the director of fema will report to me. he or she will have the highest qualifications in emergency management. and i won t just tell you that i ll insulate that office from politics - i ll guarantee it, by giving my fema director a fixed term like the director of the federal reserve. i don t want fema to be thinking for one minute about the politics of a crisis. i want fema to do its job, which is protecting the american people - not protecting a president s politics., and as soon as we take office, my fema director will work with emergency management officials in all fifty states to create a national response plan. because we need to know - before disaster comes - who will be in charge; and how the federal, state and local governments will work together to respond., but putting up defenses is not sufficient. because renewing trust with the people of new orleans is not just about stronger levees and pumping systems - it s about people., so many of us live a life that is ordered, with comforts we can count on. somewhere, we know, there are people who don t have a house with a sturdy roof; who have nowhere to go when they can t make rent; who don t have a car to drive to another city when a storm is coming; who can t get care when they re sick, or get the education that would give them a chance at their dreams., but too often, we lose our sense of common destiny; that understanding that we are all tied together; that when a woman has less than nothing in this country, that makes us all poorer., that is why the second thing we need to do is to make sure that reconstruction is making a real difference in peoples  lives., across this city, we see the evidence that george bush s promises were empty. it s not acceptable that federal money is not reaching communities that need it, or that louisiana officials have filled out millions of forms to get reconstruction funds. when i am president, the federal rebuilding coordinator will report directly to me, and we will ensure that resources show results. it s time to cut the red tape, so that the federal government is a partner - not an opponent - in getting things done., instead of giving no-bid contracts to companies headed by the president s former campaign manager, we will make sure that rebuilding benefits the local economy. i have worked across the aisle in the senate to crack down on no-bid contracts, and to make sure that emergency contracting is only done immediately after an emergency. when i am president, if there is a job that can be done by a new orleans resident, the contract will go to a resident of new orleans. and we ll provide tax incentives to businesses that choose to set up shop in the hardest hit areas., instead of letting families languish in trailers, we will ensure that every displaced resident can return to a home. today, tens of thousands of homeowners could end up without assistance because of funding shortfalls. that is unacceptable. we must work with louisiana to make the road home program more efficient. we should set a goal to approve every application for road home assistance within two months. and we need to increase rental property, so that we can bring down the cost of renting a home., instead of shuttered hospitals and provider shortages, we will help the gulf region rebuild a health care system that serves all its residents. we ll provide incentives like loan forgiveness to bring more doctors and nurses to new orleans, and we ll build new hospitals - including a new medical center downtown, and a state-of-the art veteran s hospital., and instead of unsafe streets and shocking crimes, we will help new orleans rebuild its criminal justice, system. we ll start a new cops for katrina program to put more resources into community policing, so that heroic officers - men and women like nicola cotton, who gave her life serving the city she loved - have more support. and we ll launch a regional effort that brings together federal, state and local resources to combat crime and drug gangs across the gulf coast., the children of new orleans are america s children. we cannot stand by while they see a future filled with violence, or poverty, or hopelessness. our true measure of success must be ensuring that the children of new orleans and the gulf coast can dream the same dreams as every child in america., that is why the third part of our effort to rebuild trust must be providing a world-class education., over two years after katrina, too many schools are still closed. kids are still going to class in makeshift buildings and trailers. class sizes run as large as forty children for each teacher. this is not acceptable. it s time for fema to speed up payment of the $58 million that congress recently allocated for school repairs. and it s time to invest in education, so that new orleans has the first-class school system that it has needed for so long., that starts with the person standing in front of the classroom. many heroic, high-quality teachers have returned to new orleans - but we need more. that is why i have called for $250 million to bring quality teachers back to the gulf region. any teacher or principal who commits to come here for three years should receive an annual bonus; and those who teach in subject areas where we face shortages - such as math and science - should receive an additional bonus., in new orleans - and across this country - we need to stop talking about how great our teachers are; we need to reward them for their greatness with more pay and more support. we need to recruit new teachers by helping them pay for a college education. we need to expand mentor programs to pair experienced teachers with new recruits. and we need to help them move up the career ladder and gain new skills., we can t accept an education policy where we pass a law called no child left behind and leave the money behind. and we can t just have our teachers teaching to a test - we need to encourage science and innovation; music and the arts. if there is any city in the world that shows us the value of culture and creativity, it is new orleans., and our commitment to education can t stop with a high school diploma. i have fought in the senate for post-katrina support for xavier, southern and dillard. and i put forward a loan forgiveness program, to make it easier for students to come back to tulane and colleges and universities across the gulf region., it s time to make a college education affordable - not just in new orleans - but for all americans. that s why i ll give students who need a hand an annual $4,000 tax credit if you re willing to do your part by serving your community., and we need to tap the tremendous resource of community colleges. when i am president, we ll reward schools that graduate more students. and we ll help our schools determine what skills are needed to help local industry, so that graduates are well-prepared to lift up the economy, and to rebuild their communities., because the trust we seek is not a one-way street. it s going to take folks working together and doing their part. the government cannot rebuild the gulf coast for the people of the gulf coast; the government can only rebuild the gulf coast with the people of this region., all of this will cost money. the federal government has already promised the resources, but they need to be spent more efficiently and more wisely. when i am president, we will target funds to programs that make a difference, and make sure that resources meet the needs of the people - and that means working closely with state and local officials, and asking that they keep up their end of the bargain., i promise you that when i m in the white house i will commit myself every day to keeping up washington s end of this trust. this will be a priority of my presidency. and i will make it clear to members of my administration that their responsibilities don t end in places like the 9th ward - they begin there., but i will also ask the people of this city to do your part. because together, we can do more than rebuild a city; we can create a model for america - for how we prepare for disasters; for how we fight poverty; for how we put our kids on a pathway to success., if we do this, then we can once again make new orleans the city that stands for what we can do in america, not a symbol for what we can t do., if we do this, then we can begin to turn the page on the invisible barriers - the silent storms - that have ravaged this city and this country: the old divisions of black and white; of rich and poor. it s time to leave that to yesterday. it s time to choose tomorrow., here at tulane, your degree will open up many doors. i hope that many of you will choose to stay here in new orleans, and to make this work your own. because you are the change that this city seeks. you can be this city s tomorrow. you can help close those divisions. and by doing so, you can help to heal this nation., what better place to begin this work than new orleans?, here, in the city that gave us jazz, we know that even the most painful note can be followed by joy. here, in, this city, if we look hard enough, we can imagine the unseen - homes filled with families; businesses putting folks to work; schools extending opportunity; the next verse in the american song. that is what is possible if we can trust each other; and if we have the imagination to see the unseen, and the determination to work for it.,"	
"8, today, the change we seek swept through the chesapeake and over the potomac., we won the state of maryland. we won the commonwealth of virginia. and though we won in washington d.c., this movement won t stop until there s change in washington. and tonight, we re on our way., but we know how much farther we have to go., we know it takes more than one night – or even one election – to overcome decades of money and the, influence; bitter partisanship and petty bickering that s shut you out, let you down and told you to settle., we know our road will not be easy., but we also know that at this moment the cynics can no longer say our hope is false., we have now won east and west, north and south, and across the heartland of this country we love. we have given young people a reason to believe, and brought folks back to the polls who want to believe again. and we are bringing together democrats and independents and republicans; blacks and whites; latinos and asians; small states and big states; red states and blue states into a united states of america., this is the new american majority. this is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. and in this election, your voices will be heard., because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in washington just won t do. not this time. not this year. we can t keep playing the same washington game with the same washington players and expect a different result – because it s a game that ordinary americans are losing., it s a game where lobbyists write check after check and exxon turns record profits, while you pay the price at the pump, and our planet is put at risk. that s what happens when lobbyists set the agenda, and that s why they won t drown out your voices anymore when i am president of the united states of america, it s a game where trade deals like nafta ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at wal-mart. that s what happens when the american worker doesn t have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their positions on trade with the politics of the moment, and that s why we need a president who will listen to main street – not just wall street; a president who will stand with workers not just when it s easy, but when it s hard., it s a game where democrats and republicans fail to come together year after year after year, while another mother goes without health care for her sick child. that s why we have to put an end to the division and distraction in washington, so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose, a higher purpose., it s a game where the only way for democrats to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting and voting like bush-mccain republicans, while our troops are sent to fight tour after tour of duty in a war that should ve never been authorized and should ve never been waged. that s what happens when we use 9/11 to scare up votes, and that s why we need to do more than end a war – we need to end the mindset that got us into war., that s the choice in this primary. it s about whether we choose to play the game, or whether we choose to end it; it s change that polls well, or change we can believe in; it s the past versus the future. and when i m the democratic nominee for president – that will be the choice in november., john mccain is an american hero. we honor his service to our nation. but his priorities don t address the real problems of the american people, because they are bound to the failed policies of the past., george bush won t be on the ballot this november, but his war and his tax cuts for the wealthy will., when i am the nominee, i will offer a clear choice. john mccain won t be able to say that i ever supported this war in iraq, because i opposed it from the beginning. senator mccain said the other day that we might be mired for a hundred years in iraq, which is reason enough to not give him four years in the white house., if we had chosen a different path, the right path, we could have finished the job in afghanistan, and put more resources into the fight against bin laden; and instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars in baghdad, we could have put that money into our schools and hospitals, our road and bridges – and that s what the american people need us to do right now., and i admired senator mccain when he stood up and said that it offended his ""conscience"" to support the bush tax cuts for the wealthy in a time of war; that he couldn t support a tax cut where ""so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate."" but somewhere along the road to the republican nomination, the straight talk express lost its wheels, because now he s all for them., well i m not. we can t keep spending money that we don t have in a war that we shouldn t have fought. we can t keep mortgaging our children s future on a mountain of debt. we can t keep driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the rest who struggle to keep pace. it s time to turn the page., we need a new direction in this country. everywhere i go, i meet americans who can t wait another day for change. they re not just showing up to hear a speech – they need to know that politics can make a difference in their lives, that it s not too late to reclaim the american dream., it s a dream shared in big cities and small towns; across races, regions and religions – that if you work hard, you can support a family; that if you get sick, there will be health care you can afford; that you can retire with the dignity and security and respect that you have earned; that your kids can get a good education, and young people can go to college even if they re not rich. that is our common hope. that is the american dream., it s the dream of the father who goes to work before dawn and lies awake at night wondering how he s going to pay the bills. he needs us to restore fairness to our economy by putting a tax cut into the pockets of working people, and seniors, and struggling homeowners., it s the dream of the woman who told me she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can t afford health care for a sister who s ill. she needs us to finally come together to make health care affordable and available for every american., it s the dream of the senior i met who lost his pension when the company he gave his life to went bankrupt. he doesn t need bankruptcy laws that protect banks and big lenders. he needs us to protect pensions, not ceo bonuses; and to do what it takes to make sure that the american people can count on social security today, tomorrow and forever., it s the dream of the teacher who works at dunkin donuts after school just to make ends meet. she needs better pay, and more support, and the freedom to do more than just teach to the test. and if her students want to go on to college, they shouldn t fear decades of debt. that s why i ll make college affordable with an annual $4,000 tax credit if you re willing to do community service, or national service. we will invest in you, but we ll ask you to invest in your country., that is our calling in this campaign. to reaffirm that fundamental belief – i am my brother s keeper, i am my sister s keeper – that makes us one people, and one nation. it s time to stand up and reach for what s possible, because together, people who love their country can change it., now when i start talking like this, some folks tell me that i ve got my head in the clouds. that i need a reality check. that we re still offering false hope. but my own story tells me that in the united states of america, there has never been anything false about hope., i should not be here today. i was not born into money or status. i was born to a teenage mom in hawaii, and my dad left us when i was two. but my family gave me love, they gave me education, and most of all they gave me hope – hope that in america, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it., because hope is not blind optimism. i know how hard it will be to make these changes. i know this because i fought on the streets of chicago as a community organizer to bring jobs to the jobless in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant. i ve fought in the courts as a civil rights lawyer to make sure people weren t denied their rights because of what they looked like or where they came from. i ve fought in the legislature to take power away from lobbyists. i ve won some of those fights, but i ve lost some of them too. i ve seen good legislation die because good intentions weren t backed by a mandate for change., the politics of hope does not mean hoping things come easy. because nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened unless somebody, somewhere stood up when it was hard; stood up when they were told – no you can t, and said yes we can., and where better to affirm our ideals than here in wisconsin, where a century ago the progressive movement was born. it was rooted in the principle that the voices of the people can speak louder than special interests; that citizens can be connected to their government and to one another; and that all of us , share a common destiny, an american dream. yes we can reclaim that dream., yes we can heal this nation., the voices of the american people have carried us a great distance on this improbable journey, but we have much further to go. now we carry our message to farms and factories across this state, and to the cities and small towns of ohio, to the open plains deep in the heart of texas, and all the way to democratic national convention in denver; it s the same message we had when we were up, and when were down; that out of many, we are one; that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; and that we can cast off our doubts and fears and cynicism because our dream will not be deferred; our future will not be denied; and our time for change has come.	, , ,"	
", it was nearly a century ago that the first tractor rolled off the assembly line at this plant. the achievement didn t just create a product to sell or profits for general motors. it led to a shared prosperity enjoyed by all of janesville. homes and businesses began to sprout up along milwaukee and main streets. jobs were plentiful, with wages that could raise a family and benefits you could count on., prosperity hasn t always come easily. the plant shut down for a period during the height of the depression, and major shifts in production have been required to meet the changing times. tractors became automobiles. automobiles became artillery shells. suvs are becoming hybrids as we speak, and the cost of transition has always been greatest for the workers and their families., but through hard times and good, great challenge and great change, the promise of janesville has been the promise of america - that our prosperity can and must be the tide that lifts every boat; that we rise or fall as one nation; that our economy is strongest when our middle-class grows and opportunity is spread as widely as possible. and when it s not - when opportunity is uneven or unequal - it is our responsibility to restore balance, and fairness, and keep that promise alive for the next generation. that is the responsibility we face right now, and that is the responsibility i intend to meet as president of the united states., we are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control. the fallout from the housing crisis that s cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. it was a failure of leadership and imagination in washington - the culmination of decades of decisions that were made or put off without regard to the realities of a global economy and the growing inequality it s produced., it s a washington where george bush hands out billions in tax cuts year after year to the biggest corporations and the wealthiest few who don t need them and don t ask for them - tax breaks that are mortgaging our children s future on a mountain of debt; tax breaks that could ve gone into the pockets of the working families who needed them most., it s a washington where decades of trade deals like nafta and china have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who ve seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years., it s a washington where politicians like john mccain and hillary clinton voted for a war in iraq that should ve never been authorized and never been waged - a war that is costing us thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week that could ve been used to rebuild crumbling schools and bridges; roads and buildings; that could ve been invested in job training and child care; in making health care affordable or putting college within reach., and it s a washington that has thrown open its doors to lobbyists and special interests who ve riddled our tax code with loopholes that let corporations avoid paying their taxes while you re paying more. they ve been allowed to write an energy policy that s keeping us addicted to oil when there are families choosing between gas and groceries. they ve used money and influence to kill health care reform at a time when half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills, and then they ve rigged our bankruptcy laws to make it harder to climb out of debt. they don t represent ordinary americans, they don t fund my campaign, and they won t drown out the voices of working families when i am president., this is what s been happening in washington at a time when we have greater income disparity in this country than we ve seen since the first year of the great depression. at a time when some ceos are making more in a day than the average workers makes in a year. when the typical family income has dropped by $1,000 over the last seven years. when wages are flat, jobs are moving overseas, and we ve never paid more for health care, or energy, or college. it s a time when we ve never saved less - barely $400 for the average family last year - and never owed more - an average of $8,000 per family. and it s a time when one in eight americans now lives in abject poverty right here in the richest nation on earth., at a time like this, it s no wonder that the mortgage crisis was the straw that broke the camel s back. the equity that people own in their homes is often their largest source of savings, and as millions upon millions have seen those savings and their home equity decline or disappear altogether, so have their dreams for a better future., i realize that politicians come before you every election saying that they ll change all this. they lay out big plans and hold events with workers just like this one, because it s popular to do and it s easy to make promises in the heat of a campaign., but how many times have you been disappointed when everyone goes back to washington and nothing changes? because the lobbyists just write another check. or because politicians start worrying about how they ll win the next election instead of why they should. because they re focused on who s up and who s down instead of who matters - the worker who just lost his pension; the family that just put up the for sale sign; the young woman who gets three hours of sleep a night because she works the late shift after a full day of college and still can t afford her sister s medicine., these are the americans who need real change - the kind of change that s about more than switching the party in the white house. they need a change in our politics - a leader who can end the division in washington so we can stop talking about our challenges and start solving them; who doesn t defend lobbyists as part of the system, but sees them as part of the problem; who will carry your voices and your hopes into the white house every single day for the next four years. and that is the kind of president i want to be., i didn t spend my career in the halls of washington, i began it in the shadow of a closed steel mill on the south side of chicago. we organized churches and community leaders; african-americans, whites, and hispanics to lift neighborhoods out of poverty; provide job training to the jobless; and set up after school programs so that kids had a safe place to go while their parents worked., those are the voices i carried with me to the illinois state senate, where i brought democrats and republicans together to expand health insurance to 150,000 children and parents; where i led the fight to provide $100 million in tax relief for working families and the working poor., they re the voices i carried with me to washington, where the first bill i introduced was to make college more affordable; where i fought against a bankruptcy bill that made it harder for families to climb out of debt; and where i passed the most sweeping lobbying reform in a generation - reform that forced lobbyists to tell the american people who they re raising money from and who in congress they re funneling it to., so when i talk about real change that will make a real difference in the lives of working families - change that will restore balance in our economy and put us on a path to prosperity - it s not just the poll-tested rhetoric of a political campaign. it s the cause of my life. and you can be sure that it will be the cause of my presidency from the very first day i take office., now we know that we cannot put up walls around our economy. we know that we cannot reverse the tide of technology that s allowed businesses to send jobs wherever there s an internet connection. we know that government cannot solve all our problems, and we don t expect it to., but that doesn t mean we have to accept an america of lost opportunity and diminished dreams. not when we still have the most productive, highly-educated, best-skilled workers in the world. not when we still stand on the cutting edge of innovation, and science, and discovery. not when we have the resources and the will of a decent, generous people who are ready to share in the burdens and benefits of a global economy. i am certain that we can keep america s promise - for this generation and the next., so today, i m laying out a comprehensive agenda to reclaim our dream and restore our prosperity. it s an agenda that focuses on three broad economic challenges that the next president must address - the current housing crisis; the cost crisis facing the middle-class and those struggling to join it; and the need to create millions of good jobs right here in america- jobs that can t be outsourced and won t disappear., the first challenge is to stem the fallout from the housing crisis and put in place rules of the road to prevent it from happening again., a few weeks ago i offered an economic stimulus package based on a simple principle - we should get immediate relief into the hands of people who need it the most and will spend it the quickest. i proposed sending each working family a $500 tax cut and each senior a $250 supplement to their social security check. and if the economy gets worse, we should double those amounts., neither george bush nor hillary clinton had that kind of immediate, broad-based relief in their original stimulus proposals, but i m glad that the stimulus package that was recently passed by congress does. we still need to go further, though, and make unemployment insurance available for a longer period of time and for more americans who find themselves out of work. we should also provide assistance to state and local governments so that they don t slash critical services like health care or education., for those americans who are facing the brunt of the housing crisis, i ve proposed a fund that would provide direct relief to victims of mortgage fraud. we d also help those who are facing closure refinance their mortgages so they can stay in their homes. and i d provide struggling homeowners relief by offering a tax credit to low- and middle-income americans that would cover ten percent of their mortgage interest payment every year., to make sure that folks aren t tricked into purchasing loans they can t afford, i ve proposed tough new penalties for those who commit mortgage fraud, and a home score system that would allow consumers to compare various mortgage products so that they can find out whether or not they ll be able to afford the payments ahead of time., the second major economic challenge we have to address is the cost crisis facing the middle-class and the working poor. as the housing crisis spills over into other parts of the economy, we ve seen people s entire life savings wiped out in an instant. it s the result of skyrocketing costs, stagnant wages, and disappearing benefits that are pushing more and more americans towards a debt spiral from which they can t escape. we have to give them a way out by cutting costs, putting more money in their pockets, and rebuilding a safety net that s become badly frayed over the last decades., one of the principles that john edwards has passionately advanced is that this country should be rewarding work, not wealth. that starts with our tax code, which has been rigged by lobbyists with page after page of loopholes that benefit big corporations and the wealthiest few. for example, we should not be giving tax breaks to corporations that make their profits in some other country with some other workers. before she started running for president, senator clinton actually voted for this loophole., i ll change our tax code so that it s simple, fair, and advances opportunity, not the agenda of some lobbyist. i am the only candidate in this race who s proposed a genuine middle-class tax cut that will provide relief to 95% of working americans. this is a tax cut -paid for in part by closing corporate loopholes and shutting down tax havens - that will offset the payroll tax that working americans are already paying, and it ll be worth up to $1000 for a working family. we ll also eliminate income taxes for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year, because our seniors are struggling enough with rising costs, and should be able to retire in dignity and respect. since the earned income tax credit lifts nearly 5 million americans out of poverty each year, i ll double the number of workers who receive it and triple the benefit for minimum wage workers. and i won t wait another ten years to raise the minimum wage - i ll guarantee that it keeps pace with inflation every single year so that it s not just a minimum wage, but a living wage. because that s the change that working americans need., my universal health care plan brings down the cost of health care more than any other candidate in this race, and will save the typical family up to $2500 a year on their premiums. every american would be able to get the same kind of health care that members of congress get for themselves, and we d ban insurance companies from denying you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and the main difference between my plan and senator clinton s plan is that she d require the government to force you to buy health insurance and she said she d ‘go after  your wages if you don t. well i believe the reason people don t have health care isn t because no one s forced them to buy it, it s because no one s made it affordable - and that s what we ll do when i am president., if we want to train our workforce for a knowledge economy, it s also time that we brought down the cost of a college education and put it within reach of every american. i know how expense this is. at the beginning of our marriage, michelle and i were spending more to payoff our college loans than we were on our mortgage. so i ll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 for tuition and fees every year, a benefit that students will get in exchange for community or national service, which will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. and i ll also simplify the financial aid application process so that we don t have a million students who aren t applying for aid because it s too difficult., with so many mothers and fathers juggling work and parenting, the next cost we have to bring down is the cost of living in a two-income family. i ll expand the child care tax credit for people earning less than $50,000 a year, and i ll double spending on quality afterschool programs. we ll also expand the family medical leave act to include more businesses and millions more workers; and we ll change a system that s stacked against working women by requiring every employer to provide seven paid sick days a year, so that you can be home with your child if they re sick., in addition to cutting costs for working families, we also need to help them save more - especially for retirement. that s why we ll require employers to enroll every worker in a direct deposit retirement account that places a small percentage of each paycheck into savings. you can keep this account even if you change jobs, and the federal government will match the savings for lower-income, working families., finally, we need to help families who find themselves in a debt spiral climb out. since so many who are struggling to keep up with their mortgages are now shifting their debt to credit cards, we have to make sure that credit cards don t become the next stage in the housing crisis. to make sure that americans know what they re signing up for, i ll institute a five-star rating system to inform consumers about the level of risk involved in every credit card. and we ll establish a credit card bill of rights that will ban unilateral changes to a credit card agreement; ban rate changes to debt that s already incurred; and ban interest on late fees. americans need to pay what they owe, but they should pay what s fair, not what fattens profits for some credit card company., the same principle should apply to our bankruptcy laws. when i first arrived in the senate, i opposed the credit card industry s bankruptcy bill that made it harder for working families to climb out of debt. five years earlier, senator clinton had supported a nearly identical bill. and during a debate a few weeks back, she said that even though she voted for it, she was glad it didn t pass. now, i know those kind of antics might make sense in washington, but they don t make much sense anywhere else, and they certainly don t make sense for working families who are struggling under the weight of their debt., when i m president, we ll reform our bankruptcy laws so that we give americans who find themselves in debt a second chance. i ll close the loophole that allows investors with multiple homes to renegotiate their mortgage in bankruptcy court, but not victims of predatory lending. we ll make sure that if you can demonstrate that you went bankrupt because of medical expenses, then you can relieve that debt and get back on your feet. and i ll make sure that ceos can t dump your pension with one hand while they collect a bonus with the other. that s an outrage, and it s time we had a president who knows it s an outrage., those are the steps we can take to ease the cost crisis facing working families. but we still need to make sure that families are working. we need to maintain our competitive edge in a global by ensuring that plants like this one stay open for another hundred years, and shuttered factories re-open as new industries that promise new jobs. and we need to put more americans to work doing jobs that need to be done right here in america., for years, we have stood by while our national infrastructure has crumbled and decayed. in 2005, the american society of civil engineers gave it a d, citing problems with our airports, dams, schools, highways, and waterways. one out of three urban bridges were classified as structurally deficient, and we all saw the tragic results of what that could mean in minnesota last year. right here in wisconsin, we know that $500 million of freight will come through this state by 2020, and if we do not have the infrastructure to handle it, we will not get the business., for our economy, our safety, and our workers, we have to rebuild america. i m proposing a national infrastructure reinvestment bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years. this investment will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly two million new jobs - many of them in the construction industry that s been hard hit by this housing crisis. the repairs will be determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; what will keep our environment clean and our economy strong. and we ll fund this bank by ending this war in iraq. it s time to stop spending billions of dollars a week trying to put iraq back together and start spending the money on putting america back together instead., it s also time to look to the future and figure out how to make trade work for american workers. i won t stand here and tell you that we can - or should - stop free trade. we can t stop every job from going overseas. but i also won t stand here and accept an america where we do nothing to help american workers who have lost jobs and opportunities because of these trade agreements. and that s a position of mine that doesn t change based on who i m talking to or the election i m running in., you know, in the years after her husband signed nafta, senator clinton would go around talking about how great it was and how many benefits it would bring. now that she s running for president, she says we need a time-out on trade. no one knows when this time-out will end. maybe after the election., i don t know about a time-out, but i do know this - when i am president, i will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for american workers. and i ll pass the patriot employer act that i ve been fighting for ever since i ran for the senate - we will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in america., i believe that we can create millions of those jobs around a clean, renewable energy future. a few hours northeast of here is the city of manitowoc [man-a-ta-woc]. for over a century, it was the home of mirro manufacturing - a company that provided thousands of jobs and plenty of business. in 2003, mirro closed its doors for good after losing thousands of jobs to mexico., but in the last few years, something extraordinary has happened. thanks to the leadership of governor doyle and mayor kevin crawford, manitowoc has re-trained its workers and attracted new businesses and new jobs. orion energy systems works with companies to reduce their electricity use and carbon emissions. and tower tech is now making wind turbines that are being sold all over the world. hundreds of people have found new work, and unemployment has been cut in half., this can be america s future. i know that general motors received some bad news yesterday, and i know how hard your governor has fought to keep jobs in this plant. but i also know how much progress you ve made - how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you re churning out. and i believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. the question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it s where it will thrive. i want it to thrive right here in the united states of america; right here in wisconsin; and that s the future i ll fight for as your president., my energy plan will invest $150 billion over ten years to establish a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs over the next two decades - jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. we ll also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs., we know that all of this must be done in a responsible way, without adding to the already obscene debt that has grown by four trillion dollars under george bush. we know that we cannot build our future on a credit card issued by the bank of china. and that is why i ve paid for every element of this economic agenda - by ending a war that s costing us billions, closing tax loopholes for corporations, putting a price on carbon pollution, and ending george bush s tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of americans., in the end, this economic agenda won t just require new money. it will require a new spirit of cooperation and innovation on behalf of the american people. we will have to learn more, and study more, and work harder. we ll be called upon to take part in shared sacrifice and shared prosperity. and we ll have to remind ourselves that we rise and fall as one nation; that a country in which only a few prosper is antithetical to our ideals and our democracy; and that those of us who have benefited greatly from the blessings of this country have a solemn obligation to open the doors of opportunity, not just for our children, but to all of america s children., that is the spirit that s thrived in janesville from the moment that first tractor came off the assembly line so many years ago. it s the spirit that led my grandmother to her own assembly line during world war ii, and my grandfather to march in patton s army. when that war ended, they were given the chance to go to college on the gi bill, to buy a house from the federal housing authority, and to give my mother the chance to go to the best schools and dream as big as the kansas sky. even though she was a single mom who didn t have much, it s the same chance she gave me, and why i m standing here today., it s a promise that s been passed down through the ages; one that each generation of americans is called to keep - that we can raise our children in a land of boundless opportunity, broad prosperity, and unyielding possibility. that is the promise we must keep in our time, and i look forward to working and fighting to make it real as president of the united states. thank you., ,"	
", send our children to college., it s the same course that continues to divide and isolate america from the world by substituting bluster and bullying for direct diplomacy - by ignoring our allies and refusing to talk to our enemies even though presidents from kennedy to reagan have done just that; because strong countries and strong leaders aren t afraid to tell hard truths to petty dictators., and it s the same course that offers the same tired answer to workers without health care and families without homes; to students in debt and children who go to bed hungry in the richest nation on earth - four more years of tax breaks for the biggest corporations and the wealthiest few who don t need them and aren t even asking for them. it s a course that further divides wall street from main street; where struggling families are told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps because there s nothing government can do or should do - and so we should give more to those with the most and let the chips fall where they may., well we are here tonight to say that this is not the america we believe in and this is not the future we want. we want a new course for this country. we want new leadership in washington. we want change in america., john mccain and senator clinton echo each other in dismissing this call for change. they say it is eloquent but empty; speeches and not solutions. and yet, they should know that it s a call that did not begin with my words. it began with words that were spoken on the floors of factories in ohio and across the deep plains of texas; words that came from classrooms in south carolina and living rooms in the state of iowa; from first-time voters and life-long cynics; from democrats and republicans alike., they should know that there s nothing empty about the call for affordable health care that came from the young student who told me she gets three hours of sleep because she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can t pay her sister s medical bills., there s nothing empty about the call for help that came from the mother in san antonio who saw her mortgage double in two weeks and didn t know where her two-year olds would sleep at night when they were kicked out of their home., there s nothing empty about the call for change that came from the elderly woman who wants it so badly that she sent me an envelope with a money order for $3.01 and a simple verse of scripture tucked inside., these americans know that government cannot solve all of our problems, and they don t expect it to. americans know that we have to work harder and study more to compete in a global economy. we know that we need to take responsibility for ourselves and our children - that we need to spend more time with them, and teach them well, and put a book in their hands instead of a video game once in awhile. we know this., but we also believe that there is a larger responsibility we have to one another as americans., we believe that we rise or fall as one nation - as one people. that we are our brother s keeper. that we are our sister s keeper., we believe that a child born tonight should have the same chances whether she arrives in the barrios of san antonio or the suburbs of st. louis; on the streets of chicago or the hills of appalachia., we believe that when she goes to school for the first time, it should be in a place where the rats don t outnumber the computers; that when she applies to college, cost is no barrier to a degree that will allow her to compete with children in china or india for the jobs of the twenty-first century., we believe that these jobs should provide wages that can raise her family, health care for when she gets sick and a pension for when she retires., we believe that when she tucks her own children into bed, she should feel safe knowing that they are protected from the threats we face by the bravest, best-equipped, military in the world, led by a commander-in-chief who has the judgment to know when to send them into battle and which battlefield to fight on., and if that child should ever get the chance to travel the world, and someone should ask her where she is from, we believe that she should always be able to hold her head high with pride in her voice when she answers ""i am an american."", that is the course we seek. that is the change we are calling for. you can call it many things, but you cannot call it empty., if i am the nominee of this party, i will not allow us to be distracted by the same politics that seeks to divide us with false charges and meaningless labels. in this campaign, we will not stand for the politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon., i owe what i am to this country i love, and i will never forget it. where else could a young man who grew up herding goats in kenya get the chance to fulfill his dream of a college education? where else could he marry a white girl from kansas whose parents survived war and depression to find opportunity out, west? where else could they have a child who would one day have the chance to run for the highest office in the greatest nation the world has ever known? where else, but in the united states of america?, it is now my hope and our task to set this country on a course that will keep this promise alive in the twenty-first century. and the eyes of the world are watching to see if we can., there is a young man on my campaign whose grandfather lives in uganda. he is 81 years old and has never experienced true democracy in his lifetime. during the reign of idi amin, he was literally hunted and the only reason he escaped was thanks to the kindness of others and a few good-sized trunks. and on the night of the iowa caucuses, that 81-year-old man stayed up until five in the morning, huddled by his television, waiting for the results., the world is watching what we do here. the world is paying attention to how we conduct ourselves. what will we they see? what will we tell them? what will we show them?, can we come together across party and region; race and religion to restore prosperity and opportunity as the birthright of every american?, can we lead the community of nations in taking on the common threats of the 21st century - terrorism and climate change; genocide and disease?, can we send a message to all those weary travelers beyond our shores who long to be free from fear and want that the united states of america is, and always will be, ‘the last best, hope of earth? , we say; we hope; we believe - yes we can.,"	
", reasons why i opposed going to war in iraq is that we had yet to finish the fight against al qaeda and the taliban. that remains true today. that is why i have consistently called for an increased commitment to afghanistan, and why i called last august for at least two additional combat brigades to support our mission there. and that is why i will end the war in iraq when i am president, and focus on finishing the job in afghanistan., i will never hesitate to defend this country and our critical interests. that is why i am the only candidate who has made it clear that we cannot tolerate any safe-haven for terrorists who threaten america. but we must also use all elements of national power to combat the threats of the 21st century, and that means deploying the power of american diplomacy before we deploy our troops. that is why we must be willing to talk to the leaders of all nations – friend and foe., the threats we face are increasingly unconventional, and they call for new approaches. i have worked on the senate foreign relations committee to combat the challenges of the 21st century – securing loose weapons and nuclear materials from terrorists; working to stop ethnic killing and genocide in africa; and investing in our ability to combat epidemic diseases like avian flu that can be deadly at home and sew instability abroad., and one theme that i hear in talking to military officers – whether generals and admirals, or the mid-level officers who will lead tomorrow s military – is that we need new capabilities to respond to this century s new threats., we must maintain our overwhelming conventional advantage – and i will. we also need to increase the size of our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 marines to relieve the strain on our troops, and to increase our capacity to put boots on the ground. we need to invest in capabilities like civil affairs, foreign languages, and training foreign militaries, so that we can confront nimble enemies. we need to give our civilian agencies the ability to operate alongside our military in post-conflict zones and on humanitarian missions. and we must inspire a new generation of americans to serve their country, in the military and in a civilian capacity., and let me be very clear: when i am commander-in-chief, i will seek out, listen to, and respect the views of military commanders. under this administration, too often we have seen civilian control turned into an expectation that the uniformed military will be punished if they tell the president what he needs to know, rather than what he wants to hear. when i am president, the buck will stop with me, but we will restore trust and open dialogue between the military and civilian leadership., finally, it is the sacred obligation of any commander in chief to give the men and women who have served the care and support they have earned. that is what i have tried to do on the senate veterans affairs committee – working to improve care and benefits for wounded warriors and their families, and to enhance screening and treatment for ptsd and traumatic brain injury, the signature wounds of the wars in iraq and afghanistan., as president, i will ask myself every day whether i am serving our troops and veterans as well as they have served america. that means only sending them into harm s way when we absolutely must; providing them with a clear mission and the equipment they need to do the job; standing by them when they come home; and helping them live their dreams after they leave the service., like the men who have joined me on this stage today, my story is only possible in america. it is the story of my grandfather, who marched in patton s army; and my father, who crossed the globe to be a part of the dream that my grandfather defended. an america that secures its people, and stands as a light of hope for the world., that is the america that i will defend as commander-in-chief, drawing on the counsel of military commanders and the courage and conviction of the american people. an america where we meet the challenges of the 21st century with sound judgment, clear plans, and a common purpose., ,"	
", this belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the american people. but it also comes from my own american story., i am the son of a black man from kenya and a white woman from kansas. i was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a depression to serve in patton s army during world war ii and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at fort leavenworth while he was overseas. i ve gone to some of the best schools in america and lived in one of the world s poorest nations. i am married to a black american who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. i have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as i live, i will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible., it s a story that hasn t made me the most conventional candidate. but it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one., throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the american people were for this message of unity. despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. in south carolina, where the confederate flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of african americans and white americans., this is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. at various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either ""too black"" or ""not black enough."" we saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the south carolina primary. the press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well., and yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn., on one end of the spectrum, we ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. on the other end, we ve heard my former pastor, reverend jeremiah wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike., i have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of reverend wright that have caused such controversy. for some, nagging questions remain. did i know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of american domestic and foreign policy? of course. did i ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while i sat in church? yes. did i strongly disagree with many of his political views? absolutely - just as i m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed., but the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren t simply controversial. they weren t simply a religious leader s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with america above all that we know is right with america; a view that sees the conflicts in the middle east as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical islam., as such, reverend wright s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or latino or asian, but rather problems that confront us all., given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. why associate myself with reverend wright in the first place, they may ask? why not join another church? and i confess that if all that i knew of reverend wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and you tube, or if trinity united church of christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that i would react in much the same way, but the truth is, that isn t all that i know of the man. the man i met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. he is a man who served his country as a u.s. marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who, for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing god s work here on earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from hiv/aids., in my first book, dreams from my father, i described the experience of my first service at trinity:, ""people began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend s voice up into the rafters....and in that single note - hope! - i heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, i imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of david and goliath, moses and pharaoh, the christians in the lion s den, ezekiel s field of dry bones. those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn t need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."", that has been my experience at trinity. like other predominantly black churches across the country, trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. like other black churches, trinity s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. they are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. the church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in america., and this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with reverend wright. as imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. he strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. not once in my conversations with him have i heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. he contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years., i can no more disown him than i can disown the black community. i can no more disown him than i can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe., these people are a part of me. and they are a part of america, this country that i love., some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. i can assure you it is not. i suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. we can dismiss reverend wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed geraldine ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep- seated racial bias., but race is an issue that i believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. we would be making the same mistake that reverend wright made in his offending sermons about america - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality., the fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we ve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. and if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every american., understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. as william faulkner once wrote, ""the past isn t dead and buried. in fact, it isn t even past."" we do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. but we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the african-american community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and jim crow., segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven t fixed them, fifty years after brown v. board of education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today s black and white students., fha mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. that history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today s urban and rural communities., a lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one s family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. and the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us., this is the reality in which reverend wright and other african-americans of his generation grew up. they came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. what s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them., but for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the american dream, there were many who didn t make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. that legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. for the men and women of reverend wright s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. that anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. but it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. at times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician s own failings., and occasionally it finds voice in the church on sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. the fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of reverend wright s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in american life occurs on sunday morning. that anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the african-american community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. but the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races., in fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. most working- and middle-class white americans don t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they re concerned, no one s handed them anything, they ve built it from scratch. they ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. they are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. so when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an african american is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time., like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren t always expressed in polite company. but they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the reagan coalition. politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism., just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. and yet, to wish away the resentments of white americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding., this is where we are right now. it s a racial stalemate we ve been stuck in for years. contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, i have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own., but i have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in god and my faith in the american people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union., for the african-american community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. it means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of american life. but it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. and it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny., ironically, this quintessentially american - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in reverend wright s sermons. but what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change., the profound mistake of reverend wright s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. it s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; latino and asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. but what we know -- what we have seen - is that america can change. that is true genius of this nation. what we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow., in the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the african-american community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. it requires all americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of america prosper., in the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world s great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. let us be our brother s keeper, scripture tells us. let us be our sister s keeper. let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well., for we have a choice in this country. we can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. we can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the oj trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. we can play reverend wright s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the american people think that i somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. we can pounce on some gaffe by a hillary supporter as evidence that she s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to john mccain in the general election regardless of his policies., we can do that., but if we do, i can tell you that in the next election, we ll be talking about some other distraction. and then another one. and then another one. and nothing will change., that is one option. or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, ""not this time."" this time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and asian children and hispanic children and native american children. this time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can t learn; that those kids who don t look like us are somebody else s problem. the children of america are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. not this time., this time we want to talk about how the lines in the emergency room are filled with whites and blacks and hispanics who do not have health care; who don t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in washington, but who can take them on if we do it together., this time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. this time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who, doesn t look like you might take your job; it s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit., this time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. we want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should ve been authorized and never should ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned., i would not be running for president if i didn t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of americans want for this country. this union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. and today, whenever i find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election., there is one story in particularly that i d like to leave you with today - a story i told when i had the great honor of speaking on dr. king s birthday at his home church, ebenezer baptist, in atlanta., there is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named ashley baia who organized for our campaign in florence, south carolina. she had been working to organize a mostly african-american community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there., and ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. and because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. they had to file for bankruptcy, and that s when ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom., she knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. because that was the cheapest way to eat., she did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too., now ashley might have made a different choice. perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. but she didn t. she sought out allies in her fight against injustice., anyway, ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they re supporting the campaign. they all have different stories and reasons. many bring up a specific issue. and finally they come to this elderly black man who s been sitting there quietly the entire time. and ashley asks him why he s there. and he does not bring up a specific issue. he does not say health care or the economy. he does not say education or the war. he does not say that he was there because of barack obama. he simply says to everyone in the room, ""i am here because of ashley."", ""i m here because of ashley."" by itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. it is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children., but it is where we start. it is where our union grows stronger. and as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins., ,"	
", can get, however you can get it. that is why we have put in place rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest. we have done this not to stifle - but rather to advance prosperity and liberty. as i said at nasdaq last september: the core of our economic success is the fundamental truth that each american does better when all americans do better; that the well being of american business, its capital markets, and the american people are aligned., i think all of us here today would acknowledge that we ve lost that sense of shared prosperity., this loss has not happened by accident. it s because of decisions made in boardrooms, on trading floors and in washington. under republican and democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices. we let the special interests put their thumbs on the economic scales. the result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady, sustainable growth; a market that favors wall street over main street, but ends up hurting both., nor is this trend new. the concentrations of economic power - and the failures of our political system to protect the american economy from its worst excesses - have been a staple of our past, most famously in the 1920s, when with success we ended up plunging the country into the great depression. that is when government stepped in to create a series of regulatory structures - from the fdic to the glass- steagall act - to serve as a corrective to protect the american people and american business., ironically, it was in reaction to the high taxes and some of the outmoded structures of the new deal that both individuals and institutions began pushing for changes to this regulatory structure. but instead of sensible reform that rewarded success and freed the creative forces of the market, too often we ve excused and even embraced an ethic of greed, corner cutting and inside dealing that has always threatened the long-term stability of our economic system. too often, we ve lost that common stake in each other s prosperity., let me be clear: the american economy does not stand still, and neither should the rules that govern it. the evolution of industries often warrants regulatory reform - to foster competition, lower prices, or replace outdated oversight structures. old institutions cannot adequately oversee new practices. old rules may not fit the roads where our economy is leading. there were good arguments for changing the rules of the road in the 1990s. our economy was undergoing a fundamental shift, carried along by the swift currents of technological change and globalization. for the sake of our common prosperity, we needed to adapt to keep markets competitive and fair., unfortunately, instead of establishing a 21st century regulatory framework, we simply dismantled the old one - aided by a legal but corrupt bargain in which campaign money all too often shaped policy and watered down oversight. in doing so, we encouraged a winner take all, anything goes environment that helped foster devastating dislocations in our economy., deregulation of the telecommunications sector, for example, fostered competition but also contributed to massive over-investment. partial deregulation of the electricity sector enabled market manipulation. companies like enron and worldcom took advantage of the new regulatory environment to push the envelope, pump up earnings, disguise losses and otherwise engage in accounting fraud to make their profits look better - a practice that led investors to question the balance sheet of all companies, and severely damaged public trust in capital markets. this was not the invisible hand at work. instead, it was the hand of industry lobbyists tilting the playing field in washington, an accounting industry that had developed powerful conflicts of interest, and a financial sector that fueled over-investment., a decade later, we have deregulated the financial services sector, and we face another crisis. a regulatory structure set up for banks in the 1930s needed to change because the nature of business has changed. but by the time the glass-steagall act was repealed in 1999, the $300 million lobbying effort that drove deregulation was more about facilitating mergers than creating an efficient regulatory framework., since then, we have overseen 21st century innovation - including the aggressive introduction of new and complex financial instruments like hedge funds and non-bank financial companies - with outdated 20th century regulatory tools. new conflicts of interest recalled the worst excesses of the past - like the outrageous news that we learned just yesterday of kpmg allowing a lender to report profits instead of losses, so that both parties could make a quick buck. not surprisingly, the regulatory environment failed to keep pace. when subprime mortgage lending took a reckless and unsustainable turn, a patchwork of regulators were unable or unwilling to protect the american people., the policies of the bush administration threw the economy further out of balance. tax cuts without end for the wealthiest americans. a trillion dollar war in iraq that didn t need to be fought, paid for with deficit spending and borrowing from foreign creditors like china. a complete disdain for pay-as-you-go budgeting - coupled with a generally scornful attitude towards oversight and enforcement - allowed far too many to put short-term gain ahead of long term consequences. the american economy was bound to suffer a painful correction, and policymakers found themselves with fewer resources to deal with the consequences., today, those consequences are clear. i see them in every corner of our great country, as families face foreclosure and rising costs. i seem them in towns across america, where a credit crisis threatens the, ability of students to get loans, and states can t finance infrastructure projects. i see them here in manhattan, where one of our biggest investment banks had to be bailed out, and the fed opened its discount window to a host of new institutions with unprecedented implications we have yet to appreciate. when all is said and done, losses will be in the many hundreds of billions. what was bad for main street was bad for wall street. pain trickled up., that is why the principle that i spoke about at nasdaq is even more urgently true today: in our 21st century economy, there is no dividing line between main street and wall street. the decisions made in new york s high-rises have consequences for americans across the country. and whether those americans can make their house payments; whether they keep their jobs; or spend confidently without falling into debt - that has consequences for the entire market. the future cannot be shaped by the best- connected lobbyists with the best record of raising money for campaigns. this thinking is wrong for the financial sector and it s wrong for our country., i do not believe that government should stand in the way of innovation, or turn back the clock to an older era of regulation. but i do believe that government has a role to play in advancing our common prosperity: by providing stable macroeconomic and financial conditions for sustained growth; by demanding transparency; and by ensuring fair competition in the marketplace., our history should give us confidence that we don t have to choose between an oppressive government- run economy and a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism. it tells us we can emerge from great economic upheavals stronger, not weaker. but we can do so only if we restore confidence in our markets. only if we rebuild trust between investors and lenders. and only if we renew that common interest between wall street and main street that is the key to our success., now, as most experts agree, our economy is in a recession. to renew our economy - and to ensure that we are not doomed to repeat a cycle of bubble and bust again and again - we need to address not only the immediate crisis in the housing market; we also need to create a 21st century regulatory framework, and pursue a bold opportunity agenda for the american people., most urgently, we must confront the housing crisis., after months of inaction, the president spoke here in new york and warned against doing too much. his main proposal - extending tax cuts for the wealthiest americans - is completely divorced from the reality that people are facing around the country. john mccain recently announced his own plan, and it amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen. while this is consistent with senator mccain s determination to run for george bush s third term, it won t help families who are suffering, and it won t help lift our economy out of recession., over two million households are at risk of foreclosure and millions more have seen their home values plunge. many americans are walking away from their homes, which hurts property values for entire neighborhoods and aggravates the credit crisis. to stabilize the housing market and help bring the foreclosure crisis to an end, i have sponsored senator chris dodd s legislation creating a new fha housing security program, which will provide meaningful incentives for lenders to buy or refinance existing mortgages. this will allow americans facing foreclosure to keep their homes at rates they can afford., senator mccain argues that government should do nothing to protect borrowers and lenders who ve made bad decisions, or taken on excessive risk. on this point, i agree. but the dodd-frank package is not a bailout for lenders or investors who gambled recklessly, as they will take losses. it is not a windfall for borrowers, as they will have to share any capital gain. instead, it offers a responsible and fair way to help bring an end to the foreclosure crisis. it asks both sides to sacrifice, while preventing a long-term collapse that could have enormous ramifications for the most responsible lenders and borrowers, as well as the american people as a whole. that is what senator mccain ignores., for homeowners who were victims of fraud, i ve also proposed a $10 billion foreclosure prevention fund that would help them sell a home that is beyond their means, or modify their loan to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy. it s also time to amend our bankruptcy laws, so families aren t forced to stick to the terms of a home loan that was predatory or unfair., to prevent fraud in the future, i ve proposed tough new penalties on fraudulent lenders, and a home score system that will allow consumers to find out more about mortgage offers and whether they ll be able to make payments. to help low- and middle-income families, i ve proposed a 10 percent mortgage interest tax credit that will allow homeowners who don t itemize their taxes to access incentives for home ownership. and to expand home ownership, we must do more to help communities turn abandoned properties into affordable housing., the government can t do this alone, nor should it. as i said last september, lenders must get ahead of the curve rather than just reacting to crisis. they should actively look at all borrowers, offer workouts, and reduce the principal on mortgages in trouble. not only can this prevent the larger losses associated with foreclosure and resale, but it can reduce the extent of government intervention and taxpayer exposure., beyond dealing with the immediate housing crisis, it is time for the federal government to revamp the regulatory framework dealing with our financial markets., our capital markets have helped us build the strongest economy in the world. they are a source of competitive advantage for our country. but they cannot succeed without the public s trust. the details of regulatory reform should be developed through sound analysis and public debate. but there are several core principles for reform that i will pursue as president., first, if you can borrow from the government, you should be subject to government oversight and supervision. secretary paulson admitted this in his remarks yesterday. the federal reserve should have basic supervisory authority over any institution to which it may make credit available as a lender of last resort. when the fed steps in, it is providing lenders an insurance policy underwritten by the american taxpayer. in return, taxpayers have every right to expect that these institutions are not taking excessive risks. the nature of regulation should depend on the degree and extent of the fed s exposure. but at the very least, these new regulations should include liquidity and capital requirements., second, there needs to be general reform of the requirements to which all regulated financial institutions are subjected. capital requirements should be strengthened, particularly for complex financial instruments like some of the mortgage securities that led to our current crisis. we must develop and rigorously manage liquidity risk. we must investigate rating agencies and potential conflicts of interest with the people they are rating. and transparency requirements must demand full disclosure by financial institutions to shareholders and counterparties., as we reform our regulatory system at home, we must work with international arrangements like the basel committee on banking supervision, the international accounting standards board, and the financial stability forum to address the same problems abroad. the goal must be ensuring that financial institutions around the world are subject to similar rules of the road - both to make the system stable, and to keep our financial institutions competitive., third, we need to streamline a framework of overlapping and competing regulatory agencies. reshuffling bureaucracies should not be an end in itself. but the large, complex institutions that dominate the financial landscape do not fit into categories created decades ago. different institutions compete in multiple markets - our regulatory system should not pretend otherwise. a streamlined system will provide better oversight, and be less costly for regulated institutions., fourth, we need to regulate institutions for what they do, not what they are. over the last few years, commercial banks and thrift institutions were subject to guidelines on subprime mortgages that did not apply to mortgage brokers and companies. it makes no sense for the fed to tighten mortgage guidelines for banks when two-thirds of subprime mortgages don t originate from banks. this regulatory framework has failed to protect homeowners, and it is now clear that it made no sense for our financial system. when it comes to protecting the american people, it should make no difference what kind of institution they are dealing with., fifth, we must remain vigilant and crack down on trading activity that crosses the line to market manipulation. reports have circulated in recent days that some traders may have intentionally spread rumors that bear stearns was in financial distress while making market bets against the company. the sec should investigate and punish this kind of market manipulation, and report its conclusions to congress., sixth, we need a process that identifies systemic risks to the financial system. too often, we deal with threats to the financial system that weren t anticipated by regulators. that s why we should create a financial market oversight commission, which would meet regularly and provide advice to the president, congress, and regulators on the state of our financial markets and the risks that face them. these expert views could help anticipate risks before they erupt into a crisis., these six principles should guide the legal reforms needed to establish a 21st century regulatory system. but the change we need goes beyond laws and regulation - we need a shift in the cultures of our financial institutions and our regulatory agencies., financial institutions must do a better job at managing risks. there is something wrong when boards of directors or senior managers don t understand the implications of the risks assumed by their own institutions. it s time to realign incentives and compensation packages, so that both high level executives and employees better serve the interests of shareholders. and it s time to confront the risks that come with excessive complexity. even the best government regulation cannot fully substitute for internal risk management., for supervisory agencies, oversight must keep pace with innovation. as the subprime crisis unfolded, tough questions about new and complex financial instruments were not asked. as a result, the public interest was not protected. we do american business - and the american people - no favors when we turn a blind eye to excessive leverage and dangerous risks., finally, the american people must be able to trust that their government is looking out for all of us - not just those who donate to political campaigns. i fought in the senate for the most extensive ethics reform since watergate. i have refused contributions from federal lobbyists and pacs. and i have laid out far- reaching plans that i intend to sign into law as president to bring transparency to government, and to end the revolving door between industries and the federal agencies that oversee them., once we deal with the immediate crisis in housing and strengthen the regulatory system governing our financial markets, our final task is to restore a sense of opportunity for all americans., the bedrock of our economic success is the american dream. it s a dream shared in big cities and small towns; across races, regions and religions - that if you work hard, you can support a family; that if you get sick, there will be health care you can afford; that you can retire with the dignity and security and respect that you have earned; that your kids can get a good education, and young people can go to college even if they re not rich. that is our common hope across this country. that is the american dream., but today, for far too many americans, this dream is slipping away. wall street has been gripped by increasing gloom over the last nine months. but for many american families, the economy has effectively been in recession for the past seven years. we have just come through the first sustained period of economic growth since world war ii that was not accompanied by a growth in incomes for typical families. americans are working harder for less. costs are rising, and it s not clear that we ll leave a legacy of opportunity to our children and grandchildren., that s why, throughout this campaign, i ve put forward a series of proposals that will foster economic growth from the bottom up, and not just from the top down. that s why the last time i spoke on the economy here in new york, i talked about the need to put the policies of george w. bush behind us - policies that have essentially said to the american people: ""you are on your own""; because we need to pursue policies that once again recognize that we are in this together., this starts with providing a stimulus that will reach the most vulnerable americans, including immediate relief to areas hardest hit by the housing crisis, and a significant extension of unemployment insurance for those who are out of work. if we can extend a hand to banks on wall street, we can extend a hand to americans who are struggling., beyond these short term measures, as president i will be committed to putting the american dream on a firmer footing. to reward work and make retirement secure, we ll provide an income tax cut of up to $1000 for a working family, and eliminate income taxes altogether for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year. to make health care affordable for all americans, we ll cut costs and provide coverage to all who need it. to put more americans to work, we ll create millions of new green jobs and invest in rebuilding our nation s infrastructure. to extend opportunity, we ll invest in our schools and our teachers, and make college affordable for every american. and to ensure that america stays on the cutting edge, we ll expand broadband access, expand funding for basic scientific research, and pass comprehensive immigration reform so that we continue to attract the best and the brightest to our shores., i know that making these changes won t be easy. i will not pretend that this will come without cost, though i have presented ways we can achieve these changes in a fiscally responsible way. i know that we ll have to overcome our doubts and divisions and the determined opposition of powerful special interests before we can truly advance opportunity and prosperity for all americans., but i would not be running for president if i didn t think that this was a defining moment in our history. if we fail to overcome our divisions and continue to let special interest set the agenda, then america will fall behind. short-term gains will continue to yield long-term costs. opportunity will slip away on main street and prosperity will suffer here on wall street. but if we unite this country around a common purpose, if we act on the responsibilities that we have to each other and to our country, then we can launch a new era of opportunity and prosperity., i know we can do this because americans have done this before. time and again, we ve recognized that common stake that we have in each other s success. that s how people as different as hamilton and jefferson came together to launch the world s greatest experiment in democracy. that s why our economy hasn t just been the world s greatest wealth creator - it s bound america together, it s created jobs, and it s made the dream of opportunity a reality for generations of americans., now it falls to us. we have as our inheritance the greatest economy the world has ever known. we have the responsibility to continue the work that began on that spring day over two centuries ago right here in manhattan - to renew our common purpose for a new century, and to write the next chapter in the story of america s success. we can do this. and we can begin this work today., ,"	
"as mike said, today represents a tragic anniversary for our country. through his faith, courage, and wisdom, dr. martin luther king jr. moved an entire nation. he preached the gospel of brotherhood; of equality and justice. that s the cause for which he lived - and for which he died forty years ago today. and so before we begin, i ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary american., there s been a lot of discussion this week about how dr. king s life and legacy speak to us today. it s taking place in our schools and churches, on television and around the dinner table. and i suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers on issues of racial justice - on the montgomery bus boycott and the march on washington, on the freedom rides and the stand at selma., and that s as it should be - because those were times when ordinary men and women, straight-backed and clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our union. and they did so in large part because dr. king pointed the way., but i also think it s worth reflecting on what dr. king was doing in memphis, when he stepped onto that motel balcony on his way out for dinner., and what he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers. for years, these workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people s trash for little pay and even less respect. passers-by would call them ""walking buzzards,"" and in the segregated south, most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and bathrooms., but in 1968, these workers decided they d had enough, and over 1,000 went on strike. their demands were modest - better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their union. but the opposition was fierce. their vigils were met with handcuffs. their protests turned back with mace. and at the end of one march, a 16-year old boy lay dead., this is the struggle that brought dr. king to memphis. it was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and all walks of life. because dr. king understood that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one - that each was part of a larger struggle ""for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity."" so long as americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied the wages, benefits, and fair treatment they deserved - so long as opportunity was being opened to some but not all - the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach., and on the eve of his death, dr. king gave a sermon in memphis about what the movement there meant to him and to america. and in tones that would prove eerily prophetic, dr. king said that despite the threats he d received, he didn t fear any man, because he had been there when birmingham aroused the conscience of this nation. and he d been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting in at lunch counters. and he d been there in memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community coming together around a common purpose. so dr. king had been to the mountaintop. he, had seen the promised land. and while he knew somewhere deep in his bones that he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there., he knew it because he had seen that americans have ""the capacity,"" as he said that night, ""to project the  i  into the  thou. "" to recognize that no matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have - no matter whether we are sanitation workers or united states senators - we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother s keeper, we are our sister s keeper, and ""either we go up together, or we go down together."", and when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has yet to fully heal. and in few places was the pain more pronounced than in indianapolis, where robert kennedy happened to be campaigning. and it fell to him to inform a crowded park that dr. king had been killed. and as the shock turned toward anger, kennedy reminded them of dr. king s compassion, and his love. and on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in indianapolis., in the dark days after dr. king s death, coretta scott king pointed out the stars. she took up her husband s cause and led a march in memphis. but while those sanitation workers eventually got their union contract, the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the king legacy. because the dream is still out of reach for too many americans. just this morning, it was announced that more americans are unemployed now than at any time in years. and all across this country, families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages, and the terrible burden of losing a home., part of the problem is that for a long time, we ve had a politics that s been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. this is something i spoke about a few weeks ago in a speech i gave in philadelphia. and what i said was that instead of having a politics that lives up to dr. king s call for unity, we ve had a politics that s used race to drive us apart, when all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction, and stop us from solving our problems., that is why the great need of this hour is much the same as it was when dr. king delivered his sermon in memphis. we have to recognize that while we each have a different past, we all share the same hopes for the future - that we ll be able to find a job that pays a decent wage, that there will be affordable health care when we get sick, that we ll be able to send our kids to college, and that after a lifetime of hard work, we ll be able to retire with security. they re common hopes, modest dreams. and they re at the heart of the struggle for freedom, dignity, and humanity that dr. king began, and that it is our task to complete., you know, dr. king once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. but what he also knew was that it doesn t bend on its own. it bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice., so on this day - of all days - let s each do our part to bend that arc. let s bend that arc toward justice., let s bend that arc toward opportunity., let s bend that arc toward prosperity for all., and if we can do that and march together - as one nation, and one people - then we won t just be keeping faith with what dr. king lived and died for, we ll be making real the words of amos that he invoked so often, and ""let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."", ,"	
"being here in pennsylvania with the primary coming up, i know that politics is what s on a lot of people s minds. but as i look out at this crowd, i also know that being here isn t just about politics for me. it s personal. because it reminds me why i entered public service in the first place., as some of you might know, after college, i went to work as a community organizer for a group of churches on the south side of chicago. the job was to help lift communities that had been devastated when the local steel plants fell on hard times. thousands of folks had been laid off and some plants were closing down. and i can still remember the first time i saw a shuttered steel mill., it was late in the afternoon and i took a drive with another organizer over to the old wisconsin steel plant on the southeast side of chicago. some of you may know it. and as we drove up, i saw a sight that s probably familiar to some of you. i saw a plant that was empty and rusty. and behind a chain-link fence, i saw weeds sprouting up through the concrete, and an old mangy cat running around. and i thought about all the good jobs it used to provide, and all the kids who used to work there in the summer to make some extra money for college., what i came to understand was that when a plant shuts down, it s not just the workers who pay a price, it s the whole community. i saw folks who felt like their government wasn t looking out for them and who had given up hope. so i worked with unions and the city government, and we brought the community together to fight for its common future. we gave job-training to the jobless and hope to the hopeless, and block by block, we helped turn those neighborhoods around., more than twenty years later, as i ve traveled across pennsylvania, and west virginia, and ohio, and all across this country, i m still seeing too many places where plants have closed down and where folks are feeling like they re not getting a fair shot at life, like their dreams are slipping further out of reach. and that s partly because of the same kinds of global economic pressures that led steel plants in chicago to close down in the 1980s., but it s also because george bush has pursued policies that don t work for working americans. in recent years, we ve seen more than 3 million high-quality manufacturing jobs disappear, and more than 40,000 factories close down. and more often than not, the few jobs that are being created pay less than the ones we re losing and come without health insurance or a pension, which makes it even harder for families to feel secure about their future., but we also know this is a problem that goes beyond the failures of george bush - because for decades, through both democratic and republican administrations, we ve seen the number of american-owned steel companies dwindle down. for decades, our economic policies have been written to pump up a corporate bottom line, rather than promote what s right, without any consideration for the burden we all bear when workers are abused or the environment is destroyed., it s an outrage, but it s not an accident - because corporate lobbyists in washington are writing our laws and putting their clients  interests ahead of what s fair for the american people. the men and women you represent haven t been getting a seat at the table when trade agreements are being negotiated, or tax policies are being written, or health care and pension laws are being designed because the special interests have bought every chair., that s not the america i believe in. that s not the america you believe in. and that s why when i m president, we ll make sure washington serves nobody s interests but the people s., you know, there s been a lot of talk in this campaign lately about who s ""in touch"" with the workers of pennsylvania. senator clinton and senator mccain are singing from the same hymn book, saying that i m ""out of touch"" - an ""elitist"" - because i said a lot of folks are bitter about their economic circumstances., now it may be that i chose my words badly. it wasn t the first time and it won t be the last. but when i hear my opponents, both of whom have spent decades in washington, saying i m out of touch, it s time to cut through their rhetoric and look at the reality., after all, you ve heard this kind of rhetoric before. around election time, the candidates can t do enough for you. they ll ""promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with tv crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer., but if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the pacs and lobbyists, ask yourself, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over?, i m the only candidate who doesn t take money from corporate pacs and lobbyists, and i m here to tell you that you can count on me to stand up for you after this election, just as i ve been standing up for workers all my life. that s why i m running for president of the united states., senator clinton and senator mccain question my respect for the workers of pennsylvania. well, let me tell you how i believe you demonstrate your respect. you do it by telling the truth and keeping your word, so folks can know that where you stand today is where you ll stand tomorrow., the truth is, trade is here to stay. we live in a global economy. for america s future to be as bright as our past, we have to compete. we have to win., not every job that has left is coming back. and not every job lost is due to trade -automation has made plants more efficient so they can make the same amount of steel with few workers. these are the realities., i also don t oppose all trade deals. i voted for two of them because they have the worker and environmental agreements i believe in. some of you disagreed with me on this but i did what i thought was right., that s the truth. but let me tell you what else i believe in:, for america to win, american workers have to win, too. if ceo pay keeps rising, while the standard of living for their workers continues to decline, that s not a win for america., that s why i opposed nafta, it s why i opposed cafta, and it s why i said any trade agreement i would support had to contain real, enforceable standards for workers., that s why i believe the permanent normalized trade agreement with china didn t do enough to ensure fairness and compliance., now, you can have a debate about whether my position is right or wrong. but here s what you can t do. you can t spend the better part of two decades campaigning for nafta and pntr for china, and then come here to pennsylvania, and tell the steelworkers you ve been with them all along. you can t say you are opposed to the colombia trade deal, while your key strategist is working for the colombian government to get the deal passed., that s not respect. that s just more of the same old washington politics. and we can t afford more of the same., we need real change, and that s what i m offering. i m offering a new, more transparent and more inclusive path on trade so we can help promote an integrated global economy where the costs and benefits are distributed more equitably. and it starts with a principle i ve always believed in - that trade should work for all americans., that s why we need to finally confront the issue of trade with china. as i ve said before, america and the world can benefit from trade with china. but trade with china will only be good for you if china itself plays by the rules and acts as a positive force for balanced world growth., seeing the living standards of the chinese people improve is a good thing - good because we want a stable china, and good because china can be a powerful market for american exports. but too often, china has been competing in ways that are tilting the playing field., it s not just that china is following the path taken by so many other countries before it, and dumping goods into our market while not opening their own markets, something i ve spoken out against. it s not just that they re violating intellectual property rights. they re also grossly undervaluing their currency, and giving their goods yet another unfair advantage. each year they ve had the chance, the bush administration has failed to do anything about this. that s unacceptable. that s why i co-sponsored the, currency exchange rate oversight reform act. and that s why as president, i ll use all the diplomatic avenues open to me to insist that china stop manipulating its currency., we also have to make sure that whatever goods we re importing are safe for our families. we all saw the harm that was caused by lead toys from china that were reaching our store shelves. a few months ago, when i called for a ban on any toys that have more than a trace amount of lead, an official at china s foreign ministry said i was being ""unobjective, unreasonable, and unfair."" but i don t think protecting our children is ""unreasonable"" - i think it s our obligation as parents and as americans., when it comes to trade, there s no one-size-fits-all approach. if countries are committed to reciprocity, if they are abiding by basic rules of the road, then we should welcome trade. many poor countries need access to our markets and pose no threat to our workers., but what all trade agreements i negotiate as president will have in common is that they ll all put american workers first. we won t ignore violence against union organizers in colombia, or the non-tariff barriers that keep u.s. cars out of south korea., and we won t just negotiate fair trade agreements, we ll make sure they re being fully enforced. george bush has been far too slow to press american rights. that s an outrage. when our trading partners sign an agreement with the obama administration, you can trust that we ll hold them to it., now, if we re serious about standing up for american workers around the world, we also have to fight for you here at home. that means passing universal health care and making sure every american has insurance you can take with you even if you lose your job, and that a college degree is within reach, even if you re not rich - because all our children should have the skills to compete in the global economy., and it also means protecting the rights of our workers. it s time we had a president who didn t choke saying the word ""union."" we need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best - organize our workers. if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union, no matter whether they re full-time, or part-time, or contract workers. and that is why i will fight for and why i intend to sign the employee free choice act when it lands on my desk in the white house., here s what else i ll do: we ll pass the patriot employer act that i ve been working on since i got to the senate - so we can stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and start giving them to companies that create good jobs with decent wages here in america., and to those who think that the decline in american manufacturing is inevitable; or that manufacturing has no place in a 21st century economy; we say right here and right now that the fight for manufacturing s future is the fight for america s future. and that s why we ll modernize our steel industry, strengthen our entire domestic manufacturing base, and open as many markets as we can to american manufactured goods when i m president., we ll also make necessary long-term investments in job-growth. back in the 1950 s, americans were put to work building the interstate highway system and that helped expand the middle class in this country. we need to show the same kind of leadership today. that s why i ve called for a national infrastructure reinvestment bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years and generate millions of new jobs. we can t keep standing by while our roads and bridges and airports crumble and decay. we can t keep running our economy on debt. for our economy, our safety, and our workers, we have to rebuild america., and we need to invest in green technology. we can t keep sending billions of dollars to foreign nations because of our addiction to oil. we should be investing in american companies that invest in american- manufactured solar panels and windmills, and in clean coal technology. that s why i ve proposed investing $150 billion over the next ten years in the green energy sector. this will create up to five million new american jobs - and those are jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. that s a promise that we are making not just to this generation of americans, but to the next generation of americans. and that s why this will be a priority in my administration., now, i know some will say we can t afford all this. but let me just say this - if we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding iraq, we can spend $15 billion a year in our own country to put americans back to work and strengthen the long-term competitiveness of our economy., so make no mistake - the american people have a choice in this election. we can talk about our economic problems with trade all we want, but unless we change the broken system in washington, nothing else is going to change. we can talk all we want about respecting workers and their way of life, but unless we have a president you can trust to listen and put working americans first, nothing is really going to change., and you can trust me. because politics didn t lead me to working folks; working folks led me to politics. i was standing with american workers on the streets of chicago twenty years ago, and the reason i m, here today is because i don t want to wake up one day many years from now and see that our companies are still getting hurt because foreign governments are still bending or breaking the rules, or that we re still standing idly by while american jobs get shipped overseas, or that we still haven t made the investments in infrastructure and in training our workers that we desperately need., the reason i m here today is because i know what it s like to go to college on student loans, and see a, mother get sick and worry that maybe she can t pay the bills. i know what it s like to have to scratch and work and claw to build a better life for your family. and i don t want to wake up many years from now and find that the american dream is still out of reach for too many americans., the reason i m here today is because i believe that if we can just put an end to the politics of division and distraction, and reclaim that sense that we all have a stake in each other, that we rise and fall as one nation; if we can just unite this country around a common purpose - black, white, hispanic, asian, and native american; labor and management; democrats, republicans, and independents - there s no obstacle we cannot overcome, no destiny we cannot fulfill., that s the fundamental truth i learned on the streets of chicago. that s the idea at the heart of your alliance for manufacturing. and that s the opportunity we have in this election. there is a moment in the life of every generation where that spirit of unity and hopefulness has to come through if we re going to make our mark on history. this is our moment. this is our time. and if you will march with me, and organize with me, if you vote for me, then i promise you this: we will not just win this democratic nomination, we will win the general election and then together - you and i - we re going to change this country, and we re going to change this world. thank you.,"	
"good afternoon. i know i kept a lot of you guys busy this weekend with the comments i made last week. some of you might even be a little bitter about that., as i said yesterday, i regret some of the words i chose, partly because the way that these remarks have been interpreted have offended some people and partly because they have served as one more distraction from the critical debate that we must have in this election season., i m a person of deep faith, and my religion has sustained me through a lot in my life. i even gave a speech on faith before i ever started running for president where i said that democrats, ""make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in people s lives."" i also represent a state with a large number of hunters and sportsmen, and i understand how important these traditions are to families in illinois and all across america. and, contrary to what my poor word choices may have implied or my opponents have suggested, i ve never believed that these traditions or people s faith has anything to do with how much money they have., but i will never walk away from the larger point that i was trying to make. for the last several decades, people in small towns and cities and rural areas all across this country have seen globalization change the rules of the game on them. when i began my career as an organizer on the south side of chicago, i saw what happens when the local steel mill shuts its doors and moves overseas. you don t just lose the jobs in the mill, you start losing jobs and businesses throughout the community. the streets are emptier. the schools suffer., i saw it during my campaign for the senate in illinois when i d talk to union guys who had worked at the local maytag plant for twenty, thirty years before being laid off at fifty-five years old when it picked up and moved to mexico; and they had no idea what they re going to do without the paycheck or the pension that they counted on. one man didn t even know if he d be able to afford the liver transplant his son needed now that his health care was gone., i ve heard these stories almost every day during this campaign, whether it was in iowa or ohio or pennsylvania. and the people i ve met have also told me that every year, in every election, politicians come to their towns, and they tell them what they want to hear, and they make big promises, and then they go back to washington when the campaign s over, and nothing changes. there s no plan to, address the downside of globalization. we don t do anything about the skyrocketing cost of health care or college or those disappearing pensions. instead of fighting to replace jobs that aren t coming back, washington ends up fighting over the latest distraction of the week., and after years and years and years of this, a lot of people in this country have become cynical about what government can do to improve their lives. they are angry and frustrated with their leaders for not listening to them; for not fighting for them; for not always telling them the truth. and yes, they are bitter about that., now, senator mccain and the republicans in washington are already looking ahead to the fall and have decided that they plan on using these comments to argue that i m out of touch with what s going on in the lives of working americans. i don t blame them for this -- that s the nature of our political culture, and if i had to carry the banner for eight years of george bush s failures, i d be looking for something else to talk about too., but i will say this. if john mccain wants to turn this election into a contest about which party is out of touch with the struggles and the hopes of working america, that s a debate i m happy to have. in fact, i think that s a debate we need to have. because i believe that the real insult to the millions of hardworking americans out there would be a continuation of the economic agenda that has dominated washington for far too long., i may have made a mistake last week in the words that i chose, but the other party has made a much more damaging mistake in the failed policies they ve chosen and the bankrupt philosophy they ve embraced for the last three decades., it s a philosophy that says there s no role for government in making the global economy work for working americas; that we have to just sit back watch those factories close and those jobs disappear; that there s nothing we can do or should do about workers without health care, or children in crumbling schools, or families who are losing their homes, and so we should just hand out a few tax breaks and wish everyone the best of luck., ronald reagan called this trickle-down economics. george bush called it the ownership society. but what it really means is that you re on your own. if your premiums or your tuition is rising faster than you can afford, you re on your own. if you re that maytag worker who just lost his pension, tough luck. if you re a child born into poverty, you ll just have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps., this philosophy isn t just out-of-touch - it s put our economy out-of-whack. years of pain on main street have finally trickled up to wall street and sent us hurtling toward recession, reminding us that we re all connected - that we can t prosper as a nation where a few people are doing well and everyone else is struggling., john mccain is an american hero and a worthy opponent, but he s proven time and time again that he just doesn t understand this. it took him three tries in seven days just to figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was an actual problem. he s had a front row seat to the last eight years of disastrous policies that have widened the income gap and saddled our children with debt, and now he s promising four more years of the very same thing., he s promising to make permanent the bush tax breaks for the wealthiest few who didn t need them and didn t ask for them - tax breaks that are so irresponsible that john mccain himself once said they offended his conscience., he s promising four more years of trade deals that don t have a single safeguard for american workers - that don t help american workers compete and win in a global economy., he s promising four more years of an administration that will push for the privatization of social security - a plan that would gamble away people s retirement on the stock market; a plan that was already rejected by democrats and republicans under george bush., he s promising four more years of policies that won t guarantee health insurance for working americans; that won t bring down the rising cost of college tuition; that won t do a thing for the americans who are living in those communities where the jobs have left and the factories have shut their doors., and yet, despite all this, the other side is still betting that the american people won t notice that john mccain is running for george bush s third term. they think that they ll forget about all that s happened in the last eight years; that they ll be tricked into believing that it s either me or our party is the one that s out of touch with what s going on in their lives., well i m making a different bet. i m betting on the american people., the men and women i ve met in small towns and big cities across this country see this election as a defining moment in our history. they understand what s at stake here because they re living it every day. and they are tired of being distracted by fake controversies. they are fed up with politicians trying to divide us for their own political gain. and i believe they ll see through the tactics that are used every year, in every election, to appeal to our fears, or our biases, or our differences - because they ve never wanted or needed change as badly as they do now., the people i ve met during this campaign know that government cannot solve all of our problems, and they don t expect it to. they don t want our tax dollars wasted on programs that don t work or perks for special interests who don t work for us. they understand that we cannot stop every job from going overseas or build a wall around our economy, and they know that we shouldn t., but they believe it s finally time that we make health care affordable and available for every single american; that we bring down costs for workers and for businesses; that we cut premiums, and stop insurance companies from denying people care or coverage who need it most., they believe it s time we provided real relief to the victims of this housing crisis; that we help families refinance their mortgage so they can stay in their homes; that we start giving tax relief to the people who actually need it - middle-class families, and seniors, and struggling homeowners., ,"	
"i want to start by congratulating senator clinton on her victory tonight, and i want to thank the hundreds of thousands of pennsylvanians who stood with our campaign today., there were a lot of folks who didn t think we could make this a close race when it started. but we worked hard, and we traveled across the state to big cities and small towns, to factory floors and vfw halls. and now, six weeks later, we closed the gap. we rallied people of every age and race and background to our cause. and whether they were inspired for the first time or for the first time in a long time, we registered a record number of voters who will lead our party to victory in november., these americans cast their ballot for the same reason you came here tonight; for the same reason that millions of americans have gone door-to-door and given whatever small amount they can to this campaign; for the same reason that we began this journey just a few hundred miles from here on a cold february morning in springfield - because we believe that the challenges we face are bigger than the smallness of our politics, and we know that this election is our chance to change it., after fourteen long months, it s easy to forget this from time to time - to lose sight of the fierce urgency of this moment. it s easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics; the bickering that none of us are immune to, and that trivializes the profound issues - two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril., but that kind of politics is not why we re here. it s not why i m here and it s not why you re here., we re here because of the more than one hundred workers in logansport, indiana who just found out that their company has decided to move its entire factory to taiwan., we re here because of the young man i met in youngsville, north carolina who almost lost his home because he has three children with cystic fibrosis and couldn t pay their medical bills; who still doesn t have health insurance for himself or his wife and lives in fear that a single illness could cost them everything., we re here because there are families all across this country who are sitting around the kitchen table right now trying to figure out how to pay their insurance premiums, and their kids  tuition, and still make the mortgage so they re not the next ones in the neighborhood to put a for sale sign in the front yard; who will lay awake tonight wondering if next week s paycheck will cover next month s bills., we re not here to talk about change for change s sake, but because our families, our communities, and our country desperately need it. we re here because we can t afford to keep doing what we ve been doing for another four years. we can t afford to play the same washington games with the same washington players and expect a different result. not this time. not now., we already know what we re getting from the other party s nominee. john mccain has offered this country a lifetime of service, and we respect that, but what he s not offering is any meaningful change from the policies of george w. bush., john mccain believes that george bush s iraq policy is a success, so he s offering four more years of a war with no exit strategy; a war that s sending our troops on their third tour, and fourth tour, and fifth tour of duty; a war that s costing us billions of dollars a month and hasn t made us any safer., john mccain said that george bush s economic policies have led to ""great progress"" over the last seven years, and so he s promising four more years of tax cuts for ceos and corporations who didn t need them and weren t asking for them; tax cuts that he once voted against because he said they ""offended his conscience."", well they may have stopped offending john mccain s conscience somewhere along the road to the white house, but george bush s economic policies still offend ours. because i don t think that the 232,000 americans who ve lost their jobs this year are seeing the great progress that john mccain has seen. i don t think the millions of americans losing their homes have seen that progress. i don t think the families without health care and the workers without pensions have seen that progress. and if we continue down the same reckless path, i don t think that future generations who ll be saddled with debt will see these as years of progress., we already know that john mccain offers more of the same. the question is not whether the other party will bring about change in washington - the question is, will we?, because the truth is, the challenges we face are not just the fault of one man or one party. how many years - how many decades - have we been talking about solving our health care crisis? how many presidents have promised to end our dependence on foreign oil? how many jobs have gone overseas in the 70s, and the 80s, and the 90s? and we still haven t done anything about it. and we know why., in every election, politicians come to your cities and your towns, and they tell you what you want to hear, and they make big promises, and they lay out all these plans and policies. but then they go back to washington when the campaign s over. lobbyists spend millions of dollars to get their way. the status quo sets in. and instead of fighting for health care or jobs, washington ends up fighting over the latest distraction of the week. it happens year after year after year., well this is your chance to say ""not this year."" this is your chance to say ""not this time."" we have a choice in this election., we can be a party that says there s no problem with taking money from washington lobbyists - from oil lobbyists and drug lobbyists and insurance lobbyists. we can pretend that they represent real americans and look the other way when they use their money and influence to stop us from reforming health care or investing in renewable energy for yet another four years., or this time, we can recognize that you can t be the champion of working americans if you re funded by the lobbyists who drown out their voices. we can do what we ve done in this campaign, and say that we won t take a dime of their money. we can do what i did in illinois, and in washington, and bring both parties together to rein in their power so we can take our government back. it s our choice., we can be a party that thinks the only way to look tough on national security is to talk, and act, and vote like george bush and john mccain. we can use fear as a tactic, and the threat of terrorism to scare up votes., or we can decide that real strength is asking the tough questions before we send our troops to fight. we can see the threats we face for what they are - a call to rally all americans and all the world against the common challenges of the 21st century - terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. that s what it takes to keep us safe in the world. that s the real legacy of roosevelt and kennedy and truman., we can be a party that says and does whatever it takes to win the next election. we can calculate and poll-test our positions and tell everyone exactly what they want to hear., or we can be the party that doesn t just focus on how to win but why we should. we can tell everyone what they need to hear about the challenges we face. we can seek to regain not just an office, but the trust of the american people that their leaders in washington will tell them the truth. that s the choice in this election., we can be a party of those who only think like we do and only agree with all our positions. we can continue to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states. we can exploit the divisions that exist in our country for pure political gain., or this time, we can build on the movement we ve started in this campaign - a movement that s united democrats, independents, and republicans; a movement of young and old, rich and poor; white, black, hispanic, asian, and native american. because one thing i know from traveling to forty-six states this campaign season is that we re not as divided as our politics suggests. we may have different stories and different backgrounds, but we hold common hopes for the future of this country., in the end, this election is still our best chance to solve the problems we ve been talking about for decades - as one nation; as one people. fourteen months later, that is still what this election is about., millions of americans who believe we can do better - that we must do better - have put us in a position to bring about real change. now it s up to you, indiana. you can decide whether we re going to travel the, ,"	
"you know, some were saying that north carolina would be a game-changer in this election. but today, what north carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in washington, dc., i want to start by congratulating senator clinton on her victory in the state of indiana. and i want to thank the people of north carolina for giving us a victory in a big state, a swing state, and a state where we will compete to win if i am the democratic nominee for president of the united states., when this campaign began, washington didn t give us much of a chance. but because you came out in the bitter cold, and knocked on doors, and enlisted your friends and neighbors in this cause; because you stood up to the cynics, and the doubters, and the nay-sayers when we were up and when we were down; because you still believe that this is our moment, and our time, for change – tonight we stand less than two hundred delegates away from securing the democratic nomination for president of the united states., more importantly, because of you, we have seen that it s possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction; that it s possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems. we ve seen that the american people aren t looking for more spin or more gimmicks, but honest answers about the challenges we face. that s what you ve accomplished in this campaign, and that s how we ll change this country together., this has been one of the longest, most closely fought contests in history. and that s partly because we have such a formidable opponent in senator hillary clinton. tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided – that senator clinton s supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her., well i m here tonight to tell you that i don t believe it. yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. but ultimately, this race is not about hillary clinton or barack obama or john mccain. this election is about you – the american people – and whether we will have a president and a party that can lead us toward a brighter future., this primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as democrats – that we are the party of jefferson and jackson; of roosevelt and kennedy; and that we are at our best when we lead with principle; when we lead with conviction; when we summon an entire nation around a common purpose – a higher purpose. this fall, we intend to march forward as one democratic party, united by a common vision for this country. because we all agree that at this defining moment in history – a moment when we re facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril – we can t afford to give john mccain the chance to serve out george bush s third term. we need change in america., the woman i met in indiana who just lost her job, and her pension, and her insurance when the plant where she worked at her entire life closed down – she can t afford four more years of tax breaks for corporations like the one that shipped her job overseas. she needs us to give tax breaks to companies that create good jobs here in america. she can t afford four more years of tax breaks for ceos like the one who walked away from her company with a multi-million dollar bonus. she needs middle-class tax relief that will help her pay the skyrocketing price of groceries, and gas, and college tuition. that s why i m running for president., the college student i met in iowa who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can t pay the medical bills for a sister who s ill – she can t afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and the wealthy; that allows insurance companies to discriminate and deny coverage to those americans who need it most. she needs us to stand up to those insurance companies and pass a plan that lowers every family s premiums and gives every uninsured american the same kind of coverage that members of congress give themselves. that s why i m running for president., the mother in wisconsin who gave me a bracelet inscribed with the name of the son she lost in iraq; the families who pray for their loved ones to come home; the heroes on their third and fourth and fifth tour of duty – they can t afford four more years of a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged. they can t afford four more years of our veterans returning to broken-down barracks and substandard care. they need us to end a war that isn t making us safer. they need us to treat them with the care and respect they deserve. that s why i m running for president., the man i met in pennsylvania who lost his job but can t even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one – he can t afford four more years of an energy policy written by the oil companies and for the oil companies; a policy that s not only keeping gas at record prices, but funding both sides of the war on terror and destroying our planet in the process. he doesn t need four more years of washington policies that sound good, but don t solve the problem. he needs us to take a permanent holiday from our oil addiction by making the automakers raise their fuel standards, corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future. that s the change we need. and that s why i m running for president., the people i ve met in small towns and big cities across this country understand that government can t solve all our problems – and we don t expect it to. we believe in hard work. we believe in personal responsibility and self-reliance., but we also believe that we have a larger responsibility to one another as americans – that america is a place – that america is the place – where you can make it if you try. that no matter how much money you start with or where you come from or who your parents are, opportunity is yours if you re willing to reach for it and work for it. it s the idea that while there are few guarantees in life, you should be able to count on a job that pays the bills; health care for when you need it; a pension for when you retire; an education for your children that will allow them to fulfill their god-given potential. that s the america we believe in. that s the america i know., this is the country that gave my grandfather a chance to go to college on the gi bill when he came home from world war ii; a country that gave him and my grandmother the chance to buy their first home with a loan from the government., this is the country that made it possible for my mother – a single parent who had to go on food stamps at one point – to send my sister and me to the best schools in the country on scholarships., this is the country that allowed my father-in-law – a city worker at a south side water filtration plant – to provide for his wife and two children on a single salary. this is a man who was diagnosed at age thirty with multiple sclerosis – who relied on a walker to get himself to work. and yet, every day he went, and he labored, and he sent my wife and her brother to one of the best colleges in the nation. it was a job that didn t just give him a paycheck, but a sense of dignity and self-worth. it was an america that didn t just reward wealth, but the work and the workers who created it., somewhere along the way, between all the bickering and the influence-peddling and the game-playing of the last few decades, washington and wall street have lost touch with these values. and while i honor john mccain s service to his country, his ideas for america are out of touch with these values. his plans for the future are nothing more than the failed policies of the past. and his plan to win in november appears to come from the very same playbook that his side has used time after time in election after election., yes, we know what s coming. we ve seen it already. the same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn t agree with all their ideas. the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy in the hope that the media will play along. the attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences to turn us against each other for pure political gain – to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states; blue- collar and white-collar; white and black, and brown., this is what they will do – no matter which one of us is the nominee. the question, then, is not what kind of campaign they ll run, it s what kind of campaign we will run. it s what we will do to make this year different. i didn t get into race thinking that i could avoid this kind of politics, but i am running for president because this is the time to end it., we will end it this time not because i m perfect – i think by now this campaign has reminded all of us of that. we will end it not by duplicating the same tactics and the same strategies as the other side, because that will just lead us down the same path of polarization and gridlock., we will end it by telling the truth – forcefully, repeatedly, confidently – and by trusting that the american people will embrace the need for change., because that s how we ve always changed this country – not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up;, when you – the american people – decide that the stakes are too high and the challenges are too great., the other side can label and name-call all they want, but i trust the american people to recognize that it s not surrender to end the war in iraq so that we can rebuild our military and go after al qaeda s leaders. i trust the american people to understand that it s not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but our enemies – like roosevelt did, and kennedy did, and truman did., i trust the american people to realize that while we don t need big government, we do need a government that stands up for families who are being tricked out of their homes by wall street predators; a government that stands up for the middle-class by giving them a tax break; a government that ensures that no american will ever lose their life savings just because their child gets sick. security and opportunity; compassion and prosperity aren t liberal values or conservative values – they re american values., most of all, i trust the american people s desire to no longer be defined by our differences. because no matter where i ve been in this country – whether it was the corn fields of iowa or the textile mills of the carolinas; the streets of san antonio or the foothills of georgia – i ve found that while we may have different stories, we hold common hopes. we may not look the same or come from the same place, but we want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren., that s why i m in this race. i love this country too much to see it divided and distracted at this moment in history. i believe in our ability to perfect this union because it s the only reason i m standing here today. and i know the promise of america because i have lived it., it is the light of opportunity that led my father across an ocean., it is the founding ideals that the flag draped over my grandfather s coffin stands for – it is life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness., it s the simple truth i learned all those years ago when i worked in the shadows of a shuttered steel mill on the south side of chicago – that in this country, justice can be won against the greatest of odds; hope can find its way back to the darkest of corners; and when we are told that we cannot bring about the change that we seek, we answer with one voice – yes we can., so don t ever forget that this election is not about me, or any candidate. don t ever forget that this campaign is about you – about your hopes, about your dreams, about your struggles, about securing your portion of the american dream., don t ever forget that we have a choice in this country – that we can choose not to be divided; that we can choose not to be afraid; that we can still choose this moment to finally come together and solve the problems we ve talked about all those other years in all those other elections., this time can be different than all the rest. this time we can face down those who say our road is too long; that our climb is too steep; that we can no longer achieve the change that we seek. this is our time to answer the call that so many generations of americans have answered before – by insisting that by hard work, and by sacrifice, the american dream will endure. thank you, and may god bless the united states of america.,"	
"i want to thank senator rockefeller, not only for that generous introduction, but for his friendship and support in this campaign. i want to thank secretary richard danzig, admiral john natham, and general jim smith for being here with us today and for their distinguished record of service to our country., and i want to thank the people of west virginia - particularly those who have worn the uniform of our country. more of you are veterans here than in almost any other state in the nation. so many guard members from this very armory have been deployed to iraq and afghanistan on tour after tour, year after year. and that means there are more west virginians who ve had to say goodbye to these heroes; who ve borne the burdens of their absence in ways that are often immeasurable - an empty chair at the dinner table or another mother s day where mom is some place far away. your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your loved ones is immense, and it must never be forgotten., there is an election here tomorrow. i m honored that some of you will support me, and i understand that many more here in west virginia will probably support senator clinton. but when it s over, what will unify as democrats - what must unify us as americans - is an unyielding commitment to the men and women who ve served this nation and an unshakable fidelity to the ideals for which they ve risked their lives., without that commitment, many of us wouldn t be here today. i am one of those people. my grandfather - stanley dunham - enlisted after pearl harbor and went on to march in patton s army. my grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone, and my mother was born at fort leavenworth. when he returned, it was to a country that gave him the chance to college on the gi bill; to buy his first home with a loan from the fha; to move his family west, all the way to hawaii, where he and my grandmother helped raise me. today, my grandfather is buried in the punchbowl, the national memorial cemetery of the pacific, where 776 victims of pearl harbor are laid to rest., i knew him when he was older. but whenever i meet young men and women along the campaign trail who are serving in the military today, i think about what my grandfather was like when he enlisted - a fresh-faced man of twenty-three, with a heart laugh and an easy smile., these sons and daughters of america are the best and the bravest among us. they are a part of an unbroken line of heroes who overthrew a king for the sake of an ideal; who freed the slaves and faced down fascism; who fought for freedom in korea and vietnam, from kuwait to the balkans - who still wake up every day to face down the gravest dangers in iraq, afghanistan, and all over the world., when our troops go into battle, they serve no faction or party; they represent no race or region. they are simply americans. they serve and fight and bleed together out of loyalty not just to a place on a map or a certain kind of people, but to a set of ideals that we have been striving for since the first shots rang out at lexington and concord - the idea that america could be governed not by men, but by laws; that we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we could be free to say what we want and write what want and worship as we please; that we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams but the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs., allegiance to these ideals has always been at the core of american patriotism - it s what unites a country of so many different opinions and beliefs. it s why some of us may disagree on our decision to start this war in iraq, but all of us stand united in our support for the brave men and women who wage it. that s how it should be. but it s not how it s always been., one of the saddest episodes in our history was the degree to which returning vets from vietnam were shunned, demonized and neglected by some because they served in an unpopular war. too many of those who opposed the war in vietnam chose to blame not only the leaders who ordered the mission, but the young men who simply answered their country s call. four decades later, the sting of that, injustice is a wound that has never fully healed, and one that should never be repeated., the young men and women who choose to serve are defending the very rights and freedoms that allow americans to speak out against government actions we oppose. they deserve our admiration, respect and enduring gratitude., at the same time, we must never forget that honoring this service and upholding these ideals requires more than saluting our veterans as they march by on veterans day or memorial day. it requires marching with them for the care and benefits they have earned it requires standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our veterans and their families after the guns fall silent and the cameras are turned off. at a time when we re facing the largest homecoming since the second world war, the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they ve served us., we know that over the last eight years, we ve already fallen short of meeting this test. we all learned about the deplorable conditions that were discovered at places like fort bragg and walter reed. we ve all walked by a veteran whose home is now a cardboard box on a street corner in the richest nation on earth. we ve all heard about what it s like to navigate the broken bureaucracy of the va - the impossibly long lines, or the repeated calls for help that get you nothing more than an answering machine. just a few weeks ago, an 89-year-old world war ii veteran from south carolina told his family, ""no matter what i apply for at the va, they turn me down."" the next day, he walked outside of an outpatient clinic in greenville and took his own life., how can we let this happen? how is that acceptable in the united states of america? the answer is, it s not. it s an outrage. and it s a betrayal - a betrayal - of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for., but it doesn t have to be this way. not in this country. not if we decide that this time will be different. there are many aspects of this war that have gone inalterably wrong, but caring for our veterans is one thing we can still get right. when i arrived in the senate, i sought out a seat on the veterans affairs committee so i could fight to give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve. we fought to make sure that the claims of disabled veterans in illinois and other states were being heard fairly, and we forced the va to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans who receive lower-than-, average benefits. i passed laws to get homeless veterans off the streets and prevent at-risk veterans from getting there in the first place. i led a bipartisan effort to improve outpatient facilities at places like walter reed, and slash red tape, and reform the disability process - because recovering troops should go to the front of the line, and they shouldn t have to fight to get there. i passed laws to give family members health care while they care for injured troops, and to provide family members with a year of job protection, so they never have to face a choice between caring for a loved one and keeping a job., but there is so much more work that we need to do in this country., it starts with being honest about the sacrifices that our brave men and women are making. for years, this administration has refused to count all of our casualties in uniform. in iraq alone, tens of thousands of troops who were injured or fell ill have not been counted in our casualty numbers, going against the military s own standards from past wars. it s time to stop hiding the full cost of this war. it s time to honor the full measure of sacrifice of our troops, and to prepare for the cost of their care., that s why i ve pledged to build a 21st century va as president. it means no more red tape - it s time to give every service-member electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge. it means no more shortfalls - we ll fully fund va health care, and add more vet centers, particularly in rural areas. it means no more delays - we ll pass on-time budgets. it means no more means-testing - it s time to allow every veteran into the va system. and it means we ll have a simple principle for veterans sleeping on our streets: zero tolerance. as president, i ll build on the work i started in the senate and expand housing vouchers, and launch a new supportive services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their families from sliding into homelessness., i ll also build on the work i did in the senate to confront one of the signature injuries of the wars in iraq and afghanistan - ptsd. we have to understand that for far too many troops and their families, the war doesn t end when they come home. just the other day our own government s top psychiatric researcher said that because of inadequate mental health care, the number of suicides among veterans of iraq and afghanistan may actually exceed the number of combat deaths. think about that. think about how only half of the returning soldiers with ptsd receive the treatment they need. think of how many we turn away - of how many we let fall through the cracks. we have to do better than this., in the senate, i ve helped lead a bipartisan effort to stop the unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer from them. and when i m president, we ll enhance mental health screening and treatment at all levels: from enlistment, to deployment, to reentry into civilian life. we also need more mental health, professionals, more training to recognize signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care. and we need to dramatically improve screening and treatment for the other signature injury of the war, traumatic brain injury. that s why i passed measures in the senate to increase screening for these injuries, and that s why i ll establish clearer standards of care as president., we have called on our troops and their families for so much during these last years, but we haven t always issued that call responsibly. yes, we need to restore twelve month army deployments, but we also need to restore adequate training and time at home between those deployments. my wife, michelle, met with army spouses the other day in north carolina who told her about the toll it takes to watch your loved one serve tour after tour of duty with little to no time off in between. and they told her something we all need to remember: ""we don t just deploy our troops overseas, we deploy families."" that s why we also need to provide more counseling and resources to help families cope with multiple tours., and when our loved ones do come home, it is time for the united states of america to offer this generation of returning heroes the same thanks we offered that earlier, greatest generation - by giving every veteran the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the gi bill., there is no reason we shouldn t pass the 21st century gi bill that is being debated in congress right now. it was introduced by my friend senator jim webb, a marine who served as navy secretary under president ronald reagan.. his plan has widespread support from republicans and democrats. it would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention., i have great respect for john mccain s service to this country and i know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. but he is one of the few senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it s too generous. i couldn t disagree more. at a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the american dream., the brave americans who fight today believe deeply in this country. and no matter how many you meet, or how many stories of heroism you hear, every encounter reminds that they are truly special. that through their service, they are living out the ideals that stir so many of us as americas - pride, duty, and sacrifice., some of the most inspiring are those you meet at places like walter reed army medical center. they are young men and women who may have lost a limb or even their ability to take care of themselves, but they will never lose the pride they feel for their country. they re not interested in self-pity, but yearn to move forward with their lives. and it s this classically american optimism that makes you realize the quality of person we have serving in the united states armed forces., this, after all, is what led them to wear the uniform in the first place - their unwavering belief in the idea of america. the idea that no matter where you come from, or what you look like, or who your parents are, this is a place where anything is possible; where anyone can make it; where we look out for each other, and take care of each other; where we rise and fall as one nation - as one people. it s an idea that s worth fighting for - an idea for which so many americans have given that last full measure of devotion., i can still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest. in a cemetery lined with the graves of americans who have sacrificed for our country, we heard the solemn notes of taps and the crack of guns fired in salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my grandmother and my grandfather was laid to rest. it was a nation s final act of service and gratitude to stanley dunham - an america that stood by my grandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left his side., abraham lincoln once said, ""i like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. but i also like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."", there is no doubt that we are a nation that is deeply proud of where we live. but it is now our generation s task to live in a way that stanley dunham lived; to live the way that those heroes at walter reed have lived; the way that all those men and women who put on this nation s uniform live each and every day. it, is now our task to live so that america will be proud of us. that is true test of patriotism - the test that all of us must meet in the days and years to come. i have no doubt that this nation is up to the challenge. thank you, and may god bless the united states of america., ,"	
"it is my privilege to join in this week s independence day celebration, and in honoring those who have stood up with courage and conviction for cuban liberty. i m going to take this opportunity to speak about cuba, and also u.s. policy toward the americas more broadly., we meet here united in our unshakeable commitment to freedom. and it is fitting that we reaffirm that commitment here in miami., in many ways, miami stands as a symbol of hope for what s possible in the americas. miami s promise of liberty and opportunity has drawn generations of immigrants to these shores, sometimes with nothing more than the clothes on their back. it was a similar hope that drew my own father across an ocean, in search of the same promise that our dreams need not be deferred because of who we are, what we look like, or where we come from., here, in miami, that promise can join people together. we take common pride in a vibrant and diverse democracy, and a hard-earned prosperity. we find common pleasure in the crack of the bat, in the rhythms of our music, and the ease of voices shifting from spanish or creole or portuguese to english., these bonds are built on a foundation of shared history in our hemisphere. colonized by empires, we share stories of liberation. confronted by our own imperfections, we are joined in a desire to build a more perfect union. rich in resources, we have yet to vanquish poverty., what all of us strive for is freedom as fdr described it. political freedom. religious freedom. but also freedom from want, and freedom from fear. at our best, the united states has been a force for these four freedoms in the americas. but if we re honest with ourselves, we ll acknowledge that at times we ve failed to engage the people of the region with the respect owed to a partner., when george bush was elected, he held out the promise that this would change. he raised the hopes of the region that our engagement would be sustained instead of piecemeal. he called mexico our most important bilateral relationship, and pledged to make latin america a ""fundamental commitment"" of his presidency. it seemed that a new 21st century era had dawned., almost eight years later, those high hopes have been dashed., since the bush administration launched a misguided war in iraq, its policy in the americas has been negligent toward our friends, ineffective with our adversaries, disinterested in the challenges that matter in peoples  lives, and incapable of advancing our interests in the region., no wonder, then, that demagogues like hugo chavez have stepped into this vacuum. his predictable yet perilous mix of anti-american rhetoric, authoritarian government, and checkbook diplomacy offers the same false promise as the tried and failed ideologies of the past. but the united states is so alienated from the rest of the americas that this stale vision has gone unchallenged, and has even made inroads from bolivia to nicaragua. and chavez and his allies are not the only ones filling the vacuum. while the united states fails to address the changing realities in the americas, others from europe and asia – notably china – have stepped up their own engagement. iran has drawn closer to venezuela, and just the other day tehran and caracas launched a joint bank with their windfall oil profits., that is the record – the bush record in latin america – that john mccain has chosen to embrace., senator mccain doesn t talk about these trends in our hemisphere because he knows that it s part of the broader bush-mccain failure to address priorities beyond iraq. the situation has changed in the americas, but we ve failed to change with it. instead of engaging the people of the region, we ve acted as if we can still dictate terms unilaterally. we have not offered a clear and comprehensive vision, backed up with strong diplomacy. we are failing to join the battle for hearts and minds. for far too long, washington has engaged in outdated debates and stuck to tired blueprints on drugs and trade, on democracy and development -- even though they won t meet the tests of the future., the stakes could not be higher. it is time for us to recognize that the future security and prosperity of the united states is fundamentally tied to the future of the americas. if we don t turn away from the policies of the past, then we won t be able to shape the future. the bush administration has offered no clear vision for this future, and neither has john mccain., so we face a clear choice in this election. we can continue as a bystander, or we can lead the hemisphere into the 21st century. and when i am president of the united states, we will choose to lead., it s time for a new alliance of the americas. after eight years of the failed policies of the past, we need new leadership for the future. after decades pressing for top-down reform, we need an agenda that advances democracy, security, and opportunity from the bottom up. so my policy towards the americas will be guided by the simple principle that what s good for the people of the americas is good for the united states. that means measuring success not just through agreements among governments, but also through the hopes of the child in the favelas of rio, the security for the policeman in mexico city, and the answered cries of political prisoners heard from jails in havana., the first and most fundamental freedom that we must work for is political freedom. the united states must be a relentless advocate for democracy., i grew up for a time in indonesia. it was a society struggling to achieve meaningful democracy. power could be undisguised and indiscriminate. too often, power wore a uniform, and was unaccountable to the people. some still had good reason to fear a knock on the door., there is no place for this kind of tyranny in this hemisphere. there is no place for any darkness that would shut out the light of liberty. here we must heed the words of dr. king, written from his own jail cell: ""injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."", throughout my entire life, there has been injustice in cuba. never, in my lifetime, have the people of cuba known freedom. never, in the lives of two generations of cubans, have the people of cuba known democracy. this is the terrible and tragic status quo that we have known for half a century – of elections that are anything but free or fair; of dissidents locked away in dark prison cells for the crime of speaking the truth. i won t stand for this injustice, you won t stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in cuba., now i know what the easy thing is to do for american politicians. every four years, they come down to miami, they talk tough, they go back to washington, and nothing changes in cuba. that s what john mccain did the other day. he joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade. instead of offering a strategy for change, he chose to distort my position, embrace george bush s, and continue a policy that s done nothing to advance freedom for the cuban people. that s the political posture that john mccain has chosen, and all it shows is that you can t take his so-called straight talk seriously., my policy toward cuba will be guided by one word: libertad. and the road to freedom for all cubans must begin with justice for cuba s political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly; and it must lead to elections that are free and fair., now let me be clear. john mccain s been going around the country talking about how much i want to meet with raul castro, as if i m looking for a social gathering. that s never what i ve said, and john mccain knows it. after eight years of the disastrous policies of george bush, it is time to pursue direct diplomacy, with friend and foe alike, without preconditions. there will be careful preparation. we will set a clear agenda. and as president, i would be willing to lead that diplomacy at a time and place of my choosing, but only when we have an opportunity to advance the interests of the united states, and to advance the cause of freedom for the cuban people., i will never, ever, compromise the cause of liberty. and unlike john mccain, i would never, ever, rule out a course of action that could advance the cause of liberty. we ve heard enough empty promises from politicians like george bush and john mccain. i will turn the page., it s time for more than tough talk that never yields results. it s time for a new strategy. there are no better ambassadors for freedom than cuban americans. that s why i will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island. it s time to let cuban americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. it s time to let cuban american money make their families less dependent upon the castro regime., i will maintain the embargo. it provides us with the leverage to present the regime with a clear choice: if you take significant steps toward democracy, beginning with the freeing of all political prisoners, we will take steps to begin normalizing relations. that s the way to bring about real change in cuba – through strong, smart and principled diplomacy., and we know that freedom across our hemisphere must go beyond elections. in venezuela, hugo chavez is a democratically elected leader. but we also know that he does not govern democratically. he talks of the people, but his actions just serve his own power. yet the bush administration s blustery condemnations and clumsy attempts to undermine chavez have only strengthened his hand., we ve heard plenty of talk about democracy from george bush, but we need steady action. we must put forward a vision of democracy that goes beyond the ballot box. we should increase our support for strong legislatures, independent judiciaries, free press, vibrant civil society, honest police forces, religious freedom, and the rule of law. that is how we can support democracy that is strong and sustainable not just on an election day, but in the day to day lives of the people of the americas., that is what is so badly needed – not just in cuba and venezuela – but just to our southeast in haiti as well. the haitian people have suffered too long under governments that cared more about their own power than their peoples  progress and prosperity. it s time to press haiti s leaders to bridge the divides between them. and it s time to invest in the economic development that must underpin the security that the haitian people lack. and that is why the second part of my agenda will be advancing freedom from fear in the americas., for too many people in our hemisphere, security is absent from their daily lives. and for far too long, washington has been trapped in a conventional thinking about latin america and the caribbean. from the right, we hear about violent insurgents. from the left, we hear about paramilitaries. this is the predictable debate that seems frozen in time from the 1980s. you re either soft on communism or soft on death squads. and it has more to do with the politics of washington than beating back the perils that so many people face in the americas., the person living in fear of violence doesn t care if they re threatened by a right-wing paramilitary or a left- wing terrorist; they don t care if they re being threatened by a drug cartel or a corrupt police force. they just care that they re being threatened, and that their families can t live and work in peace. that is why there will never be true security unless we focus our efforts on targeting every source of fear in the americas. that s what i ll do as president of the united states., for the people of colombia – who have suffered at the hands of killers of every sort – that means battling all sources of violence. when i am president, we will continue the andean counter-drug program, and update it to meet evolving challenges. we will fully support colombia s fight against the farc. we ll work with the government to end the reign of terror from right wing paramilitaries. we will support colombia s right to strike terrorists who seek safe-haven across its borders. and we will shine a light on any support for the farc that comes from neighboring governments. this behavior must be exposed to international condemnation, regional isolation, and – if need be – strong sanctions. it must not stand., we must also make clear our support for labor rights, and human rights, and that means meaningful support for colombia s democratic institutions. we ve neglected this support – especially for the rule of law – for far too long. in every country in our hemisphere – including our own – governments must develop the tools to protect their people., because if we ve learned anything in our history in the americas, it s that true security cannot come from force alone. not as long as there are towns in mexico where drug kingpins are more powerful than judges. not as long as there are children who grow up afraid of the police. not as long as drugs and gangs move north across our border, while guns and cash move south in return., this nexus is a danger to every country in the region – including our own. thousands of central american gang members have been arrested across the united states, including here in south florida. there are national emergencies facing guatemala, el salvador, and honduras. mexican drug cartels are terrorizing cities and towns. president calderon was right to say that enough is enough. we must support mexico s effort to crack down. but we must stand for more than force – we must support the rule of law from the bottom up. that means more investments in prevention and prosecutors; in community policing and an independent judiciary., i agree with my friend, senator dick lugar – the merida initiative does not invest enough in central america, where much of the trafficking and gang activity begins. and we must press further south as well. it s time to work together to find the best practices that work across the hemisphere, and to tailor approaches to fit each country. that s why i will direct my attorney general and secretary of homeland security to sit down with all their counterparts in the americas during my first year in office. we ll strive for unity of effort. we ll provide the resources, and ask that every country do the same. and we ll tie our support to clear benchmarks for drug seizures, corruption prosecutions, crime reduction, and kingpins busted., we have to do our part. and that is why a core part of this effort will be a northbound-southbound strategy. we need tougher border security, and a renewed focus on busting up gangs and traffickers crossing our border. but we must address the material heading south as well. as president, i ll make it clear that, we re coming after the guns, we re coming after the money laundering, and we re coming after the vehicles that enable this crime. and we ll crack down on the demand for drugs in our own communities, and restore funding for drug task forces and the cops program. we must win the fights on our own streets if we re going to secure the region., the third part of my agenda is advancing freedom from want, because there is much that we can do to advance opportunity for the people of the americas., that begins with understanding what s changed in latin america, and what hasn t. enormous wealth has been created, and financial markets are far stronger than a decade ago. brazil s economy has grown by leaps and bounds, and perhaps the second richest person in the world is a mexican. yet while there has been great economic progress, there is still back-breaking inequality. despite a growing middle class, 100 million people live on less than two dollars a day, and 40 percent of latin americans live in poverty. this feeds everything from drugs, to migration, to support for leaders that appeal to the poor without delivering on their promises., that is why the united states must stand for growth in the americas from the bottom up. that begins at home, with comprehensive immigration reform. that means securing our border and passing tough employer enforcement laws. it means bringing 12 million unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows. but it also means working with mexico, central america and others to support bottom up development to our south., for two hundred years, the united states has made it clear that we won t stand for foreign intervention in our hemisphere. but every day, all across the americas, there is a different kind of struggle – not against foreign armies, but against the deadly threat of hunger and thirst, disease and despair. that is not a future that we have to accept – not for the child in port au prince or the family in the highlands of peru. we can do better. we must do better., we cannot ignore suffering to our south, nor stand for the globalization of the empty stomach. responsibility rests with governments in the region, but we must do our part. i will substantially increase our aid to the americas, and embrace the millennium development goals of halving global poverty by 2015. we ll target support to bottom-up growth through micro financing, vocational training, and small enterprise development. it s time for the united states to once again be a beacon of hope and a helping hand., trade must be part of this solution. but i strongly reject the bush-mccain view that any trade deal is a good deal. we cannot accept trade that enriches those at the top of the ladder while cutting out the rungs at the bottom. it s time to understand that the goal of our trade policy must be trade that works for all people in all countries. like central america s bishops, i opposed cafta because the needs of workers were not adequately addressed. i supported the peru free trade agreement because there were binding labor and environmental provisions. that s the kind of trade we need – trade that lifts up workers, not just a corporate bottom line., there s nothing protectionist about demanding that trade spreads the benefits of globalization, instead of steering them to special interests while we short-change workers at home and abroad. if john mccain believes – as he said the other day – that 80 percent of americans think we re on the wrong track because we haven t passed free trade with colombia, then he s totally out of touch with the american people. and if john mccain thinks that we can paper over our failure of leadership in the region by occasionally passing trade deals with friendly governments, then he s out of touch with the people of the americas., and we have to look for ways to grow our economies and deepen integration beyond trade deals. that s what china is doing right now, as they build bridges from beijing to brazil, and expand their investments across the region. if the united states does not step forward, we risk being left behind. and that is why we must seize a unique opportunity to lead the region toward a more secure and sustainable energy future., all of us feel the impact of the global energy crisis. in the short-term, it means an ever-more expensive addiction to oil, which bankrolls petro-powered authoritarianism around the globe, and drives up the cost of everything from a tank of gas to dinner on the table. and in the long-term, few regions are more imperiled by the stronger storms, higher floodwaters, and devastating droughts that could come with global warming. whole crops could disappear, putting the food supply at risk for hundreds of millions., while we share this risk, we also share the resources to do something about it. that s why i ll bring together the countries of the region in a new energy partnership for the americas. we need to go beyond bilateral agreements. we need a regional approach. together, we can forge a path toward sustainable growth and clean energy., leadership must begin at home. that s why i ve proposed a cap and trade system to limit our carbon emissions and to invest in alternative sources of energy. we ll allow industrial emitters to offset a portion of this cost by investing in low carbon energy projects in latin america and the caribbean. and we ll increase research and development across the americas in clean coal technology, in the next generation of sustainable biofuels not taken from food crops, and in wind and solar energy., ,"	
"wherever i go, i talk about how we need to bring about real change in this country. and few understand the need for change as well as folks here in michigan. because while we ve been talking about a recession in this country for a few months now, michigan has been living it for a very long time. michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and workers and communities across this state have been struggling for years with the downturn that all of america is feeling today., in fairness, some of these challenges are the product of larger forces beyond the control of government. but there is no doubt that the bush economic policies have done little to help the working families of michigan or build a better future for america., that is, in large part, what this election in november will be all about. because senator mccain says we have made, and this is a quote, ""great progress economically"" these past eight year, and he promises more of the same., well, i couldn t disagree more. since george bush took office, we ve gone through the first period of sustained economic growth since world war ii in which the incomes of american workers have actually dropped. 7 million more americans don t have health care. 1 million more americans are out of work. millions of families are facing foreclosure. you re working harder for less, and paying more for tuition, more for groceries, and more at the pump., to me, this isn t ""great progress."" this is a cause for concern and an impetus for change., yet senator mccain wants to double down on the bush economic plan. rather than reforming an unfair tax system and offering the middle class some relief, he s offering more tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthy we just can t afford. rather than making health care affordable for every american, like i ve proposed, he s offering a health care plan that puts coverage at risk and that s designed for folks who are already healthy and able to afford health care at any price. and rather than standing up for robust trade that works for all americans, as i do, he s supporting more trade deals that work for wall street, but not for main street., but understand, there s a reason the problems we face today are so much bigger than they were several years ago. a big part of it is that george bush and john mccain have been so focused on pursuing a flawed and costly war in iraq that they ve lost sight of our mounting problems here at home. instead of working to fix our economy and lift up hardworking families, they ve fought to extend a war that s costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars without making us any safer -- a war that has strengthened our enemies and distracted us from the real battle with osama bin ladin in afghanistan and pakistan., just to put this in perspective, for what taxpayers here in oakland county have spent in iraq, you could be providing health care for nearly 900,000 people, or offering more than 200,000 college scholarships for michigan students, or hiring more than 30,000 elementary school teachers. and now it seems like all senator mccain is talking about on the campaign trail is iraq - instead of offering real solutions to the problems you face every day., in fact, senator mccain conceded not long ago that he didn t know much about the economy. that s not his interest. that s not his priority. but it will be mine., i want to end a war that s costing america $10 billion a month and begin to make the critical investments, we need to get our own country moving again., that s the choice in this election. are we going to continue the failed bush-mccain economic policies and remain mired in an endless and costly conflict in iraq, or will we change course, and focus on the problems that working families in michigan and across america are facing every day?, i believe strongly that we are on the wrong path, and that we need new priorities and a new direction and that is why i m running for president or the united states., ,"	
"tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end., sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the old state capitol in springfield, illinois. thousands of miles have been traveled. millions of voices have been heard. and because of what you said – because you decided that change must come to washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another – a journey that will bring a new and better day to america. tonight, i can stand before you and say that i will be the democratic nominee for president of the united states., i want to thank every american who stood with us over the course of this campaign – through the good days and the bad; from the snows of cedar rapids to the sunshine of sioux falls. and tonight i also want to thank the men and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for president., at this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. i have not just competed with them as rivals, i have learned from them as friends, as public servants, and as patriots who love america and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. they are leaders of this party, and leaders that america will turn to for years to come., that is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. senator hillary clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she s a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she s a leader who inspires millions of americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight., we ve certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. but as someone who s shared a stage with her many times, i can tell you that what gets hillary clinton up in the morning – even in the face of tough odds – is exactly what sent her and bill clinton to sign up for their first campaign in texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the children s defense fund and made her fight for health care as first lady; what led her to the united states senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency – an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. and you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. when we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. our party and our country are better off because of her, and i am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with hillary rodham clinton., there are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. well i say that because of this primary, there are millions of americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. there are independents and republicans who understand that this election isn t just about the party in charge of washington, it s about the need to change washington. there are young people, and african- americans, and latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation., all of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. but at the end of the day, we aren t the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. you didn t do that because of me or senator clinton or anyone else. you did it because you know in your, , , in just a few short months, the republican party will arrive in st. paul with a very different agenda. they will come here to nominate john mccain, a man who has served this country heroically. i honor that service, and i respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. my differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign., because while john mccain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign., it s not change when john mccain decided to stand with george bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the senate last year., it s not change when he offers four more years of bush economic policies that have failed to create well- paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college – policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average american family, widened the gap between wall street and main street, and left our children with a mountain of debt., and it s not change when he promises to continue a policy in iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of iraqi politicians – a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn t making the american people any safer., so i ll say this – there are many words to describe john mccain s attempt to pass off his embrace of george bush s policies as bipartisan and new. but change is not one of them., change is a foreign policy that doesn t begin and end with a war that should ve never been authorized and never been waged. i won t stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in iraq, but what s not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to america is being ignored., we must be as careful getting out of iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. it s time for iraqis to take responsibility for their future. it s time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. it s time to refocus our efforts on al qaeda s leadership and afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century – terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. that s what change is., change is realizing that meeting today s threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy – tough, direct diplomacy where the president of the united states isn t afraid to let any petty dictator know where america stands and what we stand for. we must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. that is the legacy of roosevelt, and truman, and kennedy. that s what the american people want. that s what change is., change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. it s understanding that the struggles facing working families can t be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy ceos, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation. it s understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go hand-in-hand, as they did when bill clinton was president., john mccain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy – cities in michigan, and ohio, and right here in minnesota – he d understand the kind of change that people are looking for., maybe if he went to iowa and met the student who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can t pay the medical bills for a sister who s ill, he d understand that she can t afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and wealthy. she needs us to pass health care plan that guarantees insurance to every american who wants it and brings down premiums for every family who needs it. that s the change we need., maybe if he went to pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can t even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he d understand that we can t afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators. that man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future – an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. that s the change we need., and maybe if he spent some time in the schools of south carolina or st. paul or where he spoke tonight in new orleans, he d understand that we can t afford to leave the money behind for no child left behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every american. that s the change we need in america. that s why i m running for president., the other side will come here in september and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate i look forward to. it is a debate the american people deserve. but what you don t deserve is another election that s governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. what you won t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. because we may call ourselves democrats and republicans, but we are americans first. we are always americans first., despite what the good senator from arizona said tonight, i have seen people of differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two decades in public life, and i have brought many together myself. i ve walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the south side of chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and latino fought together for good jobs and good schools. i ve sat across the table from law enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. and i ve worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the american people know where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in washington., in our country, i have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in washington, americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. and every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again., so it was for that band of patriots who declared in a philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of gettysburg and antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union., so it was for the greatest generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity., so it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a selma bridge for freedom s cause., so it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that s better, and kinder, and more just., and so it must be for us., america, this is our moment. this is our time. our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. our time to offer a new direction for the country we love., the journey will be difficult. the road will be long. i face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. but i also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the american people. because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then i am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. this was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america., ,"	
"it s great to see so many friends from across the country. i want to congratulate howard friedman, david victor and howard kohr on a successful conference, and on the completion of a new headquarters just a few blocks away., before i begin, i want to say that i know some provocative emails have been circulating throughout jewish communities across the country. a few of you may have gotten them. they re filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for president. and all i want to say is – let me know if you see this guy named barack obama, because he sounds pretty frightening., but if anyone has been confused by these emails, i want you to know that today i ll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of israel. and i know that when i visit with aipac, i am among friends. good friends. friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the united states and israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow, and forever., one of the many things that i admire about aipac is that you fight for this common cause from the bottom up. the lifeblood of aipac is here in this room – grassroots activists of all ages, from all parts of the country, who come to washington year after year to make your voices heard. nothing reflects the face of aipac more than the 1,200 students who have travelled here to make it clear to the world that the bond between israel and the united states is rooted in more than our shared national interests – it s rooted in the shared values and shared stories of our people. and as president, i will work with you to ensure that it this bond strengthened., i first became familiar with the story of israel when i was eleven years old. i learned of the long journey and steady determination of the jewish people to preserve their identity through faith, family and culture. year after year, century after century, jews carried on their traditions, and their dream of a homeland, in the face of impossible odds., the story made a powerful impression on me. i had grown up without a sense of roots. my father was black, he was from kenya, and he left us when i was two. my mother was white, she was from kansas, and i d moved with her to indonesia and then back to hawaii. in many ways, i didn t know where i came from. so i was drawn to the belief that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural identity. and i deeply understood the zionist idea – that there is always a homeland at the center of our story., i also learned about the horror of the holocaust, and the terrible urgency it brought to the journey home to israel. for much of my childhood, i lived with my grandparents. my grandfather had served in world war ii, and so had my great uncle. he was a kansas boy, who probably never expected to see europe – let alone the horrors that awaited him there. and for months after he came home from germany, he remained in a state of shock, alone with the painful memories that wouldn t leave his head., you see, my great uncle had been a part of the 89th infantry division – the first americans to reach a nazi concentration camp. they liberated ohrdruf, part of buchenwald, on an april day in 1945. the horrors of that camp go beyond our capacity to imagine. tens of thousands died of hunger, torture, disease, or plain murder – part of the nazi killing machine that killed 6 million people., when the americans marched in, they discovered huge piles of dead bodies and starving survivors. general eisenhower ordered germans from the nearby town to tour the camp, so they could see what was being done in their name. he ordered american troops to tour the camp, so they could see the evil, they were fighting against. he invited congressmen and journalists to bear witness. and he ordered that photographs and films be made. explaining his actions, eisenhower said that he wanted to produce, ""first-hand evidence of these things, if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda."", i saw some of those very images at yad vashem, and they never leave you. and those images just hint at the stories that survivors of the shoah carried with them. like eisenhower, each of us bears witness to anyone and everyone who would deny these unspeakable crimes, or ever speak of repeating them. we must mean what we say when we speak the words: ""never again."", it was just a few years after the liberation of the camps that david ben-gurion declared the founding of the jewish state of israel. we know that the establishment of israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle, and decades of patient work. but 60 years later, we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president i will never compromise when it comes to israel s security., not when there are still voices that deny the holocaust. not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to israel s destruction. not when there are maps across the middle east that don t even acknowledge israel s existence, and government-funded textbooks filled with hatred toward jews. not when there are rockets raining down on sderot, and israeli children have to take a deep breath and summon uncommon courage every time they board a bus or walk to school., i have long understood israel s quest for peace and need for security. but never more so than during my travels there two years ago. flying in an idf helicopter, i saw a narrow and beautiful strip of land nestled against the mediterranean. on the ground, i met a family who saw their house destroyed by a katyusha rocket. i spoke to israeli troops who faced daily threats as they maintained security near the blue line. i talked to people who wanted nothing more simple, or elusive, than a secure future for their children., i have been proud to be a part of a strong, bi-partisan consensus that has stood by israel in the face of all threats. that is a commitment that both john mccain and i share, because support for israel in this country goes beyond party. but part of our commitment must be speaking up when israel s security is at, risk, and i don t think any of us can be satisfied that america s recent foreign policy has made israel more secure., hamas now controls gaza. hizbollah has tightened its grip on southern lebanon, and is flexing its muscles in beirut. because of the war in iraq, iran – which always posed a greater threat to israel than iraq – is emboldened, and poses the greatest strategic challenge to the united states and israel in the middle east in a generation. iraq is unstable, and al qaeda has stepped up its recruitment. israel s quest for peace with its neighbors has stalled, despite the heavy burdens borne by the israeli people. and america is more isolated in the region, reducing our strength and jeopardizing israel s safety., the question is how to move forward. there are those who would continue and intensify this failed status quo, ignoring eight years of accumulated evidence that our foreign policy is dangerously flawed. and then there are those who would lay all of the problems of the middle east at the doorstep of israel, and its supporters, as if the israeli-palestinian conflict is the root of all trouble in the region. these voices blame the middle east s only democracy for the region s extremism. they offer the false promise that abandoning a stalwart ally is somehow the path to strength. it is not, it never has been, and it never will be., our alliance is based on shared interests and shared values. those who threaten israel threaten us. israel has always faced these threats on the front lines. and i will bring to the white house an unshakeable commitment to israel s security., that starts with ensuring israel s qualitative military advantage. i will ensure that israel can defend itself from any threat – from gaza to tehran. defense cooperation between the united states and israel is a model of success, and must be deepened. as president, i will implement a memorandum of understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to israel over the next decade – investments to israel s security that will not be tied to any other nation. first, we must approve the foreign aid request for 2009. going forward, we can enhance our cooperation on missile defense. we should export military equipment to our ally israel under the same guidelines as nato. and i will always stand up for israel s right to defend itself in the united nations and around the world., across the political spectrum, israelis understand that real security can only come through lasting peace. and that is why we – as friends of israel – must resolve to do all we can to help israel and its neighbors to achieve it. because a secure, lasting peace is in israel s national interest. it is in america s national interest. and it is in the interest of the palestinian people and the arab world. as president, i will work to help israel achieve the goal of two states, a jewish state of israel and a palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security. and i won t wait until the waning days of my presidency. i will take an active role, and make a personal commitment to do all i can to advance the cause of peace from the start of my administration., the long road to peace requires palestinian partners committed to making the journey. we must isolate hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize israel s right to exist, and abide by past, agreements. there is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations. that is why i opposed holding elections in 2006 with hamas on the ballot. the israelis and the palestinian authority warned us at the time against holding these elections. but this administration pressed ahead, and the result is a gaza controlled by hamas, with rockets raining down on israel., the palestinian people must understand that progress will not come through the false prophets of extremism or the corrupt use of foreign aid. the united states and the international community must stand by palestinians who are committed to cracking down on terror and carrying the burden of peacemaking. i will strongly urge arab governments to take steps to normalize relations with israel, and to fulfill their responsibility to pressure extremists and provide real support for president abbas and prime minister fayyad. egypt must cut off the smuggling of weapons into gaza. israel can also advance the cause of peace by taking appropriate steps – consistent with its security – to ease the freedom of movement for palestinians, improve economic conditions in the west bank, and to refrain from building new settlements – as it agreed to with the bush administration at annapolis., let me be clear. israel s security is sacrosanct. it is non-negotiable. the palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper – but any agreement with the palestinian people must preserve israel s identity as a jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. jerusalem will remain the capital of israel, and it must remain undivided., i have no illusions that this will be easy. it will require difficult decisions on both sides. but israel is strong enough to achieve peace, if it has partners who are committed to the goal. most israelis and palestinians want peace, and we must strengthen their hand. the united states must be a strong and consistent partner in this process – not to force concessions, but to help committed partners avoid stalemate and the kind of vacuums that are filled by violence. that s what i commit to do as president of the united states., the threats to israel start close to home, but they don t end there. syria continues its support for terror and meddling in lebanon. and syria has taken dangerous steps in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, which is why israeli action was justified to end that threat., i also believe that the united states has a responsibility to support israel s efforts to renew peace talks with the syrians. we must never force israel to the negotiating table, but neither should we ever block negotiations when israel s leaders decide that they may serve israeli interests. as president, i will do whatever i can to help israel succeed in these negotiations. and success will require the full enforcement of security council resolution 1701 in lebanon, and a stop to syria s support for terror. it is time for this reckless behavior to come to an end., there is no greater threat to israel – or to the peace and stability of the region – than iran. now this audience is made up of both republicans and democrats, and the enemies of israel should have no doubt that, regardless of party, americans stand shoulder-to-shoulder in our commitment to israel s security. so while i don t want to strike too partisan a note here today, i do want to address some willful mischaracterizations of my positions., the iranian regime supports violent extremists and challenges us across the region. it pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race, and raise the prospect of a transfer of nuclear know-how to terrorists. its president denies the holocaust and threatens to wipe israel off the map. the danger from iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat., but just as we are clear-eyed about the threat, we must be clear about the failure of today s policy. we knew, in 2002, that iran supported terrorism. we knew iran had an illicit nuclear program. we knew iran posed a grave threat to israel. but instead of pursuing a strategy to address this threat, we ignored it and instead invaded and occupied iraq. when i opposed the war, i warned that it would fan the flames of extremism in the middle east. that is precisely what happened in iran – the hardliners tightened their grip, and mahmoud ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005. and the united states and israel are less secure., i respect senator mccain, and look forward to a substantive debate with him these next five months. but on this point, we have differed, and we will differ. senator mccain refuses to understand or acknowledge the failure of the policy that he would continue. he criticizes my willingness to use strong diplomacy, but offers only an alternate reality – one where the war in iraq has somehow put iran on its heels. the truth is the opposite. iran has strengthened its position. iran is now enriching uranium, and has reportedly stockpiled 150 kilos of low enriched uranium. its support for terrorism and threats toward israel have increased. those are the facts, they cannot be denied, and i refuse to continue a policy that has made the united states and israel less secure., senator mccain offers a false choice: stay the course in iraq, or cede the region to iran. i reject this logic because there is a better way. keeping all of our troops tied down indefinitely in iraq is not the way to weaken iran – it is precisely what has strengthened it. it is a policy for staying, not a plan for victory. i have proposed a responsible, phased redeployment of our troops from iraq. we will get out as carefully as we were careless getting in. we will finally pressure iraq s leaders to take meaningful responsibility for their own future., we will also use all elements of american power to pressure iran. i will do everything in my power to, prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. that starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a clear-eyed understanding of our interests. we have no time to waste. we cannot unconditionally rule out an approach that could prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. we have tried limited, piecemeal talks while we outsource the sustained work to our european allies. it is time for the united states to lead., there will be careful preparation. we will open up lines of communication, build an agenda, coordinate closely with our allies, and evaluate the potential for progress. contrary to the claims of some, i have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking. but as president of the united states, i would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing – if, and only if – it can advance the interests of the united states., only recently have some come to think that diplomacy by definition cannot be tough. they forget the example of truman, and kennedy and reagan. these presidents understood that diplomacy backed by real leverage was a fundamental tool of statecraft. and it is time to once again make american diplomacy a tool to succeed, not just a means of containing failure. we will pursue this diplomacy with no illusions about the iranian regime. instead, we will present a clear choice. if you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to israel, there will be meaningful incentives – including the lifting of sanctions, and political and economic integration with the international community. if you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure., my presidency will strengthen our hand as we restore our standing. our willingness to pursue diplomacy will make it easier to mobilize others to join our cause. if iran fails to change course when presented with this choice by the united states, it will be clear – to the people of iran, and to the world – that the iranian regime is the author of its own isolation. that will strengthen our hand with russia and china as we insist on stronger sanctions in the security council. and we should work with europe, japan and the gulf states to find every avenue outside the un to isolate the iranian regime – from cutting off loan, guarantees and expanding financial sanctions, to banning the export of refined petroleum to iran, to boycotting firms associated with the iranian revolutionary guard, whose quds force has rightly been labeled a terrorist organization., i was interested to see senator mccain propose divestment as a source of leverage – not the bigoted divestment that has sought to punish israeli scientists and academics, but divestment targeted at the iranian regime. it s a good concept, but not a new one. i introduced legislation over a year ago that would encourage states and the private sector to divest from companies that do business in iran. this bill has bipartisan support, but for reasons that i ll let him explain, senator mccain never signed on. meanwhile, an anonymous senator is blocking the bill. it is time to pass this into law so that we can tighten the squeeze on the iranian regime. we should also pursue other unilateral sanctions that target iranian banks and assets., and we must free ourselves from the tyranny of oil. the price of a barrel of oil is one of the most dangerous weapons in the world. petrodollars pay for weapons that kill american troops and israeli citizens. and the bush administration s policies have driven up the price of oil, while its energy policy has made us more dependent on foreign oil and gas. it s time for the united states to take real steps to end our addiction to oil. and we can join with israel, building on last year s us-israel energy cooperation act, to deepen our partnership in developing alternative sources of energy by increasing scientific collaboration and joint research and development. the surest way to increase our leverage in the long term is to stop bankrolling the iranian regime., finally, let there be no doubt: i will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally israel. sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation. but that only makes diplomacy more important. if we must use military force, we are more likely to succeed, and will have far greater support at home and abroad, if we have exhausted our diplomatic efforts., that is the change we need in our foreign policy. change that restores american power and influence. change accompanied by a pledge that i will make known to allies and adversaries alike: that america maintains an unwavering friendship with israel, and an unshakeable commitment to its security., as members of aipac, you have helped advance this bipartisan consensus to support and defend our ally israel. and i am sure that today on capitol hill you will be meeting with members of congress and spreading the word. but we are here because of more than policy. we are here because the values we hold dear are deeply embedded in the story of israel., just look at what israel has accomplished in 60 years. from decades of struggle and the terrible wake of the holocaust, a nation was forged to provide a home for jews from all corners of the world – from syria to ethiopia to the soviet union. in the face of constant threats, israel has triumphed. in the face of constant peril, israel has prospered. in a state of constant insecurity, israel has maintained a vibrant and open discourse, and a resilient commitment to the rule of law., as any israeli will tell you, israel is not a perfect place, but like the united states it sets an example for all when it seeks a more perfect future. these same qualities can be found among american jews. it is why so many jewish americans have stood by israel, while advancing the american story. because there is a commitment embedded in the jewish faith and tradition: to freedom and fairness; to social justice and, equal opportunity. to tikkun olam – the obligation to repair this world., i will never forget that i would not be standing here today if it weren t for that commitment. in the great social movements in our country s history, jewish and african americans have stood shoulder to shoulder. they took buses down south together. they marched together. they bled together. and jewish americans like andrew goodman and michael schwerner were willing to die alongside a black man – james chaney – on behalf of freedom and equality., their legacy is our inheritance. we must not allow the relationship between jews and african americans to suffer. this is a bond that must be strengthened. together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred in all of its forms. together, we can renew our commitment to justice. together, we can join our voices together, and in doing so make even the mightiest of walls fall down., that work must include our shared commitment to israel. you and i know that we must do more than stand still. now is the time to be vigilant in facing down every foe, just as we move forward in seeking a future of peace for the children of israel, and for all children. now is the time to stand by israel as it writes the next chapter in its extraordinary journey. now is the time to join together in the work of repairing this world.,"	
"a fact sheet on senator obama s plan to contain skyrocketing health care costs is available here., before mark leaves the stage, let me just say what a privilege it is to have the support of such a remarkable leader. let me also say that mark s wife, lisa collis, has been a terrific supporter for several months., as an entrepreneur, a governor, and a leader in the democratic party – mark has provided extraordinary leadership that has achieved extraordinary results. he knows that the challenges we face are not about left versus right or democrat versus republican – they are about the past versus the future. and mark warner has followed a simple formula to deliver real change - he brings people together around a common purpose, and common sense solutions., as governor, he put partisanship aside, turned a budget deficit into a surplus, expanded health care for children, and made the largest investment in k-1 2 education in virginia history. he knows that folks here in southwest virginia should be able to live their dreams without leaving their hometown, and that america needs an energy policy that grows our economy, secures our country, and saves our planet. i look forward to campaigning with him this fall., and as president of the united states, i look forward to working with mark warner to bring fundamental change to washington when he joins jim webb as the next great senator from the commonwealth of virginia., i d like to say a few words today about one of the most important challenges we face in this country and one of the biggest issues in this election – our health care crisis. you know, i ve been traveling across america on this campaign for 16 months now, and everywhere i ve gone, i ve heard heartbreaking stories about our health care system., there s the young woman i met who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can t afford medicine for a sister who s ill; or the man i met who almost lost his home because he has three children with cystic fibrosis and couldn t pay their health care bills; who still doesn t have health insurance for himself or his wife and lives in fear that a single illness could cost them everything., this election is about them. it s about you. it s about every one of the 47 million americans in virginia, in tennessee and across this country, who are going without the health care they need and the millions more who are struggling to pay rising costs., but let s be honest – we ve been talking about this for a long time. year after year, election after election, candidates make promises about fixing health care and cutting costs. and then they go back to washington, and nothing changes – because the big drug and insurance companies write another check or because lobbyists use their clout to block reform. and when the next election rolls around, even more americans are uninsured, and even more families are struggling to pay their medical bills., well, we re here today because we know that if we re going to make real progress, this time must be different. throughout my career, in illinois and the united states senate, i ve worked to reduce the power of the special interests by leading the fight for ethics reform. i ve sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and pacs. and today, i m announcing that going forward, the democratic national committee will uphold the same standard and won t take another dime, from washington lobbyists or special interest pacs. they do not fund my campaign. they will not fund our party. and they will not drown out the voices of the american people when i m president of the united states., it s time to finally challenge the special interests and provide universal health care for all. that s why i m running for president of the united states – because i believe that health care should be guaranteed for every american who wants it and affordable for every american who needs it., and this is an area where john mccain and i have a fundamental disagreement. now, i respect john mccain, and i honor his service to this country. my differences with him are not personal; they re about the policies he s proposed on this campaign – policies that are no different than the ones that have failed us for the last eight years., and that starts with health care. we know that since george bush took office, premiums have gone up four times faster than wages, and virginia families are now paying over 35% more for health care. seven million more americans are uninsured, including nearly 200,000 here in virginia. yet john mccain actually wants to double down on the failed policies that have done so little to help ordinary americans., like george bush, senator mccain has a plan that only takes care of the healthy and the wealthy. instead of offering a comprehensive plan to cover all americans and control rising costs, he s offering a tax cut that doesn t even amount to half of the cost of an average family health care plan, and won t make health care affordable for the hardworking americans who need help most., but it s not just that his plan won t help reduce costs; it could actually drive costs up. senator mccain s plan would weaken the employer-based system that most americans count on for health care. it s a plan that could subject your coverage to the whims of the market, generate up to $20 billion in new administrative costs, and actually put health care costs out of reach for even more older workers, even more sick americans, and even more families. senator mccain s campaign has even acknowledged that his plan could have the effect of raising taxes on some workers., well, i don t think the american people can afford another four years of a health care plan that does more to help the big drug and insurance companies than it does to lower costs for ordinary americans. we need to make health care affordable for every single american, and that s what i ll do as president., in an obama administration, we ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year. and we ll do it by investing in disease prevention, not just disease management; by investing in a paperless health care system to reduce administrative costs; and by covering every single american and making sure that they can take their health care with them if they lose their job. we ll also reduce costs for business and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses. and we won t do all this twenty years from now, or ten years from now. we ll do it by the end of my first term as president of the united states., so the american people will have a clear choice on health care in the fall. we can either extend the bush policies that we know don t work; or at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say enough is enough, we re going to finally solve this problem once and for all., i don t want to wake up many years from now and see that even more americans are uninsured and even more seniors can t afford prescription drugs and even more families are being driven to financial ruin trying to pay their bills because we failed to take on the drug and insurance companies and provide universal health care. that s not the future i want for my children. that s not the future i want for your children. that s not the future i want for this country., i want to wake up and know that every single american has health care when they need it, that every senior has prescription drugs they can afford, and that no parents are going to bed at night worrying about how they ll afford medicine for a sick child. that s the future we can build together. that s the choice you ll have this fall. and that s why i m running for president of the united states of america., ,"	
"it s great to be at kettering – a university that is teaching the next generation of leaders, and training workers to have the skills they need to advance their own careers and communities., for months, the state of our economy has dominated the headlines – and the news hasn t been good. the sub-prime lending debacle has sent the housing market into a tailspin, and caused a broader contraction in the credit markets. over 360,000 jobs have been lost this year, with the unemployment rate registering the biggest one month jump since february 1986. incomes have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of health insurance and college, and record oil and food prices have left families struggling just to keep up., of course, grim economic news is nothing new to flint. manufacturing jobs have been leaving here for decades now. the jobs that have replaced them pay less, and offer fewer, if any benefits. hard-working americans who could once count on a single-paycheck to support their families have not only lost jobs, but their health care and their pensions as well. worst of all, many have lost confidence in that fundamental american promise that our children will have a better life than we do., so these are challenging times. that s why i spent last week talking about immediate steps we need to take to provide working americans with relief. a broad-based, middle class tax cut, to help offset the rising cost of gas and food. a foreclosure prevention fund, to help stabilize the housing market. a health care plan that lowers costs and gives those without health insurance the same kind of coverage members of congress have. a commitment to retirement security that stabilizes social security, and provides workers a means to increase savings. and a plan to crack down on unfair and sometimes deceptive lending in the credit card and housing markets, to help families climb out of crippling debt, and stay out of debt in the first place., these steps are all paid for, and designed to restore balance and fairness to the american economy after years of bush administration policies that tilted the playing field in favor of the wealthy and the well- connected. but the truth is, none of these short-term steps alone will ensure america s future. yes, we have to make sure that the economic pie is sliced more fairly, but we also have to make sure that the economic pie is growing. yes, we need to provide immediate help to families who are struggling in places like flint, but we also need a serious plan to create new jobs and industry., we can t simply return to the strategies of the past. for we are living through an age of fundamental economic transformation. technology has changed the way we live and the way the world does business. the collapse of the soviet union and the advance of capitalism have vanquished old challenges to america s global leadership, but new challenges have emerged, from china and india, eastern europe and brazil. jobs and industries can move to any country with an internet connection and willing workers. michigan s children will grow up facing competition not just from california or south carolina, but also from beijing and bangalore., a few years ago, i saw a picture of this new reality during a visit to google s headquarters in california. toward the end of my tour, i was brought into a room where a three-dimensional image of the earth rotated on a large flat-panel monitor. across this image, there were countless lights in different colors. a young engineer explained that the lights represented all of the internet searches taking place across the world, and each color represented a different language. the image was mesmerizing – a picture of a world where old boundaries are disappearing; a world where communication, connection, and competition can come from anywhere., there are some who believe that we must try to turn back the clock on this new world; that the only chance to maintain our living standards is to build a fortress around america; to stop trading with other countries, shut down immigration, and rely on old industries. i disagree. not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off., rather than fear the future, we must embrace it. i have no doubt that america can compete – and succeed – in the 21st century. and i know as well that more than anything else, success will depend not on our government, but on the dynamism, determination, and innovation of the american people. here in flint, it was the private sector that helped turn lumber into the wagons that sent this country west; that built the tanks that faced down fascism; and that turned out the automobiles that were the cornerstone of america s manufacturing boom., but at critical moments of transition like this one, success has also depended on national leadership that moved the country forward with confidence and a common purpose. that s what our founding fathers did after winning independence, when they tied together the economies of the thirteen states and created the american market. that s what lincoln did in the midst of civil war, when he pushed for a transcontinental railroad, incorporated our national academy of sciences, passed the homestead act, and created our system of land grant colleges. that s what fdr did in confronting capitalism s gravest crisis, when he forged the social safety net, built the hoover dam, created the tennessee valley authority, and invested in an arsenal of democracy. and that s what kennedy did in the dark days of the cold war, when he called us to a new frontier, created the apollo program, and put us on a pathway to the moon., this was leadership that had the strength to turn moments of adversity into opportunity, the wisdom to see a little further down the road, and the courage to challenge conventional thinking and worn ideas so that we could reinvent our economy to seize the future. that s not the kind of leadership that we have seen out of washington recently. but that s the kind of leadership i intend to provide as president of the united states., these past eight years will be remembered for misguided policies, missed opportunities, and a rigid and ideological adherence to discredited ideas. almost a decade into this century, we still have no real strategy to compete in a global economy. just think of what we could have done. we could have made a real commitment to a world-class education for our kids, but instead we passed ""no child left behind,"" a law that – however well-intended – left the money behind and alienated teachers and principals instead of inspiring them. we could have done something to end our addiction to oil, but instead we continued down a path that that funds both sides of the war on terror, endangers our planet, and has left americans struggling with four dollar a gallon gasoline. we could have invested in innovation and rebuilt our crumbling roads and bridges, but instead we ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting a war in iraq that should ve never been authorized and never been waged., worse yet, the price-tag for these failures is being passed to our children. the clinton administration left behind a surplus, but this administration squandered it. we face budget deficits in the hundreds of billions and our nearly ten trillion dollars in debt. we ve borrowed billions from countries like china to finance needless tax cuts for the wealthiest americans and an unnecessary war, and yet senator mccain is explicitly running to continue and expand these policies, without a realistic plan to pay for it., the pundits talk about two debates – one on national security and one on the economy – but they miss the point. we didn t win the cold war just because of the strength of our military. we also prevailed because of the vigor of our economy and the endurance of our ideals. in this century, we won t be secure if we bankroll terrorists and dictators through our dependence on oil. we won t be safe if we can t count on our infrastructure. we won t extend the promise of american greatness unless we invest in our young people and ask them to invest in america., so there is a clear choice in this election. instead of reaching for new horizons, george bush has put us in a hole, and john mccain s policies will keep us there. i want to take us in a new and better direction. i reject the belief that we should either shrink from the challenge of globalization, or fall back on the same tired and failed approaches of the last eight years. it s time for new policies that create the jobs and, opportunities of the future– a competitiveness agenda built upon education and energy, innovation and infrastructure, fair trade and reform., this agenda starts with education. whether you re conservative or liberal, republican or democrat, practically every economist agrees that in this digital age, a highly-educated and skilled workforce will be the key not only to individual opportunity, but to the overall success of our economy as well. we cannot be satisfied until every child in america – and i mean every child – has the same chances for a good education that we want for our own children., and yet, despite this consensus, we continually fail to deliver. a few years ago, i visited a high school outside chicago. the number one concern i heard from those students was that the school district couldn t afford to keep teachers for a full day, so school let out at 1:30 every afternoon. that cut out critical classes like science and labs. imagine that – these kids wanted more school. they knew they were being short-changed. unfortunately, stories like this can be found across america. only 20 percent of students are prepared to take college classes in english, math and science. we have one of the highest, dropout rates of any industrialized nation, and barely one tenth of our low-income students will graduate from college. that will cripple their ability to keep pace in this global economy, and compromise our ability to compete as a nation., senator mccain doesn t talk about education much. but i don t accept the status quo. it is morally unacceptable and economically untenable. it s time to make an historic commitment to education– a real commitment that will require new resources and new reforms., we can start by investing $10 billion to guarantee access to quality, affordable, early childhood education for every child in america. every dollar that we spend on these programs puts our children on a path to success, while saving us as much as $10 in reduced health care costs, crime, and welfare later on., we can fix the failures of no child left behind, while focusing on accountability. that means providing the funding that was promised. more importantly, it means reaching high standards, but not by relying on a single, high stakes standardized test that distorts how teachers teach. instead, we need to work with governors, educators and especially teachers to develop better assessment tools that effectively measure student achievement, and encourage the kinds of research, scientific investigation, and problem-solving that our children will need to compete., and we need to recruit an army of new teachers. i ll make this pledge as president – if you commit your life to teaching, america will pay for your college education. we ll recruit teachers in math and science, and deploy them to under-staffed school districts in our inner cities and rural america. we ll expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. and when our teachers succeed, i won t just talk about how great they are – i ll reward their greatness with better pay and more support., but research shows that resources alone won t create the schools that we need to help our children succeed. we also need to encourage innovation – by adopting curricula and the school calendar to the needs of the 21st century; by updating the schools of education that produce most of our teachers; by welcoming charter schools within the public schools system, and streamlining the certification process for engineers or businesspeople who want to shift careers and teach., we must also challenge the system that prevents us from promoting and rewarding excellence in teaching. we cannot ask our teachers to perform the impossible – to teach poorly prepared children with inadequate resources, and then punish them when children perform poorly on a standardized test. but if we give teachers the resources they need; if we pay them more, and give them time for professional development; if they are given ownership over the design of better assessment tools and a creative curricula; if we shape reforms with teachers rather than imposing changes on teachers, then it is fair to expect better results. where there are teachers who are still struggling and underperforming, we should provide them with individual help and support. and if they re still underperforming after that, we should find a quick and fair way to put another teacher in that classroom. our children deserve no less., finally, our commitment cannot end with a high school degree. the chance to get a college education must not be a privilege of the few – it should be a birthright of every single american. senator mccain is campaigning on a plan to give more tax breaks to corporations. i want to give tax breaks to young people, in the form of an annual $4,000 tax credit that will cover two-thirds of the tuition at an average public college, and make community college completely free. in return, i will ask students to serve, whether it s by teaching, joining the peace corps, or working in your community. and for those who serve in our military, we ll cover all of your tuition with an even more generous 21st century gi bill. the idea is simple - america invests in you, and you invest in america. that s how we re going to ensure that america succeeds in this century., reforming our education system will require sustained effort from all of us – parents and teachers; federal, state and local governments. the same is true for the second leg of our competitiveness agenda – a bold and sustainable energy policy., in the past, america has been stirred to action when a new challenge threatened our national security. that was true when german and japanese armies advanced across europe and asia, or when the soviets launched sputnik. the energy threat we face today may be less direct, but it is real. our dependence on foreign oil strains family budgets and saps our economy. oil money pays for the bombs going off from baghdad to beirut, and the bombast of dictators from caracas to tehran. our nation will not be secure unless we take that leverage away, and our planet will not be safe unless we move decisively toward a clean energy future., the dangers are eclipsed only by the opportunities that would come with change. we know the jobs of the 21st century will be created in developing alternative energy. the question is whether these jobs will be created in america, or abroad. already, we ve seen countries like germany, spain and brazil reap the benefits of economic growth from clean energy. but we are decades behind in confronting this challenge. george bush has spent most of his administration denying that we have a problem, and making deals with big oil behind closed doors. and while john mccain deserves credit for speaking out against the threat of climate change, his rhetoric is undercut by a record of voting time and again against important investments in renewable energy, good jobs, like the ones i saw in pennsylvania where workers make wind turbines, or the jobs that will be created when plug-in hybrids or electric cars start rolling off the assembly line here in michigan. we ll help manufacturers – particularly in the auto industry – convert to green technology, and help workers learn the skills they need. and unlike george bush, i won t wait until the sixth year of my presidency to sit down with the automakers. i ll meet with them during my campaign, and i ll meet with them as president to talk about how we re going to build the cars of the future right here in michigan., and when i m president, we will invest in research and development of every form of alternative energy – solar, wind, and biofuels, as well as technologies that can make coal clean and nuclear power safe. we will provide incentives to businesses and consumers to save energy and make buildings more efficient. that s how we re going to create jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. that s how we re going to win back control of our own destiny from oil-rich dictators. and that s how we ll solve the problem of $4 a gallon gas – not with another washington gimmick like john mccain s gas tax holiday that would pad oil company profits while draining the highway fund that michigan depends on., moreover, our commitment to manufacturing cannot end with green jobs. that s why i ll end tax breaks that ship jobs overseas, and invest in american jobs. senator mccain has a different view. he s voted to keep tax incentives that encourage companies to move abroad. he should listen to leaders in michigan like carl levin, who have put forward serious proposals to address the crisis in manufacturing. we need to support programs like michigan s 21st century jobs fund, and build on best practices across the country. that s why i ll create an advanced manufacturing fund to invest in places hit hard by job loss. i ll partner with community colleges, so that we re training workers to meet the demands of local industry., and we can t just focus on preserving existing industries. we have to be in the business of encouraging new ones – and that means science, research and technology. for two centuries, america led the world in innovation. but this administration s hostility to science has taken a toll. at a time when technology is shaping our future, we devote a smaller and smaller share of our national resources to research and development. it s time for america to lead. i ll double federal funding for basic research, and make the r&d tax credit permanent. we can ensure that the discoveries of the 21st century happen in america – in our labs and universities; at places like kettering and the university of michigan; wayne state and michigan state., encouraging new industry also means giving more support to american entrepreneurs. the other day, senator mccain gave a speech to the small business summit where he attacked my plan to provide tax relief for the middle class. what he didn t say is that i ve also proposed exempting all start-up companies from capital gains taxes. in other words, john mccain would tax them. i won t. we ll work, at every juncture, to remove bureaucratic barriers for small and startup businesses – for example, by making the patent process more efficient and reliable. and we ll help with technical support to do everything we can to make sure the next google or microsoft is started here in america., and we know that america won t be able to compete if skyrocketing costs cause companies like the big three to spend $1500 on health care for every car, and condemn millions of americans to the risk of no coverage. that s why we need to commit ourselves to electronic medical records that enhance care while lowering costs. we need to invest in biomedical research and stem cell research, so that we re at the leading edge of prevention and treatment. and we need to finally pass universal health care so that every american has access to health insurance that they can afford, and our getting the preventive services that are the key to cutting health care costs. that s what i pledge to do in my first term as president., a third part of our agenda must be a commitment to 21st century infrastructure. if we want to keep up with china or europe, we can t settle for crumbling roads and bridges, aging water and sewer pipes, and faltering electrical grids that cost us billions to blackouts, repairs and travel delays. it s gotten so bad that the american society of civil engineers gave our national infrastructure a ""d."" a century ago, teddy roosevelt called together leaders from business and government to develop a plan for 20th century infrastructure. it falls to us to do the same., as president, i will launch a national infrastructure reinvestment bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years – a bank that can leverage private investment in infrastructure improvements, and create nearly two million new jobs. the work will be determined by what will maximize our safety and security and ability to compete. we will fund this bank as we bring the war in iraq to a responsible close. it s time to stop, spending billions of dollars a week on a blank check for an iraqi government that won t spend its own oil revenues. it s time to strengthen transportation and to protect vulnerable targets from terrorism at home. we can modernize our power grid, which will help conservation and spur on the development and distribution of clean energy. we can invest in rail, so that cities like detroit, chicago, milwaukee and st. louis are connected by high-speed trains, and folks have alternatives to air travel. that s what we can do if we commit to rebuild a stronger america., as part of this commitment to infrastructure, we need to upgrade our digital superhighway as well. when i looked at that map of the world mounted on the screen at google, i was struck at first by the light generated by internet searches coming from every corner of the earth. but then i was struck by the darkness. huge chunks of africa and parts of asia where the light of the information revolution has yet to shine. and then i noticed portions of the united states where the thick cords of light dissolved into a few discrete strands., it is unacceptable that here, in the country that invented the internet, we fell to 15th in the world in broadband deployment. when kids in downtown flint or rural iowa can t afford or access high-speed internet, that sets back america s ability to compete. as president, i will set a simple goal: every american should have the highest speed broadband access – no matter where you live, or how much money you have. we ll connect schools, libraries and hospitals. and we ll take on special interests to unleash the power of wireless spectrum for our safety and connectivity., a revamped education system. a bold new energy strategy. a more efficient health care system. renewed investment in basic research and our infrastructure. these are the pillars of a more competitive economy that will take advantage of the global marketplace s opportunities., but even as we welcome competition, we need to remember that our economic policies must be supported by strong and smart trade policies. i have said before, and will say again – i believe in free trade. it can save money for our consumers, generate business for u.s. exporters, and expand global wealth. but unlike george bush and john mccain, i do not think that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. i don t think an agreement that allows south korea to import hundreds of thousands of cars into the u.s., but continues to restrict u.s. car exports into south korea to a few thousand, is a smart deal. i don t think that trade agreements without labor or environmental agreements are in our long term interests, if we continue to let our trade policy be dictated by special interests, then american workers will continue to be undermined, and public support for robust trade will continue to erode. that might make sense to the washington lobbyists who run senator mccain s campaign, but it won t help our nation compete. allowing subsidized and unfairly traded products to flood our markets is not free trade and it s not fair to the people of michigan. we cannot stand by while countries manipulate currencies to promote exports, creating huge imbalances in the global economy. we cannot let foreign regulatory policies exclude american products. we cannot let enforcement of existing trade agreements take a backseat to the negotiation of new ones. put simply, we need tougher negotiators on our side of the table – to strike bargains that are good not just for wall street, but also for main street. and when i am president, that s what we will do., finally, let me say a word about fiscal responsibility. i recognize that my agenda is ambitious – particularly in light of bush administration fiscal policies that have run up the national debt by over $4 trillion. entitlement spending is bound to increase as the baby boom generation retires. but the answer to our fiscal problems is not to continue to short-change investments in education, energy, innovation and infrastructure – investments that are vital to long-term growth. instead, we need to end the iraq war, eliminate waste in existing government programs, generate revenue by charging polluters for the greenhouse gases they are sending into our atmosphere – and put an end to the reckless, special interest driven corporate loopholes and tax cuts for the wealthy that have been the centerpiece of the bush administration s economic policy., john mccain wants to double down on george bush s disastrous policies – not only by making permanent the bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but by $300 billion in new tax cuts that give a quarter of their revenue to households making over $2.8 million. worse yet, he hasn t detailed how he would pay for this new give-away. there is nothing fiscally conservative about this approach. it will continue to drive up deficits, force us to borrow massively from foreign countries, and shift the burden on to working people today and our children tomorrow. meanwhile, john mccain will shortchange investments in education, energy and innovation, making the next generation of americans less able to compete. that s unacceptable. it s time to make tough choices so that we have a smarter government that pays its way and makes the right investments for america s future., it falls to us to shape a new century. every aspect of our government should be under review. we can ill- afford needless layers of bureaucracy and outmoded programs. my administration will open up the doors of democracy. we ll put government data online, and use technology to shine a light on spending. we ll invite the service and participation of american citizens, and cut through the red tape to make sure that every agency is meeting cutting edge standards. we ll make it clear to the special interests that their days of setting the agenda in washington are over, because the american people are not the problem in this 21st century – they are the answer., we have a choice. we can continue the bush status quo – as senator mccain wants to do – and we will become a country in which few reap the benefits of the global economy, while a growing number work harder for less and depend upon an overburdened public sector. an america in which we run up deficits and expose ourselves to the whims of oil-rich dictators while the opportunities for our children and grandchildren shrink. that is one course we could take., or, we can rise together. if we choose to change, just imagine what we can do. the great manufacturers of the 20th century can turn out cars that run on renewable energy in the 21st. biotechnology labs can find new cures; new rail lines and roadways can connect our communities; goods made here in michigan can be exported around the world. our children can get a world-class education, and their dreams of tomorrow can eclipse even our greatest hopes of today., we can choose to rise together. but it won t be easy. every one of us will have to work at it by studying, harder, training more rigorously, working smarter, and thinking anew. we ll have to slough off bad habits, reform our institutions, and re-engage the world. we can do that, because this is america – a country that has been defined by a determination to believe in, and work for, things unseen., every so often, there are times when america must rise to meet a moment. so it has been for the generations that built the railroads and beat back the depression; that worked on the first assembly line and that went to the moon. so it must be for us today. this is our moment. this is our time to unite in common purpose, to make this century the next american century. because when americans come together, there is no destiny too difficult or too distant for us to reach.,"	
", millions of chicagoans. i m thinking of mayor cownie, who s working to make his city green; mayor bloomberg, who s fighting to turn around the nation s largest school system; mayor rybak, who s done an extraordinary job helping the twin cities recover from the bridge collapse last year; and so many other mayors across this country, who are finding new ways to lift up their communities., but you shouldn t be succeeding despite washington – you should be succeeding with a hand from washington. neglect is not a policy for america s metropolitan areas. it s time city hall had someone in the white house you could count on the way so many americans count on you., that s what this election is all about – because while senator mccain is a true patriot, he won t be that partner. his priorities are very different from yours and mine. at a time when you re facing budget deficits and looking to washington for the support you need, he isn t proposing a strategy for america s cities. instead, he s calling for nearly $2 trillion in tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthiest americans – and yet he s actually opposed more funding for the cops program and the community development block grant program. that s just more of the same in washington. and few know better than you why washington needs to change., but the truth is, what our cities need isn t just a partner. what you need is a partner who knows that the old ways of looking at our cities just won t do; who knows that our nation and our cities are undergoing a historic transformation. the change that s taking place today is as great as any we ve seen in more than a century, since the time when cities grew upward and outward with immigrants escaping poverty, and tyranny, and misery abroad. our population has grown by tens of millions in the past few decades, and it s projected to grow nearly 50% more in the decades to come. and this growth isn t just confined to our cities, it s happening in our suburbs, exurbs, and throughout our metropolitan areas., this is creating new pressures, but it s also opening up new opportunities – because it s not just our cities that are hotbeds of innovation anymore, it s those growing metro areas. it s not just durham or raleigh – it s the entire research triangle. it s not just palo alto, it s cities up and down silicon valley. the top 100 metro areas generate two-thirds of our jobs, nearly 80% of patents, and handle 75% of all seaport tonnage through ports like the one here in miami. in fact, 42 of our metro areas now rank among the world s 100 largest economies., to seize the possibility of this moment, we need to promote strong cities as the backbone of regional growth. and yet, washington remains trapped in an earlier era, wedded to an outdated “urban” agenda that focuses exclusively on the problems in our cities, and ignores our growing metro areas; an agenda that confuses anti-poverty policy with a metropolitan strategy, and ends up hurting both., now, let me be clear – we must help tackle areas of concentrated poverty. i say this not just as a former community organizer, but as someone who was shaped in part by the economic inequality i saw as a college student in cities like los angeles and new york., that is why i ve laid out an ambitious urban poverty plan that will help make sure no child begins the race of life behind the starting line; and create public-private business incubators to open up economic opportunity. that s why i ll fully fund the cops program, restore funding for the community development block grant program, and recruit more teachers to our cities, and pay them more, and give them more support. and that s why i ve proposed real relief for struggling homeowners and a trust fund to provide affordable housing. and let me say this – if george bush carries out his threat to veto the housing bill – a bill that would provide critical resources to help you solve the foreclosure crisis in your towns and cities – i will fight to overturn his veto and make sure you have the support you need., so, yes we need to fight poverty. yes, we need to fight crime. yes, we need to strengthen our cities. but we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution. because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong america. that is the new metropolitan reality and we need a new strategy that reflects it – a strategy that s about south florida as much as miami; that s about mesa and scottsdale as much as phoenix; that s about stamford and northern new jersey as much as new york city. as president, i ll work with you to develop this kind of strategy and i ll appoint the first white house director of urban policy to help make it a reality., the stakes could not be higher. our children will grow up competing with children in beijing and bangalore and berlin. and make no mistake – their governments are doing everything they can to give their countries an edge by investing in regional growth. as bruce katz of brookings has pointed out, china is developing an advanced network of ports and freight hubs, and an advanced network of universities modeled after our own. and germany has launched rail and telecom projects to bind its major metro areas more closely together. other governments are aggressively pursuing strategies to unlock the potential of their metro areas. to compete and win in our global economy, we have to show the same kind of leadership., there s no better place to start than by investing in the clusters of growth and innovation that are springing up across this country. because what we ve found time and time again is that when we take the different assets that are scattered throughout our communities – whether it s a skilled workforce or leading firms or institutions of higher education – and bring them all together so they can learn from one another and share ideas, you get the kind of creative thinking that doesn t come in isolation., and that can lead to more innovation, and entrepreneurship, and real economic benefits like new jobs and higher wages. that s what happened pennsylvania, where something called keystone innovation zones have led to the formation of nearly 200 new companies. and that s why, in my administration, we ll offer $200 million a year in competitive matching grants for state and local governments to plan and grow regional economies – because when it s working together, the sum of a metro area can be greater than its parts., and we won t just unlock the potential of our individual regions; we ll unlock the potential of all our regions by connecting them with a 21st century infrastructure. you know why this is so important. you see the traffic along i-95 in miami. you see the crumbling roads and bridges, the aging water and sewer pipes, the faltering electrical grids that cost us billions in blackouts, repairs, and travel delays. it s gotten so bad that the american society of civil engineers gave our national infrastructure a “d.” and it s no wonder – because we re spending less on our infrastructure than at any time in the modern era., this is putting enormous pressure on the highway trust fund, which can no longer keep up with all the repairs that have to be made. yet senator mccain is actually proposing a gas tax gimmick that would take $3 billion a month out of the highway trust fund and hand it over to the oil companies. well, at a time when the highway trust fund is beginning to run a deficit for the first time in history, i think that s the last thing we can afford to do., and just the other day, senator mccain traveled to iowa to express his sympathies for the victims of the recent flooding. i m sure they appreciated the sentiment, but they probably would have appreciated it more if he hadn t voted against funding for levees and flood control programs, which he seems to consider pork. well, we do have to reform budget earmarks, cut genuine pork, and dispense with unnecessary spending, as we confront a budget crisis left by the most fiscally irresponsible administration in modern times., but when it comes to rebuilding america s essential but crumbling infrastructure, we need to do more, not less. cities across the midwest are under water right now or courting disaster not just because of the weather, but because we ve failed to protect them. maintaining our levees and dams isn t pork barrel spending, it s an urgent priority, and that s what we ll do when i m president. i ll also launch a national infrastructure reinvestment bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years, and create nearly two million new jobs. the work will be determined by what will maximize our safety, security, and shared prosperity. instead of building bridges to nowhere, let s build communities that meet the needs and reflect the dreams of our families. that s what this bank will help us do., and we will fund this bank as we bring the war in iraq to a responsible close. it s time to stop fighting a war that s stretching our guard, straining our reserves, and leaving your police and fire stations understaffed; a war that hasn t made us safer, and should have never been authorized and never been waged. it s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in iraq and start investing that money in phoenix, nashville, seattle, and metro areas across this country., let s invest that money in a world-class transit system. let s re-commit federal dollars to strengthen mass transit and reform our tax code to give folks a reason to take the bus instead of driving to work – because investing in mass transit helps make metro areas more livable and can help our regional economies grow. and while we re at it, we ll partner with our mayors to invest in green energy technology and ensure that your buses and buildings are energy efficient. and we ll also invest in our ports, roads, and high-speed rails – because i don t want to see the fastest train in the world built halfway around the world in shanghai, i want to see it built right here in the united states of america., and let s also upgrade our digital superhighway. it is unacceptable that here, in the country that invented the internet, we fell to 15th in the world in broadband deployment. when kids can t afford or access highspeed internet, it sets back america s ability to compete. that s why as president, i will set a simple goal: every american should have broadband access – no matter where you live, or how much money you, have. we ll connect our schools and libraries and hospitals. and we ll take on the special interests to realize the potential of wireless spectrum for our safety and connectivity., now is not the time for small plans. now is the time for bold action to rebuild and renew america. we ve done this before. two hundred years ago, in 1808, thomas jefferson oversaw an infrastructure plan that envisioned the homestead act, the transcontinental railroads, and the erie canal. one hundred years later, in 1908, teddy roosevelt called together leaders from business and government to develop a plan for a 20th century infrastructure. today, in 2008, it falls on us to take up this call again – to re-imagine america s landscape and remake america s future. that is the cause of this campaign, and that will be the cause of my presidency., but understand – while the change we seek will require major investments by a more accountable government, it will not come from government alone. washington can t solve all our problems. the statehouse can t solve all our problems. city hall can t solve all our problems. it goes back to what i learned as a community organizer all those years ago – that change in this country comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom up. change starts at a level that s even closer to the people than our mayors – it starts in our homes. it starts in our families. it starts by raising our children right, by turning off the tv, and putting away the video games; by going to those parent-teacher conferences and helping our children with their homework, and setting a good example. it starts by being good neighbors and good, citizens who are willing to volunteer in our communities – to keep them clean, to keep them safe, and to serve as mentors and teachers to all of our children., that s where change begins. that s how we ll bring about change in our neighborhoods. and if change comes to our neighborhoods, then change will come to our cities. and if change comes to our cities, then change will come to our regions. and if change comes to our regions, then i truly believe change will come to every corner of this country we love., throughout our history, it s been our cities that have helped tell the american story. it was boston that rose up against an empire, and philadelphia where liberty first rung out; it was st. louis that opened a gateway west, and houston that launched us to the stars; it was the motor city that built the middle class; miami that built a bridge to the americas; and new york that showed the world one clear september morning that america stands together in times of trial., that s the proud tradition our cities uphold. that s the story our cities have helped write. and if you re willing to work with me and fight with me and stand with me this fall, then i promise you this – we will not only rebuild and renew our american cities, north and south, east and west, but you and i – together – will rebuild and renew the promise of america. thank you.,"	
", away with discriminating against hardworking women like lilly ledbetter. and that s why i ll continue to stand up for equal pay as president. senator mccain won t, and that s a real difference in this election., as the son of a single mother, i also don t accept an america that makes women choose between their kids and their careers. it s not acceptable that women are denied jobs or promotions because they ve got kids at home. it s not acceptable that forty percent of working women don t have a single paid sick day. that s wrong for working parents, it s wrong for america s children, and it s not who we are as a country., i ll be a president who stands up for the american family by giving all working parents a hand. to help with childcare, i ll expand the child and dependent care tax credit, so that working families can receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses. i ll double funding for afterschool programs that help children learn and give parents relief. and i ll invest $10 billion to guarantee access to quality, affordable, early childhood education for every child in america., and with more and more households headed by two working parents – or a single working parent – it s also time to dramatically expand the family and medical leave act. since more americans are working for small businesses, i ll expand fmla to cover businesses with as few as 25 employees – this will reach millions of american workers who aren t covered today. we ll also allow workers to take leave to care for elderly parents. we ll allow parents to take 24 hours of annual leave to join school activities with their kids. and we ll cover employees who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault., i ll also stand up for paid leave. today, 78 percent of workers covered by fmla don t take leave because it isn t paid. that s just not fair. you shouldn t be punished for getting sick or dealing with a family crisis. that s why i ll require employers to provide all of their workers with seven paid sick days a year. and i ll support a 50-state strategy to adopt paid-leave systems, and set aside $1.5 billion to fund it. i have a clear plan to expand paid leave and sick leave, senator mccain doesn t, and that s a real difference in this election., and at a time when folks are struggling with the rising price of everything from gas to groceries, i ll provide working women with immediate relief. while senator mccain wants to continue the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans who don t need them and didn t ask for them, i ll pass a middle class tax cut of $1,000 for each working family. this will deliver tax relief for over 70 million working women. and we need to help folks at the bottom of the ladder. almost 60 percent of americans who benefited from, raising the minimum wage were women. i won t leave any working people behind. that s why, unlike senator mccain, i ll index the minimum wage to inflation so that it goes up each year to keep pace with rising costs., we can t afford an economy where folks keep working harder for less. we can t let the women in our workforce get paid even less for doing the same work. and we can t keep pushing more and more of the burden on to the backs of working parents who are struggling to balance their jobs and their family. because what binds us together, what makes us one american family, is that we stand up and fight for each other s dreams, and for the dreams of all of our children., i want my daughters to grow up in an america where they have opportunities that are even greater than their mother had, or their grandmothers, or their great grandmothers – an america where our daughters truly have the same opportunities as our sons., standing here today, i know that we have drawn closer to making this america a reality because of the extraordinary woman who i shared a stage with so many times throughout this campaign – senator hillary rodham clinton. and in the months and years ahead, i look forward to working with her to make progress on the issues that matter to american women and to all american families – health care and education; support for working parents and an insistence on equality. because i want sasha and malia to grow up in an america where both work and family are a part of the american dream, and where that dream is available to all. that s why i m running for president of the united states., ,"	
", but i can’t do this on my own. i need your help. this election could well come down to how many latinos turn out to vote. and i’m proud that my campaign is working hard to register more latinos, and bring them into the political process. because i truly believe that if we work together and fight together and stand together this fall, then you and i – together – will change this county and change this world., naleo closing statement, you know, a few years ago, i attended a naturalization workshop at st. pius church in chicago. and as i walked down the aisle, i saw people clutching small american flags, waiting for their turn to be called up so they could begin the long process to become u.s. citizens., and at one point, a young girl, seven or eight, came up to me with her parents, and asked for my autograph. she said she was studying government in school and wanted to show it to her third grade class. i asked her what her name was, and she said her name was cristina. i told her parents they should be very proud of her., and as i watched cristina translate my words into spanish for them, i was reminded that for all the noise and anger that too often surrounds the immigration debate, america has nothing to fear from today’s immigrants. they have come here for the same reason that families have always come here, for the same reason my father came here – for the hope that in america, they could build a better life for themselves and their families. like the waves of immigrants that came before them and the hispanic americans like ken salazar whose families have been here for generations, the recent arrival of latino immigrants will only enrich our country., ultimately, then, the danger to the american way of life is not that we will be overrun by those who do not look like us or do not yet speak our language. the danger will come if we fail to recognize the humanity of cristina and her family – if we withhold from them the opportunities we take for granted, and create a servant class in our midst., more broadly, the danger will come if we continue to stand idly by as the gap between wall street and main street grows, as washington grows more out of touch, and as america grows more unequal. because america can only prosper when all americans prosper – brown, black, white, asian, and native american. that’s the idea that lies at the heart of my campaign, and that’s the idea that will lie at the heart of my presidency. because we are all americans. todos somos americanos. and in this country, we rise and fall together.,"	
", awfully quiet, don t they? and year after year, it just gets harder for working parents – especially working women – to make a living while raising their kids. that s why it s time for washington to change., now, senator mccain is an honorable man, and we all deeply respect his service to our country. but when you look at our records and plans on the economic issues that matter most for women, it becomes very clear that he won t bring the change we need – while i will., that starts with acknowledging the economic difficulties so many women are facing right now. senator mccain, however, has said that we ve made ""great progress"" on the economy. and senator phil gramm, a top economic advisor to senator mccain, just recently said that this is merely ""a mental recession."" senator gramm then deemed the united states – and i quote – ""a nation of whiners."" this comes after senator mccain recently admitted that his energy proposals will have mainly ""psychological"" benefits., well, you know, america already has one dr. phil. when it comes to the economy, we don t need another., let s be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we ve lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when typical families have seen their incomes fall nearly $1,000 since 2000, this economic downturn isn t in our heads. it isn t whining to ask for more than just psychological relief., and i think it s time we had a president who doesn t deny our problems – or blame the american people for them – but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them. that s the kind of president i will be., senator mccain and i also have a real difference on the issue of equal pay for women., in 2008, when 62 percent of working women in america earn half – or more than half – of their family s income, you d think we d be united in our determination to close the pay gap and ensure women are paid fairly for their work., but senator mccain thinks the supreme court got it right last year when they handed down a decision making it harder for women to challenge pay discrimination at work. he opposed legislation that i cosponsored to reverse that decision. he suggested that the reason women don t have equal pay isn t discrimination on the job – it s because they need more education and training., well let s be clear: the problem in these kinds of cases isn t that women are somehow unqualified or unprepared for higher-paying positions. the problem is that some employers aren t paying women fairly. the problem is that too many women aren t able to challenge employers who are underpaying them., and this isn t just an economic issue for millions of americans and their families. it s a question of who we are as a country – of whether we re going to live up to our values as a nation., that s why i stood up for equal pay in the illinois state senate, and helped pass a law to give 330,000 more women protection from paycheck discrimination. that s why i ve been fighting to pass legislation in the senate, so that employers don t get away with shortchanging hardworking women., and that s why i ll continue to stand up for equal pay as president. senator mccain won t – and that s a real difference in this election., as the son, grandson and husband of hard-working mothers, i also don t accept an america that makes women choose between their kids and their careers., it s unacceptable that women are denied jobs or promotions because they ve got kids at home. it s unacceptable that 22 million working women don t have a single paid sick day. it s unacceptable that millions of working mothers could actually be fired for taking maternity leave – and that 78 percent of workers who have family leave can t afford to take it because it s not paid., no matter what you do for living – i think we can all agree that raising our children and caring for our loved ones is the most important job we have. and it s time we started making that job a little bit easier, especially for working women., that means giving folks a hand with childcare – from expanding the childcare tax credit to an additional 7.5 million working moms, to providing afterschool and summer learning opportunities for an additional three million children, to investing $10 billion to give every child access to quality, affordable early childhood education., it means dramatically expanding the family and medical leave act to reach millions of additional workers – and i ll ensure that it doesn t just cover staying home with a new baby, but also lets you take, leave to care for your elderly parents and participate in school activities like parent-teacher conferences and assemblies., it means standing up for paid leave – so i ll invest $1.5 billion to help create paid leave systems across america – and i ll require employers to provide all their workers with at least seven paid sick days a year. senator mccain has no clear plan to expand paid leave and sick leave – and that s a real difference in this election., finally, we ve got to do more to help folks at the bottom of the ladder climb into the middle class., so many working women today are living right on the edge. i met a woman a few weeks ago in new mexico who told me she works two jobs – at a restaurant and a hair salon – but the last time she saw a doctor was ten years ago, because she didn t have insurance, and couldn t afford an appointment. she later said, ""this is a pretty hard life. i just want to figure out how we get out of this box."", when you re working that hard, life shouldn t be that hard. you shouldn t feel trapped., that s why, while senator mccain wants to continue the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans who don t need them and didn t ask for them, i ll pass a tax cut of up to $1,000 per working family., and i ll expand the earned income tax credit so that no one working fulltime winds up living in poverty. that s what i did in the state senate, bringing together democrats and republicans to provide more than $100 million in tax relief for struggling families across illinois., unlike senator mccain, i ll make sure the minimum wage rises each year to keep up with rising costs – it ll be $9.50 by 2011, giving 8 million women a well-deserved raise., unlike senator mccain, i ll work as a partner with our unions, because we know that when it comes to standing up for women s rights in the workplace, our unions are second to none – and it s time we starting giving them the support they deserve., and unlike senator mccain, i ll make sure every working woman has the chance to not just get by, but get ahead – to save, invest, build a nest egg, and provide a better life for their children. i ll cut the capital gains rate to zero to help women small business owners grow their businesses and create jobs. and for the nearly two-thirds of working women who have no 401(k), i ll provide automatic, portable retirement savings accounts that will help them build up the wealth they need for a secure retirement., these are the real differences in this election. and my policies add up to real relief for working women. here in virginia alone, 2 million working women will get a $500 tax cut; 215,000 will receive child care assistance; and 200,000 women entrepreneurs won t have to pay any capital gains taxes., in the end, though, the conversation we re having isn t just about policies and plans. it s also about our most fundamental values – that when you work hard, you should be paid fairly and be able to retire with dignity; that we rise and fall together – and there are no second class citizens in our workplaces; that both work and family should be part of the american dream., as hard as it is for me to be away from my own daughters so much, that s what i think about when i have the chance to tuck them in at night. how i want my daughters – and all our daughters – to have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievement, no opportunities beyond their reach. that s why i m running for president., and i hope all of you will join our campaign. i hope you ll help us make calls and knock on doors and sign up today to be a precinct captain and leader in this effort. i can t do it without your help., thank you., ,"	
", address since the oil embargo 1973. back then we imported about a third of our oil. today we import over half., now, a few days ago, senator mccain said, ""our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in washington to think long-term about the future of the country."", i couldn t agree more. the only problem is that out of those thirty years, senator mccain was in washington for twenty-six of them. and in that time he has achieved little to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. he s voted against raising our fuel mileage standards and joined george bush in opposing legislation twice in the last year that included tax credits for more efficient cars. he s voted against alternative sources of energy. against clean biofuels. against solar power. against wind power. against an energy bill that represented the largest investment in renewable sources of energy in the history of this country., so when he talks about the failure of politicians in washington to do anything about our energy crisis, understand that senator mccain has been a part of that failure. when he proposes policies that give $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies but only pennies a day to americans struggling with high gas prices, understand that that s not part of the solution in washington, that s part of the problem in washington. when he offers a plan that doesn t make any real investment in alternative sources of energy, that represents a failure to think long-term about our nation s future. that s what we ve had in this country for too many years, and that s why we need change in november., i won t pretend this change will be easy or that it will come without significant cost or some measure of sacrifice from the american people. achieving energy independence is one of the greatest challenges we ve ever faced, and it will be the great project of our generation. but i ve seen that progress is possible., when i arrived in the u.s. senate, i worked with democrats and republicans to pass a law that will give more americans the chance to fill up their cars with clean biofuels. i also passed a law that will fuel the research needed to develop a car that could get up to 500 miles to the gallon. and i reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise the mileage standards in our cars for the first time in thirty years – a plan that won support from democrats and republicans who had never supported raising fuel standards before., today, with oil and gas prices this high, we hear a lot of plans and proposals coming out of washington since politicians are finally paying attention. the problem is, they re reacting instead of acting. they re searching for easy answers to get them through the next election instead of serious, long-term solutions that will offer real relief and real security for america., i understand the politics. in a country desperate for action, ideas like a gas tax holiday or expanded oil drilling in the waters off our coasts are popular. and i ll say this – if there were real evidence that these steps would actually provide real, immediate relief at the pump and advance the long-term goal of energy independence, of course i d be open to them. but so far there isn t., as good as they sound, the history of gas tax holidays is that the prices go up to fill in the gap, and the big winners end up being the retailers and oil companies – not the american people. that s what happened when we had a gas tax holiday in illinois that i supported, and that s why we ended up repealing it. it didn t work. and it would also drain the federal highway fund of billions of dollars and cost hundreds of thousands of american jobs., when it comes to offshore drilling, even senator mccain has acknowledged that it won t provide short- term relief. in fact, if we started drilling today, we wouldn t see a drop of oil for seven years, and even then it would have little if any impact on prices., meanwhile, the oil companies currently have the rights to drill on 68 million acres of land and offshore areas that they haven t touched. i believe that before we give the oil companies any more land, it s time we tell them to start drilling on the land they already have or turn it over to someone who will, because we need that oil. we should also invest in the technology that can help us recover more oil from existing fields. and we should also look to our substantial natural gas reserves to tap a source of energy that s already powering buses and cars here and around the world., in the long-term, however, we have to remember that these domestic resources are finite. even if you opened up every square inch of our land and our coasts to drilling, america still has only 3% of the world s oil reserves. senator mccain may believe otherwise, but that is not a real solution to our energy crisis., what we need are real ideas to give hardworking americans relief from high gas prices, and serious, long-term investments to permanently reduce our dependence on foreign oil. that s exactly what my plan does., to provide immediate relief, i ve proposed a second, $50 billion stimulus package that would send energy rebate checks to every american. i ve asked senator mccain to join me in passing such a plan, and i extend that invitation again today. i ve also proposed a $1,000 middle-class tax cut that will go to 95% of all workers and their families. and i ll crack down on oil speculators who may be artificially driving up the price of oil., but to truly reduce our long-term dependence on foreign oil, my plan will fast-track $150 billion of investment in a clean energy fund to help create the fuel-efficient cars and alternative sources of energy that will secure this nation and jumpstart a green economy. it s a plan that will reduce our oil consumption 10 million barrels per day by 2030, which is more than all the oil we re expected to import from opec nations in that same year., first, we ll double our fuel mileage standards over the next two decades utilizing much of the technology we have on the shelf today – a step that will save this country half a trillion gallons of gasoline, the equivalent of cutting the price of a gallon of gas in half. and i will provide tax credits and loan guarantees for our automakers to help them make this transition., second, we ll launch a venture capital fund that will provide $50 billion over five years to get the most promising clean energy technologies out of the lab and into the marketplace. a principal focus of this fund will be continuing the work i began in the senate and investing in plug-in hybrid batteries that will allow cars to get up to 500 miles per gallon. i m glad that senator mccain now understands the importance of this battery technology, but it will take a lot more than a cash prize to achieve this goal. it will take a serious investment., third, to create a market for alternative sources of energy like solar, wind, , i ll require that 25% of our electricity comes renewable sources by 2025, and that we produce two billion gallons of advanced cellulosic biofuels by 2013. we ll also invest in finding cleaner ways to use coal, our nation s most abundant energy source, and safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste., fourth, we ll use our clean energy fund to invest over $1 billion a year to re-tool and modernize our factories and build the advanced technology cars, trucks and suvs of the future – so that the jobs and industries of the future are created right here in the united states of america., finally, one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to conserve energy and use less oil is to make america more energy efficient and more competitive with the world. that s why, when i m president, i will call on businesses, government, and the american people to make america 50% more energy efficient by 2030., when all is said and done, my plan to invest $150 billion in alternative energy will create entire new industries, thousands of new businesses, and up to five million new, green jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. and we pay for all of it by taking away tax breaks for oil companies and putting a price on carbon pollution – a step that will also reduce our carbon emissions 80% by 2050., most importantly, this plan will ensure that we control the energy we use with resources and technology that are available today. the steps i just spoke about are not far-off, pie-in-the-sky solutions, they are now. today, there are waiting lists for fuel-efficient cars. there s an old steel mill in pennsylvania that has become the home of a new wind turbine factory. i ve seen a small business in nevada powered entirely by solar power. across the planet, countries like germany and the united kingdom have already implemented clean energy polices that are reducing their carbon emissions right now, and leaders like tony blair and angela merkel have done a great job of raising the visibility of climate change within the g8. now it s our turn to lead – to show that this future is possible for america., in the last century, during the days that followed the attack on pearl harbor, the american people were asked, almost overnight, to transform a peacetime economy that was still climbing out from the depths of depression into an arsenal of democracy that could wage war across three continents., many doubted whether this could be achieved in time, or even at all. president franklin roosevelt s own advisors told him that his goals for wartime production were unrealistic and impossible to meet. but the president simply waved them off, saying, believe me, ""the production people can do it if they really try."", the challenge we face from our energy dependence is great. meeting it will take time, and it will not be easy. but if we re willing to work at it, and invest in it, and sacrifice for it; if we re willing to summon the same spirit of optimism and possibility that has defined this country s greatest progress, then i believe that we too will be able to do it if we really try. and i look forward to trying with you. thank you., ,"	
", qaeda, the taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in afghanistan., we could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century nonproliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st., we could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil., we could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity., we could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, peace corps volunteers and police officers., we could have secured our homeland—investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants., we could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every american to strengthen our ability to compete., we could have done that., instead, we have lost thousands of american lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats - all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks., our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. what s missing in our debate about iraq - what has been missing since before the war began - is a discussion of the strategic consequences of iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. this war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. this war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. by any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping america safe., i am running for president of the united states to lead this country in a new direction - to seize this moment s promise. instead of being distracted from the most pressing threats that we face, i want to overcome them. instead of pushing the entire burden of our foreign policy on to the brave men and women of our military, i want to use all elements of american power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. instead of alienating ourselves from the world, i want america - once again - to lead., as president, i will pursue a tough, smart and principled national security strategy - one that recognizes that we have interests not just in baghdad, but in kandahar and karachi, in tokyo and london, in beijing and berlin. i will focus this strategy on five goals essential to making america safer: ending the war in iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al qaeda and the taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century., my opponent in this campaign has served this country with honor, and we all respect his sacrifice. we both want to do what we think is best to defend the american people. but we ve made different judgments, and would lead in very different directions. that starts with iraq., i opposed going to war in iraq; senator mccain was one of washington s biggest supporters for war. i warned that the invasion of a country posing no imminent threat would fan the flames of extremism, and distract us from the fight against al qaeda and the taliban; senator mccain claimed that we would be greeted as liberators, and that democracy would spread across the middle east. those were the judgments we made on the most important strategic question since the end of the cold war., now, all of us recognize that we must do more than look back - we must make a judgment about how to move forward. what is needed? what can best be done? what must be done? senator mccain wants to talk of our tactics in iraq; i want to focus on a new strategy for iraq and the wider world., it has been 18 months since president bush announced the surge. as i have said many times, our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence. general petraeus has used new tactics to protect the iraqi population. we have talked directly to sunni tribes that used to be hostile to america, and supported their fight against al qaeda. shiite militias have generally respected a cease-fire. those are the facts, and all americans welcome them., for weeks, now, senator mccain has argued that the gains of the surge mean that i should change my commitment to end the war. but this argument misconstrues what is necessary to succeed in iraq, and stubbornly ignores the facts of the broader strategic picture that we face., in the 18 months since the surge began, the strain on our military has increased, our troops and their families have borne an enormous burden, and american taxpayers have spent another $200 billion in iraq. that s over $10 billion each month. that is a consequence of our current strategy., in the 18 months since the surge began, the situation in afghanistan has deteriorated. june was our, highest casualty month of the war. the taliban has been on the offensive, even launching a brazen attack on one of our bases. al qaeda has a growing sanctuary in pakistan. that is a consequence of our current strategy., in the 18 months since the surge began, as i warned at the outset - iraq s leaders have not made the political progress that was the purpose of the surge. they have not invested tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues to rebuild their country. they have not resolved their differences or shaped a new political compact., that s why i strongly stand by my plan to end this war. now, prime minister maliki s call for a timetable for the removal of u.s. forces presents a real opportunity. it comes at a time when the american general in charge of training iraq s security forces has testified that iraq s army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for iraq s security in 2009. now is the time for a responsible redeployment of our combat troops that pushes iraq s leaders toward a political solution, rebuilds our military, and refocuses on afghanistan and our broader security interests., george bush and john mccain don t have a strategy for success in iraq - they have a strategy for staying in iraq. they said we couldn t leave when violence was up, they say we can t leave when violence is down. they refuse to press the iraqis to make tough choices, and they label any timetable to redeploy our troops ""surrender,"" even though we would be turning iraq over to a sovereign iraqi government - not to a terrorist enemy. theirs is an endless focus on tactics inside iraq, with no consideration of our strategy to face threats beyond iraq s borders., at some point, a judgment must be made. iraq is not going to be a perfect place, and we don t have unlimited resources to try to make it one. we are not going to kill every al qaeda sympathizer, eliminate every trace of iranian influence, or stand up a flawless democracy before we leave - general petraeus and ambassador crocker acknowledged this to me when they testified last april. that is why the accusation of surrender is false rhetoric used to justify a failed policy. in fact, true success in iraq - victory in iraq - will not take place in a surrender ceremony where an enemy lays down their arms. true success will take place when we leave iraq to a government that is taking responsibility for its future - a government that prevents sectarian conflict, and ensures that the al qaeda threat which has been beaten back by our troops does not reemerge. that is an achievable goal if we pursue a comprehensive plan to press the iraqis stand up., to achieve that success, i will give our military a new mission on my first day in office: ending this war. let me be clear: we must be as careful getting out of iraq as we were careless getting in. we can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. that would be the summer of 2010 - one year after iraqi security forces will be prepared to stand up; two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. after this redeployment, we ll keep a residual force to perform specific missions in iraq: targeting any remnants of al qaeda; protecting our service members and diplomats; and training and supporting iraq s security forces, so long as the iraqis make political progress., we will make tactical adjustments as we implement this strategy - that is what any responsible commander-in-chief must do. as i have consistently said, i will consult with commanders on the ground and the iraqi government. we will redeploy from secure areas first and volatile areas later. we will commit $2 billion to a meaningful international effort to support the more than 4 million displaced iraqis. we will forge a new coalition to support iraq s future - one that includes all of iraq s neighbors, and also the united nations, the world bank, and the european union - because we all have a stake in stability. and we will make it clear that the united states seeks no permanent bases in iraq., this is the future that iraqis want. this is the future that the american people want. and this is what our common interests demand. both america and iraq will be more secure when the terrorist in anbar is taken out by the iraqi army, and the criminal in baghdad fears iraqi police, not just coalition forces. both america and iraq will succeed when every arab government has an embassy open in baghdad, and the child in basra benefits from services provided by iraqi dinars, not american tax dollars., and this is the future we need for our military. we cannot tolerate this strain on our forces to fight a war that hasn t made us safer. i will restore our strength by ending this war, completing the increase of our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 marines, and investing in the capabilities we need to defeat conventional foes and meet the unconventional challenges of our time., so let s be clear. senator mccain would have our troops continue to fight tour after tour of duty, and our taxpayers keep spending $10 billion a month indefinitely; i want iraqis to take responsibility for their own future, and to reach the political accommodation necessary for long-term stability. that s victory. that s success. that s what s best for iraq, that s what s best for america, and that s why i will end this war as president., in fact - as should have been apparent to president bush and senator mccain - the central front in the war on terror is not iraq, and it never was. that s why the second goal of my new strategy will be taking the fight to al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan., it is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large. osama bin laden and ayman al-zawahari are, recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror. the taliban controls parts of afghanistan. al qaeda has an expanding base in pakistan that is probably no farther from their old afghan sanctuary than a train ride from washington to philadelphia. if another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned. and yet today, we have five times more troops in iraq than afghanistan., senator mccain said - just months ago - that ""afghanistan is not in trouble because of our diversion to iraq."" i could not disagree more. our troops and our nato allies are performing heroically in afghanistan, but i have argued for years that we lack the resources to finish the job because of our commitment to iraq. that s what the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said earlier this month. and that s why, as president, i will make the fight against al qaeda and the taliban the top priority that it should be. this is a war that we have to win., i will send at least two additional combat brigades to afghanistan, and use this commitment to seek greater contributions - with fewer restrictions - from nato allies. i will focus on training afghan security forces and supporting an afghan judiciary, with more resources and incentives for american officers who perform these missions. just as we succeeded in the cold war by supporting allies who could sustain their own security, we must realize that the 21st century s frontlines are not only on the field of battle - they are found in the training exercise near kabul, in the police station in kandahar, and in the rule of law in herat., moreover, lasting security will only come if we heed marshall s lesson, and help afghans grow their economy from the bottom up. that s why i ve proposed an additional $1 billion in non-military assistance each year, with meaningful safeguards to prevent corruption and to make sure investments are made - not just in kabul - but out in afghanistan s provinces. as a part of this program, we ll invest in alternative livelihoods to poppy-growing for afghan farmers, just as we crack down on heroin trafficking. we cannot lose afghanistan to a future of narco-terrorism. the afghan people must know that our commitment to their future is enduring, because the security of afghanistan and the united states is shared., the greatest threat to that security lies in the tribal regions of pakistan, where terrorists train and insurgents strike into afghanistan. we cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president, i won t. we need a stronger and sustained partnership between afghanistan, pakistan and nato to secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents. we need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more predator drones in the afghan border region. and we must make it clear that if pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin laden if we have them in our sights., make no mistake: we can t succeed in afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our pakistan policy. we must expect more of the pakistani government, but we must offer more than a blank check to a general who has lost the confidence of his people. it s time to strengthen stability by standing up for the aspirations of the pakistani people. that s why i m cosponsoring a bill with joe biden and richard lugar to triple non-military aid to the pakistani people and to sustain it for a decade, while ensuring that the military assistance we do provide is used to take the fight to the taliban and al qaeda. we must move beyond a purely military alliance built on convenience, or face mounting popular opposition in a nuclear-armed nation at the nexus of terror and radical islam., only a strong pakistani democracy can help us move toward my third goal - securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states. one of the terrible ironies of the iraq war is that president bush used the threat of nuclear terrorism to invade a country that had no active nuclear program. but the fact that the president misled us into a misguided war doesn t diminish the threat of a terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction - in fact, it has only increased it., in those years after world war ii, we worried about the deadly atom falling into the hands of the kremlin. now, we worry about 50 tons of highly enriched uranium - some of it poorly secured - at civilian nuclear facilities in over forty countries. now, we worry about the breakdown of a non-proliferation framework that was designed for the bipolar world of the cold war. now, we worry - most of all - about a rogue state or nuclear scientist transferring the world s deadliest weapons to the world s most dangerous people: terrorists who won t think twice about killing themselves and hundreds of thousands in tel aviv or moscow, in london or new york., we cannot wait any longer to protect the american people. i ve made this a priority in the senate, where i worked with republican senator dick lugar to pass a law accelerating our pursuit of loose nuclear materials. i ll lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world during my first term as president. and i ll develop new defenses to protect against the 21st century threat of biological weapons and cyber-terrorism - threats that i ll discuss in more detail tomorrow., beyond taking these immediate, urgent steps, it s time to send a clear message: america seeks a world with no nuclear weapons. as long as nuclear weapons exist, we must retain a strong deterrent. but instead of threatening to kick them out of the g-8, we need to work with russia to take u.s. and russian ballistic missiles off hair-trigger alert; to dramatically reduce the stockpiles of our nuclear weapons and material; to seek a global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons; and to expand the u.s.- russian ban on intermediate-range missiles so that the agreement is global. by keeping our commitment under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, we ll be in a better position to press nations like, north korea and iran to keep theirs. in particular, it will give us more credibility and leverage in dealing with iran., we cannot tolerate nuclear weapons in the hands of nations that support terror. preventing iran from developing nuclear weapons is a vital national security interest of the united states. no tool of statecraft should be taken off the table, but senator mccain would continue a failed policy that has seen iran strengthen its position, advance its nuclear program, and stockpile 150 kilos of low enriched uranium. i will use all elements of american power to pressure the iranian regime, starting with aggressive, principled and direct diplomacy - diplomacy backed with strong sanctions and without preconditions., there will be careful preparation. i commend the work of our european allies on this important matter, and we should be full partners in that effort. ultimately the measure of any effort is whether it leads to a change in iranian behavior. that s why we must pursue these tough negotiations in full coordination with our allies, bringing to bear our full influence - including, if it will advance our interests, my meeting with the appropriate iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing., we will pursue this diplomacy with no illusions about the iranian regime. instead, we will present a clear choice. if you abandon your nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to israel, there will be meaningful incentives. if you refuse, then we will ratchet up the pressure, with stronger unilateral sanctions; stronger multilateral sanctions in the security council, and sustained action outside the un to isolate the iranian regime. that s the diplomacy we need. and the iranians should negotiate now; by waiting, they will only face mounting pressure., the surest way to increase our leverage against iran in the long-run is to stop bankrolling its ambitions. that will depend on achieving my fourth goal: ending the tyranny of oil in our time., one of the most dangerous weapons in the world today is the price of oil. we ship nearly $700 million a day to unstable or hostile nations for their oil. it pays for terrorist bombs going off from baghdad to beirut. it funds petro-diplomacy in caracas and radical madrasas from karachi to khartoum. it takes leverage away from america and shifts it to dictators., this immediate danger is eclipsed only by the long-term threat from climate change, which will lead to devastating weather patterns, terrible storms, drought, and famine. that means people competing for food and water in the next fifty years in the very places that have known horrific violence in the last fifty: africa, the middle east, and south asia. most disastrously, that could mean destructive storms on our shores, and the disappearance of our coastline., this is not just an economic issue or an environmental concern - this is a national security crisis. for the sake of our security - and for every american family that is paying the price at the pump - we must end this dependence on foreign oil. and as president, that s exactly what i ll do. small steps and political gimmickry just won t do. i ll invest $150 billion over the next ten years to put america on the path to true energy security. this fund will fast track investments in a new green energy business sector that will end our addiction to oil and create up to 5 million jobs over the next two decades, and help secure the future of our country and our planet. we ll invest in research and development of every form of alternative energy - solar, wind, and biofuels, as well as technologies that can make coal clean and nuclear power safe. and from the moment i take office, i will let it be known that the united states of america is ready to lead again., never again will we sit on the sidelines, or stand in the way of global action to tackle this global challenge. i will reach out to the leaders of the biggest carbon emitting nations and ask them to join a new global energy forum that will lay the foundation for the next generation of climate protocols. we will also build an alliance of oil-importing nations and work together to reduce our demand, and to break the grip of opec on the global economy. we ll set a goal of an 80% reduction in global emissions by 2050. and as we develop new forms of clean energy here at home, we will share our technology and our innovations with all the nations of the world., that is the tradition of american leadership on behalf of the global good. and that will be my fifth goal - rebuilding our alliances to meet the common challenges of the 21st century., for all of our power, america is strongest when we act alongside strong partners. we faced down fascism with the greatest war-time alliance the world has ever known. we stood shoulder to shoulder with our nato allies against the soviet threat, and paid a far smaller price for the first gulf war because we acted together with a broad coalition. we helped create the united nations - not to constrain america s influence, but to amplify it by advancing our values., now is the time for a new era of international cooperation. it s time for america and europe to renew our common commitment to face down the threats of the 21st century just as we did the challenges of the 20th. it s time to strengthen our partnerships with japan, south korea, australia and the world s largest democracy - india - to create a stable and prosperous asia. it s time to engage china on common interests like climate change, even as we continue to encourage their shift to a more open and market- based society. it s time to strengthen nato by asking more of our allies, while always approaching them with the respect owed a partner. it s time to reform the united nations, so that this imperfect institution can become a more perfect forum to share burdens, strengthen our leverage, and promote our values. it s time to deepen our engagement to help resolve the arab-israeli conflict, so that we help our ally israel, achieve true and lasting security, while helping palestinians achieve their legitimate aspirations for statehood., and just as we renew longstanding efforts, so must we shape new ones to meet new challenges. that s why i ll create a shared security partnership program - a new alliance of nations to strengthen cooperative efforts to take down global terrorist networks, while standing up against torture and brutality. that s why we ll work with the african union to enhance its ability to keep the peace. that s why we ll build a new partnership to roll back the trafficking of drugs, and guns, and gangs in the americas. that s what we can do if we are ready to engage the world., we will have to provide meaningful resources to meet critical priorities. i know development assistance is not the most popular program, but as president, i will make the case to the american people that it can be our best investment in increasing the common security of the entire world. that was true with the marshall plan, and that must be true today. that s why i ll double our foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012, and use it to support a stable future in failing states, and sustainable growth in africa; to halve global poverty and to roll back disease. to send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, ""you matter to us. your future is our future. and our moment is now."", this must be the moment when we answer the call of history. for eight years, we have paid the price for a foreign policy that lectures without listening; that divides us from one another - and from the world - instead of calling us to a common purpose; that focuses on our tactics in fighting a war without end in iraq instead of forging a new strategy to face down the true threats that we face. we cannot afford four more years of a strategy that is out of balance and out of step with this defining moment., none of this will be easy, but we have faced great odds before. when general marshall first spoke about the plan that would bear his name, the rubble of berlin had not yet been built into a wall. but marshall knew that even the fiercest of adversaries could forge bonds of friendship founded in freedom. he had the confidence to know that the purpose and pragmatism of the american people could outlast any foe. today, the dangers and divisions that came with the dawn of the cold war have receded. now, the defeat of the threats of the past has been replaced by the transnational threats of today. we know what is needed. we know what can best be done. we know what must done. now it falls to us to act with the same sense of purpose and pragmatism as an earlier generation, to join with friends and partners to lead the world anew.,"	
", if senator mccain wants a debate about taxes in this campaign, that s a debate i m happy to have. because while we re both proposing tax cuts, the difference is who we re cutting taxes for. senator mccain would cut taxes for those making over $3 million. i ll cut taxes for middle class families by three times as much as my opponent. let me be clear: if you re a family making less than $250,000, my plan will not raise your taxes - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. and unlike my opponent, i ll pay for my plan - by cutting wasteful spending, shutting corporate loopholes and tax havens, and rolling back the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans., but in this election, we can do something more than just provide short-term relief. we can secure our long-term prosperity and strengthen america s competitiveness in the 21st century. it won t be easy. it won t happen overnight. but i refuse to accept that we cannot meet the challenges of our global economy. i m running for president because i believe we can choose our own economic destiny., we can choose to go another four years with the same reckless fiscal policies that have busted our budget, wreaked havoc in our economy, and mortgaged our children s future on a mountain of debt; or we can restore fiscal responsibility in washington., we can go another four years with a broken health care system that s leaving millions uninsured, driving millions more to financial ruin, and making it harder for manufactures to compete; or we can finally solve our health care crisis once and for all. we can guarantee health care for anyone who wants it, make it affordable for anyone who needs it, and cut costs for businesses and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses and conditions., we can choose to do nothing about disappearing jobs and shuttered factories for another four years, or we can encourage job creation in the united states of america. we can end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas and give them to companies that create jobs here in this country. we can make sure that our trade agreements work for both wall street and main street. and we can create nearly two million jobs by investing in our crumbling infrastructure and building new schools, roads, and bridges., and if anybody tells you we can t afford to make these investments, you just tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in iraq, we can invest some of that money right here in the united states of america. that s what we can do in this election. the choice is ours., we can go another four years without truly solving our energy crisis; we can choose my opponent s plan to give $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies at a time when they re making record profits, or we can finally make america energy independent so that we re less vulnerable to oil price shocks and $4 a gallon gas. we can invest in renewable energies like wind power, solar power, and the next generation biofuels. and we can create up to five million new, green jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. that s what we can choose to do in this election., we can choose to stay mired in the same education debate that s consumed washington for decades, or we can provide every child with a world-class education so they have the skills to compete and succeed in our global economy. we can invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of qualified teachers with better pay and more support, and finally make college affordable by offering an annual $4,000 tax credit in exchange for community or national service., these are the choices we face in november. we can choose to remain on the path that s gotten our economy into so much trouble, or we can reclaim the idea that in this country, opportunity is open to anyone who s willing to work for it., in the end, that s all most americans are asking for. it s not a lot. the people i ve met during this campaign in town halls and living rooms; on farms and front porches - they know that government can t solve all their problems, and they don t expect it to. they re willing to do their part - to work harder and study more and replace the remote controls and video games with books and homework. they believe in personal responsibility and self-reliance. they don t like seeing their tax dollars wasted., but they also believe in an america where jobs are there for the willing; where hard work is rewarded with a decent living; and where you can actually build a better life for your children and grandchildren. that s the promise of this country, and i believe we can keep it if we choose a new direction for our economy, a different course for our country, and get to work in the months and years ahead. thank you., ,"	
", have little impact on prices. it won t lower prices today. it won t lower prices during the next administration. in fact, we won t see a drop of oil from this drilling for almost ten years. while this won t save you at the pump, it sure has done a lot to raise campaign dollars. last month, senator mccain raised more than a million dollars from oil and gas company executives and employees – most of which came after he announced his drilling plan in front of a bunch of oil executives in houston. this is not a strategy designed to end our energy crisis – it s a strategy designed to get politicians through an election, and that s exactly why washington has failed to do anything about our energy dependence for the last thirty years., it s time to ease the burden on working families. that s why i support energy rebates that will provide immediate relief for the american people. you won t have to trust the oil companies to pass the savings on to you – you will get these rebates directly., we do need to bring down gas prices, and as president, i will. it s time to crack down on speculators who manipulate the market. it s time to close the loopholes that allow them to game the system. it s time to make washington work for the american people, not the special interests. that s what we can do to bring down gas prices., and we do need to increase domestic production, and as president, i will. right now, oil companies have access to 68 million acres where they aren t drilling, including 40 million offshore. instead of simply giving the oil companies more, it s time to give them a choice: use the land you have, or lose access to it. if we drill in the 68 million acres that are available, we can double our domestic oil production and increase natural gas production by 75 percent., now if i thought that we could solve all our problems by opening up areas for drilling outside the existing moratorium, i d be for it. but the truth is, that kind of drilling is not the answer to this crisis. america consumes 25 percent of the world s produced oil, but our nation holds less than 3 percent of the world s proven oil reserves. even more drilling will leave us with a permanent oil deficit, while we d still be dangerously energy dependent. i don t want to look up in four years and see that oil companies and opec still have our economy in their grip. we can t have a policy that tinkers around the margins while going down an oil company s wish list – it s time to fundamentally transform our energy economy so that it works for the american people. my plan makes that change, my opponent s doesn t, and that s the clear difference in this election., my energy plan will invest $150 billion over the next ten years to establish a new american energy sector, and senator mccain s won t. we ll create up to five million american jobs – good jobs, jobs that can t be outsourced. and we ll help american manufacturers – particularly in the auto industry – convert to green technology, and help workers learn the skills they need to stay ahead in the global economy., i ve supported investments in alternative energy, and senator mccain has opposed them. and as president, i ll invest in renewable energies like wind power, solar power, and the next generation of homegrown biofuels. that s how america is going to free itself from our dependence on foreign oil – not through short-term gimmicks, but through a real, long-term commitment to transform our energy sector. that s what we can choose to do in this election., we ve also got to change how we use energy. i ve fought for higher fuel efficiency standards in the senate, and when i m president, we ll double our fuel mileage standards over the next two decades. this will save america half a trillion gallons of gas – that s the equivalent of cutting the price of a gallon of gas in half. and i ll provide tax credits and loan guarantees for our automakers to help them make this transition., finally, one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to conserve energy and use less oil is to make america more energy efficient and more competitive with the world. that s why, when i m president, i will call on business, government, and the american people to make america 50 percent more energy efficient by 2030., when all is said and done, my plan will create entire new industries and thousands of new businesses, while working to strengthen our national security and save our planet. these steps are not far-off, pie-inthe-sky solutions – the american people are ready to make this change. today, there are waiting lists for fuel-efficient cars. i ve seen a steel mill in pennsylvania that has become the home of a new wind turbine factory, a small business in nevada powered entirely by solar power, and farmers here in iowa who are testing the new, efficient generation of biofuels that can drive our economy. across the planet, countries like germany and the united kingdom have already implemented clean energy polices. now it s america s turn to lead., this election – at this moment in history – is too important for half-measures. we started this campaign over eighteen months ago on the steps of the old statehouse in springfield with a simple belief that it was time for the american people to seize control of our destiny so that we could take this country in a new direction., after i announced my run for the presidency, our very first campaign stop was right here in cedar rapids. it was the dead of winter. the skeptics predicted we wouldn t get very far. the cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. and by the fall, the pundits in washington had all but counted us out., but the people of iowa believed that this moment could be different. you believed that democrats, independents, and republicans could come together behind a common purpose. you believed that with our nation at war and our american dream slipping away, this time, washington had to change. that s what it s going to take to work for a new energy future. now is the time to rise above the old politics and a broken energy policy. now is the time to move in a bold, new direction that lifts up our economy and secures our country.,"	
", now, i ve already called for a stimulus package on two different occasions this year, and much of what i ve proposed has passed in congress. these efforts have made some difference. but with job losses mounting, prices rising, increased turbulence in our financial system, and a growing credit crunch, we need to do more. i discussed these issues with my top economic advisers at a meeting on monday and we agreed that the main risk we face today is doing too little in the face of our growing economic troubles. that s why today, i m announcing a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track., the first part of my plan is a $1,000 emergency energy rebate that could go out to families as soon as this fall. this rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next 4 months. or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt., as we provide relief, we must also be mindful of the swelling budget deficit. that is why i am proposing that we pay for this rebate by taxing the windfall profits of oil companies like exxon mobil - a company that announced yesterday that it made nearly $12 billion last quarter, more than any u.s. corporation has ever made in a single quarter. it s time we used some of their record profits to help you pay record prices., the second part of my plan is a $50 billion stimulus to help jump-start job creation and help local communities that are struggling due to our economic downturn. half of this stimulus will go to state governments that are facing big budget shortfalls. when state governments are forced to cut spending on essential services like police or firefighters, it doesn t just undermine the safety of our communities, it makes our economic problems even worse. by offering $25 billion to state governments, we can help ensure that they don t have to let workers go or freeze their salaries or raise property taxes on families who are hurting. and we can also help ensure that they continue providing foreclosure counseling and other services to help families stay in their homes in areas that have been hard-hit by our housing crisis., we ll invest the other half of this $50 billion in our national infrastructure so we can create new jobs and save over one million jobs that are in danger of being cut. with construction costs rising, the highway trust fund is facing a deficit for the first time ever - and that means that current infrastructure projects are being delayed and new ones are being postponed. this is part of the reason we ve lost 600,000 jobs in the construction industry in recent years. so what we ll do is replenish the trust fund and make a down- payment on my plan to create a national infrastructure bank to rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges. we ll also invest some of this money to repair our crumbling schools - because that won t just help make sure our children are getting a world-class education, it will spur job-growth and boost our local economies., now my opponent has a very different economic philosophy. he s proposing to cut the gasoline tax paid by the oil companies and trust that they will pass on the savings in the form of lower prices at the pump. it s a plan that strips $9 billion from our highway construction funds, which means we will lose over 300,000 construction jobs. and he s also proposing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest americans in the hope that a little bit of it will trickle down to you., well, i do not believe that giving $4 billion in new tax cuts to oil companies - including $1.2 billion to exxon-mobil alone - will create any jobs or save you any money. instead, i believe america is at its strongest when our economy is growing from the bottom-up. if we want relief for families, we should give relief to families. if we want to create jobs, we should do more to make work pay for ordinary americans. that s what my plan does - because that s how we ll bring america the change we need right now., but we have to do more than just provide short-term relief. we have to secure our long-term prosperity and strengthen america s competitiveness in the 21st century. it won t be easy. it won t happen overnight. but i refuse to accept that we cannot meet the challenges of our global economy. i m running for president because i believe we can seize our own economic destiny., but we do have a choice to make in november. we can choose to go another four years without truly solving our energy crisis; or we can make america energy independent so we re less vulnerable to oil price shocks and $4 a gallon gas. we can build an american green energy sector by investing in renewable energies like wind power, solar power, and the next generation biofuels. and we can create up to five million new green jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced. that s what we can choose to do in this election., we can choose to go another four years with the same reckless fiscal policies that have busted our budget, wreaked havoc in our economy, and mortgaged our children s future on a mountain of debt; or we can restore fiscal responsibility in washington by starting to wind down a war in iraq that s costing $10 billion a month, by cutting wasteful spending, by shutting corporate loopholes and tax havens, and by rolling back the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans., we can go another four years with a broken health care system; or we can say that if we re spending more money on health care per capita than any other nation on earth, we shouldn t have 47 million people without health care. we shouldn t have families going bankrupt just because they got sick. we shouldn t have businesses struggling to stay afloat because they can t afford rising health care costs. we should be guaranteeing health care for anyone who wants it, making it affordable for anyone who needs, it, and cutting costs for businesses and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses and conditions. and that s what we ll do by the end of my first term as president of the united states., we can choose to stay mired in the same education debate that s consumed washington for decades, or we can provide every child with a quality education so they have the skills to succeed in our global economy. we can invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of qualified teachers with better pay and more support, and finally make college affordable by offering an annual $4,000 tax credit in exchange for community or national service. america will invest in you, you ll invest in america, and together, we ll move this country forward., these are the choices we face in november. and yet, instead of talking about these real choices, my opponent is running an increasingly negative campaign that s distorting my record and using the same old washington political attacks that are trotted out every four years. just yesterday, your own st. petersburg times wrote that their campaign has taken a ""nasty turn into the gutter."" the american people deserve better. you deserve a serious discussion about our nation s challenges. and you deserve real solutions to our economic problems - solutions that will help ensure that here in this country, opportunity is open to anyone who s willing to work for it., in the end, that s all most americans are asking for. it s not a lot. you don t expect government to solve all your problems. you want to be self-reliant and independent. you want to be responsible for your own lives and take care of your own families. but what you do expect is a government that isn t run by the special interests. what you do expect is that if you re willing to work, you should be able to find a job that pays a decent wage, that you shouldn t go bankrupt when you get sick, and that you should be able to send your child to college even if you re not rich. you do expect that you should be able to retire with dignity and respect., that s what you should expect. and that s why i m running for president of the united states. and if you re willing to stand with me and work with me and vote for me, then we will not just win florida, we will win this election, and then you and i together will change this country and change this world.,"	
", the system, we let special interests tilt the scale and distort the free market, we stopped making the investments in our children and our workers to help us all rise together., and today, we re all paying the price. today, we stand at a defining moment in our history. with seven straight months of job losses; with the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure since the depression; with family incomes down $1,000 and the costs of gas, groceries and health care up a whole lot more than that - so many people are looking at their children, wondering if they ll be able to give them the same chances they had., our cities have been especially hard hit - facing shrinking tax bases, growing budget deficits, and social services that just can t keep up with people s needs., and let s be very clear: when more than 80 percent of americans live in metro areas; when the top 100 metro areas generate two-thirds of our jobs; when 42 of our metro areas now rank among the world s 100 largest economies - the problems of our cities aren t just ""urban"" problems any more., when rising foreclosures mean vacant homes, abandoned streets and rising crime that spills over city limits - that s a suburban problem and an ex-urban problem too., when tens of millions of people in our cities are uninsured, and our urban emergency rooms are overflowing - that s a suburban and ex-urban problem too., when urban roads, bridges and transit systems are crumbling; when urban schools aren t giving young people the skills to compete, so companies decide to take their business and their jobs elsewhere - that s a suburban and ex-urban problem too., as president kennedy once said, ""we will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation."", so we ve got a decision to make. we can continue president bush s economic policies - the policies that got us here in the first place. that s the course senator mccain would have us follow. he s said we ve made ""great progress economically"" under president bush., well, i disagree. we face serious issues in this election - and have real differences. but i m not going to assault senator mccain s character. i m not going to compare him to pop stars. i will, however, compare our two visions for our economic future., senator mccain wants to keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. i want to end them and start giving incentives to companies that create jobs here at home. because i don t think 463,000 lost jobs this year is economic progress., he wants to give $300 billion worth of tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthiest americans. under his plan, more than 100 million middle class families won t see a penny in direct tax relief. i want to put a tax cut of up to $1,000 into the pockets of 95% of working americans. and if you re a family making less than $250,000 a year, my plan won t raise your taxes one penny - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes., senator mccain is opposed to regular increases in the minimum wage - i want to index it so that it rises with rising costs. he thinks the earned income tax credit is fine as it is - i want to expand it. he has no plans to make childcare more affordable or help people get paid sick leave - while i do., in the end, senator mccain s plans, if you re doing spectacularly well now, you ll do even better. otherwise, you ll likely be stuck running in place - or fall even further behind., well, i don t think that s good enough. those policies haven t worked for the past eight years, they won t work now, and it s time for something new. it s time for policies that reflect the fundamental truth that we rise or fall as one nation. that s the truth at the heart of your opportunity compact - that we cannot have a thriving wall street and a struggling main street. that when wages are flat, prices are rising, and more and more americans are mired in debt, our economy as a whole suffers. our competitiveness as a nation suffers. our children s future suffers., so we all have a stake here. that s why your opportunity agenda is a compact - not a guarantee, not a promise - but a call to responsibility. because we know that government can t solve all our problems,, and government can t and shouldn t do for us what we should be doing for ourselves: raising our kids the right way, being good neighbors and good citizens, becoming leaders in our industries and communities. we know that the american dream isn t something that happens to you - it s something you strive for and work for and seize with your own two hands. and we ve got a responsibility as a nation to keep that dream alive for all of our people., that s what i was trying to do working with folks on the south side of chicago all those years ago. those folks weren t asking for a handout or an easy way out. they wanted to work, they wanted to contribute, they wanted to give their kids every opportunity to succeed. they just needed a chance, an opportunity to start climbing - the same thing we all want in life. and that s what this election is about., this election is about the 47 million people who don t have health care - including 1 in 5 african americans - people for whom one accident, one illness could mean financial ruin. that s why, when i m president, we ll bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the typical family and prevent insurance, companies from discriminating against those who need care most. we ll guarantee health care for anyone who needs it, make it affordable for anyone who wants it, and ensure that the quality of your health care doesn t depend on the color of your skin., this election is about the couple i met in north las vegas who saved up for decades only to be tricked into buying a home they couldn t afford - and all those families whose dream of owning a home has been shattered by that grim foreclosure notice in the mail., unfortunately, senator mccain s housing plan doesn t do anything to help many of the 2.5 million homeowners facing foreclosure - even as he supported spending billions to bail out wall street., i ve got a different approach. two years ago, i offered a proposal to crack down on mortgage fraud. i worked with senator chris dodd and congressman barney frank to pass a housing bill that will help families refinance their mortgages and stay in their homes. and i support tax credits to help low and middle-income americans afford their mortgage payments. because if we can bail out the investment banks on wall street who helped create this crisis, then we can certainly extend a hand to folks bearing the brunt of it on main street., this election is also about every child sitting in a crumbling classroom; every child taught by a teacher who isn t getting the support he or she needs. it s about the 1.2 million students who fail to graduate high school each year - including 100,000 last year in florida. it s about the ""catastrophe,"" as colin powell put it, of children in our nation s largest cities who have a 50-50 chance - literally a coin toss - of graduating on-time., now, i think it s interesting that senator mccain came before you yesterday and attacked my record on education reform. for someone who s been in washington nearly 30 years, he s got a pretty slim record on education, and when he has taken a stand, it s been the wrong one. so i m happy to put my record and ideas up against his any day., he voted against increased funding for no child left behind to preserve billions in tax breaks for the wealthiest americans - tax breaks he wants to extend without saying how he d pay for them. he voted against increasing funds for head start, and pell grants, and the hiring of 100,000 new teachers again and again and again. he even applauded the idea of abolishing the department of education., in fact, his only proposal seems to be recycling tired rhetoric about vouchers. now, i ve been a proponent of public school choice throughout my career. i also believe that well-designed public charter schools have a lot to offer. that s why i helped pass legislation to double the number of charter schools in chicago. but what i do oppose is using public money for private school vouchers. we need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools; not throwing our hands up and walking away from them. we need to stop the tired old attacks, and start getting results for our children., that s why i ve been working to reform our schools for years. that s why i introduced a comprehensive plan last fall to recruit, prepare and retain effective teachers across america and why i added a program to the education bill that passed just yesterday to prepare high quality teachers in urban areas. that s why i introduced legislation to lower the dropout rate, starting in middle school. that s why, when i m president, we ll give every child access to high quality pre-kindergarten programs, recruit an army of new teachers for our communities, stop leaving the money behind for no child left behind, and make college affordable for anyone who wants to go. that s how we ll give every young person the skills to get a good job; that s how we ll ensure that america can compete in the twenty-first century global economy., and if people tell you that we can t afford to invest in education or health care or good jobs, you just remind them that we re spending $10 billion a month in iraq. and if we can spend that much money in iraq, we can spend some of that money right here in america, in cities all across this country., we know the difference we can make when we work together to open the doors of opportunity wide enough for everyone to walk through. today, i m thinking of one particular example from your history., back in january of 1949, the urban league brought representatives from general electric to howard university to recruit graduating seniors. it was the first time in history that a company like that had come to a black university campus to hire students. the next year, thirteen companies recruited at howard. soon after that, more than 500 corporate representatives came to half a dozen other colleges and universities. and today, national and multinational companies recruit african american students at hbcus and colleges and universities across this country., think about all the careers launched, the wealth built, the homes bought, the tuition paid, and the dreams realized - think about all the grandparents looking back on their achievements with pride, and the children looking forward to their futures with hope - all, at least in part, because of what the urban league started on a winter day nearly 60 years ago., that is the march for america that whitney young spoke of all those years ago. the march that led so many of our parents and grandparents north to our cities, looking to start a new life, unafraid of hard work, determined to give their children opportunities they never had. as the poet alice walker once wrote, ""...they knew what we must know without knowing a page of it themselves."", that s what we ve always done in america: dream big for ourselves - and even bigger for our children, ,"	
", offered a few weeks ago. he said, ""our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in washington to think long-term about the future of the country."", what senator mccain neglected to mention was that during those thirty years, he was in washington for twenty-six of them. and in all that time, he did little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. he voted against increased fuel efficiency standards and opposed legislation that included tax credits for more efficient cars. he voted against renewable sources of energy. against clean biofuels. against solar power. against wind power. against an energy bill that - while far from perfect - represented the largest investment in renewable sources of energy in the history of this country. so when senator mccain talks about the failure of politicians in washington to do anything about our energy crisis, it s important to remember that he s been a part of that failure. now, after years of inaction, and in the face of public frustration over rising gas prices, the only energy proposal he s really promoting is more offshore drilling - a position he recently adopted that has become the centerpiece of his plan, and one that will not make a real dent in current gas prices or meet the long-term challenge of energy independence., george bush s own energy department has said that if we opened up new areas to drilling today, we wouldn t see a single drop of oil for seven years. seven years. and senator mccain knows that, which is why he admitted that his plan would only provide ""psychological"" relief to consumers. he also knows that if we opened up and drilled on every single square inch of our land and our shores, we would still find only three percent of the world s oil reserves. three percent for a country that uses 25% of the world s oil. even texas oilman boone pickens, who s calling for major new investments in alternative energy, has said, ""this is one emergency we can t drill our way out of."", now, increased domestic oil exploration certainly has its place as we make our economy more fuel- efficient and transition to other, renewable, american-made sources of energy. but it is not the solution. it is a political answer of the sort washington has given us for three decades., there are genuine ways in which we can provide some short-term relief from high gas prices - relief to the mother who s cutting down on groceries because of gas prices, or the man i met in pennsylvania who lost his job and can t even afford to drive around and look for a new one. i believe we should immediately give every working family in america a $1,000 energy rebate, and we should pay for it with part of the record profits that the oil companies are making right now., i also believe that in the short-term, as we transition to renewable energy, we can and should increase our domestic production of oil and natural gas. but we should start by telling the oil companies to drill on the 68 million acres they currently have access to but haven t touched. and if they don t, we should require them to give up their leases to someone who will. we should invest in the technology that can help us recover more from existing oil fields, and speed up the process of recovering oil and gas resources in shale formations in montana and north dakota; texas and arkansas and in parts of the west and, central gulf of mexico. we should sell 70 million barrels of oil from our strategic petroleum reserve for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks. over the next five years, we should also lease more of the national petroleum reserve in alaska for oil and gas production. and we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the canadian government to finally build the alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process., but the truth is, none of these steps will come close to seriously reducing our energy dependence in the long-term. we simply cannot pretend, as senator mccain does, that we can drill our way out of this problem. we need a much bolder and much bigger set of solutions. we have to make a serious, nationwide commitment to developing new sources of energy and we have to do it right away., last week, washington finally made some progress on this. a group of democrat and republican senators sat down and came up with a compromise on energy that includes many of the proposals i ve worked on as a senator and many of the steps i ve been calling for on this campaign. it s a plan that would invest in renewable fuels and batteries for fuel-efficient cars, help automakers re-tool, and make a real investment in renewable sources of energy., like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. it includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while i still don t believe that s a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, i am willing to consider it if it s necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan. i am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good - particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil., and yet, while the compromise is a good first step and a good faith effort, i believe that we must go even further, and here s why - breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. it will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy. this transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities., it is also a transformation that will require more than just a few government programs. energy independence will require an all-hands-on-deck effort from america - effort from our scientists and entrepreneurs; from businesses and from every american citizen. factories will have to re-tool and re-, design. businesses will need to find ways to emit less carbon dioxide. all of us will need to buy more of the fuel-efficient cars built by this state, and find new ways to improve efficiency and save energy in our own homes and businesses., this will not be easy. and it will not happen overnight. and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they are either fooling themselves or trying to fool you., but i know we can do this. we can do this because we are americans. we do the improbable. we beat great odds. we rally together to meet whatever challenge stands in our way. that s what we ve always done - and it s what we must do now. for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we must end the age of oil in our time., creating a new energy economy isn t just a challenge to meet, it s an opportunity to seize - an opportunity that will create new businesses, new industries, and millions of new jobs. jobs that pay well. jobs that can t be outsourced. good, union jobs. for a state that has lost so many and struggled so much in recent years, this is an opportunity to rebuild and revive your economy. as your wonderful governor has said, ""any time you pick up a newspaper and see the terms  climate change  or  global warming,  just think:  jobs for michigan. "" you are seeing the potential already. already, there are 50,000 jobs in your clean energy sector and 300 companies. but now is the time to accelerate that growth, both here and across the nation., if i am president, i will immediately direct the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector to a single, overarching goal - in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire middle east and venezuela. to do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next ten years and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses american energy and creates five million new american jobs., there are three major steps i will take to achieve this goal - steps that will yield real results by the end of my first term in office., first, we will help states like michigan build the fuel-efficient cars we need, and we will get one million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on our roads within six years., i know how much the auto industry and the auto workers of this state have struggled over the last decade or so. but i also know where i want the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow to be built - not in japan, not in china, but right here in the united states of america. right here in the state of michigan., we can do this. when i arrived in washington, i reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise the mileage standards in our cars for the first time in thirty years - a plan that won support from democrats and republicans who had never supported raising fuel standards before. i also led the bipartisan effort to invest in the technology necessary to build plug-in hybrid cars., as president, i will accelerate those efforts to meet our urgent need. with technology we have on the shelf today, we will raise our fuel mileage standards four percent every year. we ll invest more in the research and development of those plug-in hybrids, specifically focusing on the battery technology. we ll leverage private sector funding to bring these cars directly to american consumers, and we ll give consumers a $7,000 tax credit to buy these vehicles. but most importantly, i ll provide $4 billion in loans and tax credits to american auto plants and manufacturers so that they can re-tool their factories and build these cars. that s how we ll not only protect our auto industry and our auto workers, but help them thrive in a 21st century economy., what s more, these efforts will lead to an explosion of innovation here in michigan. at the turn of the 20th century, there were literally hundreds of car companies offering a wide choice of steam vehicles and gas engines. i believe we are entering a similar era of expanding consumer choices, from higher mileage cars, to new electric entrants like gm s volt, to flex fuel cars and trucks powered by biofuels and driven by michigan innovation., the second step i ll take is to require that 10% of our energy comes from renewable sources by the end of my first term - more than double what we have now. to meet these goals, we will invest more in the clean technology research and development that s occurring in labs and research facilities all across the country and right here at msu, where you re working with farm owners to develop this state s wind potential and developing nanotechnology that will make solar cells cheaper., i ll also extend the production tax credit for five years to encourage the production of renewable energy like wind power, solar power, and geothermal energy. it was because of this credit that wind power grew 45% last year, the largest growth in history. experts have said that michigan has the second best potential for wind generation and production in the entire country. and as the world s largest producer of the material that makes solar panels work, this tax credit would also help states like michigan grow solar industries that are already creating hundreds of new jobs., we ll also invest federal resources, including tax incentives and government contracts, into developing next generation biofuels. by 2022, i will make it a goal to have 6 billion gallons of our fuel come from sustainable, affordable biofuels and we ll make sure that we have the infrastructure to deliver that fuel in place. here in michigan, you re actually a step ahead of the game with your first-ever commercial cellulosic ethanol plant, which will lead the way by turning wood into clean-burning fuel. it s estimated, that each new advanced biofuels plant can add up to 120 jobs, expand a local town s tax base by $70 million per year, and boost local household income by $6.7 million annually., in addition, we ll find safer ways to use nuclear power and store nuclear waste. and we ll invest in the technology that will allow us to use more coal, america s most abundant energy source, with the goal of creating five ""first-of-a-kind"" coal-fired demonstration plants with carbon capture and sequestration., of course, too often, the problem is that all of this new energy technology never makes it out of the lab and onto the market because there s too much risk and too much cost involved in starting commercial- scale clean energy businesses. so we will remove some of this cost and this risk by directing billions in loans and capital to entrepreneurs who are willing to create clean energy businesses and clean energy jobs right here in america., as we develop new sources of energy and electricity, we will also need to modernize our national utility grid so that it s accommodating to new sources of power, more efficient, and more reliable. that s an investment that will also create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and one that i will make as president., finally, the third step i will take is to call on businesses, government, and the american people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity 15% by the end of the next decade. this is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to reduce our energy consumption - and it will save us $130 billion on our energy bills., since dupont implemented an energy efficiency program in 1990, the company has significantly reduced its pollution and cut its energy bills by $3 billion. the state of california has implemented such a successful efficiency strategy that while electricity consumption grew 60% in this country over the last three decades, it didn t grow at all in california., there is no reason america can t do the same thing. we will set a goal of making our new buildings 50% more efficient over the next four years. and we ll follow the lead of california and change the way utilities make money so that their profits aren t tied to how much energy we use, but how much energy we save., in just ten years, these steps will produce enough renewable energy to replace all the oil we import from the middle east. along with the cap-and-trade program i ve proposed, we will reduce our dangerous carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and slow the warming of our planet. and we will create five million new jobs in the process., if these sound like far-off goals, just think about what we can do in the next few years. one million plug-in hybrid cars on the road. doubling our energy from clean, renewable sources like wind power or solar power and 2 billion gallons of affordable biofuels. new buildings that 50% more energy efficient., so there is a real choice in this election - a choice about what kind of future we want for this country and this planet., senator mccain would not take the steps or achieve the goals that i outlined today. his plan invests very little in renewable sources of energy and he s opposed helping the auto industry re-tool. like george bush and dick cheney before him, he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he s found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long. in fact, he raised more than one million dollars from big oil just last month, most of which came after he announced his plan for offshore drilling in a room full of cheering oil executives. his initial reaction to the bipartisan energy compromise was to reject it because it took away tax breaks for oil companies. and even though he doesn t want to spend much on renewable energy, he s actually proposed giving $4 billion more in tax breaks to the biggest oil companies in america - including $1.2 billion to exxon-mobil., this is a corporation that just recorded the largest profit in the history of the united states. . this is the company that, last quarter, made $1,500 every second. that s more than $300,000 in the time it takes you to fill up a tank with gas that s costing you more than $4-a-gallon. and senator mccain not only wants them to keep every dime of that money, he wants to give them more., so make no mistake - the oil companies have placed their bet on senator mccain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy., well that s not the future i see for america. i will not pretend the goals i laid out today aren t ambitious. they are. i will not pretend we can achieve them without cost, or without sacrifice, or without the contribution of almost every american citizen., but i will say that these goals are possible. and i will say that achieving them is absolutely necessary if we want to keep america safe and prosperous in the 21st century., i want you all to think for a minute about the next four years, and even the next ten years. we can continue down the path we ve been traveling. we can keep making small, piece-meal investments in renewable energy and keep sending billions of our hard-earned dollars to oil company executives and middle eastern dictators. we can watch helplessly as the price of gas rises and falls because of some foreign crisis we have no control over, and uncover every single barrel of oil buried beneath this country only to realize that we don t have enough for a few years, let alone a century. we can watch other countries create the industries and the jobs that will fuel our future, and leave our children a planet that grows, more dangerous and unlivable by the day., or we can choose another future. we can decide that we will face the realities of the 21st century by building a 21st century economy. in just a few years, we can watch cars that run on a plug-in battery come off the same assembly lines that once produced the first ford and the first chrysler. we can see shuttered factories open their doors to manufacturers that sell wind turbines and solar panels that will power our homes and our businesses. we can watch as millions of new jobs with good pay and good benefits are created for american workers, and we can take pride as the technologies, and discoveries, and industries of the future flourish in the united states of america. we can lead the world, secure our nation, and meet our moral obligations to future generations., this is the choice that we face in the months ahead. this is the challenge we must meet. this is the opportunity we must seize - and this may be our last chance to seize it., and if it seems too difficult or improbable, i ask you to think about the struggles and the challenges that past generations have overcome. think about how world war ii forced us to transform a peacetime economy still climbing out of depression into an arsenal of democracy that could wage war across three continents. and when president roosevelt s advisors informed him that his goals for wartime production were impossible to meet, he waved them off and said ""believe me, the production people can do it if they really try."" and they did., think about when the scientists and engineers told john f. kennedy that they had no idea how to put a man on the moon, he told them they would find a way. and we found one. remember how we trained a generation for a new, industrial economy by building a nationwide system of public high schools; how we laid down railroad tracks and highways across an entire continent; how we pushed the boundaries of science and technology to unlock the very building blocks of human life., i ask you to draw hope from the improbable progress this nation has made and look to the future with confidence that we too can meet the great test of our time. i ask you to join me, in november and in the years to come, to ensure that we will not only control our own energy, but once again control our own destiny, and forge a new and better future for the country that we love. thank you.,"	
", a gusher for senator mccain. because after he announced his drilling proposal to a room full of oil executives, the industry ponied up nearly a million dollars in contributions. that s the kind of special interest-driven politics that s stopped us from solving our energy crisis. and that s why washington is broken., so i know senator mccain likes to call himself a maverick - and the fact is, there are times when he s shown independence from his party in the past. but the price he paid for his party s nomination was to reverse himself on position after position, and now he embraces the failed bush policies and politics that helped break washington in the first place - and that doesn t exactly meet my definition of a maverick., by the way, while we re on the subject of senator mccain contradicting himself, a few days ago someone asked me what they could do to help america save energy. i suggested that we could get better gas mileage in our cars and save oil in the process just by keeping our tires inflated, and experts agreed. but senator mccain and his party mocked the idea, and they even sent out tire gauges. well, get this - last night, after all that, senator mccain actually said that he agreed that keeping our tires inflated was a good idea. we just agreed to a series of debates in the fall, but the most interesting one that s going on these days is the debate between john mccain and john mccain, but understand, this isn t just about tire gauges and it isn t just about a single tv ad - no matter how misleading it is. it s about everyone in this room. it s about your lives and your family s future. because you know that what we ve been doing for the past eight years hasn t worked - and that we can t afford another four years of the failed policies that we ve had under george w. bush., and if you needed one more example of what s wrong with our energy policies or the bush policies in general, there s a new report out saying that iraq has hit a windfall because of high oil prices. they have a $79 billion budget surplus at a time when were spending $10 billion a month to defend and rebuild that country. their money is not being invested in services for suffering iraqis or reconstruction. while some of their money is sitting in american banks, american money is being spent over there. it s time for iraqis to take responsibility for rebuilding their own country, and it s time for us to address own concerns here at home., that s why earlier this week i laid out a plan to help end the age of oil in our time. here s how we ll do it. in the short-term, as we transition to renewable energy, we can and should increase our domestic production of oil and natural gas. right now, oil companies have access to 68 million acres where they aren t drilling. so we should start by giving them a choice: use the land you have, or give up your leases to someone who will., but the truth is, this won t seriously reduce our energy dependence in the long-term. we simply cannot pretend, as senator mccain does, that we can drill our way out of this problem. breaking our oil addiction will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy. it will take an all-hands-on-deck effort from america - effort from our scientists and entrepreneurs; from businesses and from every american citizen., we all know that this is the great challenge of our time. but it s also a great opportunity because if we can seize this moment, we can open the door to a new economy for the 21st century that will bring new energy, new jobs, and new hope to families in places like elkhart., that s why i voted for an energy bill in the senate that was far from perfect, and that included tax giveaways to oil companies that i fought to eliminate, but that also represented the single largest investment in renewable energy in history. and that s why if i am president, i will put the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector behind a single, overarching goal - in ten years, we will eliminate the need for oil from the entire middle east and venezuela. to do this, we ll invest $150 billion over the next decade and leverage billions more in private capital to harness american energy and create five million new american jobs - jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced, good union jobs that lift up our families and communities., there are three major steps i ll take to achieve this goal. first, we ll commit ourselves to getting one million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrid cars on our roads within six years. and we ll make sure that the cars of tomorrow are built not just in japan or china, but right here in the united states of america. second, we ll double the amount of our energy that comes from renewable sources by the end of my first term. that means investing in renewables like wind and solar power, and we ll also invest in the next generation biofuels. third, i will call on businesses, government, and the american people to meet the goal of reducing our demand for electricity 15% by the end of the next decade. this is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to reduce our energy consumption - and it will save us $130 billion on our energy bills., in just ten years, these three steps will produce enough renewable energy to replace all the oil we import from the middle east and venezuela. i won t pretend these goals aren t ambitious. they are. i won t pretend we can achieve them without cost, or without sacrifice, or without the contribution of almost every american citizen. we can t., but i will say that these goals are possible. and i will say that achieving them is absolutely necessary if we want to keep america safe and prosperous in the 21st century. it s necessary if we want our families to thrive again - to have good jobs with good wages that let them get ahead again., so in this election, we face a choice. we can keep paying more and more at the pump, and sending our hard-earned dollars to oil company executives and middle eastern dictators. we can watch helplessly as the price of gas rises and falls because of some foreign crisis we have no control over, and uncover every single barrel of oil buried beneath this country only to realize that we don t have enough for a few years, let alone a century., or we can choose another future. in just a few years, we can watch cars that run on plug-in batteries come off our assembly lines. we can see shuttered factories open their doors to manufacturers that sell wind turbines and solar panels that will power our homes and our businesses. we can watch as millions of new jobs with good pay and good benefits are created for american workers, and we can take pride as the technologies, and discoveries, and industries of the future flourish in the united states of america. we can lead the world, secure our nation, and leave our children a planet that is safer and cleaner and healthier than the one we inherited., this is the choice we face in the months ahead. this is the challenge we must meet. this is the opportunity we must seize - and this may be our last chance to seize it. so i ask you to join me in november - and in the years to come - to ensure that we not only control our own energy, but that we bring about a new and better future for our hardworking families and for this country that we love. thank you.,"	
", they areoutstanding americans. in iraq, gains have been made in lowering thelevel of violence thanks to the outstanding efforts of our military, theincreasing capability of iraq s security forces, the ceasefire of shiitemilitias, and the decision taken by sunni tribes to take the fight to alqaeda. those are the facts, and all americans welcome them., but understand what the essential argument was about. before the surge,i argued that the long-term solution in iraq is political - the iraqigovernment must reconcile its differences and take responsibility forits future. that holds true today. we have lost over a thousand americanlives and spent hundreds of billions of dollars since the surge began,but iraq s leaders still haven t made hard compromises or substantialinvestments in rebuilding their country. our military is badlyoverstretched - a fact that has surely been noted in capitals around theworld. and while we pay a heavy price in iraq - and americans pay recordprices at the pump - iraq s government is sitting on a $79 billiondollar budget surplus from windfall oil profits., let s be clear: our troops have completed every mission they ve beengiven. they have created the space for political reconciliation. now itmust be filled by an iraqi government that reconciles its differencesand spends its oil profits to meet the needs of its people. iraqiinaction threatens the progress we ve made and creates an opening fori ran and the ""special groups"" it supports. it s time to press the iraqisto take responsibility for their future. the best way to do that is aresponsible redeployment of our combat brigades, carried out in closeconsultation with commanders on the ground. we can safely redeploy at apace that removes our combat brigades in 16 months. that would be wellinto 2010 - seven years after the war began. after this redeployment,we ll keep a residual force to target remnants of al qaeda; to protectour service members and diplomats; and to train iraq s security forcesif the iraqis make political progress., iraq s democratically-elected prime minister has embraced thistimeframe. now it s time to succeed in iraq by turning iraq over to itssovereign government. we should not keep sending our troops to fighttour after tour of duty while our military is overstretched. we shouldnot keep spending $10 billion a month in iraq while americans strugglein a sluggish economy. ending the war will allow us to invest inamerica, to strengthen our military, and to finish the fight against alqaeda and the taliban in afghanistan and the border region of pakistan., this is the central front in the war on terrorism. this is where thetaliban is gaining strength and launching new attacks, including onethat just took the life of ten french soldiers. this is where osama binladen and the same terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 americans on ourown soil are hiding and plotting seven years after 9/11. this is a warthat we have to win. and as commander-in-chief, i will have no greaterpriority than taking out these terrorists who threaten america, andfinishing the job against the taliban., for years, i have called for more resources and more troops to finishthe fight in afghanistan. with his overwhelming focus on iraq, senatormccain argued that we could just ""muddle through"" in afghanistan, andonly came around to supporting my call for more troops last month. now,we need a policy of ""more for more"" - more from america and our natoallies, and more from the afghan government. that s why i ve called forat least two additional u.s. combat brigades and an additional $1 billion in non-military assistance for afghanistan, with a demand formore action from the afghan government to take on corruption andcounternarcotics, and to improve the lives of the afghan people., we must also recognize that we cannot succeed in afghanistan or secureamerica as long as there is a terrorist safe-haven in northwestpakistan. a year ago, i said that we must take action against bin ladenand his lieutenants if we have them in our sights and pakistan cannot orwill not act. senator mccain criticized me and claimed that i was for""bombing our ally."" so for all of his talk about following osama binladen to the gates of hell, senator mccain refused to join my call totake out bin laden across the afghan border. instead, he spent yearsbacking a dictator in pakistan who failed to serve the interests of hisown people., i argued for years that we need to move from a ""musharraf policy"" to a""pakistan policy."" we must move beyond an alliance built on mereconvenience or a relationship with one man. now, with presidentmusharraf s resignation, we have the opportunity to do just that. that swhy i ve cosponsored a bill to triple non-military aid to the pakistanipeople, while ensuring that the military assistance we do provide isused to take the fight to the taliban and al qaeda in the tribal regionsof pakistan., today, our attention is also on the republic of georgia, and senatormccain and i both strongly support the people of georgia and theamericans delivering humanitarian aid. there is no possiblejustification for russia s actions. russian troops have yet to begin thewithdrawal required by the cease-fire signed by their president, and weare hearing reports of russian atrocities: burning wheat fields, brutalkilling, and the destruction of georgia s infrastructure and militaryassets., this crisis underscores the need for engaged u.s. leadership in theworld. we failed to head off this conflict and lost leverage in ourability to contain it because our leaders have been distracted, ourresources overstretched, and our alliances frayed. american leadershipmeans getting engaged earlier to shape events so that we re not merelyresponding to them. that s why i m committed to renewing our leadershipand rebuilding our alliances as president of the united states., for months, i have called for active international engagement to resolvethe disputes over south ossetia and abkhazia. i made it crystal clearbefore, at the beginning of, and during this conflict that georgia sterritorial integrity must be respected, and that georgia should beintegrated into transatlantic institutions. i have condemned russianaggression, and today i reiterate my demand that russia abide by thecease-f ire. russia must know that its actions will have consequences.they will imperil the civil nuclear agreement, and russia s standing inthe international community - including the nato-russia council, andrussia s desire to participate in organizations like the wto and theoecd. finally, we must help georgia rebuild what has been destroyed.that is why i m proud to join my friend, senator joe biden, in callingfor an additional $1 billion in reconstruction assistance for the peopleof georgia., these are the judgments i ve made and the policies that we have todebate, because we do have differences in this election. but one of thethings that we have to change in this country is the idea that peoplecan t disagree without challenging each other s character andpatriotism. i have never suggested that senator mccain picks hispositions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. ihave not suggested it because i believe that he genuinely wants to serveamerica s national interest. now, it s time for him to acknowledge thati want to do the same., let me be clear: i will let no one question my love of this country. ilove america, so do you, and so does john mccain. when i look out atthis audience, i see people of different political views. you aredemocrats and republicans and independents. but you all served together,and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag. youdid not serve a red america or a blue america - you served the unitedstates of america., so let s have a serious debate, and let s debate our disagreements onthe merits of policy - not personal attacks. and no matter how heated itgets or what kind of campaign he chooses to run, i will honor senatormccain s service, just like i honor the service of every veteran in thisroom, and every american who has worn the uniform of the united states., one of those americans was my grandfather, stanley dunham., my father left when i was 2, so my grandfather was the man who helpedraise me. he grew up in el dorado, kansas - a town too small to warrantboldface on a road map. he worked on oil rigs and drifted from town totown during the depression. then he met my grandmother and enlistedafter pearl harbor. he would go on to march across europe in patton sarmy, while my great uncle fought with the 89th infantry division toliberate buchenwald, my grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line,and my mother was born at fort leavenworth. after my grandfather leftthe army, he went to college on the gi bill, bought his home with helpfrom the federal housing authority, and he and my grandmother moved westin a restless pursuit of their dreams., they were among the men and women of our greatest generation. they camefrom ordinary places, and went on to do extraordinary things. theysurvived a depression and faced down fascism. and when the guns fellsilent, america stood by them, because they had a government that didn tjust ask them to win a war - it helped them to live their dreams inpeace, and to become the backbone of the largest middle class that theworld has ever known. in the five years after world war ii, the gi billhelped 15 million veterans get an education. two million went tocollege. millions more learned a trade in factories or on farms. fourmillion veterans received help in buying a home, leading to the biggesthome construction boom in our history., and these veterans didn t just receive a hand from washington - they didtheir part to lift up america, just as they d done their duty indefending it. they became teachers and doctors, cops and firefighterswho were the foundation of our communities. they became the innovatorsand small business owners who helped drive the american economy. theybecame the scientists and engineers who helped us win the space raceagainst the soviets. they won a cold war, and left a legacy to theirchildren and grandchildren who reached new horizons of opportunity., i am a part of that legacy. without it, i would not be standing on thisstage today. and as president, i will do everything that i can to keepthe promise, to advance the american dream for all our veterans, and toenlist them in the cause of building a stronger america., our young men and women in uniform have proven that they are the equalof the greatest generation on the battlefield. now, we must ensurethat our brave troops serving abroad today become the backbone of ourmiddle class at home tomorrow. those who fight to defend america abroadmust have the chance to live their dreams at home - through educationand their ability to make a good living; through affordable health care;and through a retirement that is dignified and secure. that is thepromise that we must keep with all who serve., it starts with those who choose to remain in uniform, as well as theirfamilies. my wife michelle has net with military families in northcarolina, kentucky and virginia over the last several months. everytime, she passes on their stories - stories of lives filled withpatriotism and purpose, but also stories of spouses struggling to paythe bills, kids dealing with an absent parent, and the unique burden ofmultiple deployments. the message that michelle has heard is what youall know and have lived: when a loved one is deployed, the whole familygoes to war., the vfw has done an extraordinary job of standing by our militaryfamilies - helping out with everything, from a phone card for a soldierwho is overseas, to an extra hand around the house. as president, i willstand with you. we need a military families advisory board to identifynew ways to ease the burden. we need more official support for thevolunteer networks that help military spouses get by. and we need tomake sure that military pay does not lag behind the private sector, sothat those who serve can raise their families and live the life they veearned., for those who return to civilian life, i will support their americandream in this 21st century just as we supported generations of veteransin the 20th. that starts with education. everyone who serves thiscountry should have the same opportunity that my grandfather had underthe gi bill. that s why, unlike my opponent, i was a strong and earlysupporter of jim webb s gi bill for the 21st century - a bill thatsenator mccain called too generous. at a time when the skyrocketing costof tuition is pricing thousands of americans out of a college education,this bill provides every veteran with a real chance to afford aworld-class college education. and that s what i ll continue to stand upfor as president., we must also stand up for affordable health care for every singleveteran. that s why i ve pledged to build a 21st century va. we need tocut through the red tape - every service-member should get electroniccopies of medical and service records upon discharge. we need to closeshortfalls - it s time to fully fund va health care, and to add more vetcenters. we need to get rid of means-testing - every veteran should beallowed into the va system. my opponent takes a different view. he wantsto ration care so the va only serves combat injuries, while everyoneelse gets an insurance card. while the va needs some real reform tobetter serve those who have worn the uniform, privatization is just notthe answer. we cannot risk our veterans  health care by turning the vainto just another health insurer. we need to make sure the va is strongenough to treat every veteran who depends on it. that s what i ll do aspresident., and we must expand and enhance our ability to identify and treat ptsdand traumatic brain injury at all levels: from enlistment, todeployment, to civilian life. no one should suffer in silence, or slipthrough the cracks in the system. that s why i ve passed measures toincrease screening for these unseen wounds, and helped lead a bipartisaneffort to stop the unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer fromthem. this is something i ve fought for in the senate, and it ssomething that i ll make a priority as president., economic security for our veterans also depends on revamping anoverburdened benefits system. i congratulate the vfw for what you vedone to help veterans navigate a broken vba bureaucracy. now it s timefor the government to do a better job. we need more workers, and a 21 stcentury electronic system that is fully linked up to military recordsand the va s health network. it s time to ensure that those who veserved get the benefits that they ve earned., just as we give veterans the support they deserve, we must also engagethem and all americans in a new cause: renewing america. i am runningfor president because i believe that there is no challenge too great forthe american people to meet if they are called upon to come together. inamerica, each of us is free to seek our dreams, but we must also serve acommon purpose, a higher purpose. no one embodies that commitment like aveteran., just think of the skills that our troops have developed through theirservice. they have not simply waged war in afghanistan and iraq - theyhave rebuilt infrastructure, supported new agriculture, trained policeforces, and developed health care systems. for those leaving militaryservice, it s time to apply those skills to our great nationalchallenges here at home., that means expanding programs like troops-to-teachers that put veteransat the front of the classroom. that means tapping the talent ofengineers who ve served as we make a substantial investment to rebuildour infrastructure and create millions of new jobs. that meansdramatically expanding national service programs to give americans ofall ages, skills and stations the chance to give back to theircommunities and their country. i ll also enlist veterans in forging anew american energy economy. that s why i ve proposed a green veteransinitiative to give our veterans the training they need to succeed in thegreen jobs of the future - so that they put themselves on a pathway to asuccessful career, while ensuring that our national security is neverheld hostage to hostile nations., this is how we can help our veterans live their dreams while helping ourcountry meet the challenges of the 21st century. and this is what wehave learned from so many generations of veterans, including those ofyou here today - that your contribution to the american story does notend when the uniform comes off. we need those who serve in our militaryto live their dreams - and to continue serving the cause of america -when the guns fall silent. that s what the vfw stands for, and if i havethe honor of being your president, that s what my administration willwork for every single day. because i believe that we have a sacred trustwith those who serve in our military. that trust is simple: america willbe there for you just as you have been there for america. it s a trustthat begins at enlistment, and it never ends., i thought of that trust last week when i visited the pearl harbormemorial. i saw where the bombs fell on the uss arizona, and where a warbegan that would reshape the world order while reshaping the lives ofall who served in it - from our great generals and admirals, to theenlisted men like my grandfather. then i visited his grave at thepunchbowl, the national memorial cemetery of the pacific., i still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest. in acemetery lined with the graves of americans who have sacrificed for ourcountry, we heard the solemn notes of taps and the crack of guns firedin salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my grandmother andmy grandfather was laid, to rest. it was a nation s final act of serviceand gratitude to stanley dunham - an america that stood by mygrandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left his side., this is what we owe our troops and our veterans. because in every noteof taps and in every folded flag, we hear and see an unwavering belief in the idea of america. the idea that no matter where you come from, orwhat you look like, or who your parents are, this is a place whereanything is possible; where anyone can make it; where we look out foreach other, and take care of each other; where we rise and fall as onenation - as one people. it s an idea that s worth fighting for - an ideafor which so many americans have given that last full measure ofdevotion. now it falls to us to advance that idea just as so manygenerations have before.,"	
"nineteen months ago, on a cold february day right here on the steps of the old state capitol, i stood before you to announce my candidacy for president of the united states of america. , , we started this journey with a simple belief: that the american people were better than their government in washington - a government that has fallen prey to special interests and policies that have left working people behind. as i ve travelled to towns and cities, farms and factories, front porches and fairgrounds in almost all fifty states - that belief has been strengthened. because at this defining moment in our history - with our nation at war, and our economy in recession - we know that the american people cannot afford four more years of the same failed policies and the same old politics in washington. we know that the time for change has come. , , for months, i ve searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me, and to join in me in making washington work for the american people. i searched for a leader who understands the rising costs confronting working people, and who will always put their dreams first. a leader who sees clearly the challenges facing america in a changing world, with our security and standing set back by eight years of a failed foreign policy. a leader who shares my vision of an open government that calls all citizens - democrats, republicans and independents - to a common purpose. above all, i searched for a leader who is ready to step in and be president. , , today, i have come back to springfield to tell you that i ve found that leader - a man with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency - joe biden. , , joe biden is that rare mix - for decades, he has brought change to washington, but washington hasn t changed him. he s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. he has stared down dictators and spoken out for america s cops and firefighters. he is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track. , , now i could stand here and recite a list of senator biden s achievements, because he is one of the finest public servants of our time. but first i want to talk to you about the character of the man standing next to me. , , joe biden s many triumphs have only come after great trial. , , he was born in scranton, pennsylvania. his family didn t have much money. joe sr. worked different jobs, from cleaning boilers to selling cars, sometimes moving in with the in -laws or working weekends to make ends meet. but he raised his family with a strong commitment to work and to family; to the catholic faith and to the belief that in america, you can make it if you try. those are the core values that joe biden has carried with him to this day. and even though joe sr. is not with us, i know that he is proud of joe today. , , it might be hard to believe when you hear him talk now, but as a child he had a terrible stutter. they called him “bu-bu-biden.” but he picked himself up, worked harder than the other guy, and got elected to the senate - a young man with a family and a seemingly limitless future. , , then tragedy struck. joe s wife neilia and their little girl naomi were killed in a car accident, and their two boys were badly hurt. when joe was sworn in as a senator, there was no ceremony in the capitol - instead, he was standing by his sons in the hospital room where they were recovering. he was 30 years old. , , , , , , text hope to 62262 , , , , get involved! register now , , http://www.barackobama.com/2008/08/23/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_107.php, , tragedy tests us - it tests our fortitude and it tests our faith. here s how joe biden responded. he never moved to washington. instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to wilmington on a lonely amtrak train when his senate business was done. he raised his boys - first as a single dad, then alongside his wonderful wife jill, who works as a teacher. he had a beautiful daughter. now his children are grown and joe is blessed with 5grandchildren. he instilled in them such a sense of public service that his son, beau, who is now delaware s attorney general, is getting ready to deploy to iraq. and he still takes that train back to wilmington every night. out of the heartbreak of that unspeakable accident, he did more than become a senator - he raised a family. that is the measure of the man standing next to me. that is the character of joe biden. , , years later, senator biden would face another brush with death when he had a brain aneurysm. on the way to the hospital, they didn t think he was going to make it. they gave him slim odds to recover. but he did. he beat it. and he came back stronger than before. , , maybe it s this resilience - this insistence on overcoming adversity - that accounts for joe biden s work in the senate. time and again, he has made a difference for the people across this country who work long hours and face long odds. this working class kid from scranton and wilmington has always been a friend to the underdog, and all who seek a safer and more prosperous america to live their dreams and raise their families. , , fifteen years ago, too many american communities were plagued by violence and insecurity. so joe biden brought democrats and republicans together to pass the 1994 crime bill, putting 100,000 cops on the streets, and starting an eight year drop in crime across the country. , , for far too long, millions of women suffered abuse in the shadows. so joe biden wrote the violence against women act, so every woman would have a place to turn for support. the rate of domestic violence went down dramatically, and countless women got a second chance at life. , , year after year, he has been at the forefront of the fight for judges who respect the fundamental rights and liberties of the american people; college tuition that is affordable for all; equal pay for women and a rising minimum wage for all; and family leave policies that value work and family. those are the priorities of a man whose work reflects his life and his values. , , that same strength of character is at the core of his rise to become one of america s leading voices on national security. , , he looked slobodan milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal, and then helped shape policies that would end the killing in the balkans and bring him to justice. he passed laws to lock down chemical weapons, and led the push to bring europe s newest democracies into nato. over the last eight years, he has been a powerful critic of the catastrophic bush -mccain foreign policy, and a voice for a new direction that takes the fight to the terrorists and ends the war in iraq responsibly. he recently went to georgia, where he met quietly with the president and came back with a call for aid and a tough message for russia. , , joe biden is what so many others pretend to be - a statesman with sound judgment who doesn t have to hide behind bluster to keep america strong. , , joe won t just make a good vice president - he will make a great one. after decades of steady work across the aisle, i know he ll be able to help me turn the page on the ugly partisanship in washington, so we can bring democrats and republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the american people. and instead of secret task energy task forces stacked with big oil and a vice president that twists the facts and shuts the american people out, i know that joe biden will give us some real straight talk. , , i have seen this man work. i have sat with him as he chairs the senate foreign relations committee, and been by his side on the campaign trail. and i can tell you that joe biden gets it. he s that unique public servant who is at home in a bar in cedar rapids and the corridors of the capitol; in the vfw hall in concord, and at the center of an international crisis. , , that s because he is still that scrappy kid from scranton who beat the odds; the dedicated family man and committed catholic who knows every conductor on that amtrak train to wilmington. that s the kind of fighter who i want by my side in the months and years to come. , , that s what it s going to take to win the fight for good jobs that let people live their dreams, a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth, and health care that is affordable and accessible for every american family. that s what it s going to take to forge a new energy policy that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil and $4 gasoline at the pump, while creating new jobs and new industry. that s what it s going to take to put an end to a failed foreign policy that s based on bluster and bad judgment, so that we renew america s security and standing in the world. , , we know what we re going to get from the other side. four more years of the same out -of-touch policies that created an economic disaster at home, and a disastrous foreign policy abroad. four more years of the same divisive politics that is all about tearing people down instead of lifting this country up. , , we can t afford more of the same. i am running for president because that s a future that i don t accept for, , my daughters and i don t accept it for your children. it s time for the change that the american people need. , , now, with joe biden at my side, i am confident that we can take this country in a new direction; that we are ready to overcome the adversity of the last eight years; that we won t just win this election in november, we ll restore that fair shot at your dreams that is at the core of who joe biden and i are as people, and what america is as a nation. so let me introduce you to the next vice president of the united states of america... , , , ,"	
"to chairman dean and my great friend dick durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation; , , with profound gratitude and great humility, i accept your nomination for the presidency of the united states. , , let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest - a champion for working americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- hillary rodham clinton. to president clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to ted kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next vice president of the united states, joe biden, i thank you. i am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the amtrak train he still takes home every night. , , to the love of my life, our next first lady, michelle obama, and to sasha and malia - i love you so much, and i m so proud of all of you. , , four years ago, i stood before you and told you my story - of the brief union between a young man from kenya and a young woman from kansas who weren t well -off or well-known, but shared a belief that in america, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to. , , it is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one american family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well. , , that s why i stand here tonight. because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive. , , we meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the american promise has been threatened once more. , , tonight, more americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. more of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. more of you have cars you can t afford to drive, credit card bills you can t afford to pay, and tuition that s beyond your reach. , , these challenges are not all of government s making. but the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in washington and the failed policies of george w. bush. , , america, we are better than these last eight years. we are a better country than this., , , this country is more decent than one where a woman in ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work. , , this country is more generous than one where a man in indiana has to pack up the equipment he s worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to china, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news. , , we are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major american city drowns before our eyes. tonight, i say to the american people, to democrats and republicans and independents across this great land - enough! this moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the american promise alive. because next week, in minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of george bush and dick cheney will ask this country for a third. and we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. on november 4th, we must stand up and say: ""eight is enough."" , , now let there be no doubt. the republican nominee, john mccain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. and next week, we ll also hear about those occasions when he s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need. , , but the record s clear: john mccain has voted with george bush ninety percent of the time. senator mccain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think george bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? i don t know about you, but i m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change. , , the truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - senator mccain has been anything but independent. he said that our economy has made ""great progress"" under this president. he said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. and when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a ""mental recession,"" and that we ve become, and i quote, ""a nation of whiners."" , , a nation of whiners? tell that to the proud auto workers at a michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. these are not whiners. they work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. these are the americans that i know. , , now, i don t believe that senator mccain doesn t care what s going on in the lives of americans. i just think he doesn t know. why else would he define middle -class as someone making under five million dollars a year? how else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million americans? how else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people s benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize social security and gamble your retirement? , , it s not because john mccain doesn t care. it s because john mccain doesn t get it. , , for over two decades, he s subscribed to that old, discredited republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. in washington, they call this the ownership society, but what it really means is - you re on your own. out of work? tough luck. no health care? the market will fix it. born into poverty? pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don t have boots. you re on your own. , , well it s time for them to own their failure. it s time for us to change america. , , you see, we democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. , , we measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. we measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when bill clinton was president - when the average american family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under george bush. , , we measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work. , , the fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason i am standing here tonight. , , because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from iraq and afghanistan, i see my grandfather, who signed up after pearl harbor, marched in patton s army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the gi bill. , , in the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, i think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships., , when i listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, i remember all those men and women on the south side of chicago who i stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed. , , and when i hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, i think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle -management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. she s the one who taught me about hard work. she s the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that i could have a better life. she poured everything she had into me. and although she can no longer travel, i know that she s watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well. , , i don t know what kind of lives john mccain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. these are my heroes. theirs are the stories that shaped me. and it is on their behalf that i intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the united states. , , what is that promise? , , , it s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect. , , it s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create american jobs, look out for american workers, and play by the rules of the road. , , ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology. , , our government should work for us, not against us. it should help us, not hurt us. it should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every american who s willing to work. , , that s the promise of america - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that i am my brother s keeper; i am my sister s keeper. , , that s the promise we need to keep. that s the change we need right now. so let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if i am president. , , change means a tax code that doesn t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the american workers and small businesses who deserve it. , , unlike john mccain, i will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and i will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in america. , , i will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start -ups that will create the high - wage, high -tech jobs of tomorrow. , , i will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle -class. , , and for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, i will set a clear goal as president: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the middle east. , , washington s been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and john mccain has been there for twenty-six of them. in that time, he s said no to higher fuel -efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. and today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that senator mccain took office. , , now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop -gap measure, not a long - term solution. not even close. , , as president, i will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. i ll help our auto companies re -tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in america. i ll make it easier for the american people to afford these new cars. and i ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can t ever be outsourced. , , america, now is not the time for small plans. , , , now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world -class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. michelle and i are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. and i will not settle for an america where some kids don t have that chance. i ll invest in early childhood education. i ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. and in exchange, i ll ask for higher standards and more accountability. and we will keep our promise to every young american - if you commit to serving, , your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education. , , now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single american. if you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. if you don t, you ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of congress give themselves. and as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, i will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most. , , now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in america should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent. , , now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of ceo bonuses; and the time to protect social security for future generations. , , and now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day s work, because i want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons. , , now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why i ve laid out how i ll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don t help america grow. but i will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty -first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy. , , and democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling america s promise will require more than just money. it will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what john f. kennedy called our ""intellectual and moral strength."" yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. but we must also admit that programs alone can t replace parents; that government can t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need. , , individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that s the essence of america s promise. , , and just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep america s promise abroad. if john mccain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander -in-chief, that s a debate i m ready to have. , , for while senator mccain was turning his sights to iraq just days after 9/11, i stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. when john mccain said we could just ""muddle through"" in afghanistan, i argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out osama bin laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. john mccain likes to say that he ll follow bin laden to the gates of hell - but he won t even go to the cave where he lives. , , and today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from iraq has been echoed by the iraqi government and even the bush administration, even after we learned that iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we re wallowing in deficits, john mccain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war. , , that s not the judgment we need. that won t keep america safe. we need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past. , , you don t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying iraq. you don t protect israel and deter iran just by talking tough in washington. you can t truly stand up for georgia when you ve strained our oldest alliances. if john mccain wants to follow george bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need. , , we are the party of roosevelt. we are the party of kennedy. so don t tell me that democrats won t defend this country. don t tell me that democrats won t keep us safe. the bush-mccain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of americans -- democrats and republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy. , , as commander -in-chief, i will never hesitate to defend this nation, but i will only send our troops into harm s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. , , i will end this war in iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan. i will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. but i will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb russian aggression. i will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. and i will restore our moral standing, so that america is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future. , , these are the policies i will pursue. and in the weeks ahead, i look forward to debating them with john, , mccain. , , but what i will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other s character and patriotism. , , the times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. so let us agree that patriotism has no party. i love this country, and so do you, and so does john mccain. the men and women who serve in our battlefields may be democrats and republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. they have not served a red america or a blue america - they have served the united states of america. , , so i ve got news for you, john mccain. we all put our country first., , , america, our work will not be easy. the challenges we face require tough choices, and democrats as well as republicans will need to cast off the worn -out ideas and politics of the past. for part of what has been lost these past eight years can t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. what has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. and that s what we have to restore. , , we may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural ohio than for those plagued by gang -violence in cleveland, but don t tell me we can t uphold the second amendment while keeping ak -47s out of the hands of criminals. i know there are differences on same - sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. passions fly on immigration, but i don t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts american wages by hiring illegal workers. this too is part of america s promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort. , , i know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. they claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. and that s to be expected. because if you don t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. if you don t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. , , you make a big election about small things. , , , and you know what - it s worked before. because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. when washington doesn t work, all its promises seem empty. if your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it s best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know. , , i get it. i realize that i am not the likeliest candidate for this office. i don t fit the typical pedigree, and i haven t spent my career in the halls of washington. , , but i stand before you tonight because all across america something is stirring. what the nay-sayers don t understand is that this election has never been about me. it s been about you. , , for eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. you understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. you have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn t come from washington. change comes to washington. change happens because the american people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time. , , america, this is one of those moments. , , , i believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. because i ve seen it. because i ve lived it. i ve seen it in illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work. i ve seen it in washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands. , , and i ve seen it in this campaign. in the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. in the republicans who never thought they d pick up a democratic ballot, but did. i ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re -enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise. , , this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that s not what makes us rich. we have the most powerful military on earth, but that s not what makes us strong. our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that s not what keeps the world coming to our shores. , , instead, it is that american spirit - that american promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend., , that promise is our greatest inheritance. it s a promise i make to my daughters when i tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot. , , and it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a mall in washington, before lincoln s memorial, and hear a young preacher from georgia speak of his dream. , , the men and women who gathered there could ve heard many things. they could ve heard words of anger and discord. they could ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred. , , but what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in america, our destiny is inextricably linked. that together, our dreams can be one. , , ""we cannot walk alone,"" the preacher cried. ""and as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. we cannot turn back."" , , america, we cannot turn back. not with so much work to be done. not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. america, we cannot turn back. we cannot walk alone. at this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. let us keep that promise - that american promise - and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess. , , thank you, god bless you, and god bless the united states of america. , , ,"	
"it s great to be back in dover. we made our first stop in new hampshire over 19 months ago, and a lot has changed. there are babies walking and talking today who weren t even born back then. but there s one thing that hasn t changed in those 19 months: the american people know this country is on the wrong track, and you know that we need new leadership in washington. , , the good news is that in 53 days, the name george bush will not be on the ballot. but make no mistake: his policies will. a few weeks ago, john mccain said that the economy is ""fundamentally strong,"" and a few days later george bush said the same thing. in fact, senator mccain has said that we made ""great progress economically"" over the last eight years. , , and here s the thing. i think they truly believe it. after all, my opponent said just last night, ""it s easy for me to go to washington and frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day -to-day challenges people have."" so from where he and george bush sit, maybe they just can t see. maybe they are just that out of touch. but you know the truth, and so do i. , , for eight years, we ve failed to keep that american promise that if you work hard you can live your american dream. under the bush economic policies that my opponent supported and promises to continue, the average family has seen their income drop by $2,000 -a-year, while the cost of everything from gas to groceries has gone up. we have the highest unemployment rate in five years. home values have plummeted. it s harder to save and it s harder to retire. those are the day -to-day challenges that people have. , , we can t afford four more years of this so -called ""progress."" we can t afford another president who is so out of touch that he thinks the economy is strong and that change is doing the exact same thing as george bush. , , that s what senator mccain is offering. more of the discredited theory that if you shower benefits on big corporations, special interests and the wealthiest of the wealthy, it will all come trickling down to the middle class. well, dover, how much of that has trickled down to you? how much has trickled down to the americans who have lost their jobs and their homes? how much has trickled down to the family that can t afford to pay next month s bills or the kids who can t afford college? we ve tried this for eight years, and we can t afford to keep trying it for another four. , , we can t afford to keep spending $10 billion a month in iraq while the iraqi government sits on a surplus. we can t afford more of the same addiction to oil. more of the same health care policy that only works for the healthy and wealthy. more of the same washington lobbyists who run john mccain s campaign. more of the same bush -rove-mccain politics that tries to distract you from policies that are destroying the middle class. , , we ve tried that way. it won t work. and yet senator mccain stubbornly holds to it. the only change he offers is completing the bush agenda. privatizing your social security. taxing your health benefits. and another $200 billion of budget -busting tax breaks for corporations like exxon -mobil that have just turned in the greatest profits in history, while you can barely afford to fill up a tank of gas. , , it s time for us to say, enough is enough! , , , now my opponent wants to have a debate about change, and that s a debate that i welcome. because the choice in this election is very simple. if you are better off than you were eight years ago and you want four more years of a president who puts the special interests and the biggest corporations first, then vote for john mccain. if you believe it s time for fundamental change in washington and a president who puts the middle class first, then we will win this election in november, and we will change this country for our children and our grandchildren. that s the choice in this election. that s why i m running for president of the united states. , , it s time for change. and let me tell you exactly what that change will look like. change means a tax code that doesn t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the american workers and seniors and small businesses who deserve it. take a close look at the tax cuts i m proposing and the special interest giveaways that my opponent is proposing, because that will tell you everything you need to know about who we re going to put first as president. , , i will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working americans. , , i will reward work through a ""making work pay"" tax credit of $500 for american workers and $1,000 for working families. because when i m president, we ll rewrite the tax code to work for the middle class - not washington lobbyists. that s change. , , i will ease the burden on struggling homeowners through a universal homeowner s tax credit. this will add up to a 10 percent break off the mortgage interest rate for 10 million households. that s another $500 each year for most middle class families. that s change. , , i will make sure our seniors can afford to retire with the dignity and security they have earned. that s why i will eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000. this will end income taxes for 7 million americans, at a savings of roughly $1,400 each year. that s change. , , i will make college affordable for every single american who has the talent and drive to go with an annual $4000 tax credit for anyone who commits to 100 hours of public service. you invest in america, and america invests in you - that s how we ll make college affordable for every american. that s change. , , i think we need to encourage growth. senator mccain thinks we need to give $200 billion a year in tax breaks for corporations, but not a single new tax break for small businesses - even though small businesses are the source of 80 percent of the new jobs in our economy. i will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and start -ups that will create the high -tech, high-wage jobs of tomorrow, and help them afford health insurance for their employees. that s how america is going to compete. that s how we re going to build the middle class. that s change. , , we need a tax code that creates american jobs instead of shipping them overseas. you know, just this week we learned that if an american company creates jobs in the united states, they pay more than twice as much in taxes than if that same company creates jobs in china. so you pay more than twice as much to create jobs in dover than shanghai. that s a direct result of what we ve gotten from washington year after year after year, and it s time for that to change. , , my opponent has voted for those tax breaks, and he ll continue them as president. i will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and start investing in american jobs and workers. , , to pay for these tax cuts, i ll stand up to special interest carve -outs, close corporate loopholes and offshore tax havens, and ask the wealthiest americans to give back a portion of the bush tax cuts. it s time for folks like me who make over $250,000 to pay our fair share to keep the american promise alive for our children and grandchildren. , , when you re running for four more years of george bush s policies, it s hard to run on your plans. so you make stuff up. you twist facts, and you don t tell the truth - that s what john mccain has done when it comes to my tax plan. so let s be clear about what we are proposing. , , my plan - all together - is a net tax cut. my plan will cut taxes to a smaller share of the economy than they were under president reagan. under my plan, income taxes for typical american families will be the lowest that they ve been in more than a half century. everyone in america - everyone - will pay lower taxes than they would under the rates bill clinton had in the 1990s. and under my plan, middle class families will get three times as much relief as senator mccain is offering. in fact, his plan gives absolutely nothing to over 100 million american households. , , and i can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. my opponent can t make that pledge, and here s why: for the first time in american history, he wants to tax your health benefits apparently, senator mccain doesn t think it s enough that your health premiums have doubled, he thinks you should have to pay taxes on them too. that s a $3.6 trillion tax increase on middle class families. that will eventually leave tens of millions of you paying higher taxes. that s his idea of change. , , now i do want to be fair. senator mccain is offering some tax cuts. he d spend nearly $2 trillion over a decade in tax breaks for corporations. he would continue the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. his plan gives more than a half million dollars in tax cuts for households making over $2.8 million. that s right - $2.8 million. now i know that senator mccain has said that only those making over $5 million a year are rich, so maybe he thinks that folks making $2.8 million are middle class. , , we cannot afford four more years of out of touch, on your own, leadership in the white house. john mccain likes to rail against the washington herd, but the truth is, when it comes to the issues that really matter in your lives, he s been running in that herd for 26 years, and they ve run this economy into a ditch. this election is our chance to stand up and say - enough is enough. , , it won t be easy. the kind of change we re looking for never is. what we are up against is a very powerful, entrenched status quo in washington who will say anything and do anything and fight with everything they ve got to keep things just the way are. , , but i feel good about our chances, because i ve got something more powerful than they do: i ve got you. in this campaign, you have already shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn t come from washington. change comes to washington. , , this election is our chance to choose an economy that rewards your work and advances your dreams. but i need your help. i ask you to knock on some doors, and make some calls, and talk to your neighbors, and give me your vote on november 4th. and if you do, i promise you - we will change america together. thank you. , , ,"	
"we are facing one of the most serious financial crises in this nation s history. the events of the last week - from the failure of lehman to the bailout of aig to the continued volatility of the market - have not just threatened the trading floors and high -rises of wall street, but the stability and security of our entire global economy. across this country, americans are worried about whether they can make their mortgage payments, or keep their jobs, or ensure that their retirement is secure. truly, we are all in this together. , , our government and the federal reserve have already taken unprecedented action to prevent a deepening of this crisis that could jeopardize the life savings and well -being of millions of americans. but it is now clear that even bolder and more decisive action is necessary. , , in recent years, i have outlined plans that would have helped prevent the problems we now face, and yesterday i proposed the outlines of a plan that would establish a more stable and permanent solution to strengthen our financial system. today, i fully support the effort of secretary paulson and federal reserve chairman bernanke to work in a bipartisan spirit with congress to find this kind of solution. , , what we re looking at right now is to provide the treasury and the federal reserve with as broad authority as necessary to stabilize markets and maintain credit. we need a more institutional response to create a system that can manage some of the underlying problems with bad mortgages, help homeowners stay in their homes, protect the retirement and savings of working americans. , , in the coming days, i will more closely examine the details of the treasury and fed proposal, and as i do, i ll work to ensure that it provides an effective emergency response by including four basic principles that my economic advisors and i just discussed this morning. , , first, we cannot only have a plan for wall street. we must also help main street as well. i m glad that our government is moving so quickly in addressing the crisis that threatens some of our biggest banks and corporations. but a similar crisis has threatened families, workers and homeowners for months and months and washington has done far too little to help. , , for too long, this administration has been willing to hit the fast -forward button in helping distressed wall street firms while pressing pause when it comes to saving jobs or keeping people in their homes. we already know that the credit crisis that has emerged from our largest financial institutions is becoming a credit crunch for small business owners, homeowners, and students seeking loans in big cities and small towns. now that american taxpayers are being called on to share in this new burden, we must take equally swift and serious action to help lift the burdens they face every day. , , in the same bipartisan spirit that is being shown with regard to the crisis on wall street, i ask senator mccain, president bush, republicans and democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families - a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, spark job creation through repair of our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance for america s auto industry. john mccain and i can continue to argue about our different economic agendas for next year, but we should come together now to work on what this country urgently needs this year. , , the second principle i would like to see in the emerging plan from the treasury and the fed is that our approach should be one of mutual responsibility and reciprocity. it must not be designed to reward particular companies or the irresponsible decisions of borrowers or lenders. it must not be designed to enhance the personal gain of ceos and management. the recklessness of some of these executives has helped cause this mess, even as they walk away with multimillion dollar golden parachutes while taxpayers are left holding the bag. as taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate that those who benefit be expected to contribute to the protection of american homeowners and the american economy. just as support is not designed to payoff egregious executive compensation, it should not reward those who are ruthlessly foreclosing on american families. , , third, this plan must be temporary and coupled with tough new oversight and regulations of our financial institutions, and there must be a clear process to wind down this plan and restore private sector assets into private sector hands after restoring stability to the system. taxpayers must share in any upside benefit that such stability brings. , , fourth, this plan should be part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the g -20. this is a worldwide issue, and while the united states can and will lead in stabilizing the credit markets, we should ask other nations, who share in this crisis, to be part of the solution as well. , , one last point. we did not arrive at this crisis by some accident of history. what led us to this point was years and years of a philosophy in washington and on wall street that viewed even common -sense regulation and oversight as unwise and unnecessary; that shredded consumer protections and loosened the rules of the road. ceos and executives got reckless. lobbyists got what they wanted. politicians in both parties looked the other way until it was too late. and it is the american people who have paid the price. the events of this week have rendered a final verdict on that failed philosophy, and it will end if i am president of the united states. we must build upon the ideas i have laid out over the last several years about how to modernize our financial regulation in this country, and establish commonsense rules of the road for our financial system to help restore confidence in our financial system. , , finally, given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations i have had with both secretary paulson and chairman bernanke, i will refrain from presenting a more detailed blue -print of how an immediate plan might be structured until i can fully review the details of the plan proposed by the treasury and the federal reserve. it is critical at this point that the markets and the public have confidence that their work will be unimpeded by partisan wrangling, and that leaders in both parties work in concert to solve the problem at hand. , , i know these are difficult days. and i know there are a lot of families out there right now who are feeling anxiety - about their jobs, about their homes, about their retirement savings. but here s what i also know. this isn t a time for fear or panic. this is a time for resolve and for leadership. i know we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. that s who we are. that s what we ve always done as americans. our nation has faced difficult times before. and at each of those moments, we ve risen to meet the challenges as one people, and one nation. that is the america we need to be and can be today."	
"yesterday, the president said that congress should pass his proposal to ease the crisis on wall street without significant changes or improvements. , , now, there are many to blame for causing the current crisis, starting with the speculators who gamed the system and the regulators who looked the other way. but all of us now have a stake in solving it and saving our financial institutions from collapse. because if we don t, the jobs and life savings of millions will be put at risk. , , given that fact, the president s stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar. this is not the time for my-way-or-the-highway intransigence from anyone involved. it s not the time for fear or panic. it s the time for resolve, responsibility, and reasonableness. , , and it is wholly unreasonable to expect that american taxpayers would or should hand this administration or any administration a $700 billion blank check with absolutely no oversight or conditions when a lack of oversight in washington and on wall street is exactly what got us into this mess. , , now that the american people are being called upon to finance this solution, the american people have the right to certain protections and assurances from washington. , , first, the plan must include protections to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to further reward the bad behavior of irresponsible ceos on wall street. there has been talk that some ceos may refuse to cooperate with this plan if they have to forgo multi -million -dollar salaries. i cannot imagine a position more selfish and greedy at a time of national crisis. and i would like to speak directly to those ceos right now: do not make that mistake. you are stewards for workers and communities all across our country who have put their trust in you. with the enormous rewards you have reaped come responsibilities, and we expect and demand that you to live up to them. this plan cannot be a welfare program for wall street executives. , , second, the power to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money cannot be left to the discretion of one man, no matter who he is or which party he is from. i have great respect for secretary paulson, but he cannot act alone. we should set up an independent board that includes some of the most respected figures in our country, chosen by democrats and republicans, to provide oversight and accountability at every step of the way. i am heartened that secretary paulson appeared to be softening on this position in his testimony this morning. , , third, if taxpayers are being asked to underwrite hundreds of billions of dollars to solve this crisis, they must be treated like investors. the american people should share in the upside as wall street recovers. there are different ways to accomplish this, including putting equity into these firms instead of buying their troubled assets. , , but regardless of how we structure the plan, if the government makes any kind of profit on this deal, we must give every penny back to the taxpayers who put up the money in the first place. and after the economy recovers, we should institute a financial stability fee on the entire financial services industry to repay any losses to the american people and make sure we are never asked to foot the bill for wall street s mistakes again. we can ask taxpayers to make an investment in the stability of our economy, but we cannot ask them to hand their money over to wall street without some expectation of return. , , fourth, the final plan must provide help to families who are struggling to stay in their homes. we cannot , , , , , , , , get local! create your mybo account ( or login ) , , http://www.barackobama.com/2008/09/23/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_118.php, , simply bailout wall street without helping the millions of innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure. , , there are a number of ways we can accomplish this. for example, we should consider giving the government the authority to purchase mortgages directly instead of simply mortgage -backed securities. in the past, such an approach has allowed taxpayers to profit as the housing market recovered. this is not simply a question of looking after homeowners, it s doubtful that the economy as a whole can recover without the restoration of our housing sector, including a rebound in the home values that have suffered dramatically in recent months. , , finally, the american people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on main street as we do about the emergency on wall street. i have repeatedly called on president bush and senator mccain to join me in supporting an economic stimulus plan for working families a plan that would help folks cope with rising food and gas prices, save one million jobs by rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, and help homeowners stay in their homes. , , let me be clear we shouldn t include this stimulus package into this particular legislation, but as we solve the immediate crisis on wall street, we should move with the same sense of urgency to help main street. , , it is absolutely wrong to suggest that we cannot protect american taxpayers while still stabilizing our market and saving our financial system from collapse. we can and must do both. , , in summary, there is no doubt negotiations over the next few days will be difficult. i will continue to keep in close touch with secretary paulson, chairman bernanke, and the leaders of congress to ensure that we can work in a bipartisan manner to get this done as quickly as possible. our country is being tested by a very serious crisis. we are all in this together, and we must come together as democrats and republicans, on wall street and on main street to solve it. and with the proper spirit of cooperation, i know we can. , ,"	
"with just a month to go until election day, i know you ve all been hearing a lot about politics out here in virginia. i know you ve been seeing a lot of ads, and getting a lot of calls, and reading a lot about this election in the newspaper. but being here today to talk with you about health care - this isn t about politics for me. this is personal. , , i m thinking today about my mother. she died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53. she fought valiantly, and endured the pain and chemotherapy with grace and good humor. but i ll never forget how she spent the final months of her life. at a time when she should have been focused on getting well, at a time when she should have been taking stock of her life and taking comfort in her family, she was lying in a hospital bed, fighting with her insurance company because they didn t want to cover her treatment. they claimed that her cancer was a pre -existing condition. , , so i know something about the heartbreak caused by our health care system. , , i know something about the anxiety of families hanging on by a thread as premiums have doubled these past eight years, and they re going into debt, and more than half - half - of all personal bankruptcies are caused in part by medical bills. , , i know about the frustration of the nearly 40 percent of small business owners who can no longer afford to insure their employees - folks who work day and night, but have to lay people off, or shut their doors for good, because of rising health care costs. , , i know the outrage we all feel about the 45 million americans who don t have health insurance - kids who can t see a doctor when they re sick; parents cutting their pills in half and praying for the best; folks who wind up in the emergency room in the middle of the night because they ve got nowhere else to turn. , , but i also know that this is not who we are. , , , we are not a country where a young woman i met should have to work the night shift after a full day of college and still not be able to pay the medical bills for her sister who s ill. that s not right - and it s not who we are. , , we are not a country where a man i met should have to file for bankruptcy after he had a stroke, because he faced nearly $200,000 in medical costs that he couldn t afford and his insurance company didn t cover. that s not right - and it s not who we are. , , we are not a country that rewards hard work and perseverance with debt and worry. we ve never been a country that lets major challenges go unsolved and unaddressed. and we are tired of watching as year after year, candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise, only to see them crushed under the weight of washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over. , , that is not who we are. and that is not who we have to be., , , we know change is possible. we ve seen it across this country as governors and legislatures move ahead of washington to pass bold health care initiatives on their own. we see people across the spectrum - doctors and patients, unions and businesses, democrats and republicans - coming together around this issue, because at a time when rising costs have put too many families and businesses on a collision course with financial ruin and left too many without coverage at all, they know that bandaids and half -measures just won t do. , , , , , , , , get local! create your mybo account ( or login ) , , http://www.barackobama.com/2008/10/04/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_129.php, , now i know that at this moment, when we stand in the midst of a serious economic crisis, some might ask how we can afford to focus on health care. well, let s be clear: the rescue package we just passed in congress isn t the end of what we need to do to fix our economy - it s just the beginning. because the fundamentals of our economy are still not strong - contrary to what senator mccain says. and we ve got to address those fundamentals - and address them right now. , , in other words, the question isn t how we can afford to focus on health care - but how we can afford not to. because in order to fix our economic crisis, and rebuild our middle class, we need to fix our health care system too. let s not forget, it s not just small businesses and families who are struggling. some of the largest corporations in america - including major american auto manufacturers - are struggling to compete in the global marketplace because of high health care costs. they re watching their foreign competitors prosper - unburdened by these costs - as they struggle to create the good jobs we need to get our economy back on track. , , so it s clear that the time has come - right now - to solve this problem: to cut health care costs for families and businesses, and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every american. , , and you d think that anyone running for president would understand this. you d think any candidate for the highest office in the land would have a plan to achieve these critically important goals. well, if you think that, you haven t met my opponent, senator john mccain. , , now, it s not that he doesn t care about what people are going through. i just think he doesn t know. that s the only reason i can think of that he d propose a health care plan that is so radical, so out of touch with what you re facing, and so out of line with our basic values. , , senator mccain has been eager to share some details of his plan - but not all., , , he tells you that he ll give you a tax credit of $2,500 per person - $5,000 per family - to help you pay for your insurance and health care costs. but like those ads for prescription drugs, you have to read the fine print to learn the rest of the story. , , you see, senator mccain would pay for his plan, in part, by taxing your health care benefits for the first time in history. and this tax would come out of your paycheck. but the new tax credit he s proposing? that wouldn t go to you. it would go directly to your insurance company - not your bank account. , , so when you read the fine print, it s clear that john mccain is pulling an old washington bait and switch. it s a shell game. he gives you a tax credit with one hand - but raises your taxes with the other. and recently, after some forceful questioning on tv, he finally admitted that for some americans - those with the very best plans - his tax increase will be higher than his tax credit, and they ll come out behind. , , john mccain calls these plans ""cadillac plans."" in some cases, it may be that a corporate ceo is getting too good a deal. but what if you re a line worker making a good american car like cadillac who s given up wage increases in exchange for better health care? well, senator mccain believes you should pay higher taxes too. the bottom line: the better your health care plan - the harder you ve fought for good benefits - the higher the taxes you ll pay under john mccain s plan. , , and here s something else senator mccain won t tell you. when he taxes people s benefits, many younger, healthier workers will decide that it s a better deal to opt out of the insurance they get at work - and instead, go out into the individual market, where they can buy a cheaper plan. many employers will be left with an older, sicker pool of workers who they can t afford to cover. as a result, many employers will drop their health care plans altogether. and study after study has shown, that under the mccain plan, at least 20 million americans will lose the insurance they rely on from their workplace. , , it s the same approach george w. bush floated a few years ago. it was dead on arrival in congress. but if senator mccain were to succeed where george bush failed, it very well could be the beginning of the end of our employer -based health care system. in fact, some experts have said that that s exactly the point of john mccain s plan - to drive you out of the insurance you have through your employer - and out into the marketplace, where your family will be given that $5,000 tax credit and told to buy insurance on your own. , , a $5,000 tax credit. that sounds pretty good. but what senator mccain doesn t tell you is that the average cost of a family health care plan these days is more than twice that much - $12,680. so where would that leave you? , , senator mccain also doesn t tell you that insurance in the individual market isn t just more expensive than insurance you get through work - it also includes fewer benefits. for example, many of these plans don t cover prescription drugs or pre -natal care. many don t cover giving birth, so you d have to pay out of pocket for that - roughly $6,000. so when you re out there fending for yourself against the insurance companies, you pay more and get less. , , here s another thing senator mccain doesn t tell you - his plan won t do a thing to stop insurance companies from discriminating against you if you have a pre -existing condition like hypertension, asthma, diabetes or cancer -the kind of conditions that 65 million working age americans suffer from - people from all backgrounds and walks of life all across this country. employers don t charge you higher premiums for these conditions, but insurers do - much higher. so the sicker you ve been, the more you ll have to pay, and the harder it ll be to get the care you need. , , finally, what john mccain doesn t tell you is that his plan calls for massive deregulation of the insurance industry that would leave families without the basic protections you rely on. you may have heard about how, in the current issue of a magazine, senator mccain wrote that we need to open up health care to - and i quote - ""more vigorous nationwide competition as we have done over the last decade in banking."" that s right, he wants to deregulate the insurance industry just like he fought to deregulate the banking industry. and we ve all seen how well that worked out. , , it would be equally catastrophic for your health care. right now, different states have different rules about what insurance companies have to cover. senator mccain s plan would create a deregulated national market where companies can cherry pick the state where they re based - and sell plans anywhere in america. , , it s the starting gun for a race to the bottom. insurance companies will rush to set up shop in states with the fewest protections for patients. states where they don t have to cover things like mammograms and other cancer screenings, vaccinations, maternity care, and mental health care. states where you don t have a right to appeal when your hmo refuses to cover the treatment you need. these are commonsense protections to make sure that you and your doctor - not insurance company bureaucrats - are making decisions about your health. and john mccain wants to give insurance companies free reign to avoid them. , , and believe it or not, just to top it all off, senator mccain plans to give the top ten largest insurance companies $2 billion in new tax cuts. , , so, anyone want to guess who s running and funding john mccain s campaign? i ll give you a hint. remember when we tried to fix health care back in the 1990s, and the insurance companies spent millions running misleading ads to scare people into opposing reform? that s right, john mccain has lobbyists for 69 insurance and drug companies and trade groups advising his campaign, writing his policies, and raising his money. three of them are his top advisors. , , and if you think that washington lobbyists who are working day and night to elect him are doing it to put themselves out of business, well, i ve got a bridge in alaska to sell you. , , so here s john mccain s radical plan in a nutshell: he taxes health care benefits for the first time in history; millions lose the health care they have; millions pay more for the health care they get; drug and insurance companies continue to profit; and middle class families watch the system they rely on begin to unravel before their eyes. well, i don t think that s right. i don t think we should settle for health care that works better for drug and insurance companies than it does for hard working americans. i don t think that s the change we need. we can do better than that. , , in the end, it s not surprising that senator mccain s plan isn t a vast improvement on the same failed policies of these past eight years. remember, senator mccain voted against expanding the children s health insurance program - a program that provides health care for millions of children in need. he voted against protecting medicare 40 times over the course of his career. and he supported a massive cut in medicare that would have raised premiums and out -of-pocket expenses for seniors while weakening the care they depend on. , , in other words, senator mccain s plan reflects the same bankrupt philosophy he s subscribed to for the past three decades in washington: take care of the healthy and wealthy, and good luck to everyone else. they call this the ownership society, but what it really means is - you re on your own. your job doesn t give you health care? the market will fix it. pre-existing condition? tough luck. insurance company won t pay for your treatment? too bad, you re on your own. , , this approach hasn t worked these past eight years, it won t work now, and it s time to turn the page. , , let me be clear - i don t think government can solve all our problems. but i reject the radical idea that government has no role to play in protecting ordinary americans. i reject the thinking that says preserving our free market means letting corporations and special interests do as they please. , , i know that nothing is more important than the health and well -being of the people you love. and if you work hard and do everything right, you shouldn t live in fear of losing everything because of a fluke of genetics, or a bad diagnosis, or a stroke of bad luck. , , that s why i believe that every single american has the right to affordable, accessible health care - a right that should never be subject to washington politics or industry profiteering, and that should never be purchased with tax increases on middle class families, because that is the last thing we need in an economy like this. , , i know we can do this. i know what we can accomplish when we come together. i saw it in illinois, when, , as a state senator, i brought republicans and democrats together to pass legislation that has expanded coverage to more than 150,000 people, including 70,000 children. i helped expand coverage for routine mammograms for women on medicaid. and we created hospital report cards, so that every consumer could see things like the ratio of nurses to patients, the number of annual medical errors, and the quality of care they could expect at each hospital. , , so i reject the tired old debate that says we have to choose between two extremes: government -run health care with higher taxes -or insurance companies without rules denying people coverage. that s a false choice. it s the same distracting rhetoric that s kept us gridlocked for decades. and we know that neither of these approaches is the answer to this problem. , , the real solution is to take on drug and insurance companies; modernize our health care system for the twenty-first century; reduce costs for families and businesses; and finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every american. and that s what i intend to do as president of the united states. , , of course, it s easy to have good ideas and make big promises. you ve all heard plenty of that these past 20 months. the hard part is coming up with a concrete, detailed plan, and translating that plan into action. so today, i want to take a few minutes to tell you exactly what i plan to do, how i ll get it done, and how i m going to pay for it. , , we ll start by reducing premiums by as much as $2,500 per family - and we ll do it by taking the following five steps to lower costs throughout our health care system. , , first, we ll take on the drug and insurance companies and hold them accountable for the prices they charge and the harm they cause. , , we ll start by increasing competition in the insurance industry, and outlawing insurance company discrimination against people with pre -existing conditions. insurance companies spend $50 billion a year on elaborate efforts to cherry pick the healthiest patients and avoid covering everyone else. i intend to save them a whole lot of time and money by putting an end to this practice once and for all. , , and we ll tell the pharmaceutical companies, thanks, but no thanks for the overpriced drugs - drugs that cost twice as much here as they do in europe and canada. we ll let medicare negotiate for lower -prices; we ll stop drug companies from blocking generic drugs that are just as effective, and far less expensive; and we ll allow the safe re -importation of low -cost drugs from countries like canada. , , second, we ll focus on prevention -- on promoting wellness rather than just managing sickness. today, we spend less than four cents of every health care dollar on prevention and public health, even though 80 percent of risk factors involved in the leading causes of death are behavior -related - and thus, preventable. under my plan, we ll make sure insurance companies cover evidence -based, preventive care services - weight loss programs, smoking -cessation programs, and other efforts to help people avoid costly, debilitating health problems in the first place. , , third, we ll reduce waste and inefficiency by moving from a 20th century health care system based on pen and paper to a 21st century system based on the latest technology. according to one study, just by transferring medical records from yellowing pages in file cabinets to electronic records in computers, we can save $77 billion a year. and we can save lives too by reducing deadly medical errors and ensuring that doctors and nurses spend less time with paperwork and more time with patients. , , fourth, we ll reduce the cost of our care by improving the quality of our care. it s estimated that poor quality care - from medical errors that cause complications to poor hygiene practices that cause infections - costs up to $100 billion a year. so we ll provide you with information about your hospitals  and providers  quality of care. we ll track which drugs and procedures work best. and we ll reward providers not just for the quantity of services they provide, but for the quality of outcomes for their patients. so you ll get better care, and we ll all save money in the long run. , , fifth, we ll reduce costs for businesses and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses. right now, the five percent of patients with the most serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease account for nearly fifty percent of health care costs. insurance companies devote the lion s share of their expenses to these patients, and then pass the cost on to the rest of us in the form of higher premiums. under my plan, the federal government will pay for part of these catastrophic cases, which means that your premiums will go down. , , so that s how we ll cut costs. but that s not enough. because today, in the year 2008, 45 million americans still don t have any health insurance at all. this is one of the great moral crises of our time. and it s creating a vicious cycle that affects every last one of us. as premiums rise, more people become uninsured. and every time those uninsured folks walk into an emergency room because it s their only option, insurance companies raise premiums to cover the cost - a hidden tax of $922 per family. that extra cost means even more people can t afford insurance, so the problem just gets worse. we cannot go on like this. this is not who we are, and this is not who we have to be. , , that s why my plan will cover all americans. and unlike senator mccain, i ll do it by building on and strengthening - rather than dismantling - our current, workplace -based system. so if you have insurance you like, you keep that insurance. if you have a doctor you like, you keep that doctor. the only thing that changes for you is that your health care costs will go down., , but if you don t have insurance, or don t like your insurance, you ll be able to choose from the same type of quality private plans as every federal employee - from a postal worker here in colorado to a congressman in washington. all of these plans will cover essential medical services including prevention, maternity, disease management and mental health care. no one will be turned away because of a pre -existing condition or illness. if you have children, they will be covered too. if you change jobs, this insurance will go with you. and if you can t afford this insurance, you ll receive a tax credit to help pay for it. , , my plan also provides substantial help to small business to cover their employees. small businesses are america s biggest job creators: since 1990, companies with fewer than 20 employees have created 80% of new jobs in america. but today, too many small businesses are sinking under the weight of rising health care costs. my health care plan won t impose a single new burden on small businesses. instead, we ll give them tax credits that will cover up to 50 percent of the cost of insuring their employees. this will help them create not just new jobs, but good jobs - jobs with health care that stay right here in america. , , and i want to be clear about exactly how i will pay for my plan. first, i will aggressively cut health care costs by reducing waste, greed and paperwork; lowering the cost of prescription drugs; and eliminating wasteful subsidies to private plans in medicare. that will save a lot, but will still leave a cost of about $65 billion a year. , , i ll cover that remaining cost with a portion of the money i ll save by ending george bush s tax breaks for people making more than $250,000 a year. they ll go back to paying similar rates to what they paid when bill clinton was president. so we ll get this done responsibly without blowing a hole in our deficit. , , in the end, none of this will be easy. we re up against a powerful, entrenched status quo in washington that will say anything and do anything and fight with everything they ve got to keep things the way they are. , , but i know that if we come together, and work together, we can do this. so many people are counting on us. , , a woman named robyn who i met in florida, is one of those people. back in may, her 16 year old son devon came to one of our events, and i got to meet him at the airport in fort lauderdale. later that day, devon became seriously ill. his heart started racing, and his lips turned white. he was rushed to the hospital and almost went into cardiac arrest. he was later diagnosed with a heart condition and told he needed a procedure that would cost tens of thousands of dollars. robyn s insurance company refused to pay -- they said it was a pre -existing condition - and robyn s family doesn t have that kind of money. , , but until devon has that procedure, he has to take medication and stop all physical activity. no more gym classes. no more football at school. no more basketball at the park with his friends. , , after we met, robyn sent me an email in which she wrote, ""my son deserves all that life has to offer. money should never determine the quality of a child s life. i can t help but feel as if somehow we failed devon. why couldn t we be the rich family that has the great insurance or could whip out 50 grand like it is nothing?"" , , she ended her email with these words, ""i ask only this of you - on the days where you feel so tired you can t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. on the days when you are playing basketball, think of devon, who can t. when those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder."" , , today, i want to say to robyn and devon and everyone like them across america, you have my word that i will never back down, i will never give up, i will never stop fighting until we have fixed our health care system and no family ever has to go through what you re going through, and my mother went through, and so many people go through every day in this country. that is my promise to you. , , and if all of you here today will stand with me in this work - if you ll talk to your friends and neighbors, get people to the polls, and give me your vote, then together, we won t just win this election, we will transform this nation. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless america., , , ,"	
"we meet at a moment of great uncertainty for america. the economic crisis we face is the worst since the great depression. markets across the globe have become increasingly unstable, and millions of americans will open up their 401(k) statements this week and see that so much of their hard -earned savings have disappeared. , , the credit crisis has left businesses large and small unable to get loans, which means they can t buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have. you ve got auto plants right here in ohio that have been around for decades closing their doors and laying off workers who ve never known another job in their entire life. , , 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. unemployment here in ohio is up 85% over the last eight years, which is the highest it s been in sixteen years. you ve lost one of every four manufacturing jobs, the typical ohio family has seen their income fall $2,500, and it s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. at this rate, the question isn t just ""are you better off than you were four years ago?"", it s ""are you better off than you were four weeks ago?"" , , i know these are difficult times. i know folks are worried. but i also know this - we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. because we are the united states of america. we are the country that has faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. and at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges - not as democrats, not as republicans, but as americans. , , we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on earth. we re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. it won t be easy, but there s no reason we can t make this century another american century. , , but it will take a new direction. it will take new leadership in washington. it will take a real change in the policies and politics of the last eight years. and that s why i m running for president of the united states of america. , , my opponent has made his choice. last week, senator mccain s campaign announced that they were going to ""turn the page"" on the discussion about our economy so they can spend the final weeks of this election attacking me instead. his campaign actually said, and i quote, ""if we keep talking about the economy, we re going to lose."" well senator mccain may be worried about losing an election, but i m worried about americans who are losing their jobs, and their homes, and their life savings. they can t afford four more years of the economic theory that says we should give more and more to millionaires and billionaires and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. we ve seen where that s led us and we re not going back. it s time to turn the page. , , over the course of this campaign, i ve laid out a set of policies that will grow our middle -class and strengthen our economy in the long -term. i ll reform our tax code so that 95% of workers and their families get a tax cut, and eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000. i ll bring down the cost of health care for families and businesses by investing in preventative care, new technology, and giving every american the chance to get the same kind of health insurance that members of congress give themselves. we ll ensure every child can compete in the global economy by recruiting an army of new teachers and making college affordable for anyone who wants to go. we ll create five million new, high-wage jobs by investing in the renewable sources of energy that will eliminate the oil we currently import from the middle east in ten years, and we ll create two million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges. , , but that s a long-term strategy for growth. right now, we face an immediate economic emergency that requires urgent action. we can t wait to help workers and families and communities who are struggling right now - who don t know if their job or their retirement will be there tomorrow; who don t know if next week s paycheck will cover this month s bills. we need to pass an economic rescue plan for the middle - class and we need to do it now. today i m proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners. it s a plan that begins with one word that s on everyone s mind, and it s spelled j -o-b-s. , , we ve already lost three-quarters of a million jobs this year, and some experts say that unemployment may rise to 8% by the end of next year. we can t wait until then to start creating new jobs. that s why i m proposing to give our businesses a new american jobs tax credit for each new employee they hire here in the united states over the next two years. , , to fuel the real engine of job creation in this country, i ve also proposed eliminating all capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses and start -up companies, and i ve proposed an additional tax incentive through next year to encourage new small business investment. it is time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the american people. and we should fast track the loan guarantees we passed for our auto industry and provide more as needed so that they can build the energy -efficient cars america needs to end our dependence on foreign oil. , , we will also save one million jobs by creating a jobs and growth fund that will provide money to states and local communities so that they can move forward with projects to rebuild and repair our roads, our bridges, and our schools. a lot of these projects and these jobs are at risk right now because of budget shortfalls, but this fund will make sure they continue. , , the second part of my rescue plan is to provide immediate relief to families who are watching their paycheck shrink and their jobs and life savings disappear. i ve already proposed a middle -class tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, but today i m calling on congress to pass a plan so that the irs will mail out the first round of those tax cuts as soon as possible. we should also extend and expand unemployment benefits to those americans who have lost their jobs and are having a harder time finding new ones in this weak economy. and we should stop making them pay taxes on those unemployment insurance benefits as well. , , at a time when the ups and downs of the stock market have rarely been so unpredictable and dramatic, we also need to give families and retirees more flexibility and security when it comes to their retirement savings. , , i welcome senator mccain s proposal to waive the rules that currently force our seniors to withdraw from their 401(k)s even when the market is bad. i think that s a good idea, but i think we need to do even more. since so many americans will be struggling to pay the bills over the next year, i propose that we allow every family to withdraw up to 15% from their ira or 401(k) - up to a maximum of $10,000 - without any fine or penalty throughout 2009. this will help families get through this crisis without being forced to make painful choices like selling their homes or not sending their kids to college. , , the third part of my rescue plan is to provide relief for homeowners who are watching their home values decline while their property taxes go up. earlier this year i pushed for legislation that would help homeowners stay in their homes by working to modify their mortgages. when secretary paulson proposed his original financial rescue plan it included nothing for homeowners. when senator mccain was silent on the issue, i insisted that it include protections for homeowners. now the treasury must use the authority its been granted and move aggressively to help people avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. we don t need a new law or a new $300 billion giveaway to banks like senator mccain has proposed, we just need to act quickly and decisively. , , i ve already proposed a mortgage tax credit for struggling homeowners worth 10% of the interest you pay on your mortgage and we should move quickly to pass it. we should also change the unfair bankruptcy laws that allow judges to write down your mortgage if you own six or seven homes, but not if you have only one. and for all those cities and small towns that are facing a choice between cutting services like health care and education or raising property taxes, we will provide the funding to prevent those tax hikes from happening. we cannot allow homeowners and small towns to suffer because of the mess made by wall street and washington. , , for those americans in danger of losing their homes, today i m also proposing a three -month moratorium on foreclosures. if you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed congress, and your customers are making a good -faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months. we need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. , , finally, this crisis has taught us that we cannot have a sound economy with a dysfunctional financial system. we passed a financial rescue plan that has the promise to help stabilize the financial system, but only if we act quickly, effectively and aggressively. the treasury department must move quickly with their plan to put more money into struggling banks so they have enough to lend, and they should do it in a way that protects taxpayers instead of enriching ceos. there was a report yesterday that some financial institutions participating in this rescue plan are still trying to avoid restraints on ceo pay. that s not just wrong, it s an outrage to every american whose tax dollars have been put at risk. no major investor would ever make an investment if they didn t think the corporation was being prudent and responsible, and we shouldn t expect taxpayers to think any differently. we should also be prepared to extend broader guarantees if it becomes necessary to stabilize our financial system. , , i also believe that treasury should not limit itself to purchasing mortgage -backed securities - it should help unfreeze markets for individual mortgages, student loans, car loans, and credit card loans.. and i think we need to do even more to make loans available in two very important areas of our economy: small businesses and communities. , , on friday, i proposed small business rescue plan that would create an emergency lending fund to lend money directly to small businesses that need cash for their payroll or to buy inventory. it s what we did after 9/11, and it allowed us to get low -cost loans out to tens of thousands of small businesses. we ll also make it easier for private lenders to make small business loans by expanding the small business administration s loan guarantee program. by temporarily eliminating fees for borrowers and lenders, we can unlock the credit that small firms need to pay their workers and keep their doors open. and today, i m also proposing that we maintain the ability of states and local communities that are struggling to maintain basic services without raising taxes to continue to get the credit they need. , , congress should pass this emergency rescue plan as soon as possible. if washington can move quickly to pass a rescue plan for our financial system, there s no reason we can t move just as quickly to pass a rescue plan for our middle -class that will create jobs, provide relief, and help homeowners. and if congress does not act in the coming months, it will be one of the first things i do as president of the united states. because we can t wait any longer to start creating new jobs; to help struggling communities and homeowners, and to provide real and immediate relief to families who are worried not only about this month s bills, but their entire life savings. this plan will help ease those anxieties, and along with the other economic policies i ve proposed, it will begin to create new jobs, grow family incomes, and put us back on the path to prosperity. , , i won t pretend this will be easy or come without cost. we ll have to set priorities as never before, and stick to them. that means pursuing investments in areas such as energy, education and health care that bear directly on our economic future, while deferring other things we can afford to do without. it means scouring the federal budget, line -by-line, ending programs that we don t need and making the ones we do work more efficiently and cost less. , , it also means promoting a new ethic of responsibility. part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means - from wall street to washington to even some on main street. ceos got greedy. politicians spent money they didn t have. lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn t afford and some folks knew they couldn t afford them and bought them anyway. , , we ve lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save. , , now, i know that in an age of declining wages and skyrocketing costs, for many folks this was not a choice but a necessity. people have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from china and other creditors to help pay its bills. , , but we now know how dangerous that can be. once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. our long-term future requires that we do what s necessary to scale down our deficits, grow wages and encourage personal savings again. , , it s a serious challenge. but we can do it if we act now, and if we act as one nation. we can bring a new era of responsibility and accountability to wall street and to washington. we can put in place common - sense regulations to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again. we can make investments in the technology and innovation that will restore prosperity and lead to new jobs and a new economy for the 21st century. we can restore a sense of fairness and balance that will give ever american a fair shot at the american dream. and above all, we can restore confidence - confidence in america, confidence in our economy, and confidence in ourselves. , , this country and the dream it represents are being tested in a way that we haven t seen in nearly a century. and future generations will judge ours by how we respond to this test. will they say that this was a time when america lost its way and its purpose? when we allowed our own petty differences and broken politics to plunge this country into a dark and painful recession? , , or will they say that this was another one of those moments when america overcame? when we battled, , back from adversity by recognizing that common stake that we have in each other s success? , , this is one of those moments. i realize you re cynical and fed up with politics. i understand that you re disappointed and even angry with your leaders. you have every right to be. but despite all of this, i ask of you what s been asked of the american people in times of trial and turmoil throughout our history. i ask you to believe - to believe in yourselves, in each other, and in the future we can build together. , , together, we cannot fail. not now. not when we have a crisis to solve and an economy to save. not when there are so many americans without jobs and without homes. not when there are families who can t afford to see a doctor, or send their child to college, or pay their bills at the end of the month. not when there is a generation that is counting on us to give them the same opportunities and the same chances that we had for ourselves. , , we can do this. americans have done this before. some of us had grandparents or parents who said maybe i can t go to college but my child can; maybe i can t have my own business but my child can. i may have to rent, but maybe my children will have a home they can call their own. i may not have a lot of money but maybe my child will run for senate. i might live in a small village but maybe someday my son can be president of the united states of america. , , now it falls to us. together, we cannot fail. together, we can overcome the broken policies and divided politics of the last eight years. together, we can renew an economy that rewards work and rebuilds the middle class. together, we can create millions of new jobs, and deliver on the promise of health care you can afford and education that helps your kids compete. we can do this if we come together; if we have confidence in ourselves and each other; if we look beyond the darkness of the day to the bright light of hope that lies ahead. together, we can change this country and change this world. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless america. , , , ,"	
"i want to thank you all for joining us here in florida today for this economic summit. , , we meet at a moment of great uncertainty for america. the economic crisis we face is the worst since the great depression. businesses large and small are finding it impossible to get loans, which means they can t buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have. we ve lost more than 750,000 jobs this year - and we just learned that here in florida, we lost nearly 11,000 jobs in september alone. wages are lower than they ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. , , earlier this month, with major financial institutions on the verge of collapse and global markets on the brink, we took unprecedented action and passed a $700 billion rescue plan. i have no doubt this was the right thing to do to address the immediate crisis and put our economy on firmer footing. but it was also just the beginning - not the end - of our work to rebuild our struggling economy. , , some of the folks on this stage know this better than just about anyone. they are on the front lines, dealing with the fallout from eight years of greed on wall street and irresponsibility in washington. when we spend $10 billion a month in iraq, that means less money to fix crumbling roads and bridges here at home. when our president passes tax breaks for big corporations and multimillionaires, that leaves our states without the resources to provide health care and good schools and police and firefighters. today, twenty-one states are facing budget shortfalls - including florida. and governors across america are facing an impossible choice: cut vital services or raise property taxes on families already struggling to stay afloat. , , now, let s be clear: the financial crisis that states, businesses and families are facing didn t just spring up full-blown overnight. this has been a long time coming, and the warning signs have been very clear. but while president bush and senator mccain were ready to move heaven and earth to address the crisis on wall street, president bush has failed to address the crisis on main street - and senator mccain has failed to fully acknowledge it. instead of commonsense solutions, month after month, they ve offered little more than willful ignorance, wishful thinking, and outdated ideology. , , nine months ago - back in january - i called for a stimulus plan to provide immediate relief for states, along with tax rebates to get money directly to middle class families and a foreclosure prevention fund to help them keep their homes. senator mccain, on the other hand, insisted that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. and his advisors openly mocked the stimulus plan before congress - one referred to it, and i quote, as ""borrowing money from the chinese and dropping it from helicopters."" another dismissed it as ""junk."" , , last august, i called for a jobs and growth fund to help states put people to work rebuilding and repairing our roads, bridges and schools. and i called for $25 billion to help states and local governments pay for services and avoid raising property taxes, because tax increases are the last thing our families need in an economy like this. but president bush and senator mccain thought that a second stimulus package was unnecessary. , , finally, after nine straight months of job losses and the worst market turmoil in generations, at a time when even the bush white house has acknowledged the need for a second stimulus, senator mccain put forth a plan - and it s fair to say, it leaves a lot to be desired. , , it s a proposal that does nothing to create jobs. it s an emergency plan that does nothing to help families with the emergencies of lost jobs and falling wages and mounting bills. it contains a housing proposal that offers a $300 billion bailout for wall street banks - but does little to help middle class families stay in their homes. , , in short, it s an economic proposal that does nothing to rebuild our economy, but everything to continue the same failed policies of the past eight years - when speculators gamed the system, regulators looked the other way, and lobbyists bought their way into our government. it s the same failed politics of decrying greed on wall street one minute, and then rewarding that greed the next minute with tax cuts for wall street corporations and ceos. it s the same failed philosophy: give more and more to those with the most and hope prosperity trickles down to everyone else. , , you know, it s funny - yesterday, i heard senator mccain say that i m more concerned with who gets your piece of the pie than with growing the pie. but make no mistake about it, after eight years of bush -mccain economics, the pie is now shrinking. that means lower wages and declining incomes and plummeting home values and rising unemployment. , , so we ve seen what they offer. we ve seen where it leads. this economic crisis is the final verdict on their failed leadership - and it s time for something new. , , i know these are difficult times. but i believe that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis, because i believe in this country. i believe in the american people. and i believe in the leaders here at this table and across america who understand what families are going through, and have been on the frontlines, meeting our challenges head on - helping small businesses take off, harnessing renewable energy and information technology to create 21st century jobs, reforming schools and training workers to succeed in the global economy. , , that s why we re here today - because a crisis like this calls for the best ideas, the brightest minds, the most innovative solutions from every corner of this country. these leaders need and deserve a partner in the white house - a president who understands that our prosperity doesn t come from wall street or washington, but from the hard work and ingenuity of our people. so we should be investing in their productivity and working to create the high -wage, high skill jobs that support our families and strengthen our economy. and that is exactly what i ll do if i m elected president. , , i ll start by creating a new american jobs tax credit for each new employee that companies hire here in the united states over the next two years. i ll stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and invest in companies that create good jobs right here in florida. and i ll help small businesses get back on their feet by eliminating capital gains taxes and giving them emergency loans to keep their doors open and hire workers. , , these are a few of the steps we must take right now to start getting our economy back on track. but we also need a new set of priorities to create jobs and grow our economy over the long term. , , that means investing in renewable energy. i ve proposed $15 billion a year to create five million new green jobs over the next decade - jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel -efficient cars; jobs that will help us end our dependence on oil from middle east dictators. , , i also plan to put two million more americans to work fixing our crumbling roads, schools and bridges, because it s time to build an american infrastructure for the twenty -first century. if we can spend $10 billion a month rebuilding iraq, we can certainly spend some money to rebuild america. , , now, i know that none of this will come easy or without cost. but i m confident that we re ready to meet this challenge. over the past twenty months, i ve met folks all across this country who work that extra shift, and take that last bus home because they want more for their kids. they work long hours and face long odds without complaint or regret. they re not asking government to solve all their problems - they re just asking for a chance to work hard and provide for their families and contribute to this country. that s why i m running for president - to give them that chance and rebuild our economy and ensure that our children and grandchildren have the same opportunities that we had. , , i d now like to open up a discussion with the folks here on stage with me and have a chance to hear their thoughts and ideas. , ,"	
"good morning. we just finished a meeting with senator biden and members of my senior working group on national security. we had a wide -ranging discussion on the challenges facing our nation. , , i ve been pleased to draw on the support of these distinguished americans during this campaign. i was also honored to receive the support of colin powell on sunday, who is a friend and former colleague to many of those here with me. general powell is one of the finest soldiers and statesmen of our time. he has been a source of advice, and i look forward to drawing on his counsel - and the counsel of all of those standing with me today - if i am president. , , the next president will take office at a time of great uncertainty for america. we are in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the great depression. and as challenging as our current economic crisis is, the next president will have to focus on national security challenges on many fronts. the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large and plotting, and we must be vigilant in preventing future attacks. we are fighting two wars abroad. we are facing a range of 21st century threats - from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to our dependence on foreign oil - which have grown more daunting because of the failed policies of the last eight years. , , to succeed, we need leadership that understands the connection between our economy and our strength in the world. we often hear about two debates - one on national security and one on the economy - but that is a false distinction. we can t afford another president who ignores the fundamentals of our economy while running up record deficits to fight a war without end in iraq. , , we must be strong at home to be strong abroad - that is the lesson of our history. our economy supports our military power, it increases our diplomatic leverage, and it is a foundation of america s leadership and in the world. through world war ii, american workers built an arsenal of democracy that helped our heroic troops face down fascism. through the cold war, the engine of the american economy helped power our triumph over communism. , , now, we must renew american competitiveness to support our security and global leadership. that means creating millions of jobs in a new american energy sector, so that we re not borrowing billions from china to buy oil from saudi arabia - for the sake of our economy and our security, we must end our dependence on foreign oil. keeping america ahead also calls for investments in american education, innovation and infrastructure, so that our kids can compete, our homeland is secure, and our country remains on the cutting edge. , , it also means leading an international response to the financial crisis. on september 19th, i called for a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the g -20 to stabilize the credit markets. i m happy that today, the white house announced a summit of the g -20 countries that provides an opportunity to advance the kind of cooperation that i called for last month. america must lead, and other nations must be part of the solution too. , , we must recognize that from global economic turmoil to global terrorism, the challenges we face demand american leadership of strong alliances. when america is isolated, we shoulder these burdens alone, and the security and prosperity of the american people is put at risk. yet for eight years, we have seen our alliances weakened and our standing in the world set back. , , we cannot afford four more years of policies that have failed to adjust to our new century. we re not going to defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries through an occupation of iraq. we re not going to deny the nuclear ambitions of iran by refusing to pursue direct diplomacy alongside our allies. , , we re not going to secure the american people and promote american values with empty bluster. it s time for a fundamental change, and that s why i m running for president. , , this change must start with a responsible end to the war in iraq. we shouldn t keep spending $10 billion a month in iraq while the iraqis sit on a huge surplus. today, we discussed how to succeed in iraq by transitioning to iraqi responsibility. for the sake of our economy, our military, and the long -term stability of iraq, it s time for the iraqis to step up. , , ending the war will help us deal with afghanistan, which we talked about at length this morning. in 2002, i said we should focus on finishing the fight against osama bin laden. throughout this campaign, i have argued that we need more troops and more resources to win the war in afghanistan, and to confront the growing threat from al qaeda along the pakistani border. , , over seven years after 9/11, the situation in afghanistan is grave. this is the most violent year of the war, with the highest number of american casualties. the taliban is on the offensive, al qaeda has a sanctuary across the border in pakistan, and some experts believe that 50 percent of the afghan economy comes from the heroin trade. as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff recently said, ""the trends across the board are not going in the right direction."" , , make no mistake: we are confronting an urgent crisis in afghanistan, and we have to act. it s time to heed the call from general mckiernan and others for more troops. that s why i d send at least two or three additional combat brigades to afghanistan. we also need more training for afghan security forces, more non-military assistance to help afghans develop alternatives to poppy farming, more safeguards to prevent corruption, and a new effort to crack down on cross -border terrorism. only a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes afghanistan and the fight against al qaeda will succeed, and that s the change i ll bring to the white house. , , there is a clear choice in this election. on issue after issue, senator mccain has supported the key decisions and core approach of president bush. as president, he would continue the policies that have put our economy into crisis and endangered our national security. and as he s shown over the last few weeks, he would also continue the divisive politics that undercuts the bipartisan cooperation and national unity that is so badly needed in challenging times. , , we need to change course. at home, we must invest in the competitiveness of the american economy. abroad, we need a new direction that ends the war in iraq, focuses on the fight against al qaeda and the taliban, and restores strong alliances and tough american diplomacy. to keep our country safe and prosperous, we need leadership that brings the american people together. that is the lesson of our history. together, we cannot fail; together, we can rise to meet any challenge. , , , , ,"	
"after decades of broken politics in washington, eight years of failed policies from george bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of maine to the sunshine of california, we are one week away from change in america. , , in one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of wall street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on main street. , , in one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle -class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom -up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the ceo to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor. , , in one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, republican against democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope. , , in one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need. , , we began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the old state capitol in springfield, illinois. back then, we didn t have much money or many endorsements. we weren t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be. , , but i also knew this. i knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. i believed that democrats and republicans and americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics - one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as americans. , , most of all, i believed in your ability to make change happen. i knew that the american people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. and i was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in washington that wants to keep things just the way they are. , , twenty-one months later, my faith in the american people has been vindicated. that s how we ve come so far and so close - because of you. that s how we ll change this country - with your help. and that s why we can t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. not now. not when so much is at stake. , , we are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the great depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. businesses and families can t get credit. home values are falling. pensions are disappearing. wages are lower than they ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. it s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. , , at a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. the last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in washington is watching anyone on wall street because politicians and lobbyists killed common -sense regulations. those are the theories that got us into this mess. they haven t worked, and it s time for change. that s why i m running for , , october 28 , , senator barack obama , in harrisonburg, va , , , president of the united states. , , now, senator mccain has served this country honorably. and he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from george bush - on torture, for example. he deserves credit for that. but when it comes to the economy - when it comes to the central issue of this election - the plain truth is that john mccain has stood with this president every step of the way. voting for the bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. voting for the bush budgets that spent us into debt. calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. those are the facts. , , and now, after twenty-one months and three debates, senator mccain still has not been able to tell the american people a single major thing he d do differently from george bush when it comes to the economy. senator mccain says that we can t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old bush -mccain policies that have failed us for the last eight years. , , it s not change when john mccain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average fortune 500 ceo. it s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same wall street banks that got us into this mess. it s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle -class americans. that s not change. , , look - we ve tried it john mccain s way. we ve tried it george bush s way. deep down, senator mccain knows that, which is why his campaign said that ""if we keep talking about the economy, we re going to lose."" that s why he s spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. because that s how you play the game in washington. if you can t beat your opponent s ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. if you don t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. you make a big election about small things. , , ohio, we are here to say ""not this time. not this year. not when so much is at stake."" senator mccain might be worried about losing an election, but i m worried about americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. i can take one more week of john mccain s attacks, but this country can t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. it s time for something new. , , the question in this election is not ""are you better off than you were four years ago?"" we know the answer to that. the real question is, ""will this country be better off four years from now?"" , , i know these are difficult times for america. but i also know that we have faced difficult times before. the american story has never been about things coming easy - it s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. it s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. it s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. that s how we ve overcome war and depression. that s how we ve won great struggles for civil rights and women s rights and worker s rights. and that s how we ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before - as one nation; as one people. , , remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on earth. we re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. so there s no reason we can t make this century another american century. we just need a new direction. we need a new politics. , , now, i don t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. i know you don t either. but i do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. it should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create american jobs, and look out for american workers, and play by the rules of the road. it should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and , , , , , , , , text hope to 62262, , power and influence, but for every single american who s willing to work. that s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle -class families. that s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. that s how we ve always grown the american economy - from the bottom-up. john mccain calls this socialism. i call it opportunity, and there is nothing more american than that. , , understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. we don t need bigger government or smaller government. we need a better government - a more competent government - a government that upholds the values we hold in common as americans. , , we don t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out wall street banks. as president, i will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching ceos. and i will put in place the common -sense regulations i ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that wall street can never cause a crisis like this again. that s the change we need. , , the choice in this election isn t between tax cuts and no tax cuts. it s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. i will give a tax break to 95% of americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. i ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. and i ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. no matter what senator mccain may claim, here are the facts - if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. nothing. because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle -class. , , when it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around america or allowing every job to disappear overseas. the truth is, we won t be able to bring back every job that we ve lost, but that doesn t mean we should follow john mccain s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send american jobs overseas. i will end those breaks as president, and i will give american businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the united states of america. i ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start -up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. we ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. and i will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade - jobs that pay well and can t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel -efficient cars of tomorrow, not in japan or south korea but here in the united states of america; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the middle east in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. that s how america can lead again. , , when it comes to health care, we don t have to choose between a government -run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. if you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. if you don t have health insurance, you ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that members of congress get for themselves. we ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. and as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre -existing condition and didn t want to pay for treatment, i will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most. , , when it comes to giving every child a world -class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform - because our schools need both. as president, i will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. but i will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. and i will make a deal with every american who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. you invest in america, america will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward. , , and when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in iraq. it s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in iraq while the iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. as president, i will end this war by asking the iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin laden and the al qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. i will never hesitate to defend this nation, but i will only send our troops into harm s way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. i will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and i will restore our moral standing, so that america is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future. , , i won t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy - especially now. the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in iraq, means that washington will have to tighten its belt and put off, , spending on things we can afford to do without. on this, there is no other choice. as president, i will go through the federal budget, line -by-line, ending programs that we don t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less. , , but as i ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn t just about new programs and policies. it s about a new politics - a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another. , , part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. on wall street, easy money and an ethic of ""what s good for me is good enough"" blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. on main street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn t afford. some folks knew they couldn t afford those houses and bought them anyway. in washington, politicians spent money they didn t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. they scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on american soil since pearl harbor, all we were asked to do by our president was to go out and shop. , , that is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. what has also been lost is the idea that in this american story, each of us has a role to play. each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. that s what s been lost these last eight years - our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. and that s what we need to restore right now. , , yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. but all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort - black, white, latino, asian, native american; democrat and republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not. , , in this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. the stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe. , , because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. there is no city or town that is more pro -america than anywhere else - we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. there are patriots who supported this war in iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in democratic policies and those who believe in republican policies. the men and women who serve in our battlefields may be democrats and republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. they have not served a red america or a blue america - they have served the united states of america. , , it won t be easy, ohio. it won t be quick. but you and i know that it is time to come together and change this country. some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. a lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. you have every right to be. but despite all of this, i ask of you what has been asked of americans throughout our history. , , i ask you to believe - not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. , , i know this change is possible. because i have seen it over the last twenty-one months. because in this campaign, i have had the privilege to witness what is best in america. , , i ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. i ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re -enlist after losing a limb. i ve seen it in the faces of the men and women i ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams. , , i still remember the email that a woman named robyn sent me after i met her in ft. lauderdale. sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn t have that kind of money. , , in her email, robyn wrote, ""i ask only this of you - on the days where you feel so tired you can t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. when those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder."" , , ohio, that s what hope is - that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. if we re willing to work for it. if we re willing to shed our fears and our doubts. if we re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we re tired and come back fighting harder., , hope! that s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. what led them to say, ""maybe i can t go to college, but if i save a little bit each week my child can; maybe i can t have my own business but if i work really hard my child can open one of her own."" it s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in america; what led those who couldn t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, ""it may look dark tonight, but if i hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter."" , , that s what this election is about. that is the choice we face right now. , , don t believe for a second this election is over. don t think for a minute that power concedes. we have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does. , , in one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom -up. , , in one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future. , , in one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. , , in one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history. , , that s what s at stake. that s what we re fighting for. and if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then i promise you this - we will not just win ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless america. , , , ,"	
"i want to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge all the hard working union members that are here with us today., today -- american workers are more productive than ever. but their real wages are shrinking---their pensions are threatened—and their health-care coverage is cut., meanwhile this administration cuts student loans, hands out tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and wants to privatize social security., america s workers are the backbone of our country and i am proud to stand with you here today ... and i want to thank you for standing with me throughout my career., the men and women of the labor movement are a primary reason why i have been able to accomplish so much in new mexico., 	creating more than 84,000	jobs in the last four years., cutting one billion in	taxes—not for the wealthy—but for working families, and expanding access to	health insurance to working families, and today every child five years or, younger has access to health care coverage., , their support helped me and the democrats recapture state government after eight years of republican rule. and it is only with the help of the hardworking men and women of labor that democrats will recapture the white house., it s through that same hard work that the people of new hampshire have a new minimum wage---a wage with dignity. after three years working side-by-side with labor, we ve been able to do the same in new mexico., but i think we all know--raising the minimum wage is the best way to stand up for the working poor., but, we need to stand up for the middle class too. and the best way we can do that is by supporting unions., raising state minimum wages is good, but not good enough. raising the federal minimum wage is good, but not good enough. to renew america s middle class, we shouldn t stop until every worker s wage is a union wage. , and that starts with majority authorization. that doesn t just mean giving employees a chance to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation. that also means swiftly punishing those employers who violate any worker s right to organize., i believe the members organizations of afl-ci0 don t have to ask where i stand--, as one of my first acts as	governor, i stood with the afscme, cwa, aft and restored collective , bargaining rights for public employees---with card-check	recognition and fair share.	there are no, free riders in my state...period., i stood	with the american federation of teachers—and together we created new	standards, linked, them to higher teacher salaries, and our teacher salaries	have moved from 46th to 29th in the nation -, and our	teacher quality has jumped from 30th to 17th., i stood	with cwa and together we a statewide project called wire new mexico to create a, high-speech,	high capacity data, voice and video communications backbone. that network	will be, installed, maintained and upgraded by union workers., i stood	with the theatrical and stage employees union to invest state funds to	train new technicians, to work on more than $1 billion dollars in film and	television production over the last four years. that, union has grown from 60 registered	members to over 1400 and those productions are proudly, stamped	made in the usa	with a union label., i	stood with the new mexico	building and	trades. when we financed the $400	million, construction for a new state hospital, we negotiated the first	public works project labor agreement in, new mexico history. that 100% union project is on-time and	on-budget. and in my state, i made, the	prevailing wage a union wage. i	also worked with the building and trades department to create, the toughest	independent contractor law in the country. in new	mexico, we require independent, contractors to be	licensed as a business, have a written contract and control the work. break the, law—and you ll face a fine or	spend some time in jail--a 100% union-built jail. , and i stood with workers when i was president	clinton s secretary of energy. when i	started, there, was a disturbing number of staff, craftsmen, and	many of your members who were sick or dying—i call, them the ""silent cold	warriors."" these brave men and	women had served for decades supporting the, critical research and tests to	guarantee america s	nuclear defense., but, everyone was focused on what went into the air and water, not what was going into the bodies of our workers., first, i did what should have been done long ago—i apologized for the federal government s failure to protect these workers., second, i worked with congress and president clinton to put together a nuclear worker compensation package--$150,000 dollars per worker and payment of all medical expenses., i m proud to say, to-date, it has dispensed more than $2 billion to workers or their survivors—trying to right a terrible wrong., (in new mexico, labor sits at the head of the table). no i sit at the head of the table but we have union, representatives on every commission affecting your membership, in my cabinet, all the way up to deputy chief of staff and former head of the new mexico building trades, brian condit., 0ver the years, unions and i have seen eye-to-eye a lot. as governor i ve been proud to receive the endorsement of every state labor union, the support of labor as secretary of energy, and in my 15 years in congress i received an 88% rating from the afl-ci0., (and for the 12% who disagreed with me, i also have been endorsed by the nra, and they would like to have a word with you. just kidding), i want to underscore an important point., in	1992 unions households turned out 19% of the vote—the entire	national vote—and governor, clinton became the first democratic president	in a dozen years., in	2000 unions turned out 25% of the vote—and al gore won., in	2006 unions turned out in force and today, we have a democratic congress., you ve always done your part in helping democrats. (heck, you do more than your part)., it s now time democrat s did ours., labor has a seat at my cabinet table and a voice in my administration in new mexico. when i m president, my secretary of labor will be from the ranks of organized labor., you will sit at my cabinet table and you will be the voice of labor--in my administration. second, democrats need to work to create new jobs---clean energy jobs., let me tell you about those 84-thousand new jobs in new mexico. we re building biodiesel and ethanol plants, electric automotive and solar manufacturing sites, and providing new incentives to construct clean coal plants. we re reducing our dependence on foreign oil, beating global warming and creating thousands of high-wage jobs., we ve become the clean energy state. i want to make us the clean energy nation, and be america s first ""energy president."", now, another president---bill clinton used to send me in to negotiate the freedom of american hostages and political prisoners. he d say ""send richardson, bad guys seem to like him."", and that s how i ended up negotiating face-to-face with people like saddam hussein, fidel castro, and the north koreans. and every time, i brought americans home., i think we need the same sort of strong and focused diplomacy, with friends and foes alike, in order to adapt our foreign policy to the global nature of energy...the global catastrophe of global warming...and the disaster in iraq., we have to undo the damage...and the world is waiting., but, if this president s foreign policy inexperience got us into this war, then it s going to take someone with real hands-on international experience to lead us out., in the next nine months, i hope you will ask each candidate lot of questions. listen to what promises we make, but ask us what promises we ve kept., listen to how we will unify our party, but ask us how we can unify the country., listen to how we will withdrawal from iraq, but ask us how we will negotiate the peace., choose a candidate who s got the vision and experience—to win the presidency, to unify our country, and to renew our leadership in the world., i believe i offer that vision and experience. i ask you to join me., let s end the division and bring our country together. let s start fighting for things that matter—access to health care, quality education, better jobs, and creating a clean energy economy. let s rebuild america s middle class by supporting every workers right to organize., and because stubbornness isn t a foreign policy---let s never be afraid to talk with our foes., and let s have the courage to end this war in iraq and renew america s diplomacy and reputation in the world. thank you., god bless you, and god bless the united states of america., , ,"	
"thank you, ted, for that introduction. i appreciate the opportunity to speak here today at the new america foundation. i appreciate your sensible policy influence in many areas., thanks to my friend terry tamminen, head chef in my friend arnold schwarzenegger s kitchen cabinet., thanks also to diana farrell and the mckinsey global institute for their excellent report on energy productivity, to be released today. it confirms what we have been doing in new mexico and the west, and it supports what i will discuss today., energy productivity is critical to meeting energy demand. it creates a more resilient, more prosperous economy. and for consumers, it saves money, saves energy, and protects the climate. the mckinsey report is a huge step forward in understanding energy., i want to recognize some of the other folks here as well. steve howard, from the climate group, bringing the private sector together to face some of the world s biggest challenges. bill prindle from the american council for, an energy-efficient economy, who s a great resource on energy efficiency. linda fisher, from dupont, a company that is leading the corporate sector on sustainability. john stowell, from duke energy, among the nation s leaders in seeking clean energy solutions. i am sure i missed people i should acknowledge, but i don t have a lot of, time. so let me get started., jefferson said something like ""a little revolution every twenty years isn t a bad thing."", we have known about this country s energy problems for 35 years, yet our energy revolution stopped in about 1985, when we rolled back fuel economy standards. since then our consumption has climbed, fuel efficiency has stagnated, and our crippling dependence on foreign oil has about doubled., today, i am going to stake my claim to being the next president, the energy president, on the concept of a fast, comprehensive energy revolution in the united states., gasoline is back up over $3 a gallon. people are hurting. the decline in retail sales reported for april was among the worst ever, partly because most american households do not have income to spread across high gasoline costs and all the other expenses of life., these gasoline price increases have virtually nothing to do with the arctic national wildlife refuge or the 0uter continental shelf. they are not because oil is running out, or because of hurricanes in the gulf of mexico., i am here to tell you consumers are hurting because u.s. energy markets are not diverse and competitive, and because we have fed our addiction to oil instead of ending it., we are bleeding ourselves to death, buying up to 300 billion dollars worth of foreign oil every year, and spending another 100 or 150 billion dollars transporting and defending oil around the world., the potential for larger price spikes and pain is even scarier. a successful terrorist attack on critical oil infrastructure, for instance, could drive prices up to $100 or $120 or even $150 a barrel., we need a bold, aggressive national energy and climate policy that helps americans who are struggling to heat their homes and fill their gas tanks, and that moves us to safe, available alternatives as quickly as possible., that policy will recognize and benefit from the regional differences that give the united states its strength and, diversity., these regional strengths — from the wind and solar of my own mountain region, to the biomass and coal of the midwest, to the tidal forces on the coasts — will help the united states meet the two great challenges of our era: energy security and global warming., here are the principles that guide my thinking., 0ur energy policy solutions must fight global warming, which threatens human, ecological, and economic catastrophe literally everywhere on earth., 0ur energy policy solutions must wean us from oil, because any oil addiction perverts our nation s strategic objectives, limits our options, and costs us both blood and treasure., next, in meeting this challenge, we must support and help people, communities, industries, and small businesses who could be hurt by a careless transition — but are being terribly hurt by soaring prices today., further, i am a market-oriented democrat. i want to set clear regulatory standards and systems and incentives, and allow the markets to respond., finally, we must keep the u.s. at the forefront of science and technology development — exploring frontiers, finding solutions to our energy and climate challenges., these are my bedrock principles -- they are not subject to negotiation., we need a man-on-the-moon program to end this addiction, this hemorrhage. but we need it much faster and much more boldly than people are suggesting., when john f. kennedy challenged this country to reach the moon, he challenged us to get there in ten years, not twenty, or thirty, or forty., 0n energy policy, we need to change fast, or sink slowly., i am issuing a call to action, for congress, the energy industry, and the public. i am calling for a new american revolution — an energy and climate revolution., people in politics and industry might say it can t be done. my goals are too lofty., i am not comparing myself to jfk, but i know that when he challenged americans to reach the moon in 10 years, america responded by saying, ""how can we help?"" we didn t say, ""it can t be done."", i bring experience and a record of accomplishment to this challenge. as governor of new mexico, i have put renewable energy requirements in place, supported generous solar tax incentives, eliminated sales taxes on hybrid vehicles, set aggressive targets to reduce global warming pollution — a list of about 40 important initiatives. new mexico is now the clean energy state., as energy secretary, even with very low oil prices, i pushed for aggressive energy efficiency standards, conservation in the midst of the california electricity crisis, a national renewable portfolio standard, and development of new vehicle technology., as a diplomat and negotiator, i have a record of dealing successfully with hostage-takers and tyrants. now i want to bring that experience to the task of freeing the united states from its status as international hostage to costly energy, and from the tyranny of oil dependence., i have a record, i have the will, and i am making this the central priority for new national policy in my campaign for president. when i take office, the congress and i will have a second ""first 100 days,"" like fdr s, to focus on changing energy and climate policy right away., here is my five-goal policy framework to break our oil addiction, create competition and value for consumers, strengthen our national security, create american jobs, and lead the world to effective climate protection., it starts with goal 1, a dramatic reduction in oil consumption by 2020., the united states consumes about 21 million barrels of oil per day. after katrina, about 65% of this was imported., by 2020, with hard work and the cooperation of congress and the american people, we will reduce our oil dependence by at least 6 million barrels a day, probably 8 million, and possibly as much as 10 million., first, we need to get low- and zero-petroleum plug-in cars into the marketplace, while sharply reducing the, carbon emissions from our electric sector. this is the most important single step we can take in changing our oil consumption patterns for the future., by 2020, this change will reduce consumption by around 2 million barrels a day, with far larger reductions in the years after that., as energy secretary, i supported the electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle concepts. they work. the battery technologies have come a long way., i am talking about two types of vehicles., the pure-electric vehicle offers simplicity and performance for an average daily commute in our larger metro areas, like the big cities on the coasts and in the midwest., the plug-in electric car or truck provides more range and flexibility for people who might drive longer distances, and it can extend gas mileage above 100 miles per gallon., plug-in cars don t need a whole new refining and retailing infrastructure, like hydrogen, which has potential for the more distant future. the infrastructure is there, in your wall sockets., most consumers will love the plug-in car. as a consumer, you choose your fuel. gasoline at 3, maybe 4 dollars a gallon? 0r electricity, costing a dollar or two for a 100-mile charge?, in february of 2009, within 30 days of taking office, i will hold a two-day white house plug-in summit with automakers, utilities, and labor. we will lock in the program to get the 100 mile per gallon car on the market across the board, and to make sure we are building clean electricity to fuel it., i will push this plug-in car concept with significant rebates to consumers who buy them, and by supporting automakers who want to build them. i expect the big three automakers to lead the world in this technology. there are other manufacturers — including an electric car manufacturing company in my own state — who are fast getting into the market, at detroit s peril., here s my second oil-saving initiative., i will push fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon by 2020. as a result, our conventionally powered automotive fleet will reduce its demand by as much 3 million barrels a day., what the congress is considering right now, at thirty-five miles per gallon, marks progress after years of inaction — but we made better progress 30 years ago., in fact, between 1977 and 1985, the u.s. reduced oil demand by 17% without any of the great new technologies and alternatives we have available now., as the mckinsey report says, aligning u.s. fuel economy standards to international levels could save millions of barrels of oil every day. and it will save money for people who use conventionally fueled vehicles — perhaps as much as $1,000 or $2,000 a year for people who drive long distances, as we do out west., automakers, including detroit, can meet these standards by using lighter but safer materials and new engine efficiencies such as ultra-clean diesels., here s my third oil-saving initiative. we will create a well-to-wheels low-carbon fuel requirement that reduces the carbon impact of our liquid fuels by 30% by 2020, including alternative fuels that will substitute for about 10% of our gasoline demand., this standard will bring our oil consumption down by another 2 million barrels a day., these fuels can be produced all over the country, creating jobs in rural areas, and preventing the export of petrodollars to other nations., fourth, we will reduce oil consumption by non-auto transportation — ships, trains, trucks, and planes. this will include new technologies, including some fuel-switching to electricity and renewable fuels — and save another 500,000 barrels a day. we will work to increase the efficiency in non-transportation sectors as well, potentially saving another 500,000 barrels per day. and i will support smart growth and public transportation policies that will reduce driving and save oil., this is an integrated, comprehensive approach to a tremendous national challenge. it relies on american technology, patriotism, and cooperation., in all, by 2020, with real presidential leadership and the support of congress and the american people, we will, sharply reduce oil demand by six, eight or even 10 million barrels a day., goal number two is new efficiencies and energy sources in the electrical sector., i will call for a national renewable portfolio standard of 30% by 2020, rising to 50% by 2040. as you know, a renewable portfolio standard, or rps, requires a certain amount of renewable energy to be represented in the electricity sold to every consumer., i know this is extremely aggressive. but with retirements of older, inefficient power plants, a new carbon cap and trade system, and growing demand for electricity from plug-in cars, we must capitalize on the low-carbon energy sources nature provides for us — wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass., when i was chair of the western governors  association, i worked closely with california governor arnold schwarzenegger to build bipartisan support for 30,000 megawatts of new renewables in the west by 2015. we found that this amount — and even more — would be cost-effective and achievable., further, based on research like the mckinsey report today, i will push for a law requiring a 20% improvement in energy productivity by 2020., when the western governors  association studied my proposal to achieve this 20 by 20 goal, it found that we could easily achieve those savings — at a 2.5 to 1 cost-benefit ratio, saving western customers $21 billion a year by 2020., goal three is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 20% by 2020, and 80% by 2040., new scientific evidence shows that we must move faster than we thought to address climate change and global warming., we must show other nations that we will cooperate with them to hold atmospheric carbon dioxide levels under a safe, acceptable level., we will start with a market-based cap and trade system. by 2020, utilities and industry will be allowed to emit 80% as much global warming pollution as they do today, and they will have to buy rights to do so, creating a real market for pollution reduction., it s like musical chairs for carbon. by 2050 there will be 90% fewer chairs., when these savings are combined with savings in the transportation sector, i believe we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall by 30% or more by 2020., my program allows time for businesses and utilities to prepare and adjust, and provides time for the federal government to develop a regime for safe, long-term carbon disposal, or sequestration. i believe that coal — carbon-clean coal — will play a role in our energy future, and that we must support the deployment of carbon-clean coal technologies here and around the world., we can afford to protect the climate. given the risks of catastrophic climate change, we must afford it. a small commitment could save incalculable amounts in preventing drought and natural disasters, famine and disease, and destruction of coastal areas and oceans., my fourth goal is to capitalize on our strengths in science and technology., america is the engine room of global innovation and ingenuity. whenever i meet our college and university students and faculty, i see vital new enthusiasm and commitment to meeting these energy and climate challenges. it s inspiring — but it is also a valuable resource., we have strong educational and research institutions. we have the world s best-trained intellectual and academic base. scientists and technologists from around the world want to study and work here., that is a huge strength, one that we must not waste, and one that can nourish our growth and leadership in meeting the energy and climate challenge., i don t generally agree with the concept of collecting large sums of federal revenue and putting them into vast funds, holding ten or fifty billion dollars a year, that the government would use to pick winners and losers in energy technology., but i do think the federal government must play a critical role in supporting and pushing new technologies, in collaboration with scientists and investors and companies., i believe we can create a national energy innovation trust fund with a one-time funding commitment, a fund that, should provide needed research and technology support and that will sustain itself over time by helping the private sector deploy the best energy technologies., it is here, in science and technology, that we have the most potential to surprise ourselves with large gains reducing oil consumption and global warming emissions. we must invest in our world-leading institutions and programs in science and technology., my fifth goal is to lead by example, making the united states a beacon of the new energy future., we have become a lone wolf instead of the brave eagle, at least in the eyes of the world. it is time for us to fly high again, to see the whole landscape, to be seen by the world, to represent freedom, and human rights., as we implement these far-reaching policy changes at home, we must immediately return to the international negotiating table and support mandatory limits on global warming pollution, keeping atmospheric carbon below 450 parts per million., nations such as india and china are waiting to implement big changes in their energy policies because the united states hasn t committed yet. yet they know climate protection is in everyone s interest, including their own., my international program will include working closely and bilaterally with fast-growing nations like china, brazil, south africa, and india so that they use new, low-carbon technologies to meet their fast-growing demand., to achieve this, i will cooperate with the european union, the world bank, the asian partnership, agencies of the united nations, and our allies around the world to help finance the small incremental cost of ""doing it right."", internationally speaking, we must also groom relations with our largest oil suppliers, mexico and canada, which supply about 20% of our oil., my north american energy council will stabilize the oil and gas trade, work on a continental electrical grid, help bring energy resources and productivity to market throughout the continent, and develop a regional system for carbon trading., i know the importance of arctic natural gas — from canada and alaska — and want to help bring that relatively non-polluting, plentiful, reliable resource to market., i also know mexico, and believe that we can have a strong, constructive, historic relationship with that country that strengthens its economy and reduces immigration tensions., lastly, we should work with the gulf nations, and our partners in consuming nations and the united nations security council, to try to create a multilateral system for protecting the gulf., securing the gulf and other oil transportation routes, multilaterally, could help stabilize oil prices and international peace., about the oil companies..., i know people love to hate the oil companies. they have been raking in huge profits., but i want to invite them to become energy companies, and invest in our thriving new energy future., the energy industry is invited to the table, but it isn t going to run the table the way it has in the last five years. in closing..., americans need heat and electricity in our homes, schools and workplaces. we need to get places. americans are hurt by unpredictable and soaring energy prices., the way out is to get off oil, to create competition, to support energy productivity, to maximize our strengths in science and research, and invest in new technologies and energy sources., we can create a new energy future, with broad, bold strokes. and we must sharply reduce our global warming pollution in the process., a brief, conceptual speech doesn t provide all the details. i know. so i hope you will go to my website and look at my new white paper on energy, security and climate., this is the way to a bright, strong, prosperous future for the united states — and for the world. i called for an energy revolution — and now, today, i call on you to ioin it., thanks for your time., ,"	
"i appreciate the opportunity to speak here today. i think this conference is one of the most important events that all of us, as candidates, will attend this year. and i d like to tell you why it s important to me personally., i first got involved in public service after meeting hubert humphrey in 1971, while i was in graduate school. despite his narrow defeat in the 1968 presidential election, he hadn t lost his idealism. he challenged me and the, other students i was with to try and make a difference with our lives -- to look at the world around us and seek out the inequality that s sometimes plain to see ... and other times hidden from view ... and to give our best effort to heal our nation., this is a hauntingly similar time. like 1968, we are a nation deep into an unwanted war, the president has lost the country, there is hurt and sorrow among our people, and there is a sense that no matter who is elected, we have a long road in front of us., but there is great risk in taking only this view. when you listen to some who are running for president, you can hear it in their voices. there is weight to their words. but they are in danger of being weighed down by it all., i am optimistic about our country. i am optimistic about the democratic party. we have the majority in congress ... the american people agree with us on the issues ... we have the best field of candidates for president ... and we re going to put a democrat into the white house., yes, there is too much that is wrong with america. but we can also celebrate what s finally going right., the first step was taking back the congress. the next step is taking back the white house. that s how we take back america., i am going to focus my remarks today on repairing the damage from the two worst mistakes of the bush administration -- failing to address climate change and failing to change our policies in iraq., some people poke fun at how i like to talk about what i ve done as a governor. but i m proud of new mexico ..., and i m proud of making new mexico the clean energy state. in fact, we re doing more to clean up the environment and fight global warming than any other state in the country., mark twain said ""everybody complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it."" well, we re doing something about global warming in new mexico., we re requiring utility companies to produce energy from renewable sources ... we ve invested directly in energy efficiency ... we re promoting renewable energy with tax credits for using wind, solar, and biofuels ... we ve eliminated taxes on hybrid cars ... and i set tough standards to reduce greenhouse emissions., maybe the country and president bush don t follow the kyoto treaty, but my state does., 0f course, in his typical fashion, after six and a half years of refusing to admit that global warming exists, president bush has started lecturing developing nations and telling them to clean up their act., i m not sure what s more insulting to the rest of the world. telling them they re wrong for six and a half years. 0r changing your mind and telling them they re still wrong., mr. president, we don t need half-hearted half-way measures like the european agreement that just came out of the g-8 summit. the kyoto treaty has been sitting on your desk for six and a half years. you might as well sign it, now, because in a year and a half, if you haven t, i will., i m proud to have the most aggressive plan of anyone running for president. within twelve years, my plan would reduce global warming pollution by 20 percent, lower demand for oil by fifty percent, and push fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon., by the year 2040, my plan would require that 50 percent of our electricity be generated from renewable sources and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent., you can read the plan for yourself at my campaign website or you can listen to the league of conservation voters. they rated it the most aggressive plan with the highest goals of any other candidate. these aren t pie in the sky proposals, but they are ambitious., if we can spend billions waging war in a country that never had weapons of mass destruction ... then we can certainly find the will to stop the mass destruction of our planet., it s time that we as a nation chose the collective good over the desire to collect goods. and frankly, buying carbon offsets isn t enough. just like paying somebody else to go to church doesn t make you religious ... paying somebody else to conserve doesn t make you a conservationist., my wife barbara and i use both a hybrid and a flex-fuel vehicle, and we ve made the new mexico governor s mansion a lot more energy efficient, including compact fluorescent lighting, low water-use irrigation, and ceiling fans to cut down on air conditioning -- and lemme tell you, on a 95 degree day in new mexico, that s a sacrifice!, but i know we can do more, and i ll bet that a lot of you could, too. we all have to sacrifice for the common good ... and we have to end our dependence on middle eastern oil., which brings us to iraq ..., some will tell you that we only have two options: either stay in iraq and try to referee a civil war ... or leave and watch the middle east collapse into a regional war. when a president decides that he or she only has two bad options, guess what happens? something bad., i have a different view ... a more optimistic view grounded in what i call a new realism for foreign policy. i applaud my fellow democratic candidates for taking on president bush in the congress., but there is a fundamental difference in this campaign -- and that s how many troops each of us would leave behind., 0ther than the customary marine contingent at the embassy, i would leave zero troops. not a single one. and if the embassy and our embassy personnel aren t safe, then they re all coming home too., no airbases. no troops in the green zone. no embedded soldiers training iraqi forces, because we all know what that means. it means our troops would still be out on patrol with targets on their backs., a regional crisis is worthy of military intervention. a true threat to our country s security is worthy of war., but a struggle between a country s warring factions, where both sides hate the united states, is not worthy of one more lost american life., with all due respect to my democratic colleagues ... senators clinton, 0bama, dodd, and biden all voted for timeline legislation that had deliberate loopholes. those loopholes allow this president, or any president, to leave, an undetermined number of troops in iraq indefinitely. , and this is the same legislation that former senator edwards says we should send back to president bush over and over again until he signs it., the language in the legislation was clear. it would allow the president to leave american troops behind for quote ""training and equipping members of the iraqi security forces"" ... and to protect, among other things, quote ""other, u.s. forces."" 2, troops protecting troops ... potentially thousands of troops, year after year. i don t know about the other folks running, but troops protecting troops training other troops doesn t sound any different to me., clearly, my democratic colleagues in this campaign think it s responsible to have an ongoing military role in iraq. they voted not once but twice to leave troops behind., senator clinton has told her military advisor that if she were elected, there might still be troops in iraq at end of, her second term., senator 0bama s written plan calls for leaving non-combat troops in iraq. and senator edwards says he s for withdrawing all troops except those at the embassy. but that s not what the bill says that he wants to pass again and again., the responsible thing to do is to look at the problem from another perspective. at the rate we re losing american lives, over one thousand american troops will be killed this year alone. the surge has led to nothing but a surge in americans dying., 0ver 70 percent of iraqis want us out of their country. 0ver 60 percent think it s okay to kill americans., think about that for a second. 0ver 60 percent were willing to tell a pollster they d never met before that it s okay to kill americans ... which means that percentage is probably even higher. that s not the case in japan, germany, south korea or anywhere else american troops are stationed., i have great respect for my fellow democratic candidates, but for those who think we should leave a residual force, how long does that force need to be in place before we can leave? 0ne year? two years? five? ten?, there is not a single sign that iraq is improving. to the contrary, every indication is that it s getting worse, and a smaller force will do nothing to change that., how many more americans must die before we leave an iraq that will be no better off than it is today? and in a war where american troops are the number one target, who are the poor souls you re going to leave behind?, we need to bring them all home., you can sign our petition at no troops left behind dot com., the way we help heal iraq is to bring all of our troops home within six months. 0nly then can the hard diplomatic work really begin. that s how we avoid a regional war., i would leave troops in neighboring countries that want us, like kuwait, to help keep the peace. but we need to hand over security of iraq to an all muslim peacekeeping force., we would then have a moral responsibility to do everything we can to bring the different factions together in a national reconciliation conference., we also have a strategic interest in organizing a regional conference with all of iraq s neighbors, including syria and iran, to help stabilize iraq. no one in the region, including iran, wants an iraqi civil war ... and no one in the region, especially iran, wants iraqi refugees., some will tell you that once we leave iraq, the country will become a hotbed of al qaeda activity. that s just not the case. there is an old arab proverb -- ""the enemy of my enemy is my friend."" up until now, al qaeda was tolerated in iraq because they were killing americans., 0nce we re gone, the iraqis will have no further use for al qaeda and they will drive them out. we re seeing the beginnings of this already in sunni attacks on al qaeda, but the process will accelerate once we re gone. too many iraqis have died at the hands of al qaeda and retaliation will be at hand., two months ago in north korea, i was proud to help show how talking to your enemies can produce results, like, reducing the north korean nuclear threat and bringing home the remains of six american servicemen. the situation is similar in the middle east. this president broke iraq. the next president has to know how to use diplomacy to fix it., i will tell you this -- my world view is different from my colleagues. in my career, i ve been able to get results, not with harsh words, but hard work. you talk to your adversaries. you listen. you get to know them well if you want them to hear what you re saying. and with understanding comes resolve. and with clarity comes cooperation., it s how i ve approached foreign affairs. it s how i ve approached governing. and it s how i ll serve as president of this great country., more than anything else, we have a moral obligation to those american soldiers and citizens who ve laid down their lives overseas., some say we cannot let their sacrifice be in vain. but you will never convince me that those slain patriots would have wanted a single additional life to be lost ... just to validate their own sacrifice., instead, the moral obligation is to honor their service by bringing their mission to a close. by ending the bloodshed, ... and finally letting the iraqi people and the american people to set a new course., those would be the principles of my presidency. and those would be the ideals i d seek., thank you, god bless you, god bless our troops, god bless the democratic party, and god bless new mexico., , ,"	
"thank you for that kind introduction, and your warm welcome., it s wonderful being in this amazing memorial to the national guard. i ve always stood with our armed forces, and i feel the grandeur and solemnity of this hall matches the solemnity of the challenges we face., i am especially pleased to be here today because of cnp s longstanding work on the issue of nuclear security. as secretary of energy and as a presidential envoy to north korea, i know there are few issues that deserve more, attention from congress than keeping the world s most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people. with the important backing of the macarthur foundation, cnp has brought the right kind of bi-partisan attention to this issue, and i thank you., two months ago, i returned from a trip to north korea that represented a bipartisan effort to achieve two major goals -- to bring home the remains of american servicemen missing since the korean war, and to facilitate international efforts to persuade the north korean government to roll back its nuclear weapons program., let me emphasize two key words here -- bipartisan and international., in this bipartisan effort involving two senior officials of the current administration -- anthony principi and victor cha -- our delegation was successful on both counts., we brought home the remains of six us servicemen who died defending freedom during the korean war. the sacrifice they made can be now be fully honored by their families, friends, and country., in north korea, we also advanced the six-party process by which north korea will dismantle its nuclear weapons program and become more integrated into the international community. this process is far from complete, and could still be derailed. but our discussions with north korea demonstrated how skillful diplomacy, grounded in bipartisan cooperation and international alliances, can strengthen our national security., i mention all this because i believe these same components are what are needed to deal successfully with iran., first, let me say that i am under no illusions that achieving similar goals with iran will be easy. but i am convinced that a concerted diplomatic effort, backed up by tough sanctions, undertaken with our international partners and grounded in bipartisan cooperation at home, stands an excellent chance of persuading iran to forego nuclear weapons and to adopt more responsible policies., i also believe that we must talk to the iranians with no preconditions. for too long, the bush administration lectured the iranian leadership on what it had to do before we would talk directly with them. this policy was counterproductive, and i am pleased that secretary rice is now starting to break this ice. refusing to engage iran, diplomatically prevented us from making headway on issues vital to our national security, including not only nuclear weapons, but also iraq, energy security, and middle east peace., let me be clear: talking without preconditions does not mean backing off one inch over fundamental objectives, such as insuring that iran never acquires nuclear weapons., but preventing iran from going nuclear will require strong diplomacy backed up credible power and clarity of, purpose. it also will take realism: we must remember that no nation has ever been forced to renounce nukes -- but many have been persuaded to do so with a combination of carrots and sticks., we need to approach iran with both fierce determination and with open eyes. the key is to make them see that, they will be better off and more secure without nukes than with them. if we unite the world behind the right carrots, and sticks, and provide the iranians with face-saving ways to step back from the nuclear brink, we will prevail., as we know from the cold war, deterrence is above all a matter of clarity and credibility. we need to be absolutely, clear that a nuclear iran is unacceptable, and we need to be absolutely credible when we say what we will do about it if the iranians continue to disregard the will of the international community. the clear message must be this: develop nukes and you will face devastating global sanctions. desist from developing nukes and you will receive meaningful rewards, including robust security guarantees and guaranteed supplies of nuclear fuel from abroad., this sort of engagement, with a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, is how we got libya to renounce nukes, and this is how we must approach iran., centrality of the iran problem, there are at least six major reasons why iran is strategically significant. these are: (1) its nuclear ambitions; (2) its importance to stability in iraq; (3) its support for extreme arab factions -- such as hezbollah and hamas -- who themselves are obstacles to stability in lebanon and to the palestinian-israeli peace process; (4) its status as a major oil and gas producer; (5) its importance to the flow of oil through the straits of hormuz; and (6) its role as leader of the world s islamic shia population., i will address these issues in a moment, as i outline how i believe a vigorous bipartisan and international diplomatic effort should seek to engage iran., first, however, any discussion of us policy must deal with what i call the ""weight of history"" that has shackled us-iranian relations for decades., the 1979 iranian revolution, and the ordeal of the american hostages who spent 444 days in captivity, has poisoned relations between the us and iran for nearly 30 years. and many iranians still chafe because of us support for the 1953 coup which toppled their elected government. inflammatory rhetoric like ""the great satan"" and the ""axis of evil"" for decades has impeded most rational dialogue., i would be the last to make excuses for extremists in iran s political establishment. their hostility towards israel, their denial of the holocaust, and their documented support for international terrorism, must always be condemned. and we must have no illusions about president ahmadinejad- a dangerous man with truly reprehensible views., but i also believe that peace comes to those who have the courage to learn from their own errors. we should, recognize that us support for the shah s repressive regime, and then for saddam hussein during the iran-iraq war of the 1980s -- and the us government s silence when saddam used chemical weapons against iran -- were wrong. these and other mistakes on our part -- like the many mistakes iranians have made -- have left wounds that are still deeply felt in both societies. both we and the iranians need to acknowledge this difficult shared history, and work to get beyond it., the road to peace is hard: it is difficult to forgive past injustices and outrages. but for the good of america, and for the good of iran, and for the sake of peace, both nations must focus not on the past, but on the future., what does iran want?, iran is a country that is three times larger than france, with a population of 70 million. its lands are rich in the history and culture of a persian empire that stretches back 6,000 years. its people are understandably proud of their heritage and their contributions to art, science, and learning., despite our preoccupation with the radical views of many of its rulers, it is also true that iran has some elements of a modern democracy. despite the iron grip of its religious establishment, iranians hold many different views on such fundamental political concepts as the role of religion in society, and the need for democratic freedoms., what all iranians share, however, is a deeply felt national pride and a desire that their country be respected and recognized for its history and its accomplishments., in my dealings with north korea, and with other hard-line governments around the world, i have learned that a basic level of respect for -- and understanding of -- your adversary is crucial for agreements to be reached. name-calling and refusal to talk to people get you nowhere. indeed, they usually backfire on you by strengthening your adversary s most obstructionist and hard-line elements., i have quoted john f. kennedy many times before, and his words are just as true regarding iran: ""we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate."", as we seek to deal with iran, we need to recognize that country s national pride and its own perceptions of threats to its security. we also must understand that the following are iran s main policy goals:, they want their legitimate right to civilian nuclear technologies as a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to be respected;, they want stability on their borders, most notably with iraq and afghanistan -- and they d0n t want the civil war in iraq to spin out of control, with millions of iraqi refugees spilling into iran and other neighboring countries;, they want to be free of external security threats, either from within the region (israel) or outside the region (the united states);, they want to be able to develop regional energy and economic partnerships;, they want integration into the global economy, including membership in the world trade 0rganization and an end to trade and financial embargoes;, clearly, iran s own behavior has been counter-productive to these ends, and iran must vastly improve its policies before it may expect other nations to accept it as a legitimate major player on the global stage. above all, iran must start respecting un resolutions and stop supporting international terrorists., and president ahmadinejad needs to stop threatening israel and denying the holocaust., we have many differences with the iranians, but we and our allies also have common interests with them. it behooves us all to seek and find that common ground, so that we can encourage the iranians to come out of the cold, and to build more constructive relationships not just with us, but also with the international community., as my friend, the great israeli general and statesman yitzak rabin, used to say, ""you make peace with your, enemies, not your friends."" the iranians  choices ultimately are theirs, but our choices are ours. if our diplomacy is solid and smart, we can help them make better choices than they have in the past., what do we want from iran?, iran must not acquire nuclear weapons: virtually the entire international community agrees about this. the p5+1 countries -- the five permanent members of the united nations security council (the us, uk, russia, china and france) plus germany -- have been negotiating with iran, and in june 2006 offered the iranians a package of incentives to give up their nuclear enrichment efforts., the p5+1 package represents an excellent starting point for negotiations which, i believe, can result in a diplomatic solution that keeps iran from developing nuclear weapons and also achieves progress on a range of regional and international economic and security issues. the june 2006 package included the following important elements:, acknowledgment of iran s right to peaceful nuclear energy;, the creation of a five-year fuel bank/buffer stock of nuclear fuel for iran;, an international fuel-cycle center in russia involving iran;, an energy partnership among iran, the european union, and others, trade and investment incentives;, a regional security forum involving iran, other regional states, the us, russia and china; a willingness on the part of the united states to talk directly with iran., 0n this last point, our country has other interests that we must discuss directly with iran, including:, 	iran s help in forging stable governments in iraq and afghanistan;, the end of threats and inflammatory rhetoric against israel;, concrete and verifiable steps to end military support for hezbollah, hamas, and other violent groups., , the achievement of these goals would constitute a fundamental change in iran s role in the world. fortunately, there is reason for optimism that iran might well choose to chart such a new course if presented with the right incentives., first of all, the iranian economy is in trouble -- and high unemployment and widespread discontent are a threat to the regime s political future. despite being one of the world s largest oil producers, iran has only one refinery, and imports more than $ 4 billion a year of refined oil products. it imports half its gasoline and food. double-digit inflation, high unemployment, low infrastructure investment, and burdensome government subsidies of $40 billion a year shackle economic growth, and the resulting hardship puts the kind of political pressure on the regime that produced perestroika in the soviet union twenty years ago., the international community can leverage these realities to induce tehran to reform as well, and to recognize that iran s future lies with its integration into the global economy and the community of peace-loving nations. both china and russia have considerable economic leverage over iran, and the threat of disinvestment could put great pressure on the regime. it is essential that our diplomacy with these other great powers be strong and skillful., however, no constructive dialogue with iran is possible until we break the vicious cycle of suspicion and hostile, incendiary rhetoric. if we want iran to improve its behavior, we would do well to stop threatening to attack them., and we should not fund iranian émigré groups in the delusional expectation that they will somehow be able to topple the regime. the bush administration foolishly tried this approach with iraq, and we know what it got us. there is no reason to expect better results with iran., we need to stop threatening the iranians and talking about regime change. instead, we need to start applying meaningful pressure, while working with them to change their behavior. we also must dialogue with moderate and pragmatic elements in both the iranian political class and in the broader society, including business people and students who have supported moderate politicians in the past, and may do so again in the future., how do we get there?, so, how do we proceed? as you know, us government representatives have met recently with iranian officials to discuss iraq, and there have also been us-iranian meetings to talk about afghanistan and our shared interest in preventing a return to power by the taliban. these are all steps in the right direction, but the us needs to go further and propose broad, bilateral, unconditional negotiations with iran -- with all subjects open for discussion. support for such talks has come from many figures in the us foreign policy establishment, including henry kissinger and zbigniew brzezinski., we need to end the taboo on open-ended talks, so that we can begin serious, continuing, and senior-level negotiations on the full range of nuclear, middle east security, and economic issues. 0nly in the context of intensifying dialogue can we start to communicate better with iran, and to find ways to reconcile our differences., 0ur message to iran must always have two components:, we must respect their legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy, and we must let them know that gestures toward peace and reconciliation will be reciprocated with meaningful economic benefits and security guarantees;, we must stand absolutely firm with our international partners in letting the iranians know that we will never allow them to acquire nuclear weapons, and that they will pay a high price if they continue to support international terrorists., in short the message to the iranians must be clear: work with the international community and you will be safe and prosperous. continue to defy the international community and you will suffer and economically- and politically-damaging international sanctions., us-iran bilateral talks will occur within the broader context of on-going discussions with iran being conducted by the international atomic energy agency, the european union, and russia and china. each of these partners can bring special points of leverage to bear on different matters. the iaea naturally has the lead on nuclear issues, while the european union can be helpful on trade and finance issues and helping to integrate iran into the global economy. russia and china have been moving toward greater energy cooperation with iran., and there are other actors who have important stakes in helping to facilitate more moderate behavior on the part of iran., 0ne is the gulf cooperation council, whose members have recently expressed greater interest in civilian nuclear power -- as a direct consequence of iran s push for mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle. led by saudi arabia, the sunni-dominated gcc countries are apprehensive about iranian regional ambitions and support for radical shia groups., there are also the other sunni arab countries in the middle east -- egypt and jordan especially -- who fear destabilization of the region that would naturally flow from heightened us-iran tensions and possible conflict., a crucial point i would like to stress here is the need for a more intelligent and effective american policy towards the entire middle east that we have seen in recent years. i have said before that there is a civil war within islam, between extremists and moderates. we must open an ideological front in the war against violent jihadism, which is the single biggest threat our country faces., to do that, we must do everything we can to isolate the extremists and to strengthen moderates across the islamic world. and a good place to begin is with iran -- where pragmatists and moderates are waiting in the wings as hard-line policies fail and as president amadenejad s popularity continues to slide., we need urgently to re-engage the middle east peace process with a high-level permanent envoy tasked with, building the bases for a just peace. continued deadlock in the israeli-palestinian peace process will only provide aid and comfort to our enemies in the islamic world. we must use all our sticks and carrots to strengthen palestinian moderates and to promote a two-state solution that guarantees israel s security., in the persian gulf, we need to work constructively with both sunni arabs and shia iranians on a wide range of security, economic, and energy initiatives that will promote stability in that crucial part of the world., in the levant, we need to talk directly to syria in order to foster political stability in lebanon and to encourage an israeli-syrian agreement on the golan heights., and then there s iraq. the crisis in iraq threatens to destabilize the entire region, and to make many other middle east problems unsolvable. i won t dwell here on iraq, having done so on other occasions. suffice it to say that the us military presence in that country is now part of the problem, not the solution. the presence of american troops in iraq fuels the insurgency and strengthens al qaeda. i strongly believe that the complete withdrawal of all us military from iraq will have a salutary effect on all of our goals in the region, including our efforts to build a better relationship with iran, and to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons., summary, what i have outlined tonight is an ambitious, but achievable, diplomatic agenda. negotiating directly with iran will be difficult and may take time to produce results. much will depend on iranian leaders recognizing that their current policies -- especially their nuclear policies -- are counterproductive if iran truly wants better security and economic growth., most experts believe that iran is still several years away from being capable of building nuclear weapons. we should use that time constructively to build peace, rather than rushing toward another catastrophic war., at the same time as we initiate a new dialogue with iran, we must redouble our diplomatic efforts across the region, beginning with the israeli-palestinian conflict. we must engage and support moderate arabs and muslims everywhere in their struggle with islamist extremists. and we must get our military out of iraq so that a new diplomatic process -- which inevitably must include iran -- can begin., none of these problems exists in isolation from the other. as we know from the experience of the last several years, multiple setbacks across the middle east have increased the dangers to our security. this is still another reason for having a full-time permanent us diplomatic envoy in the region., now is the time for a new realist vision of how american leadership, in concerted effort with our partners, can turn the situation around. this vision cannot be based on regime change and the misapplication of military power. it must be based upon strong diplomacy backed up by credible military power, solid alliances and partnerships, and economic engagement., iran holds the key to many of the crucial security variables of the greater middle east. that is why a full-court press on engaging iran -- with no preconditions, and no illusions -- is in the american national security interest., thank you., ,"	
"thank you reg! you sure know how to whip up a crowd. doesn t he? let s give reg a hand for his leadership with team nea!!!, i m honored to be here today and to be in the presence of a group that i admire and respect very much., america s educators are the glue that holds this country together, and it s time that you are given the recognition and praise you deserve., public education is the backbone of this country, it is what makes america great!!, i really like the slogan ""team nea"" because it recognizes the contributions of all of our educational employees and their importance in a strong system of public education., you are the unsung heroes of this country;, whether, you re the teacher in the classroom;, the educational support professional that supports our teachers and kids,, the bus driver that carries our children to and from school; the cafeteria worker, that nourishes them;, 0r the custodian that ensures our kids are in clean classrooms each of you deserves our, respect, and not just rhetoric, but fair and decent compensation!!!, too often you ve been ignored, taken for granted, underpaid, and blamed!!!, when i m president, i promise you ...that will change!, i m bill richardson and i m running for president to bring people together to solve our nation s challenges., i have spent my whole life bringing people together to get things done, as a negotiator, as a congressman, as a u.n. ambassador, and most of all as governor., we broke the partisan gridlock and transformed new mexico...i was able to get 40% of the republican vote in a red state., i will use those skills as president, to restore our national standing,, last week, i complained that people always ask howwe are going to pay for education - but they never ask how we are going to pay for the war. i think education is as or m0re important than anything government does., it was aristotle twenty three hundred years ago who wrote that the fate of nations depends more on educating youth than any other factor. not the military. not the political leadership. not the economy., america s future will most be determined by how well we educate our kids., we need to get out of iraq where precious lives and needed dollars have been wasted. we could be using these, resources to improve our schools and make the economy -- once again - work for the middle class., in new mexico i brought back collective bargaining; because i believe in my heart that it is important!, 0ur next president must also improve our country s public education system to ensure that it remains strong and supports our global competitiveness. my record makes me the best prepared to get it done., candidates have already come here to ask for your support., i know that you are not going to make a decision based on a media profile or fame. you re going to support the person who has always stood with you., you re going to support the person who does more than just talk about making change-but has actually made it happen., i m proud of what we have achieved for educators, for students, for our families and for all citizens in new mexico!, in new mexico our educational reform initiative, which is ranked number 2 in the country, is called ""making schools work"", it has included many factors that have been left out and ignored by the nation s current reform effort: no child left behind!, i believe that school reform should improve schools; but our nation s school reform has made our schools look more like reform schools with all the mindless testing and bureaucratic rules and regulations!!!, i couldn t agree more with the slogan on your convention tee-shirts: ""a child is more than a test score."" because it captures the very heart of new mexico s ""making schools work"" the well being of children...not the testing corporations.... who are the heart of this program and i know when you elect me president we can ""make our nation s schools work"". 0ur school improvement agenda recognizes that it is unfair to blame and point the finger at our educators when we have neglected other important factors such as, school readiness health and nutrition parental involvement, teacher quality, safe and clean school facilities and access to technology, unlike the current administration,, you and i know better;, we know we can t improve our schools with unfunded mandates;, and unfair accountability, and punitive sanctions!, we have a moral responsibility, to ensure that our educators and our students have the support they need to be successful!, it makes me sad to say that public confidence in our public schools has been eroded because of, and i quote, ""the soft bigotry of low expectations""., while nationally there s been some small improvement in test scores, you have to ask at what cost?, in new mexico there is a wonderful high school in the southeast part of the state. that one high school didn t make ayp because two kids got into a mishap and were unable to take the test., this is unfair, and this is crazy!!, are unfair and crazy things happening in your schools, too?, well, it s got to stop! and i m committed to bringing fair accountability and support to our schools., let me tell you my plan for ""making america s schools work"":, first we must focus on quality teachers: in new mexico we raised teachers  salaries and created a three --tiered, licensure system. under this system a beginning teacher can see that in seven years he or she can make a salary of fifty thousand dollars., as a result 94% of our teachers are highly qualified. we ve moved from 30th to 17th in teacher quality and our salary rankings have moved from 46th in the nation and are projected to be 29th and we re aiming even higher!, as president i would move the country to an average starting salary of $40,000 a year for teachers!, second, it is clear that school readiness is key to children s future educational success. in new mexico we, implemented the pre-k act for four year olds. 0ur program recognizes the importance of addressing the emotional, social, physical, and cognitive development of these young children. we must also fully fund head start programs., third, we must take action to improve our children s health and nutrition!, 0ur children can t learn if they aren t healthy., in new mexico we now provide access to free health insurance to every child under the age of five. we have expanded our state immunization program., we ve been ranked second and fourth in the nation for nutrition policies and quality of food. we ve implemented statewide breakfast programs for our neediest kids., and we ve gotten junk food out and put physical education back in., in new mexico we are making schools work, our public sch00ls w0rk! let me tell you right now, vouchers are not the answer! i ve never supported vouchers and i will n0t supp0rt v0uchers in the future!, we were ranked 2nd in the nation for school choice. i support school choice through public charter schools. we have many wonderful charter schools, but to ensure quality education for all of our children they must be held to the same standards of accountability as the rest of our public schools., parents are critical to making 0ur schools work not only for new mexico but for 0ur nation! you as educators cannot do it alone., we must fund innovative parental involvement and education programs., in new mexico we ve provided every school with an online parental involvement tool kit that provides innovative ways to work with parents. this fall, every elementary school parent will receive a very simple handbook that explicitly tells them how they can support their child s success., you need their support and they need your collaboration. when schools and families work together the child is the winner...and this is what it s all about...our children!!, 0ne of the most important tasks facing us today is making sure our schools are preparing our students for the 21st century. 0ur students need more access to relevant, flexible learning environments via on line learning and greater access to higher education through concurrent and dual enrollment. we must also ensure that our high schools are preparing more math and science students and i will fight for the creation of new math and science academies, across the country...and i ll make sure that girls and children of color know they re welcome there as well., let me close with what s at the foremost in your mind...no child left behind...the act has a noble goal but has been implemented unfairly, and is still under-funded..., it can be improved, it must be improved, and when i m elected it will be improved, or it will be abolished!!!!!!, now don t get me wrong, i m not against accountability, but i believe in accountability when it is fair and when schools  are funded and given the support they need., president bush promised to be the education president. but like many other promises and things this administration has said it was going to do, after the photo-ops -- the policy got stuck in a drawer and forgotten. well, we can t afford to forget our children., in the interest of time here s the short list of the many issues that need to be addressed:, get rid of the pass/fail model of ayp, provide a more meaningful and honest picture of a school that utilizes more than a single test score, use fairer tests and realistic timelines for our english language learners and special education students, provide more funding to help our students succeed. for example: extending the school year, or extending the school day, provide financial incentives for districts to attract high quality teachers to schools of highest needs, not only in cities, but suburban and rural areas, here s the bottom line, i m not an educator, you are! i m not in the classroom everyday with kids, you are! i m not the expert, you are!, for that reason, when you elect me president i will create a blue ribbon panel for educational excellence and i promise that nea members will be represented on this panel. in new mexico, nea was at the table when we created making schools work!, i believe we need to create educational policy from the bottom up, not the top down! it needs to be created from those whose hearts and souls are committed to quality education for all our children...from those who are committed to public education....that is you, and that is me., very few things motivate me more to want to be president of the united states than a chance to make a difference in the lives of our kids., and together we can make public education strong...you ll hear from presidential candidates who want you on their team. but you need to ask yourself three things:, who has been there for me in the past?, who will be there for me in the future?, and who has the skill to bring this country together, and not drive us apart?, for the answer to those questions; just look at my record. i got it done, and i will get it done. but i m going to need your help to do it!, thank you, god bless you, and all of our educators, god bless our system of public education, and god bless the united states!, ,"	
"it is a pleasure to be in new hampshire to announce our national platform for women. women in new hampshire have always led the way politically. women like carol shea porter, terri norelli, linda foster, representative tara reardon and amanda grady, policy director for the new hampshire coalition against domestic and sexual violence. i m proud to say that representative reardon and director grady are both members of the women for richardson steering committee., but our platform is not just for the women of new hampshire - it is for women nationwide. women like my education secretary dr. veronica garcia, and my women s health advisor giovanna rossi -- also members of my steering committee., let me also take a moment to acknowledge the co-chairs of my women for richardson steering committee. lt., governor diane denish -- who couldn t be here today because i left her in charge of new mexico -- and dr. martha burk. thank you very much for all you have done for my campaign., let me begin by saying that women are not a ""special interest"" as they are so often called by the media. women are the majority. and we are here to address the concerns of that majority., i am very proud of the things i have done as governor of new mexico to address the concerns and promote the interests of women., in my administration we have dramatically increased penalties for domestic violence and nearly tripled funding for shelters so women and children get the protection they need., i am the first new mexico governor to appoint a women s health advisor, giovanna rossi who as i mentioned is here today, and i created the first ever governor s women s health advisory council, whose mission it is to create an environment in which every woman and girl will experience optimal health and well-being., in new mexico under my administration we have raised our teachers  salaries, expanded the number of children enrolled in our pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds from 2,200 to 3,800, and funded after-school enrichment programs., i have always appointed women to critical positions -- not out of a sense of duty or to fill a quota, but because they were the most qualified. as secretary of the department of energy, my appointments were two thirds female and minority. i presently have 12 outstanding and extremely qualified female cabinet secretaries, and i am proud to have run now worked closely with for five years lt. governor diane denish, the first female lt. governor in new mexico s history., as president, i will not only continue the commitment i have made to women s concerns in new mexico, i will go farther than any other candidate to support women and their families., ending the war, first, we know that the number one concern of women going into the last election was ending the war, and women in new hampshire and all across the country tell me every day that it is still a top concern. i am the 0nly candidate that has promised to bring home all of our troops now., pay equity, i also know that pay equity is something women worry about every day. women like lilly ledbetter, who for 20, years worked alongside men being paid more than her, and was told by the supreme court last month that she had no case., i support the ledbetter fair pay act now before congress, and i also support the paycheck fairness act which would beef up enforcement of our existing laws., but these measures do not go far enough. you know, employers have the right to know everything about you —, your family situation, your medical history, even whether you ve ever had a parking ticket. yet women cannot learn even the most basic information about the employer s pay practices., much of the inequality would be eliminated if employers reported pay statistics by job classification, gender, and, race. not anybody s salary on a bulletin board, but simple anonymous statistics. that way employees would know if they were being treated fairly, and employers could see if they had a problem that needed correcting., i am the 0nly candidate to call for this kind of basic, sensible and fair information., paid family leave, let me also say that working women and men should not have to choose between their jobs and their families in time of need. when i was in congress i voted for the family and medical leave act -- it was a great step forward. but we need to do more. we should expand this law by including paid family leave for births and adoptions, or caregiving for elderly parents., there s a bipartisan bill, sponsored by senators dodd and stevens, that would create an insurance fund allowing workers and their employers to share the costs and benefits of paid family leave. the bill is good for business because it will save enormous amounts of money in turnover and replacement costs, and it helps working families by granting a much needed benefit at a small shared cost., this is the kind of innovative policy we ve been working on in new mexico -- good for business, good for the economy and good for families., s0cial security, working women are not my only concern. the largest group of elderly american living in poverty are retired women on social securit. many of those women have low benefits because they took time out of the work force to care for children or elderly parents. and for every year they performed that vital function for society, they got a zero in their social security account., that is wrong and as president, i will work to change that. caregivers deserve more than lip service for the work they do., 0ur retirement system should recognize this valuable work by awarding social security credit at least as high as the minimum wage. i am the 0nly candidate to call for a caregiver credit in social security., right t0 ch00se, and i want to protect the rights and health of our younger women too. the right to control their own reproductive choices, and the right to medical privacy., i am the 0nly candidate to explicitly commit to protecting roe v. wade through appointing 0nly supreme court justices who recognize it as settled law., some people call this a ""litmus test."" i call it respecting precedent and putting women s lives above politics., the united states should end the global gag rule on family planning and restore funding for women s health research here in the united states., educati0n, we must also make sure our young girls are getting all the educational chances they deserve. we must protect title ix and our girls  educational opportunities. i would also create 250 math and science academies across the, country, and i will make sure our young girls know they re welcome there. i ll also do what we re working on in new mexico, and establish a federal pre-k program that helps every state offer voluntary pre-kindergarten for every 4-year-old child., c0nclusi0n: equal rights amendment, and finally, there is one very big thing that our previous president s have talked about, but have not done anything about. and that is the equal rights amendment. we have an equal rights amendment in new mexico, and i am very proud of that., many of the problems i have talked about today would go away if women had simple equality in our constitution. it s fair, it s sensible, it s american. i pledge as president to work for that equality, to make it a priority, so that women, the majority, will have equal status in our society once and for all.,"	
"nearly six years ago, 19 al qaeda terrorists committed the largest mass murder in our country s history. now, more than 2000 days later, those who organized 9-11 hide along the pakistan/afghanistan border. 0ur intelligence agencies tell us that al qaeda today is more diffuse and dangerous than ever., al qaeda is not the only terrorist group. but it is unique -- it has declared war on america, it has attacked us on our soil -- and it continues to plan another spectacular domestic attack like 9-11 or worse., the leaders of al qaeda say they wish to kill 4 million americans, including 2 million children. in their madness, they claim that such a slaughter of innocents would ""balance the scales of justice,"" for crimes that they allege we have committed against muslims. we would be mad not to take them at their word., so i want to focus my comments today on what we need to do to defeat al qaeda. that is not to ignore other groups. indeed much of what we do to destroy al qaeda will help defeat other terrorists. rather, it is to recognize what this administration seems never to have understood: the unique danger posed to our country by al qaeda and its sympathizers., al qaeda first attacked america in 1998 in east africa. months before that attack, president clinton sent me to afghanistan to press the taliban to hand over 0sama bin laden. they refused. so we imposed tough un sanctions on them., when the bush administration came into office they seemed not to understand how serious the threat we faced was. they ignored dire warnings from the cia and other terrorist experts. the august 6, 2001 presidential daily briefing read ""bin laden determined to strike in us."" the president failed to understand what this meant., after september 11th, he seemed finally to get it. i supported the liberation of afghanistan. i had seen with my own eyes the taliban s repression of women; their paranoid intolerance of all dissent and all diversity. i knew they were unlikely to respond to reason., if only the president had kept his eye on the ball and finished the job when he had the chance. al qaeda was on the ropes in 2002, cornered in the badlands between afghanistan and pakistan. if our troops had been given the resources they needed, we could have finished them off., but the president chose instead to divert our resources from that necessary war to a war of choice. we know that there was no al qaeda in iraq before 2001 and no iraqi connection to 9-11. extensive study by the 9-11, commission and others has confirmed that. even the president admits it. and we know now that iraq had no wmd., iraq diverted critical intelligence and military resources from the fight against al qaeda. we let up the pressure and al qaeda recovered -- and struck back. since 2002, al qaeda and its affiliates have carried out attacks in algiers, casablanca, madrid, london, istanbul, riyadh, tel aviv, jeddah, karachi, sharm al shaykh, taba, mombassa, kuwait, mumbai, new delhi, dacca, bali and elsewhere., in iraq, the president rejected the sage advice of those who argued that we needed a careful plan for what to do after we reached baghdad., mr. bush did not have a plan. but al qaeda did. after the us invasion, it sent fighters to iraq with the goal of provoking a civil war. it carried out hundreds of attacks on shia shrines, leaders and innocents to provoke the sectarian bloodbath we face today., it was an evil plan -- but a predictable one. but, lost in his delusions of an easy peace, president bush did not, figure out what was happening until it was too late. iraq was now in a civil war, and there was nothing we could do to stop it., so the result today is an al qaeda which is more diffuse and more deadly than ever. it has a stronghold in south asia and a booming franchise in iraq. it is raising so much money in iraq that it cannot spend it all there -- and it uses it to fund other operations around the world., and sooner or later al qaeda will attack america at home again. we have already foiled plots to do so. we know that they take their time, and slowly and methodically plan and then execute spectacular attacks. we know they have tried to acquire nuclear weapons. 0ur fbi director says he stays up at night worrying about an al qaeda nuclear attack on america., we need to address this threat with the focus it deserves. we need a grand strategy for defeating al qaeda., the past five years have demonstrated that a primarily military strategy will not work. indeed, the botched, occupation of iraq has played into the hands of the jihadists -- bolstering their propaganda that the us wants to kill muslims, and that we want to control the muslim world to exploit its resources., never has america been as unpopular as it is today. in iraq, and in many other muslim countries, polls show that our credibility has plummeted. as a direct result of the iraq occupation, large majorities of muslims now say they distrust america. such sentiment facilitates jihadist recruitment and boosts their popular support., a new grand strategy against the qaeda movement must repair this damage that the bush policies have done to our international reputation. in particular, we need to reach out to muslims, and demonstrate -- by our actions as well as our words -- that we respect muslim culture and value muslim life., we need to earn back our allies  confidence in american leadership, and diplomatically resolve the conflicts that fuel al qaeda s recruitment in the muslim world. we must overcome those who call for the destruction of israel, and achieve a just, two-state solution which guarantees israel s security., intelligence efforts need to focus on the al qaeda leadership, and on breaking up cells before they act. this will require more human intelligence and more arab-speaking experts, as well as better intelligence coordination with our allies and arab friends., the target of our military strategy needs to be the al qaeda leadership. as long as these men are active, they symbolize the success of resistance to america, and attract new recruits. it is not good enough to have them ""hiding in caves."" the death or capture of 0sama bin ladin and his associates in pakistan and afghanistan will not end the al qaeda movement, but it will deal it a serious setback. so how do we do it?, a critical first step is to enhance our commitment -- military, political and economic -- to afghanistan. to defeat the resurgent taliban will require a significant increase in nat0 forces along the afghanistan-pakistan border-- and that will require american leadership., we urgently must redirect our military effort away from iraq (where al qaeda s leadership is not located) and toward the afghanistan-pakistan border (where they are located)., when our allies see that we have finally gotten our priorities straight -- that we have revived our commitment to going after the al qaeda leadership where it is -- only then will they provide enough troops and equipment to overwhelm the enemy., it is also critical that we engage muslim countries in this effort: to the extent that the troops rooting out al qaeda and the taliban are muslims, the jihadists cannot portray the effort to defeat them as one of ""the west against, islam."" the us therefore should encourage our muslim and arab partners, especially egypt, jordan, tunisia, algeria and morocco, to offer troops to help stabilize afghanistan., nat0 should create a contact group, led by a senior nat0 diplomat, to engage all of afghanistan s neighbors on border stabilization, especially along the 1500 mile long pakistan border. this group should include iran and india., we need a much bigger economic reconstruction program for afghanistan. humanitarian and economic aid fosters goodwill and bolsters support for our efforts. nothing is more effective against our enemies than the memory of american aid workers who saved a child or rebuilt a village after an earthquake or a tsunami., saving afghanistan will require a multilateral marshall plan -- an effort on the scale of what rebuilt europe after the second world war. the us should lead a coalition to rebuild this country that has been ravaged by three decades of war. russia, japan, europe, india and others should contribute., such a marshall plan must include a program to provide all afghan children with education and free lunches. too many children fall into the hands of islamic schools, some of which teach violence, because it is their only, educational option. the long-term defeat of al qaeda depends on teaching hope, rather than hate, to the next generation., these efforts also must extend into pakistan. the border regions are poverty-stricken breeding grounds for jihadism. we need to read the riot act to dick cheney s pal, president musharraf. we have provided him with $10 billion, in mostly military aid. future aid must be linked to a real crackdown on terrorists -- including arabs, afghans and kashmiris., musharraf also doesn t seem to care much for democracy. we need to insist that pakistan have free elections this year., some have argued that democracy could bring radical islamists to power. that is nonsense. polls show that most pakistanis favor the mainstream parties. however, the narrow political base of the musharraf government is a key reason why the taliban and al qaeda are growing in influence. pakistan needs a representative government and a free and vibrant civil society, if it is to resist the siren s call of the jihadists., iraq is also a critical battlefield in the fight against jihadism -- because it prevents us from fully engaging the core al qaeda leadership in afghanistan and pakistan. 0ur enemies want us to remain bogged down in iraq., let me say that again -- al qaeda benefits from our being trapped in iraq, and wants us to stay there. they know, that if we were not stuck in iraq, we could go after them where they are. they know that the shia and the kurds in iraq don t want them there, and that many sunni iraqis tolerate them only because they are allies against us. when we leave, they know the iraqis will drive them out of iraq., we cannot defeat al qaeda until we get out of iraq. an orderly, phased and complete troop withdrawal could be completed rapidly -- and it is imperative that it be complete. the key to an exit strategy is to exit. we don t need a south korea-like solution as the president suggests, an open-ended military base in iraq that will alienate succeeding generations of iraqis and other muslims., this monday sandy berger and bruce riedel wrote an op-ed in the financial times that endorses this position. they wrote, ""a clear u.s. commitment to a complete, irreversible withdrawal from iraq may now be the only way to develop a regional concert of powers that could work with iraqis to try to stabilize the country and cauterize the conflict."", more and more are agreeing with me. we must remove all of our troops. i hope congress will de-authorize this, war and force president bush to start bringing them out this year. the sooner we are out of iraq, the sooner we can begin to win the real war against the real terrorists who attacked this country on 9-11., we cannot win the war against al qaeda alone. it is urgent that we rebuild our alliances, so that we can once again lead other nations. trust is critical to getting allies to work with us in the secret world of counter terrorism and in the open world of public diplomacy. this administration has driven away our allies with swagger and saber rattling. i will rebuild our alliances by making common cause with partners who share our values and interests., we also need to win the war of ideas with al qaeda. simply calling for democracy is not enough, because actions speak louder than words. and the actions of the bush administration have not matched its rhetoric. military tactics which have resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians have fed the perception -- fanned by the jihadists  propaganda -- that we don t care about muslim life., human rights abuses at abu ghraib, guantanamo and elsewhere have sullied our reputation. when people see these images, they associate america not with human rights and freedom, but rather with secret prisons and torture. america is better than the bush-cheney administration. if we want to win the war of ideas, we need to return to our proud tradition as a country that respects human rights., i have spoken before of the ideological war that is going on in the islamic world today between fanatics like bin laden and moderates like jordan s king abdullah and morocco s king muhammad, who have a progressive view of islam. we need to stand by these leaders in their effort to defeat extremism., as president i will personally engage in a new middle east peace process, and i will make achieving a two-state solution my highest diplomatic priority. president clinton came very close to a deal in 2000, and the bush administration s disengagement for six years allowed the situation to drift and degenerate., to reverse this damage, as president i would appoint a full-time high-level envoy dedicated to improving our relationships with the muslim world. this person would be fluent in the cultures, language and customs of the arab, street, and serve as an attaché helping to bridge the divide the bush administration s failed policies have helped to create., the president should also use our enhanced relationship with india in the wake of the nuclear deal signed last year to encourage the nascent indo-pakistani dialogue. kashmir is key to breaking the pakistani connection to terror. i, have been to islamabad and i have listened to pakistani leaders plead with america to do something about, kashmir. it is a cause which fuels resentment of the west in their country, and pushes people to support terrorists. the time for preventive diplomacy on the subcontinent is now, while pakistan and india are talking to each other., h0meland security, we also must address homeland security much more strategically than we have. a biological or nuclear attack could be as horrific as hiroshima -- and terrorism experts agree that sooner or later such an attack is likely. we must do everything we can to prevent this -- and we must improve our ability to respond quickly if an attack occurs, to assist the victims, and to recover., a strong civil defense system is essential not just to save lives after an attack, but also to help prevent attacks. that is because, to the extent that we can survive and rebuild, rather than panic, the attack loses some of its military value to the terrorists. this is what experts call ""resilience."" accordingly, we must remember that civil defense measures are not just playing defense. they are essential components of a grand strategy to defeat al qaeda., state and local governments have roles to play in homeland security. in new mexico we have taken many steps to make our citizens more secure., we passed a statewide mutual aid law so that communities can assist one another without bureaucratic red tape, and we made emergency management and homeland security an independent, cabinet-level department., we also established a robust border security program, and established a funding stream to help border communities police more effectively., we passed a law providing job protection to volunteer emergency responders, and we increased supplemental life insurance for our national guard., but protecting american citizens from terrorist attack is fundamentally the responsibility of the federal government. 0nly the federal government can protect our borders and our ports, fund cutting-edge technologies, and undertake many other functions that need to be done at the national and international levels. while the bush administration has taken some measures to improve security, particularly of air travel, there are many things which -- nearly six years after 9-11 -- have not been done to protect the american people., by far, the most urgent thing we must do -- and are not doing -- is to vastly improve the surge capacity of our public health systems, so that we can respond quickly and effectively to a nuclear or biological attack. this, administration has neglected to fund the modernization of our ability to take care of americans and to recover from an attack at home. we must reverse this., we should build mobile hospitals that can be brought quickly wherever they are needed, and we should stockpile, equipment, medicines and vaccines, and equip standby hospitals. the federal government needs to provide funding so that every community has an effective disaster management system, as well as reliable communications systems among all first responders and medical facilities., and we urgently must train more doctors, paramedics and, especially, nurses for disaster and terrorism response. such personnel, of course, can also help improve health care delivery every day to underserved populations., the federal government can make this happen with a medical gi bill -- a scholarship program for nurses and other medical specialists. a medical gi bill would provide full scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve in poor and rural areas, and to participate in national disaster response., we need to be able to produce large amounts of vaccine for new diseases -- quickly. flu vaccines are still manufactured the same way they have been for decades, using eggs, and must be made for specific strains of disease. the federal government can help with more funding for cell-based vaccine manufacture and recombinant dna vaccines., we also need risk-based funding for homeland security: it is unpatriotic for legislators to turn homeland security, dollars into pork. we need to spend homeland security funds where they are needed -- in high-risk urban areas like new york, chicago, and la., we know al qaeda has sought nuclear weapons, and that if they obtain them they will use them with the same ruthlessness with which they flew airplanes filled with people into buildings filled with people. i have spoken at length elsewhere about how to prevent this ""ultimate preventable catastrophe."" preventing a terrorist nuclear attack requires urgent action on many fronts:, first and foremost, we must keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, both through counter-proliferation, and by securing all fissionable material worldwide. this is a huge task, but not an impossible, one. the united states must lead a comprehensive global effort to secure all nuclear weapons and all nuclear fuel and spent fuel. this is the only way to keep nukes out of the wrong hands., good things already have been done, such as the nunn-lugar program and d0e s material protection, control and, accounting program. but we must do more to secure nuclear arsenals, above all those of russia and pakistan. now that we are finally talking to the north koreans, we need to make sure that they desist from trafficking and that they really dismantle their nukes. and we must not relent in leading international efforts to stop iran s nuclear enrichment program -- with diplomacy combining tough sanctions and positive incentives., and we need a global fuel-banking arrangement that insures that nuclear fuel is enriched and spent-fuel is disposed of in a limited number of highly-secure sites., such a comprehensive and global diplomatic effort to secure the nuclear materials al qaeda wants must be a top priority of the next president. as a former energy secretary, i understand the urgency of this. as a diplomat and former us ambassador to the un, i believe we can do it., we also need to prevent nuclear weapons from getting past our borders -- not with walls, but with vastly improved detection efforts on the canadian and mexican borders, at our sea and land ports, and on the high seas. this will take major investments in technology, intelligence gathering and personnel, including national guard and border security. but it is needed to interdict nuclear weapons or materials terrorists will try to smuggle into the country., america can and will defeat al qaeda. because at the end of the day the vast majority of muslims do not share their twisted vision of jihad., and with the right american leadership, the world will follow us as we put these people out of business. we need leadership that understands the nature of the enemy, and focuses on the real terrorists who attacked us on 9-11. leadership that recognizes that we must lead by example, that our deeds must match our words, and that we are strongest -- and safest -- when we use all of our resource -- military, economic, diplomatic, humanitarian and political., with this kind of leadership, and with a comprehensive global strategy, we can and will defeat al qaeda. thank you., ,"	
"thanks so much for that kind introduction. it s all true. it s an honor for me to be here in iowa today. and i want to thank you for joining me in this national discussion about our healthcare system., affordable health coverage is a fading dream for many families -- families who all too often are waking to the nightmare of a sick child or parent., these are the facts., 0ver 45 million of our fellow americans do not have health insurance., since 2000, health care premiums for families have nearly doubled., by some estimates, 18,000 american lives are lost each year because of inadequate health insurance. we need universal healthcare now., despite republican hand-wringing about the cost of universal care, it is clear that the cost of doing something -- in lives and dollars -- pales in comparison to the cost of doing nothing., we cannot afford a healthcare system that doesn t cover every american. the cost to our economy and the well-being of our people is just too high., today, we as a nation need to be responsible stewards of the health of our children and parents, our brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives., president bush has failed this basic test of american decency., the response of the bush administration to the healthcare crisis has been predictably perverse. not content to sit, back and do nothing, president bush is now threatening to veto the s-chip legislation, which would effectively force states to drop coverage for up to a million children., let s be clear: right now, president bush s health care plan is to eliminate the health coverage of nearly a million children. that s not policy, it s punishment., we need a government that makes it easier, not harder, to keep our kids healthy., we need a president who believes that every american should have access to quality healthcare. every american. period., but we should also remember that good intentions are not a policy. we need a common-sense, american solution to this american problem. we need a system that works., my plan is built on common-sense principles. we have to remember the virtue of personal responsibility, but we, cannot forget we re all in this together. we need to recognize that choice is good, but only if there are good choices for everyone., i believe that your health and the health of your loved ones should not depend on your station in life. all americans deserve quality healthcare, whether you re a ditchdigger or a ce0, or a bus driver or a teacher, or a doctor. even, the rich suffer the poverty of sickness. cancer and diabetes don t ask for bank statements before they strike., and so, first, we guarantee coverage for all americans. the path to universal health coverage will not be easy, but it is both the right and righteous thing to do., universal healthcare is not only a moral imperative, it is also an economic imperative. the lack of guaranteed, quality healthcare coverage costs us up to 130 billion dollars each year in lost productivity. by 2010 the average family that does have insurance will pay an extra 15 hundred dollars to cover those that don t., coverag, my plan builds on existing models to rapidly expand coverage. my plan does not build new bureaucracy. the last thing we need between patients and doctors is another sticky web of red tape., and we don t need a one-size-fits-all system -- americans deserve better than that. my plan offers five effective options for delivering quality coverage: plans for veterans, lower-income children and families, young adults, americans 55 to 64, and working families and small businesses., some of my colleagues in washington seem to have forgotten that working families and small businesses -- not politicians -- are the engine that makes our economy work. we need a healthcare system that works for them., and when i am elected, they will be able to purchase the same plan that members of congress and the president have., under my plan, we will expand medicare as a choice for americans 55 to 64. this is just plain common sense. new research from the new england journal of medicine shows that this could reduce costs by ensuring that older adults get the cancer screening and other preventive services that they need., it s about time that this great society program reached more of our society s members., young adults up to age twenty-five will be given the option of keeping their family coverage regardless of student status. too many young people are left excluded and vulnerable as they transition into adulthood., 0ur young people are too valuable a resource to leave unprotected., with my plan, lower-income children and families will obtain coverage through expanded medicaid and s-chip programs., and my plan doesn t forget about the well-being of our nation s veterans., 0ur veterans are not asking for the parades or honors they ve earned so many times over -- they re simply asking for the same decent medical coverage that so many of us civilians take for granted. and, they shouldn t have to ask., that s why i will create a heroes health card that provides veterans with the care they deserve, where they need it, without bureaucratic hassles. at the same time, we will strengthen the va system by guaranteeing funding from year to year, so that they can directly access the high-quality care they were promised. these men and women fought the enemy abroad. they should not have to fight their government at home to get the health care they need., cost, my vision of american healthcare begins with individual choice and shared responsibility., to ensure that every american gets quality coverage, we need to ensure that every american has a stake in the system. therefore, by the end of my first term, my plan will require that all americans obtain coverage for themselves and their families., all americans will be responsible for their fair share., employers will be required to contribute to their employees  healthcare premiums, or pay to help the uninsured purchase coverage., make no mistake, we are going to pay for this, one way or another. we are paying hundreds of billions for the, uninsured now -- people who delay and skip the care they need wind up in emergency rooms and have the costs of their chronic diseases spiral unnecessarily out of control. my plan fairly distributes the cost and will dramatically reduce the expenses we are already paying., insurance companies have to be part of the healthcare solution, not part of the problem. we will require these, companies to insure anyone who wants coverage, instead of cherry-picking the healthiest of our citizens. if only the healthy needed health insurance, we wouldn t have a problem., i believe that everyone deserves coverage regardless of health or financial status. we are building a national house of healthcare, and we cannot afford to turn any americans away., we must also recognize that available coverage is meaningless unless it s affordable. americans who need help paying for coverage will get a sliding-scale tax credit to help out., many families are forced to charge medical expenses to their credit cards -- often resulting in outrageous interest rates that quickly spiral out of control. american households with a major medical expense in the past three years have an average of almost $4,000 more credit-card debt., i will set limits on the interest rates that can be imposed on medical expenses charged to credit cards., it is simply wrong for credit-card companies to exploit the illness and misfortune of families, and we will stop this practice., controlling costs -- overall, just as important as helping some afford health coverage, is making sure that healthcare costs are lower for all., we spend 2.2 trillion dollars a year on health care in this country. 2.2 trillion dollars. we all know that we re not getting what we ve paid for., first of all, we spend too much on bureaucracy -- up to 31 percent of national health care expenditures go towards administration. we need more doctors treating patients and fewer bureaucrats pushing paper., how do we do that? i would require insurance companies to spend less on administration and at least 85% on direct care; i would standardize their forms; and i would simplify reporting requirements for physicians and hospitals. right now, there are nearly thirty federal agencies involved in regulating hospitals, not to mention state, local and private organizations. we can do better., in addition, we could save almost 160 billion dollars every year by improving our health information technology. this is a modern problem and we need to use modern tools to fix it., i would allow medicare to negotiate directly for prescription drugs., perhaps most importantly, we need to drastically shift our focus from the endgame to the pre-game. that means, serious investment in prevention. a wise man once said that ""an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure."" but i doubt even he imagined that our federal government would spend 80 billion dollars per year to treat diabetes, but only four billion to prevent and manage the disease., that just doesn t make sense., we need to require that all health plans cover a standard set of proven preventive services. if there s one thing better than a patient s being cured of a disease, it s his never having had it at all., as president, i will help communities get junk food out of their schools and physical education back in -- just like we ve done in new mexico., i would also sign a nationwide smoking ban in workplaces, as i have in new mexico. smoking causes over four hundred thousand deaths per year and costs us at least 157 billion dollars. we cannot claim to be serious about public health unless we are serious about getting smoking out of public places., quality of car, finally, we need to improve quality of care. it s the right thing to do for our people and for our economy. medicare alone could save nearly 40 billion dollars a year -- while improving patient outcomes -- if everybody in the program got the highest-quality, most-efficient care., there are six common-sense steps we can take to improve care:, first, i will ensure that health care providers have the tools they need. these include electronic medical records and reimbursement for providing proven preventive care. these tools are just as important to improving care as stethoscopes and syringes., second, i will promote evidence-based care. i will form a public-private partnership to research the comparative effectiveness of new drugs, devices, tests and treatments. again, this is simple common sense. treatment should be determined by rational research, not by the size of an advertising budget., third, i will improve patient safety. we have to expand training programs; require healthcare facilities to report preventable errors; and support hospitals that are working to improve patient safety and prevent avoidable hospitalizations. preventable medical errors cost our nation up to 29 billion dollars and 100,000 lives every year., fourth, we need to expand our healthcare workforce, including more primary care providers. we need to recruit and train an army of doctors and nurses to fight off the scourge of sickness. i d expand incentives to encourage primary care and rural physicians through an expanded training and scholarship program., fifth, i will promote chronic disease and mental health management. state-of-the-art programs provided to va and medicare patients with severe chronic diseases have already achieved dramatic results -- including a 60% reduction in hospitalizations among patients with chronic heart failure, i will continue to champion full parity between mental health and physical health benefits in all health plans. and i will promote better mental health care by supporting the formation of integrated primary care teams that include primary care and mental health providers.expanding these programs and this approach could dramatically improve quality of life, reduce avoidable hospitalizations, and save tens of billions of dollars per year., and sixth, i would reduce healthcare disparities based on race and ethnicity. these disparities are simply unacceptable and un-american. by expanding insurance and outreach to underinsured minority groups -- we can address such disparities in aids, diabetes and other diseases., today, i have tried to lay out the principles, objectives, and detailed methods that i think should guide healthcare in america., my plan provides choices -- including the choice to keep your current coverage -- and existing programs to expand coverage options. we reduce the costs of healthcare for all and we pay for universal coverage by creating savings, not raising taxes. we reduce bureaucracy and administration and invest in quality of care., as with any worthwhile investment, my plan will require capital up front -- about 110 billion dollars per year., by making healthcare more coordinated, safe, and efficient; by investing in health information technology; and by spending what we have wisely in the ways i have described, my plan will save us up to 110 billion dollars every year...., so -- this is a fiscally responsible plan. i m a governor -- i am required to balance my state s budget. i have done that five times while expanding access to health care and making hundreds of millions in new health care investments for new mexico families., we cannot afford a healthcare system that doesn t cover every american. and we cannot afford to wait any longer. now is the time., for the forty-five million uninsured who have suffered the loneliness of indifference -- now is the time. for the hard-working americans strangled by the cost of care -- now is the time., for the wounded veterans who have served their nation honorably -- now is the time., for every daughter who has watched her mother slowly pass from a treatable disease; for every father who lies awake at night because he can t afford his son s insurance -- now is the time., for every american who wants to look a suffering loved one in the eye and tell them that tomorrow will be better than today -- now is the time., for the good of our nation, now must be the time. thank you., , ,"	
"thank you so much for having me here today. i want to talk about our economy -- where we ve been and where we re going., today, the middle class is under siege by numerous forces. despite increased productivity, wages have stagnated. the job market for most americans is thin. health care and energy costs have skyrocketed. so has the price of a college education. foreclosures are at their highest in years, and millions of americans are faced with sinking home values. and the one seemingly bright spot of the bush years -- the stock market -- is tumbling., enormous budget deficits are the rule, not the exception, and our national debt has soared to $9 trillion dollars., every year, we spend more than 400 billion dollars just paying the interest on our national debt -- that s more than six times as much as we spend on the entire department of education., how did we get here?, the story is well known--$1.1 trillion in tax cuts, far too skewed to help the wealthiest americans, and runaway spending, have put us deep in the red., while this president has blamed 9/11 for our deficits, the fact of the matter is that defense and homeland security spending, including all of the hundreds of billions in iraq, has accounted for only one third of the post-9/11 deficits. the administration s misguided tax and spending priorities account for the rest., i am a pro-growth democrat, one who believes our party must stand for policies that encourage innovation and expand economic opportunity., i strongly believe in cutting taxes responsibly -- tax cuts that help the middle class and tax incentives for creating jobs. the bush tax cuts, on the other hand, have cost $1.1 trillion dollars, and resulted in the worst record of job-creation since herbert hoover., this administration forgot to invest in our future. in his 2006 state of the union, president bush shocked the world, by admitting that america was ""addicted to oil,"" suggesting that we might see some investment in new energy. the very next day, the national renewable energy laboratory announced that the white house had cut its budget by $28 million. how can we expect an administration that couldn t even plan its own politics a day ahead, to lead our nation toward a better future for our children?, the administration failed to protect the engine of our economy -- the middle class. productivity is up, yet real wages are down. american workers are holding up their end of the deal, but their government is not., while president bush was railing against the axis of evil abroad, he was governing across an axis of irresponsibility here at home: failure to be fiscally responsible, failure to invest in the future, failure to protect working americans., now we are saddled with a budget deficit they ignore and foreign debt they don t want to talk about. president bush hasn t leveled with us about our nation s fiscal health since 2001., frankly, the president is acting like a spoiled teenager who crashes the family car and then hopes no one will notice., well, mr. president, we have noticed. and the american government needs to stop breaking what the american family has built., my friends, it is time we take our future back., fiscal responsibility, the first thing we have to do is get out of our fiscal nightmare., that starts with a balanced budget. as a governor, i have to balance my state s budget. i have balanced five budgets, and i have done it while cutting taxes and investing in our people and our infrastructure., balancing the budget is investing in the future. it means that we are paying for what we get today, so our children don t have to. and that s why i support a constitutional amendment to balance the budget; this amendment must also provide for a line-item veto. we ve allowed republicans to spend recklessly for too long. 0ur children should have the right to be free from the extraordinary debts run up by their parents., ultimately, there is no choice between fiscal responsibility and fiscal prosperity. as we saw under the clinton administration, you can t have one without the other., the road to fiscal responsibility should begin with ending the war and getting all of our troops out of iraq. all of them., it is the right thing to do for our fighting men and women; it is the right thing to do for our national defense; and it is the right thing to do for our economic security., we spend over a hundred billion dollars a year hunkered down in a country that doesn t want us there, fighting a war that won t make us safer., we want that money back., second, we need to end waste here at home. no more pork-barrel spending. no more thousand-dollar toasters, no more bridges to nowhere. the federal budget isn t a politician s piggy-bank., eliminating earmarks will save us at least $40 billion over the next five years. we want that money back., third, we need to slash corporate welfare. in 2006 alone, american taxpayers shelled out 92 billion dollars to corporations. it just doesn t make sense., in the 1980 s, president reagan liked to talk about the ""welfare queen"" who bilked the government out of eight thousand dollars., well we ve got welfare queens today -- they re called halliburton and exxon/mobil. and trust me, they re getting more than eight thousand dollars., if we cut even half of our spending on corporate welfare, americans will save some 230 billion dollars over the next five years., we want that money back., we should also stop tax cuts for individuals who don t need them. when i am president we will roll back the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest, which will save us hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years., instead, we ll cut taxes to create jobs and help the middle class., we will have a tax credit for companies that create jobs here in america and pay above the prevailing wage. i ve, done it in new mexico and it works. we have to stop giving companies incentives to send our jobs abroad. we need american businesses to keep american jobs here., we will provide strong tax incentives to promote renewable energy because we need a new generation of energy entrepreneurs. we need new wildcatters to tap the power of wind, solar, and biofuel. the energy crisis will only be solved by the efforts of enterprising individuals, but government must push the effort forward., we will eliminate the alternative minimum tax for the middle class. when the president claims he s going to balance the budget, he intends to do it on the backs of millions of middle class families, by forcing them to pay a tax they were never supposed to. we need to right this unintended wrong., instead of forcing the middle class to pay new taxes, we will extend the tax cuts for the middle class., when i am president, we will have a tax system that reflects our belief in hard work and our hope for a better, tomorrow., 0nce we ve repaired the foundations of our economy, we need to start building for the future. investing in technology and innovation, america has always been the world s greatest purveyor of ingenuity and innovation. more than cokes and hershey bars, cars and computers, the world knows us as the preeminent seller of progress and hope., historically, our technological prowess has been unmatched. that is no accident. because we value science -- because we have invested in knowledge and education -- we have led technological change., today, however, our strategic competitors, like china, are catching up. again, this is no accident. nor is it inevitable. they are catching up because they are succeeding where we have in the past, but are not today., they are investing heavily in math and science education; we are not. they are investing heavily in scientific research; we are cutting back., there is no doubt that this coming century will bring technological progress we can t imagine today. eminent scientists in labs and universities and unknown kids tinkering in their garages will guide us to the frontiers of discovery. this will happen., the question we have to ask ourselves is: do we want those garages to be in china or right here in iowa. do we want our nation s universities just teaching new knowledge, or discovering it?, there is only one choice. as a nation, we have never turned our back on tomorrow. the search for new frontiers, and the hope that we can improve is far too ingrained in our national dna. if we do not embrace progress now, and invest in the future, though our borders will not have changed, we will not be the same nation., george bush and his right wing allies talk about protecting the ""free market economy"" to justify their failed policies. and then they attack democrats as big taxers and over-regulators. this tired rhetoric is holding us back., the government must honor the private sector and american entrepreneurship -- while working with investors and partnering with our entrepreneurs. this is how it has always been. the government started the internet, and the private sector improved and expanded it into one of the cornerstones of our economy., in a 21st century economy, government must act as a catalyst and a partner to help unleash the innovation and the job creation potential of the private sector., we re all in this together., when i am president, here is how we will keep this country moving forward., first, we will restore and increase funding for federal research and development programs. if we are serious about science, then we should be serious about funding it., in particular, we should increase funding to the national institutes of health, so the next generation doesn t have to suffer the same diseases as this one., we need to increase funding to government renewable energy programs. even george bush has acknowledged that we are addicted to oil. but, look, acknowledging your addiction is the first step to recovery. not the last., historically, new mexico has been one of the poorest states in the nation, yet we are funding a stem cell research center, and we are innovators in clean energy. we should be able to do the same in the richest nation in the world., we need to connect people. we should weave our nation s wealth of knowledge, capital, and talent into a web of, innovation that can catch new technologies. we all believe in a better economy and we should not be afraid to work together., i will start by convening regional innovation summits where experts from business and venture capital, academia and government can come together to turn ideas into realities. we must come together to spark real growth, real innovation and real change. it takes leadership on jobs and innovation -- i will lead our country just as i have led new mexico., i will create a federal angel investor tax credit and i will make permanent and double the research and experimentation tax credit. we must provide incentives for investment and experimentation in high-tech research and manufacturing. for our economy to get the oxygen it needs breathe, we must grow the trees of technology. and that requires planting the seeds of investment., we have the angel investor tax credit in new mexico for high-tech startups that are creating the jobs of the future. and its working., it works because it is quintessentially american., we are a nation of risk-takers. we admire the great americans who throw themselves into an idea because they believe it is the best idea -- because they believe it is the precious spark of a better future., it is this determination -- this strength of will -- that produced the light bulb, the car, the computer., i believe that if we are to continue our economic and innovative success, we need to reward that great american spirit., and we must also support innovation in our young people. the first point in the web of innovation must be our students. because the next generation of technology means nothing, unless the next generation of americans knows how to use it., yet, today, we rank 28th in the world in math and science education. china and india produce far more engineers than we do. this is unacceptable and irresponsible., despite the overwhelming focus of the popular media, the true foreign threat to american job security doesn t come from uneducated, low-wage workers from poor countries. it comes from highly-educated middle-class workers from these emerging economic giants. we must act now., we must build 250 math, science, and innovation academies by 2012. these academies will offer rigorous math and science instruction, free of charge, to seventh-through-twelfth graders who want it. they will train the next wave of american engineers, mathematicians, scientists and teachers., it s a simple equation -- talented math and science teachers lead to inspired and successful math and science students. when i am president, i will commit to hiring one-hundred-thousand new math and science teachers to, guarantee that our children and our nation are competitive in the world. the key to economic progress is education, and the key to education is a good teacher in the classroom., hiring these teachers will cost us three to four billion dollars -- that is less than one one-hundreth the amount we pay in interest on our national debt. it is a small price to pay for a competitive future., if we want to speak the language of progress, our kids must be fluent in science and math. investing in people, while we build for the future and repair the damage of the past, we must also invest in our people now., we need to move aggressively to create high-quality jobs and expand economic opportunity. the american dream has always been big -- big enough for all of us. but for too many these days, the dream is shrinking and shutting them out. that is unacceptable -- every american deserves the opportunity to succeed., we need to get back to big dreams and big ideas., if we want more quality jobs, we should give companies incentives to create them. i will offer rebates for businesses that hire disadvantaged children in high school and college. i will create a rural jobs tax credit for companies that create jobs in rural areas and a tax credit for businesses that create manufacturing jobs., i will also provide tax credits to support new businesses in emerging technologies and in low-income areas., i will quadruple the energy tax credit for green jobs -- jobs that are good for the the american worker and the american environment. just as much as computer programmers and engineers, energy-efficient sheet metal workers, plumbers, electricians, and masons are the key to our economic future., i will lead an apollo program for renewable energy, green buildings, and energy efficiency. this is the high technology of the future and america must lead it., i agree with the apollo alliance on this issue. green building is good for the environment, it s good for our workers and it s good for our energy bills -- no wonder the bush administration is against it., the government must not only lead the way on a new generation of green buildings, but we must also encourage retrofitting our existing businesses., and, instead of building bridges to nowhere, we need to look at our critical infrastructure -- our bridges, roads, transportation that lead our people to work everyday., a public/private partnership, with union involvement, on green building and revitalizing america s infrastructure, will create more high-paying jobs for workers right here in cedar rapids. right here at ibew local 405., we need tax and job policies that work. i ve shaped effective tax policies in new mexico that have created over 80,000 jobs, driven unemployment to 3.2% -- a historic low -- and lifted personal income. i know how to get our economy working for all americans., in addition to creating new quality jobs, we need to preserve the ones we already have. we should restore america s focus on protecting our labor force., first of all, let me say that i will be a friend to working americans  till the day i die. 0ne of my first acts as governor was to reinstate collective bargaining for public employees in new mexico. we then dramatically increased health benefits and salaries. we raised our teacher s salaries from 46th to 29th in the nation. i fought hard to raise the minimum wage in my state, and i have improved worker safety., as president, my secretary of labor will be a union member., as president, i will protect the right to collective bargaining and the right to form unions. i will strongly support the employee free choice act. how can we as a nation ask american workers to help protect our future, if we don t allow them to protect theirs?, when i am president, we will improve all workers  safety. president bush has spent the past six years eroding safety regulations and endangering our workforce. how do we expect our economy to grow if its workers aren t safe?, and, i will index the minimum wage to inflation. the minimum wage is not just some number; it is a reality for many american families. i believe a fair day s work deserves a fair day s pay, period. how can we even begin to build responsibility, fairness, and a new american dream if we are not strong enough to honor this basic principle?, we must also move beyond the debate over ""free trade"" versus ""protectionism."" instead we must roll up our sleeves and pursue better trade agreements; agreements that enhance rather than erode u.s. jobs, and that are socially just, environmentally responsible and politically sustainable., we also need to help families with the rising cost of living. expenses for health care, child care, and a college education are rising faster than wages and our next president must focus on making these more affordable., 0ur national strength is our people, and we must do whatever it takes to protect that resource. conclusion, there is no doubt that we face serious challenges, not the least of which is a president who refuses to face up to, them. we are falling behind china in math and science, while we run up a national debt, much of which is owned by that very country., when president bush says he s increased education funding, he s right. he s increased education funding in china, in india, and every other nation that owns our debt. right now, we are effectively paying the world to surpass us technologically. that s just not right. , we face great challenges, but we are the greatest nation in the history of the world, and our government needs to start acting like it. , we need to get back to big american dreams. we need to get back to the forward-looking nation that searched out new frontiers. , at the turn of the 19th century, we were a handful of states huddled along the east coast. by the end of that century, our nation spanned the continent. americans rode out west on horses and drove back in cars. , 0ur nation is more than a piece of land or a set of laws. , america is the belief that tomorrow can be better than today. and united we can do it. , together, we can restore fiscal discipline to our government. together, we can be the catalyst for innovation. , together, we can keep america s promise to its middle class workers , a strong economy is the engine of everything that america does and everything we want this country to be. i ve got the record. i ve got the experience and i m ready to meet the challenge being issued by our economic competitors. , thank you., , ,"	
"thank you for that kind introduction president eric ravussin. it s all true., first and foremost, i wanted to take this opportunity to thank mr. morgan downey and the membership of the 0besity society for inviting me to this conference. it s a pleasure to be with all of you today., i d also like to thank ms. christine ferguson and the other faculty members of the george washington university school of public health and health services, and the st0p 0besity alliance for helping to organize this conference., and i would like to thank y0u, the conference attendees, for the hard work you are doing to solve this critical public health problem that affects so many lives., i noticed that none of the other presidential candidates are here today. i know they may not weigh as much as i do, but i still think you should have invited them., but, in all seriousness, it s a shame they couldn t join us no matter their weight, every american is affected by this quiet epidemic., as we all know, the prevalence of obesity in this country has skyrocketed in recent years. nearly 200 million americans - two-thirds of our population -- are now considered overweight or obese., the effects of this disease are not cosmetic. millions of americans are suffering from the effects of obesity-related illnesses. we spend at least $97 billion per year on health care needs to combat obesity. 0ur current course is unhealthy, it is unsustainable, and, frankly, it is unconscionable., make no mistake about it -- this is a critical problem that has the potential to become a nationwide crisis. we must deal with this problem before it is too late. we as a country need to have some long-term vision. we can t afford to continue to put our communities and society at risk., and i pledge to you that when i am president, we will fight obesity every day., 0ur first step must be making sure that every american has access to affordable, quality health coverage. my health care plan provides a common-sense path to achieve that., it focuses on the three critical issues of coverage, cost, and care. we build on proven programs that already work, for millions of americans, instead of building new bureaucracy. with my plan, working families and small businesses will be able to purchase the same coverage that members of congress and the president have, and those aged 55 to 64 will be able to purchase coverage through medicare., all americans will be required to have health care coverage, and employers will pay their fair share of employee health care costs. we ll make sure that proven preventive services are covered under every health plan, and we ll support quality initiatives -- like medical homes -- that treat the patient as a whole person and emphasize continuity of care -- critical to improving clinical care for conditions like obesity., i encourage all of you to visit my website and review my health care plan in more detail at www.richardsonforpresident.com., but helping all americans obtain health coverage is only one part of a multi-prong strategy to beat obesity., 0ur next president must take a prominent and public role, joining all of you in your efforts, to increase the public s, understanding of obesity and remove the stigma. we must help people understand that it is a disease, not a behavior. and that those of us who are overweight or obese are n0t lazy or undisciplined. we cannot allow americans to be taken in by the easy comfort of stereotypes., we must also eliminate discrimination of those who are overweight. this is an issue of basic civil rights. there are no federal laws that protect obese americans from discrimination in the workplace, school, or anywhere else this must change., as president, i will work with congress to include federal protections for the obese in the americans for disabilities act and by the equal employment 0pportunity commission., we need to dramatically boost our research efforts associated with obesity and we need to involve the nih, cdc, fda, usda, and others. the more we know about obesity, the more we know how to prevent and treat it. it is imperative that we better understand what works to help overweight and obese people improve their health., perhaps the most critical part of what our next president must do, however, is to drastically shift our focus from the endgame to the pre-game. that means a serious investment in prevention. a wise man once said that ""an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure."" apparently, this age-old wisdom has not yet made its way to washington., take diabetes for example. 0besity is one of its greatest contributing risk factors. 0ur federal government spends, 80 billion dollars per year to treat diabetes, but only 4 billion to prevent and manage the disease. there are already many proven strategies for preventing and managing diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses, but, unfortunately these are not reaching enough americans. we ve got to change that., research shows that prevention is what can help young americans the most. you know, many health care experts are telling us that our own children could be the first generation of americans who do not outlive their parents. that is an ugly and awful break with america s historic promise of a better tomorrow and it is unacceptable., much of this is due to the fact that an astonishing 17% of our children are overweight and therefore, more of them are developing what have been considered ""adult diseases"" -- high blood pressure, type ii diabetes, heart disease, and asthma., as governor of new mexico, i ve attacked this problem head-on. in my state, we ve regulated vending machines in schools and we ve worked to ensure that children have access to a healthy breakfast. we ve taken the junk food out of our schools and we re putting physical education back in. and it s working, last year, the center for science and the public interest ranked new mexico 2nd for food availability and 4th nationally for its strong nutrition policy., it is essential that we address obesity throughout the lives of our citizens -- especially at key moments when weight gain is most likely., another generation of students is starting college right about now, and it s about time we made the ""freshman 15"" a thing of the past -- through healthier cafeteria food, more opportunities for exercise, and better educational programs., we also need to ask adults to consider what they can do within their own lives to reduce obesity and its effects. 0besity is not a behavior, but we can adopt lifestyle choices -- such as exercising and eating right - that can mitigate obesity and obesity-related diseases., 0f course, many americans do care about their weight and their health -- this is not just about willpower., americans and their doctors need the right tools, information, and incentives to make healthy choices and treatment decisions -- and that means that the food and fitness industries, the insurance companies, the schools and government, the individuals and families, all have to do their part. if we work together, we can end this epidemic., i m proud of my record as governor in fighting obesity in new mexico, particularly in helping my state s children. we need to take solid, bold steps to address this problem at the national level, and i look forward to working with all of you to make it happen., thank you very much., , ,"	
"thank you for having me here. it is an honor to be able to share with you today my thoughts about how we can end the war in iraq--and also to discuss some lessons which we must learn from this ongoing tragedy., 0ver 3,800 brave americans have lost their lives. nearly 30,000 have been wounded -- many very seriously. 170,000 are still at risk., in addition to our troops, at least a hundred thousand iraqi civilians have been killed in this conflict. 0ver four million more -- fifteen percent of the country s population -- have lost their homes and become displaced., ninety-three percent of sunnis and over half the shia think it s okay to shoot an american. the iraqis want us out of their country., despite our best intentions, the american presence is not aiding the cause of peace...but rather contributing to the cycle of violence., it did not have to be this way. 0ur military is the best-trained, best-equipped, most powerful fighting force in the history of the world. tragically, the awesome power of our military has been matched in scale by the reckless incompetence of our civilian leadership. the president and vice-president have blundered and mismanaged this conflict at every possible turn., this catastrophe did not need to happen. many of us, on the eve of this war, counseled greater diplomacy and more patience. 0ur warnings were ignored and the result has been the quagmire in which we find ourselves., whether we are democrats, independents or republicans, all americans want the violence to end. we all know that we must not allow the region to collapse into greater chaos and war. we all know how important it is that our military be strong and able to meet future threats. we all want our brave military men and women out of harm s way., the question, going forward, is how we accomplish these goals., president bush says that we need to stay the course, indefinitely. he wants us to stick with a strategy that has, failed week after week, month after month, year after year, in the hope that, finally...somehow...it will succeed., 0ur troops have done all that they have been asked to do, with courage and professionalism, but no one can win someone else s civil war., in the absence of political progress, our continued presence in iraq is increasingly counter-productive. 0ur troops in iraq are now the biggest obstacle to political change. if we stay on the present course, if we merely tinker with the mission as some have suggested, historians may look back on the first decade of this century as the moment in which the united states foolishly overstretched itself, beginning the long-term decline of american power and, global leadership., 0nly our departure can break the political stalemate and give us diplomatic leverage to promote reconciliation and regional diplomacy. the longer we stay, the more u.s. troops will die, the more iraqi civilians will be killed, and the more elusive stability will become., delaying the inevitable is not a strategy. it is not useful. it is not responsible. it is not courageous. it is not moral., i know that the president is wrong and you know he s wrong. he does not, and perhaps cannot, understand the dire, reality of the situation. throughout his presidency, bush has denied reality and avoided difficult choices. after 9/11, he sent the military to war, while he asked the nation to go shopping. in an all-out war against terror, he asked the country to be part-time patriots. we must stop this president and end this war., the foundation of my iraq plan is this: get out now. get all our troops out now. it is the only right and responsible choice., 0nly when we are on our way out will iraqis and others in the region start to see us as partners rather than as occupiers. 0nly then can a new political and diplomatic process begin. so long as we are there, with a bulls-eye on our back, the situation cannot change for the better., 0nly by withdrawing all of our troops can we give our military the opportunity to rest, refit, and retrain., 0ur military has been strained to the breaking point by this president. 0ur troops are serving longer tours in iraq, than they are spending with their families or training back at home -- fifteen month tours. national guard units are unable to perform essential missions here in the us where they are needed for homeland security. much of our equipment is wearing down...and the corrosion of our hard power is limiting the leverage of our soft power., because of iraq, we cannot focus on the real threats to our security -- a fact acknowledged even by general petraeus and ambassador crocker in their recent senate testimony., because of iraq, al qaeda has been able to reconstitute itself. today it is stronger than ever, training terrorists along the pakistan -- afghanistan border., because of iraq, we have lost the credibility we need to lead the world to stop nuclear proliferation and trafficking., president bush s failed strategy has made us both pariahs and patrons of both sunni and shia. we are both ally and enemy of iraqi factions. and we subsidize their power struggles with american lives and dollars. this endless, multi-sided violence has muddied our strategic purpose. and the president s desperate refusal to face reality has confused our moral compass., i know this region. as us ambassador to the united nations, i spent eighty percent of my time on the middle east., i have negotiated with many arab and muslim leaders, including the saudis, the iranians, even the taliban. i stood toe-to-toe with saddam hussein and got him to release american hostages. i understand the politics and the mentality of that part of the world., 0nly once we make it clear that we are leaving can we expect the iraqis to make the tough choices necessary for reconciliation. 0nly once all of our troops are on their way out, will others in the region do what they must to, prevent iraq from collapsing. 0nly our departure will give us the credibility to convene a dayton-style reconciliation conference to build a power-sharing arrangement policed by multilateral, un-sanctioned peacekeepers., to the extent that such a contingent is staffed by disciplined forces from non-neighboring muslim countries, it will have a credibility which western troops simply don t have in that part of the world. and only when we leave can we expect rich countries from the region and elsewhere to help finance iraq s reconstruction., we cannot follow bush s example of ignoring the governments of iran and syria. we must work with them as we pull our troops out. they too have an enormous stake in not allowing iraq to collapse. the subsequent flood of refugees and economic destruction would cause immeasurable damage to their own national interests., the bush administration s current approach to iran is as wrongheaded as its iraq policy. and some in the senate, including senator clinton, have aided this approach by voting for their irresponsible resolution on iran., people want to end this war in iraq...not start another one. iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. i will make that commitment as president. however, an attack on iran will make them stronger -- not weaker -- in the islamic world., senator clinton has it exactly backward. to accomplish our goals with iran, we have to put diplomacy first, not saber rattling. no country has ever been forced to give up nuclear weapons-- many have been persuaded to, furthermore, there is only one way to accomplish our objectives in iraq. there is only one responsible way forward: get all our troops out and get them out now., we must also remove the private mercenaries. as president, i will no longer privatize and outsource american security! by utilizing contractors who are not subject to the rules of war or the regulations of armed forces, george bush has further undermined america s reputation and global leadership., it s no surprise that president bush doesn t see that. from the beginning of this war, up through this fatal surge,the president has refused to make the hard choices or the right choices. the whole point of the surge was to give, breathing room to iraqi politicians, and it has failed miserably. even general petraeus admitted that there has been no political progress., after seven years of this administration, we have come to expect that george bush will make the wrong call on the important issues., however, i expected more -- much more -- from my fellow democrats in this race., hillary clinton, barack 0bama and john edwards have said we have to wait and see how things go before we can know how many troops to bring out and how quickly. i say there has been enough waiting and seeing. if you haven t seen enough to know that we need to get all the troops out then you aren t watching the same war that i and the rest of america are seeing. i don t think just changing the mission is enough -- we need to end the war., senator clinton has reportedly said that she might well have troops still in iraq at the end of a second term -- 9, years from now. senator 0bama and john edwards are unwilling to commit to removing all of the troops by the end of their first term -- that s 5 years from now. i am opposed to 5 years or 9 years or any more years of our troops dying. my colleagues are wrong., military analysts have said that senator clinton s plan could require leaving up to 75,000 troops in iraq. that s changing the mission, not ending the war., 0bama and edwards have said that they will pull our combat troops out, but they would leave thousands, tens of thousands of non-combat troops behind. think of what this means: tens of thousands of support troops, unprotected, in the middle of a civil war., that is changing the mission, not ending the war., what do they think such a smaller force, with no combat protection, can accomplish that 170,000 troops could not? i have asked them, over and over again, every chance i get. their silence has been deafening., i deeply respect my democratic colleagues, but their plans simply will not end this war. it is going to take more than a sound bite and more than waiting and seeing -- it is going to take decisive leadership., this is no time for political calculation or hopeful caution. 0ur troops  lives are on the line., we need a responsible, comprehensive strategy to end the war and the strength to execute it. we need to get all of our troops out. and we need to do it as quickly as possible., what my colleagues are suggesting -- a slow, protracted exit -- will only multiply the casualties and delay political progress. president nixon chose such a slow departure from vietnam. it led to 28,000 additional american deaths and perhaps another million vietnamese deaths. and it accomplished nothing -- soon after we left, the communists took over., moving all the troops out quickly will require careful planning, but it can be done. in accordance with army doctrine, non-combat troops should leave the theatre first. not the other way around as many of my colleagues suggest. their approach would leave our men and women far more vulnerable., we have rotated as many as 240,000 troops into and out of iraq in a three-month period earlier in this war. after the first gulf war, we redeployed a half million troops in a period of four months. as we redeploy, we also must work closely with turkey to insure the stability of the border and the security of kurdish areas., rapid maneuver is one of the time honored strengths of our military. swift movement saves lives -- the longer a redeployment takes, the longer our brave troops will remain under fire. i have confidence in our armed forces. the naysayers who doubt our capability to get out rapidly and safely are wrong., to rejoin the fight against the taliban and al qaeda -- and to encourage greater efforts by pakistan and our nat0 allies, we should redeploy additional combat brigades to afghanistan., some troops also must redeploy into quick strike forces based in the united arab emirates, qatar, and bahrain. 0ur military presence in friendly nations will enable us to meet new dangers and hit al qaeda training camps wherever they might appear., respected experts like sandy berger, dr. lawrence korb, general william 0dom, and general robert gard have looked at the evidence and come to similar conclusions to mine. they know that washington groupthink is no substitute for careful analysis of real options., you may have heard me speak elsewhere about my foreign policy, ""the new realism."", i believe that to meet the challenges of the 21st century, america must move beyond both the fantasy of neo-conservatism -- and also beyond the limitations of traditional old-world balance-of-power realism., we must face the reality that global threats have changed. great dangers come not just from hostile nations, but also from hostile individuals and failed states -- as well as from underlying social and economic trends, like our continuing addiction to fossil fuels., these are dangers that threaten every person on the planet. jihadism, aids, nuclear proliferation, and climate change do not respect national borders. and no nation can meet these challenges alone. 0ur national interests are, global interests. restoring american leadership means abandoning rogue cowboy diplomacy. it means giving up the idea of stubborness as a foreign policy. it means restoring those american principles that once allowed us to build the alliances that defeated the nazis and crumbled the soviet union., rebuilding american diplomacy will require power. let us have no illusions -- we do have the power. we have the power in the strongest military force in the world, the strongest economy in the world and an unmatched technological prowess. we must combine these extraordinairy strengths with a ""new realism"" to better confront the challenges that we face., constructing this new realism will require abandoning the illusion that america can lead without legitimacy. diplomacy without power is weak, and power without diplomacy is blind. 0thers will choose to follow us only when they share our goals and admire our values., the chaos and disorder in iraq teach us that in today s world our armed forces need to defeat more than just armies. they also must defeat hatred and propaganda. 0ur military must be the fist that destroys our enemies -- but it also must be a steadfast hand that creates a better peace., nearly five years after the initial invasion, our military is battle-tested, but war-weary. bush and cheney threw our troops into the fire in iraq. but now we must forge from that fire something stronger and more adaptable to the new dangers we face., we need to learn from iraq and make sure that our military is prepared to deter, fight, and win the wars of the future. and to fight 21st century wars, we need a 21st century military., 0ne lesson we must learn is to give our generals the numbers they need for post-war stabilization. another lesson is to make sure that our troops are trained for the complex tasks they will face., ninety-seven percent of us deaths in the war have occurred after the end of so-called major combat operations -- after, quote,mission accomplished. we need to forge a military than can win both the war and the peace., the military paradigm of this century will be what retired marine commandant general charles krulak (crew-lack) has called the three-block war. in this war, the lines between combat, stability, and humanitarian operations blur -- soldiers deliver humanitarian aid on one block of a city, conduct stability operations on the next block, and fight an armed enemy on the third., this is precisely what is happening in iraq on a vast scale. 0ur military must be prepared for this new kind of war. 0ur military culture must adapt to this new reality., let me be clear. as president, i will ensure that our soldiers always have the best tools to crush every possible enemy. a war-fighting ability that emphasizes the precise and overwhelming application of force will remain the centerpeice of our military culture. this is my unwavering commitment., 0ur challenge will be to augment this foundation with a new, larger and better trained force., we can strengthen and expand our military through several reforms. we need promotion and selection policies that incentivize learning the skill-sets needed for counter-insurgency, peace-keeping, conflict resolution, and training foreign militaries., we should create permanent civil affairs positions -- troops who bridge the gap between soldiers and civilians -- into all appropriate units, and we should expand civil affairs training for all soldiers and marines likely to interact with foreign nationals., we must better integrate civilians into our military operations so there is seamless coordination among military, diplomatic and political actions. we need to increase cross-agency tours of duty between the military and other parts of government. the personal relationships and institutional knowledge shared during these tours will strengthen the versatility and effectiveness of our fighting forces., we also need to make the military more attractive to men and women who have real experience in nation-building and social and economic development. just as we do for chaplains, doctors and lawyers, professionals with such skills should be able to enter the military as warrant 0fficers or at the rank of captain., as we reform training and selection, we must reorder our budget priorities. i have produced a plan that includes $57 billion in specific cuts to unnecessary pentagon spending, such as the v-22 0sprey, freeing up resources for essential needs. we need to invest less in planes and more in people -- less in outdated missiles and more in state-of-the-art troops., after years of excessive use, we must refit our military s depleted equipment stocks., we must strengthen laws that protect our deployed guardsmen and reservists from losing their jobs and businesses., when i am president, we will stop wasting billions of dollars on cold war weapons systems designed to fight a long extinct soviet empire. we will save tens of billions of dollars more by stopping the construction of unnecessary new nuclear weapons., instead of building new nuclear weapons, we should be negotiating further reductions in all nuclear arsenals around the world. in an age of terrorism, the greatest nuclear threat will come not on a missile, but rather in a suitcase or a cargo hull. to meet the danger of nuclear terrorism, we need to reduce the number of weapons in the world, and we need to consolidate and secure fissile material around the globe., protecting america from this very real threat of nuclear terrorism will require new thinking and global negotiations. it will require focused and determined american leadership. it will n0t require new nuclear weapons. it will n0t require star wars., 0ur national military effectiveness will, however, require more troops in uniform. we should never again hear the phrases stop-loss or extended deployment. we need two more active army divisions and one additional active marine corps division. this will expand our military by some 50,000 troops and give us the flexibility we need for 21st century missions., the responsible way forward for iraq and for our military will not be traveled easily. hard choices lie ahead. we have to get out of iraq, learn from errors made, and augment and reform our military so that it can meet the new challenges of a new era., difficult days indeed lie ahead, as we recover from the iraq debacle, restore and modernize our military, and rebuild our reputation as a nation that leads others toward noble and worthy goals., the challenges are many, but as the next president, i am committed to meeting them. and with your support we cannot fail., may god bless our fighting men and women, and god bless america. thank you., ,"	
"thank you so much for being here today., as we stand here today, our schools have again been stricken by tragedy. 0ur prayers go out to the students and, parents of cleveland, 0hio. each senseless act of violence lessens us all. every american loses a piece of his or her heart. every american must again grieve. every american feels a little less safe., we must do everything possible to ensure that schools become safe havens., i will and we must insist that national attention is given to preparedness for school safety at the k-12 level and in higher education as well. i will require all schools to develop safety protocols and policies to be used in an emergency., and i renew my call for national instant background checks on all gun sales, including at gun shows. we must keep guns out of the hands of the irresponsible -- criminals and the mentally ill., i want to talk to you about how we can fix our education system ... because the fact is, it s broken. it s broken from top to bottom., too many kids lack access to pre-k ... not enough graduate high school., too many of our young people are unprepared for college ... not enough can afford to go., too many of our workers are falling behind the rest of the world ... not enough are getting the training they need to compete., there have been too many promises ... and not enough leadership., george bush promised to be the education president. you know how far that promise got? about as far as his promise on inauguration day to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. about as far as his promise to take real action on global warming. about as far as his promise to be fiscally responsible., far from leaving no child behind, the bush administration seems to have left reality behind. the president talks about an ownership society, then cuts funding for workforce training., he talks about freedom, but his actions have left young college graduates shackled by debt., the president talks about an america we can all believe in; then he delivers policies that benefit only a few. enough is enough., the past seven years have been a dark period in our nation s history., it s time we turn on the lights., education is the spark that lights minds. as we ignite schools across the country, we can kindle a great fire of learning that will light the way to the future., we must begin with educating our young people, but we cannot stop there. learning should not end at eighteen. and every american must have a part in the basic promise of our nation -- that we can make every tomorrow, better than today., that starts with building the best public school system in the world. compromises will not do. we must skip the caution. skip the half measures. what we need is bold change., my democratic opponents have been cautious in confronting george bush on this issue. just as they trusted george bush on the iraq war and the patriot act, they trusted him on no child left behind. the result has been a travesty for our children., some say fix it, others say tweak it. senator hillary clinton says reform it. i also have two words for no child left behind: scrap it., as a governor i have seen first-hand the impact of this failed policy on our children. and although senator clinton and some of my other opponents voted for it, they should admit their error, and join my call for real change., the key to a good education is not narrow tests or washington wisdom. the key is a good teacher in every classroom., we need to attract and retain the best and brightest for our nation s schools. we need to start treating teachers with the professional respect that they have earned., when i am president, teachers will have a national average starting salary of $40,000. we will improve and expand teacher training ... and strengthen standards and accountability. we will increase the number of nationally-certified teachers., i will provide bonuses and create a loan forgiveness program for teachers who choose to work in under-performing and high-poverty areas., i also commit to you that i will hire 100,000 new math and science teachers. it s a simple equation -- talented math and science teachers lead to inspired and successful math and science students. high-quality math and science education is not optional. it is essential to holding our position as the world s leader of progress and hope. and i will set a national goal of making america number one in the world in math and science within fifteen years., i will convene a national summit on educational standards and accountability. we need to develop national gold standards that the states can adopt., we should move from a pass/fail model to a more comprehensive system of measurement. narrow tests will only create narrow people., in general, we need to end the policy of punishment that bush gave us with no child left behind. if a school fails, we shouldn t punish that school, we should help it., i also promise that i will strongly and steadfastly oppose school vouchers., 0utsourcing our public education is simply wrong. the solution to the problems with our public schools is not just giving up on them., we must reject vouchers, which divert needed resources from our public schools. but we must also encourage choice by supporting charter schools. in new mexico, this philosophy has made my state second in the nation for school choice., charter schools work. vouchers do not., we should not try to shrink our public school system ... we should be working to expand it. as president, i will provide universal access to quality pre-k programs to all four-year-olds., and i will fully fund head start., just as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure ... a year of early education is worth several years of remedial education., the benefits of early education are clear and extensive. the evidence shows that those who participate in pre-k end up with better earnings, better employment, and better savings later in life ... as well as fewer arrests, fewer out-of-wedlock births, and less drug use., we need to get our kids into school earlier and we need to ensure that they make it all the way through., 0verall, our high school graduation rate is only seventy percent -- each year one million students drop out of high school. minority students are even worse off -- only 56 percent of african americans and 52 percent of latinos graduate. it is just not right., i will provide a billion dollars per year to help states expand their dropout prevention programs. this is a small, price to pay. it is estimated that each class of high school dropouts costs our nation 200 billion dollars in lost wages and tax revenue., furthermore i will devote particular attention to minority students, who are most at risk of dropping out., these are the basics, and we all know that we need to get back to basics. but we ve also got to raise the bar. we have to take bold steps toward a comprehensive vision of learning and education., i will create 250 math, science, and innovation academies. these academies will offer rigorous math and science instruction, free of charge, to seventh-through-twelfth graders who want it. they will train the next wave of american engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and teachers., and i will put the arts back into our schools., students who engage in the arts are more likely to get involved in community and charity work. these students do better academically., arts education is not a silver bullet, but it is a lighted bridge. it s long past time the president ordered a comprehensive analysis of the quality and extent of arts education in our schools. i will do that., i will provide 250 million dollars for the nea s arts in education programs., we will pay for musical instruments and music teachers in underserved communities throughout the country. and we will make art and music therapy available for children with emotional and developmental challenges., i will fiercely support state and local efforts to stress arts education in their curricula. the federal government will offer extra matching funds to states that draw up their own, comprehensive art programs., in addition to reconsidering what our students learn, we have to reconsider how they learn. we need to redesign america s high schools for the twenty-first century., we should use the best technology to create more flexible learning environments. we need to increase opportunities for advanced placement and online courses. we need to increase access to higher education by supporting dual enrollment. and we should align high school exit and college entrance criteria. we did this in new mexico and it works., furthermore, we need to increase the rigor and relevance of high school classes. too many students drop out because they just don t see the point of staying in., and we have to create smaller learning communities -- not only smaller class sizes, but also smaller schools. and we should encourage smaller groups within schools, like freshman academies., in addition, we need to promote the welfare of our nation s children. an essential part of educating better citizens...is ensuring that they are safe and healthy., as president, i will work with the states to adopt healthier nutrition policies for schools. i will increase participation in school breakfast programs. i will bring back physical education. we did it in new mexico -- we took junk food out of the schools and put phys-ed back in. and i supported funding for healthy school breakfasts., we also doubled the number of school-based health clinics. as president, i will provide incentives to open these clinics across the country., finally, we have to get parents -- all parents -- more involved in the education of our nation s students. teachers cannot do it alone, no matter how good they are. parental involvement is more important to a child s success than any test or book., as president, i will issue an executive order that provides all federal employees with eight hours per year of paid, one-to-one time with their children. and i will encourage businesses and the rest of the public sector to do the same. the republicans can talk all they want about family values -- i will do something that actually promotes them., i will also help states with the type of parental outreach that has worked in my state. in new mexico, we created a parent involvement toolkit that provides easy and practical strategies for teachers and principals. we also developed parent-to-parent dvd s to educate parents on how they can help their children succeed in school., i know that the strategies i ve outlined will work ... because they have worked in new mexico. when i first took office, my state ranked 46th in the nation for teacher pay. now, we have jumped to 29th., we improved salaries and accountability by increasing compensation in conjunction with increased performance. we ve provided incentives for teachers to become national board-certified. today, an average of 94 percent of our teachers are rated highly qualified -- a major increase since 2005., we moved money from administration to teaching and we invested an additional 600 million dollars in our classrooms. we also put in place a full-day kindergarten program and initiated statewide pre-k for every four-year-old in new mexico. i am proud that our school reform initiative was ranked second in the nation by the fordham foundation., but we didn t stop with primary education. we took the bold, necessary steps to increase access to higher education. i signed legislation expanding the merit-based new mexico lottery scholarship fund. we created a need-based college affordability fund and endowed it with a hundred million dollars. i also enacted a tax credit for college tuition and fees., we improved access to higher education because it was right for our students, and it was right for our state., in the twenty-first century, college cannot be the province of the wealthy and the elite. in our increasingly competitive world, higher education is often an absolute requirement for a decent job., but these days, too many of our young people are unprepared for college. and too many of those that are prepared ... cannot afford to go. 0nly 57 percent of those who graduate high school enroll directly in college the following year., the bush administration has presided over soaring college costs. between 2001 and 2010, two million high school graduates will have been priced out of a college education. and those that do go get to go ... will graduate with extraordinary debts. it is unacceptable., as a nation, we cannot abide the status quo, and we cannot afford fewer college graduates. the cost is simply too high., whenever president bush cuts access to college, he cuts back hope, and he cuts down progress. we must do better., as president, i will make college affordable and accessible to every high school graduate who wants to attend., i will offer meaningful incentives for schools to keep tuition costs under control, including additional grants and loans., and we need to simplify the college aid process. the form that families have to fill out to get college aid, the fafsa, is 127 questions. that s longer than the form to get us citizenship. something s wrong when it s more complicated to get money for school than it is to become an american citizen., i will tear up the fafsa and replace it with a postcard-sized form. this will expand access to a consolidated, national endowment for college affordability., president bush has increased student loan funding -- to private banks. i will eliminate his 15 million dollar a day subsidy to banks and private lenders ... and redirect that money to students who need it., and i will increase aid to students who need it the most. i will expand programs like leap and gear up that help students from low-income families., finally, i will call on americans to serve their country and the world., after 9/11, americans stood ready to serve. but president bush asked most of us to sit back and sulk. we need real leadership now., the vital spirit of service that fought the nazis in the forties and sustained the peace corps in the sixties ... is alive in america today., as president, i will create a national service program that pays two years of college for one year of service. we need more college graduates. and we need more men and women who are willing to serve their fellow citizens., so let us once again measure our national greatness not by the hardness of our walls or the easy accumulation of material things ... but by the cultivation of learning, the quality of our national character, and the frank determination to make tomorrow better than today -- for all mankind., this is the solemn promise of our nation -- that all americans can make life better for themselves and their families and their fellow americans. i believe that there should be second acts in american lives ... and third acts, and fourth acts, and fifth acts. and if we are to uphold this solemn promise, then our commitment to education cannot end with high school ... it cannot end with college ... it cannot end, period., we have to make sure that our workers get the training they need. we have to make sure that americans remain competitive in a rapidly changing world., president bush doesn t seem to understand. since 2002, total funding for the employment and training administration has declined by 25 percent., in new mexico, we ve worked diligently to improve workforce development programs, in combination with a tax structure that encourages job growth. the results speak for themselves. 80,000 more jobs -- good jobs. and an unemployment rate of about 3.7 percent, near the lowest in new mexico s history., i know how to create and maintain quality jobs, and i know we can do it across the country., while workforce development cannot be dictated by the bureaucracy in washington, the president must lead on this issue., in the face of globalization and lost jobs, the government must help working americans in transition. we also have to give underserved americans the opportunity to learn the skills they need to succeed in the workforce., i will create a new grant program for community colleges of 400 million dollars per year. community colleges must play a central role in american life. these satellites of higher learning project the power of education into communities across the country, educating the workforce of thousands of businesses. it is essential that we fully support and fund them., let me tell you why i care deeply about education and why my plan is so much bolder than what my colleagues are offering., i know first-hand how a teacher can make a difference in a kid s life. when i came back to america at the age of, thirteen, the other students were ahead of me. if i had been left on my own, i might have fallen through the cracks -- as so many students do today., it was a teacher who made the difference. every young american needs a teacher who can make a difference in their lives. that s what my plan is about., the vision i have outlined is bold and comprehensive. it is also expensive. unlike the timid plans of others, mine is a 60 billion dollar investment in our nation s future., to those who ask how we can afford it, let me be specific. i will cut billions of dollars in loan subsidies to private banks and lenders. furthermore, last week, i outlined a detailed plan for defense modernization that saves 57 billion dollars by cutting pentagon waste and outdated, unnecessary weapons systems, many of which were designed for the cold war., these are detailed, responsible cuts -- some of them to nuclear programs in my own state of new mexico. this money must be reinvested in our nation s students and schools., i issue a challenge to every one of my opponents: be bold and be specific. follow my lead and tell the country how you will make america s education system the greatest in the world., we can be the best again. in fact, we must be. it will require the efforts of every american, but together, i know we can do it., thank you., , ,"	
"thank you for that kind introduction. it s always good to be back here in the heartland., i want to speak with you about urgent threats that america and the community of nations face. global challenges that pose serious dangers to the future welfare of the human race., for decades, we believed that the only apocalyptic threat to human civilization was the possibility of nuclear war. now we know better., we know that poverty and overpopulation affect us all., refugee crises. pandemic diseases. climate change. environmental degradation. resource depletion. ethnic and political instability. these are not just the problems of individual nations. they are the problems of an interdependent world., these threats are insidious. they may take decades to develop. and they respect no borders. problems that span time and continents can only be solved through coordinated and cooperative global efforts., from the deserts of mesopotamia to the jungles of central america, civilizations of the past, great and small, have been overcome despite the invincibility of their armies. famine has wiped out entire peoples. disease has crippled whole nations. 0verpopulation has sunk full continents., in the past, resource shortages destroyed civilizations. today, they could destroy civilization itself., we are the most powerful nation in the history of the world. yet, we are not immune from such threats. it will take vigilance and bold action now, to preserve our safety for the future., if we wait ten or twenty or fifty years to address these problems, it will already be too late., environmental degradation takes many forms, but the most urgent is global climate change. there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is getting hotter. this is a fact, not a forecast., the ice caps and glaciers are melting. sea levels are rising., 300 million human beings live less than fifteen feet above sea level. unless we act now, homes, villages, cities, and entire nations will be submerged., those not displaced by rising waters may go hungry as our unrestrained addiction to fossil fuels threatens both regional and global food shortages. already severe drought has cut the world s maize crops by as much as 15%, and wheat supplies will soon be at their lowest level in 26 years., in a world where hundreds of millions go to bed hungry, major losses in staple crops foretell a time when we wake up to billions starving., in america ... in a nation that has long fed the world...catastrophically rising temperatures threaten to decimate our farmland., here in iowa, the foundation for an entire way of life could melt away., meanwhile, the destruction of forest continues at an alarming rate. forests absorb carbon from the atmosphere, slowing the pollution that causes global warming. they are critical to the air we breathe and the soil that sustains us. but unsustainable development pollutes that air and erode that soil. slashing and burning threatens the mesh of life itself. every species is entangled with the lives of others. as we slash away individual strings, it is increasingly likely that the entire web will collapse., 0ur unsustainable habits extend across the land and into the ocean -- from sea to dying sea. if we continue on the present course of exploitation, world fisheries will be virtually depleted by the middle of the century. many once-productive fisheries have already been destroyed. 0nly 23% of world fish stocks are in good condition., more than one billion people depend on fish as their main source of protein. we are wiping out not only food for hundreds of millions of people, but also threatening the awe-inspiring diversity of ocean life. 0ur oceans are a precious, but not an infinite resource., neither are fresh water supplies. today, one out of every five human beings on the planet does not have access to safe drinking water. studies conclude that droughts caused by climate change could leave up to one and a half billion people without enough water to survive. changes in the global distribution of fresh water will cause long-term droughts in some of the world s most fertile food-producing regions. india and china could be devastated., in some poverty-stricken parts of the world, like somalia, governments have been replaced by warlord gangs. stability has given way to chaos and even famine., the west african nation of ghana was long one of the region s most promising economies. the water that once roared through the nation s volta dam has been reduced to a trickle. drought is crippling that nation s economy., in the face of these cascading global threats, congress and the president have been largely paralyzed. rather than rallying the nation and the world to face up to the dangers of climate change, the bush administration claimed for years -- against the overwhelming scientific consensus -- that the ""science was unproven."" dick cheney wrote our energy policy with oil companies, behind closed doors. the congress has gone along for the ride. the power of lobbyists, rather than the power of science, has determined our environmental policies. washington is broken., time has run out. it is now urgent that congress stand up to this president now, and that the next president provide energetic leadership to address these crises. we must be determined, courageous, far-sighted and bold., at stake, is our national survival and our survival as a species. al gore s tireless and inspiring work to rally the world to confront these grave dangers has now been awarded the nobel peace prize and i congratulate him., earlier this year, a report issued by eleven retired u.s. generals and admirals confirmed his warnings and described the climate crisis a ""serious threat to america s national security."", 0ur national safety is more than enough reason to act. but it is not the only reason that we must. at stake, is the health and welfare of the human race., the world is looking to america for leadership. we cannot fail., americans are a generous people, and a courageous people. we rescued europe from fascism, and generations from despair. 0ur farms have been the breadbasket to the world, and our scientists have saved millions of lives through such discoveries as antibiotics and the polio vaccine. and we are the nation that lit the fire of human freedom., but the bush administration has failed to live up to our unmatched record of human achievement. many of the fights that america used to lead are now being lost., consider the health of humankind. 0ver the past 35 years we ve seen the emergence of more than thirty new incurable and infectious diseases, such as aids and ebola. at the same time, older pathogens -- malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and many others -- have become more resistant to treatment. they are spreading with a vengeance., malaria alone takes a human life every thirty seconds -- most of them children., and disease disproportionately strikes those with the least resources to fight back. more than a billion people survive on less than a dollar a day, and nearly half of the world s 2 billion children live in poverty., but we cannot comprehend the crushing burden of global poverty through statistics alone. even in america, i have walked in communities with no access to clean water. we have all seen shamefully inadequate housing, and we know that even in our own country there are children that go to bed hungry every night., in my travels abroad, i have seen human desperation -- first hand. in the sudan, i have been to camps filled with families who have lost every worldly possession., i was on the ground in turkey during a terrible earthquake, where i saw impoverished mothers on their knees, digging through rubble for their lost children., i ve spent time in darfur which today is the best-known example of environmental pressures cascading into instability and violence. a prolonged drought decimated the region s grazing lands and nomadic herders moved south in search of water and food. they encroached upon farming land that belonged to other tribes, igniting the conflict that now has turned into a genocide., we urgently need to find the courage and the will to address such crises. not only because we are a decent and, compassionate people, but also because of this inescapable reality: america will never be safe in a world riddled by poverty, desperation, hatred and violence., a hungry world will also hunger for scapegoats. a thirsty world will thirst for revenge. a world in crisis will be a world of anger and violence and terrorism., and unless and until we have the wisdom and the skill to secure all the nuclear weapons and fissile material in the world, that terrorism could result in unthinkable death and destruction., the global community needs leadership that will take the bold steps necessary to address wide-scale poverty, environmental degradation, and societal unrest. i have travelled the world again and again, on many international delegations and personal missions. and it has been me -- the american -- from which the most has been asked., and so it should be. the world expects much from america. and we must expect even more from ourselves., i believe that the united states alone can rise to the challenge of leading a worldwide effort to avert these global threats., today i lay out a new path ... and i ask americans to join me., we will craft a new foreign policy adapted to a world of complex challenges. challenges which will require thoughtful and global solutions. no nation can defend its own interests without blending them with the interests of, others ... and seeking common solutions to common problems. this ""new realism"" will at once require us to anchor our diplomacy with time- tested, reality-based principles ... and it will unleash our potential to achieve dramatic change., the first momentous step will be to partner with developed nations, the un, non-profit organizations, and private sector companies, to create a marshall plan for the 21st century. we need a massive, multilateral effort to assist the developing world in eliminating poverty, protecting the environment, combating pandemics, conserving water supplies, and stimulating economic opportunity., this 21st century marshall plan will be composed of several initiatives to face down global threats., first, i will make the u.s. the world leader in the fight against global poverty. we must have the resolve to honor our un millennium goal commitments. and we must have the audacity to demand that others meet theirs. a commission on the implementation of sustainable development goals, composed of world leaders and prominent experts, should be created to help all countries realize their millennium commitments., when i am president, the united states will again lead on debt relief, and shifting aid from loans to grants. we will focus on primary health care and affordable vaccines., i also believe that the world bank is the not the place for politics. its only ideology must be the relief of suffering, with a single-minded focus on poverty reduction. the imf must recognize that social safety nets are no barrier -- indeed they are essential -- to promoting economic growth around the world., the united states must increase its financial contribution to these international protection and development initiatives. we must ask other wealthy nations to do the same., stimulating small-scale business in poor countries is essential. and we know what works. clearly, we should focus more resources on micro-lending. the nobel prize winner muhammad yunus, has shown us the way. a 50 dollar loan can sometimes do more good than a million dollars when you make sure it gets to the right place., we need to focus also on education in developing nations. 115 million of the world s children -- 60% of them girls -- do not receive any schooling. in too many countries, a virtual apartheid exists, where women are frozen out of the workforce and civic life. unleashing the economic power of women through education can be the silver bullet that makes every problem easier to fight., i commend the efforts of the 0ne campaign, which is increasing awareness of the effects of aids and extreme poverty on developing nations. the 0ne campaign is asking the united states to double our development, assistance to 2% of our federal budget. i wholeheartedly support this goal, and as president i will work to make it a, reality., 0ur aid efforts must be guided by the principles of good governance and protection of human rights. as hard as we fight to fulfill the expectations that we have for ourselves ... we have the obligation to expect beneficiary nations to live up to these enduring values., the second part of our global initiative, will be to take immediate, bold steps toward clean energy., the foundation for our international action will be my comprehensive energy program, which the sierra club and the league of conservation voters have called the most aggressive of any candidate for the presidency., we should start by instituting a nation-wide, market-based cap and trade system that reduces carbon emissions in the us by 80% by 2040., we must lead the world in the development of clean, alternative energy, and we must work with other, governments and private business to make sure that these technologies are adopted worldwide. above all, we need to make sure that china and india develop using clean energy., in my upcoming book, ""leading by example,"" i outline a specific and comprehensive path domestically and internationally to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stop the devastation of climate change., we need to accelerate research into cellulosic ethanol and other low-carbon input bio-fuels, and we need to construct distribution networks so that retailers can offer ethanol and bio-based fuels alongside traditional fuels., as the mandatory national emission cap declines, the market will decide which fossil fuel uses are no longer efficient or should be converted to new technologies. i am already working on a regional cap and trade system in the west, along with governor schwarzenegger and other governors. this system will limit the amount of greenhouse gasses. george bush doesn t follow the kyoto protocols, but my state is on track to., along the way to making new mexico the clean energy state, i ve learned some lessons. the most important is that americans are ready to act. all they need is a president who is ready to lead. 0nce you lead, you find allies in, corners that you never knew existed. businesses. non-profits. activists. former enemies and future friends. we can build the first true global coalition since america united the world to defeat the communism., the third part of my plan is introducing republicans to a basic reality. the united nations is a necessary and important framework for building the international cooperation that will be necessary to confront problems like environmental degradation and poverty. we must reform and invigorate it. as a former un ambassador, i more than anyone in this race understand the shortcomings of that institution. i ve worked to solve them. and i also know the incredible power that the legitimacy of international cooperation can lend to peacekeeping. to humanitarian relief. to addressing climate change. and to economic development., international cooperation will not always succeed, but cowboy diplomacy will almost always fail., we need to work with others now, through existing un mechanisms, to prepare for the possibility that millions of people could be displaced as a result of global-warming-related flooding of deltas and costal areas., we also must prepare to shift infrastructure and food production to new regions., we will develop crops that are more resistant to heat and drought, and distribute these new crop strains to vulnerable regions of the world., we must develop cost-effective methods for harvesting fresh water and cleaning up polluted rivers and streams. we need aggressive reforestation programs and protection of tropical rainforests., and we need to develop new international treaties to prevent over-fishing and species loss., fourth, my 21st century marshall plan will fight cross-border crime. sophisticated criminal networks running black market trade in arms, drugs, endangered species, counterfeit goods, and human beings threaten the security of us all. we must end slavery forever. financial assistance to developing nations should be tied to swift and solid progress toward the eradication of human trafficking., and the united states needs to show the world that it can be done by ending slavery here in the us -- where an estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked each year., it is unacceptable and i will direct the necessary efforts to end it., the us also must step up our efforts in the fight against global disease. i have proposed unprecedented increases in medical research. 0ne of the great contributions the united states has made, should make, and will make again, when i am president ... is to discover new cures to humanity s great afflictions. cancer, heart disease, malaria, aids, tb -- all can and must be defeated., religion today too often tears us apart. but poverty is a case where every single religion on the face of the planet, should be able to unite. i refuse to believe that there is a person on this earth that is not disgusted by the fact that a child born in swaziland can only expect to live half as long as a child born in the united states., if we cannot lead global action based on this universal agreement, then we are not worthy of the great traditions of human dignity upon which this nation was founded., as we gather our strength for this effort, we must remember that preserving your popularity is no recipe for inspiring a nation, let alone the world., i owe my success in bringing people together and solving problems to taking risks. sometimes you have to lay things on the line to get results., i recall when one of my constituents was taken hostage in sudan. he was an american journalist from my own, state and he was captured with two aides from the african nation of chad. they were imprisoned on phony charges of espionage -- i had no reason to be optimistic about their release. but the journalist s wife asked me to go and try to get him out. so i went., the dictator of that country -- al-bashir -- he said: ""you can have the american, but the other two from chad -- they stay."", at this point i could have left with the american, but i said ""no. i am bringing them all out."" it was not the easy choice but it was the right choice., we went back into the negotiation and i left with all three men., there was no time then for polls or consultants., nor is this a time for political calculation., we cannot afford leadership that has not been tested. my colleagues in this race have my respect, but it is a simple fact that the next international deal negotiated by any one of them will be their first., we also cannot afford another president who doesn t understand that stubborness is not strength. consultation with friends, coordination with allies -- and negotiation with enemies -- is not weakness. it is what you need to do to get things done. it is the basis for restoring america s international leadership., i ask all americans to join me in rebuilding our global leadership. together we need:, the compassion to commit the necessary resources., the courage to stand fast in the face of inevitable setbacks. and the faith to return to american principles ..., equality., freedom., human dignity., these are the values that every american has inherited. let us be worthy of them., thank you., , ,"	
"thank you for being with me. thank you to ndn for hosting us here., before i talk about latin america, i want to take a few moments to talk about what is going on here in this state., these are tough times for californians. they are tough times for all americans. the fires that have ravaged this state ... have ravaged the national consciousness., brave men and women are working day and night to end the devastation. fire fighters continue to risk their own lives ... to protect the lives of their fellow americans., in this sea of destruction, we can see reflected the courageous will that defines our nation. we must each step up and do what we can., yesterday, my campaign donated ten thousand dollars to the red cross to assist relief efforts. i encourage all of you to give as much as possible, as soon as possible., i also ordered two strike teams of new mexico fire fighters to assist in protecting against the fires here. i know that these fine new mexicans will reflect the very best of our state s fire fighting tradition. please take good care of them., in addition, it is clear that we need more air resources, so that we can be better positioned to handle these fires and better prepared to handle any other crises., i recall, in another disaster, when i led an effort in new mexico to help out victims of hurricane katrina in new 0rleans. i remember going out to meet the first plane of refugees and you can feel so helpless in the presence of people that have lost everything., we did what a state can do., new mexico has experienced the devastation and tragedy of huge wildfires and we know well the toll it takes on families and communities., 0n a national level, i believe that we need to reform our military to ensure that our national guard system is never stretched to the breaking point again., at the same time that i was ordering new mexico fire fighters to california, the president deployed three hundred of my state s national guardsmen to iraq., this is not what the national guard was designed for. the war is leaving our homeland vulnerable to natural disasters. we have to end the war and get all our troops out as soon as possible., as president, i will get all the troops out within a year after i take office. and i m going to add fifty thousand troops to the active-duty army and marine corps, so that the guard can protect americans right here at home., finally, we must honor the first responders who are fighting the fires right now. we must make sure that they have the best equipment, the best health care, and the best benefits for their families. they deserve nothing less., i deeply believe that the coming days will prove that even the greatest natural destruction ... is no match for the, hopeful will of the american people. we will put the pieces back together. we will rebuild people s homes. together,, we will do it., today, i want to talk with you about our foreign policy in our own hemisphere., it is painfully clear that george bush s disastrous invasion of iraq has wrecked our international credibility. it has damaged our alliances, emboldened our enemies, depleted our treasury, exhausted our armed forces and fueled global anger against us., the war continues to divert us from the real war against the terrorists who attacked us on 9-11. and it has undermined our ability to lead the world on pressing issues such as nuclear proliferation and global warming., less discussed, but just as important is that the great damage caused by iraq has extended even to our own back yard, in latin america. george bush s cowboy diplomacy has not just led us to ignore urgent challenges in our own region, but has alienated our friends in this hemisphere., as was so evident when mr. bush toured latin america last march, anti-americanism is growing at an alarming rate across the region. through neglect we have turned many of our natural allies into fair-weather friends and outright enemies., the president once vowed to treat latin america   not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental commitment."" but, despite latin america s economic and national-security importance to the united states, he has neglected to engage the region., this policy of negligence is dangerous, and it cannot continue. we need bold action to repair the damage. the next president must have a clear plan for engagement, and the experience to implement it., as president, i will focus on seven strategies to rebuild our relationship with the rest of our hemisphere. at all times, we must preserve our faith in american values and renew our courage to connect with other nations., first, diplomacy! we must engage all latin american countries diplomatically -- including troublesome regimes like venezuela. this does not mean making concessions. it means honest talk and tough negotiation. it means trying to find common ground where we can and strengthening our interests where we can t., second, we need a realistic approach towards cuba. currently our policy with regard to cuba has been static and, reactive. what we need is a vibrant and pro-active policy that deals sensibly with economic and personal issues like trade and family visitation.., president bush has been imposing severe restrictions on family visits and remittances to cuba. i strongly oppose these cruel and counterproductive rules., cuban-americans should be allowed to visit their families, and they should be able to help them out financially. the bush administration even denied us army sergeant carlos lazo, who had won the bronze star in iraq, permission to visit his two sons living in cuba. that is appalling., family values must mean actually valuing families., furthermore, these restrictions bolster castro s ability to portray himself as standing up to the big bully in washington. put simply, these rules have been good for castro and bad for americans and cubans., as president, i will allow unimpeded family visits and remittances by cuban-americans to their relatives in cuba. i will work with the cuban-american community to heal the bitter divide that inevitably cuts through this issue. together, we can create a policy that is good for all americans., and i am ready to reassess the trade embargo ... in exchange for cuba releasing all political prisoners and making positive moves towards democratic freedoms., third, we should push for a latin american country to have a permanent seat on the un security council. mexico, brazil, argentina, and chile are obvious potential choices., fourth, human rights. we need to replace inflammatory rhetoric about ""regime change"" with real promotion of, human and democratic freedoms. latinos admire american democratic values, but they know hypocrisy and they ve seen it. guantanamo. abu ghraib. secret prisons. torture., let me be clear:, i will be a president who follows the constitution., and i will not only talk about human rights, i will be guided by a strong faith in the universal value of human dignity., fifth, fair trade. we must promote trade agreements that include strong and enforceable labor, environmental, and human rights standards. free and fair trade can benefit both latin american and us workers. it will benefit consumers throughout the region. and it will bind closer the nations of the entire hemisphere., sixth, development. we must lead the hemisphere in promoting economic development and reducing poverty. in an interdependent world, extreme poverty in one nation is the concern of all nations. strong and equitable, economic growth in latin america is in the us national interest. it must be a priority. those who think we can keep poor immigrants out with walls ... do not understand the desperate will of starving men and women., therefore, seventh, we need comprehensive immigration reform that is realistic and humane. we need to, aggressively police the border and punish employers who hire undocumented workers. but we must also recognize that we simply can t deport the twelve million who are already here. we need a tough, fair path to legalization., 0ur loftiest ideals are not inconsistent with our most realistic policy objectives. and after so many years of a foreign policy that has ignored both principles and pragmatism, we need a new kind of realism., this new realism will go beyond the old, balance-of-power politics of the cold war. we need to understand that, what goes on in other countries affects us profoundly, and that skillful american diplomatic leadership is needed to meet the challenges of an age of interdependence. an age of global warming. 0f global terrorism. 0f global pandemics., we need to lead with skill and moral credibility., across a wide range of economic, cultural and political issues, our future prosperity and security is tightly interwoven with that of all the peoples of the americas., venezuela is our fourth largest oil supplier, providing 15 percent of our annual oil consumption. mexico is the third largest market for us-grown wheat, corn, cotton and soybeans. small central american countries such as costa rica, guatemala and honduras are major suppliers of the fresh fruit americans eat, and argentina, ecuador, and peru are top ten vegetable suppliers., the president just doesn t get it., he seems to think that latin goodwill towards the united states is something we can take for granted. he seems to think that the fact of our geography guarantees the fitness of our relationship. and he continues to believe that region will somehow follow a nation that refuses to lead., they will not., in the absence of principled leadership from us, they will turn elsewhere ... anywhere ... to whoever steps up., hugo chavez of venezuela has had serious success nourishing anti-us anger throughout the hemisphere. chavez enhances his own power by using our country as his whipping boy. like his friend, president ahmadinejad of iran, he thrives on conflict and incendiary rhetoric. make no mistake: his gains are secured at our expense., we need a president who understands international politics and knows how to respond effectively to lies and provocations. when i am president, i will stand up for this country not by returning insults, but by exposing distortions., we need to take leaders like chavez seriously, not because they are truthful -- they are not. we need to take them seriously because they are tapping into real resentment against us, and then amplifying it for their own purposes. across the world, the bush foreign policy has intensified anti-americanism and played into the hands of our worst enemies., the bush administration s short-sighted, clumsy diplomacy has helped leaders like chavez and castro create an axis of anti-american nationalism across the region. with the benefit of venezuela s oil wealth, chavez has forged ties with leaders such as evo morales in bolivia and daniel 0rtega in nicaragua. these four countries -- venezuela, cuba, bolivia, and nicaragua -- have formed a trade agreement that seeks to exclude and undermine us influence in latin america. chavez is reaching out to long-standing us partners such as argentina. his trade and economic, development proposals are filling the void left by our bankrupt leadership in the region. in recent years, venezuela has purchased more than $5 billion worth of argentine government bonds and other debt relief instruments. a few, months ago, argentina s president nestor kirchner met with chavez and evo morales in bolivia, where progress was made on a deal to ship more than $15 billion worth of bolivian natural gas to argentina., the chavez method of ""checkbook diplomacy"" extends to the aid he provided to peru following that country s, catastrophic earthquake in august. hundreds of people were killed ... thousands more displaced. the nation looked, to the us for help. and yet, it was venezuela that responded with more aid than the bush administration. we handed chavez yet another public relations coup in the region., i focus on hugo chavez not because he is the disease in latin america, but because he is yet another symptom. the disease is arrogance., the next president must take a far more realistic look at what is needed to restore us standing in our own hemisphere. we need a president who understands the region and can talk directly to all the players. and i can speak in spanish when needed. yo hablo el idioma de la diplomacia., i know such direct engagement can work. i ve sat down with fidel castro and negotiated the release of cuban political prisoners. the 0rganization of american states has asked me to serve as special envoy for hemispheric affairs -- to help renew relations with our friends and restart talks with our foes. 0nly serious dialogue on issues such as immigration and trade can lead to serious solutions and a serious relationship with latin america., we must remember that preserving your popularity is no recipe for inspiring a nation, let alone a region or a world., i owe my success in bringing people together and solving problems to taking risks. sometimes you have to lay things on the line to get results., i recall when one of my constituents was taken hostage in sudan. he was an american journalist from my own, state and he was captured with two aides from the african nation of chad. they were imprisoned on phony charges of espionage -- i had no reason to be optimistic about their release. but the journalist s wife asked me to go and try to get him out. so i went., the dictator of that country -- al-bashir -- he said: ""you can have the american, but the other two from chad -- they stay."", at this point i could have left with the american, but i said ""no. i am bringing them all out."" it was not the easy choice but it was the right choice., we went back into the negotiation and i left with all three men., there was no time then for polls or consultants., nor is this a time for political calculation., we cannot afford leadership that has not been tested. my colleagues in this race have my respect, but it is a simple fact that the next international deal negotiated by any one of them will be their first., we also cannot afford another president who doesn t understand that stubbornness is not strength. consultation with friends, coordination with allies -- and negotiation with enemies -- is not weakness. it is what you need to do to get things done. it is the basis for restoring america s international leadership., the bush administration has missed too many opportunities to strengthen us engagement. 0ver and over, the, president has failed to address urgent issues -- especially, trade, development and immigration. this ""iron triangle"" of concerns is tightly welded, and we need a comprehensive vision to tackle them., at its root, illegal immigration is an economic problem, driven by the lack of decent jobs for people in their home, countries. so long as other economies fail to produce jobs, people will continue to come here. as long as we have a monopoly on hope, we will be a magnet for the hopeful. if we want to stop illegal immigration, we need to promote equitable development in latin america. there is no way around it. we need trade agreements that create good jobs in all countries, including our own, while promoting human and worker s rights., we need a comprehensive immigration solution in this country -- one that includes a path to legalization. part of that is increased border enforcement with smarter technology and more guards. it works., but you know what won t work? this wall. i think that senators clinton, 0bama, and biden were wrong to vote to build a wall between the united states and its neighbors., they talk about change. but they voted for the most blatant example of old-style washington solutions-- expensive, dumb, and entirely the product of political calculation., they only funded half the wall. anyone outside the beltway could tell you how well half a wall works. what s next? funding for half of a dam? half an airplane? half a withdrawal from iraq?, apparently the people in washington who want to build a 12 foot wall have never heard of 13 foot ladders. we, need new thinking in the white house, the kind that would never allow such a symbol along our border. if your latin america policy starts with a wall between cultures ... it will quickly collapse into rubble., we need new thinking in the white house on immigration and trade., unfortunately, the indifference of the bush administration has enabled chavez and others to convince many latinos that expanded trade with the us is bad for latin america., the good news is that there are real opportunities to build mutually-beneficial trade and development partnerships with latin american countries. we can have trade agreements that are good for workers, companies, and nations. agreements that create jobs, fight poverty, and reduce the incentives for people to emigrate illegally to the united states., 0ther countries are already taking advantage of our missed opportunities. china s trade with latin america has doubled in just the past six years. the us needs to get off the sidelines and back into the game. it means jobs -- here in the u.s. and in latin america., we also need to recognize that for many years to come the us economy will continue to attract latino workers. while our laws say they cannot come here, our economy says they should. we need to be realistic. . 0ur economy demands these workers, and it makes no sense to have them here illegally rather than legally. as we crack down on illegal immigration, we need to allow more legal immigration. we need a reasonable guest-worker program, and an earned path to legalization for those already here. and we need to work with the mexican government to get them to stop encouraging illegal immigration ... and instead to start creating more jobs in mexico., we also need a more effective approach to the problem of illegal drugs. recent action in congress would reduce the emphasis on military intervention, and would increase us support for rural development, judicial reform, and law enforcement assistance programs. this is a needed step in the right direction. 0ur military cannot solve every problem by itself., as with illegal immigration, we need to recognize that drugs are a development and economic incentive issue. law enforcement is essential, but it is not enough. to fight drug trafficking, we need to arrest and punish dealers, but we also need to fight the profitability of the trade itself. we need to do more to reduce demand at home, i learned this in new mexico. as we shut down over 400 meth labs, reducing supply ... we also undermined demand by providing quality drug treatment to break the addiction cycle., and we must remember that a farmer who can make a living doing something legal, is far less likely to choose drugs production. a worker with a good job is less likely to fall into the clutches of drug smugglers. stronger latin american economies will be less vulnerable to drug lords., finally, we cannot truly engage latin america if we do not include the the 28 million indigenous peoples who live there. too many indigenous peoples live in deep poverty. too many lack access to the essential services that others in their own countries take for granted. too many are ignored by their own governments., it is essential that our policies respect indigenous traditions and promote the rights of indigenous peoples., after years of neglect and missed opportunities, the president s trip last march to latin america was too little, too late. the next administration must do better. we will need a renewed commitment to latin america based upon engagement, dialogue, and cooperation. we need equitable trade agreements, and comprehensive immigration reform., having spent part of my childhood in mexico, and having traveled widely in the region, i understand the complicated dynamics of inter-american relations. my mexican mother taught me to value and respect latino culture, just as my american father made me so proud to be a citizen of the united states. my autobiography was titled ""between worlds,"" not because we are worlds apart, but rather because we are so close -- and because it is so important that we work together toward common goals. woody allen once said that eighty percent of success is showing up. these recent years, we have not shown up in latin america. instead, we ve been shown up by lesser leaders. that must change. if we do not attempt to succeed in the region, then surely we will fail., moving forward, we must preserve the shared faith of the people of this hemisphere ... in the principles of human dignity and democratic freedoms., we must have the simple courage to be strong. we must step up and lead., muchas gracias -thank you very much., ,"	
"now, energy is at the heart of the three great challenges we face as a nation: how do we keep our economy strong in a more ompetitive world? how do we keep our communities safe in a more dangerous world? and how do we protect our values in a rapidly changing world?, our present system of energy is weakening our national security, hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and threatening our children s future., right now, instead of national security dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our national security., we would never leave 10 percent of our military or intelligence assets vulnerable to an easy attack. but that s what we ve allowed to happen with oil., just one terminal in saudi arabia handles about one out of every 12 barrels of the world s oil exports. that s enough to trigger a new crisis beyond the scale of the, 1970s if it were cut off. onem terrorist attack has already been foiled there, and other threats have been made., we would never deliberately put ourselves in a position that allowed iran to believe that because of its oil reserves it is invulnerable to sanctions for its dangerous nuclear program, or for sudan to think that china will protect it from the consequences of genocide in darfur in return for access to oil, or for russia to use its energy policy to pressure its smaller neighbors., but as world demand for oil pushes prices higher and intensifies the competition for future supplies, those are just some of the consequences of our present energy policy., energy we all know is essential to our economic security, and the trend lines are terrible., petroleum imports accounted for nearly one-third of our trade deficit last year. now, that does hurt everyone. it does have economic consequences in the short, medium and long term., some industries face immediate threats. every penny increase in gas prices costs u.s. airlines $180 million. now, imagine what will happen if, as predicted, costs continue to double every five years., high energy costs burden business and diminish our competitiveness, and they re also a strain on families. when energy prices are rising faster than incomes, every family feels the consequences, but our most vulnerable families feel them the worst., almost one in three low-income families have skipped medical or dental care, and almost one in four have missed a rent or mortgage payment because of energy expenses., and finally, our values demand that we be good stewards of the planet for our children and our children s children. we are failing that simple moral test if we continue to stand by as the earth warms faster than at any time in the past 200,000 years., i have seen firsthand and have heard from the natives in places from point barrow, alaska, to svalbard, norway, about the consequences of global warming. and now thanks to former vice president al gore, who has been a committed visionary on global warming for more than two decades, everyone can see those consequences for themselves at a local movie theater., but this is not a time, i would argue, for hand-wringing or despair, despite the formidable challenges we confront. we can fix these problems together by changing to a clean energy future fueled by innovation and efficiency., and, of course, the alternative is pretty stark: if we don t change, our problems will only worsen., the department of energy forecasts that demand for oil worldwide will rise more than 30 percent by 2025. carbon dioxide emissions from energy use will rise almost 30 percent over the same period., so our economy and our environment cannot afford the status quo., and we can start not just looking at the problems, debating the problems, but understanding what prevents us from dealing with them. and i think that there are two myths that still block us from action and that boil down to the idea that we as individuals, as communities, as businesses, even as our country, are basically powerless., you know, that kind of fatalism is just wrong. i would also argue that it is un- american., first, too many people are still stuck on the idea that we will struggle for a very long time, hurt our economy and lose jobs if we try to change the way we fuel transportation and provide electricity to our economy., but if we look at the evidence, that myth just does not hold up. in fact, the present crisis offers us a great opportunity to improve the lives of all americans with more predictable energy prices, in a cleaner environment, with technology-driven job growth and new economic dynamism., and the sooner we start, the sooner the benefits will kick in., denmark now gets 20 percent of its power from wind. brazil makes enough ethanol to power 40 percent of its cars. britain s switch to clean energy technologies has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the last five years, while gdp has risen and the u.k. has hit its kyoto targets to reduce greenhouse gases ahead of schedule., we re now spending far more on military security in the persian gulf than it would cost to jumpstart a clean energy future with all the benefits in new jobs, enhanced security and reduced global climate change., here at home, energy guru amery lovins estimates that taking steps to eliminate our oil dependence will actually save the u.s. economy tens of billions of unproductive dollars per year by 2025. and that doesn t even count the benefits for our security and the environment., now, this can t happen overnight. and it does require a major change in policy and attitudes, not just in the government but also in the private sector and, indeed, in each of our lives., but we need to resist the idea that kicking the oil habit will wreck our economy. in, fact, the greater risk is that we will wreck our economy by failing to kick the habit., second, we need to discard the myth that conservation can t play a large role in our transformation. the easiest way to reduce our dependence on oil immediately is to use less., now, for some, it s become almost fashionable to make fun of conservation. a few years ago vice president cheney famously mocked conservation as nothing but a, quote, ""sign of personal virtue irrelevant to our national energy needs."" now, the truth is that conservation is not just a personal virtue, but an important part of any sensible energy policy., we worked our way out of the last big energy crisis in the  70s and early  80s almost entirely through conservation. from 1977 to 1985, our economy grew by 3 percent a year while oil use dropped 2 percent each year, driven by the increasing efficiency of our vehicles, our appliances, our businesses., clinton: think about this: if we got back on that pace today, it would take less than three years to reduce oil consumption by an amount equal to what we import from the persian gulf., the opportunities are overwhelming. about 80 percent of the energy potential of oil is wasted in internal combustion engines. more than half the energy potential of coal is wasted in traditional utility plants. almost all of our homes and commercial buildings could use energy more efficiently. american business knows something the vice president needs to find out: conservation is about efficiency, about doing more with less, not doing less with less., companies like general electric and dow chemical have made major efforts to improve energy efficiency, and they ve seen major improvements in their bottom line., six months ago, i outlined a set of proposals in a speech to an enthusiastic group of clean energy venture capitalists. it s called the cleantech venture network. they re actually investing money in this new energy future, and they re being joined every day by more and more smart investors., today, i want to suggest a concrete goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil by at least 50 percent by 2025. that would be a reduction in oil consumption of just under 8 million barrels a day., now, i believe a 50 by  25 initiative will energize our economy, not undermine it., and how will we get there? two words: innovation and efficiency. they encompass the three major tasks that i want to discuss today., first, we need to convert our liquid fuel base from oil to biomass. that can reduce our consumption by 4 million barrels a day by 2025., second, we need to change our reliance on high-carbon electricity sources to low- carbon electricity sources through innovations in renewables such as solar and wind, as well as carbon dioxide sequestration., the third task is efficiency: getting much more from the cars, buildings, power plants, manufacturing processes we have. just by major efficiencies in cars, expanding hybrids, getting more fuel- efficiency from trucks, industrial and residential sources, we can reduce consumption by another 4 million barrels a day., now, efficiency will start us down the road to a better energy future, but an independent, clean energy future will require dramatic innovations. the possibilities are greater than ever for government, science and industry to succeed., for example, scientists estimate that the wind potential of just three states -- texas, kansas and north dakota -- is equal to more than half of the electricity we consume today. california could meet half of its power needs from solar alone., technology is finally bringing down the prices and making these innovations closer to commercial application every day., wind is the fastest-growing power source in our country and worldwide. it s now competitive with coal in areas where the conditions are right., both solar and wind costs drop by one-third every time capacity doubles, and that s now happening about every two years., last year, power generated from solar cells increased by 57 percent. and many states are making big bets on alternative energy, from solar arrays in arizona to wind farms in maine., in upstate new york, there is a new wind farm that s gone in on acreage that has until now been primarily devoted to dairy farmers., clinton: and it s got enough wind power to provide electricity to 50,000 homes. and it also, by the payments that it makes to the farmers, guarantees the farmers can stay on their land., but we can t just wait for innovation. just like the manhattan or apollo projects, it takes focus and dedicated resources to make it happen., that s why today i ll be introducing legislation for a strategic energy fund. we need a serious commitment from government to prioritize advanced energy and a commitment from our oil companies to reinvest their unanticipated profits into our shared energy future., i want the oil companies to be part of the solution. last year the top six oil companies had combined profits of $113 billion; more than the annual income of 170 countries., now, exxonmobil had, you know, the highest profits in corporate history. yet when ceo lee raymond was asked about how much his company had invested in alternative energy over the last decade, his reply was, and i quote, ""a negligible amount."", well, that s unexcusable. you know, the oil industry is making $300 million a day, not because they planned on it, not because of great managerial expertise, but because of escalating world demand and therefore increasing prices for this commodity that they didn t create in the first place., i think it s time that we made sure they put a fair share of their profits toward a sound energy future., last month i joined with colleagues in writing the president to ask him to support senator cantwell s legislation to make price-gouging a federal crime in our oil and gasoline markets. now, we still haven t heard back. but i want to reiterate that call today., but we can do better than that. and here s how., we need to reform our energy taxes so that large oil companies who reap huge benefits from unexpectedly high energy prices over the next two years will be required to pay a portion of their profits into the strategic energy fund., basically, if you take an average of their profits from 2000 to 2004, you add a 10 percent figure on top of that, then you can get to a point where those profits for just two years would be invested in the strategic energy fund., now, the oil companies would have the option: they wouldn t have to invest if they did this themselves, if they began making investments in biofuels, in other forms of renewable energy, in new, cleaner refining capacity, solar, wind. if they did it themselves, then they wouldn t have to pay into the fund., and we ought to repeal the tax breaks that even the oil companies have told us they don t need and put that money into the fund as well., with prices, profits and with these tax breaks in the fund, you could raise about $50 billion: more than enough to begin the energy revolution that we need., now, some of that money should go to reforming our tax code into an incentive not a disincentive to invest in clean fuels and diversify our energy sources., right now, our tax policies are totally upside down. we give large tax breaks for oil exploration far from our shores and limited tax breaks for installing biofuel pumps at america s gas stations., we give consumers better tax breaks for buying humvees than for purchasing hybrids and using clean energy., so i support comprehensive legislation that would overhaul our energy taxes; signal the market we re in this for the long run by extending for 10 years the production tax credit; spur demand by doubling consumer tax breaks for hybrids, clean diesel and other advanced vehicles; and create a new tax incentive for fleet owners to purchase more efficient vehicles; speed the development of cellulosic ethanol by providing loan guarantees for the first billion gallons of commercial production capacity; ramp up the availability of ethanol by providing gas station owners with a 50 percent tax credit for the cost of installing ethanol pumps; and then extend and increase tax incentives for homeowners and businesses who will make their homes and businesses more energy- efficient -- there s a lot of good information out there abut how to do it, but unfortunately not much incentive to do it., the strategic energy fund would allow government and business to work together to help solve some of the toughest scientific challenges that we have to deal with when it comes to energy and climate., you know, we have the national institutes of health that promote partnerships for innovation. we ought to have something like a national institute of energy. that s why last september i proposed a research agency modeled on the darpa, the defense advanced research project agency. and i was delighted that later that fall the national academy of science report endorsed the concept. , now, darpa was created what sputnik went up. and the entire country just reacted as one -- ""how could this happen?"" it was a very unwelcome surprise., well, it was created with the idea we would bring our best minds together -- our universities, our business research labs, as well as government -- to try to figure out how to jumpstart and get ahead of the soviet union when it came to space technology., well, this succeeded, with stealth technology and global positioning satellites that empower our military, as well as a few surprises that today we all live with, namely the internet and even the computer mouse., now, we ll never find the equivalent of stealth technology for energy if we don t look for it. since 1978, federal and private spending on energy-related research and development has fallen more than 60 percent., i propose that over the next five years we devote from the strategic energy fund $9 billion into this advanced research project agency for energy; we encourage creative, competitive projects; we think outside the box; we tell young inventors who maybe nobody s ever heard of before that there will be prizes for inventions that can help us move more quickly on the path to energy independence., we also need to put the enormous purchasing power of the federal government to work, to help create markets for renewable electricity, more efficient vehicles and appliances, and biofuels. federal buildings should be designed whenever possible and then retrofitted as well to meet the highest green building standards., by 2010, we should require that the federal government purchase the most efficient cars made. that would create an annual market of more than 60,000 vehicles to spur continual improvements in technology., by 2013, we should require that 10 percent of federal electricity purchases come only from renewable sources., and by 2020 we should reduce federal oil consumption by 40 percent., i m very proud that in new york the binghamton federal building was the first in the country to purchase 100 percent of its electricity from renewals., now, we can do all of this, and there are so many exciting developments. you know, if i d here five years ago or 10 years ago, i couldn t have stood up here and said that we can do this, because we hadn t made some of the breakthroughs and it would have been a much more difficult path., yes, we could have done it, but it would have been much harder than what i believe is possible now., you know, wind and solar power are terrific examples. right now there s a two- to three-month backlog of orders for solar cells like the kind that are in the clinton library in little rock., and wind is the fastest-growing source of energy. and one of the largest solar power systems in the country is at the marine base in twentynine palms california, generating 10 percent of the base s needs., we need a renewable portfolio standard to require 20 percent of electricity produced from wind, solar and other renewables by 2020., now, there is so much money to be made from this. and a couple of visionary companies have really gotten out ahead., i want to applaud g.e. for its extraordinary commitment to a new energy future. g.e. will sell, this year, $3.5 billion worth of wind turbines and expects sales to reach $5 billion next year. , that supports jobs in four states, including my own. investing in renewable energy creates more jobs than other energy investments; 40 percent more than a comparable investment in coal, for example., now, companies from europe and japan are flooding into energy markets that were pioneered by americans. i don t want to lose either that technological edge or the jobs and exports that come from that kind of commitment., now, we can also make a gallon of gas go a lot further. you all have been reading and hearing a lot about the use of home-grown energy, clean diesel and ethanol made from corn, sugarcane, cellulosic materials., we have an underused resource, american farmland, and rural communities across our country eager to try something new and do their part to help solve our energy problems., today we have 97 biorefineries located in 19 different states with the capacity to make nearly 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol., now, over the next 12 to 18 months, we will increase that capacity by 50 percent. and we re seeing it in new york as we re seeing it around the country., but think about that: we have the capacity to make nearly 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol, but that is a long way from helping us deal with our gas problems. we need to be moving on a much faster track., and last week, i met with the ceos of the big three auto companies. they are enthusiastically ramping up production of flex-fuel vehicles. but there s hardly anywhere in the country to get your vehicle fueled if it s flex-fuel., so we need to take immediate steps to make sure that the rapid expansion in biofuels continues and that we not only have the vehicles that can run on ethanol, but we have places where you can get them filled., right now there are more than 5 million flex-fuel vehicles on the road. their owners may not even know it. automakers could start with a good news recall to let owners know what s under their hoods and where to find a biofuel station., we should put a $1 billion from the strategic energy fund into research aimed at unlocking the full potential of cellulosic ethanol. we can expand loan guarantees to help the first 1 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol capacity come on-line., and i think we ve got to take action on this pump issue or we re just spinning our wheels, so to speak. i propose that we have ethanol pumps at 50 percent of gas stations nationwide by 2015 and 100 percent by 2025., obviously, these are goals. i hope we can go even faster., we should start by requiring the big oil companies to install ethanol pumps at all the stations they own. we should also provide a tax incentive to the independents and other owners to do so over the next 10 years, and then a mandate to get it done immediately., you know, biofuels is a tremendous opportunity for us, but we need to make sure we seize it. and the only way to do that is to have a supply and a demand chain that actually works for the average driver., now, as we talk about innovative clean fuels, i want to just mention clean diesel, because we don t use clean diesel as much in our country as they do in europe, and i think it s another opportunity. again, a home-grown opportunity., just two quick examples. at corning, a wonderful company i represent in new york, they re making the filters to go on to school buses to clean up the pollution from old diesel. so they re dealing with the environmental impact of diesel., at cummins engine plant in jamestown, they re building the engines that run on low- sulfur diesel. and we have to get the low-sulfur diesel rule fully implemented by 2007, which is the deadline., the oil companies already got one delay, and we can t let that happen again, because companies like cummins are investing billions of dollars in making sure that we have low-sulfur engines on the road. and if the oil companies won t step up to the plate on cleaner fuels, then they need to get out of the way and let innovative companies do that., we also are making some progress in fuel cells, thanks to companies like plug power, general motors, delphi, kodak. but we haveto deal with coal, because we have huge resources of coal. coal is to us what oil is to saudi arabia. and part of our domestic strategy must involve coal., but unless we learn to burn it cleanly, the price of independence from imported oil by using coal will be accelerated global warming. even if the united states never burned another lump of coal, china is bringing on-line a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant every 10 days. so if we re going to reassert our leadership on climate change -- which i think we should -- we ve got to deal with coal., and the first step is to take a mandatory cap-and-trade system, like that developed in the mccain lieberman legislation that i support, but obviously going out and trying to reengage the rest of the world in this issue., but unless we get to clean coal, it s going to be very hard to achieve., geologic sequestration, storing carbon deep within the earth after you extract the carbon from the burning coal, holds the key to making coal use compatible with the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions., scientists believe we will be able to store nearly all of the carbon dioxide we currently emit for hundreds of years. but we need more real-world data, and that can only come from large-scale testing., i propose we do two things to scale up the potential of clean coal., first, undertake five large-scale tests of geologic sequestration in a variety of settings to really investigate the viability of this technology., second, provide tax credits for carbon sequestration to encourage domestic oil production. oil companies already inject carbon dioxide into mature fields like the ones we have here in the united states to recover oil. the department of energy estimates that with oil priced at $40 or higher per barrel, it is economical, with ample co2 supply, to use co2 to recover 47 billion barrels of oil from existing u.s. fields., think of what we could recover at today s prices, as we were cleaning the air at the same time., nuclear is now very much in the news as a potential power source because of its lack of contribution to global warming. if you look at nuclear energy, which currently provides 20 percent of our energy with virtually, no emission of greenhouse gases, we do have to take a serious look, but there remain very serious questions about nuclear power and our ability to manage it in a world with suicidal terrorists., so i have real concerns, specifically about a plant in my state near where i live, indian point, which has had a number of problems, and more generally with the capacity and quality of the oversight provided by the nuclear regulatory commission., so we need to resolve problems with the nrc, as well as questions of cost, safety, proliferation and waste, before we go forward with nuclear power., but we can do all of that on the research/demonstration side while we are getting more efficient at the same time. you know, we could look at all of the options for efficiency. and there are many that we are just basically ignoring., you know, last year in auburn, new york, nucor steel spent $14 million on a continuous reheat furnace, money it will earn back in just three years through efficiency savings and higher productivity., texas instruments was going to build its next plant in another country. through efficiency, it decided to stay and build in texas., so i just would make a plea that we do more to set the standards for energy efficiency and let businesses and homes and others know more about what each of us can do and provide some technical assistance and support., that s especially important with low-income people because we haven t done anywhere near what we should on weatherization of homes, which again helps cut bills for the persons living in the home but also saves energy for the rest of us., let s now talk about transportation, which is the hardest issue of all., first, we do need to do more on mass transit. we need to look at places in our country where mass transit makes sense and make the investment., some states are doing that., now, we are missing a tremendous opportunity to save money and save energy because we haven t done enough on mass transit., but we have to look at how we make more efficiency in transportation. we have to change the engines and fuels in the cars that americans drive., hybrids is an example of what we need to do. you know, most foreign oil is used in automobiles: about 70 percent. and the surest way to reduce oil consumption is through hybrid technology that increases fuel-efficiency by 30 percent to 40 percent., hybrid sales are doubling every year. manufacturers like ford are setting ambitious goals for new hybrid production. we have major new improvements in hybrid engines coming on line. there s a really great partnership between general motors, daimlerchrysler and bmw that ll build state-of-the-art hybrid engines less than 50 miles from here in baltimore., the next step is hybrid plug-ins, enabling drivers to use household electricity to recharge car batteries at night. i saw some of these. they were on display on capitol hill. you can drive 100 miles or more for every gallon of fuel you put in the tank., i also recommend what s called a fee-bate. that means for the least efficient old cars we need to provide a tax incentive so that people trade them in for more efficient cars., and, finally, i do believe it s vital we make progress on fuel- efficiency standards. we can t separate, however, the challenge of making auto manufacturing more energy- efficient and the challenge of making u.s. manufacturing more competitive., i believe we could do both. we need to be sure that our high standards don t provide an easy excuse for more auto jobs to leave the u.s., but i don t think that s the reason not to do it. we just need to be more creative about it., we ve been in a stalemate on cafe standards for quite some time. i ve worked with senator obama on legislation to offer auto companies assistance with retiree health care costs in exchange for them investing more in fuel-efficient cars., that s a start. but we need the carmakers, the unions and the bush administration to hammer this out. this is one of those moments that cries out for presidential leadership., and president bush will be meeting with the ceos of the big three auto makers on june 2nd. and i think we should challenge all sides to take that opportunity to come back to congress with a real proposal that will reform and raise our car fuel-efficiency standards and provide detroit with the help it needs to ensure that the cars are designed and built here in the united states., i also fully endorse an idea that senator lugar has been promoting., we need a new commitment to a strategic petroleum reserve. specifically, we should increase it to hold 90 days of supply. we should use mandates and incentives to ensure that distributors hold similar stocks of gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel and other refined products. we should update the process of releasing oil from the reserve to, paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact us,"	
", around a common goal of reducing the amount of abortions, not by making them illegal as many are attempting to do or overturning roe v. wade and undermining the constitutional protections that decision provided, but by preventing unintended pregnancies in the first place through education, contraception, accessible health care and services, empowering women to make decisions., i was very hopeful when we launched the national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy following my husband s 1995 state of the union that we could make progress. we set a very ambitious goal of reducing the number of unintended pregnancies by one-third over the decade. well, we did it, we got to 32.5 percent. the teen birthrate fell by that third which we hoped for. why did that happen? well, it happened because people came together instead of pointing fingers at each other and, you know, walling each other off in our respective camps. people from all walks of life in different communities said, you know what, we can do this and we can do it in the right way. but today the us continues to have one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancies in the industrialized world. half of the six million pregnancies are unintended, and nearly half of those end in abortion every year. last month the non- partisan guttmacher institute released a report revealing the two-tiered system that is emerging in this country. we all know it. high income women have quick, convenient access to contraceptives, low income women do not. and the result is often and increasingly becoming unintentional, unintended pregnancy. today, a poor woman is four times as likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy as a higher- income woman. lack of insurance coverage for contraception and other health care costs result in women of reproductive age paying 68 percent more in out-of-pocket costs for health care services than do men of similar age., now, this study is just one of the many recent wake-up calls that i ve been seeing to really concern us and urge us to promote policies that further the goal of prevention. now how do we do that? well, a big first step: increasing access to family planning services. as judy said, i ve been a strong supporter of title x which is, as you know, the only federal program devoted solely to making comprehensive family planning services available to everyone. and during the clinton administration we worked together to improve that funding by 58 percent. now, unfortunately today the program cannot keep pace with basic services, let alone meet the growing costs of diagnostic tests and new forms of contraception. the bush administration has proposed no increase for title x in any of the six budgets it has submitted. so, we have to stay vigilant and focused in how to keep title x funded at a level that keeps up with the needs., another incredibly important step is to support access to contraception as a means of reducing unintended pregnancies. we should start with the facts: seven percent of american women who do not use contraception account for roughly one-half of all unintended pregnancies. now, that s an unnerving statistic to me and one that should again bring us together. however, in washington these days, that s often not the case., increasingly, i see washington being turned into an evidence free zone where, you know, inconvenient facts are totally denied or dismissed, where politics are placed above policies that work, where the beliefs and values of americans take a back seat to the ideological agenda of a select few., so, i m here to issue a challenge. as judy mentioned, i introduced a resolution that calls on congress to support access to contraception and support programs and policies that make it easier for all women to obtain contraceptives and use them consistently and correctly. the resolution states in unequivocal terms: congress recognizes that preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing the number of abortions is a goal that transcends the ideology so pervasive in washington today. what i am attempting to do with your help is to get the congress to go on record, because day after day i have colleagues who say they support prevention and contraception, they support family planning, and yet when it comes time to vote for the funding and services that actually make up family planning, and provide contraceptives, they hide behind cost as the reason why they are against those common sense approaches. well, this resolution doesn t cost a penny, it simply asks members, in both houses, because my friend and congresswomen nita lowey, introduced it in the house. it simply asks members to go on record in support of the idea that all women, regardless of income, should have access to family planning. now, a member of congress who says he or she supports family planning should have no trouble supporting my non-binding, no cost resolution. so when you go to the hill, i hope you ll be asking everyone you speak with to do just that., you know, this is not just about family planning or contraceptives, it s not even just about politics, it s about the kind of country we believe in, what kind of obligations we owe one another. we have a very high value placed on individual choice and individual responsibility. but we don t often empower people to be able to make those choices in a responsible way., i recently introduced the unintended pregnancy reduction act of 2006 to strengthen medicaid coverage of family planning services, so medicaid coverage for family planning can remain accessible to low income women and states extend coverage for family planning services and supplies to women would be making it possible for medicaid recipients to get the full range of services that they need, not just pre-natal, labor, delivery and post-partum care., and i ve introduced with my good friend harry reid the prevention first act, and that also includes a number of common ground, common sense policies: improve education about emergency contraception, something that dr. wood really went all the way for because of the fda s refusal to approve over-the-counter access to plan b; make sure government funded sex education programs provide medically accurate information about contraception, something which many of them do not do right now. and let s once and for all end insurance discrimination against women. i m very proud that in new york state contraceptive equity is already the law, and it should be a model for the rest of the country. i ve said it before, i ll say it again here: if insurance companies can cover drugs like viagra they can certainly cover prescription contraceptives., senate republicans didn t even want a vote on the clinton-reid prevention first act. when we introduced it as an amendment, they used a procedural motion to block it, so let s really understand what we re up against., this is not just about roe, this is not just about choice, this is about contraception, family planning, and, most profoundly, women s roles and responsibilities and rights., now, this is part of a larger story. many of you i m sure saw the recent new york times magazine cover story that blew the whistle on the washington republican war on contraception and there s no better example of that than emergency contraception. and i just want to bring you up to date on this. two successive fda commissioners, both bush administration political appointees, blocked plan b from being sold over-the-counter, overruling the fda s medical experts, advisors, and the recommendations of over 70 organizations including the american medical association and the american academy of pediatrics. the government accountability office has confirmed that the fda s 2004 decision not to approve over-the-counter sales was politically motivated., it is time for the fda to make a decision. last time senator murray and i put a hold on the nominee, dr. crawford. we said we will not lift the hold until the fda makes a decision. they assured us they would make a decision; we lifted the hold, he was confirmed, then they made a decision to make no decision. well, this time senator murray and i have placed a hold on the nomination of the current acting fda commissioner dr. andrew von eschenbach. we will continue to hold that nomination until the fda issues a decision on plan b, yes or no. we re not telling them how to decide it, we re telling them to decide it because it would be indefensible to ignore the recent scientific investigations they ve been given., so there s a lot to be done, but i m actually optimistic about all of this because i think the real agenda is being made clear here. and we need all of you to be the voices for all those who are been left behind. you have the power to reach out and seek common ground on so many of these issues - emergency contraception, funding for pre-natal care, medicaid coverage and so much else., paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact us,"	
", victim of identity theft; though i do sometimes see myself referred to in the media and wonder who they re talking about. but having lost so much of my own privacy in recent years, i have a deep appreciation of its value - and a firm a commitment to protecting it for all the rest you. and, i hope that you take these remakes with that thought in mind, since i am an expert in the perils of losing your privacy., most people cherish their privacy - that fundamental desire to be left alone. they see it as essential to their liberty that they be able to go about their daily business free from surveillance and interference. and yet, in modern society - without greater safeguards - we re all open books to whoever has access to the data we create every day, from credit cards to store cameras to phone company records. the challenge we face is how to take advantage of all the advantages of technology without losing something precious - which is i think the challenge that we confront individually and as a society., now fortunately, we have a uniquely american way to think about the privacy challenges we face. it is as old as our constitution and as new as the firewalls on the internet. it s called checks and balances. now, that has a specific constitutional meaning to all of you in this room today, but it also has a broader colloquial meaning that is part of the genius of american society - our ability to balance and safeguard our cherished values even as we take full advantage of new innovations., i believe it is not just a possibility, but a necessity, that we preserve our right to privacy, while we also participate freely in the modern world and defend our national security., but if we keep going as we are, there will be little left of that cherished right. every phone call, every internet search, every credit card purchase - they are all under potential surveillance from business and government, unless we start to draw the line, reinforce people s basic rights, and put checks and balances back into our system., now, privacy and national security have gone hand in hand since america s beginnings. when the framers adopted the fourth amendment, they had in mind the intrusive and threatening searches that british authorities felt free to carry out on a whim. well, we re reminded of that again today with the supreme court s decision. the value of the 4th amendment is as strong and as important now as it was when british soldiers were garrisoned involuntarily in people s homes. the 1967 katz decision demonstrated how this right evolved with technology establishing a right to privacy respecting wiretaps to the 2001 opinion by justice scalia prohibiting the police from using a thermal imager to scan a home without a warrant. privacy is not and should not be a liberal value or a conservative value. it fundamentally an american value; it is a human value., privacy means security in our homes and in our private communications and activities. it is synonymous with liberty, in the sense that every person enjoys a zone of freedom that government may not violate. and we have to operate from a presumption that the fourth amendment means that no matter how easily our privacy can be violated, that we still have a basic right to protect the collection and dissemination of information about ourselves from our government. we have to remember that we also have to start all analysis of privacy with this basic notion - individuals have a right to privacy unless there is a compelling reason to breach it. but privacy is not to be the exception, it is the standard., today our privacy comes into uncertain conflict with security cameras, data mining, computer hackers and identity theft. we re concerned not just with government actions, but with the ability of the private sector - even our neighbors - to misuse, or provide insufficient protection for, our personal information., therefore, we do need legal protections that are up to date with the technological and national security needs of our time - for a world in which we can be confident that our security and our privacy are both protected. and that s what i would like to propose today., well right now, many americans are frightened and confused about losing their, privacy. we see patterns of carelessness and outright fraud at the same time as we are exposed to data-gathering and marketing gimmicks at every turn., according to the non-profit privacy rights clearinghouse, the personal information of more than one in four americans - 85 million people - has been compromised in just the last 15 months. now, some of these were massive breaches, like the theft of a single veterans  administration laptop with the social security numbers and medical information of 26.5 million people., just this year in my state of new york, an armed robbery in new jersey netted private information on 17,000 patients from a new york hospital; a hacker broke into a retail website in buffalo and stole credit card data; data tapes for virtually every employee of the long island railroad were lost by a delivery service; two laptops full of employee data were stolen from verizon; a hard drive containing information on 300,000 certified public accountants was lost in shipment; a laptop with bank account information was stolen from a subcontractor in buffalo. now, that s more than half a million people affected in less than six months in one state., and the personal stories can be heartbreaking. my office has heard from a minister harassed, wrongly, by credit agencies; a woman whose trusted tax adviser opened bank accounts and stole money in her name; a breast cancer patient whose mammography records were lost., but at the same time, americans are asking, privacy at what price, when we are confronted by criminals and terrorists who respect none of our core values. terrorists don t hesitate to use modern information technology - cell phones and the internet. we need to be able to track them. meanwhile, new techniques like data mining have changed many of the things we thought we knew about surveillance. americans are genuinely unsure about whether we can keep both our privacy and our security., but this is one of the most fundamental questions about what kind of country we will be. how we greet the challenges of a more connected, data driven world, like our own, while preserving our core values. it s time to take a new comprehensive look at privacy. that s why i am proposing a comprehensive privacy agenda: i m proposing we have a new privacy bill of rights that secures the interests of consumers; provides stronger, better-enforced protection for medical privacy; and a new national security consensus setting out clear rules to allow the government to use new intelligence techniques within a rule of law framework and making sure that the public knows its rights and the government s limits., when we talk about privacy, we can talk about where most people live - which of us consumer privacy. few of us would choose to go back to the days where we made all our purchases with cash, and we could only get cash out of the bank during what used to be called ""bankers  hours."", in fact, information technology often makes us and our personal information safer. we don t have to carry large amounts of cash around. we can pay bills electronically rather than by mail. but the public doesn t feel more secure - and, with stories like choicepoint, or bankamerica or the va a thefts in the news, they have good reason not to., so we need a new set of consumer protections that boil down to three basic rights:, first, people have the right to know, and to correct, information which is being kept about them., second, people have the right to know what is happening to their personal information when they are cooperating with a business and to make decisions about how their information is used., and third, in a democracy, people have the right and the obligation to hold their government and the private sector to the highest standards of care with the information they gather., these rights should be basic to all of the commercial transactions we undertake and be part of a basic privacy bill of rights that has to be adhered to by every commercial information gatherer or marketer., my privacy bill of rights will be encapsulated in the protect act, which stands for - you know when you re in the congress you have to find acronyms; you spend hours trying to find legislation in words that can eventually spell something, so i give my staff full credit for this - but the protect act, privacy rights and oversight for electronic and commercial transactions act. pretty good, huh? this legislation not only provides clear privacy rules, it gives you clear protections for your most private information, the right to sue when those rules have been violated, the right to protect your phone records, the right to freeze your credit when your identity has been stolen, the right to know what businesses are doing with your credit and credit reports, and the right to expect the government to use the best privacy practices itself with your information., we should start with the principle that, for the most deeply personal information about how we spend money on a daily basis, your information should be shared only when you ""opt-in."" we know that a booming industry is tracking every purchase you ve made with your debit or credit cards or personal checks. this means that if you ve failed to check that tiny little opt out box on your credit card company s or your bank s privacy statement, there may be a profile on what you read, what you wear - and what size - what over the counter drugs you take and what books and music you buy. and that profile then may be bought and sold and shared with third parties everyday., the opt out protections under current law can be helpful, but for some things the default privacy agreement should be that companies cannot share this information without your explicit agreement to ""opt in"". opt out protections essentially assign property rights for your personal information to financial institutions, while opt-in awards ownership to consumers. i believe applying opting in for these types of, transactions would reinforce the relatively simple and reasonable concept, that you own your information about yourself and you should have control when, how, or if it is shared., the foundation of our legal system is the right to seek redress through the courts. right now, we have no set definitions of what privacy violations cost the individual and little incentive for banks and other businesses in many instances to protect your data with the highest level of security. as a result it is very hard for consumers to sue. legislation i ll introduce will create a tiered system of damages, exempting the smallest businesses with set minimums of $1000 for breaches and $5000 for actual misuse of information., the burden of prevention belongs on the companies that handle our data. we established this principle for stolen credit cards in the 1968 truth in lending act - and that has spawned a whole industry of credit card protection, which is constantly improving to outwit thieves. we need the same standards for other information., right now the rules covering data processors are unclear, especially in cases where projects are outsourced. we need the ftc to issue a single, clear set of rules that provides comprehensive protection against unauthorized access or security breaches., right now, it s too easy to purchase, post or trade cell phone numbers and records. canadian government officials, journalists, even general wes clark, have had their cell phone numbers and records sold to anyone willing to put up the money. and those are just the cases we know about, because reporters and bloggers were doing the buying to draw attention to the threat. buying and selling that kind of information is a gross invasion of personal privacy - but it s not clear that it is a crime. and this is only going to get more challenging as consumers move to phone service based on broadband internet technology for which no regulations currently exist., my legislation will try to get ahead of the curve of technology, making sure that consumers  private cell phone numbers and call records remain private., right now, if you ve been victimized, you can place a credit alert. but you cannot freeze your credit. if you are a veteran, concerned about your credit because your social security number has been compromised, you should be able to call equifax and say, ""no access, and no new credit."", we also have to strengthen the right to know provisions. if your credit or identity is compromised, you should be notified immediately not days, weeks, even months later. because this is required in some states but not all, a large percentage of identity theft victims are unaware that anything has happened to put their information at risk., some firms are now sending data abroad for processing, away from the protections of u.s. law as inadequate as it is - at least it has a framework better than you ll find in the rest of the world. the potential dangers of this practice are illustrated by the case of an employee in a pakistani data center doing cut-rate clerical work for an american medical center, who threatened to post patients confidential files on the internet unless she was paid more money. moreover, last year employees doing data processing work for an indian outsourcing company stole $350,000 from four citibank customers. last year, i proposed the safe-id bill which ensures that consumers will be notified when their personal data is sent abroad, and they should have the right to opt out., this would have two benefits. again, putting the control of information in your own hands. but also sending a message to other countries if they want to continue employing people in this very lucrative, rapidly growing area of information handling they need to strengthen their own laws., the credit industry makes its profits from information that determines whether you can buy a home or send your child to college. you ought to have that information provided to you once each year without paying a fee or jumping through hoops. it shouldn t be a gold-plated, extra-fee service to let consumers know when someone changes their credit ratings - and we need to make that standard practice., across the federal government, privacy concerns are not getting the priority attention they deserve. the results are embarrassing to this administration and unacceptable for citizens whose privacy and security may be at risk from their own government s sloppy practices. that s why the protect act would create a high-level privacy czar in the office of management and budget. a chief privacy officer for our government would have oversight into the workings of every government department, and power to make sure that the law is being followed and best practices are being implemented. we had a privacy czar during the clinton administration, but the current administration chose not to follow that model., there s no better example of why we need a so-called privacy czar than the theft last month of personal data from those 26.5 million veterans and more than a million active-duty servicemen and women. and just yesterday, we learned that an offshore medical transcription subcontractor for the va threatened to post the medical histories and health information of over 30,000 veterans online over a payment dispute. this tells us that the oversight of data processing procedures at the management level of our federal agencies is insufficient at best since several va officials including the director were not even aware that their contractors were sending the most sensitive information of our veterans to countries with few privacy and data security regulations. it s part of the reason we need the safe-id protections i mentioned earlier. but we need to go farther., this week i joined with democratic colleagues to demand accountability from the administration for this personal data theft of millions of records. we are asking the u.s. comptroller general to conduct an in-depth study to get the facts on this breach and to address the vulnerabilities that led to it. we also introduced legislation to establish federal penalties for people who knowingly use personal or health information from a federal database. the theft of this data and the administration s lax response is a disgrace - soldiers serving in harms  way should not have to bear the additional burden of worrying about identity theft, and we need to get to the bottom of this to prevent it from happening again. perhaps, if we had the office of the chief the privacy officer, this breach of our service members  trust might not have happened or come to light much sooner., we also face a critical balancing act in the area of health privacy. patients  lives may depend on sharing their most intimate information. our ability to control costs and, improve the quality of healthcare certainly depends on moving away from paper- based medicine to information superhighway medicine., i ve worked with newt gingrich on this, and when newt and i agree, you know something unusual is happening., newt likes to say, when it comes to medicine, ""paper kills,"" and he s absolutely right. but if we can t assure americans that their information is safe, we won t be able to move forward on health information technology that i believe will save lives, improve care, and reduce error rates., we had no federal protections for health information at all, until the health insurance portability and accountability act - also known as hipaa, a different kind of acronym - was enacted under the clinton administration. hipaa provided important protections of patients  often most private information - their medical information. hipaa provides a baseline, but the business of healthcare is changing fast, and information technology is changing even faster. consumers are getting care and risking their information in ways nobody could have foreseen years ago; and frankly, this administration s indifference towards hipaa and enforcement has made even the protections we have utterly inadequate., now, hipaa is not without practical challenges - there is still confusion about the rules for releasing information to relatives for example. we are still trying to strike the right balance between promoting research into diseases and protecting an individual s information. we need to build on the base hipaa provides by improving enforcement and making sure we have one set of high standards for everyone who deals with health information., hipaa was designed to have teeth - government monitoring, fines and legal actions against companies that violate the law. but instead of spot checks and audits, hhs waits for a complaint and then investigates. there have been well over i think 35,000 complaints at the last count and not a single civil monetary penalty has been imposed. this is clearly not working. and because of lax enforcement, we re now seeing compliance with hipaa on the decline because people know they won t be held responsible., what is more, the department of justice ruled last year that employees of hipaacovered entities, like hospitals for example, are not themselves automatically liable, and therefore may not be held accountable for illegally accessing or misusing private information. and hackers who break into computer systems that are covered in institutions that are accountable to hipaa may also not be liable., now, this penalizes those businesses that are serious about protecting privacy - and it penalizes americans when they are most vulnerable. we need to get back into balance on protecting medical information and enforcing the rules we do have., now, consumers have all kinds of new on-line options in healthcare. they can go to sites like webmd for medical advice. they can create internet-based personal health records that keep all their information in one place. but hipaa doesn t protect you, if these new services violate their privacy. we need to strengthen the federal protections so there is no debate - everyone who traffics in your health care information is accountable. period. no exceptions., with the rapid growth of dna databases, and the many uses of genetic information on the horizon, we must also ensure that this information is protected to prevent genetic discrimination. in 2000, my husband issued an executive order banning genetic discrimination in the federal workplace. i have been working with my colleagues in the senate to enact legislation to ensure that these protections apply to the private sector. developments in science should move us forward, not reverse progress. and discrimination based on genetic information to get a job, to get insurance would be a devastating blow to people if this is left unchecked., finally, when it comes to national security. we ve seen, to our dismay, that this administration is not doing a good enough job of protecting the personal information of veterans, medicare and medicaid patients and we have grave doubts about whether it even cares to protect personal information about citizens., we learned just a couple of days ago that in september of last year, a computer hacker was able to steal the personal records of at least 1,500 employees and contractors of the national nuclear safety administration, that is the federal agency charged with guarding out country s nuclear weapon stockpile. this time it was personal information. next time who knows what kind of information will be compromised or how either forms of information will be used. the writing is on the wall - it is in neon - it is time to get serious about cyber-security., unfortunately, the task of beefing up our cyber-security has been kicked around multiple offices at the department of homeland security. several political appointees have quit in frustration. we are just living on borrowed time; we need to make sure that we are better-prepared against cyber-attacks than we turned out to be against hurricanes., we also face the challenge of balancing the vital role that information technology plays in defending our national security with our citizens  rights to privacy., so much of what we know about terrorists, and the successes we have had in preventing and thwarting attacks and tracking would-be perpetrators, has been through information technology. we track terrorists across continents through their cell phones. we monitor terrorists and their supporters through internet chat rooms. we had phone intercepts that should have given us advance notice of 9-11 if we had been paying attention., now although our founders couldn t imagine data mining or terror cells, they did anticipate differences of opinion between the executive and legislative branches, and even within them. and they created the system of checks and balances enshrined in our constitution., now i believe that the president - and i mean any president - must have the ability to pursue terrorists and defend our national security with the best technology at, hand. but we have existing law that allows that - the foreign intelligence surveillance act or so-called fisa. we have judicial mechanisms in place that this administration could have used to obtain authority for what it did; we have a system of congressional oversight and review that this administration could have used to obtain a legislative solution to these challenges., instead, they relied on questionable legal authority and bypassed our system of checks and balances. in the months since nsa s activities have come to light, both the legislative branch and the judiciary have attempted to learn more about the administration s surveillance programs. in denying congress and the courts any information, the administration s refrain has been ""trust us."" they ve used it to justify frustrating legislative oversight, denying the department of justice s office of professional responsibility the clearances they needed to conduct an internal investigation, and just a few days ago we learned they are now invoking the state secret exception to shut down any judicial review of their conduct through assertion of that privilege. that s unacceptable; their track record does not warrant our trust., this has been the point of numerous decisions, not on this point exactly, going back several years., and in justice douglas  concurrence in the katz warrantless wiretapping case in 1967, he said it very clearly and i think it applies today: ""neither the president nor the attorney general is a magistrate. in matters where they believe national security may be involved they are not detached, disinterested, and neutral as a court or magistrate must be. under the separation of powers created by the constitution, the executive branch is not supposed to be neutral and disinterested. i cannot agree that where spies and saboteurs are involved adequate protection of fourth amendment rights is assured when the president and attorney general assume both the position of adversary-and prosecutor and disinterested, neutral magistrate."", the answer to this delicate security dilemma is neither blank checks nor blanket opposition; it is to use the judicial and legislative mechanisms we have to build a consensus about what is necessary, what is legal, and what is effective., so first, congress must have an oversight role and help decide where to draw the line, between privacy and national security. but we can t draw anything without knowing the facts. at a minimum, the house and senate intelligence and judiciary committees are entitled to know, on a confidential basis whenever and wherever necessary, the full extent of and rationale for any electronic surveillance programs., if the executive needs additional authority to legitimately monitor and track terrorists, it should not just simply overlook and ignore the law. if the president feels he needs to more flexibility in order to protect our security, he should engage the congress. as our technology and methods become more advanced and creative, so should the protections we build into our system of checks and balances. it is a cause for deep concern that the administration did not seek changes to the fisa law to legitimize its surveillance program but instead deliberately chose to act outside of that law., second, the judiciary has a critical role to play in guarding our privacy from unnecessary government intrusion. as a general rule, when the government wants to conduct electronic surveillance in the united states, it must go before a judge and obtain a warrant. there is no evidence that the courts have not taken seriously the national security imperatives asserted by the executive branch and effectively protected the security of sensitive information. the fisa courts have a proven track record of being able to protect our security and privacy simultaneously. we can allow for carefully defined exceptions to the warrant requirement in the immediate aftermath of war, and allowances can be made for greater flexibility. for example, warrants after the fact, in cases of true emergencies. but as justice harlan said in the katz case, ""warrants are the general rule."", third, any framework for domestic surveillance must ultimately facilitate not hinder, effective intelligence-gathering to prevent terrorism. our surveillance capabilities must have speed, agility, and flexibility. they must also be accurate - both to minimize false positives, which unduly burden the rights of innocent people, and false negatives, which leave potential dangers undetected. this can all be done within our system of checks and balances and within the rule of law., the rule of law is not an obstacle - despite what some in the executive branch seem to believe - in fact, the rule of law facilitates our safety and our security. without clear rules, our intelligence analysts don t have guidance on how they should gather intelligence; the intelligence they do collect is distributed haphazardly throughout government agencies; and useful intelligence that could help bring terrorists to justice could be rendered worthless, because it was gathered through extra-legal means. if we want to protect our security and our privacy, we need clear guidelines and to we need to get smart about technologies. one promising approach suggested by thinkers on both sides of the political spectrum is the use of anonymization - that s technology that protects the privacy of individuals while allowing the government to analyze data. this technology would essentially erase the personal identification attached to information that is monitored, unless red flags are triggered. whatever our approach, we need to be as creative and imaginative in protecting americans  privacy as we are in protecting our security. and we need to abandon the idea that privacy and security are somehow mutually exclusive., you know, in our society it is the people who have given their collective rights to the government to use only as necessary - the government derives its ability to undertake surveillance only because we have given it a limited right under justified circumstances., and you don t have to go back many years to document abuses at the highest levels - as a very young lawyer, i worked for the house judiciary committee during the watergate investigation. our committee found the president had not only bugged the democratic national committee with former cia operatives, but had also created enemies lists and manipulated irs audits. without the rights checks and balances, we found out just how quickly the unthinkable can be done by people whose power is unchecked., now as there is a legitimate rush to step up our intelligence for real needs, let s not forget all the lessons we ve learned over the past 220 years. what might seem sensible at the moment can be used unscrupulously in the future. unchecked mass, paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact us,"	
", we continue to experience the consequences of unchecked presidential action. sunlight is the best disinfectant, but this president was allowed, for too long, to commit blunder after blunder under cover of darkness provided by an allied republican congress., in dealing with the threats posed by the iranian regime, which has gained its expanding influence in iraq and the region as a result of the administration,s policies, president bush must not be allowed to act without the authority and oversight of congress. it would be a mistake of historical proportion if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against iraq was a blank check for the use of force against iran without further congressional authorization. nor should the president think that the 2001 resolution authorizing force after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, in any way, authorizes force against iran. if the administration believes that any, any use of force against iran is necessary, the president must come to congress to seek that authority., i am deeply concerned by the recent statements coming out of the bush administration. the administration has asserted evidence that the iranian regime,s complicity, at the highest levels, for attacks within iraq. yet at the same time, general peter pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, questions these as assertions, in particular, the capability and intentions of the iranian government. in this delicate situation, while making disturbing comments, [there are reports that the administration] is sending a third aircraft carrier to the gulf., the president owes an on-going consultation to this congress and owes straight talk to the country. we have to get this right. the congress should debate our current course, including the current silent-treatment policy toward our adversaries. i believe we can better understand how to deal with an adversary such as iran if we have some direct contact with them. i think that can give us valuable information and better leverage to hold over the iranian regime. and if we ever must, with congressional agreement, take drastic action, we should make clear to the world that we have exhausted every other possibility., i welcome the agreement announced yesterday between the united states and north korea. it demonstrates the central value of using every tool in our arsenal to achieve our objectives. i only wish the administration had pursued this course six years ago when an agreement with north korea was within reach. the wasted time has allowed north korea to develop nuclear weapons in the interim. failure to use diplomacy has damaged our national security interests. the important step forward our country has made with north korea raises the obvious question: why will the president refuse to have any kind of process involving iran as i and others have urged? the united states engaged in talks with north korea within a multilateral process, but also had ongoing bilateral discussions. we should have such a process of direct engagement with iran, as recommended by many, including the iraq study group. we need friends and allies to stand with us in this long war against terrorism and extremism, and to contain and alter the regimes that harbor and support those who would harm us. during the cold war, we spoke to the soviet union while thousands of missiles were pointed at our cities, while its leaders threatened to bury us, while the regime sewed discord and military uprisings and actions against us and our allies. that was a smart strategy used by republican and democratic presidents alike, even though it was often a difficult one., as we discuss potential evidence of iranian complicity in supplying arms to insurgents, along with the refusal to suspend their nuclear ambitions, we need to deliver a strong message to iran that we will not stand by and tolerate this behavior. however, we need to deliver that message forcefully through direct talks. the lives of american soldiers are at risk and we should not outsource our discussions with the iranians on this and other issues. when i say no option should be taken off the table, i include diplomacy., currently, our intelligence on iran is of uncertain quality. we need to examine the facts closely and carefully. no action can or should be taken without explicit congressional authorization. and knowing what we know now, this body needs a steady stream of real, verifiable intelligence. we, in the congress, cannot do our part, ,"	
", when government consistently lets us down like this, we become cynical. we distrust our government - and grow to distrust democracy itself. we decide that politics is distasteful, and politicians just out for themselves, so why should we trust our government with our hopes, dreams and ideals?, it really is a self-perpetuating cycle. because this administration doesn t respect our government, they run it poorly, and it fails our people. they then point to government s failure to prove it s not worthy of respect. and this just makes it harder for us to work on the critical issues that affect people s lives - health care, energy independence, making college affordable and so much else that people throughout new hampshire and america talk to me about., and today, our families are paying a steep price. energy costs are up. health care costs are up. education costs are up. but wages and incomes are lagging. so while americans are working harder than ever - they re falling further and further behind, and we re seeing more and more inequality., it s like middle class and hard working families don t even exist to this administration. it s like they re invisible. for six long years, our president has looked right through them., if you were a victim of hurricane katrina - if you re one of the nearly 90,000 people still living in trailers - you re invisible., if you re a soldier who returned from iraq only to be warehoused in crumbling facilities at walter reed, fighting to get the treatment you need - you re invisible., if you re a parent who can t afford childcare or a student who can t afford college, a family that can t afford to get by on the minimum wage - while the wealthiest of us get tax cuts -- you re invisible too., well, you re not invisible to the rest of america. and you re certainly not invisible to me. and when we take back the white house, you will no longer be invisible to the president of the united states., now, we know that government certainly isn t the answer to all our problems - that s not even close. but we also know that good government - smart government -- can be a partner for progress. it can help us solve problems and accomplish things together that we could never accomplish alone., we ve seen this in everything from the peace corps to americorps. from curing diseases to building the internet. from the end of ethnic cleansing in kosovo to the end of religious strife in northern ireland. this isn t about big government or small government - it should be about smart government., and we all know that in order to meet the big challenges of our day - to lift up the middle class and hard working families - to establish universal health care, energy independence and fiscal responsibility - to end the war in iraq and restore our leadership around the world -- we need a government that is ready to rise to the occasion and lead us to our goals. we need to return to accountability and a system of checks and balances - to a congress that once again exercises oversight and accountability. we need a 21st century government to meet our 21st century challenges., but in order to reclaim our government, in a democracy after all, our government is us. you know as pogo once said, memorably, we ve met the enemy and it is us. well our government is us. so by denigrating our government we undermine our capacity to work together to solve these problems. so we have to change the way business is being done. and i think we start by looking at what we expect from our families, our businesses, and our communities - and then asking ourselves, why can t our federal government do that?, you can check your bank account online. why can t you go online and see how your government is spending - or misspending - your tax dollars?, you go to the atm, stick in your card, and get money - why can t our government transfer medical records from the department of defense to the va?, you make a budget for your family, and you don t spend what you don t have or what, you don t need - why shouldn t our government do the same with our federal budget?, you trust your doctor to give you honest advice about the medicines you take -- why can t government scientists do the same when they regulate our food and drugs and study our environment?, well, i believe our government can do all these things. and that we can be an example to ourselves and to the rest of the world. we can do it in so many ways. we can do it by leading through the government. we can be the institutional support for creating a market for energy efficiency. we can create the architecture for electronic medical records. we can provide information in a way that will enable us to do so much more in a cost effective way., now, i do know that people are cynical about our government and that s sort of the american birthright. but i believe that with the right leadership we can restore trust and faith in government. i believe america is ready for change. ready for a new start. and ready once again to make this government of the people, by the people, and for the people., we can re-establish the competence of government, the confidence of citizens in, government, and the capacity of our government to set goals and achieve them., today i want lay out a ten point agenda to do just that - an agenda for government reform. a plan to enhance accountability and transparency. to make government more efficient and effective for taxpayers. to restore competence and end the culture of cronyism. to replace secrecy and mystery with openness. a plan to make our government work for all americans again., first, we need to close the revolving door between government and lobbyists. this is exactly what governor lynch did during his first term in office when he created an independent ethics commission and required every member of his administration to file public financial disclosure forms., i think we should follow his lead in washington, and i ll start by permanently banning any of my cabinet officials from lobbying my administration once they ve left office., we ve seen the consequences of what happens when we let the revolving door keep turning. the recent medicare prescription drug bill offers a perfect example. by the time this bill became law, many of those who d helped to write it and pass it had left government to become lobbyists for companies that sought to benefit from it. well, the way i see it, people shouldn t use what they ve learned on the taxpayers  dime to enrich themselves at our expense -- and we re going to put an end to it., second, we re going to strengthen whistleblower protections so we can root out corruption and cronyism, wherever it may lie. over the past six years, we ve seen one scandal after another at our agencies, from an official in the white house doing favors for jack abramoff to an administrator at the department of education buying stock in the student loan companies he was supposed to oversee., and while whistleblowers play a critical role in alerting us to behavior like this, our whistleblower protection laws don t give people adequate protection - and too many are afraid to step forward. we ve seen brave employees who speak up, stripped of their security clearances, pressured into resigning, or outright fired. take the example of jack spadaro, a mining engineer who was head of the national mine health and safety academy. he blew the whistle on what he felt was a whitewash by the bush administration of an investigation into a major coal slurry spill. and he was subsequently forced out of his job. there are hundreds of examples like that., we need to expand whistleblower protections to ensure that people who do the right thing are rewarded - not punished. that means protecting their anonymity - and protecting those who aid them as well. it means guaranteeing whistleblowers a true day in court. it means making sure those who are vindicated get real relief, including compensation, coverage of attorney s fees, and the option to transfer jobs. because no one should be afraid to hold our government accountable., hird, when i m president, i will once again appoint the most qualified, dedicated,, public-minded people to serve in government. now, that doesn t mean that i won t appoint people who support me. but what it does mean is that this administration could have appointed well-qualified republicans of independent judgment to positions of trust in our government. instead, they often simply appointed their friends and supporters - qualified or not., a republican partisan whose job at the international arabian horse association did not prepare him for a job heading fema. people hired for the iraq reconstruction team based on whether they were pro-life rather than whether they spoke arabic. they hired scores of environmental, health and safety regulators who came from the very industries they were supposed to oversee. and they purged the professional staff at the civil rights division in the department of justice., well, the results speak for themselves. tragic incompetence in the gulf coast. environmental standards weakened. corporate loopholes widened. an industry- written prescription drug benefit that bars medicare from bargaining for lower prices. and a department of justice that, between 2001 and 2006, did not file a single voter discrimination suit brought by african americans or native americans., now, we tried to change this. when we were working to improve disaster response after hurricane katrina, i proposed that we require proper qualifications for the director of fema - something you would think you wouldn t have to write into the law. and my proposal eventually did become law. it was part of an overall reform package of fema. but when the president signed it, he specifically said that he wasn t going to necessarily follow the directions of having a qualified person head fema. he used what is called a signing statement, to pick and choose from the provisions in the law of what he would and would not enforce. we have to reign in these signing statements. the president has used them to go way beyond what any president before has ever done. and in effect to veto portions of bills that he just doesn t agree with., well when i m president, the entrance to the white house will no longer be a revolving door for just the well-connected -- but a door of opportunity for the well- qualified., and in order to attract the best people to government, i have joined on a bi-partisan basis with some of my colleagues in both the senate and the house to propose a u.s. public service academy - an undergraduate school modeled after our military service academies that will cultivate a new generation of leaders dedicated to public service. the academy would provide a four-year, subsidized college education in exchange for a five-year commitment to public service after graduation. it will help us produce a new generation of law enforcement officers, of civil servants of experts who will dedicate themselves to public service. we re seeing the retirement of so many people who have been doing the nuts-and-bolts work of the government for many years. and we don t see the pipeline filling with people who are willing to take these jobs. and yet i know that many young people are ready, willing and able to answer the call to serve. but they often graduate from college with so much debt that they can t imagine going into a public service career. so i hope that the academy will open the doors much more widely for young people who want to serve their country., fourth, we re going to stop outsourcing our government and put an end to the abuse of no-bid contracts. over the past six years, this administration has steadily outsourced critical government functions to private companies, adding more than 2.4 million private contractors to the federal payroll. and today, government contractors have essentially become yet another special interest, with the top 20 contracting firms spending nearly $300 million since 2000 to lobby the government for more business to leave the government and come to them., but these contractors, it turns out, are often more expensive than doing the work in the government - in fact, some contract employees cost twice as much as comparable federal workers. they re often less accountable and less competent. and just think of what happened at walter reed, when the army was forced to outsource maintenance to a private contract contractor. the number of people doing maintenance dropped dramatically. the contractor cut corners, fell down on the job --, and our soldiers paid the price., all too often, this administration has handed out government contracts without even shopping around for the best price. today, there has been an explosion in no-bid contracting, with almost half of the $329 billion spent on federal contracts being done now on a no-bid basis. the result is fraud, waste, and abuse everywhere from afghanistan and iraq to the gulf coast., i propose that we eliminate 500,000 government contracting positions, saving our government between $10 and $18 billion a year. and that we insist on competitive bidding for the remaining contracts, so we get the most value for every taxpayer dollar. in the rare case where non-competitive contracts might be appropriate, we ll make sure they have close oversight., it seems as thought he motto for the administration has been ""what s a few billion tax dollars between friends?"" well, when i m president, the days of billions in no-bid contracts and handouts to companies like halliburton—that in return for the work given to them picks up corporate headquarters and moves to dubai—those days will be over., fifth, we re going to stop substituting ideology for science and evidence, and we re going to start giving the american people again the facts on the issues that matter to them and their families. over the past six years, this administration has tried to turn washington into an evidence-free zone. whether it s stem cell research or plan b contraception or pollution or global warming or the safety of our food or the quality of our air -- all too often, ideology has replaced facts, and truth has been the first casualty., the american people deserve better than that. way back in the 1990s, the white house had an office of technology assessment that was charged with just one task: telling us the truth about science. sorting out the competing claims and to the best of the scientists  abilities, telling us what to believe. for decades, they cut through the myths and the spin on everything from star wars to aids prevention to solar technology. it s time we put this office back in business, because our citizens should have the information they need about the issues that affect them., sixth, we re going to open up our government s balance sheets so you can see exactly where your tax dollars are going - and the results they re getting. as tax day approaches, you probably find yourself wondering just where all your hard-earned money is going. well, i propose that we require government agencies to publish their budgets and their government contracts online for all to see. so if someone tries to sneak in special favors for their special interest, we can find out about it with the click of a mouse., and we won t just track government spending - we ll also track results with a new america results initiative. with the technology we have today, we can get real-time data on just about anything - from the purity of our water to the health of our ecosystems to the condition of our roads and bridges. we ll gather and analyze that data to see whether our government programs are effective. we ll then post it online so that our citizens can have the most up-to-date knowledge about everything from the quality of their air to the traffic on their streets. information technology is revolutionizing every segment of society - from business, to education, to entertainment - and it s time that it revolutionized our government as well., we also need to go back to doing what was done during the clinton administration with the reinventing government initiative, known as rego, which bill started and asked vice president gore to head-up. and the results were astonishing. rego was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal workforce, trimming layers of management, cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool. and so, why don t we get back to doing that again if we re serious about having a government that works, we should be constantly asking ourselves the hard questions about why we re paying for something, and whether we should continue to do so., i also want to establish a new corporate subsidy information service. this watchdog, agency will track every tax subsidy that congress gives to big corporations. so we ll know exactly how much each company gets - and we can track whether those subsidies actually promote results for the country and not just the company. those subsidies are supposed to have a public good element to them. that s why we provide tax dollars, and yet too often, we have no analysis and evaluation as to whether they are really worth what the taxpayers are paying., seventh, we re going to make sure our government pays its bills and lives within its means again - just like our families. that s what we did during my husband s administration, when we balanced the budget and turned record deficits into surpluses. it took discipline and determination, a lot of hard work, but again, the results speak for themselves. twenty-two million new jobs. the longest peacetime economic expansion in history. and the savings rate was reflected in our attaining leverage once again in the world. we ve moved from the largest debtor nation to a creditor nation. well, we re back in to the larger debtor nation again. that undermines our capacity to exercise leadership on important issues like trade and other strategic concerns. so, we need to return to the fundamental principle of pay-as-you-go., eighth, i want to make government more user friendly across the board - and that starts with bringing more government services online. last year, 73 million americans filed their income taxes online. i want to make it possible for virtually every transaction to be paperless. every day, americans read the news online, shop online, chat online, and it s time that our government went fully online as well., in order to do that, however, we re going to have to move to the ninth point of my reform agenda. we have to have government take the lead in modernizing its record keeping systems and take the lead in areas that really can change the market and behaviors to the benefit of us all., what do i mean by that? well, i know this doesn t sound particularly exciting, but it s really important. because, just look at what s happening to our veterans. just earlier this week, i spent a day in upstate new york visiting with a lot of our wounded and injured veterans. i was at the v.a. in syracuse, new york, and then i went up to fort drum, which is up in the north country of new york. and i met with soldiers who had just returned from afghanistan and iraq. i met with over 40 of them who had been injured and/or wounded. and here s what they told me: their medical records have been lost., one young soldier told me that he d been hit by an ied on his convoy in baghdad, which is absolutely superb—what our soldiers get at the point where they are beginning treatment to save their lives is extraordinary. we re saving so many lives that we couldn t have saved in the first gulf war. and then as he was on a gurney as he was being wheeled to the plane to take him to the army medical center in landstuhl, germany, someone came over, said, ""soldier, i m putting this packet on your chest. it s your medical records, don t lose it."" he gets on the plane. he s doped up for the long flight. they wheel him off in landstuhl. the medical records haven t been seen since. i hear that over and over again. and when a soldier moves from being treated in department of defense facilities, which do provide very good acute care, to either outpatient or into the v.a. system, the records don t get transferred. the records get lost. there are so many examples of how our government is inefficient because we can t figure out how we computerize it., maybe some of you have read about the years of struggle to get the fbi to have a computer system that keeps track of their cases. still hasn t happened, at the cost of billions of dollars. well, we can fix this. we need to bring in private sector partners. we need to cut through red tape, and we need to begin to do what it takes to get our government to have information as readily available as we have in the rest of our lives., and our government can also lead by example, by pressing national issues like energy efficiency and health care reform. i ve introduced legislation to require that government buildings become energy efficient, and that new buildings which the government constructs try to attain the highest leed standard, which is the gold standard for energy efficiency for a building. we can help to create markets with, everything from new building materials to more energy efficient appliances to more fluorescent light bulbs by having the government lead by example., and with respect to health care reform, i ve also worked on a bipartisan basis to help create the framework for electronic medical records so that we could begin to realize the cost savings that would come if we have medical records that were private and confidential, with encrypted codes for access, that could be available if you were visiting new york, and you have to go to an emergency room or just visiting another doctor here in new hampshire, and not have to go through a history again, tests you ve taken before. the rand corporation has estimated we would save $100 billion a year in our health care system if we had electronic medical records. and the government has to lead with creating the architecture and standards for us to be able to do this, and not just create thousands of towers of babel that can t talk to each other., tenth and finally, we have to reform our election system. that s where our democracy starts. we have to make sure that every vote is counted and every vote counts - and we know that the best place to hold a government accountable is at the ballot box. unfortunately, there s been a lot of interference with our electoral system in the last years, and there have been new requirements that have been put up as obstacles, that have really discouraged people from exercising their right to vote., i ve introduced legislation called the count every vote act, which is a comprehensive voting reform bill. it will make our voting systems more accountable and accessible. it will expand the right to vote of most of our citizens. it will create more opportunities for people to register to vote, and it will give greater assurances through paper-verified ballots that those votes will be counted. we need more oversight in our electoral system to discourage manipulation and deception. it is almost heart-breaking that i have to mention this on my reform agenda. american should lead the world in the best electoral system, using the best equipment., a few years ago, there was an election in india. we are the oldest democracy. india is the largest democracy. they had an election, and no one predicted the outcome. everyone thought that the then-bjp party in power would be sent back in to power. there was an earthquake. congress party won the election. there were no complaints. there were no disagreements. people accepted the results, even though indian politics can get extremely exciting. and i asked some of my indian friends, ""we ve had two elections, and we ve had complaints; we ve had people turned away at the voting booth. we ve had people misled about where and when they were supposed to vote. we ve had ballots lost. how could you have done this?"" ""very simple,"" they said. ""we have turned it in to into a nonpartisan, civil service effort, where we have an independent board,"" like our federal reserve board, ""that runs our national elections, and we computerized everything."" so whether you were a peasant woman in rajasthan, or a billion dot-com entrepreneur in delhi, you voted on computers, and in order to deal with the problem of illiteracy, you had both words and pictures so that people could know who they were voting for. and your vote would be automatically recorded in the computer where you were polled and in a regional server and in a national server as a failsafe., you know, someone after hearing that story said, well maybe we should outsource our elections to india. i mean, it s sort of is a sad commentary to think about. but here we are the leaders in all this technology. we invented it, and we can t figure out how to use it for our own purposes., so, i m convinced we can do everything i ve outlined with the right leadership. people are ready for this change. in fact, it s the only way we can restore confidence in our government again., now, i know i ve covered a lot of ground today, and it s not exactly the kind of subject matter that gets people marching in the streets, but if we don t restore competence in our government and confidence in our government, we will see the steady erosion of our government s capacity. there are some who argue that ideologues may have that in mind—discourage people from believing in government, render it incompetent, make people give up on this great enterprise known as our, paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact us,"	
", that means that within less than 10 years, 20 cents out of every dollar produced in america will be spent on healthcare. no other country spends more than 12%, a difference of more than $500 billion. all other wealthy countries spend even less. we spend $5,711 per patient. the next highest spending country, switzerland, spends $3,847 on patients. yet, they cover every single one of their citizens and have an average life expectancy that is three years longer than ours., now, how have our costs spiraled out of control like this? well, about 30% of the rise in health care spending is linked to the doubling of obesity among adults over the past 20 years. in other words, if our obesity levels had remained at 1990 levels, we would be spending 10% less on health care today -- a savings of $220 billion. about two-thirds of the rise in health care spending is associated with a rise in the prevalence of treatable disease - like diabetes, asthma and heart disease. 75% of all health care spending -- roughly $1.5 trillion -- is associated with the 4 to 5 percent of patients who have multiple chronic illnesses and require ongoing medical management over a period of years, or even decades. and 10-12% of the total health care budget is spent on end of life care., 0ur administrative costs are by far the highest in the world. today more than one in four health care dollars goes to administration. 64% of private insurance plans  administrative costs are dedicated to underwriting health risks, sales, and marketing. every man, woman and child in america spends $412 on health care administration, nearly six times as much as other countries. according to a recent report by mckinsey, the united states spends 98 billion more than other countries on excessive administrative costs that have nothing to do with delivering good health care., too much of the money we spend is wasted on care that doesn t improve health. a study in santa barbara, california found that one out of every five lab tests and x- rays were conducted solely because previous test results were unavailable. a recent study reported in the atlantic monthly found that for two-thirds of the patients who received a $15,000 surgery to prevent strokes, there was no compelling evidence that the surgery actually worked., at the same time, in situations where the benefits of intervention are clear, many patients still don t receive the care they need. a recent study in the new england journal of medicine found that, overall, americans get needed care only 55 percent of the time., if we spend so much, why does the world health 0rganization rank the united state 31st in life expectancy and 40th in child mortality -- worse than cuba and croatia?, 0ur health care system is plagued with under-use, overuse and misuse. it is, simply put, broken. as president, i will make it my mission to fix it, starting by helping the 250 million people with public or private insurance who face skyrocketing costs, inadequate care, and bureaucratic obstacles to coverage., today, i m announcing a seven point plan to lower health care costs for all american and again to make our healthcare system, without doubt from any corner, the best in the world. building a national consensus around these cost savings is the first crucial step to cover all americans with quality, affordable healthcare., first, we re going to focus on prevention -- on wellness, not just sickness. under my reforms, all americans will have access to comprehensive preventive care, which will save money in the long run., today, we pay doctors and hospitals to treat diseases and injuries, but not to help prevent them from occurring in the first place. 0nly 38 percent of adults receive recommended colorectal screening, and roughly 20 percent of children do not receive recommended immunizations. in fact, our country spends only an estimated 1 to 3 percent of national health expenditures on preventive health care services and health promotion per year. that is about the same percentage we spent in the 1920s., for example we have many more adults and young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. while, the costs of caring for them are increasing exponentially, many insurance companies won t pay for someone who s pre-diabetic or who s been diagnosed with diabetes to go to a nutritionist to learn how to eat properly, to get, preventive medicine or to go to a podiatrist to have their feet checked. but the companies will pay if you have to have your foot amputated. the insurance companies will actually tell you they don t want to pay for preventive health care because the patient might change insurance companies, and the original company won t get the benefits of the money they invested. but if a patient s doctor tells them that a foot needs to be amputated, well the company is kind of stuck with that. talk about a system that is upside down and backwards., we clearly need a new approach. we know we can save money if we give insurance companies incentives to cover preventive care and wellness services -- and my plan will do exactly that. keeping people healthy today will not only keep our costs down in the future, but improve quality of life as well., we know that preventive care works. i could cite thousands of examples, but just consider the following: the incidence of diabetes was 58 percent lower among adult with elevated blood sugar were enrolled in a lifestyle intervention program than the control group that was only given drugs. among those aged 60 and older the reduction was 71 percent. and some of the research that was done leading to these outcomes was right here at gw., 0r look at what the private sector has tried to do. safeway has made a conscious decision to focus on prevention. it pays 100% of all appropriate preventive care services, and it offers a 24-hour hotline staffed by registered nurses, and provide services to help people manage chronic conditions and incentives designed to promote healthier lifestyles., again, the results speak for themselves. while average costs went up 7.7% across the country. safeway its health care costs will be flat. and they aren t the exception: motorola s wellness initiative showed savings of almost $4 per every dollar invested., under my plan, all insurers who are already participating in a federal health program like medicare or medicaid or the federal employee s health benefit plan will have to cover prevention as a condition of doing business with the federal government. insurers would encourage both individuals and providers to use prevention services by paying for benefits like cancer screenings and immunizations., my plan also pools and coordinates federal spending on prevention to help redeploy high-priority preventive services. working in collaboration with the private sector, this initiative would pay for preventive care initiatives in schools, workplaces, supermarkets, churches, communities. it would fund and train new health prevention outreach workers, who understood the language, understood the culture of various constituencies around our country. now, we still have so many people, and i m sure you see it in the hospital, who come in unable to speak english, often times bringing a child to interpret. and we re just not doing a good enough job in getting information broadly available to people who need it., now, of course, you can have the best insurance plan in the world, but if you don t take the medicine your doctor prescribes, or follow lifestyle advice your doctor recommends, you aren t going to improve your health. if we re going to reduce cost through prevention, all of us all must take responsibility for taking better care of ourselves and i will have more to say about that later., the second way to bring costs under control is to bring our health care system s record keeping into the 21st century, finally leaving behind paper records and outdated, obsolete, 20th century information technology. right now, if you re rushed to a hospital with a medical emergency, they may not be able to access your medical history or to find out what medications you re taking, what surgeries you ve had -- or even what your blood type is. electronic medical records would change that., this is also important in the event of catastrophes. after katrina, medical records were under water, never to be recovered. a lot of people who were taking prescription drugs who fled their homes or were rescued didn t even know the names of the drugs they were taking. 0nly, those who had been buying drugs from drug stores that had electronic medical records could immediately access to find out what the drug was and what the prescription should be., modernizing our system will improve quality of care and reduce costs. today, processing paper claims costs an average of $1.60 to $2.20 per claim. it costs 85 cents for an electronic claim. a rand study found that, as a nation, we could save more than $77 billion annually through the widespread use of electronic medical records, and these savings could double with the addition of prevention and chronic disease management. if the use of information technology impacts our health care system as much as it has impacted other sectors of the economy, like for example, the wholesale and retail industry, we could see savings as high as $346 billion annually or over 15% of health care spending., there is no reason why people s health files -- their test results, lab records, x-rays -- can t be stored securely and confidentially on a computer file accessible from a doctor s office or hospital. in fact, if all hospitals used a computerized physician order entry system, an estimated 200,000 fewer adverse drug events would occur, saving roughly $1 billion per year., we can also use information technology to disseminate research. a government study recently showed it takes 17 years from the time of a new medical discovery to the time clinicians actually incorporate that discovery into their practice at the bedside. why not 17 seconds, the moment we know the discovery improves care?, the veterans medical system provides a perfect example of a fully automated health information system that supports the needs of patients, clinicians, and administrators. its computerized patient record system (cprs), contains every detail of a patient s health record, including laboratory test results, medical images, bar code medication administration, progress notes, and appointments, all accessible from anywhere within the va system., the va started modernizing its programs in 1993, using health it as well as other care management techniques. and it delivers some of the best quality health care in the united states with amazing efficiency. between 1999 and 2003, the number of patients enrolled in the va system increased by 70 percent, yet funding (not adjusted for inflation) increased by only 41 percent. so the va has not only has become one of the health care industry s best quality performers, it has done so while spending less and less on each patient. health care spending per capita averages, as i said, over $6,300 in the u.s.; at the va, however, the per-patient cost is $5,000, and 20% lower than the national average, even though the average age of a va patient is 60., last year i was at the hospital here at gw announcing legislation that has since passed the senate that promotes the use of information technology so we can end the paper chase, limit medical errors and reduce the number of malpractice suits. it, would allow us to use it to develop a nationwide, interoperable system, to streamline our healthcare costs, and, i believe, reduce errors as well. now, i m proud of my legislation, we didn t get it passed in the house last year, we re going to try again this year. but if we don t get it passed, i will have it as one of my highest priorities as president. i m going to build on that legislation by requiring health providers that participate in federal programs, which is nearly all of them, to adopt private, secure, and interoperable technology. and to help hospitals and doctors modernize their systems and promote the widespread adoption of health it, i would invest $3 billion a year in grants to help ramp up the system. no more yellowing paper records -- no more trying to decipher messy handwriting., third, we re finally going to coordinate and streamline the care our chronically ill patients receive. americans with chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes account for an astonishing percentage. when i first saw this, i couldn t believe it---- that it was 75 percent of our national health care expenditures. and improving the quality of their care will help limit costs, and improve health., to that end, i propose establishing medical ""homes"" similar to those operating right now in 0regon. dr. david dorra, a primary care physician, spoke at the senate aging committee, on which i serve, two weeks ago about the success of these medical homes. he told the story of a patient, ms. viera, a 75 year-old woman in 0regon who suffered from five chronic illnesses, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and mild congestive heart failure. she also had difficulties remembering what bills to pay and, what pills to take., now, in most clinics across this country, ms. viera would receive care from qualified, capable doctors and nurses. but her care would likely not be coordinated -- her providers wouldn t be talking to each other, making sure that the treatments they were prescribing were working together. this ends up raising costs and increasing the chances that she will suffer complications or end up back in the hospital. anyone who has ever tried to coordinate their own care, or the care of a loved one, knows that this is all too common situation., fortunately, her care was addressed comprehensively through care management plu in 0regon, an it system with trained care managers in primary care clinics to treat older adults with complicated conditions. she s is in good hands. her care managers and her primary care physician addressed her symptoms early, preventing problems rather than treating them after they occurred. and she is helped to navigate the system., under this program, seniors with complex diabetes have had a 20 percent reduction in mortality, a 24 percent reduction in expensive hospitalization, and up to 42 percent improvement in control of their disease., every patient should have access to a system with outcomes like that. that s why my proposal would require that americans with costly, hard to manage illnesses have access to state-of-the-art chronic care coordination models under federally-funded plans, like medicare and the federal employees health benefits (fehbp) plan. this proposal would permit multi-specialty clinics (gw, mayo clinic, johns hopkins, partners healthcare), provider-sponsored organizations and private plans to bid on and provide services such as care coordination amongst and between providers, drug management, diet and exercise control and the promotion of individual patient responsibility., we know that this coordinated care model would result in significant cost savings. a recent rand study concluded that chronic disease management, preceded by prevention and backed by information technology, could save $147 billion annually. another study found this model could reduce the cost of diabetes care alone by 3 percent, saving us $4 billion dollars., fourth, my plan will offer will offer individuals and small businesses market access to larger insurance pools that will lower costs and end insurance company discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. as part of a plan for universal coverage, which i will discuss in detail in the coming months, we would create large insurance pools that lower administrative costs for small businesses and individuals by spreading the risk. in a system of universal coverage insurance companies cannot as easily shift costs through cherry picking and other means., in fact, according to a recent mckinsey report, insurance companies in america spend tens of billions a year figuring out how not to cover people -- doing complicated calculations to figure out how to cherry pick the healthiest persons, and leave everyone else out in the cold. that is how they profit: by avoiding insuring patients who will be ""expensive"" -- and then trying to avoid paying up once the insured patient actually needs treatment., i see this all the time. my office spends countless hours arguing with insurance companies to get my constituents the health care they have paid for. for example, a father called me from northern new york -- his son had a rare illness. now he and hi son were well insured. he d worked for many years for the same employer who provided a good policy. but when his son needed a special operation -- that could only be performed at one place in the country -- the insurance company said, sorry, that s out of network, we re not going to send you to have that done., so my office intervened. and in the end they got permission for the operation. but i don t think people should have to go to their united states senator to get their insurance company to give them what they ve paid for., as president, i will end the practice of insurance company cherry-picking once and for all by allowing anyone who wants to join a plan to do so and prohibiting insurance, companies from carving out benefits or charging higher rates to people with health problems. i also will call for rating reforms to ensure that older and other vulnerable populations are not discriminated against. the whole point of insurance, lest we forget, is to spread risk across a group of enrollees. it s one of the reasons that the administrative costs of medicare are so much lower; because they are actually insuring everyone. everyone is in the pool, and we have to figure out how to better control the costs within medicare but they start with an advantage because they have such a considerably lower administrative cost., finally, insurers would be required to prove they were spending much less on marketing and schemes to avoid providing insurance to high-risk americans, and more on direct care-giving. now most businesses and some states have become tough purchasers of health insurance, insisting on fair marketing and cracking down on high overhead. we should follow their lead. 0ne of the things i ve advocated now for 14 years is a common vocabulary and a common form that every insurance company must use. this sounds like a pretty common-sense idea---so you can actually compare and contrast what you re paying for---but when i proposed in back in  93 and  94 it was, shall we say, vigorously objected to. because we need more transparency and we need that common vocabulary in order to get costs down, and that s opposite of what the insurers want to happen. by insuring all americans through accountable public and private plans, we can get rid of administrative costs that do nothing but add to insurance companies  bottom line. in such a reformed system, risk would be widely spread and we could reduce administrative costs by as much as $20 to 30 billion a year., fifth, i will work to improve the quality of care which will also help us drive down costs. i ll start by establishing an independent public-private best practices institute. this institute would be a partnership among the public and the private sector, to finance comparative effectiveness research, so that doctors, nurses and other health professionals -- as well as consumers and businesses -- would know what drugs, devices, surgeries and treatments work best. this would reduce the use of inefficient and ineffective treatments, and i believe that it would have tremendous benefits because we could get evidence-based medicine into the bloodstream of the country much more effectively. i spearheaded a similar proposal to authorize the agency for healthcare research and quality to start doing research on comparative effectivenes at the department of health and human services. eight reports have been released and dozens more are underway., 0ne of the things they re finding is a lot of these so-called ""blockbuster drugs"" are no more effective, and sometimes less effective, in treating conditions than old standbys that have been around for a long time, and don t have all the advertising of, you know, people running through fields of wildflowers that convince patients that they need the new drug, as opposed to the one that has worked well., too often, doctors and patients don t know which medical interventions are most effective -- and which have little benefit. a recent study by dartmouth researchers shows that close to one third of the $2 trillion we spend goes to care that is duplicative and fails to improve patient health -- in fact, the researchers posited that it may even make health worse. more care is not necessarily better care, and inefficient care may do more harm than good., my plan will provide incentives to encourage doctors to keep up with the research and prescribe the most effective treatments. the university of michigan and pitney bowes are doing just that -- linking out of pocket drug costs to clinical benefit for patients. the more effective the medication, the less that patient has to pay for the drug. as of 2005, pitney bowes had saved more than $3.5 million dollars using this method., another innovative idea is the geisinger health system s suggestion of a medical warranty: it charges a flat fee for surgery that includes 90 days of follow-up treatment. currently, there is little incentive to seek out the most effective treatments, because if a treatment regimen or surgery doesn t work, the patient simply returns for more costly treatments. the warranty is an incentive to do it right the first time, because there is no extra billing if more care is needed. geisinger doctors have identified 40 essential steps to bypass surgery, and they ve established, procedures to ensure they re always followed., the best practices institute will empower with information and evidence those who have to make the decisions. it will not only be beneficial with respect to pharmaceuticals but also medical devices and even practice protocols and i think that it will give a lot of doctor s ammunition against insurance companies, drug companies and even sometimes patients about what works better than other options. the 0regon drug effectiveness review founded by governor john kitzhaber in 1999, is a collaborative partnership between states and non-profits that conducts reviews of widely used drugs to promote the most effective ones. north carolina has used such reviews to educate providers, saving the state an estimated $80 million in 2003 alone. now i can t extrapolate how much we would save as a nation, but i believe it would obviously be in the billions., sixth, if we want to get health care costs under control, we need to get prescription drug costs under control. we know that americans pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs that we have already in most instances funded the research on funded the clinical trials on, done the fda evaluation of, then we put it into the market place and we end up still paying the highest prices . studies have shown that brand drug prices are 35 to 55 percent higher in the u.s., and top-selling medications a full 2.3 times more expensive compared to other industrialized countries. 0ver the past decade, prescription drugs accounted for 15 percent of the total increase in health spending, even though they account for only about 10 percent of what other countries spend., let s start getting drug costs under control by allowing medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and to lower those costs for everyone. we also have to crack down on the overpayments in medicare to private plans. these private plan payment rates are around 12 percent higher than medicare traditionally pays to treat the same beneficiaries. reducing these overpayments could save medicare $10 to $20 billion dollars a year. seniors don t want to lose the benefits they have under these plans, but under my reforms they would not., we should also allow the importation of drugs from certain countries to lower costs and let s remove barriers to generic competition. while 53 percent of all prescriptions are generic medicines, they account for only 12 percent of total pharmaceutical costs. a one percent increase in the use of generics could yield $4 billion dollars in government savings., we need to break the monopoly that biotech pharmaceutical companies have over their products, which can cost us so much money. most americans have no idea that right now, under current law and fda practice, generic biopharmaceuticals are precluded from going to the market. and businesses and consumers are paying for that. you know the cost differential between generic and non-generic drugs is astounding: in 2003, the average cost for a one-day supply of non-generic drugs wa s $45.00, but only $1.66 for generic drugs., there is bipartisan support for providing the long overdue authority for the fda to approve generic products that are the biologics. already, an unprecedented coalition of patients  groups, labor, business, pharmacists, governors and a number of forward looking biotech companies have united to support legislation that i introduced with senator charles schumer and congressman henry waxman. providing such competition is projected to save $5 to $7 billion dollars a year in savings to businesses and consumers., the final point that i would make today about lowering costs is to reduce costs through medical malpractice reform. while some have overstated the role that malpractice insurance plays in the health care crisis, i think we can all agree that we need reform that works for doctors and patients alike., i have offered one solution that has been used successfully at the university of michigan hospital system. it s called the national medical error disclosure and compensation (medic) act as i have borrowed it from the university of michigan to put it into law. it s a novel approach to improving patient safety and the quality of health care while protecting patients  rights, reducing medical errors and lowering, malpractice costs. this act would encourage physicians, hospitals and health systems to provide liability protections for physicians who disclose medical errors to patients and offer to enter into negotiations for fair compensation. at the university of michigan, these policies have already resulted in greater patient trust and satisfaction, more patients being compensated for injuries, fewer malpractice suits, significantly reduced administrative costs and between one and three million dollars in litigation cost savings., the rise in malpractice rates has spurred states like texas and nevada to allow doctors to create their own risk retention companies as an alternative to traditional liability insurance. because a large percentage of actual malpractice is committed by a very small percentage of doctors who won t be included in insurance groups that other doctors control, thereby lowering malpractice rates for all., now as i have made clear in these seven points, we know that if we continue on our present path, health care costs in the u.s. will double within a decade, we know that we will spend increasing amounts and we aren t sure, and i think it is fair to say we know, that we won t improve quality and outcome., now how will this actually work? well it has to be implemented over time according again to rand who has been studying healthcare costs intensely now for several years. we could save $147 billion dollars from the information technology changes i have recommended, $20 to $30 billion dollars in administrative savings every year, $25 billion in savings from overpayments for pharmaceuticals and health plans, and there are billions more in countless other inefficiencies that could be rung out of our often wasteful health care system. we also will have to move toward a system where it is doctor-patient centered and consumer driven if we expect to really get the result that we need. now there is no question that at least $120 billion dollars in projected savings that i have included in my plan are not only reasonable, but extremely conservative., now i know that a lot of this is kind of overly wonky, which is why i am glad there i s an audience of people here today who really understand a lot of these issues, but i imagine, you know, many people wonder what all this adds up to. well the business roundtable has recently estimated that just with a system that used information technology, the typical family would save $2,200 dollars, and i think that is a pretty impressive outcome for us doing what we need to be doing anyway., the money we save from the waste we eliminate and the way we change how we care for people should be used to help finance coverage for the 45 million americans who have no insurance. also, when you insure everyone, it will maximize the impact of the prevention programs i have recommended -- with earlier care as opposed to emergency care -- as well as cutting administrative costs., 0ur present system is outdated, ineffective, and unsustainable. we know how to do this. many of you in this audience could give me ten more suggestions that we need to do immediately. well the key is to develop the political will to make it happen through a coalition of those who are most directly affected. the people who deliver care, our doctors, our nurses our pharmacists and others, the people who pay for care, our business and our government and the people who receive care which is all the rest of us, because i know very well that every one of these recommendations will run into considerable opposition from forces that do not want change in our system., so i believe that equally importantly to having a plan, we have to have a political consensus and that is what i am trying to develop as i talk about healthcare and engage in a conversation with the american people because i think americans are ready for change. they are ready for a healthcare system that produces better result at lower cost and ends the shame of us not covering 45 million plus of our fellow americans., i look forward to your ideas about how we can pursue these goals and i hope you will join with me in being part of this broad based, national coalition that will not only talk about and demand change, but work to make sure, starting in 2009, that our political system actually delivers the changes we all know our healthcare system desperately needs., paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact u,"	
", unfortunately, while other nations have marched ahead, we ve been marching sideways. over the past twelve years, while american investment in research and development has remained relatively static, china has doubled the share of its national wealth invested in r&d. the european union has set a goal of increasing r&d investments by member states to 2.5 percent of gdp by 2010, nearly matching us. the education pipeline, the source of future innovators, reveals the same trend. between 1970 and 2000, as many as of you know too well, america s global share of phds in science and engineering declined from 40 percent to 20 percent. that rate is expected to drop to 15 percent in the next 3 years. too few of our college students are studying the stem subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math., our innovation infrastructure is falling behind, too. we ve dropped considerably in our broadband deployment. depending on which survey you look at, it s going to be 12th to 25th. the bottom line is it is not good news for what we re trying to achieve., now in this debate about how to move forward, too often policy makers will wall themselves off into two competing camps. there are those who say there is nothing to worry about and others who say there is nothing we can do. i have familiarity with both camps, and i believe both are wrong. for those who say there is nothing to worry about, i think that their rosy scenarios are doomed to failure and they will be unfortunately proven wrong. but at what cost? and for those who say that s just the way the rest of the world works and we can t really do anything about this, i think that s a streak of fatalism that i find profoundly un-american., america remains the preeminent destination for discovery, but our global leadership and vision did not happen by accident. it took smart, forward thinking policies that used what was right about america to make america stronger. yes, global competition is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity to lead the world in new fields like nanotechnology, while lifting up our standard of living and opening up new markets to american products., energy dependence is the greatest innovation challenge that america has faced in generations. it is also an unparalleled opportunity to start new green industries and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. climate change is a major threat, but if we act to address it rather than ignore it, we could move toward new renewable energy and create millions of new jobs here in america., i mean just think about it, america was built on innovation. one of my favorite examples is president lincoln, in the middle of the civil war, a war that no one coul d predict that he would win and keep the union together, decided to give the go ahea d for two major national endeavors, one to complete the international, in the sense of cross-national, railroad, you know, to be able to go to from one coast to the other. the second was starting a system of land-grant colleges. imagine the optimism it took to be sitting in the white house getting so many reports of dire outcomes in battles across the east coast and to think when this is over we are going to need places to educate the next generation., obviously, we had the same spirit of can-do progressivism at the turn of the last century; during the great depression; there is a highway system under president eisenhower, putting highways where people didn t even live yet with the confidence that they soon would. the space program is a perfect example. and we certainly can point in the private sector to two guys in a garage named hewlett and packard or a team of researchers working for the defense department on a technology called ""stealth,"" and see how the partnership that was forged, starting in the 1950s and into the 1960s, had such far reaching consequences for both the public and the private sector., a culture that values and invests in ideas is part and parcel of the promise of america. and we have always supported that culture with public investments that accompanied our entrepreneurial spirit, the availability of capital, and the best university system in the world., now, what is happening today is we are not reali%ing either the benefits of those earlier investments or keeping our eye on the hori%on as to how we, in this generation, in this century, will make our own contribution as a part of america s, innovative agenda. think about how the first lanes of the information superhighways were laid by our researchers. they built a new way of sharing information because of an insatiable appetite for data in the pursuit of discovery. hugely consequential advances in logistics were pioneered by american companies. and we know that america may well be the land of opportunity, but it s also the land where people keep their eyes on opportunity costs., the fire that was sparked here in this valley has made such a difference but it can t just be allowed to sputter out. there has to be a partnership again between our government and our great companies and the entrepreneurs who yet have not discovered what it is that will revolutioni%e the way we live today. so, what are we to do and how do we do it?, well, today i m proposing a nine-point agenda to renew the promise of america, create good jobs, and bolster our capacity to innovate. investing in alternative energy and basic research. strengthening our science, engineering, and mathematics workforce. reinforcing our innovation infrastructure through broadband with better incentives for research and development. restoring scientific integrity in washington., first, i propose a national commitment to solving the energy and global warming challenges. a $50 billion strategic energy fund, paid for in part by closing the tax subsidies and loopholes that the oil companies still enjoy. it s almost impossible to imagine we are still subsidi%ing companies that have made the largest profits in the history of the world. now, i do think there is a role for subsidies, and i ll get to that in a minute, but for mature companies in mature markets, that has to be carefully considered., this fund would invest in technologies available right now, to promote conservation and combat global warming, end our dependence on foreign oil. the fund creates an energy initiative modeled on darpa -- the defense advanced research project agency. we bring together, as we once did in darpa, the best minds in the public and private sectors to think outside the proverbial box. to do high risk, high reward research we can t even predict what the benefits will be., i know that the silicon valley leadership group has just put forth a 12 point campaign with an agenda called ""clean and green,"" and i just received a copy of that and i look forward to looking at it. but winning the 21st century energy race is as important and as potentially productive and profitable as winning the 20th century space race. we can safeguard our environment, grow the economy, protect our security, and create millions of good new jobs., i think that if you look at the experiences of other countries, you can certainly see the economic impact of this. united kingdom signed kyoto when we didn t. and not only did they meet their earliest kyoto target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they created thousands of jobs, they kept unemployment low, and wages increased., instead of leading the world in oil imports, america can lead in green technology exports. i know that this organi%ation is holding a series of events on this, and that applied materials is doing innovative work with solar technology. i believe, however, that in the absence of a national effort, modeled on the apollo project for example, it will be very difficult to bring to scale and commerciali%ation the changes that we need and that we can produce with the proper incentives. the country that split the atom can end our dependence on foreign oil and launch an energy revolution. we can call it energy 2.0., second, as president, i will increase support for basic and applied research by increasing the research budgets at the national science foundation, the department of energy s office of science, and the department of defense. we ll boost funding by 50 percent over 10 years, with a greater emphasis on high-risk, high-return investment., unfortunately, under the bush administration, spending on basic and applied research has declined in real terms four years in a row. darpa -- where basic research led to the precursors of the internet, the computer mouse, and so much more -- is putting less of its resources into truly revolutionary research. in fact, darpa is becoming, much more problem-solving oriented, and there is a reason for that. when you look at how difficult it is to combat the improvised explosive devices in iraq, it s understandable that people would be put on overtime to try to figure out how to jam the signal -- how to do anything to prevent them from exploding or being placed in the first place., why is it an either-or? and why don t we continue to fund what we need to for our military and their protection for both defensive and offensive purposes, and put the money in that we need to continue the kind of cutting edge research that has produced such great results?, often investments in basic research take decades to pay off, as so many of you know, or they don t pay off at all. that s why the private sector devotes only 5 percent of all its resources to basic research. but when this type of work leads to big, breakthroughs, applied research, and eventually to new tools and products, the entire economy benefits. and i think government can work in partnership with the private sector by taking the lead in funding these kinds of ""blue sky"" endeavors., third, i propose we increase the national institute of health budget by 50 percent over five years with the goal of doubling it over the next decade. what is happening with nih is particularly troubling. we know that nih funded researchers have produced breakthroughs and treatments for heart disease, cancer, aids and so much else., the nih budget was doubled between 1998 and 2003 and universities and researchers had high hopes for continued funding and we truly are on the brink of so many important breakthroughs. in the years since, the rug has been pulled out from underneath a lot of our best minds. the president s budget for 2008 actually cut funding. the consequences of unpredictable and declining resources are halted construction on new laboratories, fewer grants for researchers, uncertainty in current projects, and less support for creative, outside-the-box ideas being investigated by younger researchers., nobel pri%e winning biochemist roger kornberg recently said, ""in the present climate especially, the funding decisions are ultraconservative. if the work that you propose to do isn t virtually certain of success, then it won t be funded. and of course, the kin of work that we would most like to see take place, which is groundbreaking and innovative, lies at the other extreme."", america has led the world in biotech research but we cannot rest on our laurels. singapore is investing massively in biotech. european communities aren t standing still. investments in nih will not only help lead to cures, but will grow the economy., fourth, i am proposing renewed commitment to multidisciplinary research, such as a combination of biotechnology, information technology, nanotechnology, a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, and new efforts to promote collaboration and off-the-grid ideas., here is an area where america has a unique, built-in competitive advantage. no other nation lays claim to the depth and breadth of excellence across different scientific and technological fields than we do. by bridging areas of expertise, we can bridge gaps in our understanding. and as well you know, sometimes the best answers involve, approaching an old question in a new way., for instance, we should increase investments in non-health applications of biotechnology. nih funded effort dominate life science s research but few programs explore non-health applications, such as bacteria that could dramatically reduce the costs of cleaning up superfund sites., another important step we must take is in health information technology. bringing the efficiency of the information age to medical care -- through electronic medical, records, for example -- can save money, save lives, and prevent mistakes., i have been working on this for more than four years, i started with former senator frist in a bipartisan effort to create a framework for health information technology. we finally got it through the senate, but it died in the house. we re going to try to, bring it back and get this done once and for all. and i know some of the companies represented here have been very helpful in thinking through the architecture of a health it system for our country., we should invest in e-science to accelerate the pace of discovery. you know as well as anyone, information is only as useful as the means of putting it in useful hands. billions and billions of data points are waiting in laptops and flash drives and paper files -- waiting to become the next great medical discovery or understanding of how to stem global warming. by investing in new tools to help scientists collaborate, process information, and share data, we can unleash a wave of discovery and benefits to our society., promoting these new collaborations between universities and industry is also essential. we have to fill the gap left by the decline in great private sector research institutions like bell labs, which produced technologies like the laser and many world- renowned scientists., one other idea: let s use competitive pri%es to encourage innovation. we ve got all these reality shows about singing and modeling and hair styling, and you name it. well, let s do some reality shows about innovation, and let s have some cash pri%es out there to get young people to start thinking that way. i ve long said that if we could have some really good programming about math students and engineers that would get people excited. we have so many kids who now want to go into forensics because they ve seen it on tv., if we propose pri%es to be part of our budget at our research agencies, we could seek out new ideas from unexpected places. we ought to try to construct buildings that use onsite renewable energy technologies. i m holding a contest to pick campaign theme song, and my campaign got ideas we never would ve thought of from very unusual sources -- look at youtube and you can see that for sure., while investing in ideas and research, we should also invest in skills and education. this has become almost a cliché, hasn t it? and i have had countless meetings with people from the silicon valley and in silicon valley bemoaning the shortage in the skills that are needed., but i hear that across the country. there are auto mechanic jobs we cannot fill today. thousands of them, making 50, 60, 70 thousand dollars. there are airline mechanic jobs that we can t fill -- there are so many jobs that we can t get the right mix between the person and the skill and the job. we need a much better approach to doing this., now, with respect specifically to innovations, i propose tripling the number of nsf fellowships, and increasing the si%e of each award. we need to treat our young scientists and engineers with respect and provide real rewards. they should know that our country needs them, because in fact we do., i ve talked to many people who went into math, or physics, or chemistry after sputnik and the space program which peaked their interest. they re all reaching retirement age. you think there s a skill shortage now, project it out a decade and we re going to be in real trouble if we don t figure out how to get the pipelines built., now, light bulb moments require electricity. and education is the ultimate innovation prerequisite. unfortunately, here again we are ceding ground to other nations. 50% of the undergraduates in china are earning degrees in science and engineering; in america the rate is 15%., the u.s. instituted national science foundation fellowships in response to the soviet union and the space race. in the decade since the number of grants is largely unchanged, despite a three-fold increase in the number of college students graduating with science and engineering degrees. so we face different challenges, but we need a similar commitment., i co-sponsored the america compete act, which recently passed the senate, to increase the advanced classes for high school students in math and science, and to put more people in the scientific and engineering pipeline. we have to act now to, improve education and research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in order to retain our leadership. and we ve got to start using new ideas., my husband recently spoke at a school that he and i started in arkansas -- the arkansas math and science high school. and it was started because there are a lot of young people around the state who cared about math and science, but their high schools couldn t offer a very challenging curriculum. it s a boarding school and kids come from all over, and they come mostly from small towns. there were only, i recall, maybe 88 graduates, and they brought in $9 million worth of scholarships because in that environment, which was self-selected and which drove a really high standard, they responded., so i think we should do even more to think about how we are going to find these skills. it may be that we need more of these public boarding schools. let s think about how we really make math, science, engineering and technology attractive., two of my proposals were included in the bill that passed. first, i would create new fellowships at the nsf to allow math and science professionals to become teachers in high-need schools, and to train current math teachers with expertise to become mentors and professionals., these are modeled on two successful programs in new york. i also included a study to be conducted by the national academy of sciences to investigate promising practices in math and science education., we obviously need to do a better job of reproducing educational excellence and we need to have national standards in math and science education. there s not a difference in algebra across state lines and we act as though there is, and it s time to say enough. we need national standards, at least, in math and science., sixth, we have to open the doors of science and engineering to more people, especially women and minorities. we ve done a great job bringing the best and brightest from around the world but we have to do more to get women and minorities to be involved, and as president i will try to promote that, to tap new sources of talent and to set examples by having a greater public awareness of what awaits. you know, one of my favorite people is the president of rpi in new york who previously was the head of the nuclear regulatory commission. she s the first or the second african american woman to receive a phd in nuclear physics. well, i don t know if enough people know about her and know about what she has done with her life and how she can, perhaps, serve as an example for others., so we need to do more and we have to also recogni%e the shortage that exists now. so i am reaffirming my commitment to the h1b visa and increasing the current cap. let s just face the fact that foreign skilled workers contribute greatly to what we have to do in being innovators. and certainly that s understood well here in silicon valley where more than a quarter of highly skilled professionals are immigrants. but i would hope that we could do more of what i ve suggested simultaneously. yes, increase the cap; yes, try to get green cards for those who graduate from our colleges and universities after we ve trained them so they don t go home, let s try and keep them here. there s a lot we can do to deal with the overreaction, in many ways, post-9/11, but let s also think about what else we re going to do here., one thing that i would offer for your consideration is whether it is possible to create some kind of continuing education or curriculum that could be available because what i find as i travel around the country are engineers who come up to me and say, ""i ve been an engineer at this country for 12 years or 18 years, and now i m being asked to train my successor because my job is being outsourced. what am i supposed to do?"" well, if that engineer s talent and skills truly are not marketable in the current from, then what can we do to try to make them marketable? how can we create that opportunity?, seventh, as president i ll ensure we have a national commitment to broadband. now we need to invest in our infrastructure and, what the railroads were to the 19th century and electricity was to the 20th, we know that innovation tools like broadband are essential to the economy of the 21st century. we should not be satisfied with our, paid for by hillary clinton for president	terms of service i privacy policy i contact us,"	
", then there are the wounded. more than 26,000 so far. many hurt so badly, they will never fully recover. many more with ""invisible wounds"" -- depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury. young people in the prime of their lives unable to work, struggling to relate to their families and reintegrate into their communities., many aren t getting the treatment they need. some have turned to drugs or alcohol. a few have even taken their own lives., then there are the families, who pay their own price for this war. struggling to raise children alone -- trying to find the right answer to all those questions about when mom or dad is coming home. some forced to explain that mom or dad is never coming home. our troops  sacrifice is their sacrifice too., then there is the price the iraqis have paid. tens of thousands civilians -- and several thousand members of the iraqi security forces -- have been killed. millions of iraqis have fled their homes -- nearly 100,000 a month -- under threat of execution by sectarian militias and kidnappings by criminal gangs., then there are the financial costs. more than $450 billion so far. at the current rate of spending, we could provide access to high quality pre-kindergarten for every four year-old in america, extend health care to all 45 million americans who are currently uninsured, and make college more affordable for more than one million students., then there is our work in afghanistan, yet another casualty of the war in iraq. when i first visited there in 2003, i was greeted by a soldier who said: ""welcome to the forgotten frontlines in the war against terror."", distracted by iraq, we have squandered much of what our military accomplished in afghanistan, eroded our position among the afghan people, limited the potential of president karzai s moderate government, and failed to stem the renewed aggression by the taliban and al qaeda., for while the bush administration has neglected afghanistan, the terrorists and drug- traffickers have not. a recent un report found that afghanistan s production of opium -- the raw material for heroin -- increased nearly 50 percent last year, to a total that was more than 90 percent of the world s illicit opium production in 2006. the heroin trade finances the very taliban fighters and al qaeda terrorists who are attacking our troops and gaining new footholds in parts of afghanistan., the catalogue of miscalculations, misjudgments, and mistakes in iraq shocks the conscience. from the unilateral decision to rush to a preemptive war without allowing the inspectors to finish their work or waiting for diplomacy to run its course; to the failure to send enough troops or provide proper equipment for them; to the denial of a rising insurgency and the failure to adjust the military strategy; to continued support for a government unwilling to make the necessary political compromises; to the adherence to a broken policy more than four years after the invasion began., as a result of these failures, the next president will inherit some of the greatest foreign policy challenges in our history. rising terrorism and extremism. frayed alliances. and the increasingly difficult task of restoring american leadership in a world that has come to view our nation with suspicion and mistrust., we cannot effectively address any of these challenges if we continue our military engagement in iraq. as long as we stay there, our military strength will continue to erode. our standing in the world will continue to decline. our enemies in the region will continue to exploit our failures. our occupation will continue to serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists. our support for afghan democracy, our conflict with the taliban, and our hunt for al qaeda will continue to be compromised. and our brave men and women will continue to lose their lives and suffer grievous wounds., finally, some of the most respected members of the president s own party in the senate are beginning to acknowledge these realities. senator lugar, ranking member of the foreign relations committee, and a leading voice on foreign affairs for decades, just recently stated his opposition to staying the course in iraq. senators voinovich and, most recently, senator domenici, have also called on president bush, to change course., after more than four years, more than $450 billion, and human costs beyond measure, it is abundantly clear that there is no military solution to the crisis in iraq., it is long past time that the president ended american combat involvement iraq s multi-sided, sectarian civil war, fought for power, revenge, and personal advantage., that is what i have been trying to do in the senate, after calling for and consistently voting for phased redeployment of our troops out of iraq. that is why i voted against a bill to fund the war without any plan for ending it. that is why i ve introduced legislation to begin bringing our troops home within 90 days. and that is why i am joining other democrats to add provisions to the defense authorization bill -- which we are debating in the senate this week -- that would force the president to change course in iraq. among those provisions is legislation i am sponsoring with senator robert byrd to de-authorize the war -- legislation that would actually end the president s authority to fight it. i hope and pray that a bi-partisan majority of the congress will be able to persuade or force the president to change course., in september, general david petraeus, the commanding general in charge of iraq, will issue a report on the progress of the surge. if the past is any guide, the president may still decide to maintain his failed strategy, regardless of what the report says, just as he rejected the thoughtful recommendations of the bi-partisan iraq study group., if that happens -- if the president refuses to end this war before he leaves office -- when i m president, i will -- quickly, responsibly, and in a way that will restore -- not weaken -- america s leadership in the world., this will be my first and most important mission as president -- one i believe i have the strength and experience to complete. today, i want to lay out my three point plan for how i would achieve this -- how, as president, i would bring our troops home, work to bring stability to the region, and replace a military force with a new diplomatic initiative to engage countries around the world in securing iraq s future and america s national security interests., the most important part of my plan is the first step: to end our military engagement in iraq s civil war and immediately start bringing our troops home as quickly and carefully as possible. no permanent occupation of the country. no more neighborhood patrols. no more being caught in the middle of a war whose side we do not even know we should be on., at the end of the day, the iraqis are responsible for iraq s future. and if we have learned anything these past four years, it s that we cannot successfully police a civil war. therefore, keeping our troops in the crossfire of sectarian violence is not the answer. bringing them home swiftly and responsibly is., as president, i will convene the joint chiefs of staff, my secretary of defense and my national security council and direct them to draw up a clear, viable plan to bring our troops home starting within the first 60 days of my administration., we should do this as quickly as we can, consistent with preserving our security and protecting our troops. i have been long worried that the pentagon is not adequately planning for the withdrawal of our troops because the white house does not want them to plan for withdrawal., i have written the secretary of defense as well as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and asked them to please let us know in congress what plans they have. withdrawing troops is dangerous and difficult. especially when we will have to convoy our troops and their equipment out of iraq along the very same roads that are booby- trapped with explosive devices. it requires enormous care and precision, and i hope we will start that process before i m president. we should redeploy our troops steadily and consistently, not in fits and starts., and as we bring our troops home, we must ensure that we are fully prepared to care for them -- and their families -- once they have returned. so as the joint chiefs and defense secretary are drawing up a redeployment plan, i will direct the department, of defense and the department of veterans affairs to prepare a comprehensive plan to provide the highest quality health care, disability benefits, and social services for every single servicemember -- including every member of the national guard and reserve. and i will make sure this plan is promptly implemented., today, we are not providing the care our veterans deserve. we have all heard the heartbreaking stories about soldiers languishing in filthy, decrepit facilities. the facilities at walter reed were a disgrace which our president recently referred to as, and i quote, ""some bureaucratic red-tape issues."", but sadly, the walter reed scandal is just the tip of a nasty iceberg. today, we have veterans across america who struggle with traumatic brain injury and other wounds, and are told to take a number and wait in line for months. veterans trying to get disability pay are running into a wall of indifference from their own government. military families trying to get life insurance benefits they are entitled to are drowning in delay and rejection., when our young men and women put on our country s uniform -- when they go into harm s way for our american family --they are our sons and daughters and it s past time we started treating them that way., that s what i ve tried to do in the senate, by expanding health care for our national guard and reserve members, sponsoring legislation to increase military survivor benefits from $12,000 to $100,000, authoring the heroes at home legislation to help servicemembers and their families deal with post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury., as president, i ll propose guaranteed funding for our va health care system. and a gi bill of rights for the twenty-first century to help veterans buy their own homes, build their own businesses, attend college and get the training they need for good, high- paying jobs., the second part of my plan involves working to secure stability within iraq as we bring our troops home. right now, the iraqi government is failing its citizens. government officials refuse to take the steps needed to advance a political solution, improve the economy and better the lives of ordinary iraqis. they refuse to do their part to quell sectarian violence -- and some have even chosen to participate in it., as president, i will focus american aid efforts during our redeployment on stabilizing iraq, not propping up the iraqi government. financial resources will only go where they will be used properly. we will no longer funnel money to those government ministries and ministers that hoard it, seal it, or waste it. if, by the time i take office, iraq s central government has proven that it s committed to rebuilding the country and striving for sustainable stability and political reconciliation, we ll send aid to that government. if not, we ll consider providing aid to provincial governments and reliable non-governmental organizations that are making progress., i will also urge the appointment of a high level u.n. representative -- similar to those appointed in afghanistan, bosnia and kosovo -- to help broker peace among the parties in iraq. this representative will press the iraqis to achieve defined political objectives that will help iraqis build a stake in their country, including, most importantly, the equitable distribution of oil revenues, so that everyone gets their fair share, and ordinary iraqis start feeling like they have a stake in the country s future., i have promoted the idea of an oil-trust for more than three years because i believe it would help convince iraqis that they will benefit from a stable iraq more than the continuing sectarian conflict. i tried to get the bush administration to adopt this idea which we did in alaska. when alaska was discovered to have oil, every alaskan gets checked so every alaskan has a stake in making sure that the pipeline is safe and that the process continues. and i believe it would have made such a difference immediately if the united states when we were still the occupying power had created such an oil-trust. i m told that my idea which didn t have republican support got as far as the vice president s office where a lot of good ideas apparently die., third, as we redeploy our troops, we will replace our military force in iraq with an intensive, diplomatic initiative in the region. to bring about long-term stability in iraq, and prevent violence and unrest from spilling over to other parts of the area, one of the most dangerous parts of the world to begin with., this will be a first step towards restoring americans moral and strategic leadership in the world-- one that draws on the strength of our alliances and the power of our diplomacy, and uses military force as a last -- not a first -- resort., over the past four years, we have learned the hard way about the need for a truly multilateral approach in iraq, one built on sound strategy and long-range planning, not ideology and wishful thinking. the president s go-it-alone attitude has diminished our position in the region and around the world. and our diminished position, in turn, has made it increasingly difficult for us to bring about a political solution in iraq., our relationship with turkey is just one example. six years ago, at the end of the clinton administration, support for the u.s. in turkey -- a longtime ally in nato -- stood at over 50 percent. today, according to a recent pew study, it s at just nine percent. this is the most spectacular deterioration of relations with a treaty ally in memory., so we ve dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole, haven t we? but i am confident we can dig ourselves out. i believe we can return to a foreign policy through which, as my friend, former secretary of state madeleine albright once said, we ""cooperate with others whenever we can and act alone only when we have to. not the other way around."" i believe we can restore our standing in the world, and begin to restore stability in iraq, by restoring our use of meaningful diplomacy in the region., that starts with drawing down our troops and drawing upon the international community to make a commitment to iraq s future. so in my first days in office, i ll begin work to convene a regional stabilization group composed of key allies, other global powers, and all of the states bordering iraq. the mission of this group will be to develop and implement a strategy to create a stable iraq., working with the united nations representative, the group will first work to convince iran, saudi arabia, turkey, and syria to refrain from getting involved in the civil war - - either directly or indirectly, by backing local militants and militias. none of these countries benefits if iraq implodes and the resulting chaos spills over their borders. although i believe our military disengagement will reduce the likelihood of regional interference in iraq s internal affairs over the long run, i acknowledge that in the short run, there may well be increased violence and instability following our troop withdrawals., in bosnia, before the us-led nato actions resulted in the dayton peace accords, the sectarian violence claimed 200,000 lives and created two million refugees. and iraq has six times as many people., so unless the leaders of the various insurgent groups, and militias and the government change course, they could reach the per capital bosnian casualty rates, claiming hundreds of thousands more iraqi lives and causing millions more to flee. this tragic possibility, however, does not justify continuing our failed policy, but it does intensify the importance of the other elements of my plan., the u.n. led group will attempt to mediate among the different sectarian groups in iraq with the goal of attaining compromises on fundamental issues like the structure of their new government, the contours of their economic policy, and a system for dividing their oil revenues. this will no doubt be difficult. but achieving agreement on issues like these is a critical step for building a stable future for iraq., third, the members of the group will hold themselves and other countries to their past pledges to provide funding to iraq. and they ll encourage additional contributions to meet iraq s extensive needs., as it stands now, the united states is shouldering far too great a share of the financial burden for rebuilding iraq. as of february 2007, foreign donors had made good on only about 4 billion dollars of the 15 billion in pledges from the madrid conference. some wealthy gulf nations have come up especially short. countries around the world also have a stake in iraq s future -- and they should contribute to securing it., let me say a word about the place of iran and syria in this new, diplomatic initiative. there is no question that these two regimes are among the most difficult and dangerous in the world. they pose direct threats to their neighbors, to israel, our strategic ally and friend, and far beyond the region. iran s president has hosted a conference devoted to denying the holocaust, placing him in company with the most despicable bigots and historical revisionists. and both countries sponsor terrorism -- directly, and indirectly through hezbollah and hamas., unfortunately, for most of the past six years, president bush has adopted a simple and fundamentally flawed strategy for dealing with these countries: we don t talk to bad people., i think you agree with me that we strongly disagree with this approach. even during the cold war, we never stopped speaking to the soviet union. even when they had thousands of missiles pointed at us. even when their leaders threatened to bury us. even when they were invading countries and inciting military uprisings around the world. that was the smart policy -- one embraced by both democrats and republicans., we know this approach can be as effective now as it was back then. look what happened when the administration -- after six years of neglect during which north korea built up its nuclear program -- finally pursued aggressive, face-to-face talks with north korea. we got them to agree to suspend their nuclear weapons program -- and we didn t have to sacrifice a single american life to achieve that goal., we ended the genocide and ethnic cleansing in the balkans without sacrificing a single american life. the administration should learn from the progress made in north korea and take a similar approach toward iran and syria. while they did meet recently with iranian officials, they now appear reluctant to continue that effort., when i am president, we will deal with syria and iran right from the beginning, we will engage them in open, frank, tough-minded discussions about the status of iraq. and we will convey our strong, bi-partisan position that iran cannot be allowed obtain nuclear weapons., now, let me be clear: engagement does not mean a warm embrace. i have no illusions about iran and syria. but, we must also be realistic. diplomacy is difficult and time-consuming. it is frustrating at times, and it may not bear fruit. but it is the best tool we have, given the challenges we face., as we are leaving iraq -- and after we have left -- we need to engage the world in a global humanitarian effort to confront the human costs created by this war. that is the final component of our diplomatic initiative., since the start of the war, two million iraqis have fled their country -- mainly to jordan and syria -- and two million more have been displaced from their homes and neighborhoods within iraq. many are living in desperate conditions, creating not just a humanitarian crisis, but one with strategic, security consequences for the region. that could become a direct threat to us., as president, i will organize a multi-billion dollar international effort -- funded by a wide range of donor states -- under the united nations high commissioner for refugees (unhcr). through this initiative, the commissioner for refugees will direct aid to build infrastructure and create a social safety net in jordan, syria and other countries that have taken in refugees. this money will go to schools, hospitals and housing -- along with initiatives to create jobs and promote economic development. at the same time, the commissioner for refugees will be empowered to address the needs of iraqis who have been displaced from their homes by the violence, but remain inside their country. these efforts will confront the challenges posed by large- scale refugee camps in jordan, which could destabilize that country and the region., for what we spend in just one month on this war -- $8 billion dollars, plus -- the world can fund this refugee initiative for an entire year and then some. these funds will help ensure a long term solution -- one that addresses the fundamental needs of refugees, rather than resorting to the limited and often counter-productive solution of refugee camps. i stress that because we have to be very careful; not to create, cauldrons of distress and outrage, by putting these people into these refugee camps and leaving them there., while we will focus our efforts on improving conditions so that iraqis don t have to flee in the first place, we will also recognize our moral obligation to help those we have put at risk in iraq -- the interpreters, the soldiers and the workers who have assisted our troops. i have been to iraq three times. i have met these great people who cast their bond with america. many of them have been assassinated and members of their families as well. i believe we owe an obligation, particularly to them., so as part of this global humanitarian effort, governments in both the middle east and the west as well as here in the united states, have to take in asylum seekers, with the commissioner of refugees developing a plan to help them return to iraq once the country has stabilized., engaging in this humanitarian effort will not require continued military involvement on our part. just the opposite, in fact. we need to redeploy our troops out of iraq before we can undertake this diplomatic initiative with any hope for success., finally, as we do bring our troops home, we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region. if, in the future, iraq becomes a breeding ground for exporting terrorists, as it appears it already is, as we are learning about those who planned and tried to carry out the attacks in london. that is a great worry for our country. so as we redeploy our troops from iraq, i will not let down my guard against terrorism. i will devote the resources we need to fight it and fight it smartly. i will order specialized units to engage in narrow and targeted operations against al qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the region., they will also provide security for u.s. troops and personnel and train and equip iraqi security services to keep order and promote stability in the country, but only to the extent we believe such training is actually working. i would also consider, as i have said before, leaving some forces in the kurdish area to protect the fragile but real democracy and relative peace and security that has developed there., and as president, i will work to ensure a stable and peaceful relationship between turkey and the kurds in northern iraq, both of whom are our friends and allies. we must not permit a conflict between these two allies to become another consequence of the iraq war., our efforts must also involve a regional recommitment to success in afghanistan. the taliban is resurging; they and their al qaeda allies must not succeed. as president, i will not allow us to fail in afghanistan. we simply cannot allow al qaeda to reclaim the country as its safe haven or the taliban to re-establish its repressive regime., now, will any of this be easy? of course not. it s going to take tremendous discipline, patience and hard work. but i believe it can be done. i believe we can be a lot smarter about getting out of this war than we were about getting into it. the future of our national security and international standing depends upon it. and we owe our troops -- and their families -- nothing less., i want to end by telling you about one of those service members -- a chief warrant officer in the iowa army national guard, named bruce smith, from west liberty, iowa. my friend, tom vilsack, told me about bruce smith and his courageous wife, oliva. bruce was deployed to iraq, in november 2003 the chinook helicopter he was piloting was shot down near fallujah. bruce had to make a split-second decision about how to maneuver the helicopter. one choice would possibly save his life. the other would possibly save his crewmates. bruce chose to save his crew. and while he and his co-pilot were killed, 17 members of his crew survived. his wife, oliva has said that in those few seconds, those 17 men needed bruce more than she and her children would need him for the rest of their lives., bruce smith made his choice. he chose to be there for his soldiers. it s the choice that so many of our brave men and women in uniform make for each other, and for our country, every single day. now it s time we made the same choice for them. it s time we honored their service by bringing them home., ,"	
", services. and this consensus has to be strong enough to persuade decision makers in washington and to overcome entrenched opposition among the forces that oppose change for ideological and corporate reasons., now the good news is that i think we are finally reaching consensus. i see, businesses, labor, government and other stakeholders increasingly investing in quality care because they realize that it s not only good for individuals and families that it s also goof or our economy. we ve begun to agree that there is an economic as well as a moral imperative to reign in costs and to extend coverage to all americans. there s a practical imperative to improve quality -- to promote wellness and prevent illness wherever possible. and these are the key components of my health care plan-- lowering costs for everyone, improving quality for everyone, and providing coverage for everyone. i list them as three interlocking goals because i think we cannot do one without doing all of them., a few months ago, i outlined my agenda to reduce health care costs and today, i want to talk about health care quality. and next month, i will announce my plan for universal coverage. my order here is deliberate. in order to forge a consensus on universal health care, we need to assure people they ll get the quality they expect at a price they can afford. and my recommendations to control costs and ensure quality lay the groundwork for insuring everyone., now, by all accounts, we should already have the highest quality health care in the world. our doctors, nurses and other health care practitioners are among the best in the world. they have access to the most cutting-edge drugs, and treatments and medical technologies. and we spend more money per capita on health care, almost $5,700, than any country in the world., but we are far from having the best care. we re ranked 23rd in infant mortality and 42nd in life expectancy. according to the 2006 survey by the kaiser family foundation and the agency for healthcare research and quality, 51 percent of americans were dissatisfied with the quality of our health care system. according to a rand study, adults in the united states on average fail to receive about one half the medical care they need. more than one in ten patients may receive care that isn t recommended -- and may be potentially harmful. and the institute of medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 americans are killed each year by preventable medical errors., now in short, too often and in too may places, our health care system hurts us instead of helping us. it hurts doctors, who aren t rewarded for providing the best care -- and are often punished for it, financially at least. it hurts nurses, who are asked to work longer hours caring for more patients with fewer resources. and it hurts patients, who are forced to make complicated medical decisions without basic information about their conditions and options., now i m hoping that we re getting to a point where the quality of our health care is not a partisan issue. whether you re a democrat or republican, a liberal or a conservative, none of us wants to rush our child to an emergency room only to receive the wrong treatment. none of us wants to bring our spouse in for surgery only to see them next in the icu with a preventable infection. none of us wants our loved one cared for by nurses who are juggling too many patients and too many medications with too little support., and any of us could become seriously ill injured such that we won t have a second chance to get the right diagnosis and treatment. and when that day comes, why should we settle for less than the best?, but that is exactly what we re doing right now. when you buy a tv for your living room or a tire for your car, or a toy for your child, you want to know you re getting the best value -- and these days, especially with toys, the greatest safety. so you compare prices, you ask questions, you check the consumer reports and you rely on your government to establish and enforce basic guarantees of safety and reliability., but too often, with the product we care most about --that can mean the difference between life and death, and between billions of dollars wasted and saved -- we don t, compare prices or quality we wind up stuck with something whether we think it s best for us or not., and until recently, government at all levels did not use its enormous buying power to empower providers and patients to demand and deliver quality. we plod along with a twentieth century health care system, unable to take full advantage of 21st century medical advances, stuck in the same rut of fatalistic thinking that s defined our healthcare debate for more than a decade. if we try to cover everyone, the argument goes -- we ll lower quality. if we try to improve quality -- we ll break the bank. our health care problems are too big, too deep, too complicated, the argument continues, for us to solve., well, i reject that and i think all of you here at this exemplary institution do as well. america is not a nation that settles. we don t wring our hands and make excuses. we roll up our sleeves. we invent. we innovate. we come up with solutions. and that s exactly what hospitals and nursing homes and providers across america have been doing with very little support. many are improving the care they offer and lowering costs., take the example of kaiser permanente. their management came together with 40 unions representing 90,000 healthcare workers and staff and formed a labor management partnership. the partnership works to solve problems, improve patient care and give everyone a seat at the table., one example of their work involved a patient complaint that nurses often did their shift handover without input from the patient--so union nurses worked with management to come up with a solution: doing the handover in the patient s room, where the patient could join in the conversation. as a result, patients better understand their care, nurses spend more time with patients, and information is being shared more efficiently., since kaiser s partnership began, costs have fallen, workplace injuries have fallen -- and patient satisfaction and employee retention have improved. and this is just one example of how, across america, workers and management can improve healthcare quality., or take the example of ascension health, america s largest non-profit hospital system. back in 2002, they began a system-wide effort to improve their quality of care -- to meet best practices and provide better treatments. today, their rate of certain hospital infections is 62 percent lower than the national average. serious patient falls are 86 percent lower. rates of bedsores are 93 percent lower., but in the end, quality health care isn t just about savings or statistics. it s about something much more fundamental: the relationship between physicians and patients, between nurses and patients, between physicians, nurses and hospital administrators. that s what s at the heart of our quality, how we get along with one another, what our relationships are. the moment when someone in need seeks you out, they re scared and vulnerable, they want you to do what can get them better, but too often our healthcare system stands in the way, blocking that relationship, preventing physicians and nurses from doing what they would want to do. so therefore, we have to change the system., well, i m here today because i believe it s time we had a health care system that lived up to the hippocratic oath. a system that empowers doctors, nurses and hospitals to give the best care. that empowers patients to make the best decisions. and that ensures that payers -- governments and private payers-- value, reward and promote the best results: longer, healthier lives, and money saved in lowering and unproductive and unnecessary hospital and nursing home costs., that is what my health care quality plan tries to do. we have come to these recommendations in consultation with doctors, nurses and others across the country. we ve developed a plan to raise standards, support health care providers, educate patients, realign the reimbursement systems to reward quality, recruit and retain more nurses, and address the health disparities that continue to plague our system., i want to start by talking about how we ensure that our health care providers --, doctors, nurses and others -- provide the best possible care., that starts with providing federal support for doctors  own quality certification standards., now, most doctors stay current on their own -- reading up on the latest advances, studying the latest techniques. but changes are coming so fast these days; many tell us they just can t keep up. some might not even realize they re no longer using the latest protocols or the best systems. this may explain the dramatic variations in cost and quality from state to state, town to town -- even from hospital to hospital in the same town. now some of these variations have been discovered and publicized right here at dartmouth, the studies conducted by jack weinberg and his colleagues here have revolutionized how many people think about quality of care. they found that the quality of care for patients with terminal illnesses, just to pick one example, varied greatly. the percentage of patients who died as hospital inpatients instead of at home or in a hospice, range from 32 percent to more than 52 percent despite the fact that the overwhelming number of americans would prefer not to die in a hospital., part of the solution to these disparities can be found in doctors  own voluntary maintenance of certification programs, so called moc programs. they provide lifelong learning opportunities to help doctors stay up to date. they re generally run by the boards of the various specialties -- so cardiology runs the moc for cardiologists, or the pediatrics runs the moc for pediatricians, and so on., doctors who participate in certification programs have better outcomes. heart attack patients treated by board certified doctors were 15 percent less likely to die than those treated by non-certified doctors. doctors who scored higher on moc examinations had better outcomes in treating patients with diabetes, and they were more likely to ensure that their patients received mammograms., so as president, i want to lend the support of the federal government to moc process to help our doctors stay on the top of their game. i will offer higher medicare reimbursement rates to doctors who participate in qualified moc programs. and to ensure that the mocs are sufficiently rigorous -- i ll ask that the secretary of hhs to invest $125 million to recognize and help fund the work of a public-private quality trust to certify the mocs. this trust will bring together people from across the health care system -- doctors, patients, nurses and others -- who will rigorously review mocs to ensure they are up to the highest standards., if you have any doubt about whether we need to do this, i d refer you to an article from this week s new york times indicating that just 7 percent of diabetics are getting all of the treatment they need -- often because their doctors are not versed in the latest developments. now, imagine if instead, these doctors participated in certification programs that kept them up to date on nationally recognized standards for diabetic care. the most revealing conclusion in the very long article was that most doctors were vigilant about blood sugar, but not about blood pressure and cholesterol monitoring. think of how many more lives could be saved and how much more money could be saved if they were., i ll also support doctors by creating a best care practices institute, a public-private partnership to fund comparative effectiveness research and disseminate it across the country. right now so much of the information on which drugs, devices, surgeries and treatments work best, either isn t researched, it isn t compared, it isn t published, and it isn t circulated. it takes years for an agreed upon treatment that a medical center like this one knows is the best practice to be disseminated across our country. so this best practices institute will serve as a central national clearinghouse so no matter where you are, you and your doctor can access information on what the best treatments should be., in addition to helping doctors provide the best care, i plan to finally implement medical malpractice reforms that work for doctors and patients alike. many of the physicians that i meet say that high malpractice premiums force them to alter their practice-- and even consider leaving the profession altogether. i ve also heard first hand from families who ve experienced serious medical errors and have trouble getting the relief that they deserve. the current political stalemate on this issue, leaves both patients and physicians in the lurch., earlier before i came in i was speaking to the head of anesthesiology and i really give the anesthesiologists a lot of credit because for the last ten years they have moved toward standards of practice that have not only helped patients but dramatically lowered malpractice premiums and i believe there s a lot we can do within the specialties, following the example of anesthesiology, coming up with new approaches., i ve offered one solution based on a successful program at the university of michigan hospital system. it s called the national medical error disclosure and compensation act. in the congress you have to come up with acronyms so you search for days to try to name a piece of legislation with something that if you take the first letter it spells a word--so that is the medic act for those of you who were wondering., it s a novel approach to improving patient safety and the quality of care while protecting patients  rights, reducing medical errors and lowering malpractice costs. the bill that i have introduced based on the university of michigan hospital system would proved liability protections for physicians who disclose medical errors to patients and offer to enter into negotiations for fair compensation backed up by their hospital and their practice. at the university of michigan, these policies have already resulted in greater patient trust and satisfaction, more patients being compensated for injuries, fewer malpractice suits, significantly reduced administrative costs, and between one and three million dollars in litigation cost savings., but when i talk about supporting providers, i m not just talking about doctors -- but about nurses as well. and that s the third step in my plan -- to immediately address our nursing shortage and to give nurses the training and educational and support that they need to provide the care patients deserve., the nursing shortage has become a nursing crisis. and that means it s a crisis for everyone, because nurses are critical to delivering and improving quality. our nurses are truly the eyes and ears --and in many ways, the heart and soul -- of our health care system. and when we ve got fewer nurses, working longer hours, serving more patients -- the result can be worse outcomes. we currently face a shortfall of 118,000 nurses. if we don t take action now, by the year 2020, the estimate is that we will be short as many as one million nurses. in addition to the shortage, nurses are aging. on average a nurse is over 45 in america. so we need a comprehensive solution., according to the american association of colleges of nursing, in 2005, american nursing programs turned away nearly 32,000 qualified bachelor and masters degree applicants. they just didn t have the slots. so when i m president, i will provide funding to nursing schools to allow them to admit and train more nurses and to recruit and retain more faculty. and i ll give first priority to schools with a record of sending graduates to serve in underserved areas -- from rural communities, to inner- cities, to low-income neighborhoods., i ll also work to recruit more nurses to the profession in the first place -- reaching out to communities of color that are traditionally underrepresented, providing scholarships and loan forgiveness so we can have a more diverse, culturally competent nursing workforce., but we know that the problem isn t just recruiting -- it s retaining nurses. roughly 50 percent of new nurses leave their jobs within the first year -- all too often because they re not getting the support they need to do their jobs. i will address that by funding innovative mentoring and residency programs with a proven track record of helping to keep nurses in the profession., programs like the rn residency program that was launched five years ago at children s hospital los angeles. this 22-week program provides new nursing school graduates with a comprehensive clinical experience to prepare them for careers in acute care environments. prior to this program, turnover for new graduates during their first year was 36 percent. graduates of the rn residency program have a first- year turnover rate of just 11 percent, and a 24 month turnover rate that has dropped from 56 to 22 percent. given that it costs roughly $50,000 to replace each nurse -- and thousands more to pay temporary nurses to fill in -- you can see the kinds of, savings that children s is experiencing., i also want to do more to empower advanced practice nurses. we re going to have to change the practice, acts, and protocols that govern what nurses can do-- nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, physician s assistants, advanced practice professionals. because it s clear that we will not be able to reach our goals for preventive care if we don t have better utilization of nurses., we need to empower patients. and that means giving them the information they need to make the right choices. today even the savviest, best informed patients struggle to choose providers and treatment options and it is easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed about these decisions., now some people will tell you the best way to provide consumer choice is to give everyone a health savings account -- and leave them to find the least expensive, most effective providers on their own. if they re in good health, chances are that they ll be able to navigate this. but if they get seriously ill, or have an accident that is serious, well i don t think that there s much hope there., the idea is that we have to really empower patients -- not shift costs on to them under the guise of so called ""consumer-driven"" care. so when i talk about informed consumer choice, i mean no one should have to guess their way through this maze., that s why we need a comprehensive, patient-friendly quality database. with the click of a mouse, patients should be able to see which hospitals have the best care, the best specialists, the lowest infection rates, the most efficient discharge policies, the shortest emergency room waiting times, and more., and that is exactly what you re doing here at dartmouth-hitchcock, publishing comprehensive public reports on everything from the quality of your cancer treatments and pneumonia care to your infection prevention rates. i m so impressed by what you ve done here and the difference that it is making that i have teamed up with senator judd gregg and introduced bipartisan legislation to create this kind of system on a national scale using medicare claims data to make risk-adjusted quality reports publicly available., i also empower patients by making sure that the information that they get is understandable. the center for shared decision making here at dartmouth hitchcock is another perfect example. this center approaches medical decisions as collaboration between patients and doctors. doctors take the time to talk with patients, discuss their concerns and their goals -- and then help them reach the outcomes they desire. and once again the results speak for themselves. 98 percent of patients report they understood their treatment choices. 96 percent said they realized which treatment risks and benefits mattered most to them as they made their decisions., we cannot do this however if we don t invest in electronic medical records. i ve already proposed this as legislation, a bipartisan piece of legislation that i have worked on for four and a half years, passed the senate last year, it died in the house. but we re back with bipartisan legislation again., it is essential that we begin to do this. institutions like this have electronic medical records as do other of our medical centers and fine hospitals around the country but we re not creating a seamless system. we re not creating one where if you re a patient here and you re visiting family in florida or if you re on a business trip to la, your record can be easily transmitted. and while amazon.com knows exactly which books you ve bought and what music you like -- an emergency room doctor may have no way of knowing what medications you re taking, what you re allergic to -- or even what your blood type is., electronic medical records will change that. they ll ensure that patients can have secure, confidential access to their medical history wherever and whenever they need it. this will save, according to a rand study, approximately 77 billion dollars a year. and it will also save lives., the va is a great example of a healthcare system that has dramatically improved the, quality of patient care. the american consumer satisfaction index survey shows that, va patients were significantly more satisfied with both inpatient and outpatient care than patients in the private medical system. the new england journal of medicine found that va healthcare ranked higher than medicare in 12 out of 13 measurements of quality and the va system achieves better rates of quality care for diabetics than commercial managed care organizations., now what made this success possible? well, in part the use of information technology. during the clinton administration, a transition to a paperless system was accelerated and today the va maintains electronic health records in 1,300 facilities for over 5 million veterans. and this enables someone to go from va hospital to va hospital and have that record be seamlessly delivered wherever it is needed., the va medical records system supports the use of advanced technology including mobile devices, wireless interfaces, and a barcode medication administration system in which patients are given a bar-coded id tag. nurses scan this tag when providing medications allowing them to confirm that the right person receives the right medicine at the right time. so the va is doing it, there s no reason we can t do it across our healthcare system,, and through my coverage recommendations which i will be making next month, i want to come up with ideas to incentives patients and potential patients which includes all of us to make better decisions about our own health. information alone about behaviors like smoking or obesity does not automatically result in change. we need both a renewed public health effort that i think should be lead by the president, stressing better health outcomes and financial benefits to motivate such changes through the way we pay for public and private insurance., i want to emphasize that when i talk about empowering patients -- i mean all patients -- from all backgrounds and all walks of life. we are far from that goal now. our health care system unfortunately is still plagued with racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and gender disparities at every level. and my goal is to eliminate those disparities once and for all., right now, african american infant mortality rates are more than double those for whites. more than one-fifth of american indians do not have a reliable source of health care, as compared to 15 percent of whites. asian-americans are less likely to receive critical screening tests like mammograms and pap smears. hispanics living with diabetes are almost 20 percent less likely to receive recommended diabetes treatments. and women are more likely than men to be hospitalized for high blood pressure -- a manageable chronic condition., minority populations aren t just sicker -- they also get lower-quality care. according to the annual national healthcare disparities report released by hhs, african americans and hispanics received worse care than whites on more than 70 percent of the criteria used to measure quality., this is simply unacceptable in our country. the quality of your care should have nothing to do with your ethnicity, skin color, or gender. and when i m president, i will see to it that it doesn t. i will start by directing the department of health and human services to collect detailed, up-to-date information on healthcare disparities, so we actually can know the full extent of the ., i ll also invest in developing culturally competent health care for minority population. that means ensuring health care providers have access to the language skills they need to communicate with their patients -- and that patient information is appropriately translated into the many languages that a hospital often has to deal with., finally, i want to discuss the role of payers -- insurance companies and state and federal governments -- in providing quality health care., i want to start with our reimbursement system. we have to completely re-haul this system. we need a system that actually encourages -- instead of discourages -- quality care. right now, the incentives in our reimbursement system are upside-down and backwards. they often punish doctors are trying to do the right thing -- like spend time with their patients, trying to prevent, not just treat illness. doing what s, best for patients is sometimes bad for business., hospitals are paid for each episode of care, each hospitalization. doctors are paid for each office visit, each procedure. people aren t paid to coordinate patients  treatments to ensure they get the best quality care. so let s say you are a diabetic with high blood pressure. your doctor won t be reimbursed for hiring a nutritionist to track your weight and help you understand what you can and can t eat. your hospital won t be reimbursed for hiring a nurse assistant to ensure you have regular appointments to get your feet and eyes checked. or to make sure your blood pressure doctor and your diabetes doctor communicate with each other about your care. and healthcare providers who wish to work in teams to coordinate services and treat patients holistically receive lower reimbursements than if they all worked separately., so we wind up treating patients like walking collections of symptoms and diseases -- each to be treated discretely. but that is not how illness works, that s not how the body or the mind works. for example, if you are a diabetic with high blood pressure, your high blood pressure obviously affects your diabetes, and vice versa. so there s incredible value to coordinating care and in having doctors, nurses, social workers, nutritionists and other professionals working together as a team., that s exactly how it s done at the mayo clinic, one of the most respected health care institutions in america, actually probably in the world. under their integrated healthcare system, primary care physicians work together with specialists to develop a comprehensive approach to treat each patient. the result is better care, lower costs, and fewer hospitalizations and doctor visits. the result is better care, lower costs, and fewer hospitalizations and doctor visits. in fact, if hospitalizations and doctor visits across america mirrored the numbers at mayo, for certain conditions, inpatient medicare spending would decrease 20 percent, medicare costs for doctor visits would decrease 35 percent. that s billions of dollars in savings. but at the same time physicians salaries are above the national average. so when i m president, i ll support federal reimbursements for precisely this kind of team approach to medicine. we know it saves money -- and saves lives., i ll also ensure that the federal reimbursement system rewards care based on how effective it is. today, we often do just the opposite. in a pennsylvania government survey of the state s 60 hospitals performing heart bypass surgery, the best-paid hospital received nearly $100,000, on average for the operation, while the least-paid got less than $20,000. but at both hospitals, patients had comparable lengths of stay and death rates. and among the 20 hospitals serving metropolitan philadelphia, two of the highest paid actually had higher-than-expected death rates. now, we know we have to adjust for risk, and we know that very often the most difficult cases end up at the hospitals that have the greatest capacity. but i think we could do a better job in actually figuring out what we should be paying for -- work that has also been pioneered here at dartmouth-hitchcock., with the right incentives, we can make a difference. take the example of the marshfield clinic, in wisconsin, where doctors are paid based on the quality of care they provide for common diseases like diabetes and heart disease. they could earn up to 80 percent of the medicare savings that result from their good treatment. preliminary results revealed a 50 percent increase in electronically documented foot exams for diabetes -- and a 29 percent decrease in hospitalization., another excellent example of incentivizing good care with smart reimbursement policies is the bush administration s recent decision to refuse medicare payments for preventable infections, injuries and errors sustained during hospital stays. a sponge accidentally left inside a patient during surgery, a broken arm sustained when a patient is improperly handled. they re known as ""never events,"" because they never should have happened. it s not often that i offer praise for the bush administration, but it is well deserved for this decision., now michigan has had great success with systematic efforts to reduce infection rates in intensive care units. hospitals in that state have reduced blood stream infections related to catheters, as reported in the new england journal of medicine. the hospitals did not use expensive new technology, but followed well-established, ,"	
", well i m here today because i believe it is long past time that this nation had an answer. that s why i m running for president, because i believe america is ready for change. because like you, i remember how we entered the 21st century; filled with hope, ready to seize the promise of a more prosperous nation and a more peaceful world. but like you, i ve seen how in the last six and a half years, we ve done just the opposite. we ve gotten mired in another country s civil war, a war without a military solution. we have failed to invest in our future, in our schools, technology, science and infrastructure. and we re falling behind. costs are rising and wages are lagging. premiums have almost doubled -- up 80, no, up 98% since 2000. and half of all personal bankruptcies in america are caused by medical bills. if there was ever a need for change in america it is now. and if there was ever a moment to do what america does best, to confront the challenges we face, this is it., that s what we ve always done, whether it was teddy roosevelt busting the trusts, or fdr seeking to end elderly poverty, whether it was president truman sending the gis to college and into the middle class, or president johnson ensuring health care for all americans in their golden years and who were poor. when the time for change came, we weren t afraid, we didn t look away, we came together and we made american, stronger, more prosperous, and more fair. we are and have always been a nation of opportunity -- a nation that believes in giving everyone a chance to make the most of their own lives. and of course we believe in responsibility. but when families are struggling, when they don t have the basic necessities that allows them to see these opportunities, we don t leave them to fend for themselves., unfortunately that s exactly what we ve seen in the past six and a half years. instead of an era of opportunity, we ve had a ""you re on your own"" era. so many people, families who can t afford health care, young people who can t afford college, seniors who can t afford to retire, it s like they are invisible to the president, like he s looked right through them. well, i don t think anyone in america should be invisible. i believe every child should have a world class education, every worker should have a job with good wages and good benefits, every american should have a secure retirement. and today, as we strive for a new beginning to the 21st century, i believe everyone, every man, woman and child, should have quality, affordable health care in america. we should do it., we should do it because in this new economy, when people move jobs more than ever before, their health insurance should move with them. we should do it because doctors and nurses, not insurance company employees, should be calling the shots on patient care., we should do it because solving the health care crisis is key to ensuring american competitiveness in the global marketplace. we should do it because in a nation where we split the atom, sent a man to the moon, mapped the human genome, where we have some of the most promising treatments and cures available, hard working people should get the care they need when they re sick., and we should do it because it is the right thing to do. because we can no longer tolerate the injustice of a system that shuts out nearly one in six americans. ultimately this is about who we are as a people and what we stand for. we can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can t take a sick child to the doctor? to someone who can t take the job of his dreams because it doesn t offer health care? to a family filing for bankruptcy or losing their home because their medical bills were just too high?, we are the richest country in the world and we spend right now, more on health care than anyone else in the world. two trillion dollars a year. but we re ranked 31st in life expectancy and 40th in child mortality. each year, 18,000 people die in america because they don t have health care. let me repeat that. here in america, people are dying because they couldn t get the care they needed when they were sick., at the same time, over the past six and a half years, the special interests have had a field day at the expense of the middle class and hard-working families. just look at our prescription drug program. it doesn t allow medicare to use its purchasing power, to negotiate lower drug prices. so every year, billions of dollars go straight from the pockets of families to the profits of drug companies. this is unconscionable, it is intolerable and it is time to put an end to it. it is time for us to come together and to start living up to our own values. to provide quality, affordable health care for every single american. and i intend to be the president who accomplishes that goal finally for our country., now as you may know, i ve been fighting on health care for nearly thirty years. starting as first lady of arkansas, where i headed a task force to improve rural health care. and most memorably of course back in the early 1990s, and i still have the scars to show from that exercise., but i ve also learned some valuable lessons that have shaped how i approach health care reform today. first, i think we have all learned that america needs to provide health insurance for all americans. the last twelve years have shown how left on their own, this crisis and those who contribute to it, and people from all corners of our economy will see our situation deteriorate. a growing number of ceos and union leaders are coming together because they agree that now is the right time to renew the national call for quality, affordable health care., when andy stern, the president of seiu stands with lee scott, the president of wal- mart, and they both demand health care reform that covers everyone, you know we re ready for change., second, i learned that people who are satisfied with their current coverage, want assurances that they can keep it. part of our health care system is the best in the world and we should build on it. part is broken, and we should fix it., the first rule of medicine is do no harm. and we will do no harm to the parts of our system that are working. instead, we will build on them. that means not just expanding coverage, but also cutting costs and improving quality, so that we will have health care for all, and better health care for all. because we need to address the concerns of those who have insurance, as well as those who do not., that s why i started my path to this place here, at broadlawns, with a series of health care speeches. i gave a speech on lowering health care costs which helps everyone in the system. and i gave a speech on improving quality, which also helps everyone., third, i learned how important it is to present a plan that is clear and easy to understand. today s plan is simpler, yet still bold. now i know my republican opponents will try to equate health care for all americans with government run health care. well don t let them fool us again. this is not government run. there will be no new bureaucracy. you can keep the doctors you know and trust. you keep the insurance you have if you like it. but this plan expands personal choice and increases competition to keep costs down., fourth, i learned about how to build the national consensus you need to get health care passed. my plan is the result of discussions with many people: doctors and nurses, hospitals administrators, and lawyers, unions and most importantly, america s families, who are frustrated with the system we have now. i have been asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of listening. having spent six years in the senate, i know that fixing health care will require political will to get the votes we need, and it will take a movement for change, a solid national consensus for reform that can withstand the impact of the special interests. and i will work to build that movement throughout my campaign and as your president. because in the end, change is just a word unless you have the strength and experience to make it happen. these are new times and this is a new plan., and when it comes to health care reform, i believe i have exactly the experience we need to get it done in my first term as president. while i was disappointed by what happened in 1994, i did not give up. i continued to fight. i worked to expand coverage step by step, person by person. i began working to expand and improve health care for children, helping to create the state children s health insurance program. it s known as the hawk-i program here in iowa. that program provides insurance for more than six million low-income children. and i worked to create the, vaccines for children program. today, childhood immunizations are at an all-time high. i worked to ensure that new prescription drugs are tested not just for adults, but for children too. and i wrote legislation in the senate to get that accomplished, because children should have access to the best and safest treatment and cures available. i also worked as first lady to ensure that breast and cervical cancer treatment would be covered by medicaid. and i helped to establish the commission that recognized gulf war illness as the serious problem it is for our vets who served in the first gulf war, and we began to address it., in the senate i ve worked to expand health care to our men and women in uniform. believe it or not, many of our national guard and reserve members, the men and women who have been called to fight in iraq and afghanistan did not have health insurance for themselves or their families when they were activating. i m proud of the legislation i passed to address that glaring problem. i ve been fighting more generally to improve health care for veterans because it is outrageous that so many service members are returning home and being told to take a number and wait in line for the health care they need. and i will pass what s called the heroes at home legislation that helps those affected by traumatic brain injury and supports their families. i m fighting to improve care for our seniors, to lower prescription drug costs by empowering medicare to negotiate with drug companies and by allowing imports of our drugs from canada at lower prices. and finally, following the horrific attacks of 9/11, i fought the epa and the bush administration when they claimed that the air at ground zero was safe -- safe for our first responders and emergency workers; safe for our construction and building trade workers; safe for our residents and our volunteers. it wasn t. so i fought for health care for all of the first responders, the workers, the volunteers and residents who have gotten sick and some have even died. and i will keep fighting to protect them until they have the care they need., i know that reforming health care takes a consensus for change. that s what i ve been doing -- building that consensus vote by vote, working to bring people together, to get my colleagues from across the aisle to join our cause. unfortunately back in 1993 and  94 too many of our opponents adopted a strategy that allowed them to ""just say no."" they said no, not just to our health care plan, but any health care plan. and the current administration hasn t even tried. in fact, the president s most newsworthy contribution on health care was his recent threat to veto coverage for low-income children., well, today americans are impatient. we ve seen that doing nothing makes the problem worse. we ve gone from 39 million uninsured in 1994 to 47 million today. from spending 14% of our gross domestic product for health care to spending 16%. and now we are spending 50% more per person than the next highest spending country in the world, switzerland, which has high quality and good outcomes for the people there. so today we are spending more money and covering fewer people and too many of our families are paying the price. we know we have to act. and so the question is, if union leaders and employers can come together, that the mayo clinic has just done an extensive survey including 400 experts coming to a report urging that we have health care reform, if democratic and republican governors and legislatures can work together on health care, if doctors, nurses, patients, hospital administrators, ceos, small business owners can all agree that it is time for a change, then why can t washington?, i believe that together we can change washington by sticking to our principles and reaching out to find common ground. america faces a choice: continue the status quo as more and more people lose coverage or change our system to cover all of our people. i believe that is america s choice, to do something about health care -- america s choice to tackle problems of cost, quality, and coverage. it should be every american s choice to have the kind of health care that they want. that choice is at the heart of my plan., i call my plan, the american health choices plan. this plan is the result of a thorough analysis of the nature and extent of the health care crisis, starting with the reality that roughly eight in ten of the uninsured, those who come through the doors of this medical center, come from working families, most are middle class. and families earning between $25,000 and $75,000 dollars a year are the fasted growing group of, the uninsured. we all know that younger adults, ages 25-34 and older adults, ages 45-64, are the most susceptible to losing insurance coverage, indicating that it s hard to obtain coverage when you first start out in the world of work and harder to maintain it as you age and experience health problems. finally, employer sponsored health insurance is on the decline. in 2007, 60% of employers offered health benefits, down from 69% six years ago. this is at a time when people are changing jobs more frequently than ever before. many americans are now self-employed, running businesses out of their homes and they struggle to buy health insurance. my plan takes all of these realities into account and addresses them head on. and this plan isn t just my plan. it s the product of hundreds of discussions with thousands of people in hospitals, and union halls, homes and businesses across america and going forward in this campaign and then as president, i m going to keep reaching out, asking for ideas, not just in improving and enacting the plan, but in the daily work to make it a reality., now here s how this plan would work. if you have private insurance you like, nothing changes -- you can keep that insurance. if you like the doctor you have, you can keep seeing that doctor. if you like the hospital where you receive care, you can keep receiving care at that hospital. if, however, you don t have health insurance or you don t like the insurance you have, you can choose from the same wide variety of private plans that members of congress choose from. i m calling it a health choices menu. so essentially the congressional health care plan becomes the american health care plan. the idea here is simple. the american people should have access to the same array of health care choices and benefits as the senators and representatives they elect., you will also have as one of those choices a public plan, just like medicare is a public plan. you will have access to a public plan that will provide a stable, competitive alternative to private insurance if that is your choice. my plan does not create a single new government department, agency, or bureaucracy. it is not a government takeover of health care. it is a public-private partnership that provides more choices., if you re an employer, you choose whichever plan is best for your business. if you re an individual, you choose whichever plan is best for you and your family and we will provide tax credit to ensure that you can pay for it. now whether you keep the insurance you have, or you choose one of the options in the health choices menu, you will have the following guaranteed:, first, you will never be denied coverage because of preexisting conditions or risk factors. insurance companies will no longer be allowed to discriminate against high risk patients or charge exorbitant premiums to screen them out. so whether you were sick in the past or a genetic test shows you may get sick in the future, you will never again have to worry about finding affordable coverage., second, your coverage will be guaranteed. if you pay your premiums and follow the rules your insurance company will be required to renew your coverage each year at a price you can afford, even if you lose your job, even if you decide to start your own business or stay home with your children for a few years., third, your coverage will be affordable. my plan provides tax credits to make health care both universal and affordable for everyone. these new tax credits guarantee that you ll never pay more than a certain percentage of your income for your premium. no more worrying that one illness or one accident will lead to financial ruin., fourth, you will always have an option for coverage that is fully affordable. i will require insurance companies in the health choices menu to let you take your plan with you as you move from job to job or even state to state. now exactly, how will all of this be possible?, well it s going to take shared responsibility. everyone with a stake in our health care system will have to step forward and do their part. while i will be requiring all americans to have health care, i will be calling on employers to do their part as well. today, large american companies compete in a global economy against companies in countries that impose far lower health care burdens on employers and many of our manufacturers are struggling to pay for retiree health commitments that our foreign, competitors simply don t have. under my plan, large companies will be required to help pay for their employees  health care. those that do so can simply maintain their current policy that they choose. those that don t, will need to contribute towards the cost of covering their employees on a sliding scale based on their size and average wages., my plan also helps american manufacturers become more competitive by providing a tax credit for those struggling with the high cost of retiree health benefits. these costs are making it virtually impossible for american manufacturers to compete with their foreign counterparts, who don t have these kinds of costs. how can we possibly compete if a car company like general motors pays $1,635 in health care cost per car produced while toyota is only paying $215 per car? and think about the retirees who rely on these benefits today. people have accepted lower wages over the years in return for the promise of a secure retirement. the tax credit i provide will help employers cover catastrophic costs above a certain threshold -- costs incurred by a few retirees with the most of your health problems, costs that can run hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single person. this relief will be a temporary measure designed to address the needs of the aging baby boomers and it will be available not just to qualifying private sector manufacturers but to states to help pay retiree costs for teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and others., in return for this assistance, companies will have to modernize their plans with initiatives to cut waste and improve quality -- and they will have to show that they re using the tax credits to enhance their competitiveness and support their workers. we also know that health care costs are plaguing too many of our small businesses. that s a serious problem, because small businesses are now the engine of job creation in america. according to the federal reserve, since 1990, companies with fewer than 20 employees were responsible for 80% of the additional new jobs in america -- jobs that often cannot be outsourced. but at the same time, small businesses face higher premiums because of their limited purchasing power, and they tend to employ lower-income workers. as a result, they cover far fewer of their employees. and that coverage is eroding. since 2000, the percentage of small businesses offering benefits has fallen from 57 percent to 45 percent., now, under my plan, we won t require small businesses to cover employees. instead we will provide tax credits to ensure that many of them do. these tax credits will be based on size and average wages, so that small businesses can provide health care without destroying their bottom line. this credit could be as high as 50% of premiums for firms with fewer than 25 employees. it s a good start that small businesses are leading the way in creating new jobs. my goal is for them to create new jobs with good health care benefits as well., government also needs to do its part to promote shared responsibility. under my plan, the government will provide tax-credits to insure that every single american can afford health insurance. the government will also invest in measures to improve health care quality and cut costs. this will result in dramatic savings which i will use to continue to make health care affordable. i outlined my cost-saving measures in a speech back in may. i proposed a seven-point plan to save $120 billion nationally each year by bringing our health care system into the twenty-first century: by transitioning from outdated paper records to an electronic medical records system; by getting our chronic disease management costs under control; by allowing companies to compete for medicare s prescription drug business, and more., last month in new hampshire, i laid out my agenda to improve health care quality: a plan to raise standards, educate patients and help our doctors and nurses provide world-class care. taken together these policies could save hundreds of dollars a year for the average american family, and make americans healthier., individuals will have to share the responsibility as well. much like drivers in most states are required to purchase car insurance, all americans will have a responsibility to get and keep health insurance in a system where insurance will now be affordable. the sad reality is that the uninsured don t just struggle with costs themselves, they impose costs on the rest of us. it s a hidden tax. the high cost of emergency room visits that could have been prevented by a much less expensive doctor s appointment,, the cost of unpaid medical bills that lead insurance companies to raise rates on the rest of us. covering these individuals is the only way to get rid of these hidden taxes. the only way to guarantee affordable coverage for everyone is to cover everyone, and that is the choice we need for america., finally, i ll call on drug companies and insurance companies to do their part as well. it is time that we put patients, not drug companies and insurance companies, first. that means changing the way they do business. now clearly with drug companies we have to do more to get generic drugs to market, including the new biologics that are, coming into the marketplace and are often extremely expensive. we do have to provide more negotiation to get drug prices down and to import from canada and other countries that are similar to ours. because ultimately, the american tax payer pays for the development of a lot of these drugs through nih grants and other kinds of research grants; we pay for the clinical trials, and then we pay the highest prices in the world. and we re going to begin to rein that in., it also means changing the way insurance companies do business in america. i will start by banning insurance company discrimination. right now, insurance companies have free reign to cherry pick the healthiest patients and shut out anyone who seems to them like a bad risk. insurance companies spend $50 billion a year on elaborate calculations and schemes to figure out how not to insure people. $50 billion trying to shut out those who need care the most. and everyday they deny people coverage because of pre-existing conditions or the result of genetic testing. think about what this might mean down the road with advances in genetic testing. the vast majority of us could wind up being bad risks because genetically most of us will probably show we are susceptible to something and therefore we will become uninsurable., so one of the urgencies behind this plan now is that the insurance industry as it has been constructed and executed over decades now will no longer be able to take care of increasing numbers of americans if they stick with the policy that eliminates our fellow citizens. this legalized discrimination against the sickest of americans is unfair and immoral and it defeats one of the central purposes of insurance, which is to share risk., my plan puts an end to this. it forces insurance companies to compete based on cost and quality, not how skillfully they can weed out the sickest patients. my plan also has a prevention initiative, requiring the insurance industry and public programs like medicare and medicaid to promote wellness as well as treat illness and provide every american with comprehensive preventive care., today we pay doctors and hospitals to treat diseases and injuries but not to prevent them from occurring in the first place. in fact, we ve made it increasingly difficult for doctors to do that because of the way insurance companies reimburse physicians. diabetes care is a perfect example. many insurance companies won t pay for a diabetic to see a nutritionist to learn how to eat properly or a podiatrist to get their feet checked, but if you wind up having to have your foot amputated from complications due to diabetes, the insurance company will pay for that. and if you ask why, the insurance company will tell you, they don t want to pay for preventive health care because the patient might switch to a different company and they will lose the benefit of the investment in prevention. but if a patient needs his foot amputated, the reason he goes, the insurance company is pretty much stuck with that on their watch. now that is upside down and backwards and i m going to change it because i think it s time we focused on keeping people healthy, not just on treating them when they become sick., now i know that these proposals will not make me the insurance industry woman of the year. but i don t think i ve been in the running for that title since 1993. at the same time, i truly believe there are plenty of people in the insurance industry who wish their companies did not make a profit by excluding the woman who discovers she s genetically predisposed towards getting breast cancer, or by burdening the family whose child has autism with unmanageable premiums., the idea is not to put the health insurance industry out of business, but to help it find a better way to make a living. under my plan, insurance company employees will, have a whole new set of incentives. they will wake up everyday and focus on making profits by providing the highest quality care at the lowest cost and they ll never again be torn between turning a profit and improving the health care of individuals who make sure of communities and our country., now, how will i pay for this plan? first let me tell you how i will not pay for it. i won t pay for it by pouring money into a broken system. i won t pay for it by raising taxes on middle class families who are already struggling with rising costs and stagnant wages. instead, i ll pay for part of it by implementing the cost saving measures i outlined in may. and i will pay for some of it by rolling back part of president bush s fiscally irresponsible tax breaks for the highest income americans., and i ll pay for some of it by limiting the tax breaks for people making over $250,000 a year to the same level that ordinary, middle class americans get. right now, the highest income americans get some of the most generous health care benefits and the most generous tax deductions to go with them. well-off americans should be able to deduct the cost of the same quality health plan that middle-income families can deduct. if they want to receive extra benefits beyond what most middle income families get, they should pay for it themselves, not have tax payers foot the bill for them., announcing my plan today is just one step in a larger process. in the coming months, i will continue to reach out to people all across america and ask for their ideas and their reactions. because, to truly reform health care in america, we need more than a plan. we need a movement -- a movement of people determined to change the system who will not rest until we succeed. lisa scott from greenville, iowa, whom i met back in may, is one of those people., six years ago, lisa s daughter, janelle, began having chest pains and black outs. she was sick for almost a year. janelle requested a chest x-ray, but she never received it, because while she was working two jobs, she didn t have health insurance, and she couldn t afford to pay for it out of her own pocket,, one week after being denied the chest x-ray, at the age of 18, janelle died. her death certificate listed the cause of death as unknown, because janelle was never able to afford a proper diagnosis, a diagnosis that with care might have saved her life., it s too late to help her daughter, but lisa scott hasn t stopped speaking out and calling on us to come together and fix our health care system. she is determined to help other families, to spare them the loss and pain that her family felt., now that is who we are at our best. we are a nation where people help those they ve never even met. where we do understand we are all in this together, that when a child is sick and can t see a doctor, the family loses everything because someone had an accident, when a mother or a father lies awake at night worrying about how they possibly care for the people they love. that diminishes all of us. now after 1994, when people asked me if i was going to give up on health care reform, i always had the same answer. why would i give up on america and the american people? for so many years i have listened to their stories. i carry these stories with me everyday., and perhaps more than anyone else, i know just how hard this fight will be. but that is why i m running for president, because i m ready with you to help write a new story. the story about how we finally put aside our differences to face up to one of our greatest challenges. the story of how people of good faith and good will came together and worked out a solution because they cared too much about our country and their fellow citizens to let this crisis continue., the story of how everyone took responsibility, we all did our part, and we became a healthier, stronger, more prosperous nation because of it. we owe that to the rose family. we owe that to the memory of janelle and to her family. we owe that to every family in america. today, we have an opportunity to make history together. as president, i will seize that opportunity and i hope all of you will join me., thank you and god bless you., ,"	
", i told her "" you tell those children and particularly that hillary, who doesn t really like math that much, that her country needs her."", in 1961, president kennedy created the apollo project, and declared that our nation would land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth by the end of the decade. by 1969 we had done it. by 1972, we had done it 12 times over. it was a national, bipartisan effort. it was a public, private partnership. we bolstered investment in research -- and encouraged children to learn math and science. we asked young people to become scientists and engineers -- and helped them pay for their degrees with new national science foundation fellowships. we believed that we could, by rolling up our sleeves and getting to work, do what we all knew we had to. begin to demonstrate that america still was the leader in science and innovation. we set big goals. we didn t give in to our fears, we confronted them. we didn t deny tough facts, we responded to them. we didn t ignore big challenges, we met them. once again, we proved, as president eisenhower had predicted, that when the chips are down it is always a mistake to bet against america., fifty years ago, sputnik marked the dawn of the space age and the beginning of a new era filled with new challenges. fifty years later, there is no single, galvanizing event to steel our resolve and to lift our eyes to the heavens. the challenges we face are more complex and interconnected. from the rise of globalization to the threat of global warming. these challenges require big ideas and bold thinking., but instead of fostering a climate of discovery and innovation, the bush administration has declared war on science. the record is breathtaking: banning the most promising kinds of stem cell research, allowing political appointees to censor studies on climate change, muzzling global warming experts like dr. james hansen, overruling doctors and the fda on emergency contraception, suppressing and manipulating data on mercury pollution, even delaying one report which found that 8 percent of women between 16 and 49 years of age have mercury levels in their blood that could harm future children, denying the risks of toxins like asbestos in the air after the 9/11 attacks, overruling scientists who sought to protect animals under the endangered species act, eliminating scientific committees at the department of health and human services that did not parrot the politically accepted ideology -- or packing those committees with industry insiders, altering scientific tests on the lead content of children s lunch boxes -- and appointing a lead industry consultant to a key panel formed by the centers for disease control, barring a usda researcher from publishing or even discussing his work on antibiotic resistant bacteria, censoring government websites on breast cancer research, contraception, climate change, and so much else., to paraphrase stephen colbert, this administration doesn t make decisions on facts. it makes facts based on decisions. and to further paraphrase - my predecessor, the extraordinary late senator daniel patrick moynahan, everyone is entitled to his own opinion but no one is entitled to his own facts. for six and half years under president bush, it has been open season on open inquiry. they ve tried to turn washington into an evidence-free zone. and by ignoring or manipulating science, the bush administration is putting our future at risk and letting our economic competitors get an edge in the global economy. well, when i am president, i will end this assault on science. , i will reaffirm our commitment to basic research, invest in clean energy, combat global warming, create the millions of jobs that i think come from doing both of those, reemphasize math and science education, and ensure that america is training the future innovators of our country. america will once again be the innovation nation., what america achieved after sputnik is a symbol of what americans can do now as we confront a new global economy, new environmental challenges, and the promise of new discoveries in medicine. america led in the 20th century, and we saw the benefits of that. as richard referenced, probably half of our gross domestic product increase since the end of world war ii can be traced to investments in science and research in both the public and the private sector, of course fueled by non profit organizations like the carnegie institution. with a renewed commitment to scientific, integrity and innovation, i know we can lead in the 21st century., first, when i am president, i will lift the current ban on ethical stem cell research. in 2001, president bush issued an executive order banning federal funding for some of the most promising avenues of stem cell research. and this year - - yet again -- he vetoed legislation to open up new lines of embryonic stem cells for federal funding. every day, we are learning more about the opportunities this kind of research offers. within these cells may lie the cures for parkinson s disease, alzheimer s, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, huntington s and more. 100 million americans live with these conditions -- and their families live with them too. the president s ban on stem cell funding amounts to a ban on hope. it s as if these families are invisible to their president. meanwhile, our scientists and world class research institutions are hamstrung. one report found that researchers have had to set up duplicate systems and equipment to keep federally approved stem cell research efforts separate from the kind that the president has banned by executive order. in one lab, researchers use one kind of pen for federally funded research, and another for privately funded research., one stem cell scientist at university of california at san francisco was conducting research when the power went out -- including the power to the freezers that held the stem cells on which she has spent two years working. there was no back up power and the only freezers cold enough were federally funded. the result? two years of research literally melting away. states have tried to pick up the slack, as have private individuals. but because states and private institutions are prohibited from doing this research in labs funded by federal dollars, even a penny of federal money disqualifies the labs. they ve been forced to build new labs and buy new equipment. so instead of forging ahead on the science, we have spent money on redundancy and duplication. so far they ve only been able to spend 15 percent of their funding on actual research. and some of our brightest minds are forced to head overseas to do their research., two renowned cancer researchers, for example, a husband and wife team, decided to leave the national cancer institute right here in our country for the institute of molecular and cell biology in singapore. one half of the pair said this: ""we wanted to be in a place where they are excited by science and things are moving upward."" that should be america -- and it can be again. but today, countries from singapore to the united kingdom are filling the biotech gap that the president has created. one report recently found that the percentage of research papers on embryonic stem cell science authored by researchers in the united states has dropped from more than a third of all published to roughly one quarter in just three years. and that negative trend may continue., when i m president, therefore, one of my first acts will be to lift the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. but we have to go much further than that if we expect to restore scientific integrity., secondly, i will end the politicization of scientific research that has marked the bush administration and restore a climate of scientific integrity and innovation. we will no longer place ideology ahead of evidence. i ll reverse president bush s recent directive which expands the power of political appointees in agencies and reduces the role of experts. i ll stop political appointees from manipulating scientific conclusions in government publications and prevent the suppression of public statements by government scientists. we ll commit to a national assessment on climate change that goes above and beyond any requirement in the law. and i ll demand that all agencies prevent political pressure from affecting scientific research and the free and open exchange of ideas., as part of this effort, i will restore the integrity and independence of advisory committees and strengthen whistleblower protections for those who expose potential political interference. when i m president, scientific integrity will not be the exception -- it will be the rule. that s why i ve been fighting for these issues in the senate. one particular battle that i led involved emergency contraception, known as plan b, which can prevent unintended pregnancies. two fda commissioners -- both appointed by president bush -- blocked plan b from being sold over-the-counter for years, overruling the fda s medical experts, advisors, and the recommendation of the, american medical association. and so, teaming up with senator patty murray, we blocked two successive bush appointees for a new fda commissioner until science not politics was allowed to guide decision making. i made it very clear i was not in any way dictating, suggesting, expecting any particular outcome, but i did not want the fda politicized to achieve an outcome that was not based on the best that science and evidence had to offer. it should not take an act of congress or an act of a senator to get the president to listen to health experts on a matter of women s, health., i will also have an advisor for science in the white house who reports directly to the president. and i will work to restore the office of technology assessment in congress. back in the 1990s, this office was charged with just one task: tell us the truth about science. for decades, they cut through the myths and the spin on, everything from star wars to aids prevention to solar technology. it s time we put them back in business. third, when i m president, we will again invest in research. that s a key to creating the jobs of the future, rebuilding the middle class, and meeting the challenges of the global economy. here too, however, we re falling behind. over the past twelve years, american investment in research and development has remained relatively static. china has doubled the share of its national wealth invested in r&d. the education pipeline, the source of future innovators, reveals the same trend. between 1970 and 2000, america s global share of phds in science and engineering declined from 40 percent to 20 percent. the rate is expected to drop to 15 percent in the next 3 years., at the same time, under the bush administration, spending on basic and applied research has declined in real terms four years in a row. darpa -- where basic research led to the precursors of the internet, the computer mouse, stealth technology, and so much more -- is putting less and less of its resources into trul revolutionary, ground-breaking research., i ve become troubled by this because, of course, we have very specific issues we have to address. the search for some technology to disable these horrific explosive devices that cause so much damage for our young men and women in uniform and innocent iraqis and people in afghanistan is a very important project but i think we can do both. we can do the more applied, specific research to try to solve a problem and we can continue to fund the more visionary research that we don t know where it will lead, but who knows, the next internet may come out of it. the private sector devotes only 5 percent of all its resources to basic research. and that is a change from 50 years ago and the years after that. some of the great research breakthroughs came through private labs like bell labs and others and we have not only cut back on government funding but because of the pressures of the global market place, the pressures for quarterly returns, we have seen a cutback in research in the private sector as well., the nih budget was doubled between 1998 and 2003 and universities and researchers had high hopes for continued funding. in the years since, the rug has been pulled out from under them. the president s budget for 2008 actually cut funding for several departments. the consequences of unpredictable and declining resources are halted construction on new laboratories, fewer grants, uncertainty in current projects, and less support for the creative ideas of younger researchers. nobel prize winning biochemist roger kornberg recently said, ""in the present climate especially, the funding decisions are ultraconservative. if the work that you propose to do isn t virtually certain of success, then it won t be funded. and of course, the kind of work that we would most like to see take place, which is groundbreaking and innovative, lies at the other extreme."", i visited memorial sloane kettering about a year and half ago to meet with dr. harold e. varmus another nobel prize winner who led nih with such distinction and his top staff. and at that time he very clearly said that the way that the grants and now being issued by the nih means that it s less and less likely that young researchers like he was when he did the work that eventually won him the nobel prize, could be funded. and since that time i ve heard this across the country. i will increase support for basic and applied research by increasing the research budgets at the national science foundation, the department of energy s office of science, and the department of, defense. we ll significantly increase funding over 10 years, with a greater emphasis on high-risk, high-return investments. that combined with the increases again in the nih to kick start our innovative engine., we ll invest more in multidisciplinary research, where the united states has a built-in advantage. no one commands the breadth and depth of excellence across different fields that we do. for instance, we should increase investments in non-health applications of bio-technology. one example: bacteria that could dramatically reduce the costs of cleaning up superfund sites. i recently saw craig venter, who many of you know of or know, and his latest project is trying to create bacteria that will lead to a substitute for petroleum. well, we don t know where this research will lead. that s the whole point and the excitement is letting loose our best minds., the failure to modernize our health care system is also holding back research. i have proposed creating a health information technology infrastructure as part of my health care plan, the american health choices plan. i think we can lower costs for everyone, and improve quality for everyone, and cover everyone. a health information, technology infrastructure is estimated by the rand corporation to save us seventy- seven billion dollars a year. it will prevent errors, it will stop waste, it will cut costs, and it will save lives because it will create billions of new digital data points from which we can glean new observations., i ve also called for competitive prizes to encourage innovation. back in 1957, president eisenhower, when he met with his scientific advisory committee again, wondered if there were a way to keep people as excited about science as they were about sports and competition. and this was back when reality entertainment meant playing in the neighborhood park. why not encourage people to innovate through healthy competition?, we ve also seen a decline in american leadership in space exploration and science. a recent survey by the national academy of sciences found that ""the nation s earth observation satellite programs, once the envy of the world, are in disarray."" the national oceanic and atmospheric administration has been forced to delay the launch of important climate and weather-monitoring satellites. these technologies are critical tools to study climate change: measuring the rates of melting ice, temperature and humidity changes, sea level variations. meanwhile, nasa s budget for earth sciences has been cut by 30 percent and nasa climate scientists have been muzzled. last year, the bush administration went so far as to remove the following phrase, and i quote, ""to understand and protect the home planet,"" end quote, from nasa s mission statement. it s no wonder, the bush administration has shown little interest in the earth sciences mission of nasa -- and a hostile approach toward the study of climate change., as president, part of my mission will be to reclaim our role as the innovation leader. i will pursue an ambitious agenda in space exploration and earth sciences. i ll fully fund nasa s earth sciences program, launch a new, comprehensive space-based study of climate change, and reverse the deep funding cuts that nasa s and faa s aeronautics research and development budgets have endured in the last few years., you know, this is personal for me because when i was in junior high school, i was just captivated by the space program. it caught my imagination. there was such a great burst of interest. i did my 8th grade science project on space medicine. some of you know that i even wrote to nasa asking how i could apply to be an astronaut and got back an answer saying that they weren t taking women. i have lived long enough to see that change! , but that great burst of activity led to so many people who are the phds, who are the scientific leaders, who have made such a difference to our public life and our private sector. a lot of them are reaching retirement age. they came into school in the 60 s and the 70 s motivated by this desire to innovate and in our government we re not, finding the replacement for a lot of people. i know that at the nuclear regulatory commission the workforce issue going forward is a very big one. so this is not just about let s have more scientists. this is how we run our economy and how our government retains or should i say regains competence to do what it needs to do for, all of us. i think that we ve got to make science research, technology, mathematics a career in those fields, exciting again., i think it s possible to do that and i think the president, even a president who doesn t know very much herself can ignite that interest with other people who are playing the lead roles in demonstrating what it means for us to be the leaders again. we really need a television series about scientists, you know, the study of forensic science skyrocketed after all these csi programs, so i d like all of the scientists in this auditorium to start thinking. make up a character that can light the same excitement in young people because lightbulb moments require electricity and we ve got to look at this challenge comprehensively., we still have a problem in women and minorities to enter science and engineering. and let s do a better job of replicating educational excellence in math and science from school to school. congress recently passed into law the america competes act which contains two of my proposals. one would study promising practices in math and science education. we have to quit reinventing the wheel -- if something works in a school, especially where children come from disadvantaged backgrounds, to light their faces up, get them involved, let s replicate it. let s work to do what we can to make sure that something happening in new york or los angeles is followed in houston or miami. , and i think that one way we can help this is to create new fellowships at the national science foundation to allow math and science professionals to become teachers in high-need schools. a lot of people who as they are retiring or are mid-career are looking for some way to keep giving and they face the array of difficulties and obstacles to becoming teachers and i think we have to break through that barrier and give more people a chance to share their enthusiasm, their life s work with our young people., i ve also proposed tripling the number of national science foundation fellowships and increasing the size of each award. nsf fellowships were created in response to the space race. in the decades since, the number of grants has remained largely unchanged despite a three-fold increase from that time until now in the number of college students graduating with science and engineering degrees. we also, as we move toward comprehensive immigration reform have to once again open our colleges and universities to students from abroad who wish to study here and then hopefully stay here as part of the american innovation agenda. what is happening now is we re not accepting them and if we do accept them, we re not allowing them to stay and work. so we need to get the best minds from the world once again coming to america., fifth, we need an apollo-like effort in clean, renewable energy. last week, the president gave a speech in which he decided to address global warming -- seven years into his presidency. and what he found, unfortunately, is that the rest of the world has passed him by. he spoke of aspirational goals to reduce green house gas emissions while people around the world including right here in america actually aspire to tackle the problem., for nearly seven years, the administration has dodged, denied, and dissembled on climate change. scientists muzzled. reports censored. according to a survey of the union of concerned scientists from last year, nearly three quarters of climate scientists felt inappropriate interference with their research was going on. one particularly egregious example is that of philip a. cooney, the former chief of staff at the white house council on environmental quality. a lawyer previously employed by the american petroleum institute, he had no scientific background. nonetheless, he insisted on editing scientific documents on climate change to cast doubt and greater uncertainty than the experts felt warranted., meanwhile, the evidence has mounted. i traveled to the alaskan arctic as well as to the european arctic with senator mccain on two occasions over the last several years. we found ourselves in the northernmost inhabited place on earth, the island of svalbard, in norway. we met with scientists who d been studying the arctic and we listened to what they had to say. they are seeing first hand the impact of changing, climates -- from invasive species to shifting weather patterns to melting polar ice. and then at point barrow in our most northern part of america in alaska, we heard from the scientists who have been studying climate change there for 30 years. as the evidence mounts -- other countries are mounting a lead in the race to develop the next generation of energy technologies. nations in europe and elsewhere are working to meet the standards set by kyoto and to create jobs in the process., germany, for example, has made major commitments to renewable energy, recently upping their targets to produce more than one quarter of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. their approach has already paid dividends. in the last two years, employment in the german renewables sector rose by 50 percent to 235,000 jobs. they expect to create more than 400,000 jobs in renewables by 2020. as a german official recently told congress, ""solar power installations and wind turbines made in germany are an export hit all over the world."", i believe america can retake the lead. energy dependence and climate change represent the greatest innovation challenge and opportunity that americans have faced in a generation -- we can create millions of green collar jobs. i have proposed a $50 billion strategic energy fund, paid for in part by closing the tax subsidies and loopholes for the oil companies., it is almost impossible to imagine but you and i and all the taxpayers in america are still subsidizing companies that have made the largest profits in the history of the world. and that no longer makes sense, and we ve got to move now to take our resources and put them where we create a new market. it might have made sense when oil was ten dollars a barrel because it s expensive to explore, it s expensive to extract, but that no longer is needed. if we have smart legislative policy, we would have triggers on a lot of this. if the price of oil ever did fall again dramatically, and we did have to provide incentives, we could do so. but now what we are missing by failing to provide incentives for solar and wind and geothermal and hydrogen and bio-fuels and the whole array of renewable resources means that we are falling further and further behind., the fund i have proposed would invest in technologies available right now to promote conservation, combat global warming, and end our dependence on foreign oil. it also funds an energy initiative modeled on darpa, the energy advanced research projects agency to bring together the best minds in the public and the private sectors to think outside the box -- and the tank -- to imagine new solutions. winning the 21st century energy race is as important and potentially profitable as winning the 20th century space race. we can do this. , the strategic energy fund is only the beginning. in the coming weeks, i will outline in more detail my plans as president to move toward energy independence. instead of leading the world in oil imports, we can lead in green technology exports. the country that split the atom can end our dependence on foreign oil and launch an energy revolution. we can call it energy 2.0 because we ve got everything it takes except we have not organized ourselves to make it happen., when science is politicized, when the truth is subjugated by ideology, it s worse than wrong -- it s dangerous. ending the war on science and once again valuing the ever- skeptical but always hopeful scientific enterprise is about more than our economy. it s about more than our security. it is about our democracy., vannevar bush, no relation, among his many accomplishments as an advisor to presidents beginning with franklin delano roosevelt, as a pioneering scientist, as a leader who helped shape decades of science policy for our nation, also served as president of this institution. he authored a report at the close of world war ii, requested by president roosevelt but delivered to president truman. in that report, dr. bush laid out his vision for the future of scientific progress in america proposing, for example, the national science foundation. he described science as the ""endless frontier."" what could be more american that?, i was heartened to learn that after sputnik went up sales of telescopes and binoculars shot up as well. actually in my house, my father went out and bought some binoculars, so we could be on the lookout for sputnik. and my memory of that, of,"	
#VALUE!	
", there for their employer., and our government s policies have just not kept up with the new realities of american life. the traditional family -- the way i was raised- with one breadwinner and one homemaker -- is now the exception rather than the rule. today, 70 percent of families with children are headed by two working parents or by an unmarried working parent., and the economy is changing as well. over the past six years, americans are actually working harder than ever before. and if you look at the surveys, americans work harder than anybody else in the world. and yet family incomes have dropped by nearly $1,000. for all that hard work it s not paying off in material terms to help buy a little more faith and maybe a little more help in dealing with these obligations. at the same time, health care premiums have nearly doubled, college costs are up 40%, and gas prices have more than doubled., highly skilled workers are working more hours than ever, and lower-skilled workers often need to take an extra job just to get by. as a result, american parents have twenty-two fewer hours a week to spend with their kids than they did back in 1969. and 67, two-thirds percent, two-thirds of all of working parents say they do not have enough time with their children., now, the family and medical leave act has been a significant step forward in the struggle to balance work and family. 50 million americans have benefitted from this act, which guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth of a child, to care for a sick relative, or to tend to a personal medical problem., however, family and leave only covers those who work for businesses with 50 employees or more, and the leave is unpaid. now, i ve had countless people come up to thank me and thank my husband for family and medical leave but a lot of people don t know about it or can t afford to take it. so it s been a tremendous help, but it leaves so many americans out. but too few of those who are eligible, even for unpaid leave, can take advantage of it. i m particularly worried about those critical days and weeks that really are important for bonding between new parents and their own children when they re forced to go back to work. three out of four workers who report that they needed leave, but didn t take it, cited lost wages as the principal reason., you know, the sad fact is that our country is only one of a handful of countries that don t guarantee a legal right to paid maternity leave. and in the us only 7 percent of men have access to paid paternity leave, and less than 20 percent of women with a high school degree receive paid maternity leave. now, for professional women, the story is somewhat better. access to paid leave has steadily risen -- from 14 percent in the 1960s to 63 percent in the 1990s. i remember when i was pregnant i was working as a lawyer. the firm had never had a pregnant lawyer. and i just kept ignoring i was pregnant and the lawyers just kept sort of walking down the hall looking away and nobody would talk about it because i didn t know what i was supposed to say and they certainly didn t know what they were supposed to say. and so chelsea came early and i was actually ending a trial and thinking ""gosh now i ll have three weeks, maybe a month to get ready."" and she must have had a different time table. so the morning after she was born i m in the hospital and one of the partners in the law firm calls me up and says ""well, i heard you had a baby."" and i said ""yeah that s what usually happens when you re pregnant."" and he said ""well; want me to pick you up on the way to work?"" i took that as a joke. i said, ""well no,"" and he said, ""what are you going to do?"" i said, ""no no no, let me think about this."", so you know, i was able to take time off, and i relished that time. i don t know what i would have done without it. because as i once told chelsea late one night, she was crying inconsolably, i said, ""chelsea you ve never done a baby before, i m never done a mother before, we re just going to have to work to figure this out."" and we had the time to do that, but a lot of young mothers don t. and i think that s bad for them, i think it s bad for their babies, and i think that s bad for all of us. because you don t get that good beginning that really the foundation to so much more that is going to lead to success., so i think we ve got to take a hard look, not only though at what happens with trying, to care for children, but now increasingly for aging parents. you know, we have nearl half of our workers who work in the private sector, 57 million workers altogether in our country who have no sick days at all., and that means that it s really hard when you re responsible for an aging parent who has to get to the doctor. when there may be a parent who may live far from where you re living now, and you need time to go to make sure that he or she is okay. we have a lot of figures that show how much productivity we re losing in the economy because we re not figuring out a way to help family members do what we want them to do, which is care for each other. a flexible schedule would give caregivers an enormous amount of help. i think we should look for ways to do that., and certainly a lot of women who are employed with children, more than 60% would prefer to work part time, but that s not in the cards, because it s hard to manage that and it often doesn t pay enough to make it work for them. so i think that part of what we have to do is get real about what s happening with families today., i want to make it easer for people both to work and to fulfill their most important responsibilities. it s as though a lot of people in our society just feel like they re struggling all by themselves, and i think it s time we brought this conversation out into the open., you know, if you re a worker who gets sick but doesn t have sick days, well you are invisible. and if you re a single mom who can t afford childcare then you re invisible too. and if you re a parent who can t take time off to take your child to the doctor or to care for your aging parents, well, then you re invisible., and if you re a new mom, that wants to spend those critical early weeks bonding with their child, whether it s your birth child or an adopted child, and your fortunes turn to work, well you feel pretty invisible as well., middle class americans may be invisible to george bush. but they re not going to be invisible to me. and when we take back the white house they will no longer be invisible to the president of the untied states. it s time for a new administration that actually cares about the middle class. it s time for change of course in this country. we have to change our economic course, we have to change our course in iraq, and change course when it comes to health care., the bush economy has be3en a trap door economy. too many families are just one diagnosis, one pink slip, one missed mortgage payment away from falling through. it s time once again to say, that america is only as strong as its middle class., and one of the keys to strengthening the middle class is supporting middle class families. that s why i ve been so passionate about reauthorizing the children s health insurance program that i helped to create., and that s why i ve been so outraged over the republican attack on this. and let me tell you one story that made me really angry. the story about a 12 year old boy named graeme frost, he was in a terrible car accident, but thanks goodness he was covered by the children s health insurance program. and recently graham and his family came to congress, to ask us to cover more children. but the president doesn t want to do that, so the republican attack machine went after graham, a 12 year old boy. well they can come after me any time, but shame on them for attacking a child. and shame on them for opposing health care for our children., i think we ve had enough of this cruel and destructive politics in america. and as president i m going to return our focus to supporting middle class and hard working families, especially when it comes to caring for children, an issue that i ve worked on my entire life. during law school i focused on how the law affects kids. after i graduated i turned down law firms to go door to door for the children s defense fund, trying to figure out why so many children weren t enrolled at school. that led to the landmark federal special education law., during my years in arkansas, i founded a group called arkansas advocates for children and family and developed a scholarship program to support single moms. when bill was elected president, i worked very hard to support the family medical, leave act and would proud it was the first bill that he signed into law. it s been such a success that it s hard to remember how controversial it once was, it was actually vetoed twice before my husband was elected. and i want to pay special tribute to my colleague and friend senator chris dodd who was the champion of the family medical leave act for all of those years., i also worked to create early head start, to ensure investment in head start and childcare funding, and i planned and to carried out the historic white house conferences on early childhood development and childcare., i continued this work in the senate. [inaudible] legislation i offered to provide respite care for family caregivers, a bill to give families more flexibility in finding child care, and grandparents more help in raising their grandchildren. i co-sponsored legislation to provide seven paid sick days a year to help parents care for sick parents or children. and i ve worked with flan the family medical leave act, and to extend it for up to 6 months for family caring for wounded soldiers., but as far as we ve come, it s clear that we have a long way to go. i ll never forget a newspaper advice column i read in the early 1980 s, i was working at a law firm and my daughter was about 3 years old, someone had written this advice column, and they asked i m about to get a big promotion and i m going to have my own office. what kind of decorations are appropriate for my office? well the advice columnist responded that he needed to know if the writer was a man or a woman because it would affect his answer. if you re a man, he wrote, and you have a family, put up lots of pictures of your family because people will think to themselves this is a stable person with good family values. but if you re a woman, don t put out any pictures of your family in the office, because people will think you can t keep your mind on the job. well of course i immediately filled my little office with family pictures. because i thought that that would [inaudible], now, that was a long time ago, but it still sums up the attitude of america s policies toward women and parents in the workplace: keep your family life to yourself and don t let your family affect your work. well, i think we ve had enough of that. it s about time we stopped just talking about family values and started pursuing policies that truly value families. so today, i m handing out my agenda that i hope will make a difference in helping young families particularly strike that balance between family and work., for me this is a very personal issue because we all have a stake in the next generation. sometimes people say to me well if you just focus on families with children. well that s unfair to everybody else but i couldn t disagree more. today kids are tomorrow s doctors and nurses, teachers, innovators, police officers and firefighters. so many other positions that we desperately need in our society. so a generation of healthy children raised by strong families is in america s best interest. and i think it s integrally related to our nation s future., the first part of my agenda is to promote paid family leave, which is critical for giving new parents the opportunity to bond with their children at the most important time in their development., parental leave rules may give many families time off, but families of modest means too often simply can t afford to take it unless that leave is paid., i believe we should set a goal of every family in america being able to take time off when their children are born or adopted, and at least some of that time should be paid leave for those who need it. everyone should be able to take the time to start their children off right. no one should miss out on those critical early days., now this is a goal that will take some time to achieve. but what i want to do is propose that we have a family leave initiative with federal government leadership and state level innovation. many states that considered legislation, for example california now guarantees six weeks of family leave that employees paid at 55% of their wages up to $882 a week. i will submit $1 billion per year to an innovation fund that encourages a kind of state level solution. what worked in california may not work in arkansas may not work in new hampshire. we ll offer competitive matching, grants that covers startup costs and help pay an equal part of the costs. we re not going to dictate from washington what approach states should take but we will seek out and support the best innovation., i also want to expand the family and medical leave act. it currently only covers firms of fifty or more workers, it has not been an imposition on businesses. all of the nay- saying and the sort of chicken little predictions have not come true. i want to lower the threshold to twenty-five workers that will include an additional 13 million americans. i also will reinstate a regulation i fought for during my husband s administration. select states use their unemployment insurance system to provide paid paternity and maternity leave. president bush was wrong to overturn it and we will bring it back., i also want to make the federal government a model workplace by providing paid parental leave. for a relatively modest cost, we can provide that for all federal employees. doing so would set a standard and would make government service more attractive for younger workers. parents also need access to leave at times other than the birth or adoption of a child and we need to recognize that reality. i will also work to promote flexible work scheduling. and guarantee the rights of parents and other caregivers who request a flexible schedule without adverse consequences. now this initiative simply requires employers to consider flexibility seriously. it is not a mandate. all employers can grant such requests. the goal is to shift from a presumption of no flexibility to a presumption of some flexibility with a cooperative approach. united seasons passed a similar law in 2003 which produced a promising result. it was done without a major imposition to business or destruction to the workplace. i believe that we could encourage people to start having these conversations in the workplace. because i think it s important that we look for ways to be more flexible., second i will promote model workplaces in corporate america and reward employers who help their employees balance work and family. we ll establish a public-private partnership program on model workplaces at the department of labor and establish awards to highlight businesses that establish such innovative workplace flexibility programs. the partnership will provide grants to businesses to expand models to serve more employees and work to spread the word. we ll also promote the most innovative workplace approaches in areas such as telecommuting. you know reduced work schedules, flexible arrival and departure time, offering on-site services such as child care, providing predictable work schedules, offering a cafeteria of many new benefits that different families can choose for themselves. i want to offer telecommuting because it will not only give more flexibility but it will also reduce rush-hour hardships, improve the environment, and lower our emissions. this has been one of the principal recommendations, to try to get cars off the road particularl y at choke-point times., third i will work to ensure better access to high quality child care and to help parents who want to stay at home with their children. i will increase funding to the child care development block grant to get back to providing funding that has been dramatically cut back during the bush administration. we have to improve the quality of child care by helping states improve and enforce licensing and safety standards and there s a lot we can do to get more flexibility in child care. i particularly want to allow eligible stay-at-home parents to receive child care subsidies through the child care development block grant. currently only parents who place their children in child care are eligible to receive that assistance. that makes no sense to me., why should we pay for other people to care for your children but not give you the support to stay home and do it yourself? by including stay at home parents, we can give families more options and more time together. we ll also begin to find a way therefore to give parents the choice to stay home instead of rushing back to work. and finally, i ll work to protect workers against pregnancy discrimination. i thought we had put this to rest 30 years ago, but unfortunately we had not. no woman should be fired for being pregnant or giving birth. and no dad should be fired for taking a few days off to help his wife recover from childbirth. or care for their newborn or adopted baby. but today women can be fired just for being pregnant if an employer has a no- leave policy. if that sounds horribly outdated, that s because it is. it s time to bring, ,"	
", school principal, a superintendent, and a reporter before joining the women s suffrage movement and realizing her talents as a gifted organizer and dynamic orator., she did two stints as president of the national american woman suffrage association and she helped to found the international woman suffrage alliance to reach out to women across the world. in the end, it was catt who devised the ""winning plan"" for the suffrage movement -- a plan to campaign simultaneously for suffrage at both the state and national levels. the rest, as they say, is history., and it really is quite a history, isn t it? there has never been a better time to be a woman in america. it s almost hard to explain to young women today how much things have changed -- even just during the course of my lifetime., growing up, there were sports we couldn t play, schools we couldn t attend, and jobs that essentially had a ""men only"" sign on them., as an eighth grader i was captivated by space-travel. i wrote to nasa asking how to apply to be an astronaut -- they wrote back explaining that these positions weren t open to women., well today, iowa s own peggy whitson has been appointed the first female commander of the international space station., , years later, when i was deciding where i wanted to attend law school, i was coolly informed by a harvard law professor, and i quote, ""we don t need any more women at harvard."" so i went to yale. and my entering class at yale law school -- where i decided to go instead -- had 235 students, of whom just 27 were women., today, women are the majority of students in law schools., as a young lawyer, when i told a colleague that i might want to practice courtroom law, he replied that, that was impossible, because i didn t have a wife. he asked me, ""when you re in trial, and you re busy, who will make sure you have clean socks for court?"" well, i had honestly had never thought about that. i had always washed my own socks. , today, women are serving across america as judges, partners, as law professors -- and yes, even successful courtroom lawyers with clean socks., the norms are changing on capitol hill. back in the mid-1980s, women were not allowed to wear pantsuits on the senate floor. clearly, i would not have survived., and today, we ve sworn in the first madame speaker of the house of representatives. , we ve even seen, much i m sure to that old harvard law professor s chagrin, the first woman president of harvard university., women are now a majority of students in colleges -- and the majority of those who voted in 2004. it is nothing short of breathtaking when you stop to think about it., but all of this progress is not a quirk of fate. it didn t happen by accident. it is the result of the contributions of women and men from every background, serving at every level, using their diverse array of skills and talents to move our nation forward., contributions from national leaders like carrie chapman catt and her colleagues in the suffrage movement. trailblazers right here in iowa like arabella mansfield who, in 1869, became the first woman in america formally admitted to the bar. women like sojourner truth who campaigned both against slavery and for women s suffrage. or harriet tubman who risked her life time and again so others could taste the fruits of freedom. courageous women around the world like aung san suu kyi who has been a virtual prisoner for decades in the cause of freedom for the burmese people. women who run for office in their own countries against some tough odds like angela merkel in germany and michelle bachelet in chile, and ellen johnson-sirleaf in liberia., but it is not just the women leaders in the history books who ve made history. it is also those unsung heroes who transform lives and communities every single day., the teachers who tell our daughters, ""you are just as smart and capable as the boys, don t you fail to live up to your potential."" i think about my 6th grade teacher mrs. king quoting from the bible said not to hide your light under the bushel basket., the women on the pta who wonder why aren t more girls in those honors math and science classes. i remember when my daughter was in first grade joining up with a couple of other mothers to do extra science programs for our first graders. and all those mothers who work all day -- sleep a few hours -- do the night shift, because they want something better for their children., some women have fought lonely battles, forging ahead on their own when no one else would stand by their side. i think of edna griffin, called the ""rosa parks of iowa."" on july 7, 1948, she was refused service at a des moines lunch counter. but edna griffin responded by organizing pickets in front of the store -- and when no one else joined her, she would picket alone. she took her case all the way to the iowa supreme court -- and she won., other women have had the benefit of networks of women drawn together by shared experiences and aspirations. i ve had the privilege of traveling to more than 80 countries. and everywhere i ve been as first lady and now as senator, i have tried to find time to meet with women in the countries where i find myself- to ask them what their lives are like, what kind of opportunities and challenges they face. i remember a woman in northern ireland by the name of joyce mccartan. joyce, a catholic, had lost more than a dozen family members during the so called ""troubles"" -- including her own seventeen-year old son who was shot dead by protestant gunmen. but instead of retreating into anger and grief and wanting revenge, she brought together a group of both protestant and catholic women to set up a safe house for women of both traditions to talk about their needs and their fears over cups of tea., i sat down with those women one day and i listened as they talked about how they had discovered that they all worried when their husbands and sons left their homes, and they were all relieved when they returned safely. and despite their differences, they wanted a better future for their country and their children. it was these women -- and others like them -- sitting around at kitchen tables, sharing pots of tea, who helped chart the path to peace., here at home, during my time in the senate, i have cherished the opportunity to work with my women colleagues in both houses and on both sides of the aisle. now we may not see eye to eye on everything, but we get together and we trade those very important bits of advice like what kind of shoes to wear on marble floors when you re on your feet all day. and when it comes to the issues that we can agree on --, whether it s afterschool funding or healthcare and education for women here in america or for women in afghanistan-- we are a force to be reckoned with., i ve been honored to work throughout my career on issues like foster care and adoption, family leave, equal pay and preschool for our children. and i have always been struck when people label these as women s issues. i disagree with that characterization. while these so-called ""kitchen table"" issues are certainly women s issues -- they re also men s issues and children s issues. they re issues that we all have a stake in., today, too many men have to choose between health insurance for themselves or for their children, because they can t afford both., when women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns -- it s not just women who are affected, but families with less income to pay the bills., we re all worried about whether the next generation of children will have the tools they need to compete in the global economy., today, many fathers are struggling to spend more time with their families just like mothers always have. in fact, the issue of family leave provides a particularly good example. i ll never forget a newspaper advice column that i read in the early 1980s. i was working at a law firm at the time and my daughter was about three years old. someone had written into this column asking: ""i m about to get a big promotion and i m going to have my own office for the first time. what kind of decorations are appropriate for my office?"", well, the advice columnist responded that he needed to know if the writer was a man or a woman because it would affect the answer. if you re a man, he said, and you have a family, put up lots of pictures of your family because people will think when they come into your office ""this is a stable person with a good set of family values."" but if you re a woman, don t put any pictures of your family in your office because people will think you can t keep your mind on your job., so, of course, i immediately filled my office with pictures of my family., well, a lot has changed since then. but unfortunately this attitude is still around. it kind of sums up too many people s feelings towards women and parents in the workplace: keep your family life to yourself, struggle on your own to meet the demands of work and family and don t let it affect your work., but think about this for a minute. a lot of working fathers wish they had more time with their children. all employers want employees to be focused and productive -- which is hard to achieve when work and family are out of balance. and every american has a stake in how the next generation is raised -- after all, we re raising our future innovators, our college professors, our nurses, our business leaders, our farmers, teachers and so much more., so when we fight to strengthen family leave -- that helps not just women, but all americans who want to spend more time with the people they love and care for. that s why i m fighting for paid family leave -- because no one should have to worry if they need a couple of hours to take their child to the doctor. and no one should be denied the chance to bond with their newborn or adopted baby or to care for an aging parent. i think we should encourage the development of families working to take care of one another. there s so much care giving that goes on in our country, we sometimes overlook it. but if all the caregivers, people who devote most or all of, their time caring for a child, caring for a parent, caring for a loved one with a disability, if all of those americans were to decide tomorrow to stop giving that out of love, to replace that care would cost 300 billion dollars a year. people give it because they love, they have a sense of family obligation, they want to do the right thing and we make it very, very hard for families to care for one another., instead of focusing on what is really going on in people s lives, too often our politics is about distractions. who s up, who s down. what people are wearing more than what they are saying., well, there will always be that kind of analysis. but in the end, none of that really matters very much., what matters are the lives of people i meet every day who feel like they re invisible. like no one s paying attention to them and their struggles., like the woman i met from leclair who had to sell half her family farm to pay for her family s medical bills. she sure feels invisible., or the woman i met at the maid-rite in toledo who was working two jobs and still struggling to get by and she wonders whether anybody really sees how hard she s been working., the woman in greenville whose daughter got sick, but didn t have health insurance. she died a year later. she was just eighteen years old. her death certificate listed the cause of death as unknown, because she was never able to afford to get a proper diagnosis., well, i don t think that any of these people should be invisible in our country. they re certainly not invisible to me. i see them, i hear them, and i carry their stories with me where ever i go. and they shouldn t be invisible in our political process., one of the aspects of politics that has changed dramatically with the entry of some many women is that a lot of these stories are now just out there, people are talking about them, trying to determine what to do to give someone who is struggling a better chance. when i think about the struggle that women had to even get the vote i don t get discouraged, i get inspired., the first women s convention was held in seneca falls, new york in 1848. it was a hot july and a group of women decided that they wanted to meet together at the wesleyan chapel in seneca falls to see if they could draft a statement claiming their rights as women. at that time of course our laws didn t really give women rights in any aspect of life, not just at the voting booth but in inheritance and marriage and child custody and so much else. so these women and a few brave men joined together on that hot july day to begin a process that led to the declaration of sentiments. it was the first document that we know of anywhere in the world where a group of people had come and said women deserve their rights. only one woman who was there are that convention lived long enough to see women get the vote in america. it took more than 70 years from the start of the movement until nineteenth amendment was passed. more than 70 years of faith and devotion, protesting and lobbying. and when i think about the challenges we face today in politics, i always am in awe of how hard these other women had to struggle to get what we take for granted., ultimately, they did succeed, because even in the face of the most heartbreaking set-backs, they never lost sight of what mattered and they refused to give up., i ve always loved the story of how, back in 1915, catt and her colleagues believed that winning in new york was critical to winning at the federal level, so they fought their hearts out. they held 10,300 meetings. they handed out seven and a half million leaflets. and they raised nearly $100,000 -- a staggering sum in those days., but in the end, they lost by nearly 200,000 votes., that night, catt was asked how long this defeat would delay their fight nationally. she replied, ""only until we can get a little sleep."" and two days after that loss, they started a new campaign with a new slogan: ""victory in 1917."", i m grateful to her and countless others because i know that every day i walk in the paths they cleared and benefit from the victories they won., now, some might say that their work is finished in america since women no longer face legal obstacles to education or employment or the right to vote. but we know that even though legal barriers have fallen away -- economic and attitudinal ones still remain. and that so long as there are gaps between our aspirations and our reality, their work and ours is not finished. that more perfect union still awaits., if we truly want to finish what catt and her colleagues had started, then it is time we stopped paying women 77 cents on the dollar when they work 60 minutes of the hour, just like men., , we can see that we are still not where we need to be because just this year the united states supreme court heard a case of a woman named lilly ledbetter. lilly ledbetter worked in a factory in alabama. she worked there for over 20 years. she was a good worker. she became a supervisor- the only woman to become a supervisor and year after year she did the same work that all of the male supervisors did. and about 20 years into her work she learned she had never been paid the same as all of the men. men with lesser seniority, younger men, and she wondered why. and she tried to find out and basically her employer wouldn t answer her questions. and lilly ledbetter didn t want to take that for an answer. so she started talking to people in town and somebody sent her to a lawyer and the lawyer said that s against the equal pay act, we ve had an equal pay act on the books since 1963- they can t do that. the lawyer called the factory and the factory wouldn t talk to the lawyer so the lawyer brought a law suit. and lilly ledbetter won in court and the factory appealed it. and she won in the appellate court and the factory appealed it to the supreme court. the supreme court has changed in composition as you know and all of a sudden after everyone thought that the cases had been settled, that if you were discriminated for doing the same job as a woman that a man is doing you are entitled to back pay for as long as you have been doing that job as a way to deter other employers from practicing discrimination and to make good on the many hours of work that were not fairly compensated. well, the new supreme court found a reason to deny lilly ledbetter back pay for all of those years. they came up with a theory that nobody had ever heard of before. so don t believe that the hard work is over- we still have a long way to go., if we truly want to finish what catt and her colleagues started, then it s time we did more than just talking about family values -- we need to adopt policies that truly value families., , we stand for universal pre-kindergarten all the way through to affordable college. , from quality, affordable healthcare for every american to retirement security for every american. paid leave. flexible workplaces., we need to recognize the challenges that so many people face today. you know, the economy is much more difficult. the average american family has lost a thousand dollars in income in the last six years but the costs of everything else have gone up- health care, education, energy and gas. it s much tougher for young families to really pull together the time they need for each other., the biggest concern that a lot of young families tell me is that they don t have enough time. they re working as hard as they can, they re worried about their future, they re anxious about everything from whether they have enough to put away to tide them over on a rainy day to what happens in the mortgage market and what s going on if somebody in their family gets sick., if we truly want to finish what catt and her colleagues started, then we need to do something about our national debt -- $9 trillion and counting., , every baby born today starts life with $30,000 of debt on his or her tiny shoulders, the largest birth tax in history., and if we truly want to finish the work that carrie chapman catt and her colleagues started, then we must truly use the power of the vote to make our voices heard. to take our leaders to task. to build the kind of future we want for our children and grandchildren., in 2004, more than 35 million women did not vote. you know, for so long, carrie chapman catt and all the women who worked with her were silenced by others. today, too many women silence themselves., as catt once said, ""the vote is a power, a weapon of offense and defense, a prayer. understand what it means and what it can do for your country."", today, more than ever, we know what the vote can do for our country. i meet people who are ready to use it who have never used it before. i m always struck when someone tells me they re voting for the first time. often it s a young person turning 18. sometimes it s a much older person who has just never registered and never voted. and then i meet people who never miss an election. they believe it s their duty and responsibility to show up whenever the polls are open. i ve meet a lot of women in their nineties who ve told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live long enough to see a woman in the white house., , and i love it when i hear mothers and fathers whispering to their little girls, ""see honey, in this country you can be anything you want to be."" well, that s what i believe about our sons and our daughters. there should be no limits on any of our children in america. but we have to do the hard work to make sure that is true. and all too often, people give up their beliefs and convictions because they don t vote leaving the field free to those who may not share their views, don t care about the same issues that they care about, but are willing to be there when it counts. we need, ,"	
", have imagined i would one day return as a candidate for the presidency of the united, states. back then, i didn t even know for sure i would return for my sophomore year., , i had grown up in the midwest, outside of chicago., , i had serious doubts about this whole going east for college idea and just one month after i moved into my room in stone davis, i felt..., , ... i felt like all my worst fears had been confirmed. so many of my classmates had traveled the world. they learned and spoke multiple languages. i was struggling in my classes, in fact, to the point where my french professor said to me, ""mademoiselle, your talents lie elsewhere."", , and i called home. in those days, you called collect. and my parents took the call, which was a good thing, and i said i just didn t think that i could do this. it wasn t for me., now, my father said that was just fine. i think he missed me. but my mother, who never got to go to college, would not hear a word of it. she said, ""hillary, i don t want you to be a quitter,"" to which i m embarrassed to admit i responded, ""all right. but if i don t like it at the end of the year, can i quit then?"", , well, i stuck it out and i am so glad i did, because my four years here were among the most exhilarating and informative of my life. and the friends that i made here have been the friends of a lifetime. they have sustained and supported me every step of the way on my journey, as i have tried to do for them., and we started that journey at a tumultuous time in our nation s history. we were embroiled in a war that many of us opposed. here at home, so many of our fellow citizens were marginalized and denied their most basic rights., we were uneasy about our future, uncertain about america s role in the world, and unwilling to trust a government that didn t share our values., sounds kind of familiar, doesn t it? , but we were inspired by our wellesley motto not to be ministered onto, but to minister, and we took it to heart, probably more than some of our professors and administrators at the time would have liked., we protested the vietnam war. we marched for civil rights. we fought to bring more minority students and faculty to wellesley. and at the end of our four years, my classmates convinced our skeptical college president, ruth adams, to have the first ever student speaker at graduation and then they convinced me to do the honors., , well, when the time came, president adams introduced me as, and i quote, ""cheerful, good humored, good company, and a good friend to all of us."" i m afraid she probably wanted to take it all back once i opened my mouth., , my thoughts on the indispensable task for criticizing and constructive protest wasn t exactly her idea of a commencement speech. now, when i go back and read it today, i have to admit, it wasn t the world s most coherent address and i sort of cringe when i read that i actually said things like ""coming to terms with our humanness and authentic reality and inauthentic reality."", i tell you, wellesley gets into you and..., , but i still believe as strongly today as i did then in my statement that politics is the art of making what appears to be impossible possible. that is what i have believed ever since i was a student here. that s what i have tried to do throughout my life, starting after law school, as when maya said, i didn t want to go to work for a law firm, i didn t want to clerk for a judge., i went to work instead for the children s defense fund and my first assignment there was trying to figure out what we could do to get more kids into school., i went to new bedford, massachusetts to try to figure out why there were so many children in the census who didn t appear on any school enrollment forms. and i went door to door and in home after home, i found children who were blind or deaf or in wheelchairs. they were kept home because the schools wouldn t or couldn t accommodate them., they wanted to learn. they wanted to succeed. but they never had the chance. i knew then that i wanted to spend my career being a voice for children, children particularly who had been left behind, children who drew the short straw in life., i wanted to fight to give them the same opportunities that i had growing up. and like many of my classmates and many of you, i did want to make a difference. now, that wasn t always easy. back then, women weren t always taken seriously back then., when i was first deciding where to attend law school, i was invited to go, after i had been admitted to harvard and yale, to a cocktail reception for prospective students at the harvard law school and i knew a couple of the male students who were there and they were showing me around., and we ran right into professor paper chase, large, imposing, three-piece suit, watch chain, looking down at everyone, and one of my friends said, ""professor so-and-so, this is hillary rodham. she s trying to decide between us and our nearest competitor."", and he looked down at me and he said, ""well, first of all, we don t have a nearest competitor."", ""and, secondly, we don t need any more women."" so i decided to go to yale., there were 235 students, of whom just 27 were women, and today women are the majority of students in law schools., , as a young lawyer, when i once told a colleague that i wanted to practice litigation courtroom law, he replied that this was clearly impossible, because i didn t have a wife., he asked me... , he asked me, totally seriously, ""when you re in a long trial and you re so busy, who will make sure you have clean socks for court?"", i had honestly never thought about that. , i had always washed my own socks. and i have been thrilled to see women serving across america not only in the legal profession, but the medical profession, in academia and so much else., but back then, the idea of a woman running for president would have been greeted with derisive laughter., well, times have changed. despite the challenges we faced, we have found ways to serve our country in every way imaginable, in our professions, our communities and our families., and looking at your generation, i see that same desire to give back. we saw it especially after september 11. while the president didn t ask us to do anything, except go shopping, which hardly ranks up there as a call to action and sacrifice from an american president, the young people of our country had other ideas., between 2000 and 2006, applications to teach for america nearly tripled. between 2004 and 2006 alone, applications to the americorps vista program jumped 50 percent. and in recent years, the peace corps has seen the highest number of volunteers in three decades., we ve seen a resurgence of activism on college campuses. students are brown have created a sustainable foods initiative, organizing farmers  markets and convincing dining halls to switch to local foods., students at keane state college in new hampshire hosted a concert to raise money for victims of the genocide in darfur., students at the university of new hampshire are working to protect our environment by reducing energy and water use on campus., and here at wellesley, just recently, students organized a day of awareness and a rally to protest the unfair treatment of the jena 6. they ve also traveled to new orleans to help rebuild after hurricane katrina and..., (), ... i especially want to thank you for working together through a group called sisters keepers to help student mothers finish their education., (), and to those who might sometimes here on television say that your generation is disengaged, that you re not as passionate and committed as we were, i say come to providence, come to keane, come to durham, come to wellesley, travel across our country, take the same opportunity that i ve had to actually meet and talk with the young people of america, see how every day you re standing up, taking charge and making the impossible possible., unfortunately, for nearly seven years, we ve had a president who hasn t been much of a partner in your work. if anything, he s actually created more work. he s undermined women s right and gay rights and appointed supreme court justices who chipped away at reproductive rights, undermined equal pay, and turned back the clock on school integration, decisions that will affect you and your children for decades to come., he s continued to wage a war in iraq that has taken more than 3,800 of our best and most dedicated young men and women and costs us more than $300 million a day, a bill that, again, you and your children will be paying, unless we reverse course., he s run up our national debt to $9 trillion. so every baby born today starts life with $30,000 of debt on his or her tiny shoulders, a birth tax that will only increase for your children and grandchildren if we don t end this reckless spending., he s waged a war on science, cutting off promising stem cell research, banning his own surgeon general from talking about contraception, failing to address the threat of global warming, that we know not only could, but is leading to increased storms and floods and heat waves and droughts, affecting millions of people across america and the world., to paraphrase one of my most recent opponents, the philosopher, stephen colbert... (), ... this administration doesn t make decisions based on facts, it makes facts based on decisions., , as a result, my generation is in danger of being the first ever to leave america worse off than when we found it. and whether you re a democrat or republican, independent, or you don t even care about politics, i think we can all agree that your generation, my daughter s generation deserves better than that., the challenges you face today are no less profound than ones faced by previous generations of americans and you deserve a president who will meet those challenges head on, a president who is committed to your future, a president who will never again play politics with women s health and women s rights, who will never again..., (), ... who will never again put ideology over science and the cures and breakthroughs of the future, who will never again engage in reckless spending and stick you with the bill, who will confront the challenges that we face without fear or fear-mongering and leave america better off., if you give me the chance and the honor, i will be that president for you. (), i will start by making college affordable again so that middle class and hardworking families can go., (), back when i went to college, my father told me, ""here s the deal. got enough money for your tuition and board, but anything beyond that, like buying books, you pay for yourself."" and i had worked summers and holidays since i was 13, so i was fine with that., but when i decided to go to law school and i told my father, he said, ""well, you re on your own for that one. that wasn t part of the deal."", so i kept working and i got a scholarship from wellesley, the vida dutton scudder scholarship, and i borrowed money from the federal government at a low interest rate. i didn t have to worry about some for-profit student loan company ripping me and my family off, raising the interest rates or changing the terms of the loan., i didn t get stuck with a massive debt that would have derailed my dreams of a career in public service. when i m president, i will restore that basic bargain. i proposed a new college tax credit that will cover more than 50 percent of the typical cost of public colleges and universities or the full cost of tuition for community colleges., and for those who don t go to college, i think we should invest more in apprenticeships and job training and lifelong learning opportunities. there are so many..., (), there s so many hardworking young americans, i think you probably know as many as i do, who don t go to college, but who deserve to have a shot at a high wage, high skill job, and we re going to have a lot of shortages in high skill jobs., so we need to start doing more for them, as well. let s start creating those jobs by investing in a new, clean energy industry and addressing the threat of global warming right now., (), we all know the science. there s no longer a debate. global warming is real. it s one of the greatest environmental, economic and international security threats we face, and i was, as i m sure all of you were, so proud of vice president gore when he got the nobel prize for raising the alarm about global warming., (), but we need a policy and that is what i will do as president. i ll create a $1 billion green building fund to build and renovate public buildings. we ll make buildings green and energy efficient. i want to establish a strategic energy fund paid for by a $50 billion investment in clean, renewable technologies by taking away the tax subsidies from the oil companies. they don t need them to make a profit., (), next week i ll be unveiling a broad agenda to address our energy and global warming challenges and i ll be talking a lot more about those issues all next week., but today s challenges aren t just at home. we have to face those in order to make sure we have a strong and prosperous middle class. that has been the engine of economic growth in our country., that s why we have to tackle energy. that s why we have to make college affordable. that s why we have to have an education system that starts with universal prekindergarten, that fixes the unfunded mandate of no child left behind., (), and that s why, finally, we need a health care system that provides quality, affordable health care for every single american., (), but we know that our challenges are not just here at home. after nearly seven years of a stubborn, preemptive, go-it-alone foreign policy, we have our work cut out for us to restore our leadership around the world., that starts with bringing our troops home from iraq as responsibly and quickly as we can., (), there is no military solution and we should not be asking our brave young men and women to serve as referees in their sectarian conflicts. it has to be done as carefully as possible, because it is dangerous withdrawing troops., i ve laid out may plans to bring our troops home from iraq and demand that the iraqis take responsibility for their own country, replace our military involvement with an intensive diplomatic initiative in the area., and let me be clear, if george bush doesn t end this war while he is president, when i am president, i will as quickly as i can., (), but, unfortunately, our problems go far beyond iraq. take out the globe and look at it. we have alienated our friends and emboldened our enemies across the world. i have said i won t even wait until i m inaugurated. the day after i m elected, i will ask distinguished americans of both parties to travel around the world with a new message, the era of cowboy diplomacy is over. we re going to start working with people again., (), and, you know, i have come to a rather obvious conclusion based on my wellesley education. you can t be a leader in the world if no one is following. and we have got to get back to leading, leading with our values, leading with moral authority, leading on behalf of bringing the world together, because when it comes to the challenges we face from global terrorism to global warming to global epidemics and global competition, we cannot do this all on our own., and i want to lead the world to end the genocide in darfur and we need to act immediately. every day we fail to act is a betrayal of our common values., s president, i will speed the deployment of a u.n. peacekeeping force. i will provide, them with more support to do the job we re asking them to do and create real consequences for anyone who continues the bloodshed or obstructs the peace process., we need to lead the world... (), ... to stop the brutal violence in burma and insist that the regime release all political prisoners, including aung san suu kyi., (), we need to lead the world in fighting the aids epidemic that is creating a global generation of orphans and destabilizing countries. that s why i was proud to sign the pledge to invest $50 billion by 2013 to combat aids across the world. we need to lead the world..., (), we need to lead the world in standing up for women s rights. twelve years ago, when the u.n. convened a historic conference on women in beijing, i was proud to represent our country and proclaim to the world that women s rights are human rights, because when women..., (), ... when women continue to be raped as a casualty of conflict, trafficked for commercial advantage, denied education and health care and family planning, not given access to credit, denied their rights as citizens, that not only affects them and their countries, that compromises the dignity and the human rights of the entire human family., if we don t stand for women s rights, we will never stand for our best values. that has to be a part of american foreign policy., (), we need to lead the world in providing opportunity to the world s children, because when 100 million children in the developing world don t attend school and 150 million more drop out before finishing first grade, that is a recipe for poverty, extremism and instability., that s why i ve introduced the bipartisan education for all act, $10 billion over five years toward the goal of basic education for every boy and girl around the world., and, finally, we need to lead the world by living up to our values here at home. as we seek to promote the rule of law in other nations, we must accept it for ourselves. as we counsel liberty and justice for all, we cannot support torture and the indefinite detention of people we declare to be beyond the law., (), i realize this is an ambitious agenda. would you expect anything less from a wellesley woman?, (), and i know i can t do it alone. i need your help. i am thrilled that we are launching 120 student chapters on college campuses across america today. we have a new web site called hillblazers at www.hillblazers.com to help young people get organized., and in the coming weeks, i need your help to make the calls, to knock on the doors and organize the events and talk to your friends and family. that s what i did back in 1968, when a group of my dear friends and i jumped in a car that one of us finagled to have on campus, and we would drive from wellesley to manchester, new hampshire, stuffing envelopes and walking the precincts for eugene mccarthy., he was running for president on a platform of ending the vietnam war. i am running for president, in part, on a platform to end the war in iraq and most important of all, i, need your help on election day. i need you to get the vote out and get your friends registered so they can vote., in 2004, while the voter turnout rate for 18- to 34-year-olds was higher than in 2000, more than 25 million still never cast their votes, enough to possibly change the course of history., for so long, young people have been ignored and silenced by others. today, too many young people silence themselves. it s up to all of you to change that., i know that politics can be frustrating, but it seems like we get bogged down in distractions and trivialization, who s up and who s down, people s hairstyle or their laugh or what they re wearing rather than what they re saying., but in those moments when you think you re never going to break through the noise and you just want to give up, i urge you to think about all of the people who came before you. many of them, we ll never know their names. they re lost to history. but so many others, we can read their stories, be amazed at their strength and their courage., think about those audacious women and a few brave men who gathered in seneca falls, new york for the declaration to issue the very first statement ever in the history of the world calling for women s full equality., elizabeth cady stanton, one of the key organizers, was just 32 years old. one attendee was just 15. it took more than 70 years for them to win the vote, more than 70 years of protesting, organizing, lobbying, going to jail, doing hunger strikes, chaining themselves to the gate in front of the white house, but they never gave up., and just one woman from the seneca falls convention lived long enough to actually cast a ballot., think about the civil rights movement. dr. martin luther king, jr. was just 26 years old when he led the montgomery bus boycott. my dear friend, congressman john lewis, was just 25 when he led that historic march across the bridge in selma, a march that ended with teargas, hoses and the crack of night sticks against and his and others  skulls, as the marchers knelt down to pray., think about that. they were attacked as they knelt down to pray. they were, as congressman lewis put it later, using our bodies as a witness to the truth and they forced america to bear witness, as well., they were willing to put their lives on the line and together they made the impossible possible., i stand here today because of those brave men and women and i am inspired every day by the people i meet on the campaign trial. you know, the mothers and fathers who lift their little girls on their shoulders or lean over and whisper in their ears, ""see, honey, in america, you can be anything you want to be."", the women in their 90s who come to my events, they stand there, they hold themselves up in a walker, they may be in a wheelchair, and as i meet them, they tell me, ""i was born before women could vote and i want to live long enough to see a woman in the white house."", i know the challenges... (), i know the challenges we face are daunting, but i still believe what i said in my commencement speech nearly 40 years ago. fear is always with us, but we just don t have time for it, not now. so let s roll up our sleeves and get to work together., we re ready to shatter that highest glass ceiling. it s what americans have been doing for more than 200 years. it s what i believe has created the space for the transformative changes that we have been the beneficiaries of., i think we re ready for that kind of change again. change is just a word if you don t have the strength and experience to make it happen. i believe i do and i believe, ,"	
#VALUE!	
", proud that i played a part helping to create the children s health insurance program and to insure 6 million children. when i m president, we are going to finish the job and provide quality affordable health care for every single american man, woman, and child., , and, as senator, i have continued to fight for family farmers and for workers. to fight for soldiers to get the body armor they needed, and for first responders to get the health care they required after 9/11. i have fought against the privatizing of social security and against the failed policies of george w. bush at home and around the world. [ and, when i am president, i will work to reverse the damage of the eight years of george bush and i will restore the pride and progress in america that should be our birthright. that is who america is. we want to be proud again. we want to be progressive again and we will, when i am president., , now, there are some who will say that they do not know where i stand. well, i think you know better than that. i stand where i have stood for 35 years. i stand with you and with your children, and with every american who needs a fighter in their corner for a better life. now, i know how easy it is in a campaign to get distracted; to focus on who is up and who is down, and who says what about whom. but, that is not what this election is about., this election is about those iowans and those americans who feel invisible in their own country; who feel invisible to their own president. this election is about the woman i met in leclair. she and her husband both work really hard, but they had to sell half the family farm to pay their medical expenses. this election is about a veteran i met in sioux center, who bravely fought in iraq and came home and had to keep fighting to get the health care that he needed. this election is about the mother from greenville, whose daughter got sick and they did not have insurance, and she died. and on her death certificate, they could not even put a cause of death, because nobody had ever made a diagnosis. she was just 18-years old. there should not be any invisible americans and when i am president, there will not be. we will have a president again, who gets up every day, worries about, thinks about, and fights for every single one of us. that s what america deserves, and that is what my candidacy offers., , now, we are getting closer to the iowa caucuses. they are going to be earlier than ever before. i know as the campaign goes on, that it s going to get a little hotter out there. but that is fine with me. because, you know, as harry truman said, if you can t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. i ll tell you what, i feel really comfortable in the kitchen., , so, we have to ask ourselves, what is this election going to be focused on? well, i will tell you what i want to do. i am not interested in attacking my opponents. i am interested in attacking the problems of america, and i believe -- -- we should be turning up the heat on the republicans; they deserve all the heat we can give them., , you know, you listen to the republicans who are running this year, they see eight more years of george bush. they see a nine trillion dollar debt and say let s spend trillions more. they see that we had one rush to war and then say, wait, wait, why have one more? well, i think we are going to tell them, in the course of this campaign, that they do not have any more time. america is done with the republicans and their failed policies and their refusal to give america back the future that we deserve. but we democrats, we have to decide what we are for. we democrats believe that the middle class is the backbone of our country and the guarantor of the american dream. so, when the republicans stand by and watch, rising gas prices and rising health care costs and increase in college tuition and falling housing prices, and struggling families, and they have turned china into our banker, what are we going to do?, turn up the heat!, and we democrats, we believe that every child has a god-given potential that we want to help unlock. so, when the republicans cut head start, and refuse to fix no child left behind? what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and when we democrats fight for universal health care and the republicans veto health care for child and the let the insurance companies and the drug companies undermine health care for the rest of us, what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and we democrats, we believe in labor rights and women s rights and gay rights, and civil rights., , and we believe in a department of labor that is actually pro labor, and a department of justice that delivers justice. so, when the republicans tried to turn the clock back on women s rights, when they tried to stomp out labor unions, when they try to undermine civil rights, what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and we democrats, we believe in protecting the environment and we believe in solving the energy crisis. so, when the republicans turn over our energy policy to the oil companies and deny global warming, what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and we democrats, we believe in a government that works for all americans again. we actually believe in appointing qualified people to do the jobs in the united states government. so, when the republicans stock the government with their cronies, when they give no-bid contracts to halliburton and legal immunity to blackwater, what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and we democrats, we believe in the power of science and innovation. we know it can lift up lives and grow the economy, so when president bush declares a war on science, when he bans stem cell research, when he tries to turn washington into an evidence free zone and put ideology in front of facts. what do we do?, turn up the heat!, and finally, we believe that our country is both great and good. and as president, i will end the war in iraq, end the era of cowboy diplomacy and restore america s standing and leadership in the world., , so, when the republicans engage in fear-mongering and saber-rattling and talk about world war iii, what do we do to them?, turn up the heat!, well, that is what it s going to take. we are going to turn up the heat on the republicans and we are going to turn america around. but, we cannot do it if we are not united and together; not only democrats, but independents, and even republicans who reject this radical experiment in extremism. i know we can win this election and i know we don t have a choice. i am proud to have the support of so many democrats and democratic leaders from across america. and i am especially proud to have the support of so many democratic leaders from the so- called red states to know that i can win. leaders like the governor beebe of arkansas and, ,"	
", third, improving healthcare in indian country will be at the top of my national agenda. it is unacceptable that the average life expectancy for american indians is nearly five years less than the rest of the population. it is unacceptable that native americans are more than four times as likely to die from diabetes and more than 50% more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza. it is unacceptable that while the federal government spends nearly $6,000 for each medicare recipient -- it spends only $2,000 per person for indian health service medical care., i was proud to co-sponsor the indian health care improvement act amendment. this bill will expand coverage for qualified native americans in the state children s health insurance program, a program i helped to create as first lady. it will also elevate the indian health services director to the assistant secretary level., when i m president, indian healthcare will be a national priority along with quality, affordable care for every single native american family. i won t rest until i get it done., fourth, i will work every day to ensure that every child in indian country has the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. i ll start right at the beginning, by increasing funding for the indian head start program. a national geographic study from last september revealed that tribal languages are the most vulnerable to extinction in the entire world. that s one of the many reasons why head start is critical. it provides a foundation for the continuation of native languages and support for tribal cultures. in fact, more than 80 different languages are spoken in indian head start programs., i ve also proposed universal pre-kindergarten for all native american children, because studies show that providing four-year olds with a high-quality early education leads to higher achievement and graduation rates and higher-earning jobs., i ll increase support for tribal colleges and institutions serving native american students. these institutions play a critical role, providing culturally-relevant teaching, community outreach, and research services to tribal communities. so it s time the federal government gave them the resources they deserve., fifth, as president, i ll work to improve housing for native american families. today, roughly 90,000 native american families are homeless or under-housed, and an estimated 200,000 housing units are needed immediately in indian country. so when i m president, we ll invest in building and rehabilitating affordable housing on indian lands. that means both increasing funding for the native american housing block grant and modernizing the native american housing assistance and self- determination act., sixth, i ll work to support energy efficient development in indian country. i fully support the rights of tribal governments to shape their own environmental policies. i ll support your efforts by creating and expanding federal-tribal partnerships to promote solar, wind, and other renewable sources of energy., as part of a national weatherization initiative, i ll work to weatherize every low- income home in indian country. last winter, the average fuel bill for our families was nearly $900 -- it s expected to jump to $1,000 this winter. so weatherizing homes is a win-win proposition: good for the environment and for our budgets., seventh, we need a renewed focus on law enforcement efforts on native lands. it s simply outrageous that when american indians are twice as likely to be victims of violent crimes, there are fewer than half as many police on tribal lands as non-tribal lands. and with the methamphetamine crisis affecting so many communities, the need for law enforcement resources in indian country is greater than ever., i ll start by improving the collection of data on crime in indian country. we can t truly fix the problem unless we truly understand it. i ll also make the investments we need to step up law enforcement in indian country and promote state-tribal cooperative agreements to reduce crime and keep our families safe., finally, on this observation of veterans day, i want you to know that as president, i will stand up for our veterans every day. as you know, native americans have one of,"	
", next president will not have a minute to waste., you know, we ve got an economy that is increasingly interconnected with the global economy. it is shaped each day, not just by the billions of decisions that 300 million americans make, but by billions more that are made around the world. and something that now happens far away from iowa can have a ripple effect that impacts the quality of life and the standard of living for americans., our economy in recent months has been the subject of increasing worry. we ve got rising oil prices; we ve got a deepening housing crisis; we have a falling dollar, in terms of its value; we have a ballooning national debt; and we have weakening consumer confidence., just 13 percent of americans say that economic conditions in our country are positive. that is the lowest reading since the gallup polling organi2ation started asking the question back in 1991. and in 1991, it was the lowest that it had been in 40 years., so we understand that we ve got real problems, but we see nothing happening under this president to address those problems. unfortunately, the president either doesn t see them or refuses to deal with them. and the net effect of it all is that the economy is not working for middle-class families., now, we all hope that the economy will remain resilient, and we know that, if we make the right choices, the american economy can, once again, create millions of jobs and lift up the middle class. but instead of positive policies aimed at making that happen, we ve had the opposite: reckless fiscal policies and a president with a tragic habit of ignoring problems until they become crises., the next president will be a steward of our economy at a time when the bills from eight years of neglect and mismanagement will be coming due. the next president will have to turn around our nation and our economy., more than ever before, workers will need good job training for the jobs of this new century, but there is one job we can t afford on- the-job training for: that is the job of our next president. that could be the costliest job training in history., every day spent learning the ropes is another day of rising costs, mounting deficits, and growing anxiety for our families. and they cannot afford to keep waiting., we need a president who understands the magnitude and complexity of the challenges we face and has the strength and experience to address them from day one, a president who has faith that the american people and the american economy are up to the task. and if you give me that chance, i will be that president for all of you., , in recent months, we ve seen a number of troubling developments. first, we have a growing crisis in our housing market that is threatening our families and unsettling the capital markets. over the past seven years, as incomes fell, wages stagnated, many families were lured into risky mortgages to finance their homes, with rates that would jump beyond what they could afford. and regulators did little to crack down on fly-by-night brokers peddling loans to unqualified buyers., the result is 1.6 million foreclosures so far this year, nearly 1,500 in iowa alone this past three months. that is almost double the figure from last year. and home prices across america are dropping. and unfortunately, a lot of experts predict they will drop even further., that s serious no matter how you look at it, because 60 percent of the total wealth of middle-class families is in their home equity. and home equity withdrawals accounted for more than 8 percent of a family s disposal income in the last couple of years. so as housing prices decline, people have less money to draw on for everything from medical bills to college tuition., to make matters worse, all of these mortgage woes have unsettled the capital markets. banks have suffered enormous losses on securities linked to mortgages. they ve written down more than $30 billion in their holdings. investors are, increasingly risk-adverse, companies are struggling to raise the capital they need to expand, and banks are increasingly unwilling to provide mortgages and other loans to families., second, skyrocketing energy prices are squee2ing middle-class families already struggling with falling income and rising costs. you know, after september 11th, we had a historic opportunity to call americans, to call all of us to energy independence. instead, we outsourced our energy policy to dick cheney and the oil companies. and today we are even more dependent on foreign oil than we were on september the 11th., oil prices have increased more than 70 percent since the beginning of this year. prices are moving up. it s now nearly $100 a barrel. gas hit $3.11 per gallon nationwide, the highest price ever for this time of year. as a result, average families are spending roughly $2,000 more a year on energy costs, for electricity, home heating, and gas., that s a huge increase. it s like a $2,000 energy tax in just the last seven years, more than three times what the typical american family received from the bush tax cuts., i talk to a lot of people who are worried they re not going to be able to get through the holidays and the winter months. we ve been blessed; the weather has not yet gotten cold. so a lot of people have been holding their breath. but if we do have a cold spell, you know what will happen: so many folks will find it difficult to pay the price., third, while corporate profits are reaching new heights, our labor market is just not working for middle-class families. the bush administration bragged about the fact that the unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. but do you know one of the reasons it s 4.7 percent? it s because millions of unemployed people have stopped looking for work., we ve had millions of americans just drop out of the labor force. if you compare where we are today with where we were when president bush took office, if you had the same number of people actually working and actively looking for jobs, the unemployment rate would be closer to 6.7 percent., corporate profits, however, are at a 40-year high. so here we contrast very high corporate profits, and the average american family has lost $1,000 in income in the last seven years., and over the 12-month period that just ended in july, the slow growth in wages actually accounted for more than two-thirds of the increase in corporate profits. what does that mean? well, the profits go up, but unlike every other time in our history, the ceos and the boards of these companies are not sharing the wealth. so companies are actually profiting off of keeping workers  wages stagnant., and american workers? we re working harder than ever. we re the hardest working people in the world. so even though american workers are increasing their productivity, their wages have remained flat. and the gap between the rich and everybody else has only gotten broader., in 2005, the last year i could find the numbers for, all income gains went to the top 10 percent of households, while the bottom 90 percent saw their incomes decline. that is not the america that i grew up in; that is not the country that i believe is holding out the promise of prosperity for people willing to work hard and take responsibility., the wealthiest 1 percent of americans held 22 percent of america s income. that s an astonishing figure, and it is the highest level of income inequality since the beginning of the great depression in 1929., fourth, seven years of fiscal recklessness has driven up our debt, eroded confidence in our economy, and left us vulnerable to foreign creditors. since president bush took office, we ve seen the most dramatic deterioration in our nation s financial health in history., reckless tax cuts for the wealthy, bloated spending that wasn t paid for have pushed up our national debt to $9.1 trillion. think about that. when president bush became president, he inherited a balanced budget and a surplus, a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. now we re back into deficits, and we have a $9 trillion debt. that forces us every day to borrow money from foreign countries like china., so when people across iowa ask me why it s so hard for the bush administration to get tough on china and other trading partners, i tell them because these countries are now our bankers. we re their debtor. how can we truly enforce trade laws against a country like china when we have to borrow money to feed the massive debt that george bush has driven up?, america s economic standing in the world has deteriorated. the value of the dollar has been dropping. it is now less valued than other currencies, something else that causes a lot of anxiety, if you look out and see what that might mean in years to come., finally, we face new threats that neither the president nor federal regulators have adequately acknowledged or addressed. take the risk of so-called derivatives and other new financial products that wall street is selling., these products offer new opportunities for investors to diversify portfolios and protect themselves against certain risks. for example, a farmer here in iowa who s worried about the price of corn could buy a derivative that increases in value when the price of corn falls, so regardless of what happens with his crop, he has a chance to break even., but derivatives also create new risks. they can swing wildly in value. it isn t always clear who owns them or how much they are really worth. owners don t always understand the risks, which is why even the investment banks that created them are losing billions of dollars on these derivatives. and the ripples are being felt from wall street to main street., i believe in our markets, but markets work best when there is information flow. and a lot of these new financial products are not transparent. the market doesn t have enough information about them, and certainly buyers don t. today, we need a sensible middle ground between heavy-handed regulation and a hands-off approach to a risk that can hurt the innocent, as well as the sophisticated buyer., another new challenge on the hori2on is the growth of sovereign wealth funds. now, what are these? these are investment funds owned by foreign governments. they re not businesses. a government of a big oil-producing country creates a fund of money, puts a name on it, calling it an investment fund, and runs the investments out of this fund. they re using these funds to buy up billions of dollars worth of american stocks, real estate, and corporations., now, where exactly are countries getting the money for these funds? they re getting it from us. our dependence on foreign oil means we send billions of dollars to countries like saudi arabia and vene2uela. our trade deficit and our ballooning debts mean we send billions of dollars in payments to countries like china. these countries then turn around and use our dollars to buy chunks of our economy., today, sovereign wealth funds hold an estimated $2.5 trillion. within a decade, it s predicted they ll hold five times that much. we have never seen anything like this, and you don t hear a peep out of the bush administration., now, why exactly are these sovereign wealth funds cause for concern? well, let me ask you this: how would you feel if a foreign government used its sovereign wealth fund to buy an american car company and moved it overseas? right now, that government might be our banker, but what if they became our boss, as well?, and how would you feel if countries used their investments in america to influence, our foreign policy? what if a country set out to buy companies that compete with their national industries and shut them down?, i don t think we d be comfortable with our own government speculating in real estate or buying up companies, and we should be doubly uncomfortable with the idea of a, foreign government doing these things in our country. in short, these sovereign wealth funds represent a potential threat to our economic sovereignty if we don t act now to assess their impact on our economy., so today we face an array of serious and growing economic challenges that call for a president willing to make responsible economic stewardship a key priority, willing to confront complex problems and devise comprehensive responses, a president who always puts the middle class first., but for seven years, we ve had just the opposite. in fact, we ve had a president who s guided the economy with just one simple principle in mind: take care of those at the top and let middle- class families fend for themselves. he calls it the ownership society, but it s really nothing more than ""you re on your own."", and what do we get from president bush when the fact is that middle-class families  income has dropped $1,000? a call to cut taxes again for america s largest corporations. as our trade deficit has doubled and we ve lost an estimated 1.8 million jobs to china, what was president bush s response? he threatened to veto trade adjustment assistance for displaced workers., when foreclosures doubled last year, what was president bush s response? nothing. when families and community groups reported that crooked buyers and lenders were preying on homebuyers, nothing., but when the housing crisis started to threaten large wall street investment banks, the bush administration sprang into action. it convened meetings and conference calls with the heads of major wall street firms, eager to help however they could., what was president bush s answer to seniors who can t afford to retire? privati2e social security. what about rising oil prices? veto funding to help low-income families pay their energy bills. nine million children without health care? veto health care for needy children., his answer to middle-class families who feel like they re standing on a trap door, just one pink slip or one medical diagnosis or one missed mortgage payment away from falling through and losing everything? tax cut after tax cut for the wealthiest of americans., now, it s no surprise that the president continues to stand by his failed economic policies. this is, after all, a man who believes that stubbornness is a virtue., what is truly ama2ing, however, is that the republican candidates for president are determined to continue these failed policies. in fact, we can describe their approach to the economy in four simple words: more of the same., they see $9 trillion in debt and say, ""why not trillions more?"" they see tax cuts for wealthy americans and big corporations and say, ""why not more?"" they see one attempt to privati2e social security and say, ""why not one more?"" in short, they see eight years of bush economics and say, ""why not eight more?"", well, here s my response to that: you ve got until january 20, 2009. and not one day more will we put up with these failed policies., [applause], i can t wait to get on a stage to debate the republican nominee as we make the case for change and they argue for the status quo. to them, it s ""leave no bush economic policy behind."" but today, america is ready for change, but change is just a word without the strength and experience to make it happen., it s easy to give a speech about restoring the middle class, but it is hard to actually do it. it s easy to make up a program that addresses every economic problem, but it s hard to figure out how to pay for it. we ve been here before with a president who leaves the economic cupboard bear on election day., this time, however, we won t just have to clean up the economic mess he made. we ll also have to end the war he started and address the health care crisis he left behind., , so we don t need more republican scare tactics about a social security crisis. and we don t need a trillion-dollar tax increase that will hit families already facing higher energy, health care and college costs., what we need is to focus on the real crises of health care and medicare and on expanding opportunities for poor, working and middle- class families who are struggling now. if the gathering economic challenges strike all at once in a perfect storm, these families, america s families, will be the hardest hit., so, in short, president bush has abandoned the middle class, tilted the playing field against them, and said, ""you re on your own."" republicans running to replace him say, ""it s time for more of the same."" and i say we need a new direction., we had an economic strategy that worked in the 1990s. we believed that fiscal responsibility could spur economic growth, so we balanced the federal budget. we saw record surpluses, 22 million new jobs, the longest economic expansion in american history., we believe that investments in our people were investments in our economy, so we expanded the earned income tax credit, provided health insurance to six million needy children, invested in head start and student loans. we saw historic declines in child poverty, family incomes up on average more than $8,000, and many americans joining and staying in the middle class., so today we face 21st-century challenges, some of which we could have never imagined back in the 1990s. but i believe the principles that guided us then are still relevant today. these are the principles that are truly at the start of my plan to help restore our economy., i believe in an optimistic, progressive, modern approach to the economy. there s no limits to what we can do if we set our minds to it. and i believe that we can begin on day one to turn the economy around., i have four components: creating new jobs, good jobs, essential to broad-based prosperity; restoring fairness to our economy; renewing the basic bargain that if you work hard you can get head; and putting our fiscal house in order again., we re going to ask everybody to participate, but i am not going to ask the middle class to do more than it has already done. staying afloat during the bush administration has been a major accomplishment., , so we re going to take away the tax subsidies from the oil companies, and we re going to put those to work on behalf of clean, renewable, alternative energy., , we re going to force the pharmaceutical companies to compete. we re going to make them have to negotiate with medicare to get those drug prices down., , we re going to tell the health insurance companies who have denied so many people coverage that they will no longer be able to discriminate against the sick, and we re going to insure every single american for quality, affordable health care., we re going to fight any ill-advised effort to privati2e social security. we re going to keep social security rock solid for generations. and we re going to help families save for retirement with new retirement accounts., , and when it comes to trade, we re going to have real, enforceable standards and protections for our workers and our environment. and unlike the current president, i will make trade enforcement a top priority again., , we re going to have a manufacturing policy, because i don t believe we can remain a great country with a strong economy if we don t make things in america. and i m going to focus on making sure that we continue to do so., , we re going to pass laws that help people be able to join unions and bargain collectively for good wages and fair benefits again. we re going to focus on family farms, instead of corporate farms, and we re going to give family farms the support and the tools that they need to be successful., and we are going to finally close the tax loopholes and stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. enough with outsourcing american jobs using taxpayer dollars., , but i m going to go further than that: i will provide tax relief for the middle class, because you heard me say that, given the increase in energy prices since 2000, on average $2,000, that is far more than any middle-class family got out of these bush tax cuts., we re not going to be fooled. we re going to get back to real tax relief for middle- class families. i ll extend the middle-class tax cuts, give generous tax breaks to help families afford health care, offer up to $1,000 in matching tax cuts to help families save for retirement., i ll expand the earned income tax credit, increase tax credits for child care, and provide a new $3,500 tax credit to help middle-class families send their children to college., , and i will tie the minimum wage to congressional salaries so that congress can t get a raise until working men and women get a raise in the minimum wage., , that s what i will do as president, but there are things we should do right now, immediate action to face the economic challenges. that starts with steps to prevent as many housing foreclosures as possible., i ve already announced a series of policies to do just that, including a $1 billion fund to help states work with at-risk homeowners to prevent foreclosure., today, i call on the president to convene a crisis conference, bringing together all the stakeholders in the housing crisis, from lenders to homeowners to community groups, to figure out a solution to the housing crisis., the time for hand-wringing and blame-placing is over. we need urgent action. and instead of just trying to help the big banks, how about helping america, mr. president, to deal with this foreclosure challenge that we re facing?, , second, we need to immediately address the impending home heating crisis that could affect so many families this year. now, the only long-term solution to high energy prices is reducing our dependence on foreign oil and lowering the carbon intensity of our economy., i ve outlined a comprehensive plan to do that that i talked about outside of cedar rapids, at newton, and other places throughout iowa, and i have set goals to be able to move toward achieving that. but it s not going to happen until we see the end of the bush administration., and i believe, if we do it, we can create five million new jobs. you know about blue- collar jobs and white-collar jobs. how about green-collar jobs for people who are going to put solar panels on rooftops, do the work on bio-fuels and everything else?, but with oil approaching $100 a barrel, it s going to cost families 20 percent to 25, percent more to heat their homes this winter. too many families can t afford that., so i was outraged last week when president bush vetoed emergency energy assistance funding for families. because of his veto, state agencies right here in iowa and across america have been forced to turn away needy families. if president bush gets his way, one million families will be cut off from heating assistance this winter. that is unconscionable., i ve lived in the white house. they keep it warm in the white house. and maybe the president should get out of the white house and come to iowa and meet some of those families who are going to get cut off of energy assistance because of his veto., i call on the president to put partisan politics aside and commit emergency funds today, not months down the road, when millions of seniors and low-income families have literally been left out in the cold. let s ensure that no eligible family gets turned away and that assistance keeps pace with the rising energy prices., in addition, we should commit $1 billion to an emergency home conservation program to lower costs for families in cold-weather states. this program will allow states to make weatheri2ation kits available to three million families. these kits would include easy-to-install items, like a wrap, an insulating wrap for your water heater, caulking for doors and windows. we know from experience this can reduce a family s heating bill by up to 20 percent., third, we need to work with governments around the world to set guidelines to make these sovereign wealth funds more transparent. you know, here in america, we would never fear people from other nations who have confidence in the american economy and want to invest and create jobs here. but when the investor is a foreign government, we need to be vigilant about ensuring that the investments don t threaten our economic sovereignty., currently, these sovereign wealth funds don t have to disclose their holdings, their investment objectives, their investment returns, or their management structures, so it s hard to assess whether they re introducing unnecessary risks into our markets, hard to know whether they re buying or selling assets to make a profit or make a point., so today i call on the bush administration, the world bank, the international monetary fund to begin immediately crafting transparency guidelines for these sovereign wealth funds. strict disclosure requirements are critical to help us understand how these funds are operating., and, finally, we need to start addressing the risks posed by derivatives and other complex financial products. you can t let wall street send the bill to your street with the bright ideas that just don t work out., derivatives and products like them are posing real risks to families, as wall street writes down tens of billions of dollars in investments. companies are taking the loss of a billion here and a billion there simply because the securities they own are worth less than they thought., so as president, i will move to establish the 21st-century oversight we need in a 21st-century global marketplace. i will call for an immediate review of these ne w investment products and for plans to make them more transparent., but i would hope that the bush administration would do it before i m sworn in. i don t want to see another 14 months of potential risks being injected into our economy with all of the other factors at work., you know, president franklin roosevelt, who said a lot of really smart things, said economic laws are not made by nature. they re made by human beings., never before has america been at such an important economic crossroads. the threats to our success are many; they ve been aided by misguided government policies and failed economic leadership and an effort to turn our government into a government of the few, by the few, and for the few., but, you know, america s strengths are legendary, and i think we re ready to come, ,"	
", together, or we go down together."", the cause for justice has always come from people of faith and people of labor. here in this great hall today, you understand, as dr. king did, that your cause was his cause. his movement was a broad and deep one. it was a movement to redeem the soul of america; to fulfill the common purpose of our nation. a movement inspired by the idea, as he put it, that ""injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,"" and that included economic justice., the injustice of poverty; the injustice of people who work hard all day and then on the night shift, and it is still not enough. the injustice of being invisible in a country of so much wealth and opportunity; having people walk by you in the halls and foyers and staircases of buildings you work and not even see you. not stopping to say thank you. thank you for being on duty tonight. thank you for telling us about the problem that happened yesterday. thank you for helping me to feel secure. that invisibility eats away at the heart and soul of america. there should not be any invisible americans and if it s up to the faith community and the labor community and political leaders like those of us here today, there will not be invisible workers anywhere, ever again., we see so much injustice in an economy that simply isn t working for so many of our families. typical american family s income is down nearly $1,000 in the last six years. wages are flat but health care costs are up. gas and energy are up, education costs are up. people are running as hard they can but they are going backwards, they are not getting ahead. so many families feel like they are standing on a trap door; one pink slip, one medical diagnosis away from losing everything. the cause of your family is the cause of every american family and should be the cause of all of us., when security workers here in new york - the people who keep our city safe - don t have the health care or the training they need and desire; when they re not paid enough or valued enough - their cause is our cause., when african american and latino workers still face discrimination in the workplace - when their children still attend schools that are separate and unequal. when they cannot feel that they are part of the american dream today, then your cause is our cause., when a pregnant woman is told, ""i m sorry, but your employment is no longer needed."" when women are still paid just 77 cents on every dollar a man makes - and women of color even less, your cause is our cause., we need to be recommitted to dr. king s dream. it was a dream that demanded action and he gave that action everyday of his life until he was taken from us. we must demand that every american share in this nation s prosperity. every american, no matter where you start out, should have the opportunity to fulfill your god given potential. when the measure of our progress is taken as a nation, it is not how many people became the richest in the world, it is how many could share in the american dream and feel secure in their own lives and in the lives of their children., reverend youngblood was saying that mike fishman would have invited dr. king to speak today and he would have come, too. i remember hearing him speak when i went with my church into downtown chicago to see and hear for myself someone who had burst through the stereotypes and the caricatures, who could not be held back by being beat or gassed or jailed, whose cause was so powerful that he was finally speaking not just to the whole country but to the entire world. i sat there as a young girl transfixed and transformed because the sermon he gave that day was will we stay awake through the revolution., the revolution comes and change is made, and those of us who benefit, we move on. but this is a never-ending revolution for justice and equality and we at our peril think that the work is over because we have benefitted., wherever there is injustice it is an affront to us. i believe you have to listen in order to lead, i believe that as the scripture says, we cannot just be ""hearers of the word;"" we must be ""doers"" of the word. i believe as i was taught that ""faith without works is dead and work without faith is just too hard."", we are called upon today in new york city to fulfill the unfinished dream and to live the legacy that we have inherited. each of us, no matter who we are or where we started from, is a beneficiary of dr. king. we are also a beneficiary of labor leaders like mike fishman and 32bj, who never give up on the dream of equality and justice., it s now up to us to answer the urgent question, whether we will continue the work, whether we have it in ourselves to go the distance, whether we will stand up to the forces that do not believe - do not believe - in the fundamental value that each of us was endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights and that as americans we are entitled to the justice we were promised., will we deliver on jobs with living wages? will we deliver on the promise of health care for 47 million americans without it and the many more who don t have enough to meet the needs they have? will we deliver on the promise of the right to organize and bargain collectively which is a fundamental human right? will we deliver on the american dream that cannot be realized if we turn our backs on labor and the struggles to give hardworking people the rights they deserve to have?, it won t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. you are now part the great forward movement of progress in america. you heard reverend youngblood talk about how we have tried to realize a more perfect union. we can point to progress even though the journey is not over. how many of you ever dreamed you d see the day when a woman and an african american were running for presidency of the united states of america?, that should cause our hearts to leap with joy and celebration. i know that we have to bring our party together and country together. frederick douglass, the great abolitionist who did some of his best work here in new york, spoke out not only for the abolition of slavery but for women s rights. he said back in 1848, summed up on the masthead of his newspaper called north star, that right is of no sex and truth is of no color. god is the father of us all and we are brethren., we have a great journey ahead of us as americans. we need to bring together of the democratic party, which has been on the front lines of the civil rights movement, women s rights movement, and the human rights movement. we need to bring together the labor movement, which has been there every step of the way to get us to where we are today and to keep moving forward for justice., we may differ on minor matters but when it comes to what is really important, we are family. we are all bound together to ensure that the least, the last and the lost among us be given every opportunity to break the chains that still hold them back and down., the security workers are the workers we focus on today. the organizing that is happening will, i hope, result soon in justice and economic opportunity. but the struggle never ends and we all have to remain on the front lines of that struggle. both senator obama and i know that we are where we are today because of leaders like dr. king and generations of men and women like all of you - people who looked into the eyes of their children and saw the promise of a better future, who protested and picketed, who faced dogs and tear gas and nightsticks against their skulls. some, like dr. king, even gave their lives. but they also voted and they brought people to the polls and they held leaders accountable for delivering on the promise., in his speech to the sanitation workers in memphis forty years ago, dr. king urged them to ""move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make america what it ought to be."", it was his very last speech - he was killed the next day. but less than a week later, his brave widow, coretta scott king, returned to memphis. she had not yet buried her husband, but was determined to finish his work and with three of her children at her side, she led a march through the streets of memphis; tens of thousands of people in solidarity with those striking sanitation workers. eight days later, they got their contract., today, it is up to us to continue that march; that march for freedom, justice, equality,, opportunity. it is up to us to make america what it ought to be. it is up to us to stand, ,"	
"economy: solutions for the american economy, thank you! thank you all so much! thank you. you know, i am so happy to be back here at furman. i was at furman with dick and chucky riley back in 2003 for a speech and a question and answer program there, and i had such a wonderful time. it s great to be here again; i ve been at one of the extension buildings of the university in this campaign, but to be back and talking about the economic challenges facing our country is a great honor., i am so sorry to be late. i apologize for that. some of it was us off to a late start, but there were other things we had to deal with, and some of it was delays in air travel, but i appreciate your patience and your willingness to be here. i apologize for everybody stuck outside; we have a long, long line of people who can t get in. i m not sure that everybody thought a speech about the economy would draw such a big crowd. so, i apologize to all of you as well., and of course, i want to thank dick riley for his years of service to the state of south carolina and to our country. he is such a unique public servant and a wonderful, great man., and i want to thank frank holleman who was out speaking here with you before, and lottie gibson. state representative fletcher smith, who i m proud to have supporting me. i want to thank the conference center here and kay cornelison, who is the director and all of you who have come., i particularly want to thank a group of veterans who are traveling throughout the state on my behalf. we have them all over the state. we have several of them here today, led by hershel gober, the former secretary of veteran affairs; hank naughton, an iraq veteran and a state representative from massachusetts; pat lewis, another veteran; reverend tim brown, another supporter. i m very honored to have the support of so many of our veterans., we have a lot of work to do on that front, and if you want to know the details talk to hershel and the veterans who are here, because they can give you chapter and verse about what we need to do to keep faith with our veterans., but i want to turn to the economy., you know, in just a few days, on monday night, president bush will give his final state of the union address., it s enough to make you want to burst out in song. don t worry, i ll spare you. you don t have to listen to me sing., after seven years of inattention, neglect and denial, this monday night, president bush may well actually discuss the serious economic problems we face. and it s about time., you know, we didn t hear from him when the typical family incomes dropped $1,000 over the past seven years -- $2,600 for african american families. as health care premiums nearly doubled, gas prices more than doubled, and college costs here in south carolina rose 124% since 2000, the fastest increase in america., we didn t hear from him as more than two million foreclosure notices went out — 11,000 properties right here in south carolina are in some stage of foreclosure. that s 11,000 families that are facing the potential loss of the american dream., we didn t hear from him as unemployment reached a two year high last month, with south carolina having the third highest unemployment rate in america, or as nearly five million americans fell back into poverty — 33,000 in south carolina alone., but now, finally, the president may acknowledge what the american people have known for years: that the economy is not working for middle class and working families. and i welcome the president to this conversation. because it s a conversation that americans have been having and that i ve been having with so many people every day for years. i ve listened to the voices of so many americans as i ve traveled the country. the voices of people who work hard all day — then sometimes additionally on the night shift — but it s still not enough. people who whisper to me about the mortgages they can t afford and the homes they re losing, about medical bills that wiped them and their savings out. about tuition costs that have cut short the hopes they had about sending a child to college. many people are simply, overwhelmed by the economic conditions they confront every day., i ve heard from plenty of people who also tell me, ""i m ok right now, but what about next year - or even next month? the way things are going with people losing jobs and homes, what if my family is next?"", this is a time of uncertainty and growing anxiety. we didn t wind up here by accident. as president kennedy once observed, ""economic policy can result from government inaction as well as governmental action."" we re here in part because the president failed to listen to the voices of people who are hurting, failed to get involved in the actual work of running the government, and failed to act. instead, he has stayed at a comfortable cruising altitude, well above the realities of people s lives, delegating responsibilities to his advisers, hoping the buck would stop somewhere else—anywhere else., in just seven years, this administration has taken us from record surpluses into a large and growing deficit, from a projected $5.6 trillion surplus to a $9 trillion debt. we have seen our growing, thriving economy that created 22.7 million jobs in the 1990s pushed to the brink of recession., and we re seeing the ripple effects around the world. this week, many countries saw their largest one- day stock market declines since september 11, 2001., in this new century, the stakes have never been higher. the challenges have never been bigger or more urgent. but the opportunities are also there, if we get about the business of seizing them., now, our economic problems are admittedly complex. but there is one thing we know for sure: the problem with our economy is not the american people. instead, the problem is, in part, the bankrupt ideas that have governed us for the last seven years. they have rewarded the very few at the expense of the many., the american people are actually the solution to our economic problems. americans are the hardest working people in the world - our productivity goes up every year. that means we work harder and harder and produce more. people are innovators, they are entrepreneurs, they take risks, they start small businesses. they are constantly thinking about the future. the factory worker and the ceo, the farmer or the small business owner, the scientist in the lab, or the teacher in the classroom, everybody who gets up every day and gets their job done, supports their families - that is the strength of the american economy., and it s time we finally had a president who worked as hard for you as you work for america every single day., because, in the end, it is all about people. it is all about the woman in columbia who grabbed my hand and said that her child was sick and the insurance company wouldn t pay for the treatment that was necessary. it s all about the man in florence some months ago who came up to me some months ago and said, ""i just keep working harder and harder and i feel like i m falling further and further backwards. but i have a small business; i depend on transporting my goods, and the cost of energy just keeps going up."" it s about the real lives of real people right here in south carolina., the presidency matters more now than ever. we need a president who will run the government and manage the economy. american people don t hire a president to talk about our problems but to solve them, to set a vision for the future, and then to roll up our sleeves and get about fulfilling it., it s time for a president who believes that leading an economic comeback is a fulltime, hands-on job. who renews our commitment to a strong and prosperous middle class and brings business, labor and government together to restore america s competitiveness in a fast changing world. a president who has a vision for a twenty-first century economy based on shared prosperity. where we measure our success not by the wealth at the very top but by how broadly wealth is shared., you know, with all due respect to a lot of my friends on the other side of the aisle, i do not believe it is rich people who made america great. i believe it is the hard working people of america who made our country great., we want to get back to rewarding hard work. we want the american dream to be within everyone s reach. we want to make investments in one another that allow us, particularly our children, to live up to our god-given potential., these are not just economic issues, these are moral issues about our common purpose as a nation. whether people can provide for their families, whether they can share in the blessings of this great country - that speaks to who we are as a people and what we value., the way we bring our country together is by acting on our values. true unity can only be achieved by finding real solutions for the american people, and then delivering them. without real solutions, division and disappointment, not unity, will be the result. we ve been there before. president bush promised to be a uniter, not a divider. and we know how well that turned out., because unity comes from taking on the tough challenges, asking us to be bigger than ourselves, summoning up to greatness, again. and that is what i intend to do as president, on day one. i will bring the voices of the american people back to the white house. i will ask all of us to be involved in solving our problems., otherwise, here is what i fear. most of us, as i look around this room, with the exception of the students, who are crowded into the foyer and spilling out the door, we have been the beneficiaries of the sacrifices that came from previous generations- from parents and grandparents, from people who fought the wars, and built big businesses, and did the labor, who created the extraordinary success of that america is. we have to keep faith with all that came before us. i don t think any of us want to be part of the first, generation of americans to leave our country worse off than when we found it. that would be such a breach with what american history has meant to all of us., so the time for waiting is over and the time for talk is over. too many families are paying the price of inaction, right here and right now - so i think we need to begin acting, and we can t wait until january 20, 2009., we need both an immediate, short-term plan to jumpstart the economy - and a long-term economic vision with strategies to keep the economy going well into the future., so let s start with the short-term. if i were president right now, i would work with the congress to jumpstart the economy by immediately addressing the housing crisis, creating new jobs, and getting money back into the pockets of the american people., we know that the loss of a home is devastating and so many families across our country are facing that. but it s not only those who are actually losing their homes i worry about. because of this mortgage crisis, every home owner is losing value in our homes. the american people have lost more than $1.3 trillion worth of value in our homes in the last year - that s nearly half the size of the entire united states government budget. and african american families are especially hard hit - subprime loans are five times more common in predominantly african american neighborhoods than predominantly white ones., but this is not just an economic crisis, it is truly an american dream crisis. your home isn t just your only greatest source of wealth - it s your greatest source of security. it s what anchors us to our neighborhoods and communities. it s where we raise our kids, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and make memories together. i have visited with so many people in their homes and i know what our homes mean to us. i know the feel of refuge and security i feel when i walk into my own home. i know what it s like to sit in homes where families haven t had the money to buy all the furniture they need but they re so proud to show off their new home., and nearly a year ago, i called for immediate action to address this mounting mortgage crisis. less than two weeks after that, the bush administration told congress that what i was calling for wasn t necessary- that the problem was contained. several months later, the president assured us that there would be a soft landing for the housing market. but now we know better. so all of last year, i proposed policies to help families keep their homes. i wrote to the regulators urging them to take their heads out of the sand and do something for the millions of families at risk of foreclosure. i introduced legislation to crack down on abusive lending practices and give states the resources to help at-risk families avoid losing their homes., the result? a plan from president bush that lets banks off the hook and leaves homeowners to fend for themselves. in the words of one expert, the president s plan was ""the bank lobby s dream."" this administration has delivered a foreclosure notice on the american dream., the president s plans to fix our economy would do next to nothing about the foreclosure crisis. and they said that my insistence on stopping foreclosures just doesn t make sense. well i m sorry to disagree. the housing crisis is contributing to rising unemployment. construction jobs are disappearing— and i see a few hard-hats here in the audience. south carolina alone lost 2,800 construction jobs in 2007. it s erasing families  wealth, jeopardizing consumer spending, which constitutes two-thirds of our economy. it s caused $100 billion in losses to banks, making them less likely to offer credit to businesses and families that need it., that s why my plan to fix the economy starts by doing everything possible to ensure that we don t lose any more homes and that we stabilize the economy when it comes to the mortgage crisis., i want to start with a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. if the bank is about to foreclose on your home, you should have some breathing room to restructure your mortgage. i m calling for freezing the monthly rate on adjustable rate mortgages for at least five years or until the mortgages have been converted into loans that families can afford. if you have an adjustable mortgage that s about to skyrocket, you ll have the chance to pay it off with affordable payments., people say well isn t this rewarding people who maybe got in over their heads? well to some extent it is trying to stop what is happening that will affect all of us. if we don t help these families work out their mortgages now we will have more empty homes because the housing market is so low right now, nobody is buying. then we ll have deteriorating neighborhoods, then we ll have decreasing tax revenues for cities and towns- it becomes a vicious cycle., that s why i also would also create a $30 billion fund to help hard-hit communities and distressed homeowners weather the foreclosure crisis. we need to be sure to shore up our communities so that they don t begin to also deteriorate in the face of a loss in the home market. i also would include direct tax rebates to working and middle class families. we need to target it to those who are most in need., the democratic leadership in the house and senate along with the white house appear to be nearing a, deal and i am heartened to hear that they are planning to extend assistance to the tens of millions of working americans who need it the most. that s what i have been calling for and that s what i think we have to do. but i also want to target the needs of working families that are really facing tough choices. we need relief from skyrocketing energy bills. we need expanded unemployment insurance for those who are struggling to find a job., but i want to think about the future, that s why i would take immediate steps to spur ""green collar"" job growth: high-wage, renewable energy jobs that are good for our environment and cannot be outsourced., i would do this immediately through a crash weatherization program that would put people to work, helping to insulate homes, and give green collar job training initiatives to help prepare people., i would also implement my green building fund to rebuild and renovate schools and other public buildings to help make them more energy efficient. we can create millions of new jobs in america through clean, renewable energy. i know we can do it because i ve seen what other countries have done., germany decided a few years ago to make a big bet on solar power. they creating tax incentives, they created training programs to take construction workers and others to know how to install solar panels. they have created several hundred thousand new jobs in three short years. they have a smaller economy than ours. if we got serious about this, i know we could do the same. i really hope that as part of this recovery package, we start getting serious about the future. we have to stop the crisis but then we have to plan for an economy that will keep generating good new jobs, and clean energy is our best bet., but jumpstarting the economy in the short-term is just the beginning. we need a long-term vision to build a strong, prosperous economy for the next generation. i think it was winston churchill who said that, the difference between a politician and a statesman is that the politician thinks about the next election, while the statesman thinks about the next generation. we ve got to start thinking about the next generation. we can t do this piecemeal; we ve got to start helping people more., maybe you want to start saving for retirement, but you can t do it because your taxes are too high and your wages aren t high enough. maybe you want to go back to school, but your health care premiums are too high so you can t afford tuition., we live in a complex, interconnected, global economy. all of our challenges are all together now. we can t just put band-aids on one and expect to solve our problems. what we have to do is have a plan to create good jobs and restore fairness to the economy. we need to renew the promise of america that if you work hard, you can get ahead. we need to return to fiscal responsibility, so that washington once again lives within a budget, just like you and your family has to do., i believe solving the jobs crisis over the long run starts with solving the energy crisis. that s why i will create a $50 billion strategic energy fund to jumpstart investments in clean energy technologies. we will create a green revolution with investments in biofuels, wind, solar, geothermal, all of the clean energy and energy efficiency changes we need to make. and as we create these new job possibilities for the next generation we will pay for it by eliminating the tax subsidies for the big oil companies and require them to pay into the strategic energy fund, or invest in alternative energy themselves. they have made record profits in recent years. now it s time they did their fair share., i also know that we won t get any of this done until the two oil men leave the white house but as soon as they do, we will start to work on this long-term vision., we also help create jobs by modernizing and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. the tragic bridge collapse in minnesota this past summer, a recent levee break in nevada, and what happened with the levees in new orleans are painful reminders that our infrastructure is in dangerous disrepair., every billion dollars that we spend fixing crumbling infrastructure creates 48,000 new jobs. i have a rebuild america plan to invest $10 billion over ten years in an ""emergency repair fund."" we need to modernize our ports, our rail systems, our airports, our public transit systems, our bridges, our tunnels, our roads. we need to expand access to broadband across america, particularly to rural areas., we need to end this administration s war on science and restore america to its rightful place. as the innovation nation, i will increase investments in basic and applied research at the national science foundation, the national institutes of health and our other government agencies and universities. we became so successful after world war ii because business and science worked hand in hand with government. our great universities like furman were on the cutting edge of discoveries that we translated into better outcomes for people., but creating jobs is just the beginning. we need to empower our workers and ensure that our tax system is fair. that s the second piece of a long-term plan., for the past seven years, the oil companies, the predatory student loan companies, the insurance companies, the drug companies have had a president who stands up for them. i intend to be a president who stands up for you every single day about how we make america work better for you., during the 1950s and 60s which many of us look back at with great appreciation because the economy, worked so well, for so long, for so many, we had a much higher percentage of our workforce unionized., now it is much lower. we need to make sure people can organize and bargain for good wages and safe, working conditions., we need to be sure that we restore fairness to the economy by restoring fairness to the tax code. right now, some of the people i represent in new york city, wall street investment managers, making $50 million a year pay just 15% on their earnings - while a teacher making $50,000 pays 25%. i don t think that s right and i ve been calling to raise the taxes on those people at the top., as corporate profits have skyrocketed, the percentage of taxes paid by corporations has fallen. we have richly rewarded people and i am all in favor of incentivizing people to do well. that is part of what america stands for. but it isn t right that the wealthy and the well-connected have gotten so many more benefits than the middle class and working people have., we need to extend middle class tax cuts, including the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief. we need to reform the alternative minimum tax to ensure it doesn t hit middle class families with higher tax rates. it was never supposed to do that. we need to expand the earned income tax credit and raise the minimum wage to ensure that work pays for all americans. no one who works full time should live in poverty. if you re working full time you shouldn t be in poverty., we need to give people the tools and support they need to succeed in today s complex economy. that starts with recommitting ourselves to making college affordable for our young people. that s especially important here in south carolina, the average student debt upon graduation is $20,000. so you start in a big hole before you ever go to work on the first day. and you know what s happened which is really troubling to me—america s higher education system which was the envy of the world, we had an open system, the highest percentage of young people who went to get degrees, but now from japan to south korea to canada and ireland, other countries are educating their young people at a higher rate than here in america. the reason for that is the cost has exploded. it is more expensive today than it was thirty years ago to send a child to college., that s why i ve outlined a comprehensive plan to open the doors of college to young people. it includes a new $3,500 college tax credit that will cover more than 50% of the typical cost of public colleges and universities or the full cost of tuition and fees for community colleges., i also want to increase the size of pell grants, something that former secretary riley mentioned. i want to strengthen community colleges, invest $500 million to support innovative, on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs for those who don t go to college., we also have to ensure that every american has quality, affordable health care. here in south carolina alone, 672,000 people are uninsured. i want to ask you— how many of you know someone here in south carolina who is uninsured? how many of you know somebody who may have insurance but it just doesn t pay for what the doctor or the hospital says you need?, we have two problems—we have the problem of the uninsured and the problem of the underinsured. my american health choices plan would insure every single person for what they need., it s simple: if you have insurance you like, you keep it. there is no disruption. if you have a good policy through your business or through a union or through a municipality, nothing changes. but if you don t have insurance - or you don t like the insurance you have - you can choose from the same menu of private plans available to members of congress. and we will provide tax credits to help you afford it., my plan also bans insurance company discrimination, so you will never be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions or risk factors that you might have. and we don t require small business to do anything but it does provide tax credits to help small businesses if they choose to afford to buy health care for their employees., finally, we have to help more americans save for a secure retirement. right now, fewer than half of all americans have any retirement savings account at all. when i m president, i want to provide every single american with an easy, automatic opportunity to save for the future through ""american retirement accounts."" these accounts will take the best of the 401k plans and make them available to every working family. and we ll give families up to $1,000 in tax cuts to help them save., and finally we ve got to return to fiscal responsibility., year after year, the president has increased spending at more than double the rate of the previous administration and handed tax cut after tax cut to multi-millionaires, oil companies and other interest groups. and how has he paid for all of this spending? by borrowing money from foreign countries like china. when people ask me, why is it hard to get tough on china and enforce our trade agreements, i tell them: because they re our bankers. we owe them. how can we truly enforce the trade laws against a country like china, when our economy depends on china s massive loans to us? think about it this way, we borrow money from china to buy oil from the saudis. that is a dead-end strategy for america. and i m going to end that strategy if i have the good fortune of becoming your president., because i want america to regain control of its destiny by moving back toward a balanced budget and a surplus. that s why i ve worked throughout this campaign to show exactly how i would pay for every initiative that i have just mentioned. not just how i ll run my campaign, but run our country as well., you know, today, some people around the world and even some here at home are basically saying,, ""well, we can t go back to the kind of economy we had before."" they act as though the 1990s was, ,"	
"thank you. it is so good to be here in hartford, back in connecticut. i am thrilled to see all of you. i want to thank nancy for her really kind words, but the part of it that touched me the most was when she said that she wanted me to be the president for her grandchildren. that is something that i so deeply treasure. thank you, nancy. it is wonderful to be back with your attorney general. dick and i went to law school together in new haven at yale. i have followed his distinguished public career here in connecticut with such admiration. he is generally believed to be best attorney general in the entire united states of america., i appreciate greatly what he has been doing and particularly his point about how you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in. dick and i have joined together against the broadwater plan in the south, which we don,t think is in the best interest of new york and connecticut, of our environment, or of our future. it is an honor to be standing side by side with him and a lot of these important fights for connecticut and new york and america., i want to thank my co-chairs, susan cocco and representative jason bartlett. i want to thank the members of the steering committee for my campaign here in connecticut, and the state legislature who are here-- if they could all raise their hands so i can express my appreciation. the hartford mayor, eddie pere2; state representative, kelvin roldan; bruce douglas and the faculty and the staff here; the bridgeport mayor, bill finch; all of the elected officials and i see my good friend from massachusetts congressman, jim mcgovern. i,m so pleased that you all are here with me. it is exciting to be in this learning corridor, i am thrilled with what i see here., i have been to hartford many times. i,ve been here visiting friends, been here doing business, been here supporting people running for office here in connecticut. i first started coming to hartford on sunday afternoons, back when i was in law school. bill had this old, beat up car. it was called an opel. i don,t even know if they make them anymore. it was the kind of car that was held together by duct tape, to be real honest. but sometimes after a long week of studying and all that we did in law school, we,d get in that old car and we,d just travel all over connecticut. we went from one end of the state to the other. it is such a beautiful state., i had so many happy hours here traveling across connecticut. of course, i am thrilled to be your neighbor now from new york, living close by in chappaqua and being able to work on so many of the concerns that affect our two states. boy, we have a lot of concerns we have to deal with, don,t we? i assume that all of you know tonight is a red letter night in american history. it is the last time george bush will give a state of the union., if we all do our part, next year it,ll be a democratic president giving the state of the union., let,s be clear, one thing that president bush has never understood is that the state of the union is not about a speech in washington. it is about the state of the lives of the american people. what is happening in our schools, in our hospitals, in our jobs? it is whether or not we have people who feel that they are moving toward the american dream or whether it looks like it,s getting further and further away no matter how hard they work. it is about whether or not people will be able to stay in their homes or if they will lose their homes to foreclosures, thereby really undermining the american dream. it is about whether we as a nation will restore our leadership and our moral authority, bring our constitution out of cold storage, begin to act like americans again, solving our problems, working toward a better future, making it possible for us to be proud of our country., this campaign that we are waging is one of the most important in our nation,s history because we are at a turning point. we know that we have so much work to do, and it will take all of us. it,s not just about those of us who are running. it,s about all of you and everyone else here in connecticut and across america who knows that we can do better. i believe with all my heart that america is ready for an election that sets a new agenda, new priorities, that gives us back that confidence and optimism that should be our birthright., i believe that america can solve any problem that we put our minds to. i believe that we can once again be a nation that sets the pace, that creates the innovation and the future awaits. but i believe that we,ve got to do that by making it very clear what we stand for and what we won,t stand for. i think it,s imperative that this election be about the real concerns of the american people. as nancy said, some, people think politics is a game. it,s exciting; you can have rallies like this. we have so many people outside and we are moving them into an overflow room and that,s really a great way of demonstrating involvement and participation., but at the end, it,s about are people better off when we stopped than when we started. does some child who didn,t have health care before have it now? does some hard working man, who has given his all to his job and has seen it moved offshore, feel like he has any hope left? some working woman who gets up at the crack of dawn and works as hard as she can, ever get equal pay for equal work? these are the kinds of concerns and issues that i care about., i have been in and out of the homes and workplaces and community centers of americans across our country. and what they want to talk to me about is the insecurity they feel; the fears that they are confronting. i am sure that the president tonight will, as he has for the previous seven years, say that the state of our union is strong. but with all due respect mr. president, you,re not on the road with me. come and meet the people that i meet. listen to the stories i listen to. sit at tables in diners and hear what,s on america,s mind., i have very different beliefs than the current administration. i believe that everybody in america who,s willing to work hard for a living should bring home an income above the poverty line. i think that should be part of what we hold out for people and make sure that they have., i believe health care is a moral right, not a privilege for the few and the wealthy., i believe people have the right to organi2e and bargain collectively and have better wages and working conditions., i believe that our education system is not just about our children taking tests but unlocking their imaginations and their potential. i believe our tax code should be fair to the middle class. it,s the middle class that built america. it,s the middle class that creates most of the wealth and the jobs in america, and its time that we have a tax code that reflects that again., i believe that an investment manager on wall street making fifty million dollars a year should not pay a lower percentage in taxes than a teacher in hartford making fifty-thousand dollars a year., i believe that anyone who wants to move a job from connecticut overseas should not get one penny of tax payer help to do it. there should not be any giveaways in our tax code to create jobs somewhere else than america. i believe every child deserves a chance to make it in life. that,s why we need a universal pre-kindergarten program, that s why we need more help for families, so that they can get their own children off to a good start., i believe we have to start over from scratch with no child left behind and get back to having a partnership between our teachers and our students and the rest of us., i believe that college should be affordable for middle class and working families again., i believe we ve got to do more to help those who don t go to college- the young men and women who build the buildings we work in. they deserve more job training and apprenticeship programs for a better future., i believe that we,ve got to restore the constitution of the united states, we ve got to respect our civil rights and our civil liberties, we have to respect the right to privacy and we have to say no loudly and clearly to those like president bush and vice president cheney who don,t understand american history or american values., i believe we can do better than what we ve seen the last seven years with the cronyism and the corruption and the no-bid contracts and the indifference and the incompetence. i believe we can actually start appointing qualified people to the positions we ask them to hold in the government again., i believe we can restore american leadership and moral authority in the world, beginning with ending the war in iraq and bringing our troops home within sixty days of when i become president., i believe that when a young man or woman signs up to serve our country in the united states military, we sign up to serve that young man or woman. we owe them the health care, the compensation, and the support and services that they have earned. i believe that we are strongest when we lead with our values. we have the greatest military in the world, there s no doubt about that, but military force should be used only as a last resort, not a first resort. that is something we have to make clear to the rest of the world again, i believe we can work with other countries to find common ground. i believe that the rest of the world is holding its breath, waiting for a new day. i believe that we can have a new energy policy that is focused on clean renewable energy; that puts millions of people in connecticut and across america to work in making and delivering that new energy., i believe we can take on global warming and we can do it in a smart way and the united states can be a leader again in coming up with a framework that includes china and india and other countries in helping to save our planet and at the same time see the result in new jobs and new technologies and new exports. i believe we can have trade agreements that honor labor and environmental standards and that, are enforceable against countries that violate them., i believe we can get back to fiscal responsibility where, once again, the united states is strong. we re not going into debt for the war in iraq and tax cuts for the wealthiest of americans but instead we are taking care of the needs of our people at home. if we move back toward fiscal responsibility we will regain our fiscal sovereignty. right now we borrow money from chinese to buy oil from saudis. that is not a good deal for america, i believe we can do better than that., i believe that the next election is not just about who gets elected. i believe the next election is about the next generation. it s about all of these young people who are here today. it s about your future, your potential, the country and world you will inherit., so how do we translate our beliefs into action? how do we go from a campaign where we make speeches, where people stand up and cheer and clap loudly, into making what we believe real? i think it starts by having an election about what matters, about what we can do together. i have spent a year talking very specifically about my plans - what i will do to create more jobs and return to fiscal responsibility and growth, and lifting people out of poverty and giving them a chance to fulfill their god- given potential. about how we will have health care by opening up the congressional plan that is there for members of congress and their staff and federal employees to every single america who wants it and give tax credits for those who can,t afford it on their own., i know that we have to change our education program from the federal level and i know that we,ve got to create a better partnership between washington and connecticut and hartford and all of the other communities here. we can do this. there is so much yearning in our country to be part of something bigger than ourselves again. we can provide a really positive view of our future together and we can ask everybody to be a part of it. it s not just about electing a president and passing legislation through the congress. it,s about what each and every one of us will do., if we have a new energy and global warming strategy in america then we re all going to have to conserve more, we re going to have to be more energy efficient and look for ways in our schools and our businesses, and our communities to really take on this challenge. i think we re up to it. there s never been a challenge america hasn t met once we made up our minds to do it., i,m going to work very hard to get us to universal health care. it is long overdue in america and we are going to make it possible for people to get health care coverage for mental health, which should no longer be left out and stigmati2ed, for prevention that will keep us healthy and well., but then i,m going to ask all of us to do more to stay healthy and to help each other and young people will lead the way to give us that encouragement, so that we can be as strong as possible., when it comes to education, i want families to invest more in their own children. i,ve done this work, as dick was saying, for 35 years. a family is a child,s first school. parents are child,s first teacher. most parents really want to know what to do, but there,s not a lot of help out there, is there? we need to give more support to families so that they can be the best possible teachers and parents. we need to have work to be friendlier again. i am so proud of chris dodd and what he did to make sure the family and medical leave act was passed after trying for seven years with two presidential vetoes., we need to work to expand it so that more people don,t have to make these really tough choices between being a good employee and being a good family member. we,ve got to relieve a lot of the pressures that so many families feel today because we have care-givers taking care of chronically ill spouses or parents or children. they do it for love. they do it because it,s the right thing to do. if they stop taking care of each other tomorrow, we,d have to find $300 billion a year to replace the care that is given out of love. let,s start helping families be the best they can be to take care one another. if we are serious about family values, let,s start valuing families and giving everybody the tools they should have to make the most out of their family lives. then i m going to ask all of us to do more to stay healthy., i will do everything i can to make college affordable with new tax credits for families, with more pell grants, with higher levels so that more people can take advantage of them. i want to give two more years of national service to those who need to earn money to go to college, up to $10,000 a year so that you can pay your way if you graduate with debt. if you are willing to do a public service job like teaching or nursing or firefighting or law enforcement, we will forgive your debt because of what you are giving back to our society., but the doors of college are not just open by saying, ""just open."" they are open because people work hard for it. we are in a competition in america. we are not only competing between states, we are competing with other countries. each of our young people have to be poised and ready to play a part in this global competition. nobody can out compete americans once we, again, make up our mind that we are going to be in this, to make it clear that we are leading, we are the innovators, we are the entrepreneurs. around the world, we need to have a bipartisan foreign policy again; a lot of the problems we face are not republican or democratic problems. we have to repair all the relationships that have been damaged by president bush, on very continent across the globe., that,s why it is so important to start withdrawing our troops from iraq. i have said, as soon as i could, upon taking office if i am so fortunate to do that, i would ask the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff and the security advisors to give me a plan to begin. i think we can bring out one to two brigades a month. i believe we will tell very clearly by our actions, not just our words, the iraqi, ,"	
"atlanta, ga - good afternoon. this is, as every day is, the day that the lord hath made so let us rejoice and be glad in it. it is a great honor for me to be here with all of you today. i want to thank dr. shaw for his leadership; i want to thank reverend thurston for his, as well. dr. t. dewitt smith jr. for his stewardship and leadership and dr. p.t robertson. these four leaders, bringing people together today, deserve our appreciation and our prayers. it is a challenging but necessary endeavor., i should begin by acknowledging that my husband is a baptist and i have learned during our marriage from sitting around the kitchen table that baptists have quite the tradition of disagreement. bill and i have been talking and debating since we first met over thirty-five years ago. sometimes the decibel level can rise, depending on the passion of the moment, but as you know, that is how we learn - by exploring our differences. by coming to understand that what we share is so much bigger than what separates us. that is how we come to a place of unity and that is what you are doing here, this week. i understand that this is only the second time that the four conventions have come together as one. you are here guided in the spirit of hope by the one who is faithful to us in all things., as we gather today i am reminded of the scripture from hebrew, which tells us, ""let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who comes is faithful and let us consider how we may serve one another on towards love and good deeds. let us not give up meeting together - as some are in the habit of doing - but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching."", i grew up in a different faith tradition, as a methodist. i know there is at least one bishop from my tradition here who came to show solidarity. i appreciate that. much like all of you, i was taught from a very early age that my faith carried with it certain obligations. it was my youth minister who took us to see dr. king preach about our responsibility to our fellow citizens. it was that famous sermon, staying awake though the revolution. it transformed my life as it did so many others who had the great honor to hear directly from dr. king the calling to be more than on our own, any of us could be., i have been a praying person, luckily, my entire life. i m often asked whether or not i am. i am quick to tell people that i was raised by parents who were prayerful and by a church that guided me but had i not been a praying person, one week in the white house would ve turned me into a praying person., everyday i try to act on the lessons of my faith, to reach that higher place. yet, so often, like all of us, i fall short. but each new day, i keep striving and praying to work harder, to correct my imperfections, to improve on the day before and on the day before that. that s what i ve tried to do in my personal life but also in every aspect of my public life. that s how i try to go about the work of breaking barriers and expanding opportunities. work that i, myself have benefited from throughout my life. that is how i practice my faith. i m living by the scripture that says we are all members of god s household. that we are called, not asked, not urged, not requested, nor ordered, but called to love one another as jesus has loved us., now, i m not talking about love that comes easy. i m not talking about the greeting card kind of love. i m talking about the kind of love that is hard. the deeper, more powerful love in corinthians that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things., i m talking about the kind of love that we have seen in action. the love that fills the heart of my friend, congressman john lewis, a man that lead the march in selma that ended with tear gas, hoses and the crack of the nightstick against his skull as he knelt down to pray. as he knelt down the pray, that nightstick came up and down on a praying man s head. that was just one of the many times john was attacked on his journey for justice. but those of us know john lewis know that he doesn t harbor hate in any fiber of his being. that s the kind of love i m talking about., i m talking about the love that fills the heart of president nelson mandela. i ve had the honor of getting to know him over the years and i attended his inauguration. i will never forget how he stood up on that stage and said how proud he was to welcome all of the dignitaries in attendance, but there were three people he especially wanted to welcome. then he asked three of his jailers from robin island to stand. after twenty-seven years in prison at hard labor, he invited them to share that day. he later told me that, ""i knew if i didn t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, i d still be in prison."" that s the kind of love i m talking about., our faith calls us to do what is hard, to give voice to the voiceless, to lift up the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick. but for the past seven years, our leaders have gotten wrong. they ve gotten it upside down and backwards., they have given corporate tax breaks to wall street and then cut head start, child care and drop out prevention. they have lifted up the drug and insurance companies, but vetoed health care for millions of children in need. they have given tax breaks to the oil companies but cut off home heating assistance for our seniors this winter. they have waged a war in iraq that has taken more than 3,900 of our sons and daughters. but they also regret the poverty, the disease and violence that afflict our brothers and sisters here at home and around the world., every day you perform good work rooted in the values of our faith. isn t it a shame when we have leaders that talk a lot about values, but then go and do exactly the opposite in betrayal of those same values. it reminds me of what the writer, elie wiesel, once observed: the opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference. and for the past seven years, that s what we have seen in washington, an epidemic of indifference. a collective turning of our government s back on the least among us. it is in every way possible the opposite of love., when our children attend schools that are separate and unequal in the 21st century, when anyone votes on a broken machine and their vote isn t counted, that is the opposite of love. when we see nooses hung in a school yard, when the screams of selma and montgomery are clouded by the nightmare of katrina and rita, that is the opposite of love. when some members of god s household have every advantage while others are shut out of the circle of opportunity, that is the opposite of love., while we may have an income gap and a health gap, and an achievement gap, there is one thing we don t have - a potential gap. it is time we gave every single child in this country the chance to live up to his or her god-given ability and potential. that is what i have strived to do for 35 years. with your help we will continue to make that real., it is time to reach out and embrace those of the margin and in the shadows. to usher them back to speech at the table in god s household. to ensure that their voices are once again heard in this country. too many of our fellow citizens feel invisible. they come to up to me, as a woman did today in little rock, and said, senator, what am i to do? i can t get the cancer treatment for my chemotherapy anymore-- i can t afford it and they won t pay for it. it s keeping me alive and now i don t know where to turn., or the man who stopped me the other day in new york and said, i m about to lose my job. i ve got two children to send to college. where will i get the help? people feel like their deepest concerns, their love of their families, can no longer any matter to those in the highest positions of power., scripture tells us we cannot just be  hearers  of the word we must be  doers . we are told that faith without works is dead. i have lived long enough by now to know that works without faith is just too hard. if you cannot dip into that righteous stream and replenish your soul, it is overwhelming, isn t it. as i look at the work yet to be finished, i believe we are all called upon to be both hearers and doers. we are called to face the inaction, to deliver real solutions to the real problems that our people are facing. that is the affirmation of our love., i often taught a sunday school class when i was in arkansas, and we talked and talked a lot about loving ones neighbor as oneself. i was struck by how absolutely brilliant jesus was. we really can t love someone if we don t love ourselves, can we. if we don t believe in and have respect for this great gift we have been given, it s hard to reach out and love someone, a neighbor, a friend. then of course to be called upon to love ones enemy seems totally unrealistic in the world we live in. it s hard enough getting through the day. but it is what we are called to do. we have to put that calling into action, not only in our individual lives but throughout our society., let us think about the solutions we can bring about, to give our people hope, but more than hope, results. the tangible evidence that they are no longer invisible, but that their needs, their hurts, their wants, are being tended to. when i say solutions, i mean expanding the earned income tax credit and tying the minimum wage to the congressional wage so that congress cannot get a raise until the american people do-- especially those who do the hardest work, every day., i mean investing in clean renewable energy and creating create green collar jobs right here in atlanta and across america. jobs that cannot be outsourced, jobs that we can train our young people to do, jobs that will move our dependence on foreign oil and give us a chance to give our economy, our environment, our security once again under america s control. i believe we need to make it abundantly clear that no one that works full time in america should bring home a wage that keeps that person and his family below the poverty line., anybody willing to work a fulltime job should have accommodation of income and benefits that lifts them up. that s how we build a strong middle class. when i say solutions i mean tuition tax credits, to open the doors of higher education, more grants, more opportunities for national service so that students can earn money to go to college., when i say solutions, i mean tax credits to open the doors of higher education. more pell grants, more opportunities for national service so that students can earn money to go to college. i mean doubling the funding for historically black colleges and universities like morehouse and spelman and clark atlanta, , right here. these have been a bridge to the middle class for generations of young people. that bridge has a sign on it: ""you can not enter if you don t have the money."" that isn t the way it used to be. some of us are old enough to remember as i am. i got a loan from the federal government when i went to law school. it was about 2% interest so when i graduated i wanted to go work for the children s defense fund and work for marian wright edelman. i didn t want to go to work for a big law firm. i wanted to defend the abused and neglected kids, the kids in the foster care system, the kids without health care and education. but if i had been graduating with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt, i m not sure i could have done that., we need also to offer to young people who graduate with debt the opportunity to do a public service job like teaching or nursing or law enforcement and let them pay off their loans over time so they don t become an indentured servant to these student loan companies that hold them in the thrall of predatory interest rates. opening the doors of college is not only good for the young people who walk across that bridge, it is essential for the future of our country., when i say solutions i mean health care for everyone - no exceptions, no excuses - every man, woman, and child to have quality affordable health care because that s the only way we can close the infant mortality gap, close the life expectancy cap, ensure that people get the primary care from a doctor not from an emergency room., when i say solutions i mean fixing this housing crisis because a house is more than just your greatest source of wealth. it s the center of your family, it s where you make memories and develop relationships. no one should take that away from you because of the subprime abusive practices that so many mortgage lenders engage in without any supervision or oversight from the federal government. we ve got to have a moratorium on home foreclosures for ninety days so we can help people stay in their homes. and let s freeze those interest rates for five years so they don t keep going up and forcing more and more people into debt, into foreclosure., and let s put a cap on the interest rates that credit card companies can charge and tell them they ve got to start explaining to people in big print, not little print, what the terms and conditions are. no one should force you into an ocean of debt because your health care costs are going up, your education and energy costs are going up, but your wages aren t., the average american family has lost $1,000 in income in the last seven years. african american families have lost $2,600. contrast that with what happened during the nineties when the typical family,, including african american families, saw a rise of $7,000 in their income and more people lifted out of poverty than in any time in our countries recent history., we know how to turn this around but we have to come together to seek common ground wherever possible and to stand our ground whenever necessary., and if we truly love our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, then we will end this war in iraq that has claimed so many of their lives and injured tens of thousands of them., and we will care for them when they came home, because i believe if you serve our country, our country should serve you. and you should get the health care, the compensation, the jobs that you deserve. every day in america hundreds of thousands of our veterans are homeless, are jobless, are being turned away from treatment and health care because there s no space for them. i think we ve got to do everything we can to make it clear that we will tend to our veterans starting with our youngest veterans with a 21st century g.i. bill of rights for money for college, and home ownership, and a business, all the way back to our oldest veterans. let s pay particular attention to the vietnam veterans who fought and served during that conflict who did not get the help and the services that they had earned. and we will restore our moral leadership in the world to ensure that we never fight a war like this again., will all of this be easy? of course not. will we get it done all at once? no, but we will make our greatest efforts, just as all of you have done. that is at the heart of what brings you together - your work every day on the front lines of our communities addressing some of our most difficult challenges: poverty and hunger, hiv/aids and disease, disaster relief and so much more. it is a role that your churches have, played throughout our nation s history. our churches have served as a bedrock of our community, a refuge in times of need, the heart of our great movement for justice. you cannot have the right kind of change without justice. change happens whether we want it or not - that is a part of life. what we must be committed to is change with justice, change that makes a difference in the lives of every single american., we know that we have a lot of work to do but i come before you with the hope that this great nation that we love, that has given all of us so much, whose struggles, trials and tribulations over the centuries have both broken hearts and inspired us, that we will once again begin acting like americans. there isn t anything our nation can t do to heal up the wounds that have been inflicted, make it possible for each and every person to again feel he or she counts. we can do this. we can lift up the spirits of those most in need. and our country deserves a president who rolls up his or her sleeves and joins you as a partner in that work. that is what i wish to do, to work with you to spur not just each other but all americans towards love and good deeds and to renew the promise of this great nation., thank you and god bless america., ,"	
"thank you so much., tonight, we are hearing the voices of people across america., people of all ages and of all colors, all faiths and all walks of life. people on the day shift, the night shift, the late shift with the crying baby. moms and dads who want a better world for our children. young people who deserve a world of opportunity. all those who aren t in the headlines, but have always written america s story., after seven years of a president who listens only to the special interests, you re ready for a president who brings your voice, your values, and your dreams to your white house., tonight, in record numbers, you voted not just to make history - but to remake america. people in american samoa, arkansas, massachusetts, new jersey, oklahoma, tennessee... and the great state of new york., on just one really serious note, we want to keep the people of arkansas and tennessee in our prayers. they suffered horrible tornados tonight. we just talked to some of our folks there and people have died in both states, and our thoughts and prayers go out to them in this moment of their need., tonight thought is your - tonight is america s night., it s not over yet, because polls are still open in california for a few more minutes., i hope all of you will join our campaign at http://www.hillaryclinton.com because you know - you know that politics isn t a game. it s not about who s up or who s down. it s about your lives, your families, your futures., it s about the people who have shared their problems with me, looking for solutions. the mother whose insurance company wouldn t pay for her child s treatment. the couple so determined to send their daughter to college, they re willing to mortgage their home with a sub-prime second mortgage. the man who asked me what to do after training the person who will take his job in another country, the veterans who come home only to find they don t have the healthcare, the compensation, and the services they need., it s also about the people who want to seize america s opportunity. it s about the unions and businesses who are training people for green collar jobs. it s about the auto companies and auto workers who want higher gas mileage cars so we can compete with the rest of the world. it s about our scientist and researchers who want to be able to do stem cell research right here in the united states of america., it s about our contractors and construction workers who want to get to work to rebuild america from the bridges in minnesota to the levies in new orleans., for seven years, we have seen president bush s answer. they don t know what s at stake in this election, but we do. we know what we need is someone ready on day one to solve our problems and restore our opportunities. because when the bright lights are off and the cameras are gone, who can you count on to listen to you, to stand up for you, to deliver solutions for you?, well, the republicans want eight more years of the same. they see tax cuts for the wealthy - and they say, why not some more? they see nine trillion dollars in debt - and say, why not trillions more? they see five years in iraq - and they say, why not a hundred more?, well, they ve got until january 20, 2009 - and not one day more., now we know the republicans won t give up the white house without a fight, well let me be clear, i won t let anyone swift boat this country s future. together we re going to take back america because i see an america where our economy works for everyone, not just those at the top, where prosperity is shared and we create good jobs that stay right here in america., i see an america where we stand up to the oil companies and the oil producing countries, where we launch a clean energy revolution and finally confront the climate crisis., i see an america where we don t just provide health care for some people, or most people, but for every, ,"	
"hello virginia democrats - that sounds so good., let me ask you something. are you ready to take back the white house and take back our country? well, so am i and i am so ready to see virginia in the winning democratic column in november., i am delighted and honored to be here with you this evening. i want to thank delegate jennifer mcclellan for not only that introduction, but her commitment to public service and leadership. and it is a special treat to be here with governor tim kaine and former governor mark warner, current richmond mayor and former governor doug wilder. i want to thank you so much for sending jim webb to the senate. and i hope he will soon be joined by the next senator warner from the state of virginia., i want to acknowledge your congressional delegation, congressman moran, and scott, and voucher, and the executive director of the party amy reger who has done a wonderful job with this huge jefferson- jackson day dinner., now let me ask you for a moment to imagine that it is finally january 20, 2009 - somebody standing on the steps of the capitol will place his or her hand on the bible and be sworn in as the 44th president of the united states. our task tonight is to make sure that president is a democrat because after 7 long years of george w. bush, 7 years of incompetence, corruption and cronyism, 7 years of government of the few, by the few, and for the few, the next president will face tremendous challenges. as the president walks into the oval office, waiting there will be 2 wars, an economy in trouble, the health care crisis, the energy crisis, all of the problems that i hear about every day from people across america., people who whisper to me about the mortgages they can t afford, the medical bills that wiped out their life savings, the tuition bills that cut short their children s dreams. people who work the day shift and the night shift because they want the world for their children, people whose names don t make the headlines but who have all re-written america s story. it s about the woman who grabbed my hand and told me her insurance company wouldn t pay for the treatment her child needed. it s about the man who asked me what to do after his job was shipped overseas and he was told to train his replacement. it s about the couple so determined to send their daughter to college that they mortgaged their home with a subprime mortgage and now may lose that as well. it s about the dedicated government employees who stop me and tell me that they are working hard despite the all out assault on government workers by this administration., for me, politics isn t  a game. it s not about who is up, or who is down. it s about your livers, your families, and your future. and isn t it about time you had a president who brought your voice and your values to your white house., this election is also about all those americans who want to seize this moment. to build the kind of future that we know awaits. it s about teachers determined to see their students succeed in this new century and young people, hungry for opportunities their parents never dreamed of. it s about the businesses and unions training people for green collar jobs, the high wage, high-skilled, high-energy jobs of the future. it s about the scientists and researchers who want to do stem cell research and find treatments and cures for devastating diseases. it s about our contractors and construction workers who want to rebuild america from the bridges in minnesota to the levees in new orleans. it s about the men and women who wear the uniform of our country who deserve a commander in chief who knows they are magnificent but that force should be used as a last resort and not a first resort., for 7 long years we have neither addressed our problems, nor seized our opportunities. we have tried it president bush s way - concentrate wealth, hoard power, disregard science, shred the constitution, smear dissenters, impugn patriots, go it alone in the world wherever you can and cooperate only when you have to. and now with senator mccain as the likely nominee, the republicans have chosen more of the same. president bush has already put his stamp of approval on senator mccain s conservative credentials and i am sure that will help., now i understand there are some people who say they can t tell the difference between me and george bush. i don t think anyone here believes that the republicans are confusing me and george bush. and certainly, having fought george bush every day for the last 7 years, i will be among those most happy, to see the moving van leave the white house., voters certainly won t have any problems seeing the differences. senator mccain wants to keep troops in iraq for 50-100 years. i will start bringing them home within 60 days of becoming president of our country. senator mccain has admitted he doesn t understand the economy. i have a strategy to end the housing crisis, create 5 million new clean energy jobs and rebuild a strong and prosperous middle class again., and one thing we know for sure is that senator mccain won t deliver universal health care. in fact i am the only candidate left in this race - democrat or republican - with a health care plan to cover every single man, woman and child. because you see i believe health care is a fundamental human right and a moral obligation of the united states of america finally to achieve for our people. if i m your nominee, you ll never have to be worried that i will be knocked out of the ring because i do have the strength and experience to lead this country and i am ready to go toe to toe with senator mccain whenever and wherever he desires., i am ready to make the case for the democratic party from universal health care to making it clear that once again america is open for business to the rest of the world, and the era of cowboy diplomacy is over., i am ready to make your case because your voices are the change we seek and together we will take back the white house and take back america because i see an america where our economy works for everyone not just those at the top, where our prosperity is shared and we create good jobs that stay right here in the untied states., i see an america where we stand up to the oil companies and the oil-producing countries, where we do launch a clean energy revolution and finally confront our climate crisis. i am well aware that we cannot be serious about our energy policy and our security, our environment, and our economy until the two oil men leave the white house. but when they do, we will be ready., i see an america where we say that 47 million people uninsured - more than 950,000 right here in virginia alone - is a disgrace. and we don t just provide health care for some people or most people, but for everyone with no one left out. i see an america where we have schools worthy of our children starting with pre-kindergarten. i know how passionate governor kaine has been advocating for prekindergarten programs right here in the commonwealth. i see an america where college is affordable again for hard working families. i see an america where when young men and women sign up to serve our country, we sign up to serve them too. an america with a 21st century gi bill of rights to help our veterans go to college, buy a home, and start their own businesses. i see an america respected around the world again where we reach out to our allies to confront our shared challenges from global terrorism to global warming to global epidemics. that is the america we will build together. an america where the next generation is always better off than the last., that has been the work of my life. it s why i started my career fighting for abused and neglected children. children who had drawn the short straw in life because i believe all of our children deserve the chance to fulfill their own god-given potential. this nation gave me every opportunity and i believe we can do the same for every child. it s a matter of living up to the ideals that our founders, many of them virginians, set forth more than 200 years ago, that we are all created equal, all entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness., now neither senator obama nor i - nor many of you in this room - were fully included in that original vision. but it was the beginning of an extraordinary journey. a journey rooted in our ideals when our laws were not. a movement of men and women in each generation, who led us through unchartered territory, to higher ground. the abolitionists like harriet tubman, who told the people she led to, freedom,  if you are tired, keep going. if you are scared, keep going. if you are hungry, keep going. if you want to taste freedom, keep going. , the audacious women and a few brave men who gathered at seneca falls, new york, back in 1848, demanding their rights including the right to vote. it took more than 70 years of struggle and ridicule, and grinding hard work, and only one of them lived long enough to see women pass their first ballot., the progressives who met the inequities of a new age with a new sprit of reform - back in the progressive era, even the republicans understood that we were all in this together. and then we had so much progress during the 21st century. and as men and women marched and picketed, as they faced dogs and tear gas as they risked their lives, they did so because they looked into the eyes of their children and they saw the promise of a better future and they decided to just keep going. because of them, my generation grew up taking for granted that women could vote. because of them my daughter s generation took for granted that children of all colors would attend school together. because of them, virginia made history becoming the first state in america to elect an african american governor, governor wilder. because of them, senator obama and i share this stage today and because of them and because of you, less than a year from now, one of us will take the oath of office. and children of today and of future generations will take it for granted that a woman or an african american can be president of the united states., that is the genius of our constitution. it was crafted to expand as our hearts do, allowing each generation to lead us closer to that more perfect union. that is america s purpose. that is our purpose, , , as democrats and our mission in this election - to build a nation that is more inclusive, more equal, more fair, more free, and more just. that work is never finished but we get better as we go. always striving to heed the words inscribed on the base of the statue of liberty, the words that give voice to america s embrace: give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. lady liberty has overlooked the new york harbor through wars and depression, and through the dark day of september 11, a constant reminder that here in america we face our challenges and embrace all of our people., so today we say with one voice - give us the child who wants to learn, give us the people in need of work, give us the veterans who need of care, give us this economy to rebuild and this war to end, give us this nation to lift this world, to lead this moment to seize., i know we re ready and i need your help. i need your involvement and your participation starting tonight. together we can make history. come join me, come to my website hillaryclinton.com, be part of this campaign, work until tuesday when virginia holds its primary because it is not me you re working for, it is you. it is your future, your family, and your beloved country., we have an opportunity together to make history, but not just to change who lives in the white house but to change our hearts. to change our attitudes. to once again know that there isn t anything america can t do if we start acting like americans. please join this campaign, be part of making history and giving us back the country we love to be proud of again, and to make progress towards that more perfect union.			, thank you and god bless you.			, ,"	
"thank you all so much. thank you. thank you. oh, thank you so much, it may be a little cold outside but it sure is warm with all these democrats making a lot of noise about what we believe in and what we care about. i am thrilled to be with you. i want to thank lieutenant governor barbara lawton for her leadership and for that really extraordinary introduction. i am so grateful to her. i want to recognize and thank governor jim doyle, who is here as well, chairman joe wineke and the entire wisconsin democratic party. i want to thank also my colleagues in the senate. but i really should thank all of you for sending herb kohl and russ feingold to washington., i don t have to tell you what extraordinary leaders they are, how much influence they exercise. we all listen when either one of them speak. and it is a great personal privilege for me to serve with them and consider them friends. i also want to recognize your congressional democratic delegation, gwen moore and steve kagen. they have been extraordinary in a short period of time, and of course my dear friend and one of my co-chairs tammy baldwin- thank you all very much., i know former congressman and now mayor tom barrett is here, and to all of you who are supporting this event, raising money for this party, committed to not only doing everything possible to have a great election on tuesday with as big a turnout as we can muster, but then to make sure we go on to victory in november and that wisconsin is in the column of the democratic president who we will be electing., i know we are ready. we are long past ready, we are anxious to take back the white house. and on january 20, 2009, the next president of the united states will raise his or her hand and take the oath o office, and then will immediately inherit the problems that will be left to us to solve by president bush., now we re here tonight to make sure that our next president is a democrat, because after seven long years of george w. bush, seven years of incompetence, corruption, cronyism, seven years of this government of the few, by the few, and for the few, we have to bring change to america and put our country back on the right track., i think about that day because obviously i ve been deeply honored and privileged to have lived it in the past with my husband. i know that after the swearing in ceremony and all of the activities at the capitol, after the walk down pennsylvania avenue and the parade, after the inaugural balls, the president will walk into the oval office and waiting there will be two wars, an economy in trouble, millions and millions of our fellow citizens, including 547,000 right here in wisconsin without health care, problems that we think we can predict now, and all of those that we can t even imagine: an energy crisis to solve, alliances to rebuild, a homeland to protect. instead of solving our problems we ve had a president who has stood in our way. he s used fear to divide us and fatalism to discourage us. he wants us to believe we can t solve our problems. he wants us to think we shouldn t even try. well, like so much of george bush s presidency, this has done a grave disservice to america. america s character is strong, our resilience is ever-present. we will survive the eight years of george bush and dick cheney and enter the future with confidence and optimism again., unlike our republican friends, we democrats still believe america is the can do nation. we still believe that tomorrow will be better than today, and we know it is time we started acting like americans again. it has been disheartening, to say the least, to see the narrowing of horizons, the loss of opportunity, the sense that the american dream is receding and eroding. i have been given opportunities because of this country that my parents never had and my grandparents never dreamt of, opportunities that came, because of people who, generation after generation, believed with all their heart there wasn t a problem we couldn t solve, a challenge we couldn t meet, an opportunity we could not seize; people who built our country, who raised the families, who marched and protested and risked their lives because they looked into their children s eyes and they saw reflected back at them the promise of a better future. senator obama and i stand here tonight because of all those who came before; who sacrificed so much to bring us to this moment in our history and it is a moment to celebrate., because this nation gave me every chance, because during my lifetime i have seen the barriers tumble down, the obstacles overcome, i am running for president because i believe we can do the same for every single child. we can, once again, have an america where we can say to every boy and every girl that we will give you the opportunity to live up to your god-given potential. that, for me, is what this election is about. it s not about those of us who are running; it s about your families, your futures, and, your country., tonight across wisconsin and across america teachers are grading papers and nurses are caring for the sick, and they need a president who hears their voices and listens to them. tonight, here in milwaukee and in cities across america, janitors are cleaning up, waitresses are pouring coffee, police officers are standing guard, and they need a president who stands up for them. tonight families are sitting down to talk after losing a job or losing a home. they need a president who will deliver solutions for them., earlier today in kenosha i was at a town hall event and i was reminded once again of why i do this work. you heard barbara say that for 35 years starting when i was a young lawyer for the children s defense fund, i have wanted to be a voice for those who are voiceless. i started representing abused and neglected children, children who were in the foster care system who didn t have educational or health care opportunities. i worked as the chair of the legal services corporation, appointed by president carter to expand legal services for the poor across our nation because i had a passionate commitment to equal justice under the law. in arkansas i reformed the education system so that children in the poorest community in the delta or in the inner city would have some shot at finding out what they could do if they were motivated and would work hard. and in the white house years we tackled a lot of tough problems, and one that i worked on and helped to make progress on was to create the children s health insurance program, to give six million kids across our country a chance to have health care., as i was shaking hands in the crowd after my event today in kenosha, a woman held up a sign and said, ""thank you for saving my daughter s life."" i said, ""what did i do?"" she said, ""the children s health insurance program."" then i met a young boy named jacob who has cerebral palsy but he is doing really well. he was standing between his two proud parents. they thanked me because they never could ve afforded the operations that he had., during the town hall, i called on a little girl. she said, ""what are you going to do for people who don t have homes?"" i thought like many children that i ve talked to across america that the plight of the homeless had really struck her heart. and i said, ""well, are you concerned about people who don t have homes?"" she said, ""yes, my mommy and me."" so i asked them to come up and her mother talked about being a hairdresser. she said, ""my business is not as good as it was. people aren t coming in as often. they are not willing to pay what i need to make a living. i m about to be foreclosed on. i have one of those adjustable rate mortgages. i ve gone from paying $600 a month to $1,000 a month. i don t think we will be able to stay in our home."", i m reminded every single day why i do this. it s not about speeches for me, it s not about the bright lights and the cameras, it is about the changes we can make that actually deliver results in people s lives that give them a chance to live up and fulfill their own dreams., far from here in this beautiful ballroom, across the world our men and women in uniform are serving our country bravely and honorably, some on their second or third or even fourth tour of duty. they deserve a commander in chief who will bring them home., all americans again want, need and deserve a president who will bring your voices and your values back to the white house. i know we will all breathe a sigh of relief when that moving van pulls up in the back of the white house and george bush and dick cheney turn over the keys. but this election is not just about the failures of the past seven years or the divisions of the present or the excitement of the moment. this election must be about the future we want and how we can make it a reality. we all have dreams. we have dreams for our families, for our future. our country is founded on the idea of the american dream, that with optimism and confidence and without fear, we can make the future happen by working hard and taking responsibility. that s what has always made america great and different. this generation, like generations before us, is called to make its own commitment and sacrifice., we, too, can be a great generation to make the american dream real in the 21st century. but to do that we must get real about what it will take to have the future we dream of. i once wrote a book called ""it takes a village."" well, i still believe that s true. i will be a president for all of you but for me to be your president and for us to reach america s promise in this century, we also have to agree that shared opportunities and shared prosperity require shared responsibility as parents, as neighbors, as workers, as business and political leaders, as a nation. this is about all of us coming together to stake our claim on what it means to be an american in this century. there are people saying that america s best days are behind us, that the competition we face from china and elsewhere will mean that we can t continue to have a strong middle class with rising incomes and the kind of quality of life and standard of living that we have taken for granted. well, i reject that. i know this will not be easy. those who claim that it can be done with relatively little effort don t understand what we re up against. we face real challenges, real threats, we have to be ready to summon the experience, the wisdom and the determination to solve our problems. it will take more than just speeches to fulfill our dreams. it will take a lot of hard work., so, if we get america back into the solutions business, if we get real about our future, i am confident that we ll be back here in five years and we will say ""weren t we on top of it, didn t we understand what we had to do to make a difference."" because together there isn t anything that can stop us. so let s get real about the economy. we see an america where our economy works not just for the few, the wealthy and the well-connected, but works for all of us. how will we do that? well, we re going to start by creating good jobs again and by keeping the jobs we have here and preventing them from being exported like they were some disposable commodity., we can do this, we have to change our trade policy, we have to change our tax policy, we have to change our vision and understanding about what it will take to create the jobs of the future. but that s what i ve been doing for years. upstate new york has a lot in common with wisconsin. we ve lost our manufacturing base but i didn t say ""well that s the end, we can t do it,"" because, you see, i don t believe we can have a strong economy and a strong country without a strong manufacturing base. so i m going to work to make sure we get it back., let s get real about our energy policy. let s see an america that stands up to the oil companies and the oil producing countries and says, ""you don t need our tax dollars any longer to make outrageous profits."" let s begin to take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies. let s impose a windfall profits tax on these outrageous profits and put it to work on clean renewable energy., now, i know we can t do any of this until the two oil men leave the white house but as soon as they do, we re going to be ready for a new energy future with the millions and millions of jobs that we can create. i think we can create five million jobs in the next ten years if we do this right. and there s no reason we can t. earlier today i said to the folks at the brat shop, i said look germany s creating jobs with solar power, hundreds of thousands of them. we have a lot of people in wisconsin of german descent, there are as many sunny days in wisconsin as there are in germany -- let s get busy and create these jobs right here in milwaukee and in oshkosh and in green bay and in eau claire and madison., let s get real about health care. now we have a choice we have 47 million people uninsured and we can continue to think that s a terrible problem and do nothing about it or we can roll up our sleeves and come up with a uniquely american solution. that is what i have proposed. you see, i think it is morally wrong that you have 547, 000 people in wisconsin who don t have health insurance. i think it is a national disgrace. are we saying to ourselves we just can t figure this out? we can t take on the health insurance companies; we can t take on the republicans to achieve universal health care? i don t accept that for a minute. universal health care has been a fundamental democratic party; it s been part of the progressive tradition here in wisconsin for as long as anyone can remember. we cannot in anyway cede universal health care; it should be a defining issue in this general election. i believe we can win on universal health care., let s get real about education. you know, we can t continue to have unfunded mandates coming from washington, so let s figure out what we re going to do. i will do everything possible to fully fund special education something that has been promised but never fulfilled for more then 30 years. and i will end the unfunded mandate know as no child left behind, it is not working for our kids and our teachers., and i believe we can make college affordable again if we take on the student loan industry and get them out of the way, get back to direct lending from the federal government - the way it used to work, let s get real about restoring america s role in the world. you know as well as i do that our relationships have been destroyed. we have to rebuild our alliances. we have to be willing to find common ground with the rest of the world again. and this is not about getting everybody to like us, that s not what it s about. this is about having allies to deal with the big problems we face -- global terrorism global warming global epidemics. we can t tackle those on our own. and you know you can t be a leader if no one is following. we ve got to get into the leadership business again in the world., we also have to do everything we can to make it clear that restoring our leadership and our moral authority in the world starts with ending the war in iraq and bringing our troops home responsibly and quickly., i have said that i will start bringing them home within the first 60 days. from my position on the senate armed services committee i ve been working to make sure that we are prepared to do that. you know, this administration has not planned for withdrawing our troops because they don t want to do it. they are going to leave it completely to us. so we have to be prepared to think this through, to make sure that we protect our young men and women as they depart. and then we have to ask ourselves, what do we do with the 100,000 plus civilians who are there. see, i think about this because i imagine what the responsibility will be like sitting alone in the oval office. you know, the advisors have given you their advice but ultimately it s up to you to decide. and what do we do about the iraqis who helped us, the translators who made the difference between life and death for our soldiers and our marines. we are an honorable country and we have to withdraw in a way that keeps faith with the sacrifice of those who have been lost, with those who have been injured. and we must make it clear there is no military solution, bring our people home and tell the iraqis they have to take responsibility for their own future., and as we bring them home, we have to take care of them. you know in kenosha again, a young man reached out his hand; he had a t-shirt on which said us marine corps. he said, ""take care of my buddies, a lot of them are still over there."" he said, ""and then will you please help take care of me."" he said, ""i can t get an appointment for months to get my problems taken care of at the v.a."" you know, i think when young men and women sign up to serve america, we sign up to serve them. they deserve the health care, the compensation, the services they have earned., obviously to do all of this we have to take on the power structure in washington. i m always a little amused when someone says, ""we re going to go after the special interests."" there isn t anything more important then reining them in. but we ve got to do it in a way that brings the american people along with us. it s not enough just to impose rules on them, which senator feingold has been such a leader on, we ve got to figure out how we prevent them from taking advantage of the american people with higher, prescription drug costs, with higher energy costs, with lost jobs that go overseas. this is a job for all of us, not just for our next president. we have to have a coalition that takes on all of these interests. i have an aggressive agenda that will save the american people at least 55 billion dollars a year. if we impose that windfall profits tax, if we get aggressive in going after the oil companies who always seem to be raising the price no matter what else is going on. if we rein in health insurance, rein in drug costs, we can begin to end these subsidies that have unfortunately shifted so much wealth away from the middle class. that s the kind of america that we have to build again. it s not going to be easy but it s doable. it s going to take strength and experience, something that goes along with the job. change is going to happen. the question is, are we going to get the right kind of change. because what i m interested in is not just change for the sake of change, but progress. the kind of progress that will make a difference in the lives of the people of this country., and we know pretty well what the republicans will do because they re likely nominee will be senator mccain. he s a man whom i consider a friend and whom i deeply respect for his lifetime of service to our country. he s a good man with the wrong ideas. and i believe we need a nominee who can go toe-to-toe with john mccain to make the differences absolutely clear to the american people. he wants to keep troops in iraq for 50 to 100 years. i ll start bringing them home within 60 days., he s admitted he doesn t understand the economy. well, i have a strategy to end the housing crisis. when that young girl and her mother came up, i told them i d been pushing on a moratorium on home foreclosures. end the home foreclosures for 90 days. let people work out a chance to stay in their homes, have the lenders understand that somebody paying $600 is better than an empty house because they couldn t pay $1000., senator mccain won t deliver universal health care. i m the only candidate left in either party with a plan to cover every single american. and these are big differences., so wisconsin democrats have a choice on tuesday. it s not an easy choice. i recognize that. it s kind of a good problem to have in a way because either senator obama or i will make history and we ll make history because of all that we are able to exemplify, everything that was done to bring both of us to this point. but the question is not who will make history, but who will change america. who will bring about the positive differences, the 21st century solutions that we so desperately need? i think that the choice is really whether we re going to have a fighter, a doer and a champion again in the white house, somebody who gets up every single day with determination, backbone and, yes, toughness., i know some people have said that i am tough. you know what? we need a tough president because we have tough problems waiting for us., when i say i ll stand with you, i will stand with you. when i say i will fight for you, i will fight for you. that s what i ve done my whole life. when i started my career fighting for abused and neglected children and children with disabilities, i was standing with the children who had drawn the short straw in life. well i m still standing with them today. when i went to beijing as first lady, i stood up for the core american value that women s rights are human rights and human rights are women s rights., i took that message to more than 80 countries, to women who couldn t vote or own property or earn a salary or send their daughters to school. and i m still standing for women s rights and human rights. when i took on the special interests to try to bring health care to every american back in 1993, the insurance companies and the lobbyists came at me with everything they had. but i m still here and i m still standing up to the special interests and i am still standing and fighting for health care for every man, woman and child., when the republicans come after our nominee, and you know they will -- now i personally believe they should be so embarrassed by the failed record of president bush that they should say they won t field a candidate, but i m afraid they will -- and so once again we know exactly what they will do. they ll throw everything they ve got at whichever one of us is nominated. well, i ve been through it, i ve beaten it, i m still standing and i will beat them again if i am your nominee., if you stand with me on tuesday, then come january 20th, 2009 i will be standing on the steps of the capitol and i will be expressing for all of us our passionate commitment to this country and what it stands for. our belief that we may have been on a detour from our destiny but we are back on the right track and that with all of us together we can turn this country around. we are a nation of idealists, holding fast to our deepest values, that we are all created equal, that this generation of americans is destined for greatness, that every child deserves to fulfill his or her god-given potential., it s the ideal that is inscribed on the base of the statue of liberty, the words that give voice to america s embrace, ""give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masse yearning to breath free."" lady liberty has overlooked the new york harbor through wars and depression and the dark, dark day of september 11th -- a constant reminder that here in america we face our challenges and we embrace all of our people., so tonight, let us say with one voice, ""give us the child who wants to learn, give us the people in need o work, give us the veterans who need our care, give us this economy to rebuild and this war to end, give us this nation to heal, this world to lead, this moment to seize."" i know that the people of wisconsin and america are ready to meet that challenge., thank you all very, very much and god bless you., ,"	
"hrc: it s great to be home! [schumer intro], hrc: wow. thank you so much. it is great to be here with all of you and it is wonderful to be here with my friend and colleague, our great senator chuck schumer who knows a few things about wining elections., i want to thank all of the hosts who have made this event possible and so successful. i want to thank maya days. i want to thank hunter college and particularly president raab. and i want to thank my friends, all the elected officials who senator schumer has recognized; our labor leaders, our civic leaders, and mostly all of you for being here with me this morning. this is a great opportunity for me to say thank you. thank you to the people of new york. thank you so much for everything you have done., i want to congratulate senator obama on his victories yesterday. he s had a good couple of weeks and he s run a good race. we will be squaring off in primaries in two weeks. we re going to draw the contrasts and make the comparisons and give the people of ohio and texas and other states a real choice., campaigns are not supposed to be easy. they re supposed to be hard. they re supposed to be challenging. there isn t any more important campaign than the campaign for the presidency of the united states because it is the toughest job in the world. i m asking the people of america to hire me for a job that requires an enormous amount of effort and determination and resolve., it is about the future of our country so i am looking forward to traveling throughout the states that are upcoming to make my case because, obviously, i believe that this is the most important election in a very long time. we ve got to be focused on what kind of choice we actually have before us., i don t need to tell this audience or anyone in new york for that matter that we ve had seven years of drift and detour from america s destiny. we have had failed policies, wrongheaded approaches to every issue you can imagine here at home and around the world, and we are paying a terrible price from iraq to afghanistan, from new york city to l.a. the people of this country deserve so much better than george w. bush and dick cheney., our economy is waning, not gaining. hardworking americans are losing their jobs, they re losing their health care, they re losing their homes. so much of the pain and insecurity is directly related to the failure of leadership directly from the white house. we have seen, time and time again, how president bush and the republicans have undermined the greatness of america, have disregarded our values, put our constitution in cold storage, come back and ruled with fear and fatalism – that is not america at our best. we re going to once again demonstrate who we are, what we stand for and take back our future., but it is time to get real – to get real about how we actually win this election and get real about the challenges facing america. it s time that we moved from good words to good work, from sound bites to sound solutions., americans have a choice to make in this election and that choice matters. it s about picking a president who relies not just on words but on work, on hard work, to get america back to work, to get america working again for all of our people. we need to make a choice between speeches and solutions, because while words matter greatly, the best words aren t enough unless you match them with action., this is becoming more apparent every day. my good friend congresswoman stephanie tubbs jones from ohio represented me on one of the tv programs in the last day or two– some of you may have seen her. and she was on against someone representing my opponent and for the first time, actually, the host, asked the representative of my opponent to name one accomplishment., that is all we re asking. we re asking to compare our records. we re asking to compare our years of service. we re asking to compare our ideas, our solutions., , because it s not just about my opponent and myself, this election is about you. it s about what you can expect, what your dreams will be, what your futures hold. right now too many people are struggling, working the day shift and the night shift, trying to get by without health insurance, just one paycheck away from actually losing their homes. they cannot afford four more years of a president who just doesn t see or hear them. they need a president ready on day one to be the commander in chief of the united states military., i will be that candidate and i will be that president., this is the choice we make. one of us is ready to be commander in chief in a dangerous world. everyday around the world, situations arise that present new threats and new opportunities —situations like the change of leadership in cuba and the elections in pakistan. i ve served on senate armed services committee; i ve represented you and our country in more than 80 countries around the world. i ve worked with leaders. i ve stood up to the chinese government on women s rights and human rights., i am ready to end this war, end the era of cowboy diplomacy and restore our leadership and moral authority in the world without delays and without on the job training., one of us has a plan to provide health care for every single american with no one left out, no excuses, no exceptions. i believe health care is a moral right, not a privilege and i will not rest until every american has access to quality, affordable health care, and i cannot wait until i can work with the chairman of the ways and means committee, our own charlie rangel., my opponent leaves out at least 15 million americans. the question is who would you leave out? would you leave out he man who called me from northern new york who had an insurance policy that wouldn t pay for the operation his son needs. or the woman who called me from long island who couldn t get bone marrow transplant for her daughter? or the mom who said, what am i going to do with my son who has congenital heart problems and we don t have insurance? i don t want to leave anyone out. i am not running for president to put band-aids on our problems, i m looking to solve them once and for all., [crowd chants: hillary, hillary, hillary!], on issue after issue there are real differences. one of us has a plan to address the growing foreclosure crisis, the other doesn t. one has a plan to revive our economy right now with millions of new clean energy jobs. and one of us has actually taken on the special interests for years and years, standing against hem, fighting against them, making progress against them. finally, one of us has faced serious republican opposition in the past and one of us is really to do it again. of course, the contrast with our likely republican opponent couldn t be more stark. senator mccain is willing to, as chuck said; continue the war in iraq for a hundred years. i will start bringing our troops home within sixty days., senator mccain admits he doesn t understand much about the economy. i have a plan to turn our economy around and create five million new jobs. senator mccain wants more of the same. i will deliver 21st century solutions so that we can get off this track towards nowhere that george bush and the republicans have placed us on., both senator obama and i would make history and i am thrilled by that. i have spent my entire adult life working on behalf of civil rights and women s rights and here we are at this moment in american history., but maybe because i understand how difficult this job will be and how lonely it is in the oval office because when all the cameras are gone and the lights are out, when the advisors have all had their say, the president has to decide. we need a president who is ready to do that. only one of us is ready on day one., this campaign is not about a campaign, this campaign is not about a personality, this campaign is about hundreds of millions of americans who are yearning for leadership again. people who across this country do the hard work that makes america work. i ve spent most of my life helping people who are trying to make it. i know who you are. you pour coffee in the corner restaurant, you fix people s hair, you ring up the cash register, you deliver the mail, you put out fires and patrol our streets grade papers after your kids have gone to sleep., you stand on the wall late at night defending our nation so the rest of us can sleep, you re the nurses who tend to the sick, the caregivers who care and give. you re the parents on the front lines of daily life, determined to achieve the american dream for your family. you re the foundation, the families, the communities and the country we love. you truly are the miracle that makes america what it is., others might be joining a movement. i m joining you on the night shift, on the day shift and i m asking you to join me to shift america into high gear again. to ensure that we build a strong and prosperous middle class, that we do all in our poor into prosperity and opportunity, that we recognize that the divisions among us are nothing compared to the unity that america can have., the results that i ve been part of producing for the last 35 years are rooted in my dreams for a better future. we all carry dreams in our hearts and we need to keep dreaming. dreaming keeps us hopeful, it lifts our spirits, it sets our sights high. without dreams you can t aspire to be great but without action, we cannot turn those dreams into reality. i want you to fulfill your dreams and i want america to fulfill ours. it will take hard work and resolve and determination but there isn t anything we can t do once we, ,"	
", assure that every eligible voter can count and every vote is counted and i will always defend your right to vote, no matter whom you choose to vote for in the end, it is not about that at all. because i believe that michigan’s families are just as important as the families of any other state. the father in detroit wants the same opportunities for his children as the father in des moines, and he deserves the same voice in the future. the mother in lansing needs access to health care just as much as the mother in los angeles, and she deserves the same voice and how we will provide quality, affordable health care to everyone. the families in the u.p. need good paying jobs that stay right here in america just as much as the families in central pa, and they deserve the same voice in trying to get that done. the soldiers from across this great state need a commander-in-chief who will end the war in iraq and bring them home., they certainly deserve the same voice in choosing that person. that’s why i’ve been saying for some time that the people of michigan and florida must have a voice in selecting our nominee for president. i have called repeatedly for an agreement that would seat michigan delegates at our national convention, because i believe your voices and your votes should count. when others made the decision to remove their names from the ballot, i didn t, because i believe your voices and your votes should count. that s why i’ve been saying we need to either count the votes that have already been cast in michigan and florida or have new, full, and fair elections so that we can have your voices and your votes counted., senator obama speaks passionately on the campaign trail about empowering the american people. today, i’m urging him to match those words with action, to make sure the people of michigan and florida have a voice and a vote in this election. i have accepted the plan for a new vote in michigan, proposed in draft legislation and approved by the democratic national committee. in fact, the dnc put out a statement earlier this morning making clear that the proposal fits within the dnc rules. it is fully within the party s rules. i call on senator obama to do the same., this is a crucial test. does he mean what he says or not? i am pleased and grateful that on this issue, the people of michigan have had such outstanding advocates in their democratic leaders, and there are so many, including the governor and senator stabenow and members of the legislature. but i especially want to thank four who have really been at the forefront: senator carl levin, congresswoman carolyn cheeks kilpatrick, debbie dingell and ron gettelfinger of the uaw., people in michigan and particularly democrats in michigan know that michigan matters, both in the primary and in the general election. the road to a democratic white house goes through michigan and florida. if democrats send the message that we don’t care about your vote, i’m sure john mccain and the republicans would be happy to have them. in fact, the republicans will argue that michigan and florida voters shouldn’t trust the democrats to look out for them when we won’t even listen to you. ignoring michigan and florida would be a grave mistake. we won’t be able to end the war in iraq, we won’t achieve universal health care, we won’t end the housing crisis and get the economy moving again unless we win in michigan and florida in november., for me, it’s really very simple. we need your voices and you have a right to your vote. i am proud to stand with the people of michigan in this cause and i hope that senator obama will join me, because when we look at the stakes of this election, they could not be higher. the next president of the united states will inherit a huge mess from george w. bush and we’re going to have to do a lot of cleaning up. i can just imagine what it will be like to try to undo the damage that we will inherit plus taking on the neglected agenda that the votes sand families of michigan and american are waiting to have addressed., i’ve been criss-crossing our country, saying very clearly that i offer solutions, 21st century solutions about how we’re going to get the economy moving again and creating good jobs with particular emphasis on a state like michigan that deserves even more attention from the next president because you’ve been neglected and you’ve been ignored and your needs have been denied., it was amazing to me that the big three auto companies in the uaw had to beg for years just to have a meeting with the president. i met with them more than the president met with them, and what we were waiting for was just a smidgen of presidential leadership - we didn’t ask for a lot. a little would have been welcome. some idea that, you know what, the auto industry and our big three manufacturers and the hard-working members of the uaw deserve some help as we make this transition into a higher gas mileage economy, as we look for ways to support innovation from hybrid cars to more flexible fuel. that’s all they were looking for, a partner who would be with them in this fight to save american jobs, to make sure that we retained leadership globally as we navigated through a much more challenging economy. but it didn’t happen., so we’re going to really have to go into high gear starting in january 2009 because we’re going to have to make up for all the lost time and the lost opportunities. we have big challenges - how are we going to create new jobs? how are we going to get the tax codes to quit rewarding businesses for exporting jobs out of michigan to foreign countries? how are we going to make that tax code fair and quit yielding a lower tax rate to some wall street money manager who makes 50 million dollars? then what is paid by nurse, a teacher or a truck driver making $50,000 right here in detroit or elsewhere across michigan? and what are we going to do to finally tackle our energy dependence? we can’t live with $112 a barrel, oil and gas moving up to $4 a gallon. the average american is going, ,"	
", confidence in the economy and our president s ability to manage it, problems become crises and crises lead to more crises. so we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. we need a president who is ready on day one to be commander-in-chief of our economy. if you give me the chance, i will be that president. i will start by facing our economic situation as it is, not as we wish it would be., that means acknowledging that our economic crisis is, at its core, a housing crisis, a crises caused in part by unscrupulous mortgage lenders and brokers and unregulated transactions in mortgage- backed securities, in part by speculators who were buying multiple houses to sell for a quick buck and other buyers who didn t act responsibly. and in part by a president and administration who failed to anticipate and continue to downplay the problems we face. unlike what happened here in pennsylvania, when governor rendell started seeing problems - and i remember those articles we had in the newspaper, governor, where the housing supply was being, you know, expanded and people were putting zero money down and they were trying to once again get the american dream, they were commuting sometimes two hours to be able to afford that house. well, those warning signals went unheeded in washington. but thankfully, not in harrisburg. and what we have to do now is to look at our housing crisis in greater detail. and i’d like to outline my plans to address it., 2.2 million foreclosure notices went out last year - up 75% from 2006. communities of color have been especially hard hit. subprime loans are five times more common in predominantly african american neighborhoods than predominantly white ones. and 41% of loans to hispanics are subprime compared to only 22% to whites. but this crisis isn t just about the more than 2 million households at risk of losing their homes and, of course, 2.2 million foreclosure notices means many more people than that because obviously you have homes where anywhere from two to ten people live. it’s about the tens of millions of families who have lost value in their homes., when i talk about the home foreclosure crisis, sometimes people, i can tell, look at me a little skeptically because they, i can tell, they re thinking to themselves, i didn t buy one of those mortgages, i don t have an arm, i’m not at risk. but, in fact, that is just not the case. home prices dropped almost 9% last quarter. home prices for everyone. if you have paid off your home, if you have a fixed rate mortgage with a manageable interest rate, you have suffered the steepest decline on record. that means families have lost at least $1.9 trillion in housing wealth so far, nearly two- thirds of the size of the entire united states government budget. and today, nearly 9 million families are struggling with mortgages that are under water. they actually owe more for their mortgages than their homes are worth. so what was once their biggest financial asset is now a financial liability., the housing crisis is also a crisis for our cities, our towns and our neighborhoods. at least 41 million homes will lose value because of foreclosures in their neighborhoods, including 1.7 million homes right here in pennsylvania. abandoned homes and boarded up neighborhoods mean higher crime rates, lower property values, and plummeting tax receipts for cities and towns across america. now, a year ago in march 2007 i called for immediate action to address abuses in the subprime market, and i laid out detailed concrete proposals for how to do so. i warned this administration that the problems in subprime mortgages would soon spill over into regular mortgages. the response from our president? well, his treasury secretary told congress that the problem was, quote, ""contained."" and president himself assured us there would be a, quote, ""soft landing for the housing market."" the housing crisis then spread from subprime to traditional mortgages. and in august of last year, i warned the administration that the housing mortgage crisis would soon ripple out throughout the entire economy. again, i called for immediate action and laid out concrete proposals to prevent foreclosures and help states hard hit by this crisis., i also called for tighter regulation of the housing market, starting with unscrupulous mortgage brokers who were taking advantage of our families. i would require mortgage brokers to disclose right up front that they re paid based on the size of the mortgage they sell, to put buyers on notice. i would work with states to develop strong, meaningful broker licensing standards to screen brokers and govern their conduct and i would require all brokers to register with the federal government so that home buyers can do their own background checks to ensure they re dealing with someone who will deal fairly with them., i also called for greater regulation of mortgage lenders. i would eliminate the prepayment penalties that lead to such high rates of default. i would require lenders to take into account the borrower s ability to pay property taxes and insurance fees when deciding whether to make a loan in the first place. too many loan lenders haven t made that part of the calculation and too many families don t know that they need to budget for these expenses. in october, i proposed legislation, the foreclosure rescue fraud act, that imposed new criminal penalties on lenders who were taking advantage of people, offering foreclosure rescue schemes that lure families in, take their money and do nothing to help them., i’ve also proposed that we amend the bankruptcy code to give judges the discretion to write down, the value of struggling families  homes. believe it or not, bankruptcy judges can write down the value of many other things to help families pay off their debt, but not their homes. they can write off the value or write down the value of second homes, which seems kind of ironic to me. making this amendment to the code will help families in bankruptcy pay off their mortgages and stay in their homes., now, the response to all of this from the administration? well, they continued their wait and don t see approach, largely ignoring the mounting problems. by december of last year the mortgage crisis had become a national credit crisis. so i went to new york city and i told wall street they needed to do their part to address this crisis. i put forward an aggressive plan for a 90-day moratorium on all subprime foreclosures and a voluntary five-year freeze on interest rates for all subprime mortgages. the response from this administration? a plan that let banks off the hook and left homeowners to fend for themselves. in the words of one expert, the president s plan was the bank lobby s dream. this administration s top economic priority it seems has been to lavish roughly $400 billion in tax cut on the wealthiest 1% of americans while families have lost nearly five times that in the value of their homes., last week when it became clear wall street was on the brink of a financial melt down, the fed and the administration sprang into action. the fed extended a $30 billion lifeline to prevent bear stearns from imploding and took unprecedented action to provide tens of billions of dollars in credit for other struggling investment banks as well. homeowners, on the other hand, have received next to no assistance. well, let s be clear. when families are losing their homes, that s also a financial crisis. when people’s greatest source of wealth is losing its worth, as college costs and health care costs and food and gas prices shoot up, that’s a financial crisis too. when ""for sale"" signs line streets across our country, when cities and towns are struggling with the costs of foreclosed properties, that is also a financial crisis., our families are feeling the anxiety right now. i hear their stories every day, from florida to wisconsin, from california and nevada to pennsylvania. last month, a little girl stood up at a town hall i was holding and asked me what i was going to do ""about people and children that don’t have any food or houses?"" i started to commend her on her concern for those less fortunate, when she interrupted me and said, ""i’m losing my home."" her mother is a hair dresser whose customers are tightening their belts. they’re not coming in as often, they’re not having as much done. they had an adjustable rate mortgage they could no longer afford., we’ve come together today in the city where the american ideals of ""life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"" - of justice and equality - were inscribed into our founding documents. but what does all that mean to a family that’s lost its nest egg and the hopes and dreams that went with it? what does it mean to a little girl who goes to sleep at night worried about losing her home?, our housing crisis is at heart an american dream crisis. your home isn’t just your greatest asset, your greatest source of wealth - it’s your greatest source of security. it’s what anchors you to your neighborhood and community. it’s the center of your family., for the past seven years, we’ve had a president who stands up for the special interests - for the insurance companies and the mortgage companies and wall street. now it’s time for a president who stands up for american families, a president who will rein in the special interests and rebuild the american middle class., over the past week, we’ve seen unprecedented action to maintain confidence in our credit markets and head off a crisis for wall street banks. it’s now time for equally aggressive action to help families avoid foreclosure and to keep communities across our country from spiraling into recession., today, i am announcing my four part plan to protect american homeowners: a plan to help our families keep their homes and help communities hard hit by the housing crisis., my plan starts with an aggressive new effort to help millions of at-risk families restructure their mortgages and stay in their homes. of the tens of millions of americans who have lost value in their homes, 8.8 million are struggling with these mortgages underwater. that is more than 10 percent of all homeowners -- the highest percentage since the great depression. if home prices fall another 15 percent, one third of all homeowners will find themselves in the same boat., the time for action is now - not a month from now, or a year from now - but now. and the reality is that many of our families need more than just basic refinancing. that’s why i support new legislation proposed by my colleagues, representative barney frank and senator chris dodd that would expand the government’s capacity to stand behind mortgages that are reworked on affordable terms., currently, families apply to the government, and the government decides on an individual basis whether to work with them to restructure their mortgages. you heard the governor say that maybe there will be 1,000 families that will be helped in pennsylvania. this is a slow process that helps relatively few families, and it simply isn’t enough to revive our housing market., the frank-dodd legislation would move beyond this incremental approach by setting up an auction, system for mortgage companies that hold hundreds of thousands of these mortgages. through this system, these companies could sell mortgages in bulk to banks and other buyers. the buyers would be willing to purchase these mortgages - and restructure them to make them affordable for families - because they know the government will guarantee them once they are refinanced., this would be good for families, who can keep their homes. it would be good for mortgage lenders, because it’s more profitable than foreclosures. it would be good for our economy, helping to unfreeze our credit markets., but given the severity of today’s housing crisis, simply facilitating this auction process might not be enough to get our economy moving again. that’s why i believe the federal housing administration should also stand ready to be a temporary buyer - to purchase, restructure, and resell underwater mortgages., just as it has in the past, this kind of temporary measure by the government could give our economy the boost it needs and families the help they certainly need. it would not require a single new federal bureaucracy, it would be designed to be self-financing over time - so it would cost taxpayers nothing in the long run., it is a sensible way for everyone - lenders, investors, mortgage companies and borrowers - to share responsibility, keep families in their homes, stabilize communities and the economy., in order to determine whether the approach outlined by representative frank and senator dodd is sufficient - or whether we need the government to step in as a purchaser - i am calling on president bush to appoint an emergency working group on foreclosures. that is the second part of my plan., we simply cannot wait until congress passes legislation to find the best way to help millions of families., that’s why i’m proposing an emergency working group on foreclosures. it could be led by a distinguished, non-partisan group of economic leaders like alan greenspan, robert rubin, paul volcker. it’s the kind of proactive step that would help re-establish confidence in our economy by showing that the president and the administration was taking our economic crisis seriously., i’ve been calling for several weeks for the president to show some sense of urgency. the group’s first order of business would be to determine how the government should implement the solutions proposed in the frank-dodd legislation - and whether this legislation goes far enough., if it’s decided additional steps are needed, then we should investigate whether - and how - the federal housing administration or other government entities, or fannie mae and freddie mac, could buy, restructure and resell underwater mortgages. the group would report back to congress on a very tight timeline - no more than three weeks., in the meantime, while the emergency working group is being formed, we should implement the moratorium on foreclosures that i first called for in december. every unnecessary home foreclosure just worsens the credit crisis and further depresses housing prices. secretary paulson and others have finally acknowledged the need for this moratorium in certain cases. i hope we will act to implement it as quickly as possible to implement it., the third part of my plan is a new housing stimulus package to provide $30 billion directly to states and localities, like pennsylvania and philadelphia, hard hit by this crisis., right now, concentrated clusters of foreclosures are devastating some communities. a recent study of ten states by the u.s. conference of mayors found that the foreclosure crisis will lead to 6.6 billion dollars in lost tax revenues in just those ten states alone., just over a month ago, congress passed, and president bush signed, a $168 billion stimulus package. but this package did next to nothing to help homeowners and communities struggling with foreclosures. i said at the time, if we did not address the housing crisis, we would not be able to stem the bleeding. congress is trying to combat a recession caused by the housing crisis without doing anything to address that crisis., well, if the fed can extend $30 billion to help bear stearns address their financial crisis, the federal government should provide at least that much emergency assistance to help families and communities address theirs., that’s why i’m calling for the creation of a one-time emergency $30 billion fund that would go directly to cities and states to address the housing crisis., this money could be used to purchase foreclosed or distressed properties, which cities and states could then resell to low-income families or convert into affordable rental housing., it could be used to help neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates avoid increased crime and blight by investing in everything from police and fire support to graffiti removal and better lighting., it could also be used by local agencies to provide counseling and refinancing to help families avoid foreclosure in the first place. governor rendell has been leading the way with programs like that, here in pennsylvania. the pennsylvania homeowners emergency mortgage assistance program offers small, low-cost loans to families facing foreclosure. it has saved up to 40,000 homes since it started. and this past october, governor rendell launched two additional programs to help homeowners refinance and restructure their mortgages., and we’re seeing results here in pennsylvania: since the end of 2006, pennsylvania’s foreclosure rate has decreased 11 percent. i look forward to working with governors like governor rendell and with mayors like mayor nutter, who is already providing such outstanding leadership here in philadelphia, to replicate this kind of success across america., the fourth and final part of my plan involves passing new legislation to clarify legal liability for mortgage companies that act to help more borrowers stay in their homes., right now, many mortgage companies are reluctant to help families restructure their mortgages because they’re afraid of being sued by the investment banks, the private equity firms and others who actually own the mortgage papers. because remember, all of these mortgages were bundled up in these huge packages and sold around the world. so you can’t just go down to see your mortgage broker or your bank or your other lender to work out a deal because they no longer own the paper. this is the case even though writing down the value of a mortgage is often more profitable than foreclosing - both for mortgage companies and for most of those who own the mortgages., that’s why i will be proposing legislation when congress returns to provide mortgage companies with protection against the threat of such lawsuits. i know this kind of policy isn’t particularly glamorous and it probably won’t make headlines. but it will make a critical difference in helping families save their homes and getting our economy back on track., now, some may claim that the plan i’ve outlined today is a ""bailout."" they’ll argue that it’s not government’s role to help. well, that is the same kind of tired rhetoric we’ve been hearing for years now. and i think the american people know better. we’ve had enough of that old ideology. we’re ready for solutions here and now., and to those who object to our government helping middle class families and low income families devastated by the housing crisis, i say this: we’ve given bear stearns a $30 billion lifeline, we’ve given their creditors, their lenders their customers and those associated with them the same lifeline. we are now lending billions of dollars a day to help wall street banks that aren’t regulated, that are not held accountable. how can you tell a family about to lose their home that there’s nothing we can do to help them? how can you tell them that if they had failed spectacularly we would’ve helped them but because they are failing quietly, desperately, we are turning our backs? how can you tell them that there is nothing we can do to rebuild the american dream?, i have been across our country for years. i know how much a home means to all of us., i remember like it was yesterday when bill bought our first home. it was back in 1975, and we were living in arkansas and teaching at the university there in the law school. we weren’t yet married - though not for lack of asking on bill’s part. and one day, we drove by this tiny red brick house with a ""for sale"" sign in front. all i said was i thought it was a sweet-looking house and never thought about it again., several weeks later, bill said to me, ""do you remember that house you liked? i had never been inside, i had never been outside looking inside, i had just driven by. i said, ""what house that i liked?"" he said, ""you know, that red brick house on california drive. well, i bought it, so now you’d better marry me, because i can’t live in it by myself."", it wasn’t exactly a mansion. the kitchen needed a lot of work. but i did say yes. and that fall, we were married in the living room of that house, surrounded by our closest friends and family., that first home meant the world to us. it was where we started our life together, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and holidays with our friends. and families across america feel the same way; whether it is your first house or your tenth house. it is part of who we are as americans to look at that home ownership as such an important part of the american dream., today, we face unprecedented economic challenges. but we also have within our reach unprecedented economic opportunities. we’ve got clean energy opportunities that we are not exploiting. utilities are changing the way they do business, focusing on efficiency, not just producing energy. renewables like wind and solar are the most exciting prospects for american manufacturing in decades., i’ve even proposed that we establish a ""carbon reduction mortgage association"" or a ""connie mae"" - an idea that vice president gore first came up with. we’d direct fannie mae and freddie mac to provide loans to help people build more and retrofit more energy efficient homes. we’d save money over the long run. we’d create millions of ""green collar"" jobs., we’ve got infrastructure opportunities to rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and highways, like i95 right here in philadelphia. opportunities to revolutionize our public transportation systems; cut down on traffic and pollution. we can do so much that will really build the strong economy we need, ,"	
", protesting work weeks of up to 84 hours. imagine, 84 hours a week in the dangerous conditions of those steel mills. the labor movement changed america for the better. dr. martin luther king, jr. summed up labor’s significance before an afl-cio gathering much like this one. ""the labor movement,"" he said, ""was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress."", when the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself, but the whole society. these words remind us that when dr. king was taken from us 40 years ago this week, we lost a powerful voice for justice of all kinds, including economic justice. dr. king knew that unions helped make the american dream a reality for millions of americans. labor helped build the middle class. we need unions not just in good times, but in hard times too; especially in hard times. with our economy facing a recession, we need unions standing strong because your negotiations help raise the standard of living for every american worker. when health insurance is out of reach for 47 million americans, 1.2 million right here in pennsylvania alone, we need unions standing up for the right, not the privilege, the right to quality affordable health care. when other countries exploit their own workers to get them an unfair advantage, we need unions standing up for workers rights here and around the world., no one knows better than our unions what it means to fight for the underdog. every day, you are standing up for workers who need someone to stand up with them. and i’m in this race for the very same reason - to fight for everyone who needs a champion in their corner., for me, this campaign is not about me - this campaign is about all of us. this campaign is meant to repudiate the political philosophies and the governing of the last 7 years. because our current president and vice president have a very different view of america. they honestly believe that somehow it works best for america when we keep giving more to those who already have more than enough, and that we take away from those who are struggling just to get to the level of subsistence and possibility. that’s why they gave big tax breaks to oil companies making record profits, while you pay through the roof at the pump., i met with a group of truck drivers in harrisburg yesterday. they are pretty fed up with high fuel prices and they were making their opinions known. who is listening? i’m listening, but it doesn’t seem like the white house is listening. the president is too busy holding hands with the saudis to care about american truck drivers who can’t afford to fill up their tank any longer. i meet workers all over pennsylvania and elsewhere who lost their pensions; they have seen companies go into bankruptcy and discharge their obligations. we have a vice president, who, when he was ceo of halliburton which now gets all these no bid contracts, don’t they, from the government? workers lost $25 billion in pensions. but dick cheney got to strap on a golden parachute worth $20 million. you get tax breaks to people who don’t need them while our children get stuck with the bill., now, i never thought i’d say this but ever since my husband got out of full time public service, he’s actually made money, much to both of our amazement. but i have to confess, as recipients of all of george bush’s tax breaks, i can tell you i didn’t need them, i didn’t want them, i didn’t ask for them. and when i am president, we’re going to take those back from people making over $250,000 a year in america. and has there ever been in recent history a more anti-union, anti-labor president and white house? they are not just looking for the union label; they are looking to squash the union bug. they want to eliminate unions and union workers - it’s ideological, it’s personal., after seven disastrous years of george bush and dick cheney, the stakes in this election couldn’t be higher. and the need to change course couldn’t be more urgent. but i am here to tell you, senator john mccain, a friend of mine, someone whose service to our country i admire, is only offering more of the same., john mccain admits he doesn’t understand the economy - and unfortunately he’s proving that day after day on the campaign trail. he looked at the housing crisis, and he blamed consumers. his plan for the economy is to extend george bush’s tax cuts for billionaires and give a $100 billion additional corporate tax cut. the bush/mccain philosophy could not be clearer - it’s the ""ownership society"", which really means ""you’re on your own."" if you’re not a crony, if you’re not wealthy, if you’re not well-connected, you fend for yourself; the others are taken care of it., but don’t take just my word for it. even a republican senator mel martinez from florida after listening to senator mccain’s economic pan gave it an ""incomplete,"" and he said: ""where i think he fell short"" is the fact that we need to do some things that can help families, that can help people."" well, duh. yeah, we do., we need to do something that can help the american people for a change - put the middle class back into the driver’s seat. give our families the opportunities they deserve., you know, sometimes when that phone rings at 3am in the white house it’s an economic crisis. it seems like john mccain would just let it ring and ring and ring., well that’s not good enough for the families that i have met across pennsylvania. i was with a group of families in harrisburg yesterday at a diner, sitting around talking. what were they concerned about? the high price of gas; losing their homes to foreclosure, being able to afford to send or keep, a child in college; wondering where that next job is going to come from., these are the stories and concerns that are on the minds of the people here in pennsylvania. i think we’ve had enough of a president who didn’t know enough about economics, and didn’t do enough for the american middle class. we’re ready for a president who will meet the challenges of our time., now i know taking on senator mccain in november won’t be easy. republicans aren’t going to give up without a fight. and no matter how beautiful your rhetoric, the republicans are not going to turn off their attack machine - it doesn’t have an off switch., but one thing you know about me is that when i say i’ll fight for you, i’ll fight for you. i know how to fight for you and that’s exactly what i will do throughout this campaign. look, i know there will be hurdles and setbacks between now and november. but i also know that i’m ready. i know what it’s like to stumble. i know what it means to get knocked down. but i’ve never stayed down. i never will. and neither will you and neither will america. we are on the comeback trail as a country., this is one of the most important elections we ve ever had. there is so much at stake. you heard as president george talked about what a difference it made to go from a republican governor and republican senators and republican members of congress. but we’ve got to finish the job and it’s so important that the people of pennsylvania have their voices heard and their votes counted. senator obama says he s getting tired of the campaign. his supporters say they want it to end., could you imagine if rocky balboa had gotten half way up those art museum stairs and said, ""well, i guess that’s about far enough?"", that’s not the way it works. let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing the fight, rocky and i have a lot in common. i never quit. i never give up. and i know that we are going to make it together - not just up those stairs, but we are going to climb that mountain to a better day for america., we have so much work to do and we won’t get there if we quit or we walk away. we’ll get there by staying and fighting and standing up for what we believe in., but i don’t need to tell any of you this. no one knows better than organized labor how important it is to have a fighter on your side. when you send someone to the bargaining table, you need the strongest, toughest, most determined person you’ve got. not someone who is just going to talk about problems. but someone who will roll up her sleeves and get the job done for you., a president who gets up everyday and asks, ""what am i going to do for the american people today? what am i going to do to make sure you’ve got good jobs that can’t be outsourced? what am i going to do to make sure we have trade agreements that are pro-american and pro-worker and make sure that we can compete with anybody, anywhere, anytime?"" if you give me the chance, that’s the kind of president i will be., that’s what i’ll do because that’s what i’ve always done., alongside labor, i fought for and passed an extension of unemployment insurance in the wake of september 11. i went to the floor of the senate everyday and stood up to the republicans and said we are going to extend and expand unemployment insurance until we finally got it done., alongside labor, i’m fighting on behalf of the brave and patriotic workers who came to ground zero after september 11. across the entire new york area, ironworkers, operating engineers, laborers, everybody dropped what they were doing and came rushing to see how they could help; so many of them got sick. they had to quit working. the man who could carry hundreds of pounds, run marathons could barely walk up stairs or breathe., alongside labor, i’ve fought for the collective bargaining rights of federal employees, the department of health and human services, the department of homeland security, the department of defense, tsa screeners, and public servants like our firefighters and police officers., alongside labor, i’ve supported the helmets to hardhats program, to help veterans get those good jobs that they deserve to have after their service. i’m working with my good friend, congressman murtha to expand this program and i am so proud to have jack murtha’s endorsement. there isn’t anyone i would rather have in a foxhole for a tough campaign and a tough election than jack murtha., and i’ve fought alongside labor in my home state of new york - home to one out of every seven union members in america. i’ve urged ceos to return to the bargaining table, encouraged employer neutrality in organizing campaigns. i’ve urged construction companies to hire local union workers, and i’ve joined workers on the picket line., i’ll keep standing with you, fighting for you, and speaking out every single day as president of the united states. because i don’t think the work ends with the election - the work begins with the election. we have to get into that white house. we’re going to have to clean house once we get there., i’ll start by ending this administration’s practice of harassing and bureaucratizing our labor, organizations, making it impossible for you to do the work that you are entitled to do., and how’s this for a radical idea: we’re actually going to appoint people to the department of labor, the nlrb, and throughout the government who are actually pro-labor for a change., next, we’re going to stop outsourcing our government to private companies that are too often less qualified - and less accountable and actually cost more. why on earth would we pay a private contractor more to do what a government employee was doing better for less?, and let me just say this, i am deeply concerned about acceleration of the outsourcing of production for essential defense material. i was in indiana the last couple of days of last week - everywhere i went talking to good hardworking hoosiers, i heard about how company after company that used to do defense work had either lost the work or the company was gone. one specific example just stuck in my mind. all of you have seen those pictures of the precision guided missiles, right? going down chimneys, hitting targets thousands of miles away. well, the targeting is dependent upon these magnets and the magnets used to be made in indiana, the company called magnequest. the company was bought out, jobs were eliminated, production was moved to china. not only did we lose jobs, we lost essential, valuable information because you’re not going to tell me that the chinese military doesn’t have exactly what it takes to make those magnets., now we are going to outsource our refueling tankers. here’s what i would do as president; i would strengthen our national defense that support both our men and women in uniform and american workers, and prevent the exporting of essential knowledge that keeps us safe and enables us to have the greatest military in the world., most important of all we’ll protect the right to organize for a new generation. this is a basic right and you know it’s under attack., that’s why i’m proud to be an original co-sponsor of the employee free choice act. i am proud to stand up for it, speak out for it and fight for it in the senate. we’re going to take our case to the american people. and when i’m president, i would sign it into law, and you’re all invited to the signing ceremony on the south lawn of the white house., so if anyone asks you if labor will have a seat at the table in my white house. i hope you know my answer - of course you will. labor built that table. there’s going to be enough chairs around it for everybody to have a place. we’re going to negotiate a new american bargain - for all of our people. let me tell you what it will include:, first, i will fight for every single job in america, we can’t save them all, but we’re going to save a lot more of them than we have been lately. then we’re going to create millions of new, high paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. president bush has stood by and watched as we’ve lost 3 million manufacturing jobs since he became president. he’s doing nothing about the loopholes in our tax code that actually encourage companies to ship jobs overseas., meanwhile, senator mccain believes business as usual on trade is just fine. he says that some lost jobs ""are not coming back;"" that seems fine with him too. well i think it’s time for a different approach., today, i am announcing an aggressive infrastructure agenda will create at least 3 million jobs over the next decade. after the failed levees in new orleans, the tragic bridge collapse in minnesota, we don’t need any more devastating wake up calls. and you don’t have to look any further than the problems you had with i-95 to know that we have to take action now., we re trying to run today’s economy on yesterday’s infrastructure - our bridges, our tunnels, our roads, our water systems and so much else - and we are jeopardizing american prosperity. so i will rebuild america by rebuilding, repairing and modernizing our infrastructure., and i want to salute the work of your great governor, another incredibly visionary effective leader, ed rendell on this issue. he has not only made great strides here in pennsylvania but he’s leading the way nationally on infrastructure. i intend to work closely with him as president., my rebuild america plan will create a $10 billion emergency fund to identify and repair critical infrastructure problems. we’ll modernize our transportation systems. we’ve got a lot of transportation and transit workers here and i’m proud to have your support. we’re going to invest in public transit and inter-city rail. we’re going to connect america with a national broadband infrastructure. all of our communication workers, our electrical workers, we need to have super information highway the way we have an interstate highway system so every part of america gets connected up, part of the global economy. we’ll create a national infrastructure bank and i will use bonding authority to make these long-term investments., think about it, in world war ii we had war bonds. maybe it’s time we ask americans if they want to play a part in rebuilding america. i think millions and millions of americans will make those contributions. then we’re going to turn around and put them into projects that will strengthen our economy and create room for that economy to grow. we can put at least 3 million americans to work., we’re also going to create at least 5 million additional jobs in green energy. jobs making public buildings more energy efficient. jobs weatherizing homes to make sure that people get more value for their dollar, to save on home heating and cooling bills. jobs that will re-open shuttered factories to build the clean energy technologies. i was last night in bucks county at one of the keystone industrial port centers, i saw these big wind turbines being made, with as i understand it union workers from the steelworkers, and i saw the future, and it is a future that we can expand., how will i pay for that? take the tax subsidies away from the oil companies and put them to work in clean renewable energy., this is another critical difference between me and my democratic opponent. my opponent talks about clean energy on the campaign trail, but when he had a chance to do something about it in the senate - remember where i come from, my dad was from scranton, actions speak louder than words - when he had a chance to do something about it he actually voted for dick cheney’s energy bill. i voted against it. once again, when it was time to turn talk into action, his promises were just words. we have to be smart and tough at the same time, it’s not going to be easy to take on the oil companies and the oil producing countries. but i’m ready to do it and with your help starting on april 22nd that is just what i will do., we’ll going to make trade work for american families. now, i’ve been criticized by both president bush and senator obama for this, but i believe we need a time-out on new trade deals. i’ve been saying that for some time now. we’ve got to have new trade policies before we have new trade deals. that includes no trade deal with columbia while violence against trade unionists continues in that country., i appreciate gerry talking about how i did speak out and oppose nafta, the president made a different decision but whether its president mcentee or david gergen or the people that were in those meetings in the white house, they know that i raised a big yellow caution flag, i said i’m not sure that this will work. and i have a plan to fix nafta, with the strongest possible labor and environmental standards in the core text of the agreement. and unlike my opponent, i will never come to pennsylvania and tell the people here one thing while my staff says something else to a foreign government. you won’t find me saying anything like that. when i say i’ll fix nafta, i mean it - and i will back it up with action., yes, we will finally get tough on china. right now, china’s steel comes here and our jobs go there. i testified before the international trade commission to try to put the breaks on the dumping of steel in our market. they manipulate their currency, they give illegal subsidies, they abuse workers’ rights. and what do we get in return? tainted fish, lead-laced toys, and poisoned pet food and polluted pharmaceuticals. that is a bad deal for america. when i’m president, china will be a trade partner not a trade master. and we’re going to get that done., finally, we’re going to start investing in manufacturing again. pennsylvania has lost 13,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year; nearly one-in-four manufacturing jobs since george bush became president. manufacturing thrived in pennsylvania throughout the 20th century. it can thrive again., i disagree with people who say we can’t be a manufacturing company again because i believe you can’t have a strong economy if you don’t make things. i don’t believe you can support all these other jobs that you represent workers in if you’re not generating jobs from actually producing things. so, for me, it’s not just a question of what’s nice, it’s critical and essential that we bring manufacturing back. we also need it for our defense sector, as i mentioned earlier., so, there’s going to be a lot of work to be done and we’re going to have a very progressive agenda for working families. i will provide health care for every body, not leaving any one out. because it is long past time that we had affordable health care for every single american., and the big difference between me and my democratic opponent. i’m sure tomorrow he’ll tell you he has a plan for universal health care, but his plan would leave out 15 million people, more than 400,000 here in pennsylvania. you’re going to leave out a member of the painter’s union or a member of their family? are you going to leave out someone who is already sick? you’re going to leave out somebody who is making minimum wage? he chose to leave health care on the bargaining table when putting together his campaign. i’m not just going to talk about universal health care; i’m going to get it done., and the reason i am is because i am passionately committed to making our country do what we have not done both morally and economically. i could tell you hundreds of stories and i bet all of you could. you are so fortunate to have health care because you a member of a union and people negotiate for it. but, i was in ohio, along the ohio river during that campaign - i really liked how that ohio primary turned out by the way - and what i heard was this typical tragic story - the kind of story i’ve heard for 15 years and even longer going back to arkansas. i was eating in a mobile with some folks in the area, the deputy sheriff., he said i sure hope we can get health care for everyone and he told me about a young woman from that town. she worked at the local pizza parlor. she didn’t have anyone representing her. she got, ,"	
", going by in just a moment of time, but having such a profound and lasting impact on all of us. as a young woman, i was privileged to be taken to hear dr. king speak by a youth minister who opened my eyes and ears and my horizons. dr. king’s call to action that evening in chicago led me to confront a world bigger and broader than the one i inhabited. he had a way of doing that, of pushing us outside our own comfort zone, of making it clear that we had to be part of the revolution that was going on. it wasn t a revolution of guns. it was a revolution of hearts and minds, of attitudes and actions., when one heard dr. king speak, and i stood in line for a very long time that night to shake his hand. and he was gracious, and he was kind to lean over to shake the hand of a 14-year-old girl from the from the suburbs of chicago, who went to an all-white church and an all-white school, and lived in an all-white suburb. but he didn t ask me, as i reached out my hand, where do you live, what is your experience? he just took it and looked in my face and thanked me for coming., that dr. king had such a profound and lasting impact on a young white girl, that he had that kind of impact on millions of people of all colors, faiths, ages and walks of life, tells us something about the reach and power of his vision. it was a vision big enough and bold enough and grace-filled enough to embrace every last one of us. and when he came here to memphis to speak out on behalf of workers, he wasn t only speaking for those sanitation workers who were denied their rights, who had seen two of their fellow workers die in a cascade of garbage a few weeks before. he was speaking out for all workers everywhere who are exploited and abused and denied their basic rights., when dr. king protested the vietnam war, he wasn t just speaking on behalf of black soldiers, but all soldiers and civilians – vietnamese and americans alike. when he worked on behalf of the poor here in america and around the world, he wasn t just speaking for the poor he knew, that he could see with his own eyes, but the poor who knew no boundaries of geography or color. and when he stood against discrimination, he wasn t just seeking to free african americans from the shackles of slavery and the past that had been shaped by that abomination; he was seeking to break the, shackles of hatred on the hearts of us all. he yearned for our country to fulfill the ideals that it had given lip service to, that were embodied in our founding documents. in his last speech here, he took us on a tour of history, but showed us the unfinished business and unrealized promises of america., dr. king understood our constitution better than most of us. he knew it was crafted to expand as our hearts expanded. it was not a constricted document from one place in time, but an expansive proclamation of what america could become if we had the courage to do so. slavery was written onto that document, but so was the potential for equality. he waged that revolution, but not just to change our laws, as i heard bishop blake talking about, but to change our hearts and behaviors. he reminded us that those who signed our founding documents were signing a promissory note to which every american was to fall heir; the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. in the end he asked nothing more than that we redeem that promise, each in our own way through faith- based institutions, through our businesses, our labor unions, through our political and public service. and even though as originally drafted we did not include dr. king or me either, women and african americans were left out of america’s founding promises, but he never gave up and neither should we., his faith in america animated and sustained his journey. like with any faith, there were dark moments when one doubts, when one is on the brink of giving up and throwing in the towel. but he would always come back from those dark places and so must we. the tenacity of dr. king s faith is all the more extraordinary when we think of the ways it was tested. by all the critics and the media attacking his work, by the death threats, the bombings, the beatings, the stabbings, the murder, the grinding hard work day after day of just getting up and moving on, even the speech he gave here at this great complex wasn t supposed to be delivered. the crowd demanded it. and he came. he always answered the call. for those who are clergy, you know that it sometimes tests one s constitution and one s faith to constantly be asked to do more to reach out to keep going., someone of lesser heart and lesser faith might have grown weary doing good, might have given up, but he persisted in the struggle. and we know the results. so much has changed. i look at the young people standing in the back of this room. and it may be hard for you to imagine what you read in the history books, what your parents and your grandparents tell you. jim crowe is now something you read about. the people in this room lived under it. because of dr. king, these young people, my daughter s generation, grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could attend school together. because of him, after 219 years and 43 presidents who have been white men, this next generation will grow up taking for granted that a woman or an african american can be president of the united states of america., but as far as we ve come, we know the journey is far from over. some days when you open up the newspaper and you read the headlines, it feels like we tumbled right back down that mountain top, doesn t it? some days it s amazing how deep the valley can be. at times like those i think of what dr. king said in his last speech, how he acknowledged we are living in a time of turmoil and upheaval, but then admonished us to remember only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. dr. king saw the darkness of a nation torn apart by petty human differences, but he imagined one knit back, together by our shared humanity. he saw so many going hungry in a land of plenty, but he envisioned an america where our prosperity was shared. he saw america embroiled in an endless war, but imagined a principled peace. while our problems were grave, he never stopped believing that our promise was greater. he saw us not as we were, but as we could and should be. isn’t it about time we started seeing ourselves as dr. king saw us?, isn’t it about time we came together as we have in memphis to find the solutions to make america what it can and should be? when i say solutions, i mean good jobs. jobs you can raise a family on. jobs that give people a shot at the middle class, to be able to stay there and live with dignity and respect. when i say solutions, i mean respecting the role of the american labor movement that has given that dignity and respect to so many. this time, once again, to give back the support we need to those who help workers organize and demand their rights., when i say solutions, i mean finally addressing the scourge of poverty that stalks so many. i believe, mayor, memphis has about a 25% poverty rate, down over the last years, but still far too high. i believe we should appoint a cabinet level position that will be solely and fully devoted to ending poverty as we know it in america. a position that will focus the attention of our nation on the issue and never let it go. a person who i could see being asked by the president every single day what have you done to end poverty in america? no more excuses. no more whining, but instead, a concerted effort., it’s the kind of solution that dr. king s son martin has been passionately advocating for. when i say solutions, i mean schools worthy of our children that give each child a chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. how about appointing supreme court justices who will actually uphold brown versus board of education and not reverse the progress that has been made? when i say solutions, i mean quality, affordable health care for every american. no exceptions. everyone entitled to health insurance. no more going into the emergency room. instead, going in the front door to the doctor s office to be taken care of, to get that preventive health care that will keep you healthy., i mean restoring america’s moral leadership in the world, leading the fight against aids, malaria and tb, against poverty and genocide. we cannot let our brothers and sisters in africa and around the world continue to suffer needlessly. and i mean ending the war that has claimed too many of our precious sons and daughters; ending it as quickly and responsibly as humanly possible. and yet we must demand that our government pass laws that reflect our values. hate crimes laws, antidiscrimination laws, equal pay laws and so much more. but that is not enough. the solutions we seek are not just about what government does or business does or labor unions or even faith- based institutions do. it is what each and every one of us is called to do., there is still too much hatred dividing too many human hearts. every one of us has a chance, practically every day, to stand up to intolerance and injustice. like many of you here who are of a certain age, i will never forget where i was when i heard dr. king had been killed. i was a junior in college. and i remember hearing about it and just feeling such despair. i walked onto my dorm room, took my book bag and hurled it across the room. it felt like everything had been shattered, like we would never be able to put the pieces together again., i joined a protest march in boston. i wore a black armband. i worked to convince my college to recruit more students and faculty of color, but it felt like it wasn t enough. and then a few months later we heard of the assassination of robert kennedy, whose eloquence and courage had helped to persuade the people of indianapolis to follow dr. king s example of non-violence. i remember wandering through the encampments of the poor people s march on washington talking with those who had come from literally around the world to witness against poverty and injustice. it felt like the doors had closed on the hope that so many had felt. but that would have been such a disservice to dr. king. to have taken the despair, the outrage and just ended with that., dr. king taught us everything we needed to know about his legacy and how to carry it forward, but in the end it is up to each of us to walk that path. it is not an easy path. it was hard for him. it is hard for us. sometimes we take steps backwards so maybe then we can figure out a new way forward. but i have abiding confidence, and yes, faith that we can make our way to higher ground. whether or not we make it to the mountain top, whether we make it to the promised land is not for us to know, but i believe with all my heart it is for us to try. and when we get tired and when our faith starts to waiver, we can of course remember dr. king s faith in us., how being dog-tired that night, he left the lorraine motel and came here. i’m sure he would have liked a good night s sleep. i’m sure he thought reverend abernathy had done a fine job and there were so many good preachers there. but he felt called and he answered the call. as the scripture tells us, when we are called, we must answer. who will you send? send me., so here we are. let us remember and return to the well springs of faith from which he drew. one should re-read dr. king’s last speech, just as we ask children to memorize the """"i have a dream"""" speech. one should re-read that last speech. be reminded of the prophet amos who did shout and commend us to let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. one can remember the sacrifice and suffering of jesus christ, who taught us to love our enemies. what an absurd teaching. at the time it was given, it was not even in the consciousness of humanity. love, ,"	
", the contrasts could not be greater; instead of trying to solve our problems, president bush has used fear to divide us and fatalism to discourage us. he wants us to believe that we can t solve our problems, and that we shouldn t even try. moving toward energy independence, well that would wreck our economy, they tell us. moving toward universal health care, well that would wreck our health care system. since when did america become the can t-do nation? as far as i know and the way i was raised, we know that you roll up your sleeves and you face the future realistically. yes,, we do have to do what is necessary to take back the future. but i am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that america is ready. we are ready to be called to greatness again. we are ready to be asked to sacrifice on behalf of this country that we love., for seven years, the drug companies, the insurance companies, the oil companies and wall street have had a president; i think it s time the american people had a president again., we need a commander-in-chief who is ready on day one to end the war in iraq and keep our children safe, someone who knows how to manage this economy and strengthen the middle class. the american people need a fighter on their side, a president who will get up every single day and work her heart out for you, for your families, for your jobs and your futures. i am here tonight because i am ready to be that president., if there is one word that sums up my campaign and what it s all about, its solutions. i m offering real solutions, not just speeches. i want to create a better future by making it clear that we have to not only set out a vision, we ve got to know how to get there. you know that old story about how our political parties are like driving a car, don t you? if you want to go forward, you put it in d. if you want to go backwards, you put it in r. well, we re going forward in d. and here s why democrats need to drive that car forward again., tonight, across montana and across america, teachers are grading papers and nurses are caring for the sick, and they need a president who listens to them. tonight, janitors are cleaning up, and waitresses are pouring coffee, and police officers are standing guard. and they need a president who stands with them. tonight, families are sitting down around the dinner table, talking about how to keep the farm in the family or how to keep up with the bills that are mounting, and they need a president who will deliver for them. tonight, our brave men and women in uniform are serving across the globe, some on their second, their third or their fourth deployment. and they deserve a commander-in-chief who respects them, who cares for them and their families, and who brings them home and takes care of them once they do come back., americans deserve so much better. i am in this race to offer those solutions, because i believe america s best days are still ahead of us. for me, this is not just about the next election. this is about the next generation and what we must do to keep faith, to ensure that our children and our grandchildren have the same blessings and opportunities that we were given, to make the most of their own lives, to take the tools that are the product of a free market and the incredible entrepreneurial energy and innovation of america and put it to work, not only for a better future for themselves but for our country and our world., so when i say solutions, i mean an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. an economy where prosperity is shared again, and we create good jobs, jobs that will rebuild our infrastructure, jobs in clean, renewable energy, jobs in science and research, jobs that can support a family with a middle class standard of living that gives people hope in the future that they are building for themselves., when i say solutions, i mean reigning in those corporate special interests and rebuilding the middle class. i have proposed $100 billion in middle class tax cuts, tax cuts that will go for healthcare, to make college affordable, for secure retirement. part of the way we ll do that is to take away the $55 billion in tax cuts that have gone to those who, frankly, do not need your money more than you need your money. explain to me how it can make any sense that we have a tax code that still gives tax benefits to companies that move jobs and profits out of montana to foreign countries. we re going to end that. we re going to tell people the tax code of the united states will reflect the patriotic investment in jobs and businesses right here, in order to build a stronger economy. how is it fair that a wall street money manager making $50 million a year pays a lower percentage in taxes to our government than a nurse, a teacher, or a truck driver right here in montana pays to that government of ours?, and when i say solutions, i mean a return to fiscal responsibility. i was raised by a father who didn t believe in credit, didn t have a credit card, didn t buy a house until he could pay for it; so i m a little cheap. but i think that s what we need in a president again, who starts having the federal government live within our means., we re going to get back to pay-as-you-go, and we re going to take a scalpel to that budget and look for anything we can take out so that we put our priorities back in. enough with the no-bid contracts to halliburton and all of those crony companies of george bush s. there is absolutely no evidence that outsourcing our government saves money, but what it does is line the pockets of those companies and remove accountability., back in the 1990 s, we saw rising incomes. the typical family saw $7,000 in income that came to, them because the economy was moving up. more people were lifted out of poverty. it was a good time for america. occasionally, in this campaign, i hear somebody criticize the 90 s. that s fair. but i always wonder to myself, what is it they didn t like, the peace, or the prosperity? i could never figure that part out., when i say solutions, i mean making our federal government a partner with rural america. now i don t want to shock you tonight, but you may be surprised to learn that new york is home to 34,000 family farms. i know, where do they all go under the empire state building? but across our state and across so much of rural america, there is a feeling that the deck is stacked against family farms. i m committed to working with your two great senators, to pass a strong farm bill that works for true family farms, with priorities like permanent disaster relief, strengthening country of origin labeling, renewable energy advances, rural development, broadband deployment., and i want to salute the leadership of senator baucus and senator tester. this farm bill needs to move and the president needs to get out of the way so that we can start taking care of rural america., it is great to have senator tester in the congress as a family farmer and an organic farmer. he has been a breath of fresh air. and of course we couldn t have a farm bill or nearly any other bill that actually had any money attached to it without senator baucus. so montana is right in the middle of these debates., when i say solutions, i mean declaring energy independence. i want america to sign a declaration of energy independence. i want our citizens to sign it because there s work for all of us to do to move toward energy independence. it s time we declared our independence from foreign oil. it s time we began looking for solutions from home grown energy., i want to be a president who is a good partner for governor schweitzer to help tap into the natural resources right here in montana - biofuels, clean coal, wind energy. the future has so much potential but we ve been going backwards. we are actually more dependent on foreign oil today than we were on 9/11. explain how that makes any sense. i was waiting for president bush after 9/11 to say here s how we will respond, a goal that will move us away from our dependence on foreign oil. well, we ve never heard a word like that and i know we re not going to move on clean coal or biofuels or wind or solar or the transmission and distribution system we need to transport what is created here elsewhere in the country. i know we won t do that until the two oil men leave the white house but as soon as they do, let s be ready., as president, i will invest in alternative energy with a $50 billion strategic energy fund paid for in two ways, by taking the tax subsidies away from the oil companies. it is hard to explain how a company like exxon mobil that makes $40 billion in profits last year needs your money to be successful. and certainly, when you look at what we need to do, that $50 billion strategic energy fund, we ll also ask the oil companies to be part of the solution instead of the problem. they can invest in renewable sources. they can clean up their facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or they can be subject to a windfall profits tax which we will take and put to work on developing alternative renewable energy here in montana., i figure we can create at least five million new good jobs and these are jobs that can t be outsourced. these are jobs that can be done right here in montana. because it is way passed time for us to stop holding hands with the saudis, and started holding them accountable. that s the kind of president that you can expect me to be., when i say solutions, i mean it is time to finally get tough on china. right now, china s products come here and our jobs go there. we play by the rules, they manipulate their currency. we get tainted fish, lead-laced toys, contaminated pet food and polluted pharmaceuticals. i think that s a raw deal - and the united states government should say no more, no how, we re going to have new rules, they re going to play by the same rules and we re going to stand up for our consumers and our workers., when i say solutions, i mean finally providing universal health care. every single american will be covered. we have two big problems. we have the problem of 47 million uninsured - including more than 160,000 right here in montana - and then we have the problem of people who are insured except when it comes time to have the insurance company pay the bill, the insurance company won t pay the doctor or the hospital. so here s what i believe. if you have health insurance and you re happy with it, nothing changes. but if you are uninsured or underinsured, we re going to open up the congressional health plan. congress has a plan for itself and federal employees with more than 250 choices. it covers preventive care, mental health care, the kind of comprehensive health care that every american should have access to. for those who can t afford it, we re going to offer health care tax credits and i would like to see us limit the amount of money that anyone ever has to pay for their health care premium to a small percentage of your income., and we we re going to regulate the insurance companies so they not longer can discriminate against people. i think it is way past time. in our country it is unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of race or religion or gender or ethnic origin and that is all for the good. but insurance companies can, discriminate against you if you re sick or if you ever have been sick. it s time for us to tell the insurance companies no more discrimination, no more making life and death decisions. that should be left to doctors and nurses, not insurance company bureaucrats, and we re going to move toward universal health care coverage finally in america., when i say solutions, i mean public schools that are worthy of our children, starting with universal pre-kindergarten going all the way through. i believe you ve got to start with pre-school, with head start, early head start, universal pre-k so that all of our children get off to a good beginning. and i will end the unfunded mandate known as no child left behind., i believe in accountability and i have worked for that for more than 25 years, but i don t think you get that by turning our students into little test takers and our teachers into big test givers. we need a new partnership, a new partnership between the federal government, our schools, our students, our families and communities. i will offer that. i will also work to make sure that college is affordable for every single hard working student in america., when i say solutions, i mean keeping faith with our native americans, the first americans. it is time that we had a president who understood that we should fully fund the indian health service; that we should respect the government-to-government relationship, that we will have, once again, a partnership from the white house across america. every tribe, both in indian country and in urban areas, because i believe we must keep faith with our very first americans and i pledge, i will do whatever i can to make that happen., when i say solutions, i mean standing up always for social security. senator baucus led the fight against president bush s attempts to privatize social security. i was proud to fight alongside him every step of the way. when i am president, you are never going to have to worry about anybody privatizing your social security., of course, we have a lot of work to do around the world. we have to restore america s leadership and our moral authority. that begins by ending the war in iraq and bringing our troops home as quickly and responsibly as possible. it means reaching out to the rest of the world to find common ground to combat our challenges. we can t tackle global warming alone; as president i will lead the way to a new global agreement that will include india and china and the other fast developing countries. every part of the world must be committed to reversing global warming. when we think about taking on global warming or global terrorism or global epidemics, america, once again, must be respected. you cannot be a leader if no one is following and for too long under president bush countries have been on the sidelines or even actively opposed to us. i will immediately launch comprehensive global diplomatic efforts asking distinguished americans of both parties to travel across the world, to send a message that once again the united states wants to engage, wants to listen, wants to work with you., as we move from the war in iraq to once again standing on behalf of peace and security, we will be bringing our sons and daughters home. they will need a new 21st century g.i. bill of rights, with money to go to college, money for a home, money to start a business. it has been heartbreaking as a senator to see how many of our veterans have been left alone to fight a bureaucracy and cut through the red tape to get the health care they need; to get the compensation they deserve. i will be a commander-in-chief who recognizes that we have the greatest military in the world but force should be used as a last resort, not a first resort in the interest of our country and furtherance of our values., and it almost goes without saying but it must be said, that we will bring our constitution out of cold storage. we will restore the separation of powers, the checks and balances. we will end the abusive practices and power grabs of the bush/cheney administration., this is the america we will build together - an america where the next generation is always better off than the last. but in order to begin to do this work, we have to win in november. that means we have to defeat senator mccain; a good man with a great record of serving america. he s a friend and colleague of mine and i admire his service, but he is offering the wrong ideas for our country. it is important that in the fall election we have a nominee ready to go toe-to-toe with john mccain on national security. he is willing to keep troops in iraq for up to 100 years. i ll start bringing them, home within the first 60 days of my taking office., senator mccain has admitted he doesn t really understand the economy. and unfortunately, he is proving it in this campaign. he looks at the home mortgage crisis and who does he blame? not wall street, which helped create this mess in the first place. he blames the homeowners. he doesn t seem to understand that if our federal government can find $30 billion to bail out one firm on wall street, we ought to be able to find $30 billion to help homeowners stay in their homes and not lose them to the predatory practices of the mortgage industry., i think we ve had enough of a president who didn t know enough about economics and didn t do enough for the american middle class. we re ready for a president who, no matter whether that 3 a.m. call is about national security or an economic crisis, actually answers the phone and doesn t let it ring and ring and ring, trying to avoid taking responsibility for the mess that will be there when george bush leaves., ,"	
", the president is the only constitutional office holder with the power to speak for all of us and with the potential to unify us in the service of our national interest., unfortunately, our current president does not seem to understand the basic character of the office he holds. rather than faithfully execute the laws, he has rewritten them through signing statements, ignored them through secret legal opinions, undermined them by elevating ideology over facts. rather than defending the constitution, he has defied its principles and traditions. he has abused his power while failing to understand its purpose., this administration s unbridled ambition to transform the executive into an imperial presidency in an attempt to strengthen the office has weakened our nation. it has corrupted and corroded our moral authority and brought our prestige and reputation to its lowest ebb. the president has failed to use the power of the presidency, the power he sought to inflate, to expand opportunity and make a real difference in people s lives., this president seems to believe it s a good day in the white house when the government does little for ordinary americans. that is how this administration defines the presidency: limited government, but unlimited power., well, i have a different view., i believe in the power of the presidency to set big goals for america and to solve the problems of americans, to ensure that our people have the tools they need to turn challenges into opportunities, to fulfill their god-given potential, and to build better lives for themselves and their children. that s the kind of president i will be every day in the white house, whether the issue is health care or child care, foreign policy, or the future of our economy., i am running for president because i believe in the promise of america and i believe in the power of the presidency to help fulfill that promise. now, that s not a sound bite. it s what i have learned, experienced and intended, as best i could, throughout my life. i ve had many opportunities. i ve been blessed. and i understand that those blessings came from the hard work of my parents, my teachers, others in the village that surrounded and helped to nurture and raise me; my church, which helped to guide me; and, of course, the positive actions of my government that directly affected my life., as a young girl, i could not go to certain colleges, compete for certain scholarships, participate, if i d had the sporting ability, in certain sports, or obtain some kind of financial aid for playing them. there were certain jobs that were closed to me and other young women. and the horizons were not quite as broad as those for my brothers. i grew up in a middle-class family, at a time when our nation was investing in the middle class., after world war ii, my father started a small business, saved up enough money to purchase a home. he, like so many veterans coming back from world war ii, were anxious to get on with their lives. he moved us to a suburb where he paid taxes for better schools, and where our nation made unprecedented investments in public education., i was able to go to college and then to law school because the federal government wanted to make investments in young people. and so, when i went to law school, unable to get any financial help from my family, i worked, i had a small scholarship, and i borrowed money from the federal government at about 2% interest. and i and so many others had a chance to pursue our academic dreams because our government wanted us to., as i have seen over the last years in public life as a senator from new york and now as a candidate for the presidency how many families and how many young people don’t have any confidence or any reason to believe that their government cares about their future. i believe that we have to change that. the magnitude of the problems be fore us present a unique challenge and chance to bring this generation of americans together, to fulfill our common purpose. and finding the nation to do so is the responsibility of our president., nine months from now, a few days, we will have a new president taking the oath of office from the steps of the capitol. that new president will inherit the job at a time of unprecedented challenges and stress. our economy is at risk of a deep and painful recession threatening the opportunities for millions of americans to fond and keep jobs that are satisfying and well paid, to buy their own homes or keep the ones they have, send their children to college, to save for retirement, even to afford their health care premiums, their gas bills, their utility bills, and so much else that makes up a middle class lifestyle here in our country., our health care system is in crisis. it threatens not only the health of our families but the opportunities for our businesses as they compete in the global marketplace. our security is threatened by the interconnected dangers of extremism, terrorism, rogue regimes, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and certainly by the ongoing war in iraq and the climate crisis that does threaten our way of life. that’s why it is so important that in this election we restore balance and purpose to the presidency as the first step to restore opportunity and moral authority in america., i believe i bring a unique set of experiences to this mission; one, of my lifetime of work going back 35 years, and my incredible opportunities now on both ends of pennsylvania avenue. i have seen what happens when a president tries and succeeds on some fronts, but fails on others. i certainly witnessed and was part of the consequences of a process to create universal health care that was viewed as too insulated from people and their representatives in congress. but i also participated in and helped to bring about successes, like the children’s health insurance program which was a bipartisan accomplishment. i watched as my husband made other important progressive steps on behalf of america., as a senator, i’ve seen how working with congress as a president makes a real difference, and the absence of presidential involvement leaves a vacuum. congress’s role in deliberating on legislation may not always bring people together who do not agree, but it is essential that the process be recognized and respected. i have worked hard to hold this administration accountable because all too often the president has failed to share information with the congress, to be willing to recognize the checks and balances that have certainly been a blessing to our system of government for so many years., i will bring most of my time in the white house and now my time in the senate, some critical lessons to the presidency. first, i will restore faith in our government by resorting integrity to our government. for seven years, this administration has exhibited ideological disdain for government. and because they view government with contempt, they treat it with contempt. they don’t believe government can or should be a source for the public interest, so they treat it as a source of favors for private interests., as president i will restore an old-fashioned idea - appointing qualified people to positions in government again. i will immediately begin implementing an agenda of reform to end no-bid contracts, to close the revolving door between public sector work and private sector lobbying, to restore fiscal responsibility, to modernize our government, and to open its books to greater scrutiny., second, i will restore openness in government. when i am president, the era of bush/cheney secrecy will be over. on april 27th, 1961, president kennedy addressed one of the predecessors of this association, the american newspaper publishers association. the failed invasion of cuba known as the bay of pigs had taken place just one week before. president kennedy spoke of the threat threatening the united states. he wrestled publicly with the basic tension that exists whenever our security is threatened between the government’s responsibility to keep some secrets and the public’s right to know. but he understood the importance of openness to the integrity and vitality of government even in the aftermath of his own failures. he said, ""there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions."" just days after an embarrassing failure, the president of the united states came before your predecessors, begged for scrutiny, and challenged the nation to mobilize without compromising democratic values., that kind of open leadership has been sorely lacking these past seven years. in fact the bush administration has dramatically widened the definition of classified information to shield more and more materials from public scrutiny, has widened the scope of the states secrets privilege to shield this program from judicial review, and has widened the reach of executive privilege to shield its activated from congress. from warrantless wiretaps at home to secret prisons overseas, the bush administration has conducted illegal activities and stonewalled efforts of the people and the congress to discover them and to hold the administration accountable., when i am president i will empower the federal government to operate from a presumption of openness, not secrecy. that’s why i am a co-sponsor of the free flow of information act, allowing reporters to protect sources, help insure that whistle blowers can blow the whistle, and you can keep the public informed and keep office holders accountable., i will direct my administration to prevent needless classification of information that ought to be shared with the public. we will adopt a presumption of openness and freedom of information act requests and urge agencies to release information quickly if disclosure will do no harm. it was attorney general janet reno’s approach, and it will be my attorney general’s approach, as well., third, because solving problems starts by recognizing facts, i will restore evidence based decision making to our government. a free and open society depends upon evidence based inquiry. shortly after i arrived in the senate, it became abundantly clear to me that the white house had very little interest in facts or evidence and i started saying in speeches on the floor and in other settings that they wanted to turn washington into an evidence-free zone. unfortunately, they have succeeded all too well and we will have to reverse that., this administration has also waged a war on science; rewriting scientific reports, allowing politicians to overrule and silence government researchers, politicizing important decisions affecting our environment and our public health. i will stop political appointees from manipulating the government’s scientific conclusions and prevent the suppression of public statements from government scientists. i will put in place new whistleblower protections for scientists who step forward to protest political interference. our government will once again value and encourage scientific discovery and open inquiry, and we will regain our place as the world’s leading innovation, nation., fourth, because government abuse is checked by the separation of powers, i will restore respect for our co-equal branches of government. i’ll start by limiting the excessive executive powers this president has accumulated, like the unilateral power to wiretap, or detain try people, even american citizens. i will work with congress again as a partner to solve problems. i’ll end the use of signing statements to rewrite the laws that congress has passed. i’ll shut down guantanamo, disavow torture and restore the right of habeas corpus., i will end the practice of using executive privilege as a shield against the public’s right to know and congress’ duty to oversee the president., finally i will make crystal clear that the president and the executive branch will comply with the laws of our nation. my department of justice will interpret those laws fairly accurately honestly and publically. we’ll release justice department interpretations so that you know exactly what our understanding is and how laws are being executed. the president is not above the law in our system of government and we need to make that absolutely clear starting next year. these changes both represent and drive the transformation i believe is needed in our government starting on day one of my administration. i do not believe that power is an end in itself but a means. a means limited in scope of serving the interest and protecting the safety of our nation, while creating opportunity for our people., but the question before us is deeper than how the next president will restore our government and our constitution. the question is how the next president will employ our government. i am here and i am running for president because i have seen the promise of america and i do understand the promise of the presidency and on day one i will bring my hard won experience, whatever strength and knowledge i posses to fulfill that promise. i will start by trying to live up to the model described by teddy roosevelt - ""all that in me lies to do will be done to make my work a success."" and i plan to hit the ground running starting on day one and throughout my first 100 days., during that time i will call on congress to send to my desk the bills the president vetoed, from supporting stem cell research to expanding children’s health care and i will sign them, allowing scientists to better explore the promise of new cures for disease- diseases like parkinson’s, alzheimer’s, diabetes and so much else. and we will provide health insurance for millions more of our children as a down payment on achieving health care for all americans with no exceptions., my administration will call together meeting of mortgage lenders, banks, community organizations and regulators to negotiate an immediate freeze on foreclosures, because so many americans are hurting and the projection is that more than 2 million families will be foreclosed on this year. i will call for a timeout on new trade agreements and review all existing trade agreements and i will call on canada and mexico to work with me to renegotiate nafta., my budget to congress will restore fiscal sanity while cutting taxes for middle class families to the tune of 100 billion dollars a year, ending tax breaks for oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, wall street and others to the tune of 55 billion dollars a year., i will work with congress to introduce a comprehensive immigration bill., my administration convene a summit within 100 days to negotiate a new climate change treaty to replace kyoto and one that includes china, india and other rapidly developing and very big green house gas emitting nations. i will work with the congress to submit a comprehensive energy bill that will move us toward ending our dependence on foreign oil and increasing the percentage of renewable fuels we use to produce electricity., i will overturn the global gag rule to allow nongovernmental organizations to practice free speech and use other funding sources to provide women with access to the full range of reproductive health care around the world., i will call a meeting of the joint chiefs of staff and demand that the pentagon draw up plans to begin withdrawing troops from iraq responsibly and carefully starting within 60 days of my inauguration. i will reach out to the rest of the world and ask distinguished americans of both parties to be emissaries on our behalf traveling across the globe telling both governments and people that the united states is willing once again to work with you to try to find common ground on our problems from global warming to global terrorism to global epidemics., i will sign executive orders ending the war on science, ordering the closure of guantanamo, reversing many of the anti-labor provisions that president bush adopted and looking very clearly at what we have to do to rebuild a strong and prosperous middle class in our country., in short, starting from day one, the bush-cheney era will be over in name and in practice. we are fortunate in our country that we get to overturn our government peacefully and thoroughly. the question is the path we select at such an important juncture. i know this campaign has gone on a long time, but elections do end and when the campaigns conclude and the banners are town down and the speeches are finally finished, all that’s left is the choice we have made., ,"	
", a president who has stood up and spoke out for the wealthy and the well-connected. but i don t think that s what americans need or what they re looking for now. and i think standing up for working people is about the american dream and the democratic party. and i think standing up for the middle class is about who we are and who we can be if we stick together., so it is important that as we go forward in this campaign that we recognize we are all on the same team. we are going to be standing up for you. we’re going to be looking for a way to turn this country around and bring it back to what it should stand for and be all about - better futures for you and your children, solving the problems that affect us here in america., i know that people are watching this race and they re wondering, i win, he wins, i win, he wins. it’s so close. and i think that says a lot about how excited and passionate our supporters are and how intent so many americans are to really taking their country back. but i can assure you, as i have said on many occasions that no matter what happens, i will work for the nominee of the democratic party, because we must win in november., and i know that senator obama feels the same way, because we have been on this campaign trail now for a long time. and we know how desperately people want to see a change, and it will not be a change if the republicans keep the white house. it will be more of the same, something that no one, no matter what political party you may be, can afford. it is time for all of us to recognize what is at stake in this election, not just for democrats as we decide who will be our nominee, but for all americans., the soldiers and the veterans that i meet, they always say to me, promise you ll take care of my buddies. they rarely ask for themselves. and they need a president who will take care of them. and when i talk with the people who come to rallies and events like this, very often it s with a bit of hesitation that they tell me they ve lost their job, they’ve lost their health care; they can t afford to go to college. and it just breaks my heart, because when i think about the america that i grew up in, the future was unlimited, the potential was there for all of us if we were willing to work hard and do our part., so this journey that we re on together is one that has been a blessing for me, because i know what this country has meant to me and i know what it still means to all of you. it is now our responsibility to ensure that it will always mean the same for our children and our grandchildren., i will never give up on you and on your families and on your dreams and on your future. and i want to thank the people of indiana for your hospitality and your vote of confidence and i especially want to thank your wonderful senator, evan bayh. evan is an outstanding leader for this state and for america. he’s been your governor. he s now your senator. he’s someone whom i look to for advice and counsel. he’s worked tirelessly on this campaign and i’m so grateful to him and his wonderful wife susan. i also want to thank the people of north carolina, who were so hospitable and gracious to us., and i especially want to thank mike and mary easley for their friendship and support. governor easley is a visionary leader for north carolina and we had so much fun campaigning in the tar heel state., and while we are celebrating tonight, i would like to take a moment to express my deepest sympathies to the victims of the devastating cyclone in burma. our hearts and prayers go out to the people there and i call upon the junta that has ruled burma for so many years to please let the rest of the world in to help. this is a time when everyone should be there to lift up those who are affected by this deadly storm., and i want to thank all of my friends who have worked so hard. i want to thank my friends in labor. i want to thank my staff, my volunteers and my supporters. and i especially want to thank my family for their incredible love and support. bill and chelsea. people ask us all the time, how do you keep going? we love getting out and meeting people. we love having a chance to be with all of you, and didn t chelsea do a great job? i know a lot of people enjoyed seeing my husband again out on the campaign trail., so now it is on to west virginia, kentucky, oregon, and the other states where people are eager to have their voices heard. for too long, we ve let places like west virginia and kentucky slip out of the democratic column. well, it s time for that to change and these next primaries are another test. i’m going to work my heart out in west virginia and kentucky this month and i intend to win them in november in the general election., i want the people in these upcoming states to know we are going to work hard to reach out to all of you, because we want you to know that the democratic party is your party. and a democratic president will be good for you. so please, come join us in our campaign. and i am running to be the president of all of america - north, south, east and west, and everywhere in between. that’s why it is so important that we count the votes of florida and michigan., it would be a little strange to have a nominee chosen by 48 states. we’ve got a long road ahead, but we re going to keep fighting on that path for america, because america is worth fighting for. and, ,"	
", my mother didn t have the luxury to put up her feet and take a breather. she just kept going, kept working, kept meeting her responsibilities and pursuing her dreams for her children so that we could have opportunities that she, and prior generations, never ever dreamed of. she wasn t alone., judging from the mothers i meet across our country, i ve come to believe that hard work, determination and resiliency are encoded in our dna. we know we have the ""worrying"" gene. we know we have the ""put your coat on because it s cold outside"" gene. well, we also have the ""stand up and fight for what you believe in"" gene., take, for example, my grandmother, my father s mother, hannah jones. she was a formidable woman. she died when i was quite young but i have vivid memories of her. she was the kind of woman who never took no for an answer., and one time, when my father and a friend were hitching a ride on the back of an ice truck, and their feet were dangling over the back of it, the truck came to an abrupt halt and skidded and smashed into something crushing my father s feet. he was rushed to the hospital, word went out to hannah that her son had been seriously injured. she got to the hospital only to be met by doctors who said that they had to amputate his feet. hannah said no. and she barricaded my father and herself in their hospital room, would not let anyone in until her brother in law who happened to be a doctor arrived and then she basically browbeat him into agreeing to save my father s feet. my father went on to play football in high school and college. they did a good job, i think. but if it hadn t been for that mother saying ""no, you re not going to do this,"" my father s life would have been so much different., so when i think of hannah, i think of the mother who is working to help her child who is labeled a failure in school until he finally experiences success. i think of the mother who petitions the mayor or the city council or the police chief to demand more protection for children when they are outside playing in the neighborhood. or the mother who takes matters into her own hands and sends body armor to her son or daughter in iraq when the military didn t provide it., this is not a new phenomenon. women have been standing up for what we believe in, defying convention, and going forward for a long time. what about the brave suffragists who didn t abandon their fight for the right to vote even when they were ostracized and harassed and thrown in jail? what about harriet tubman, who wouldn t back down in the face of danger as she led slaves out of bondage on an underground railroad? what about dolores huerta, who helped to found the united farm workers and worked long and very unglamorous hours as a grassroots activist to bring dignity to the lives of other mothers? what about sally ride, who wouldn t give up her dream of soaring into space when women were told they didn t have the ""right stuff"" to become astronauts? what about the women around the world like the extraordinary ellen johnson sirleaf, who became the president of liberia in 2005 and whose leadership has literally helped to mother a wounded and suffering nation?, i find inspiration from all of these women and from their stories and i find inspiration as i travel around west virginia and america. i find inspiration from the mothers and grandmothers i meet every single day. i was in indiana toward the end of the campaign; in fact it was the very last event we did in evansville. we were in a high school gym, hundreds of people were there and after i spoke i was shaking hands and i came upon a beaming glowing mother, standing next to the wheelchair which her son, who was incredibly, profoundly disabled. she introduced me with such love and pride to her son., and he could be well understood by me but she could understand everything he was saying. she proceeded to interpret for him how excited he was about this campaign. and how he knew exactly what i was saying across indiana. jobs, jobs, jobs. and he said it over and over and over again., i think of all of these mothers who take whatever life throws at us, gets up every morning, gets the kids ready for school, does the laundry, buys the groceries, cooks the dinners, helps on the homework and maybe works a day shift, a nightshift or a double shift. and mothers who tell their daughters ""you are just as smart and capable as anyone else and don t ever think you aren t."" women who ask the pta ""why don t we do more to get girls into math and science classes."" women who dare to compete in the board room and the back room, the locker room and the newsroom, the halls of academia and the corridors of political power. through their perseverance and resilience these women are standing up for the bedrock principle of american democracy    the promise of opportunity for anyone who is willing to work hard and pursue their dreams. that is a principle and a promise that must always include girls and women., now, if you are a woman of a certain age, as i am, you have likely experienced a moment along the way when your own sense of limitless possibility collided with a harsher reality. for me, it was a small moment., i was a teenager; i dreamed of being an astronaut. so i wrote to nasa to volunteer for astronaut training and find out what you had to do to be prepared. i got a letter back: girls were just not accepted into the program. the truth is, given my poor eyesight and very, very modest athletic abilities, i would have never been accepted in any event. but the rejection, however small, carried a, message. i hadn t realized until then that anyone be denied an opportunity simply on the basis of being a girl., later, in a class of 235 students at law school, i was one of only 27 women enrolled, at that time the largest group ever. today women are the majority of students in law school. but i remember when i was just starting my legal career and a colleague advised me not to be a trial lawyer because, he said, i had no way of getting the one thing every trial lawyer needed. when i asked him what, he said, ""a wife."" i said, ""really?"" very seriously he said, ""when you re in a long trial and you re busy, who s going to make sure you have clean socks for court?"" i had honestly never thought of that and i had always washed my socks myself. so it didn t seem like it would be that big an obstacle., thankfully, i, like generations of women today, are able to make our own choices because other women stood up and demanded that for us. i often think about how much lives have changed for women since when my own mother was born in 1919, when i was born in 1947, and when chelsea was born in 1980., we ve made an enormous amount of progress. women are now neurosurgeons and nascar drivers, judges and generals, ceos and cpas., but it s also true that the higher you go up in the ranks, the thinner it becomes, whether it s business, or law, or politics, or other fields. women still face a lot of barriers, some visible, some invisible., in 2008 it s really important we recommit ourselves to making sure that our daughters and our sons have an equal chance to lead and serve in the future., over the past few days i ve gotten emails from around the country from people offering words of encouragement and advice. one man from california wrote: ""keep fighting. no matter what the outcome may be, the fact that you stood throughout the constant ups and downs in this race, one thing is sure: you never wavered and you never gave up."", a woman named linda said, linda wrote and said: ""don t give up. i m supporting you looking at my girls and knowing that when the going gets tough, you keep forging ahead."", a californian wrote, ""for the sake of all future and current mothers everywhere, keep your head up and keep on in this race, keep fighting, i am with you all the way."" but i guess my favorite message was from a woman named angela. ""keep strong,"" she said, ""it s not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is."", i share that, because the underlying lesson is not so much about me but about all of us. about whether or not we do stay with what we start, whether or not we can make progress if we don t commit ourselves to it and see it through, unless we are wiling to stand in the face of adversity. the same is true for our country. we need to rise to the challenges facing us, no matter how daunting, and take care of the unfinished business before america., unfinished business that resonates not only for women but for all of us - for children whose lives and well being is affected because their mother is paid lower wages than male counterparts doing the same job. for husbands who share the burdens placed on a family when a woman can t get maternity leave or get a bank loan or qualify for a decent pension. for fathers who want their daughters to have the same opportunities as their sons   to compete at sports, or be engineers, or fly jets or break any barrier to be whatever they dream, including president of the united states., it s unfinished business that we see everyday in the headlines, the supermarket lines, the bank lines, the emergency room lines. the question before us as a nation is whether we will forge ahead with that sense of resilience and purpose that has always marked america. will we address the mortgage crisis so more families don t lose their homes? will we finally achieve health care so that every single american has quality, affordable health care?, will we get serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil? will we tackle the gas prices that are going up astronomically? will we stop shipping american jobs overseas? will we adopt green energy policies including clean coal that will make economic sense and protect us, and our children s children? will we make college affordable again for the young people who are now being shut out of going to college? will we end no child left behind, which is not working? will we bring our troops home from iraq and end this war that has cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars?, will we take care of those who have taken care of us - our veterans. west virginia has the highest proportion of veterans anywhere in our country., i am running for president because i believe we can answer all of those questions. i know we can achieve solutions to fix our economy and create new jobs and safeguard people s homes from foreclosure, relieve the burden of soaring food and gas prices. i believe we can bring our troops home with honor, following a strategy that is smart and safe starting within 60 days of my becoming president. i believe we can once again see good jobs with rising incomes, to do more to support children and families, especially in places like west virginia., and for just a moment, i d like to mention your wonderful senior senator, senator robert c. byrd. many of you know that senator byrd lost his mother when he was only 1 year old. he grew up in poverty, but was fortunate to be taken in by an aunt and uncle who gave him the love and foundation of family. every year around mother s day, senator byrd gives a speech on the senate floor in appreciation of mothers. when i came to the senate, and my mother spent a lot of time with us, she now lives with us, she used to watch c span all the time to see if she could catch a glimpse of me - to be very honest about it. and she fell in love with senator byrd. and a few years ago i took her to have lunch with senator byrd in his office and she told him how much she appreciated his mother s day speeches., in 2003, he said something so cogent that i just want to repeat it here. ""that the best mothers invest the best of themselves in their families - they are high stake brokers, and we, their families, are the stocks on their exchange. if we simply try our best, she will consider the return on her investment to be well met."", one of the poems he read that year was ""like mother, like son"". although he barely had a chance to know his mother, to this day he still feels her gentle presence, her soft urging to do his best to make her proud., bill and i often talk about the challenges he faced in his family - when after his father died before he was born, his mother had to leave him to go to school to become a nurse. he was left with her parents while she was away. and there is such a poignant picture of him being taken to go visit his mother who was in nursing school in new orleans. and he is about 3 years old and he is all dressed up in a little suit that his grandmother had bought for him for the trip. and i remember his mother, virginia, telling me that she was so happy to see him but it was so heartbreaking when he left on the train going back to arkansas. one of bill s earliest memories is seeing his mother drop to her knees and just sobbing as her son left. but she was there to get a better education so she could take better care of him. i know bill, like senator byrd and millions of sons across america, as well as daughters from coast to coast, carry their mother s love with them everyday., i think there is more we can do to make sure that young parents are not so stressed out. it is hard raising children today. there are so many demands - the jobs don t pay what they used to, which means that usually you have to have both parents working, don t you? if you are a single mom, honestly, i think you are a miracle worker to be able to manage the family and a job at the same time. i think we should do more to help young families -i would like to see us experiment in our country with what other countries have., and that is not only expanding the family and medical leave act, so that we protect more families in times of emergency. i am very proud that millions and millions of people have taken advantage of that, the first bill that my husband signed. but we need to expand it because right now it cuts off at 50 employees - we need to bring that down to 25 employees because when you have a newborn baby, or you adopt a baby, or your spouse or yourself is sick, or your parent is sick, it is terrible having to make a choice between losing your job and taking care of your loved one. i just worked to pass legislation which we have passed to extend the family and medical leave to the families of wounded soldiers. because so many of them, when they are brought back to the country they need extensive and lengthily care, and they need their families by their side. so we re going to make sure we protect their jobs and i d like that to be available for more people. here in west virginia, that would help a lot of west virginians., i also want to push for something that is not available in very many places today. that is some form of paid leave for limited purposes, because what happens now with unpaid leave is that if you can t afford to go from your job, you can t take it even if it is available to you. if we had a small limited program of paid leave that the federal government would work with the states to provide, 490,000 workers in west virginia in the private sector might be eligible., i also think it is important we look at the end of life and the beginning of life together. we need more child care for families. we have 64,000 children under six in west virginia that don t have good child care. but we also have many, many families taking care of loved ones and they don t get much help doing it. the average family in america taking care of a child with a disability, a spouse with alzheimer s, a parent with parkinson s, will spend at least $5,000 out of pocket taking care of that loved one. i think we should give a $3,000 caregiver tax credit so that families are not put at a financial disadvantage for doing what they are doing out of love and dedication., i also would like to see us make it easier and less expensive to buy long term care policies. it s one of the biggest concerns families have what happens if my parent or my grandparent or my spouse is no longer able to take care of him or herself and i physically can t do it any longer and don t have any help to do it. how can we get some long term care in the home or in some other setting? and i think we should have a long term care tax credit, as well, so people can buy long term care insurance., on all of these issues, it really does matter whether we are going to care for one another. and i think it is interesting that this holiday we start today was the idea of a woman, right here in grafton. anna jarvis prevailed against the odds. if you were to come with an idea right now for a national, ,"	
", challenge. i am strong enough for it. you know i never give up. i’ll keep coming back, and i’ll stand with you as long as you stand with me., together, we will draw the stark distinctions that will determine the future direction of our nation, the difference between ending the war in iraq responsibly or continuing it indefinitely, between health care for everyone and more uninsured americans, between standing up for the middle-class families that you represent or standing up for the corporate special interests., so, i ask you, democrats, to choose who you believe will make the strongest candidate in the fall and who is ready to execute the office of the presidency of the united states., people ask me all the time, why am i in this race. well, i’m in it because of the people that i have worked for my entire life and the people i meet along the campaign trail, people who need someone who fights for them because they re fighting so hard every single day, the people who drive for miles to show their support, who come with the home-made sign, who raise money by skipping those dinners out, who have stood fast and stood strong. i’m in this race for the millions of americans who know that we can do better in our country, for the nurse on her second shift, for the worker on the line, for the waitress on her feet, for the small business owner, the farmer, the teacher, the coal miner, the trucker, the soldier, the veteran, the college student., all of the hardworking men and women who defy the odds to build a better life for themselves and their children. you will never be counted out, and i won t either. you will never quit, and i won t, either., the question is, why do so many people keep voting? why did 64% of democrats say in a recent poll they wanted this race to continue? because in the face of the pundits and the naysayers, they know what is at stake. they know that we have two wars, an economy in crisis on the brink of a recession, $9 trillion of debt, oil prices shooting through the roof, gas prices and grocery prices, hurting people who desperately are looking for a way to just keep going day to day. they know they need a champion. they need someone who s going to never stop fighting for health care that covers everyone, no exceptions, for an economy that lifts everyone up, for good jobs that won t be shipped overseas, for college affordability, for all that you can do to own a home and then to keep it., this election is fundamentally about whether or not the american dream remains alive and well, for our children and our grandchildren. this is the core of my life and my political beliefs: that we owe so much to future generations, that we do not want to see that dream recede, that we know people have to work hard, and we expect you to do just that and to take responsibility, but at the very least, you should have a president who is on your side again., and i believe that this campaign has been good for the democratic party and good for our country. people are discussing and debating issues. they are turning out in record numbers to register and to vote. there is an excitement about politics that is the lifeblood of our democracy., for me, this election isn t about who s in or who s out or who s up or who s down. it’s about the common threads that tie us together – rich and poor, young and old, black and white, latino and asian, democrats, republicans, and independents. we are united by common values. we all want a better world for our children, and we want the best for our country. and we are committed to putting a democrat back in the white house., and our nominee – our nominee will be stronger for having campaigned long and hard, building enthusiasm and excitement, hearing your stories and answering your questions. and i will work my heart out for the nominee of the democratic party to make sure we have a democratic president., as we look at the stakes in this election, i think we can all agree it’s been unprecedented. we haven t had an election like it for as long as anyone can remember. it is still so close and it really does depend upon those who will vote in these next contests and those who have the awesome responsibility as delegates of our great democratic party., i’m asking that people think hard about where we are in this election, about how we will win in november, because this is not an abstract exercise. this is for a solemn, crucial purpose: to elect a president to turn our country around, to meet the challenges we face and seize the opportunities. it has been a long campaign, but it is just an instant in time when compared with the lasting consequences of the choice we will make in november. that is why i am carrying on, and if you give me a chance, democrats, i’ll come back to west virginia in the general election and we ll win this state and we ll win the white house., i am honored and grateful for the support and hospitality of the people of west virginia. i spent a few minutes with your wonderful national treasure, senator byrd, this morning and we talked about his beloved west virginia. i told him where i’d gone and what i’d seen. i talked about the people i had met. and he just broke into the biggest smile. i don’t know that any man has ever loved a state more than robert c. byrd loves west virginia., i am grateful for the graciousness of governor and mrs. manchin. governor manchin is winning a great victory himself tonight, and i want to thank joe and gayle for welcoming me to governor manchin’s hometown as we went to fairmont for a great election last night. i want to thank senate, ,"	
", miners, the college students and line workers. the men and women who get up every single day, work hard to make a difference for their families. the people struggling to make ends meet, to find a good job, to pay the bills, to have a shot at the american dream., for too long, too many americans have felt invisible in their own country. well, you ve never been invisible to me. i’ve been fighting for you my entire life., and i want you to remember, we are in this race because we believe that every single american deserves quality, affordable health care, no exceptions. we are in this race because we believe everyone deserves a shot at the american dream, the opportunity to work hard at a good job to get ahead, to save for college, for a home, for retirement. to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left at the end of each month; to build a better life for you and your children. we are in this race because we believe this new century poses new challenges to meet and new opportunities to seize, if we only had a president ready, willing and able to lead., to turn the climate crisis into an energy revolution and create million of new jobs; to turn the risks of the new global economy into the rewards of new prosperity shared by all of our people. we are in this race because we believe it will take a commander-in-chief with the strength and knowledge to end the war in iraq safely and quickly, and a president with experience representing the people of the united states in more than 80 countries to restore our leadership and moral authority in the world., and yes, we are in this race because we believe america is worth fighting for. this continues to be a tough fight. and i have fought it the only way i know how - with determination, by never giving up and never giving in., i have done it, not because i wanted to demonstrate my toughness, but because i believe passionately that for the sake of our country the democrats must take back the white house and end the republican rule. this country needs our combination of strength and compassion to help people struggling with their bills, living the hard reality of everyday life, in need of our leadership on issues from health care to energy to social security. that’s why i’m still running and that s why you re still voting., and i’m going on now to campaign in montana, south dakota, and puerto rico. and i’m going to keep standing up for the voters of florida and michigan. democrats in those two states cast 2.3 million votes and they deserve to have those votes counted. that s why i’m going to keep making our case until we have a nominee, whoever she may be., it is especially sweet tonight because kentucky has a knack for picking presidents. this state delivered two terms to a president named clinton. and it’s often been said, as kentucky goes, so goes the nation., neither senator obama nor i have won the 2210 delegates required to secure the nomination. and because this race is so close, still separated by less than 200 delegates out of more than 4,400, neither senator obama nor i will have reached that magic number when the voting ends on june the 3rd., so, our party will have a tough choice to make. who is ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket? who is ready to defeat senator mccain in the swing states and among swing voters? who is ready to rebuild the economy and the war in iraq and protect our national security as commanderin-chief? who is ready on day one to lead?, there are so many kentuckians that i want to thank. i am so honored by your support and hospitality to me, to bill and to chelsea, and i want to thank jerry and charlotte lundergan and my entire kentucky steering committee, including former governors wendell ford, julian carroll, john y. brown, martha layne collins and paul patent. i want to thank speaker jody richards and his wife neva, former attorney general, greg stumbo, majority leader rocky adkins and tina ward-pugh, and terry mcbrayer, joetta wickliffe and loretta bosley., i want to thank my friends in labor for standing by us every step of the way. i am grateful to the kentucky veterans for hillary and honored by your support and your service. i want to thank my chairman, terry mcauliffe, and my family. i am so grateful to the outstanding staff, volunteers and supporters in kentucky and in oregon and across america who have worked so hard., now, i have one more request to all of my supporters tonight, to the people i’ve met along the campaign trail, to everyone who has knocked on doors and volunteered and put up signs and donated to this campaign. keep working. keep fighting. keep standing up for what you believe is right, because that is exactly what i’m going to do., people ask me all the time, how do you keep going? well, it is you who keep me going. and tonight, i’m thinking about all of the women i’ve met who were born before women could vote. just this week, i met 89-year-old emma hollis, an african-american woman, she has seen so many barriers crumble and fall in her lifetime, but she is not finished yet. she has been volunteering out of our campaign office in covington to help our campaign break the highest and hardest glass ceiling in the land., ,"	
", to accept their assigned place as second-class citizens. men and women who saw america not as it was, but as it could and should be, and committed themselves to extending the frontiers of our democracy. the abolitionists and all who fought to end slavery and ensure freedom came with the full right of citizenship. the tenacious women and a few brave men who gathered at the seneca falls convention back in 1848 to demand the right to vote., it took more than 70 years of struggle, setbacks, and grinding hard work and only one of those original suffragists lived to see women cast their ballots. there are women here today – as with my own mother – who were born before the constitution granted us the right to vote. this is not something lost in the mists of memory and history; this is real. the generations here in this room have seen change. the men and women who knew their constitutional right to vote meant little when poll taxes and literacy tests, violence, and intimidation made it impossible to exercise their right, so they marched and protested, faced dogs and tear gas, knelt down on that bridge in selma to pray and were beaten within an inch of their lives., some gave their lives to the struggle for a more perfect union. there is a reason why so many have fought so hard and sacrificed so much. it is because they knew that to be a citizen of this country is to have the right and responsibility to help shape its future, not just to make your voice heard, but to have it count. people have fought hard because they knew their vote was at stake and so was their children’s future. because of those who have come before, senator obama and i and so many of you have this precious right today. because of all that has been done, we are in this historic presidential election. i believe that both senator obama and myself have an obligation as potential democratic nominees - in fact, we all have an obligation as democrats - to carry on this legacy and ensure that in our nominating process every voice is heard and every single vote is counted., this work to extend the franchise to all of our citizens is a core mission of the modern democratic party, from signing the voting rights act and fighting racial discrimination at the ballot box, to lowering the voting age so those old enough to fight and die in war would have the right to choose their commander-in-chief, to fighting for multi-lingual ballots so you can make your voice heard no matter what language you speak. i am proud of our work today. we are fighting the redistricting initiatives that would dilute african american and latino votes. we are fighting efforts to purge voters from the rolls here in florida and elsewhere. we are fighting voter identification laws that could wrongly keep tens of thousands of voters from casting their ballots this november., we carry on this cause for a simple reason, because we believe the outcome of our elections should be determined by the will of the people - nothing more, nothing less., we believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will. we believe it today, just as we believed it back in 2000 when right here in florida, you learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren’t counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner. the lesson of 2000 here in florida is crystal clear. if any votes aren’t counted, the will of the people is not realized and our democracy is diminished. that is what i have always believed., my first job in politics was on the 1972 presidential campaign registering african-american and hispanic voters in texas. that work took me from home to home in neighborhood after neighborhood. i was determined to knock on every door and sign up every voter i could find. while we may not have won that election, i have never given up the fight. it is a fight i continue to this day., because i think it is appalling that in the 21st century, voters are still being wrongly turned away from the polls, ballots are still mysteriously lost in state after state, african-american and hispanic voters still wait in line for hours while voters in the same state, even in the same county can wait just minutes to cast their votes. that’s why i’ve been working since 2004 with my dear friend, congresswoman stephanie tubbs jones to pass the count every vote act; comprehensive voting rights legislation designed to end these deplorable violations. it will ensure that every eligible voter can vote, every vote is counted, and every vote can verify his or her vote before it is finally cast., i will continue to fight for that same principle every day in this campaign. the fact is, the people of florida voted back in january. you did your part. you showed up in record numbers and you made informed choices. but today, some months later, you still do not know if these votes will help determine our party s nominee. you still don t know if this great state will be represented at our convention in august. it is time you knew, because the more than 2.3 million people who voted in florida and michigan exercised their fundamental american right in good faith. you watched the news. you went to the candidates  web sites, you talked to your friends and neighbors, you learned about our records and policies so you could make informed voting decisions. you didn t break a single rule, and you should not be punished for matters beyond your control., now, i know that senator obama chose to remove his name from the ballot in michigan, and that was his right. but his choice does not negate the votes of all those who turned out to cast their ballots, and we should not let our process rob them and all of you of your voices. to do so would undermine the very purpose of the nominating process. to ensure that as many democrats as possible can cast their votes. to ensure that the party selects a nominee who truly represents the will of the voters and to ensure that the democrats take back the white house to rebuild america., now, i’ve heard some say that counting florida and michigan would be changing the rules. i say that not counting florida and michigan is changing a central governing rule of this country - that whenever we can understand the clear intent of the voters, their votes should be counted. i remember very well back in 2000, there were those who argued that people s votes should be discounted over technicalities. for the people of florida who voted in this primary, the notion of discounting their votes sounds way too much of the same., the votes of 1.7 million people should not be cast aside because of a technicality. the people who voted did nothing wrong, and it would be wrong to punish you. as the florida supreme court said back in 2000, before the united states supreme court took the case away from them, as your supreme court said, it s not about the technicalities or about the contestants. it’s about the will of the people. and whenever you can understand their intent, it should govern. it’s very clear what 1.7 million people intended here in florida. playing a role in the nominating process in a two-party system is just as important as having a vote in the presidential election on election day count., we know it was wrong to penalize voters for the decisions of state officials back in the 2000 presidential election. it would be wrong to do so for decisions made in our nominating process. democrats argued passionately. we are still arguing, aren t we, for counting all the votes back in 2000, and we should be just as passionately arguing for that principle today, here in florida and in michigan. it is well within the democratic party rules to take this stand. the rules clearly state that we can count all of these votes and seat all of these delegates, pledged and unpledged, if we so choose. and the rules lay out a clear process for doing so., with this process, if hope we will honor the will of those who came out to cast votes. think of how that day was. workers who rushed to the polls between shifts; students who came between classes, parents who rearranged their family s schedules, senior citizens who arranged transportation to the polls, all so you could have your votes counted. and whether you voted for better schools for your kids or a secure retirement for your parents, for jobs you can raise a family on, for health care you can afford, to bring your son, your grandson, your daughter or your granddaughter back from iraq or bring back america’s reputation in the world. whether you voted for me or senator obama or senator edwards or someone else, each vote you cast is a prayer for our nation, a declaration of your dreams for your children and grandchildren; a reflection of your determination to ensure that our country lives up to its promise. each vote is a tool, one used throughout history to break barriers, open doors, and widen the circle of opportunity., i remember when president lyndon johnson addressed the congress and the nation urging the passage of the voting rights act. he declared, ""i speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy."" it was urgent, elevated language, but it was not hyperbole. now, as back then, those are the stakes. that s why here in florida, even when you were told your primary might not count, you voted anyway., a floridian i know from tallahassee told me about his mother s canasta club. it’s a group of women in their golden years who gather every week to play cards and visit. they talked about that florida primary every week as they gathered around the card table. they followed the news closely. they discussed the candidates and their positions on the issues. they knew about the dispute over the primary schedule and the question of seating delegates. and when it came time to vote, like so, many other good citizens of this state, the ladies of the canasta club dutifully cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. they made informed choices. they did nothing wrong, and they should not be punished for doing their civic duty., you knew then what americans know, that this political process of ours is about more than the candidates running, the pundits commenting or the ads blaring. it’s about the path we choose as a nation. if anyone ever doubted whether it mattered who our president was, the last seven years with george bush should have removed every single doubt from anyone s mind., that’s why you voted, and that s why i’m running. and that s why you ve been organizing and raising your voices, hoping to have your votes count. you refused to stay home then, and you refuse to stay silent now. because you want to change america’s future and you have faith that your party, the democratic party, will give you that chance. i’m here today because i believe we should keep that faith, listen to your voices and count every single one of your votes. if we fail to do so, i worry that we will pay not only a moral cost, but a political cost as well., we know the road to a democratic white house runs right through florida and michigan. and if we care about winning those states in november, we need to count your votes now. if democrats send the message that we don t fully value your votes, we know senator mccain and the republicans will be more than happy to have them. the republicans will make a simple and compelling argument. why should florida and michigan voters trust the democratic party to look out for you when they won t even listen to you?, now, if you agree with me, i urge you to go to my website, hillaryclinton.com, and join the more than 300,000 who have already signed our petition asking the democratic national committee to count your votes. all 50 states, the district of columbia, puerto rico and the territories will have a chance to play a role in this historic process. now is not the time for our party to have a dialogue, ,"	
", efficient buildings, innovators designing cars that run on fuel cells and bio-fuels and electricity, cars that get more miles per gallon than ever before, cars that will cut the cost of driving, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and fight global warming., i have met too many people without health care, just a diagnosis away from financial ruin, but i have also seen the scientists and researchers solving the medical mysteries and finding the treatments and cures that are transforming lives. i have seen the struggling schools with the crumbling classrooms and the unfair burdens imposed by no child left behind, but i have also met dedicated and caring teachers who use their own savings to buy supplies, and students passionately engaged in the issues of our time, from ending the genocide in darfur to once again making the environment a central issue of our day., none of you is invisible to me. you never have been. i see you, and i know how hardworking you are. i’ve been fighting for you my whole adult life, and i will keep standing for you and working for you every single day because in your courage and character, your energy and ingenuity, your compassion and faith, i see the promise of america every day. the challenges we face are great, but our determination is greater., you know, i understand that a lot of people are asking, what does hillary want? what does she want? well, i want what i have always fought for in this whole campaign. i want to end the war in iraq. i want to turn this economy around. i want health care for every american. i want every child to live up to his or her god-given potential, and i want the nearly 18 million americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and no longer to be invisible., you see, i have an old-fashioned notion, one that s been the basis of my candidacy and my life s work, that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their own dreams. this nation has given me every opportunity, and that s what i want for every single american., that’s why i want universal health care. it is wrong that americans pay 50% more for health care than the people of any other wealthy nation, with costs doubling this decade and nearly 50 million people without any health insurance at all. it is wrong for parents to have to choose between care for themselves or their children, to be stuck in dead-end jobs just to keep their insurance or to give up working altogether so their kids will qualify for medicaid. i have been working on this issue not just for the past 16 months, but for 16 years. and it is a fight i will continue until every single american has health insurance. no exceptions and no excuses., i want an economy that works for all families. that’s why i have been fighting to create millions of new jobs in clean energy and rebuilding our infrastructure, jobs to come to all of our states and urban and rural areas and suburban communities and small towns. that’s why i sounded the alarm on the home mortgage crisis well over a year ago, because these are the issues that will determine whether we will once again grow together as a nation or continue to grow apart. and i want to restore america’s leadership in the world. i want us to be led once again by the power of our values, to have a foreign policy that is both strong and smart, to join with our allies and confront our shared challenges from poverty and genocide to global terrorism and global warming., these are the issues that brought me into this race. they are the life blood of my campaign, and they have been and will continue to be the causes of my life. and your spirit has inspired me every day in this race., while i traveled our country talking about how i wanted to help you, time and again, you reached out to help me, to grab my hand or grip my arm, to look into my eyes and tell me, don t quit, keep fighting, stay in this race for us., now there were days when i had the strength enough to fight for all of us, and on the days that i didn t, i leaned on you, the soldier on his third tour of duty in iraq who told his wife, an iraqi veteran herself, to take his spending money and donate it to our campaign instead. the 11-year-old boy in kentucky who sold his bike and video games to raise money for our campaign. the woman who came to a rally hours early, waited and waited to give me a rosary. and all those who whispered to me, simply to say i am praying for you., so many people said this race was over five months ago in iowa, but we had faith in each other and you brought me back in new hampshire and on super tuesday and in ohio and in pennsylvania and texas and indiana, west virginia, kentucky, puerto rico and south dakota. i will carry your stories and your dreams with me every day for the rest of my life. i will carry your stories and your dreams with me every day for the rest of my life., now the question is, where do we go from here, and given how far we ve come and where we need to go as a party, it s a question i don t take lightly. this has been a long campaign, and i will be making no decisions tonight. but this has always been your campaign, so to the 18 million people who voted for me and to our many other supporters out there of all ages, i want to hear from you. i hope you ll go to my website at hillaryclinton.com and share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can., in the coming days, i’ll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move, ,"	
", , thank you, mark, very much. let me say before i even begin that i have no expectation that this speech will compare with the last panel., i m very proud to be with all of you. it s an honor to be with you and to be a part of this very important, conference. and truthfully, there s no better organization than the german marshall fund to organize the brussels forum and i want to thank craig kennedy and ron asmus from gmf and their partners, all those who are sponsoring the event: daimlerchrysler, bertelsmann, monitor group, the belgium government, for bringing us together., this conference actually comes at a very important moment for the world. for the past few years it s been hard to focus on our common challenges and how we have to work together to meet them. instead, we spend an awful lot of energy looking backward and looking at the differences that we have., debate among friends is natural, sometimes important and, sometimes necessary, especially when the issues are so important. but sometimes our disagreements overshadow the things that bind us, the things that we actually share and the new problems and the new challenges that we all face together., i think that leadership always plays an important role. and i know john mccain was here to open this conference and it won t come as a shock to any of you that i believe that the current administration of the united states can do much better and should be doing much better than they are doing. our leaders have a responsibility, a responsibility to, understand global challenges and to prepare for them, and so do all of us., how do we strengthen our partnership in a way that deals with the challenges like the global environment, prevention of infectious disease, or the spread of islamic extremism? how do we begin to narrow the extraordinarily growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, both in america and around the world?, and in my — craig mentioned this just a few minutes ago, but in my own country i ve been working to do something about 37 million americans who live in poverty every day to try to shine a light on it, try to get the american people and the american leadership to address the issue. i think it s the great moral issue facing america today., but i also think that america has a responsibility to lead and to lead on the issue of extreme poverty around the world, not just addressing the millions of americans who live in poverty everyday. as everyone here knows, almost half of the world s population — three billion people — lives on $2 or less a day. how do we, collectively, address this kind of human suffering? how do we win the hearts and minds of young people, especially the millions who are struggling in the middle east and in africa who feel that the modern world offers them absolutely nothing? how do we reach them and give them an opportunity to climb out of hopelessness and into a better life just as we did here with the marshall plan after world war ii?, these challenges don t face a single country or a single region, they face all of us. we have to ask ourselves are we doing enough together to meet these challenges. i think the, answer is clearly no., and today, especially with this ongoing war and conflict in iraq, some ask whether america and europe should and can work together to ensure the spread of freedom and opportunity. the answer to that question should be yes., the current administration in washington speaks, and i m quoting now, of ""spreading freedom and democracy"" and they speak of it so casually that you d think it was a mundane or very easy thing to do. i want to be absolutely clear about something, the idea that america stands for freedom is not new. freedom and democracy are not commodities that belong to one political party and they don t belong to one country, nor are they easy to come by., spreading democracy is not about knocking regimes down; it s about building, building democratic institutions and communities that will protect basis freedom. just as poverty and disillusionment isolate and drain hope from our people in our own cities it does exactly the same thing for every person around the world who feel like they have no chance. ordinary men and women from egypt to morocco to indonesia need to be convinced that democracy and liberty are the pathways to hope for them. so together we have to achieve these goals., the question is how, how can we be working together to make the world more secure? how can we strengthen our existing institutions or create new ones to meet these new challenges? how should we be responding to the changes under waiting key countries like china, india, russia?, the brussels forum has been focused on these issues and addressing them. it s an effort that we ought to continue. this afternoon i want to focus on three strategic challenges that we face. first, what should we be doing together to address the threat of weapons of mass destruction? second, how do we continue to transform our core alliance, nato, and strengthen america s partnership with the eu? and third, how should we adapt to a transforming russia, a country that s going to be absolutely critical in addressing every global challenge that we face from energy security and regional stability to non-proliferation, to the environment, hiv/aids and the future of democracy., let me begin by talking about the issue of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. nearly everyone agrees about this threat. we know that many of these weapons and bomb-making materials are not secure, especially in russia and the other states of the former soviet union. we know that those who wish us harm want access to them yet we are still, knowing that, not doing enough to stop it., the international community needs new tools to fight proliferation. instead of accepting the weaknesses of the global non-proliferation regime we ought to work to fix it. for example, i believe that we should create a new global nuclear compact to reinforce the npt. this compact would be a new international agreement to close the loophole that allows civilian nuclear programs to go military. the new nuclear deal with india, in fact, is an opportunity to embark on a wider international effort., the united states should work with europe to take the lead. we need a global ban on the production of material for nuclear weapons and we have to establish global standards to safeguard this material., america and europe also must ensure that the know-how to build nuclear weapons never reaches the hands of terrorists. we should strengthen existing plans that ensure that nuclear scientists are employed for peaceful purposes. and we can provide safety and security to those scientists who are working on weapons programs in rogue nations., there s some things that we can do to stem future threats but we also must look together to meet specific non-proliferation challenges. and it is iran s nuclear ambitions that pose the single greatest security threat to the united states and europe., now for years i ve argued that my government has not been doing enough to deal with the iranian threat. while they talk that talk of the dangers of nuclear terrorism, they largely stood on the sidelines as iran marched forward and this problem got worse. the eu3 deserve credit for its work and its leadership in this area. but american disengagement is not the right way to deal with such an extraordinary threat., iran s recent actions, beginning with the reprocessing and enrichment of uranium and its refusal to cooperate with international inspections in open defiance of the un security council make clear that it intends to secure nuclear weapons. and the iranian president s statements such as his despicable description of the holocaust as a myth or his ugly pledge to wipe israel off the map, illustrates the seriousness of the threat., when he says things like this we should take him at his word. the international community must confront iran with a clear choice, give up your nuclear ambitions or suffer the consequences. right now this means un security council actions to impose sanctions., but we have more options than doing nothing or using force. that s a false choice. we have many more diplomatic tools to use and we already use every single one of them. for the united states, this means more active and creative diplomacy, including a willingness to engage the iranian leadership directly. for the europeans, it means standing strong to confront iran in the security council with meaningful sanctions, and a willingness to implement those sanctions. a common effort to stop the proliferation, to stop proliferation is important. but, cooperation cannot end there. also need to be finding new ways to help end conflicts and create stability. a key place to start would be to continue to reform critical organizations like nato., nearly 60 years ago leaders on both sides of the atlantic showed tremendous foresight by creating the alliance that stood secure during the cold war. then a decade ago, trans-atlantic leaders again made the right decision to enlarge and transform the alliance to take on new members and missions. looking back on the successes, it s hard to remember how controversial they were at the time. now nato is entering a third phase, to take on a more global role. it is the world s greatest democratic security alliance. it now has a mission far beyond the borders of europe, such as the important work it is doing in afghanistan. i believe that nato needs to embrace this kind of mission leap. while it can t be the solution for all the world s problems, it is the foundation for our common action. this november summit in riga is an opportunity for the alliance to embrace this new global role., but, nato s new outlook must go beyond summit statement and words. i believe that we ought to be acting right now to end some of the world s most dire emergencies. for example, nato should step in today to end the genocide in sudan. it s good that nato has helped the african union troops with logistic support and training, but this has not stopped the killing. the fact that we have called what s happening in darfur a genocide but we re standing by and watching it unfold, all of us. we have the — we — when we all of us do collectively have the power to stop it makes an absolute mockery of our institutions, and our ideals and our values., in the 1990 s the blood shed in the balkans threatened to make nato irrelevant. and, by finally acting in bosnia and kosovo, the alliance proved its enduring value. the same is true in darfur, both in terms of the risk and the opportunities. we must act, and we must act now. my country must show stronger leadership as well. the world knows that america is willing to use its muscle. here s what they want to know from us, is america actually willing to lead on the great moral issues that face the world, because it is not just the american people who are hungry for something big and important to be inspired about. something that they believe represents the true character of the american people. the world wants to know what america is made of, what our real character is. along with working to end crises, we should also accelerate efforts to broaden nato s reach to seek new partners. this means strengthening ties to countries like ukraine, and georgia., i also believe we should be exploring ways to upgrade israel s relationship with nato. this could mean a closer strategic and operational relationship; it could mean more exchanges and planning cooperation. it could even someday mean membership. but, we need to do more than reform nato; the united states must embrace a stronger role for the european union. even a new and improved nato will prove too narrow to deal with a full range of global challenges. that s why america needs the eu as a strong partner and welcomes the efforts to build and strengthen its capabilities in foreign and defense policy. this is not something we, america, should be ambivalent about. a more united europe, and a more effective eu is good for the united states; in fact, it s good for the world., for too long many feared that a closer u.s.-eu relationship would undercut nato or europe s own project, but given the new challenges we face we have to cast this kind of old thinking aside. we need an eu-u.s. relationship that is as close and durable as nato was during the cold war. it should focus on a different set of issues and be a compliment to the alliance., it should take the lead to coordinate our homeland security strategies just as we coordinated on a common defense against the soviet threat. that includes joint efforts to deal with everything from terrorists using wmd to the outbreak of diseases like avian flu. we ought to deeper our cooperation on counter-terrorism, too, and we should do more to develop a common u.s.-eu approach from a range of issues from fighting poverty to supporting democracy., along with transforming our institutions to meet 21st century realities, we also need to adjust our approach to the changes that are underway in key countries, and this brings me to russia. for the past year i had the privilege of co-chairing along with jack kemp a bipartisan task force for the council on foreign relations on u.s. s, the u.s. relationship with russia. we issued our report just a few months ago, earlier this spring., i started and ended that work with the same conviction that russia s future is critically important to both the united states and to europe and it is in our interest to have a strong relationship with russia. just as the u.s. and europe need each other we need russia to, stand with us to help address the global challenges we all face., but we concluded after a lot of work that russia s headed in the wrong direction and so is the u.s.-russia relationship. our report, endorsed by our taskforce, which is made up of both democrats and republicans, concluded that american policy needs to adapt. america s approach of the past 15 years has been one of strategic partnership with russia. this is still the right long-term goal but in the short run we need to see russia for what it is and make the necessary changes in our policy., the truth is there are many positive things, positive trends in russia, especially in its economy and its society. it is undergoing tremendous economic growth, an increase of about 65 percent in the gdp since 1999. it has a growing middle class, which is critical over the long term to having a strong democracy., russia is a profoundly different place than it was as the soviet union. it s not going back there and we re not going back to the cold war, but during the past few years we ve seen negative trends to overtake many of these positive developments. there s been an erosion of democratic freedoms, increasing centralization of power, corruption, and organized crime penetrating the government. my concern is not with the pace of democracy in russia it is with the direction., internationally russia faces a fundamental choice, will it be a partner in the international system or will it be a spoiler. too often recently it s been tempted to take the role of spoiler. on many important questions russian policy is hurting not helping, it s isolating itself. russia is bullying its neighbors, as we ve seen with its response to the color revolutions in ukraine and georgia and its support for the rigged election in belarus., russia now poses american troops in central asia when after 9/11 it saw us working on a common cause. and the jury is still out on whether russia will stand with us on iran, we want them to, we need them to. but the signals from moscow are mixed at best. it s hard to see how our relationship with russia can get better if they choose to work against us on such a vital issue as iran., there is no question that a more democratic, open, transparent russia would be behaving differently. a more democratic russia would not be on the fence regarding iran. it would not be cracking down on dissent and free press. it would not play host to a hamas. it would not work to keep the u.s. out of bases in central asia. it would not be using energy as a foreign policy weapon. it would not be supporting autocrats in belarus or undermining democrats in georgia or ukraine. solving the world s problems will be harder without russia. and, many of these problems will in fact become worse if this downward trajectory continues. and, there s a larger trend that while it s distant at this point, it s not tomorrow deserves mention., the souring of russia s relations with the u.s. and europe raises the prospect of weakening the unity among the great powers and perhaps a newer line of division between democrats and authoritarians. so what do we do, what do we do now? most important, we need to start by recognizing reality. strategic partnership with russia should still be our goal, but we can t pretend that everything is ok. we can t wish away serious disagreements with handshakes or happy talk at a summit meeting. we must be clear about our hopes for the relationship, but no less clear about the problems and the limitations., the g8 meeting this summer in st. petersburg is a huge test for russia, for the united states, and for europe. there s a lot of controversy about whether russia should be the chair of the g8, and whether there should even be a meeting at all. john mccain and i agree that this summit threatens to undermine the g8. we disagree about other things to do with russia and their membership in the g8, but this summit is 11 weeks away and is going to happen. we can t paper over the differences we have with president putin. leaders should not lead without raising concerns about russia s de-democratization, its behavior toward its neighbors, its cooperation in the war on terror, or its use of energy as a weapon., if our leaders don t stand up for what we believe, then we need to consider seriously whether we should continue to even have a g8. i don t think that d be good for us, but a future of meaningless g8 summits would be even worse. russia s entering a critical political phase. the parliament, parliamentary elections next year and presidential election in 2008. america and the eu should be working now to make clear what the criteria are for legitimate transition. we should communicate this publicly and privately. if today s reality of russian politics continues with opposition candidates kept off the ballot arbitrarily, unable to access the media or to raise funds, with opposition parties unable to, form because of technicalities, or with independent domestic monitoring organizations kept out., then, there s the real risk that russian leadership will be seeing externally and internally is illegitimate. it is not up to any of us to decide whether russia heads toward democracy, that s for the russian people to decide. but, we can make clear that their decisions matter and this will only work if u.s., the u.s. and europe send the same message. one lesson, we ve learned is that moscow pays attention when it sees the united western front. so we have to speak together. and, in dealing with a changing russia, just as an ending weapons proliferation in transforming institutions like nato. trans-atlantic cooperation is essential, that requires thoughtful leadership on both sides of the atlantic. let me close with a few words about the country that i know best, america and what these challenges mean for us. as an american i believe we have an extraordinary responsibility to show the world what my, that my country is doing all it can to fulfill its promise. not just with our words, but actually with our actions. and, not just at home, but in the world. americans live in a place built on the ideals of freedom and opportunity and the equal treatment of all., we also believe that america should be engaged and work with others to help solve the world s problems. i work everyday to ensure that my country lives up to those values. i m proud of the united states, it s blessed me and my family in ways that i could never have imagined. it s often said that america is much, is as much an idea as it is a country. and, i want to live in a world that sees that promise too. but now, that promise is being tested at home and abroad, and especially in iraq. yet the outcome in iraq matters greatly to the trans-atlantic partnership., america s role there is very much in question, as it should be. we cannot stay forever; i ve argued since the last year that we need to begin reducing our troop presence dramatically. i ve also long argued that we need a brighter international effort in iraq with a greater european role. the global partnership that we ve been talking about should not ignore iraq. some think that this is unrealistic and we can understand that, but i believe with the right kind of leadership it is still possible. there is no question that this harder, america s credibility has been tarnished during the past five years and that in many places here in europe and elsewhere., the very idea of american leadership seems like a contradiction. reversing this is one of the most important challenges that america faces. it s not about getting other people to like us; we all understand that with leadership comes responsibility. and that at time tough decisions can be difficult to make and implement. but, because it is hard, doesn t mean we shouldn t try. the truth is, when america acts as if our friends don t matter, it s easier for some of our friends to avoid the hard choices too. a stronger partnership requires both sides to take more responsibility., for america s part, i want the world to see a country that works everyday to live up to our founders  aspirations. that all people are created equal and that we re all endowed with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. this is what we started more than two centuries ago; a great experiment in the history of mankind. ordinary citizens gathered in their churches, in their stores, in their homes to pursue a greater good. both civic in its promise and human in its hope, it gave the farmer the same rights as the president. it gave the blacksmith the same chance as the ship merchant. and, it gave the men and women who said we had not honored our ideals the right to speak out in the great cause of change. america s a place that believes in ascension and the dignity of hard work., we also believe in a world where nations can come together to meet the great challenges and do great things to give the next generation the same opportunities that we ve had, and the chance to do better. the foundation for this is the trans-atlantic relationship, this is what we believe. and, everyday we give a person the chance the lift themselves up, whether they live in boston, brussels, or bangkok, we increase the changes of a just world, a world where our greatest security challenges are met. this is what we must never forget as we move forward together. thank you., 	,"	
"thank you. it s good to be here., i thank you for the opportunity to speak — this is an important moment in time for our country., the focus of my speech will be on poverty. but we cannot address an issue like poverty without answering a few basic questions. questions we ought to be asking ourselves and answers we ought to be demanding from our leaders about how we as a nation are going to confront the very real and very major challenges we face, including the great moral challenge of poverty., first, what kind of leadership should america be providing in the world? we live in a moment of dramatic change and huge global challenges. our military power is fortunately strong, and we must keep it that way. but our economic power will be challenged by new forces, and our most important asset, our international moral authority, is not what it ought to be. far from it. what kind of leadership can address all these fronts and serve us at home as well?, second, what kind of america do we want, not just today, but twenty years from now, and how do we think we can get there from here? the founders of this country created the country we have today because they dreamed large. they knew there were obstacles, but those obstacles didn t mean that they decided a less perfect union would be a good compromise. we will never get what we don t reach for. so in 2006 and the decades to come, for what should we reach?, and last, on a more partisan note, what and for whom do we want our democratic party to stand for and fight for?, those are the questions. i d like to start with direct answers to these questions., on america s leadership role in the world, we need to restore the moral core and legitimacy that has been the foundation of our influence. it s no secret that america s credibility has been tarnished during the past six years. and that in too many places, even among our best friends, the very idea of american leadership seems like a contradiction. poll after poll shows this, but it isn t some abstract thing — during the past year, i ve felt this first-hand, from europe to the middle east to india and russia. reversing this is one of our most important challenges., i want to live in an america that is once again looked up to and respected around the world; an america that is an inspiration to common people everywhere who want to make their lives better. that means working to restore our legitimacy by strengthening international institutions or creating new ones; it means leading on the great challenges before us: whether it s preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, ending the genocide in darfur, or fighting extreme poverty and diseases that ravage societies. it also means a plan to substantially reduce our presence in iraq, by at least 40,000 troops immediately, and to continue that reduction so that the iraqis can take control over their own lives. as we do so, we should call upon the other countries in the region who have expressed an interest in securing the stability of iraq to step forward. restoring our credibility and legitimacy is absolutely essential if we are to defeat global jihadists., how we work to improve our country and lift people up is also critical to restoring american leadership in the world. for decades, many drew inspiration from us, admiring how we worked everyday to make our country a better place. and the whole world is watching. just as we fight poverty here at home, we must show more leadership in ending, extreme poverty around the globe. it is wrong that close to half the world s population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than 2 dollars a day. and it is a disgrace that millions of people suffer and die from diseases that are preventable — for example, a $5 dollar mosquito net could save a family from malaria; a few cents could vaccinate a child; and a $4 dose of medicine can help prevent a mother from transmitting aids to her newborn at childbirth. if we are to rebuild america s moral leadership, we must do better at home — and abroad., on the america we want to achieve in the next twenty years, i don t think the picture is hard to draw. it is an america where we are well on our way to ending poverty. it is an america where every american has health care coverage — not access to health insurance or other wiggle-word ways we try to describe something less than health coverage for every american. it is time. it is an america where businesses and working people thrive in a competitive and fair international marketplace. it is an america where everyone can join the middle class and everyone can build a better future than their parents had., i want to live in an america free from dependence on fossil fuels, where our environmental policies reflect our pride in the blessings of a beautiful and abundant country and our commitment to preserve that country for our farmers, our fishermen, our children. sacrifice, conservation, and innovation will be required., i want to live in an america that has not sacrificed individual liberties in the name of freedom, where — in the fight to preserve the country we love — we do not sacrifice the country we love, where we don t make excuses for violating civil rights, though we understand the test of liberty is in the moments when such excuses almost sound reasonable., i want to live in an america where we value work as well as wealth, because we understand that we are only strong because our people work hard, that we are made strong by our longshoremen and autoworkers, our computer programmers and janitors, and disrespect to any of them is disrespect to the values that allowed for america s greatness in the first place., i want to live in an america where the difference in our best schools and our worst schools cannot be measured by newsweek, where those who can teach are encouraged and rewarded and where the world of learning is opened to every child., today i will focus on the first of these goals — an america without poverty, but in the coming months, i will address each of these issues that will make such a difference to the country we can be in twenty years., finally, the democratic party. we should also recognize that our political parties, and what they stand for, are critical in shaping our country s future. i believe in a democratic party of big ideas, with the courage and backbone to translate those ideas into workable policies., i believe in a democratic party that fights for those who have no voice: the forgotten middle class, the poor, those who have labored a lifetime, and all those who speak the truth against overwhelming public opinion., and i believe in a party willing to take stances that are right, whether or not they are popular. this is the tradition of america, fighting for what is right regardless of the odds, regardless of the power of those on the other side. it is what the democratic party i believe in is all about. we do not have to posture or to accept mediocrity or compromise our values. we can decide to be great, we can address great problems, we can see great possibilities., i do not believe in a party obsessed with incrementalism, half-measures, and positions based on yesterday s polls. if we want to lead — and in these times we desperately need to lead in another direction — we have to represent something greater than our own self-promotion. we have to believe that our country is more important than ourselves. these times are critical, so let me be clear: in this battle for the soul of our party, no less than the future of america and the future of the world are at stake., as democrats, we need to speak to these issues with specifics on how america should address them., as democrats, we need to make clear that hard challenges don t frighten us, but call us to action., to me, there is no better opportunity to make this clear than the enormous challenge of helping 37 million americans who live in poverty., how we respond to the fact that millions among us live in poverty says everything about the character of america., ***, as some of you know, i ve served as director of the center on poverty, work and, opportunity at the university of north carolina at chapel hill for a little over a year., the center is a place where we ve brought together the best minds in the country to discuss — and challenge — the latest ideas about how to fight poverty. in our first year, we ve held several national forums, asked all the tough questions, and scoured the country to find the most innovative solutions being implemented now., when i talked about poverty in the 2004 campaign, political types said it was futile. they said nobody cares about poverty except for the poor. not true, and we saw it with katrina., you ve heard me talk about the two americas? one for those families who have everything they need, and then one for everybody else. katrina showed us the two americas. those images of men and women at the superdome stranded without food, water or hope — simply because they didn t have a car or the cash to escape. those images are something we ll never forget., they ve become the face of poverty in america — a symbol of the poor and forgotten families that live in big cities like new orleans and in small towns and rural america too., but if katrina showed us the two americas, it also showed us something else. it showed us the american people want to live in one america. in the months after the hurricane, millions opened their hearts, their homes and their wallets to this cause., it s clear the american people want to do the right thing on poverty, but it s also clear there are a couple things holding us back., so many of our families are struggling too much themselves to focus on those in need. others don t want to repeat the failures of the past and throw money at a problem with the hope it will magically disappear., these are very real concerns, but they re ones we can overcome., if our ideas about alleviating poverty are based on the values that made our country great — that we expect people who are capable of working to work, expect them to be responsible, and expect them to make smart choices., and if we make it clear that ending poverty is not something we are doing just for others but something we do for all of us., maybe you ve heard the phrase ""it s expensive to be poor."" well, it s also expensive for america to have so many poor., we all pay a price when young people who could someday find the cure for aids or make a fuel cell work are sitting on a stoop because they didn t get the education they need., we all pay a price when our people turn to crime because they have no other hope. harvard s richard freeman estimates that growing incarceration costs and unemployment of ex-offenders costs 4 percent of our economy, each and every year., and we all pay a price when the american dream no longer seems american., we need to restore the dream that is america. but we also need to do it in a way that all americans will be proud of. not just by giving handouts to the poor, or pumping money into a broken government program. but by finding ways to help everyone who works hard and makes smart choices get ahead., if we re going to be the america we believe in, we can t look the other way., it s wrong we have 37 million americans living in poverty — separated from the opportunities of this country by their income, their housing, their access to education and jobs and health care — just as it was wrong we once lived in a country legally segregated by race. too many places today are segregated by class., poverty is the great moral issue of our time, and we all have an obligation to do something about it., not just alleviate some of the symptoms..., not just find ways to help some of the people... but end it., ***, america has fought poverty before. past efforts like social security, medicaid, welfare reform and the earned income tax credit have made a real difference., but poverty is still with us. any effort to address it must face up to the reasons that past efforts have fallen short, and to the new challenges that have arisen., first, work doesn t pay enough. a single mom with one child who works full-time for the minimum wage is about $2,700 below the poverty line. in 2005, while corporate profits, were up 13 percent, real wages fell for most workers., second, in too many poor communities, marriage is too rare, and male responsibility is not what it should be. welfare reform has helped reduce poverty rates among single mothers, but too many young men remain cut off from the hopes and routines of ordinary american life., third, the debate of poverty policies is stuck in the old days. one side is driven by guilt, and the other by a deep skepticism of what government can accomplish. in reality, we need both the courage and the confidence to take a new course. and both sides should recognize that our whole economic future depends on making upward mobility universal., ***, which is why, today, i m proposing we set a national goal of eliminating poverty in the next 30 years., it s an ambitious goal, but it s one we ll meet by building the america our founders imagined — an america where if you work hard, take personal responsibility and do the right thing, you won t live in poverty, you won t just get by, you ll get ahead., i propose a great national goal, because americans believe in achieving great things. like jfk challenging america to land a man on the moon, a national goal of eradicating poverty will sharpen our focus, marshal our resources and at the end of the day, bring out our best., besides, we need a goal. america will never get close to eliminating poverty until we set our sights and commit to try., poverty is such a low priority in washington that politicians aren t even interested in developing an accurate statistic. the official measure is incomplete and out-of-date — overlooking as many as 1 million americans. it s a metaphor for how poverty is ignored. setting a bold goal is how we ll bring change., tony blair understands the power of great goals. in 1999, he announced a goal of ending child poverty by 2020. since then, british child poverty has dropped by 17 percent. it s a remarkable accomplishment in just seven years, and there is no reason we can t see similar results here., but this afternoon, i want to make clear i m not willing to settle for some washington ""pie-in-the-sky"" dream that gets promised and then quickly forgotten. poverty is an issue where we cannot fail. so to hold us accountable, i propose we also set a benchmark to measure our progress and guide our way., in the next 10 years, we need to cut poverty by a third, improving the lives of 12 million americans., if we meet this benchmark, we ll be well on our way. ***, in order to get the country on the path to eliminating poverty, we must build a ""working society,"" which builds on the lessons of the past to create solutions for the future., at the heart of the working society is the value of work. work is not only a source of a paycheck, but also a source of dignity and independence and self respect., in a working society, we would create new opportunities to work. we would offer affordable housing near good jobs and a million last-chance jobs to people who cannot find work on their own., in a working society, we would reward work. we would raise the minimum wage and cut taxes for low-income workers. we would find ways for workers to not only have but keep their health care and other key benefits, a topic i ll return to in the future. we would help workers save for the future with work bonds and homeownership tax credits. and we, would create a million more housing vouchers for working families., and in a working society, we would expect work. in return for greater investments, we would expect everyone who can work to work, for the sake of their country, their families, and themselves., ***, in a few months, there s a new movie coming out starring will smith. it s called ""the pursuit of happyness."", the film is about a man who goes from being homeless to earning millions as a stockbroker., the rags to riches movie is based on a true story, but to too many poor americans, it sounds like a fairy tale., that s because we live in a time where it s harder than ever to get ahead. today, it s easy to be a millionaire, but trying to become one is like climbing a greased pole., the working society is based on the premise that we should expect work and reward work., one harsh reality is that some people are in poverty because no one will give them a job, either because they have no prior work history, they lack basic skills such as the ability to read, or, the truth is, they have physical and mental challenges., this is particularly true for young men. welfare reform asked young mothers to join the workforce and gave them help to get there. millions of poor women benefited, but poor men lost ground during the best economy we ve ever had. in america today, there are communities where half the young men are out of work., it s time to finish the job of welfare reform by giving low-income men the opportunity to work and challenging them to take responsibility for doing so. if they don t work, they won t get paid. if they owe child support, their children will get paid first, because women shouldn t have to raise children on their own., i believe we ll find out once again that poor people are just like everyone else: they want to work, they want to do right by their children, and given the chance, they will work their hearts out., if we believe that everyone who is capable of working should work, then we need to make sure that they have the opportunity to do so. i believe that we should create one million ""stepping stone"" jobs over five years. a good job that will let people work their way out of poverty in the short term, and help them get experience so they can get better jobs in the future., these jobs could change the face of our hardest hit communities. workers could serve with non-profit organizations working wonders, building parks and keeping our neighborhoods clean. they will bring opportunity to neighborhoods where jobs are scarce and hope is sometimes even scarcer., and while we expect people to work and help make sure they can, the working society would make sure all americans have something to show for it., the erosion of the minimum wage is a disgrace; we need to raise it to at least $7.50 an hour — a step that, by itself, would give full-time workers a $4,800 raise and lift more than a million people out of poverty. just yesterday, republicans in the senate blocked senator kennedy s attempt to raise the national minimum wage. since the republicans in washington won t raise the minimum wage we are taking this fight to the states., we also need to give america s workers a real right to organize. unions helped move manufacturing jobs into the foundation of our middle class, and they can do the same for our service economy. this week s time magazine describes one difference between a janitor making $6.50 an hour and another making $12.50 an hour — a union. the union itself is the difference between working in poverty and working your way out of poverty., there s a saying you may have heard — ""income is what you use to get by, but assets are what you use to get ahead."", it s true, and it s why we ll beat poverty by helping every working american build — and protect — their own assets... a savings account they can use to start a small business, money to fall back on in hard times, or a down payment to buy their first home. i ve previously described a proposal i call ""work bonds,"" which would match low-income workers  wages with a tax credit to help jumpstart their savings accounts., ***, in the 1990s, we saw how a new approach to welfare could help millions of families achieve independence. now it is time for a new approach for another tough issue: housing., i believe we should radically overhaul hud in three big steps., first, we need to integrate our neighborhoods economically. many neighborhoods were once segregated by race; now segregation by wealth is common, often with a racial dimension. if we truly believe that we are all equal, then we should live together too., we could all see the problems of concentrated poverty after katrina, but the truth is that nearly every major american city has similar neighborhoods that remain unseen. the federal government has built public housing in the worst neighborhoods and overlooked the need for affordable housing in the suburbs., these policies cut willing workers off from entry-level jobs, which are often created in the suburbs, far from public transportation. and they keep low-income children far from good schools., if conservatives really believed in markets, they d join us in a more radical and more sensible solution: creating 1 million more housing vouchers for working families over the next five years. done right, vouchers can enable people to vote with their feet to demand safe communities with good schools. we can help pay for this by cutting back hud s role in managing public housing, which it doesn t do very well and often sticks working families in bad neighborhoods., second, we need to put families ahead of bureaucracy. hud is bloated and has a track record of mismanaging money., we should start by cutting back hud s excessive, unnecessary, and sometimes incompetent contractors. second, we should trim the agency by at least 1,500 employees and get the money out where it can do some good., we can take the opportunity to give more authority to cities and states to tackle housing problems in their own regions. they will be responsible for taking a regional approach — including both cities and suburbs — and creating affordable housing near jobs and good schools., finally, work should be at the center of our housing policy just as it is at the center of our other social policies. we should attach a contract to new housing vouchers: if they don t already have jobs, recipients must work toward independence, and in return we will help them earn more and save more. a similar program is already working for 75,000 families today., i ve talked a lot about housing in cities, but we shouldn t forget that housing is a rural problem too — 1.5 million rural homes are substandard — without plumbing or with a crumbling foundation or sagging roof., the working society won t forget about america s small towns and rural communities. it will offer tailored solutions to meet their needs., we would invest in community colleges, which are particularly important in rural areas., we would open rural small business centers, which will provide investment capital and advice to help entrepreneurs get off the ground., and we would take a long, hard look at america s schools, which are too often no better than the zip code they re in., ***, across the country, many of our schools — particularly our high schools — are failing., today, almost one in three students don t graduate. on average, minority students enter high school four years behind their peers., in the working society, we d get serious about improving our schools. there is no greater challenge in america today, and i ll talk more about what we need to do in the coming months. it includes expanding preschool for three- and four-year-olds, getting good teachers into the places we need them most, and overhauling our outdated high schools., we also need to address the dropout crisis in our nation. we can never overcome poverty until we address it — not by lowering standards, but by making sure everyone can meet them., america is about second chances, so i don t see why we shouldn t have ""second-chance schools."" these schools would lift up former dropouts, offering them one-on-one attention and a chance to earn a diploma at night or at a local community college. many drop-outs want to do the work and they realize dropping out was a mistake. they should have the chance to earn a diploma and get on with their life., now, if you ve every heard me talk about education, you know about a program i call ""college for everyone,"" which allows students to go to the first year of college for free if they are willing to stay out of trouble and take a part-time job., today, i have good news. college for everyone works., last month, i attended a high-school awards ceremony in greene county, north carolina. through a pilot program we were able to provide students there over $300,000 in aid. that means kids who never before would have dreamed of going to college are not only leaving for school this fall — but paying for their first year without going into debt., ***, good public schools and the chance to go to college meant everything in my life. but even to this day, there s something that matters more. family. i don t know where i d be without parents who taught me right from wrong, and that there are consequences for the choices i make in life., in a working society, we ll make a priority of strengthening families., as a start, we would cut the marriage penalty that still hits poor workers, because penalizing marriage makes absolutely no sense. we would also cut taxes for low-income single workers, who are the only americans living in poverty and paying federal taxes, to draw them into the workforce. and, as i mentioned earlier, we would create opportunities for young fathers to work and take responsibility for their children, and reward them for doing so., but after that, there s only so much the government can do. so the real burden of promoting strong families falls to us., all of us — parents, clergy, teachers, public officials — we need to say that it is wrong when young men father children but don t support them., it is wrong when girls and young women bear children they aren t ready to care for., it is wrong when corporate america — through movies, music and advertising — promotes a culture of reckless behavior to our youth., and it is wrong when all americans see this happening and do nothing to stop it., fighting poverty is a job for government, it is a job for communities, it is a job for all of us., ***, one of the great pleasures i ve had this past year is traveling to college campuses to engage young people in the cause of poverty. i m so impressed with young people today, particularly the 700 college students who skipped spring break to clean up katrina damage with me in st. bernard parish., these young people were tremendous. they understand that in america, when a neighbor is in need, you don t make excuses. you don t point to someone else and say it is their responsibility. you just step up., i believe these college students have a lot to teach us about how we approach challenges like poverty. all of us, we need to move right past the skeptics, and follow the lead of these young people., we need to get involved when our neighbors need us. we need to speak up when we know something s wrong., and we need to step forward to meet the challenges we all face., issues like poverty, they are our test, and we have a moral obligation to make sure we pass., in america today, there are millions of our neighbors who think they re alone. that no one knows they re struggling with their bills. that no one cares they can t afford to turn on the lights. that no one thinks twice about the fact their kids go to bed hungry at night., well i have something to say to those families today: we know. we care. and we will lift you up., there was a woman — an extraordinary activist — who would end her speeches by saying ""you know, the leaders we have been waiting for are us."", she s exactly right. poverty is our challenge. it s time for us to lead., 	,"	
"thank you., we re all here together - but why are we here? why are we here?, we are here because somewhere in america an eight-year old girl goes to sleep hungry, a little girl who ought to be drawing pictures and learning multiplication cries herself to sleep, praying that her father, who has been out of work for two years, will get a job again. it doesn t have to be that way., we are here because somewhere in america, a hotel housekeeper walks a picket line with her union brothers and sisters fighting for decent health care benefits during the day and works the late-shift at a diner at night so that she and her family can live a decent life and so her boy can go to college and have choices she never had. and somewhere a young, man folds a college acceptance letter and puts it in his drawer because even with his part-time job and his mother s second job, he knows he cannot afford to go. it doesn t have to be that way., we are here because somewhere in america a mother wipes her hand on a dishcloth to go answer a knock on her door ... and opens it to find an army chaplain and an officer standing there with solemn faces and her boy s name - her patriotic son who enlisted after september 11 - on their lips. it doesn t have to be that way., we are here because somewhere in the world, a 5-year old boy in a refugee camp is bending under the weight of his 2-year old sister. his family massacred, he carries his remaining sister everywhere, and sleeps with his arms wrapped tightly around her, knowing that tomorrow he will have to do the same thing, and again the next day and the day after that because she is all the family he has now. it doesn t have to be that way., we are here because somewhere in america a father comes home from the second shift and feels a raging fever on the brow of his sleeping daughter as he kisses her goodnight. and now, bone-weary and worried, he cradles that child in his arms at the emergency room, because there is nowhere else for him to go. it doesn t have to be that way., they are why we are here. because everywhere in america, people are counting on us to stand up for them., and so i ask you, will you stand up for that tired father forced into emergency rooms to get health care for his little girl?, will you stand up for the brave young boy in the refugee camp?, will you stand up for the working men and women in our labor movement who have to fight for decent working conditions and living wages?, will you stand up for the young man who knows that education is his way out of the cycle of poverty and yet it seems beyond his grasp?, will you stand up for that hungry eight-year old girl so she doesn t give up on her life before it s even begun?, will you stand up for all the american families whose loved ones are serving in iraq and afghanistan?, will you stand up?, will you stand up for america?, because if we don t stand up, who will? if we don t speak out, who will?, forty years ago, speaking in protest against the war in vietnam on the eve of its escalation, the reverend doctor martin luther king said there comes a time when silence is betrayal. silence is betrayal., that time has come again. we cannot stand silent. they have to hear you. can they hear you?, i believe it is a betrayal not to speak out against the escalation of the war our nation is engaged in today, in iraq., it is a betrayal for this president to send more troops into harm s way when we know it will not succeed in bringing stability to the region., and it is not right by our silence to enable this president to escalate the war in iraq. and we must not delude ourselves: our silence enables this president to escalate the war., it is a betrayal not to stop the president s plan when we have the responsibility, the power and the actual tools to prevent it., being satisfied with non-binding resolutions we know this president will ignore is a betrayal. and shutting down debate in the senate on this issue is worse than a betrayal. it s an outright denial of the people s will., and one more thing, while i m at it., you described yourself as ""the decider."" i have news for you. the american people are the real ""deciders,"" mr. president. and they are saying, ""you have had your chance."", americans are speaking out. and our leaders must do no less., you must stand up now against george bush s escalation of the war in iraq. george bush is counting on us not to stand up, not to fight against this escalation with everything we have. george bush is counting on a democratic party that will not press for what we know is right., silence is betrayal., opposing this escalation with all the vigor and tools we have is a test of our political courage. and you d better believe that george bush, dick cheney and karl rove are betting that we don t have that courage., they don t think we have it in us. they re counting on their opponents to be weak, and political, and careful., this is not the time for political calculation. this is the time for political courage. stand up., being honest and changing course in iraq is the first step in restoring america s ability to provide moral leadership throughout the world. and make no mistake: america must lead. we are the pre-eminent, stabilizing power in the world. if we don t stand up, who will?, this is the time for political courage - not only when it comes to speaking out against iraq, but also about the challenges we face here at home., because, when it comes to 37 million americans living in poverty, silence is betrayal., one in every five children - count them, one in every five american children - live in poverty, here on the richest nation on the planet. it doesn t have to be that way., the causes of poverty are complex, entrenched, and powerful. and our will to address them and restore the promises of equality and social justice must be just as strong. are you strong enough? will you stand up to end poverty in america? it means addressing education, jobs, health care, housing, predatory lending, and personal responsibility. the fight will be long and it will not be easy. are you ready? will you use your voice against poverty, or will you stand silent? stand up. stand up to eradicate poverty in america., when it comes to 47 million americans without health care, silence is betrayal., the 47 million are silent victims of a health care system gone wrong, where policies are driven by profits not patient care. we have to stop letting the health insurance companies and the big pharmaceutical concerns decide our nation s health care policy. we have to give the silent victims, who stand in line at free clinics and use the expired medicines of friends and neighbors, we have to give them the dignity of universal health care., and while we re at it, we have to stop using words like ""access to health care"" when we, know with certainty those words mean something less than universal care. who are you willing to leave behind without the care he needs? which family? which child?, we need a truly universal solution, and we need it now., will you stand up for universal health insurance in america?, and it s time we stood up for an energy policy that s not dictated by the profit margins of big oil -- and an environmental policy that s not promoted by or regulated by polluters. today, not tomorrow, or in the next decade or in the next generation. today, our planet is at risk, and here, again, silence is betrayal., so, will you speak out? will you stand up?, these are the great moral imperatives of our time. and by breaking the silence we are not breaking faith with our flag or our forefathers or our brave young men and women in uniform. we are keeping faith with america., because we are better than this. we are better than this., we should be the bright light, the beacon for all the world., we are not the country of the superdome in new orleans after katrina; we are not the country of abu ghraib or guantanamo;, we are not the country of secret surveillance and government behind closed doors. we are americans, and we re better than that., and we are democrats, the party of action - not reaction. we are democrats, the party of principle - not appeasement. the time for half-measures, empty promises, and sweet rhetoric is gone. now is the time for courage, decisiveness and moral leadership., it s time to stand up for the promise of america again -- and for the principle that every american matters, no matter where you come from, or what color your skin is, or how much money you have in your pocket., let s stand up for the working people whose labor made this country great. america was built by men and women who worked with their hands. and organized labor has fought for and made better the lives of every working man and woman, by giving them a voice - labor never stands silent where wrongs need to be righted. will you stand with them? it is time we acknowledged that it is organized labor, which has protected the american worker against mistreatment by corporate america. i am proud to stand beside organized labor? will you stand with them, too? will you walk with them and march with them?, we know one thing for sure: it is time to be patriotic about something other than war. it is time to do what you know is right and to speak out against what you know is wrong., not tomorrow. now. speak out now, take action now., we don t have to wait to see if someone keeps the promises of a 2008 campaign. in fact, the transformational change this country needs cannot wait until january 2009., tomorrow begins today. and our obligation to act starts right here, right now., because somewhere in america, because everywhere in america, people are counting on us to stand by them and to fight alongside them for what we know in our hearts is right., so let s stand up together. we have always been the party of promise who stood with the working man and woman, the party of hope who stood with the needy, the party of compassion who stood with the young and the old and the frail. it is who we are., in times like these, we don t need to redefine the democratic party; we need to reclaim the democratic party., thank you, god bless you and god bless this great country., 	,"	
"question 1 - from moveon member anita todras, a mortgage loan officer from coconut creek, florida:, in your opinion, what is the best and fastest way to get out of iraq? response, well thank you. first of all, let me say for the past 9 months, moveon members have accomplished amazing things for the progressive movement., last year you helped elect a new congress. and thanks to your relentless grassroots pressure, you ve actually helped shift the national debate about ending the war in iraq from a question of  if,  to a question of  how soon.  thank you., as you probably know, i voted for this war. i was wrong and i take responsibility for that., every day this war drags on, it s worse for iraq, worse for our troops— and worse for our country. we don t need more debate; we don t need symbolic resolutions; and we don t need abstract goals—what we need are binding requirements. and we can t wait until the next president takes office in 2009., here s what i believe ought to happen:, simply put: congress should use its funding authority to force president bush to end the war and start immediately bringing american troops home from iraq., i ve been advocating for congress to use its funding authority since i voted against the first 87 billion dollar supplemental back in 2003. that funding authority is still the most powerful check we have—if congress is willing to use it., i d propose we begin by capping funding levels at 100,000 troops to stop bush s escalation and force an immediate withdrawal of 40,000 to 50,000 troops, which should come out of the north and the south of iraq., during that time, we should not allow bush to deploy any replacement troops to iraq that do not meet real readiness standards and that have not been properly trained and equipped., our withdrawal will help us to directly engage the iranians and the syrians to help stabilize iraq., the withdrawal of all combat troops should be complete in about a year., so that s the outline of my plan for what ought to happen. but we should not be talking hypothetically, because we have already reached a critical moment, and what we do right now will make all the difference., thanks in part to your hard work, both houses of congress have recently passed funding bills that set a time table for withdrawal. president bush has promised to veto that funding, calculating that he can use the bully pulpit to intimidate congress and get them to back down., but this is not the time for political calculation, this is the time for political courage. this is not a game of chicken. this is not about making friends or keeping joe lieberman happy. this is about life and death—this about war. we are done letting george bush manipulate the rhetoric of patriotism, only to use our troops as political pawns. if bush vetoes funding for the troops, he s the only one standing in the way of the resources they need. nobody else., congress must stand firm. they must not write george bush another blank check without a timeline for withdrawal—period. if bush vetoes the funding bill, congress should send another funding bill to him with a binding plan to bring the troops home. and if he vetoes it again, they should do it again., the american people are overwhelmingly in favor of ending this war. if our side stands firm, if we show courage now, we can finally bring our troops back home and bring this war to an end., thank you., question 2 - from moveon member c. davey utter, a retired nbc broadcaster from venice, california:, what are you going to do about prosecuting war profiteering in iraq?, news headlines, response, well let me say first i will end war profiteering in iraq., what the bush administration has done is they ve signed no-bid contracts with halliburton and bechtel to complete billions of dollars of work in iraq. not only does this war profiteering waste taxpayer dollars; it undermines the credibility of america s reconstruction efforts in the eyes of the world., we need to do everything in our power to get rid of fraud and abuse in iraq. we need to hold powerful corporations like halliburton accountable for no-bid contracts they ve secured through cronyism., none of you will be surprised to hear that i believe in using the u.s. judicial system to hold powerful corporations like halliburton responsible for their wrongdoing—i ve done it for a long time., for all new iraq contracts, we should impose a cap on profits from iraqi reconstruction. contractors should be permitted to earn only a reasonable profit on their iraq contracts, based on the average profits of comparable, competitively bid government contracts. this is a version of the excess profits tax that was imposed during the first and second world wars. as president franklin roosevelt explained, in a time of war, ""the few [should] not gain from the sacrifices of the many."", we should also bar corporations, senior executives, lobbyists and directors from making donations to presidential candidates and political parties for at least a year before or after bidding on a major government contract, finally, we ought to break the link between government procurement and private sector contracting jobs. private sector executives seeking government contracts would not be able to take official contracting jobs for 12 months, and similarly, those with responsibility for contracting would not be able to go to firms seeking contracts for 12 months., question 3, the iraq bill recently passed by the house included a version of rep. john murtha s proposal forcing the president to certify that troops going to iraq meet the pentagon s standards for sufficient training, proper equipment, and overall readiness to fight. do you support this approach and do you think it should be in the conference committee s final version of the iraq bill?, response yes., representative murtha s bill echoed the policy that i actually announced in february of this year, i believe in it strongly., in my policy, i would prohibit funding to deploy any new troops or any replacement troops to iraq that do not meet real readiness standards and that have not been properly trained and equipped, so that american tax dollars are used to train and equip our troops, and not used to escalate this war., requiring the president to make sure that the troops are prepared is actually the best way to stand by our troops and it s also the best way to force this president to change his policy., the members of the conference committee have to stand strong on this requirement. they should stand up to this president s veto threat and they ought to pass this legislation and stand behind it., closing statement, i spoke earlier about the need for political courage and the need for political courage to trump political calculation., we know george bush and karl rove will deploy the full fury of their pr machine to blame democrats for bush s choice—bush s choice—to veto funding for the troops., there are many people in washington that are going to be tempted to cry uncle and say they ll say we re going to let bush win another round in this fight., so where will congress find the courage to stand firm?, i ll tell you where they ll find it. they ll find in your letters. they ll find it in your calls. they will find it in your voice., forty years ago, the rev. dr. martin luther king, jr. gave a sermon speaking out against the war in vietnam. he said, ""there comes a time in all of our lives when silence is a betrayal."", that has never been more true than it is today. it s true because in the weeks and months to come our voice has extraordinary power to really change things—and that means we have an absolute responsibility to use that power to the fullest., so that s what i m committing to—using every opportunity i have in this campaign to speak out for immediate action to end this war. and it s what you re doing—through you work with moveon and in your communities., together, i believe we will succeed. and it is a great honor for me to join you in that effort., thank you all very much., 	,"	
"""tonight  i want to talk about intolerance and inequality and the insidious way they feed on each other  hurting not only the people and groups they target  but all of us and the future of our country., ""we ve obviously heard a lot about this lately thanks to the repugnant remarks of one broadcaster on the radio and television last week., ""i find it astonishing that there was even a debate over whether don imus  comments crossed the line. and i know i don t have to tell anybody here: don imus  comments didn t just cross the line. they defined the line that divides this country like the blade of a knife., ""there can be no debate over how much bigotry is too much bigotry. any bigotry is too much., ""there can be no question of how much intolerance this country can tolerate; we have already tolerated its effects for far too long., ""and let s be crystal clear: intolerance affects everything  starting with our economy and ending with our ability to lead at a time of massive global change and new threats to our security., ""i think some people really believe that we have put these things behind us; that the civil rights movement took care of all that and everyone is on a level playing field now., ""i think some people really believe that all you have to do to succeed in this country is pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard., ""well  i can tell you  i have traveled all over this country and i have been in the places where people s bootstraps are worn to a thread from all the pulling they ve been doing. places where all the hard work in the world hasn t helped to pull them out of poverty—because the system discriminates and opportunity isn t equal. but if we come together and are honest about it  we can change that and build an america that gives every american an equal chance., ""there is no question in my mind that intolerance is a direct cause of one of our greatest and most threatening problems: the growing disparity between rich and poor  between haves and have nots  between working people and all those powerful forces who do not have their best interests in mind. because guess what? the people that are usually the targets of intolerance and bigotry are too often the same people who suffer from lack of opportunity  the same people who are left behind. and as long as intolerance pervades our culture  it s far too easy for politicians in washington to ignore the big changes we need to make in order to end poverty once and for all., ""i don t just talk about these issues here—racial intolerance  the two americas that still exists—i talk about them everywhere i go  because it s silence that allows them to survive and even thrive. and i hope everyone running for president will do the same  because we have an obligation and the opportunity to help end the silence., ""it s a shame we have to wait for the don imus  of the world to provoke a national conversation through bigotry—but we should jump at the chance to have this conversation  not just to look at whatever bigotry lies in our own hearts  but to finally engage on a problem that isn t going anywhere unless we do something about it. and our strength as a nation depends on it."", ,"	
"a strong military for a new century, , it is wonderful to be back here at the council. thank you for having me., last year, i had the great pleasure of co-chairing a council task force with jack kemp on the future of the u.s.-russia relationship. for me, that experience served as a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when people of divergent views, bound by a common belief in america s responsibilities as a global leader, can come together to grapple with difficult national security challenges., our main conclusions are just as relevant today: that russia s direction is critically important to america s national security—from non-proliferation and energy security to the spread of hiv/aids. and as our report s title made clear, russia has been headed in the wrong direction, whether in its de-democratization or by bullying its neighbors., unfortunately, we have not been able to concentrate sufficient energy on critical issues like getting our relationship with russia right. instead, we ve been distracted by larger problems created by this president s military and national security policy., the core of this presidency has been a political doctrine that george bush calls the ""global war on terror."" he has used this doctrine like a sledgehammer to justify the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of his administration, from guantanamo and abu ghraib, to the war in iraq. the worst thing about the global war on terror approach is that it has, backfired—our military has been strained to the breaking point and the threat from terrorism has grown., we need a post-bush, post-9/11, post-iraq american military that is mission-focused on protecting americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological pursuits. we need to recognize that we have far more powerful weapons available to us than just bombs, and we need to bring them to bear. we need to reengage the world with the full weight of our moral leadership., what we need is not more slogans but a comprehensive strategy to deal with the complex challenge of both delivering justice and being just. not hard power. not soft power. smart power., nowhere are the problems of this administration s policies more tragically evident than in iraq. iraq s problems are deep and dangerous, but they cannot be solved by the u.s. military alone. my plan calls on congress to use its funding power to stop the surge and force an immediate withdrawal of 40,000 to 50,000 combat troops from iraq, followed by an orderly and complete withdrawal of all combat troops in about a year., the president has played political brinksmanship over the war in iraq time and time again. he refuses to acknowledge the futility of his approach, disregards the clear message sent by the american people last fall, and falsely claims that the only way for congress to support the troops is to prolong the war. that s just not true. congress can support the troops and end the war, which is exactly what the bill they sent the president last month would have done. when the president vetoed that bill, it was the president alone who was blocking support for the troops. nobody else., any compromise that funds the war through the end of the fiscal year isn t a compromise at all, it s a capitulation. as i have said repeatedly, congress should send the president the same bill he vetoed again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home., we need to get out of iraq on our own timetable, not when we are forced to do so by events. as a recent council report put it, the u.s. ""has already achieved all that it is likely to achieve in iraq... [and] staying in iraq can only drive up the price of these gains in blood, treasure, and strategic position."", iraq has done tremendous damage to the u.s. interests in the middle east, our military, and to our moral authority to lead. it has also completely consumed our country s foreign policy debate. in congress and the white house, the focus has been on when to get out, how to get out, and how quickly. too little consideration has been given to what happens after we get out—and that is the very least we owe to the men and women of the u.s. armed forces and their families, who have sacrificed so much., i believe that once we are out of iraq, the u.s. must retain sufficient forces in the region to prevent a genocide, deter a regional spillover of the civil war, and prevent an al qaeda safe haven. we will most likely need to retain quick reaction forces in kuwait and in the persian gulf. we will also need some presence in baghdad, inside the green zone, to, protect the american embassy and other personnel. finally, we will need a diplomatic offensive to engage the rest of the world in iraq s future—including middle eastern nations and our allies in europe., as everyone in this room knows, the iraq war has made it far more difficult to deal with other global challenges—whether it s the worsening situation in afghanistan, where the taliban is resurgent... the nuclear ambitions of states like north korea and iran... the crises in darfur and northern uganda... the effort to help bring peace between israel and its neighbors... the growing economic and security threats from global warming... the plight of the over a billion people who live on less than a dollar a day... or the vast implications of the political and economic rise of states like india and china and the negative trends in russia., throughout this campaign, i have spoken about what we need to do to deal with these huge challenges. in the future, i will continue to chart a course for america to regain the global stature and legitimacy that we ll need to lead and shape the world our children and grandchildren will inherit., but that course begins with an understanding of power and its purposes in all its forms—political, economic, moral and, yes, military power. the great dean acheson once said that ""prestige is the shadow cast by power."" if that is so, we risk squandering our prestige—as the current administration has done—if we misuse and misdirect our tremendous power., i will also talk more specifically about what i intend to do, as commander-in-chief, to lead our great military and restore the contract we have with those who proudly wear the uniform to defend our country and make the world a safe and better place., leading the military out of the wreckage left by the poor civilian leadership of this administration will be the single most important duty of the next commander-in-chief. the next commander-in-chief faces several important questions for the future:, how will we rebuild our military force, which most everyone agrees has been severely stressed, if not broken, by the debacle in iraq?, what lessons have we learned about how the military should be used?, and what is the right role for our military as we seek to restore our moral leadership in the world?, the answers to these questions are what i would like to talk about today., i can think of no better time to have this discussion than in the days leading up to memorial day. this is a day far more meaningful than ballgames and barbeques. it is a time when we honor those who have sacrificed to protect our freedom., memorial day has always had special meaning for our family. my wife elizabeth grew up on military bases around the world, as the daughter of a navy aviator. from the u.s.s. quincy, elizabeth s father vincent took part in the first bombing runs of japan during world war ii. later, after the war, elizabeth and her parents returned to live in japan, where her father was stationed., world war ii was not simply a moment of military glory, a moment of triumph for the citizen soldier. it was much more than that. the generation that won world war ii is not called the greatest generation because of the victory they earned on the battlefield, but because of what they did with that victory, of what they gave to us and the world. military power without purpose is ultimately self-defeating. our active engagement in the world after world war ii is an example of why we need a strong military. it reveals the relationship between the strength of our military and the power of american ideals., think about the choices our wise leaders made in 1945. it would have been easy enough for america to glance at the devastation and just as quickly look the other way. we had, thought it was time we went home., but americans like president harry truman and general george marshall saw the truth: that it would require not only america s military might, but our ingenuity, our allies, and our generosity to rebuild europe and keep it safe from tyrants who would prey on poverty and resentment. our leaders resisted the imperial temptation to force our will by virtue of our unmatched strength. instead, they built bonds of trust founded on restraint, the rule of law, and good faith. they were magnanimous out of strength, not weakness., general marshall—one of this country s greatest military leaders—was later awarded the nobel peace prize for his leadership in rebuilding europe and promoting peace in the world., in his nobel acceptance speech, general marshall said that military power was ""too narrow a basis on which to build a dependable, long-enduring peace."" as the marshall plan demonstrated, the military is only a means to an end; it is only one instrument of our power. it must work alongside—and reinforce—america s moral leadership., we saw the power of this relationship during the cold war, when america deterred the soviet union from its quest for world domination. we saw it when we established the united nations and nato, which have done so much for peace and human rights. after the cold war, we saw it in bosnia, where we helped broker a lasting peace. and we saw it again in kosovo, where we joined our nato allies to stop a brutal war criminal from perpetrating another campaign of ethnic cleansing., this is the america where i grew up as a young boy—a strong nation whose moral promise seemed to fill the hearts of almost everyone i knew. we believed that america, like a beacon, could light up even the darkest corners of the world., as we all saw six years ago, on september 11, america s greatness alone does not protect us from very real threats., at that moment, the president could have sent a message of swift justice but also moral leadership. he could have told us where destroying al qaeda fit into the broader challenges america faces in the new century. he could have asked all americans to sacrifice in this new struggle, inviting a hopeful new era of citizenship as the ultimate answer to the terrorists  cynical, evil attack., but he didn t. instead, he adopted the most short-sighted, ideological policies available. his strategy has put severe strain on our military... tarnished our moral standing in the eyes of the world... and emboldened our enemies., it is now clear that george bush s misnamed ""war on terror"" has backfired—and is now part of the problem., the war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make america safe. it s a bumper sticker, not a plan. it has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world. as a political ""frame,"" it s been used to justify everything from the iraq war to guantanamo to illegal spying on the american people. it s even been used by this white house as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents. whether by manipulating threat levels leading up to elections, or by deeming opponents ""weak on terror,"" they have shown no hesitation whatsoever about using fear to divide., but the worst thing about this slogan is that it hasn t worked. the so-called ""war"" has created even more terrorism—as we have seen so tragically in iraq. the state department itself recently released a study showing that worldwide terrorism has increased 25% in 2006, including a 40% surge in civilian fatalities., by framing this as a ""war,"" we have walked right into the trap that terrorists have set—that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war against islam., the ""war"" metaphor has also failed because it exaggerates the role of only one instrument of american power—the military. this has occurred in part because the military is so effective at what it does. yet if you think all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail., there s an emerging consensus inside the armed forces that we must move beyond the idea of a war on terror. the commander of the u.s. military s central command recently stated that he would no longer use the ""long war"" framework. top military leaders like retired general anthony zinni have rejected the term. these leaders know we need substance, not slogans—leadership, not labels., the question is, what should replace the war on terror? since the end of the cold war, folks here at cfr and elsewhere have been engaged in an effort to be the next george kennan and define the era. as all of you know, we need a new strategy for rebuilding a strong military for a new century., any new strategy must include new preventive measures to win the long-term struggle, efforts to lead the fight against global poverty. i ve proposed a plan to lead an international effort to educate every child in the world. as president, i would increase foreign assistance by $5 billion a year to make millions of people safer, healthier, and more democratic, and by creating a cabinet-level post to lead this effort., any new strategy must improve how we gather intelligence. from my years on the senate intelligence committee, i know how difficult this can be. we must always seek to protect our national security by aggressively gathering intelligence in accordance with proven methods., yet we cannot do so by abandoning human rights and the rule of law. as two former generals recently wrote in the washington post, ""if we forfeit our values by signaling that they are negotiable... we drive... undecideds into the arms of the enemy."" and we must avoid actions that will give terrorists or even other nations an excuse to abandon international law. as president, i will close guantanamo bay, restore habeas corpus, and ban torture. measures like these will help america once again achieve its historic moral stature—and lead the world toward democracy and peace., and finally, a new strategy must have a clear idea of how to rebuild the u.s. military., for the last four years, the administration has not only mismanaged the war in iraq. it has mismanaged the military itself., we all know the historic irony here. the president and his team held themselves out as stewards of the military. during his campaign in 2000, then-governor bush went to the citadel in south carolina and said our military power should be used, and i quote, ""wisely, remembering the costs of war."" his team came into office with decades of experience. they promised that, quote, ""help was on the way."" they made bold pronouncements about new military doctrines like ""transformation"" and an ""end to nation-building."" they held themselves out as saviors, called themselves vulcans, and cast their opponents as amateurs who should bow down before their slogans and gestures. they even disregarded the advice of highly-decorated military officers themselves., the results have been a disaster. this administration s policies have been particularly hard on our military men and women and their families. president bush could have called on all americans to sacrifice. but the only ones who have been at war—the only ones asked to sacrifice—have been our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and their families. and that s wrong., i am here today to announce a new pledge to america s servicemen and women, their families, and our veterans. we will stand by you just as you have stood by us. as president, i will implement a defense policy based on five major principles:, ensuring that our military policy is planned and executed to fulfill essential national security missions, not some ideological fancy;, repairing the tremendous damage done to civil-military relations;, rooting out cronyism and waste and increasing efficiency in the pentagon;, rebalancing our force structure for the challenges of the new century, including improving our capabilities to help weak or failing states;, and taking a broader view of security throughout our government., with these steps, we can begin to rebuild an american military for a new century., first, we must clarify the mission of a post-bush, post-9/11, post-iraq american military for the 21st century., we must be clear about when it is appropriate for a commander-in-chief to use force. as president, i will only use offensive force after all other options including diplomacy have been exhausted, and after we have made efforts to bring as many countries as possible to our side. however, there are times when force is justified: to protect our vital national interests... to respond to acts of aggression by other nations and non-state actors... to protect treaty allies and alliance commitments... to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons... and to prevent or stop genocide., yet we must remember the complementary relationship between military force and diplomacy. too often during the past six years, this administration s diplomatic efforts have left the u.s. with two unacceptable options: do nothing or use force. we must do better than that. we should always seek to solve problems peacefully, preferably working with others. yet one of the oldest rules of statecraft is that diplomacy is most effective when backed by a strong military. that does not mean, however, that every problem needs a military answer; far from it., our military has three important missions: deterring and responding to aggressors, making sure that weak and failing states do not threaten our interests, and maintaining, the first mission is deterring or responding to those who wish to do us harm. i want to make one thing absolutely clear: any american president must be able to act with swiftness and strength against anyone who will do us harm. but by elevating this right to a doctrine of ""preventive war,"" this administration has only isolated us further. our goal must be to defeat islamic extremists and limit their reach, not help them recruit and become stronger., a second mission is to ensure that the problems of weak and failing states do not create dangers for the united states. we face substantial security threats from states that fall apart. these situations are not only dangerous for these countries  civilian populations; they create regional instability and can strengthen terrorist groups that, in turn, directly threaten the united states., a third mission is maintaining our strategic advantage against major competitor states that could do us harm and otherwise threaten our interests., in all of these missions, we must continue to strengthen our great partnerships—whether bilateral relationships with friends from great britain to israel to japan, or through institutions like nato, which have done so much good for america and the world. while the u.s. does not need permission to protect its interests, we must realize that our strength lies in standing together with the world, not apart., next, we must also re-establish a strong connection with military leadership. the past few years have brought the biggest crisis in civil-military relations in a generation. the mismanagement of the pentagon has been so severe that many of our most decorated retired officers are speaking out. our constitutional design is clear, and our military leadership clearly must follow a civilian command. but this does not mean that civilians should be able to ram through their pet military projects., george bush s civilian leadership at the pentagon repeatedly ignored the counsel of their more experienced military colleagues. they disregarded wise generals like ric shinseki, who advised that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to secure the peace in iraq., as president, i will repair this breach. i will institute regular, one-on-one meetings with my top military leadership, so their analysis and advice will not be filtered, and so i will have the best information about what s best for our troops on the ground., i will also reinstate a basic doctrine that has been demolished by the bush administration. under my administration, military professionals will have primary responsibility in matters of tactics and operations, while civilian leadership will have authority in all matters of broad strategy and political decisions. as president, i will exercise command, and i will delegate the decision to use force to no one. but i will also remove any civilian or military officer who stifles debate or simply tells me what i want to hear., the administration s mismanagement of the military has not only breached the faith at the highest levels—it has led to a very dangerous situation for our troops, their families, and our nation., the military that is fighting in iraq and afghanistan is very different from any that s gone to battle before. today, active-duty servicemen and women are, on average, 27 years old. guard and reserve members are, on average, 33 years old. 60% of those deployed have left families at home, and about 50% of those killed in action have left a spouse or child behind. alarmingly high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are being reported., these troops are exhausted and overworked, and we have been forced to dig deeper and deeper to find ground forces for iraq and afghanistan. this leaves us ill-prepared for the future. today, every available combat active-duty army combat brigade has been to iraq or afghanistan for at least one 12-month tour. we are sending some troops back to iraq with less than a year s rest. to make matters worse, the secretary of defense just extended tours from 12 to 15 months, which is unconscionable., and recruiting has suffered. the army has been meeting its recruiting targets, but only by lowering its standards. recruits from the least-skilled category have increased 800% over the past two years. and the army granted nearly twice as many waivers for felonies and other shortcomings in 2006 as in 2003., finally, it is clear that guard and reserve members will always play an active and valuable role in the total force of the united states. yet they have been subjected to repeated and lengthy deployments that do not fit their job description. they also need to be available to respond to disasters domestically., and as the disgraceful conditions at walter reed demonstrated, this administration has failed our servicemen and women not only in iraq, but here at home. i will never allow our wounded to be housed in dilapidated, rodent-infested facilities. on the contrary, as i will be announcing in remarks later this week, i will make a new pledge to our veterans, our, readjustment programs properly meet their needs. we owe them no less., the problem of our force structure is not best dealt with by a numbers game. it is tempting for politicians to try and ""out-bid"" each other on the number of troops they would add. some politicians have fallen right in line behind president bush s recent proposal to add 92,000 troops between now and 2012, with little rationale given for exactly why we need this many troops—particularly with a likely withdrawal from iraq., the numbers game only gets us into the same problems as the president s approach. we must be more thoughtful about what the troops will actually be used for. any troops we add today would take a number of years to recruit and train, and so will not help us today in iraq., we might need a substantial increase of troops in the army, marine corps, and special forces for four reasons: to rebuild from iraq; to bolster deterrence; to decrease our heavy reliance on guard and reserve members in military operations; and to deploy in afghanistan and any other trouble spots that could develop., while such proposals are worth close examination, they do not take into account our withdrawal from iraq—which i believe must occur in about a year. we need to avoid throwing numbers around for political benefit and instead take a broader view. as president, i will carefully assess the post-iraq threat environment and consult with military commanders to determine the exact number of troops we need and where., i will also double the budget for recruiting, and i will raise the standards for the recruiting pool, so we issue far fewer waivers than we do today under the president s policy., i will put substantial additional resources into maintenance of our equipment and to reset the force. we must spend what it takes to reset our force after iraq. we have seen a rapid depletion in our military equipment. over 1,000 vehicles, including tanks and helicopters, have been lost in iraq, and our equipment is being used at a rate of five to six times its, peacetime use., this inadequacy is especially clear when we look at the demands that have been placed on our guard and reserve members. they have been sent to battle without the best equipment. some units slated to return to iraq recently reported that they still have outdated equipment. this is unacceptable., the military budget itself also needs substantial reforms. today, dozens of agencies perform overlapping tasks, and there is no central, overall accounting of all security activities performed by all relevant agencies., i will create a national security budget that will include all security activities by the pentagon and the department of energy, and our homeland security, intelligence, and foreign affairs agencies. this would allow more oversight and would also allow us to more carefully tailor our expenditures to our missions. today, literally dozens of agencies have overlapping responsibilities, missions, tasks and programs. we don t link these efforts together nearly enough. we have nuclear proliferation programs in the defense, state, and the energy departments. we also have more than fifteen different security assistance programs, running out of both the state department and the defense department., as president, i will send to congress a national security budget that will grow out of a review of our military, our diplomacy, our foreign assistance programs, our intelligence, our global energy, and our homeland security activities. this budget will provide one government-wide strategy for countering nuclear proliferation; a unified strategy for fighting terrorists; a unified strategy for providing security assistance to our allies; and clear guidance for our agencies on how they should set their budget priorities to make these policies work., the military has gone a long way in making sure that it s capable and prepared to fight humanitarian crises, as we saw when it provided aid to the victims of the pacific ocean tsunami. but this aid is often imbalanced. we ve got one agency on steroids—the pentagon—while the civilian agencies are on life support. as president, i will help rebalance the delivery of civilian services throughout the federal government., civilians with training and experience need to be involved in stabilizing states with weak governments, and providing humanitarian assistance where disasters have struck. we need bankers to set up financial systems, political scientists to implement election systems, and civil engineers to design water and power systems. as president, i will create a ""marshall corps,"" modeled on the military reserves, of up to 10,000 expert professionals who will help stabilize weak societies, and who will work on humanitarian missions., i will also take additional steps to put stabilization first throughout the government. i will put a senior official in the pentagon to implement these programs. i will harmonize the state department and pentagon s overlapping efforts at diplomacy and stabilization better from the white house. and i will implement new stabilization programs at war colleges, just as we need to get our national security budget in order, we must also reform our pentagon budget. the bush administration has funneled an enormous amount of taxpayer money to private military contractors, many run by their political cronies. it s no surprise that we have seen rampant overruns in the cost of many weapons programs., i will respond to the overruns and cronyism strongly and directly. we need a modern-day equivalent of harry truman s famous truman committee, which traveled the country in the 1940 s to find billions of dollars of waste in military spending. as president, i will direct my secretary of defense to launch a comprehensive, tough review of fraud, waste, and abuse—and put an end to it. one example is missile defense and offensive space-based weapons, which are costly and unlikely to work., we also need fundamental reform of our privatization policies. almost half of defense department contracts are now awarded on a noncompetitive basis, giving companies like halliburton with millions of dollars. to end this, i will direct my secretary of defense to overhaul the rules governing privatization, to punish mismanagement, and to reform dod bonus policies to reward performance., finally, i will challenge the military to continue to modernize for a new century. we need to ensure that the u.s. military is the most modern and capable fighting force on the planet. modernization will also have other benefits. ""greening the military"" will increase innovation, save millions of dollars, reduce reliance on vulnerable supply lines, and help america lead the fight against global warming., we also must do what we can to prevent these problems before they start. this is why i believe it is so important to address issues like global poverty. the reforms i announced two months ago would help stabilize at-risk nations and spread the dream of freedom across the globe—and enhance respect and admiration for america., today we need great principles, moral courage, and, above all, a vision—of a tomorrow that is better than today, of a world where the power of example is mightier than the sword., we need a strong military for a new century, and we need one based on hope, not fear. as robert f. kennedy once wrote, ""our answer is the world s hope."" our answer is the world s hope. we will need imagination and courage to imagine great possibilities, to create a world where terrorism belongs to the past. we must, at the same time, rely on our heritage: a time when we were admired by the world, where we shared, with generosity and good faith, our ideals of truth, justice, and equality., like a beacon, america can once again provide a clear light for the world—dissolving the fog of injustice, illuminating the path to a new century., this is the america where i grew up—and it is the america that elizabeth and i want again, to share not only with our own children, but with the children of america, and of the world., thank you so much for being here with me today, and god bless america., 	,"	
", smarter trade that puts workers first - remarks as prepared for delivery - cedar rapids, iowa, good morning. it s good to be back in iowa with all of you today. i was recently here to talk about the fundamental unfairness at the heart of our economy today and what we need to do to fix it. i focused then on our tax code and how we can reform it to honor work, not just wealth. and in the coming weeks i will address the issue of corporate responsibility., today, i want to talk to you about one of the most important economic issues facing america - trade, especially its effect on jobs., over the past few years, i ve traveled across this country and met with so many honest, hard working americans, including many right here in iowa, who ve been left behind by our economy., during one of my trips a couple of years ago, i met doug bishop. for years, doug worked at the maytag plant in newton. he worked hard for maytag day in and day out. and then maytag decided to cut costs by cutting doug s job., doug was lucky. after eight months out of work, he s back on his feet now, a leader in his community. but many other people in newton - and across america - haven t been so lucky. they re as eager to get back to work as doug was, but they re still struggling., these people did everything our country asked of them. everything. they had jobs, they worked hard at them, and they provided for their families - and in return, they got the rug pulled out from under them. who was looking out for these workers in newton? who was looking out for their families?, not maytag. and certainly not anyone in washington, d.c., it hasn t always been this way. workers for generations were at the heart of our country. hard-working men and women have made america the strongest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world. but today, washington has turned its back on our workers and their futures., more than ever, workers face an uncertain world where they feel like no one in washington is doing what they can to help them., they re right. washington isn t looking out for them. washington is too busy looking out for big business and protecting irresponsible corporations., trade has become a bad word for working americans for a simple reason - our trade policies have been bad for working americans. washington looks at every trade deal and asks one question, and only one question - is it good for corporate profits?, they don t look at what it will do to workers, to families, to wages, to jobs, or even to the economy. when it comes to trade, the only thing that matters in washington is the big business bottom line., and most of big business is only looking out for its profits, not its people. instead, they should be paying attention to a simple truth - corporations can be successful and responsible at the same time., we need new trade policies in america that put workers, wages and families first. not fourth, not third, not second. first. what we need is trade without trade-offs. trade without trade-offs for workers. trade without trade-offs for jobs. trade without trade-offs for the environment., we need trade without trade-offs for america., corporations, and the executives who lead them, need to realize that creating american jobs is not only the responsible thing to do, it s the patriotic thing to do., but that s certainly not what is happening today. america is bleeding jobs., since president bush took office, 5 million jobs have been lost to trade, including many here in iowa, and 15 million more jobs may move offshore within the next decade. and don t let anyone tell you it s just low-skilled jobs that we ll lose - it s also many of our country s high quality service and technology jobs - jobs that require advanced education such as in computer programming, radiology, call centers, and financial analysis., but it doesn t begin or end with just the jobs being outsourced to china, india and elsewhere. the negative effects from globalization are ripping through the economy., globalization has helped stunt the growth in wages for american workers. workers in america must now compete every day with workers overseas earning miserably low wages with no benefits. and what s even worse, big multinational corporations now use the excuse that they have to ship ever more good-paying american jobs overseas in order to compete with the very low wage jobs they themselves created there. in the last few, years, wages have fallen for nearly every educational group, all the way up to masters degrees - and corporate profits have nearly doubled., rather than create income gains for all, the gains from globalization are mostly flowing to the most fortunate americans. globalization is a major reason why income inequality is at its worst since before the great depression., it shouldn t be this way. and when i m president, i m going to tell the lobbyists pulling the strings in washington and the big corporations that hire them the same thing - their time is over. the system is rigged against regular americans to guarantee more power for the powerful and more wealth for the wealthy. well, i m going to cut the rigging down and end the game., washington s values are all wrong, but the american people s values are exactly right. we believe in hard work, fairness and opportunity. just like we always have. and we re going to restore those values to our economy and our government., i know the american people want change, real change. washington isn t working for them. our economy isn t working for them. but by uniting together, we can fix this. we can make sure that working and middle class families again have the opportunities to which they re entitled., while ceos have been sitting in their boardrooms and while lobbyists and washington insiders having been dining in their steakhouses, i have been on the ground. meeting workers. walking picket lines. i ve walked past far too many manufacturing plants with locks on their gates and weeds in their yards. i ve heard firsthand from workers how they re one crisis away - one pink slip, one trip to the emergency room - from going over a cliff. but i ve also seen firsthand their determination to fight - for their families and for our values., we ll need courage and conviction and backbone to go up against these powerful lobbyists and insiders. half measures and baby steps won t level the playing field. triangulation and compromise won t fix anything. it won t be easy, but together - you and me and everyone who is sick of listening to washington say one thing and do another - we can stand up and change this country for the better., :::, and we certainly need change, especially in our trade policies. for years now, washington has been passing trade deal after trade deal that works great for multinational corporations, but not for working americans., for example, nafta and the wto provide unique rights for foreign companies whose profits are allegedly hurt by environmental and health regulations. these foreign companies have used them to demand compensation for laws against toxins, mad cow disease, and gambling - they have even sued the canadian postal service for being a monopoly. domestic companies would get laughed out of court if they tried this, but foreign investors can assert these special rights in secretive panels that operate outside our system of laws., when economists say that trade helps our economy overall, we need to be honest about the fact that it does not help everyone. the true measure of our economy isn t found only in the size of our gdp or the level of corporate profits - it s whether middle class families are doing better or worse., a sure sign that our trade and economic policies are seriously out of whack is our trade deficit. our nation s imports have increased by a staggering 50 percent in the past 15 years, and instead of a trade balance, the united states now has the largest trade deficit in the history of the globe - and it just keeps growing. last year, our current account deficit was more than $850 billion, which is a staggering 6.5 percent of our nation s entire gdp, and our trade deficit with china alone was $233 billion. that means that we are, consuming billions of dollars more in imported goods than we produce - and we are borrowing heavily to pay for them., behind all these numbers and statistics are the faces of millions of americans forgotten in our trade deals. well, i can tell you that i will never forget them. i saw what happened when the mill that my dad worked in all his life, and that i worked in myself when i was young, closed and the jobs went somewhere else. it wasn t just devastating to our community economically -- it was devastating to the pride and dignity of the people who worked hard every day trying to make a better life for their kids., let me tell you, if a ceo thinks the right thing to do is to ship american jobs overseas, to destroy families and communities, then i challenge him to go and look those workers in the eye and have the guts to tell them to their face that they can t compete. i ve stood with these workers all across america - and let me tell you, they can compete, because they are the best workers in the world., the trade policies of president bush have devastated towns and communities all across america. but let s be clear about something - this isn t just his doing. for far too long, presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements, agreements like nafta, promising that they would create millions of new jobs and enrich communities. instead, too many of these agreements have cost us jobs and devastated many of our towns., nafta was written by insiders in all three countries, and it served their interests - not the interests of regular workers. it included unprecedented rights for corporate investors, but no labor or environmental protections in its core text. and over the past 15 years, we have seen growing income inequality in the u.s., mexico and canada., well enough is enough. americans have paid the price long enough. we need to change our fundamental approach to trade. we need to make american values the foundation of our trade deals, and we need to put workers back at their core., ***, let me tell you, no one is asking for any guarantees. america has the most open economy in the world, and no one is suggesting that we put up tariffs or go back to protectionism. any politician who promises to bring back the jobs we ve lost isn t telling the truth - no one can bring back those jobs. but with a level playing field, american workers can compete with anybody on earth. and i m absolutely not suggesting an end to trade., i am calling instead for an end to lip service. our leaders in washington say many of the right things. they even say that they will make sure the gains from trade are shared with everyone. but when push comes to shove, the trade gets pushed forward and the sharing gets shoved off., we can and we must change this. i believe we need to follow three principles to make sure globalization works for everyone., first, trade deals must benefit workers, not just big multinational corporations. today, our trade agreements are negotiated behind closed doors. the multinationals get their say, but when one goes to congress it gets an up or down vote - no amendments are allowed. no wonder that corporations get unique protections, while workers don t benefit. that s wrong., imagine trade policies that actually put american workers first. we need fair rules for workers, and we need strong protections for labor and the environment and against currency manipulation. if a deal is good for middle-class families, it s good for america; if it s not, it s not., second, our trade policies should also lift up workers around the world. this struggle over fair trade is about more that just what s at stake for america s workers - it s also about what s at stake for workers in every country. making sure that workers around the globe are treated fairly and share in trade gains is the right thing to do morally, it s the right thing to do economically, and it will make us much safer and more secure. that s what strong labor standards are all about. making sure that workers have the right to organize and earn a fair wage will not only prevent a ""race to the bottom"" on labor rights - it will also help build a global middle class that shares in the gains from trade and creates markets for u.s. exports., third, we need to address more than just our trade policies in order to restore fairness and opportunity to workers. i talked earlier about some of the adverse effects of globalization - stagnant wages and rising inequality. to help regular americans get ahead and stay ahead, we need to make sure our children get a quality education and have the chance to go to college. we need to raise the minimum wage, strengthen unions, and help families build assets. and the most important thing we can do to provide security to our workers is to guarantee universal health care in this country. i am proud to be the first major candidate to come out with a plan for universal health care., we also need to invest resources to ensure that our country keeps its competitive edge in, the world. we need to create the jobs of the future right here in america and make sure our workers have the skills they need to fill them. we need to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent, invest in life sciences and biomedical research, strengthen math and science education, and create a new energy economy., there are so many things we can do to put our economy back on the side of the working men and women who make this country great. our trade policies have a huge impact on whether regular americans - in iowa and across the country -- have the chance to get ahead in our economy or whether they are left behind., we need a new era in trade policy. we need ""smart trade"" policies that american workers can say yes to - trade policies that do more than pay lip service to their needs and that actually make sure prosperity is shared. trade policies that are as innovative as the american people. and when i m president, those are the trade policies we will have., and let me be clear: we will make sure that these policies are in place before we pass a single new trade deal., in my first year in office, i will spend time working with congress to get our trade policies straight -- policies which ensure that americans workers finally begin to see benefits from the global economy. and then, when we negotiate new trade deals it won t just be big multinational corporations whose interests are served - it will also be the interests of american workers, america s communities, and our global environment., ***, first, i will be a tough negotiator on new trade deals. there are good trade deals and there are bad trade deals, and when i am president it will be crystal clear that we have a president who knows the difference. it is not enough for a trade deal to be popular on wall street or show up in economic statistics. my main measure is just this one - after considering the impact on jobs, wages and prices, will most families be better off???when i m president, our trade agreements will give workers fair and level playing fields. all our trade partners must meet basic labor standards, such as prohibiting sweatshops and child labor and protecting the right of workers to join unions. these conditions should be the floor, not the ceiling. and they should not be in side agreements, but at the core of the agreements. i will tie unilateral trade preferences and bilateral trade agreements to progress on labor rights. as president, i will also push the world trade organization to begin to address labor standards. and i will build on the precedent of the cambodia textiles agreement, which rewarded progress on labor rights with greater market access.??new trade agreements must also include strong rules on environmental protection and against currency manipulation. as the world s biggest customer, our trade deals can be vital tools to ensure that progress is made in stopping global warming. they can also be tools to ensure that poor environmental practices do not create unfair competitive advantages. ??second, i will insist that our trade deals be fairly and fully administered. for free trade to be fair, it must be based on rules, and then those rules must be followed. but right now, many major u.s. trading partners are breaking the rules without any consequences., as president, i will seek to restore america s moral leadership of the world, and our trade policies with these countries can help. but we are going to be tough in our negotiations because the overriding obligation of the president of the united states is to put america s workers, economy and national interests first., right now, china, india and certain other nations are each, to one degree or another, combining miserably low wages and poor environmental practices with tax breaks, subsidies, tariffs, low-cost loans, and currency manipulation to advance their trade at the expense of ours. all of this is costing americans high-quality jobs and threatening millions more.?, when i am president, restoring fair and balanced trade with china will be a particular priority. its massive manipulation of the yuan has continued for years, giving it an unfair advantage against u.s. manufacturers, and its labor and intellectual property protections are grossly inadequate. as a result of the massive trade deficits we run with china - the largest ever between any two countries, more than $230 billion last year alone - china now owns $1 trillion in u.s. assets, giving it great leverage over our economy and our security. this is not acceptable. we need to persuade china s authoritarian government to commit to the rules that govern the conduct of responsible nations. our trade policies are a great opportunity for increased leverage over china. and, when i m president i will make it crystal clear that doing?business with china should not come at the expense of american jobs or our economy - there must and will be balance between our nations when we trade., as for our good friend india, which has achieved remarkable economic growth in recent years, we still must work hard to get it to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of its trade agreements with the u.s. and to further achieve our shared values, while all the while improving the lives of its millions of citizens., ?i know following the letter of any law, let alone trade law, isn t a priority for the bush administration, but it will be for mine. in the edwards administration, the top prosecutors at the department of justice will be responsible for enforcing our trade agreements. right now, the trade negotiators charged with enforcing agreements seem to think their job is done when an agreement is signed. signing a trade deal should be the beginning of the process, not the end. and i will insist that we finally begin to prosecute illegal foreign subsidies, currency manipulation, and trade practices., fair terms of trade also mean fixing our own tax code so that corporations aren t rewarded for closing plants and shipping jobs to countries like china. our government should be encouraging businesses to invest here. yet, one of the starkest examples that our economy works best for big business instead of regular americans is that we actually give tax incentives to companies to invest overseas. american companies setting up shop in tax havens often pay little or no u.s. tax. this is not only wrong, it s unpatriotic. ??i will eliminate the tax incentives that encourage companies to invest overseas rather than here at home. these dollars, if invested in new facilities and in retraining workers and, rebuilding devastated communities, can fuel a dramatic expansion of our own economy.??third, we need much more investment in helping the workers and communities left behind. when we sign a trade deal, we know which industries and workers will likely be affected by greater competition. we need to restore some honesty to the trade debate and not claim, like too many presidents from both parties have done, that trade will help everyone. this is simply not true., ?when i am president, every trade agreement will be subject to not only an economic assessment showing how imports and exports will be affected by the agreement, but also to a ""community impact assessment."" we need to make sure trade deals produce real benefits that are widely shared, and we need to get a head start on helping any workers and communities who will be hurt by increases in imports or by competition from other countries. before i ask congress to approve any new trade agreement, we will have an honest discussion about the real impact of that agreement on towns and communities and workers across our country., then we can go into dislocated communities - starting before the jobs are gone - and help them diversify their economies with initiatives modeled on the military base closing commissions, bringing local leaders, employers and unions together to rebuild local economies. we need to be much more aggressive about helping workers and affected communities., training is no substitute for good trade policies, but we must help workers gain new skills and get ahead. the problem is that, too often, training programs are completely disconnected from the job market. i will create a broad new training works program that ties retraining to real jobs. it will support on-the-job training programs through partnerships among businesses, unions and community colleges. workers will be trained on-the-job to make sure the jobs actually exist. and to make it worth businesses  while - and to support high-wage jobs - we will pay part of workers  wages while they are being trained., all types of workers are affected by globalization, and all types of workers should be eligible for help getting back on their feet. but trade adjustment assistance, or taa, now only helps manufacturing workers at plant closings., because most unemployed workers who lose their jobs aren t even covered by unemployment insurance, i will help states modernize their programs. this will give security to 500,000 more jobless workers a year, including more low-wage and part-time workers., ?and, as we have seen over the last year, another dark side of trade is the concern over the safety of the foods we eat, the toys our children play with, and even the medicines we take., now more than ever, we need to make sure that our trade rules protect american consumers., food imports have doubled in the past decade, and americans now eat three-quarters of a pound of imported food every day. however, less than 1 percent of imported food is inspected., as president, i will enforce mandatory ""country of origin"" labeling for food and other consumer products so that americans will know who is making the products they are buying. the big meat packers have blocked this law for too long. i will give the fda all the authority and resources it needs to keep tainted food and products out of our country and out of our homes., we will strengthen enforcement to ensure that safety standards are being met, and we will enforce ""zero tolerance"" and immediately freeze the specific import of any food, toys, medicines, or other goods that threatens the health of our children and families. we will, not let them in until we know they are safe, because the health and welfare of our children are more important than cheap toys., we must make sure that trade is not only smart and good for america s economy and workers, but safe for american families. regular families - their safety and their best interests - should come before the interests of multinational corporations. that s what safe and smart trade is about., you know, some people as they listen to my new smart trade vision for america will accuse me of being a protectionist or anti-trade. they would be wrong. i believe in smart and safe trade, just not trade that helps american multinationals but hurts america., and, let me tell you, you can protect the interests of american workers and still trade. we can grow our economy, and create good jobs and trade responsibly, fairly and safely. with smart trade policies, we can make sure american workers compete on level playing fields. with smart trade policies, we can create a new future where even more workers and their families have a chance to achieve the american dream., i know we can make trade and our economy work for regular workers, but real change must first begin with ending - once and for all - the influence ?lobbyists have on trade policies and on our government. it s time washington worked for the american people, not for lobbyists and insiders. it s time that?the president stood up and fought for american workers. it s time to have a?president that always - always - puts the interests of the american people first., so today, i m again calling on all federal officeholders and candidates from all political parties to join me in putting an end to the money game in washington by simply refusing to accept any form of campaign donation from federal lobbyists going forward. it s really just that simple. we need to send a message to all of the lobbyists in washington: your money is no good? here, and we re not going to take it anymore. we don t need you, we ve got? the american people on our side., ***, what i ve just said today isn t going to be popular with the special interest groups, lobbyists or washington insiders. but this isn t about being well-liked. this is about doing what s right., they re going to try to distract you and me from the issues that matter - issues like health care, poverty, jobs and economic fairness., and it s these insiders in washington who are going to attack us to try to keep people like me from speaking out, but they won t succeed. because i m going to fight with every breath i have. because this isn t about me or them - it s about you, your family, your children, and how those who run for president are going to fight for real change to create a better america where all of us can go as far as our hard work and god-given talents will take us., that s the kind of president i will be., as harry truman said, ""the ultimate test of any presidential decision is  not whether it s popular at the time, but whether it s right...if it s right, make it, and let the popular part take care of itself. "", we know we don t have to live in an america where hard-working men and women are struggling to get by. where we pass trade deal after trade deal that rip apart communities. where good people like those who worked at maytag do right by their country and are still left out in the cold., that s not our america. our america says if you work hard, you ll have the chance to get ahead and leave your kids a better life. that s the one america we re fighting for. that s our america. and together, i know we can make our one america a reality because the real power of america isn t in washington, it s with the american people. it s with all of you., and that is why when i m president, real change is coming. thank you. god bless you. god bless america., 	,"	
", , this election is unlike any we have faced before. the stakes are higher. and the challenges we face as a nation are greater than at any time in memory., we as a nation must choose whether to do what america has always done in times like these -- change direction and move boldly into the future for the sake of our children, if not for ourselves, or wander in the same stale direction we have traveled in our recent past., the choice we must make is as important as it is clear., it is a choice between looking back and looking forward., a choice between the way we ve always done it and the way we could do it if we dared. a choice between corporate power and the power of democracy., between a corrupt and corroded system and a government that works for us again. it is caution versus courage. old versus new. calculation versus principle., it is the establishment elites versus the american people., it is a choice between the failed compromises of the past and the bright possibilities of our future. between resigning ourselves to two americas or fighting for the one america we all believe in., as always, at these moments, the choice we make is not for us, but for our children and our great country. and this time, like no other time, the consequences for our children are truly profound., will we halt global warming, protect our environment and humanity from the cataclysmic consequences of inaction and leave our children a livable world rich in the resources that were left to us?, will we prevail against terrorism by stopping those who would harm us and winning over the minds of those who have yet to take sides so that instead of an ever more dangerous and war-torn world, our children live in a nation that is safe, strong and once again viewed throughout the world as a truly moral leader?, will corporate greed be all we value as we move further into the global economy, or will we put workers and families first, so that all jobs pay fair wages, every american has health care and corporate profits work for democracy and not the other way around?, will we face our future as individuals, each of us asking, ""what s in it for me?"" or will we return to the central value that makes our nation great? that we are all in this together and each of has a responsibility to the common good., the choices we make will determine not just the quality of life our children will inherit, but the fate of the world we leave behind., to succeed for our children where we have too often failed for ourselves, we must choose a new course. those wedded to the policies of the 70s, 80s, or 90s are wedded to the past -- ideas and policies that are tired, shop worn and obsolete. we will find no answers there., but small thinking and outdated answers aren t the only problems with a vision for the future that is rooted in nostalgia. the trouble with nostalgia is that you tend to remember what you liked and forget what you didn t. it s not just that the answers of the past aren t up to the job today, it s that the system that produced them was corrupt -- and still is. it s, controlled by big corporations, the lobbyists they hire to protect their bottom line and the politicians who curry their favor and carry their water. and it s perpetuated by a media that too often fawns over the establishment, but fails to seriously cover the challenges we face or the solutions being proposed. this is the game of american politics and in this game, the interests of regular americans don t stand a chance., real change starts with being honest -- the system in washington is rigged and our government is broken. it s rigged by greedy corporate powers to protect corporate profits. it s rigged by the very wealthy to ensure they become even wealthier. at the end of the day, it s rigged by all those who benefit from the established order of things. for them, more of the same means more money and more power. they ll do anything they can to keep things just the way they are -- not for the country, but for themselves., politicians who care more about their careers than their constituents go along to get elected. they make easy promises to voters instead of challenging them to take responsibility for our country. and then they compromise even those promises to keep the lobbyists happy and the contributions coming., instead of serving the people and the nation, too many play the parlor game of washington -- trading favors and campaign money, influencing votes and compromising legislation. it s a game that never ends, but every american knows -- it s time to end the game., and it s time for the democratic party -- the party of the people -- to end it., the choice for our party could not be more clear. we cannot replace a group of corporate republicans with a group of corporate democrats, just swapping the washington insiders of one party for the washington insiders of the other., the american people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale, the lincoln bedroom is not for rent, and lobbyist money can no longer influence policy in the house or the senate., it s time to end the game. it s time to tell the big corporations and the lobbyists who have been running things for too long that their time is over. it s time to challenge politicians to put the american people s interests ahead of their own calculated political interests, to look the lobbyists in the eye and just say no., and it s time for the american people to take responsibility for our government -- for in our democracy it is truly ours. if we have come to mistrust and question it, it is because we were not vigilant against the forces that have taken it from us. that their game has played on for so long is the fault of each of us -- ending the game and returning government of the people to the people is the responsibility of all of us., but cleaning up washington isn t enough. if we are going to meet the challenges we face and prevail over them, two principles must guide us -- yes, we must end the washington game, but we must also think as big as the challenges we face. our ideas must be bold enough to succeed and our government must be free to enact them without compromising principle or sacrificing results., one without the other isn t good enough. all the big ideas in the world won t make a difference if they have to go through this broken system that remains controlled by big business and their lobbyists. and if we fix the system, but aren t honest with the american people about the scope of our challenges and what s required of each of us to meet them, then we ll be left with the baby steps and incremental measures that are washington s poor excuse for progress., as bobby kennedy said, ""if we fail to dare, if we do not try, the next generation will harvest the fruit of our indifference; a world we did not want, a world we did not choose, but a world we could have made better by caring more for the results of our labors."", but if we do both -- if we have the courage to offer real change and the determination to change washington -- then we will be build the one america we dream of, where every man, woman and child is blessed with the same, great opportunity and held to the same, just rules., for more than 20 years, democrats have talked about universal health care. and for more than 20 years, we ve gotten nowhere, because lobbyists for the big insurance companies, drug companies and hmos spent millions to block real reform. instead, they ve grudgingly allowed incremental measures that do nothing but tinker around the edges -- or worse, they ve hijacked reform to improve their own bottom line. so today, more americans go without health care than ever before. instead of prescription drug reform that brought down the cost of drugs, the lobbyists for the big drug companies got us a prescription drug bill that boosts drug company profits but doesn t cut patient costs., i have a bold plan to finally guarantee true universal health care for every single american and cut health care costs for everyone. my plan will require everyone -- business, government and individuals -- to contribute something to reach universal coverage. and i, am honest about the cost: $90 to $120 billion a year, and i ll pay for it by repealing the bush tax cuts for families above $200,000. if we end the game in washington, we can finally have a health care system that treats the health of all our people with equal worth., dependence on foreign oil is smothering our economy and choking our environment. everybody knows it -- politicians from both parties have been calling for energy independence for 30 years. so what did the oilmen in the white house do? they handed the keys to the corridors of government over to the lobbyists for the big oil companies and let them literally write the energy bill. now, gas prices are through the roof, carbon emissions are unchecked, and global warming is likely getting worse., when i am president, we will cap greenhouse gas pollution and ratchet it down every year. we will avoid mistakes like nuclear power and liquid coal. we will invest in clean renewable energies generated in america and create a new era in efficient cars, made by union members here at home., and look at our economic policies -- from top to bottom, they re a twisted reflection of american values. instead of expanding opportunity for all and preventing special privileges for any, they hoard opportunity and protect special privileges for the very few at the very top., trade policy is all about corporate profits for big multinationals and not at all about lifting workers  wages or creating american jobs. the tax code provides breaks for hedge fund managers -- amazingly, even democrats backed down from asking them to pay their fair share when wall street lobbyists put the pressure on. by the time a decade of corporate opposition to a minimal increase in the minimum wage is overcome, even its own supporters admit that the increase isn t enough -- so another decade of corporate opposition begins anew, and workers lose again., it s time we put our economy back in line with our values. let s restore fairness to our tax code by insisting on a simple principle -- nobody in the middle class should pay higher taxes on the money they make from hard work than the wealthiest pay on the money they make from their investments. let s restore opportunity and responsibility to our trade policy by requiring that every new trade deal puts workers and wages first. let s reward work by strengthening unions, raising the minimum wage, cutting taxes on working families and with a national commitment to end poverty within a generation., and let s support our troops and end this war in iraq. we should immediately withdraw 40-50,000 combat troops immediately and have the rest out in about a year. and when president bush refuses to act, congress should use its funding power to force him to act., none of this will be easy, but all of it is possible. i know. i ve been doing it my entire life., i am the son of wallace and bobbie edwards. my father had to borrow $50 to bring me and my mother home from the hospital. i am here today because, like all the people my father worked with in the mill, my parents got up every day believing in the promise of america, and they worked hard -- no matter what obstacles were thrown against them -- to give me the chance for a better life., that s the promise at the heart of the american dream. what matters to our generation is of little consequence -- in america what has always mattered most is the consequences for our children and their children after them. and no amount of power or money gives anyone the right to break that promise with our future., i have stood with ordinary americans at the most difficult times in their lives, when all the power of corporate america was arrayed against them. i have walked into courtrooms alone to face an army of corporate lawyers with all the money in the world. i have walked off the senate elevator and been besieged by an army of corporate lobbyists. and i have beaten them over and over again., but let me tell you one thing i have learned from my experience -- you cannot deal with them on their terms. you cannot play by their rules, sit at their table, or give them a seat at yours. they will not give up their power -- you have to take it from them., we cannot triangulate our way to real change. we cannot compromise our way to real change. but we can lead to real change. and we can start today., nearly ten years ago, i made the decision that i would never take a dime from a washington lobbyist -- i wasn t going to work for them, and i didn t want their money., because in the courtroom, when you present your case to the jury, you can offer facts and evidence, you can argue your heart out -- and i have -- but the one thing you can t do, is pay the jury. we call that a bribe. but in washington when an oil lobbyist gives money to office holders to influence our energy policy, they call it politics. that s exactly what s wrong with this system., money flies like lightning between corporations, lobbyists, and politicians. we need full, public financing to reform the system once and for all. but we don t need to wait to reform our party. two weeks ago, i called on all democrats to reject contributions from federal lobbyists. to tell them -- we know that you give money to influence politicians on behalf of your corporate clients. well, we re not going to take it anymore. your money s no good here., i repeat that challenge today. let s show america exactly whose side we re on. we can reform our party and truly be the party of the people. and we can expose for all time who the republicans in washington are really working for., there are 60 lobbyists in washington for every member of congress. the big corporations don t need another president that looks out for them -- they ve got all the power they need. i want to be the people s president., a few weeks, ago i met a man named james lowe in wise, virginia. james spent the first fifty years of his life without a voice -- literally without a voice -- because he didn t have health care. all he needed was a simple operation to fix a cleft palate. that a man in the richest country in the world could go unable to speak for 50 years because he couldn t pay for a $3,000 operation is something that should outrage every american. we are better than that. america is better that that., it s a stark reminder of our broken political system that leaves millions of americans without a voice in their government -- a government that is supposed to work for them., but it doesn t have to be that way. and we can change it together. we must think big and end the game., it s not about being ready to grab the reigns of establishment washington and stand on the side of corporate elites. if it is, there are plenty who will do a better job than me at protecting the status quo, and preserving the policies and politics of the past., it s about being ready to lift our country up, reform our party, and remake our government in line with the values of our people. it s about real change and a new vision that meets the challenges of the future and inspires the american people to work together for the common good., we re all angry at what george bush has done to our country. but with courage and conviction, with an unblinking eye on the future we believe in and an unbending knee on the road to get there, not only can we undo the damage, we can transform the world. no matter what life has thrown at us, elizabeth and i have always chosen to be optimistic about the future -- and determined to make a difference as we strive toward it everyday., i carry the promise of america in my heart, where my parents placed it. because of them, i believe in people, hard work and the american dream. i believe the future belongs to us if we only dare to seize it. and i believe to seize it, we must blaze a new path, firmly grounded in the values that first made america great. we must cast aside the established ways of washington and replace them with the timeless values of the american people. we must end the game controlled by a privileged few and restore the promise that america owes to us all., on that new path lies one america, where possibility is unbound and opportunity is the birthright of every american. where the voices of the people are heard again in the halls of government, and government heeds their call. one america, where every individual takes responsibility for our common good, and the chance to reach one s god-given potential is every individual s common right., i am the son of wallace and bobbie edwards. and i believe in the promise of america., 	,"	
", thank you for having me here today. thank you., on a beautiful, bright september day almost six years ago, a group of 19 men stepped onto four airplanes, intending to kill as many people as they could, intending to terrorize america. just a few blocks from here, the hijackers crashed their terrible ideology into the american dream., nearly 3,000 americans died on that horrible day in new york city, in arlington, virginia, and in shanksville, pennsylvania. they were bankers and busboys, secretaries and firemen, and they were all our brothers and sisters., their sacrifice is a harsh and lasting reminder of what must become one of the great goals of our generation—the need to protect our citizens from these horrors, to root out and shut down terrorist cells wherever they fester, to remove the poverty and instability that give radicalism a toehold, and to make terrorism utterly unacceptable among nations everywhere, for all time., in august of 2001, while george bush was in crawford ignoring memos about the threat from al qaeda, i authored an op-ed in which i named terrorism as the most vital national security challenge our country would face in the coming years. i still believe that today., the world stood united behind america after 9/11. but instead of leading a truly visionary campaign against global terrorism, our president led america down a garden path. he used the attacks to justify a preconceived war against a nation he now admits had no ties to al qaeda. he then offered belligerence and hostility to the world community, and we have been rewarded in kind., president bush, like the republicans following him today and even some democrats, was stuck in the past, and he still is. he had no grasp of the new threats we faced, so he failed to offer a vision to keep us safe in a world that had changed. saddam hussein was the threat he knew, so iraq was the war he waged., we needed new thinking and a bold vision to protect the world for our children; instead, george bush literally gave us his father s war—but without his father s allies or his father s sense of decency. what s more and what s worse, the so-called ""war on terror"" he used as his excuse for war in iraq became his excuse for trampling our constitution and, most perversely, for ignoring the demands of the actual struggle against terrorism. because in george bush s reality, disagreement is called weak, challenge is suspect, and opposition downright unpatriotic., six years later, the devastating consequences of the bush ""war on terror"" doctrine are so clear that his own administration has had to admit them., a recent national intelligence estimate found that al qaeda is now as strong as it was before 9/11. in a recent survey of america s most respected foreign policy experts, the vast majority said the world is becoming more dangerous for americans and the united states. the state department recently released a study showing that terrorism has increased worldwide 25 percent in 2006, including a 40 percent surge in civilian fatalities., and as everyone here knows, osama bin laden is still at large. six years ago, president bush declared that he wanted bin laden ""dead or alive."" this is his starkest failure. apparently, bin laden plans to address america on the anniversary of 9/11. but i don t need to wait and hear what this murderer has to say. my position is clear. i can make you this solemn promise: as president, i will never rest until we have hunted bin laden down and served him justice., george bush s approach to terrorism has not only failed to make the world safer. it has demolished the foundation of america s foreign policy: our relationships with other, countries. in the first gulf war, our allies shared the cost of troops, casualties, and funding. but in the current iraq war, the bush approach left us largely on our own, bearing almost all of the burden., tragically for america and the world, george bush s ""war on terror"" approach walked directly into the trap the terrorists set for us. islamic extremists wanted to frame the conflict with the u.s. as a war of civilizations, and the bush administration, stuck in a cold war mentality, happily complied., there is now only one key question we must ask ourselves: are we any closer to getting rid of terrorism than we were six years ago? and the terrible answer is no, we re further away. today, terrorism is worse in iraq, and it s worse around the world. so what does all this mean? it means the results are in on george bush s so-called ""global war on terror"" and it s not just a failure, it s a double-edged failure., the bush approach hasn t only made the terror problem worse. the administration has rigidly stuck to outdated approaches that are ineffective against the modern terrorist threat. we need a counterterrorism policy that will actually counter terrorism. that matches 21st century threats with 21st century tactics. that replaces cold war thinking designed to defeat a single, implacable enemy with new world thinking that can defeat a multi-national, diverse, and often hidden foe—not just now, but for the long-term. that s strong, fast, and hard enough to stop terrorists cold, but also smart, honest, and prescient enough to draw people away from terrorism in the first place., and to do all of this, we must do one thing. we ve got to throw away the failed george bush policies of the past, and move in a bold new direction., instead of cold war institutions designed to win traditional wars and protect traditional borders, we need new institutions designed to share intelligence, cooperate across borders, and take out small, hostile groups., instead of a foreign policy of convenience that readily does business with whoever is available and regularly turns a blind eye when our allies behave wrongly or fail to cooperate, we need a new foreign policy of conviction that requires cooperation in exchange for our support, whether it s arms sales, trade, or foreign aid., instead of an exclusively short-term focus on the enemy we know, we need a long-term strategy to win the minds of those who are not yet our enemies, by offering education, democracy, and opportunity in place of radicalism, hatred and fear., most of all, instead of a reckless, solo pursuit of an ideological agenda that abandons our moral authority and disregards our allies, we need to reengage with the world and reassert our moral leadership., search, in a few short days, we will all take time to remember 9/11. this year, we should all make the anniversary not only a time of mourning, but of reflection on the very real choices we face., we learned on 9/11 the consequences of not dealing with the threat of terrorism. you will have a very real choice to make in this election, and the choice will have consequences. you and your children will have to live with the decisions we make in the next four years., there is no doubt that some progress has been made. we should thank the professionals who have uncovered plots like the one on john f. kennedy airport. our federal government has been substantially rearranged, and many problems corrected., but we should not let our enthusiasm for short-term victories cloud the long-term reality. the fact is that george bush has used 20th century tools to attack 21st century problems. the bush approach has failed not only because of the shameless political manipulations and reckless decisions of the president and his aides. it has failed because the president is using an antiquated set of weapons against a modern target, and he s misfiring., some politicians, like rudolph giuliani, mitt romney, and john mccain have responded to the shortcomings and backfires of the administration s approach by essentially doubling-down. they have closed their eyes to the facts and asked us to accept, on faith, more of the bush approach. some running for the democratic nomination have even argued that the bush-cheney approach has made us safer. it has not., for the sake of our nation s security, for the sake of building a safer america, we must take a new direction., we need a bold new approach—one that is smart, tough, and targeted. this will require us to look beyond the structures of world war ii and the cold war to new tools that will allow us to target terrorism more precisely. it will require sustained u.s. leadership—but the kind that leverages the power of partnerships, rather than going it alone. it will mean raising the level of cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence agencies—while preserving civil liberties and the rule of law., we saw the promise of a new multilateral approach just a couple of days ago in germany., the terrorists the german authorities caught were plotting massive attacks on american interests. they had been trained in pakistan, had a network in turkey, and were captured through german and american intelligence. we must be able to coordinate similar operations throughout the world—in the middle east, asia, africa, and anywhere terrorists would attack., now more than ever, the world is ready for a new direction from america. the world is ready to work together against terrorism. but right now, the community of nations lacks any global institution to coordinate counter-terrorist intelligence and security operations. the international institutions of the last century were designed for world war ii and the cold war. institutions like the united nations, nato, and interpol have taken steps to adapt to the twenty-first century challenge of terrorism, and they serve valuable purposes. and they remain essential to fulfilling our interests. but they cannot be the complete and final answer to shutting down global terrorism., its the right time for a bold new direction., as president, i will launch a comprehensive new counterterrorism policy that will be defined by two principles—strength and cooperation., the centerpiece of this policy will be a new multilateral organization called the counterterrorism and intelligence treaty organization (cito)., every nation has an interest in shutting down terrorism. cito will create connections between a wide range of nations on terrorism and intelligence, including countries on all continents, including asia, africa, latin america, and europe. new connections between previously separate nations will be forged, creating new possibilities., cito will allow members to voluntarily share financial, police, customs and immigration intelligence. together, nations will be able to track the way terrorists travel, communicate, recruit, train, and finance their operations. and they will be able to take action, through international teams of intelligence and national security professionals who will launch targeted missions to root out and shut down terrorist cells., the new organization will also create a historic new coalition. those nations who join will, by working together, show the world the power of cooperation. those nations who join will also be required to commit to tough criteria about the steps they will take to root out extremists, particularly those who cross borders. those nations who refuse to join will be called out before the world., its important to note that cito is not a panacea, nor will it be perfect. but it would represent the first step in a new direction. as president john f. kennedy observed when he signed the treaty that first limited the testing of nuclear weapons, we must begin with the common recognition of a common danger. president kennedy said then, ""a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."" today, this new anti-terrorism organization would be such a first step., organizations are only as strong as the people who help make them run, and so we must also improve the quality of our human intelligence—agents better able to understand local culture and make local connections in countries with active terrorist cells. as president, i will lead efforts to improve human intelligence through 1,000 new annual scholarships to improve language skills for students who pursue careers in intelligence and diplomacy., a terrorist should not be able to escape detection in europe or the middle east if a foreign agency could have caught him with the help of american technology and advice. within six months of taking office, i will direct the secretary of state, working with the attorney general and other national security officials, to launch comprehensive strategies to support agencies in other countries., there is no more urgent task than preventing terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon or another weapon of mass destruction. and we will all be better off when the world is free of nuclear weapons., diplomacy is key to progress against nuclear weapons. the recent agreement with north korea to shut down their nuclear programs in exchange for the release of frozen assets is long overdue, but encouraging. it is telling that the few successes of the bush administration come from the diplomacy it has derided., as president, i will create a global nuclear compact to strengthen the non-proliferation treaty, which would support peaceful nuclear programs, improve security for existing stocks of nuclear materials, and ensure more frequent verification that materials are not being diverted and facilities are not being misused. and i will lead an international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons., our chemical plants are also targets for terrorists. a successful attack on any of these targets would be devastating. because of industry pressure, new watered-down security rules imposed by the bush administration may actually weaken security at many chemical plants. i support implementing tough new safety standards at plants vulnerable to, terrorist attacks., we must also work hard here at home to ensure that extremist ideologies do not take hold in our own muslim communities—and we must do so in a way that respects diversity and civil liberties and avoids practices like racial profiling against both arabs and muslims. we must encourage american muslim participation in public life. i will put new resources toward engaging american muslims, empowering local mosques to counter extremist ideas, and working hand-in-hand with muslim communities to identify and isolate threats., finally, we must achieve energy independence. if we reduce our reliance on oil from instable parts of the world, middle eastern regimes will finally diversify their economies and modernize their societies. and fighting global climate change will reduce global disruptions that could lead to tends of millions of refugees and create massive new breeding grounds for desperation and radicalism., there are those who are hard-core proponents of terror, and i have spoken here about how we must deal with them., yet we also should have a broader, deeper goal—to prevent terrorism from taking root in the first place. millions of people around the world are sitting on the fence. on the one side are bin laden and al qaeda, and on the other side is america. the question is which way they will go. if they perceive america as a bully, it will drive them in the other direction., if, on the other hand, they see us as the light, the country they want to be like, the country that s creating hope and opportunity, it will pull them to us like a magnet., we have to be that light again. we need to do everything we can to prevent this generation of potential friends from becoming a generation of enemies., several months ago, i proposed a sweeping effort to eliminate the poverty and instability that create the conditions for extremism, including increasing our funding for global primary education to $3 billion a year, expanded microfinance programs, ramping up our support for sanitation and preventive health care in developing nations, and dramatically increasing our promotion of constitutional democracies and the rule of law across the developing world., and during my first year in office, i will establish a ""marshall corps,"" patterned after the military reserves, that will include at least 10,000 civilian experts. its members will be deployed abroad to serve on reconstruction, stabilization, and humanitarian missions., rethinking our approach to terrorism also means rethinking our approach country by country, cell by cell. and in each place where terrorism has taken root, there is a lot more we can do., we must begin with one of the greatest generators of terrorism in the world today: iraq. george bush s failed management of the war in iraq has made the problem of terrorism worse. the war provided al qaeda with a powerful tool for recruiting terrorists. it gave them a battlefield for training. it gave them an attractive target, in american troops. and it diverted the resources of the u.s. military, weakening our force structure in the process., even though the presence of u.s. troops has served as an attractive target for terrorists, our eventual withdrawal will not remove the threat. as president, i will redeploy troops into quick reaction forces outside of iraq, to perform targeted missions against al qaeda cells and to prevent a genocide or regional spillover of a civil war., we can neglect the crisis in afghanistan no longer. the taliban is re-taking territory in southern afghanistan and kidnapping foreigners. as president, i will work with the other members of nato to ensure that our forces and rules of engagement are robust enough to defeat the taliban and protect the democratic government in afghanistan. as part of this effort, i will commit additional american special forces to root out and shut down taliban cells., terrorists also take advantage when states don t do enough to stop them. we ought to use our tremendous tools—whether diplomacy, arms sales, trade, or foreign aid—to get states to shut down terrorism. in pakistan, the recent national intelligence estimate found that al qaeda has established a safe haven in the northwest tribal areas. we have given the musharraf government billions of dollars of aid in the last several years, yet they have done far too little to get control over these areas. as president, i will condition future american aid on progress by pakistan, including strengthening the reach of police forces and working more effectively with tribal leaders and their members to ensure their acceptance of the government. but i want to be clear about one thing: if we have actionable intelligence about imminent terrorist activity and the pakistan government refuses to act, we will., and saudi arabia is a country we have given too much in return for too little. we must require the saudis to do more to stop the flow of terrorists to iraq. as president, i will condition future arms packages on saudi arabia s actions against terrorists., finally, you may be asking yourself why i am delivering this speech at a college, instead of, a think tank—why i am talking to a room full of young people, instead of a room full policy experts., the answer is simple., i have spoken of the need to counter 21st century threats with 21st century strategies. to do that, we need 21st century minds. and that means we need you., your country needs you. you may not agree with the decisions that got us to where we are today. you may not agree with the policies george bush is currently pursuing. everyone in this room knows that i certainly do not., but we are in this struggle. we are in it together—and america needs you now more than ever., while the bush administration used this struggle to divide us, i am asking you to rise to the challenges we face today. to sacrifice. to make a meaningful contribution to our national effort., it s time to be patriotic about something other than war., your country needs your help. your country needs you to contribute to this effort in ways big and small., you can dedicate your life to this cause by joining our armed forces or an intelligence agency, to help establish and execute the plan i have laid out here today., you can join the marshall corps that i have proposed, to represent america abroad and help alleviate the poverty that provides the breeding ground for terror., you can take the lead in bridging the cultural divide by learning to speak arabic or another foreign language., you can work or volunteer for an ngo that fights global poverty., or you can write and talk to your elected representatives to keep them honest and make sure they are supporting smart policies that will help us end the war in iraq., it is these sacrifices that will help restore america s greatness. we must lead the world toward the future, and we must take up the mantle of moral leadership that served us so well in the last century., the campaign against terrorism will demand toughness and creativity. it will take place in the shadows, in difficult terrain like the hills of pakistan and the fields of afghanistan, and in the hearts and minds of millions., we have a choice today, and it rests in your hands. you are the generation who will help decide whether america will stick with the failed policies of the past, or whether we will aim for the horizon., every generation of americans has faced grave challenges. we have overcome great foes in the past, and we will do so again—in the last century, we closed the chapters on nazism, fascism, and communism through courage, bold new ideas, and strength., today, we stand on the shoulders of the generations who faced those challenges in their own time, and who rose to meet them., just as they rose to meet the enemies they faced, we must rise to meet ours. and just as they did, we rise to meet them as americans., so challenge your leaders—hold them accountable for creating a safer world. and challenge yourselves—hold yourself accountable for creating a better nation. that is what it means to be american. to reach, to keep on reaching, to never, ever stop reaching for the best that any nation can ever be., do we have the vision to imagine a better world? of course we do. do we have the strength to protect our people? of course we do. and do we have the guts to say, we know that this struggle is not just about our future, it is about your future, wherever you live, whoever you are? of course we do., robert f. kennedy once said that each time we stand up for an idea, we send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and that, together, those ripples can build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance., you can create that current, and you can start today. this is america, after all. we are more than a place. we are an idea. an idea that has changed the world and will change it again and again. we are freedom, equality and respect. a beacon once lit that can never be put out., we are america, and the future is ours if we have the courage to make it so., thank you, and god bless america., 	,"	
", thank you. good to see all of you., there s been a lot of talk up here in new hampshire about change lately. but change is just a word when it s not backed up by real action. anybody can say it. it s what you do that shows whether you really mean it., to actually create change, we should start by telling the truth., here s the truth: the system in washington is broken. money is corrupting our democracy. lobbyists and the special interests they represent are pouring millions of dollars into the system, and stopping the change we need dead in its tracks., our founding fathers intended our government to do the will of the people. but today, it s doing the will of the special interests instead., the cynics say that it will always be this way. they say that the kind of big, bold change we need today can t be achieved, and we just shouldn t try., but you can t listen to them. we ve done it before, and we can do it again. throughout our history, there have been times when good people have had to take the power back from the powerful interests. this is one of those times., a century ago, the system was broken, too. powerful business interests established control over the biggest sectors of the american economy. men like rockefeller and, carnegie colluded to control prices, eliminate competition, and manipulate the free market in the name of their own narrow interests., then as now, the american people knew the system was broken. and they had the same choice that we have today: accept it, or demand change., we all know what happened. they demanded change, and elected a leader named theodore roosevelt to deliver it., because of roosevelt s leadership, the coming decades were known as the ""american century,"" and in it we built the biggest, strongest, most prosperous middle class in history., today, once again, powerful special interests have established control over our democracy. but what we face today is not a monopoly of control over our economy - it is a monopoly of influence over our government., we can fix this broken system, as generations before us fixed the problems they faced in their time. but we need a leader who won t accept the corruption in washington. we need a leader strong enough to say ""no"" to money from lobbyists and special interests. we need a leader who will fight for the big change we need to see., to clean up our government, you have to do two things. you have to be committed to changing the system. and you have to run a campaign that does not take money from lobbyists or special interests - so you are not beholden to the people who are corrupting our system by the time you get to washington., you can t do one without the other. you have to do both. in this election, more than any other, the candidate who stands with the special interests will lose., i have fought the special interests my entire life. as a lawyer, i defended hard-working americans during the toughest times of their lives against the big corporations that were trying to victimize them., as a united states senator, i unseated a corrupt republican incumbent in a red state - because the voters knew that i would fight for them, and not the special interests., , now, i am running for president to end the corrupt system in washington, and return the power of this government back to the hard-working people of america., and i am refusing to take money from lobbyists and special interests - because if there s one thing i ve learned out here on the campaign trail, it s that the american people are looking for more than just talk about change. they are looking for a leader who will back up their words with action., the american people are sick and tired of business as usual. the status quo and the washington establishment will not get us the change we need., when i was in congress, i saw what business as usual looked like. sometimes it s blatant - like the time current house minority leader john boehner handed out checks from big tobacco companies to lawmakers on the floor of the house of representatives. or the time someone offered $100,000 to congressman nick smith s son s campaign in exchange for a vote., but usually, it s more subtle. the influence peddlers buy seats at the table where decisions are made. they explain their special needs to politicians, in their offices and at cocktail parties. and they surround them with hand-picked experts who will back up their case., the problem is that one side of the argument usually has all the money and all the manpower. it s like a courtroom where only one side of the case is being argued., if you want to see how the special interests get their way, just look at the universal health care bill that senator clinton tried to get passed in the 1990s. at first, the american people supported her proposal. but then the health insurance companies deployed armies of lobbyists to capitol hill to pressure lawmakers. they spent millions of dollars on television ads. and they won., i believe senator clinton deserves credit for her effort. her plan wasn t perfect, but it included a lot of good ideas. the place where she and i differ is the lessons we ve learned since then., she seems to think that you should still give lobbyists a seat at the table. i think if you give them a seat at the table, they ll eat all the food., she seems to think you can talk about ending the influence of lobbyists, but still take millions of dollars from them. i believe that if you are serious about ending the influence of lobbyists, you have to stop taking their money., when i challenged her on this, she responded by defending the system. i don t think you can talk about changing america, and then turn around and defend the broken system in washington., and i think if you are going to talk about ending the influence of special interests, you can t turn around and hold a fundraiser where you bring the special interests together with the very lawmakers they are trying to influence., this is the poster child for what is wrong with politics today. politicians try to have it both ways: they talk about changing the system, but then conduct business as usual., the american people need a president who will be straight with them - who will be honest about the greatest challenges our government faces. and one of the most important of those is the looming social security crisis. first, senator clinton said she would just wait for things to get better. now, she has apparently told some people that she really supports my idea of asking people who make more than $200,000 a year to contribute a little more., i don t believe open government means popular answers in public and honest candor in private., part of the reason the system is broken is that the special interests are winning many fights behind the scenes, before the american people ever hear about them., just a few days ago, the hedge fund industry won a behind-the-scenes war to kill a bill that would have plugged a loophole that funnels billions of dollars into the pockets of some of the highest-paid people in america., the hedge fund industry hired more than 20 lobbying firms - corporate republicans and corporate democrats. at the same time, they stepped up their campaign contributions, to remind politicians what they would be missing if they didn t play along., of course, congress dropped the bill, and left the loophole wide open. this happens all the time in washington. measures that lobbyists oppose just fall off the schedule., look at the debate over global warming. earlier this year, over 2,000 of the world s top, client scientists released a report that concluded with at least 90 percent certainty that global warming is happening, and that man-made greenhouse gases are a major cause., this is the same group that is sharing the nobel prize with vice president al gore. but the facts in their report were not the facts that the big oil companies wanted to hear. so a conservative think tank funded by exxonmobil offered scientists $10,000, plus travel and other expenses, to undermine the facts in the report to politicians on capitol hill. it was no wonder that the energy bill that passed congress did not include a cap on greenhouse gas emissions., are you seeing a pattern here? the american people want change. but the special interests see change as a threat to their profits. so they hire lobbyists, step up their campaign contributions - and block the change that people want. in washington, that s the way the game is played., *****, well, i say it s time we end this game. this government belongs to the american people. it s time we put the power back in their hands. that is why today, i am proposing the one democracy initiative, to end the power of the special interests, restore our democracy, and start building one america., the first thing we have to do is cut off special interests  ability to influence campaigns with their money, and increase the power of regular people., right now, any individual can donate up to $2,300 to a campaign. that means candidates are spending their time glad-handing with the tiny fraction of americans who can write a $2,300 check. as president, i would rewrite the rules to put small donors in charge by matching the first $100 of donations at a rate of 8-to-1. under my plan, two $100 checks will be worth the same as one $1,000 check - and no one will be allowed to give more than $1,000., but i will not stop there. with all the money that is flooding into this race, you would think it was an auction, not an election. i have decided to take public financing - which will help my campaign raise money from small donors, and make a statement about my independence from big donors., this is another place where senator clinton and i part ways. we have both said we support the public financing of campaigns as the best way to get special interest money out of our elections. i have backed up my words with actions, and challenged her to do the same., she hasn t yet, but i hope she will. if she is not going to take public financing, i believe the american people deserve to know why she says she believes in the public financing system, but will not participate in it., unlike senator clinton, i have also never taken a dime from federal lobbyists or political action committees, because i know that money comes with strings attached. i think that should be the rule, not the exception. as president, i will prohibit all candidates and federal office holders from accepting contributions from lobbyists., all this money is making it extremely difficult for non-wealthy candidates to run. i believe that a high-school teacher here in keene, or a nurse in manchester, should have the same opportunity to run for congress as a lawyer from north carolina. i believe everyone should have the same chance to run for office as i had., but today, the cost of even a congressional campaign is climbing into the millions. unfortunately, our broken system helps create the perception that to run for office, you either need to be very wealthy or willing to be very bought by the special interests., as president, i will fix this by creating a public financing option for congressional candidates that would give all candidates equal budgets and equal airtime. that way, regular americans just like the people in this room can run for office without having to cozy up to big contributors., *****, we also need to restore confidence in our democracy. in america, everyone s vote should count the same. but after the vote-counting fiascoes of recent years, we need to reassure people that their vote will be counted correctly. as president, i will require that all voting machines, including electronic ones, use paper ballots that can be verified by voters., we also need to make sure that all of our citizens are able to participate in our democracy, and have the representation they deserve. we need to end the disenfranchisement of residents of washington, d.c., and give d.c. residents a vote in congress. we also need to end the disenfranchisement of former prisoners who have served their time. and we need to end the voter suppression and intimidation that has, , been reported in recent elections., i believe in the wisdom of the american people, and i think the more power they have in our democracy, the better our country will be. that s why every two years, i will ask one million citizens to come together to tackle our toughest issues in local forums across the nation., these citizen congresses will combine old-fashioned town halls with 21st century technology. they will give regular americans a chance to speak to each other, and to their elected officials in washington, without the filters of interest groups and the media., like so much of what washington needs, this idea of grassroots democracy is already working out in the real world, in towns just like this one., right here in new hampshire, the portsmouth study circle has brought hundreds of regular people together for over a decade to work out issues - from school redistricting to ending racial profiling to the city s 10-year plan. and the november 5th coalition is working to raise awareness of local democracy and promote a new generation of citizen- centered work., *****, that is the promise of our democracy: that everyday, hard-working americans and their families can come together and exercise their democratic power to change this country for the better., but to give them that power, we need to do more than just clean up our elections. we also need to break the link between k street and capitol hill., the bread and butter of wealthy lobbyists are earmarks - taking money from the u.s. treasury and sending it directly to their clients through spending bills. top lobbyists earn millions this way. i will end that practice with a constitutional version of the line-item veto, where the president can require an up or down vote on any spending item he deems irresponsible or inappropriate, we also need to close the revolving door between capitol hill and k street. i will reinstate the five-year ban on lobbying by former top government officials. president bill clinton passed that ban, but then he cancelled it in his last days in office. i will reenact it by statute so no president can rescind it again., we also need to bar federal lobbyists from setting policy over their former industries. when i m president, there will be no more foxes guarding the henhouse. if you want to see whether another candidate really stands for change, ask them whether they will do the same., *****, the way washington is rushing to do the bidding of special interests these days, you would think that they were the ones that made america great. but they re not. the hardworking men and women of america, like the people in this room, are the ones who made this country great., i ve talked a lot about what i will do as president to fix the broken system in washington. but you all have a role to play in this, too., the status quo will only continue if you let it. it will continue if you look the other way while people defend a system we all know is broken. it will continue if you settle for replacing a bunch of corporate republicans with a bunch of corporate democrats., the status quo will continue if you let it - but it will change if you demand it., that is why i am challenging you today: be vigilant. remember that democracy does not defend itself. every generation has to fight to fulfill the promise of america - of a nation where everyone is equal, and the government responds to the will of the people., we are the great nation we are today because the generations that went before us stood up and fixed our democracy when it was broken. today, that responsibility falls on all of us., my youngest daughter, emma claire, is 9 years old. many of you may have children or grandchildren around that age., if we join together, starting today, and demand change, think about how different this country could be by the time they are out of high school., we could be living in an america where every man, woman and child is guaranteed high- quality health care., an america where we are finally working to halt global warming, develop clean fuels and end our addiction to foreign oil. an america on the road to ending poverty, with the american dream becoming a new reality for millions of hard-working americans. an america where we have restored our moral leadership in the world., but to reach that america tomorrow, we need to rise to the challenges we face today. no matter what the cynics say, if we join together and fight for real change, we can restore our democracy, and make our government work again., so don t settle for more of the same. don t settle for a broken system that ignores your cries for change., demand better. let s be the generation that restores our democracy. let s be the generation that returns the power of our government back to the people. let s be the generation that restores our nation to greatness. let s be the change we want to see., this is our government. this is our america. and this is our moment to take it back. stand with me today. and together, we can change this country., thank you, and god bless.,"	
", thank you, doug, for that generous introduction. it s good to be here in iowa with all of you today. and it s such an honor to be introduced by you., we all need role models, and doug is one in my book. i think role models are people who wake up every morning, work hard and do the right thing to build a better life for themselves and their family., that s what doug has done, and that s what lots of hard-working men and women here in des moines and all across this country do every day. in america, that should be enough to get ahead. but today, it s barely enough to squeak by., that is not the way it s supposed to be. i know, because i ve experienced the way it is supposed to be in my own life., i was born in a small town in south carolina. when i was born, my parents had to borrow $50 to take me home from the hospital. but when i was growing up, they taught me that if i worked hard and played by the rules, i could be anything i wanted to be. i went to good public schools, where i had teachers who helped me learn to believe in myself. then i had the chance to go to college, and that has made all the difference in my life., this didn t happen by accident. it happened because in america, there is a grand social compact - anyone who is willing to work hard and do the right thing should have the opportunity to share in our nation s prosperity. in good times, a rising tide will lift all boats; in tough times, it s all hands on deck to set things right., over the course of our history, every generation of americans has helped to expand the reach of that compact, moving us ever closer to the america of our ideals, where opportunity is truly shared by all. but now, instead of expanding further, our social compact is falling apart., the statistics say our economy is growing, that the economic tide is rising. but if you look around, only the yachts are rising with it. everyone else is taking on water. profits are skyrocketing on wall street, but main street is drowning under waves of cost and debt., the truth is our economy is only growing at the top. forty percent of the economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top one percent of american families. middle-class incomes have stagnated for the past seven years. families are working longer hours, but finding it harder to get by. and for the 37 million americans living in poverty, things are only getting worse., but not everyone is struggling. in corporate america, where a broader sense of social responsibility once held sway, a culture of greed has taken over. instead of treating their employees fairly, being accountable to their shareholders and contributing to america s prosperity, ceos are acting like their corporations exist primarily to build their own massive fortunes., in 1960, the average ceo made 41 times what the average worker made. but in 2005, the average ceo made over 400 times the average worker salary. the share of corporate profits going to ceo pay has doubled since the 1990s. meanwhile, the value of the minimum wage has plummeted 30 percent since 1979., what does washington do while corporate profits climb and the wealth of the very wealthiest grows - all at the expense of the vast majority of hardworking americans? it circles the wagons around the people who are already doing the best. instead of protecting the compact of equal opportunity and shared prosperity, washington protects corporate profits and hoards prosperity., that is wrong, it is shameful, and it is bad for our economy to boot. as franklin roosevelt said, ""we have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals. we know now that it is bad economics."", , , , unfortunately, this is no accident. today, our economy is designed to benefit the wealthy and the powerful because it has been manipulated by the wealthy and the powerful., the system in washington is badly broken. it used to be that big business hired lobbyists and lawyers to help them get around the rules. that was bad enough - but today, they hire them to write the rules. and it works, because the politicians who are supposed to make the rules are indebted to the lobbyists that the corporations hire., the folks at the top tell us that this is how it s supposed to be in the global economy. they tell us that we should accept the fact that we re losing millions of jobs overseas because it ll make us more efficient. they tell us not to worry that middle-class wages are stagnating while corporate profits soar, because those profits will be reinvested. and they tell us not to be concerned that plants like the on in newton that doug worked for are closing, because it s just a reallocation of resources., you don t need a business degree to know that these things hurt the middle class. and america cannot be getting stronger if its middle class is getting weaker., enough is enough. we don t need any more doubletalk. we need straight talk. we don t need any more empty promises. we need to restore one promise - the promise of america, and the social compact that built the greatest economy in the world., corporations and powerful interests have run roughshod over regular middle-class families here in iowa and all across america because that social compact has broken down., as globalization, technology and demographic change have transformed our economy, corporations have adapted to protect their own interests. but washington has not adapted the social compact to protect the interests of the middle class. today, we are living in a 21st century economy, but asking our workers to compete with a 20th century set of tools., we can fix this. we can restore the social compact, just as generations before us have restored it in their time., but to do that, we have to do two things. first, we need to modernize the compact in the face of today s new economic realities. instead of relying on a single employer to provide for its workers for life, we need universal health care and universal retirement savings accounts that follow workers from job to job., second, to restore the balance of power to the compact, we need to hold corporations accountable for serving the interests of workers and customers, not just corporate insiders, with stronger corporate responsibility laws and consumer protections., *****, updating the social compact with the middle class starts with recognizing that times have changed. we are never going back to the 1950s - we need a new social compact that works in the 21st century., the first thing we need to do is to make affordable, high-quality health care a part of that compact. this should have been done sixty years ago, when harry truman tried to enact universal health care. he was blocked by short-sighted special interests then, just as senator clinton was blocked by special interests when she tried to enact her health care plan in 1993., i say it s time we stood up to those lobbyists and the special interests they work for. forty-seven million americans without health insurance is an abomination, and it needs to end. as president, universal health care will be my number one domestic priority., we also need to adapt the compact to the new, short-term nature of the modern work environment by providing americans with pensions they can take with them from job to job., in the past, it was common for someone to stay with the same company for their entire career. and so it made sense for pensions to be connected to employers. today, the average worker will probably hold jobs with multiple companies throughout the course of his or her career. so if you depend on your employer for retirement security, you re just one layoff away from a crisis., as president, i will create a new universal retirement account requiring every business to automatically enroll its workers in at least one plan: a traditional pension, a 401(k), or an ira. workers will be able to choose to have their contributions deducted automatically from their paychecks, and they will be able to carry these accounts with them from job to job., i will also help families save for retirement by creating new ""get ahead"" credits that will, match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $500 in savings a year. these credits will double what families are able to put away each year., we also need to ensure that corporations honor the pension promises they ve made to workers. we can t allow fundamentally healthy companies to go into bankruptcy just to avoid keeping their promises to employees, or to emerge from bankruptcy with millions for executives and nothing for workers. as president, i ll give workers a claim for lost pensions, just like lost wages., *****, to make sure that this compact stays intact, we need to fix the balance of power between big corporations and the american people. the american people created corporations to increase our shared prosperity as a nation. but from the way things are going today, you d think that the american people were created to serve corporations., restoring the balance of power starts with restoring democracy in the workplace., history has taught us that the best way to fix the unfair treatment of american workers is to strengthen organized labor. throughout the last century, unions helped build america s strong middle-class. but today, the right to organize is being routinely ignored by businesses who know they will face little or no penalty for doing so., i believe that if a person can join the republican or democratic party simply by signing his or her name to a card, then any worker in america ought to be able to join a union just as easily., restoring the balance of power also means reigning in the culture of corporate greed., the crisis in corporate governance today is being driven by abuse from insiders. but it has not always been this way. american companies used to have a strong sense of obligation both to their workers and to america s well-being. henry ford knew that his company would prosper only if his own workers earned enough to actually buy the fords they produced., of course, there are still some good ceos out there, one of whom is my great friend and very long-time supporter jim sinegal, the founder and ceo of costco., jim was asked why costco offers better wages and benefits than all of its rivals - especially its most direct competitor, wal-mart. he said simply, ""you get what you pay for. if you hire good people, pay them good wages and provide good jobs and careers, good things will happen in your business."", we need more people like jim in corporate america today. because the success of our own economy, as well as our leadership in the global economy, demands that we uphold the values our country stands for: fair rewards for work, sound business and environmental practices, and fairness to all stakeholders., whether it s the workers on the factory floor, service workers in a hospital, or people around the globe looking to america as an example, hard-working people everywhere should see that america s corporate culture reflects the core values that our nation was built upon. they should see that america is about creating long-term, sustainable economic value that its citizens can depend on. because if we can be an example for the world, we can leverage our strength in the global marketplace to ensure fairness and prosperity not just here at home, but in trading nations everywhere., to start reforming america s corporate culture, we should increase transparency so that the public can see what corporations are doing. as president, i will enact a new law requiring all businesses to disclose a wealth of new and important information in annual reports to their shareholders, the appropriate government regulator, and to the public. i will also give shareholders new rights and responsibilities so that they can call shareholder meetings, remove directors who are doing bad jobs, and have a say on executive pay., today, too many companies in america are putting far too much of their earnings into excessive ceo and executive pay, when this money could be going to increased worker salaries, better benefits, and investments in plant and equipment. as president, i will immediately cap untaxed deferred compensation for executives and strengthen shareholder rights to rein in excessive pay., and decades of de-regulation in washington have weakened consumer protection laws, leaving americans vulnerable to malfeasance and abuse by corporations, banks, and lenders., responsible regulation is good for american business, the american economy and american families. as president, i will make sure that the things we bring into our homes won t harm our families, by ensuring the safety of imported food and drugs, strengthening toy and other product safety and protecting families from toxic chemicals., *****, the cynics would have you believe that none of what i ve talked about here today is possible. they d say we can t have leaders who will be straight with you anymore. they d say that an economy based on shared prosperity has gone the way of the model t., well, i m here to tell you they re wrong. our nation has gotten off track before. but every time that has happened, the american people stood up and demanded that it be fixed. they demanded that our leaders make the right decisions. and if their leaders didn t, they elected ones who would., in america today, we need action measured by conviction, not just words. in this election, you face a choice between honest leadership and say anything politics, between conviction and calculation, between strength and compromise., let me tell you something: it takes strength to say ""no"" to the lobbyists and special interests - it s much easier to just go along to get along. but i will never compromise my principles for the sake of politics. i ve been saying ""no deal"" to the big corporations, the special interests, and the lobbyists who work for them my entire life., john f. kennedy once said, ""the heart of the question is whether all americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow americans as we want to be treated."", isn t that the america we want? i believe it is. and we can have it, because throughout our history, one constant has remained: if the american people stand together, if we fight together and if we vote together, we can change this country., because no matter how corrupt washington gets, it cannot change the fact that the strength of this country does not lie with the politicians in washington. it does not lie with the lobbyists on k street, or the special interests they work for. it lies with all of you., we can change this country. our time is now. so stand with me today. and together, let s fix this country., thank you. god bless you.,"	
", many of you know that i am the son of a mill worker -- that i rose from modest means and have been blessed in so many ways in life. elizabeth and i have so much to be grateful for., and all of you know about some of the challenges we have faced in my family. but there came a time, a few months ago, when elizabeth and i had to decide, in the quiet of a hospital room, after many hours of tests and getting pretty bad news -- what we were going to do with our lives., and we made our decision. that we were not going to go quietly into the night -- that we were going to stand and fight for what we believe in., as elizabeth and i have campaigned across america, i ve come to a better understanding of what that decision really meant -- and why we made it., earlier this year, i spoke at riverside church in new york, where, forty years ago, martin luther king gave a historic speech. i talked about that speech then, and i want to talk about it today. dr. king was tormented by the way he had kept silent for two years about the vietnam war., he was told that if he spoke out he would hurt the civil rights movement and all that he had worked for -- but he could not take it any more -- instead of decrying the silence of others -- he spoke the truth about himself., ""over the past two years"" he said, ""i have moved to break the betrayal of my own silence and speak from the burning of my own heart."", i am not holier than thou. i am not perfect by any means. but there are events in life that you learn from, and which remind you what this is really all about. maybe i have been freed from the system and the fear that holds back politicians because i have learned there are much more important things in life than winning elections at the cost of selling your soul., especially right now, when our country requires so much more of us, and needs to hear the truth from its leaders., and, although i have spent my entire life taking on the big powerful interests and winning -- which is why i have never taken a dime from washington lobbyists or political action committees -- i too have been guilty of my own silence -- but no more., it s time to tell the truth. and the truth is the system in washington is corrupt. it is rigged by the powerful special interests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. and as a result, the american people have lost faith in our broken system in washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinary americans. they re right., as i look across the political landscape of both parties today -- what i see are politicians too afraid to tell the truth -- good people caught in a bad system that overwhelms their good intentions and requires them to chase millions of dollars in campaign contributions in order to perpetuate their careers and continue their climb to higher office., this presidential campaign is a perfect example of how our politics is awash with money. i have raised more money up to this point than any democratic candidate raised last time in the presidential campaign -- $30 million. and, i did it without taking a dime from any washington lobbyist or any special interest pac., i saw the chase for campaign money at any cost by the frontrunner in this race -- and i did not join it -- because the cost to our nation and our children is not worth the hollow victory of any candidate. being called president while powerful interests really run things is not the same as being free to lead this nation as president of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. if protecting the current established structure in washington is in your interest, then i am not your candidate. i ran for president four, , , , years ago -- yes, in part out of personal ambition -- but also with a deep desire to stand for working people like my father and mother -- who no matter how hard things were for our family, always worked even harder to make things better for us., but the more elizabeth and i campaigned this year, the more we talked to the american people, the more we met people just like my father, and hard working people like james lowe. james is a decent and honest man who had to live for 50 years with no voice in the richest country in the world because he didn t have health care. the more people like him that i met, the more i realized something much bigger was stirring in the american people. and it has stirred in each of us for far too long., last month ken burns -- who made the great civil war documentary -- launched his newest epic on world war ii on pbs -- and what a story it tells., at the cost of great suffering, blood and enormous sacrifice, within four years after pearl harbor it is incredible what this nation achieved. america built the arsenal of democracy worthy of our great history. we launched the greatest invasion armada in the history of warfare against hitler s fortress europe, and, with our allies, we freed a continent of, suffering humanity., at the same time on the other side of the globe we crossed 10,000 miles of ocean and liberated another hemisphere of humanity -- islands and nations freed from the grip of japanese militarists. while at the same time succeeding in the greatest scientific endeavor ever undertaken -- the manhattan project -- and topped it off with building the pentagon, one of the largest buildings in the world in a little over a year., it is incredible what america has accomplished. because no matter what extraordinary challenges we have been faced with, we did exactly what america has always done in our history -- we rose to the challenge., and, now, as i travel across america and listen to people, i hear real concern about what s going on. for the first time in our nation s history, people are worried that we re going to be the first generation of americans not to pass on a better life to our children., and it s not the fault of the american people. the american people have not changed. the american people are still the strong, courageous people they have always been. the problem is what our government has become. and, it is up to us to do something about it., because washington may not see it, but we are facing a moral crisis as great as any that has ever challenged us. and, it is this test -- this moral test -- that i have come to understand is at the heart of this campaign., just look at what has happened in iraq. what was the response of the american people to the challenge at hand? our men and women in uniform have been heroes. they ve done everything that s been asked of them and more. but what about our government? four years after invading iraq, we cannot even keep the lights on in baghdad., when hurricane katrina hit new orleans, the american people were at their best. they donated their time and their money in record numbers. there was an outpouring of support. i took 700 college kids down to help -- young people who gave up their spring break. but what about our government? three years after hurricane katrina thousands of our fellow americans, our brothers and sisters, are still housed in trailers waiting to go home., there s no better example of the bravery and goodness of the american people than the response to the attacks of 9/11: firefighters and first responders risking and too often giving their lives to save others, charging up the stairs while everyone else was coming down; record bloodbank donations; and the list goes on. but what about our government? six years after 9/11, at ground zero there sits only a black hole that tortures our conscience and scars our hearts., in every instance we see an american people who are good, decent, compassionate and undeterred. and, american people who are better than the government that is supposed to serve and represent them., and what has happened to the american ""can do"" spirit? i will tell you what has happened: all of this is the result of the bitter poisoned fruit of corruption and the bankruptcy of our political leadership., it is not an accident that the government of the united states cannot function on behalf of its people, because it is no longer our people s government -- and we the people know it., this corruption did not begin yesterday -- and it did not even begin with george bush -- it has been building for decades -- until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy., while the american people personally rose to the occasion with an enormous outpouring, of support and donations to both the victims of katrina and 9/11 -- we all saw our government s neglect. and we saw greed and incompetence at work. out of more than 700 contracts valued at $500,000 or greater, at least half were given without full competition or, according to news sources, with vague or open ended terms, and many of these contracts went to companies with deep political connections such as a subsidiary of haliburton, bechtel corp., and ashbritt inc., and in iraq -- while our nation s brave sons and daughters put their lives on the line for our country -- we now have mercenaries under their own law while their bosses sit at home raking in millions., we have squandered millions on building olympic size swimming pools and buildings that have never been used. we have weapons and ammunition unaccounted for that may now be being used against our own soldiers. we literally have billions wasted or misspent -- while our troops and their families continue to sacrifice. and the politically connected lobby for more. what s their great sacrifice -- higher profits., it goes on every minute of every day., corporate executives at united airlines and us airways receive millions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy, while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay., companies like wal-mart lobby against inspecting containers entering our nation s ports, even though expert after expert agrees that the likeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the united states is through a container, because they believe their profits are more important than our safety. what has become of america when america s largest company lobbies against protecting america?, trade deals cost of millions of jobs. what do we get in return? millions of dangerous chinese toys in our children s cribs laden with lead. this is the price we are made to pay when trade agreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits for multinational corporations instead of what is best for america s workers or the safety of america s consumers., we have even gotten to the point where our children s safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in china. and americans are kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushed back country of origin labeling laws again and again., this is not the america i believe in., the hubris of greed knows no bounds. days after the homeland security bill passed, staffers from the homeland security department resigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. and, where was the outrage? there was none, because that s how it works in washington now. it is not a republican revolving door or a democratic revolving door -- it is just the way it s done., someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get rich when you leave the government., recently, i was dismayed to see headlines in the wall street journal stating that senate democrats were backing down to lobbyists for hedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire and billionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as every hard-working american. now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fund managers do not need or deserve are not going to be closed, all because democrats -- our party -- wanted their campaign money., and a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leading presidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as a homeland security themed event in washington, d.c. targeted to homeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. these lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special ""treat"" -- the opportunity to participate in small, hour long breakout sessions with key democratic lawmakers, many of whom chair important sub committees of the homeland security committee. that presidential candidate was senator clinton., senator clinton s road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of k street in washington -- and history tells us that when that bus stops there it is the middle class that loses., when i asked hillary clinton to join me in not taking money from washington lobbyists -- she refused. not only did she say that she would continue to take their money, she defended them., today hillary clinton has taken more money from washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party -- more money than any republican candidate., she has taken more money from the defense industry than any other candidate from either party as well., she took more money from wall street last quarter than rudy giuliani, mitt romney, and barack obama combined., the long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abyss continues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the best interests of america., we have a duty -- a duty to end this., i believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyists who prevent change. you cannot take on the entrenched interests in washington if you choose to defend the broken system. it will not work. and i believe that, if americans have a choice, and candidate who takes their money -- democrat or republican -- will lose this election., for us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend all that we believe in. as democrats, we continue down this path only if we believe the party of the people is no more., as americans, we continue down this path only if we fail to heed lincoln s warning to us all., ""at what point then is the approach of danger to be expected,"" he asked, ""if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. it can not come from abroad. if destruction be our lot -- we must ourselves be its author and finisher. as a nation of free men we must live through all time or die by suicide."", america lives because 20 generations have honored the one moral commandment that makes us americans., to give our children a better future than we received., i stand here today the son of wallace and bobbie edwards. the father of wade, cate, emma claire and jack -- and i know, as well as you, that we must not be the first generation that fails to live up to our moral challenge and keep the promise of america., that would be an abomination., there is a dream that is america. it is what makes us american. and i will not stand by while that dream is at risk., i am not perfect -- far from it -- but i do understand that this is not a political issue -- it is the moral test of our generation., our nation s founders knew that this moment would come -- that at some point the power of greed and its influence over officials in our government might strain and threaten the very america they hoped would last as an ideal in the minds of all people, and as a beacon of hope for all time., that is why they made the people sovereign. and this is why it is your responsibility to redeem the promise of america for our children and their future., it will not be easy -- sacrifice will be required of us -- but it was never easy for our ancestors, and their sacrifices were far greater than any that will fall on our shoulders., yet, the responsibility is ours., we, you and i, are the guardians of what america is and what it will be. the choice is ours., down one path, we trade corporate democrats for corporate republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a democratic version of the republican corruption machine., it is the easier path. it is the path of the status quo. but, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the american people demand, but has divided america into two -- one america for the very greedy, and one america for everybody else., and it is that divided america -- the direct result of this corrupt system -- which may very well lead to the suicide lincoln warned us of -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice., or we can choose a different path. the path that generations of americans command us to take. and be the guardians that kept the faith., i run for president for my father who worked in a mill his entire life and never got to go to college the way i did., i run for president for all those who worked in that mill with my father., i run for president for all those who lost their jobs when that mil was shut down., i run for president for all the women who have come up to elizabeth and me and told us the like elizabeth they had breast cancer -- but unlike elizabeth they did not have health care., i run for president for twenty generations of americans who made sure that their children had a better life than they did., as americans we are blessed -- for our ancestors are not dead, they occupy the corridors of our conscience. and, as long we keep the faith -- they live. and so too the america of idealism and hope that was their gift to us., i carry the promise of america in my heart, where my parents placed it. like them, like you, i believe in people, hard work, and the sacred obligation of each generation to the next., this is our time now. it falls to use to redeem our democracy, reclaim our government and relight the promise of america for our children., let us blaze a new path together, grounded in the values from which america was forged, still reaching toward the greatness of our ideals. we can do it. we can cast aside the bankrupt ways of washington and replace them with the timeless values of the american people. we can liberate our government from the shackles of corporate money that bind it to corporate will, and restore the voices of our people to its halls., this is the cause of my life. this is the cause of our time. join me. together, we cannot fail., we will keep faith with those who have gone before us, strong and proud in the knowledge that we too rose up to guard the promise of america in our day, and that, because we did, america s best days still lie ahead.,"	
", learning the lesson of iraq: a new strategy for iran, , thank you for having me here today. thank you., five years ago, the bush administration went to war with iraq, a war we all know now we did not need to fight. today, we see the results of that fateful decision -- a civil war with no end in sight... a black hole in our budget... and nearly 4,000 brave men and women in our military who have paid the ultimate price., a famous philosopher once observed that those who don t remember history are condemned to repeat it. unfortunately, the war in iraq isn t even history yet, but the bush administration is repeating the march to war with iran -- and they re getting help from people who should know a lot better., george bush, dick cheney, and the neocon warmongers used 9/11 to start a war with iraq and now they re trying to use iraq to start a war with iran. and we have to stop them. we owe our american heroes -- the men and women in our armed services who are fighting so bravely in iraq and afghanistan today -- no less. many of our soldiers are the same age as some of you here today -- or even younger. we owe them and their families this solemn oath: we will make every national security decision as carefully and responsibly as is humanly possible., this is a critical moment. as a nation, we stand today at a fork in the road with iran. we have a real choice about the direction we ll take. one path will replay the last seven years. it leads toward a dark future of belligerence, aggression, and war., we need a new direction -- one that will defuse the iran threat, rather than aggravate it, one that will make america safer, not make the world more dangerous., to understand exactly what the administration is trying to do with iran, we need to go back to the beginning of the bush administration and look at how they took us to war with iraq., in the spring of 2002, the nation was struggling to recover from the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11. at the same time, a group of bush administration neoconservatives, like dick cheney and paul wolfowit2, were strategi2ing for ways to start a war with iraq. and suddenly, instead of reacting to 9/11 by working to protect america from terrorists, they saw a political opportunity to promote their right-wing ideological agenda and demoni2e anyone who disagreed with them., here s what you have to know about these neocons -- they think might makes right, every time. they believe in domination, not debate. they think america should use our military power to impose our will wherever and whenever we want. they use a sledgehammer when we should use a scalpel., and here s what you need to know about george bush s foreign policy -- it s written by these neocons, lock, stock, and barrel., so after 9/11, instead of focusing on the terrorist threat, george bush started promoting a radical new neoconservative doctrine he called, quote, ""preventive war"" -- which would soon become part of his argument for war in iraq., here s what they mean by preventive war -- if we see a possible threat, we go to war; we don t exhaust diplomatic, political, and economic options, we go straight to war. under this bush doctrine, military force is no longer the option of last resort., by september of 2002, president bush had included the new doctrine in his administration s national security strategy -- the document that guides our military in planning our defense. and then the next month, congress voted to authori2e the president to use force in iraq. i was wrong to vote for this war. it was a mistake to give this president the authority to wage a reckless war in iraq., now, i want to be very clear about something. i believe very strongly that any commander-in-chief must retain the right to respond with appropriate force when there s real intelligence about an imminent threat to america., but there is a difference between doing everything in our power to keep america safe and a reckless, belligerent policy that actually makes us less safe. the preventive war doctrine was a stunning departure from the policy that had kept america safe during both world wars and during the cold war. it is wrong on the merits, wrong on the morals, and wrong for america., harry truman once said, ""there is nothing more foolish than to think that war can be stopped by war. you don t  prevent  anything other than peace."", that s exactly right. think about it -- you don t prevent wars by starting them. it would be ridiculous if it weren t so dangerous., this george bush policy instead is, almost literally, ""shoot first, ask questions later."", armed with their preventive war doctrine, the administration used every excuse to march to war, when he should have taken every reasonable step to prevent war. and the war has backfired terribly. it damaged america s moral reputation, decreased our national security, and increased terrorism worldwide., it will take years to repair the damage, and we must begin by ending the war in iraq. it has now been exactly a year since the american people voted for a democratic congress that would end the war. yet we still have the status quo., when i am president, i will immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops, launch a diplomatic offensive to invest all local, national, and regional parties in the comprehensive political solution that will end the violence, and will completely withdraw all combat troops within 9 to 10 months., the bottom line is simple -- no combat troops; no combat missions; no combat, period. not sometime to be determined, not by 2013. by the end of my first year as president, by the end of 2009., i believe every candidate for president owes the american people a clear and specific plan for ending the iraq war, and i have done my part. you deserve to know exactly where we stand. with less than 60 days to the caucus, senator clinton has still not given specific answers to specific questions. how many troops will she withdraw, and when will she withdraw them? all she s said is that she will meet with her generals within two months of taking office. that s not a plan. that s not even a real promise. it s the promise of a planning meeting., what s more, senator clinton wants to keep combat troops in iraq to perform combat missions in iraq. she will extend the war. i will end the war. only in washington would anybody believe that you can end the war and continue combat. on a matter as serious as iraq, we need honesty and real answers -- not more double-talk., and all of this is occurring in a very dangerous context -- when we badly need leadership that will stand up to the president. the neocons are once again preparing for war. defense secretary robert gates recently told reporters that the administration has prepared ""contingency plans"" for attacks. george bush has been rolling out reckless rhetoric, saying that ""world war iii"" is just around the corner with iran. and just over a week ago, bush and cheney declared the revolutionary guard a terrorist organi2ation and a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction., we have seen this movie before. and it doesn t end well -- in fact, as we all know too well, in iraq, it hasn t ended at all., in order to declare the revolutionary guard a terrorist organi2ation -- something we ve never done before for a government-run militia -- bush was supported by the senate. many in our party opposed this vote, like senator dodd and senator biden, and i applaud them for that. unfortunately, some supported it. senator clinton once again sided with bush and the neocons -- helping them rattle their sabers and build their case for another preventive war., it s clear that senator clinton and i learned very different lessons from the run up to the iraq war. i learned that if you give this president an inch, he will take a mile -- and launch a war. but senator clinton apparently learned a different lesson, and she s giving the administration exactly what it wants once again., senator clinton is voting like a hawk in washington, while talking like a dove in iowa and new hampshire. one of her advisors told the new york times that was because she was shifting from primary mode to general election mode. well, we only need one mode from, our president -- tell the truth mode all the time. so let me be clear., we should take iran very seriously. and as commander-in-chief, if i ever learn that any, nation is threatening an imminent attack, i will do what s necessary to protect america., but the one thing we absolutely should not be doing is launching another so-called ""preventive war"" with iran. american and the world possess a powerful arsenal of diplomatic and economic options that have not yet been used, let alone exhausted., we need to use all those tools to force president ahmadinejad, the ayatollah khameini, and the mullahs to understand that their nuclear ambitions and their support of terrorism will put the iran on a fast track to utter isolation., we already know diplomacy can work with even the toughest foes. the few foreign policy successes of the bush administration have come through the diplomacy it derides. both north korea and libya have given up their struggle for weapons of mass destruction. while we need to keep the pressure on to make sure these countries keep their promises, the progress so far shows what can be accomplished in iran., we need to increase the division between extremists and the iranian population. ahmadinejad is already unpopular in his country and has failed to meet his promises to reduce corruption and improve the economy., this is a country that s ready for change., women in tehran today put on clothing they want to wear under the burkhas and veils they are forced to wear. iranians everywhere share a hunger for ideas and free expression, seen in iran s thriving black market in great literature, new classics, and even western videos. and it is iranians like many of you in this room -- young people, students -- who are leading the charge to undermine the stifling oppression of ahmadinejad., we need to let the people of iran know that ahmadinejad s extremism and pursuit of nuclear weapons will only hurt them and destroy their country s prospects for advancement., we need, in short, a new strategy for iran. my plan for iran has five principles., first and foremost, we need to ensure that the preventive war doctrine goes where it belongs -- the trash-heap of history. as he has done with so much else, vice president al gore got it right about the preventive war doctrine. in 2002 -- the same year that george bush introduced his preventive war doctrine -- gore made a speech at the commonwealth club in california. he said, and i quote, ""what this doctrine does is to destroy the goal of a world in which states consider themselves subject to law, particularly in the matter of standards for the use of violence against each other. that concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the united states."", these are especially chilling words to read five years later -- after iraq, guantanamo bay, and the president s refusal to condemn torture, and they are particularly relevant to the situation with iran., i believe every candidate owes it to the american people to be very clear about where he or she stands on this question. as commander-in-chief, my national security policy will be based on deterrent strength and always protecting americans -- in short, the use of force as a last resort., as a part of this strategy, i will ask my national security advisor to remove president bush s explicit endorsement of a preventive war doctrine from my national security strategies. and i will ask our joint chiefs of staff to form military plans in accordance with proven national security strategies that we know can keep us and our allies safe -- not discredited and dangerous ideological fancies., this strategy will keep america and our allies safe -- while showing the world we are once again a strong country that can always win war, but that prefers peace over war. most importantly, it will restore our legitimacy in the eyes of the world. everyone knows we re powerful. the question is what we use our power for -- and whether the rest of the world will once again see us as a force for good, rather than the bully we ve become under bush., the second principle is to use bolder and more targeted economic sanctions to force iran s leaders to understand that they cannot continue to buck the will of the international community without destroying their ability to be the modern, advanced nation they so desperately want to become., there are smart sanctions that will achieve results, and there are reckless sanctions that will backfire and play into a policy of military attacks. the bush-cheney sanctions senator clinton supports are the most radical, unprecedented, and belligerent sanctions possible., these reckless sanctions will escalate tensions between the u.s. and iran -- the thing bush and cheney most want -- and have other unintended consequences, such as higher oil prices., instead, we should pursue smarter sanctions that will force iran s leaders to reali2e that their pursuit of nuclear weapons will shut down their economy, further isolate them from the world community, and make them a rogue nation for generations., we must fully enforce the iran sanctions act, a law congress passed to let the president punish companies who do business with iran s extremist regime. we must work multilaterally -- most importantly, with our western european allies -- to strengthen economic sanctions on iran. and we should shut down iranian access to the american financial system. the bush administration recently banned two iranian banks from accessing our system. however, iranians can still do business through third parties and through other banks. this must stop., the third principle of my plan is to use ""carrots"" -- diplomatic measures to convince iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and re-join the world community. we should draw iran into compliance through incentives including increased refinery capacity and a regional fuel bank that iran could use for peaceful purposes., and we need to use the possibility of bringing iran into multilateral economic organi2ations, including the wto, as a carrot for change., the fourth principle of my policy is to reengage with iran., even republicans like senator hagel are now urging the president to open up communications with iran. communication is not a concession. after all, we talked to our great enemy, the soviet union, at the height of tensions during the cold war., we should begin building a new course of diplomatic relations with iran by expanding low- level talks between government officials on both sides in a neutral country. the goal of these talks should be to find a path out of the log-jam created by the bush administration and, ultimately, to achieve full diplomatic relations between the two countries., but we must always negotiate from a position of strength. unlike president bush, i believe we do need to meet with iran. but any higher-level meeting should only happen if we verify that the meetings would promote america s national security interests and would not be used for propaganda or other improper purposes., and the fifth and final principle is to reengage with other major nations on the challenge of iran., we must work with china and russia on the problem of iran s nuclear ambitions. both nations have economic relationships with iran on trade and energy. but both nations also have a strong interest in stability in the middle east. and neither nation wants the nuclear club to expand. in the first year of my administration, i will convene a conference with my secretary of state and representatives from the ""e.u. 3"" -- great britain, france, and germany -- russia, china and iran, to discuss a way out of the stalemate of the bush administration., the strategy i ve described to you today is the right way to keep america strong while keeping the peace., it is the right way to force iran to forgo its nuclear ambitions., and it is the right way to restore america s historic role as a leader of the world community -- through a combination of strength, vision, and reengagement with the world., america needs a president who can guide america through a dangerous world, with the wisdom of history by our side., america has gone through similar challenges before., in his first inaugural speech, in 1933, franklin delano roosevelt rejected the failed republican policy of military intervention in latin america and europe. instead, he told the nation, we should ""dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor . . . the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors."", that s the america we should be., this is the great vision of our great presidents. it is the vision of a nation of honor. it is the vision of a nation of everyday heroes, like the brave men and women fighting every day in iraq and afghanistan. and it is the vision that guides me as i seek to be your president., but i need your help. we can only rebuild america if we rebuild it together., together, we can restore our values to washington, and restore america s moral authority to the world. thank you for being with me here today. god bless you and god bless america.,"	
", veterans  day remarks by senator john edwards, , we set aside a few days each year in honor of america and those ideals that make us americans - independence, equality, thanks for the blessings of our inheritance. but this weekend one day stands apart - although it began that way, it no longer commemorates a specific event, it is not dedicated to any one individual - instead it honors the sacrifice of millions, across all the generations of america., since george washington s continental army fought to create this nation, millions of men and women have put on america s uniform to defend, protect and carry the cause of freedom for all humanity. with valor and sacrifice, through hardship and peril, they have changed the course of history for our nation and the world. let us begin today with a moment of silent prayer for all those who have served in our armed forces ever since there has been an idea and a place called america. for our veterans, join me in a prayer of thanks., thank you., veterans day is a time to remember our men and women in uniform who have served and sacrificed and risked for our nation - and the too many, far too many who have lost life, blood, and limb so that we could live free, and enjoy our rights and liberties. as many of you know, elizabeth comes from a military family - her father vincent was a navy pilot for more than 30 years - a real hero, who flew reconnaissance missions over china and north korea and won the distinguished flying cross. so we know personally how sacred this day is for all who have served and are serving today., but this day is about more than remembering and honoring our veterans. /t is a day to reflect on what it means to be american. to consider not just the sacrifices of those who serve in uniform, but what their sacrifices demand of each of us., /t is a day to look at the ideal of america and reflect on our own obligation and responsibility to keep that ideal alive. that our veterans have kept faith there can be no doubt. today we must ask ourselves if we have done the same., for twenty generations, americans have kept the one moral commandment that makes us american - to pass a better future on to our children than we received., my father had to borrow $50 to bring me home from the hospital. home was a small house in the mill village owned by the mill where my father worked. / am here today because, like all the people my father worked with in the mill, my parents got up every day believing in the promise of america, and they worked hard - no matter what obstacles were thrown against them - to give me the chance for a better life., but everywhere / travel today - in every corner of america - / hear uncertainty - a real concern that we could be the first generation of americans that fails to leave our children a better future than our parents left us., to be the first generation of americans to fail that commandment would be an abomination., this is the great moral test of our generation - to ensure that we give our children a better future than we inherited, just as our parents did for us., /t is not surprising people are worried that the promise of america is at risk - the warning signs are everywhere., we see the gap between those at the very top and everyone else grow wider and wider every day., thirty-seven million americans - citizens of the richest country on earth - still live in poverty., forty-seven million americans live without health care. , lobbyists and corporate power runs rampant in washington, subverting our government to its own ends - nafta-style trade deals pad corporate profits but cost millions of american jobs; so-called prescription drug reform benefits drug companies, not patients; tax breaks and loopholes are showered on the very wealthiest while working americans struggle to get by., george washington led the continental army that enabled the creation of our nation - his name symbolizes the greatness of america. and now, the city that bears his name symbolizes what is wrong with america., last century, we had a president who reminded us that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. now we have a president who says be afraid, be very afraid. he used fear to sell us a war we did not need to fight. he uses fear to trample over our civil liberties and deface the bill of rights., but the blame for all of this does not lie only with president bush. too many politicians - at worst, without conviction, or at best, without courage - have stood by and let all of this happen., here s the hard truth. /t s not just politicians. /t s not just republicans or democrats or even just washington. /t s all of us. this is our democracy - if it is failing us, we have nowhere to look but to ourselves., but here s another, greater truth - in america, true power does not lie in the arms of a deceitful president, cynical politicians, or calculating insiders, it lies with all of us., this is our democracy - to reclaim it, we need only look to ourselves., of course, cleaning up washington won t solve everything by itself - washington is the problem that stops us from dealing with our problems. /f we are going to meet the challenges we face and prevail over them, we must fix our broken system and we must think as big as the challenges we face. our ideas must be bold enough to succeed and our government must be free to enact them without compromising principle or sacrificing results., one without the other isn t good enough. all the big ideas in the world won t make a difference if they have to go through this broken system that remains controlled by big business and their lobbyists. and if we fix the system, but aren t honest with the american people about the scope of our challenges and what s required of each of us to meet them, then we ll be left with the baby steps and incremental measures that are washington s poor excuse for progress., but if we do both - if we have the courage to offer real change and the determination to change washington - then we will meet the great moral test of our generation. we will leave our children a greater america - one america, where every man, woman and child is blessed with the same, great opportunity and held to the same, just rules., last night, / called on /owans and americans to join together and meet the moral test of our generation, which begins by reclaiming our democracy. today, / am laying out my plan to build one america. over the course of the last year, / have offered detailed, honest plans and specific, forthright proposals. but / don t want anyone in /owa to have to take my word for it, so / ve gone and put them all on paper. over the next few weeks, we ll be delivering more than 100,000 copies of this book to /owa caucus-goers. and if you want one, but don t get one, just let our campaign know., /owans have a right to know where / stand and what / ll do as president. you are the guardians of what kind of president we ll have, and whether america meets the great challenges we face. / m not afraid to stand here and answer your tough questions and tell you where / stand., now, it s about 80 pages long, so /\xe2\x80\x99m not going to read the whole thing, but here s the big picture. / believe there are four broad areas we must tackle., first, we need to stand up for working and middle class families., we need, as a nation, to invest in fighting poverty, strengthening workers right to organize, and smarter and safer trade, if we are to build a stronger and larger middle class., we need to pass universal health care. achieving universal health care will help everyone - by covering the 47 million americans who lack health care - and bringing more choices, more security, lower costs, and better care to the rest of us. but it is only going to happen if we fight for it and share responsibility for getting there. businesses and the government must sacrifice and pay their fair share., the second thing we need to do restore america s moral leadership around the world,, which starts with ending the war in /raq. we need a new path to stop terrorism that brings nations together in a counter-terrorism alliance - we become stronger and safer, not weaker, when we work with the world. and, we need to stand up, together, and tell this congress that we elected them to end the war in /raq and bring our brave men and women home., the third thing we need to do is to invest in a better future for our children., we need to invest in improving our schools and making college affordable so that we can compete in the 21st century., and we need to face what may be the great challenge of this generation: addressing global warming. for the sake of our national and domestic security, we need a historic shift in how we make and use energy. we need to cut our emissions of greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050. we may face higher energy bills as we make this transition. but the payoff is great - a cleaner, safer world and a new energy economy with more than a million new jobs., fourth, we need to create opportunity for all - the promise of america is a promise made to every american - black, white; gay, straight; healthy, sick; working, retired; rich, poor; born, bred, or just arrived. every man, woman, and child in this country deserves the same, great chance. and / believe there is a sacred contract between our country and our veterans and armed forces. we have a moral obligation to take care of them and their families., those who fought to create this nation did not liberate this ground for freedom and democracy so that some two centuries later, on our watch, government of the people would become government of the corporate interests., those who gave their lives at gettysburg and antietam in the name of union and equality did not die for a nation, on our watch, still divided by opportunity and justice., those who fell at guadalcanal and at normandy to save the world from tyranny did not perish to let corruption seep into our government slowly and persistently over decades almost unnoticed until, on our watch, it threatens the lifeblood of our democracy., those who fell in vietnam - who did what their leaders asked of them long after those leaders knew it was a mistake - and whose valor, bravery and sacrifice was all the harder to bear because they suffered their wounds without the full support of the american people - did not fall so that, on our watch, we would tolerate leaders who once more would refuse to admit their mistakes, but instead press on with a war that should have ended a long time ago., those who died defending freedom and the rights of americans for all time did not die so that, on our watch, we would let the president take those rights away. they did not die for a 21st century america where poverty is still endemic, one of every three african- american children has no health care, and one in four homeless people are veterans., all those who have served our nation from valley forge to baghdad have risked everything they have and everything they are - not so the torch that americans pass from one generation to the next - the torch of a better america - might be dropped, but to keep it burning strong., /n their name, we must no longer turn our heads. we must no longer live in vague acknowledgment of the corruption and incompetence that threatens the promise of our children s future while saying to ourselves, the problem s just too big, there s nothing we can do about it., / stand before you today to say - that is not good enough. there is something we can do. our founders placed the ultimate power in our hands - ours alone. when we take its reins, it is irresistible. /f someone tells you there is nothing we can do, you tell them the ghost of generations proves them wrong - there is nothing we cannot do., /t will not be easy, but we are americans - we never take the easy way out. so hear this - it is a call to your conscience and your heart. a call not for me, but for them. for those who have served. for those who will. for our children, their children, and their children after them., let us stand up and give everything we have as all those before us have done., /n their name, let the world know that the fight for a greater america begins today. for universal health care, ending poverty, honoring our veterans, reclaiming our democracy, and ending the war in /raq. for opportunity, equality, justice, and the idea of america., this is the moral test of our generation. we can meet it. we will meet it. thank you, god bless you, and god bless america.,"	
"a prayer for america, , i offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. with love for our country. with hope for our country. with a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. with a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. with the understanding that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. with the belief that a free people cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time., with the understanding that there is a deeper truth expressed in the unity of the united states. that implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people. that all people are essentially one. that the world is interconnected not only on the material level of economics, trade, communication, and, transportation, but innerconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse and yearning to be and to breathe free., i offer this prayer for america., let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. that is why we must challenge the rationale of the patriot act. we must ask why should america put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?, how can we justify in effect canceling the first amendment and the right of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?, how can we justify in effect canceling the fourth amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?, how can we justify in effect canceling the fifth amendment, nullifying due process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?, how can we justify in effect canceling the sixth amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?, how can we justify in effect canceling the eighth amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?, we cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with it., we cannot justify secret searches without a warrant., we cannot justify giving the attorney general the ability to designate domestic terror groups., we cannot justify giving the fbi total access to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records and financial records., we cannot justify giving the cia the ability to target people in this country for intelligence surveillance., we cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to, privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy., the attorney general recently covered up a statue of lady justice showing, her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice exposing herself at this time, before this administration., let us pray that our nation s leaders will not be overcome with fear. because today there is great fear in our great capitol. and this must be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of congress in the current environment., the great fear began when we had to evacuate the capitol on september 11., it continued when we had to leave the capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the cia during a secret briefing., it continued when we abandoned washington when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the mail., it continued when the attorney general declared a nationwide terror alert and then the administration brought the destructive patriot bill to the floor of the house., it continued in the release of the bin laden tapes at the same time the president was announcing the withdrawal from the abm treaty., it remains present in the cordoning off of the capitol., it is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of congress each day we enter the capitol campus., it is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote., the trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill-equipped to deal with the patriot games, the mind games, the war games of an unelected president and his unelected vice president., let us pray that our country will stop this war. ""to promote the common defense"" is one of the formational principles of america., our congress gave the president the ability to respond to the tragedy of, september 11. we licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of september 11th. but we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response., because we did not authorize the invasion of iraq., we did not authorize the invasion of iran., we did not authorize the invasion of north korea., we did not authorize the bombing of civilians in afghanistan. we did not authorize permanent detainees in guantanamo bay., we did not authorize the withdrawal from the geneva convention., we did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus., we did not authorize assassination squads., we did not authorize the resurrection of cointelpro., we did not authorize the repeal of the bill of rights. we did not authorize the revocation of the constitution., we did not authorize national identity cards., we did not authorize the eye of big brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities., we did not authorize an eye for an eye., nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on september 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in afghanistan., we did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere,anyhow it pleases., we did not authorize war without end., we did not authorize a permanent war economy., yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. the president, has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. all defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion., consider that the department of defense has never passed an independent audit., consider that the inspector general has notified congress that the pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion in transactions., consider that in recent years the dept. of defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased, wrote off, as lost, billions of, dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need., yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. this has nothing to do with fighting terror., this has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget., let us pray for our children. our children deserve a world without end. not a, war without end. our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is not appropriate for the, survival of a free people, not appropriate for the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of our nation, and not appropriate for the survival of the world., let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people and as a nation to shore ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of september 11th our democratic traditions., let us declare our love for democracy. let us declare our intent for peace. let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society., let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war as being inevitable., let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic., that is the vision which the proposal to create a department of peace envisions. forty-three members of congress are now cosponsoring the legislation., let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an imperative. that is, why we must begin by insisting on the commitments of the abm treaty. that is why we must be steadfast for nonproliferation., let us work for a world where america can lead the day in banning weapons of mass destruction not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space itself. that is the vision of hr 3616: a universe free of fear. where we can look up at god s creation in the stars and imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven., let us pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of september 11th, faded into images of, patriotism, spliced into images of military mobilization, jump-cut into images of our secular celebrations of the world series, new year s eve, the superbowl, the olympics, the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those images with the work of human relations, reaching out to people, helping our own citizens here at home, lifting the plight of the poor everywhere., that is the america which has the ability to rally the support of the world., that is the america which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil, but which is itself at the axis of hope and faith and peace and freedom. america, america. god shed grace on thee. crown thy good, america., not with weapons of mass destruction. not with invocations of an axis of evil. not through breaking international treaties. not through establishing america as king of a unipolar world. crown thy good america. america, america. let us pray for our country. let us love our country. let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from the threats within., crown thy good, america. crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood. and crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace, to democracy, to economic justice here at home and throughout the world., crown thy good, america. crown thy good america. crown thy good. thank you., ,"	
"salam alaikum. peace be unto you and peace be unto our nation and the world., in two weeks we will observe the second anniversary of 9/11 and i think it s urgent to assess the impact of 9/11 on american muslims, to assess the impact of 9/11 as to the direction of american and as to the protection of our basic rights., much has been revealed with respect to the reaction of our government to 9/11. the response of our government was reflective of stereotypical thinking, discrimination, prejudice, the crippling of our thought capacities to protect our democracy. i would suggest that we can recover from this, that we can redirect our nation away from fear, away from cruelty, away from violence against our democratic rights., as the co-chair of the progressive caucus - the largest caucus within the democratic party - and as the only one who is running for president, who led the effort in the house of representatives against the administration s efforts to go to war in iraq, as the only one running for president who not only spoke out against but voted against the patriot act, as the only one running for president who not only spoke out against but voted against the homeland security bill - which doesn t make us safe - as the only one running for president who consistently spoke out about profiling of our muslim brothers and sisters, who has consistently spoken out against the detentions and the suspension of habeas corpus when it has come to our muslim brothers and sisters - i am here to tell you that we are at a transformational moment in our democracy, that we have an opportunity to rescue our democracy, that we have to recognize that the america that we have seen over the last year and a half does not reflect the kind of workings of a democratic society that the founders of this nation anticipated., and so my candidacy for president of the united states arose because america disconnected with its purpose as a nation, disconnected from its purpose to form a more perfect union, disconnected from its purpose in the constitution to see that the rights of all are protected, disconnected from the bill of rights which protects peoples  first amendment rights and second and third and fourth and fifth and sixth and all those amendment rights, which are being undermined by the patriot act, disconnected from its purpose which is stated at the base of the statute of liberty: ""give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. send these, the tempest-tossed, to me. i lift my lamp beside the golden door."", america must remember where she has come from as a nation and recover that lamp that we lift beside the golden door and light once against the lamp of democracy so tat all our citizens may once against enjoy democratic freedoms., the words in our ""star spangled banner"", our national anthem, speak to us at this moment: ""does that star spangled banner yet wave o er the land of the free and the home of the brave."" francis scott key challenged americans for centuries to come, with the connection between bravery and freedom, courage and democracy. this is the moment when we need to call on our brothers and sisters around this country to step forward in courage to reclaim our basic rights and to challenge a government that has the audacity not to trust the american people., much has been revealed about this government as to how our muslim brothers and sisters have been treated in the wake of 9/11. we have seen a climate of fear, almost as a pall, dropped on this nation. we have all felt this fear that has produced paralysis, this fear that has produced suspicion, this fear that has produced hatred, this fear that has produced grave misunderstanding. because this fear that was promoted, in some cases was deliberate - because iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, with al-qaeda s role in 9/11, with the anthrax attacks on this country. there were no weapons of mass destruction. and this country went into a war that was immoral and illegal!, in the wake of 9/11, i held meetings with our brothers and sisters in the muslim community in cleveland and heard the heartache, the stories of scapegoating, the harassment, the abuse, the denigration, the lies. we must work our way out of america s dark period, we must make peace with our brothers and sisters here at home and around the world and lift up america once again., after 9/11, the heart of the world was open to the united states. this administration lost the opportunity to embrace the world and to work with the world for the cause of security for this country and for security around the world. instead, it promoted fear. we must move from fear to hope. we must move from a response of isolation to one which reintegrates with the world., america must rejoin the world community, confidently and courageously. we must move from a condition where we have this patriot act to a condition where that is lifted from this country. one of my first acts as president will be to have the justice department file suit in federal court to nullify the patriot act as being unconstitutional. and out of respect for my muslim brothers and sisters, within the next two week i will be introducing legislation in the congress of the united states to cancel the patriot act [ed. note: kucinich fulfilled this promise by introducing hr3171, the benjamin franklin true patriot act]., we must move from ""homeland security"" to hometown security, to make sure that our communities have the resources for police, fire, and ems protection that will help strengthen our local communities. we must make sure that we challenge this build-up of the pentagon, where the pentagon budget has increased to 400 billion dollars, a 13% increase, while funds have been cut for health care, funds have been cut for veterans, funds have been cut for the education of our children. we must remember that it is only peace which protects genius in this country, not military spending that causes america to separate from the world. we can protect our country by the strength of our military but also by the strength of our morals, by the strength of what we believe in. as members of a democratic society, we must therefore let go of policies of unilateralism and pre-emption, policies which inspire a nuclear arms race against others. we must re-engage with the world community, and as we do that we will reclaim our nation., the fear that i spoke of is something that we know well, because now the federal government under the patriot act has obtained the ability to look at our records at our libraries, our doctors, our schools. this government has permitted the most intrusive reach into the american peoples  lives, and they re preparing to expand it with patriot ii, going into peoples  credit reports, gathering genetic information, letting foreign governments conduct surveillance on american citizens, permitting political spying, expanding the death penalty. we must recover from 9/11, we must regain the spirit of this nation., and how can america recover from 9/11? not with weapons, not by shutting down our democracy, but as we celebrate our liberties and reconnect with the world, we must remember the experience of our muslim brothers and sisters, because only heartfelt reflection will cause us to understand where america went wrong after 9/11., the path towards repair, towards reconciliation and justice - that s your position today, the power that you have, to help create that. you have political power, you demonstrated that in the past. you helped elect a president in 2000. and you can do it again in 2004 to set america on a new path. you can make all the difference in the democratic primaries. the bloc vote of this community can change the outcome in any election, can help take america on a new path, for this country and the world, to take us away from war, to take us away from discrimination., in a larger sense, it is the america muslim community which has the power to forgive the, election lessons and why kucinich ought to be the next president, kucinich: ""if congress does not impeach president bush for intentionally misleading the public, the next president should hand over bush and his administration to law enforcement officials"", kucinich remains on michigan ballot after trying to withdraw, , abuses which have occurred on this community, and as such has the power to create a new world, the power to transform fear into hope, the power to transform hatred into love, because this world needs love today and america needs our love, to trust again, to hope again., this is what has inspired legislation which is now supported by 50 members of congress to create a federal cabinet-level department of peace, to make non-violence the organizing principle in our american society, to work with other nations of the world to make war itself archaic., yusuf islam, whom i had the opportunity to meet a few minutes ago, once wrote a song that had these words: ""out on the edge of darkness, there lies a peace train. peace train, come take this country, come take me home again."" america must get on that peace train once again., and i see this, i see a new world, a world where america leads the way with the vision of a world as one, as interconnected, as interdependent, a world at peace, a world where our children are protected, a world where we believe in the power of love and the power of the human heart., this is the direction america can take the world, and with the leadership of the american muslim community, this is the direction we shall take america and the world, inshallah!, thank you., ,"	
", kucinich: we democrats in convention united; we who built this country with the sweat of our brow; we, the steelworkers, the auto workers, the miners, the communication workers, the laborers, the people who teach the children, who drive the trucks, who clean the streets, who hunger for justice, who nurse the sick, who represent the oppressed, who serve the meals, who stand at check-out counters, who build the bridges, who sleep under the bridges, who hunger for food; we, who put out the fires, who police the streets, who protect this nation and the freedoms we celebrate tonight, the soldiers, the sailors, marines and air force; we democrats assembled, united for john kerry, united to recreate our nation with the power of the ballots..., (), kucinich: ... to transform it with the power of the human heart and the power of the human spirit., (), out of many, we democrats are one. we are left, right, center. we are one. we are black, white, red, brown, yellow. we are one..., (), ... one for jobs and health care, one for peace, one for our children s future. and we are one for john kerry. (), we will carry america for kerry, and kerry will carry america for us., (), kucinich: we remember who we are. we are the party of the people. we are the party of fdr and the, new deal, the party of jfk and the new frontier, of lyndon johnson and the great society, of martin luther king s dream, of robert kennedy s striving spirit, of cesar chavez  si se puede..., (), ... of eleanor roosevelt and human rights, infused with the passion of paul wellstone from minnesota..., (), ... the humanity of jimmy carter from plains, the engaging brilliance of bill clinton from hope, and we are the party of john kerry, the next great democratic president of the united states., (), the history of social and economic progress in america was written by the democratic party., kucinich: democrats are the party of the minimum wage, the 40- hour week, time and a half for overtime. we are the party of the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining..., (), ... the right to strike, the right to a decent workplace, the right to a secure retirement. we are the party of worker s rights, civil rights, and women s rights., (), we are the party of national health care for senior citizens, of social security, public education and rural electrification., when we show up holding the banner of social and economic justice, we win. (), and now we must create a new america. we must create a new america. in our national anthem, when, francis scott key asks ""does that star-spangled banner yet wave o er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"" he connected freedom and bravery, democracy and courage., courage, america: courage to replace this administration and once again honor our constitution and respect our bill of rights..., (), ... courage to reject doctrines which separate us from the world; courage to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, biological and chemical weapons, land mines and small arms; courage to work with the international criminal court to reduce global warming and take seriously the challenge of global s climate change..., (), kucinich: ... courage, america; courage to take the principles of nonviolence and make them part of the every day life of our nation, to work with the nations of the world to put an end to war..., (), ... courage, america, to create a government, to create a nation where our government achieves legitimacy, not from the money it spends on arms, but from the resources it channels into education, health care, job creation, housing, environmental protection and sustainable energy policies; courage, courage to give john kerry the chance to restart the 21st century..., (), kucinich: ... courage to shake off this administration s deceptions, their attacks and their fear-mongering..., (), ... courage, america, this administration rushed us into a war based on distortions and misrepresentations. we must hold them accountable., (), iraq, iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with al qaida s role in 9/11., (), we have found no weapons of mass destruction in iraq., i was mayor of cleveland and i..., (), ... could tell you that i ve seen weapons of mass destruction in our cities. poverty is a weapon of mass destruction., (), joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction, homelessness, a weapon of mass destruction..., (), ... racism, a weapon of mass destruction, fear, a weapon of mass destruction., kucinich: we must disarm these weapons., (), we must disarm these weapons and renew our commitment to quality public schools and dedicated teachers and good housing and quality health care and decent jobs and stronger neighborhoods., it s been said: once we walk, there will be a path. so let us blaze a new path with john kerry and john edwards., this convention will lead us toward the victory not just of a party, but the victory of the american people over fear, a victory of hope over despair, a victory of faith over cynicism, a victory for health care, for civil liberties, for workers  rights, for human rights, for the environment, for peace, courage, america, courage, america, john kerry, america., thank you., ,"	
"i want to thank the parliamentary network for nuclear disarmament for making possible this gathering at the united nations., here, at the united nations, where this structure was built to give expression to achieving human unity through enhanced cooperation, we are called upon the confirm that the world community is taking positive steps toward expressing principles of interconnection and interdependence., nation states achieve their legitimacy not simply through ballot exercises, but throug addressing the practical aspirations of their respective constituents for life s basic necessities: food, water, shelter,and clothing, i would add peace to that list., peace is not just the absence of war, it is the active presence of a capacity for love and compassion, and reciprocity. it is an awareness that our lives are not to be lived simply for ourselves through expressing our individuality, but we confirm the purpose of our lives through the work of expressing our shared sense of community in a purposeful and practical way; to sustain our own lives we sustain the lives of others., in family, in a community of neighborhoods called a city, and in a community of nations called the world., the nuclear non proliferation treaty recognizes the essentiality, the practicality of nuclear disarmament and nuclear abolition. the principle of human unity seeks expression in such agreements, it does so out of healthy awareness that if we protect another person s life, we protect our own., the 2005 npt review may not produce a final, agreed upon document, but the very process of reviewing the status of our world wide nuclear dilemma brings from around the world people of good will in an exemplification of human unity., our presence here today, as representatives of our governments and as citizens of the world, speaks for itself, is authentic in and of itself and is an expression of a physical and spiritual force at work in the world which sustains the world., official resistance to nuclear disarmament, is consequential in terms of this conference. it is regrettable that representatives of my own government deny commitments the us made to facilitate disarmament, and, even worse, to nullify this forum through noncooperation., as the nation which possesses the largest nuclear arsenal, the united states has a clear responsibility to lead the way toward nuclear disarmament. the unwillingness of our administration do to so cannot be pinned on iran and north korea. we must take responsibility for the effects of our own actions in canceling the abm treaty, in setting aside the comprehensive test ban treaty, in failing to negotiate a verifiable fissile material cutoff, in enunciating a nuclear first strike doctrine, in trying to build a missile shield, in building new nuclear weapons, in announcing the intention to dominate the world through offensive and defensive weapons in outer space., non nuclear states are good students. they look to the nuclear states for example, our government has given an example, of proliferation and other states will learn well from such conduct. in the wake of the war against iraq, which, we in the us were told, was about destroying nuclear weapon-making capability, iran and north korea may logically decide they are next and take steps to acquire retaliatory capacity., nuclear weapons have become a means for the projection of military power and for imposing the force of will upon others. i would suggest, that we have reached a place in human history where such thinking is archaic and not expressive of the spiritual and material development which has taken place in the world., a new model is evolving from the npt. and we see the exemplification of it in the organization mayors for peace. whereas the npt depends upon the agreement of member states, we come forward with a model for nuclear disarmament and abolition, which depends on the agreement of members of those states. as congressional representatives and mayors we declare our intention, our work is to create and confirm between ourselves the fact of human unity, representative of a global group consciousness for peace, an articulation of new structures for peace and an organized global activity for peace which includes a new structure to rid the world of weapons which would destroy the very physical basis for human unity., as we work to create new models for enhancing cooperation between participants of nation states, a new model is evolving in the world of diplomacy. wherever and whenever nation states fail to reconcile their differences, a new citizen diplomacy arises: citizen diplomats summon the power of their own hearts and confirm their own humanity through reaching out and discovering their brothers and sisters speak other languages, have other colors and other religions and share a common desire to live out their lives in peace and tranquility. the work of nongovernmental organizations is equally urgent in saving this planet.,"	
"my fellow americans. we are in an interesting condition in this country, where we are told to take impeachment off the table and keep on the table a u.s. military attack against iran., this really calls for a new thinking. it calls for us to reconsider very deeply the moment that were in -- where our constitution is being trashed, where international law is being violated, where our hopes and dreams for the education of our children, for the health of our people, for housing, for ou veterans are being set aside as we go deeper and deeper into war., we need a whole discussion in america. and with your help, were about to have one., this past week in the congress of the united states, i noted that the administration has threatened aggressive war against iran. this is a violation of the un charter. charters are treaties. article 6 of the constitution of the united states says that treaties are the law of our land, the supreme law of our land. its illegal to threaten aggressive war against another nation., iran has no ability to attack us, and they do not have the intention to attack the united states., we are at a moment in human history where we have to make a decision whether we are going to go deeper into war or whether we are going to take a stand on behalf of peace. i determined a long time ago to take that stand on behalf of peace. and i want to enlist you and enroll you in taking that same stand. we cannot let this administration go any deeper into this journey, into destroying democratic governance, trashing our constitution, forgetting the very purpose of this nation., america was never meant to be a nation forever on the warpath. it was meant to be a nation which also had the capacity to ""promote the general welfare."" we need to reevaluate the direction of this administration by looking at its conduct in office, by determining whether it has faithfully followed the laws of our nation. i+m prepared to start that process. i began this week with a speech on the floor of the house, which warned the administration that its actions toward iran already constitute a case to ask the question about impeachment., so i+m asking you, what do you think? do you think its time? << return to video,"	
"., rep. kucinich: our nation is waiting for a grand vision which connects us with a deeper sense of who we are as a people. our nation is waiting for a grand vision which is propelled by a sense of joy and optimism. our nation s waiting for a grand vision which sees the world as one, which understands that the world is interconnected and interdependent, and that it is indeed our job to heal this planet, to bring this planet together as one people. (.), i see peace as being the central issue and concern of our time. audience member: thank you!, rep. kucinich: i see all of the issues that we re speaking about connected to peace, with peace at the center. and in a kucinich administration, we would begin with an understanding of the centrality of peace to life in the united states and to life on our planet. we would begin – we would begin with policies which reject war as an instrument of policy. (cheers, .) we will -- my plan to end the war in iraq is as follows. that not only must the congress take a strong stand, and people are waiting for democrats to tell president bush ""no more money,"" this isn t a question of whether or not we have the votes. i want everyone here to understand this. you know, way back in the seventh grade in mrs. malone s civics class, she showed us how a bill became law., okay? well, let me tell you how a bill does not become law -- you don t offer it. we shouldn t be offering president bush another piece of legislation that would appropriate money for the war. we need to tell the president now the occupation will come to an end, the troops will be brought home, the bases will be closed, the contractors must be brought back. (cheers, .), we must stop the effort to take iraq s oil. we have no right to that. we must repair the breach that we ve created. we must achieve a program of reconciliation between the shi ites, the sunnis and the kurds. and the only way that we can do that is for the united states to leave. we must have an honest reconstruction program in iraq, and we must stop insisting that iraq privatize its oil, because that is in and of itself a crime against the people of iraq. (cheers, .), we must challenge war as an instrument of policy. we must challenge the very idea of war., and when we do, then we can start to reconnect with the nations of the world. we need to have an initiative not only to go to syria and iran to help us put together an international peacekeeping force that would move in as our troops leave, but we need to go to all the nations of the region to create a design for peace in the region., i believe that the path to peace runs right through jerusalem, and it s time a president had the ability to approach things in the middle east with an even hand, with an understanding of the suffering of the palestinians and of the desire of the israelis for dealing with the existential threat., (cheers, .), we need a president who understands that peace in the middle east requires this even-handed approach. we need a president who has compassion for both sides, who has the understanding that a healing hand is needed. my whole public record has been one of seeking to reconcile people. we are commanded to make peace with our brothers and sisters. and a kucinich administration would take that principle of peace into the domestic life of our nation, through creating a cabinet-level department of peace and non-violence -- (cheers, ) -- which for the first time will address the issues in an organized way, address the national issues of domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, violence in the schools., the time to deal with domestic violence -- a little bit late when you re in an emergency room or worse or in a courtroom -- the time to deal with domestic violence is through educating our children principles of compassion, of recognizing that the other person is an aspect of oneself. it s taking the concept of, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, to another level, where we see, that other person is an aspect of ourselves. this is not simply a political matter; this is a spiritual principle which we bring into the operation of our country -- (cheers, ) - - peace, taking the principles of gandhi and christ and dr. king and making non- violence an organizing principle in our society. we can do this; we can be more than we are; we can be better than we are., and america s waiting for a leader who will call forth that capacity from our people., we need to understand the connection between peace and the environment. we know that life on our planet is threatened by the twin threats of global warring and global warming. they are linked, and we have to understand that as we cognize the world as being interconnected and interdependent, we know that resource wars are passe and that the focus on sustainability will create peace., we know that as we move away from an addiction to oil and coal and go to green energy, to wind and solar and fuel cell technology, we reduce our carbon footprint; we reduce this quest and lust for oil. we create relations with other nations that -- we do not try to take their resources. we move forward with harmony with each other and harmony with nature., we have to understand that our commerce must be guided by this principle of harmony. a green commerce must be the way that america proceeds. government has to play a role in recognizing that the economy is part of the environment and not the other way around. (cheers, .), we need to have renewable energy. we have to preserve our water -- no privatization of water assets in this country. (cheers, .) we need to have reforestation and preserve habitats. and subsequently as we reduce our carbon footprint, simultaneously we work with the world community. the kyoto climate change treaty is just the first step. we need to go beyond, kyoto. we need to reach out to the world and reduce our carbon emissions, and we need to have environmental protection to secure our food supplies., another path towards peace and connection and harmony with our environment is our trade laws. one of my first acts in office will be to cancel nafta and the wto -- (cheers) -- and move to trade conditioned on environmental quality principles. (cheers, .) trade must come in harmony with environmental consciousness. trade must be aware of the imperative of protecting our air, our water and our land., and under a kucinich presidency, when we cancel nafta, we go to the nations of the world and we say, let us work together to prepare for a time when the air and the water is clean., we need a president who is ready to call that capacity forward from the people. and what would that involve? it would involve the creation of what i call a wga: a works green administration., just like president roosevelt created a wpa where we built public works all over this country, so i will call forth the capacity of our people to participate in a major environmental effort to not only conserve energy, so that each person participates in what you could call a cap-and-share approach to protecting our environment but also where we use the productive capacity of, government in every area, to have nasa help develop a new technology which can protect our environment, to have the department of energy shift its focus away from oil, coal and nuclear and towards green energy, to have the department of education involve our children in environmental education, to have every area of the government involved in environmental consciousness. (.), a president can do that, and i intend to, with a wga that will -- (cheers, ) -- works green administration, which will produce millions of new jobs; retrofitting homes with green building, putting wind and solar, microtechnology; enabling people to save money, reduce the carbon footprint. we can save our planet. we will save our planet, and we ll do it with leadership and with all of us working together to do that. and that s the connection between peace and sustainability., we have to have peace connected with our health care systems. peace of mind is something that is escaping so many americans when they do not have health care or they have -- or health care is unaffordable. we have 46 million americans who have no health insurance. another 50 million americans are underinsured. let me tell you, this is a defining economic issue in our country., i stand for a health care system -- medicare for all, h.r. 676 -- universal, single-payer, not for profit. get the private insurers out of health care. (cheers, .) help the american people break the shackles which the insurance companies have on our political process. (cheers, continue.) it s time for a president who will challenge the private insurance companies, who will challenge their hold on washington, who will challenge their hold on the family budgets of americans, who will challenge this system of premiums, co- pays and deductibles., i understand how families are suffering. i understand how people don t have the health care they want and need. i know that we re already paying. we re already paying for medicare for all. we re just not getting it. we re not getting it because this private insurance structure has held our country captive. half the bankruptcies in america are connected to people not being able to pay their doctor bills or their hospital bills. people are losing their savings. they re making choices in their lives where they re working part-time jobs that they would never work, only to have substandard health care benefits., we re finding people in the twilight of their lives -- when somebody gets sick in the family, they have to go and sign the dotted line and put all of the resources they ever worked in their life for on the line just to get care for long term. that s wrong. it s morally wrong. we need a president who s ready to take that challenge, call the american people, let s unite this country in a call for h.r. 676, medicare for all. it is time! it is time! (cheers, .), peace is connected to a healthy economy. we have to see that we have jobs for all. i reject this idea that a certain amount of unemployment is necessary to the proper functioning of the economy. that s good for the economists who are employed who say that, but it s not good for our people everywhere. i will create millions of new jobs not only with the wga, but with a new wpa to rebuild america, rebuild our schools, our water systems, our sewer systems, our bridges, new mass transit. we need a multibillion-dollar investment in america every year creating the jobs that will rebuild america., we need not only when we talk about canceling nafta and the wto, we have to recognize that commerce must be guided by moral principles. this is something that i understand from my own spiritual training: the encyclicals of leo xiii, rerum novarum; the encyclical of, paul vi, populorum progressio, talked about the connection between spiritual principles and commerce. our commerce is devoid of spiritual principles until a president stands up and says, ""workers in this country and all countries must have the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to decent wages and benefits, the right to a secure retirement, the right to participate in the political process, the right to a safe workplace."" workers rights are human rights, and there is a moral arc that we have to follow in all of our commerce. it s time for a president who understood the concerns of workers, who stood for workers. (cheers, .), and we need a president with the capacity to challenge corporate america to be responsible in its commercial policies. we need to break up the monopolies in agriculture, in utilities, in oil and in all the areas of the economy -- (cheers, ) -- where restraint of trade is causing americans to pay higher prices and get inferior products., it is time for us to stand with the farmers of america who can t get the price of their product, don t have parity, can t get their product to market, stand with the farmers of america by breaking up those agricultural monopolies -- (); stand with the organic farmers of america and protect organic standards -- (); stand with the farmers on issues that relate to genetically modified organisms; have safety testing, have laws in regards to that. we need to see an economy which is guided by democratic principles., from the imperative of peace to the imperative of a healthy planet, to the imperative of health care and the imperative of a healthy economy, we go to the imperative of immigrant rights. when i came to the stage -- (interrupted by cheers). when i came to the stage, i was brought in with a song that all of us know, by neil diamond, ""coming to america."" and i made that choice because i want this country to reconnect, truly, with the dimension of america which welcomes people., i want this country to reconnect -- () -- with a deeper understanding of who we are. how many people in this audience alone have family one, two, three generations came from nother country. (cheers.) i want those who are watching on tv to know that most of the people in the audience are affected by and have connections with other countries., the truth is that we re together as one world. that s what america represents. the first motto of this country, ""e pluribus unum"" -- out of many, one -- was not simply about a collection of states, it was about human unity. it was about connection with all people., our policies and this big debate about immigration that has basically cowed the senate into submission has ignored one fact, and that is that the immigrant workers who have come north of the border were there because after nafta passed, wages collapsed in mexico, the peso dropped, and people were desperate to survive. so what happened? so they came north of the border and they were willing to work for next to nothing., it is a blot on american history that we have maintained a system of slave labor, and now we re blaming the immigrants for that. (cheers, .) we need a president who understands. we can heal this country. we can have sane immigration policies. but we have to stop blaming the victim. (cheers, .) we have to start enforcing labor law. we have to start enforcing laws that relate to corporate conduct. (cheers, .) we have to have a sane immigration policy, but we have to also make sure that we do not exclude people from an opportunity. those who have been here, who have paid their taxes and paid their dues and been part of our economy for the last decade need to have a chance to have a path to citizenship. they should not be told, after they ve made their contribution to our economy, ""no, we don t want you anymore; go home,"" because america is their new home. and their children should have basic rights. (cheers, .) and we have to make sure that children have a right to education and health care as well., we need to have an approach where a president will take a healing hand on this country and restore this country s loss of civil liberties. in my first week in office, i will have our justice department go to federal court and seek to overturn the patriot act as being unconstitutional. (cheers, .) we will work to cancel the military commissions act. it s not worthy of america. (cheers, continue.) we will stop government spying. we will get government out of people s bedrooms. we will make sure that people have a right to the private sphere again. (cheers, continue.) we will make sure our brothers and sisters who are gay or lesbian, transgendered, bisexual have true marriage equality -- (cheers, ) -- marriage equality., this country needs a healing hand, one that will look at the issue of abortion and understand that we can reconcile it by saying we can make abortions less necessary, but with a universal health care program, we can finally have prenatal care, post-natal care, child care -- (cheers, ) - -universal health care, a living wage; help create the climate that will foster people to make choices that will be confirming of life., we need a president who understands the imperative of our constitution. when steve cobble introduced me, he mentioned the debate in south carolina. now, why did i introduce this resolution of impeachment? it wasn t because i am after mr. cheney. let me explain, something. i believe that the most important thing that binds us as a people is the constitution. that is the document, is the sacred text for us in a democratic society., (.), and when someone takes that oath of office and they pledge to support the, constitution of the united states, that s a sacred oath for our society. and because i see our constitution at risk, and because i think that the vice presidency and the presidency have to have the highest standards for anyone in a democratic society, i laid down that challenge. and i ask all members of congress to join me in making the vice president finally accountable. and when we do that, then we will make our president accountable. (cheers, .), this is about our constitution, it is about our adherence to international law. and there is a connection between peace and international law. there s an imperative to uphold international law., as president of the united states, i ll move to have the united states join the international criminal court. it is absolutely necessary that all of us be held to the same standards that we would want everyone else in the world held to. (cheers, .), we will work not only to confirm the tenets of the non- proliferation treaty, but we will work to abolish all nuclear weapons. (cheers.) life on the planet depends on it, it depends on a president who can work with the world community, who can reach out to the leaders everywhere and say this endangers us all. let s beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks., let s move away from all the threats to our planet. i want to see america take a strong stand for international law by fully participating in the biological weapons convention, the chemical weapons convention, the small arms treaty, the land mine treaty. (cheers, .) we must join kyoto and go beyond kyoto, as i mentioned., my friends, under a kucinich administration, the world -- which has been separated from america in many ways by the policies of this administration -- will, with a united states president who comes forward with a sense of compassion and integrity and authenticity, who understands the imperative of human unity -- the world is ready to fall in love with america all over again. it s time or us to think in terms of reconnecting with the world community., i tell you there s a new america out there and a new world out there. i can see it. it is just waiting to be called forward. it is waiting for us to see it together. it is waiting for us to see a nation at peace, a nation with full employment, a nation with health care for all, a nation with education for all, a nation with peace for all, a nation with civil liberties for all, a nation with compassion for all, a nation with love for all! (cheers, .), this is a new america! let s call it forward! this is a country we love! let s make it happen! america, america, america! thank you! , ,"	
"first things first, by fred thompson, one thing about folks knowing you are going to speak at the council for national policy, you get lots of advice as to what to say. a lot of good advice. good talking points. in fact enough for several speeches. also, some of your friends, knowing that you are thinking about running for president, urge you to give a rousing campaign speech., hopefully there will be an opportunity to do all of those things but tonight instead of all of that, i want to talk a little about what should be the origin of all those talking points. this would be the principles on which they are based — first principles. the principles you have been defending since 1981., for americans, these are found in the constitution and the declaration of independence. they include a recognition of god and the fact there are certain rights that come from him and not the government. they are based upon a respect for the wisdom of the ages, and a belief that human beings are prone to err; that too much power must never rest in too few hands. the result is a system of checks and balances and a separation of powers that flow from our guiding documents and from the rule of law., finally, if we want to change or alter these concepts or any provision in the constitution, we are given a specific method to do that — by constitutional amendment., so how are we doing as a nation in upholding these first principles? the answer is we could be doing better ... a lot better., i want to tell you a couple of short stories from my own personal experience. each story is about a man. they are both public figures and i was blessed with the opportunity to be of some small assistance to each of them. their circumstances have to do with these first principles., first, an observation. our nation is based upon the proposition that our statutes, common law and the constitution will not only be applied fairly between litigants, but will also be observed by the government. people will be able to rely upon the rules, usually long established, and their consistent application. this engenders respect for the law. it is a sad irony that a nation that is so dedicated to the rule of law is doing so much to undermine the respect for it., our founders established an independent federal judiciary to decide cases, not social policy. yet more and more that is exactly what it is doing. roe v. wade is a classic example. and nowhere is it more apparent than with regard to the issue of church and state., many federal judges seem intent on eliminating god from the public schools and the public square in ways that would astound our founding fathers. we never know when a five to four supreme court decision will uphold them. they ignore the fact that the founders were protecting the church from the state and not the other way around. instead of having the basic rules of society changed in the way clearly set forth in the constitution by two-thirds votes of both houses and by three-fourths of the states, the entire process is reversed by the stroke of a pen and supporters of the rule of law have the burden placed upon them, which is usually insurmountable., we have always held our federal judiciary in high esteem, even at a time when most of our institutions are under assault. however, if judges continue to act like politicians they will get the respect currently given to politicians. it is already rapidly headed in that direction. the antidote for this, of course, is good judges. and presidents who know one when they see one ... one like john roberts., john roberts is the first of the individuals i referred to earlier. the president asked me to help judge roberts through the senate confirmation process. certain things were apparent at the outset — he was a conservative, he believed deeply in first principles, including the rule of law and, lastly, his opponents would do everything they could to defeat his nomination., judge roberts’s character, intellect, and devotion to the law were unassailable. of course for a conservative this is just the beginning of the discussion, not the end. the usual liberal outside groups mounted their horses and charged, but we fought the battle and won. however, we were reminded once again of several things during this process., what a steep price even the best conservative nominee has to pay. the washington post “style” section criticized the way his small children were dressed. the new york times was caught trying to get the adoption records of his children unsealed., we were reminded how desperate the liberal community is to keep the deck stacked in their favor., and most importantly, we were reminded that the quality of an individual can overcome all obstacles. so he is now chief justice john roberts., i kept wondering throughout all of this, why would politicians want this to be the last experience a man would have before he assumed the role of chief justice of the united states?, this also brought home again the importance of elections of a president and the senate. it is ironic indeed that any president’s legacy could well be formed on the basis of something that is usually very far from the public’s consciousness — the nomination of federal judges. and on this nomination and that of justice alito this president can be proud and our entire nation can be grateful., the other man is in a less lofty position. after years of sacrifice and service to his country, he sits at home with his wife and two children awaiting a prison sentence. his name is scooter libby., as you may recall, for some inexplicable reason, the cia sent the husband of one of its employees to niger on a sensitive mission. she had suggested it. he came back to the u.s. and proceeded to publicly blast the administration. naturally, everyone wanted to know “who is this guy?” and “why was he sent to niger?” just as naturally, the fact that he was married to valerie plame at the cia was leaked., having virtually guaranteed that ms. plame’s identity would be ultimately disclosed by using her, shall, we say, “politically active” husband, the cia then demanded that this leak of her name be investigated by, the justice department for a possible violation of the intelligence identities protection act., the justice department, bowing to political and media pressure, appointed a special counsel to investigate the leak and promised that the justice department would exercise no supervision over him whatsoever — a status even the attorney general does not have., the only problem with this little scenario was that there was no violation of the law, by anyone, and everybody — the cia, the justice department and the special counsel knew it. ms. plame was not a “covered person” under the statute and it was obvious from the outset., furthermore, justice and the special counsel knew who leaked plames’s name and it wasn’t scooter libby. but the beltway machinery was well oiled and geared up so the special counsel spent the next two years moving heaven and earth to come up with something, anything. finally he came up with some inconsistent recollections by scooter libby, who had been up to his ears studying national intelligence estimates. but he worked for dick cheney, so that apparently was enough for the special counsel., i didn’t know scooter libby, but i did know something about this intersection of law, politics, special counsels and intelligence. and it was obvious to me that what was happening was not right. so i called him to see what i could do to help, and along the way we became friends. you know the rest of the story: a d.c. jury convicted him., in our system all citizens are guaranteed equal protection. and when we appropriate unlimited resources and give unlimited power and direct it all toward one individual, there had better be extraordinary circumstances. there were none here. just a case of public officials without the courage to do the right thing and stop this farce before it began. in no other prosecutor’s office in the country would a case like this one have been brought., incidentally, this was shortly after sandy berger, the national security advisor to president bill clinton, received a slap on the wrist by the justice department for lying about and then confessing that he stole and destroyed what we think were classified documents. we’ll never know, because he destroyed them. but we do know that he didn’t want the 9-11 commission to see them. but nobody was clamoring for his head. back to libby., i have called for a pardon for scooter libby. when you rectify an injustice using the provisions of the law, just as when you reverse an erroneous court decision, you are not disregarding the rule of law, you are enforcing and protecting it., the roberts nomination shows us that we can win against those who would use the constitution for their own ends, even though it is always a fight., libby’s prosecution demonstrates how injustices can occur when public officials lack the courage to go against the public clamor and to do the right thing, thereby perverting the rule of law., all this of course, reminds us of what washington has become and why more good people are not coming into public service. add to that the bitter divisiveness on capitol hill with regard to all things large and small, and you can almost see americans throwing up their hands. they’ve got to be wondering, how are today’s leaders going to lead us with regard to all these difficult issues if they can’t even agree on fundamentals — things that are supposed to bind us together., some of you may think that this is not a very optimistic outlook. i’m reminded of something my daddy used to say: a man who walks around smiling all the time can’t possibly know what’s going on. however, i am optimistic. i think we all are. but as americans, our optimism comes not from an analysis of how things are, but from our belief that we can change what we see for the better., we have road maps — at least two of them in fact — the declaration of independence and the constitution — to guide us. how can we look at the world without thinking about inalienable rights, and doing everything necessary to protect our country? how can we think of fiscal policy or even health-care policy without remembering the limitations appropriately placed upon government and the importance of individual freedom?, this is a message that needs to be delivered. the people in this room have been delivering it for a long time. we must rededicate ourselves to this commitment and to the magnificent legacy we have been given. and i am honored to join you in this effort. thank you., ,"	
", thank you very much. charles moore, anthony browne, dean godson, distinguished guests: i appreciate the cordial welcome to london. i always look forward to visiting the united kingdom, and this time around i couldn’t ask for a better host than the policy exchange., we have a few policies back home that we’d like to exchange, and think tanks like this are the place to come. after just five years, the policy exchange ranks among the best, and the fine reputation of your work has reached washington as well. i congratulate all of you, and i thank you for the hospitality., your kind invitation brings me here just as great britain prepares to greet an incoming prime minister., back in the u.s., we’re able to watch the house of commons’ “prime minister’s question time,” which mr. brown will, now endure. i’ve thought that america needed a weekly question and answer period between the president and congress. but in the past few months i’ve decided it isn’t such a good idea., your system also allows a change in the head of government at a moment s notice. even your general election campaigns are mercifully brief., of course we believe in long presidential campaigns in the u.s. most american politicians are afraid they won’t be considered serious candidates until they’ve made a promise a hundred times and spent a hundred million dollars. though every now and then you still get some slow-poke who takes his time before announcing., i congratulate mr. brown, and i wish him well as the 53rd prime minister of the united kingdom. and if you’ll allow me a word about the 52nd ... we’ll miss him. there are disputes of party here that are strictly british affairs. but sometimes the better points of statesmen possibly are seen more clearly at a distance., we are profoundly grateful for the friendship of the british people, and in america we’ll always remember mr. blair as a gallant friend, even when it did him no good politically., when we in the states take the measure of your leaders, their party affiliation doesn’t really count for a whole lot. it’s been this way for a while now, at every moment when it mattered. it was true in the days of churchill and roosevelt ... of thatcher and reagan ... and blair and bush., differences of party and domestic policy are incidental, compared to the bigger considerations that define britain and america as allies. on both sides of the atlantic, what matters most are the commitments we share, and the work we are called to do in common. this work is based upon the principles we hold – primarily, the right of free people to govern themselves. we also believe that the rule of law, market economies, property rights, and trade with other nations are the underpinnings of a free society., when historians of the modern era speak of the great democracies, of civilization and its defenders, that’s us they’re talking about – we and our democratic friends across europe and beyond., in the long progress of the world toward liberty, it was not by chance that this lowly province of the roman empire became a great teacher of democracy and the model of self-government. and it wasn’t just luck that turned a, troublesome british colony into the inspiration for all those who seek freedom. there is a reason why britain and america were thrown together as partners in this world. the things that unite the american and british peoples? they don’t change with the names of leaders or with the passing of years., it was harold macmillan who best summed up the shared experiences of british and american leaders in the last century. in his later years, lord stockton was asked what he considered the greatest challenge in all his years as a statesman. and in that english way, he put it in a word: “events, my dear boy, events.”, events often have a way of intruding upon the plans of free people. as a rule, people in democratic societies prefer to take care of the business of life. they raise families. they work and they trade. they create wealth and they share it. above all in free societies, we live by the law – and, at our best, we look after one another, too. yet in every generation, “events” can be counted on to change the plan, sometimes in tragic ways., often the cause of our grief is a misplaced trust in the good intentions of others. in our dealings with other nations, people in free countries are not the type to go looking for trouble. we tend to extend our good will to other nations, assuming that it will be returned in kind. no matter how clear the signals, sometimes in history even the best of men failed to act in time to prevent the worst from happening., the united states and the united kingdom have learned this lesson both ways – in great evils ignored, and in great evils averted. we learned it from a world war that happened and, in the decades afterward, from the world war that didn’t happen., we must conclude that the greatest test of leadership – in your country or mine, in this time or any other – can be simply stated. we must shape events, and not be left at their mercy. and in all things, to protect ourselves and to assure the peace, the great democracies of the world must stick together. we must be willing to make tough decisions, l, these are not considerations relevant only to the people of great britain and the united states. the relationship between the united states and all of europe is valued by both sides and has benefited the world. nato has not only been an effective tool for our efforts, it symbolizes our commonality., changes in leadership on both sides of the atlantic will give us new opportunities. often in the history of nations, leaders rise to meet the times. these times require those with the wisdom and courage to see past the next election cycle., the united states and our european allies must begin to forge a new understanding that matches the times we live in. this must be an understanding based upon candor if we are to come closer to agreement as to the nature of the challenges we face., i have great hope for such a new understanding among nato allies. we would never want to look back on a campaign we’d undertaken to realize we’d fallen short for lack of commitment or material support. today our enemies do not doubt our military strength. they do question our determination. our efforts will require ongoing dialogue based upon mutual respect and mutual interests., for many americans, there is a concern that even among our friends, some people are instinctively uncomfortable with u.s. power. some on the continent speak of the need for europe to balance u.s. influence. americans worry that this sentiment could, over time, lead to an uncoupling of the alliance. and if constraining u.s. power is that important, would our european friends be comfortable with other powers serving as a counterweight to the united states?, some who seek to check u.s. power believe that legitimacy may only be conferred by international consensus as represented by the un security council. they ask, if a country can invade another nation for its own good reasons, what is the logical stopping point?”, the american response is to ask how, then, does one justify non-security-council-sanctioned actions, such as kosovo? what are nations allowed to do when the un cannot muster the political will to act? how many countries must be involved in an action before legitimacy is conferred? is it just european countries that count? and, how do we deal with problems in concert when many of us don’t agree on the extent or nature of the problem?, for our part, we in the united states must make a better case for our views and our actions. it is possible that things that are perfectly obvious to us may not be so obvious even to those who wish us well. we must be willing to listen and we must be willing to share our intelligence to the maximum extent appropriate., we must be prepared to make our case not just privately, but to the people of europe and the world in order to build political support for cooperation. the world is not stronger if america is weaker – or is perceived to be weaker. the same is true of britain and truer still of our nato alliance. and we must be capable of making that case., in return, it is fair to expect that our allies will not put their trade and commercial interests above world security. it is also fair to ask that europeans consider the consequences if they are wrong about the threat to the western world., many in europe simply have a different view from that of the united states as to the threat of radical islamic fundamentalism. they think that the threat is overblown. that despite september 11th, and july 7th and other attacks in europe and elsewhere, america is the main target and therefore the problem is basically an american one. the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found in iraq at a particular point in time resolves the matter for them. also, they see no meaningful connection between terrorist groups and countries like iran., admittedly, even some in america think that the threat is overblown, and that if we had not gone into iraq, we’d have no terrorism problem., however, most americans feel differently. we understand that the western world is in an international struggle with jihadists who see this struggle as part of a conflict that has gone on for centuries, and who won’t give up until western countries are brought to their knees. i agree with this view. i believe that the forces of civilization must work together with common purpose to defeat the terrorists who for their own twisted purposes have murdered thousands, and who are trying to acquire technology to murder millions more., when terrorists in their video performances pledge more and bigger attacks to come, against targets in both europe and america, these are not to be shrugged off as idle boasts. they must be taken at their word., when the president of iran shares his nightmare visions before cheering crowds, those are not just the fanatic’s version of an empty line. the only safe assumption is that he means it. if we know anything from modern history, it is that when fanatical tyrants pledge to “wipe out” an entire nation, we should listen. we must gather our alliance, and do all in our power to make sure that such men do not gain the capability to carry out their evil ambitions., of course, diplomacy is always to be preferred in our dealings with dangerous regimes. but i believe diplomacy, as franklin roosevelt put it, is more than “note writing.” the words of our leaders command much closer attention from adversaries when it is understood that we and our allies are prepared to use force when force is necessary., the campaign in afghanistan is a prime example of this, both as a largely successful effort against a terrorist state and as a logical extension of the mission of nato, which now reaches far beyond the boundaries of europe., as in iraq, the effort has involved great sacrifice from the brave sons and daughters of britain. by their valor, and by the sustained action of nato in afghanistan, we have shown our seriousness of purpose against terrorism ... an ability to move beyond the military models of cold war days ... and a capacity to shift tactics and technology to fight an enemy who defends no state and observes no code., even in the midst of all the divisiveness with regard to our actions in iraq, the united states, great britain and our coalition should be proud of what we have averted. imagine saddam hussein and his murderous sons in power today successfully defying the international community and free to pursue weapons programs., of course political realism is back in the ascendancy since the difficulties in iraq. it’s true that we have learned that, geography, history, and ethnicity are important factors to consider in making decisions regarding today’s enemies., we’ve also been reminded of the importance of preparation, of alliances, and the continuing support of our people., but that does not change the fact that we sometimes must address events in far-away places that endanger our people. or that we believe in universal values that do not allow us to ignore wholesale human suffering., realism? yes. but also idealism, which is what makes us different from our enemies., we should also remember that beyond the war on terror, there are other threats we must meet together that extend, well into the future. one way or another, the challenges we face today will recede. other challenges to our shared interests and security have not been waiting patiently in line for our attention., some cannot yet be seen, but it is obvious that our energy needs for example are not going away. disruptions in energy supplies, sharp price increases and thuggish behavior by energy suppliers are threats to all democracies with growing economies. also, rapid military build-ups by non-democratic nations should be of concern., more and more, if things go wrong in disputes that were once considered just regional problems, there will be no “over there” or “over here.” we’ll all be affected. globalization is not limited to economic matters. as we go through these perilous times, we must keep firmly in mind the things that bind us together, not disagreements., we’ve been through a lot together, our two nations – and not just in the storied exploits of our parents’ generation. though there are many moments in british political history from which leaders today can take instruction, there is one in particular that i’ve always admired in the career of sir winston churchill., it was when neville chamberlain died in november 1940. in memorializing in the house of commons his longtime adversary, churchill pronounced the bitter controversies put to rest. he said, quote, “history with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days.”, in the end, he reflected, “the only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions.” we are “so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.”, maybe it’s the actor in me that admires this scene so much. it’s a moment that no script-writer could improve upon. i am struck by its spirit, the magnanimity and generosity of the man ... the willingness to let old arguments go, and move on to great objectives held in common., we in this alliance have had our own share of hopes mocked and plans upset. and now it is time to shake off the disappointments, to let go of controversies past, and to press on together toward the great objectives. to ensure security for our people. to be a force for stability in the world. to remain the stalwart friends of freedom., for our part, we in the united states have never had occasion to doubt the fortitude and faithfulness of the british people. as much as ever, we count ourselves lucky to call the united kingdom our closest ally, and we are proud to call you our finest friend., thank you., ,"	
", thank you, appreciate it. thank you very much rich for that introduction and your little traipse through my personal history... i’ve obviously had some trouble keeping a job over the years., but it’s great to be here with so many old friends. it’s great to be back with so many old friends., i hope you’ve enjoyed your dinner; i’ve spent most of my time trying to keep bob novak from seeing my notes. and jason, i enjoyed your film work. i’m always glad to make the acquaintance of another filmmaker. if this politics thing doesn’t work out i’d like to talk to you after this show also., i’ve enjoyed my entire stay here, i came in last night... it could have been a little better, it happens to me all the time. i was in the airport lounge and this lady came up to me very nice and, gleam in her eye, and said, “we watch you on television all the time, my husband and i are such big fans, could we have your autograph?”, and i said sure, sure, and asked her where she wanted me to sign, and she said “do you shoot the show out here dr. phil?”, i’m glad you think that was funny... i kept the pen..., you know our paths have crossed a time or two. years ago i came out; you were kind enough to have me then. you’ve been an inspiration to me and millions of people. not just because the things you’ve done that were listed awhile that everyone is aware of. everybody interested in good government and low taxes and sound governmental principles, but just a group of private individuals that realize that government is too important to leave up to the government. and you came together and saw a list of things that needed to be righted, and you did it. and you did it for everybody., not the least of which was your support for a fellow named ronald reagan, who in turn inspired so many of us, including me. our journey really started together, you and me, with him. i was a 26 year old lawyer a couple of years out of law school in my hometown of lawrenceburg, tennessee, just being a country lawyer and enjoying life, and they had a hopeless congressional campaign and they couldn’t get anyone to manage it, so naturally i volunteered. and ronald reagan was coming in to speak for my guy and some others at a bigger town down the road, so because of my lofty, position with the campaign i was able to sit backstage with governor reagan. and he was the most unassuming important man i have ever met., we sat back there and talked and he asked me a bit about the crowd, and finally asked me “what do you think i ought to say to them?”, i mumbled out a few things i guess. he went out there and gave a stirring speech to those people, and included almost the very words that i had given to him. he had me for life., and later on he had me for a lot more important reasons than that. we’ve gone through a lot together. you mentioned the watergate days, and my finding myself asking a man named alexander butterfield, “mr. butterfield, is there a taping system in the white house?”, we lived through the aftermath of that. we lived through the sweep of 1994, which i got to be a part of. we came in before long and were able to balance the budget, pass welfare reform, and do some other good things., i’ll never forget my first senate speech when i got there. it was about having congress abide by the laws that everyone else must abide by. it was a novel concept at the time but we were able to eventually pass that legislation., but i made my maiden speech, of course the chamber was just about empty as always, but there was one old timer there who, i won’t call his name, but he’d been there for many years, and he listened to the speech and i was quite taken with that. and he came up to me afterwards and said “fred, good speech.”, and i said “thank you”, and he said “can i ask you a question... was that a real submarine they used in hunt for red october?”, i learned right off what people’s priorities were as far as i was concerned. of course my foray into the movie business brought me out to california from time to time. i try to tell people that i actually shot more movies in north carolina than in california, but nobody will believe that so i gave up on that., i was a fan of arnold schwarzenegger from the very beginning. i gave a speech in tennessee where i said some good things about him when he was first running and the next day i got a call from arnold in my home thanking me for the, beef was all those movies he made garnering hundreds of millions of dollars, it looks like he could’ve had some work for me somewhere in there. but arnold always played the hero so it’s probably just as well, i can’t imagine what role i would’ve wound up with in one of his movies., one of my biggest regrets from that business is that i never met john wayne. but i understand many of you did, right in the next room there. so we’ve had our ups and our downs together, and i bet you agree with me that as we look back on those up times, we probably were never as up as we thought we were. and certainly as we look at those down times we never were quite as down as we thought we were., and that’s probably a good thing for us to remember tonight. because americans are expressing a lot of concern these days about the direction their country is going, there is some concern that maybe we’re slipping away like all the great powers have. we’re hearing a bit of that old malaise talk we used to hear all about. part of it is iraq, certainly. part of it is the economy, believe it or not. the wonderful economy and economic news you continue to hear, the greatest story never told as some people call it, yet people are talking about the threats of globalization and the disparity of income. and my friends i really believe that some people’s proposals as to how we should react to these things are much more dangerous than the problems that are perceived in and of themselves., some people are saying that in effect after this war in iraq is over we need to come back home and close the doors and lock them and pull down the shades and build up walls of protection and trade protection and raise taxes and redistribute the income. that’s their solution. they’re wrong then, they’ve been wrong throughout history, and that will not happen. and we have to defend the sound policies that have worked for us so often and so effectively throughout history. you wouldn’t think you’d have to make the lower tax case again, but you have to make it every day in washington dc., it looks like we would’ve come to the conclusion a long time ago that things that promote savings, investment and risk are good things. and when you read the history books and you see the boom that happened after kennedy lowered taxes in the 1960’s, and you see in 1981 when ronald reagan lowered taxes and turned malaise into prosperity, and you see the same thing when george bush in 2001 did the same thing again took a declining economy which he inherited and turned it around into a good thing, into a positive economy despite 9/11, despite what was going on on wall street, and the bursting of the nasdaq bubble and all the scandals that were there. overcame all of that and gave us a situation today where the government is collecting more revenue than at any time in history., we live in a country where 5% of the people pay over half the taxes and 40% of the people pay no taxes at all and yet that seems to be the focus and the solution for the liberals in washington; just adjust that a little bit and everything will be alright. of course, we’re talking about once again, targeting the rich. my advice for anybody in the middle class: don’t stand anywhere near the target., wouldn’t it be nice instead of arguing again about how to divide the pie up again in this country that we could talk about how to make the pie a little bit larger? wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing to do? on globalization we aren’t afraid of america; it’s a good thing for america. we do more things better than anybody else. we have more innovation; we invest more in innovation in this country and in our service economy than anybody in the world. free trade and free prosperity have done more things and caused more prosperity in the world than anything any central planner ever could have come up with and america is the best example of that., if we want to help our friends in south america and africa for example and other places, we need to lower our trade barriers, we need to have more trade. democracy is a good thing, sometimes though we need to focus on the basics on which democracy can operate. democracy sometimes means one vote, one time and it’s over with. we need to promote things like the rule of law, open market, and free trade. any country that has ever tried that has prospered, any country that hasn’t, has not., so we’re doing some things right in this country, we need to think about that and be proud of that fact and proud of our country. we also need to be big enough to acknowledge that some things are going wrong in this country. back in 2001 i was chairman of the governmental affairs committee and i was watching something that developed in this country for a long time. we were getting to a place where some very important functions in this government were becoming almost inoperable. getting fraught with mismanagement and lack of accountability. i wrote about a 60 page report called government at the brink, documenting the waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and lack of accountability that was affecting government at that time. i handed that off to mitch daniels who was head of omb at that time and later became governor of indiana and we started discussing what we were going to do about that., shortly after that 9/11 happened, refocused everyone’s attention for a period of time, with a pretty good result i might add. the fact that we haven’t been attacked again in this country is no accident., but we have to get back to refocus on the reality that is now presenting problems for us in terms of national, security. and a lot of it has once again to do with the growth of government. every bureaucracy that stays long enough grows. and every new bureaucracy that’s created, one is created beneath it. good people, coming into washington to head an agency, head a department for awhile; they’re usually from around the country. bring them in for a confirmation process that costs them a fortune in accounting fees, in lawyer fees, and 9 months before some committee arguing about them. and finally when they get there to serve, they want to do something important for their country, they want, to operate and engage in broad policy issues that they came to washington to address, not to fight their own bureaucracy, not to spend all their time in civil service proceedings on somebody that they thought needed to be fired., and so it goes on and on, and after awhile we end up with departments that can’t pass an audit, computer systems that can’t talk to each other after spending hundreds of millions of dollars, intelligence systems that are failing, and people in over their heads. and yet throughout all of this, we have a lot of people still in washington today, sad to say not all of one party, that when they get a good idea they want to federalize things that have been under the state purview for years and years. depriving the nation of the experimentation and diversity that’s out there in the states. that’s how we got welfare reform, because of state activity that worked so it was picked up and used., i think out attitude ought to be in the federal government to do what you’re supposed to do and do it competently, and then maybe we’ll give you something else to do., one of those things is border security. the immigration problem has to do with immigration, but it in large part has to do with national security. we live in a world now; we have inherited a world that is watching the attempted marriage between radical islamic fundamentalism and nuclear technology. we live in a world where 40 countries have fissile materials sufficient to make a nuclear weapon, and the bad guys are trying their best to get their hands on it. and we live in a country with porous borders and porous ports, and it doesn’t take a genius to put all that together and see the problem that we’ve got in this country. and i think people are going to demand that we address that first. i don’t think the 12 million illegal aliens that are here are as much a concern as the next 12 million and the next 12 million on infinitum., we were told before that there was a solution to this if we would only pass a bill, but we did that in 1986 and now we’re coming back with the same old stuff, so i don’t think that people are going to respond to it until that border situation is addressed. then i think people of goodwill ought to sit down and work out the rest of it together., we have a good problem in this country, and that is we have the best medical system in the world. it’s too expensive; we need to do something about it. there needs to be a lot of conversation about it. but in the meantime, we need to ensure we don’t destroy the best of something that man has ever created that is keeping so many people alive so much longer. we’re growing older as a society, thank goodness, thank god. but we’re not producing enough young people in the workforce to pay for the retirement plans that we have in this country, to pay for our social security and medicare obligations. it’s simply a matter of demographics. and if we continue on the present pace before too long, it will sap all the revenues of the government, and our government will be nothing more than a transfer agent, transferring wealth from one generation to the next. and the taxes necessary to fill that gap are going to be so backbreaking and astronomical that young people trying to start out, buy that first home and pay their mortgage, that it will absolutely ruin our economy. now, most of the folks in washington, all of the folks know about it, it’s not a matter of lack of expertise, lack of knowledge, it’s a matter of lack of will. and for the professional politician there is nothing more dangerous than uncertainty and possibly doing something that somebody doesn’t like. and it never occurred to any of them to explain to people the necessity to do something for the country might work. they operate on the basis that this generation is too greedy to do anything for the next generation, and the next generation after that., i think that’s the exact opposite of the truth. i think if a credible case is made to the american people that mom and dad and grandmom and granddad will be more than happy to make the adjustments necessary to protect their kids and their grandkids in the next generation, if they’re just given a chance. why in the world would you want be in politics if you can’t make a difference, everyone says they want to do that. here you can make a difference not only with this generation but the next one after that and the next one after that. what kind of legacy people could leave., they’re within our control. the problems we have should not depress us, they are in our control. obviously when you’ve got close numbers you’re going to need a certain amount of bipartisanship to get things done. you need that anyway. it is sorely lacking. we do have some good people who are willing to do that, not enough, but willing to do that. but we need to understand the basis for bipartisanship. it doesn’t come with additional photo-ops or additional nice statements that always happen with a new congress and a new president before they can get in mutual corners, and pull out the knives, it happens with the american people. that’s the only thing that will derive the political leaders in congress to do the right thing, because they’ll be afraid not to because the people will be on the other side., i am hopeful that after this next election, the good people, the people who are reform-minded and change-minded in the good way, and the next president of the united states can go to the american people and just say this, in effect: we’ve got a new situation on our hands now, and we’re living in a new era. we’re going to be tested in many ways, may even be under attack, maybe for a long time. but it’s time to be honest with ourselves, we need to do some things better, and we need to do some things differently. here’s what we need to do, and here’s why we need to do it. now that you’ve been called upon, and you understand i know that you’ll respond for the sake of your nation and the next generation, because you always have. and when we get the response that i think we’ll get from the american people from that it’ll shake the capital and you’ll have your bipartisanship., i don’t think there’s an question that if we leave iraq before there is some semblance of stability in that nation, so those brave people there have a chance to make their government and democracy work, that the world is going to be a more dangerous place. and as long as we have any chance there, as long as those brave people on the front lines who are making our sacrifices for us, and doing so much as long as they have a chance and they say they have a chance, we need to give them the opportunity to make that work there., my own feeling is that under the worst circumstances there that we’re going to leave a new haven for terrorists and we’re going to leave an area of the world that becomes more and more nuclear. that those civilian nations surrounding iraq will respond to what iran is doing to their nuclear program and that the whole place will be nuclearized and that will be bad for us in many respects., there is something else that we need to start thinking about with all of this attention and all of the headlines, that there is going to be a day after. even if we leave in the best of circumstances, even if we’re able to assist in restoring stability there and give that government a chance to work, we’re going to be out of there eventually. and when we do, we’re going to find ourselves in a world that is still very dangerous. we’re going to find iran doing what it’s doing, north korea doing what it’s doing in proving itself to be a danger to the world. al qaeda is not going to go anyplace good, it’s still going to be there trying to get the united states., george tenet just came out with a book, and a lot of people are of course concentrating on the who shot john and who did what to whom, and they’re probably right, i haven’t read it, it’s probably just another attempt to answer critics and place blame on somebody else, but i did see this. it’s something we need to pay attention to, he’s been there. it says there’s no question on my mind that al qaeda is already here, they’re intent, patient, and intend to put a mushroom cloud over an american city no matter how long it takes. that’s the kind of world we’re going to wake up to after iraq is, , 				,"	
", fred thompson: thank you very much, i appreciate it. wow, thank you. thank you for that warm reception and for who you are and what you’re doing. i can’t tell you how happy i am to be here. steve buyer, i wish i could claim a little credit for anything you have done my friend. i can’t tell you how much that introduction means to me, but just tell me one thing, when pat leahy is making a bad face, how can you tell? i’m sure that will be taken in the spirit that it is given., steven thank you so much, you’ve meant so much to this state and this country. i want to thank mike mcdaniel, rex early, chairman ray clark, and all the distinguished guests here this evening., my old friend dan burton, it seems like i run into folks from indiana everywhere i go in my life. david mcintosh is now a great friend and great advisor, and he and his wife ruthy being here means a whole lot to me. i want to mention my old friend dan coats, too., i want to tell you, after i left the senate, one of the most rewarding things that i got to do was, after president bush called me up and help chief justice john roberts get on the supreme court of the united states. dan coats helped judge alito. i don’t know how dan feels about it but i guess that, he feels just the way i do, that this was one of the most important things we have done in our careers, put two new judges on the supreme court that decide cases and don’t decide on causes. they decide two litigants based on the law and they’ll be good solid conservative judges, i’m convinced, for the duration. we just need another one or two., you know the last time i was here; i was so impressive that a scant ten years later i was invited back. i’m delighted to be back, my wife jeri sends her regards. she’s a depaul grad. she’s at home tonight with hayden and sammy and she sends her best regards. i’m happy to be here with people who have their priorities straight. that hasn’t always been the case in my career. i remember when i first started in the united states senate and giving my first speech on the floor of the senate, i was talking about having congress abide by the same laws as everyone else, which was a novel idea even back then, and with senator grassley we got it done. took it on, made my, first speech, of course there wasn’t hardly anyone else on the senate floor at the time, nobody listens to each other for these things, but there was one older gentleman listening who i will not name that was listening. came up to me afterwards and said “fred, that was a pretty good speech”, and i said “why thank you senator.”, and he said “well i just have one question.” so i raised to my full stature with my little pocket constitution in my vest pocket, ready to answer anything he might have, and he said “tell me, was that a real submarine you used in ‘hunt for red october’?”, so i understood the priorities right off the bat, but i do remember my early days in the senate fondly. in fact you can always tell new members of congress because every once in awhile they slip up and accidentally spend some of their own money. they get over it., i was at a little function earlier today, and a lady came up to me and told me that her son is coming home after 4 years in iraq. and she says to me, “you know, you don’t get a lot of recognition.” but we’re going to tonight. everyone in the room, if you have a relative or a loved one serving their country in the armed forces, would you please stand up for a round of . (), we need to be reminded every day that if we were not the land of the free, if we were not the home of the brave, we would not be the united states of america today, and we would not be the country that has shed more blood for the cause of freedom for other people than any other nation in the history of the world. and our detractors and critics need to remember that about our young people in this country., i appreciate steve going back in history a little bit, appreciate the introduction. you never know who knows you and who doesn’t. how much you outta kind of bring people up to date on yourself. i talked to a lady at the airport the other day and it was five minutes before she realized i wasn’t dr. phil., but as he ran through that little historical journey for me, a lot of memories came back. my folks coming off the little country farm there, instead of going to school, they went to work. best parents anyone could ever possibly have. i still have my mama back in tennessee. and because of their appreciation for education allowed me to do the things that steve talked about. and i still wonder what they were thinking as they watched their teenage kid go off and marry and start his own family, and work his way through school., wanted to go to the united states senate, putting everything else aside. wanted to balance the budget, cut taxes, wanted to reform welfare and for congress to live under the laws that everybody, night against a popular incumbent congressman. was able to carry tennessee twice by 20 points in a state that bill clinton carried twice, and i feel pretty proud of that. but i feel even more proud to be a part of a team that was able to do the things that i talked about. but i put term limits on myself, and after 8 years i decided that it was time for me to move on. i could have run again consistent with my term limit pledge i could have run one more time but i decided not to. people asked me why in the world would you leave the united states senate when you were unopposed, after what it takes to get there? but i always tell people that after 8 years in washington i longed for the realism and sincerity of hollywood., got to co-sponsor the homeland security bill and get that passed. took two tries and had an election in the middle of it. the democrats didn’t want the president to have the flexibility in times of emergency to move people around and the federal employees union fought it but we were finally able to get that done. i got to serve on the intelligence committee. got to travel in various parts of the world and meet with world leaders. but sometimes the most important things in your life happen under your own roof. and shortly before i left the senate i married a wonderful lady. and not too long after that we found out that we were going to be parents. and jeri had never been married, never been a mother and my children were grown. and it was a little bit of a surprise, but i knew from the first instant that another wonderful chapter was opening in my life. you can’t look at that first sonogram and ever be the same again., so when all this politics talk started some time ago, and all the back and the forth and the process questions and the flak and all of that stuff, jeri and i talked about it several times, and kept coming back to the question: what kind of question, what kind of world are these kids going to grow up in? what kind of country are they going to grow up in? and how many people get a chance to do, something about it?, so that little journey kind of gives a background as to why i’m here tonight. everybody has their own little journey, and we all have a lot in common. i don’t know about the particulars but it all has to do with love of country and the kind of world they want to leave behind. the first obligation that every generation has is to leave this place a little bit better than when we found it. that’s what our parents did. it’s what our grandparents did. and it’s above all what we’ve got to do. my friends, i feel like these next few years are going to bring decisions that we’re going to have as a people; certainly on the president’s desk but also on the people’s desk, decisions that are going to effect the future of our country for many many generations to come. and i simply believe on our present course that we are going to be a weaker and more divided nation than what we have been. and i do not say that lightly, but i think it’s the truth, and i think the american people are ready for the truth., to me, there are a lot of issues. goodness knows we are not deprived of issues or solutions that people have. there are about three things that underlie everything else. one of them is national security. our country is in danger and its going to be that way for a long time to come. i do not think we have come together as a nation and come to terms with the length and duration and expense and commitment that it’s going to take to meet the threat that we have in islamic terrorism and radicalism. we are dealing with people who look upon this as something that has been going on for hundreds of years and they are plenty ready to have it go on for another couple hundred years to go on slaughtering innocent people in the process. they think they are on track., the look historically at things and see that for 15-20 years they have been attacking us all over the world, our embassies, the world trade center, the uss cole, on and on with little response. and they’ve already defeated the toughest enemy, they say, and that is the soviet union in afghanistan, and things are just rocking along now. and they look on iraq as a current front in the war, not the, war, but something to be dealt with before they move on. we’ve got to do better, more committed, more united, more unified than we’ve ever been before. and yet you look at our responses some times as a people and that’s not the message we’re sending out. whether you look at budget priorities, our situation in iraq – which some people apparently think that’s all there is, get out of there and our troubles will be over. whether you look at our border situation and that we can’t or won’t stop illegal immigrants from coming across our border when in the past few years we’ve picked up thousands of people from terrorist states alone, when we only catch 1 out of 3. in the era of the suitcase bomb when a small amount of material could wreak havoc on this country. when you look at our court system which does not make a distinction between terrorists and an average criminal in the us court system. and warning them of their rights and you can’t prosecute them unless you do, and have you telling them everything in open court and giving them discovery so they have access to and can take advantage to all that information. we are often times in our system not acting like we are serious., the debate with regard to surveillance. some people have a lot of problem with us surveilling international telephone conversations when al quada suspects are allegedly on the other end of the line. but yet it’s done begrudgingly in increments with great debate and fanfare. it’s an indication to friends and foes alike that our memory of 9/11 and of whets been happening to us for a long time has not had full impact yet., the second thing that concerns me is that we are doing steady damage to our economy, and if we don’t do things better it’s going to result in economic disaster to future generations and we are going to leave this place weaker for future generations. and a breaking of that commitment to leave this place better. we are spending their money. we are spending lots of their money. and instead of having a conversation together, democrats and republicans together about what we can do, instead of using it as a battle in 30 second television ads, we ignore the most important part of that conversation – the people who can’t be president, our grandchildren. the people who haven’t been born yet. they don’t have anyone speaking of them in many cases. oh our economy is good now, there’s no question about it, i think that’s the greatest story never told and president bush does not get enough credit for his persistence as far as tax cuts are concerned. if there’s one thing that, should be agreed upon among everyone in this country is the growth effect of tax cuts. and you, can’t solve any of this without economic growth. regardless of what administration you look at throughout history the result has always been the same. but, when you look down the road a little,, you’ll see that before very long we’ll be using up the social security surplus, you know the one that’s in the lock box that every politician in washington has the keys to? that lock box. we’re living off the fact that we’re bringing in more in social security taxes than we’re spending, but that’s going to reverse itself., at a time when the demographics will shift and there will be fewer and fewer workers, at a time when the cost of healthcare will likely continue to go up, all those things working together will inevitably lead us to an unsustainable situation. that’s not my opinion, not original. look at the, writings of the gao, a non-partisan organization, david walker the comptroller has been going around the country with people from a conservative think tank and a liberal think tank, good people in both organizations, all three of them saying the same thing. and that is, what we’re doing is unsustainable. and do you hear anybody talking about that? it’s not going to happen before the next election., these are things that cannot be settled or decided or cured by a president, cannot be settled, decided or cured by a political party. it’s going to have to be done by the people, which leads me to my third point., at a point when we need to be united, and come together with a little common sense and honest conversation about what the problem is, which everyone knows incidentally, have the guts enough to deal with it and say we won’t use it as a political hatchet against each other. at this time we are probably more divided than we ever have been before, well in a long time. at a time when we’re seeing a convergence in these problems and all the other chickens that are coming home to roost like energy like healthcare, and in congress despite the great fortitude and work of some has the lowest approval ratings in history. you know, in order to have leadership you have to have somebody to follow. how do you have anyone follow if the people don’t have any confidence in what’s being said or who’s saying it. we can’t go down that road forever. and we see the government that is now incapable of doing some things that are common issues that government has to deal with., we want a limited government. we want a government strong enough to protect us but we want a competent government that is able to do those things that government ought to be able to do. time after time we’re apparently unable to unwilling to do that anymore., just a couple of thoughts as we go on this journey together. the main thing i think that we need to think about, is what are the principles we are going to operate. you know a 15 or 20 point plan is great, aha i have a 30 point plan, i’m better than him! alright that’s great, but what are the underlying principles. when the plans go asunder, when you can’t get agreement on them. i think we should remember our first principle, or what i call our first principles. i don’t think the declaration of independence and the constitution are outmoded documents. the declaration tells us that our rights come from god and not from government. the constitution has a framework that is set up not as some kind of result of bureaucratic handling but as something that is designed with federalism. federalism encourages limited national government, promotes experimentation and competition between the states and diffuses power and promotes freedom. those are not outmoded thoughts. but you’ll find every good idea that everyone has now has to be federalized., i’m proud that on 2 or 3 occasions there was 99-1 votes in the us senate and i was the one, because i said this has been the states’ purview for 200 years, why is the federal government involved in this when it can’t do what it’s supposed to be doing right?, and it’s an adherence to the principles that underlie everything we do in this country. the rule of law, not something somebody makes up because they decide the social policy is not something to their liking, but the rule of law that people can rely upon. that’s what it’s supposed to all be about., market, respect for private property, free trade, competition between our citizens, competition around the world. this works to our benefit. not only has this made us the most prosperous nation in the world, but it’s made us an example for every other nation in the world who’s ever tried. because nobody who has ever tried it has been unsuccessful in terms of prosperity for our country., but mainly what we have to do is what others have done in times past. and that is to come together, recognize the problems, talk about improvements, work together, remember that there’s, more that unites us than divides us, and take on the tough jobs and get to the other side of the mountain wiser and stronger than when we started. we know how to do that; we’ve done that so many times before. and every time we’ve done it, we’ve been successful., and in my final moment here, i know some might say, “well fred, you haven’t done much talking about the republican party tonight.”, my friends, that’s exactly what i’ve been talking about. because that’s what i think the republican, party believes, that’s the tradition of what we have stood for, that’s the kinds of things we must stand for. if we do that we will be successful we will deserve to lead this nation, we will lead this nation. and most important of all, it will make for a stronger, more secure, more prosperous united states of america., i look forward to working with you, thank you very much., 				,"	
", my friends, i come to you today to tell you that i intend to run for president. i feel deeply that i am doing it for the right, reasons. i love my country and i am concerned about its future. just within the next few years, some very serious challenges are moving towards us that will present a difficult and dangerous time in the life of our nation. there are grave issues affecting the safety and security of the american people and our economic well being. i’m going to do my level best in this campaign to address these problems. i’m going to give this campaign all that i have to give, and i hope that you will join me., my story is an american story – like one of many our country has produced – where a small town kid of modest means and modest goals grows up to realize that he has been a very lucky person. lucky to have been born in america, lucky to have had the parents i had and lucky to have had a few people in my life who sometimes saw more in me than i saw in myself., i have seen my country from a lot of different vantage points. i was a teenage husband and had three wonderful children early. i have worked for minimum wages, for salaries more than i ever thought i would make, and for everything in between. i have had dinners on the factory floor, while working the graveyard shift, and i have dined with world leaders in foreign capitals., as a lawyer, i have been a federal prosecutor and a counsel for the watergate committee. in private practice a courageous woman and the jury trial that we had against a corrupt state administration resulted in a movie. i was asked to play myself, which started a most unlikely part time film career., then a senate seat opened up in tennessee. for me it represented an opportunity for public service, not for a new career as a politician. so i set aside my law practice and the movies, placed term limits on myself, and won two elections by 20 point margins in a state that president clinton carried twice., in 1994 when i first ran, i advocated the same common sense conservative positions that i hold today. they are based, upon what i believe to be sound conservative first principles – reflecting the nature of man and the wisdom of the ages. they are based upon the conviction that our declaration of independence and our constitution are not outdated documents that have outlived their usefulness. it is a recognition that our basic rights come from god and not from, government. that government should have its power divided, not only at the federal level but between the federal government and the states. federalism is the belief that not every problem should have a federal solution. essentially it’s about freedom. a government that is big enough to do everything for us is powerful enough to do anything to us., these principles lead me to believe in lower taxes, which foster growth and leave more power in the hands of the people. they also respect free markets, private property, and fair competition. they honor the sanctity of life – the great truth every life matters, and no person is beneath the protection of the law. these principles made our country great and we should rededicate ourselves to them, not abandon them., now to my republican friends, i point out that in 1992 we were down after a clinton victory. in 1994 our conservative principles led us to a comeback and majority control of the congress. now you don’t want to have to come back from another clinton victory. our country needs us to win next year, and i am ready to lead that effort., when i went to the senate, i wanted to help accomplish certain things that i thought were necessary and achievable. i wanted to balance the budget, cut taxes, reform welfare, require congress to live under the laws that they had imposed, on others and i wanted to begin modernizing of our military. we were able to get those things done. i also took a leadership role in the passage of the homeland security bill, and blocked export control legislation that would have allowed the sale of our sensitive technology to unreliable countries. as chairman of the governmental affairs committee, i led an investigation and held hearings on the failure and shortcomings of our government. this resulted in, a two volume work that i published in 2001, entitled “government at the brink” and still available on the internet. it outlined these deficiencies and made recommendations to cut waste and save billions. now these problems have only grown worse since that time. i served on the intelligence committee and saw close up the importance of improving our intelligence capabilities in our fight against terrorism and got a good sense of other troubles over the horizon., in 2002 i announced that i would not run for re-election and i re-entered private life. while my television work on “law & order” got more attention, i stayed involved in national security issues including service as chairman of the international security advisory board at the state department., one of the most rewarding experiences i had was when president bush asked me to assist now chief justice john roberts through the senate confirmation process. it is very important that the next president appoint federal judges who interpret the constitution, not try to make it fit their own personal or political views. i have seen both kinds of judges, and i know the difference., a guy can do a lot of things and travel the world but find that the most important things in life occur under his own roof. i married a wonderful lady during my last year in the senate and the following year we found out that we were going to be parents. i knew from the moment i heard the news that we had been blessed. how true it was. our little girl, hayden, who will tell you she is three and three-quarters years old, now has a little brother. his name is sammy and he is 10 months old. earlier this year when i thought about whether i should enter this race, i kept coming back to 2 questions. first, what kind of country are our children and grandchildren going to grow up in and second, how many people have the opportunity to do something about it?, decisions that will affect our lives and our families far into the future. we cannot allow ourselves to become a weaker, less prosperous and more divided nation. today as in past generations, the fate of millions across the world depends on the unity and resolve of the american people., the specter of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of our worst enemies continues to grow, and still we have yet to really come to terms with the nature and extent of the threat we are facing from radical islamic terrorism. these extremists look at this war as a long struggle that has been going on for centuries; they are willing to take as long as necessary to bring the united states and our allies to our knees, while killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people, if possible. iraq and afghanistan are current fronts in this war and the world watches as our will is tested. our courage as a people must match that of the brave men and women in uniform fighting for us. we must do everything in our power to achieve success and make sure that they and their families’ sacrifices are not made in vain. they know that if we abandon our efforts or appear weak and divided, we will pay a heavy price for it in the future. some of our leaders in congress need to understand this as well., in this broader war with this different kind of enemy, our success cannot always be measured by battlefield victories. success will depend upon the determination of the american people and that’s why we’ll win. there is a courage that comes in unity. now is the time to show that america united can overcome any danger, and america united can complete any mission., before the end of my senate service, in the year after 9/11, i saw the congress of the united states at its best – alert to danger and focused on duty. we need to recover that clarity and conviction in matters of national security. the threat of catastrophic violence in america is real and the terrorists aren’t going away of their own accord. we must deploy every resource including diplomacy, intelligence, and economic power to defend this nation and our national interests. if i am commander in chief, this country will never be left to the mercy of terror regimes or terror states., we have challenges on the home front as well. before long we will have spent the social security surplus and will see the “baby boomers” begin to retire. on our present course, deficit financing will saddle future generations with enormous taxes, jeopardize our economy and endanger our retirement programs. the government accountability office, the comptroller of the united states, and conservative and liberal economists alike, tell us that this path is economically unsustainable. bipartisan leadership must address this issue as part of a national conversation, remembering that those yet to be born also have a seat at the table. after all, it’s their money that we are spending, and it is economic security that’s in the balance., other important issues face our country. our dependence upon foreign oil, especially from trouble spots in the middle east and elsewhere, endangers our national security as well as our economy. for 50 years nearly every recession has been associated with a spike in oil prices. what we need is another spike in american creativity and innovation. over the past several years we have had revolutions in our communications, science, and medical fields. we need to revive that same american know-how for our energy security, along with a willingness to avail ourselves of the energy sources we already have right here at home., in education, schools continue to fail our children and endanger america’s future competitiveness. increasing amounts of federal funding and government mandates have not resulted in real improvement. the federal government can assist state and localities through grants with fewer strings and less bureaucracy but should not take schools out of the hands of parents and local officials. we should encourage the rights of parents to choose the school and what’s best for their child’s education., rising health care costs are another major problem. we have the best health care in the world but we are paying more than we should for it. we have a massive bureaucracy in both the private and public health care sectors that controls costs by dictating what services we are allowed to get and when. someone has to decide what costs are worth the money. it can be the government, the insurance company or it can be you. i think it is best if you, yourself decide what is best for you and your family, with insurance that doesn’t have to depend on your employment – coverage that you can take with you if you change jobs; insurance that you may purchase from anywhere in the nation for the best value. this would be market driven and would make health insurance affordable for more americans., when we look to washington, we see a bureaucratized government that is increasingly unable or unwilling to carry out basic governmental functions, including the fundamental responsibility of securing our borders against illegal immigration and enforcing our laws. a nation that can’t protect its border will no longer be a sovereign nation. we see a congress more politicized and divided than ever and disconnected from the american people. is this the government that some would have play an even greater role in running our lives? we must do better., i know that reform is possible in washington because i have seen it done. i do not accept it as a fact of life beyond our power to change that the federal government must go on expanding more, taxing more, and spending more forever., we, the american people, must assert ourselves. in times of stress and peril in this country’s history, including world wars, a great depression, assassinations and attacks, other generations have put their differences aside, remembered their common beliefs and overcame great obstacles. and we have come out stronger and wiser for it. now it’s our turn. no one person, including the president, has the ability or wisdom to singlehandedly solve these problems. nor does one party. but together the american people do. these problems will be dealt with when our leaders come together, as adults, and honestly seek solutions that extend past the next election cycle. that will happen when, and only when, the american people demand it. you can do that at the ballot box and no election is more important than the one for president. it demands a leader who understands this country, our people and what america’s priorities ought to be., recently, i talked to a young marine at walter reed hospital. he had lost both legs in iraq but was looking to the future. i asked him what he planned to do? he said he wanted to work with a nonprofit organization that was doing a lot to help people. then he looked at me and said “i just thought it was time i gave something back.”, that young man, who has given so much for america and yet still asks to give more, is typical of the men and women of the united states armed forces. our country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other countries in the world combined. we are steeped in the tradition of honor and sacrifice for the greater good. we are proud of this heritage. i believe that americans are once again ready to achieve this greater good: which is nothing less than the security, prosperity, and unity of our country., that’s the belief that this campaign is based upon. i’d appreciate your support of this cause and any contribution you’re able to give. i’ll try to make you proud that you did it., ,"	
", , mr. thompson: thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. i appreciate it. i m glad you finally got that video up. the -- oh, i ll say it. all you young men out there with a full head of hair, enjoy it while you can., thank you, wayne. thank you all. i appreciate you inviting me here today, and i ve seen your agenda and the number of politicians that you re going to be listening to. and i don t know whether, to admire you for your stamina or compliment you on your being such a glutton for punishment -- but i m glad you included me in the mix., my relationship with you folks can be summed up very shortly. check the record. that s about all i probably need to say. but having rejoined the ranks of the politicians again, obviously that s not all i m going to say. but i do remember a relationship from way back, from the time that charlton heston came to tennessee in 1994, and i formed a friendship with that great american and watched him hobble across the state with me on a bad hip and go through pain to help me win my first election in the united states senate., i think back to the time that i had -- for a while i had a skeet shoot there in nashville, many of you know of. i met some of you there for the first time. we raised a little money for juvenile diabetes, and then, of course, your support for me for united states senate and my support for the second amendment, as i said i would do when i went to the united states senate., i never subscribed to the notion that it made our country safer by infringing on the second amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. i think back to the a rating i got from this organization and the endorsements that i was proud to receive. so it s not just a matter of promises made, as far as i m concerned. it s a matter of commitments that have been kept., but you know, sometimes when the stage gets a little larger, the voices get a little weaker. my first trip to new hampshire after i announced my candidacy, i went to a gun store. when i was in florida just last week, i went to a gun show right before the ut-florida football game. i should have stayed at the gun show., but it s not because i hang out there every day. it s because i wanted to demonstrate something that i think is important: that i will say the same things that i ve been saying since 1994, and that what i say in new hampshire, i will say in florida and all parts in between. my philosophy, does not depend on my geography, and i thought it was time i laid down that marker early on., but we re here today not just because of our support of the second amendment. we re here, today for our support for the rest of the constitution and what i call the first principles that this country was founded upon. now, these first principles have to do with human nature. they have to do with the wisdom of the ages and they have to do with the notion that there s some things that don t change in this changing world that we live in., it s given us the declaration of independence, which reminds us, if we need reminding, that our basic rights come from god and not from government. it s given us the constitution of the united states. thank you. thank you., it s given us the constitution of the united states, which divides power, based on the notion that it s not good to put too much power in too few hands. and it divides it not only at the federal level but between the federal and the state level, based on the notion that all solutions to all problems are not found in washington, dc., that, in turn, is based upon the idea of the eternal truth that this country was founded upon, and that s the idea of freedom -- individual freedom, political freedom, economic freedom -- and the fact that all those things are tied together. and it s also based upon the knowledge that we have that if a government s big and powerful enough to give you anything, it is big and powerful enough to take anything away from you. and we reject that kind of government in this country., and there were those first principles that allowed a fellow like me to get in his truck and go from one end of the state to the other. started 20 points down, wound up 20 points ahead on election night. won a state by 20 points two different elections, 20 points each, in a state that bill, clinton carried twice. talking about lower taxes, talking about less regulation, talking about the importance of the sanctity of life, talking about competition among free people in that free marketplace, talking about the importance of trade, and how if we adhered to those principles, we d remain the most prosperous country in the history of the world; and not only for us, but to set an example for everybody else in the world, or any other country that applied those principles and a little dose of rule of law, and it s almost guaranteed economic success for any nation that s ever tried itanywhere in the world, , amendment. it was not because back in those days i was thinking about running for president. i, think my history shows that i m not standing here before you as somebody who has craved that office ever since i was a junior in high school. that s not been the case. i m simply another american in another american story, like many of you out here, who looks down the road a little bit, is concerned about his country in the future, realizes there s going to be some decisions on the next president s plate s going to determine our future and the future of our children and grandchildren for many years to come., that s hit home more to me than ever in the last few years. i have been blessed in many ways in my life -- some of them have come a little later in life instead of a little sooner, and a couple of them are sitting at home now, waiting on me to get back, ages 4 and 11 months, and i m proud to, have my wife and their mother with me here tonight, jeri thompson. thank you for being here tonight -- today., she wanted to know -- you to know that she is supportive, also. and we just came off the campaign trail, got in late last night, but she wanted to be here today. and i don t know, but i think she d make a much better first lady than bill clinton. what do you think?, but we have been successful as a nation, and we ought to be proud of that fact. we shouldn t be ashamed of it. we ve taken a lot of criticism around the world, but i always think of the proposition that i live in a country that s shed more blood for other people s liberty than all the other countries in the world, and there s no reason to apologize to the united states of america. we are steeped in the tradition of honor and sacrifice for the greater good in this nation. we are proud of that heritage., and our country and these challenges that are going to be facing us in the near future needs a leader who stands by the principles that has made us a great nation, that understands this nation, understands her people, understands the greatness of america s past, but more importantly understands the greatness of america s future. my friends, i submit to you, i am that man. thank you. thank you., thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much., now, they tell me we ve still got time for questions and answers, because i got a couple of questions., go ahead., moderator: we submitted some questions from the members., some have argued that the second amendment means different things in different places, that it s okay for new york city or chicago to impose more restrictions on gun owners  rights than it is in tennessee or montana. do you agree with that view?, mr. thompson: nope., i would only point out that it s more than coincidental that so many places that have such high crime rates have the toughest gun restrictions in america. that s more than a coincidence., moderator: what is your position on gun shows?, mr. thompson: well, just having come from one ... no, i -- i enjoy gun shows. i think that, they re a part of americana. i don t know that anybody would be against gun shows. there are various kinds of regulations and proposals that would restrict private citizens who are not, professional dealers or anything like that and place rules on them as they go there. i ve always been against that., we have had, you know, over my years in the senate all kinds and any kind, as you well know, over the eight years i was there restrictions on second amendment rights of one kind or another, and the -- those who would do that try to pick the most vulnerable areas, try to pick the high-profile, areas, try to single out some little something and embarrass somebody with it. and gun shows have been the easy target for that, but i ve always resisted that and would continue to do so., moderator: if elected president, will you support positions of the bush administration that the second amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms and appoint an attorney general who does as well?, mr. thompson: yes, i think -- i think we re winning on the interpretation of the second amendment. i ve always taken the position that -- kind of a complicated position that i ve worked out., the constitution means what it says, and the -- seems to me that the old militia debate that s been going on some time is not only being rejected in the courts but it s being rejected by scholars, who are not necessarily traditional friends of second amendment rights., but the constitution does mean what it says, and it s not restricted to protection of militias. thank you very much. it s been a pleasure being with you. thank you., , ,"	
"mr. thompson: thank you very, very much. thank you very much. wow. what a wonderful -- (chuckles) -- what a wonderful, wonderful reception. thank you, tully friedman. i can t tell you how much it means to me to have such a good friend and someone who i ve had such wonderful conversations with long before either one of us knew we ll be doing this. to have that kind of support and give that kind of statement about me -- if you don t know tully, you will learn that when you see a good cause, one of the things that we believe in so fundamentally, you ll probably see tully friedman connected with it, including the american enterprise institute and other things., well, welcome to d.c. those of you who have -- are coming in from out of town -- i understand it d probably be most of you; some of you, it may be even your first time. i remember my first time here, a new member of the united states senate, that you make mistakes, you know, right off the bat. i mean, one day, i accidentally spent some of my own money and -- but i quickly recovered, and -- nowadays you got to add ""just joking,"" you know, to that, i ve learned. but i m glad to be -- i m glad to be talking to folks who -- i know what they want to talk about., i remember those early days, i guess, i made my first speech on the senate floor. we were introducing a bill that would require congress to live under the same laws as everybody else. that was a pretty novel concept at the time and still is. (.) but we got it passed. but i ve given my maiden speech; you know, i m kind of proud of myself and feeling good, and of course there wasn t hardly anybody around, you know, to listen to it. but one old gentleman -- i won t call his name -- who s been there for some time, sat there and listened to it, and i finished. he came over and said, ""fred,"" he said, ""good speech, good speech."" i said, ""well, thank you, sir."" he said, ""i just have one question."" i said, ""yeah, what is that?"" had my old constitution in my breast pocket ready to go. he said, ""was that a real submarine you all used in the hunt for red october?"" so i got a sense right off the bat at what the priorities were around there as far as i was concerned, but hopefully things have changed a little bit., americans for prosperity, as john wayne used to say, i like the sound of the word, because prosperity is the second theme of mine. on my bumper strips and on my posters i put ""security, prosperity and unity,"" and security and prosperity, of course, are really two sides of the same coin. the question is whether or not we re going to be willing to do the things that are necessary to maintain the prosperity we ve got and ensure it in the future., i think over the next few years we re going to be faced with decisions, and, there are going to be things on the next president s plate that will determine the course of this country for many years to come. i think we re at a crossroads in many respects., we know that the democratic leadership and those who would have the democratic nomination want to lead us down the road of more government and more taxes and more spending. we see that they operate under the proposition that now that people have learned that they have the keys to the treasury, that they ought to have at it and have everything that they want and leading us toward the economy example of western europe that s worked so well for them -- -- ironically, just at a time when some western europeans are looking more toward the things that made us a great nation., at least, my friends, i think the lines are clear. i think the lines for this next election will be very starkly drawn between us and them, with regard to those basic philosophies as to what is going to be best for the economic prosperity of this country in the future. but it s not enough for us to know here around washington that, you know, we ve got the right ideas -- or anywhere else in this country, or that we ve got good policies, or we re going to get together and have a good time every once in a while and talk about things that we believe in. we ve got to make our case to the american people., i m reminded of 1994. we were kind of down in the dumps a little bit as a party. bill clinton had kicked us pretty good. things didn t look too rosy. when i started -- decided that i wanted to step up, never having run for political office before, i did so starting 20 points down -- stayed that way for a good while running against the popular incumbent down in tennessee, which was a state that bill clinton carried twice., but we sensed that there was something going on in the country -- i and those like me around the country who were running that year. and we took our case to them. we talked about first principles, the things that made this country great, things that are eternal truths, things that don t change with the changing of the times., we talked about the fact that we got our declaration of independence from that -- and the system of government that we have where power is divided, not only at the federal level but between the federal and the state level. it s called federalism, based on the proposition that not all solutions are found in washington, dc. (cheers, .) it s also based on the notion that a government powerful enough to give everything to you is powerful enough to take anything away from you. (.) all based upon the concept of freedom, all designed to achieve freedom, individual freedom, political freedom and economic freedom, and the fact that all those things really go together. you can t really have one or two of them. you ve got to have all three of them together., and we believed and talked about then the necessity for a government to be strong enough to protect us, competent enough to do basic government things the government ought to be doing, but limited according to the delineated powers found in the constitution., those are the things we talked about, and we based our issues upon those principles. we talked about the rule of law and how important it is to have judges who apply the law and the constitution, and not make it up as they go along, as too often has happened. (cheers, .), we talked about the importance of lower taxes and a market economy and competition among free people and a free marketplace, innovation, new ideas, competition with foreign countries, trade, doing the things that made this country great, and not only made for the most prosperous nation in the history of the world but served as an example to any other country, large or small, who followed that example and how they would get the same results., and it s happened time and time again around the world., now, i ve got this complex economic philosophy that i want to try out on you. it s kind of convoluted, so follow me a little bit. let s keep doing the things that work and quit doing the things that don t work in this economy. (.), lower taxes and tax rates that encourage people to get out and work and invest and do the things we say that we want them to do works. it s been proven time and time again., the administration came into office. the recessionary phase was on the way. then we had the dot-com bubble burst, then we had the wall street scandals, then we had september 11th -- all things that could really, really hurt an economy., put in tax cuts in 2001; tax cuts, 2003. people went to work, invested, innovated, created. we ve had 22 successive quarters of economic growth in this country. we proved again what was proven back in the 1920s -- () -- during the kennedy administration, during the reagan administration and once again in this administration., unemployment down at the level that used to be considered full employment -- (jim miller ?) can tell you about that -- a few years ago. low inflation, good economy. even the deficit as a percentage of our economy is within historical norms. it s not that high., so that s -- that s what -- that s what works. that s what works. we need to move on and learn that lesson and move on from it and take the next lesson., we have the second-highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. and talking about corporate taxes, you re not talking about just some fat cat setting (sic) in a back room. you re talking about stockholders, you re talking about workers, you re talking about the need to be competitive in a global economy in order to create those jobs that we -- that we all want., we are only one of two nations that hasn t reduced its corporate tax rate since 1994. it should be reduced at least to 28 percent in this country. (.), and getting back for a moment, this concept of lost revenue on tax cuts? well, look how much revenue the government has lost. look how much revenue we have lost. when you have tax cuts, revenue is not lost. the taxpayer knows where it is; it s in his pocket. (.) and he uses it to save, invest or buy things and all those other things, along which just about all of them are taxed again by the government, and one of the reasons why we have the highest revenue intake i think one day in april last -- this last april than any time in the history of the country., but of course, there s that other side, things that are not working. what is not working is the longer-term picture. not that long. but the fact that it s not immediate and immediately on our watch and not going to affect us maybe tomorrow or day after tomorrow does not resolve the issue. we are locked into a mandatory spending cycle now that s going to bankrupt the nation if we continue on the same pattern. it s just that simple. every economist in the country that takes a look at it that s halfway objective, every government official -- david walker over at the government accountability office -- everybody uses the word ""unsustainable,"" unsustainable, the path that we re on., we are blessed with the fact that we re living longer, living longer, healthier lives. one of the reasons is because, regardless of the cost -- which is an issue we can talk about another day -- that we have the best health care in the world. and we should never forget that. (.) fewer and fewer workers, however, proportionately to the retiring community. so we are in danger, if we don t do some things differently, of changing a blessing into a curse for the next generation. and i think we re better than that. i don t think that we re going to do that., now, discretionary spending, of course, is always an issue. the pork barreling and the earmarks and all that get a lot of publicity, as well they should, and it s an activity that needs to have the whistle blown on it each and every occasion., but it s really the tail of a much bigger dog -- discretionary spending in general, where our military resources come from. only spending 4 percent of the budget now, thereabouts, as far as our military is concerned -- we re going to have to do better than that in the future. i hate to tell you, folks. (.), so as that discretionary side gets squeezed, we think back to prior times when our nation was in conflict and the fact that the discretionary side of the budget was reduced drastically; not in this case. i think i read where in the korean war, it was reduced 25 percent in one year on the discretionary budget side; not us -- guns and butter for us -- - all the way, all the way., but again, this discretionary part is a smaller and smaller and smaller part of the issue. we must look at the mandatory part. there are things that we can do now that doesn t have to hurt anybody, and it will be much, much better than on the sustained path, where if we do nothing, it s going to hurt everybody., if we get out the same level of social security benefits, for example, and adjust the cost of living increases to cover inflation -- benefits plus inflation -- we d solve the problem in probably 75 years on social security. there s just one example, and yet, you don t hear much talk about it., but with this out there looming over our head, threatening to eat up our entire budget, if you extend it out over the years, there are those now who want -- the first thing on their agenda is to let the tax cuts expire, doing the one thing -- depriving us of the one thing that is fundamental to work our way out of these fiscal problems, and that is economic growth in this country. it would set economic growth back in this country., and while we re talking about growth and competition, while we re at it, we ve got to address the fact that we have the least efficient tax code in the world. it s a mess, and we got to address it., we ve had commission and advisory panel one after another, you know, come up with recommendations about the way we can consolidate these various programs and simplify the tax code put on the back shelf, not given any real consideration because we can t agree on those things, as we fight with each other in washington over all things, large or small; don t come together on any fundamentals anymore as if we didn t share the same goals for this country, which i know fundamentally that we do., my friends, i think the american people are waiting. i think they re waiting for us to take that case to them as to what is responsible, what is the responsible thing to do for our generation. i don t think people are as selfish and self-centered as they think they are. think politicians would be willing to take a risk a little bit every once and a while; you d be amazed at how well that turns out for you, even politically. i managed to carry tennessee twice by 20 points each, and i think that the thing that was most valuable to me was always i knew i had term limits i put on myself, and i knew i was going, back home one of these days soon anyway regardless of how my thoughts were received. now that s not out of sense of brashness, but it s out of sense of a freedom to speak what you believe to be the truth., my friends, i see us as a nation of free people in a free country that rewards work and innovation, a good nation that takes care of those who can t take care of themselves, and that includes our own children and our own grandchildren and those yet to be born. in this country we are steeped in the tradition of honor and sacrifice for the greater good, and the greater good today is the continued prosperity of this nation. i would think that that s a very good reason to be a member of this organization, and i can tell you, it s the very best reason to run for president of the united states., thank you very much. (.) ,"	
", thank you very much. well, thank you for that kind introduction. and i m glad we were able to get our little girl hayden off the stage. we were campaigning in iowa recently, and we were talking to a large group of people, and hayden just kind of walked out on to the stage there and put her arm around my leg. and everybody kind of got a kick of that, but she stayed. and about five minutes into it and so forth, you know, it was wonderful, but it was a little disconcerting -- about five minutes into it. you know, i said, ""honey --"" i said -- ""do you want to go"" -- thought i d shame her a little bit maybe -- ""do you want to go over here and sit back down with your mama or you just want to stay out here in the limelight?"" she thought for a second and says, ""i ll just stay in the limelight."" and she stood there the rest of my talk with me. it was the most unusual, wonderful experience i ve ever had in my life. thank you all very much. thank you for what you re doing, who you are, being here today, that warm welcome for me and giving me an opportunity to spend a few minutes with you., you know, someone said once upon a time, after you become president of the united states, you don t make any new friends. that s certainly not true with regard to running for president of the united states, because i have made several new friends, several new wonderful friends, several people who have reached out to me not just from a political, standpoint but from a personal standpoint to jeri and me. and we know that regardless of anything else, we have made some lifelong friends. and i have had some conversations with people that -- about things that i haven t talked about a lot in some years, and they were good for me, and i m a better man for it. and those individuals know who i m talking about, and i just want to tell you how much i appreciate that and how much it s meant to me., we ve been together for a long time. we have not always agreed on the -- precisely the right approach to absolutely everything, but our goal has always been the same, and that is to leave this country better off than when we came into it, just like our ancestors have done generation after generation for us., we live in the greatest country in the history of the world. our obligation is to do everything that we can to keep it that way -- () -- and to improve it. and in order to do that, we d best know how we got here and what we did right along the way., we were blessed from the very beginning in so many different ways. we had a group of founding fathers who knew the scriptures, who knew the wisdom of the ages, who knew that there was such a thing as human nature, who knew that man was prone to err and government ought to be constructed on the basis of that knowledge, but that man could rise to great heights when inspired and when given the opportunity. they put forth a declaration of independence and announced to the entire world that we believe and we acknowledge and we know in this country that our basic rights come from god and not from any government. (.), we were given a constitution based upon those concepts, not too much power in any -- in too few hands. power divided not only at the federal level, between the federal and the state level, all based on the notion that not all solutions to all problems emanate from washington, d.c. that was our system of federalism that we put forth to the world and became a beacon of hope and inspiration for all mankind who love freedom. when we started out this thing, there were no democracies in the world, and now, depending on exactly how you define them, most of the countries in the world are, in large part because of the inspiration and the dedication of the united states of america., our people have shed more blood for the liberty of other people than any other nation in the history of the world, and we re proud of that. (.) in this country we are steeped in the tradition of honor and sacrifice for the greater good, and we are proud of that heritage. and from time to time citizens step forth to serve their country in different ways. in 1994, i felt it was my time, and i joined many others in putting aside the things that we were doing and stepping up and doing the things that we thought were necessary for the betterment of our country. and i m proud to say that over eight years on national issues, i was a consistent conservative -- cutting taxes, balancing the budget, reducing regulation, promoting welfare reform, fighting for good conservative judges with a hundred percent pro-life voting record, and i m proud of that record. (.) that s who i was then, that s who i am today, and that s the kind of president i would be., we had an opportunity during the time that i was in the united states senate to vote several times on abortion-related issues. there were funding issues. there was the so-called partial-birth abortion issue, which, of course -- senator moynihan had it correctly -- it s more like infanticide than it is so-called abortion. we had parental rights notification issues, where we had a bill that prohibited interstate transportation of young girls to defeat the parental notification rights of states. we had cloning issues, stem cell issues. my position on that was very simple: you don t create life in order to destroy it. (.), my political record and my head was always there, always has been there, but i must say that it took life s experiences for me to absorb the real importance of it all. i ve been blessed early in my life with children when i was very young, and i have been blessed at a time when i m not so young anymore. i have experienced along the way the ultimate tragedy that a father can have and the ultimate blessing that a father can have., and with regard to miss hayden, i can only say that after, for the first time in my life, seeing a sonogram of my own child, i will never think the same exactly again. i guess, more appropriately stated, i will never feel exactly the same, again, because my heart now is fully engaged with my head. (.) as president of the united states, no legislation will pass my desk, that funds or supports this procedure, without my veto. (.), our country is based upon the rule of law. we talk about democracy; we promote democracy. we know that the, it is a shame that too often it is the judicial branch of government that violates our own rule of law. they are engaged oftentimes in making social and political policy that would have amazed our founding fathers. there s no better example of that than roe v. wade. justice white called it an act of raw judicial power, which is exactly what it was. the latest example of that has to do with the same-sex marriage issue, where judges have taken it upon themselves to take something that has been the case since the dawn of civilization, and that is the recognition that marriage is between a man and a woman -- turned it on its head. (.), when i was in the senate, we fought for the defense of marriage act, passed that act, basically defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and saying one state, if they do such a thing, does not have to be recognized by another state when someone moves to that new state., this is a totally judicially created problem. i propose a constitutional amendment which will stop this particular brand of judicial activism in its tracks. (.), this is -- i had all this brought home to me again, the importance of -- not only of these issues but of judicial restraint, when i had the opportunity to receive a call from the president of the united states, who asked me to help judge john roberts, now chief justice john roberts, get confirmed through the senate for the united states supreme court. i believe he will go down as one of the great chief justices. we just need more of them. (.), and it caused me to think back through a bit of our history, some of which we ve all lived through, where our good presidents have nominated people they thought would be good judges and have been disappointed. and too often the criteria has been confirmability. well, obviously you got to have confirmability. judge roberts proved that quality will win out in the end. and it brought home to me again the necessity, i think, for a president of the united states in the future, if he is confronted with an increasingly partisan bitter reaction to good people who are nominated for this position, and they reject that nomination, you ought to send another one up just like it and have the fight all over again. (.), that s a fight we can have with the american people -- before the american people all day long. and we will win in the end if we are persistent and we stay with it. (.), i have seen good judges and i have seen bad ones. i have appeared before them. i have helped them get confirmed. i ve sat on the judiciary committee and worked there, trying to get good ones. i know the difference between a good one and a bad one, and we need somebody in the presidency of the united states who doesn t have to call his lawyers in order to know the difference between a good judge and a bad judge. (.), there are a variety of issues facing us today. i don t think that my friend senator coburn of oklahoma will mind if i disclose a private conversation i had with him a while back. he said, ""you know, one of the great moral issues of this day is the fact that we re bankrupting the next generation."" our economy is going fine now. we ve had 22 successive quarters of growth because of the tax cuts and because of the strong economy and because of the free market that we operate in, and we re thankful for that. not enough credit is given for that and why it s coming about., but if you look down the road a little bit, we understand that all of the economists from the left or the right, including the comptroller of the united states and the head of the government accountability office, everyone, says that our path with regard to entitlement programs is unsustainable; it will not work., we re going to run out, and we are now borrowing against and we ll be increasingly borrowing against the next generation. and those who are too small or those who are yet to be born do not have a seat at this table as we kick the can down the road and wait for somebody else to take care of the problem, when it ll be much worse and much more difficult to take care of, when those benefits for the retired people start being slashed or those taxes are raised substantially on young working people who will be funding these programs, just as they re going out and getting married and trying to start their own family. that s not right. that is a moral issue, too. and we have to blow the whistle on this irresponsibility, and that s exactly what i intend to do. (.), so i have talked about social security. people don t like to talk about things like that. politicians don t because it s dangerous. they say it s the third rail of politics. i ve set out what i consider to be kind of a modest proposal where we could start, along the line of responsibility and start doing the right things before we have to hurt anybody; instead of waiting until we have to hurt everybody; instead of waiting for this blessing of longer life to turn into a curse for the next generation. we can t do that -- pit one generation against another. if you can t tell the truth, you shouldn t be running for president of the united states. (cheers, .), we have not yet come to terms with the fact that we re in a global conflict with radical islam. a lot of people give lip service to it and fail to recognize that iraq is the current front in that battle. and it s probably going to be a long battle, and we re going to have to be resolute. and we re going to have to show will. you know, a fellow by the name of roberts wrote a book not too long ago called, ""the history of the english-speaking peoples since 1900,"" and there s one thing in there that stuck out to me that i remember and that is, he says, ""the will of a people is at least as important as their military might in overcoming an enemy."" (.), so i look at the kind of world that we live in and think about the future, think about the country we re going to grow up in. and it s not all pessimistic. i wouldn t be here if i was pessimistic about it. but optimism doesn t come from what we see or what we feel; you know, my daddy always told me that a man that went around with a smile on his face all the time probably just didn t know what was going on. but it doesn t come from what we see. our optimism comes from the faith that we can do something about it, that we can do something about it. you re doing something about it. i m going to try my best to do something about it. i m running for president of the united states; that s what i m going to do about it. (.), in many respects, we re at a crossroads in this country and will be next year when voters make a decision as to which direction we want to go in. it s going to affect our security and our prosperity and the unity that we need to go forward in this country. it s going to require leadership, and it s going to require a knowledge and an understanding of our glorious past, a willingness to lead on tough issues today and also an understanding of the greatness of america s future if we do the right thing., but while we are a great nation, we must also continue to strive to be a good nation. of course we must have good laws; we must do our best to stop bad laws. but we must also recognize the element of personal responsibility for every american in this country. and when we see local authorities giving birth control to 11- and 12-year-olds, we know, that some values are seriously messed up in this country. (.) the federal government can t cure everything that s wrong and shouldn t even try., but we all have a pulpit. we all have a pulpit, and the greatest pulpit of them all is the presidency of the united states, and i will not be afraid to use it. (.), finally my friends, every once in a while i m asked, as others are, you know, what would you do in your first 100 days as president? what are the circumstances going to be over a year from now? you know, with the changing world we live in and all, you know, it s pure speculation as to the nature of the confrontation, the challenges, both from a security standpoint and from an economic standpoint., but i shared with my wife something after i was asked that question about the second or third time. i said, i don t really know what i would do in my first 100 days; it depends on the circumstances; i know what my priorities are, and i m, talking a lot about them. but i know the first -- what i would do -- i know what i would do the first hour that i was president. i would go into the oval office and close the door and pray for the wisdom to know what was right. (cheers, .) and i would pray for the strength to do what is right. (.), may we all -- may god give us all that strength and wisdom to do what is right for our country. thank you very much.,"	
"hello, i m fred thompson., in the closing days of this historic contest here in iowa, i wanted to take a few moments to talk quietly with you about the stakes in this election and the critical issues you will soon decide., because there is no frontrunner here in iowa and because yours will be the first votes cast in this crucial, election year, your decision will be one the entire country closely watches and learns from., when you go to your local caucus on january 3rd and fill out your paper ballot – and, by the way, it’s just that easy – how you vote will go a long way towards deciding who will lead us as president through dangerous years ahead., that the years ahead will be dangerous needs no elaboration from me. most americans know the forces of terrorism will not rest until a mushroom cloud hangs over one of our cities. the recent tragic assassination of former prime minister bhutto in pakistan again demonstrates the terrorists  will to power and their relentless cruelty., along with threats to our national security, we have great domestic challenges before us – the economy, taxes, protecting our borders, and protecting the right to life., so, i want to talk to you now about the threats and dangers that we face as a people -- but also about the hope and opportunity i see out there., before doing that, however, i’d be remiss if i did not -- on behalf of myself and my wife, jeri – thank the people of iowa for all your hospitality and warmth over the past few months. traveling around the state with all our wonderful volunteers and staff and especially with your great congressman steven king meant getting to know all of you better. and that’s been one of the great privileges of our lives., you may have heard about our bus tour – we re visiting about 50 cities. having that time out there in the heartland has also taught us once again about what counts in life – the importance of passing on to our children and grandchildren the same safe and free future that others protected and passed on to us., by any measure, we live in the greatest country in the history of the world. every generation of americans has an obligation to keep it that way. and to do that we must remember how we got to where we are -- and why we are so blessed., that means remembering the fundamental, conservative principles that have unified us for over two centuries., what are those principles?, -first, the role of the federal government is limited to the powers given to it in the constitution -second, a dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earns it, unless the government has a compelling reason why it can use it better, -third, we don t spend money we don t have, or borrow money that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back, -and the best way to avoid war is to be stronger than our enemies. but if we’re caught in a, fiht e need to in it because not doinso akes us uch ore likel to be attacked in th, -also the federal judiciary is supposed to decide cases, not set social policy -- and bad social policy at that, -and the bigger the government gets, the less competent it is to run our lives., now these are ideals and principles that made our country free, prosperous and strong. and these principles are the foundation of a conservative movement that i’ve been faithful to throughout my adult life. these are not principles i decided on a few years ago. they are not concepts that i learned from a focus group. and they are not ideas i came up with to curry favor or to win an election. these principles are part of who i am and, i suspect, they are views and instincts i share with most of you., and every single one of these principles is under assault today – under assault from a left wing, big-government, high-taxing, weak-on-defense democratic party. a party whose leadership is licking its chops just waiting to take over the reins of government – waiting to bring to the united states presidency the same reckless power-seeking and incompetence it’s brought this year to the united states congress., that s why the upcoming caucuses are so important. on january 3rd, the people of iowa are going to answer an important question. who’s the man you want to represent us -- to stand against this assault and protect our principles and values?, it s a little late in the process to be coy. i believe i’m that man. i can stand up to those who would trifle with our great founding principles. i ve done it before. i’ll blow the whistle on their schemes. and i know how to beat them in the war of ideas., and in demonstrating that, i have laid out plans for:, a simplified, flatter income tax to take away power from the irs a way to save a social security system that is going bankrupt, a stronger military ready to face the threats of a dangerous world; and a solution to our illegal immigration mess., any number of publications and commentators – the wall street journal, the washington post, national review, investors business daily and others -- have praised these plans. and many have pointed out that i’m the only republican in the race for the presidency who has stepped up to offer such bold, conservative ideas. i invite you to check the policy details on my website fred08.com., but you re not electing a set of position papers. you re electing a leader – at a time when strong leadership is going to be needed., now if you watched or heard about the most recent debate between the republican candidates you probably know that i declined when called upon by the moderator to do any hand-raising – i just thought that there should be some things that are below even the dignity of presidential candidates. but the point’s this: i don t think it was difficult to pick the leader out of that line-up. if those other fellas can t stand up to an overbearing moderator in a debate, i m not sure how they would fare against the leader of iran or north korea., now there are many good men running for our party s nomination. each of them loves our country. each of them has something interesting and useful to offer. but the fact of the matter is that the republican party is a conservative party. that‘s the philosophy that’s shaped us. that’s the philosophy that has won us elections. and that’s the philosophy we must champion if we are to win again in 2008., and on that score, among each of the men seeking our party s nomination, my record stands out. i entered public life as a conservative. i served in the senate as a strong, consistent conservative with a 100% pro life voting record. and i have the same philosophy today that i had back then. what you see is what you get. i dance to no man s tune. and no one has ever accused me of changing my position on anything for the sake of political expediency. that’s why when someone here in iowa said conservatives were looking for a horse to ride in 2008, i responded, ""saddle me up."" and in the battle of ideas, we can’t afford a republican leader who doesn’t have a core philosophy that grounds him. i know who i am. i know what i believe. and i am ready to lead., when i was in the federal government, i concentrated on national security. i served on the intelligence, committee, met with foreign leaders around the world. and i managed for the republican side the passage of the homeland security bill which i believe has helped us prevent another ""9/11."", i continued public service after i left government. although my role on tv s ""law & order"" got, considerably more publicity, i took on other roles from time to time as well. when condoleeza rice needed someone to advise her on matters of international security, she called on me. when the president needed help to get a good conservative judge confirmed as chief justice of the united states supreme court, he called on me., what it all comes down to is this: the most important issue facing us is the national security of our nation and the safety of our people., i ve spent a lot of time both in and out of government working to make the american people safer. i know the world we live in, i know what we need to do, and i know it s going to require strong leadership., and i would ask people to think one thing before they caucus: when our worst enemy is sitting across from us at the negotiating table, and they’re thinking about what they can do to harm the united states of america, and what they might could get away with, who do you want sitting on our side of the table representing you, working to keep you safe? that s probably the person you ought to elect as president., i’ve been tested. and i believe our country s best days are ahead of us if we take on the responsibility of leadership. the american people are waiting for us to step up, protect our values, our principles and our country. together we can do something great for america. i welcome that challenge., but, my friends, i need your help., because right now in this final weekend another issue is before us: that of electability., i believe i am the only candidate in this race who can bring our party to victory in the fall. first, because of the firmness of my principles and the trust that that engenders. secondly, because of the detailed program i’ve put before the people. third, because i ve been tried and tested – and i’m a known quantity in public life., but, most of all, i think i know how to talk to the american people about the opposition and the danger their victory would pose to the principles we hold dear., you know in the last debate – when i was asked the biggest problem with american education-- i had a ready answer: ""the nea."", by which i meant the national education association -- that highly politicized, washington-based union that is a hindrance to students as well as to the teachers it claims to represent., but you know the nea is not the only problem. just like its education policy, the democratic party s foreign policy is heavily influenced by another left-of-center pressure group—move on.org <http:ion.org/> which implied that our leading general in iraq betrayed us, that tells our men and women in uniform that the war they are fighting is lost, and then tries to cut off funds for our troops in the field., and its social policy is heavily determined by the radically secularist aclu -- which tries to take god out of the public square and leaps to the legal defense of our nation s enemies., you know, when i m asked which of the current group of democratic candidates i prefer to run against, i always say it really doesn t matter. because these days all those candidates, all the democratic leaders, are one and the same. they’re all nea, move on.org <http:ion.org/> , aclu, michael moore democrats. they’ve allowed these radicals to take control of their party and dictate their course., so this election is important not just to enact our conservative principles. this election is important to salvage the once-great political party from the grip of extremism and shake it back to its senses. it s time, to give not just republicans but independents and, yes, good democrats a chance to call a halt to the leftward lurch of the once proud party of working people., so in seeking the nomination of my own party, i want to say something a little unusual. i am asking my fellow republicans to vote for me not only for what i have to say to them, but for what i have to say to the members of the other party -- the millions of democrats who haven t left the democratic party so much as, their party s national leadership has left them., in this campaign i will be seeking the support of millions of democrats who no longer believe that they can trust their own party’s leadership on the issue of national security., i will be seeking the support of millions of democrats with young families who are beginning to see the economic burdens they may face because of their party leadership s taste for high taxes and politically motivated refusal to fix social security and remove the threat of a shortfall in federal benefit plans that could be a catastrophe for younger taxpayers., and, finally, i’ll be seeking the support of democrats who are weary of spin politics and the permanent campaign and endless attempts to control the media dynamic-- who think policy stances ought to be judged on a higher criteria than what works better in a sound bite or fits this week s campaign-message guidance., so i’ll be asking good democrats as well as independents to give us another chance – to see if a republican president and congress that’s dedicated to conservative principles can move forward with an agenda that goes beyond narrow partisanship and political expediency and actually deals with the long-term foreign and domestic crises we face., i know we can do better than a 14% approval rating the current congress had. and i know we’ve learned our lessons from last year s election. we’re the party of smaller, smarter government, lower taxes, and less washington spending. and the only way we win is if we understand that, remain true to it, and refuse to yield to those who would have us abandon it., all of this, then, and more is why i’m running for president. i believe, that, yes, we can deal with the dangers and threats before our nation and the world., and we can begin now by remembering who we are, where we came from, and what we ve done before as a people. this isn t the first time our nation has been in grave danger, even in our own lifetime. not long ago ours was an east-west world where the democracies were beleaguered and small in number. now so much that was once unimaginable is happening before our eyes. we see a world where representative government is flourishing. a world where the global economic boom is taking millions out of poverty every year. a world where there’s even talk of a permanent end to poverty., well, we got to this place because of leaders who saw something more than political expediency, leaders like a ronald reagan. a ronald reagan who would use his time in office wisely precisely because he thought politics had higher uses than just the pursuit of power., he spoke often of the abuses of government power that our founding fathers feared and warned against. you know, i ve always thought one of the most impressive things about one of those founders -- george washington -- was his willingness to walk away from power. having spent eight impossibly difficult years in a military struggle against the greatest military power on earth, he was filled with an awe and wonder not at the work of mere mortals but at the workings and power of providence, an awe and wonder that was never to leave him. to his dying day he was to remind americans that the one condition of a prosperous and free people was a belief in a will higher than our own, a trust in providence., lincoln had it too -- the conviction that no free people and certainly no president can long endure without a belief in a wisdom far exceeding any human understanding., i know the people of iowa think that way. i recognize it when i see it. that s one of the great advantages that comes from growing up in another part of the heartland -- lawrenceburg tennessee. on sunday morning, my hometown was a pretty busy place– people on the way to hear the good news – the good news that the future is in better hands than our own. so, thanks to what i learned in those early days i’ve always known no matter how much we want it otherwise, we humans aren t in charge. life is sometimes harsh though in teaching us that truth., and all this was much on my mind last summer when i decided to run for the presidency. especially as i looked around my home at another generation -- a three-year old and a five-month old -- and thought -- as have so many of you over the past few years – about the safe future i had and how much i wanted to make that future a certainty for my children and yours., so for this reason and all the others i mentioned, i m hoping that you support me in the days ahead. i am hoping too that you ll join me in something that comes pretty easy here in  the heartland"" -- a prayer of, thanks for the great things that have happened in our time. and a prayer of hope too. hope that when the history of our own age is written it will be said of us what was said of those before us. that we were unswerving in our dedication to the cause of human freedom and dignity. and that we kept our trust in the will of him who made us -- and who enjoins us to now go forth and make a newer world,, thank you all. may god bless you and may god bless america,"	
", , ""it is pretty difficult for a politician to resist an invitation to speak before a room full of broadcasters - especially during an election campaign. but i am not here to talk about politics but about our neighbors which have been too neglected for too long. we are all of the new world, united by a common history and a common quest for justice and freedom that began with our struggle for independence., ""four and a half decades ago, john kennedy described the people of latin america as our  firm and ancient friends, united by history and experience and by our determination to advance the values of american civilization.  never was this truer than today. with globalization, our hemisphere has grown closer, more integrated, and more interdependent. latin america today is increasingly vital to the fortunes of the united states. americans north and south share a common geography and a common destiny. i would like to share with you today my vision about where our hemisphere is headed, and how, as president, i would lead our region., ""the countries of latin america are the natural partners of the united states, and yet it hardly feels that way today. anti-americanism is on the rise in much of the region. the attention of u.s. leaders and the media have shifted toward iraq, afghanistan, the broader middle east and the war on terror. as we have devoted attention and energies to other regions, other, dangerous forces have moved into the breach. hugo chavez has used the cloak of electoral legitimacy to establish a one party dictatorship in venezuela, breathed new oxygen into the decaying castro regime in cuba, allied with iran and other american enemies, and supported populist, anti-american forces throughout the hemisphere. while the united states has been pre-occupied elsewhere, china has launched a diplomatic and economic offensive in the region, with uncertain intentions and outcomes. and there is a growing rejection among some latin amer icans of the free-market democracy that has been so painfully achieved. ""we can and we must do better. i have seen the difficult journey this region has made since the 1970s and 80s, a time of war and dictatorship, of hyperinflation and economic stagnation. the latin america i know is a hopeful place, which prizes its hard won freedom, seizes new economic opportunities and remains a firm partner of the united states. if i am elected president, the united states will forge a new policy toward latin america and the caribbean basin founded on peace and security, shared prosperity, democracy and freedom, and mutual respect., ""there are several areas of concern. the undergoverned tri-border region of brazil, argentina, and paraguay is a haven for smugglers and radical groups. iran has launched terrorist attacks in argentina. hamas, hezbollah and similar groups are active in the region. several states in the caribbean and elsewhere are small, weak, and vulnerable to narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and even terrorist activity. trinidad is home to a radical islamic group that has been implicated in the recent plot to attack new york s jfk airport, and several individuals involved in that plot are from guyana., ""our security priority in this hemisphere is to ensure that terrorists, their enablers and their business partners, including narcotraffickers, have nowhere to hide. one element of this effort requires a new approach to the region s ungoverned areas. we must help governments establish sovereignty over the land, sea, and air, through broader partnerships with willing countries. this means defense assistance, but also measures designed to accelerate broad economic growth, build the rule of law, and extend the scope of government authority to lawless areas., ""another element of this approach must include bolstering the new democracies of the hemisphere. polls increasingly show that populations are losing faith with democracy, and blame it for failing to provide security from crime and corruption or a way out of poverty. we should help consolidate democratic gains by helping latin american countries build the capacity of the state, train political parties, bolster the electoral process, and press for more transparency and accountability., ""there is also great potential for a closer partnership with many latin american countries at a regional and even a global level. mexico, brazil, chile, and others represent truly international partners of the united states, countries committed to values we hold dear, including an embrace of human rights, the expansion of freedom, economic development, and an orderly and rules-based international engagement. ""there has been much talk of a leftward tilt in latin america, but there are two  lefts  - there are those center-left governments with whom we can work closely and cooperatively, and there are the few populist, statist governments who oppose much of what the united states and its democratic partners stand for. we should be careful not to overreact to the former, and we must ensure that the latter are marginalized., ""hugo chavez is driving venezuela toward disaster and trying to take others along with him. since his election, he has overseen the dismantling of venezuelan democracy. after undermining the parliament and the independence of the courts, he is now targeting the media, free labor unions, and private enterprise. chavez closed radio caracas television after some 53 years on the air, and is even going after small cable networks. he is calling for the creation of a common defense pact between venezuela, cuba, nicaragua and bolivia, to oppose the united states. in his spare moments, he has found the time to meet with the holocaust-denying president of iran., ""we have seen this story before. hugo chavez, like fidel castro before him, embraces authoritarianism and aggression and statist economic policies - a time-worn recipe for disaster. only today s high oil prices keep him from swiftly joining previously discredited leftist dictators on the ash heap of history. too many dictatorships are enriched by our reliance on foreign oil. that is why it is a matter of u.s. national security to reduce our reliance on imported oil. ""nor can we forget the people of cuba. it is in the united states  national interest that the cuban people live in freedom. a hostile state, a sponsor of terror, a regime that harbors fugitives from u.s. justice and shoots down unarmed american civilian aircraft is a national security threat. as president, i will not passively await the long-overdue demise of the castro dictatorship. my administration will press the cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media and to schedule internationally monitored elections. and, the embargo will stay in place until those terms are met. i would provide more material assistance and moral, support to the courageous human rights activists who bravely defy the regime every day, and increase radio and tv marti and other means to communicate directly with the cuban people. my justice department wo uld vigorously prosecute cuban officials implicated in the murder of americans, drug trafficking and other crimes., ""cuba s transition to democracy is inevitable, and we need to begin planning now for that day. while our cuba policy does not always accord with that of our hemispheric and european partners, we should begin an active dialogue with them to develop a plan for post-castro cuba, a plan that will spark rapid change and a new awakening in that country. the cuban people have waited, long enough., ""we can do this by standing not just against the negative designs of despots, but for a positive vision, for a better future of promise and prosperity and equality that is not american alone, but that constitutes a future shared by all of the hemispheric partners., ""we trade as much with latin america and the caribbean as we do with the european union, and yet there is enormous untapped potential. brazil and mexico are together as populous as the united states, while brazil alone is comparable in geographic size. many governments in the region have abandoned the excessive spending and statist economic controls that fueled economic crises for decades. inflation is down, growth is up, and the hemisphere has been free of an emerging market financial crisis for the past five years., ""we need to build on the passage of the central america free trade agreement by expanding u.s. trade with the region. let s start by ratifying the trade agreements with panama, peru, and colombia that are already completed, and pushing forward the free trade area of the americas. too many democrats have embraced economic isolationism, paying off special interests by opposing trade agreements with our democratic neighbors. they could not be more wrong. my administration would reduce barriers to trade and press for renewed trade promotion authority., ""opening new and integrated world markets does not automatically translate into a higher quality life for everyone. latin america s income inequality poses a threat to stability and free market democracy. as we pursue liberalized trade, we must work with latin american governments to open up real opportunities for the millions of citizens in this hemisphere trapped in the underground informal economy, without access to credit, with no titles to their property, and no ability to harness their energies and work ethic in an entrepreneurial economy. the power of global capital markets dwarfs the importance of foreign assistance in financing economic expansion. capital markets do not, however, automatically seek out those who have been left behind - and my administration would work to ensure that those marginalized have an opportunity for a better life., ""trade offers opportunity; aid can help ensure that those opportunities are available to all. the united states should launch a major program designed not to increase handouts but rather to build capacity, improve education, cut red tape, and reduce the corruption that is the foremost impediment to economic growth. we should target assistance and micro-lending to the economically isolated and often indigenous populations among our free trade partners. we need to help governments do these things not only because extreme inequality threatens the future of market democracy, but also because helping latin america expand growth and opportunity at home is an important element in curbing illegal immigration and expanding american markets., ""mexico must be a vital partner in stopping illegal immigration. president calderon has shown strong leadership in confronting drug crime throughout his country. by extraditing drug kingpins to the united states, deploying mexican troops to enforce order in cartel-dominated areas, and by taking on the narcotics trade so directly, he has embarked on a courageous and vital course. the mexican government must win this war. should the gangs and cartels prove victorious, our security will be weakened and more drugs will flow into the united states. mexico needs more help from the united states in this effort, and in a mccain adminstration, that help will come., ""we need a strong ally and partner in mexico, and forging this relationship would be a top priority in my administration. i would hope to return u.s.-mexico relations to the bright days at the beginning of the bush administration, when the relationship between our president and president fox held untold promise., ""there is great potential for progress in relations with other key countries as well. the u.s. recently agreed to work with brazil in an effort to expand sugar production toward ethanol use. this is a good start, but we can go much further toward establishing close ties with south america s biggest economy, a country that is a leader in the region and beyond. brazil s leadership in the u.n peacekeeping force in the troubled nation of haiti is a model of how to foster regional security and cooperation., ""colombia continues to face enormous challenges, and we have seen some real successes in fighting narco-terror and establishing its authority. unfortunately, these successes are endangered by democrats who oppose providing military aid to a democracy under siege and want to turn their back on the free trade agreement negotiated with our strongest ally in latin america. i intend to fight for plan colombia and for a free trade pact with colombia. you don t build strong alliances by turning your back on friends. colombia is a country too big and too important to fail, and we need to ensure success., ""in chile and peru, the potential to expand ties offers much hope as well. and we should encourage argentina to choose a course of cooperation based on mutual respect. in central america, what was once a war-torn region is now a vibrant, democratic success story. who could have imagined in the 1980s that one day el salvador, nicaragua and honduras would send military forces to serve with americans in iraq?, ""for decades, in republican and democratic administrations alike, the united states has treated latin america as a junior partner rather than as a neighbor, like a little brother rather than as an equal. latin america is not our backyard; central and south america are not  beneath  the united states. as a resident of a state that borders mexico, i am acutely aware of the extraordinary contributions that our neighbors make to the united states - from trade to culture to a commitment to democracy and human rights. we share with our latin american neighbors a deep regard for faith, family, and hard work. we share a civilization and a hemisphere. and we should work - together - to create in the americas a new model of relations between the developed and the developing world., ""if elected i will work to create a new global league of democracies that would give brazil, colombia, mexico, chile, peru and other great nations in the region a voice in confronting common problems based a shared values - a voice that they are denied in the united nations security council., ""i will also revitalize our public diplomacy in latin america - and the world. in 1998, the clinton administration and congress agreed to abolish the united state information agency and place its public diplomacy functions into the department of state. this was a mistake. dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting america and the american message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas. communicating our government s views on day to day issues is what the state department does. but communicating the idea of america, our purpose, our past and our future is a different task. we need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting america s message to the world. this would aid our efforts in the global struggle against islamic extremism. it would aid our efforts to communicate accurately with the people of latin america when some try to propagandize them. our values of liberty, equality and opportunity are universal. we know our country has been the greatest force for good the world has ever known. our story is a story of hope, optimism, freedom and compassion. it is a story that must be told effectively and professionally - something this audience knows very well., ""let me speak from the heart: to the people of cuba, who have been robbed of their freedom and their dreams: my administration will support the future, freely elected government of your choice. commissars and jailers will not dictate your future., ""to the people of venezuela: we will always respect your democratic choices - but we stand against those who seek to corrupt and hijack your democracy., ""to the people of our southern neighbor, mexico: our differences are real, but small compared to our common bonds and mutual interests. we will support your president s campaign to advance the rule of law - and the dreams of freedom, opportunity and justice for which your ancestors have struggled for five hundred years., ""to all of the people and governments of our shared hemisphere: no portion of this earth is more important to the united states. my administration will work relentlessly to build a future with liberty and justice for all., ""to the druglords and demagogues: you will lose., ""relations with our southern neighbors must be governed by mutual respect, not dominated by an imperial impulse, nor by anti-american demagoguery on the other. the promise of north, central, and south american life is too great for that. i believe the americas can and must be the model for a new 21st century relationship between north and south. ours can be the first completely democratic hemisphere, where trade is free across all borders, where security and opportunity are defended and advanced for all, where the rule of law and the magic of the marketplace allow all peoples, north and south, to reach their god-given potential. that will be my vision as your president. together, we can realize it. thank you."","	
"""thank you. i want to talk today about the national security challenge of our time, the war which radical islamist extremists have been waging against us for the better part of three decades, and in which iraq, according to the commander of our forces there, general petraeus and our enemies, is a central front. my father s generation successfully fought the second world war. succeeding american generations successfully fought the cold war. and, my friends, we will successfully defend ourselves against this new and very dangerous threat. but as we have done in the past, we must not take counsel of our fears, nor avert our eyes from the imminence and complexity of the threat, nor let our will weaken because of the sacrifices we have already made and the false assumptions and tactical mistakes we have made in iraq and in the wider struggle against enemies who are as determined to harm us as we must be to defeat them., ""last week i was in iraq, and i saw there the connection between our efforts to combat al qaeda and the broader war on terror. the final reinforcements needed to implement general petraeus  new counterinsurgency strategy arrived several weeks ago, and they are aggressively taking the fight to al qaeda. the u.s. military, in cooperation with iraqi security forces, have made dramatic advances in anbar province, a region that last year was widely believed to be lost to al qaeda. after an offensive by u.s. and iraqi troops cleaned al qaeda fighters out of ramadi and other areas of western anbar, the province s tribal sheikhs broke formally with the terrorists and joined the coalition side. the military is attempting to replicate this success in other parts of iraq, including the areas south of baghdad that have served as havens for al qaeda and other insurgents. all u.s. soldiers in the southern baghdad belts are now ""living forward,"" and commanders report that the local sheikhs are increasingly siding with the coalition against al qaeda., ""in baghdad, the military, in cooperation with iraqi security forces, continues to establish joint security stations and deploy throughout the city in order to get violence under control. these efforts have produced positive results: sectarian violence has fallen since january, the total number of car bombings and suicide attacks declined in may and june, and the number of locals coming forward with intelligence tips has risen. make no mistake violence in baghdad remains at unacceptably high levels, suicide bombers and other threats pose formidable challenges, and other difficulties abound. nevertheless, there appears to be overall movement in the right direction., ""north of baghdad, iraqi and american troops have surged into diyala province and are fighting to deny al qaeda sanctuary in the city of baqubah. for the first time since the war began, americans showed up in force and did not quickly withdraw from the area. in response, locals have formed a new alliance with the coalition to counter al qaeda. diyala, which was the center of abu musab al-zarqawi s proposed ""islamic caliphate,"" finally has a chance to turn aside the forces of extremism., ""i note these items not to present a rosy scenario, but rather to illustrate the role iraq plays in the wider effort to combat al qaeda and other terrorist elements. now that the military effort in iraq is showing some signs of progress, the space is opening for political progress. yet rather than seizing the opportunity, the government of prime minister maliki is not functioning as it must. we see little evidence of reconciliation and little progress toward meeting the benchmarks laid out by the president. the iraqi government can function; the question is whether it will. if there is to be hope of a sustainable end to the violence that so plagues that country, iraqi political leaders must seize this opportunity. it will not come around again., ""most americans only became acutely aware of the threat from islamist extremists on september 11, 2001. the worst attack ever on american soil brought out the best of america as we came together to defend our freedom. thanks to the heroism of so many, we went on the offensive, capturing and killing terrorists all over the world, rooting them out of their lairs in afghanistan, and overthrowing their taliban collaborators., ""many today say we are losing the war with islamic extremists. i disagree. we have disrupted numerous plots to attack our homeland and our allies. working with allies, we have captured or killed scores of major terrorist leaders. but there is much more that needs to be done. osama bin laden and his deputy remain at large, and we cannot rest until they are captured or killed. al qaeda remains operational, with franchises sprouting around the world. threats from other terrorist groups such as hamas and hezbollah must be dealt with. the outcome in iraq and afghanistan is uncertain., ""today, our goal must be to effectively counter the plans of our enemies not simply with military force but with all the other tools at our disposal - economic, diplomatic, political, legal, and ideological. we must not only track down and capture or kill confirmed jihadists, we must stop a new generation from joining the fight. this long war is not with islam but within islam - a small minority of extremists against the majority of moderates. my administration would pour far more resources into helping moderate muslims - women s rights campaigners, labor leaders, tolerant imams, lawyers, journalists, and many others - resist a well-financed campaign of extremism that is tearing their societies apart., ""we need not fear democracy in the muslim world. but there is much more to democracy than simply voting. democracy is grounded in a functioning and impartial judiciary and police force, a free press, a robust political opposition, respect for women s and minority rights, and other essential elements we often take for granted. we must press friendly muslim states not simply to open the ballot box but to establish the building blocks of an open and tolerant society. i have proposed the creation of a ""league of democracies"" where like-minded countries can work together to meet common challenges. such a league could work to promote economic development and political pluralism in the middle east. we must also enhance the economic freedom of the region by establishing a free trade area to include all states which do not sponsor terrorism., ""to talk about the struggle against islamic extremists is, of necessity, to talk about our war with al qaeda in iraq. many democrats claim this is a conflict we cannot win. they ignore the consequences of a us defeat at the hands of al qaeda and some ignore al qaeda altogether. just this week, senators clinton and byrd wrote an op-ed about the war in iraq and never once mentioned al qaeda or the terrorist presence in iraq. foreign jihadists - al qaeda operatives - are responsible for at least 80% of the suicide bombings that are the driving force of sectarian strife. they are in this war to win and we cannot let them., ""defeatism will not buy peace in our time. it will only lead to more bloodshedand to more american casualties in the future. if we choose to lose in iraq, our enemies will hit us harder in afghanistan hoping to erode our political will and encourage calls in western capitals for withdrawal and accommodation with our enemy there as well., ""there is much we need to do at home. we have to make far-reaching reforms to our government. the nature of the threat confronting america changed radically between the fall of the berlin wall and the fall of the twin towers, and yet our governmental structures have not kept pace., ""no one who has visited our servicemen and women in iraq or afghanistan can doubt their skills, their bravery, or their dedication. but it is equally impossible to doubt that, as i have said for years, they are overstretched and under-resourced., ""i am glad to see that troop increases are in the pipeline but current plans are not enough. as president, i would bring the army and marines from the currently planned level of roughly 750,000 to 900,000. this will cost real money, some $15 billion annually, but it will not require a draft any more than similar levels did in the 1980s. it is vitally important for the next president to issue a call to service, to summon the young men and women of america to defend their country and its noble ideals. i am confident that this generation will answer the summons just as so many of us did in previous generations., ""along with more personnel, the military will require additional equipment for the expanded force, to modernize for the future, and to make up for losses suffered in the current wars. we can partially offset some of this additional investment by cutting wasteful federal spending, including unnecessary pentagon programs and an often dysfunctional procurement system. but we can also afford to spend more on our defense. our defense budget currently consumes less than 4 cents of every dollar that our booming economy generates - far less than we spent during the cold war., ""while we enlarge the armed forces, we must also transform them. to a large extent, our military is still configured to fight enemies that no longer exist. our stealth bombers, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines may make the difference in a future conflict, but they do little to win our current struggles against terrorists from the horn of africa to the hindu kush., ""what we need today are more soldiers and more civilians with the right kind of skills to fight a global counterinsurgency. the bulk of our effort must be directed toward helping friendly governments and their security forces to resist our common foes. toward that end, i would immediately implement an idea offered by lieutenant colonel john nagl, a veteran of iraq and one of the army s brightest strategic thinkers. we should create an army advisor corps with 20,000 soldiers that would work with friendly militaries abroad. i would increase the number of personnel in information operations, special forces, civil affairs, military policing, military intelligence, and other disciplines., ""we must strive to enhance our understanding of foreign cultures - the human terrain on which we fight. we need to launch a crash program in both civilian and military schools to increase the number of experts in strategic languages such as arabic and pashto. we need to require students at our service academies to spend time studying abroad. and we need to enhance the foreign area career field within the military while creating a new field in strategic interrogation. in this way we could produce more interrogators who can attain critical knowledge from detainees using advanced psychological techniques and not the kind of repugnant tactics that are rightly prohibited by the geneva conventions., ""even as we increase our military capacity, we must also increase our civilian capacity so that an undue burden does not again fall on our soldiers as it has in afghanistan and iraq, where the civilian agencies of our government have too often been missing in action. the state department and other agencies need to enhance their ability to send more experts to rebuild war-torn lands - or, better still, bolster peaceful development to reduce the chances of war breaking out in the first place., ""to better coordinate our disparate efforts, i would ask congress for a civilian follow-on to the 1987 goldwater-nichols act which fostered a culture of joint operations within the separate military services. today we need similar legislation to ensure that civil servants and soldiers train and work together in peacetime so that they can cooperate effectively in wartime and in postwar reconstruction., ""as president, i would revitalize our public diplomacy. in 1998, the clinton administration and congress agreed to abolish the united states information agency and put its public diplomacy functions inside the state department. this was a mistake. dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting america s message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas. communicating our government s views on day-to-day issues is what the state department does. but communicating the idea of america, our purpose, our past and our future is a different task. we need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting america s message to the world - a critical element in combating islamic extremism., ""we also need to develop a deployable police presence to, when necessary, help maintain law and order where it is lacking, and to train foreign police forces to counter islamic extremism and other threats. in the end, dollars, experts, and police must work together to address the interrelated issues of political freedom, good governance, and economic development., ""i would also set up a new civil-military agency patterned after the office of strategic services in world war ii. a modern-day oss could draw together unconventional warfare, civil-affairs, paramilitary and psychological-warfare specialists from the military together with covert-action operators from our intelligence agencies and experts in anthropology, advertising, foreign cultures, and numerous other disciplines from inside and outside government. in the spirit of the original oss, this would be a small, nimble, can-do organization that would fight terrorist subversion across the world and in cyberspace. it could take risks that our bureaucracies today are afraid to take - risks such as infiltrating agents who lack diplomatic cover into terrorist organizations. it could even lead in the front-line efforts to rebuild failed states. a cadre of such undercover operatives would allow us to gain the intelligen ce on terrorist activities that we don t get today from our high-tech surveillance systems and from a cia clandestine service that works almost entirely out of our embassies abroad., ""these are not measures that will pay quick dividends. we must understand that we confront a lengthy struggle - a long war - that will not be won quickly or easily. but we will win it., ""while our ultimate victory is not in doubt, the length and intensity of this struggle remain to be determined. it s up to us. we have historically important choices to make, all of us, the american people, their president, and their members of congress. we must recognize that our enemies are in this fight to win, and so must we be. we must use our strengths, our resources, our inventiveness and our fortitude - qualities that have distinguished us through history and which have never failed us - to defeat our unpardonable foe. we must act boldly and with confidence that history has not yet assigned us a challenge that we cannot meet successfully. though we regret the mistakes we have made in this war, they must not cause us self doubt. we must learn from them, as americans have always learned from our mistakes, and fight smarter and harder. though we mourn the losses we have, already incurred in this war, we m ust not let our grief weary us so that we cannot do the work that is ours to do., ""these are the decisions confronting american voters in this election, and they will confront the person you elect president. in november, 2008 the american people will decide with their votes how and where this war will be fought or if it will be fought at all. i have told you how i intend to fight this war. other candidates will argue for a different course. democratic candidates for president will argue for the course of cutting our losses and withdrawing from the threat in the vain hope it will not follow us here. i cannot join them in such wishful and very dangerous thinking. peace at any price is an illusion and its costs are always more tragic than the sacrifices victory requires. i will stand where i stand today and trust you to give me a fair hearing. there is too much at stake in this election for any candidate to do less. thank you."","	
", , ""thank you for the honor of speaking before this gathering, and thank you for the work you do in support of the state of israel. your efforts are needed today more than ever, as it is harder to think of a time in recent memory when israel s national security has faced so many varied challenges., ""the jewish state has, of course, experienced tough times before - indeed, they have perhaps been the norm rather than the exception. when one thinks back over the conflicts - 1948, the six day war, yom kippur, lebanon, the first gulf war, two intifadas and lebanon again - it is clear that israel has been challenged more, in less time, than any nation on earth. survival in the face of such trials would be impressive; flourishing would seem out of the question., ""yet israel has thrived. i would like to believe that israel s success has been aided by america, israel s natural partner and ally, and by its supporters here and the world over - several thousand of which are here today. but the tests continue - with hamas and hezbollah, in the anti-semitism so pervasive in the arab press, in the restive violence in iraq and elsewhere, and in the vile threats issued routinely by the iranian president., ""but israel will survive. just as it has thrived in the face of armies and terrorists, just as it has prospered in the most dangerous neighborhood on earth, so will it succeed in the face of today s threats. there will always, always be an israel., ""and just as there will always be a proud, strong israel, so too will there always be a close and enduring u.s.-israel relationship. when it comes to the defense of israel, we simply cannot compromise. in view of the increased threats to israeli security, american support for israel should intensify - to include providing needed military equipment and technology and ensuring that israel maintains its qualitative military edge. israel s enemies are too numerous, its margin of error too small, and our shared interests and values too great for any other position., ""israel s strength will be put to the test. the world s chief state sponsor of international terrorism, iran, defines itself by hostility to israel and the united states. it is simply tragic that millennia of proud persian history have culminated in a government today that cannot be counted among those of the world s civilized nations. when the president of iran calls for israel to be wiped off of the map, or asks for a world without zionism, or suggests that israel s jewish population return to europe, or calls the holocaust a myth, it is clear that we are dealing with an evil man and a very dangerous regime., ""tehran s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons clearly poses an unacceptable risk. protected by a nuclear arsenal, iran would feel unconstrained to sponsor terrorist attacks against any perceived enemy. its flouting of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty would render that regime obsolete, and could induce turkey, egypt, saudi arabia and others to reassess their defense posture. moderate gulf states would have to accommodate the new reality, and the world would live, indefinitely, with the possibility that tehran might pass nuclear materials or weapons to one of its allied terrorist networks. coupled with its ballistic missile arsenal, an iranian nuclear capability would pose an immediate and existential threat to the state of israel., ""un security council action is required to impose progressively tougher political and economic sanctions. should the security council continue to drag its feet, the u.s. must lead a group of like-minded countries in imposing multilateral sanctions outside the un framework. iran s need to import refined gasoline, to cite one example, suggests an important vulnerability. and countries such as china and malaysia, which have signed deals to develop iranian gas fields, and russia, which provides weapons systems to tehran, should know that iran will be a critical element in american s bilateral relations with each nation. in the meantime, the u.s. should immediatelyinvestigate whether any of these deals violate the terms of last year s iran freedom support act., ""the u.s. should also privatize the sanctions effort by launching a disinvestment campaign. by persuading individuals, pension funds, and financial institutions to divest from companies doing business with iran, we can isolate and delegitimize a hostile government. we will also, as we did with the south africa disinvestment campaign, increase the debate inside the country about whether the present course serves the interests of the iranian people or merely those of a misguided elite. americans and all proponents of freedom need to reassure the millions of iranians who aspire to self-determination that we support their longing for freedom and democracy., ""and every option must remain on the table. military action isn t our preference. it remains, as it always must, the last option. we have some way to go diplomatically before we need to contemplate other measures. but it is a simple observation of reality that there is only one thing worse than a military solution, and that, my friends, is a nuclear armed iran. the regime must understand that it cannot win a showdown with the world., ""similarly, the leadership of hamas must be isolated. the palestinian people are ill-served by a terrorist-led government that refuses to recognize israel s right to exist, refuses to renounce violence, and refuses to acknowledge prior peace commitments. the united states cannot have normal relations with such a government, one that deliberately targets innocent israeli civilians in an attempt to terrorize the jewish population., ""the recent talks between the israeli government and the government led by president mahmoud abbas in the west bank are encouraging, and the united states should support this effort. we also must ensure that israel s people can live in safety until a palestinian leadership truly committed to peace emerges. no moral nation - neither israel nor america - can allow terrorists to chart the political course of its people., ""and to speak of terrorism is also to speak of hezbollah. israel s chance for enduring peace with lebanon resides in a government that has a monopoly on authority within its country. that means no independent militias, no hezbollah fighters, no weapons and equipment flowing to hezbollah. yet neither the lebanese army nor the international force there is prepared or willing to take on hezbollah. so long as that is the case, the current pause is likely to enable hezbollah to regroup, reconstitute, and rearm. there is one bottom line: to achieve lasting peace, sooner or later, one way or another, hezbollah must be disarmed., ""now let me turn briefly to iraq. we have made a great many mistakes in this war, and both baghdad and washington remain divided about how to correct them. the situation in iraq is very difficult, and the temptation is to wash our hands of a messy situation. to follow this impulse, however, portends catastrophe, for iraq, israel, and the united states., ""because a precipitous american withdrawal risks all-out civil war and the emergence of a failed state in the heart of the middle east, inviting intervention from iraq s neighbors and the potential for region-wide conflict, we must do all in our power to prevail. this means supporting general petraeus as he leads our troops in counterinsurgency operations designed to clear areas of terrorists and bring security to the population. it also means pressing the maliki government to make political progress, which has been sorely lacking. the iraqi government must seize the opportunity that has been provided it by the ""surge"" in u.s. forces and make bold steps on reconciliation. it will not come around again., ""preventing iraq from falling into the hands of terrorists and extremists is only natural for the united states, and springs from the same interests and values that compel our close relationship with the state of israel. violent islamic extremists would have us believe that there is only one acceptable religious practice, and that those who diverge from it are not entitled to life or liberty. they are wrong, very, very wrong., ""if america stands for anything, it stands for the freedom to follow our own minds and hearts, to determine our own relationship with god. i did not realize just how precious this freedom is until it was taken away. as some in this audience may know, i spent several years as a prisoner of war, a time when all my freedoms were rescinded. and yet it was my very faith in a supreme being that sustained me and strengthened me while at the hands of my captors., ""our founders built in this nation an amazing thing - a democracy that guarantees the right of every citizen to worship god in the way that they choose. we must protect that freedom here in our own country by ensuring that judges do not legislate from the bench to remove religion from the public squares of our communities. and we must support its expansion abroad by standing with those whom, because of their religion and their values, come under threat., ""it is evident that i am speaking, once again, of israel. the bond between america and israel is not, just a strategic one, though that is important. the more profound tie between our two countries is a, moral one. we are two democracies whose alliance is forged in our common values. to be proudly pro-american and pro-israeli is not to hold conflicting loyalties. it is about defending the principles that both countries hold dear. that is why today i stand as i believe so many of you do: a christian, proudly pro-american and proudly pro-israel."","	
", thank you very much for that warm welcome, and for inviting me to address you. this is not the first time i have had the honor of speaking at your convention. i m always grateful for the opportunity, and pleased to be in the company of americans who have had the burden of serving our country in distant lands, and the honor of having proved your patriotism in difficult circumstances., i was blessed to have been born into a family who made their living at sea in defense of our security and ideals. my grandfather was a naval aviator; my father a submariner. their respect for me was one of the great ambitions of my life. and so it was nearly pre-ordained that i would find a place in my family s profession, and that occupation would one day take me to war., such was not the case for many of you. your ambitions might not have led you to war; the honors you sought were not kept hidden on battlefields. many of you were citizen-soldiers. you answered the call when it came; took up arms for your country s sake; and fought to the limit of your ability because you believed america s security was as much your responsibility as it was the professional soldier s. and when you came home, you built a better a country than the one you inherited., i did what i had prepared much of my life to do. you did what i did and more but without the advantages of training and experience that i possessed. many of you were kids when you saw combat. i was thirty years old. i believe you outrank me., i do not mean to dismiss the virtues of the professional soldier. i consider my inclusion in their ranks to be one of the great honors of my life. the navy was and still remains the world i know best and love most. the navy took me to war., unless you are a veteran you might find it odd that i would be indebted to the navy for sending me to war. you might conclude mistakenly that the secret bond veterans share is that we enjoyed war. but as most veterans know, war is an experience we would not trade and we would rather not repeat., we do share a secret, but it is not a romantic remembrance of war. war is awful. when nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. war is wretched beyond all description. whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly. only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the cruel and merciless reality of war., neither do we share nostalgia for the exhilaration of combat. that exhilaration, after all, is really the sensation of choking back fear. we might be proud to have overcome the paralysis of terror. but few of us are so removed from the experience to mistake it today for a welcome thrill., what we share is something harder to explain. it is in part appreciation for having sacrificed for a cause greater than ourselves; relief for having your courage and honor tested and affirmed in the fearsome crucible of combat; pride for having replaced comfort and security with misery and deprivation and not been broken by the experience. but the most important thing we share, the bond that it is ours alone is very difficult for others who have not shared our experience to understand., if you will excuse a few moments of shameless self promotion, i want to quote from a passage i wrote in a book published last week, entitled, hard call, which examines a number of historically important decisions and how and why they were made. it s available in better bookstores everywhere and at amazon.com for $25.99, a bargain at twice the price. commercial opportunity aside, i reference the book because in several chapters i tried to explain briefly my thoughts about war; its nature and paradoxes; the mistakes that are often made; the attributes of successful commanders, the experience of fighting, and the unique purpose that is the combat veteran s. it is the last subject that interested me as i tried to describe the relationship between robert gould shaw, who you might remember was the white commanding officer of the fifty-fourth massachusetts infantry regiment in the civil war, and the african american volunteers he had the honor to co mmand., ""in the end, all soldiers fight for the same cause. some defend the right and some the wrong. some embrace, the cause their nation summoned them to fight. some perceive other interests of the state in their summons, less noble or selfless perhaps, but serve out of a sense of patriotic duty. some fight because they are professional soldiers and proud to do the job they have been trained to do. some fight to prove themselves or to avenge an injury to their country s honor or their own. some fight because they would be ashamed not to or to make something of themselves in the exhilarating challenge and spectacle of combat. some fight to make the world better and some to keep the world from threatening their little piece of it. some fight eagerly and some reluctantly., ""but in the upheaval of war, that great leveler of ego and distinction, things change. war is a remorseless scavenger, hacking through the jungle of deceit, pretense, and self-delusion to find truth, some of it ugly, some of it starkly beautiful; to find virtue and expose iniquity where we never expected them to reside. no other human experience exists on the same plane. it is a surpassing irony that war, for all the horrors and heroism it occasions, provides the soldier with every conceivable human experience. experiences that usually take a lifetime to know are all felt, and felt intensely, in one brief passage of life. anyone who loses a loved one knows what great sorrow feels like. and anyone who gives life to a child knows what great joy feels like. the combat veteran knows what great loss and great joy feel like when they occur in the same moment, the same experience. it can be transforming., ""however glorious the cause liberty, union, conquering tyranny it does not define the experience of war. war mocks our idealized conceptions of glory, whether they are genuine and worthy or something less. war has its own truths. and if glory can be found in war, it is a different concept altogether. it is a hard-pressed, bloody, and soiled glory, steely and forbearing. it is the decency and love persisting amid awful degradation, in unsurpassed suffering, misery and cruelty. it is the discovery that we belong to something bigger than ourselves, that our individual identity tested, injured, and changed by war is not our only cherished possession. that something is not an ideal but a community, a fraternity of arms. soldiers are responsible for defending the cause for which their war is fought and for which they will lay down their lives. but it is their war, and they have their own, causes., ""in the immediacy, chaos, destruction, and shock of war, soldiers are bound by duty and military discipline to endure and overcome. their strongest loyalty, the bond that cannot break, is to the cause that is theirs alone, the cause for which they all fight: one another. it is through loyalty to comrades in arms, their exclusive privilege, that they serve the national ideal that begat their personal transformation. when war is over, they might have the largest but not exclusive claim on the success of their nation s cause. but their claim is shorn of all romance, all nostalgia for the crucible in which it was won. from that crucible they have but one prize, one honor, one glory: that they had withstood the savagery and losses of war and were found worthy by the men who stood with them."", that is a distinction no other americans can claim, and it came at a great price. the sacrifices made by veterans deserve to be memorialized in something more lasting than marble or bronze or in the fleeting effect of a politician s speeches. your valor and devotion to duty have earned your country s abiding concern for your welfare. and when our government forgets to honor the country s debts to you, it is a stain upon america s honor. the walter reed scandal recalled, i hope, not just government but the public who elected it, to our responsibilities to the men and women who risked life and limb to meet their responsibilities to us. such a disgrace is unworthy of the greatest nation on earth. as the greatest leaders in our history, george washington and abraham lincoln, instructed us, care for americans who fought to defend us should rank among the highest of national priorities., the world in which many of us served was a dangerous one, but more stable than the world today. it was a world where we confronted a massive, organized threat to our security. our enemy was evil, but not irrational. and for all the suffering endured by captive nations; for all the fear of global nuclear war; it was a world made fairly predictable by a stable balance of power until our steadfastness and patience yielded an historic victory for our security and ideals. that world is gone, and please don t mistake my reminiscence as an indication that i miss it. if i m nostalgic for it at all, it is only an old man s nostalgia for the time where he misspent his youth. that world, after all, had much cruelty and terror, some of which it was our fate to witness personally., today, we glimpse the prospect of another, better world, in which all people might someday share in the blessings and responsibilities of freedom. but we also face a threat, and a long war to defeat it, that is as difficult and in many respects more destabilizing than any challenge we have ever faced. we confront an enemy that so despises us and modernity itself that they would use any means, unleash any terror, cause the most unimaginable suffering to harm us, and to destroy the world we have tried throughout our history to build., as we meet, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the war in iraq has not gone well, and the american people have grown sick and tired of it. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to these mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will and i am as sure of this as i am of anything seriously endanger the country i have served all my adult life., we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that we should have been following from the beginning, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people. to concede defeat now would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of, their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventua lly draw, us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., our defeat in iraq would be catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us, and i cannot be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can, whether i am effective or not, to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to shoulder a rifle and fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have a chance to succeed we must try to succeed., i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i try to take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others and that is to use whatever meager talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted, and that as long as there is a prospect for not losing this war then we must not choose to lose it. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., war is a terrible thing, but not the worst thing. you know that, you have endured the dangers and deprivations of war so that the worst thing would not befall us, so that america might be secure in her freedom. the war in iraq has divided the american people, but it has divided no american in our admiration for the men and women who are fighting for us there. it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all those who supported the decision that placed them in harm s way and those who opposed it humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction of the best americans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help keep this nation worthy of their sacrifice., many of them have served multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. many have had their tours extended. many have returned to combat sooner than they had been led to expect. it is a sad and hard thing to ask so much more of americans who have already given more than their fair share to the defense of our country. few of them and their families will have received the news about additional and longer deployments without aiming a few appropriate complaints in the general direction of people like me, who helped make the decision to send them there. and then they shouldered a rifle and risked everything everything to accomplish their mission, to protect another people s freedom and our own country from harm., it is a privilege beyond measure to live in a country served by them. i have lived a long, eventful and blessed life. i have had the good fortune to know personally a great many brave and selfless patriots who sacrificed and shed blood to defend america. but i have known none braver or better than those who do so today. they are our inspiration, as i suspect all of you were once theirs. and i pray to a loving god that he bless and protect them., thank you.,"	
", u.s. senator john mccain (r-az) today addressed the national guard association of the united states conference in san juan, puerto rico. the remarks, as prepared for delivery, are as follows., ""good morning, and thank you for the honor of being here with you for this 129th general conference. i am proud to address such a distinguished group of patriots., ""i am here, in part, to say thank you for your service and your sacrifice on behalf of our beloved country. every american who understands the true value of freedom, and the price that must be paid to preserve it, owes an eternal debt of gratitude to each you and to all of the brave and honorable ""citizen-soldiers"" you are privileged to lead. the men and women of the national guard are a national treasure., ""i was blessed to have been born into a family who made their living at sea in defense of our security and ideals. my grandfather was a naval aviator; my father a submariner. their respect for me was one of the great ambitions of my life. and so it was nearly pre-ordained that i would find a place in my family s profession, and that occupation would one day take me to war., ""such was not the case for many of you. your ambitions might not have led you to war; the honors you sought were not kept hidden on battlefields. many of you were citizen-soldiers. you answered the call when it came; took up arms and served for your country s sake; and fought because you believed america s security was as much your responsibility as it was the professional soldier s. and when you came home, you built a better a country than the one you inherited., ""i do not mean to dismiss the virtues of the professional soldier. i consider my inclusion in their ranks to be one of the great honors of my life. the navy was and still remains the world i know best and love most., ""the world has changed dramatically since september 11, 2001. today, the national guard s role resembles, in many respects, the role it performed in world war ii, when guard units fought in every theater and every major campaign., ""units such as company a of the 116th infantry regimentâ€”the famed ""bedford boys"" of the virginia national guardâ€”that spearheaded the allied assault on omaha beach, june 6, 1944. prior to 9/11, a lot of us didn t always fully appreciate the power and potential of the guard, and what it might one day be called upon to do. but my friends, we understand it now. times have changedâ€”we all understand that now., ""today, thousands of national guard soldiers and airmen once again fight alongside their active component comrades on every battlefield in the war against militant islam. from the mountains of afghanistan to the back alleys of iraq, guard and reserve personnel are engaged in every aspect of this conflict., ""today s national guard soldiers and airmen, together with the reserve forces, are the citizen-soldiers of the next great generation. you are the role models of freedom, who bravely set aside self-interest, and forgo the comforts of home, the economic security of your jobs and enterprises, and the company of your families to undertake the hard work of freedom--to do your part in preserving our precious gift of liberty, protecting our cherished values, and securing the life and property of fellow human beings, often by risking your own., ""the men and women of the national guard represent the very best of what it means to be an american and what our country is truly all aboutâ€”free people of every race, creed, color, and ethnic background, who regard it as their sacred duty not simply to indulge in the rights and privileges of citizenship, but to answer its obligations., ""no matter the danger to our security or safety--at home or abroad--whether from the violent foes of freedom or the turbulent forces of nature, wherever and whenever america has called, the national guard has answered. you have always been ready. you have always been there., ""for everyone in the military todayâ€”whether you are guard, active, or reserveâ€”these are difficult times. we are a nation at war, and we have asked of our men and women of the armed forces an almost unprecedented level of commitment and sacrifice. extended deployments and back-to-back combat tours have become the standard rather than the exception., ""in the face of these demands, the distinction between the guard and active forcesâ€”a distinction that once was so clearâ€”is now virtually undetectable. in 2005, army national guard brigades made up more than 50% of the combat units in iraq. not since wwii have we asked so much of the guard, not only overseas but at home where the guard must continue to fulfill its critical duties securing the homeland from attack, and responding to emergencies that threaten lives and property almost every day., ""fortunately for america, today the men and women of the national guard, are cut from the same patriotic cloth as their predecessors who answered the call at concord and bunker hill, gettysburg and cold harbor, the argonne forrest, and the beaches of normandy., ""they are men like master sergeant keary miller of the 123rd special tactics squadron of the kentucky air guardâ€”who, in march 2002, boarded a ch-47 in an attempt to rescue two stranded american servicemen from a mountainous area of afghanistan swarming with al qeada and taliban forces. the helicopter took heavy fire and crashed, injuring several on board., ultimately, seven american lives were lost, but many more were saved, thanks to the courage of master sergeant keary miller., ""with total disregard for his own safety, master sergeant miller helped establish a defensive perimeter, then tended the wounded, protected them from enemy fire, and established medevac collection points. but that was not enough for this ""fighting kentuckian."" this was a gunfight for survival, and master sergeant miller ensured the success of his team by gathering up ammunition and distributing it among those still able to fight--making sure everyone s weapon was replenished and no one was left defenseless. master sergeant miller was credited with saving the lives of ten gravely wounded americans., ""these were the actions of an american patriot, a citizen-soldier and true hero who epitomized the creed of the air force para-rescueman ""that others may live,"" and one who followed the motto of all bluegrass state warriorsâ€“to ""fight like kentuckians!"", ""the world in which many of us served in the past was a dangerous one, but more stable than the world today. it was a world where we confronted a massive, organized threat to our security. our enemy was evil, but not irrational. and for all the suffering endured by captive nations; for all the fear of global nuclear war; it was a world made fairly predictable by a stable balance of power until our steadfastness and patience yielded an historic victory for our security and ideals. that world is gone, and please don t mistake my reminiscence as an indication that i miss it. if i m nostalgic for it at all, it is only an old man s nostalgia for the time where he misspent his youth. that world, after all, had much cruelty and terror, some of which it was our fate to witness personally., ""today, we glimpse the prospect of another, better world, in which all people might someday share in the blessings and responsibilities of freedom. but we also face a threat and a long war to defeat it that is as difficult and in many respects more destabilizing than any challenge we have ever faced. we confront an enemy that so despises us and modernity itself that they would use any means, unleash any terror, cause the most unimaginable suffering to harm us, and to destroy the world we have tried throughout our history to build., ""as we meet, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the war in iraq has not gone well, and the american people have grown sick and tired of it. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to these mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will â€“ and i am as sure of this as i am of anything â€“ seriously endanger the country i have served all my adult life., ""in the coming month we will face a fork in the road. we can pursue our opportunity for victory in iraq, strengthen our hand in the larger war against islamic extremists, and make our nation more secure. or we can fold our tents, embolden our enemies, throw a region into instability, and increase the risks faced on our home soil. which way requires greater leadership? i plan to lead the fight in september on the floor of the united states senate to support our troops and in support of victory and against a plan for defeat., ""we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that i have advocated from the beginning of this war, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people. to concede defeat now would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., ""our defeat in iraq would be catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us, and i cannot be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can, whether i am effective or not, to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to shoulder a rifle and fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have a chance to succeed we must try to succeed., ""i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i try to take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others â€“ and that is to use whatever meager talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted so we can defeat our enemies. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., ""the new security environment in which we live will continue to pose great challenges, and require that we use all elements of national power to defeat radicalism. the national guard will play a vital role in this multi-dimensional effort, precisely because its citizen-soldiers and airmen bring such a wide range of skills and capacities to the force., ""as we go forward, america must make a new and lasting commitment to our national guardâ€”a commitment that will ensure the force is properly manned, trained, led, and equipped to undertake the growing scope of missions we ask of you both at home and abroad., ""such commitment must begin with our political leadership recognizing the sheer magnitude of what we ask guard units to accomplish with a force comprised primarily of part-time soldiers and airmen., ""such commitment means providing sufficient end-strengths in the active, guard and reserve components consistent with the workload imposed on our military. we must do a better job of following the guidelines regarding the frequency and duration of deployments. failure to do so abuses the trust of those who serve, and is a national disgrace., ""it means ensuring that the guard has the proper equipment with which to train and deploy. we must never, never, ask our young men and women to go into harm s way without the equipment and training they need to do their job effectively and safelyâ€”whether the enemy they face is a military force, terrorist cell, pandemic disease, earthquake, fire, or flood., ""it means that our nation s leaders must set wiser priorities in the allocation of national resources. the congress must stop funding ""bridges to nowhere"" and thousands of other pork barrel projects while we shortchange our service members and fail to provide what they need to defend our nation., ""it means getting rid of defense department policies, practices, and customs that fail to promote a seamless total force based on cooperation, jointness, and the mutual respect that all components have earned with their blood and bravery. it means establishing a new compact with our guard and reserve component personnel to ensure they have the pay they deserve, the career opportunities they merit, and the level of service that befits their time, capability, and need. it means making certain that our guard and reserve members, and their families, receive the proper health care they deserve and have been promised. it means guaranteeing that all injured service members are treated with equal care and dignity., ""and, my friends, it means a national leadership that respects and treats our governors and adjutant generals as partners in national and homeland security policymaking, rather than as impediments and intruders. as far as i m concerned part of that essential effort must be granting the chief of the national guard bureau the fourth star that the position merits, and updating the charter of the bureau to align it with the scope and importance of its mission today., ""achieving these imperatives will require breaking old paradigms, shedding outdated thinking, and understanding the new capabilities that are so vital in the modern security environment. it will require less partisanship and greater political will. above all, it demands strong leadership at all levels of government and the military., ""from great challenges, emerge great opportunities. ours is a time of unprecedented challenge. with it comes the opportunity to make our country safer, the world better, and the future brighter. we can do this. we can seize this opportunity for our good and the good of our children, but only if we exercise the resolve that america has always demonstrated in momentous times when our security and the prospects of the world s future hung in the balance., ""i would like to close as i beganâ€”by saying thank you. to the national guardsmen who today will walk combat patrols in iraq and afghanistan; to those who will fly missions in support of our deployed forces; to those engaged back home in humanitarian efforts to relieve suffering; and to all of you who know what it means to stand the long night watches--thank you. you understand both the valueâ€”and the price--of freedom. you are the best among us., ""in whatever capacity providence grants that i serve my country i pledge to you my undying fidelity to the cause to which you devote your livesâ€”the safety and security of americaâ€”and a national guard that will always be ready, and always be there., ""thank you."","	
"thank you for that kind introduction. it is an honor to speak before the golden state republicans at your convention. i stand before you at a perilous time, a perilous time for our party but, far more important, a perilous time for our country., we face an implacable enemy dedicated to our destruction. we face criticism at home and abroad. some doubt that we can prevail against our enemies islamic extremists that operate in europe, the americas, africa, the middle east and asia. just this week, terrorist plots were uncovered in denmark and germany that had the potential to kill hundreds or thousands demonstrating how serious the threat is, yet much of washington remains mired in irresolution and defeatism., three decades ago, a visionary politician described the dangers in the world. it was, like today, a time when some doubted america s goodness and greatness. many argued for reconciliation with our global adversary. but this man held firm. he did not care what editorial boards wrote about him. he did what he thought was right. he criticized the liberal democrats  foreign policy of weakness and vacillation. he called for resolve and firmness in dealing with the soviet union. and, he refused to condemn millions to perpetual communist tyranny in the false hope that accommodating the soviet union would contribute to america s security., fortunately, this man, governor reagan, became president reagan. how different would our lives be had he not won election in 1980 and 1984? does anyone believe a liberal democratic president would have called the soviet union an ""evil empire"" or would have stood up to the nuclear freeze movement? can you imagine a liberal democratic president saying communism should be left on the ash heap of history, or calling on gorbachev to tear down the berlin wall? while many democrats tried to defund weapons systems and freedom fighters, ronald reagan was steadfast and he was right. thanks to his leadership, the soviet union dissolved and the cold war was won on our terms., today, the challenges are at least as severe as they were when ronald reagan stood tall. and, today, the differences between republicans and democrats on national security are every bit as stark as they were 30 years ago. today, leading democratic presidential candidates vote against funding for our troops engaged in war in afghanistan and iraq. today, leading democratic presidential candidates question whether there is a war on terror, offer to enter into unconditional negotiations with our worst enemies, and talk about countering the forces of radicalism by advocating surrender to them in iraq. if the democrats get their way in iraq, if we cede iraq to al qaeda, how long will they stay the course in afghanistan? we face grave challenges in the middle east: halting iran s nuclear ambitions; protecting our democratic ally, israel; supporting moderate voices in the face of the killers of hamas and hezbollah; defending lebano n s sovereignty in the face of syrian and iranian aggression. does anyone seriously believe that we can better meet those challenges in the aftermath of an american defeat in iraq? it is irresponsible to think so, and any man or woman who does isn t prepared to lead our country in the struggle against islamic extremism., the world ronald reagan faced was a dangerous one, but more stable than the world today. it was a world where we confronted a massive, organized threat to our security. our enemy was evil, but not irrational. and for all the suffering endured by captive nations; for all the fear of global nuclear war; it was a world made fairly predictable by a stable balance of power until our steadfastness and patience yielded an historic victory for our security and ideals. that world is gone, and please don t mistake my reminiscence as an indication that i miss it. if i m nostalgic for it at all, it is only an old man s nostalgia for the time where he misspent his youth. that world, after all, had much cruelty and terror, some of which it was my fate to witness personally., today, we glimpse the prospect of another, better world, in which all people might someday share in the blessings and responsibilities of freedom. but we also face a threat, and a long war to defeat it, that is as difficult and in many respects more destabilizing than any challenge we have ever faced. we confront an enemy that so despises us and modernity itself that they would use any means, unleash any terror, cause the most unimaginable suffering to harm us, and to destroy the world we have tried throughout our history to build., as we meet here today, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the war in iraq has not gone well, and the american people have grown sick and tired of it. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to these mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will and i am as sure of this as i am of anything seriously endanger the country i have served all my adult life. like you, i want our troops to come home, but i want them to come home with honor. the honor of victory that is due all of those w ho have paid with the ultimate sacrifice so that sacrifice is not in vain., we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that i have called for from the beginning, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people. to concede defeat as many leading democrats now advocate -- would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil, war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., let me be clear: choosing to lose in iraq would hand a victory to the radicals in control of iran. as iran s president recently crowed, ""soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region [and] we are prepared to fill the gap."" iran has been engaged in a proxy war against our forces in iraq for years. they are actively arming sunni and shia radicals with advanced weapons and on the ground training. twenty seven years ago, the radical mullahs in iran released american hostages held illegally for more than 400 days rather than face president reagan. it was the first victory of his presidency and we should heed the lesson it holds for dealing with iran today: determination and resolve, not accommodation and appeasement, are what tehran heeds., ronald reagan warned of the need for firmness and vigilance in the 1970s. unfortunately, we did not heed his wisdom and we paid a horrible price for weakness and inattention toward the threat posed by islamic extremism in the 1990s. but today, our defeat in iraq would be even more catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us, and i cannot and will not be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to shoulder a rifle and fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have a chance to succeed we must try to succeed. and i believe that if we persevere we can succeed on the battlefield of iraq and in the larger war against islamic extremism., i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i try to take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others and that is to use whatever meager talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted, and that as long as there is a prospect for not losing this war then we must not choose to lose it. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., war is a terrible thing, but not the worst thing. our military men and women have endured the dangers and deprivations of war so that the worst thing would not befall us, so that america might be secure in her freedom. the war in iraq has divided the american people, but it has divided no american in our admiration for the men and women who are fighting for us there. it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all those who supported the decision that placed them in harm s way and those who opposed it humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction of the best ameri cans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help keep this nation worthy of their sacrifice for us and for the world., in 1974, ronald reagan gave his famous ""shining city upon a hill"" speech and concluded by saying:, ""we cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. the leadership of the free world was thrust upon us in the little hall of philadelphia. in the days following world war ii, when the economic strength and power of america was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, pope pius xii said, the american people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. into the hands of america, god has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind. , we are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth."", it was my privilege to hear governor reagan deliver that speech. i had recently been released from a long involuntary captivity and was seated as governor reagan s guest. his words ring true today when, once again, it falls to america to lead the world against a global threat as the last best hope of man on earth. it is a privilege beyond measure to live in a country that has sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom. i have lived a long, eventful and blessed life. i have had the good fortune to know personally a great, many brave and selfless patriots who sacrificed and shed blood to defend america. but i have known none braver or better than those who do so today. they are my inspiration. and i pray to a loving god that he bless and protect them., thank you.,"	
"it is a pleasure to appear before you this morning. i see a lot of old friends here, friends like jim baker whom i worked with as long ago as the 1980s in the struggle to preserve firearms freedom. his hair was not so gray back then -- and i had a lot more of it., this is a sophisticated crowd. you know politics, and you know politicians. you are pretty used to hearing aspirants for public office come before you and pledge fealty to the cause of the second amendment. you know you need to dig into a politician s record to find out where they really stand. you know some will change their position or have little record for you to judge. that is not the case with me., when i first ran for congress in 1982, i was proud to have the support of gun owners and the national rifle association. for more than two decades, i ve opposed the efforts of the anti-gun crowd to ban guns, ban ammunition, ban magazines, and paint gun owners as some kind of fringe group, dangerous in ""modern"" america. some even call you ""extremists."" my friends, gun owners are not extremists, you are the core of modern america. the second amendment is unique in the world and at the core of our constitutional freedoms. it guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. to argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our founding fathers., but the clear meaning of the second amendment has not stopped those who want to punish firearms owners -- and those who make and sell firearms -- for the actions of criminals. it seems like every time there is a particularly violent crime, the anti-gun crowd comes up with a plan to capitalize on tragedy and limit second amendment rights for all americans. i opposed the ban on so-called ""assault weapons"" which was first proposed after a california schoolyard shooting. i thought it made no sense to ban a class of firearms based on cosmetic features. i opposed waiting periods for gun purchases. we lost on both of those in the short run, but it has worked out better in the long-run. fortunately, that gun ban sunsetted after 10 long years. and, i was proud to vote against those who tried to extend it in 2004., i also opposed efforts to cripple our firearms manufacturers by making them liable for the acts of violent criminals. this was a particularly devious effort to use lawsuits to bankrupt our great gun manufacturers. a number of big-city mayors decided it was more important to blame the manufacturers of a legal product than it was to control crime in their own cities. fortunately, we are able to protect manufacturers from these frivolous lawsuits., in my years in washington, i have seen what i will call three myths used by politicians to excuse their support for gun control. first, is the big city myth: that it is acceptable -- even necessary -- to fight crime in big cities. if you have a crime problem, they say it s really a gun problem. so instead of increasing police patrols, instituting tough sentences for lawbreakers and other measures that would actually address crime, we restrict ownership of guns and limit the rights of law abiding citizens., we are meeting today in a city that represents the worst of this myth. the citizens of the nation s capital do not enjoy the right to keep and bear arms. that is why i have co-sponsored legislation repealing the ban on firearms possession for law abiding citizens in the district of colombia. the second amendment is not just for rural arizona, it is for all of america., the second myth is that of the ""bad gun."" this was at the core of the debate over so-called ""assault weapons."" proponents of this myth argue that some kinds of guns are acceptable -- for now -- but others are not if they have certain features -- like a pistol grip or an extended magazine. i will continue to oppose those who want to ration the second amendment based on their views of what guns it applies to., finally, there is the hunting myth -- if you show your bona fides by hunting ducks or varmints or quail, it makes up for support for gun control. this myth overlooks a fundamental truth: the second amendment is not about hunting, it is about freedom., over the years, we have not agreed on every issue. we had differences over my efforts to standardize the sales procedures at gun shows and to clean up our campaign finance system. i understand and respect your position. but while we may disagree on the means we do agree on the need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and, in light of the number of my colleagues who have been disgraced, are under investigation and, are worried about indictment, agree that washington needs cleaning up. americans have lost trust in their government and that trust must be restored., but these minor differences pale in comparison to our shared vision of a second amendment protected from political vagaries. and we have real differences with many of those running for president. democratic presidential candidates have learned something since 2000. they don t talk about their plans for gun control. they pose for the cameras in camouflage. but that is all they are doing -- posing. just because they don t talk about gun control doesn t mean they don t want gun control. let s be clear. if hillary clinton, barack obama or john edwards are elected president, they will go after the rights of law abiding gun owners -- just as bill clinton did when he was president. moveon.org, which seems to be calling the shots in the democratic party these days, will have more influence on gun control in the oval office, not john dingell. these democratic candidates voted to ban guns or ban ammunition or to allow gun makers to be sued out of existen ce as senators. think how much worse it would be if they had the power to appoint supreme court justices, name attorneys general and use the full power of the federal government., and just as the democratic candidates are fundamentally wrong about the second amendment, they are fundamentally wrong about the key threats facing america in the 21st century., as we meet, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the war in iraq has not gone well, and the american people have grown sick and tired of it. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to these mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will -- and i am as sure of this as i am of anything -- seriously endanger the country i have served all my adult life., in the coming month we will face a fork in the road. we can pursue our opportunity for victory in iraq, strengthen our hand in the larger war against isl amic extremists, and make our nation more secure. or we can fold our tents, embolden our enemies, throw a region into instability, and increase the risks faced on our home soil. which way requires greater leadership? i am leading the fight on the floor of the united states senate to support our troops and in support of victory and against a plan for surrender., we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that i have advocated from the beginning of this war, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people. to concede defeat now would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventually draw, us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., our defeat in iraq would be catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us, and i cannot be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to shoulder a rifle and fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have a chance to succeed we must try to succeed., i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i try to take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others -- and that is to use whatever meager talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted so we can defeat our enemies. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., thank you for your attention., 		,"	
"thank you for that kind introduction. it is an honor to speak to this 27th biennial republican leadership conference. i stand before you at a perilous time, a perilous time for our party but, far more important, a perilous time for our country., we face an implacable enemy dedicated to our destruction. we face criticism at home and abroad. some doubt that we can prevail against our enemies -- islamic extremists that operate in europe, the americas, africa, the middle east and asia. just this month, terrorist plots were uncovered in denmark and germany that had the potential to kill hundreds or thousands demonstrating how serious the threat is, yet much of washington remains mired in irresolution and defeatism., your conference theme of ""relying on our roots"" is appropriate for my message today. michigan has a fine tradition of leadership in the republican party, including the late president ford. but i would like to speak to you about another exemplary leader of our party whose roots of leadership and wisdom we should also remember and rely on. three decades ago, a visionary politician described the dangers in the world. it was, like today, a time when some doubted america s goodness and greatness. many argued for reconciliation with our global adversary. but this man held firm. he did not care what editorial boards wrote about him. he did what he thought was right. he criticized the liberal democrats  foreign policy of weakness and vacillation. he called for resolve and firmness in dealing with the soviet union. and, he refused to condemn millions to perpetual communist tyranny in the false hope that accommodating the soviet union would contribute to america s security., fortunately, this man, governor reagan, became president reagan. how different would our lives be had he not won election in 1980 and 1984? does anyone believe a liberal democratic president would have called the soviet union an ""evil empire"" or would have stood up to the nuclear freeze movement? can you imagine a liberal democratic president saying communism should be left on the ash heap of history, or calling on gorbachev to tear down the berlin wall? while many democrats tried to defund weapons systems and freedom fighters, ronald reagan was steadfast -- and he was right. thanks to his leadership, the soviet union dissolved and the cold war was won on our terms., today, the challenges are at least as severe as they were when ronald reagan stood tall. and, today, the differences between republicans and democrats on national security are every bit as stark as they were 30 years ago. today, leading democratic presidential candidates vote against funding for our troops engaged in war in afghanistan and iraq. today, leading democratic presidential candidates question whether there is a war on terror, offer to enter into unconditional negotiations with our worst enemies, and talk about countering the forces of radicalism by advocating surrender to them in iraq. if the democrats get their way in iraq, if we cede iraq to al qaeda, how long will they stay the course in afghanistan? we face grave challenges in the middle east: halting iran s nuclear ambitions; protecting our democratic ally, israel; supporting moderate voices against the killers of hamas and hezbollah; defending lebanon s sovereignty against syrian and iranian aggression. does anyone seriously believe that we can better meet those challenges in the aftermath of an american defeat in iraq? it is irresponsible to think so, and any man or woman who does isn t prepared to lead our country in the struggle against islamic extremism., the world ronald regan faced was a dangerous one, but more stable than the world today. it was a world where we confronted a massive, organized threat to our security. our enemy was evil, but not irrational. and for all the suffering endured by captive nations; for all the fear of global nuclear war; it was a world made fairly predictable by a stable balance of power until our steadfastness and patience yielded an historic victory for our security and ideals. that world is gone, and please don t mistake my reminiscence as an indication that i miss it. if i m nostalgic for it at all, it is only an old man s nostalgia for the time when he misspent his youth. that world, after all, had much cruelty and terror, some of which it was my fate to witness personally., today, we glimpse the prospect of another, better world, in which all people might someday share in the blessings and responsibilities of freedom. but we also face a threat, and a long war to defeat it, that is as difficult and in many respects more destabilizing than any challenge we have ever faced. we confront an enemy that so despises us and modernity itself that they would use any means, unleash any terror, cause the most unimaginable suffering to harm us, and to destroy the world we have tried throughout our history to build., as we meet here today, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the war in iraq has not gone well, and the american people have grown sick and tired of it. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to these mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will and i am as sure of this as i am of anything seriously endanger the country i have served all my adult life. like you, i want our troops to come home, but i want them to come home with honor. the honor of victory that is due all of those who have paid with the ultimate sacrifice so that sacrifice is not in vain., we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that i have called for from the beginning, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. although the outcome remains uncertain, we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people. to concede defeat -- as many leading democrats now advocate -- would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., let me be clear: choosing to lose in iraq would hand a victory to the radicals in control of iran. as iran s president recently crowed, ""soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region [and] we are prepared to fill the gap ..."" iran has been engaged in a proxy war against our forces in iraq for years. they are actively arming sunni and shia radicals with advanced weapons and on the ground training. twenty seven years ago, the radical mullahs in iran released american hostages held illegally for more than 400 days rather than face president reagan. it was the first victory of his presidency and we should heed the lesson it holds for dealing with iran today: determination and resolve, not accommodation and appeasement, are what tehran heeds. and i certainly think a man who is directing the maiming and killing of americans troops should not be given an invitation to speak at an american university. rather than rolling out the red carpet for the leader of a terrorist-sponsoring regime, columbia should be welcoming the reserve officers  training corps back on campus to honor the men and women who put their lives on the line every day defending our freedom., ronald reagan warned of the need for firmness and vigilance in the 1970s. unfortunately, we did not heed his wisdom and we paid a horrible price for weakness and inattention toward the threat posed by islamic extremism in the 1990s. but today, our defeat in iraq would be even more catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us, and i cannot and will not be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to shoulder a rifle and fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have a chance to succeed we must try to succeed. and i believe that if we persevere we can succeed on the battlefield of iraq and in the larger war against islamic extremism., i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i try to take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others and that is to use whatever meager talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted, and that as long as there is a prospect for not losing this war then we must not choose to lose it. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., war is a terrible thing, but not the worst thing. our military men and women have endured the dangers and deprivations of war so that the worst thing would not befall us, so that america might be secure in her freedom. the war in iraq has divided the american people, but it has divided no american in our admiration for the men and women who are fighting for us there. it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all -- those who supported the decision that placed them in harm s way and those who opposed it -- humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction of the best americans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help keep this nation worthy of their sacrifice for us and for the world., in 1974, ronald reagan gave his famous ""shining city upon a hill"" speech and concluded by saying:, ""we cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. the leadership of the free world was thrust upon us in the little hall of philadelphia. in the days following world war ii, when the economic strength and power of america was all the stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, pope pius xii said,  the american people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. into the hands of america, god has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind. , we are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth."", it was my privilege to hear governor reagan deliver that speech. i had recently been released from a long involuntary captivity and was seated as governor reagan s guest. his words ring true today when, once again, it falls to america to lead the world against a global threat, to remain the last best hope of man on earth., it is a privilege beyond measure to live in a country that has sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom. i have lived a long, eventful and blessed life. i have had the good fortune to know personally a great many brave and selfless patriots who sacrificed and shed blood to defend america. but i have known none braver or better than those who do so today. they are my inspiration. and i pray to a loving god that he bless and protect them., thank you.,"	
"thank you for that very generous introduction. it s an honor to appear at the hudson institute. your work in promoting global security, prosperity, and freedom is well known. your founder, herman kahn, virtually invented the modern field of strategic studies, and today hudson scholars carry on his tradition of honest, original and far-sighted thinking about america s situation in the world, and the challenges and opportunities we find as we continue the work of preceding american generations to make this world less threatening to our security and more hospitable to our values., it has been an interesting two weeks. general petraeus and ambassador crocker returned from iraq and gave congress and the country an honest assessment of progress in iraq and the problems we still face and a cogent explanation of how the long overdue change in our tactics and objectives have produced greater success there than we had achieved for the first four years of the war. but in a campaign season that has, regrettably, seen too many occasions when statesmanship has surrendered to pandering, leading democrats and presidential candidates spurn a clear-eyed assessment of the opportunities and difficulties ahead and a strategic grasp of the consequences of an american defeat for whistling past the grave yard alternatives, which seldom rise above the level of soundbites and that lack, either by design or inexperience, even a crude understanding of the realities of our situation., thankfully, efforts in congress to deny general petraeus and american forces in iraq the support necessary to continue their counterinsurgency successes have lost support since the summer. that is, i believe, largely attributable to the fact that it is becoming clearer to americans, and to members of congress for whom our situation in iraq is a substantially greater concern than an election that is more than a year away, that after four years of reinforcing failure in iraq, we are beginning to get things right there. that is a great credit to general petraeus, the architect as well as the commander of the counterinsurgency. it is an even greater credit to the men and women he has the honor to command, who have bid good-bye again to their families, while no doubt directing some well-deserved abuse at those of us who have put them in this situation, and then shouldered a rifle and risked everything - everything - for our sake. on this point i hope we all agree, republicans and democrats. it is an honor to live in country so well defended by such brave patriots., but democrats who aspire to the office of commander in chief ought to be able to demonstrate that their positions on iraq and the long war against islamic extremists are the product of sober reasoning and their promise of more realistic statecraft is based on, well, reality. instead, they argue we will mysteriously have more leverage to induce difficult political reforms in iraq when we announce we are leaving. they argue the war is lost just as we have finally begun making progress and al qaeda s fortunes have taken a decided to turn for the worse in iraq. they argue nothing has changed in iraq over the last six months despite the incontrovertible evidence of improvements. they argue we can fight al qaeda better by ceding the battlefield to them in iraq., they refuse to consider the consequences of defeat: an empowered iran, a victorious al qaeda, a terrorist safe haven, civil war, genocide, and a wider regional war., they are circumspect to the point of political cowardice to the far left wing of their party that smears general petraeus, a man for whom personal honor is no small thing., they are silent about syria s export of suicide bombers, and iran s exports of training, weapons and equipment that is being used to kill and maim american soldiers. they offer nothing other than generalities based on a withdrawal that amounts to defeat., if we choose to lose in iraq, one of the many dire consequences will be a surge of anther type: a surge of al qaeda into afghanistan. the level of violence will increase, casualties will increase, and political progress will slow. how long will it then take before the same advocates of surrender in iraq, begin demanding an end to our mission in afghanistan, and a ""surge in diplomacy"" aimed at a negotiated stalemate with the taliban?, it is no less true today than it has been in the past: defeatism will not buy peace in our time. it will only make our future less secure and our world less safe., this week as well, columbia university hosted iranian president ahmadinejad, the holocaust denier committed to the destruction of israel, whose regime targets american soldiers with ieds in iraq and afghanistan. but while columbia welcomed iran s leader on campus, one organization remains unwelcome on the columbia campus: the rotc. it is unconscionable that columbia, harvard and other great american universities remain, closed to rotc, whose graduates represent the bulk of the officers commissioned into our armed forces each year. some academic elites may not like rotc, and they are free to voice their objections. but they are wrong, and i stand with the many graduates of these institutions who for years have been trying in vain to bring rotc back to their campuses. i fear for our future when terrorist leaders are welcome at our most prestigious centers of learning, universities conceived to strengthen and nurture the ideals of western liberal political thought, and young men and women who volunteered to risk their lives to defend those ideals are not., prevailing in iraq and afghanistan are critical to defeating the threat posed by radical islamic extremists, but are not the last battle in this global challenge. we are in a long war, a war i am afraid the us government is not adequately prepared to fight. the next president will need tested experience, political courage and strategic clarity to make sound and difficult decisions, even when those decisions are not, as few critical decisions ever are, immediately or decidedly popular. tough talk or managerial successes in the private sector aren t adequate assurance that their authors have the experience or qualities necessary for such a singular responsibility. we have to make far-reaching reforms to our government to prepare for the long threat our enemies plan for us, and the cruel and desperate means they will employ to harm us. you don t just talk about or manage such changes, you lead them., the nature of the threat confronting america changed radically between the fall of the berlin wall and the fall of the twin towers, and yet our governmental structures have not kept pace., no one who has visited our servicemen and women in iraq or afghanistan can doubt their skills, their bravery, or their dedication. but it is equally impossible to doubt that, as i have said for years, they are overstretched and under-resourced., i am glad to see that troop increases are in the pipeline but current plans are not enough. as president, i would bring the army and marines from the currently planned level of roughly 750,000 to 900,000. this will cost real money, some additional billions annually, but it will not require a draft any more than similar levels did in the 1980s. it is vitally important for the next president to issue a call to service, to summon the young men and women of america to defend their country and its noble ideals. i am confident that this generation will answer the summons just as so many of us did in previous generations., along with more personnel, the military will require additional equipment for the expanded force, to modernize for the future, and to make up for losses suffered in the current wars. we can partially offset some of this additional investment by cutting wasteful federal spending, including unnecessary pentagon programs and an often dysfunctional procurement system. but we can also afford to spend more on our defense. our defense budget currently consumes less than 4 cents of every dollar that our booming economy generates - far less than we spent during the cold war., while we enlarge the armed forces, we must also transform them. to a large extent, our military is still configured to fight enemies that no longer exist. our stealth bombers, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines may make the difference in a future conflict, but they do little to win our current struggles against terrorists from the horn of africa to the hindu kush., what we need today are more soldiers and more civilians with the right kind of skills to fight a global counterinsurgency. the bulk of our effort must be directed toward helping friendly governments and their security forces to resist our common foes. toward that end, i would immediately implement an idea offered by lieutenant colonel john nagl, a veteran of iraq and one of the army s brightest strategic thinkers. we should create an army advisor corps with 20,000 soldiers that would work with friendly militaries abroad. i would increase the number of personnel in information operations, special forces, civil affairs, military policing, military intelligence, and other disciplines., we must strive to enhance our understanding of foreign cultures - the human terrain on which we fight. we need to launch a crash program in both civilian and military schools to increase the number of experts in strategic languages such as arabic and pashto. we need to require students at our service academies to spend time studying abroad. and we need to enhance the foreign area career field within the military while creating a new field in strategic interrogation. in this way we could produce more interrogators who can attain critical knowledge from detainees using advanced psychological techniques and not the kind of repugnant tactics that are rightly prohibited by the geneva conventions., even as we increase our military capacity, we must also increase our civilian capacity so that an undue burden does not again fall on our soldiers as it has in afghanistan and iraq, where the civilian agencies of our government have too often been missing in action. the state department and other agencies need to enhance their ability to send more experts to rebuild war-torn lands - or, better still, bolster peaceful development to reduce the chances of war breaking out in the first place., to better coordinate our disparate efforts, i would ask congress for a civilian follow-on to the 1986 goldwater-nichols act which fostered a culture of joint operations within the separate military services. today we need similar legislation to ensure that civil servants and soldiers train and work together in peacetime so that they can cooperate effectively in wartime and in postwar reconstruction., as president, i would revitalize our public diplomacy. in 1998, the clinton administration and we in congress agreed to abolish the united states information agency and put its public diplomacy functions inside the state department. this was a mistake. dismantling an agency dedicated to promoting america s message amounted to unilateral disarmament in the struggle of ideas. communicating our government s views on day-to-day issues is what the state department does. but communicating the idea of america, our purpose, our past and our future is a different task. we need to re-create an independent agency with the sole purpose of getting america s message to the world - a critical element in combating islamic extremism. the cold war was won not with a tank battle in the fulda gap, but by winning the hearts and minds of the people that democracy was, better than communism. and so it must be in our struggle with islamic extremism. we must win this war by convincing the world that freedom is better than rule by terror., we also need to develop a deployable police presence to, when necessary, help maintain law and order where it is lacking, and to train foreign police forces to counter islamic extremism and other threats. in the end, dollars, experts, and police must work together to address the interrelated issues of political freedom, good governance, and economic development., i would also set up a new civil-military agency patterned after the office of strategic services in world war ii. a modern-day oss could draw together unconventional warfare, civil-affairs, paramilitary and, psychological-warfare specialists from the military together with covert-action operators from our intelligence agencies and experts in anthropology, advertising, foreign cultures, and numerous other disciplines from inside and outside government. in the spirit of the original oss, this would be a small, nimble, can-do organization that would fight terrorist subversion across the world and in cyberspace. it could take risks that our bureaucracies today are afraid to take - risks such as infiltrating agents who lack diplomatic cover into terrorist organizations. it could even lead in the front-line efforts to rebuild failed states. a cadre of such undercover operatives would allow us to gain the intelligence on terrorist activities that we don t get today from our high-tech surveillance systems and from a cia clandestine service that works almost entirely out of our embassies abroad., these are not measures that will pay quick dividends. we must understand that we confront a lengthy struggle - a long war - that will not be won quickly or easily. but we will win it., while our ultimate victory is not in doubt, the length and intensity of this struggle remain to be determined. it s up to us. we have historically important choices to make, all of us, the american people, their president, and their members of congress. we must recognize that our enemies are in this fight to win, and so must we be. we must use our strengths, our resources, our inventiveness and our fortitude - qualities that have, distinguished us through history and which have never failed us - to defeat our unpardonable foe. we must act boldly and with confidence that history has not yet assigned us a challenge that we cannot meet successfully. though we regret the mistakes we have made in this war, they must not cause us self doubt. we must learn from them, as americans have always learned from our mistakes, and fight smarter and harder. though we mourn the losses we have already incurred in this war, we must not let our grief weary us so that we cannot do the work that is ours to do., these are the decisions confronting american voters in this election, and they will confront the person you elect president. in november, 2008 the american people will decide with their votes how and where this war will be fought or if it will be fought at all. i have told you how i intend to fight this war. other candidates will argue for a different course. democratic candidates for president will argue for the course of cutting our losses and withdrawing from the threat in the vain hope it will not follow us here. i cannot join them in such wishful and very dangerous thinking. peace at any price is an illusion and its costs are always more tragic than the sacrifices victory requires. i will stand where i stand today and trust you to give me a fair hearing. there is too much at stake in this election for any candidate to do less. thank you., , 	,"	
"thank you. it s a great pleasure to be the guest of such an eminent economic club., since adam smith coined the phrase ""the invisible hand,"" economists, philosophers, and others have debated the virtues of market economies. you ll even hear some presidential candidates claiming to understand the finer nuances of markets and management. in fact, success has nothing to do with fancy theory. the simple lesson of history is that there is no economic force on this globe that is stronger than free people and their desire to create a better life., ronald reagan once said that ""freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. it is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. it is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions."" he spoke these words to university students in moscow in 1988. those students thirsted for freedom. we are blessed by freedom, but the importance of protecting it in every realm is a message that politicians desperately need to hear today., unfortunately, we find ourselves at a time when the u.s. economy is growing more slowly than anyone would like. as you are well aware, conditions in michigan are even tougher, with the state suffering through one of the most severe recessions since world war ii., tough times can breed fear, and hillary clinton and the democrats are using those fears to push an agenda that is tired, dangerous, and will rob us of economic freedom. once again, they want the government to make our choices for us - not respect our dreams, and trust our decisions on how best to seize our opportunities., let s take stock of the situation today in michigan. unemployment is under five percent nationwide, but over seven percent in michigan. ten percent of michigan s jobs have disappeared this decade and 50,000 people left the state in the past year. what does the democratic governor propose to do? raise taxes!, now that will help. michigan businesses already struggle against an unfavorable cost structure, and higher taxes will only make those problems worse. higher taxes discourage entrepreneurship, foster wasteful tax-planning, inhibit economic freedom and slow long-term growth., i will not let the democrats roll back the bush tax cuts. i believe we should protect the american family against partisan tax increases by requiring a three-fifths majority in congress to raise taxes. but that is just a start., our tax code is so complicated it extracts one thousand dollars for every american family, a total of over $140 billion in extra costs every year. it s offensive that six out of every ten taxpayers have to pay someone else just to figure out how to pay the government. i want america s smartest people creating jobs, not wasting their time, energy and capital navigating our incomprehensible tax laws., now, having one income tax system like this is bad enough - but right now we have two of them. we certainly don t need two separate tax systems. the alternative minimum tax is expected to hit up to 30 million people by 2010. i am committed to repealing this tax before millions of american families are forced to devote even more of their hard earned money to paying for the spending largesse in washington., we can have a single, fair and simpler system built on a few, lower tax rates and straightforward credits for work, health, education, and those with a family. we can make our personal and business tax systems work cohesively so that we can shed our status as one of the least attractive tax jurisdictions on earth. let nobody be fooled: if our best companies, large or small, are overtaxed and uncompetitive, it is the american worker who suffers. now is not the time for democrats to be threatening to raise taxes - the economy is growing too slowly and the cost of capital has risen already. now is the time for us to restore american s trust in their government by controlling wasteful spending., even if there is success in keeping taxes low, michigan businesses - large multinational companies, small business, and entrepreneurs alike - face a tsunami of rising health care costs. it is no surprise that health care figured prominently in the recent auto industry labor dispute. you and i both know that rising health care costs are a threat to our global competitiveness, a threat to our families  budgets, a threat to our government s solvency, and a threat to the profitability of american business., i applaud the recent agreement between the uaw and gm to help guarantee the health benefits of retired auto workers. i m told the uaw/ford talks include a similar proposal to create a trust fund for health care. but my friends we must do more - we must reign in the growing cost of care if we are to compete globally., the american worker is the most productive worker in the world. this is why many foreign manufacturers come to the united states to build their products. but, we must be more competitive in order to sustain our leadership in manufacturing., japan currently spends half of what the u.s. spends on health care, but they live longer. it is incredibly difficult to be competitive if the price of every gm car includes about $1700 for health care costs before the first wrench is turned, more than the cost of the steel in the car. for toyota the same cost is about $200., america has the best health care in the world and we must work to keep it so, but we must also work to provide incentives to control costs and thereby make that care more accessible. democrats want to turn health care into a government agency. that will not mean lower costs. it will not mean higher quality. it will mean higher taxes, less choice and less freedom., i will be talking more about health care on thursday, but i believe the debate must focus on the cost and quality of care, or these trust funds and the companies supporting them may not survive. it will require broad-based change to focus on patients, much more competition in the system, and more responsibility of our citizensor medicare will grow unsustainably, and many governments and companies will find it impossible to fund health care. if we don t get costs under control, the number of uninsured will continue to increase and there won t be enough money to plug the hole. we must address this problem now to assist the growing generation of older americans increasingly dependent on health care and for generations to come and as president, i will., michigan s problems got worse when the state government nearly shut down, and democrats refused to make the tough choices necessary to focus spending on genuine priorities. it s yet another sad example of why across this nation taxpayers have lost trust in their government., politicians refuse to talk straight about social security and medicare: the current social security system is unsustainable. period. a half century ago, sixteen american workers supported every retiree. today, it s just three. soon, it will be only two. if we don t make some tough choices, social security and medicare either won t be there for our children and grandchildren or we will have had to raise taxes so dramatically to support them that we will crush the prosperity of average americans., i will fight to save the future of social security and medicare by reaching my hand across the aisle, but if the democrats won t act, give me the responsibility and i will. if congress won t act, i will demand an up or down vote on my plan. no problem is in more need of honesty than the looming insolvency of our entitlement programs. no government program is the object of more political posturing and spin than social security and medicare. americans have the right to know the truth, no matter how bad it is. i won t leave office without doing everything i can to fix the fiscal problem that, more than any other, threatens our future prosperity and power., i am running for president to restore the trust of taxpayers in their government. americans have lost trust in their government to spend their hard earned money wisely. today, the government spends more money than ever before. since ronald reagan left office, government spending adjusted for inflation has increased $2,500 for every man, woman and child in the country. wasteful spending has gone from irresponsible to indefensible. when congress sends a pork-laden spending bill to my desk, i will veto it. the congress just sent to the president a water resources and development act with 900 earmark projects. if i got that bill, i d pull out this pen, a pen given to me by a great president, ronald reagan, and i d veto that bill in a heartbeat., if they kept sending it to me, i d use the bully pulpit to make the people who are wasting your money famous. you d know who they are, and you could hold them accountable. no is always the right answer to wasteful spending. i have the veto pen of ronald reagan and, i promise you, i ll use it., i have a reputation for straight talk and we need to work together to increase cafe standards to a level that is practical and achievable for all new vehicles, foreign and domestic, because improved fuel economy will help our nation achieve national energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and improve local and regional air quality. but as we strive to increase fuel economy, we must also ensure that we maintain auto safety., i believe that the use of advanced materials and other technologies including alternatively-fueled vehicles, flexibly-fueled vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles can help us meet our objectives successfully. and as the world s nations take further action to reduce global warming by cutting their carbon footprint, the steps we take now will also position the american auto industry at the forefront in the development and production of vehicles the world s consumers will demand for generations., we need to be at the cutting edge of green technologies because ninety-five percent of the world s customers live outside the united states. we need to be competitive as a matter of securing the future of our children. our future prosperity depends on our competitiveness., but let s have one more piece of straight talk: globalization is here, globalization is an opportunity, but globalization will not automatically benefit every american., i know that open markets don t automatically translate into a higher quality of life for every single american. change is hard, and while most of us gain, some industries, companies and workers are forced to struggle with very difficult choices. it wasn t government s job to spend millions to save buggy whip factories and haberdashers when cars replaced carriages and men stopped wearing hats. and it isn t government s job to spend billions preserving products and services that we can t sell anymore. but it is government s job to help, workers get the education and training they need for the new jobs that will be created by new businesses in this new century., right now we have a half-dozen different programs that are supposed to help displaced workers, and another half-dozen for people who are not working at all. we have an unemployment insurance program straight out of the 1950s. it was designed to assist workers through a few tough months during an economic downturn until their old jobs came back. that program has no relevance to the world we live in today., if i m elected president, i ll work with congress and the states to overhaul unemployment insurance and make it a program for retraining, relocating and assisting workers who have lost a job that s not coming back to find a job that won t go away. we should replace our outmoded and redundant programs with a single system. we can help people get back on their feet more quickly with jobs in the private sector, which offer the best training for a changing marketplace. we can strengthen community colleges and technical training, and give displaced workers more choices to find their way back to productive and prosperous lives., no one should have to wait until they are laid off to build a better life. we can start right now by improving the accountability of public education at the primary and secondary level, allowing competition, and helping provide parents with choices for their children s education. the better educated americans are, the more capable they will be of adjusting to and benefiting from economic change., let me suggest three ideas to provide american workers the continuing opportunities they need to adapt to the changing economic times., first, the unemployment insurance system still serves well the vast majority of workers who quickly change jobs in this fluid economy. but it needs to be modernized to meet the goals of helping displaced workers make ends meet between jobs and moving people quickly on to the next opportunity., second, we need to better connect training with business knowledge and needs. we need to train people for the jobs that exist today and the new jobs of the future. the federal government has a half-dozen training programs - and no track record of success. as i talk to business people and education experts i hear again and again that community colleges do a great job of providing the right skills to workers and the right workers for firms. we should take greater advantage of this record of success. and we can trust workers to choose. we need to transform rigid training programs to approaches that can be used to meet the bills, pay for training, and get back to work., third, for older workers the best training may be getting back to work. older workers can use their experience and work ethic to adapt to the challenges of the next job. but often, the starting pay of the next job doesn t measure up. we can help these individuals honor their tradition of work and allow them to keep up with the times. for those displaced workers who are 50 or 55 and move to a new job, let s give them the choice of either training or a few years of supplement to their earnings so the fall is not so far. they will be less resistant to taking a lower paying job and we will all benefit from having their experience back on the job., so today i encourage michigan to join my efforts to resist higher taxes, control spiraling health care costs, restore trust in government, and build 21st century labor markets. it will work for michigan. it will work for america., we have much to be hopeful about. we are powered by entrepreneurs that will enhance our global economic competitiveness and maintain america s economic leadership. my friends, america s best days are still to come. despite the pessimism peddled by politicians, you can t sell me on hopelessness. you can t scare me about the future. you can t convince me that our problems are insurmountable. i have faced adversity throughout my life and with perseverance, have overcome it. i will use those lessons now to guide my resolve as president., we stand on the threshold of another century of american leadership. we have the opportunity to write another chapter of american greatness. those of us privileged to lead this country need only be mindful of what has always made us great, have the courage to stand by our principles, honor our public trust, and keep our promises to put the country s interests before our own., i ve always kept my promises to my country. i ll keep the ones i make now. and i will keep the ones i make as president., thank you.,"	
"thank you for the opportunity to talk today about the american health care system. you don t have to be a candidate for president to discover that worries over the availability and cost of health care trouble the waking hours and disturb the sleep of more americans than any other single domestic issue. indeed, outside of the pre-eminent challenge of our time - the threat of islamic extremists - no issue comes up more frequently in large and small public discussions, in polls, debates and media reports., so it is surely appropriate that the subject figures prominently in this presidential election. and in our eagerness to appear responsive to this acute public concern, every candidate will feel compelled to offer his or her ""solution"" to the problem. but will these solutions actually improve our health care system? or will they merely serve as the candidates  opening ante in what looks to become a bidding war? in our haste will we promise more than we can deliver? will we misdiagnose the problem and devise a cure that will kill the patient? will we even ask ourselves that first, most important of questions: what exactly is the problem with the american health care system?, the problem, my friends, is not that americans don t have fine doctors, medical technology and treatments. the state of our medical science is the envy of the world. the problem is not that most americans lack adequate health insurance. the vast majority of americans have private insurance and our government spends billions each year to provide even more., the biggest problem with the american health care system is that it costs too much, and the way inflationary pressures are actually built into it. businesses and families pay more and more every year to get what they often consider to be inadequate attention or poor care. and those who want to buy insurance are often unable to because of the high cost. what more compelling evidence of the problem do we need than to note that general motors now spends more for health care of its employees and retirees than for the material required to manufacture its products - steel. the price of every gm car includes over $1500 for health care costs compared to toyota whose total cost for healthcare per car is about $200., the growth of costs affects everyone: government overspending, business costs and family budgets. it hurts those who have insurance by making it more expensive to keep. and it hurts those who don t have insurance by making it even harder to attain., we are approaching a ""perfect storm"" of problems that if not addressed by the next president, will cause our health care system to implode. here is what we know: first, we currently spend 2.2 trillion dollars-16 cents of every dollar we spendâ€”on health care. by 2015, just seven years from now, that number will nearly double to four trillion dollars. second, by 2019 medicare will be broke. we are currently spending more on medicare than we are collecting in payroll taxes and cashing in the few iou s left in the trust fund. in the meantime, more and more of our retirees  social security checks will also go to pay for medicare leaving our seniors with less money for their everyday expenses. third, by 2017 more money will be going out of social security than is coming in. the next president must act to avert the impending ""storm."", for all the grandiose promises made in this campaign, has any candidate spoken honestly to the american people about the government s role and failings about individual responsibilities? has any candidate told the truth about the future of medicare? its costs are growing astronomically faster than its financing, and leaving its structural flaws unaddressed will hasten its bankruptcy. has any candidate warned that we have a personal responsibility to take better care of ourselves and our children? yet that is the only way to prevent many chronic diseases. has any candidate insisted that genuine and effective health care reform requires accountability from everyone: drug companies, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, the government and patients? yet that is the truth upon which any so-called solution must be based., democratic presidential candidates are not telling you these truths. they offer their usual default position: if the government would only pay for insurance everything would be fine. they promise universal coverage, whatever its cost, and the massive tax increases, mandates and government regulation that it imposes., i offer a genuinely conservative vision for health care reform, which preserves the most essential value of american lives - freedom. conservatives believe in the pursuit of personal, political and economic freedom for everyone. we believe that free people may voluntarily unite, but cannot be compelled to do so, and that the limited government that results best protects our individual freedom. in health care, we believe in enhancing the freedom of individuals to receive necessary and desired care. we do not believe in coercion and the use of state power to mandate care, coverage or costs., i believe americans want to be part of a system that offers high quality care; that respects their individual dignity and is available at reasonable cost. unfortunately, the american health care system as it is currently structured fails this test. it is too expensive. it insults our common sense and dignity with excessive paperwork, disconnected visits with too many specialists, and by elaborately hiding from us any clear idea of what we are getting for our money. we must reform the health care system to make it responsive to the needs of american families. not the government. not the insurance companies. not tort lawyers. not even the doctors and hospitals., the next president will have to take on the special interests that thrive in the health care system. doctors must do a better job of managing our care and keeping us healthy and out of hospitals and nursing homes. we will need alternatives to doctors  offices and emergency rooms. hospitals must do a better job of taking care of us when we are there, commit far fewer deadly and costly medical errors and generally operate more efficiently. pharmaceutical companies must worry less about squeezing additional profits from old medicines by copying the last successful drug and insisting on additional patent protections and focus more on new and innovative medicine. insurance companies should spend more on medical care and less on ""administration."", my reforms are built on the pursuit of three goals: paying only for quality medical care, having insurance choices that are diverse and responsive to individual needs, and restoring our sense of personal responsibility., these reforms are also built on the most fundamental of medical tenets: do no harm. there is much to be admired about medicine in america, and i want to protect those qualities. doctors and other providers want to provide quality care. lower costs mean that medicare premiums don t continue to spiral beyond our ability to sustain it, and our insurance premiums are stretched farther. most importantly, any reform must respect the freedom to keep your care and insurance just as they are., the first principal of real reform is that americans should pay only for quality. right now, too much of the system is built on getting paid just for providing services, regardless of whether those services are necessary or produce quality care and outcomes. american families should only pay for getting the right care: care that is intended to improve their health., american families know quality when they see it, so their dollars should be in their hands. when families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions, less likely to choose the most expensive and often unnecessary options, and are more satisfied with their choices. health savings accounts are tax-preferred accounts used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. they put the family in charge of what they pay for, and should be expanded and encouraged., i am committed to ensuring the finest quality medical care for our veterans. they have earned that consideration and more. they should not have to wait for access to a va facility that is hours away. we can give them the option to put the means for financing their care under their control - in an electronic card or other device - so that if they want they can choose their care in another way that suits them best., we cannot let the search for high-quality care be derailed by frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. we must pass medical liability reform, and those reforms should eliminate lawsuits for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols. if the democrats are sincere in their conviction that health care coverage and quality is their first priority, than they will put the needs of patients before the demands of trial lawyers. but they can t have it both ways., research shows that coordinated care - providers collaborating to produce the best health outcome - offers better quality and costs less. we should pay a single bill for high-quality heart care, not an endless series of bills for pre-surgical tests and visits, hospitalization and surgery, and follow-up tests, drugs and office visits. paying for coordinated care means that every single provider is now united on being responsive to the needs of a single person: the patient. health information technology will flourish because the market will demand it., clinics, hospitals, doctors, medical technology producers, drug companies and every other provider of health care must be accountable and their transactions transparent. families, insurance companies, the government - whoever is paying the bill - must understand exactly what their care costs and the outcome they received., families place a high value on quickly getting simple care, and have shown a willingness to pay cash to get it. if walk-in clinics in retail outlets are the most convenient, cost-effective way for families to safely meet simple needs why should government stand in their way? i will not., if the cheapest way to get high quality care is to use advances in web technology to allow a doctor to practice across state lines, then let them. in disasters like katrina we saw how stupid and harmful it is to refuse the services of doctors just because they had an out-of-state address. we should have a national market place, and if i m elected president, we will., drugs are an important part of medicine, of course, and are often quite expensive. here in iowa the attorney general is suing seventy-eight drug companies accusing them of inflating drug costs paid by iowa taxpayers through the medicaid system. problems with costs are created when market forces are replaced by government regulated prices. if drug costs reflects value, fine. but if there are ways to bring greater competition to our drug markets by safe re-importation of drugs, by faster introduction of generic drugs, or by any other means we should do so. if i m elected president, we will., government programs such as medicare and medicaid should lead the way in health care reforms that improve quality and lower costs. like most of our system, medicare reimbursement now rewards institutions and clinicians who provide more and more complex services. we need to change the way providers are paid to focus their attention more on chronic disease and managing their treatment. this is the most important care and expense for an aging population. and in a system that rewards quality, medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors. i am appreciative of the therapeutic benefits of modern pharmaceuticals. however, i strongly opposed adding another unfunded entitlement to the fiscal train wreck that is medicare by providing all seniors with a costly drug benefit, even those, like me, who can more than afford to pay for their medicine., the second principle of effective reform is to have insurance choices so varied and responsive to individual needs that you could fire your insurance company if you wanted to. right now, too many of our citizens don t have an insurance policy at all, and those who do are afraid they will lose the one they have - afraid they will get too sick, afraid to stay home and not work full-time, and afraid their benefits will disappear along with their job., i believe that everyone should get a tax credit of $2500, $5000 for families, if they have health insurance. it is good tax policy to take away the bias toward giving workers benefits instead of wages. it is good health policy to reward having insurance no matter where your policy comes from., to use their money effectively, americans need more choices. we should give additional help to those who face particularly expensive care. if it is done right and the additional money is there, insurance companies will compete for these patients - not turn them away. it is a challenge to develop techniques that allocate the right amount to each of these families. i propose that we try a time-honored approach and let the states work on whatever method they find most promising. the federal government can help fund this effort, but in exchange, states should allow medicaid and schip funds to be used for private insurance and develop methods to augment medicaid and tax credits for more expensive care., family-based policies translate into broad success when they are paired with greater competition among insurers on a level playing field. you should be able to buy your insurance from any willing provider - the state bureaucracies are no better than national ones. nationwide insurance markets that ensure broad and vigorous competition will wring out excess costs, overhead, and bloated executive compensation. introducing competition into the health insurance market will reduce costs., some are already content with the choices and advice offered by their employer. fine. but americans should be able to choose who they trust. if a church or professional organization wishes to sponsor insurance for its members, they should be able to do so., when an american family controls its own health care financing, has a wide variety of low-cost, innovative choices, and receives insurance through a sponsor they trust, insurance policies will only disappear when the family decides it doesn t serve them as well as a competitor would., the final important principle of reform is to rediscover our sense of personal responsibility. we must personally do everything we can to prevent expensive, chronic diseases. our rights in this country are protected by our personal sense of responsibility for our own well being. cases of diabetes are going up, not only in the baby boom generation, but among younger americans obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. parents who don t impart to their children a sense of personal responsibility for their health, nutrition and exercise - vital quality of life information that political correctness has expelled from our schools - have failed their responsibility. also, parents are responsible for ensuring that their children are covered health insurance if, as is often the case, many options are already available to them., we can build a health care system that is more responsive to our needs and is delivered to more people at lower cost. the ""solution,"" my friends, isn t a one-size-fits-all-big government takeover of health care. it resides where every important social advance has always resided - with the american people themselves, with well informed american families, making practical decisions to address their imperatives for better health and more secure prosperity. the engine of our prosperity and progress has always been our freedom and the sense of responsibility for and control of our own destiny that freedom requires. the public s trust in government waxes and wanes. but we have always trusted in ourselves to meet any challenge that required only our ingenuity and industry to surmount. any ""solution"" that robs us of that essential sense of ourselves is a cure far worse than the affliction it is meant to treat., ,"	
", thank you for the honor of speaking before this gathering, and thank you for the work you do in supporting the preservation of the family, the most basic and essential component of any civil society., i know that before i can win your vote, i have to win your respect. and to do that, you expect me to be honest with you about what i believe. i m a conservative republican, and proud of it. i ll match my record of defending conservative principles against any other candidate in this race. i know you might not always agree with me on every issue, but i hope you know i m not going to con you. one of the most important things we have in this life is our self-respect. i don t expect you trade yours for empty promises. and i m not going to trade mine for anyone s vote. i m going to tell you what i believe and let the chips fall where they will., some people misunderstand voters who are concerned with something beyond their economic self interest and believe that the demands of self-interest are best served by the priorities of the democratic party. i disagree. i believe republican economic policies, our respect for the dynamism and growth created by free markets, have proved the surest way to help people earn and maintain prosperity. voting for whomever you believe will bring home the most pork to your state or district is neither in your self-interest nor does it respect the faith we have in a nation that was founded on ideals and not tribal or geographic identities. that is why for my entire political career i have fought against wasteful spending so that american families would have the freedom and means to make their own choices, and to choose, as i hope most would, and as you have, to serve a cause greater than self-interest. i believe that is the perspective and priority of a values voter., values are the ideals we hold dear, and are best protected by reviving virtues that are often in short supply in the political arena. our founding fathers were informed by the respect for human life and dignity that is the foundation of the judeo-christian tradition. they are the self-evident truths proclaimed and defended in our founding documents. all people are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. for many of us, the meaningful pursuit of happiness compels us to defend those ideals, and in this hour that summons has never been more urgent as america confronts challenges to its founding values, particularly the sanctity of human life, at home and abroad., we are involved in both a struggle against islamic extremism and a struggle to protect america while preserving the values that make it worth protecting. both of these struggles will demand courage and perseverance on our part and on the part of our leaders. many american generations have been called to confront evil. my father and grandfather fought fascism. my generation fought communism. now we are summoned to confront the evil of radical islamic extremism. there is no denying it is evil. how more evident could it be than in the means our enemies choose to confront us. their terrorism is not only an assault on our political and economic interests. it is an act of war against our defining ideals. sacrificing muslim children in car bombs. beheading a reporter merely because he is jewish and american, and broadcasting the atrocity. these are the tactics of people who scorn human life and dignity. and we are summoned to fight them not only by our just concern for our physical security but by the responsibility we have always accepted to support and defend values we believe to be universal., we need a comprehensive strategy to succeed in this struggle. for nearly three decades we watched the threat build and did little to contain it until it could be ignored no longer after the terrible events of september 11, 2001. since that time we have joined the battle on multiple fronts. but we are at a crossroads in this global struggle, and we will need a president who has the credibility to lead, the experience to lead wisely, and the strength of will to take the right path, even if it means walking a lonely road. i have spoken elsewhere at length about the strategy i propose. we need a larger military, real intelligence reform, increased contributions from our civilian agencies, and a commitment to victory in iraq. and we need a comprehensive legal and diplomatic strategy that allows us to battle effectively a modern threat without betraying our ideals. the world is watching, and we live in a time when the images we project cannot be easily erased., confronting the threat of islamic extremists is a battle against external forces, but also involves a personal and social contest with our own fears. we will not surrender to the terrorists, and we must not surrender to our fear. we must resist at all costs the temptation to believe that we can protect america by sacrificing the values that make it worth protecting., i am not naive. i know very well the tools some governments have resorted to when threatened: indefinite detention without trial, torture of prisoners, and a belief that anything is permissible in dark places where power, is the only law. but these tools are not american tools, and the easy way is not the american way. we must remain true to our ideals not in spite of the threats we face, but because of them. in the decades to come our prosperity and security will depend in part on what people in distant corners of the globe see when they turn their eyes toward america. as president, i would do everything within my power to ensure that they continue to see what they have seen for over two hundred years: a nation that remains fully worthy of abraham lincoln s belief that americans hold in our hands not only the destiny of a single nation but the ""last, best hope of earth."", it s not easy to preserve our ideals in the midst of a difficult struggle with those who despise every value we stand for. it s not easy to see the humanity of our enemies, who refuse to acknowledge our humanity, and whose cruelty is so wanton and sickening. the bible s call to do just that reminds me of the saying that christianity has not been tried and found wanting, so much as it has been found difficult, and not tried. the consistent message of the gospels calls us to recognize that all life is sacred because all human beings are created in the image of god, a truth recognized as central in the founding documents of our nation. we have gone to war to defend our security and our values, and that is an enterprise that always involves morally hazardous actions. it is a just war and like all wars it requires the sacrifice and taking of human life. but let us not abandon our humility in its prosecution. war is a terrible thing, not the worst thing, but a terrible thing nonetheless. and our humility, commanded by our faith in our ideals and in a just and loving god, gives us the strength to resist the unnecessary sacrifice of our faith in the necessary cause of defeating our enemies., when i was a young man i thought glory was the highest ambition and all glory was self-glory. my parents and the naval academy tried to teach me otherwise but it wasn t until i had to rely on others to an extent i never thought would be necessary that i understood the lesson. i had to have faith in something greater than myself not only to survive but to survive with my self-respect intact: faith in my comrades; faith in my country; and faith in my god. that faith helped me not only to endure but to understand and respect the values it encompassed. and, thus, in a moment of unexpected compassion that god ordained, i could learn the most valuable lesson of all: how to forgive and to escape the bitterness that could have destroyed my life., if america stands for anything, it stands for the freedom to follow our own hearts, to determine our own relationship with god. our constitution did not establish a national religion but neither did it banish any worship. religious freedom does not require americans to hide their faith from public view or that communities must refrain from publicly acknowledging the importance to them of faith. we are only abjured from using the law to make those who do not wish to adhere to the creed that we embrace. judges should not legislate from the bench and actually restrict religious freedom by banning its expression in the public square., wisdom is a virtue. sometimes all wisdom asks of us is that we recognize common sense. don t federalize issues not addressed in the constitution. don t constitutionalize issues where federalism has a chance to work. but sometimes, wisdom, as do all other virtues, requires courage. wisdom suggests we should be reluctant to change a definition of marriage that has existed for thousands of years, but it takes courage in this, day and age to insist that a mother and a father have unique and complementary roles in the raising of children, and that marriage reinforces public support for those roles. wisdom suggests that we should be willing to give an unborn child the same chance that our parents gave us, but it takes courage in this political climate to insist on the protection of unborn children who can t vote, have no voice, and can t reward you with support and donations. wisdom suggests that when activist federal judges impose their social views on the citizens of every state, the result is going to distort our politics in terrible ways, but it takes courage to insist that the courts have to return to their proper role. i will appoint strict constructionist judges that won t legislate from the bench., i have been pro-life my entire public career. i believe i am the only major candidate in either party who can make that claim. i am pro-life because i know what it is like to live without human rights, where human life is accorded no inherent value, and i know that i have a personal obligation to advocate human rights wherever they are denied: in bosnia or burma, in cuba or the middle east; and in our own country when we fail to respect the inherent dignity of all human life, born or unborn. that is a personal testament, which you need not take on faith. you need only examine my public record to know that i won t ever change my position to fit the politics of the day., humility is as important as wisdom in our public affairs. it not only assures our fidelity to a cause greater than ourselves -- the defense of our ideals -- but cautions us not to become so complacent in our strength and virtue that we become arrogant in power. this is something that americans have long understood and must continue to understand. we must preserve room for economic freedom, but recognize the possibility of corruption. we must recognize that government is necessary, but power corrupts. americans have lost trust in their government. we must restore that trust by doing what is right for the american people and not just for the special interests., ronald reagan once said that ""freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. it is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. it is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions."" he spoke these words to university students in moscow in 1988. it was a message they needed to hear in russia then, and it is a message that we need to heed in washington now., president reagan possessed an unshakeable faith in america s spirit that was more durable than the prevailing political sentiments of his time, and he became president to prove it. his confidence was a tonic to men who had come home eager to put the vietnam war behind us and for our country to do likewise. his was a faith that shouted to tyrants, ""tear down this wall."" and when walls were all i had for a world, his faith in our country gave me hope in a desolate place., it was the faith he shared with my friend, mike christian, a humble and wise american, to whom i will always remain indebted., my friends, we can achieve whatever task we set for our country. i honor ronald reagan s and mike christian s faith in america, the greatest nation and greatest force for good on earth. if we remember that then all will be well for the values we hold dear and for our country., these are critical times for the security of our country, the strength of our economy, and the future of our courts. this is not the time to turn our back on the progress we ve made on the issues that matter most. the voters who have offered their support to the republican party for decades deserve the chance to unify around a candidate who has demonstrated a consistent commitment to the values that are the reason for that support. i would like to be that candidate. i have a record that can be trusted. i have the experience to lead from day one, and i am committed to victory in the race ahead. thank you for the support you ve offered to me and to the republican party over the years, and for the opportunity today to earn that support one more time., thank you and god bless you.,"	
", thank you for that kind introduction. it is an honor to speak to you., we all know how important florida will be in determining the outcome of this election, no less so than it has been in the last two presidential elections. and i think republicans in florida and republicans everywhere understand that we face substantial challenges and some pretty stiff competition. we re going to have to fight hard to win. but we will win, and we re going to do it by making clear to the american people how high the stakes are in this election, and how important it is that we keep america moving forward and not return to the failed policies of the past as our friends in the other party would have us do. we re going to do it by being honest about the challenges america confronts, and straightforward, bold and brave about the direction we intend to lead the country. we re going to do it by having the courage of our convictions, and by convincing the american people that we will not yield, waffle, mislead, or sh irk our responsibilities to keep this country safe, prosperous and proud., i once lived in this great state. and when i was away from my country on an extended tour of duty, my florida neighbors looked after my family with great care and affection. i think i know the people of florida pretty well. i know that before i can win your vote, i have to win your respect. and to do that, you expect me to be honest with you about what i believe. you might not agree with me on every issue, but i hope you know i m not trying to trick you or misrepresent my intentions should i be so privileged to be elected to the office i seek. a candidate who tells you one thing and tells another group of voters something else, doesn t respect you, and won t lead our party to victory. because the most important thing we have in this life is our self-respect. i don t expect voters to trade theirs for empty promises. and i m not going to trade mine for any office. i m going to tell you what i believe and let the chips fall wh ere they will. americans are weary of empty promises, spin and election year conversions. they want leadership, and leaders don t prefer expediency to principle. they don t hide from a challenge. they don t put their own interests before our country s. they tell us what they believe and where they intend to lead. they offer their honest judgment not their pollster s advice. they have conviction, courage, and, most of all, the humility to understand they serve a cause greater than self-interest; that our most solemn responsibility is to put the people who have given us their trust before any personal consideration., if i am privileged to be your nominee, i promise you, i will never forget my obligations to you. americans have lost trust in their government and i intend to win it back, so help me god. you ll know where i stand, and where i intend to lead. i will defeat the democratic candidate, whoever he or she is. and when i do, i don t intend to use my presidency to avoid the hardest challenges america faces, and leave them to another, unluckier generation of leaders. i don t want to be remembered for the elections i won, for the celebrity i achieved, or for the personal privileges i enjoyed. i want to be remembered as a man who loved his country; who was proud of his country, and whose country was proud of him. that has been the great ambition of my life. i have no need of any other. and there is only one way i know how to achieve it: to stand up for what i believe even when the road is long and difficult; to stand up for my country against all enemies foreign and domestic; to stand up proudly, honestly, defiantly for the principles, ideals and virtues that have made this country ""the last, best hope of earth."", to win this election we need a candidate who can keep the republican coalition together and appeal to independents. we need a candidate with a reputation for challenging the washington establishment and the failed politics of the past. we need a candidate who is sure of his convictions; who hasn t changed his positions on the profound moral issues of our day to fit the politics of the moment. we need a candidate who will keep our economy strong and free from the waste and misuse of politicians for whom re-election is more important than the prosperity of the american people. and, above all, in a time of war against an enemy for whom no atrocity is too cruel, we need a candidate with the strongest national security experience so that there is no doubt in the minds of voters which candidate is best prepared to be commander in chief from day one., we cannot concede any important issue to the democrats. but neither can we adopt the flawed solutions they propose or abandon our principles in telling americans how we intend to address them. we should not avoid the looming bankruptcy of our entitlements. but we must not promise to tax and spend our way to greater prosperity. we should not ignore problems like health care and global warming, but we must not offer democratic-light proposals that prefer the wisdom of government bureaucrats to the power of free markets and the common sense of the american people., we are approaching a ""perfect storm"" of problems that if not addressed by the next president, will cause our health care system to implode. here is what we know: we currently 2.2 trillion dollars on health care. by 2015, that number will nearly double to four trillion dollars. by 2019 medicare will be broke. we are currently spending more on medicare than we are collecting in payroll taxes and cashing in the few iou s left in the trust fund. by 2017 more money will be going out of social security than is coming in. the next president must act to avert the impending ""storm."" i won t leave office without doing everything i can to fix these problems that so severely threaten our future prosperity and power., last week i offered my plan to reform and strengthen our health care system. it s a plan built on a simple premise: bringing spiraling health care costs under control through market competition. it will benefit consumers and improve patient care; increase coverage by making insurance more affordable; and strengthen american economic competitiveness across the globe. my plan puts the needs of individuals and families first, not government and insurance bureaucracies. it promotes strong health care markets by allowing families to purchase insurance across state lines and through any willing provider such as an association or a church. it takes up the challenge of tort reform to stop frivolous lawsuits that enrich trial lawyers while raising health costs for everyone else. it expands the proven benefits of market competition by encouraging a more efficient process for bringing cheaper, generic drugs to consumers sooner and deve loping a workable system that permits the safe reimportation of drugs to keep competition vigorous., americans have lost trust in their government to spend their hard earned money wisely. today, the government spends more money than ever before. since ronald reagan left office, government spending adjusted for inflation has increased $2,500 for every man, woman and child in the country. wasteful spending has gone from irresponsible to indefensible. when congress sends me one of these huge, pork barrel bills to my desk, i will veto it, and i will make the authors who wrote it famous. you ll know their names, and you can hold them accountable., of course, the most important challenge that will confront the next president is defending america from the islamic extremists who hate us and our values, and who will do anything -- anything, no matter how cruel or violent -- to hurt as many americans as they can. they are an implacable and unpardonable enemy fiercely dedicated to our destruction. they are global in reach, operating in europe, the americas, africa, the middle east and asia. just last month, terrorist plots were uncovered in denmark and germany that had the potential to kill hundreds or thousands. here at home we ve disrupted plots against jfk airport in new york and, against american soldiers at ft. dix. they intend to acquire weapons of mass destruction to kill as many innocent people as they can. they will not relent. they will not tire of the fight and go away. they must be defeated, defeated utterly, wherever they are. yet much of washing ton remains mired in irresolution and defeatism because the challenge is hard and complex and long. but i am not. i know the country i wish to lead. i know its strength. i know its virtues. and i know we will never face any threat stronger than the courage, resourcefulness, and determination of free people, who will not forget who they are, lose their confidence, succumb to fear, or limit their dreams because a hateful, evil enemy expects them to. they will meet and destroy that enemy, because what americans believe, what we know, is great, true, and a blessing. we don t hide from history. we make history., three decades ago, a visionary politician, a man of firm convictions and an abiding respect for the values and strength of his country, described the dangers in the world. it was, like today, a time when some doubted america s goodness and greatness. many argued for reconciliation with our global adversary. but this man held firm. he did not care what editorial boards wrote about him. he did what he thought was right. he criticized a foreign policy of weakness and vacillation. he called for resolve and firmness in dealing with the soviet union. and, he refused to condemn millions to perpetual communist tyranny in the false hope that accommodating the soviet union would contribute to america s security., fortunately, this man became president. how different would our lives be had ronald reagan not won election in 1980 and 1984? does anyone believe a democratic president would have called the soviet union an ""evil empire"" or would have stood up to the nuclear freeze movement; would have promised that communism would be left on the ash heap of history; would have demanded that a soviet leader tear down the berlin wall? while his critics and opponents tried to hide from history. ronald reagan summoned us to make history; to make another, better world, where our interests were secure, and our values ascendant. he was steadfast in the face of fierce criticism, international irresolution and determined adversaries. and he was right. we won the cold war as we will win this new and dangerous war: on our terms; for the sake of all humanity; for the right of free people to live without fear; and with the promise of another, better wo rld secure and within our reach., today, the challenges are at least as severe as they were when ronald reagan led us. and, today, the differences between republicans and democrats on national security are every bit as stark. today, leading democratic presidential candidates vote against funding for our troops engaged in war in afghanistan and iraq. today, leading democratic presidential candidates question whether there is a war on terror, offer to enter into unconditional negotiations with our worst enemies, and talk about countering the forces of radicalism by advocating surrender to them in iraq. if the democrats get their way in iraq, if we cede iraq to al qaeda, death squads and iran and syria, how long will they stay the course in afghanistan? we face grave challenges in the middle east: halting iran s nuclear ambitions; protecting our democratic ally, israel; supporting moderate voices against the killers of hamas and hezbollah; defending lebanon s sovereignty against syrian and iranian aggression. does anyone seriously believe that we can better meet those challenges in the aftermath of an american defeat in iraq? it is irresponsible to think so, and any man or woman who does isn t prepared to lead our country in this critical hour., the world ronald regan faced was a dangerous one, but more stable than the world today. it was a world where we confronted a massive, organized threat to our security. our enemy was evil, but not irrational. and for all the suffering endured by captive nations; for all the fear of global nuclear war; it was a world made fairly predictable by a stable balance of power until our steadfastness and patience yielded an historic victory for our security and ideals. that world is gone, and please don t mistake my reminiscence as an indication that i miss it. that world, after all, had much cruelty and terror, some of which it was my fate to witness personally., today, we face an enemy that so despises us and modernity itself that they would use any means, unleash any terror, cause the most unimaginable suffering to harm us, and to destroy the world we have tried throughout our history to build. but we are americans, and we still have it in our power to make history, a history in which all people might someday share in the blessings and responsibilities of freedom. let us accept the challenge that history has assigned to us, bravely, confident in our ideals and purpose, and sure of our strength., war is a terrible thing, but not the worst thing. our military men and women have endured the dangers and deprivations of war so that the worst thing would not befall us, so that america might be secure in her freedom. the war in iraq has divided the american people, but it has divided no american in our admiration for the men and women who are fighting for us there. it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all -- those who supported the decision that placed them in harm s way and those who opposed it -- humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction o f the best americans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help keep this nation worthy of their sacrifice for us and for the world., it is a privilege beyond measure to live in a country that has sacrificed so much for the cause of freedom. i have lived a long, eventful and blessed life. i have had the good fortune to know personally a great many brave and selfless patriots who sacrificed and shed blood to defend america. but i have known none braver or better than those who do so today. they are my inspiration. and i pray to a loving god that he bless and protect them., thank you., ,"	
", , my friends, we are at last nearing the moment in this long election season when something important happens: the voters get to speak. until now, the race has been defined by political professionals and pundits, who talk about polls, and money, and ads, and endorsements, and who won debates, and who attacked whom, and all the things that make these campaigns interesting to washington, and less so to you. now it s your turn., in less than two months, the voters of new hampshire will choose the man or woman they believe should lead this country for the next four years. i trust you to make the right decision about who has the experience, judgment, character and courage to lead this country at a critical hour in our history. it s easy to lose sight of the importance of this election given all the nonsense that seemed to dominate much of its coverage to date. but new hampshire voters understand our nation faces a truly historic decision that will affect not only america s destiny but the course of human history. we live in momentous times. we face a global threat from enemies for whom no attack is too cruel. the world is changing in profound ways. we need to make those changes work for us and for all people who share our beliefs in free markets and free people. our government has failed to meet some of its most basic responsibilities and the american people have lost trust i n their leaders. this election is about big things, not small ones. we can t muddle through the next four years, bickering among ourselves, and leave to others the work that is ours to do., now the responsibility again falls to the american people to set the course we follow in the years ahead: whether we go forward or backward; whether we fear the future or make history. that is your choice in this election, and it couldn t be a bigger one., when you make your decision, you must ask yourself two questions: which candidate has the best chance to lead our party to victory; and which is best prepared and most committed to keeping this nation safe, prosperous, and powerful. i believe the answer to both questions is the same. i am that candidate. and i ask for your vote., i m the conservative republican with the best chance of defeating senator clinton, or whomever the democrats nominate, and take on the challenges that confront us. i m as committed today as when i first put on the uniform of our country to the cause that has been the work of my life: the interests and ideals of our country. i m no more a perfect servant of my country than i am a perfect human being. but in my years of service, i hope i have proven myself worthy of your trust., we face formidable challenges, but i m not afraid of them. i m prepared for them. i know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better, and what it should not do. i know how congress works, how to make it work for the country and not just the re-election of its members. i know how the world works. i know the good and the evil in it. i know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don t. i know how to fight and how to make peace., if i m your nominee and senator clinton is the nominee of the other party, the country will face as clear a choice as any in recent memory. that s as it should be for such an important election. she will be a formidable candidate. and while our differences are many and profound, i intend this to be a respectful debate. she and i disagree over america s direction, and it is a serious disagreement. but i don t doubt her ability to lead this country where she thinks it should go., on matters of war and peace, i offer americans my experience, my personal familiarity with the tragedy of war, deep involvement in all of the national security issues of the last two decades, and steadfast conviction that america cannot afford to relinquish its leadership of the world, and the world can t afford it either., there comes a time when a president can no longer rely on briefing books and power points, when the experts and advisors have all weighed in, when the sum total of one s life becomes the foundation from which he or she makes the decisions that determine the course of history. no other candidate has my experience or the judgment it informs., i would never make a judgment about going to war based on whether it was a popular thing to do. i would only make that grave decision were i convinced america s interests and ideals were so threatened that it required the greatest sacrifice our country can make., and once i decided, i wouldn t surrender when we can still succeed, and accept the terrible consequences that would ensue, because i feared the polls more than history s judgment., senator clinton told general petraeus that his confidence in his new strategy and in the ability of the troops he has the honor to command required ""a willing suspension of disbelief."" now, it becomes clear that general petraeus was right. for the time being, senator clinton has suspended her belief in the abundant evidence of success as her rivals and, the fringe of her party pull her toward a position she knows is irresponsible., i was the only candidate in either party to say we were following a strategy in iraq that was doomed to failure, and to call for the change that is working today. i took abuse from members of my own party -- some of it pretty tough -- for doing so. and i stuck by it knowing it could hurt my chances for the presidency. i did it for one reason: i would rather lose an election than stay silent and watch my country lose a war. i will always put america s security before politics, always., one the one hand, senator clinton says we can t abandon iraq to al qaeda and the influence of iran. on the other, she wants a firm deadline for withdrawal that would do just that. senator clinton rejected unconditional talks with iran, but now says she would negotiate with no conditions., as we deal with the threat of a nuclear armed iran there are many things we can do short of war to prevent iranians from making that fateful decision. we can strengthen our diplomacy, stand up to the russians and chinese, and organize our allies and iran s neighbors to impose tough economic sanctions that could undermine iran s economy and unleash popular resentment of the regime that should cause them to reconsider their dangerous ambitions. we can make it very clear to iran s leaders that we will not allow them to obtain weapons that would destabilize the entire middle east and threaten america s most vital security interests. senator clinton would start with unconditional negotiations, despite iran s clear record of using negotiations to forestall sanctions and growing international opposition while they accelerate their nuclear program., i will increase the size of the army and marine corps. for too long we have asked too few to do too much. we have asked our servicemen and women to bid their loved ones goodbye for a third or fourth or fifth combat tour. we need to recruit more americans willing to defend our country -- and i know there are more if we only ask them -- but for reasons i will never understand, the former secretary of defense refused to do so., to rebuild our military as well as the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; and the capacity of all branches of government to defend us will require some hard choices. we will have to stop the inexcusable growth of government in other areas. senator clinton promises to increase the size of the military as well, but she won t make the tough decisions necessary to do it., i am absolutely committed to reducing the size of government. i ve fought against wasteful spending and big government solutions from my first day in congress. senator clinton would preside over another massive increase in the size of government. she ll have washington assume more of your responsibilities, and raise your taxes to pay for it. she won t address seriously the fiscal crisis of social security and medicare or if she does she ll let congressional democrats convince her to raise your taxes., i won t ignore the problem and leave it to another unluckier generation of leaders and i won t raise your taxes. i will work with congress in an open and sincere way to address these problems, but if at the end of the day, congress wants to play politics with the issue, i will go to them and the american people, and insist they vote up or down on my proposal. i won t lack the courage to fix our toughest problems and let them become worse on someone else s watch., i ll take on every special interest in town to finally reform our insanely complicated and punitive tax code. senator clinton won t., senator clinton will address the lack of health care insurance in this country by proposing another big government mandate. i ll make health care more accessible by making it more affordable, without ruining the finest quality health care in the world., senator clinton will appoint more judges who believe they should make the american people s political decisions for them. i will appoint judges who take their oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states as seriously as i take mine., these are some of the essential issues this election will decide. i offer one direction for america. senator clinton and her democratic rivals offer another, a course i believe is absolutely wrong for america and wrong for the world. it is your turn, my friends, to decide who is right. it s a huge responsibility. i know you will take it seriously., i don t expect you to take our promises on faith. i expect you to listen to us, as new hampshire voters always do, and then examine our records to determine whether we can be trusted to keep our word to you., i didn t seek public office to go along to get along. i went to washington to get something done for the people who sent me there. and since then, i know i ve made some people angry., i made defense contractors angry when i blew the whistle on a $30 billion boondoggle and the culprits were sent to jail., i upset the special interests and washington lobbyists when i fought for ethics reform and to stop union bosses and corporations from writing million dollar checks to political campaigns., i made the pentagon angry when i called for the resignation of don rumsfeld; said we needed a different strategy in iraq; and a bigger military so that ours sons and daughters didn t have to serve four and five tours in combat zones., i displeased a lot of the media when i said we couldn t afford to fail in iraq, and stood by the changes in our strategy that are now showing success., i made some folks mad when i worked to cut harmful greenhouse emissions because i believe climate change is a real and needs to be addressed now., i made politicians angry when i called for earmark reform and spending cuts; for government to do its job, not your job; to do it better and with less of your money. i said no to bridges to nowhere and 74 million dollars for peanut storage in a defense spending bill., yes, i ve made a lot of people angry. but i didn t go to washington to win the mr. congeniality award. i went there to serve my country., i might not like the business as usual crowd in washington, and they might not like me. but i love america. i love her enough to make some people angry., i m going to put the business as usual crowd out of business -- and make them thank me when i do. i won t only restore your trust. i ll make you proud of your government again. i m going to keep this country safe, prosperous and powerful. so help me god. and i respectfully ask for your vote to help me do it., thank you., ,"	
"thank you. i appreciate the chance to be here at the center for hydrogen research and to talk with you about a great and urgent challenge - breaking our nation s critical dependence on foreign sources of oil, and making america safer, stronger and more prosperous by modernizing the way we generate and employ energy. south carolina has been a leader in making america more energy secure, particularly in the area of nuclear power. for over fifty years the savannah river site was critical to our national security. in the future this site will be an integral part of our move toward energy security., oil is often called the lifeblood of our economy - the indispensable commodity that keeps commerce humming and america on the move. but, in today s world, our dependency on foreign oil and the way we use hydrocarbons is a major strategic vulnerability, a threat to our security, our economy and the well being of our planet., great nations don t leave the  lifeblood  of their economy in the hands of foreign cartels or bet their future on a commodity located in countries where authoritarians repress their people and terrorists find their main support. terrorists understand the seriousness of our vulnerability. al qaeda plans for attacks on oil facilities in the middle east to destroy the american economy. a little over a year ago, a suicide attack at a major saudi arabian oil refinery came close to disabling its target., we re one successful attack away from an economic crisis. the flow of oil has many chokepoints - pipelines, refineries, transit routes, and terminals; most of them outside our jurisdiction and control. our enemies understand the effects on america of a significant disruption in supply - a crippled transportation system, gasoline too expensive for many americans to purchase, businesses closed., al qaeda must revel in the irony that america is effectively helping to fund both sides of the war they caused. as we sacrifice blood and treasure, some of our gas dollars flow to the fanatics who build the bombs, hatch the plots, and carry out attacks on our soldiers and citizens. iran made over $45 billion from oil sales in 2005, and it is the number one state sponsor of terrorism., the transfer of american wealth to the middle east helps sustain the conditions on which terrorists prey. some of the most oil-rich nations are the most stagnant societies on earth. as long as petro-dollars flow freely to them those regimes have little incentive to open their politics and economies so that all their people may benefit from their countries  natural wealth. the middle east s example is spreading to our own hemisphere. venezuela s hugo chavez is using his country s oil revenues to establish a dictatorship, bully his neighbors and succeed castro as latin america s leading antagonist of the united states. in russia, vladimir putin is using oil as a geopolitical weapon and the sales proceeds to fund a rollback of democracy. the politics of oil impede the global progress of our values, and restrains governments from acting on the most basic impulses of human decency. there is only one reason china has opposed sanctions to pressure sudan to stop the killing in darfur: china needs sudan s oil. we should hasten the day when america can wield its power at the table of diplomacy in the middle east with an understanding that we are not dependent on their oil., the burning of oil and other fossil fuels is contributing to the dangerous accumulation of, greenhouse gases in the earth s atmosphere, altering our climate with the potential for major social, economic and political upheaval. it is a serious and urgent economic, environmental and national security challenge., is it too big a challenge for america to tackle? no, it is not. no people have ever been better innovators and problem solvers than americans. the people of south carolina provide an example for us to follow in developing energy security. it is in our national dna to see challenges as opportunities; to conquer problems beyond the expectation of an admiring world. america, relying as always on the industry and imagination of a free people, and the power and innovation of free markets, is capable of overcoming any challenge from within and without our borders. our enemies believe we re too weak to overcome our dependence on foreign oil. even some of our allies think we re no longer the world s most visionary, most capable country or committed to the advancement of mankind. i think we know better than that. i think we know who we are and what we can do. now, let s remind the world., as president, i ll propose a national energy strategy that will amount to a declaration of independence from the fear bred by our reliance on oil sheiks and our vulnerability to the troubled politics of the lands they rule. when we reach the limits of military power and diplomacy to contain the dangers of that cauldron of burning resentments and extremism, energy security is our best defense. we won t achieve it tomorrow, but we must achieve it in our time., the strategy i propose won t be another grab bag of handouts to this or that industry and a full employment act for lobbyists. it will rely on the genius and technological prowess of american industry and science. government must set achievable goals, but the markets should be free to produce the means. those means are within our reach., energy efficiency by using improved technology and practicing sensible habits in our homes, businesses and automobiles is a big part of the answer, and is something we can achieve right now. flexible-fuel vehicles aren t futuristic pie in the sky. we can easily deploy such technology today for less than $100 per vehicle; and we develop the infrastructure necessary to take full advantage., alcohol fuels made from corn, sugar, switch grass and many other sources that could benefit that rural farm economy of south carolina and other states, fuel cells, biodiesel derived from waste products, natural gas, and other technologies are all promising and available alternatives to oil. i won t support subsidizing every alternative or tariffs that restrict the healthy competition that stimulates innovation and lower costs. but i ll encourage the development of infrastructure and market growth necessary for these products to compete, and let consumers choose the winners. i ve never known an american entrepreneur worthy of the name who wouldn t rather compete for sales than subsidies., america s electricity production is for the most part petroleum free, and the existing electric power grid has the capacity to handle the added demand imposed by plug-in hybrid vehicles. we can add more capacity and improve its reliability in the years ahead. i ll work to promote real partnerships between utilities and automakers to accelerate the deployment of plug-in hybrids., we have in use today a zero emission energy that could provide electricity for millions more homes and businesses than it currently does. yet it has been over twenty-five years since a nuclear power plant has been constructed. the barriers to nuclear energy are political not technological. we ve let the fears of thirty years ago, and an endless political squabble over the storage of nuclear spent fuel make it virtually impossible to build a single new plant that produces a form of energy that is safe and non-polluting. the savannah river site has been instrumental in the development of new reactor technology that is more fuel efficient and safe. if france can produce 80 percent of its electricity with nuclear power, why can t we? is france a more secure, advanced and innovative country than we are? are france s scientists and entrepreneurs more capable than we are? i need no answer to that rhetorical question. i know my country well enough to know otherwise., let s provide for safe storage of spent nuclear fuel, and give host states or localities a proprietary interest so when advanced recycling technologies turn used fuel into a, valuable commodity, the public will share in its economic benefits. the savannah river site would be an ideal location to demonstrate that recycling spent nuclear fuel is possible in the united states. other countries, such as france and japan, already recycle spent fuel. we should do the same., and south carolina s mox program reminds us that the expansion of the use of nuclear power will enable us to turn our swords into plowshares and make the world safer through the conversion of weapons grade material that can be used by terrorists or rogue nations into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors for peaceful uses., there is much we can do to increase our own oil production in ways that protect the environment using advanced technologies, including those that use and bury carbon dioxide, to recover the oil below the wells we have already drilled, and tap oil, natural gas, and shale economically with minimal environmental impact. the united states has coal reserves more abundant than saudi arabia s oil reserves. we found a way to cut down acid rain pollutants from burning coal, and we can find a way to use our coal resources without emitting excessive greenhouse gases., we can also find ways to use new sources of power like hydrogen. my energy policies will rely on setting good incentives for firms, entrepreneurs, and households. but they will not shortchange the need for basic research to provide the pathway for new sources of energy, better materials, improved batteries, and other advances in knowledge that will be central to rising to this great challenge. the research being performed at clemson university and the international center for automotive research is unlocking the possibilities for hydrogen fueled automobiles. and research at the university of south carolina and the savannah river national laboratory is advancing the potential for other hydrogen technologies., america competes in a global economy where innovation and entrepreneurship are the pillars of prosperity. the competition is stiff and the stakes are high. we have the opportunity to apply america s technological supremacy to capture the export markets for advanced energy technologies, reaping the capital investment and good jobs it will provide. our innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and workers have the knowledge, resources, and drive to lead the way on energy security, as we have in so many other world-changing advancements. the race has always been to the swift, and america must be first to market with innovations that meet mankind s growing energy and environmental needs., i have proposed a bipartisan plan to address the problem of climate change and stimulate the development and use of advanced technologies. it is a market-based approach that would set reasonable caps on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, and provide industries with tradable credits. by reducing its emissions, a utility or industrial plant can generate credits it may trade on the open market for a profit, offering a powerful incentive to drive the deployment of new and better energy sources and technologies; for automakers to develop new ways to lower pollution and increase mileage; for utilities to generate cleaner electricity and capture carbon; for appliance manufacturers to make more efficient products, and for the nation to use energy with maximum efficiency - building conservation into the economy in a manner that produces financial and environmental benefits., as it always does, the profit motive will attract the transformational power of venture capital, and unleash the market to move clean alternative fuels and advanced energy technologies from the margins into the mainstream., some urge we do nothing because we can t be certain how bad the problem might become or they presume the worst effects are most likely to occur in our grandchildren s lifetime. i m a proud conservative, and i reject that kind of live-fortoday,  me generation,  attitude. it is unworthy of us. americans have never feared change. we make change work for us., climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. america has both an obligation and a compelling national interest in fulfilling our historic leadership role. china s carbon emissions will soon exceed ours. as president, i will invite a collaborative relationship with china to make coal use cleaner and climate friendly., but, we should address the problem on our terms, and bring others into the fold of a, common sense effort to solve it, while we sell to the world the technologies needed to do it., answering great challenges is nothing new to america. it s what we do. we built the rockets that took us to the moon not because it was easy but because it was hard. we ve sent space probes into the distant reaches of the universe. we harnessed nuclear energy, mapped the human genome, created the internet and pioneered integrated circuits that possess the computing power of apollo spacecraft on a single silicon chip you can barely see. we can solve our oil dependence and become more energy secure. we can leave a cleaner planet for the next generation. you can t sell me on hopelessness. you can t convince me the problem is insurmountable. i know my country. i know what we re capable of. we re capable of unimaginable progress, unmatched prosperity, and vision that sees around the corner of history. we ve always understood our times, accepted our challenges and made from our opportunities, another better world. my people are americans. our time is today. that is the country i ask to lead., ,"	
", thank you., my friends, i am past the age when i can claim the noun, ""kid,"" no matter what adjective precedes it. but tonight we sure showed them what a comeback looks like. when the pundits declared us finished, i told them, ""i m going to new hampshire, where the voters don t let you make their decision for them."" and when they asked, ""how are you going to do it? you re down in the polls. you don t have the money."" i answered, ""i m going to new hampshire, and i m going to tell people the truth."", we came back here to this wonderful state we ve come to trust and love. and we had just one strategy: to tell you what i believe. i didn t just tell you what the polls said you wanted to hear. i didn t tell you what i knew to be false. i didn t try to spin you. i just talked to the people of new hampshire. i talked about the country we love; the many challenges we face together; and the great promise that is ours to achieve; the work that awaits us in this hour, on our watch: to defend our country from its enemies; to advance the ideals that are our greatest strength; to increase the prosperity and opportunities of all americans and to make in our time, as each preceding american generation has, another, better world than the one we inherited., i talked to the people of new hampshire. i reasoned with you. i listened to you. i answered you. sometimes, i argued with you. but i always told you the truth, as best as i can see the truth. and you did me the great honor of listening. thank you, new hampshire, from the bottom my heart. i am grateful and humbled and more certain than ever that before i can win your vote, i must win your respect. and i must do that by being honest with you, and then put my trust in your fairness and good judgment., tonight, we have taken a step, but only the first step toward repairing the broken politics of the past and restoring the trust of the american people in their government. the people of new hampshire have told us again that they do not send us to washington to serve our self-interest, but to serve theirs. they don t send us to fight each other for our own political ambitions; but to fight together our real enemies. they don t send us to washington to stroke our egos; but to help them keep this beautiful, bountiful, blessed country safe, prosperous and proud. they don t send us to washington to take more of their money, and waste it on things that add not an ounce to america s strength and prosperity; that don t help a single family realize the dreams we all dream for our children; that don t help a single displaced worker find a new job, and the security and dignity it assures them; that won t keep the promise we make to young workers that the retirement they have begun to invest in, will be there for them when they need it. they don t send us to washington to do their job, but to do ours., my friends, i didn t go to washington to go along, to get along or to play it safe to serve my own interests. i went there to serve my country. and that, my friends, is just what i intend to do if i am so privileged to be elected your president., i seek the nomination of a party that believes in the strength, industry, and goodness of the american people. we don t believe that government has all the answers, but that it should respect the rights, property and opportunities of the people to whom we are accountable. we don t believe in growing the size of government to make it easier to serve our own ambitions. but what government is expected to do, it must do with competence, resolve and wisdom. in recent years, we have lost the trust of the people, who share our principles, but doubt our own allegiance to them. i seek the nomination of our party to restore that trust; to return our party to the principles that have never failed americans: the party of fiscal discipline, low taxes; enduring values; a strong and capable defense; that encourages the enterprise and ingenuity of individuals, businesses and families, who know best how to advance america s economy, and secure the dreams that have made us the greatest nation in history., the work that we face in our time is great, but our opportunities greater still. in a time of war, and the terrible sacrifices it entails, the promise of a better future is not always clear. but i promise you, my friends, we face no enemy, no matter how cruel; and no challenge, no matter how daunting, greater than the courage, patriotism and determination of americans. we are the makers of history, not its victims. and as we confront this enemy, the people privileged to serve in public office should not evade our mutual responsibility to defeat them because we are more concerned with personal or partisan ambition. whatever the differences between us, so much more should unite us. and nothing should unite us more closely than the imperative of defeating an enemy who despises us, our values and modernity itself. we must all pull together in this critical hour and proclaim that the history of the world will not be determined by this unpardonable foe, but by the aspirations, ideals, faith and courage of free people. in this great, historic task, we will never surrender. they will., the results of the other party s primary is uncertain at this time, but i want to congratulate all the campaigns in both parties. i salute the supporters of all the candidates who worked so hard to achieve a success tonight and who believe so passionately in the promise of their candidate. and i want to assure them that though i did not have their support, and though we may disagree from time to time on how best to advance america s interests and ideals, they have my genuine respect. for they have worked for a cause they believe is good for the country we all love, a cause greater than their self-interest., i learned long ago that serving only oneself is a petty and unsatisfying ambition. but serve a cause greater than self- interest and you will know a happiness far more sublime than the fleeting pleasure of fame and fortune. for me that greater cause has always been my country, which i have served imperfectly for many years, but have loved without any reservation every day of my life. and however this campaign turns out -- and i am more confident tonight that it will turn out much better than once expected -- i am grateful beyond expression for the prospect that i might serve her a little while longer. that gratitude imposes on me the responsibility to do nothing in this campaign that would make our country s problems harder to solve or that would cause americans to despair that a candidate for the highest office in the land would think so little of the honor that he would put his own interests before theirs. i take that responsibility as my most solemn trust., so, my friends, we celebrate one victory tonight and leave for michigan tomorrow to win another. but let us remember that our purpose is not ours alone; our success is not an end in itself. america is our cause -- yesterday, today, and tomorrow. her greatness is our hope; her strength is our protection; her ideals our greatest treasure; her prosperity the promise we keep to our children; her goodness the hope of mankind. that is the cause of our campaign and the platform of my party, and i will stay true to it so help me god., thank you, new hampshire. thank you, my friends, and god bless you as you have blessed me. enjoy this. you have earned it more than me. tomorrow, we begin again.,"	
", thank you. ronald reagan once said that ""freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. it is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. it is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions."" we are blessed by freedom, but the importance of protecting it in every realm is a message that politicians desperately need to hear today., unfortunately, we find ourselves at a time when the u.s. economy is growing more slowly than anyone would like. as you are well aware, conditions in michigan are even tougher, with the state suffering through one of the most severe recessions since world war ii., tough times can breed fear, and the democrats are using those fears to push an agenda that is tired, dangerous, and will rob us of economic freedom. once again, they want the government to make our choices for us -- not respect our dreams, and trust our decisions on how best to seize our opportunities., unemployment is five percent nationwide, but over seven percent in michigan. ten percent of michigan s jobs have disappeared this decade and 50,000 people left the state in the past year. michigan s problems are rooted in failed government policies. heavy regulation, too much government spending and taxes, and a high cost of doing business has hurt it dearly. michigan ranks 49th among states in its corporate tax climate, 45th in its unemployment insurance tax climate and 25th in property taxes., the worst thing that government could do in this environment is raise taxes. and yet that is what happened here. higher taxes discourage small businesses and entrepreneurs, inhibit economic freedom and slow long-term growth., at a time when it can be hard for families to weather tough economic times, the government should not make it harder. we should cut taxes right now on the middle class by eliminating the alternative minimum tax, which no longer taxes just the rich. it taxes 25 million middle class families, taking from them nearly $2,200 per family., my middle class tax cut is exactly what the sluggish u.s. economy needs. it would lower marginal tax rates, raise economic growth immediately and over the longer term, and over the next five years lead to an additional $2,000 for every man, woman and child in america. it is what the wall street journal would call ""the right stimulus."", i won t let the democrats roll back the bush tax cuts. i believe we should protect the american family against tax increases by requiring a three-fifths majority in congress to raise taxes. but i will cut middle class taxes and keep them low the right way -- by also cutting spending so we don t add to the debt we leave to our children., even if we succeed in keeping taxes low, michigan businesses -- large multinational companies, small business, and entrepreneurs alike -- face a tsunami of rising health care costs. rising health care costs are a threat to our global competitiveness, american families  budgets, our government s solvency, and the profitability of american business. we must rein in the growing cost of care if we are to compete globally., my plan puts money in the hands of families -- a tax credit of up to $5,000 for a family and opens up greater competition and innovation so that everyone -- hospitals, insurance companies, doctors, drug companies -- is accountable to the american family. the wall street journal called it ""supply side medicine"" for american health care. it will lower costs, maintain quality, and end the frustration of american families., health care in the united states suffers from too much regulation. ronald reagan showed us 25 years ago the power of deregulation to build prosperity., michigan -- and the united states -- needs deregulation, freedom, innovation, and private control of money -- especially in health care reform., michigan s problems got worse last year when the state government nearly shut down, and democrats refused to make the tough choices necessary to focus spending on genuine priorities. it s yet another reason why the american people have lost trust in their government., i am running for president to restore the trust of taxpayers that the government will spend their hard earned money wisely. today, the government spends more money than ever before. since ronald reagan left office, government spending adjusted for inflation has increased $2,500 for every man, woman and child in the country. wasteful spending has gone from irresponsible to indefensible. when congress sends a pork-laden spending bill to my desk, i will veto it., congress just passed another huge, pork-filled spending bill. the democrats allowed less than a day to read all 3,400 pages and stuffed it with nearly 10,000 earmarks costing about $10 billion dollars. i would veto that bill. we need to send washington a message: no earmarks. not 10,000. not 1. zero., i will enforce fiscal discipline and return the republican party to its principle that government should do its job, not your job, and should do it with less of your money. when the government s house is not in order, it contributes needless uncertainty to the economy, raising interest rates, and ultimately harming consumers and families. when interest rates are low, individuals can afford home loans, buy new cars, pay off their credit card debts more easily, and more jobs, are created., tough times breed fear, my friends, and we are hearing the fear-mongers say that michigan cannot compete on global markets. those voices ignore the lesson of history that any nation that turns to protectionism hurts itself in the end. we need to continue to lower barriers to trade because ninety-five percent of the world s customers live outside the united states. we need to have competitive manufacturing through lower health care costs, lower taxes, and opening new markets. our future prosperity depends on our competitiveness., i will make sure that michigan can compete. already it exports $24 billion to canada, a crucial trading partner. between 2001 and 2006, michigan even increased its exports to china -- yes, china -- by over 300 percent. but we can do better. i will insist that china trades fairly and that the wto agreements are enforced so that their imports are safe., it would be a mistake to view economic relations with china in isolation. i am concerned that china through its piracy of us intellectual property is also building itself into a military superpower that has already developed the capability to shoot down satellites. we will only be successful in getting china to meet its international economic obligations by engaging it on the full range of issues involved in our relations -- from suppression of personal and religious freedoms, to relations with north korea and iran, to its rising influence in africa -- which will determine whether china will emerge as a responsible or irresponsible world power. i have the experience in these areas that will also serve to ensure that american workers -- the most productive worker in the world -- will be even more competitive., globalization is here to stay. that is not something to fear. it is an opportunity to be seized. but globalization will not automatically benefit every american., change is hard, and while most of us gain, some industries, companies and workers are forced to struggle with very difficult choices. it wasn t government s job to spend millions to save buggy whip factories and haberdashers when cars replaced carriages and men stopped wearing hats. but it is government s job to help workers get the education and training they need for the new jobs that will be created by new businesses in this new century., right now we have a dozen different programs for displaced workers and others out of a job. our unemployment insurance program was designed to assist workers through a few tough months during an economic downturn until their old jobs came back. we need programs that work in the world we live in today., if i m elected president, i ll work with congress and the states to overhaul unemployment insurance and make it a program for retraining, relocating and assisting workers who have lost a job that s not coming back to find a job that won t go away. we need to better connect training with business knowledge and needs. as i talk to business people and education experts i hear again and again that community colleges do a great job of providing the right skills to workers and the right workers for firms. we should take greater advantage of this record of success. and we can trust workers to choose. we need to transform rigid training programs to approaches that can be used to meet the bills, pay for training, and get back to work., older workers can use their experience and work ethic to adapt to the challenges of the next job, but often the starting pay of the next job doesn t measure up. we should give these displaced workers who move to a new job a few years of supplement to their earnings so that the impact of their economic dislocation is not so severe. they will be less resistant to taking a lower paying job and we will all benefit from having their experience back on the job., i have always believed that before i can win someone s vote, i have to win their respect. and to do that i have to be honest with you. so here s a little straight talk i know the people of michigan will understand. some jobs that have left michigan are not coming back. and the answer to that isn t to raise false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs but to create new ones., our country s dangerous dependence on foreign oil threatens both our national security and our environment, not to mention the terribly injurious effect high oil prices has on our economy. the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars of american wealth to the middle east helps sustain the conditions on which terrorists prey. some of the most oil-rich nations are the most stagnant societies on earth. as long as petro-dollars flow freely to them those regimes have little incentive to open their politics and economies so that all their people may benefit from their countries  natural wealth. the middle east s example is spreading to our own hemisphere. venezuela s hugo chavez is using his country s oil revenues to establish a dictatorship, bully his neighbors and succeed castro as latin america s leading antagonist of the united states. in russia, vladimir putin is using oil as a geopolitical weapon and the sales proceeds to fund a rollback of democ racy., at the same time that we make america safer, we can meet our obligation to future generations. i believe that we must address climate change now just as republican teddy roosevelt had the vision a century ago to preserve many of the natural treasures our families enjoy today., america remains the world s innovator; we can and should be at the forefront of green technology. our future prosperity depends on our competitiveness, and this is an opportunity for american ingenuity and entrepreneurialism to keep us on the cutting edge. we can t do that without michigan, and the automobile industry that has been the engine of your prosperity. hastening the development of renewable energy sources, including nuclear power, is obviously a critically important part of the solution. but no more so than manufacturing cars that run on something other than gasoline. the automobile industry is already making real progress toward this end, but we must accelerate efforts to achieve the necessary technological breakthroughs that will reduce our consumption of gasoline -- hybrid cars and hydrogen engines and long lasting batteries and other promising advances. michigan has a bright future; but it will not be reached by attempting to recr eate the past., my friends, america s best days are still to come. you can t sell me on hopelessness. you can t convince me that our problems are insurmountable. americans have never met a challenge we couldn t overcome with hard work, ingenuity and daring. we can break our dangerous dependence on foreign oil; make our country and the world safer; our environment cleaner and create new jobs for the experienced, capable and productive workers of michigan. let it begin now. let it begin in michigan., we stand on the threshold of another century of american leadership. we have the opportunity to write another chapter of american greatness. those of us privileged to lead this country need only be mindful of what has always made us great, have the courage to stand by our principles, honor our public trust, and keep our promises to put the country s interests before our own., thank you., ,"	
", thank you, my friends, and thank you, south carolina, for bringing us across the finish line first in the first in the south primary. it took us a while, but what s eight years among friends. it just gave us the opportunity to spend more time in this beautiful state; to talk with you and listen to you; and to come to admire all the more the deep patriotism of south carolinians, who have sacrificed so much to defend our country from its enemies. it is a great privilege to have come to know so many of you, and i am very grateful for and humbled by the support you have given our campaign. thank you especially, for braving the very un-south carolina like weather today to exercise the first responsibility of an american; not just those south carolinians who voted for us, but all of you who voted today for the candidate you believe is best suited to lead the country you love. i think i can speak for all of the republican candidat es, when i say, south carolinians are never just fair weather friends., and, of course, i am deeply grateful to our south carolina team, and to the many dedicated volunteers who gave so generously of their time and labor and kept us competitive in some pretty challenging times. i hope you know how much your friendship means to me. the debt i owe you is a privilege and an obligation, which i promise you, i will faithfully discharge., i want to thank my wife, cindy, the best campaigner in the family, and my daughters meghan and sidney, who are with us tonight, as well as my son, doug, and our children who could not be here, and of course, my dear mother, roberta mccain. it is obvious to me, and to all who know me, that we would not be where we are tonight, but for your love, encouragement and faith in me., in the course of this campaign, i have tried as best i could, to tell people the truth about the challenges facing our country, and how i intend to address them. as i have said before, i know that before i can win your vote, i must earn your respect. and the only way i know how to do that is by being honest with you. i have tried to do that throughout this campaign, and to put my trust in your willingness to give me your fair consideration. so far, it seems to be working out just fine., i am aware that for the last 28 years, the winner of the south carolina primary has been the nominee of our party. we have a ways to go, of course. there are some tough contests ahead, starting tomorrow in the state of florida. but, my friends, we are well on our way tonight. and i feel very good about our chances., as pleased as we are that we have a reason to celebrate tonight, i know that i must keep foremost in my mind that i am not running for president to be somebody, but to do something. i am running to keep america safe, prosperous and proud. i am running to restore the trust of the american people in their government. i am running so that our children and their children will have even greater opportunities than the ones we were blessed with. i am running so that every person in this country, now and in generations to come, will know the same, sublime honor that has been the treasure of my life: to be proud to be an american., i seek the nomination of our party, because i am as confident today as i was when i first entered public life as a foot soldier in the reagan revolution that the principles of the republican party -- our confidence in the good sense and resourcefulness of free people -- are always in america s best interests. in war and peace, in good times and challenging ones, we have always known that the first responsibility of government it to keep this country safe from its enemies, and the american people free of a heavy handed government that spends too much of their money, and tries to do for them what they are better able to do for themselves. we want government to do its job, not your job; to do it better and to do it with less of your money; to defend our nation s security wisely and effectively, because the cost of our defense is so dear to us; to respect our values because they are the true source of our strength; to enforce t he rule of law that is first defense of freedom; to keep the promises it makes to us and not make promises it will not keep. we believe government should do only those things we cannot do individually, and then get out of the way so that the most industrious, ingenious, and enterprising people in the world can do what they have always done, build an even greater country than the one they inherited., my friends, i know we are facing challenging economic times, and we must be responsive to the concerns of americans who fear they are being left behind in the global economy. but nothing is inevitable in our country. we are the captains of our fate. we can overcome any challenge as long as we keep our courage, and stand by our defense of free markets, low taxes, and small government that have made america the greatest land of opportunity in the world., i have served our country all my adult life, and i am prepared for the high office i seek. i asked south carolinians to help give me the opportunity to serve the country i love a little while longer. you have done that, and i will never forget it. i promise you i will always put america -- her strength, her ideals, her future -- before every other consideration. thank you, south carolina, for your trust. i will not let you down, so help me god. good night and god bless you as you have blessed me., ,"	
"thank you. thank you for inviting me. it s been a little while since i ve had the honor of addressing you, and i appreciate very much your courtesy to me today. we should do this more often. i hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that i intended no personal insult to any of you. i was merely pre-occupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of pre-season frontrunner for the republican nomination, which, i m sure some of you observed, i managed to do in fairly short order. but, now, i again have the privilege of that distinction, and this time i would prefer to hold on to it for a while., i know i have a responsibility, if i am, as i hope to be, the republican nominee for president, to unite the party and prepare for the great contest in november. and i am acutely aware that i cannot succeed in that endeavor, nor can our party prevail over the challenge we will face from either senator clinton or senator obama, without the support of dedicated conservatives, whose convictions, creativity and energy have been indispensable to the success our party has had over the last quarter century. many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions i have taken in recent years. i understand that. i might not agree with it, but i respect it for the principled position it is. and it is my sincere hope that even if you believe i have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that i have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative. further, i hope you will grant that i have defended many positions we share just as ardently as i have made my case for positions that have provoked your opposition. if not, thank you for this opportunity to make my case today., i am proud to be a conservative, and i make that claim because i share with you that most basic of conservative principles: that liberty is a right conferred by our creator, not by governments, and that the proper object of justice and the rule of law in our country is not to aggregate power to the state but to protect the liberty and property of its citizens. and like you, i understand, as edmund burke observed, that ""whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither . . . is safe."", while i have long worked to help grow a public majority of support for republican candidates and principles, i have also always believed, like you, in the wisdom of ronald reagan, who warned in an address to this conference in 1975, that ""a political party cannot be all things to all people. it must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers."", i attended my first cpac conference as the invited guest of ronald reagan, not long after i had returned from overseas, when i heard him deliver his ""shining city upon a hill"" speech. i was still a naval officer then, but his words inspired and helped form my own political views, just as ronald reagan s defense of america s cause in vietnam and his evident concern for american prisoners of war in that conflict inspired and were a great comfort to those of us who, in my friend jerry denton s words, had the honor of serving ""our country under difficult circumstances."" i am proud, very proud, to have come to public office as a foot soldier in the reagan revolution. and if a few of my positions have raised your concern that i have forgotten my political heritage, i want to assure you that i have not, and i am as proud of that association today as i was then. my record in public office taken as a whole is the record of a mainstream conservative. i believe today, as i, believed twenty-five years ago, in small government; fiscal discipline; low taxes; a strong defense, judges who enforce, and not make, our laws; the social values that are the true source of our strength; and, generally, the steadfast defense of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which i have defended my entire career as god-given to the born and unborn., those are my beliefs, and you need not examine only my past votes and speeches to assure yourselves that they are my genuine convictions. you can take added confidence from the positions i have defended during this campaign. i campaigned in iowa in opposition to agriculture subsidies. i campaigned in new hampshire against big government mandated health care and for a free market solution to the problem of unavailable and unaffordable health care. i campaigned in michigan for the tax incentives and trade policies that will create new and better jobs in that economically troubled state. i campaigned in florida against the national catastrophic insurance fund bill that passed the house of representatives and defended my opposition to the prescription drug benefit bill that saddled americans with yet another hugely expensive entitlement program. i have argued to make the bush tax cuts permanent, to reduce the corporate tax rate and abolish the amt. i have defended my position on protecting our second amendment rights, including my votes against waiting periods, bans on the so-called ""assault weapons,"" and illegitimate lawsuits targeting gun manufacturers. i have proudly defended my twenty-four year pro-life record. throughout this campaign, i have defended the president s brave decision to increase troop levels in iraq to execute a long overdue counterinsurgency that has spared us the terrible calamity of losing that war. i held these positions because i believed they were in the best interests of my party and country."", surely, i have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. i won t pretend otherwise nor would you permit me to forget it. on the issue of illegal immigration, a position which provoked the outspoken opposition of many conservatives, i stood my ground aware that my position would imperil my campaign. i respect your opposition for i know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. and while i and other republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince americans that we were. i accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a wa y that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration., all i ask of any american, conservative, moderate, independent, or enlightened democrat, is to judge my record as a whole, and accept that i am not in the habit of making promises to my country that i do not intend to keep. i hope i have proven that in my life even to my critics. then vote for or against me based on that record, my qualifications for the office, and the direction where i plainly state i intend to lead our country. if i am so fortunate as to be the republican nominee for president, i will offer americans, in what will be a very challenging and spirited contest, a clearly conservative approach to governing. i will make my case to voters, no matter what state they reside in, in the same way. i will not obscure my positions from voters who i fear might not share them. i will stand on my convictions, my conservative convictions, and trust in the good sense of the voters, and in my confidence that conservative principles still appeal to a majority of americans, republicans, independents and reagan democrats., often elections in this country are fought within the margins of small differences. this one will not be. we are arguing about hugely consequential things. whomever the democrats nominate, they would govern this country in a way that will, in my opinion, take this country backward to the days when government felt empowered to take from us our freedom to decide for ourselves the course and quality of our lives; to substitute the muddled judgment of large and expanding federal, bureaucracies for the common sense and values of the american people; to the timidity and wishful thinking of a time when we averted our eyes from terrible threats to our security that were so plainly gathering strength abroad. it is shameful and dangerous that senate democrats are, blocking an extension of surveillance powers that enable our intelligence and law enforcement to defend our country against radical islamic extremists. this election is going to be about big things, not small things. and i intend to fight as hard as i can to ensure that our principles prevail over theirs., senator clinton and senator obama want to increase the size of the federal government., i intend to reduce it. i will not sign a bill with earmarks in it, any earmarks in it. i will fight for the line item veto, and i will not permit any expansion whatsoever of the entitlement programs that are bankrupting us. on the contrary, i intend to reform those programs so that government is no longer in that habit of making promises to americans it does not have the means to keep., senator clinton and senator obama will raise your taxes., i intend to cut them. i will start by making the bush tax cuts permanent. i will cut corporate tax rates from 35 to 25% to keep industries and jobs in this country. i will end the alternate minimum tax. and i won t let a democratic congress raise your taxes and choke the growth of our economy., they will offer a big government solution to health care insurance coverage., i intend to address the problem with free market solutions and with respect for the freedom of individuals to make important choices for themselves., they will appoint to the federal bench judges who are intent on achieving political changes that the american people cannot be convinced to accept through the election of their representatives., i intend to nominate judges who have proven themselves worthy of our trust that they take as their sole responsibility the enforcement of laws made by the people s elected representatives, judges of the character and quality of justices roberts and alito, judges who can be relied upon to respect the values of the people whose rights, laws and property they are sworn to defend., senator clinton and senator obama will withdraw our forces from iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency, and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue., i intend to win the war, and trust in the proven judgment of our commanders there and the courage and selflessness of the americans they have the honor to command. i share the grief over the terrible losses we have suffered in its prosecution. there is no other candidate for this office who appreciates more than i do just how awful war is. but i know that the costs in lives and treasure we would incur should we fail in iraq will be far greater than the heartbreaking losses we have suffered to date. and i will not allow that to happen., they won t recognize and seriously address the threat posed by an iran with nuclear ambitions to our ally, israel, and the region., i intend to make unmistakably clear to iran we will not permit a government that espouses the destruction of the state of israel as its fondest wish and pledges undying enmity to the united states to possess the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions., senator clinton and senator obama will concede to our critics that our own actions to defend against its threats are responsible for fomenting the terrible evil of radical islamic extremism, and their resolve to combat it will be as flawed as their judgment., i intend to defeat that threat by staying on offense and by marshaling every relevant agency of our government, and our allies, in the urgent necessity of defending the values, virtues and security of free people against those who despise all that is good about us., these are but a few of the differences that will define this election. they are very significant differences, and i promise you, i intend to contest these issues on conservative grounds and fight as hard as i can to defend the principles and positions we share, and to keep this country safe, proud, prosperous and free., we have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won t continue to have a few. but even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, i will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. if i am convinced my judgment is in error, i will correct it. and if i stand by my position, even after benefit of your counsel, i hope you will not lose sight of the far more numerous occasions when we are in complete accord., i began by assuring you that we share a conception of liberty that is the bedrock of our beliefs as conservatives. as you know, i was deprived of liberty for a time in my life, and while my love of liberty is no greater than yours, you can be confident that mine is the equal of any american s. it is a deep and unwavering love. my life experiences in service to our country inform my political judgments. they are at the core of my convictions. i am pro-life and an advocate for the rights of man everywhere in the world because of them, because i know that to be denied liberty is an offense to nature and nature s creator. i will never waver in that conviction, i promise you. i know in this country our liberty will not be seized in a political revolution or by a totalitarian government. but, rather, as burke warned, it can be ""nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts."" i am alert to that risk and will defend against it, and take comfort from the knowledge that i will be encouraged in that defense by my fellow conservatives., you have heard me say before that for all my reputation as a maverick, i have only found true happiness in serving a cause greater than my self-interest. for me, that cause has always been our country, and the ideals that have made us great. i have been her imperfect servant for many years, and i have made many mistakes. you can attest to that, but need not. for i know them well myself. but i love her deeply and i will never, never tire of the honor of serving her. i cannot do that without your counsel and support. and i am grateful, very grateful, that you have given me this opportunity to ask for it., thank you and god bless you.,"	
"thank you. thank you, voters of maryland, virginia and the district of columbia, for a clean sweep of the potomac primary. i want to commend my friend, governor huckabee, whose spirited campaign, many gifts as a communicator and advocate, and passionate supporters are a credit to him and our party. he certainly keeps things interesting, a little too interesting at times tonight, i must confess. but i have even more reason to appreciate just how formidable a campaigner he is. and thank you, my friends, for your support and all your hard work. we have come a long way in this campaign, and we have had our ups and downs. but as luck, that product of opportunity and industry, would have it, we are approaching the end of the first half of this election on quite an upswing. without your faith and commitment we would not be here, and i am immensely grateful to you., but now comes the hard part, and for america, the much bigger decision. we do not yet know for certain who will have the honor of being the democratic party s nominee for president. but we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them. they will promise a new approach to governing, but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government s failures is to simply make it bigger. they will appeal to our dreams of a better future for ourselves, our families and our country, but they would take from us more of the wealth we have earned to build those dreams and assure us that government is better able than we are to make decisions about our future for us. they will promise to break with the failed politics of the past, but will campaign in ways that seek to minimize their exposure to questions from the press and challenges from voters who ask more from their candidates than an empty promise of ""trust me, i know better."" they will paint a picture of the world in which america s mistakes are a greater threat to our security than the malevolent intentions of an enemy that despises us and our ideals; a world that can be made safer and more peaceful by placating our implacable foes and breaking faith with allies and the millions of people in this world for whom america, and the global progress of our ideals, has long been ""the last, best hope of earth."", we will offer different ideas, based in a better understanding of the challenges we face, and the resolve to confront them with confidence in the strength and ideals of free people. we believe that americans, not our detractors and certainly not our enemies, are on the right side of history. we trust in the strength, industry and goodness of the american people. we don t believe that government has all the answers. we believe that government must respect the rights, property and opportunities of the people to whom we are accountable. we don t believe in growing the size of government to make it easier to serve our own ambitions. we believe that what government is expected to do, what we cannot do for ourselves individually, it must do with competence, resolve and wisdom., the american people don t send us to washington to serve our self-interest, but to serve theirs. they don t send us to fight each other for our own political ambitions; but to fight together our real enemies. they don t send us to washington to stroke our egos; but to help them keep this beautiful, bountiful, blessed country safe, prosperous, proud and free. they don t send us to washington to take more of their money, and waste it on things that add not an ounce to america s strength and prosperity; that don t help a single family realize the dreams we all dream for our children; that don t help a single displaced worker find a new job, and the security and dignity it assures them; that won t keep the promise we make to young workers that the retirement they have begun to invest in, will be there for them when they need it. they don t send us to washington to do their job, but to do ours; to do it better and with less of t heir money., the work we face in our time is great, but our opportunities greater still. in a time of war, and the terrible sacrifices it entails, the promise of a better future is not always clear. but i promise you, my friends, we face no enemy, no matter how cruel; and no challenge, no matter how daunting, greater than the courage, patriotism and determination of americans. we are the makers of history, not its victims., hope, my friends, is a powerful thing. i can attest to that better than many, for i have seen men s hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience. and i stood astonished at the resilience of their hope in the darkest of hours because it did not reside in an exaggerated belief in their individual strength, but in the support of their comrades, and their faith in their country. my hope for our country resides in my faith in the american character, the character which proudly defends the right to think and do for ourselves, but perceives self-interest in accord with a kinship of ideals, which, when called upon, americans will defend with their very lives., to encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. it is a platitude., when i was a young man, i thought glory was the highest ambition, and that all glory was self-glory. my parents tried to teach me otherwise, as did the naval academy. but i didn t understand the lesson until later in life, when i confronted challenges i never expected to face., in that confrontation i discovered that i was dependent on others to a greater extent than i had ever realized, but that neither they nor the cause we served made any claims on my identity. on the contrary, i discovered that nothing is more liberating in life than to fight for a cause that encompasses you, but is not defined by your existence alone. and that has made all the difference, my friends, all the difference in the world., i do not seek the presidency on the presumption that i am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. i seek the presidency with the humility of a man who cannot forget that my country saved me. i am running to serve america, and to champion the ideas i believe will help us do what every american generation has managed to do: to make in our time, and from our challenges, a stronger country and a better world., i intend to do that by fighting for the principles and policies i believe best serve the interests of the american people: for a government that takes and spends less of your money and competently discharges its responsibilities; that shows a proper respect for our rights and values; that provides a strong and capable defense; that encourages the enterprise and ingenuity of individuals, businesses and families, who know best how to advance america s economy, and secure the dreams that have made us the greatest nation in history. as i have done my entire career, i will make my case to every american who will listen. i will not confine myself to the comfort of speaking only to those who agree with me. i will make my case to all the people. i will listen to those who disagree. i will attempt to persuade them. i will debate. and i will learn from them. but i will fight every moment of every day for what i believe is right for t his country, and i will not yield. and, my friends, i promise you, i am fired up and ready to go., thank you, and god bless you., ,"	
", its power alone. we must be strong politically, economically, and militarily. but we must also lead by attracting others to our cause, by demonstrating once again the virtues of freedom and democracy, by defending the rules of international civilized society and by creating the new international institutions necessary to advance the peace and freedoms we cherish. perhaps above all, leadership in today s world means accepting and fulfilling our responsibilities as a great nation., one of those responsibilities is to be a good and reliable ally to our fellow democracies. we cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to. we have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact -- a league of democracies -- that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests., at the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. recall the words of our founders in the declaration of independence, that we pay ""decent respect to the opinions of mankind."" our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. we need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. when we believe international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. but we, in return, must be willing to be persuaded by them., america must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model. how we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad. we must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundation of our society. we can t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured. i believe we should close guantanamo and work with our allies to forge a new international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control., there is such a thing as international good citizenship. we need to be good stewards of our planet and join with other nations to help preserve our common home. the risks of global warming have no borders. we and the other nations of the world must get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand off a much-diminished world to our grandchildren. we need a successor to the kyoto treaty, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner. we americans must lead by example and encourage the participation of the rest of the world, including most importantly, the developing economic powerhouses of china and india., four and a half decades ago, john kennedy described the people of latin america as our ""firm and ancient friends, united by history and experience and by our determination to advance the values of american civilization."" with globalization, our hemisphere has grown closer, more integrated, and more interdependent. latin america today is increasingly vital to the fortunes of the united states. americans north and south share a common geography and a common destiny. the countries of latin america are the natural partners of the united states, and our northern neighbor canada., relations with our southern neighbors must be governed by mutual respect, not by an imperial impulse or by anti- american demagoguery. the promise of north, central, and south american life is too great for that. i believe the americas can and must be the model for a new 21st century relationship between north and south. ours can be the first completely democratic hemisphere, where trade is free across all borders, where the rule of law and the power of free markets advance the security and prosperity of all., power in the world today is moving east; the asia-pacific region is on the rise. together with our democratic partner of many decades, japan, we can grasp the opportunities present in the unfolding world and this century can become safe -- both american and asian, both prosperous and free. asia has made enormous strides in recent decades. its economic achievements are well known; less known is that more people live under democratic rule in asia than in any other region of the world., dealing with a rising china will be a central challenge for the next american president. recent prosperity in china has brought more people out of poverty faster than during any other time in human history. china s newfound power implies responsibilities. china could bolster its claim that it is ""peacefully rising"" by being more transparent about its significant military buildup, by working with the world to isolate pariah states such as burma, sudan and zimbabwe, and by ceasing its efforts to establish regional forums and economic arrangements designed to exclude america from asia., china and the united states are not destined to be adversaries. we have numerous overlapping interests and hope to see our relationship evolve in a manner that benefits both countries and, in turn, the asia-pacific region and the world. but until china moves toward political liberalization, our relationship will be based on periodically shared interests rather than the bedrock of shared values., the united states did not single-handedly win the cold war; the transatlantic alliance did, in concert with partners around the world. the bonds we share with europe in terms of history, values, and interests are unique. americans should welcome the rise of a strong, confident european union as we continue to support a strong nato. the future of the transatlantic relationship lies in confronting the challenges of the twenty-first century worldwide: developing a common energy policy, creating a transatlantic common market tying our economies more closely together, addressing the dangers posed by a revanchist russia, and institutionalizing our cooperation on issues such as climate change, foreign assistance, and democracy promotion., we should start by ensuring that the g-8, the group of eight highly industrialized states, becomes again a club of leading market democracies: it should include brazil and india but exclude russia. rather than tolerate russia s nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks, western nations should make clear that the solidarity of nato, from the baltic to the black sea, is indivisible and that the organization s doors remain open to all democracies committed to the defense of freedom., while africa s problems -- poverty, corruption, disease, and instability -- are well known, we must refocus on the bright promise offered by many countries on that continent. we must strongly engage on a political, economic, and security level with friendly governments across africa, but insist on improvements in transparency and the rule of law. many, african nations will not reach their true potential without external assistance to combat entrenched problems, such as hiv/aids, that afflict africans disproportionately. i will establish the goal of eradicating malaria on the continent -- the number one killer of african children under the age of five. in addition to saving millions of lives in the world s poorest regions, such a campaign would do much to add luster to america s image in the world., we also share an obligation with the world s other great powers to halt and reverse the proliferation of nuclear weapons. the united states and the international community must work together and do all in our power to contain and reverse north korea s nuclear weapons program and to prevent iran -- a nation whose president has repeatedly expressed a desire to wipe israel from the face of the earth -- from obtaining a nuclear weapon. we should work to reduce nuclear arsenals all around the world, starting with our own. forty years ago, the five declared nuclear powers came together in support of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and pledged to end the arms race and move toward nuclear disarmament. the time has come to renew that commitment. we do not need all the weapons currently in our arsenal. the united states should lead a global effort at nuclear disarmament consistent with our vital interests and the cause of peace., if we are successful in pulling together a global coalition for peace and freedom -- if we lead by shouldering our international responsibilities and pointing the way to a better and safer future for humanity, i believe we will gain tangible benefits as a nation., it will strengthen us to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical islamic terrorism. this challenge is transcendent not because it is the only one we face. there are many dangers in today s world, and our foreign policy must be agile and effective at dealing with all of them. but the threat posed by the terrorists is unique. they alone devote all their energies and indeed their very lives to murdering innocent men, women, and children. they alone seek nuclear weapons and other tools of mass destruction not to defend themselves or to enhance their prestige or to give them a stronger hand in world affairs but to use against us wherever and whenever they can. any president who does not regard this threat as transcending all others does not deserve to sit in the white house, for he or she does not take seriously enough the first and most basic duty a president has -- to protect the lives of the american people., we learned through the tragic experience of september 11 that passive defense alone cannot protect us. we must protect our borders. but we must also have an aggressive strategy of confronting and rooting out the terrorists wherever they seek to operate, and deny them bases in failed or failing states. today al qaeda and other terrorist networks operate across the globe, seeking out opportunities in southeast asia, central asia, africa, and in the middle east., prevailing in this struggle will require far more than military force. it will require the use of all elements of our national power: public diplomacy; development assistance; law enforcement training; expansion of economic opportunity; and robust intelligence capabilities. i have called for major changes in how our government faces the challenge of radical islamic extremism by much greater resources for and integration of civilian efforts to prevent conflict and to address post- conflict challenges. our goal must be to win the ""hearts and minds"" of the vast majority of moderate muslims who do not want their future controlled by a minority of violent extremists. in this struggle, scholarships will be far more important than smart bombs., we also need to build the international structures for a durable peace in which the radical extremists are gradually eclipsed by the more powerful forces of freedom and tolerance. our efforts in iraq and afghanistan are critical in this respect and cannot be viewed in isolation from our broader strategy. in the troubled and often dangerous region they occupy, these two nations can either be sources of extremism and instability or they can in time become pillars of stability, tolerance, and democracy., for decades in the greater middle east, we had a strategy of relying on autocrats to provide order and stability. we relied on the shah of iran, the autocratic rulers of egypt, the generals of pakistan, the saudi royal family, and even, for a time, on saddam hussein. in the late 1970s that strategy began to unravel. the shah was overthrown by the radical islamic revolution that now rules in tehran. the ensuing ferment in the muslim world produced increasing instability. the autocrats clamped down with ever greater repression, while also surreptitiously aiding islamic radicalism abroad in the hopes that they would not become its victims. it was a toxic and explosive mixture. the oppression of the autocrats blended with the radical islamists  dogmatic theology to produce a perfect storm of intolerance and hatred., we can no longer delude ourselves that relying on these out-dated autocracies is the safest bet. they no longer provide lasting stability, only the illusion of it. we must not act rashly or demand change overnight. but neither can we pretend the status quo is sustainable, stable, or in our interests. change is occurring whether we want it or not. the only question for us is whether we shape this change in ways that benefit humanity or let our enemies seize it for their hateful purposes. we must help expand the power and reach of freedom, using all our many strengths as a free people. this is not just idealism. it is the truest kind of realism. it is the democracies of the world that will provide the pillars upon which we can and must build an enduring peace., if you look at the great arc that extends from the middle east through central asia and the asian subcontinent all the way to southeast asia, you can see those pillars of democracy stretching across the entire expanse, from turkey and israel to india and indonesia. iraq and afghanistan lie at the heart of that region. and whether they eventually become stable democracies themselves, or are allowed to sink back into chaos and extremism, will determine not only the fate of that critical part of the world, but our fate, as well., that is the broad strategic perspective through which to view our efforts in iraq and afghanistan. many people ask, how should we define success? success in iraq and afghanistan is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists. it is the triumph of religious tolerance over violent radicalism., those who argue that our goals in iraq are unachievable are wrong, just as they were wrong a year ago when they declared the war in iraq already lost. since june 2007 sectarian and ethnic violence in iraq has been reduced by 90 percent. overall civilian deaths have been reduced by more than 70 percent. deaths of coalition forces have fallen by 70 percent. the dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average iraqi. people are going back to work. markets are open. oil revenues are climbing., ,"	
", deck of the u.s.s. missouri to witness the signing of the unconditional surrender that ended the war. my father commanded a submarine in the pacific during the war, survived several harrowing experiences, and had brought a japanese submarine into tokyo harbor at the time of the surrender ceremony. both were exhausted at war s end, but happy to have the opportunity for a brief reunion. they met onboard a submarine tender, and spent a couple of hours together. my grandfather was worn out and obviously ill. years later, my father recalled the last words my grandfather had ever spoken to him. ""son, there is no greater thing than to die . . . for the country and principles that you believe in."" after father and son parted that afternoon, my grandfather began the long trip home to coronado. not long after he arrived, at a homecoming party, he turned to my grandmother, and announced he did not feel well. he died a moment later of a heart attack. he had fought his war and died in service to the country he believed in., my father could not return to the states in time for the funeral. my mother found him waiting for her to return to california from the funeral in washington, weeping on the airport tarmac. in time, my father, the son of a legendary naval leader, would rise to an even greater command than his father had. during the vietnam war, he commanded all u.s. forces in the pacific, at the top of a chain of command that included, near the bottom, his son, a naval aviator on yankee station in the tonkin gulf, and later a prisoner of war in hanoi. my father seldom spoke of my captivity to anyone outside the family, and never in public. he prayed on his knees every night for my safe return. he would spend holidays with the troops in vietnam, near the dmz. at the end of his visit, he would walk alone to the base perimeter, and look north toward the city where i was held. yet, when duty required it, he gave the order for b-52s to bomb hanoi, in close proximity to my prison., i have lived a blessed life, and the first of my blessings was the family i was born into. i had not only the example of my distinguished male relations, and their long tradition of military service. i was fortunate to grow up under the influence of strong, capable, accomplished women; first among them, my mother, the formidable roberta mccain; her identical twin, rowena; my strict and imposing paternal grandmother, catherine; and equally impressive maternal grandmother, myrtle. for much of my childhood, my mother was the parent who raised me, my sister and brother. my father was often at sea, and she bore all the responsibilities of both parents. she moved us from base to base, often driving us across country on her own; managed our household; paid the bills; saw to our education and religious upbringing; and made of our itinerant childhood, an interesting, exciting time, rich with fascinating experiences. she was and is a resilient woman, extroverted, uncomplaining, forthright and determined, who greets every challenge as an opportunity to measure one s strength of character and learn about the wider world beyond our immediate environment., the family i was born to, and the family i am blessed with now, made me the man i am, and instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the social institution that wields the greatest influence in the formation of our individual character and the character of our society. i may have been raised in a time when government did not dare to assume the responsibilities of parents. but i am a father in a time when parents worry that threats to their children s well-being are proliferating and undermining the values they have worked to impart to them. that is not to say that government should dictate to parents how to raise their children or assume from parents any part of that most personal and important responsibility. no government is capable of caring for children as attentively and wisely as the mother and father who love them. but government must be attentive to the impact of its policies on families so that it does not through inattention or arrogance make it harder for parents to have the resources to succeed in the greatest work of their lives - raising their children. and where government has a role to play, in education, in combating the threats to the security and happiness of children from online predators, in helping to make health care affordable and accessible to the least fortunate among us, it must do so urgently, effectively and wisely., tax policy must not rob parents of the means to care for their children and provide them the opportunities their parents provided them. government spending must not be squandered on things we do not need and can t afford, and which don t address a single american s concern for their family s security. government can t just throw money at public education while reinforcing the failures of many of our schools, but should, through choice and competition, by rewarding good teachers and holding bad teachers accountable, help parents prepare their children for the challenges and opportunities of the global economy. government must be attentive to the impact on families of parents who have lost jobs in our changing economy that won t come back. our programs for displaced workers are antiquated, repetitive and ineffective. many were designed for a time when unemployment was seasonal or a temporary consequence of an economic downturn, not for a time when systemic changes wrought by the growing global economy have, while promising undreamt of opportunities for ourselves and many historically poor societies, have cost too many parents the jobs they had assumed would be theirs for life., with the loss of work and the resources it provides families, come just as injurious losses to the emotional health of families. work provides more than an income. it is a source of self-worth, pride and sense of purpose. children learn as much from observation as instruction. the mother or father who has lost hope along with their job can unintentionally impart that hopelessness to their children. a welfare check can t give a parent a sense of purpose. and among the most important things children can inherit from their parents is a sense of purpose, and an aspiration to be part of something bigger than themselves., my parents taught me that, and i will always be indebted to them. but like many young people, i didn t understand the lesson very well until later in life when i needed it most. as a boy, my family legacy, as fascinating as it was to me, often felt like an imposition. i knew from a very early age that i was destined for annapolis and a career in the navy. in reaction, i often rebelled in small and petty ways to what i perceived as an encroachment on my free will., i concede that i remember with affection the unruly passions of youth, and how they governed my immature sense of honor and self-respect. as i grew older, and the challenges to my self-respect grew more varied and serious, i was surprised to discover that while my sense of honor had matured, its defense mattered even more to me than it did when it was such a vulnerable thing that any empty challenge threatened it., like most people, when i reflect on the adventures and joys of youth, i feel a longing for what is lost and cannot be restored. but though the happy pursuits of the young prove ephemeral, something better can endure, and endure until our last moment of life. and that is the honor we earn and the love we give when we work and sacrifice with others for a cause greater than our self- interest. for me that cause has long been our country. i am a lucky, lucky man to have found it, and am forever grateful to those who showed me the way. what they gave me was much more valuable and lasting than the tribute i once paid to vanity., i am the son and grandson of admirals. my grandfather was an aviator; my father a submariner. they were my first heroes, and their respect for me has been one of the most lasting ambitions of my life. they gave their lives to their country, and taught me lessons about honor, courage, duty, perseverance and leadership that i didn t fully grasp until later in life, but remembered when i needed them most. i have been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. but i am their son, and they showed me how to love my country, and that has made all the difference for me, my friends, all the difference in the world., ,"	
", and it wasn t enough in the end. but when i had reached the limit of my endurance, the men i had the honor of serving with picked me up, set me right, and sent me back into the fight. i became dependent on others to a greater extent than i had ever been before. and i am a better man for it. we had met a power that wanted to obliterate our identities, and the cause to which we rallied was our response: we are free men, bound inseparably together, and by the grace of god and not your sufferance we will have our freedom restored to us. i have never felt more powerfully free, more my own man, than when i was a small part of an organized resistance to the power that imprisoned us., that lesson made me a better officer, too. when i came to cecil field and eventually assumed command of va 174, the largest squadron in the navy, the state of military readiness in the united states was very low. and my squadron s readiness was no exception. we had about fifty planes, and nearly half of them were in such bad shape they had been grounded. i was determined to improve the situation, but i knew my own determination wouldn t be sufficient to do so. i struck a deal with my superiors that if they allowed me to move parts from one plane to another, before my tour was finished we would have every one of them in the air. no plan to restore the squadron s readiness could have succeeded without the extraordinary determination and resourcefulness of the pilots, staff and crew i served with. they numbered nearly a thousand, and they were as highly committed, hardworking, innovative people as any officer ever had the honor to command. they worked diligently toward a common goal, and took pride in the achievements of a team and didn t view individual accomplishment as the primary focus of their energy. of course, the squadron s purpose was to train aviators, but the men and women of va 174 knew that they were serving a greater purpose: to demonstrate the resolve of the united states navy to overcome the decline in morale and readiness that temporarily afflicted the military after the vietnam war., on the last day of my command, my executive officer and friend, carl smith, kept my promise to my superiors and took off in the last of the squadron s grounded planes. the plane was barely ready for the test and flew with its landing gear down. but we had achieved our goal. we had gotten every airplane off the ground, set a record for the longest flying hours without an accident, and received the first meritorious unit citation ever awarded va 174. the experience was the most rewarding assignment of my navy career., there are many qualities to military service that make it such a special profession. but among the most important is the ability to get things done no matter how difficult, confused or unexpected the situation. there is an old military maxim that battle plans never survive the first encounter with the enemy. soldiers are taught to expect the unexpected and accept it, and revise, improvise, and fight their way through any adversity. that doesn t mean the soldier doesn t grumble or complain about unexpected changes in their fortunes, but they are trained to get things done no matter the circumstances., that is an ethic that should imbue all public service in this country, and it should be the quality all americans demand from their elected leaders. we are the most accomplished nation in history, and our system of government is superior to any other. but we have much to do in this historically pivotal era of great change and challenge, to ensure, as every preceding american generation has, that the country we leave our children is even better than the one we inherited., to keep our nation prosperous, strong and growing we have to rethink, reform and reinvent: the way we educate our children; train our workers; deliver health care services; support retirees; fuel our transportation network; stimulate research and development; and harness new technologies., to defend ourselves we must do everything better and smarter than we did before. we must rethink, renew and rebuild the structure and mission of our military; the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the purposes of our alliances, the reach and scope of our diplomacy, and the capacities of all branches of government to defend us against the peril we now face. we need to marshal all elements of american power: our military, economy, investment, trade and technology. we need to strengthen our alliances, and build support in other nations, which must, whether they believe it or not, confront the same threat to their way of life that we do., we must also prepare, across all levels of government, far better than we have done, to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. i am not an advocate of big government, and the private sector has an important role to play in homeland security. but when americans confront a catastrophe, either natural or man-made, their government, across jurisdictions, should be organized and ready to deliver bottled drinking water to dehydrated babies and rescue the aged and infirm trapped in a hospital with no electricity., we can leave these difficult problems to our unlucky successors, after they ve grown worse, and harder to fix. or we can bring all parties to the table, and hammer out principled solutions to the challenges of our time:, to strengthen our military, intelligence, diplomacy, and law enforcement and use the power of american ideals and commerce to win the war against violent extremists, and help the majority of muslims who believe in progress and peace to win the struggle for the soul of islam;, to balance the federal budget not with smoke and mirrors but by encouraging economic growth and preventing government from spending your money on things it shouldn t; to hold it accountable for the money it does spend on services that only government can provide in ways that don t fail and embarrass you;, to save social security and medicare on our watch without the tricks, band-aid solutions, lies and posturing that have failed us for too long while the problem became harder and harder to solve;, to make our tax code simpler, fairer, flatter, more pro-growth and pro-jobs;, to reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil with an energy policy that encourages american industry and technology to make our country safer, cleaner and more prosperous by leading the world in the use, development and discovery of alternative sources of energy;, to open new markets to american goods and services, create more and better jobs for the american worker and overhaul unemployment insurance and our redundant and outmoded programs for assisting workers who have lost a job that s not coming back to find a job that won t go away;, to help americans without health insurance acquire it without bankrupting the country, and ruining the quality of american health care that is the envy of the world;, to make our public schools more accountable to parents and better able to meet the critical responsibility they have to prepare our children for the challenges they ll face in the world they ll lead., we are not a perfect nation. our history has had its moments of shame and profound regret. but what we have achieved in our, ,"	
", hardly able to buy food, gas, or heating for your home. in the end, the truest measure of prosperity in america is the success and financial security of those who earn wages and meet payrolls in this country. many are waiting for their first homes... their first big break... their first shot at financial security. and helping them will be my first priority in setting the economic policies of this nation., in so many ways, even now, the workers and entrepreneurs of america are taken for granted by their government, while the lobbyists and special pleaders are seldom turned away. by the tens of billions of dollars, our tax money is routinely squandered by the congress on less than useless pork-barrel projects -- projects having nothing to do with the purposes of government, and everything to do with the preservation of power., in the same way, many in congress think americans are under-taxed. they speak as if letting you keep your own earnings were an act of charity, and now they have decided you ve had enough. by allowing many of the current low tax rates to expire, they would impose -- overnight -- the single largest tax increase since the second world war. among supporters of a tax increase are senators obama and clinton. both promise big ""change."" and a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade would certainly fit that description., of course, they would like you to think that only the very wealthy will pay more in taxes, but the reality is quite different. under my opponents  various tax plans, americans of every background would see their taxes rise -- seniors, parents, small business owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the market. all these tax increases are the fine print under the slogan of ""hope"": they re going to raise your taxes by thousands of dollars per year -- and they have the audacity to hope you don t mind., they and others argue that the tax increase is necessary in part to finance social security and medicare. unfortunately, this claim only serves to remind us of congress  consistent failure to repair both of these programs even under the best of circumstances. for years, congress has been buying time, and leaving the great challenge of entitlement reform for others to deal with. and now the two contenders in the other party have even proposed enormous new federal commitments before the old commitments have been kept -- trusting that others, somewhere down the road, will handle the financing and make all the numbers come out right., but there will come a day when the road dead-ends, and the old excuses seem even more hollow. and it won t be the politicians who bear the consequences. it will be american workers and their children who are left with worthless promises and trillion-dollar debts. we cannot let that happen. and you have my pledge: as president i will work with every member of congress -- republican, democrat, and independent -- who shares my commitment to reforming and protecting medicare and social security., in so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of both political parties. for republicans, it starts with reclaiming our good name as the party of spending restraint. somewhere along the way, too many republicans in congress became indistinguishable from the big-spending democrats they used to oppose. the only power of government that could stop them was the power of veto, and it was rarely used., if that authority is entrusted to me, i will use the veto as needed, and as the founders intended. i will veto every bill with earmarks, until the congress stops sending bills with earmarks. i will seek a constitutionally valid line-item veto to end the practice once and for all. i will lead across-the-board reforms in the federal tax code, removing myriad corporate tax loopholes that are costly, unfair, and inconsistent with a free-market economy., as president, i will also order a prompt and thorough review of the budgets of every federal program, department, and agency. while that top to bottom review is underway, we will institute a one-year pause in discretionary spending increases with the necessary exemption of military spending and veterans benefits. ""discretionary spending"" is a term people throw around a lot in washington, while actual discretion is seldom exercised. instead, every program comes with a built-in assumption that it should go on forever, and its budget increase forever. my administration will change that way of thinking., i ll hold the agencies of the federal government accountable for the money they spend. i ll make sure the public helps me, and i ll provide federal agencies with the best executive leadership that can be found in america. we re going to make every aspect of government purchases and performance transparent. information on every step of contracts and grants will be posted on the internet in plain and simple english. we re going to post an agency s performance evaluation as well. we re going to demand accountability. we will make sure that federal spending serves the common interests... that failed programs are not rewarded... and that discretionary spending is going where it belongs -- to essential priorities like job training, the security of our citizens, and the care of our veterans., in my administration there will be no more subsidies for special pleaders -- no more corporate welfare -- no more throwing around billions of dollars of the people s money on pet projects, while the people themselves are struggling to afford their homes, groceries, and gas. we are going to get our priorities straight in washington -- a clean break from years of squandered wealth and wasted chances., i have a clear record of not asking for earmarks for my state. for their part, senators obama and clinton have championed a long list of pork-barrel projects for their states -- like that all-important woodstock museum that senator clinton expected americans to pay for at the cost of a million dollars. that kind of careless spending of tax dollars is not change, my friends: it is business as usual in washington, and it s all a part of the same wasteful and corrupting system that we need to end., the goal of reform, however, is not merely to check waste and keep a tidy budget process -- although these are important enough in themselves. the great goal is to get the american economy running at full strength again, creating the opportunities americans expect and the jobs americans need. and one very direct way to achieve that is by taking the savings from earmark, program review, and other budget reforms --on the order of 100 billion dollars annually-- and use those savings to lower the business income tax for every employer that pays it., overseas -- and, of course, our foreign competitors wouldn t mind if we kept it that way. but if i am elected president, we re going to get rid of that drag on growth and job creation, and help american workers compete with any company in the world., i will also send to the congress a middle-class tax cut -- a complete phase-out of the alternative minimum tax to save more than 25 million middle-class families more than 2,000 dollars every year., our tax laws and those who enforce them should treat all citizens with respect, whether they are married or single. but mothers and fathers bear special responsibilities, and the tax code must recognize this. inflation has eroded the value of the exemption for dependents. i will send to congress a reform to increase the exemption -- with the goal of doubling it from 3,500 dollars to 7,000 dollars for every dependent, in every family in america., the tax laws of america should also promote and reward innovation, because innovation creates jobs. tax laws should not smother the ingenuity of our people with needless regulations and disincentives. so i will propose and sign into law a reform agenda to permit the first-year expensing of new equipment and technology... to ban internet taxes, permanently... to ban new cell phone taxes... and to make the tax credit for r&d permanent, so that we never lose our competitive edge., it is not enough, however, to make little fixes here and there in the tax code. what we need is a simpler, a flatter, and a fair tax code. as president, i will propose an alternative tax system. when this reform is enacted, all who wish to file under the current system could still do so. and everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous standard deduction. americans do not resent paying their rightful share of taxes -- what they do resent is being subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and demands from the irs. we know from experience that no serious reform of the current tax code will come out of congress, so now it is time to turn the decision over to the people. we are going to create a new and simpler tax system -- and give the american people a choice., better tax policy is just one part of a pro-growth agenda that includes smarter regulation and a leaner, more focused government. among the many benefits to america, these reforms will help to create jobs, improve the investment climate, attract global investors, and strengthen the dollar., americans also worry about stagnant wages, which are caused in part by the rising cost of health care. each year employers pay more and more for insurance, leaving less and less to pay their employees. as president, i will propose and relentlessly advocate changes that will bring down health care costs, make health care more affordable and accessible, help individuals and families buy their health insurance with generous tax credits, and enable you to keep your insurance when you change jobs., many retired americans face the terrible reality of deciding whether to buy food, pay rent or buy their prescriptions. and their government should help them. but when we added the prescription drug benefit to medicare, a new and costly entitlement, we included many people who are more than capable of purchasing their own medicine without assistance from taxpayers who struggle to purchase their own. people like bill gates and warren buffet don t need their prescriptions underwritten by taxpayers. those who can afford to buy their own prescription drugs should be expected to do so. this reform alone will save billions of dollars that could be returned to taxpayers or put to better use., there s never been a problem americans couldn t solve. we are the world s leaders, and leaders don t fear change, pine for the past and dread the future. we make the future better than the past. that is why i object when senators obama and clinton and others preach the false virtues of economic isolationism. senator obama recently suggested that americans are protectionist because they are bitter about being left behind in the global economy. well, what s his excuse for embracing the false promises of protectionism? opening new markets for american goods and services is indispensable to our future prosperity. we can compete with anyone. senators obama and clinton think we should hide behind walls, bury our heads and industries in the sand, and hope we have enough left to live on while the world passes us by. but that is not good policy and it is not good leadershi p. and the short-sightedness of these policies can be seen today in congress  refusal to vote on the colombian free trade agreement., when new trading partners can sell in our market, and american companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and they are lasting. the strength of the american economy offers a better life to every society we trade with, and the good comes back to us in many ways -- in better jobs, higher wages, and lower prices. free trade can also give once troubled and impoverished nations a stake in the world economy, and in their relations with america. in the case of colombia, a friend and crucial democratic ally, its stability and economic vitality are more critical now, as others in the region seek to turn latin america away from democracy and away from our country. trade serves all of these national interests, and the interests of the american economy as well -- and i call on the congress once again to put this vital agreement to an up or down vote., i know that open markets don t automatically translate into a higher quality of life for every single american. change is hard, and while most of us gain, some industries, companies and workers are left to struggle with very difficult choices. and government should help workers get the education and training they need -- for the new jobs that will be created by new businesses in this new century., right now we have more than a half-dozen different programs that are supposed to help displaced workers, and for those who are not working at all. we have an unemployment insurance program straight out of the 1950s. it was designed to assist workers through a few tough months during an economic downturn until their old jobs came back. that program has no relevance to the world we live in today., if i m elected president, i ll work with congress and the states to make job training and unemployment insurance what they should be -- a swift path from a job that s not coming back to a job that won t go away. we will build a new system, using the unemployment-insurance taxes to build for each worker a buffer account against a sudden loss of income -- so that in times of need they re not just told to fill out forms and take a number. and we will draw on the great strengths of america s community colleges, applying the funds from federal training accounts to give displaced workers of every age a fresh start with new skills and new opportunities., ,"	
", problems, and more, of private health care -- rigid rules, long waits and lack of choices, and risk degrading its great strengths and advantages including the innovation and life-saving technology that make american medicine the most advanced in the world., the key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves. right now, even those with access to health care often have no assurance that it is appropriate care. too much of the system is built on getting paid just for providing services, regardless of whether those services are necessary or produce quality care and outcomes. american families should only pay for getting the right care: care that is intended to improve and safeguard their health., when families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions, less likely to choose the most expensive and often unnecessary options, and are more satisfied with their choices. we took an important step in this direction with the creation of health savings accounts, tax-preferred accounts that are used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. these accounts put the family in charge of what they pay for. and, as president, i would seek to encourage and expand the benefits of these accounts to more american families., americans need new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage. americans want a system built so that wherever you go and wherever you work, your health plan is goes with you. and there is a very straightforward way to achieve this., under current law, the federal government gives a tax benefit when employers provide health-insurance coverage to american workers and their families. this benefit doesn t cover the total cost of the health plan, and in reality each worker and family absorbs the rest of the cost in lower wages and diminished benefits. but it provides essential support for insurance coverage. many workers are perfectly content with this arrangement, and under my reform plan they would be able to keep that coverage. their employer-provided health plans would be largely untouched and unchanged., but for every american who wanted it, another option would be available: every year, they would receive a tax credit directly, with the same cash value of the credits for employees in big companies, in a small business, or self-employed. you simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best. by mail or online, you would then inform the government of your selection. and the money to help pay for your health care would be sent straight to that insurance provider. the health plan you chose would be as good as any that an employer could choose for you. it would be yours and your family s health-care plan, and yours to keep., the value of that credit-- 2,500 dollars for individuals, 5,000 dollars for families -- would also be enhanced by the greater competition this reform would help create among insurance companies. millions of americans would be making their own health-care choices again. insurance companies could no longer take your business for granted, offering narrow plans with escalating costs. it would help change the whole dynamic of the current system, putting individuals and families back in charge, and forcing companies to respond with better service at lower cost., it would help extend the advantages of staying with doctors and providers of your choice. when americans speak of ""our doctor,"" it will mean something again, because they won t have to change from one doctor or one network to the next every time they change employers. they ll have a medical ""home"" again, dealing with doctors who know and care about them., these reforms will take time, and critics argue that when my proposed tax credit becomes available it would encourage people to purchase health insurance on the current individual market, while significant weaknesses in the market remain. they worry that americans with pre-existing conditions could still be denied insurance. congress took the important step of providing some protection against the exclusion of pre-existing conditions in the health insurance portability and accountability act in 1996. i supported that legislation, and nothing in my reforms will change the fact that if you remain employed and insured you will build protection against the cost of treating any pre-existing condition., even so, those without prior group coverage and those with pre-existing conditions do have the most difficulty on the individual market, and we need to make sure they get the high-quality coverage they need. i will work tirelessly to address the problem. but i won t create another entitlement program that washington will let get out of control. nor will i saddle states with another unfunded mandate. the states have been very active in experimenting with ways to cover the ""uninsurables."" the state of north carolina, for example, has an agreement with blue cross to act as insurer of ""last resort."" over thirty states have some form of ""high-risk"" pool, and over twenty states have plans that limit premiums charged to people suffering an illness and who have been denied insurance., as president, i will meet with the governors to solicit their ideas about a best practice model that states can follow -- a guaranteed access plan or gap that would reflect the best experience of the states. i will work with congress, the governors, and industry to make sure that it is funded adequately and has the right incentives to reduce costs such as disease management, individual case management, and health and wellness programs. these programs reach out to people who are at risk for different diseases and chronic conditions and provide them with nurse care managers to make sure they receive the proper care and avoid unnecessary treatments and emergency room visits. the details of a guaranteed access plan will be worked out with the collaboration and consent of the states. but, conceptually, federal assistance could be provided to a nonprofit gap that operated under the direction of a board that i ncluded all stakeholders groups -- legislators, insurers, business and medical community representatives, and, most importantly, patients. the board would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. there would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for americans below a certain income level., this cooperation among states in the purchase of insurance would also be a crucial step in ridding the market of both needless and costly regulations, and the dominance in the market of only a few insurance companies. right now, there is a different health insurance market for every state. each one has its own rules and restrictions, and often guarantees inadequate competition among insurance companies. often these circumstances prevent the best companies, with the best plans and lowest prices, from making their product available to any american who wants it. we need to break down these barriers to competition, innovation and excellence, with the goal of establishing a national market to make the best practices and lowest prices available to every person in every state., another source of needless cost and trouble in the health care system comes from the trial bar. every patient in america must have access to legal remedies in cases of bad medical practice. but this vital principle of law and medicine is not an invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits from trial lawyers who exploit both patients and physicians alike. we must pass medical liability reform, and those reforms should eliminate lawsuits directed at doctors who follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols. if senator obama and senator clinton are sincere in their conviction that health care coverage and quality is their first priority, then they will put the needs of patients before the demands of trial lawyers. they can t have it both ways., we also know from experience that coordinated care -- providers collaborating to produce the best health outcome -- offers better quality and can cost less. we should pay a single bill for high-quality disease care, not an endless series of bills for pre-surgical tests and visits, hospitalization and surgery, and follow-up tests, drugs and office visits. paying for coordinated care means that every single provider is now united on being responsive to the needs of a single person: the patient. health information technology will flourish because the market will demand it., in the same way, clinics, hospitals, doctors, medical technology producers, drug companies and every other provider of health care must be accountable to their patients and their transactions transparent. americans should have access to information about the performance and safety records of doctors and other health care providers and the quality measures they use. families, insurance companies, the government -- whoever is paying the bill -- must understand exactly what their care costs and the outcome they received., families also place a high value on quickly getting simple care, and have shown a willingness to pay cash to get it. if walk-in clinics in retail outlets are the most convenient, cost-effective way for families to safely meet simple needs, then no policies of government should stand in their way. and if the cheapest way to get high quality care is to use advances in web technology to allow a doctor to practice across state lines, then let them., as you know better than i do, the best treatment is early treatment. the best care is preventative care. and by far the best prescription for good health is to steer clear of high-risk behaviors. the most obvious case of all is smoking cigarettes, which still accounts for so much avoidable disease. people make their own choices in this country, but we in government have responsibilities and choices of our own. most smokers would love to quit but find it hard to do so. we can improve lives and reduce chronic disease through smoking cessation programs. i will work with business and insurance companies to promote the availability and use of these programs., smoking is just one cause of chronic diseases that could be avoided or better managed, and the national resources that could be saved by a greater emphasis on preventative care. chronic conditions -- such as cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma -- account for three-quarters of the nation s annual health-care bill. in so many cases this suffering could be averted by early testing and screening, as in the case of colon and breast cancers. diabetes and heart disease rates are also increasing today with rise of obesity in the united states, even among children and teenagers. we need to create a ""next generation"" of chronic disease prevention, early intervention, new treatment models and public health infrastructure. we need to use technology to share information on ""best practices"" in health care so every physician is up-to-date. we need to adopt new treatment programs and fi nancial incentives to adopt ""health habits"" for those with the most common conditions such as diabetes and obesity that will improve their quality of life and reduce the costs of their treatment., watch your diet, walk thirty or so minutes a day, and take a few other simple precautions, and you won t have to worry about these afflictions. but many of us never quite get around to it, and the wake-up call doesn t come until the ambulance arrives or we re facing a tough diagnosis., we can make tremendous improvements in the cost of treating chronic disease by using modern information technology to collect information on the practice patterns, costs and effectiveness of physicians. by simply documenting and disseminating information on best practices we can eliminate those costly practices that don t yield corresponding value. by reforming payment systems to focus on payments for best practice and quality outcomes, we will accelerate this important change., government programs such as medicare and medicaid should lead the way in health care reforms that improve quality and lower costs. medicare reimbursement now rewards institutions and clinicians who provide more and more complex services. we need to change the way providers are paid to focus their attention more on chronic disease and managing their treatment. this is the most important care for an aging population., there have been a variety of state-based experiments such as cash and counseling or the program of all-inclusive care for the elderly (pace) that are different from the inflexible approaches for delivering care to people in the home setting. seniors are given a monthly allowance that they can use to hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. they can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. it also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers in handling their programmatic responsibilities., in these approaches, participants were much more likely to have their needs met and be satisfied with their care. moreover, any concerns about consumers  safety appear misplaced. for every age group in every state, participants were no more likely to suffer care-related health problems., government can provide leadership to solve problems, of course. so often it comes down to personal responsibility -- the duty of every adult in america to look after themselves and to safeguard the gift of life. but wise government policy can make preventative care the standard. it can put the best practices of preventative care in action all across our health-care system. over time that one standard alone, consistently applied in every doctor s office, hospital, and insurance company in america, will save more lives than we could ever count. and every year, it will save many billions of dollars in the health-care economy, making medical care better and medical coverage more affordable for every citizen in this country., ,"	
", governments have already begun their planning and preparation for extreme events and other impacts of climate change. the federal government can help them in many ways, above all by coordinating their efforts, and i am committed to providing that support., to lead in this effort, however, our government must strike at the source of the problem -- with reforms that only congress can enact and the president can sign. we know that greenhouse gasses are heavily implicated as a cause of climate change. and we know that among all greenhouse gasses, the worst by far is the carbon- dioxide that results from fossil-fuel combustion. yet for all the good work of entrepreneurs and inventors in finding cleaner and better technologies, the fundamental incentives of the market are still on the side of carbon-based energy. this has to change before we can make the decisive shift away from fossil fuels., for the market to do more, government must do more by opening new paths of invention and ingenuity. and we must do this in a way that gives american businesses new incentives and new rewards to seek, instead of just giving them new taxes to pay and new orders to follow. the most direct way to achieve this is through a system that sets clear limits on all greenhouse gases, while also allowing the sale of rights to excess emissions. and this is the proposal i will submit to the congress if i am elected president -- a cap-and-trade system to change the dynamic of our energy economy., as a program under the clean air act, the cap-and-trade system achieved enormous success in ridding the air of acid rain. and the same approach that brought a decline in sulfur dioxide emissions can have an equally dramatic and permanent effect on carbon emissions. instantly, automakers, coal companies, power plants, and every other enterprise in america would have an incentive to reduce carbon emissions, because when they go under those limits they can sell the balance of permitted emissions for cash. as never before, the market would reward any person or company that seeks to invent, improve, or acquire alternatives to carbon-based energy. it is very hard to picture venture capitalists, corporate planners, small businesses and environmentalists all working to the same good purpose. but such cooperation is actually possible in the case of climate change, and this reform will set it in motion., the people of this country have a genius for adapting, solving problems, and inventing new and better ways to accomplish our goals. but the federal government can t just summon those talents by command -- only the free market can draw them out. a cap-and-trade policy will send a signal that will be heard and welcomed all across the american economy. those who want clean coal technology, more wind and solar, nuclear power, biomass and bio-fuels will have their opportunity through a new market that rewards those and other innovations in clean energy. the market will evolve, too, by requiring sensible reductions in greenhouse gases, but also by allowing full flexibility in how industry meets that requirement. entrepreneurs and firms will know which energy investments they should make. and the highest rewards will go to those who make the smartest, safest, most responsible choices. a cap-and-trade reform wi ll also create a profitable opportunity for rural america to receive market-based payments -- instead of government subsidies -- for the conservation practices that store carbon in the soils of our nation s farms., we will cap emissions according to specific goals, measuring progress by reference to past carbon emissions. by the year 2012, we will seek a return to 2005 levels of emission, by 2020, a return to 1990 levels, and so on until we have achieved at least a reduction of sixty percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. in the course of time, it may be that new ideas and technologies will come along that we can hardly imagine today, allowing all industries to change with a speed that will surprise us. more likely, however, there will be some companies that need extra emissions rights, and they will be able to buy them. the system to meet these targets and timetables will give these companies extra time to adapt -- and that is good economic policy. it is also a matter of simple fairness, because the cap-and-trade system will create jobs, improve livelihoods, and strengthen futures across our country., the goal in all of this is to assure an energy supply that is safe, secure, diverse, and domestic. and in pursuit of these objectives, we cannot afford to take economic growth and job creation for granted. a strong and growing economy is essential to all of our goals, and especially the goal of finding alternatives to carbon-based technology. we want to turn the american economy toward cleaner and safer energy sources. and you can t achieve that by imposing costs that the american economy cannot sustain., as part of my cap-and-trade incentives, i will also propose to include the purchase of offsets from those outside the scope of the trading system. this will broaden the array of rewards for reduced emissions, while also lowering the costs of compliance with our new emissions standards. through the sale of offsets -- and with strict standards to assure that reductions are real -- our agricultural sector alone can provide as much as forty percent of the overall reductions we will require in greenhouse gas emissions. and in the short term, farmers and ranchers can do it in some of the most cost-effective ways., over time, an increasing fraction of permits for emissions could be supplied by auction, yielding federal revenues that can be put to good use. under my plan, we will apply these and other federal funds to help build the infrastructure of a post-carbon economy. we will support projects to advance technologies that capture and store carbon emissions. we will assist in transmitting wind- and solar-generated power from states that have them to states that need them. we will add to current federal efforts to develop promising technologies, such as plug-ins, hybrids, flex-fuel vehicles, and hydrogen-powered cars and trucks. we will also establish clear standards in government-funded research, to make sure that funding is effective and focused on the right goals., and to create greater demand for the best technologies and practices in energy conservation, we will use the purchasing power of the united states government. our government can hardly expect citizens and private businesses to adopt or invest in low-carbon technologies when it doesn t always hold itself to the same standard. we need to set a better example in washington, by consistently applying the best environmental standards to every purchase our government makes., as we move toward all of these goals, and over time put the age of fossil fuels behind us, we must consider every alternative source of power, and that includes nuclear power. when our cap-and-trade policy is in place, there will be a sudden and sustained pursuit in the market for new investment opportunities in low-emission fuel sources. and here we have a known, proven energy source that requires exactly zero emissions. we have 104 nuclear reactors in our country, generating about twenty percent of our electricity. these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released every, year. that s the annual equivalent of nearly all emissions from all the cars we drive in america. europe, for its part, has 197 reactors in operation, and nations including france and belgium derive more than half their electricity from nuclear power. those good practices contribute to the more than two billion metric tons of carbon dioxide avoided every year, worldwide, because of nuclear energy. it doesn t take a leap in logic to conclude that if we want to arrest global warming, then nuclear energy is a powerful ally in that cause., in a cap-and-trade energy economy, the cost of building new reactors will be less prohibitive. the incentives to invest in a mature, zero-emissions technology will be stronger. new research and innovation will help the industry to overcome the well known drawbacks to nuclear power, such as the transport and storage of waste. and our government can help in these efforts. we can support research to extend the use of existing plants. above all, we must make certain that every plant in america is safe from the designs of terrorists. and when all of this is assured, it will be time again to expand our use of one of the cleanest, safest, and most reliable sources of energy on earth., for all of the last century, the profit motive basically led in one direction -- toward machines, methods, and industries that used oil and gas. enormous good came from that industrial growth, and we are all the beneficiaries of the national prosperity it built. but there were costs we weren t counting, and often hardly noticed. and these terrible costs have added up now, in the atmosphere, in the oceans, and all across the natural world. they are no longer tenable, sustainable, or defensible. and what better way to correct past errors than to turn the creative energies of the free market in the other direction? under the cap-and-trade system, this can happen. in all its power, the profit motive will suddenly begin to shift and point the other way toward cleaner fuels, wiser ways, and a healthier planet., as a nation, we make our own environmental plans and our own resolutions. but working with other nations to arrest climate change can be an even tougher proposition. one of the greatest difficulties is to gain the cooperation of china. that nation today is dealing with a catastrophic earthquake and the loss of thousands of citizens, including many children and students. the united states government has offered to help in any way possible, and all of us hope that rescuers will be able to save more lives at a terrible time for the people of the sichuan province., in addressing the problem of climate change, cooperation from the government of china will be essential. china, india, and other developing economic powers in particular are among the greatest contributors to global warming today – increasing carbon emissions at a furious pace – and they are not receptive to international standards. nor do they think that we in the industrialized world are in any position to preach the good news of carbon-emission control. we made most of our contributions to global warming before anyone knew about global warming., this set of facts and perceived self-interests proved the undoing of the kyoto protocols. as president, i will have to deal with the same set of facts. i will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the united states bears. i will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. i will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed kyoto. the united states will lead and will lead with a different approach -- an approach that speaks to the interests and obligations of every nation., shared dangers mean shared duties, and global problems require global cooperation. the united states and our friends in europe cannot alone deal with the threat of global warming. no nation should be exempted from its obligations. and least of all should we make exceptions for the very countries that are accelerating carbon emissions while the rest of us seek to reduce emissions. if we are going to establish meaningful environmental protocols, then they must include the two nations that have the potential to pollute the air faster, and in greater annual volume, than any nation ever in history., at the same time, we will continue in good faith to negotiate with china and other nations to enact the standards and controls that are in the interest of every nation -- whatever their stage of economic development. and america can take the lead in offering these developing nations the low-carbon technologies that we will make and they will need. one good idea or invention to reduce carbon emissions is worth a thousand finely crafted proposals at a conference table. and the governments of these developing economic powers will soon recognize, as america is beginning to do, their urgent need for cleaner-burning fuels and safer sources of energy., if the efforts to negotiate an international solution that includes china and india do not succeed, we still have an obligation to act., in my approach to global climate-control efforts, we will apply the principle of equal treatment. we will apply the same environmental standards to industries in china, india, and elsewhere that we apply to our own industries. and if industrializing countries seek an economic advantage by evading those standards, i would work with the european union and other like-minded governments that plan to address the global warming problem to develop effective diplomacy, effect a transfer of technology, or other means to engage those countries that decline to enact a similar cap., for all of its historical disregard of environmental standards, it cannot have escaped the attention of the chinese regime that china s skies are dangerously polluted, its beautiful rivers are dying, its grasslands vanishing, its coastlines receding, and its own glaciers melting. we know many of these signs from our own experience -- from environmental lessons learned the hard way. and today, all the world knows that they are the signs of even greater trouble to come. pressing on blindly with uncontrolled carbon emissions is in no one s interest, especially china s. and the rest of the world stands ready to help., ,"	
", democracies of the world has persuaded a reluctant russia and china to cooperate in pressuring iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and north korea to discontinue its own. the single greatest threat facing the west -- the prospect of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists -- has been vastly diminished., the size of the army and marine corps has been significantly increased, and are now better equipped and trained to defend us. long overdue reforms to the way we acquire weapons programs, including fixed price contracts, have created sufficient savings to pay for a larger military. a substantial increase in veterans educational benefits and improvements in their health care has aided recruitment and retention. the strain on the national guard and reserve forces has been relieved., after efforts to pressure the government in sudan over darfur failed again in the u.n. security council, the united states, acting in concert with a newly formed league of democracies, applied stiff diplomatic and economic pressure that caused the government of sudan to agree to a multinational peacekeeping force, with nato countries providing logistical and air support, to stop the genocide that had made a mockery of the world s repeated declaration that we would ""never again"" tolerant such inhumanity. encouraged by the success, the league is now occupied with using the economic power and prestige of its member states to end other gross abuses of human rights such as the despicable crime of human trafficking., the united states has experienced several years of robust economic growth, and americans again have confidence in their economic future. a reduction in the corporate tax rate from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading partners; the low rate on capital gains; allowing business to deduct in a single year investments in equipment and technology, while eliminating tax loopholes and ending corporate welfare, have spurred innovation and productivity, and encouraged companies to keep their operations and jobs in the united states. the alternate minimum tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth., congress has just passed by a single up or down vote a tax reform proposal that offers americans a choice of continuing to file under the rules of the current complicated and burdensome tax code or use a new, simpler, fairer and flatter tax, with two rates and a generous deduction. millions of taxpayers are expected to file under the flat tax, and save billions in the cost of preparing their returns., after exercising my veto several times in my first year in office, congress has not sent me an appropriations bill containing earmarks for the last three years. a top to bottom review of every federal bureaucracy has yielded great reductions in government spending by identifying programs that serve no important purpose; and instigating far reaching reforms of procurement and operating policies that have for too long extravagantly wasted money for no better purpose than to increase federal payrolls., new free trade agreements have been ratified and led to substantial increases in both exports and imports. the resulting growth in prosperity in countries from south america to asia to africa has greatly strengthened america s security and the global progress of our political ideals. u.s. tariffs on agricultural imports have been eliminated and unneeded farm subsidies are being phased out. the world food crisis has ended, inflation is low, and the quality of life not only in our country, but in some of the most impoverished countries around the world is much improved., americans, who through no fault of their own, lost jobs in the global economy they once believed were theirs for life, are assisted by reformed unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. older workers who accept lower paying jobs while they acquire new skills are provided assistance to make up a good part of the income they have lost. community colleges and technical schools all over the country have developed worker retraining programs suited to the specific economic opportunities available in their communities and are helping millions of workers who have lost a job that won t come back find a new one that won t go away., public education in the united states is much improved thanks to the competition provided by charter and private schools; the increase of quality teachers through incentives like merit pay and terrific programs that attract to the classroom enthusiastic and innovative teachers from many disciplines, like teach for america and troops to teachers. educational software and online teaching programs endorsed by qualified non profits are much more widely in use, bringing to the smallest classrooms in america some of the greatest math, english, and science teachers in the country. this revolution in teaching methods has especially benefited rural america. test scores and graduation rates are rising everywhere in the country., health care has become more accessible to more americans than at any other time in history. reforms of the insurance market; putting the choice of health care into the hands of american families rather than exclusively with the government or employers; walk in clinics as alternatives to emergency room care; paying for outcome in the treatment of disease rather than individual procedures; and competition in the prescription drug market have begun to wring out the runaway inflation once endemic in our health care system. more small businesses offer their employees health plans. schools have greatly improved their emphasis on physical education and nutritional content of meals offered in school cafeterias. obesity rates among the young and the disease they engender are stabilized and beginning to decline. the federal government and states have cooperated in establishing backstop insurance pools that provide coverage to people hard pressed to find insurance elsewhere because of pre-existing illness., the reduction in the growth of health care costs has begun to relieve some of the pressure on medicare; encouraging congress to act in a bipartisan way to extend its solvency for twenty-five years without increasing taxes and raising premiums only for upper income seniors. their success encouraged a group of congressional leaders from both parties to work with my administration to fix social security as well, without reducing benefits to those near retirement. the reforms include some form of personal retirement accounts in safe and reliable index funds, such as have been available to government employees since their retirement plans were made solvent a quarter century ago., the united states is well on the way to independence from foreign sources of oil; progress that has not only begun to alleviate the environmental threat posed from climate change, but has greatly improved our security as well. a cap and trade system has been implemented, spurring great innovation in the development of green technologies and alternative energy sources. clean coal technology has advanced considerably with federal assistance. construction has begun on twenty new nuclear reactors thanks to improved incentives and a streamlined regulatory process., ,"	
", those disagreements do not detract from my long record of support for the second amendment and the work we have done together to protect the rights of gun owners from the political attitudes of the moment in washington that view the second amendment as a once quaint custom that must now yield to the judgment of modern enlightened opinion. we have real differences with the democratic candidates for president. they have learned something since 2000. they don t talk about their plans for gun control. they claim to support hunters and gun owners. but just because they don t talk about gun control doesn t mean they won t support gun control. let s be clear. if either senator clinton or senator obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk. they have both voted as senators to ban guns or ban ammunition or to allow gun makers to be sued out of existence., it seems every election, politicians who support restrictions on the second amendment dress up in camouflage and pose with guns to demonstrate they care about hunters, even though few gun owners fall for such obvious political theater. after senator obama made his unfortunate comment that pennsylvanians ""cling to guns and religion"" out of bitterness, senator clinton quickly affirmed her support for the second amendment. that drew senator obama s derision. ""she s running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the second amendment,"" he said. ""like she s on the duck blind every sunday, packin  a six shooter!"" someone should tell senator obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns., senator obama hopes he can get away with having it both ways. he says he believes that the second amendment confers an individual right to bear arms. but when he had a chance to weigh in on the most important second amendment case before the u.s. supreme court in decades, district of columbia v. heller, senator obama dodged the question by claiming, ""i don t like taking a stand on pending cases."" he refused to sign the amicus brief signed by a bipartisan group of 55 senators arguing that the supreme court should overturn the dc gun ban in the heller case. when he was running for the state senate in illinois, his campaign filled out a questionnaire asking whether he supported legislation to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns with simple, ""yes."", the heller case should be decided soon. but however that case is decided, the federal judiciary will continue to be an important forum for protecting second amendment rights. the next president will appoint literally hundreds of federal judges, and is likely to have the opportunity to nominate one or more supreme court justices., in america, the constitutional restraint on power is as fundamental as the exercise of power, and often more so. yet the framers knew these restraints would not always be observed. they were idealists, but they were worldly men as well, and they knew that abuses of power and efforts to encroach on individual rights would arise and need to be firmly checked. their design for democracy was drawn from their experience with tyranny. a suspicion of power is ingrained in both the letter and spirit of the american constitution., in the end, of course, their grand solution was to allocate federal power three ways, reserving all other powers and rights to the states and to the people themselves. the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are often wary of one another s excesses, seeking to keep each other within bounds. the framers knew exactly what they were doing, and the system of checks and balances rarely disappoints., quite rightly, the proper role of the judiciary has become one of the defining issues of this presidential election. it will fall to the next president to nominate qualified men and women to the federal courts, and the choices we make will reach far into the future. my two prospective opponents and i have very different ideas about the nature and proper exercise of judicial power. we would nominate judges of a different kind, a different caliber, a different understanding of judicial authority and its limits. and the people of america -- voters in both parties whose wishes and convictions are so often disregarded by unelected judges -- are entitled to know what those differences are., federal courts are charged with applying the constitution and laws of our country to each case at hand. but a court is hardly competent to check the abuses of other branches of government if it cannot control its own judicial activism., real activists seek to make their case democratically -- to win hearts, minds, and majorities to their cause. such people throughout our history have often shown great idealism and done great good. by contrast, activist lawyers and activist judges follow a different method. they want to be spared the inconvenience of campaigns, elections, legislative votes, and all of that. some federal judges operate by fiat, shrugging off generations of legal wisdom and precedent while expecting their own opinions to go unquestioned., the decisions of our supreme court in particular can be as close to permanent as anything government does. and in the presidential selection of those who will write those decisions, a hunch, a hope, and a good first impression are not enough. i will not seek the confidence of the american people in my nominees until my own confidence is complete -- until i am certain of my nominee s ability, wisdom, and demonstrated fidelity to the constitution., there are many other differences between my views and senator obama s. i favor lower taxes, less government spending, and less federal bureaucracy. senator obama has clearly stated his preference for raising the tax burden on americans, increasing government spending and giving the government more authority over the lives of american families and businesses. we have differences on health care. i prefer to give american families more control over their health care decisions. senator obama would prefer the government exercise greater control. senator obama would meet unconditionally with some of the world s worst dictators and state sponsors of terrorists. i would not add to the prestige of those who support violent extremists or seek to destroy our allies., but i would like to close my remarks with an issue that i know is much on the mind of americans -- the war in iraq. senator obama has said, if elected, he will withdraw americans from iraq quickly no matter what the situation on the ground is and no matter what u.s. military commanders advise. but if we withdraw prematurely from iraq, al qaeda in iraq will survive, proclaim victory and continue to provoke sectarian tensions that, while they have been subdued by the success of the surge, still exist, and are ripe for provocation by al qaeda. civil war in iraq could easily descend into genocide, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. a reckless and premature withdrawal would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values. iran will view it as a victory, and the biggest state supporter of terrorists, a country with nuclear ambitions and a stated desire to destroy the sta te of israel, will see its influence in the middle east grow significantly., ,"	
", machinery and equipment, 106 billion dollars in cars, trucks, and other vehicles. in all, one of every five american jobs depends on factory exports. and you ll find a lot of those jobs right here in illinois, like the workers who made the 48 billion dollars worth of goods that this state alone exported last year. trade offers new opportunities and higher wages to workers like those at the boeing and caterpillar plants here in chicago, who sell their materials and technologies across the world. trade is good for small businesses, like the bison gear and engineering company in nearby st. charles, which has added fifty new jobs just since 2006., all of these benefits are real and they are lasting, to our own workers and to workers and entrepreneurs abroad. yet our success in trading with other nations will be incomplete, and even a little hollow, unless every displaced worker gets a second chance and the training and education they need. there are vast benefits of a global marketplace, but they come at a cost for many, and we have an obligation to help our workers receive the training they need when plants close and jobs are lost., it s not enough to go on and on praising and celebrating the benefits of the global economy, as some economists tend to do, and then treat displaced workers almost as an afterthought. it is not enough to keep offering employment programs designed for the problems of the 1950 s. we have to help displaced workers at every turn on a tough road, so that they are not just spectators on the opportunities of others. and i have made that commitment with reforms to expand and improve federal aid to american workers in need. we need to help millions of workers who have lost a job that won t come back find a new one that won t go away. as american companies invest abroad, we need to invest in our own country and in our own workers. our government also needs to protect the interests and safety of consumers, by holding every nation we trade with to the commitments they have made under the agreements we have signed., for his part, however, senator obama has a habit of talking down the value of our exports and trade agreements. he even proposed a unilateral re-negotiation of nafta -- our agreement with canada and mexico that accounts for 33 percent of american exports, and 17 billion dollars  worth of exports last year just for illinois. as you may recall, the senator s senior economic advisor told a representative of canada to pay no attention to this anti-trade rhetoric from senator obama -- it was all just ""political positioning"" for the primary elections. but for those of us who were paying attention, what we heard was not impressive. it was bad judgment and a bit inconsistent. senator obama is fond of scolding others for engaging in the ""old-style politics,"" but when he plays on fears of foreign trade he s resorting to the oldest kind of politics there is. it s the kind of politics that exploits problems instead of solving them, that breeds resentment instead of opportunity., if i am elected president, this country will honor its international agreements, including nafta, and we will expect the same of others. and in a time of uncertainty for american workers, we will not undo the gains of years in trade agreements now awaiting final approval., one of these is a trade agreement that america has negotiated with colombia. it s being held up in the senate right now, in part through the efforts of senator obama. american exporters now pay an extra $3.5 million in tariffs each day because we don t have a completed trade agreement. these exporters include illinois companies that last year sold more than 300 million dollars in goods to colombia. as if the economic stakes weren t high enough, colombia is also a friend and crucial democratic ally of our country. the stability of colombia is more critical than ever as others in the region seek to turn latin america away from democracy and away from our country. trade serves all of these national interests, and the interests of the american economy as well. the one thing it doesn t serve just now are the political interests of democratic candidates. and so a vital trade agreement with a vital ally in latin am erica has been tabled, at least until election day., it s a similar story with a trade pact our nation has negotiated with south korea. senator obama calls that agreement, too, ""bad for american workers"" -- never mind the workers right here in illinois who made the 750 million dollars in goods exported to korea last year. and he doesn t have much at all to say about the profound strategic importance of our relationship with south korea, or how that partnership in a dangerous part of the world could be harmed by casting aside our trade agreement with south korea. here is a faithful ally of more than fifty years  standing, an ally that deployed the third-largest contingent of troops to iraq, and has helped us in the rebuilding of afghanistan as well. south korea is a democracy of 49 million people, the 13th largest economy in the world, and right next door to one of the most dangerous regimes on earth. the united states is counting on the help of south korea in matters of great importance to the peace of the world, and south korea is counting on us. yet even here, where so much rides on the trust and good relations between nations, we see the interests of a valuable ally sacrificed to partisan politics., for any trade agreement to work, there must be good faith on both sides, and enforcement in both the letter and spirit of the treaties we ratify. and the good that trade agreements offer to other nations -- from south america to asia to africa -- comes back to us many times over, not only in jobs and prosperity but in greater security for america. yet sometimes we in washington have to confront blind spots of our own that interfere with the success of trade, in ways harmful to ourselves and well as others. and last week, in the business of the senate, we saw this problem once again in the form of a farm bill costing roughly 300 billion dollars. i say ""roughly"" because nobody is quite sure what the thing will cost, even the people who stuffed it with hundreds of pages of subsidies and tax breaks., it is a longstanding goal of american trade policy -- and a goal i share -- to open foreign markets across the world to american farmers. but the biggest obstacle is not to be found in any foreign market, or in the policies of any other government. it s right there in the congress of the united states, in the billions of dollars in subsidies served up every five years to corporate farmers. the original idea was to provide a buffer to small farmers in tough times and to assure a stable supply of food for our country. but nowadays, the small farmers have been forgotten, and instead the congress sends a steady supply of subsidies to agribusiness., it would be hard to find any single bill that better sums up why so many americans in both parties are so disappointed in the conduct of their government, and at times so disgusted by it. here we are at a time when food prices are at historic highs, and farm income is up by 56 percent in just the past two years. yet even now, the congress has voted to give billions of dollars in subsidies to some of the biggest and richest agribusiness corporations in america -- many of which are heavy political contributors to members in both parties., even as american workers and taxpayers struggle to buy food, because of rising prices, the congress refuses to place real limits on farm subsidies. most of the subsidies are going to large commercial farms with an average income of two- hundred thousand dollars, and an average net worth of two million dollars. and, of course, along with the subsidies comes the usual harvest of tax breaks, bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare. to take just a few examples, the, ,"	
", the most important difference between our two approaches is that senator webb offers veterans who served one enlistment the same benefits as those offered veterans who have re-enlisted several times. our bill has a sliding scale that offers generous benefits to all veterans, but increases those benefits according to the veteran s length of service. it is important to do that because, otherwise, we will encourage more people to leave the military after they have completed one enlistment. at a time when the united states military is fighting in two wars, and as we finally are beginning the long overdue and very urgent necessity of increasing the size of the army and marine corps, one study estimates that senator webb s bill will reduce retention rates by 16 percent., most worrying to me, is that by hurting retention we will reduce the numbers of men and women who we train to become the backbone of all the services, the noncommissioned officer. in my life, i have learned more from noncommissioned officers i have known and served with than anyone else outside my family. and in combat, no one is more important to their soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, and to the officers who command them, than the sergeant and petty officer. they are very hard to replace. encouraging people to choose to not become noncommissioned officers would hurt the military and our country very badly. as i said, the office of president, which i am seeking, is a great honor, indeed, but it imposes serious responsibilities. how faithfully the president discharges those responsibilities will determine whether he or she deserves the honor. i can only tell you, i intend to deserve the honor if i am fortunate to rece ive it, even if it means i must take politically unpopular positions at times and disagree with people for whom i have the highest respect and affection., now, i would like to end by discussing the subject that concerns all of us more than anything else, the war in iraq. when i was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in new london, connecticut, and a navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the japanese had bombed pearl harbor. my father immediately left for the submarine base where he was stationed. i rarely saw him again for four years. my grandfather, who commanded the fast carrier task force under admiral halsey, came home from the war exhausted from the burdens he had borne, and died the next day. in vietnam, where i formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home to the country they loved so well. i detest war. it might not be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description. when nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies en sue. the lives of a nation s finest patriots are sacrificed. innocent people suffer and die. commerce is disrupted; economies are damaged; strategic interests shielded by years of patient statecraft are endangered as the exigencies of war and diplomacy conflict. not the valor with which it i00s fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly. only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war. however heady the appeal of a call to arms, however just the cause, we should still shed a tear for all that is lost when war claims its wages from us., as we meet, in iraq and afghanistan, american soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult and consequential as the great battles of our armed forces  storied past. as we all know, the american people have grown sick and tired of the war in iraq. i understand that, of course. i, too, have been made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military commanders and the terrible price we have paid for them. but we cannot react to those mistakes by embracing a course of action that will be an even greater mistake, a mistake of colossal historical proportions, which will -- and i am sure of this -- seriously endanger the security of the, country i have served all my adult life., we have new commanders in iraq, and they are following a counterinsurgency strategy that we should have been following from the beginning, which makes the most effective use of our strength and doesn t strengthen the tactics of our enemy. this new battle plan is succeeding where our previous tactics failed. the government of iraq and the iraqi army are now taking more responsibility for the security of their own country and fighting successfully in basra, sadr city and mosul. we must give general petraeus and the americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for iraq and the middle east, and a more secure future for the american people., to walk away now -- before the iraqi government can fully protect its people from ruthless enemies -- would strengthen al qaeda, empower iran and other hostile powers in the middle east, unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. the consequences would threaten us for years, and i am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us., our defeat in iraq would be catastrophic, not just for iraq, but for us. i cannot be complicit in it. i will do whatever i can, whether i am effective or not, to help avert it. that is all i can offer my country. it is not much compared to the sacrifices made by americans who have volunteered to fight this war for us. i know that and am humbled by it. but though my duty is neither dangerous nor onerous, it compels me nonetheless to say to my fellow americans, as long as we have the opportunity to succeed we must try to succeed. and i firmly believe that, with the continued right course of action, we will succeed., i have many responsibilities to the american people, and i take them all seriously. but i have one responsibility that outweighs all the others and that is to use whatever talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. and that i intend to do, even if i must stand athwart popular opinion. i will attempt to convince as many of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patience, though our patience is nearly exhausted, and that as long as there is a reasonable prospect for succeeding in this war then we must not choose to lose it. that is how i construe my responsibility to my country. that is how i construed it yesterday. it is how i construe it today. it is how i will construe it tomorrow. i do not know how i could choose any other course., the war in iraq has divided the american people, but it has divided no american in our admiration for the men and women who are fighting for us there. it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all -- those who supported the decision that placed them in harm s way and those who opposed it -- humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction of the best americans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help ke ep this nation worthy of their sacrifice., ,"	
", mankind., our highest priority must be to reduce the danger that nuclear weapons will ever be used. such weapons, while still important to deter an attack with weapons of mass destruction against us and our allies, represent the most abhorrent and indiscriminate form of warfare known to man. we do, quite literally, possess the means to destroy all of mankind. we must seek to do all we can to ensure that nuclear weapons will never again be used., while working closely with allies who rely on our nuclear umbrella for their security, i would ask the joint chiefs of staff to engage in a comprehensive review of all aspects of our nuclear strategy and policy. i would keep an open mind on all responsible proposals. at the same time, we must continue to deploy a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent, robust missile defenses and superior conventional forces that are capable of defending the united states and our allies. but i will seek to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements and global commitments. today we deploy thousands of nuclear warheads. it is my hope to move as rapidly as possible to a significantly smaller force., while we have serious differences, with the end of the cold war, russia and the united states are no longer mortal enemies. as our two countries possess the overwhelming majority of the world s nuclear weapons, we have a special responsibility to reduce their number.i believe we should reduce our nuclear forces to the lowest level we judge necessary, and we should be prepared to enter into a new arms control agreement with russia reflecting the nuclear reductions i will seek. further, we should be able to agree with russia on binding verification measures based on those currently in effect under the start agreement, to enhance confidence and transparency.in close consultation with our allies, i would also like to explore ways we and russia can reduce – and hopefully eliminate – deployments of tactical nuclear weapons in europe. i also believe we should work with russia to build confidence in our missile defense program, including through such initiatives as the sharing of early warning data and prior notification of missile launches., there are other areas in which we can work in partnership with russia to strengthen protections against weapons of mass destruction.i would seriously consider russia s recent proposal to work together to globalize the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty. i would also redouble our common efforts to reduce the risk that nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons may fall into the hands of terrorists or unfriendly governments., i believe we should also begin a dialogue with china on strategic and nuclear issues. we have important shared interests with china and should begin discussing ways to achieve the greatest possible transparency and cooperation on nuclear force structure and doctrine. we should work with china to encourage conformity with the practices of the other four nuclear weapon states recognized in the non-proliferation treaty, including working toward nuclear arsenal reductions and toward a moratorium on the production of additional fissile material., i believe we must also address nuclear testing. as president i will pledge to continue america s current moratorium on testing, but also begin a dialogue with our allies, and with the u.s. senate, to identify ways we can move forward to limit testing in a verifiable manner that does not undermine the security or viability of our nuclear deterrent. this would include taking another look at the comprehensive test ban treaty to see what can be done to overcome the shortcomings that prevented it from entering into force. i opposed that treaty in 1999, but said at the time i would keep an open mind about future developments., i would only support the development of any new type of nuclear weapon that is absolutely essential for the viability of our deterrent, that results in making possible further decreases in the size of our nuclear arsenal, and furthers our global nuclear security goals. i would cancel all further work on the so-called robust nuclear earth penetrator, a weapon that does not make strategic or political sense., finally, we cannot achieve our non-proliferation goals on our own. we must strengthen existing international treaties and institutions to combat proliferation, and develop new ones when necessary. we should move quickly with other nations to negotiate a fissile material cut-off treaty to end production of the most dangerous nuclear materials. the international community needs to improve its ability to interdict the spread of nuclear weapons and material under the proliferation security initiative. and we need to increase funding for our own non-proliferation efforts, including the cooperative threat reduction programs established by the landmark nunn-lugar legislation, and ensure the highest possible standards of security for existing nuclear materials., in 2010, an international conference will meet to review the non-proliferation treaty. if i am president, i will seize that opportunity to strengthen and enhance all aspects of the non-proliferation regime. we need to strengthen enforcement of the so-called ""atoms for peace"" bargain by insisting that countries that receive the benefits of peaceful nuclear cooperation must return or dismantle what they receive if they violate or withdraw from the npt. we need to increase iaea funding and enhance the intelligence support it receives. we also need to reverse the burden of proof when it comes to discovering whether a nation is cheating on its npt commitments. the iaea shouldn t have to play cat-andmouse games to prove a country is in compliance. it is for suspected violators to prove they are in compliance. we should establish a requirement by the un security council that international transfers of sensitive nuclear technology must be disclosed in advance to an international authority such as the iaea, and further require that undisclosed transfers be deemed illicit and subject to interdiction. finally, to enforce treaty obligations, iaea member states must be willing to impose sanctions on nations that seek to withdraw from it., we need to enlist all willing partners in the global battle against nuclear proliferation. i support the u.s.-india civil nuclear accord as a means of strengthening our relationship with the world s largest democracy, and further involving india in the fight against proliferation. we should engage actively with both india and pakistan to improve the security of nuclear stockpiles and weapons materials, and construct a secure global nuclear order that eliminates the likelihood of proliferation and the possibility of nuclear conflict., as we improve the national and multilateral tools to catch and reverse illicit nuclear programs, i am convinced civilian nuclear energy can be a critical part of our fight against global warming. civilian nuclear power provides a way for the united states and other responsible nations to achieve energy independence and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and gas. but in order to take advantage of civilian nuclear energy, we must do a better job of ensuring it remains civilian. some nations use the pretense of civilian nuclear programs as cover for nuclear weapons programs. we need to build an international consensus that exposes this deception, and holds nations accountable for it. we cannot continue allowing nations to enrich and reprocess uranium, ostensibly for civilian purposes, and stand by impotently as they develop, ,"	
", you will hear from my opponent s campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that i m running for president bush s third term. you will hear every policy of the president described as the bush-mccain policy. why does senator obama believe it s so important to repeat that idea over and over again? because he knows it s very difficult to get americans to believe something they know is false. so he tries to drum it into your minds by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different directions he and i would take the country. but the american people didn t get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know senator obama. they know i have a long record of bipartisan problem solving. they ve seen me put our country before any president -- before any party -- before any special interest -- before my own interest. they might think me an imperfect servant of our country, which i surely am. but i am her servant first, last and always., i have worked with the president to keep our nation safe. but he and i have not seen eye to eye on many issues. we ve disagreed over the conduct of the war in iraq and the treatment of detainees; over out of control government spending and budget gimmicks; over energy policy and climate change; over defense spending that favored defense contractors over the public good., i disagreed strongly with the bush administration s mismanagement of the war in iraq. i called for the change in strategy that is now, at last, succeeding where the previous strategy had failed miserably. i was criticized for doing so by republicans. i was criticized by democrats. i was criticized by the press. but i don t answer to them. i answer to you. and i would be ashamed to admit i knew what had to be done in iraq to spare us from a defeat that would endanger us for years, but i kept quiet because it was too politically hard for me to do. no ambition is more important to me than the security of the country i have defended all my adult life., senator obama opposed the new strategy, and, after promising not to, voted to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job of carrying it out. yet in the last year we have seen the success of that plan as violence has fallen to a four year low; sunni insurgents have joined us in the fight against al qaeda; the iraqi army has taken the lead in places once lost to sunni and shia extremists; and the iraqi government has begun to make progress toward political reconciliation., none of this progress would have happened had we not changed course over a year ago. and all of this progress would be lost if senator obama had his way and began to withdraw our forces from iraq without concern for conditions on the ground and the advice of commanders in the field. americans ought to be concerned about the judgment of a presidential candidate who says he s ready to talk, in person and without conditions, with tyrants from havana to pyongyang, but hasn t traveled to iraq to meet with general petraeus, and see for himself the progress he threatens to reverse., i know americans are tired of this war. i don t oppose a reckless withdrawal from iraq because i m indifferent to the suffering war inflicts on too many american families. i hate war. and i know very personally how terrible its costs are. but i know, too, that the course senator obama advocates could draw us into a wider war with even greater sacrifices; put peace further out of reach, and americans back in harm s way., i take america s economic security as seriously as i do her physical security. for eight years the federal government has been on a spending spree that added trillions to the national debt. it spends more and more of your money on programs that have failed again and again to keep up with the changes confronting american families. extravagant spending on things that are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; fuels inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility. i have opposed wasteful spending by both parties and the bush administration. senator obama has supported it and proposed more of his own. i want to freeze discretionary spending until we have completed top to bottom reviews of all federal programs to weed out failing ones. senator obama opposes that reform. i opposed subsidies that favor big business over small farmers and tariffs on imported products that have greatly increased the cost of food. senator obama supports these billions of dollars in corporate subsidies and the tariffs that have led to rising grocery bills for american families. that s not change we can believe in., no problem is more urgent today than america s dependence on foreign oil. it threatens our security, our economy and our environment. the next president must be willing to break completely with the energy policies not just of the bush administration, but the administrations that preceded his, and lead a great national campaign to put us on a course to energy independence. we must unleash the creativity and genius of americans, and encourage industries to pursue alternative, non-polluting and renewable energy sources, where demand will never exceed supply., senator obama voted for the same policies that created the problem. in fact, he voted for the energy bill promoted by president bush and vice president cheney, which gave even more breaks to the oil industry. i opposed it because i know we won t achieve energy independence by repeating the mistakes of the last half century. that s not change we can believe in., with forward thinking democrats and republicans, i proposed a climate change policy that would greatly reduce our dependence on oil. our approach was opposed by president bush, and by leading democrats, and it was defeated by opposition from special interests that favor republicans and those that favor democrats. senator obama might criticize special interests that give more money to republicans. but you won t often see him take on those that favor him. if america is going to achieve energy independence, we need a president with a record of putting the nation s interests before the special interests of either party. i have that record. senator obama does not., senator obama proposes to keep spending money on programs that make our problems worse and create new ones that are modeled on big government programs that created much of the fiscal mess we are in. he plans to pay for these increases by raising taxes on seniors, parents, small business owners and every american with even a modest investment in the market. he doesn t trust us to make decisions for ourselves and wants the government to make them for us. and that s not change we can believe in., senator obama thinks we can improve health care by driving americans into a new system of government orders, regulations and mandates. i believe we can make health care more available, affordable and responsive to patients by breaking from inflationary practices, insurance regulations, and tax policies that were designed generations ago, and by giving families more choices over their care. his plan represents the old ways of government. mine trusts in the common, ,"	
", i want to break down foreign trade barriers, so that america s small businesses can compete abroad. when new trading partners can sell in our market, and american companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and lasting. the strength of the american economy offers a better life to every society we trade with, and the good comes back to us in many ways -- in better jobs, higher wages, and lower prices. free trade can also give once troubled and impoverished nations a stake in the world economy, and in their relations with america., at the same time, we have to help displaced workers at every turn on a tough road, so that they are not just spectators on the opportunities of others. and i have made that commitment with reforms to expand and improve federal aid to american workers in need. we need to help millions of workers who have lost a job that won t come back find a new one that won t go away., unfortunately, senator obama has a habit of talking down the value of our exports and trade agreements. he even proposed a unilateral re-negotiation of nafta -- our agreement with canada and mexico that accounts for 33 percent of american exports. but we have a sharp disagreement here that i look forward to debating. if i am elected president, this country will honor its international agreements, including nafta, and we will expect the same of others. and in a time of uncertainty for american workers, we will not undo the gains of years in trade agreements now awaiting final approval., and as we expand markets for americans products, we must do more tax reform here at home. i will propose and sign into law a reform to permit the first-year expensing of new equipment and technology. we re also going to keep the low rate on capital gains, so that businesses like yours can expand and create jobs instead of just sending more of your earnings to the government. and so parents can spend and save more for their own children, i will propose to double the size of the child tax exemption. i will also propose as well a middle-class tax cut -- a phase-out of the alternative minimum tax to save more than 25 million middle-class families as much as 2,000 dollars in a single year., another of my disagreements with senator obama concerns the estate tax, which he proposes to increase to a top rate of 55 percent. the estate tax is one of the most unfair tax laws on the books, and the first step to reform is to keep it predictable and keep it low. after a lifetime building up a business, and paying taxes on every dollar that business earns, that asset should not be subjected to a confiscatory tax., it is not enough, however, to make little fixes here and there in the tax code -- especially if you re a small business owner filing under the individual tax. what we need is a simpler, a flatter, and a fair tax code. as president, i will propose an alternative tax system. when this reform is enacted, all who wish to file under the current system could still do so. and everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous standard deduction., americans do not resent paying their fair share of taxes. what they do resent, and especially if they re trying to run a business, is being subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and demands from the irs. we know from experience that no serious reform of the current tax code will come out of congress, so now it is time to turn the decision over to the people. we are going to create a new and simpler tax system -- and give the american people a choice., senator obama s plans would add to the difficulties of small business in other ways, too. currently, there are the 21.6 million sole proprietorships filing under the individual income tax. when senator obama talks about raising income tax rates on those making over 250,000 dollars -- that includes these businesses as well. he also proposes increases in dividend and capital gains taxes. under senator obama s tax plan, americans of every background would see their taxes rise -- seniors, parents, small business owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the market. he proposes to eliminate the social security earnings cap, and thereby to increase the tax on employers. he proposes to eliminate the secret ballot for union votes, and to raise the minimum wage and then index it, which is a sure way to add to your costs and to slow the creation of new jobs. you work hard in small businesses to grow and to create new jobs and opportunities for others -- and the federal government shouldn t make your work any harder., as for health care policy, i believe that the best way to help small businesses and employers afford health care is not to increase government control of health care but to bring the rising cost of care under control and give people the option of having personal, portable health insurance., as it is, the traditional tax-subsidy that supports private insurance is concentrated on a subset of american workers and a portion of our businesses. my health care reform will end that unfair bias in the law, while helping to make health insurance more affordable for every american. we re going to offer every individual and family in america a large tax credit to buy their health care, so that their health insurance is theirs to keep even when they move or change jobs. my plan would allow those who want to stick with employer provided health insurance to do so. but i want to give individuals greater choice, rather than give small business no choice at all., for too long, government has been the voice of big business, not small business. and to make matters worse, even when very large businesses violate their trust, they seem to be held to a different standard -- getting away with conduct that would leave any small business owner broke. we need rules that assure fairness and punish wrongdoing in the market, and hold every business person in america to the same fair standards., ,"	
", emissions, by retaining heat within the atmosphere, threaten disastrous changes in climate. no challenge of energy is to be taken lightly, and least of all the need to avoid the consequences of global warming., in the face of climate change and other serious challenges, energy conservation is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue. conservation serves a critical national goal. over time, we must shift our entire energy economy toward a sustainable mix of new and cleaner power sources. this will include some we use already, such as wind, solar, biofuels, and other sources yet to be invented. it will include a variety of new automotive and fuel technologies, clean-burning coal and nuclear energy, and a new system of incentives, under a cap-and-trade policy, to put the power of the market on the side of environmental protection., but to make the great turn away from carbon-emitting fuels, we will need all the inventive genius of which america is capable. we will need as well an economy strong enough to support our nation s great shift toward clean energy. and this gives us only further incentive to protect ourselves from the sudden shocks and ever- rising prices that come with our dependence on foreign oil., up to a point, these sudden rises in the price of oil are explainable in the terms of basic economics. when demand exceeds supply, prices always rise, and this has happened very dramatically in the demand for oil. two powerful forces in the oil market today are china and india, nations in which a third of humanity is suddenly entering the industrial era -- with all the cars, construction, and consumption of oil that involves., there is the further problem of speculation on the oil futures market, which in many cases has nothing to do with the actual sale, purchase, or delivery of oil. when crude oil became a futures-traded commodity in the 1980 s, the idea was to afford a measure of protection against the historic volatility of oil pricing. it takes several weeks to ship oil from the arabian peninsula to the offshore port of louisiana. and for the buyers, it helps to know that the price will not suddenly fall while the oil is in transit. a futures contract assures importers that they can sell the oil at a profit., that s the theory, anyway. but we all know that some people on wall street are not above gaming the system. when you have enough speculators betting on the rising price of oil, that itself can cause oil prices to keep on rising. and while a few reckless speculators are counting their paper profits, most americans are coming up on the short end -- using more and more of their hard-earned paychecks to buy gas for the truck, tractor, or family car., investigation is underway to root out this kind of reckless wagering, unrelated to any kind of productive commerce, because it can distort the market, drive prices beyond rational limits, and put the investments and pensions of millions of americans at risk. where we find such abuses, they need to be swiftly punished. and to make sure it, never happens again, we must reform the laws and regulations governing the oil futures market, so that they are just as clear and effective as the rules applied to stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments. in all of these markets, reform must assure transparency, prevent abuse, and protect the public interest., of course, with the formation of the opec cartel, and the oil embargo of the early 70 s, we already left behind pure economics in the oil market, and we entered a new era of power politics. no longer was crude oil simply a commodity. now, suddenly, it was a strategic weapon., at the time of opec s oil embargo, we imported roughly a third of our oil. now we import two thirds. at that time, every day, we produced more than nine million barrels of oil domestically. now america produces five million barrels a day. five million barrels sounds like a lot until we compare the number with the oil we use, which comes to 20 million barrels, or a quarter of all the oil used every day across the earth., of that total, a little more than half comes from canada, from mexico, and from our own domestic production. that s a heavy reliance on these two nations. but there is a world of difference between relying on two democratic neighbors and partners in nafta, and relying on often hostile and undemocratic regimes in the middle east and elsewhere. when critics of trade talk about unilaterally renegotiating nafta, as my opponent has done, that s one more concern they might want to keep in mind., it takes a very short leap in logic to wonder why we produce less and less crude oil, while we use more and more of it, or why politicians talk so much about promoting alternative energy sources, but often do so little to promote these alternatives. a reasonable observer, presented only with these numbers of consumption and production, might draw the conclusion that america has accepted this fate because we have no choice in the matter, or because we have no resources of our own. but just the opposite is true: we do have resources, and we do have a choice., in oil, gas, and coal deposits, we have enormous energy reserves of our own. and we are gaining the means to use these resources in cleaner, more responsible ways. as for offshore drilling, it s safe enough these days that not even hurricanes katrina and, rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of new orleans and houston. yet for reasons that become less convincing with every rise in the price of foreign oil, the federal government discourages offshore production., at the very least, one might assume, america had surely been building new refineries to achieve a more efficient delivery of gasoline to market, and thereby to lower the prices paid by the american people -- especially in the summer season. but the policymakers in washington haven t got around to that, either. there s so much regulation of the industry that the last american refinery was built when jerry ford was president., as for nuclear energy -- a proven energy source that requires zero emissions -- we haven t built a new reactor in 31 years. in europe and elsewhere, they have been expanding their use of nuclear energy. but we ve waited so long that we ve lost our domestic capability to even build these power plants. nuclear power is among the surest ways to gain a clean, abundant, and stable energy supply, as other nations understand. one nation today has plans to build almost 50 new reactors by 2020. another country plans to build 26 major nuclear stations. a third nation plans to build enough nuclear plants to meet one quarter of all the electricity needs of its people -- a population of more than a billion people. those three countries are china, russia, and india. and if they have the vision to set and carry out great goals in energy policy, then why don t we?, so, taking stock of our energy situation, it is time we draw a few sensible conclusions of our own. in their sum effect on the american economy, the policies of our government could hardly have left us more dependent had they been designed to do precisely that. this vulnerability is clear in many ways, and never more than when american leaders are reduced to supplicating for lower prices before the sheiks and princes of opec. of course, they are unmoved by our troubles. they regard even the need to ask as a sign of weakness. and in the end, they take their cues not from our entreaties for relief, but from our failure to diversify and to produce., quite rightly, i believe, we confer a special status on some areas of our country that are best left undisturbed. when america set aside the arctic national wildlife refuge, we called it a ""refuge"" for a reason., but the stakes are high for our citizens and for our economy. and with gasoline running at more than four bucks a gallon, many do not have the luxury of waiting on the far-off plans of futurists and politicians. we have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the united states. but a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. and i believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use., we can do this in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection. and in states that choose to permit exploration, there must be an appropriate sharing of benefits between federal and state governments. but as a matter of fairness to the american people, and a matter of duty for our government, we must deal with the here and now, and assure affordable fuel for america by increasing domestic production., we should set the highest goals for ourselves for the years and decades to come, and i am a believer in the technologies that one day will free us from oil entirely. but to get there at all, a more pragmatic approach will serve us better. in the short term, we must take the world as it is and our resources where they are -- even as we press on with new and cleaner sources of energy. we must be bold in our plans to break our strategic dependence on oil, and over the next two weeks, i ll be offering a vision that will be bold. but we must also address the concerns of americans, who are struggling right now to pay for gasoline, groceries, and other necessities of life., what is certain in energy policy is that we have learned a few clear lessons along the way. somehow all of them seem to have escaped my opponent. he says that high oil prices are not the problem, but only that they rose too quickly. he s doesn t support new domestic production. he doesn t support new nuclear plants. he doesn t support more traditional use of coal, either., so what does senator obama support in energy policy? well, for starters he supported the energy bill of 2005 -- a grab-bag of corporate favors that i opposed. and now he supports new taxes on energy producers. he wants a windfall profits tax on oil, to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas. if the plan sounds familiar, it s because that was president jimmy carter s big idea too -- and a lot of good it did us. now as then, all a windfall profits tax will accomplish is to increase our dependence on foreign oil, and hinder exactly the kind of domestic exploration and production we need. i m all for recycling -- but it s better applied to paper and plastic than to the failed policies of the 1970 s., oddly enough, though, senator obama doesn t want to lower the gas taxes paid by consumers, which would be the most direct and obvious way to give americans a break at the gas station. even in tough times for our economy, when folks are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, tax relief just isn t change he can believe in., along with the harm that america s dependence on foreign oil has inflicted on our, ,"	
", of people and commerce while maintaining security on which these very flows depend. we need to do an even better job of managing the regular traffic across our border., already, we cooperate in preparing for emergencies -- exchanging information and manpower to coordinate our response to danger. we have agreements in place to work together in detecting radiological and nuclear threats, to improve security at ports, borders, and airports, and to assist first responders. we exchange public health officers and have agreed on principles for screening intercontinental air travelers in the event of a pandemic. in all of this, we are drawing upon the skills and knowledge of one another, and we are joined in the crucial work of protecting our people., at the same time, canada and america are joined in other vital causes around the world -- from the fight against nuclear proliferation to the fight against global warming, from the fight for justice in haiti to the fight for democracy in afghanistan. i, for one, will never forget the response of our canadian friends to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. it was here in ottawa, three days later, where tens of thousands of canadians filled the streets on a national day of mourning. the canadian people even took in americans who has been left stranded by the shutdown of american air space. we in america have not forgotten your kindness. and we will never forget the solidarity, compassion, and friendship of canada when it mattered most., we know as well that canada, too, has suffered casualties in the years since 9/11, and we honor their memory as we do our own. as always in canada s history, this nation has been willing to do hard things, even when the costs run high. along with our other allies, canada and america are still fighting in defense of afghanistan -- in the honorable cause of freedom for that long suffering country, and greater security for ourselves. to date, canada has committed nearly two billion dollars to the rebuilding of afghanistan, including a recent 50% increase at the paris conference. it is a generous investment, and a wise one, and together our countries are going to see this mission through., even in iraq, where canada has not always agreed with american policies, this nation has done all that those differences would allow to help the iraqi people. in characteristic form, canada has given generous humanitarian aid and development assistance. and your government has provided more than 770 million in combined assistance and debt relief to iraq, helping a struggling young democracy at a critical time., it s the mark of good friends that they re willing to correct you, and to do so without rancor. many canadians have objected to the policies of the united states in dealing with terrorists, and with enemy combatants held at the guantanamo prison. it happens that i also regard the prison at guantanamo as a liability in the cause against violent radical extremism, and as president i would close it. i intend as well to listen carefully when close allies offer their counsel. and even when they don t volunteer their advice, i ll ask for it and seek it out., we re going to need that spirit in many efforts. we have a shared destiny, canada and the united states. we are both continental powers, nations shaped by our diverse heritage and our frontier experience. we are also both arctic nations. and because of this common geography, we must be acutely aware of the perils posed by global warming and take immediate steps to reverse its effects., three years ago, i traveled with some colleagues, including senator hillary clinton and senator lindsey graham, to yukon territory, a front line of global warming. we flew over miles of devastated spruce forests, every tree killed by insects that thrive in warm temperatures. as the trees die, fires multiply, and across the region the waters are vanishing. we heard from men and women near whitehorse whose traditional way of life had been radically disrupted., all of this is just a glimpse of the grave environmental dangers that global warming can bring, unless we act to prevent it. i was among the first in congress to introduce legislation to curb greenhouse gasses. if i am elected president, it will be a top priority to enact an energy policy equal to this challenge. a sensible cap-and-trade emissions system, for instance, is a critical part of such a policy. under u.s. and canadian leadership, the montreal protocol began the process of phasing out gases that were destroying our planet s ozone layer. we also instituted a cap-and-trade system that removed the threat of acid rain. i believe we can apply it to great effect against the threat of climate change. and here, too, canada and america can work in common purpose against common dangers., we must also work to ensure reliable energy supplies and increase sources of renewable energy. as you all know, canada is america s largest energy supplier. not only does canada have the second largest proven oil reserves in the world, 60 percent of the energy produced in canada is hydroelectric, clean energy. we stand much to gain by harmonizing our energy policies, just as have gained by cooperating in trade through nafta. since nafta was concluded, it has contributed to strong job growth and flourishing trade. since the agreement was signed, the united states has added 25 million jobs and canada more than 4 million. cross-border trade has more than doubled since nafta came into force. we have established north, ,"	
", same calls for new energy taxes, instead of new energy production. we are offered the same agenda of inaction -- that long recitation of things we cannot do, energy we cannot produce, refineries we cannot build, plants we cannot approve, coal we cannot use, technologies we cannot master. the timid litany of limitations goes on and on. and it says more about the culture of washington than it does about the character of america., in the same way, energy bills are debated, passed, and signed into law with little serious thought to energy reform -- but never without the familiar corporate handouts and fighting over scraps of pork. even now, some in washington still seem to think the best plan is a direct, heartfelt appeal for saudi sympathy, as if that conveyed anything other than weakness. in the way of new ideas, a majority of the house of representatives actually voted in favor of suing opec, as if we can litigate our way to energy security., ladies and gentlemen, america is going to meet this great challenge, but we are not going to do it as a supplicant or as a plaintiff. we are not going to meet it with words at all. we are going to meet it with action. and we are going to meet this challenge in a way consistent with the character of our nation. three decades of partisan paralysis on energy security is enough. since i am not president, i cannot say the buck stops here -- but i will say that it must stop now., should i be entrusted with the honor of that office, i will break the stalemate in washington, and i will put this country on a course to energy security. i will authorize and support new exploration and production of america s own oil and gas reserves -- because we cannot outsource the solution to america s energy problem., opponents of domestic production cling to their position even as the price of foreign oil has doubled and doubled again. they were against it when a gallon of gas cost two dollars. they are still against it when a gallon of gas cost well above four dollars. and we re left to wonder what it will take to shake their faith in this dogma of dependence on foreign oil. as for me, my convictions place a priority on the well-being of people who cannot afford these ever-rising prices. every year, we are sending hundreds of billions of dollars out of the country for oil imports, much of it from opec, while trillions of dollars  worth of oil reserves in america go unused. as a matter of fairness, we must deal with the here and now, and assure affordable fuel for america by producing more of it ourselves., fairness also requires that we reform the oil futures market. we must purge the market of the reckless speculation, unrelated to any kind of productive commerce, that has inflated the price of gasoline -- at the expense of working men and women across our country. with new regulations, i intend to assure integrity in oil-futures trading, and to protect the public interest., the need for more production extends as well to another long-neglected source of energy, and that is nuclear power. here, too, opposition to this clean and proven technology has more to do politics than with the merits. the experience of nations across europe and asia has shown that nuclear energy is efficient. it is safe, it is proven, and it is essential to america s energy future., therefore, if i am elected president, i will set this nation on a course to building 45 new reactors by the year 2030. and i will set the goal of 100 new plants to power the homes and factories and cities of america. this task will be as difficult as it is necessary. we will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field. as nevadans are well aware, we will need to solve complex problems of moving and storing materials that will always need safeguarding. we will need to do all of these things, and do them right, as we have done great things before., perhaps no achievement would do more to secure our energy future than the mastery of clean- coal technology. from wyoming to west virginia, america s coal resources are greater than the oil riches of any kingdom of the middle east. burning coal cleanly is a challenge of practical problem-solving and human ingenuity -- and we have no shortage of those in america either. so, as president, i will commit two billion dollars each year, until 2024, to clean-coal research, development, and deployment. we will build the demonstration plants. we will refine the techniques and equipment. we will deliver not only electricity but jobs to some of the areas hardest hit by our economic troubles. and in the end, we will make clean coal a reality., the strategy here is to produce more, use less, and invent new ways of doing both. and inventing new ways is what we americans do. what we need most right now is better and faster innovation in the cars and trucks we drive. and government policy is supposed to serve this purpose. yet the highest fuel efficiency standards are useless if violations incur no serious penalty. incentives for the purchase of fuel-efficient cars are too often the handiwork of lobbyists, with all the inconsistency and irrationality that involves. support for corn-based ethanol has been a case study in the law of unintended consequences, distorting food markets through cropland competition, and depriving america of better and cheaper alternative fuels., in each case, our government has sought the right objectives, but often with bad execution. and this failure of leadership must end. standards in fuel efficiency serve a great national goal, and in my administration the penalties will assure compliance. in place of the current patchwork of incentives and credits for hybrids and other carbon-cutting vehicles, we will issue a clean car challenge to the automakers of america, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit to, buyers based on the reduction of carbon emissions. for every automaker who can sell a zero- emissions car, we will commit a 5,000 dollar tax credit to each and every customer who buys that car. for other vehicles, whatever type they may be, the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit., instead of playing favorites among the lobbyists, our government must also level the playing field for all alcohol fuels that break the monopoly of gasoline, to lower both gasoline prices and carbon emissions. this can be done with a simple federal standard to hasten the conversion of all new vehicles in america to flex-fuel technology -- allowing drivers to use alcohol fuels instead of gas in their cars. whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of american vehicles away from oil., at the same time, we must not overlook the possibility that one day our cars can run without burning liquid fuels at all. instead, cars can run on battery power alone, or as plug-in hybrids using both liquids and electricity. some talented engineers are on the case, but this is a national priority and we must give it national focus. to add urgency to the mission, we will offer a prize of 300 million dollars -- a dollar for every citizen -- to the creator of a battery package of a size, capacity, cost, and power far surpassing existing technology. in the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure. from now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success., at this moment, some of the best minds in our country are also at work discovering or perfecting alternative technologies. they are not tilting at windmills -- they re building them. they are capturing the boundless powers of the sun, the tides, the mighty rivers, and the warmth of the earth itself. yet for all the good work of entrepreneurs and inventors in finding cleaner and better technologies, the fundamental incentives of the market are still on the side of carbon-based energy., even with oil running at about 140 dollars per barrel, these new alternatives have yet to take the place of oil in our economy for two basic reasons: our infrastructure is outdated and our production capacity has been constrained. and this has to change as we can make the great turn away from fossil fuels. to lead in this effort, our government must strike at the source of the problem -- with reforms that only congress can enact and the president can sign., we must do this in a way that gives american businesses new incentives and new rewards to seek, instead of just giving them new taxes to pay and new orders to follow. the most direct way to achieve this is through a system that sets clear limits on all greenhouse gases, while also allowing the sale of rights to excess emissions. and this is the proposal i will submit to the congress if i am elected president -- a cap-and-trade system to change the dynamic of our energy economy., for all of the last century, the profit motive basically led in one direction toward machines, methods, and industries that used oil and gas. enormous good came from that industrial growth, and we are all the beneficiaries of the national prosperity it built. but there were costs we weren t counting, and these have added up now, in the atmosphere, in the oceans, and all across the natural world. and what better way to correct past errors than to turn the creative energies of the free market in the other direction?, under the cap-and-trade system, this can happen. in all its power, the profit motive will suddenly begin to shift and point the other way toward cleaner fuels, wiser ways, and a healthier planet. as never before, the market would reward any person or company that seeks to invent, improve, or acquire alternatives to carbon-based energy. it is very hard to picture venture capitalists, corporate planners, small businesses and environmentalists all working to the same good purpose. but such cooperation is actually possible, and this reform will set it in motion., my friends, america s dependence on foreign oil was a troubling situation 35 years ago. it was an alarming situation twenty years ago. it is a dangerous situation today. and starting in the term of the next president, we must take control over our own energy future, and become once again the master of our fate., in recent days i have set before the american people an energy plan, the lexington project -- named for the town where americans asserted their independence once before. and let it begin today with this commitment: in a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025., this pledge is addressed to all concerned -- to those abroad whose power flows from an accident of geology, and to you, my fellow americans, whose strength proceeds from unity of purpose. together, we will break the power of opec over the united states. and never again will we leave our vital interests at the mercy of any foreign power., some will say this goal is unattainable within that relatively short span of years -- it s too hard and we need more time. let me remind them that in the space of half that time -- about eight years -- this nation conceived and carried out a plan to take three americans to the moon and bring them safely home. in less than a third of that time, the gathered energies of my father s generation built the industrial might that overcame nazi germany and imperial japan. that is the scale of our achievement when we set our minds to a task. that is what this country can do when we see a danger, and declare a purpose, and find the will to act., as president, i will turn all the apparatus of government in the direction of energy independence for our country -- authorizing new production, building nuclear plants, perfecting clean coal, improving our electricity grid, and supporting all the new technologies that one day will put the age of fossil fuels behind us. much will be asked of industry as well, as automakers and others adapt to this great turn toward new sources of power. and a great deal will depend on each one of us, as we learn to make smarter use of energy, and also to draw on the best ideas of both parties, and work together for the common good., this project is not a plan calibrated to please every interest group or to meet every objection. that is how we arrived to our present predicament. that is how energy policy in washington became a long list of subjects avoided, options ruled out, and possibilities foreclosed. nor can i promise you that the long-term success of this project will bring instant relief. in the mission of energy security, some tasks are the work of decades and some the work of years. and they will take all the will and resolve of which we are capable. but i can promise you this. unless we begin this mission now, nothing will change at all, except for the worse. and when we succeed in the hard reform ahead, your children will live in a more prosperous country, in a more peaceful world., this is a test of foresight, of political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next. it is a test of our nation s ability to deal with serious matters in a serious way. it is even a test of america s character, of our capacity to respond to pressure and to overcome, ,"	
", firearms purchases. and we have sought to increase the fines criminals must pay into the federal crime victims fund and bar all criminals from profiting from their crimes., we also expanded public registry requirements for convicted sex offenders -- because to prevent and punish the exploitation of children, the surest policy is zero- tolerance. when anyone is convicted of a sexual assault on a child, they should stay in prison for a long time, and their names should stay forever on the national sex offender public registry. when they are released -- if they are released -- they should be tracked both in their physical movements and in their internet usage. and under a bill i have authored as a senator, and intend to sign into law as president, we re going to get serious against internet predators: anyone who uses the internet in the commission of a crime of child exploitation is going offline and into prison for an additional ten years., in protecting children and in all criminal justice policy, at both the state and federal level, we have shown how much can be achieved when consistent principles are applied and both parties work together. and this spirit will be needed in meeting the challenges of our own time. the overall trends in crime are small comfort to the more than six million victims of violent crime in america each year, or to the more than 18 million victims of property crime. in an enterprise measured by the standard of 100 percent success, there is no time to linger on the progress of the past. we need to stay on the offensive against crime, and especially crimes of violence., the federal government has its own well defined set of law-enforcement concerns, such as multi-state criminal syndicates, terrorist cells, government corruption, and the protection of america s borders. and from the standpoint of state and local law enforcement, often the best service our federal government can render is to do these things and do them right. presidential leadership is essential in all of these responsibilities. but nowhere is the influence of a president more critical to law enforcement than in the power of judicial nominations., it will fall to the next president to nominate hundreds of men and women to the federal courts. these choices will have far-reaching consequences for all americans, and perhaps especially for law enforcement. when a serious crime is investigated, prosecuted, and punished, it takes many hours and the best efforts of police, trial courts, and juries. yet one badly reasoned opinion, by one overreaching judge, can undo it all. just like that, evidence of guilt can be suppressed, or a dangerous predator released because of judge-made laws having little or nothing to do with the requirements of the constitution. even worse, when such opinions issue from the highest court, they set a precedent for many more injustices, and they add one more obstacle to the work of law enforcement., we saw such presumption again just last week in a matter before the supreme court. in the considered judgment of the people of louisiana and their elected representatives, the violent rape of a small child is a capital offense. there is nothing in our constitution to contradict that view. but five justices decided the people s judgment didn t take into account ""evolving standards of decency,"" and so they substituted their judgment for that of the people of louisiana, their legislators, their governor, the trial judge, the jury, the appellate judge, and the other four justices of the supreme court., it s a peculiar kind of moral evolution that disregards the democratic process, and inures solely to the benefit of child rapists. it was such a jarring decision from the court that my opponent, senator obama, immediately and to his credit expressed his disagreement. i d like to think this signals a change of heart on his part about his votes against the confirmation of two of the four dissenters in the case, justice samuel alito and chief justice john roberts. more to the point, why is it that the majority includes the same justices he usually holds out as the models for future nominations? my opponent may not care for this particular decision, but it was exactly the kind of opinion we could expect from an obama court., should i be elected president, i will look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint. they will be the kind of judges who believe in giving everyone in a criminal court their due: justice for the guilty and the innocent, compassion for the victims, and respect for the men and women of law enforcement., in all of criminal justice policy, we must put the interests of law-abiding citizens first - - and above all the rights of victims. and when we formulate criminal justice policy, words of praise for the good work of local law enforcement are not enough. we must give active support to officers of the peace across america, by providing the tools you need to meet new dangers. even as crime has diminished in some areas, including new york and other major cities, crime is spreading in many small and mid-sized jurisdictions. and the general numbers in crime reduction conceal one of the most disturbing facts of all -- the rise of new, better organized, and more widely dispersed gang violence and transnational gangs. once largely confined to major cities, the threat of gang violence is now well known to sheriffs and corrections officers across america. and in all cases of violent crime, in both urban and rural areas, it s the poorest among us who are most vulnerable., to meet all of these challenges, and others, you will need assistance, critical resources, and new technologies that often only the federal government can provide. and one of the most critical of these resources concerns the radio spectrum. so that police, fire-fighters, and other public safety agencies can freely communicate with one another, we will build a long overdue national, interoperable public safety broadband network. you and all your colleagues in law enforcement need seamless communication across every agency and jurisdiction for emergency response. for more than a decade now, i have tried to persuade the congress to provide dedicated radio spectrum and funding for communications equipment to local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. just last year, i introduced a bill that provided for more than twice the capacity that the fcc has currently set aside for public safety. special interests in washington want the fcc to auction off more of that spectrum than i do. but no matter what price it might fetch at auction, it should be available for fighting crime and saving lives., the congress, too, needs to get its priorities straight, and that begins by supporting the priorities of front-line law-enforcement personnel. as it is, funds distributed by the department of justice are too often earmarked according to their value to the reelection of members of congress instead of their value to police. this is especially true in the case of grants allocated under the byrne program -- many of which are urgently needed to interdict drugs and track the movement of violent gangs. the result is that millions of dollars are wasted every year, and a lot of good ideas and programs in local law enforcement never get funded., earmark spending bills are the broken windows of the federal budget process, and by ending these abuses we set a new tone and we set much greater reforms in motion. earmark spending runs against the public interest in many ways, and especially when public safety is in the balance. and that s why, as president, i will veto every bill with earmarks, until the congress stops sending bills with earmarks. it may take a while for congress to adjust, but sooner or later they ll figure out that there s a new sheriff in town., law enforcement professionals know best what they need in the field. and today, what s often needed most are more personnel and better technologies for tracking criminals, gathering data, and sharing vital information. we need to make certain that every agency is working with others where necessary, so that the miscommunications and missed opportunities before 9/11 are never repeated. to protect our energy supply, air and rail transport, banking and financial services, we need to invest far more in the federal task of cyber security. in this new century, and especially with the threat of terrorist attacks, every state, local, and federal agency concerned with public safety should have access a shared repository of information. in the case of any suspected terrorist, we must make certain that law enforcement knows who they are, where they are, and what they re up to., we know as well that tens of thousands of felons -- in custody and at large -- entered our country illegally. why has it has fallen to sheriffs and other local officials to protect their citizens from these foreign-born felons? because our federal government failed to protect our borders from their entry, and this serious dereliction of duty must end., our compassion for laborers who entered this country unlawfully -- our understanding of their struggles, even as we act to secure the border -- speaks well of america. but this respect does not extend to criminals who came here to break our laws and do harm to people. through the criminal alien program, we have made some progress in recent years. too often, however, states are left to deal with the high costs and excessive regulation involved in deportation proceedings, and many local officers are left waiting for immigration agents to show up on site. so, as president, i will expand the criminal alien program. we will require that the federal government assume more of the costs to deport and detain criminal aliens -- because this is a problem of the federal government s own making., as if all of these challenges were not enough, another has arisen because of your own hard work and success these past 25 years in sending serious offenders to prison. many are due for release, and just last year some 750,000 inmates reentered society. unless we change our approach over the next four years, these released prisoners are likely to reoffend in very high numbers, committing millions of new crimes and finding millions of new victims. and we need to be as committed in preparing them for freedom as we were in taking that freedom away., maybe you have heard the story of an ex-inmate named don cox, who received a sentence of 90 years for being an accomplice to a murder right here in indianapolis in 1978. mr. cox would likely have spent the rest of his life in prison, had it not been for the efforts of another man named tim streett. in the short version of a powerful story, mr. streett is the son of the victim, and had even been a witness to his father s murder. he is also a witness to the possibilities of redemption. after years of bitterness, mr. streett sought out the prisoner. in time, he even became his friend. and it was he who asked prosecutors to seek parole for mr. cox. as tim streett explains his change of heart, ""anger and bitterness -- that can build up. but true forgiveness says,  i forgive you, and it s over. "", ,"	
", we need to keep the irs from taking more of your income and making life harder for small business. if you believe you should pay more taxes, i am the wrong candidate for you. senator obama is your man. the choice in this election is stark and simple. senator obama will raise your taxes. i won t. i will cut them where i can. jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. when you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. i m not going to let that happen., senator obama s tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country. if you are one of the 23 million small business owners in america who files as an individual rate payer, senator obama is going to raise your tax rates. if you have an investment for your child s education or own a mutual fund or a stock in a retirement plan, he is going to raise your taxes. he will raise estate taxes to 45 percent. i propose to cut them to 15 percent. his plan will hurt the american worker and family. it will hurt the economy and cost us jobs. for those of you with children, i will double the child deduction from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent, in every family in america. at a time of increasing gas and food prices, american families need tax relief and i, not my opponent, will deliver it., in addition to small business, the other bright spot in the economy are our exports, which are estimated to be growing at over seven percent. i will expand markets for our goods and services. twenty-five percent of all the jobs in this country are linked to world trade. in five states alone -- pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin and colorado -- over five million jobs depend on open markets., my opponent believes america would be better off by refusing opportunities to sell in growing foreign markets. but protectionism not only puts a hidden tax on almost everything you buy, but it undermines american competitiveness and costs jobs. ninety-five percent of the world s consumers live outside the u.s. our future prosperity depends on opening more of these markets, not closing them., five years ago, the outdoor footwear company, crocs, was started by a couple of entrepreneurs with a great idea, ingenuity and drive. this former small business now employs 600 people in colorado alone, and sells over 50 percent of its products in 90 countries around the world. building barriers to crocs or any american company s access to foreign markets will have a devastating effect on our economy and jobs, and the prosperity of american families., i understand free trade is not a positive for everyone. if a worker loses a job we must retrain them and prepare them for 21st century jobs. that s why i have proposed a comprehensive reform of our unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. we will use our community colleges to help train workers for specific opportunities in their communities. and for workers of a certain age who have lost a job that won t come back, we ll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one until they ve completed retraining and found secure new employment at a decent wage., we must also get government s fiscal house in order. american workers and families pay their bills and balance their budgets, and i will demand the same of the government. a government that spends wisely and balances its budget is a catalyst for economic growth and the creation of good and secure jobs., this congress and this administration have failed to meet their responsibilities to manage the government. government has grown by 60 percent in the last eight years. that is simply inexcusable. when i m president, i will order a stem to stern review of government, modernize how it does business and save billions of dollars. i will veto every single bill with wasteful spending. we aren t going to continue mortgaging this country s future for things americans don t want or need. my opponent has a very different record on this issue. he has sought millions upon millions of dollars in earmarks since his election to the senate. in 2007 alone, senator obama requested nearly $100 million for earmark projects. i have never asked for a single earmark in my entire career. he supported the $300 billion pork laden agricultural subsidy bill. i opposed it. he voted for an energy bill stuffed with giveaways to oil compan ies at a time of record profits. i voted against it., let me give you a little bit of straight talk on energy. our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in washington to think long term about the future of the country. if we don t act now to break our strategic dependence on foreign oil, we are putting our national security, our economy and our environment at grave risk. by 2030, america s demand for energy will rise by nearly twenty percent. our jobs and our very way of life depend on the next president beginning to solve this challenge., ,"	
", my opponent s answer to the lexington project is no; no to more drilling; no to more nuclear power; no to research prizes that help solve the problem of affordable electric cars. for a guy whose ""official seal"" carried the motto, ""yes, we can,"" senator obama s agenda sure has a whole lot of ""no, we can t."", to achieve full economic recovery, we need to think as well about the leading job creators in america. small businesses have created 233,000 jobs so far this year while other sectors are losing jobs. small businesses are the job engine of america, and i will make it easier for them to grow and create more jobs. my opponent wants to make it harder by imposing a healthcare mandate on small business that will add a crushing $12,000 to the cost of employing anyone with a family. that means new jobs will not be created, existing jobs will be cut, and small-business employees who keep their jobs will likely have their wages cut to pay for this mandate. my plan attacks the real problems of health care -- cost, availability and portability., we also need to keep the irs from taking more of your income and making life harder for small business. if you believe you should pay more taxes, i am the wrong candidate for you. senator obama is your man. the choice in this election is stark and simple. senator obama will raise your taxes. i won t, because jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. and when you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. i m not going to let that happen., if you are one of the 23 million small business owners in america who files as an individual rate payer, senator obama is willing to raise your tax rates. if you have an investment for your child s education or own a mutual fund or a stock in a retirement plan, your taxes could be higher. he will raise estate taxes to 45 percent. i propose to cut them to 15 percent. and for those of you with children, i will double the child deduction from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent, in every family in america., my opponent also believes america would be better off by foregoing opportunities to sell in growing foreign markets. i disagree. twenty-five percent of all jobs in this country are linked to world trade. in just five states -- pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin and, colorado -- over five million jobs depend on open markets. to promote job creation, i will expand foreign markets for our goods and services., because the vast benefits of a global marketplace come at a cost for many, we have an obligation to help our workers receive the training they need when plants close and jobs are lost. under my reforms, we will use our community colleges to help train workers for specific opportunities in their hometowns. and for older workers who have lost a job that won t come back, if they move rapidly to a new job we ll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and the new one., to promote job creation, we must also get government s fiscal house in order. government has grown by 60 percent in the last eight years, because this congress and this administration have failed to meet their responsibilities. when i m president, i will order a stem to stern review of government, modernize how it does business and save billions of dollars. i will veto every single bill with wasteful spending. we aren t going to continue mortgaging this country s future for things americans don t want or need., my opponent has a very different record on this issue. he voted for an energy bill stuffed with give-aways to oil companies at a time of record profits. i voted against it. he supported the $300 billion pork-laden agricultural subsidy bill. i opposed it. as for earmark spending, i have never asked for a single earmark in my entire career. in his senate career, senator obama has requested some $930 million for earmark projects. that comes to more than a million dollars in pork for every working day since he became a united states senator. there is never a good time to put your parochial and political interests above those of the nation -- and least of right now, during an economic downturn., for many, it is a very tough time. but my friends, we ve been through worse, and beaten longer odds. even in these difficult days, we must believe in ourselves. nothing is inevitable in america. we ve always been the captains of our fate. all you ve ever asked of government is that it stand on your side, not in your way. i intend to do just that: to stand on your side; to help business and not government create jobs; to fight for your future and not the personal ambitions of politicians and bureaucrats., we have much work to do if we are to end the self-interested partisanship that prevents us from fixing problems that need to be fixed and changing government to keep this country prosperous and at peace. i make you one promise i will always keep, no matter what., in war and peace, i have been an imperfect servant of my country. but i have been her servant first, last and always. whenever i faced an important choice between my country s interests or my own interests, party politics or any special interest, i chose my country. nothing has ever mattered more to me than the honor of serving america, and nothing ever will. if you elect me president, i will always put our country first. i will put its greatness; its prosperity and peace; and the hopes and concerns of the people who make it great before any personal or partisan interest. i will keep that promise every hour of every day i am in office. and i will ask you to help me convince congress, republicans and democrats, to keep that promise as well. there is nothing beyond our ability to achieve. we are americans, and we don t hide from history. we make history. all we need is to believe in ourselves as we always have, and to cherish the beautiful country we are so blessed to call, ,"	
", to get our economy on track again, and create new and better jobs, we need to compete more, not less, in the global economy. we can t build walls to foreign competition, and we shouldn t want to. america is the biggest exporter, importer, producer, manufacturer, and innovator in the world. that s why i reject the false virtues of economic isolationism. any confident, competent country and its government should embrace competition - it makes us stronger - not hide from our competitors and cheat our consumers and workers. we can compete and win, as we always have, or we can be left behind. lowering barriers to trade creates more and better jobs, and higher wages. it keeps inflation under control. it makes goods more affordable for low- and middle-income consumers. ninety-five percent of the world s consumers live outside the u.s. our future prosperity depends on opening more of these markets, not closing them., i recently traveled to colombia and mexico because i understand how vitally important it is to the prosperity and security of our country to strengthen our trade, investment and diplomatic ties to other countries in our hemisphere. i have often traveled over the years to central and south america, and i have learned our relationships there are as important, if not more important, as any relationships we have in the world. it is the reason why i m an unapologetic supporter of nafta, the central american free trade agreement, and the colombian free trade agreement, and why i believe a hemispheric free trade agreement is a worthy and necessary goal whose time has come. and while it is surely not my intention to become my opponent s scheduler, i hope senator obama soon visits some of the other countries of the americas for the first time. were he to do so, i think he, too, would see that stronger economic bonds with our neighbo rs and the closer friendships they encourage, are a great benefit in many ways to our country. colombian president uribe, a man of courage and vision, has risked much to combat the narcoterrorists of farc for the sake of all peoples in this hemisphere. his recent leadership in freeing americans held hostage for years should earn him the respect and gratitude of all americans. and we should emulate his statesmanship by passing the trade agreement colombia and the united states have negotiated, and which both countries would greatly benefit from., i know that not all americans have prospered in the global economy. and for those who, through no fault of their own, have lost their job to foreign competition, i have proposed a comprehensive reform of our unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. we will use our community colleges to help train workers for specific opportunities in their communities. and for workers of a certain age who have lost a job that won t come back, if they move rapidly to a new job we ll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and the new one., in the global economy what you learn is what you earn. today, studies show that half of hispanics entering high school do not graduate with their class. by the 12th grade, u.s. students in math and science score near the bottom of all industrialized nations. many parents fear their children won t have the same opportunities they had. that is unacceptable in a country as great as ours. in many schools, particularly where people are struggling the hardest, the situation is dire, and i believe poses the civil rights challenge of our time. we need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition; hold schools accountable for results; strengthen math, science, technology and engineering curriculums; empower parents with choice; remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward superior teachers, and have a fair but sure process to weed out incompetents. i m a strong believer in charter schools. la raza has hel ped establish 50 new charter schools and the results they are producing are very encouraging. hispanics work hard and sacrifice a lot because their most cherished dreams are the ones they hold for their children. you understand the importance of early childhood development and the active role parents must play in their children s education to make sure they graduate on time and with an excellent opportunity to live happy and prosperous lives. you deserve a greater say in deciding how your children are educated, and i am committed to making sure you do., let me address one other issue important to all of us. as you know, i and many other colleagues twice attempted to pass comprehensive immigration legislation to fix our broken borders; ensure respect for the laws of this country; recognize the important economic contribution of immigrant laborers; apprehend those who came here illegally to commit crimes; and deal practically and humanely with those who came here, as my distant ancestors did, to build a better, safer life for their families, without excusing the fact they came here illegally or granting them privileges before those who have been waiting their turn outside the country. many americans did not believe us when we said we would secure our borders, and so we failed in our efforts. i don t want to fail again to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. we must prove we have the resources to secure our borders and use them, while respecting the dignity and rights of citizens and legal residents of the united states. when we have achieved our border security goal, we must enact and implement the other parts of practical, fair and necessary immigration policy. we have economic and humanitarian responsibilities as well, and they require no less dedication from us in meeting them., several years ago, the leading newspaper in my state published an article putting faces on the tragic human costs of illegal immigration, and i would like to briefly quote from it:, ""maria hernandez perez was no. 93. she was almost 2. she had thick brown hair and eyes the color of chocolate., ""kelia velazquez-gonzales, 16, carried a bible in her backpack. she was no. 109 ""john doe, no. 143, died with a rosary encircling his neck. his eyes were wide open."", we can t let immigrants break our laws with impunity. we can t leave our borders undefended. but these people are god s children, who wanted simply to be americans, and we cannot forget the humanity god commands of us as we seek a remedy to this problem., i spoke recently at both the naleo and lulac conferences, as did senator obama. i did not use those occasions to criticize senator obama. i would prefer not to do so today. but he suggested in his speeches there and here, that i turned my back on comprehensive reform out of political necessity. i feel i must, as they say, correct the record. at a moment of great difficulty in my campaign, when my critics said it would be political suicide for me to do so, i helped author with senator kennedy comprehensive immigration reform, and fought for its passage. i cast a lot of hard votes, as did the other republicans and democrats who joined our bipartisan effort. so, ,"	
", dramatically. al qaeda would have killed the sunni sheikhs who had begun to cooperate with us, and the ""sunni awakening"" would have been strangled at birth. al qaeda fighters would have safe havens, from where they could train iraqis and foreigners, and turn iraq into a base for launching attacks on americans elsewhere. civil war, genocide and wider conflict would have been likely., above all, america would have been humiliated and weakened. our military, strained by years of sacrifice, would have suffered a demoralizing defeat. our enemies around the globe would have been emboldened. terrorists would have seen our defeat as evidence america lacked the resolve to defeat them. as iraq descended into chaos, other countries in the middle east would have come to the aid of their favored factions, and the entire region might have erupted in war. every american diplomat, american military commander, and american leader would have been forced to speak and act from a position of weakness., senator obama told the american people what he thought you wanted to hear. i told you the truth. from the early days of this war, i feared the administration was pursuing a mistaken strategy, and i said so. i went to iraq many times, and heard all the phony explanations about how we were winning. i knew we were failing, and i told that to an administration that did not want to hear it. i pushed for the strategy that is now succeeding before most people even admitted that there was a problem., fortunately, senator obama failed, not our military. we rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right. violence in iraq fell to such low levels for such a long time that senator obama, detecting the success he never believed possible, falsely claimed that he had always predicted it. there have been almost no sectarian killings in baghdad for more than 13 weeks. american casualties are at the lowest levels recorded in this war. the iraqi army is stronger and fighting harder. the iraqi government has met most of the benchmarks for political progress we demanded of them, and the nation s largest sunni party recently rejoined the government. in iraq, we are no longer on the doorstep of defeat, but on the road to victory., senator obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. in retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chooses failure. i cannot conceive of a commander in chief making that choice., a new hope is rising in iraq today. across the country, iraqis are preparing for upcoming provincial elections. and security has improved enough to permit the iraqi government to begin seriously providing services and opportunities to the iraqi people. this progress is encouraging but reversible if we heed those who have always counseled defeat when they now argue to risk our fragile gains and withdraw from iraq according to a politically expedient timetable rather than the advice from the commanders who so brilliantly led this stunning turnaround in our situation in iraq., i said that the surge has succeeded, and it has. that is why the additional surge brigades are almost all home. i said we can win, and we will. i m confident we will be able to reduce our forces in iraq next year, and our forces will be out of regular combat operations and dramatically reduced in number during the term of the next president. we have fought the worst battles, survived the toughest threats, and the hardest part of this war is behind us. but it is not over yet. and we have come too far, sacrificed too much, to risk everything we have gained and all we could yet gain because the politics of the hour make defeat the more convenient position., because of the choice we made and all the surge has accomplished, the time will soon come when our troops can come home. but we face another choice today. we can withdraw when we have secured the peace and the gains we have sacrificed so much to achieve are safe. or we can follow senator obama s unconditional withdrawal and risk losing the peace even if that results in spreading violence and a third iraq war. senator obama has suggested he would consider sending troops back if that happened. when i bring them home in victory and with honor, they are staying home., senator obama might dismiss defeat in iraq as the current president s problem. but presidents don t lose wars. nations do. and presidents don t fight wars. you do, the men and women of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. the sacrifices you ve made deserve to be memorialized in something more lasting than bronze or in the fleeting effect of a politician s speeches. your valor and devotion have earned your country s abiding concern for your welfare. when our government forgets our debts to you, it is a stain upon america s honor. the walter reed scandal recalled not just the government but the people who elect it, to our responsibilities to those who risk life and limb to meet their responsibilities to us., those who have borne the burden of war for our sake must be treated fairly and expeditiously as they seek compensation for disability or illness. we owe them compassion, knowledge and hands-on care in their transition to civilian life. we owe them training, rehabilitation and education. we owe their families, parents and caregivers our concern and support. they should never be deprived of quality medical care and mental health care coverage for illness or injury incurred as a result of their service to our country., as president, i will ensure that those who serve today and who have served in the past have access to the highest quality health, mental health and rehabilitative care in the world. the disgrace of walter reed will not be forgotten. nor will we accept a situation in which veterans are denied access to care due to great travel distances, backlogs of appointments, and years of pending disability evaluation and claims. in addition to strengthening the va, we should give veterans the option to use a simple plastic card to receive timely and accessible care at a convenient location through a provider of their choosing. i will not stand for requiring veterans to make an appointment to stand in line to make an appointment to stand in line for substandard care of the injuries you have suffered to keep our country safe. whatever our commitments to veterans cost, we will keep them, as you have kept every commitment to us. the honor o f a great nation is at stake., let me close by expressing my gratitude for the contributions hispanic-americans have made to the security of the country i have served all my adult life. i represent arizona where spanish was spoken before english was, and where the character and prosperity of our state owes much to the arizonans of hispanic descent who live there. and i know this country, which i love more than almost anything, would be poorer were we deprived of the patriotism, industry and decency of those millions of americans whose families came here from mexico, central and south america., when you take the solemn stroll along that wall of black granite on the national mall, it is hard not to notice the many names such as rodriguez, hernandez, and lopez that so sadly adorn it. when you visit iraq and afghanistan you meet some of the thousands of hispanic-americans who serve there, and many of those who risk their lives to protect the rest of us do not yet possess the rights and privileges of full citizenship in the country they love so well. to love your country, as i discovered in vietnam, is to love your countrymen. those men and women are my brothers and sisters, my fellow americans, an association that means more to me than any other. as a private citizen or as president, i will never, never do anything to dishonor our obligations to them and their families., no story better exemplifies the sacrifices hispanic americans have made for our country than the story of roy benavidez. i have told it before, and this won t be the last time i tell it. all americans need to hear it., roy benavidez was the son of a texas sharecropper, a seventh grade dropout who suffered the humiliation of being constantly taunted as a ""dumb mexican."" he grew up to become a master sergeant in the green berets, and served in vietnam. he was a member of that rare class of warriors whose service was so honorable and brave they are privileged to wear the medal of honor. he was decorated by ronald, reagan, who said that if the story of his heroism were a movie ""you would not believe it."", on may 2, 1968, in an outpost near the cambodian border, sergeant benavidez listened on his radio as the voice of a terrified american, part of a 12 man patrol surrounded by a north vietnamese battalion, pleaded to be rescued. armed with only a knife, roy jumped into a helicopter and took off with a three-man crew to rescue his trapped comrades., when they arrived at the battle, the enemy was too numerous for the helicopter to evacuate the surrounded soldiers. it had to land seventy-five yards away from their position. after making the sign of the cross, sergeant benavidez jumped out of the helicopter as it hovered ten feet above the ground, and ran toward his comrades carrying his knife and a medic bag., he was shot almost immediately, but he got up and kept moving. a grenade knocked him down again, shrapnel tearing into his face. he got up and kept moving. reaching the americans  position, he found four men dead, and all the others badly wounded. he armed himself with an enemy rifle, and began to treat the wounded, distribute ammunition and call in air strikes. he was shot again. he then ordered the helicopter to come in closer as he dragged the dead and wounded aboard. after he got all the wounded aboard, he ran back to retrieve classified documents from the body of a fallen soldier. he was shot in the stomach, and grenade fragments cut into his back. he got up and kept moving, and made it back to the helicopter., the pilot was shot and the helicopter crashed. roy pulled the wounded from the wreckage and radioed for air strikes and another helicopter. he kept fighting until air support arrived. he was shot several more times before a second helicopter landed. as he was carrying a wounded man toward it, a north vietnamese soldier clubbed him with his rifle and stabbed him with a bayonet. sergeant benavidez fought him hand to hand, to death. after rescuing three more soldiers, he was finally flown with them to safety., bleeding profusely, and completely immobile, a doctor thought him to be dead. roy was placed in a body bag, before anyone discovered he was still alive. he spent a year in hospitals recovering from seven serious gunshot wounds, twenty-eight shrapnel wounds, and bayonet wounds in both arms., ,"	
", choice in the education of their children. some parents may choose a better public school. some may choose a private school. many will choose a charter school. no entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity., we should also offer more choices to those who wish to become teachers. many thousands of highly qualified men and women have great knowledge, wisdom, and experience to offer public school students. but a monopoly on teacher certification prevents them from getting that chance. you can be a nobel laureate and not qualify to teach in most public schools today because they don t have all the proper credits in educational ""theory"" or ""methodology."" all they have is learning and the desire and ability to share it. if we re putting the interests of students first, then those qualifications should be enough., if i am elected president, school choice for all who want it, an expansion of opportunity scholarships, and alternative certification for teachers will all be part of a serious agenda of education reform. i will target funding to recruit teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their class, or who participate in an alternative teacher recruitment program such as teach for america, the american board for certification of teacher excellence, and the new teacher project., we will pay bonuses to teachers who take on the challenge of working in our most troubled schools -- because we need their fine minds and good hearts to help turn those schools around. we will award bonuses as well to our highest-achieving teachers. and no longer will we measure teacher achievement by conformity to process. we will measure it by the success of their students., moreover, the funds for these bonuses will not be controlled by faraway officials -- in washington, in a state capital, or even in a district office. under my reforms, we will put the money and the responsibilities where they belong -- in the office of the school principal. one reason charter schools are so successful, and so sought after by parents, is that principals have spending discretion. and i intend to give that same discretion to public school principals. no longer will money be spent on rigid and often meaningless formulas. relying on the good judgment and first-hand knowledge of school principals, education money will be spent in service to public school students., under my reforms, parents will exercise freedom of choice in obtaining extra help for children who are falling behind. as it is, federal aid to parents for tutoring for their children has to go through another bureaucracy. they can t purchase the tutoring directly, without dealing with the same education establishment that failed their children in the first place. these needless restrictions will be removed. if a student needs extra help, parents will be able to sign them up to get it, with direct public support., some of these reforms, and others, are contained in a statement of principles drafted by a group dedicated to finally changing the status quo in our education system. the education equality project has brought together leaders from all across the political spectrum, including school chancellor joel klein and mayor michael bloomberg of new york city. chancellor klein is a strong supporter of charter schools, because he understands that fundamental reform is needed. as he puts it, ""in large urban areas the culture of public education is broken. if you don t fix this culture, then you are not going to be able to make the kind of changes that are needed."" among others who share this conviction are mayor cory booker of newark, chancellor michelle rhee of washington, and harold ford, junior. you know that a reform movement is truly bipartisan when j.c. watts and al sharpton are both members. and today i am proud to add my name as well to the list of those who support the aims and principles of the education equality project., but one name is still missing, senator obama s. my opponent talks a great deal about hope and change, and education is as good a test as any of his seriousness. the education equality project is a practical plan for delivering change and restoring hope for children and parents who need a lot of both. and if senator obama continues to defer to the teachers unions, instead of committing to real reform, then he should start looking for new slogans., over the years, the urban league has brought enormous good into the life of our country -- by broadening the reach of economic opportunity. there was a time when economists took little if any notice at all of the poverty of black communities. even in times of general economic growth, many lived in a per petual recession, and the jobs available didn t promise much upward mobility. our country still has a lot of progress to make on this score. but with 1.2 million businesses today owned and operated by african americans, more and more are no longer just spectators on the prosperity of our country. they are stakeholders. as much as anyone else, they count on their government to help create the conditions of economic growth -- and, as president, i intend to do just that., senator obama and i have fundamental differences on economic policy, and many of them concern tax rates. he supports proposals to raise top marginal rates paid by small business and families, to raise tax rates on those with taxable incomes of more than 32,000 dollars, raise capital gains taxes, raise taxes on dividends, raise payroll taxes and raise estate taxes. that s a whole lot of raising, and for million s of families, individuals, and small businesses it will mean a lot less money to spend, save and invest as they see fit., for my part, i believe that in a troubled economy, when folks are struggling to afford the necessities of life, higher taxes are the last thing we need. the economy isn t hurting because workers and businesses are under-taxed. raising taxes eliminates jobs, hurts small businesses, and delays economic recovery., under my plan, we will preserve the current low rates as they are, so businesses large and small can hire more people. we will double the personal exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent, in every family in america. we will offer every individual and, ,"	
", highest of national priorities., in practice, veterans must be treated fairly and expeditiously as they seek compensation for disability or illness. we owe them compassion and hands-on care in their transition to civilian life. we owe them training, rehabilitation, and education. we owe their families, parents and caregivers our concern and support. veterans should never be deprived of quality medical care and mental health care coverage for illness or injury incurred as a result of their service to our country., as president, i will do all that is in my power to ensure that those who serve today, and those who have served in the past, have access to the highest quality health, mental health and rehabilitative care in the world. and i will not accept a situation in which veterans are denied access to care on account of travel distances, backlogs of appointments, and years of pending disability evaluation and claims. we should no longer tolerate requiring veterans to make an appointment to stand in one line for a ticket to stand in another. and it s even worse if the line winds eventually to substandard care for america s veterans., i m not here to tell you that there is a cost that is too high to be paid in the care of our nation s veterans. i will make sure that congress funds the va health care budget in a sufficient, timely, and predictable manner. but i will say that every increase in funding must be matched by increases in accountability, both at the va and in congress. and this requires an end to certain practices and abuses that serve neither our veterans, our country, nor the reputation of congress itself., exactly because funding va programs command bipartisan support, some in the congress like to attach unrelated appropriations and earmarks to va bills. the result is to mix vital national priorities with wasteful and often worthless political pork. earmarks show up in bills of every kind, and not just va bills. that s how we end up budgeting hundreds of millions of dollars for bridges to nowhere, or lesser sums for woodstock museums and the like. when that earmark for a million bucks to fund a woodstock museum didn t come through, i don t imagine that many veterans had to change their vacation plans. and the principle here is simple: public money should serve the public good. if it s me sitting in the oval office, at the resolute desk, those wasteful spending bills are going the way of all earmarks straight back to the congress with a veto., when we make it clear to congress that no earmark bill will be signed into law, that will save many billions of dollars that can be applied to essential priorities, and above all the care of our veterans. but reform doesn t end there. we must also modernize our disability system to make sure that eligible service members receive benefits quickly, based on clear, predictable, and fair standards. and we must address the problems of capacity and access within our va health care system. while this will involve a wide range of initiatives, i believe there is a simple and direct reform we should make right away., my administration will create a veterans  care access card to be used by veterans with illness or injury incurred during their military service, and by those with lower incomes. this card will provide those without timely access to va facilities the option of using high- quality health-care providers near their homes. many of these providers are already familiar with the most common needs of veterans. and often what s missing is a system for sharing medical records among va, dod, and civilian hospitals and doctors. this reform will improve care, reduce risks, and broaden access all at the same time., this card is not intended to either replace the va or privatize veterans  health care, as some have wrongly charged. i believe the va should always be there to provide top-quality care for our veterans. and i believe that the va should continue to provide broad-spectrum health care to eligible veterans, in addition to specialized care in areas such as spinal injuries, prosthetics, and blindness -- services in which the va sets the standard in medical care., even so, there are veterans eligible for care who are not currently able to receive it, on account of distance, wait times, or the absence of certain specialties. and for this group, the new card i propose will offer better alternatives, to provide the benefits they have earned., reform must also recognize that greater care is needed for certain types of injuries. in the senate, i co-authored the wounded warrior act, which was the first major legislative initiative to address post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. as president, i will build on this legislation to improve screening and treatment for these severe injuries suffered by many who have served in iraq and afghanistan., the va must also broaden its care for the women who are entering the armed forces in greater numbers than ever. the growing ranks of women in uniform have left the va lagging behind in the services it provides. and here the veterans care access card will prove especially valuable, affording women medical options while the va improves capacity and expands services., all reforms bring change, and even the best changes can be a little unsettling. what you should know about this reform is that it is an extension of the current system, not a replacement. as a matter of duty and of honor, whatever our commitments to veterans cost, those commitments will be kept., ,"	
"arlington, va -- u.s. senator john mccain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the 90 th annual american legion national convention in phoenix, arizona, , , today at 10:00 a.m. pdt (1:00 p.m. edt): , , thank you all very much. national commander marty conatser, thank you for the kind introduction. national adjutant bob spanogle, auxiliary president jan pulvermacher -ryan, auxiliary secretary pam gilley: thank you all. if i may speak for the gang at tempe post 2, we are honored to be in the company of our fellow members of the american legion. apparently it falls to me as well to offer an official welcome the great state of arizona. our governor is out of town, up in denver for some big party they re throwing there. i guess my invitation got lost in the mail. , , all of us take pride in being members of this great organization. after its founding in 1919, the legion served many of the more than four million american veterans of the first world war. today just one of those veterans survives, a man of 107 named frank buckles. frank lives in west virginia, and last week in orlando the folks at the vfw convention gave him a standing ovation. i have a feeling that you, too, will want to join in a round of applause for the last doughboy. , , in all the years since, the men and women of the legion have stayed faithful to their mission of service to one another and to country. in europe, asia, the middle east, and elsewhere, america s veterans have faced different enemies, but they have always found the same friend and ally in the legion, the vfw, and other veterans  service organizations. all of us returned from war with a few experiences we d gladly forget, but the friendships and camaraderie we brought home are forever. for keeping us all together, and helping those most in need, we re all in the debt of the american legion. , , the men and women of the legion believe in their country s cause in the world, and you have served and sacrificed for it. you know that when our leaders speak of this nation s history and purposes in the affairs of the world, they should do so with confidence, gratitude, and above all with moral clarity. , , there are those who say that our day as the free world s leader has passed, that our moment is waning. they point to the anti -americanism that is sometimes heard in europe and elsewhere, and take this as a sign that america no longer has the strength or the moral credibility to lead. the criticisms tend to pass or quiet down when global threats and dangers appear. in times of trouble, free nations of the world still look to america for leadership, because they know the strength of america remains the greatest force for good on this earth. , , my opponent had the chance to express such confidence in america, when he delivered a much anticipated address in berlin. he was the picture of confidence, in some ways. but confidence in oneself and confidence in one s country are not the same. and in that speech, senator obama left an important point unclear. he suggested that the end of the cold war proved that there was, ""no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."" now i missed a few years of the cold war, as the guest of one of our adversaries, but as i recall the world was deeply divided during the cold war -- between the side of freedom and the side of tyranny. the cold war ended not because the world stood ""as one,"" but because the great democracies came together, bound together by sustained and decisive american leadership. , , all of this is more than an academic debate. for the sake of our own security, and the defense of our values in the affairs of the world, american leadership is critical. while we have our share of critics around the world, when people in the oppressed nations of the world need support, and solidarity, and hope, they look to america. when they talk about our country, it is not with distrust or disdain, but with respect and affection. they do not resent or resist america s democratic influence in the world -- they thank god for it. , , just days after the russian invasion of georgia, senator obama had this to say about the crisis: ""we ve got to send a clear message to russia and unify our allies. they can t charge into other countries. of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point."" end of quote. i guess we are left to figure out the rest for ourselves. it s unlikely he was alluding to afghanistan, the nation we liberated after 9/11, and continue to help despite russian complaints about our related deployments in central asia. and he probably didn t have kosovo in mind either -- although russia didn t care much for that military action, either. we and our nato allies had to end the serbian slaughter of civilians in kosovo without un approval, because the russians blocked the effort in the security council. , , if i catch senator obama s drift, then, our failure to ""lead by example"" was the liberation of iraq. and if he really thinks that, by liberating iraq from a dangerous tyrant, america somehow set a bad example that invited russia to invade a small, peaceful, and democratic nation, then he should state it outright -- because that is a debate i welcome. , , in the end, confusion about such questions only invites more trouble, violence, and aggression. to promote stability and peace, america must stand firmly on the side of freedom and justice. the next president must bring to office a clear -eyed view of our nation s role in the world, as the defender of the oppressed and a force for peace. , , through decades of struggle, free nations prevailed over tyranny in large measure because of the sacrifices of the men and women of the united states armed forces. and it will fall to the next commander in chief to make good on the obligation our government accepts every time any man or woman enters the military, and again when they receive their dd 214. those we depend on as troops should know, when they become veterans, that they can depend on us. honoring this obligation will require leadership. and i pledge to you that as president i will lead -- from the front -- to reform our va system and make sure that veterans receive the respect and care they have earned. , , the walter reed scandal was a disgrace unworthy of this nation -- and i intend to make sure that nothing like it is ever repeated. there are other problems as well that have not received as much media attention. and my administration will do the hard and necessary work of fixing them, even when the press and the public are not watching. , , reform begins with appointing a secretary of veterans affairs who is a leader of the highest caliber, and who listens to veterans and veterans  service organizations. my va secretary must be a forceful advocate for veterans and forthright advisor to me, so we can make the right choices about budgeting, health care, and other veterans  benefit issues. he or she will also need to be a high -energy leader, too, because we ll have a lot of work to do in improving service to veterans. , , veterans must be treated fairly and expeditiously as they seek compensation for disability or illness. we owe them compassion and hands -on care in their transition to civilian life. we owe them training, rehabilitation, and education. we owe their families, parents and caregivers our concern and support. veterans should never be deprived of quality medical care and mental health care coverage for illness or injury incurred as a result of their service to our country. , , as president, i will do all that is in my power to ensure that those who serve today, and those who have served in the past, have access to the highest quality health, mental health and rehabilitative care in the world. and i will not accept a situation in which veterans are denied access to care on account of travel distances, backlogs of appointments, and years of pending disability evaluation and claims. we should no longer tolerate requiring veterans to make an appointment to stand in one line for a ticket to stand in another. , , i m not here to tell you that there is a cost that is too high to be paid in the care of our nation s veterans. i will make sure that congress funds the va health care budget in a sufficient, timely, and predictable manner. but i will say that every increase in funding must be matched by increases in accountability, both at the va and in congress. and this requires an end to certain practices and abuses that serve neither our veterans, our country, nor the reputation of congress itself. , , exactly because funding va programs command bipartisan support, some in the congress like to attach unrelated appropriations and earmarks to va bills. the result is to mix vital national priorities with wasteful and often worthless political pork. earmarks show up in bills of every kind, and not just va bills. that s how we end up budgeting hundreds of millions of dollars for bridges to nowhere, and for other wasteful projects that do not serve the public interest. the principle here is simple: public money should serve the public good. if it s me sitting in the oval office, at the resolute desk, those wasteful spending bills are going the way of all earmarks: straight back to the congress with a veto. , , when we make it clear to congress that no earmark bill will be signed into law, that will save many billions of dollars that can be applied to essential priorities, and above all to the care of our veterans. but reform doesn t end there. we must also modernize our disability system to make sure that eligible service members receive benefits quickly, based on clear, predictable, and fair standards. and we must address the problems of capacity and access within our va health care system. while this will involve a wide range of initiatives, i believe there is a simple and direct reform we should make right away. , , my administration will create a veterans  care access card to be used by veterans with illness or injury incurred during their military service, and by those with lower incomes. this card will provide those without timely access to va facilities the option of using high -quality health -care providers near their homes. for many veterans, the closest va facility isn t close enough. and many of their local providers are already familiar with the most common needs of veterans. often, all that prevents them from receiving local care is a system for sharing medical records among va, dod, and civilian hospitals and doctors. my reform will improve care, reduce risks, and broaden access all at the same time. , , this card is not intended to either replace the va or privatize veterans  health care, as some have wrongly charged. i believe the va should always be there to provide top -quality care for our veterans. and i believe that the va should continue to provide broad -spectrum health care to eligible veterans, in addition to specialized care in areas such as spinal injuries, prosthetics, and blindness -- services in which the va sets the standard in medical care. , , even so, there are veterans eligible for care who are not currently able to receive it, on account of distance, wait times, or the absence of certain specialties. and for this group, the new card i propose will offer better alternatives, to provide the benefits they have earned. , , reform must also recognize that greater care is needed for certain types of injuries. in the senate, i co - authored the wounded warrior act, which was the first major legislative initiative to address post -traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. as president, i will build on this legislation to improve screening and treatment for these severe injuries suffered by many in iraq and afghanistan. , , the va must also broaden its care for the women who are entering the armed forces in greater numbers than ever, and who are suffering from the same war wounds -- visible and invisible -- suffered by other veterans. the american legion was founded just one year before the women of america received the right to vote, in a constitutional amendment that became law 88 years ago today. among the many wrongs that have been righted in that time, women are now welcomed and respected as equals in the ranks of the armed forces of the united states. yet the growing ranks of women veterans have left the va lagging behind in the services it provides. as rapidly as possible, we must improve the va system so that it can fully assess and treat conditions that predominantly or exclusively affect women. and here the veterans care access card will prove especially valuable, affording women medical options while the va improves capaci ty and expands services. , , these are among the elements of my reform agenda for the va system. and today, as other occasions, i have stated in the plainest, most straightforward terms that the veterans health care access card will expand existing benefits. i don t expect this will deter the obama campaign from misrepresenting my proposals, but lest there be any doubt you have my pledge: my reforms would not force anyone to go to a non -va facility, and do not signal privatization of the va. use of the card would be optional. only high quality health care providers would be used. participating veterans would incur no additional charges. and my reforms will not replace any scheduled expansion of the va network -- including those facilities designed to serve veterans living in rural and remote areas. this is, very simply, an effort to expand care to a group of eligible veterans who are not now receiving care. , , i suppose from my opponent s vantage point, veterans concerns are just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage. this would explain why he has also taken liberties with my position on the gi bill. in its initial version, that bill failed to address the number one education request that i ve heard from career service, , military images and information do not imply endorsement by dod or service branch , , members and their families -- the freedom to transfer their benefits to a spouse or a child. the bill also did nothing to retain the young officer and enlisted leaders who form the backbone of our all -volunteer force. , , as a political proposition, it would have much easier for me to have just signed on to what i considered flawed legislation. but the people of arizona, and of all america, expect more from their representatives than that, and instead i sought a better bill. i m proud to say that the result is a law that better serves our military, better serves military families, and better serves the interests of our country. , , no one who has worn the uniform of his or her country can ever take these matters lightly. we all learned an ethic in the service of looking after one another, of leaving no one behind, and this commitment did not end when we left the service. as a matter of duty and of honor, whatever our commitments to veterans cost, if i am president those commitments will be kept. , , the next president will have many responsibilities to the american people, and i take them all seriously. but if i am elected, i will have one responsibility that outweighs all the others. and that is to use whatever talents i possess, and every resource god has granted me to protect the security of this great and good nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. , , it is every veteran s hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. but that is not their responsibility. it belongs to the government that called them. as it once was for us, their honor will be in their answer not their summons. whatever we think about how and why we went to war in iraq, we are all humbled by and grateful for their example. they now deserve the distinction of the best americans, and we owe them a debt we can never fully repay. we can only offer the small tribute of our humility and our commitment to do all that we can do, in less trying and costly circumstances, to help keep this nation worthy of their sacrifice. , , many of them have served multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. many had their tours extended. many returned to combat sooner than they had been led to expect. it was a sad and hard thing to ask so much more of americans who have already given more than their fair share to the defense of our country. few of them and their families will have received the news about additional and longer deployments without aiming a few appropriate complaints in the general direction of people like me, who helped make the decision to send them there. and then they shouldered a rifle or climbed in a cockpit and risked everything -- everything -- to accomplish their mission, to protect another people s freedom and our own country from harm. , , it is a privilege beyond measure to live in a country served by them. i have had the good fortune to know personally a great many brave and selfless patriots who sacrificed and shed blood to defend america. but i have known none braver or better than those who do so today. they are our inspiration, as i suspect all of you were once theirs. and i pray to a loving god that he bless and protect them. thank you. ,"	
"thank you all very much. tonight, i have a privilege given few americans -- the privilege of accepting our party s nomination for president of the united states. and i accept it with gratitude, humility and confidence. , , in my life, no success has come without a good fight, and this nomination wasn t any different. that s a tribute to the candidates who opposed me and their supporters. they re leaders of great ability, who love our country, and wished to lead it to better days. their support is an honor i won t forget. , , i m grateful to the president for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on american soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable; and to the first lady, laura bush, a model of grace and kindness in public and in private. and i m grateful to the 41st president and his bride of 63 years, and for their outstanding example of honorable service to our country. , , , , as always, i m indebted to my wife, cindy, and my seven children. the pleasures of family life can seem like a brief holiday from the crowded calendar of our nation s business. but i have treasured them all the more, and can t imagine a life without the happiness you give me. cindy said a lot of nice things about me tonight. but, in truth, she s more my inspiration than i am hers. her concern for those less blessed than we are -- victims of land mines, children born in poverty and with birth defects -- shows the measure of her humanity. i know she will make a great first lady. , , when i was growing up, my father was often at sea, and the job of raising my brother, sister and me would fall to my mother alone. roberta mccain gave us her love of life, her deep interest in the world, her strength, and her belief we are all meant to use our opportunities to make ourselves useful to our country. i wouldn t be here tonight but for the strength of her character. , , , my heartfelt thanks to all of you, who helped me win this nomination, and stood by me when the odds were long. i won t let you down. to americans who have yet to decide who to vote for, thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to win your , trust. i intend to earn it. , , finally, a word to senator obama and his supporters. we ll go at it over the next two months. that s the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. but you have my respect and admiration. despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. we are fellow americans, an association that means more to me than any other. we re dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed by our creator with inalienable rights. no country ever had a greater cause than that. and i wouldn t be an american worthy of the name if i didn t honor senator obama and his supporters for their achievement. , , but let there be no doubt, my friends, we re going to win this election. and after we ve won, we re going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace. , , these are tough times for many of you. you re worried about keeping your job or finding a new one, and are struggling to put food on the table and stay in your home. all you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way. and that s just what i intend to do: stand on your side and fight for your future. , , and i ve found just the right partner to help me shake up washington, governor sarah palin of alaska. she has executive experience and a real record of accomplishment. she s tackled tough problems like energy independence and corruption. she s balanced a budget, cut taxes, and taken on the special interests. she s reached across the aisle and asked republicans, democrats and independents to serve in her administration. she s the mother of five children. she s helped run a small business, worked with her hands and knows what it s like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries. , , she knows where she comes from and she knows who she works for. she stands up for what s right, and she doesn t let anyone tell her to sit down. i m very proud to have introduced our next vice president to the country. but i can t wait until i introduce her to washington. and let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second washington crowd: change is coming. , , i m not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is governor palin. and when we tell you we re going to change washington, and stop leaving our country s problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. we ve got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you. , , you know, i ve been called a maverick; someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. sometimes it s meant as a compliment and sometimes it s not. what it really means is i understand who i work for. i don t work for a party. i don t work for a special interest. i don t work for myself. i work for you. , i ve fought corruption, and it didn t matter if the culprits were democrats or republicans. they violated their public trust, and had to be held accountable. i ve fought big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on things you neither need nor want, while you struggle to buy groceries, fill your gas tank and make your mortgage payment. i ve fought to get million dollar checks out of our elections. i ve fought lobbyists who stole from indian tribes. i fought crooked deals in the pentagon. i fought tobacco companies and trial lawyers, drug companies and union bosses. , , i fought for the right strategy and more troops in iraq, when it wasn t a popular thing to do. and when the pundits said my campaign was finished, i said i d rather lose an election than see my country lose a war. , , thanks to the leadership of a brilliant general, david petreaus, and the brave men and women he has the honor to command, that strategy succeeded and rescued us from a defeat that would have demoralized our military, risked a wider war and, , threatened the security of all americans. , , i don t mind a good fight. for reasons known only to god, i ve had quite a few tough ones in my life. but i learned an important lesson along the way. in the end, it matters less that you can fight. what you fight for is the real test. , , i fight for americans. i fight for you. i fight for bill and sue nebe from farmington hills, michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market. bill got a temporary job after he was out of work for seven months. sue works three jobs to help pay the bills. , , i fight for jake and toni wimmer of franklin county, pennsylvania. jake works on a loading dock; coaches little league, and raises money for the mentally and physically disabled. toni is a schoolteacher, working toward her master s degree. they have two sons, the youngest, luke, has been diagnosed with autism. their lives should matter to the people they elect to office. they matter to me. , , i fight for the family of matthew stanley of wolfboro, new hampshire, who died serving our country in iraq. i wear his bracelet and think of him every day. i intend to honor their sacrifice by making sure the country their son loved so well and never returned to, remains safe from its enemies. , , i fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. we were elected to change washington, and we let washington change us. we lost the trust of the american people when some republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. we lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. we lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and senator obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. we lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles. , , we re going to change that. we re going to recover the people s trust by standing up again for the values americans admire. the party of lincoln, roosevelt and reagan is going to get back to basics. , , we believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their god -given potential from the boy whose descendents arrived on the mayflower to the latina daughter of migrant workers. we re all god s children and we re all americans. , , we believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. we believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor. , , we believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don t legislate from the bench. we believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities. , , we believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of americans. government that doesn t make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself. , , i will keep taxes low and cut them where i can. my opponent will raise them. i will open new markets to our goods and services. my opponent will close them. i will cut government spending. he will increase it. , , my tax cuts will create jobs. his tax increases will eliminate them. my health care plan will make it easier for more americans to find and keep good health care insurance. his plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor. , , keeping taxes low helps small businesses grow and create new jobs. cutting the second highest business tax rate in the world will help american companies compete and keep jobs from moving overseas. doubling the child tax exemption from $3500 , to $7000 will improve the lives of millions of american families. reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs , will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend and invest as you see fit. opening new markets and preparing workers to compete in the world economy is essential to our future prosperity. , , i know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn t even noticed. government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. that s going to, , change on my watch. my opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishing away the global economy. we re going to help workers who ve lost a job that won t come back, find a new one that won t go away. , , we will prepare them for the jobs of today. we will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities. for workers in industries that have been hard hit, we ll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage. , , education is the civil rights issue of this century. equal access to public education has been gained. but what is the value of access to a failing school? we need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work. , , when a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. and i intend to give it to them. some may choose a better public school. some may choose a private one. many will choose a charter school. but they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity. , , senator obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. i want schools to answer to parents and students. and when i m president, they will. , , my fellow americans, when i m president, we re going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. we are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don t like us very much. we will attack the problem on every front. we will produce more energy at home. we will drill new wells offshore, and we ll drill them now. we will build more nuclear power plants. we will develop clean coal technology. we will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. we will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles. , , senator obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. but americans know better than that. we must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and to restore the health of our planet. it s an ambitious plan, but americans are ambitious by nature, and we have faced greater challenges. it s time for us to show the world again how americans lead. , , this great national cause will create millions of new jobs, many in industries that will be the engine of our future prosperity; jobs that will be there when your children enter the workforce. , , today, the prospect of a better world remains within our reach. but we must see the threats to peace and liberty in our time clearly and face them, as americans before us did, with confidence, wisdom and resolve. , , we have dealt a serious blow to al qaeda in recent years. but they are not defeated, and they ll strike us again if they can. iran remains the chief state sponsor of terrorism and on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons. russia s leaders, rich with oil wealth and corrupt with power, have rejected democratic ideals and the obligations of a responsible power. they invaded a small, democratic neighbor to gain more control over the world s oil supply, intimidate other neighbors, and further their ambitions of reassembling the russian empire. and the brave people of georgia need our solidarity and prayers. as president i will work to establish good relations with russia so we need not fear a return of the cold war. but we can t turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world and the security of the american people. , , we face many threats in this dangerous world, but i m not afraid of them. i m prepared for them. i know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better, and what it should not do. i know how the world works. i know the good and the evil in it. i know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don t. i know how to secure the peace. , , when i was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house. a navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the japanese had bombed pearl harbor. i rarely saw my father again for four years. my grandfather came home from that same war exhausted from the burdens he had borne, and died the next day. in vietnam, where i formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home with me. i hate war. it is terrible beyond imagination. , , i m running for president to keep the country i love safe, and prevent other families from risking their loved ones in war as my family has. i will draw on all my experience with the world and its leaders, and all the tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military and the power of our ideals -- to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace. , , in america, we change things that need to be changed. each generation makes its contribution to our greatness. the work that is ours to do is plainly before us. we, , don t need to search for it. , , we need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. all these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the cold war. we have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in washington. , , the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn t a cause, it s a symptom. it s what happens when people go to washington to work for themselves and not you. , , again and again, i ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. that s how i will govern as president. i will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. i have that record and the scars to prove it. senator obama does not. , , instead of rejecting good ideas because we didn t think of them first, let s use the best ideas from both sides. instead of fighting over who gets the credit, let s try sharing it. this amazing country can do anything we put our minds to. i will ask democrats and independents to serve with me. and my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. , , we re going to finally start getting things done for the people who are counting on us, and i won t care who gets the credit. , , i ve been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. but i have been her servant first, last and always. and i ve never lived a day, in good times or bad, that i didn t thank god for the privilege. , , long ago, something unusual happened to me that taught me the most valuable lesson of my life. i was blessed by misfortune. i mean that sincerely. i was blessed because i served in the company of heroes, and i witnessed a thousand acts of courage, compassion and love. , , on an october morning, in the gulf of tonkin, i prepared for my 23rd mission over north vietnam. i hadn t any worry i wouldn t come back safe and sound. i thought i was tougher than anyone. i was pretty independent then, too. i liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it. but i did it for my own pleasure; my own pride. i didn t think there was a cause more important than me. , , then i found myself falling toward the middle of a small lake in the city of hanoi, with two broken arms, a broken leg, and an angry crowd waiting to greet me. i was dumped in a dark cell, and left to die. i didn t feel so tough anymore. when they discovered my father was an admiral, they took me to a hospital. they couldn t set my bones properly, so they just slapped a cast on me. when i didn t get better, and was down to about a hundred pounds, they put me in a cell with two other americans. i couldn t do anything. i couldn t even feed myself. they did it for me. i was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. those men saved my life. , , i was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. i knew why. if i went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners. our code said we could only go home in the order of our capture, and there were men who had been shot down before me. i thought about it, though. i wasn t in great shape, and i missed everything about america. but i turned it down. , , a lot of prisoners had it worse than i did. i d been mistreated before, but not as badly as others. i always liked to strut a little after i d been roughed up to show the other guys i was tough enough to take it. but after i turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. for a long time. and they broke me. , , when they brought me back to my cell, i was hurt and ashamed, and i didn t know how i could face my fellow prisoners. the good man in the cell next door, my friend, bob craner, saved me. through taps on a wall he told me i had fought as hard as i could. no man can always stand alone. and then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men i had the honor to serve with. because every day they fought for me. , , i fell in love with my country when i was a prisoner in someone else s. i loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. i loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. i loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. i was never the same again. i wasn t my own man anymore. i was my country s. , , i m not running for president because i think i m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. my country saved me. my country saved me, and i cannot forget it. and i will fight for her for as long as i draw breath, so help me god., , military images and information do not imply endorsement by dod or service branch , , if you find faults with our country, make it a better one. if you re disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. enlist in our armed forces. become a teacher. enter the ministry. run for public office. feed a hungry child. teach an illiterate adult to read. comfort the afflicted. defend the rights of the oppressed. our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself. , , i m going to fight for my cause every day as your president. i m going to fight to make sure every american has every reason to thank god, as i thank him: that i m an american, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. fight with me. fight with me. , , fight for what s right for our country. , , fight for the ideals and character of a free people. , , fight for our children s future. , , fight for justice and opportunity for all. , , stand up to defend our country from its enemies. , , stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful america. , , stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. nothing is inevitable here. we re americans, and we never give up. we never quit. we never hide from history. we make history. , , thank you, and god bless you. ,"	
"arlington, va -- u.s. senator john mccain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery in green bay, wi, today at 8:00 a.m. ct (9:00 a.m. et): , , thank you all very much. it s a great pleasure to be introduced by governor sarah palin -- and i can t wait to introduce her to washington. , , if governor palin and i are elected in 46 days, we are not going to waste a moment in changing the way washington does business. and we re going to start where the need for reform is greatest. in short order, we are going to put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on wall street. , , here and all across our country, people are wondering what exactly is happening on wall street. and with good reason, they want to know how their government will meet the crisis. clear answers are hard to come by in washington. , , as senator obama s leader in congress memorably put it the other day -- and i quote -- ""no one knows what to do."" perhaps given that reaction, it shouldn t surprise us that the congressional leaders of this do-nothing congress also said that they weren t going to take action until after the election, claiming that it wasn t their fault. i am hopeful that last night s discussions are a sign they have changed their mind and will take action soon. but any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safe guard the life savings of all americans by protecting our financial system. , , there are certainly plenty of places to point fingers, and it may be hard to pinpoint the original event that set it all in motion. but let me give you an educated guess. the financial crisis we re living through today started with the corruption and manipulation of our home mortgage system. at the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at fannie mae and freddie mac. , , these quasi-public corporations lead our housing system down a path where quick profit was placed before sound finance. they institutionalized a system that rewarded forcing mortgages on people who couldn t afford them, while turning around and selling those bad mortgages to the banks that are now going bankrupt. using money and influence, they prevented reforms that would have curbed their power and limited their ability to damage our economy. and now, as ever, the american taxpayers are left to pay the price for washington s failure. , , two years ago, i called for reform of this corruption at fannie mae and freddie mac. congress did nothing. the administration did nothing. senator obama did nothing, and actually profited from this system of abuse and scandal. while fannie and freddie were working to keep congress away from their house of cards, senator obama was taking their money. he got more, in fact, than any other member of congress, except for the democratic chairmen of the committee that oversees them. and while fannie mae was betraying the public trust, somehow its former ceo had managed to gain my opponent s trust to the point that senator obama actually put him in charge of his vice presidential search. , , this ceo, mr. johnson, walked off with tens of millions of dollars in salary and bonuses for services rendered to fannie mae, even after authorities discovered accounting improprieties that padded his compensation. another ceo for fannie mae, mr. raines, has been advising senator obama on housing policy. this even after fannie mae was found to have committed quote ""extensive financial fraud"" under his leadership. like mr. johnson, mr. raines walked away with tens of millions of dollars. , , senator obama may be taking their advice and he may be taking their money, but in a mccain-palin administration, there will be no seat for these people at the policy -making table. they won t even get past the front gate at the white house. , , my friends, this is the problem with washington. people like senator obama have been too busy gaming the system and haven t ever done a thing to actually challenge the system. , , we ve heard a lot of words from senator obama over the course of this campaign. but maybe just this once he could spare us the lectures, and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems. the crisis on wall street started in the washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling, and he was square in the middle of it. , , the financial services industry -- and there are many honest and honorable people who work in it -- plays a vital role in our economy. mutual fund companies help americans save for retirement. banks and lending companies provide the mortgages that help us buy our homes. investment firms supply the seed money that helps entrepreneurs create tomorrow s jobs. insurance companies protect us against unknown risks. , , yet as the financial crisis continues and bailouts and bankruptcies mount, it s clear financial firms have lost the trust of the american people. that trust cannot be regained unless we adopt some fundamental reforms. government has a clear responsibility to act and to defend the public interest. that is exactly what i intend to do. , , first, to deal with the immediate crisis, i will lead in the creation of the mortgage and financial institutions trust -- the mfi. the underlying principle of the mfi or any approach considered by congress should be to keep people in their homes and safe guard the life savings of all americans by protecting our financial system and capital markets. this trust will work with the private sector and regulators to identify institutions that are weak and fix them before they become insolvent. the mfi is an early intervention program to help financial institutions avoid bankruptcy, expensive bailouts and damage to their customers. this will get the treasury and other financial regulatory authorities in a proactive position instead of reacting in a crisis mode to one situation after another. , , the mfi will restore investor and market confidence, build sound financial institutions, assist troubled institutions and protect our financial system while minimizing taxpayer exposure. this is an important step, but it is not enough. i will also take the additional actions needed to make sure a crisis like this is never allowed to build and break over the american people again. , , second, i will propose and sign into law reforms to prevent financial firms from concealing their bad practices. an inexcusable lack of financial transparency allowed wall street firms to engage in reckless behavior that padded their profits and fattened executive bonuses when times were good, but now imperil the financial security of millions of americans when their bets turned sour. , , so much of the damage to our economy could have been avoided if these practices had been exposed to the light of day. americans have a right to know when their jobs, pensions, iras, investments, and our whole economy are being put at risk by the recklessness of wall street. and under my reforms for the financial sector, that fundamental right will be protected. , , third, we need regulatory clarity. the lack of transparency in our financial markets went unnoticed by the regulatory agencies scattered throughout washington charged with protecting the common good. we ve got the sec, the fdic, the cftc, the sipc, the occ, the fed. at best, this confusing assortment of regulators and institutions was egregiously lax in carrying out their responsibilities. at worst, they engaged in the old washington game of guarding their bureaucratic turf, instead of safeguarding the public interest and protecting investors. , , many in the financial services industry also either forgot or neglected their duty to act ethically and honorably. this shortcoming was aided and abetted by the creation of financial instruments that allowed lenders to escape any responsibility for the risk of their loans. in the past, lenders had to pay a price if they made a bad loan. today, fannie mae and freddie mac worked with wall street to bundle together all these dicey subprime loans and then pushed them off on investors who didn t have the tools of transparency needed to assess or even understand the risk. , , the current system promotes confusion, encourages bureaucratic infighting and creates incentives for financial firms to cut corners. we need to enhance regulatory clarity by holding the same financial activity to one regulatory standard. we don t need a dozen federal agencies doing the job badly -- we need the best federal agencies to do the job right. , , fourth, we must ensure that consumers and investors are protected. our regulatory system must protect consumers and investors by punishing individuals who engage in fraud, break contracts, or lie to customers -- like the predatory lenders who know you can t afford an adjustable rate mortgage, but mislead you into signing one. these actions are criminal and the people who commit them should be behind bars. and corporate governance rules will be reformed so that shareholders have a clear say in determining the pay of ceos and other senior executives. on my watch, the consequences for corporate abuse will not be more enrichment, but more likely an indictment. , , fifth, in cases where failing companies seek taxpayer bailouts, the treasury department will follow consistent policies in deciding whether to guarantee loans. it must have well developed remedies for a financial crisis. with billions of dollars in public money at stake, it will not do to keep making it up as we go along., , finally, the federal reserve should get back to its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation. it needs to get out of the business of bailouts. the fed needs to return to protecting the purchasing power of the dollar. a strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices. it will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again. , , all of these measures will calm and help us to avoid future panics and disasters in the financial markets. but to get through this tough time for america, and to come out stronger, we need a strategy of economic growth. and the massive new tax burden that my opponent plans for the american economy is exactly the wrong answer. his tax increase -- along with the enormous new federal programs he proposes -- are the surest way to turn a recession into a depression. in every respect, the obama tax hikes would make things even worse for the working people of this country. , , i have proposed, and will sign into law, an economic recovery plan for working americans that is directed to the middle class. it will grow this economy, create millions of jobs and bring opportunity back to americans. you will get a tax policy that creates family prosperity and allows you to save for the future. i will not raise your taxes on income or investments. and we will simplify the tax code so people can understand it and do their tax returns themselves. , , i will give every family a $5,000 credit to buy their own health insurance policy and let them chose their own doctor. this will make insurance affordable to every american. , , i will double the child exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 to help families pay for the rising cost of living. , , under my plan, a married couple with two children making $35,000 will get $5,000 to pay for health insurance and additional medical expenses. this family would get another $1,050 from my child exemption. that adds up to over $6,000. that is a lot more than what any hardworking middle class family, gets under the obama plan. , , business taxes will be cut from the second highest in the world at 35 percent to 25 percent. tax incentives will spur investment in new plants and equipment. research and development incentives will keep companies on the cutting edge of their industries. healthcare costs will diminish. companies will stop sending jobs overseas to low -cost, low- tax countries and start creating jobs here in america. , , i will expand markets for our goods and services. a one in five of all jobs in this country are linked to world trade. in five states alone pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin and colorado over 5 million jobs depend on trade. my economic recovery plan will create millions of jobs in america instead of driving them overseas. , , i will adopt an ""all of the above"" energy policy which expands our use of oil, natural gas, clean coal and nuclear facilities. we will embark on a national mission to build an alternative energy base, creating millions of new jobs. we will create the most diversified energy economy in the world. and, i will return to the american economy the $700 billion dollars we send overseas every year to buy oil. , , my opponent offers a very different economic future. he has continuously shifted his position on taxes. at the beginning of this campaign he promised to raise taxes on your savings and investments. he said he won t raise taxes for most people but he has voted 94 times in his short senate career for tax increases and against tax cuts. he said he would only tax the rich, but he voted this year to raise taxes on those making just $42,000. senator obama has simply not given americans good reason to trust him with your tax dollars. , , my opponent is against lowering taxes on businesses which are the second highest in the world. he will impose mandated health insurance on businesses that would cost up to $12,000 per employee. he opposes free trade. he also wants to take away the fundamental right of workers to have a secret ballot when voting to be part of a union. , , now is not the time for these destructive policies that will cripple business growth, destroy jobs and hurt the middle class. now is the time to take action to address this crisis and take action to put our economy back on a path of growth. , , even though democratic leaders say they don t know what to do, i believe the deep problems afflicting our financial system won t be solved by one political party. there is only one candidate in this race who has a record of reaching across the aisle to work out the bipartisan solutions needed to move our country forward in times of crisis -- and i will bring that same spirit of bipartisan cooperation to the white house. it took members of both parties to get america into this mess, and it will take all of us, working together, to lead the way out. , , thank you. , ,"	
"arlington, va -- u.s. senator john mccain today will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery in independence, missouri, at 10:00 a.m. ct (11:00 a.m. et): , , thank you all very much. , i appreciate the hospitality of the harry truman library institute. i m honored to be here in the town that sent harry truman to washington, and the town that welcomed him back when his work was done. , , president truman was a student of history, and he knew how suddenly a crisis could come about. and while so many things have changed in the 35 years since his passing, harry truman would surely recognize the sources of the financial crisis that now threaten the livelihoods of millions and the future of the entire american economy. only the vast sums of money would surprise him. but the costs of unbridled greed on wall street, the foolishness of politicians who fed the problem, and the recklessness of politicians who failed to meet the crisis -- all of these would have a familiar feel to the man from independence. , , we are square in the greatest financial crisis of our lifetimes. and i am pleased to report that today, i will be returning to the floor of the senate to vote on a bill that marks a decisive step in the right direction. the original proposal was flawed. i urged additions of taxpayer protections, stronger oversight, limitations on executive compensation and more protections for people s bank accounts. i am pleased that these are being added to improve the original bill. it took congress a while, and there were costs to these delays. but they have awakened to the danger. and today, with the unity that this crisis demands, congress will once again work to restore confidence and stability to the american economy. , , there will be a time to fix the blame for all that has happened -- especially in the case of fannie mae and freddie mac, and the abuses and political deal -making that corrupted those institutions. but our duty right now is to fix the problem, and that is the business that will shortly take me back to washington. following september 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. now, with this measure, we have another chance to come together to prove that washington is once again capable of leading this country. , , if the financial rescue bill fails in congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster. as credit disappears, students will no longer be able to get loans for college, and families looking for a new home will be unable to get a loan. new car sales will come to a halt. businesses will have difficulty securing credit for operations and may be unable to pay employees. if we fail to act, the gears of our economy will grind to a halt. , , , , this is a moment of great testing. at such moments, there are those on both sides of this debate who will act on principle. of course, there are always some who think first of their own interests, who calculate their own advantage instead of rushing to the aid of their country. but in the case of this bill, i am confident there are enough people of good will in both parties to help see america through this crisis. and when the last vote is cast, we can be grateful to all of them -- democrats and republicans alike -- for helping to solve the crisis instead of merely exploiting it. , , crises often have a way of revealing our better selves -- of showing what we are made of, and how much we can achieve when we are put to the test. this is true as well of the grave challenges we face in washington. yet it should not require extreme emergencies -- when the future of our entire economy is on the line -- to bring out the best in us, or to bring us together in service to the common good. we are supposed to do that even in the calmest of times. and if we worked together more often in that spirit, perhaps there would be fewer crises, close -calls, and near -disasters confronting our nation. , , just consider the day -to-day routine of congress -- even as the 110th congress ends, there remains a long list of challenges unmet. congress has failed to pass many of the appropriations bills funding the regular business of our government. from agriculture to the labor department to transportation, the majority of appropriations bills have not passed. even funding for the operations of the legislative branch itself has not passed. congress can t even find agreement on the yearly bill to pay for the congress itself. , , and while these routine funding issues are addressed at the last minute behind closed doors, the big challenges facing our country continue to languish. we still have made no progress to resolving our energy crisis. while we seek solutions to the economic crisis we face today, washington has been ineffective in addressing the housing crisis that started it. and in the face of mounting job losses, we still have not taken action to put our economy back on track with policies that would encourage job creation, or with updates to an unemployment system and job training programs that were created for the 1950s. , , our government is on the wrong track, our economy is struggling, and i expect we will receive more bad news with friday s unemployment report. it is a time for leadership and a plan to create jobs and get our country on the right track. , , i believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. i believe in rewarding hard work and letting people keep the fruits of their labor. we will keep the current low tax rates. we will simplify the current tax code. we will double the child exemption from 3500 dollars to 7000 dollars. we will give every family a 5000 dollar tax credit to buy their own health insurance or keep their current plan, and we will open up the national health -care market to expand choices and improve quality. and my administration will reduce the price of food by eliminating the subsidies for ethanol and agricultural goods. these subsidies inflate the price of food, not only for americans but for people in poverty across the world, and i propose to abolish them. , , i believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of americans, so they can create more jobs and keep our economy growing. so we will cut business taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent, to give american businesses a new edge in competition. we will spur new investment through r&d tax credits and expensing of equipment. and we will protect the right of workers to decide for themselves, by democratic vote, whether to unionize. , , keeping taxes low helps , small businesses grow and create new jobs. cutting the second highest business tax rate in the world will help american companies compete and keep our best jobs from moving overseas. doubling the child tax exemption will improve the lives of millions of american families at a time when the cost of living is rising. reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend and invest as you see fit. opening new markets for our goods and preparing workers to compete in the world economy is essential to our future prosperity. , , as president, i will also set this country on the straightest, swiftest path to energy independence. as a nation, we will embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. we are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don t like us very much. we will attack the problem on every front. we will produce more energy at home. we will drill new wells offshore, and we ll drill them now. we will build more nuclear power plants. we will develop clean coal technology. we will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. we will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles. and in all of this, we will create millions of new jobs, many in industries that will be the engine of our future prosperity -- jobs that will be there when your children enter the workforce. , , some still insist that we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. but americans know better than that. we must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and to restore the health of our planet. it s an ambitious plan, but americans are ambitious by nature, and we have faced greater challenges. it s time for us to show the world again how americans lead., , military images and information do not imply endorsement by dod or service branch , , as president, i will also act immediately with reforms to restore fairness, integrity, and financial sanity to the institutions that have failed us on wall street. we will apply new rules to wall street, to end the frenzies of speculation by people gaming then system, and to make sure that this present crisis is never repeated. we will bring regulatory agencies built for the 1930s into the 21st century. on my watch, the rules will be enforced, and violations will be prosecuted. and there will be new rules to shrink, sell, and clean house at fannie mae and freddie mac. , , we must also realize that this rescue plan has serious implications for future spending. we cannot dedicate more than a trillion dollars to rescue failing institutions, and then go right back to business as usual in washington -- as if there were no end to the resources of government or to the patience of taxpayers. therefore, as president, i will impose a one -year spending freeze on every agency of the federal government, excepting only national defense, the care of our veterans, and a few critical priorities. leadership requires candor. and i will tell you bluntly that america is already ten trillion dollars in debt, and to make our economy strong again we must reduce the burden of federal spending. we cannot tax our way to prosperity. i am committed to billions in spending reductions that will balance the budget, and get us on the path away from ruinous debt. , , the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems in washington isn t a cause, it s a symptom. it s what happens when people go to washington to work for themselves and not you. , , again and again, i ve , worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. that s how i will govern as president. i will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. i have that record and the scars to prove it. , , i offer this not just as a campaign slogan, but as the way to solve our country s problems. instead of rejecting good ideas because we didn t think of them first, let s use the best ideas from both sides. this great country can do anything we put our minds to. i will ask democrats and independents to serve with me. and my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. we re going to finally start getting things done for the people who are counting on us, and i won t care who gets the credit. , , that is the spirit of can -do patriotism, harry truman, that humble, good man from independence, missouri, brought to the presidency. when, to his and everyone s surprise, he assumed the office of the president and the mantle of leader of the free world, he faced the grave and difficult decisions that would end the world war and remake the world out of its ashes. , , he was a man of principle, of wisdom and a deep and abiding love for our country. his accomplishments in war and peace are among the most significant of any president in the twentieth century. he succeeded beyond everyone s expectations -- perhaps, even his own -- because every day harry truman woke up determined to put his country before party and self -interest. we would all be better public servants and the country would be better served if we tried a little more often to keep the example of this good american before us. , , thank you and god bless you. ,"	
"arlington, va -- u.s. senator john mccain today will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery on his pension and family security plan in blue bell, pa, at 11:30 a.m. et: , , thank you all very much. i appreciate the warm welcome to pennsylvania, and the hospitality of montgomery county community college. , , tomorrow will be the third and final presidential debate, and just 21 days remain until americans choose their next president. over the last 21 days, we have seen once-sturdy wall street institutions vanish, we have seen huge swings in the market both down and up, and we have seen new federal commitments in the hundreds of billions of dollars. we have seen how suddenly a crisis can unfold these last several weeks, and how great the costs can be in jobs, savings, lost opportunities and taxpayer dollars. what we need to see now is swift and bold action to lead this country in a new direction. , , if i am elected president, i will help to create jobs for americans in the most effective way a president can do this -- with tax cuts that are directed specifically to create jobs, and protect your life savings. i will stand up to the corrupt ways of washington, the wasteful spending and the abuses of power and i will end these abuses, whatever it takes. i will lead reforms to help families keep their homes, and retirees to keep their savings, and college students to pay their tuition, and every citizen to afford health care, and america to reclaim its energy independence. these will be my priorities. we cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. the hour is late and our troubles are getting worse. we have to act immediately. we have to change direction now. we have to fight. , , that is what i will do in my term as president, and when i leave office i can promise you that this nation will not be on the same path it is today. i will not play along with the same washington games and gimmicks that got us into this terrible mess in the first place. i am going to washington to fight for you. , , i will begin by making certain that the 700 billion dollars already committed to economic recovery is not used to further enrich the very people and institutions that invited these troubles with their own reckless conduct. instead of just propping up institutions deemed ""too big to fail"" in this crisis, we will use more of this public money to help businesses and homeowners that may be too small to survive. , , this financial crisis started with our housing crisis, and we cannot fix our markets and the economy until we fix the housing crisis. my plan will protect the value of your home and get it rising again by buying up bad mortgages and refinancing them so if your neighbor defaults he doesn t bring down the value of your house with him. i will direct the government to refinance troubled mortgages for homeowners and replace them with mortgages they can afford. this is what we did during the great depression and we can do it again. helping families who face default, foreclosure, and possible bankruptcy helps all homeowners, and will begin the process of recovery from this crisis. with so much on the line, the moment requires that government act -- and as president i intend to act, quickly and decisively. , , when the government does provide funds to shore up companies, the terms will be demanding, there will be complete transparency and the safety net for our financial system will not become a golden parachute for failed executives. moreover, we will not merely inject billions of dollars into companies and walk away hoping for the best. we will require that those companies be reformed and restructured until they are sound assets again, and can be sold at no loss -- or perhaps even a profit -- to the taxpayers of america. , , and when that is accomplished, in each instance, government will relinquish its interest in these private companies. we re going to get government out of the business of bailouts and equity stakes, and back in the business of responsible regulation. we will learn from this crisis to prevent the next one, with much stricter oversight. no more wild overleveraging, no more liabilities concealed from the public and from shareholders, no more bundling of assets to maximize profit by assuming insane risks. those days are over on wall street. with new rules of public disclosure and accounting, my reforms will make certain these betrayals of shareholders and the public trust are never repeated. , , we must restore trust to our financial system. on my orders, the department of the treasury will guarantee one hundred percent of all savings accounts for a period of six months. this will calm the understandable fears of widespread bank failure, while also restoring rational judgment to the choices of the market. , , as president, i will also act to protect investors -- especially those relying on their investments for retirement. current rules mandate that investors must begin to sell off their iras and 401ks when they reach age 70 and one half years old. those rules should be suspended to spare senior citizens from being forced to sell their stock just as the market is hurting the most. under the emergency measure i propose, we will also cut the tax rate for withdrawals from tax-preferred retirement accounts to ten percent. retirees have suffered enough and need relief, and the surest relief is to let them keep more of their own savings. , , it is essential that we avoid an exodus of capital from the market. senator obama yesterday offered up a proposal that would have the effect of encouraging early withdrawal of funds from 401(k) accounts, by suspending penalties through 2009. this is an invitation to capital flight, and therefore to continued instability in the market, at a moment when exactly the opposite is needed. any family that takes part in this will not see the benefits of the market recovery that smart policy can help bring about. in my administration, we will instead revive the market by attracting new investment. i will cut in half the capital gains tax on stocks purchased and held for more than a year -- from a rate of 15 to 7.5 percent. this vital measure will promote buying, raise asset values, help companies and shore up the pension plans for workers and retirees. , , we should also not penalize americans who are forced to sell investments in today s tough markets. i will increase the amount of capital losses from $3,000 to $15,000, which can be deducted from your ordinary income in tax years 2008 and 2009. so much of this decline in our markets and value destruction was due to the failure of congress and the administration to come out with a timely rescue package. investors are always responsible for their investment decisions, but the hard earned savings of americans should not be penalized by the erratic behavior of politicians. , , it will not be enough for the federal government to correct the excesses of wall street without reforming its own reckless practices. , , spending in washington is out of control and i am going to rein it in. as president, i will veto the pork barrel special interest projects that are wasting your tax dollars, driving up our debt, and weakening our dollar. i have proposed a one year spending freeze with certain exceptions for such things as defense and veteran care. we are going to use that year to turn washington inside out and get rid of wasteful, inefficient programs that do no one any good. , , while we put government back on your side, we must reform our tax system to deliver needed tax relief to working americans, and to create jobs. i will double the child deduction, from 3,500 dollars to 7,000 dollars. every person in america who chooses it will receive a 5,000 dollars towards the purchase of health insurance -- health plans that will be theirs to keep, even if they change jobs or move to another state. and we will reduce the federal business tax rate from 35 percent -- the second-highest in the world -- to 25 percent. i am also proposing today that for those who are between jobs, we eliminate all taxes on unemployment benefits. it is unclear to me why the government taxes money it has just sent you, and we should relieve this burden from americans who ve been hit the hardest. , , reducing business tax rates has the potential to stop and reverse the rise of unemployment, and could create millions of new jobs. despite the frequent changes to my opponent s tax plans in recent months -- he seems to revise them with each new poll -- his plan to raise taxes on 50% of small business income has survived. and even as he rails against companies that shut down their plants and move overseas, he refuses to cut the tax rate that drives many of these companies away. , , a typical middle -class family of four making 42,000 dollars a year with health insurance will get 4,350 more dollars under my plan than they would under senator obama s plan. that example of 42,000 a year in wages is especially relevant, because just last year senator obama voted to raise taxes on individuals making that amount. , , senator obama is also the same fellow who requested a million dollars a day in pork barrel earmarks ... who thinks that wasting 18 billion dollars a year in earmarks is not worth worrying about, who proposed a near doubling of the taxes on dividends and capital gains during the primary, who has voted 94 times for tax increases or against tax cuts, who is promising almost a trillion dollars in new spending, who came to the senate a few years ago and already earned the title of its most liberal member -- this is the man who now presents himself as a tax cutter and champion of middle -class america. , , he is an eloquent speaker, but even he can t turn a record of supporting higher taxes into a credible promise to cut taxes. what he promises today is the opposite of what he has done his entire career. perhaps never before in history have the american people been asked to risk so much based on so little. , , you can look at the record of what he s done or you can just go with your gut, but either, , military images and information do not imply endorsement by dod or service branch , , way you re left with the same conclusion: senator obama is going to raise your taxes. and in this economy, raising taxes is the surest way to turn a recession into a depression. , , senator obama also promises to restrict international trade and risk access to foreign markets for american goods and services. the last president to raise taxes and restrict trade in a bad economy was herbert hoover. that didn t turn out to well. they say those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. well, i know my history lessons, and i sure won t make the mistakes senator obama will. and were my opponent elected with a democratic congress in power, not only would there be no check on my opponent s reckless economic policies, there would be considerable pressure on him to tax and spend even more. , , this weekend, a plumber concerned that senator obama was going to raise his taxes asked him directly about his plan. the response was telling. senator obama explained to him that he was going to raise his taxes to quote ""spread the wealth around."" this explains how senator obama can promise an income tax cut for millions who aren t even paying income taxes right now. my friends, my plan isn t intended to force small businesses to cut jobs to pay higher taxes so we can ""spread the wealth around."" my plan is intended to create jobs and increase the wealth of all americans. , , my plan for economic recovery does not require guesswork or blind faith from the american people. you know my record. you don t have to hope i will do what i promise. when i say i will cut spending, you need only look at my record to know it s true. when i say i will defend taxpayers, you know it s true because it s what i ve always done. when i say i will work across the aisle, you can see it in the results i ve delivered. , , and when i say i will change washington, you know i ll do it, because for me change isn t a political slogan, it s what i ve been doing my whole career. , , i know you re worried. america is a great country, but we are at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future. will we continue to lead the world s economies or will we be overtaken? will the world become safer or more dangerous? will our military remain the strongest in the world? will our children and grandchildren s future be brighter than ours? , , my answer to you is yes. yes, we will lead. yes, we will prosper. yes, we will be safer. yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country. but we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom. , , i know what fear feels like. it s a thief in the night who robs your strength. , , i know what hopelessness feels like. it s an enemy who defeats your will. , , i felt those things once before. i will never let them in again. i m an american. and i choose to fight. , , don t give up hope. be strong. have courage. and fight. , , fight for a new direction for our country. , , fight for what s right for america. , , fight to clean up the mess of corruption, infighting and selfishness in washington. , , fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead. , , fight for the ideals and character of a free people. , , fight for our children s future. , , fight for justice and opportunity for all. , , stand up to defend our country from its enemies. , , stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. america is worth fighting for. nothing is inevitable here. we never give up. we never quit. we never hide from history. we make history. , , now, let s go win this election and get this country moving again. , , , ,"	
"arlington, va -- u.s. senator john mccain today delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery after meeting with economic and business leaders in cleveland, oh: , , i just finished meeting with my team of economic and business advisors. we have been meeting throughout this campaign, discussing the state of our economy and what we need to do to get this country back on track. this is a team of extraordinary leaders in business and government, with great insight into what we need to do to rebuild confidence, restore economic growth and create millions of new jobs. they, and many others, have helped me develop dynamic new economic policies, and in a mccain administration they will continue to advise me and help enact these important actions to get our economy moving again. , , i have been through tough times like this before and the american people can trust me -- based on my record and results -- to take strong action to end this crisis, restore jobs and bring security to americans. i will never be the one who sits on the sidelines waiting for things to get better. i believe that to lead, you must put forward your vision of our future, and that is what i have done. , , with one week left in this campaign, the choice facing americans is stark. my economic goals and policies are very clear -- one, i will protect your savings and retirement accounts and get this stock market rising again. two, i will keep people in their homes and fix our housing market. three, i will create millions of high-paying jobs through tax cuts that spur economic growth -- particularly for the small businesses which create 70 percent of all new jobs in this country. , , the first thing we must do is protect peoples  savings, investments and retirement accounts by stopping the declines in the stock market, and by getting the credit markets moving again so people can get home, car and business loans. to do this, we need pro-growth and pro-jobs economic policies, not pro -government spending programs paid for with higher taxes. , , this is the fundamental difference between senator obama and me. we both disagree with president bush on economic policy. the difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and i think that spending has been too high. , , my approach is to get spending under control and cut taxes to encourage individuals to invest in our markets or buy a home, and to encourage businesses to hire more workers. senator obama s approach is to radically increase spending, and then raise taxes to pay for it. today he claims that he will only tax the rich, but we have seen in the past that he is willing to support taxes that hit people squarely in the middle class, and with a trillion dollars in new spending, the most likely outcome is that everyone who pays taxes will be paying for his spending. , , my approach will lead to rising stock market prices, a stabilized housing market, economic growth and millions of new jobs. senator obama s plan will destroy business growth, kill jobs, and lead to continued declines in the stock market and make a recession even deeper and more painful. , , we need action today, even as we lay the foundation for growth tomorrow. to help put a floor on the stock market, we need people and institutions to start buying and holding their investments again. to incentivize investments, i have proposed that if you buy stock and hold it for a minimum of a year, your tax on that investment will be cut in half. , , to help retirees, i will eliminate a rule that forces people to take money out of their accounts when the markets are at these low levels. also when retirees do sell, they will be taxed at a low 10 percent rate versus a much higher personal income tax rate. these vital measures will promote buying, help companies raise capital and create jobs, shore up investment and retirement plans and get stock prices stabilized and rising again. , , but we also need to do more to build confidence that american investments and retirement accounts are safe, so i will reform the markets and wall street. i will make sure that the military images and information do not imply endorsement by dod or service branch , , sec enacts and enforces rules that keep our markets safe and competitive. i will demand complete transparency into the accounts and activities at all banks and insurance companies so they cannot take on the kind of risk that brought down the financial system. we will have strict rules of conduct on wall street and if they are broken executives will be severely punished. i know -- and the smartest people in business and industry agree -- that these actions will restore confidence, get stock prices moving up again and increase the value of your hard earned savings and investments. , , we also need to build confidence in our workers. through my middle class tax cuts, i will let you keep much more of what you earn so you can save and invest it. a typical middle - class family of four making $42,000 a year with health insurance will get $4,350 more dollars under my plan than under the obama plan. , , we cannot fix the economy until we fix the housing and mortgage markets and i have a plan for that as well. when i am president, the government will get out of the banking business fast. my highest priority for the $700 billion rescue plan will be to protect the value of your home, which is where most american savings are invested. i have announced a plan to replace bad mortgages for deserving people with more affordable new ones guaranteed by the government. this will stem the tide of foreclosures that are hurting families, shore up banks with troubled loans, and set a floor under the housing market and get home prices stabilized and rising again. , , i have said throughout this campaign that the best economic recovery plan is a secure well paying job. this morning we talked a lot about creating jobs. david farr who runs emerson electric has told me how pro-growth tax cuts like those i have proposed will incentivize him and hundreds of businesses that have sent jobs overseas to expand their businesses and hire people right here in america. lou anne reger who founded and runs a steel company in minnesota and massey villareal who employs 160 people in a computer services company in texas echoed david s comments and also add that obama s health mandate to require companies to provide the equivalent of a congressman s insurance plan, or get fined, will force them to cut jobs and would cripple their businesses in the worst economy in generations. let s make this very clear because senator obama has distorted my health care plan throughout this election. his plan will fine bus inesses and individuals so he can finance his version of government run healthcare. i will give every american a $5,000 health care credit, lower healthcare costs and let you take your insurance with you when you leave a job. that s the difference. , , this election comes down to how you want your hard earned money spent. do you want to keep it and invest it in your future, or have it taken by the most liberal person to ever run for the presidency and the democratic leaders who have been running congress for the past two years -- nancy pelosi and harry reid? this is a dangerous threesome. they believe that $1 trillion of rescue financing is not enough and have already proposed another $300 billion spending spree they are calling a stimulus plan. i would rather give the great american middle class additional tax cuts and let you keep that money and invest it in your future. , , as president, i will bring enormous talent -- like these great leaders here -- from outside of washington to shake up the government and get it working to promote economic growth and jobs for the american people. my team and i will take action to put an end to this economic crisis, restore confidence in our markets, get stock and home prices moving up again, grow businesses, create jobs and restore the great american dream. , , ,"	
"""i think the focus here has to be on the security of the united states. we should do nothing to compromise the security of the united states and we clearly need more security now after september 11th. if we need to be reminded of it, think of what happened in new jersey at fort dix. six who were apparently going to attack our troops at fort dix — three of them were illegal.... we need to know everybody who s in the united states. that s almost a basic of proper security. we need to know who s in the united states from foreign countries. a number of other countries do this. we should do it., ""so how do you get there? you need a tamper proof id card, which anyone who comes in here from a foreign country has, to have. it should contain identification criteria that is as tamper proof as possible. second, you have to have a database in which all these names are entered so that they can be found easily and we can make the determination of who s good, who s average, and who s bad. ... and finally we need to have a border patrol that is capable of dealing with it. if you have that, if you have the tamper proof id card and the database and you ve achieved the objective of we know who s in the united states, then i think this idea of working things out between the democrats and the republicans and each side has to make some compromises in order to get there, then i can see a lot of flexibility there to get that accomplished. but if you don t accomplish, if you go through all of this and you don t accomplish a tamper proof id card, a database in which we know everybody that is here, then you really haven t achieved making this country more secure ..."", , ,"	
"mayor giuliani: ""today s arrests remind us that we re at war. the reality is over the last couple of weeks we ve had two now major arrests of people who were organizing to attack in america and to attack americans. the first one was at fort dix, the second was at kennedy airport. it should remind us that the terrorists are at war with us both overseas and here in the united states. sometimes — i know this is a different kind of war so it s sometimes hard to focus on. but the reality is that today s arrests remind me of the fact that we have to stay on offense against terrorists. i believe that the fbi and police and united states attorney who uncovered this case, much like the united states attorney in newjersey and the fbi and police there, these are people who are on offense against terrorism. they are looking for this. in the past, before september llth, they weren t on offense, because we hadn t had the attack of september llth, so hindsight does help here. but the reality is that there are people in america who don t realize now how serious this threat is, and, you know, we have to remain on offense. it may also make it clear to us that this terrorist war against us, or our being on offense against them, is not just a political issue for one side or the other, it s a reality that we live with — we re going to live with for quite some time. so that we have to remain on offense, we need things like the patriot act, we need things like electronic surveillance, it has to be legal, but we need it. we need things like interrogation techniques to get information from people, legal again, but it has to be aggressive. these are the things that keep us safe in a world where there are more than a few people organized around islamic terrorists who want to harm us and to kill us."", reporter: ""do you think we re doing enough, do you think our immigration policy is tough enough, one of the suspects is not a united states citizen and he s an employee at jfk airport."", giuliani: ""well, you know, i would say that, obviously, the authorities involved in this investigation, it looks like it d been, going on for quite some time, have my admiration. i did that work for a lot of my life. i did that kind of work for a lot more of my life than anything else, even being mayor of new york. i was involved as an assistant united states attorney, a, united states attorney, and that s very tough, difficult work, and they did an absolutely great job, u.s. attorney in brooklyn in this case, the u.s. attorney in newjersey a couple of weeks ago, the fbi, police. the immigration policy in the united, states needs to be changed, and i m very disappointed that the legislation they re discussing doesn t accomplish it. all the debate, all the discussion, all the fighting that goes on, here s what has to be accomplished, it s real simple. and this is from someone where security has been a lot bigger part of my life than politics. we need to know everyone who s in the united states from a foreign country. the united states needs to have that information. other countries have that information. we re entitled to that information. it is possible, technologically, to acquire it. credit card companies track more information than that, by a lot. and the way to do that is to have a tamper proof id card in which people are identified, biometrically identified, fingerprinted, photographed. every single person that s in this country from a foreign country, the objective is to have them in a database. that s the reason why we need a fence, that s the reason why we need a technological fence, in order to determine people coming across our border that we re not finding out about. that s why we need a borderstat program that i talked about a couple of days ago in which we evaluate our success. and then, the people who are identified will all pay taxes, will all pay their fair share, and the people who don t have the id card and aren t identified, those are the people we throw out of the country. and if we can narrow this large group that we re dealing with to a smaller group, we re going to be far more effective in finding the terrorist, the drug dealer. when, the pool of people that are in this illegal category is so large it s an invitation to terrorists and drug dealers and criminals to hide. if you can narrow that pool to a much more definable group of people and distinguishing between those that are identified and have the id card, and are comfortable with the idea that they re here and they re here for good purposes, and then the people who don t have it, those are the people you focus on and you throw them out of the country."", reporter: ""should citizens have to carry that kind of id card?"", giuliani: ""no, this is for people that come from a foreign country. i mean, there are a lot of suggestions about social security cards and making them tamper proof and for everyone else, but this is a program that should exist for people that come here from a foreign country so that we get — see the problem with the legislation that exists now, this is, you, know they say any program written by a committee, or any speech or book written by a committee is like inconsistent, this is an inconsistent program. there are parts of it that are good, there are parts of it that are bad, there are parts of it you can t figure out how things could actually be worse. it s because it has no unifying purpose. the unifying purpose of it should be that we are able to identify all the people that are in this country and they have a tamper proof id card. if you can accomplish that, then a lot of the other issues, who gets to work, what they have to do if they work, how we deal with people that are here and want to become citizens so they don t get ahead of people that are legal and still have some opportunity, all those things could work themselves out."", , ,"	
"mayor giuliani: ""[new hampshire is] a great place to talk about what s gone wrong in washington. i think that this is not a criticism of any particular person, not necessarily a criticism of republicans or democrats. the fact is washington, doesn t work anymore. do you know how many people have told me that all over the country? in the last four or five years, the thing that has been said to me most often other than talking about the terrorist threat, the thing that i ve heard the most often about domestic policy is the following - i can almost state it because i know it by memory now - washington doesn t work anymore, they don t accomplish anything, we send them there, they either don t fix things or they make things worse when they try to fix them. and then you can fill in the blanks. they don t seem to be able to fix our tax system and simplify it. they don t seem to be able to fix social security. they don t seem to be able to fix the astronomically rising costs of medicare/medicaid that threaten to take over our entire budget. ... so we need a change in washington. we need a big change in washington, not just an alteration, of course, we need a change in thinking and the way washington works and the way washington has to be made accountable. and i m the person who can do that. ..."", ""the reality is that the only [presidential candidate] that had to tackle a problem like the problem that has to be tackled now in washington, the only one, is me. i ve had the background and experience to deal with making washington accountable. the other candidates haven t faced a challenge like that. i faced that challenge in new york city. i faced that challenge in 1992 and 1993 when i ran for office. and nobody, absolutely nobody, thought it could be done. nobody. i, said  we re going to make new york city accountable, we re going to make new york city government work.  and nobody believed it. people wondered if i even believed it. i did. and we made it happen. and all the things people said could not be done got done. ... i made the government accountable. we changed the headlines from  new york city is unmanageable , which used to be the name of a book, or  new york city is ungovernable , which was the title of another book, we changed it to, by 2000, time magazine putting us on the front cover saying,  new york city is the, best-governed, most effective city in the united states of america and the best example of urban renaissance.  and we did it just like we re going to do it in washington - through accountability. we held people accountable."" (rudy giuliani, town hall meeting, new castle, nh, 6/6/07), , ,"	
"since september 11, we ve spent a lot of time improving our airport security.... there s a tendency -- in emergency, planning and security planning, there s a tendency sometimes to always focus on the last attack, and to sort of assume the next one is going to be like the last one. and i m afraid that that can t be the model with these terrorists that we re facing., and i commit myself...to make sure that we bring port security up to the same level as airport security, because that might very well be the way they try to attack us next time., in new york city we developed a plan called compstat.... same thing is necessary at our ports.... we need a portstat, program that can extend the principle by monitoring what comes into our country, helping to secure our seaports and our global maritime trade.... portstat can tell us that by identifying the strengths and the weaknesses along our supply chain. ... portstat would build on the same principles that made compstat such a success., the four principles of compstat: accurate and timely intelligence, effective tactics, rapid deployment of resources where you see a problem...relentless follow-up and assessment., for example, you d want to know how many containers have been screened in any period of time for radiation before they get to our seaports. if a nuclear weapon is set to explode when it arrives...it does no good to wait to inspect the cargo until the contents are unloaded onto trucks 7 days later. it has to be inspected where it is loaded on the ship, where it s put in the container. you have to be able to document that. if you find anything that s suspicious, you have to be able to follow up on it. we need to know whether a container is a danger, before it gets to our shores., and we need a system to determine how effective we are in doing those inspections.... it is necessary to deploy accountability measures like this in order to figure out where we re being effective, where we re not being effective, and where the additional resources have to be secured., and if we commit to this, it will also aid us in the exchange of intelligence. part of the key to compstat is a complete exchange of intelligence.... we re going to need the cooperation of law enforcement organizations all over the world for you to do your work effectively. and then we need a system to track that all the way through.... and nowadays, if you have a system for tracking information, it s phenomenal what you can achieve and what you can do."", , , ,"	
"""we ve tried to study what we think are the most important issues, at least at this point in the election, and we tried to look forward to the future: you know, what are going to be the things that lead us into the future in a confident, effective, and optimistic way. so we re laying out a declaration of 12 commitments to the american people. it s a group of promises, of things that this campaign is going to be about and my administration will be about. they re commitments that, over a period of time, we will describe in much greater detail.... these are the 12 things that i believe will change the way we look at this campaign. a lot of what the democrats are doing is like looking in the rear-view mirror. they want to take the country and they want to take it back to where it used to be in the 1990s: higher taxes, being on defense against terrorism. my commitment is all to the future. we look back only to look at our mistakes and improve on the mistakes we made in the past. we completely look forward. so these are 12 commitments as to the future of this country. and our campaign and our political party should be about the future. my focus when i ran for mayor of new york city was on the future, and it will be in this campaign., ""what the whole thing of being president of the united states or mayor of a city or governor of a state is about, it s about trying to hand off your city, your state, your government, better than you found it -- very, very much improved beyond where you found it. so we re going to lay out a mission of reform and change. we re going to lay out a mission of, overcoming new challenges. we re going to lay out a mission of doing what other people think are impossible. i love that. i love doing what people think are impossible., ""nothing energizes people more than doing the impossible. and when we lay out these commitments as to many of these, you know what you re going to hear in the next couple of days/weeks? ...  it s impossible; it can t be done.  ... every, promise i made running as mayor of new york city, they said couldn t be done.... and the whole theory was new york city was unmanageable, ungovernable. nobody could do anything about it. four or five mayors before had tried; they had all failed.  that s impossible.  well, when we lay out these commitments, you re going to hear that, too. you re going to hear:,  it s impossible.   it can t be done.   nobody can do it.  that is exactly the spirit and the energy that we need to get it done. because here is the great genius of the american people: we do things that people don t expect can be done. but you ve got to learn to energize people.... this is not about government. it s about you. you re the thing that makes things work. people are. government either interferes or helps. government doesn t control. if you can figure that out -- if you can figure that out, you can figure out how to do the impossible. so that s the spirit in which we re going to lay out these commitments to the american people. they are about optimism; they are about the future. ... leadership is about taking your eyes that are planted down like this now, worried about this thing and that thing, and it s to get your eyes up and focused on the future: what we can do, what we can accomplish, never taking no for an answer, and being willing to push ahead, despite the fact that pessimists and others say it s impossible."", , , ,"	
"""we need to support legislation that would stop irresponsible and anonymous earmarks.... and here s how you stop it: a, bill that has it earmarked should have the name of the congressman or senator who is proposing that spending so you can find out about it, you can know about it, the watchdog press can know about it. and next to that there should be an, estimate of how much it costs. that should be done in advance. in fact, all congressional legislation should have that done in advance. there should be an estimate of what it costs, but particularly the earmark spending. and a president, whether it is me or anyone else, should tell you that if that spending is not properly identified, that we will veto that legislation to make sure that we don t have this kind of spending that starts off with this project here, that project there, this project here, this project somewhere else, that is totally unaccountable, and then spending just gets totally out of control. so we re going to need legislation that requires the earmarks be identified."", mayor giuliani on reducing the federal workforce by twenty percent , ""forty-two percent of federal employees will retire within the next 8 to 10 years. ... here is what i would do: i would try to not rehire for those positions about half, because that would be the perfect way to make the transition into the information age. these jobs were largely created in some cases before we had computers, in many cases before we had the internet, in many cases--in many, many cases before the information age. most american corporations have gone through this transition. ... the federal government needs to go through that. ... and the savings you can get from that, if you just follow the practice of forty-two percent retire, we only hire back half for new positions, you save 21 billion dollars. this is the way the president has to think.... if the thinking about cutting back and cutting down does not come from the top, like it did with ronald reagan, it doesn t happen, because there s no place else in government that thinks this way."", mayor giuliani calls for a constitutional amendment establishing the line-item veto , ""[w]e should enact a constitutional amendment that allows for a line-item veto. ... i said before that a president should veto any legislation that doesn t properly identify earmarks. let me make one amendment to that. ... the iraq spending bill that president bush signed contained earmarks for what would be regarded as outrageous and irrelevant spending, having ... nothing to do with iraq ... the president signed that bill. ... the president had no choice because otherwise he d leave the troops without the materials they would need to stay alive and to function. if the president had the line-item veto, the president could cut those out. the president could take the iraq spending bill, for example, cut out anything that s irrelevant to iraq, veto that, sign the rest of the bill, he d have the money for the troops, and ... he d exercise discipline over the out-of-control spending. the president doesn t have that power under our constitution. ... the only way you re going to change that is a constitutional amendment, in order to give the president the power that i believe about 41 or 42 governors have."", mayor giuliani on requiring agencies to submit 5-20% budget cuts each year , ""i had great commissioners [in new york city]. i would not have achieved anything without their work, their creativity. however, even with all the great commissioners that i had, never once in the 8 years that i was mayor did any one of my commissioners ever knock on my door, come in and say,  cut my agency by 10 percent.  i doubt that too many cabinet secretaries do that either.  say, mr. president, please cut my agency by 5 or 10 percent. i don t need that much.  so congress doesn t do it. congress thinks about how many more projects can we do to get ourselves reelected. we ve demonstrated that, right? so if you re going to exercise discipline, if the president doesn t do it, it doesn t happen. ... the process of discipline has to start with the president, and the president needs to enforce it, and i will. ... we will ... use a concept that i borrowed from ronald reagan. he used it, and i would use it with the federal government, and that is to ask every agency to make cuts of 5 to 20 percent [annually]. put the burden on them to show us what needs to be cut. in new york city we saved over 2.1 billion dollars over 8 years. you can save a lot more with the federal government. it s a lot bigger than new york city."", , ,"	
"mayor giuliani on cutting taxes , ""[t]here s a big difference between republicans and democrats about what to do about taxes. every one of the democratic candidates - at least the three principal ones, that i ve listened to in the debates that they have, say they are going to raise taxes. when they say they are going to reverse the bush tax cuts, that translates into raising your taxes anywhere from twenty to twenty-five percent., ""i believe in just the opposite. i think we should maintain those tax cuts, i even think we should improve them because i have a very, very strong, not just belief, but i have had experience doing that. and i don t think any of my opponents has had this experience.... i ran a government for eight years. i ran the third or fourth largest government in the country. and i ran a government that was one of the most heavily taxed in the country. new york city has taxes you never heard of. ..., ""[w]hile i was the mayor i lowered 23 or limited 23 different taxes. who could possibly have 23 different taxes but we did and i lowered them dramatically. just for example the income tax, i lowered the new york city income tax about 24, 25 percent. one quarter, that s a big reduction in the income tax., ""i want you to think about that. democrats, they honestly don t understand this. this is a major difference between us. they believe you ve got to raise taxes to take in more money for the government. the reality is if you raise taxes particularly in a society that s heavily taxed you end up ultimately taking in less money ... for the government. then you have to raise taxes some more. we ve been through that cycle before and if you elect a democrat in 2008 you re going to begin that cycle all over again. ..., ""i do not understand why they want to reverse these tax cuts. i really don t. i don t understand why hillary clinton and john edwards and barack obama kind of fall all over themselves telling you they want to reverse the bush tax cuts. here s the simple fact, the simple fact is we re collecting more money from the lower taxes than we used to collect from the clinton taxes. ..., ""[i] had to assert fiscal discipline in a place where it was more difficult to do than washington d.c. we lowered taxes, we lowered the rate of growth of government, we asserted fiscal discipline over the city, and the city of new york, to this day, is continuing to prosper. so, i just don t believe in these things, i have a strong commitment to them because ... i ve done them more than anyone else running for president."" ..., , ,"	
"""[i] am committed to restoring discipline in washington. it is real simple... it means lower spending and lower taxes. that s what fiscal discipline means. it means you lower taxes, so you put more money back into the hands of the people and you lower the size of government because most of the solutions that we re going to find to our problems come from you, not from government. ..., ""you see, i think there is kind of a choice to make in a heavily taxed society and we re a heavily taxed society. no matter where you are in america, we re taxing you and we re taxing you pretty heavily. in a heavily taxed society, any time you can find ways in which to reduce taxes and put it back into the hands of people, you made a choice. you made a choice about who can spend money more wisely, the government or people. and every time we make that choice the people always turn out to be the ones that spend it in a more sensible way. ..., ""when i was mayor of new york, i took over a city whose tax burden was tremendous. i had a deficit. in other words, i was, losing money... i decided to lower taxes. some of the liberal press went crazy. how could you lower taxes when you have a deficit? ... well, here s what happened. i lowered taxes and i was collecting more money from the lower taxes than from the higher taxes. ..., ""but it s really important to understand, because the next president is going to face a choice. the democratic candidates for president are committed to raising your taxes. one of them - the leading democratic candidate - in talking about the bush tax cuts and the need to reverse them and the need to add new taxes, had the following quotation - i want you to think about this quotation because i think this tells you the difference in philosophy between the democratic candidates, and me. this leading democratic candidate said,  we have to take things away from you for the common good.  ... here s a much better philosophy for a democratic society, for a free economy, here s the thing that works in america = we re, going to give some things back to you for the common good. ..., ""[e]ven after lowering taxes, i m committed to lowering the size of government. i also did that in new york city and that was really hard to do. and there s a way to do - there s a good guide that you can use. over the next eight to ten years, forty-two percent of the federal workforce comes up for retirement. and if all things remain equal, they re probably going to retire. ... [t]his is non-military... so you get a choice what to do with their positions, right? it doesn t hurt them, they re not going to lose a job, so do you hire all those positions back? no. you don t hire, i mean, at least half you don t have to, hire back. and it will allow government to make the transition that business has made. business has made the transition to the computer age; to the age of technology; to the information age. ... it would save the government over twenty billion dollars a year. so we need a president that thinks that way. we need a president that thinks about how do you reduce, government ... how do you move more of it into the private sector? how do you continue to reduce taxes? we ll keep taxes low and i ll reduce them some more. ..., ""you do away with the death tax. you allow people to realize this portion of the american dream. part of being in america is wanting to create a better life for yourself and your family. and you should be allowed to pass on the better life that you earned to your children, just like you want them to pass on a better life to their children. if we did away with the death, tax, if we gave it the death penalty, we d be able to realize those values and help our economy. so i m in favor of doing that."", , , ,"	
"""[a]nother one of my commitments that i m spending today talking about ... is to make america energy independent. that s one of the ways we can win the terrorist war against us, by the way. it s not just all military, it s not just all even political, it s not just all diplomatic or intelligence. part of it s economic also. our reliance on foreign oil, the world s reliance on oil particularly from the middle east, creates a lot of the leverage that they have over us, particularly iran. and if we can become energy independent or energy diversified, meaning we don t have to rely on the middle east or rely on it as much as we do or the rest of the world does, we can defeat them. they won t have the economic power that they have today., ""[iowans] play a big role on it. i was just at an ethanol plant - iowa should be very proud of itself. you play a big role in how we are going to become energy independent, not the only role, but a big role. ethanol, biodiesel, clean coal, nuclear power, more refineries, conservation ... there s no one single solution, but each one of these has to be expanded 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent. ... wind, solar and hydro electric is now at ... about seven percent of our source of energy. if we get that to 15 percent, 18 percent, by that much you ve reduced--you bring ethanol up, bring it up to the levels for example in brazil, that will offset the reliance on foreign oil. you get nuclear power up 20 to 25 percent, that s another big reduction. you try to rely more on coal, good clean coal. america has more coal reserves than saudi arabia has oil reserves. aren t we safer and better off relying on our own coal reserves than on a part of the world that [is] a threat to us? so i m a big, big believer in energy independence ..."", ,"	
"""so i m going to talk ... about healthcare and how we can really very, very much change the whole way in which we view healthcare in this country, and solve the problem of out-of-control lack of access. the way we have to do it is the american way. and that s really important, and i have to emphasize that. we ve got to do it the american way. the american way is not single-payer, government-controlled anything. that s a european way of doing something. that s a, frankly, a socialist way of doing it. that s why when you hear democrats in particular talk about single-payer, mandated healthcare, universal healthcare, what they re talking about is socialized medicine. they re talking about single-payer — government — controlling your healthcare decisions., ""so how do we fix healthcare? the american way. not the french way, not the english way, not the cuban way, not the canadian way. how do we fix it the american way, and make it work better for everybody? how do we make it work for more people, work better, and work cheaper? well, there s only one way to do that. there s only one way to make something cheaper and better. it s called a large consumer market. that s the only way you can do it. got to have private ownership. all of us have to take a little bit more control. each one of us can make a contribution by taking a little more control of our healthcare., ""so here s what i would do. i would try to urge as many americans as possible to go buy their own health insurance. ... what i m recommending is that we give a big incentive for americans, right at the very beginning, to go get their own health insurance. how do you do it? you create a $1 5,000 tax exemption for a family. $7,500 for a single individual. that could be converted into a family when a person gets married, starts to have children. you get that write-off on your taxes right off the top. if you go buy a health policy, if you can go find one for $12,000, let s say, that meets your needs, then you get $3,000 in tax-free money for yourself. you keep that. put it in a health savings account. that could be converted to a pension account. this — over a lifetime ... this could be an enormous amount of money., ""[t]he idea is that people will have an incentive to buy their own health insurance. they ll get a big tax deduction for it, they ll get room for a health savings account, and as that health savings account grows, you can start thinking of a higher and higher deductible, which means you can take the premium down even further. ... when you re doing that, you re helping everybody else, too, because you re driving the price down for everybody else. if one person does it, that helps. if two do it, it helps even more. if a hundred do it, it helps a lot. if a thousand do it, a million do it — 2 million, 3, 4, 5 million ..., ""now, remember, the people that don t have health insurance are not the poorest of the poor, by and large. the poorest of the poor have medicaid. the people that don t have health insurance are the people who are unlucky enough to be in that sort of middle, or that gap. so they have some resources; it s just that health insurance is too darn expensive for those resources to mean anything. so the job that we have to do for all americans is to bring down the cost of health insurance, and find an honest, real market, like they did for televisions and ipods and telephones. deal with it the american way., ""i am very concerned that we re shrinking the medical profession in this country, and we re shrinking the medical profession in this country because we sue them so much. out of control. way out of control. ... this is what s happening, to the medical profession. we have — we have states in which women can t find ob-gyns. i go around this country and there are places in which women can t find a doctor to deliver their baby, because it is so darn expensive just to begin an ob-gyn practice.... so we have to straighten out our legal system. that is an enormous expense on our healthcare., ""in short, to sum up, the whole purpose of this is, we ve got to solve our healthcare problems with american principles, not with principles of socialism. and i know my good friends the democrats will say that ... it s unfair to say it s socialized medicine. but i m a realist. i face reality. that s what it is. if you take more people, have the government cover it, it is called socialized medicine. that s what it is. go look at the other countries who do it, who have the single-payer system. look at their experience with it. and do you know what they re doing? they re changing to our kind of system, because they are in ruin with this, with the system they have., ""i don t care what michael moore says in his movie. i have had lots of people ask me for help in finding hospitals and, doctors, particularly for cancer. i ve had lots of people ask me that. and i ve had some people from europe ask me that, to get help to come into an american hospital. i ve never had anybody ask me for help to get into a cuban hospital or a canadian hospital or an english hospital. they all want to come to america. so let s take what s right about our system and let s improve it."","	
"mayor giuliani: it s a great pleasure to be here, to a dedicated group like this that s dedicated to low taxes, low spending, pro-growth policies. i consider you dedicated to common sense. (), so i d like to start off right away with a declaration of my political beliefs and political faith. i m a supply-sider..., (), ... because i believe that we re essentially a private economy, and that if the government returns money to the private economy, that economy grows., now, i not only believe this, i actually — i believe i m the only one running for president who has actually made this work. , i ve actually made it work. i ve actually done it., so i m not a supply-sider just out of theories, or ideas. i m a supply-sider because i ve actually made it work and showed the results of it in tremendous economic growth., , low taxes — low taxes stimulate growth, they expand freedom, they spark innovation and they increase prosperity. but why would anybody be surprised by that? freedom works., , a lot of people will come here, and they re going to be talking about tax cuts and spending cuts and economic results, and i think that s great. i appreciate all the support for those principles that we can have., but i point out to you that i m the one who has the record of results from doing each and every one of those things, not once, not twice, but in many cases eight, nine, 10, 12 times, and against very, very big odds., , so i ask you to just — i ask you to compare results. rhetoric s important. ideas are important. the most important things are results., and the results that i had in new york city was a city that i was handed that was in economic distress; some people thought in economic crisis. we had 10 percent or more unemployment. we had lost 350,000 jobs. our taxes were the highest in the country. our citizens were leaving in large numbers. people were hopeless. sixty percent of the population, 70 percent of the population wanted to live somewhere else. do you know what it feels like to finally get elected mayor of the city that you come from, and 70 percent of the people want to leave and go somewhere else?, , by the time i left, 70 percent wanted to stay., seventy-five percent thought it was going in the right direction. we cut unemployment in half. we replaced the loss of 350,000 jobs with a gain of 460,000 jobs. we moved 640,000 people off welfare., , and all the things that i said we accomplished — which i call results, not just rhetoric or talk — all of the things that i just said we accomplished, we accomplished with the policies and the programs that you believe in and the policies and programs that you re going to discuss at this conference: smaller government, lower taxes, much more accountable government, more balanced regulations., in other words, we very simply reduced the influence of government over the economy of new york city, we reduced taxes by $9 billion and we put the taxes back in the pockets of our citizens, and those citizens used that money more wisely than government., , so i don t even know why we debate it any longer. how about we just make a simple statement: tax cuts work? they work. (), they worked for president kennedy. they worked for president reagan. they work for president bush right now. they helped germany and japan rebuild after their economies were broken by world war ii. they worked in new york city for me. even france..., , even france is considering tax cuts under sarkozy. (), giuliani: even france!, the only place — and i ve been checking on this; maybe they ll contradict me when they check on this — the only place — the only place anybody in the whole world is thinking about tax increases is right here in washington, d.c. that s it., , and they happen to be democrats and they re running for president of the united states., , i got to tell you my dream. i ve got to tell you my dream. are there any psychiatrists in this audience?, , ok. here s the dream., i just read this book a few weeks ago by the new president of france, nicolas sarkozy. president sarkozy is writing probably about a year ago, and he s writing about how he wants to come to the united states — wants to come to the united states and he s writing about how he wants to use our policies to help france., whether it s reducing taxes — corporate taxes, reducing the size of government, he wants to do something very similar to what i want to do — only rehire half the people who retire to shrink the civilian workforce., you like that idea?, giuliani: yes, that s a great idea, isn t it?, and he wants to get the french to work more than 35 hours a week., come on, we re for that, right?, giuliani: and he wants to do it by giving them tax-free income after 35 hours a week., so i have this dream, now, about four or five times — can t get rid of it, have it over and over again., president sarkozy is on an airplane. he s flying to the united states. this other airplane is coming from the united states to france. it gets perilously close to his airplane. they almost hit as they cross over the atlantic. they get real close to each other, like this., so you can see inside the window of sarkozy s plane from the other plane, and sarkozy can see inside the window of the plane headed for france. and they all wave to each other, because they recognize each other., sarkozy s in one plane. and the people going from the united states to france waving to him are hillary clinton, barack obama and john edwards., , they want to go to france to figure out how they can take all those failed policies and put them in effect here in the united states..., , ... bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation., giuliani: well, i told you, i speak about this from the point of view of not just philosophy. i do agree with the philosophy and the ideas, but i speak about it because i made it work for me., and i made it work for me under what could ve been described as the worst of circumstances. became mayor of new york city, tremendous deficits, large unemployment, tremendous lack of spirit, people leaving the city, jobs leaving, and a commission had been put together — don t you love commissions?, , the commission for everything., but there was a commission put together how to solve the fiscal problems of new york city. and they wrote up a big report and they sent it to me a couple of weeks after i was elected., and the new york times really liked this report a lot. so the new york times wanted to know, what are you going to do with the report?, the report recommended higher taxes, higher regulations, more fees, more government control., i said, well, you know what i m going to do with the report? in fact, i think i ve already done it. i m going to throw it in the garbage., , and i did. i threw it in the garbage., and what i did was, i went in the other direction. we went line by line and we cut spending. we reduced the burden of regulations. we privatized to the extent that we could., and here s what we did over and over and over again: we cut taxes. i recommended 64 tax cuts. we accomplished 23 of them that i approved. we cut taxes by over $9 billion., we took the income tax and reduced it by 24 percent. and by the time i was finished, we were collecting 41 percent more revenues from the low tax than we used to collect from the high tax. so don t tell me that tax cuts don t work., , we changed our welfare offices. we gave them a new name and a new function., you know what the new name of the welfare offices were in new york? job centers. job centers., , but doing this — but doing this took a lot more — took a lot more than just rhetoric. it took a lot more than just tinkering with a few laws and regulations. what it took was transforming a culture., in the case of new york, it meant taking on the very bad ideas, the liberal ideas that were at the core of the city s decline for several generations., it meant taking on a belief that taxpayers exist to serve government. it s the other way around: government exists to serve you, the people. that s the way it s supposed to work in this country., , it meant taking on the establishment., and i have to tell you, it was really good training so that i ll be able to be the one to take on washington, and change the culture of spending in this city, just like i did in new york., , democrats illustrate one of president ronald reagan s favorite quotations. public funds seemingly belong to no one and the temptation to bestow them on someone is irresistible., , that s a temptation that democrats just can t seem to avoid. let me give you one very recent example., hillary clinton, the other day, proposed giving every single baby born in the united states..., ... a hillary bond..., , ... worth $5,000 each. now, i know this never occurs to the people like hillary and the other democrats here in washington, but you know something? i got news for you: this costs money., , doesn t just come — doesn t come from the trees. doesn t come down from heaven. it costs money., and when i hear a proposal like that, unlike the democrats who make it — who, by the way, in the case of the three leading democrats, have never run a city, they ve never run a state, i don t think they ve ever run a business. they want you to give them on-the- job executive training in the executive office of the united states as president., , giuliani: not a good idea. not a good idea. what do you think?, giuliani: how about you never drove before and we re going to give you this complex machine? you want somebody flying your airplane that has no hours of experience flying airplanes?, giuliani: not me., but this is why they make proposals like this., when i hear that, the first moment i heard that — the first moment i heard hillary wants to give away $5,000 bonds to every child born in the united states, do you know the first question i asked: how many children are born in the united, states? because i was going to multiply that by the $5,000., because i ran a city. i ve run a business. i know how to make a payroll and i know how to reduce expenses. do you know how much money it is per year? $20 billion., giuliani: hillary, that s real money., , you and bill can t afford that. it s got to come out of somebody s pockets. you know who it comes out of? , giuliani: yours, mine, hardworking americans. hard-earned tax dollars. $20 billion?, and it s going to be more than that, because we re going to have to add to that the cost of the large bureaucracy that s going to have to print up the bonds, right? with hillary s picture on them. you have to print up the bonds., , you got to mail them out to all 4 million kids, right?, you may just have to check and make sure you re getting valid birth certificates. you think somebody might think of cheating if they get — no., no. no, we ll just send them all the money, that s — you know, we ll just..., , now, the other question is, if she s going to do this, maybe she ll make it retroactive., , and did you ever think that children of illegal immigrants will have to get this bond? they re born in the united states. they re citizens of the united states., and some of the people who get this bond, this money, may not need it. suppose the gateses have another child. suppose they have twins., , you ll be sending them 10 grand., , i know they get real upset when i say, you know, hillary and john edwards and barack obama want to move us to socialized medicine. well, they do, you know?, but tell me this isn t a socialist idea, tell me this doesn t come out of a wellspring of thinking that has its roots in socialism: send everybody a $5,000 bond., george mcgovern wanted to send everybody a $1,000 check back in 1972., and if you figure out what $1,000 is worth now, you know what it s worth now? $4,810. bad socialist ideas never die..., , they get resurrected in one way or another., , each democratic candidate promises to raise taxes. you can be sure — you know, this is a promise they re going to keep, all right?, you know that., we ve got a different approach. we re going to cut spending, we re going to cut taxes. i guarantee you in a giuliani administration, the days of anonymous earmarks are over on day one., , i look at it this way: i used the broken windows theory to reduce crime in new york by more than it was reduced in any city in the country. i m going to use a broken windows theory on earmarks., the earmarks are the broken windows of the budget. they re signs of distress. they show a system that s not working. it s like graffiti on the wall of our spending culture., so, we ll end earmarks. we ll make sure that that anonymous spending — that anonymous pork barrel spending — that, just like hillary s proposal, adds up to a lot of money when you finally calculate all of that., and republicans have a lot of responsibility here. when people tell me we lost congress last time, i believe one of the reasons we lost congress is, unfortunately, our party in the congress became just like the democrats as far as spending money concerned. shame on us. shame on us., , we re supposed to stand for something, and what we stand for is fiscal discipline. and when i m nominated, we ll have this party back as a party clearly rooted in fiscal discipline: restraining spending, no more earmarks, low taxes, a growth party., but just in case you think that democrats keep their word, they said they were going to do away with earmarks. do you know how many they requested in the first six months of this congress? thirty-two thousand. that s 32,000 times that they didn t keep their word and they re going in a direction that is worse than the republicans., but you had to know that because republicans are amateur spenders and democrats are professionals., , so what are we going to do? what we re going to do is, first, just like we did in new york, we re going to keep the marginal tax rate low. we re going to make sure that the , we re going to index the alternative minimum tax for inflation so it doesn t begin to grow and affect more and more americans in a way that it was never intended to do., we re going to create new tax savings accounts and new health savings accounts so that people can buy their own health insurance., , we re going to give the death tax the death penalty., gone. over with., , and we re going to create a one-page tax form by simplifying the tax code so that, if you want to, you have the alternative on one page to file your taxes. we ll call it a — how about we call it a fast tax?, , we ll get it over with quick. this country did not become great because it has a big government. it became great because it has the largest and most vital private sector in the world. that s why we re a great country. we re not a great country because of our government, we re a great country because of our people., , and when our government realizes that, that s when we have a great government., unlike much of europe, our government doesn t plan our economy. our people plan our economy with their individual choices, each one of them in our 50 states, in our hundreds and thousands of different places in america., our people are the ones who plan our economy and our government either assists that or it hurts it., so you re going to have a choice in november of 2008. you re going to have a choice in whether you vote for me, where you will increase choices for people, or you vote for the democrats who will increase choices for government., there s no doubt about it. there s a big dramatic difference coming up in november of 2008. we can take this country in one of two directions., one direction we can take it in are more choices for you. if we reduce taxes, you get the choice over your own money. if we raise taxes, the government gets the choice over that money., the leading democratic candidate has said the following, describing her philosophy, i have to take things from you for the common good., , thank you. (, but excuse me if i don t think that hundreds of millions of american can figure out the common good better than hillary clinton..., giuliani: ... or the bureaucrats — or the bureaucrats that will be managing your — or the bureaucrats that will be managing your money in washington., it s your money. it should be your choice., the economy that we live in now is a global economy. that should be exciting. it s exhilarating. it is a tremendous opportunity for this land of entrepreneurs and risk-takers and wealth-creators and inventors and innovators and just hardworking people. that s what americans are all about., but if we elect a democrat, sure as i m standing here, we re going to put a lid on that growth. we re going to hold it down. we re going to push it down., we re going to push it down by raising taxes, which they promised to do. we re going to hold it down by raising tariffs, like they re promising to do. we re going to totally stop our economic progress by building a health care bureaucracy that is going to move us to socialized medicine., and when our medicine becomes socialized under hillary clinton, just where are the canadians going to go for their health care?, i know..., , we at least know that michael moore will be ok. he ll go to cuba., , right? right? he ll go to cuba., but if you elect me president of the united states, instead what you re going to see is, you re going to see, not a lid on that growth, you re going to see that growth become unlimited., and you know why it becomes unlimited? because when you lower taxes, you keep tariffs down and you open yourself to trade all over the world. when you reduce the size of government, when you put more money back into the private sector, you don t just put more money back into it; you put more energy back into it. you put more life back into it., and then the hopes and the dreams and the aspirations of the american people do not become limited by government,, but they get encouraged to think the way great americans in the past have thought., what can we invent? what can we create? what can we sell? what can we innovate? what can we dream of? because now our government is telling us we can dream. we re not limited. we don t have a lid on us., the sky is the limit and america never ever — never ever fall into this way of thinking., america s future is going to be greater than america s past, because the ability and the heart and the soul and the, thinking of american people is unlimited when you allow them to be free, when you allow them to make their own choices, when you don t try to plan them too much, when you don t try to direct them too much. you know what they always do? they defy everybody s expectations., that s what your organization is about. the policies that you re about free the american spirit to soar. so keep fighting for them, let s work together. and in order to accomplish this, let s make sure we have a republican president in november of 2008. i think i have the one for you., but thank you very, very much., , ,"	
"thank you secretary general  all the distinguished members that are here. it,s a great honor to come before you today and discuss baseball., , aren,t you all here as baseball experts?, , or football? although we define football differently  right? we have a different definition. i,m here to talk about nato. i have tremendous respect for the organization that you,re all a part of. the second half of the twentieth century  from the signing of the atlantic charter to the fall of the berlin wall  nato  i believe  proved to be one of the most successful military alliances in history. at a time when opposing forces had the power to destroy civilization  nato came together  functioned together over decades  and was able to bring about freedom to millions and millions of people. there are very few accomplishments equal to that in  you know  history. so this is an enormously proud tradition that you,re carrying on., nato helped keep the peace and it helped to extend the blessings of freedom and democracy for many  many people  and it taught us all a lesson that north americans and western europeans  europeans  which has now expanded beyond western europe  thank goodness  we have much more in common than divides us. in fact  we have almost everything in common and in many respects it took  in some cases  bitter enemies and made them into the closest of friends. there are very  very few alliances that achieve all that in the period of time that nato has been able to achieve it. but really in contemporary times we,ve seen equal acts of statesmanship. nato brought new security to new friends in the baltic republics  central europe. these new members have added their strength and their wisdom to nato  volunteering for missions far from their shores. they inspire us to overcome complacency and they give us  really a set of principles on which we can expand. and expand both the mission of nato and the membership of nato because nato,s work remains undone  and the reality  it,s true of nato  it,s true of about just every institution you can think of  if you don,t change with the times and you don,t expand with the times you not only don,t grow  you begin to wither. you begin to become less important  less relevant and that wouldn,t be the right case for nato because its accomplished so much., and it,s really important to remember that nato actually fought its first wars in the 1990,s when nato aircrafts helped bring an end to the bosnian war. five years later in the face of the inability of the united nations to really act  it was nato that stopped genocide in kosovo. so these are contemporary accomplishments  immediate accomplishments. then in 2001  nato for the first time  invoked article 5  an attack on one is an attack on all. and nato troops joined in the fight in afghanistan. and i have to tell you i appreciate that as an american. i appreciate that personally because i was there for the main attack of that day which was on new york city and i saw the horror that the islamic terrorists were able to perpetrate on my city up close. and of course i watched it in washington and over the skies of pennsylvania. so i have tremendous personal gratitude for how nato took this on as an article 5 mission. so nato,s contemporary value is very  very clear. the alliance is an effective force for defending and extending the international order as an order of peace and respect for human rights and respect for law. nato has shown that it can act and it will act very  very effectively when, other international institutions don,t seem to be able to muster the will to be able to act under these circumstances., but  you know  questions always remain. the first is should membership— and questions that you,ve kind of resolved  i think  you know  should membership have remained frozen at the 1989 limits? nato expanded three times during the cold war  but it,s most difficult membership test came after the cold war was over and nato rose to the challenge of expanding. they embraced a former adversary when east germany dissolved and united with west germany. and germany whole and free took its rightful place at the heart of the atlantic alliance. since then nato has expanded twice more  to include former adversaries and newly free possessions of the old soviet empire including the new republics. they were part of that empire that dissolved and fell apart in many cases due to the firm resolve of nato., a second question was whether the alliance ever could or should operate beyond the borders of its member states or even beyond the borders of europe. that question was first answered by the conflicts in the balkans and the second event  of course  by the response to september llth and the implication of article 5. so i would say that nato has met all the challenges that its been faced with. whether we go back to the cold war period or the new period  its been able because of the resiliency of the alliance to adapt itself to meet the challenges that we face in the present world. and maybe now we,re facing the toughest challenge we,ve ever faced before. it could be this terrorist movement  the islamic terrorist movement. and nato has to remain relevant and important to being able to combat that movement and give us the opportunity to defeat it in the shortest possible time and in the most effective possible way. and you know  as i said before  the laws of biology apply to institutions because they,re made up of human beings. the laws of biology say to me that you have to adapt if you want to survive. you have to grow if you don,t want to decline. it,s just a natural law that applies to human institutions and to human beings., and there are three things that i think nato could do to expand effectively the meet the challenges of the 21st century. the first it should become a global security alliance. it should think of itself as a potential global security alliance dedicated to protecting international peace and order against whatever threats arise. the primary threats are threats from territorial aggression and threats from terrorism and threats from piracy. second  in order to do that you have to look beyond europe,s borders. the new members among well-governed states with capable security forces  they can make real contributions to nato. and third  all nato members present and future must make a commitment to invest in their military and build it up because they need it to win the wars and secure the peace. these two things are very inextricably combined  unfortunately  in our world in the next half century or more., so let,s start first with the new purpose. in my view  nato has to consider itself something more than a military alliance. we actually are a lot more than just a military alliance. we,ve learned that democracies are strongest when they act together to protect each other. and we,ve learned  unfortunately  and this is not meant to be any kind of unnecessary, criticism  it,s just meant to state reality  that there are areas in which the united nations too often finds itself unable to act and act effectively. so in addition to defeating international terrorism movement  nato should focus on a safer and more secure world by deterring territorial conquest  stopping proliferation  whether we,re talking about nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons or biological weapons. by preventing the implosion of failing states  protecting the lanes of commerce  protecting the seas  addressing the budding humanitarian crisis and defending out common values of freedom  democracy and the basic human rights of men  women and children., now some of our friends  some of our allies  some of the people in this alliance  not all but some worry that the united states will turn away from nato  focusing our attention on the united states, interest outside of europe. but all of us have interests outside of europe. europe has interest nowadays very much tied up to things outside of europe. the security of the persian gulf matters to america  matters to europe just as much. the stability of east asia matters to americans  it matters to europe just as much as it matters to america  where we have to uphold nuclear peace and it,s just a given of the world that we live in., we live in a globalized world and an inter-connected planet. european shipping is just as vulnerable to piracy. european cities are just as vulnerable to international terrorism. unfortunately  we,ve seen that. it,s not just someone,s exaggerated prediction. since september llth we,ve seen attacks on european cities by roughly the same movement that attacked new york—islamic terrorists. and european factories are subjected to energy extortion which is something that we have to jointly combat and deal with. so european interests extend just as much as american interests do across the globe and our interests are co-extensive and so no one should have any fear that as america looks at asia—that,s an area in which we, have to be much more involved in. look at africa or we look at the middle east. that,s somewhere where we,re turning our, back on here. we,re kind turning our attention to all those areas together with europe because our interest in all those, areas are co-extensive with europe and in dealing with these problems  you know assembling coalitions of the willing one at a time in a reactive manner is not the worst option  but quite frankly  it,s not the best option either. it,s rushed. it,s, cumbersome. it,s less effective in a permanent alliance. these members know each other  have planned to work with each other  have a long history of working with each other effectively. that,s the desirable way to deal with these things. we  all of us  and new members  particularly the older members  alliances work together now these countries have. they learn to fight together for 50 years. our equipment is designed to be interoperable. our operational doctrines are often very well, integrated. our command structures are cohesive. so why wouldn,t we build on this success? this is a better way to do it, than having to assemble coalitions of the willing which is necessary  you have to do. nobody,s criticizing that. you have to do it. but this is a desirable way to do it. so i think we have to build nato together and we may have some disagreements about how exactly how to do it. that,s what nato,s for  to work out those disagreements. what we should agree on is the notion that we have to build nato. we have to expand nato. and our alliance has already demonstrated that it can act, very effectively outside of europe., in the current environment  threats can come from anywhere and travel from any distance to come to your home shores. from the most remote corners of the world to the hearts of our greatest cities. so this brings us to our second principle, for the future of nato and that is expanding nato membership beyond europe. it,s an imperative  i believe  for european security and for american security and for the growth of nato to be everything that it can be and most importantly for the maintenance of the international order. nato is strong only because it,s member states are strong and numerous and adding more strong states based on our collective wisdom in areas of the world may be distant from the original focus of nato can only make our alliance stronger and more effective., for those who have some resistance to this  we should remember that it was only three years after it,s founding that nato added turkey  a muslim nation on the doorstep of asia. that was a bold step way back then and it turned out to be a right step and it turned out to be a good one. it,s one that strengthened nato. so let,s not be afraid of expansion. expansion has helped nato and there,s no reason why today we can,t reach responsibly into other parts of the world. if anyone, wants to look at the value of expanding nato  go ask people in warsaw of prague or any of the other new states that have joined. it,s been good for them. it,s been good for us. so  i mean  we know there are countries that would be interested in joining. we know that there are countries that should be considered for that. many of them cooperate with nato already in training missions  in particular organizational structures whether it,s australia or south korea or israel or india or japan  singapore. we should consider all these countries if they want to be considered  and based on our collective wisdom  there may be some others that you can think of that should be considered. there probably are a lot of others that should be considered  but the main thing is rather than any one particular state  nato should be open to expanding its, membership., and for a practical reason. we need their help. we need their help in terms of active militaries  militaries that are vital , militaries that will participate. obviously each new potential member will have to apply and it has to be considered like any other  but expansion beyond europe should be a focus of nato and nato should be open to it. it should consider each one of these countries. some may want to be considered. some may not. some may want to continue to have a more informal relationship. some may seek to make the relationship more formal and i don,t mean by exclusion to exclude any country you might want to think of. i just mentioned these because they,ve been actively discussed at various times over the last three or four years. and the nato charter also has to evolve with time. the united states constitution which is a pretty basic document that has guided the united states has been amended 27 times to meet the challenges that we face, in the future. i believe it,s important that we make clear that full membership in nato should be restricted to democracies withstanding  and in fact  sometimes  the ability to get into nato as you move toward democracy. look what it did for portugal. this goal—sometimes it can help encourage countries to settle disputes  settle territorial disputes because you can be considered for membership in nato if you got those disputes settled. so we should also think about the tremendous potential nato has for helping to solve some of these long-term disputes because if you get them solved then you become a member. so this a very  very valuable thing. we see that kind of thing working in turkey in a different context in turkey,s seeking admission in the eu. there,s value to this that goes way beyond just the alliance itself., so i believe that the opportunity to join nato has strengthened the new democracies in eastern europe. i,ve visited some of them in the last couple of years and i,ve been enormously impressed how quickly democracy and rule of law and free market economics have taken hold in these countries. and nato isn,t the only reason for that  but i think it,s one of the, reasons for that. we also have to be cognizant of the fact that many of the democracies in the world have sunk into a peace time level of military spending that is  frankly  very dangerous. and my own country went through that. gosh we,ve gone through this couple of times. you know  we win wars and then we disarm. it almost seems like a knee jerk reaction. i,m talking about america now. we helped win the first world war and america disarmed. we helped to win the second world war and america disarmed. and truman had to come along a rebuild our military very  very quickly to deal with the cold war just like we didn,t rebuild our military until really the second world war had already started in europe. then  remarkably we make the same mistake after the cold war. the cold war  basically won with the fall of the soviet union and the berlin wall  what does america do? for the third time in a century america disarms. i thought it was a mistake then. in retrospect it,s a much bigger mistake then i even thought it was. we cut our military 20-30%. we cut our intelligence services 20-30%. and that phenomenon has also overtaken some of our allies. this idea you know we all of sudden have a peaceful and rosy world and we weren,t paying enough attention to the growing islamic terrorist threat. and now that we look back on it  and i,m not criticizing people at the time  but now that we look back on it  it was a big mistake because they were giving us warnings with the attack on the world trade center in 1993 and with the attack on, khobar towers and kenya and tanzania. with the attack on uss cole and the declaration of war from bin laden. they were giving us warnings and nobody expects people to be prophets. the point is not to point the finger pointing anywhere. clearly with the light of history  by not repeating the same mistake. it was a mistake to disarm during that period of time. one task for the next president of the united states will be to rebuild the military. president bush has taken steps in that direction and they,re very positive ones  but a lot more has to be done because a lot was taken out. so i support creating immediately ten new combat brigades for the army as a start., i think the planned increases to the marine corps  which will take its strength back over 200 000  should happen. it should happen really  really quickly. our navy should be expanded  both to maintain its current role as a guarantor of seaborne commerce and to intercept possible proliferation. the fleet should be built back over 300 ships with a combination of platforms  including the littoral combat vessels and virginia class submarines. and we must make sure our carrier force is large enough and flexible enough to meet 21st century demands. this is our responsibility as americans. we have to rebuild our army  we have rebuild our marines  we have to rebuild our navy and we have to rebuild our air force. the air force needs  desperately needs new refueling tankers. they should be provided. they need a new long range bomber to replace the ancient b-52 and it,s time for the hand-wringing over the future of the f-22 to end. america spent years developing the finest air superiority fighter the world has ever seen and its not—we shouldn,t be abandoning it  even as we move ahead with the f-35. so  that just a few of the ideas. but the idea here is  america has to rebuild it military. it has to rebuild its army  its navy  its air force  its marines  its coast guard. and frankly  america should do it for our own, purposes and america should do it as an example to all of you. you should do it too. we need a stronger military. one way to do it is to bring in new members. another way to do it is for the present members to invest more in their own defense. and ultimately then in our entire defense. america has and should lead the way but everybody else should participating in it., we also need in the american military a hybrid military civilian force. i call it the stabilization and reconstruction corps. it,s staffed by military people and civilian people because another thing that i think we,ve learned is  we no longer have to only win wars  we have to win the peace. and we,ve learned a lot about how to do that. we,ve learned a lot about how to do that in bosnia and kosovo. we,ve learned a lot about how to do that in afghanistan and in iraq. but one of the things we should learn in advance is to have a force ready to do this. so  i think that corps would undertake tasks like building roads and sewers and schools and advising on legal reform and restoring the local currency. maybe it,s because i was mayor of america,s largest city and i was mayor of america,s largest city during periods of crisis. you know about september llth. you probably don,t know the crime crisis we had and the fiscal crunch we had. i used to think of new york city as a crisis a week that had to be dealt with. because we,re so large and so cosmopolitan and every problem kind of gets amplified in new york city. so  to me  when i look at iraq what i look to is  how well and how effectively are we keeping the civilian order functioning in the right way. because ultimately that,s going to be enormously important to whether we accomplish our goal in iraq. and our goal of victory in iraq is a stable government that is able to take care of  responsibly take care of  the problems of its people. and then act as an ally for all of us in the terrorists, war against us. that,s the goal. and a hybrid civilian military force has been developed there  kind of on an ad hoc basis. we should develop this on a long term  a long term basis. and right now our alliance is struggling to meet its commitments and, nato and nato nations should take this responsibility on and we should rebuild our military commitment to our defense. nato has to be seen as strong enough to discourage any potential challenges to the international order  to the peace and, international order. so strong even  that the rising nations  and we want them to rise peacefully and the best way to assure, that they rise peacefully is they have such strong military that they wouldn,t even consider challenging that  that it would be beyond really reasonable comprehension. if you could spend that percentage of your gdp to match where we are already in defense of democracy of freedom and human rights. so  alternative structures like a european defense and security policy should be seen as enhancing the integrity of our alliance rather then dividing it or competing badly with for needed resources., the surest path to irrelevance is to downsize itself and you downsize when you don,t grow. and then we have to develop a new joint doctrine to deter terrorist,s use of weapons of mass destruction. we should use the dormant mechanism of the nato nuclear planning council to help us transition to a new doctrine that addresses the changing threats of terrorists armed with wmd,s and risk that they may attack. i know we,re in this together. i knew it from before september llth  it, was kind of reinforced to me on september llth and my wife and i happened to be in london on july 7 of ,05. i was a half a block away from where the bomb went off in the liverpool station in london when that first attack took place. i was having a meeting with a group of lawyers. usually not the most exciting kind of meeting you can have with a group of lawyers  but i am a lawyer. we were having a meeting  my now campaign chairman and i started with a group of lawyers discussing legal business. seems like a pretty benign subject to be discussing and all of the sudden  john huvane  who is not in the room with me  but john huvane is a former new york city detective who was with me on september llth  helped guide me and others out of the building we were trapped in  was with me every moment on that day. all of the sudden he walks in to the meeting in london and he leans over and he says to me - ""mayor  i think a bomb just went off, right near us."" and i looked at him to make sure he wasn,t lying and the expression on our face was  we aren,t going to go though this again are we? and he said  ""i,m going to check. i,m going to check with the prime minister,s security and i,m going to find out but let,s no say anything until we know. we don,t want people to get- we don,t want people to get, panicked."" so i said  ""okay  john i,ll carry on the meeting  let me know right away if these people have to go and evacuate."" he said ""okay."" he comes back a few minutes later and said ""a bomb just went off half a block away and i think another, bomb has gone off and i don,t know how many are going to go off today "" and when you live through one of these attacks you - by the end of the day you know how many attacks there are going to be. while you,re going through it you don,t know and that day in london reminded me of september llth because when we had the first attack and then the second attack i checked with the white house when we had got information that there might be as many as seven or ten other attacks. it reminded me of  when i lived through this in london through the other three attacks that day  is we are all vulnerable. we are all vulnerable. we,re in this together. from the point of view of the islamic terrorists  new york is a target and washington  d.c. is a target  los angeles  california  london  madrid  who knows where else  rome  paris. i took many of the then leaders of your countries through tours of ground zero right after september llth and more than one of them said to me  talking about germany or england or france - this could be one of our cities., they were right then and they are right now and we,re in this together whether we want to recognize it or not. this is something that,s been with us for quite some time  we should get used to it  we shouldn,t frighten our citizens over it. the more we prepare for this the calmer our citizens should become. the more we are alert to the threat  the calmer our society should become and it should build our mutual respect  our mutual understanding - believe me  nobody has all the answers here. america doesn,t have all the answers  none of your countries have all the answers  some of our ideas may, turn our to be right ones  some may turn out to be wrong  some of yours may turn out to be right or wrong but the beauty of this alliance is that we work together and together we give ourselves a much better chance of being correct in the policy judgments we make and being overwhelming and overpowering in our ability to deter and defeat our enemies. and that,s been nato,s history to date. every single challenge it,s been faced with  it has met and it has overcome beyond expectations and i am absolutely certain it will do the same thing with islamic terrorism. thank you very much., , , ,"	
"mayor giuliani: ""[t]hank you for the opportunity to talk to you this morning. no one is working harder to take our party s message to new communities and new voters and bring new people into the republican party than the republican jewish coalition., , if any group stands for the spirit that our party needs this year and next year, it s the rjc., a lot of you are the first republicans in your families, right? am i right?, , a lot of you get grief for being republicans, right? as a three-time candidate and eight-year mayor of new york city, i know what you re talking about. wow., i remember this happened so many times, i get all the incidents confused. but one that was particularly poignant was this man who was very, very old and frail came up to me and he grabbed my hand and he said, you re the first republican i ever voted for. i said, how old are you? he said, i m 92 years old., i said, in over like 80 years of voting or whatever, you couldn t find another republican to vote for? he said, i thought it was sinful., , true story. i remember the moment that i knew ronald reagan was going to be president of the united states. i remember it. i was at a bar mitzvah reception in manhattan. i went to the bar mitzvah in the synagogue and then i went to the reception., the table was filled with people that lived in manhattan, east side, west side. this is the 1980s. this is before the republican jewish coalition did all its good work. so you would think most of the jewish community overwhelmingly democrat., i m sitting at the table. one after one, everybody s talking about voting for ronald reagan. this is new york, in manhattan. this is a city abraham lincoln didn t carry., , i swear. that s why, you know, when they want to know, are you a real republican, i gave my blood for the republican party in new york. i often say that i was the first republican mayor of new york in 25 years and i was the first one to remain a republican in 50 years., , but like ronald reagan, we need an inspiring - we need a realigning of candidates for president. we need a coast-to-coast candidate., we need a candidate that, you know, the day after the nomination, we don t close down our offices in 20 states or 25 states, like we ve been doing. right? we don t win this next election if we don t run a campaign in new york and california. i tell you, we don t., do we give it away again? the margin of error isn t what it used to be. we decide to kiss away new york, california, connecticut, new jersey, pennsylvania, washington, oregon, illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, michigan, wow., we ask florida to do a lot, but... , , right, mel? i mean, i know you guys are great, but — and i believe that i m your candidate. i m the one who can be a coast-to-coast candidate., , nd i m honored to stand with the republican jewish coalition. let s talk a bit about iran., as we all know, iran is seeking nuclear weapons and they re threatening to use them. and through iran s proxy, hezbollah, iran has become the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world., now, this isn t — this whole development with hezbollah is not new. for a lot of people, they think this is new. it isn t. hezbollah killed more americans than any other terrorist group before september 11, 2001. hezbollah suicide murderers killed more than 300 american and french troops in lebanon in 1983. they hijacked a u.s. airplane and murdered a u.s. navy [diver], robert stethem, in 1985., and we can go on and on and on. they captured a u.s. cia station chief in 1992. in 1994, you remember, i remember them very well, because i was mayor then, you remember the attacks against jewish targets in argentina, killing all together more than 100 people., so this is a group that operates as a terrorist group all over the world. they seek out americans, they seek out israelis, they seek out those who are allied to us., now, iran, this nation that s been a rogue or run by a rogue regime now for several decades, is assisting terrorists who are killing american troops., we ve seen what iran will do with ordinary weapons. if i m president of the united states, i guarantee you we will never find out what they will do if they get nuclear weapons, because they re not going to get nuclear weapons., (), thank you., you know, there are people that say that we have to accommodate ourselves to a nuclear iran. we can have something like we had during the cold war. we can have some kind of accommodation. we can have mutually assured destruction or damage., i ve read those articles in foreign policy magazines and on the editorial pages, op-ed pages of newspapers, and i can see the movement kind of building for that., well, you know, what was the worst nightmare of the cold war? the worst nightmare of the cold war was nuclear weapons falling into the hands of irresponsible people. in that respect, we were fortunate. the soviets were horrible. they were, as ronald reagan said, an evil empire., communist china, no different. but at least in both of those situations, there was a residual self-interest or you might, even call it a residual rationality that said, we don t want to die. we don t want to lose russia, we don t want to lose china. there s too much at stake here., the reason i come to the conclusion that i do about iran is not out of any desire to ever have to use american military power. i think anybody who wants to be president of the united states would say a prayer at the beginning that you would never have to use american military power., but a president of the united states can t hesitate to do that if it s in the best interest [of the nation.] ..., if we learned anything from the 20th century from dealing with nazis, communists, and islamic terrorists, if you haven t learned this lesson, i don t think you lived through the 20th century, you have to stand up to dictators, to tyrants, to terrorists., weakness invites attack. strength keeps [us] safe. (), and i believe we re the ones that really want peace in the middle east, real peace, what it really means. peace has to be based on realism, not romance. it s shocking that 60 years after the holocaust, the jewish people are still required to negotiate for the right to exist., , this should be beyond negotiation. someday i hope that jews and arabs can sit down together to negotiate borders, water, trade. it s going to happen, but it s going to happen more quickly if we remain strong and we remain really, really clear., , you cannot negotiate with someone who is threatening to destroy you and your family., , this is the great fallacy in this now very strong democratic desire to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate and negotiate. you ve got to know with whom to negotiate and with whom you should not negotiate., when barack obama, a couple of months ago, said that he would invite ahmadinejad, assad, castro and chavez — did i miss somebody — to washington in the first year that he s in office to meet with them, without preconditions, when he was condemned by hillary clinton, who now has joined his position, but that was the one of the longest positions she s held, by the way. she held that one for two months., , that one she held for two months. but at that time, she said he was wrong. that s the first time i agreed with her since the time that she announced she was a yankee fan., , now she s taken the rug out from under my feet. but he announced that he s going to negotiate with these people without preconditions and then he went on to explain, well, ronald reagan negotiated with the communists., i say this most respectfully. you re not ronald reagan, you know. , here is what ronald reagan did before he negotiated with the communists. first, he called them the evil empire. then he took missiles, intermediate range missiles. i know this because i represented him in court when this was challenged., and he pointed them, he put them in european cities and he pointed the missiles at russian cities with names on them and then he said, in his very nice way, let s negotiate. , in 1995, when, as sheldon mentioned, i had yasser arafat thrown out of the united nations... (), ... that was a freudian slip. i didn t have him thrown out of the united nations. i had him thrown out of the united nations  concert at lincoln center. i think it was a freudian slip because you might have gotten the point of whether i really would have liked to have done., , i helped to keep him away from the united nations in the 1980s, but that s a different story., when i made that decision, which had to be made right at the moment, because i went out to give a curtain speech, it was for a performance of beethoven s 9th symphony, great work of art, a great piece of music, one that s dedicated to peace, and i did find some real incongruity in the idea that he was coming to that concert., but the thing that really bothered me was he didn t have a ticket., , he was a freeloader. just like he stole all that money and sent it to the south of france, he didn t pay for his ticket., but in seriousness, the truth is i was informed that he was there and i had to go out and give a curtain speech. i didn t hesitate, like hillary clinton hesitates to answer questions on what she s going to do about iran. i didn t seek to negotiate with him, like barack obama would do or says he d do with these people., i didn t call for a team of lawyers to help me... (), i didn t call for a team of lawyers to tell me, well, on the one hand, you can throw him out, but on the other hand, you can t, and maybe you can partially throw him out. maybe we could have him sit like further up., , i just made a decision. see, i lead. that s what [being a] leader is about. a leader has the confidence to make a decision., , so the administration was real angry at me. president clinton condemned me the next day. i framed the article., , the united nations — the united nations, they were going to condemn all of new york city, i think, for what i did. but it turned — i knew..., the reason i did it was i knew from my own investigations of arafat that he was a murderer and a terrorist, that he had killed many israelis, killed many american citizens. the case with leon klinghoffer was the one that probably i knew the best., and i also thought from the very, very beginning, when they first started negotiating with him, that this whole idea of holding him on a morally equivalent plane to like the prime minister of israel, like these two people are equal, was a terrible, terrible mistake and i believe that set back the whole cause of peace in the middle east, maybe for at least a decade and maybe even longer. i hope not., , similarly, that s the reason i rejected the $10 million check. prince al-waleed came to ground zero, like many people did. he came with a group. it was very early in the morning. i was asked by the state department to take people there and the reason i think the state department wanted me to do it was because was, quite obviously, first of all, people were moved by it and, number two, it might build support for what they knew they were going to have to do., and i took many, many leaders and people there, many families and other people, and there s not a single person of any political persuasion, political party or whether you re talking about heads of state, like putin or chirac, or you re talking just about ordinary people or children, i didn t take one there that wasn t legitimately moved by it., when i took al-waleed there and i stood there for a while and answered his questions, i felt something funny. i mean, it s just a feeling you get. and when you deal with people as much as i have and you have, you obviously get an instinct from them. sometimes your instincts are right. sometimes your instincts are wrong. and when i left to go to a funeral, i almost felt bad and i said, well, maybe my instincts were wrong here. he did come and he did give us a check for $10 million for the firefighters  and police officers  families, which is a wonderful thing to do., and then i went to the first funeral, and i don t remember if it was the second, and i got a call from my press communications director, sunny mindel, and sunny said, al- waleed did something very, very surprising. he held a press conference after you left and he put out this press release and she read the press release to me and basically, as i recall the press release now, it said that, in essence, america has if not all, some of the responsibility for the attack of september 11 because of the foreign policy that we pursue., it mentioned some other particulars, but it said, and because of our strong support for israel and that we should think of changing that., nd i said, sunny, i can t keep this money. i mean, this is exactly what s wrong. this is this moral equivalence., israel s not perfect and america s not perfect, but we re not terrorist states and we re decent countries that have the right motivations. and i said, well, i ll be back in about an hour, after i finish this one more, i think, funeral and i said, you know what i m going to do? it s not my money. it doesn t belong to me., it wasn t given to me personally, thank goodness. right? mayor of new york, you get any money personally and they take you away in handcuffs., it wasn t even given to the city of new york, which would be my kind of fiduciary responsibility. it was given directly to the families of these firefighters and police officers and we organized that charity — we organized that charity so every penny — there d be no diversion of administrative costs., so if you gave me a check for $10 million, i could say to you, honestly, that $10 million is going to go right to a firefighter s family, a police officer s family, a rescue worker s family., so it was all their money. we re like just transferring it. so i called — first, i called my fire commissioner and police commissioner and, of course, they told me — i won t even tell you the language they used..., the reality is there are many, many grievances and injustices in the world. we have some within our country. there are some in israel. there are some all over. we ve got a lot of things we have to correct., but these people are attacking us not for the things that are wrong about us that we have to correct. they re attacking us for the things that are right about us., i mean, they re attacking us for the good things about us. i mean, why are they doing it? they re doing it because — my wife and the wives of the other candidates addressed a women s breakfast this morning. you think they have women s breakfasts with political candidates speaking in islamic terrorist countries or countries that support islamic terrorism?, imagine if they showed up for a breakfast. maybe they d get stoned. they don t want women to have rights. let s just deal with it. i mean, that s just the reality. they don t want to allow them to have rights ..., i mean, there s no room for compromise on these things. like i was saying about israel earlier, you can negotiate with all kinds of people. you can even negotiate with bad people if there s some degree of rationality left, if there s some ground for negotiation., but you can t negotiate with people who want to kill you and destroy you. i mean, think about it in the case of your family. (), think about it in the case of your family. somebody threatens to kill you and your family. what are you going to negotiate with them about? how many of your kids they re going to kill or when they re going to do it?, you ve got to negotiate with people that at least make a step toward giving a reasonable possibility of getting a sensible result., in the case of the palestinians, here s what it is, two big ones. first of all, the palestinians have to say and acknowledge and mean it that israel has a right to exist as a jewish state., , number one, because israel s already negotiated its existence. that negotiation happened a long time ago and that s over and they ve just got to kind of move on., , second, second, they have to be willing to say, we forsake terrorism and we re going to help to reduce and eliminate terrorism and they need to show their good faith by that condition remaining that way for some period of time. it s as simple as that — or as hard as that. they do those two things and they mean it and time demonstrates that they do mean it, then, of course, they can negotiate. we would like to negotiate. we would like to have peace, but we don t want to have a peace in which we re taken advantage of., we don t want to have a peace ... in which have the name peace and israelis and americans are getting killed and we certainly don t want to create another terrorist supporting state. we have too many of them already. ..., john kennedy once said that the first world war began ... because of ambiguity and lack of clarity. and the reality is we ve got to be clear and the clarity has to be we re not going to allow iran to be a nuclear power. we do not want to use a military option. using a military option would be dangerous, but certainly will if we have to, and american presidential candidates should be clear about that., , ,"	
"mayor giuliani: thank you. tested. ready. now. america needs a leader. i am running for president of the united states because i believe that i can lead america into a new era with bold leadership, optimism, determination, and distinctly american solutions. if you re looking for perfection, you re not going to find it. not in me, not in any candidate. but if you re looking for a leader who has been tested in times of crisis; a leader who s ready to lead right now; a leader who s achieved results - results that some people thought were impossible --a leader who believes that there is no problem too difficult for american solutions and a free, american spirit. i believe i am that leader., i ve met adversity before. i ve led in situations that seemed hopeless and dire, in need of a miracle. i don t just pray for miracles. i don t just hope for miracles. i expect miracles., some people look at the challenges we face as a nation and they fear the future. i welcome it. i welcome the opportunity to keep america safe and secure. we will win the terrorists  war on us., i welcome the opportunity to restore fiscal discipline to washington d.c., while we empower millions of people to move out of poverty and achieve the american dream. and i welcome the opportunity to win this election., leading a revitalized, 50-state republican party into the white house., but as i travel across our land, i ve begun to hear a murmur that america somehow has lost the ability to achieve great goals. some good people have come to believe that our country is on the wrong track. middle class families feel that the american dream may be slipping away. they re worried about the future. they re worried that the future may not be as, bright as the past. they re worried that this may be the time where the next generation of americans doesn t do as well as the last generation. it doesn t have to be that way. we — we, you and i — can decide america s direction. we can determine america s future. after all, that s what an election is all about. so let s decide for optimism, not pessimism; for hope, not despair; for strength, not weakness; for victory, not defeat., we can t afford a crisis of confidence at the time we need our confidence the most because our country does face real crisis right now. we re at war. the american people want to see victory in iraq and afghanistan, not humiliation and defeat., they want their children to live free from the fear of terrorism. they re telling us, get it done. and we will., washington s culture of wasteful spending is out of control. everyone knows that. the american people want to see real fiscal discipline. they re telling us, get it done. and we will., americans have heard presidents talk about energy independence for three decades. now they re paying more at the, pump and they re seeing their money go into the pockets of some of our enemies. they re telling us, get it done. get energy independence done. we will., the american people are angry that the federal government has failed to protect and secure our borders. and they re telling us, get it done. and we will., what america needs in 2008 is a proven leader who will get things done. i ve been tested. i m ready. and the time is right now., this is a time for leadership. a leader is someone who combines vision for the future with the ability to get things done. it s a person who can dream about a better future and then help bring it into reality, actually make [is] it possible. so today, i m going to share with you my vision for our future, for america s future. this summer, we presented a bold agenda for the future. it was my 12 commitments to the american people., but today i want to explain it in a slightly different way. i want to explain it by describing my vision of the america that i want to hand over to my successor if you give me the honor of being your president. because we all believe that everyone, of us, no matter what our role or who we are in this country, all of us has an obligation, a responsibility to hand our nation to the next generation better than it was handed to us., we re about improving our country for the next generation. we ve always been about that. this generation has to be about that., so we ll hand over an america where our schools are the best in the world - not 21st in science, not 25th in math like we are today. i ve got a goal for america. how about being # 1?, we can reform education—primary and secondary education in this country and we can do it by creating and expanding school choice. we ll empower parents - not government bureaucrats - let the parents choose where their child goes to school. who knows better?, all children - rich and poor, middle class or otherwise - all children deserve a quality education: whether it s public, private, parochial, charter or home-school. to me, this is the great civil rights issue of our time. our children, all of our children, not just yours, not just mine, all of our children need a good education and if the parents are making the choice, if that s the rule in this country and not the exception, i m confident that the decisions will be made in their interest. they re going to do it better than some bureaucrat who has never met their child, doesn t know their child. so let s give the power here, the main power to the parents., we ll hand over an america that embraces [is] the global economy. that needs fairness. of course we need a level playing, field, but we should be less concerned about how much we buy from overseas, except from the point of view of safety and security, that s important. but on the economics of it, what we should really be focusing on is how much do we sell to overseas?, america is an entrepreneurial society. we should view the rise of china and india, the people moving out of poverty in china and india, we should view that as a great opportunity to find what america is always looking for: new customers. right?, when they think of us as a country that s militaristic, they re wrong. the essential nature of americans is not war. americans only go to war when they have to and then of course we do it to win and to prevail and to be safe. so do it in a determined way. but here s the essential nature of america and americans. here s what we really want to do with you all around the world. we want to sell you something. right?, isn t that what america s all about. america is an entrepreneurial society. but we also need to keep our house in order here in the united states. we ll hand over a country that s more fiscally disciplined, with a government no larger than it has to be. it ll be a country where taxes, regulations, abusive lawsuits don t drive jobs and businesses out of the united states. and we ll create—, and we ll create hundreds of thousands of jobs, millions of jobs, in the process. we ll lower the income tax and the corporate tax rates., we ll give the death tax the death penalty., we ll find many ways to bring tax relief to middle class families where that tax relief is needed the most. and you know what else we re going to do? we re going to develop a single page, one-page optional tax form. how about being able to do it all on one page? wouldn t that be great?, ok. the print may be a little small., but we ll work real hard to get it on one page. the democrats running for president seem to want a nanny state. they want to run your life from the cradle to the grave. we don t want that kind of state. america s like a country that puts reliance on individuals, on people, what they can do, what they can accomplish. america s a country that works on initiative. and then we give people opportunity and help to have that initiative, but we don t try to direct their lives from the day [their] they re born until the day they die. we ll hand off a country that doesn t penalize success. we ll reward success. we want a country where the ""sky s the limit"". people can reach for the stars and they can have a hope that they can get there. we don t want to put a lid on their desires, on their ambitions. we want to encourage social mobility. what country has done it better than america in the history of the world? move people out of poverty, create social mobility, have people in one generation go from the virtual bottom to the virtual top and all the places in between. we do that by being a country of initiative, a country that rewards success, not a country that penalizes success. so we want to encourage social mobility. that s how we move people out of poverty. that s how we strengthen the middle class and that s how we bring the american dream within the reach of every willing person in this country., now if you keep doing that, i m going to stop giving this speech. i m going to go out and play football., we ll hand over a country where decisions about your healthcare are made between you and your doctor, not between you and a hillary-care custodian., we can make health care more affordable, portable. we can do that through tax cuts, not tax hikes and government mandates. we can open the market, we can increase choice, we can empower individuals and all of that, all of that will drive down the cost so that people can afford health insurance and good health insurance, quality health insurance. that has to be our goal. we do it through an america, we do it through private decision-making and private markets not through socialized medicine., we ll hand over a country with 200 new federal judges - or 400, if you give me a second term. well let s work on the first one first. ok., these judges will be responsible men and women, people who understand that their role is to interpret the constitution, not social activists who legislate from the bench., to do anything less is to deny us the defense of liberty that comes from the separation of powers. we ll hand over a country where we ve ended illegal immigration where it has to be done - at the border., and also a country who s arms are wide open to people who come here, people who come here legally and openly. we want them, we need them, we will accept them, and what we want them to do, if they want to become citizens, is meet all the requirements and then be able to read english, write english, and speak english., ending illegal immigration won t be easy. it requires changing human behavior - but it needs to be done for everyone s good. i have the will. i have the way to do it, the plan to do it, and i have the track record to bring safety and order and fairness to a situation that is now [our] out of control. i ve done it before, i can do it again., we ll hand over an america that is stronger, safer and more secure. we ll make every community better prepared, more prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters something you know about here in florida. the hurricanes of a few years ago where you had to deal with four all in one short season. the way you did it was a really good emergency response. the rest of the country needs to be at at least that level of preparation and we all need to be at a higher level of preparation. and as we do that, we ll build a more resilient society - ready to withstand anything that comes our way and ready to help those in need, whenever and wherever they need it. we re one country. we re in this together. natural disaster, terrorist attack, you learned here in florida. i learned that in new york. we embrace each other., we ll hand over an america that is achieving energy independence. we can do it by increasing the diversity of our energy sources. and we can do it by having both a healthy environment and a healthy economy. the two things are not inconsistent with each other. the two things compliment each other if you do energy independence the right way and you move toward the right sources and you support it. and most the most important thing is we ll approach this goal with the same single-mindedness that america used to put a man on the moon. remember? well, some of you don t remember. you re too young., you remember. i remember. you don t remember. but you re going to read about this in history, because it s one of our great historical moments. the apollo mission, the mission to put a man on the moon, it was started by president eisenhower, a republican. it was advanced greatly by president kennedy, a democrat. it was brought almost to its final stages by president johnson, another democrat, and it was completed under president nixon, another republican. this wasn t a republican success. this wasn t a democratic success. this was an american achievement., that s when we re at our best. that s when we re at our best, when we re thinking like americans. we were at our best to put a man on the moon, we were at our best to deal with the horror and the shock and the pain and the suffering of september llth, weren t we? no republicans, no democrats just americans. that s what we need to achieve energy independence and then maybe we can take that sprit and we can apply it to some of these other big problems that we face. what we really need is to reaffirm and we need a new era, not of republican success or democratic success, how about we look for things where we can have american success., finally, and this is the big challenge of our generation, we ll hand over a country that is safer, that is more secure from the terrorists who are at war with us and around the world. we ll do it the same way that ronald reagan accelerated the end of cold war. president reagan used to be asked in the early days of his presidency, when the cold war was in some ways you know very intense, they d say to him ""you know this cold war s been going on for a long time is it ever going to end, how is it going to end? people couldn t see an ending to it, it d been going on for so long. will it ever end, can it end? ronald reagan listened to them, paused the way he used to, put a little smile on his face and when they were asking him how would it end, he just had that little smile on his face and he said: ""they lose. we win."", that s the same approach that we need to defeat these enemies that we have. we need to stay on offense in this terrorist war against us, achieving peace through strength, that s the only way you achieve peace, through great strength, by being on offense, by being strong, by being confident, by having a military that we expand, not contract. we have to rebuild our military., i have a goal in iraq it s not the democrats goal, they tried to legislate loss in iraq, they re still trying to legislate loss in iraq. i have a different goal. it will be a very clear decision for the american people. here s my goal for iraq, victory, success for america and for our troops. let s achieve the goal that we went there to achieve, a stable iraq that will act as an ally for us in the ongoing islamic terrorist war against us. that is a victory for us and a defeat for them., our men and women there believe they can achieve that. they ve shown us unexpected progress; many people even opponents of that war have been surprised at how exceptional the progress has been. so let s help them and support them. and let s do the same thing in afghanistan and pakistan. let s make sure we finish the job and we eliminate al qaeda and the taliban., we will hand over an america that has stopped iran from becoming a nuclear power. and when we stop them we won t just be moderately confidant but we ll be totally sure., but we also need to win the war of ideas and the war of ideals. strengthening our ties with the middle east, embracing those people in the middle east, in the arab world, in the islamic world. the overwhelming majority of people who want peace, who below the cultural differences share the same values that we have. we ve got reach out to them; we ve got to get to know them better. we ve got to get them to know us better. we ve got to do more business with them. that part of the world is filled with people with the same entrepreneurial spirit that we have. the same love for their children that we have, the same desire for a safe and secure life for themselves that we have. there are a few people and more than a few, but by no means anything close to a substantial proportion of people, that have perverted the thinking and turned it into a political ideology now of hatred and anger and viciousness and aggression. but that shouldn t stop us from reaching out, to all of the rest of those people who have the same desires that we have. we should actually be having more contact with,, doing more business with, having more cultural relationships with the middle east now than we have ever had before. it is another way to win the terrorist war against all of us. and i will do that and i will make sure that we open up in the same way that we will be strong and on offense, we will also have a very big open arm for all those people who want to work with us. we ll embrace them, they ll embrace us, it s not the first time america has done that, it won t be the last and it will work. i guarantee you it will work., so all of this is saying that america needs bold leadership to meet these very very big challenges that we have. but i know, we have the strength to hand our nation to the next generation stronger than it s been handed to us. we have the capacity to improve things the way our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, mothers, fathers, people all over have done for us. i have faith in the genius of america: the power of free people to solve whatever problems they face. that s why my solutions all begin with a simple thought, a simple philosophy: give people more power., america s not unique because of its central government. america is great because of self-government. we unleash the genius of america when we increase freedom. the freedom to pursue success, prosperity, happiness, fulfillment, in the way that you choose, not the way that the government dictates to you. the genius of america is you. the individual american. when you decide how to spend your money, you ll spend it more productively than any government ever will., when you re the one deciding what school your child should can go to, you ll make a much better decision than some, government bureaucrat can make for a child they never met or never known. and when you decide what kind of healthcare you should have, you will make a much better decision than some government custodian can make for you., it s really simple. i believe in the strength and wisdom of the american people. look at our history and you ll see why. because no matter when or how your ancestors came to this country, we are all the proud descendants of pioneers and, patriots. they created this for us, their optimistic american spirit, the defiant determination to do what some other people thought was impossible, that is our greatest inheritance. each generation of americans has been called to overcome great challenges. previous generations fought for our independence, signed the constitution, ended slavery, healed the wounds, of a civil war, settled the west, overcame the great depression and secured civil rights. so when we see all of that, are our challenges any greater than theirs? they won the second world war against nazism and fascism and the cold war against communism. that s the same strength that s in each of us. we inherited it, we have it. we ve got to believe that we do. and now it is our generation s turn to make history in this new century. i know that this generation can overcome any challenge. i ve seen your strength, i ve been sustained by it., i saw it on the morning of september llth, 2001. there were points that day, that morning in particular where i, wondered, i wondered whether we had the strength to deal with this[,] worst attack in our history, unprecedented, horrific, memories and images that will live with me until the day that i die. but immediately as a i saw the courage and the strength of our citizens and our first responders, when i saw the picture of the firefighters who put the flag up at ground zero, just like the marines at iwo jima, many years before, looked just the same didn t it? you know what i said to myself and this gave me great strength to get through everything. i said to myself this generation, this current generation, our generation, we ve got the same strength, the same determination, the same patriotism because it comes from our fathers and grandfathers who won the second world war and did all of these things. maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes it happens when we re put under stress and we re put in a moment of terror and horror and it just comes out. but you know throughout history, people who live in freedom have much more strength than people who live in oppression. that s been the story of the old testament, its been the story of the ancient world and the modern world. it was the story of the 20th century, people who live in freedom overcome oppression. we are on the right side of this. we have the strength, we have the ability. the 20th century taught us, if nothing else, that you have to stand up to tyrants, to bullies, to terrorists. it s in strength that you ll be able to achieve peace and vindicate freedom., with bold leadership, america will meet and exceed any challenge we face. with bold leadership, america will face the future with confidence and reclaim our right to live in freedom from fear. with bold leadership, america will rise to new heights in this still very new century. this is a time for leadership. this is a time for strength. this is a time to roll up our sleeves, not wring our hands. i ve been tested in crisis. i m ready to lead. and the time is right now., thank you., , , ,"	
"""[w]e re here in a museum that represents the achievements of the greatest generation, what is regarded as the greatest generation because they had to deal with the depression and they had to deal with the second world war, challenges of massive proportions. and it reminds us that the challenge that we have in our generation--although it s a big one, no one minimizes it, least of all i think us--but the reality is when you think of what our ancestors went through, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and you look at what we have to go through you don t find that it s beyond the capacity of americans to handle things like this. i mean our challenge is the terrorists  war on us, that s the challenge of our generation. it s the challenge that has been handed to us; we didn t go looking for it, just like, going back to parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, depending on your age, they weren t looking for a depression and they weren t looking for a second world war. that s not something that they wanted but they were able, when it came about, to deal with it and to deal with it in an effective way that has made them legendary. now we have to have that same resolve about this challenge that has been put on us, which is this terrorists  war on us, which september 11, 2001 certainly was a main act in that war, but not the only one. there were a lot of acts before september 11, 2001 and there have been a lot of attempted acts and unfortunately others that actually took place since september 11th. so i think it wouldn t be unfair to describe us as the 9/11 generation, because how we handle this is going to say something about us in history., ""since september 11th, actually specifically since september 20th, 2001, our nation has been on offense against terrorism. as a consequence it looks like we ve stopped about twenty-three terrorist attacks, at least that s the public information that we can find when we look through all of the reports. i mean it could be more because we don t know all the secret, you know, classified information. and these were attacks that were directed against americans and our allies at home and abroad. but our success that we ve had in stopping these shouldn t lead us to a false sense of security. and the reality is that i, as you know, throughout the course of this campaign have been troubled by the fact that i believe that the leading democratic candidates are taking us back or want to take us back to that period before september 11th, when we were on defense. in fact it goes so far as they seem to find difficulty describing the threat as an islamic terrorist threat, and i don t know why they find it difficult saying that. that doesn t offend anyone, other than a terrorist. we know and we ve known from the beginning, right, of this effort when we focused on it, that this is a small group of people, doesn t typify at all an entire group either by religion or by ethnicity or anything else. but it does signify a group of people who have converted what originally were religious beliefs into a political ideology and an ideology of violence and attack. so we ve got to be able to face what you re dealing with in order to deal with it, whether it s an enemy or a group of enemies, you ve got to be able to face it squarely in order to deal with it. and the assassination last week of benazir bhutto was a, , reminder. it reminds us that this war is not over and it reminds us why i refer to it as the terrorists  war on us because it s a war against us and we re on offense because that is the best way to deal with it. we re in the middle of a struggle that puts freedom versus fundamentalism, hope versus fear, democracy versus conflict. we didn t seek this conflict, we didn t start this conflict but we must finish it and we will win it. i guarantee you that we will win it., ""now is the time for strong vigorous leadership. now is the time for an experienced executive, who has solved similarly insurmountable problems in the past. and now is the time for a leader who can lead america right now in a perilous world toward a realistic peace. and i believe i m that candidate., ""i believe i m the one who can help us get through this in the most effective way possible., ""throughout history we ve been confronted at times by tyrants and dictators and bullies, who calculate that our will is weak. they believe, maybe because of our democracy, they believe that we re undisciplined and divided because they hear a lot of disagreement between and among us because that s what a democracy is about, right? osama bin laden is just the latest in a long line, or at least a line of dictators and terrorists and bullies and people in that category who somehow hear all this division that we have and think that it s a sign of weakness. he believes our country is prone to, quote,  panic and retreat,  close quote. that we are, quote,  built on a weak and hollow foundation,  close quote., ""in fact, you and i know that america is stronger, much stronger, because of our ability to disagree with each other in a peaceful way and in a decent way, which is the hallmark of democracy, and that we stand up to tyrants and dictators and terrorists and bullies. we ve done it in the past, we re going to do it again, and no one, absolutely no one, should mistake our democracy for a lack of resolve to defend ourselves and to protect ourselves. and i think i speak on behalf of every candidate and just [about] every american in that regard. america is the land of the free because we re the home of the brave. that s the reason that we re the land of the free., ""our goals have to be very, very clear. we should make them clear. i think we know what they are, but it s worth repeating some of them so that we remind ourselves of it., ""osama bin laden must be caught and brought to justice. al-qaeda, hezbollah, and hamas have to feel increased pressure on every level. we have to make certain that we complete the job with al-qaeda and with the taliban. america is going to stay on offense and we re going to win the terrorists  war on us. that will happen, but our options, whether we remain on offense or we go back on defense will dictate how long this all takes place. so we re going to win because our ideas are the best. our ideas are going to prevail ultimately. our ideas of freedom, freedom for all people, freedom for women, freedom of religion; these ideas will allow us ultimately to prevail. our strategies will determine, however, how fast we prevail or how long this struggle, war if you will, will go on., ""so, keeping america safe must be the first priority of the next american president. our country needs a comprehensive plan of action. our long-term objective is to win this war on us and our current objective has to be to prevent any terrorist attacks, or at least to do everything we can to do that. so i m going to outline for you briefly my plan to win this war., ""achieving realistic peace through overwhelming strength. it s going to require expanding our military, refocusing our intelligence, improving even more our homeland security, and winning the war of ideas against these radicals. four things at least., ""so first, expanding our military. we need to increase the size of our military. we need to be able to have a much larger, or a larger military to deal both with the terrorist threat and anything else that s thrown at us. we have never, ever made up for the damage that was done to our military from the peace dividend taken in the 1990s, , during the clinton administration. these were huge cuts in our military budget of twenty and thirty percent. huge cuts in the number of troops that we have and some of it has been made up for, but not all of it, and not even most of it, i believe. so we re going to have to increase the size of our military. one of the things that we should do right now, i believe we should do it immediately, is we should double the number of our troops who are american led combat troops in afghanistan. we need to bring a surge to afghanistan and make it effective right now., ""i believe acting now will help us in the effort to find bin laden. it will help us in the effort to make sure that we solidify the gains we made in 2001 and 2002 in routing al-qaeda and routing the taliban. and i believe it will act as a way to assist in stabilizing the entire region. now people say,  well, our military is stretched, what with iraq and our present effort in afghanistan.  well, we should increase the size of our military. right away, we should increase it by at least 10 new combat-ready brigades for the army. and that should be done now. and then more increases are necessary, we should do the additional increases. the air force next generation bombers, fighters, and refueling tankers. the marines have to be at least 200,000 and our navy has to be at 300 ships or more. and america s coast guard needs additional resources and personnel because they re taking on heightened responsibilities with regard to our border as part of homeland security. so these increases are necessary. remember, that our commitments in vietnam went up to 550,000 soldiers, if i recall correctly, and our commitments in korea were about 350,000 soldiers. so the reality is the commitments we re looking for here both in iraq and afghanistan are not historically out of line by any means. in fact, they re well within what s been done in the past. it is true that there is some strain felt and the best way to answer that is increase the size of our military so we re capable of doing this. i believe we re capable of doing it within present resources, but also we have to keep an eye on other would-be challenges., ""so a large military, a large commitment to our military not only is going to help in this terrorists  war, it s also going to help make sure that these would-be challenges remain on a peaceful course. remember we won the cold war on a theory that— someone expressed it this way—that we outspent the soviet union into oblivion. well, we don t want to outspend anyone into oblivion, except the terrorists, right? we want them over with, but with regard to these would-be challenges, we want them to know that it doesn t make sense to challenge us. then we ve got to modernize and transform our military. that s why i called several months ago for a new hybrid military and civilian corps to help rebuild areas after the battles, after the war takes place and stabilize the failing ones. in fact, when you look carefully at iraq and what happened in iraq, the purely military part of it was brilliant execution. i believe it was twenty-three days from the time we entered iraq until the time that we chased saddam hussein out of power. that is lightning fast. i believe, if the national intelligence estimate is correct and iraq, iran rather, stopped their nuclear program in 2002, in 2003 rather, as a result of what happened in iraq, i would say that that had a lot to do with it. i would say that our actions in afghanistan, our actions in iraq would have something to do with the fact that iran stopped their nuclear program. so, being strong is enormously important. the bottom line, if i m the president of the united states, i guarantee you that i will hand the country over to the next president stronger than it was handed to me. every president should guarantee that because this country has to be stronger., ""but battlefield strength is just not enough. we need to also improve our intelligence capability. the sixteen intelligence agencies that are currently leading this effort are overlapping, and i mentioned the national intelligence estimate - just to be clear on it, what that intelligence estimate said was that with high confidence that iran stopped its nuclear weapons program back in 2003 but expressed only moderate confidence that the program has not resumed or been restarted since then. so, you ve got to put those two phrases together. high confidence, moderate confidence. well, the high confidence, i think if that s correct would have something to do with what we did in iraq and what we re doing in afghanistan and the presence of our troops and all the pressure we were putting on them in so many other ways as well, and the estimate does say that pressure works, which i think makes sense, but i think when you look at this whole thing, the high confidence and the moderate confidence, you have to say it should not alter what would be and should be and is, i believe, a firm american policy, and i will underscore this policy: we will not allow iran to become a nuclear armed power. just not going to happen., ""and, as i mentioned earlier in this connection, we will also make certain that we do everything we can to keep pakistan stable, both with regard to the fact that they have nuclear weapons, we want to make sure they re secure. we will do everything we can to make sure stability is maintained in pakistan, working with them. and working with them to put them on a road to democracy as quickly as possible because this is what the terrorists in part were trying to interrupt. nothing, nothing troubles them more than democracy, and democracy is not just electing your leaders. democracy is respect for human rights. respect for the rights of women. respect for religious freedom and religious toleration. just think of all that. all those principles undercut what their, i hesitate to say principles are, their ideals are. every single one of them is contrary to what they believe, and that s why this whole idea of democracy is such a challenge to them, and that s why this whole idea of democracy is such a good answer to them, because when people start to feel democracy, when they start to feel that they have the right to elect their leaders, they have the right to choose who is going to govern them, they have control over their lives, people inevitably move toward that. it catches on. it s like a tidal wave or a tipping point that has to occur. and they re very aware of that. so, we need to focus on pakistan, make sure that it s stable, but also make sure that it s moving toward democracy without any significant interruption, because that will also help to defeat the terrorists in their goals., ""and we need to rebuild our human intelligence capability. we need a new, focused, small and well-trained unit of highly paid-an elite corps that s called-whose job would be to penetrate terrorist groups. i don t know what s going on inside the cia or the national intelligence agencies now. i knew more about it when i was in government. but the first thing i would check on is to see what progress have we made in human intelligence because i believe that that s one of the things that has to be rebuilt so that all this technological information or technological-based information we get starts to make more sense. you can get, as louis [freeh] knows, you can get that much information in a day, i m probably not even exaggerating, right?, ""so, the key to it is to know in advance what s important in that information. after the act takes place, we can go back over that information and you can start pointing out the memos that would have alert you to the act, but the real science here is being able to do it before the fact. and the way you re going to do that much more easily is if you have really solid human intelligence. so that would be one of the first things that i would assure, that we are reestablishing our human intelligence base. i know we said we were, and i m very hopeful that we have, but i would make sure that we are. and then it s time now, because it s been in effect for a while, to evaluate the effectiveness of the office of director of national intelligence, to ensure that it has the proper authority it needs and that it is in fact facilitating the free flow of information, which we know in the past has at times been a problem., ""so, rebuild our military, rebuild our intelligence services. those are two of the key components. the third one is in making sure that we re improving homeland security. america has 800,000 local law enforcement officers, troopers, local police officers, state police officers. they are our first responders along with our firefighters, we know that, we all know that. but in this new age, we have to conceptualize them differently as well, and they have an increased responsibility. they are now our first preventers. they are the people who will gather the information that will alert us, possibly, to a terrorist strike. r.p. eddy of the manhattan institute first described this new role as `first preventers,  and that is a new role for our police and for our local law enforcement people. i ve proposed a terrorstat program based on an analysis done by chief bratton and professor kelling, and the terrorstat program is something that we would develop. they ve written about it. and the idea of it is to make sure that local and state authorities across the country are able to get the information that they need about suspicious incidents, about precursor crimes., ""we ll also establish an international assembly for freedom from terrorism to make sure the united states is cooperating internationally and everybody s cooperating with us. you know, the information exists to alert us to a terrorist attack, it s out there. the question is, are we picking it up through real intelligence or through surveillance and then are we giving these vast intricate connections, are we sharing it well enough so it gets to the, , right place at the right time and we will make sure that that is being done with the terrorstat program, with the other programs that we re talking about some of which are in existence and some of which have to be improved. the whole idea is to make certain that we predict these attacks in advance, that is the best way to protect american lives., ""finally, we have to win the war of ideas. we have to win peoples hearts and minds. that s part of this as well, which makes this whole effort complicated but not more complicated than what we faced in the past. during the cold war we had to do the same thing. we had to undermine and delegitimize the ideology of communism and promote the ideas of freedom. and now we ve got to do the same thing with this terrorist ideology. we ve got to get people to understand how dangerous it is, where it leads, how it leads to destruction, how it leads to harm for human beings and we have to prevent the future rise of terrorists. i think that it s also important to make sure that we tie our foreign aid, where we can and where it should be tied, to countries helping us in the terrorists  war against us and the countries helping us not just in military action, but let s think of it as an educational effort and an effort of having closer ties between those countries., ""we have to be more aggressive about ending illegal terrorist propaganda and we have to go after the money, remember how effective that was with the mafia, right? we ve got to go after the money that they have and cut off their resources and if we can do that i believe that is going to help to a very large extent to start driving them back. then we should develop and modernize surrogates like radio free europe, and radio liberty that were used very effectively in the past. we ve got to develop organizations like this so that we can get information to people in places where they are being oppressed so they can understand what s at stake for them., ""and finally, we should increase trade and cultural exchanges with countries in these areas of the world. there s no reason why our arms can t be open to doing more business with, to having more cultural exchanges with all the countries in the middle east, counties in the arab world, countries in the muslim world. we have a lot to learn about each other and almost all of it is good, in fact none of it is bad, because the only part that is bad is the part involving these terrorists who have perverted a religion--all the rest of it, believe me we re the same people, we really are. the same desire for a better life for our families and for our children, same desire for peace, same desire for good education, these are universal things. if we have cultural exchanges and we do more business with each other we find out about these things in less than a theoretical way but in a real way., ""so, in short those are the things that have to be done, there are a lot more, i tried to outline it as briefly as i could, it s a big subject, winning the terrorists  war on us. but it encompasses military, it encompasses local law enforcement and national law enforcement, it encompasses intelligence, it encompasses trade and cultural exchanges, it encompasses a whole outreach to the rest of the world. now they re going to be some people that are going to look at my plans particularly with regard to increasing the size of the military, and they may woe that strength provokes conflict, but history teaches us that just the opposite is true doesn t it? it teaches us, here in this museum, world war ii museum, if we learned the lesson of world war ii, weakness is what invites aggression, not strength. and we should have learned that even well before world war ii. george washington told us more than 220 years ago. he said,  there is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well-prepared to meet an enemy,  that s so very close to what ronald reagan also taught us. he said it two decades ago when he advocated  peace through strength,  that s why he had the confidence to lead us through and to win the cold war. what people used to ask ronald reagan, because that cold war was a frustrating war, and they used to ask ronald reagan,  mr. president, when is the cold war going to end? when is it going to end?  he would just stand there with that confident way that he had with a smile and say,  they lose, we win. , ""that s the approach that we have to have. we have to have confidence in ourselves, we have to have confidence in our ideas, we have to have confidence in what we can achieve, but meeting this challenge, believe me, is not optional., ""this is a war on us. they are staring us in the eye, and i refuse to look the other way. real leaders confront reality with strength and confidence, not with denial. and this should be something that unites the world. it should be something that brings good people together, across our country and around the world, all together. because terrorism victimizes people of all different religions, all different races, and all different backgrounds. it isn t focused on just one group of people. it s focused on innocent people and we should be united in our response to it. liberals and conservatives, democrats, independents, republicans, people of all different religions, we re all affected by this. all of us have lost people to terrorism in any of these groups that we re talking about. our differences are small in comparison to the dangers we face. we may disagree on some of the details of domestic policy, but we surely can agree that the greatest threat right now to our life, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness is this threat, this existential threat that we face., ""i want our nation to be as united as it was in those weeks after the attacks of september llth, 2001. remember how united we were then? i want us to harness that same strength. not because we re responding to grief, although we still have tremendous grief, but because we recognize our unity of purpose., ""there were times on that day where i m sure all of us had doubts:  could we get through this, could we handle this.  i came to this museum in part today because thoughts of world war ii and the greatest generation were in my mind that day. i had just read tom brokaw s book that summer. and in reading his book i had wondered,  does this generation have the same strength that that generation had if we were to be required to go through something like they went through?   do we have that strength, do we have that strength of purpose and that union of spirit?  and i ll tell you the things that convinced me of that, immediately. first, seeing the construction workers and the people who volunteered and the tremendous strength in their faces and their bodies and their desire to come and help and take whatever risk was necessary. but then the one that sort of encapsulated it forever was the firefighters putting up the flag right at ground zero, over and above what was below them. it looked so much like, iwo jima. it looked so much like what the marines had done in the second world war that i said to myself, and have never doubted it since then, that this generation is as strong, is as patriotic, is as determined, and is just as capable of meeting this challenge and prevailing., ""that s our great test. all of us. it s a test that unites us, it s a test that brings us together, it s a test that we will pass. because know this: if you look at the lessons of history, people who live in freedom prevail over oppression. that is the story of the old testament. that s the history of america. that s the story of the second world war. that s the story of the cold war. and that will be the story of this war on us. we will win it. we will prevail. and we will be able to hand over to our children exactly what we are supposed to hand over to our children: a country that s improved, a country that s stronger, and a country and world that is safer. that is what an election is all about, choosing someone who can bring us to those results. i ask for your support, i ask for your help, i ask for your vote because i believe i am the best prepared to accomplish that important purpose. thank you very much."", ,"	
"""thank you, ron. it s an honor to be here today. i appreciate that introduction. thank you also uzi arad for all you and ron do together to make this conference possible. it s good to be with you today at the herzliya conference. it s been a busy day for me today. i began with breakfast with mel sembler here in jerusalem, saw the sun rise, and then along with friends, we traveled together to the border with gaza, and then helicoptered to alfe menashe and then we, helicoptered further to the lebanese border. and we just made it in a few moments ago., ""i am glad to be in israel again - in a country i love, with people i love. it s been 10 years since i was last here - then, for about 10 days or so - and the country has changed a great deal in that time. one, it s a lot greener - even more trees - more highways. i was really struck, however, by how vibrant the economy is. i must admit that as someone who spent most of his life in the private sector working with businesses, i have great respect for the ingenuity and the resilience of israel s workers and entrepreneurs., ""but the changes are not only economic and they are not only positive., ""and it is not just that israel that has changed - the world has changed., ""unfortunately, many in our world have not caught up with the new strategic paradigm which we as a world face., ""in that old view, the arab-israeli conflict was thought of as an intractable regional conflict. one that drags on...that should be resolved...but is not part of a global threat to the world order., ""9/11 changed that. or it should have. contrary to the baker-hamilton commission, resolving the arab-israeli conflict will not magically mollify the jihadists., ""what we should have realized since 9/11 is that what the world regarded as an israeli-arab, conflict over borders represented something much larger. it was the oldest, most active front of the radical islamist jihad against the entire world. it was not really about borders. it was, about the refusal of many parts of the muslim world to accept israel s right to exist - within any borders., ""this distinction was brought into clear focus this summer. the war in lebanon had little to, do with the palestinians. it had nothing to do with a two-state solution. it demonstrated that israel is now facing a jihadist threat that runs from tehran through damascus to southern lebanon to gaza., ""as tony blair quite accurately put it, hezbollah was not fighting  for the coming into being of a palestinian state. ..but for the going out of being of an israeli state. , ""yet i don t think we have still not fully absorbed the magnitude of the change. i think it is, critical that we understand that as far as our enemies are concerned, there is just one conflict. and in this single conflict, the goal of destroying israel is simply a weigh station toward the real goal of subjugating the entire world., ""jihadism - violent radical fundamentalism - has emerged as this century s nightmare. it follows the same dark path as last century s nightmares: fascism and soviet-styled communism., ""in america, the attack by al qaeda has led some to believe that we are threatened by a band of fanatics that live in the mountains of afghanistan and pakistan. they imagine that if we, could only get osama bin laden and put him away, all this unpleasantness would simply end., ""but jihadism is much, much greater. jihadists are among sunni and shia, promoted by hezbollah and hamas and the muslim brotherhood, financed by knowing and unknowing, muslim governments, and preached to hundreds of millions in many nations. their goal is the overthrow of moderate, modern muslim nations and their replacement by caliphate. their strategy is the collapse of our economy, our government, and the military of our nations., ""to their eyes, this destruction is not delusional, but possible., ""in my country, as you can imagine, the focus is overwhelmingly on iraq these days, and that s very much understandable and appropriate. we have some 140,000 men and women there,, and there are more on the way, as you know. and we are suffering casualties. indeed, as you probably saw over the weekend, this has been a particularly painful time for the united states just over the last several days. thousands of american families continue to make the greatest sacrifice for security in iraq. and for whatever mistakes america has made and the challenges which we now have before us, we must remain absolutely committed to making every effort for success there., ""and on that point, i would just like to make another additional thought. and that is that there are some congressional leaders in the united states right now that are arguing that the, president is not authorized to allow our forces in harm s way to pursue iranian elements inside iraq - which are attacking our own troops. that is simply folly., ""but today, i wish to focus on the regime that has become the heart of the jihadist threat - iran. i believe that iran s leaders and ambitions represent the greatest threat to the world since the fall of the soviet union, and before that, nazi germany., ""ahmadinejad has gone well beyond the boundary of outrage, beginning with his calculated, desecration of history. indeed, when he denies the holocaust, he could care less about history - his point is about the present and the future. his purpose is not to deny the holocaust, but to deny israel. he is testing the waters. he wants to know who will object. and how will they register their objection., ""the iranian regime threatens not only israel, but also every other nation in the region, and ultimately the world. and that threat would take on an entirely new dimension if iran were, allowed to become a nuclear power. and just think of the signal a nuclear iran would send to other rogue regimes with nuclear ambitions - this could be the tipping point in the development and proliferation of nuclear regimes., ""how should the civilized world respond to this challenge?, ""our first task should be to dispense with three major schools of wishful thinking:, ""the first school concedes that iran must not be allowed to go nuclear. but that s where the certainty ends. beyond that recognition, there is only hope - hope that iran s weakening economy and political rivalries will yield a change in the government s leadership. we re all hopeful, but that s not a strategy., ""the second assumes that it s possible to live with a nuclear iran. that thinking is based on the theory that iran, once granted the privilege of joining the nuclear club, will be a responsible actor., ""neither their words nor their records justify that conclusion., ""the third school believes in the logic of deterrence, which served us through the cold war, and they think it will apply to iran. but for all of the soviets  deep flaws, they were never, suicidal. a soviet commitment to national survival was never in question. this assumption, simply cannot be made about an irrational regime that celebrates martyrdom., ""each of these three schools of thought represents a rationale for inaction, rather than a strategy for success., ""each would in all likelihood yield the same result - an iran that is nuclear, threatening the, world, or worse. they should be rejected. and they should be replaced with an understanding of two fundamental realities:, iran must be stopped, iran can be stopped, ""it s inconceivable to me that some could think otherwise. their view has to be based upon disbelief - disbelief that iran s regime means what it says., ""few believed that hitler meant what he said when he called for the destruction of the jewish people in mein kampf., ""few believed what osama bin laden said, and then came 9/11., ""as you know, the 9/11 commission found numerous failures on our part - failures of, intelligence, failures of coordination and communication, failures of analysis. but they found that the most critical failure was this: a  failure of imagination.  americans simply could not believe that people would crash airplanes full of innocent people into buildings full of innocent people., ""since these things happened, can we really dismiss horrific threats as mere rhetoric?, ""a nuclear iran is unacceptable because, as defense secretary robert gates pointed out in his confirmation hearings, we have no way of guaranteeing that iran will not use a nuclear weapon., ""many people do understand that iran must be stopped, but they just don t think it s possible. they see the modest sanctions that the un took three years to produce. they see russia refusing to end its cooperation with iran s nuclear program. they conclude that the un, security council will never produce sanctions tough enough - and soon enough - to stop iran., ""what is less appreciated, however, is what the us and europe can do. yes, we should continue to encourage china and russia to work with us at the un security council. and, from my meetings in israel over the past few days, and in china a couple of months ago, i have reason to be more optimistic about the role china can play., ""but we can t sit idle while we wait for more cooperation: the us and europe can do much more to exploit the vulnerabilities of iran s regime., ""in considering a strategy, i think we have to remember that the government and the clerics in iran are not the sole center of power there. the people of iran also represent a major source of power. by and large,, they have not been as radicalized by their government and clerics. they fear economic stagnation and they fear political repression. most are not seeking a military confrontation with the west. indeed, most want greater engagement with the west - there s a reason, for example, why there are more than 75,000 bloggers active in iran today. a successful strategy on our part has to consider and encompass the people of iran, as well as their leaders., ""that being said, let me just talk for a moment about a strategy which i think should be pursued. it includes five major dimensions:, ""first, we should continue to tighten the economic sanctions. our model should be at least as severe as the sanctions we imposed on apartheid south africa. we should demand no less from the international community today than we gave then., ""the bush administration, i believe, deserves credit for the efforts it s made on the economic track so far. the administration s campaign to deny iran access to the international banking system is crucial. the us and europe should ensure that iran finds it very difficult to obtain credit - very difficult to make purchases in foreign currencies., ""we also have to be imaginative in the way we pressure iran economically and send a message to its, leaders and its people that the world is not happy. in my meetings in israel this week, i have become aware of a potential us pension system to further isolate the iranian economy. we should explore a selective, disinvestment policy. after a series of briefings here, i actually contacted the treasurer of my own state of massachusetts and the governors of some of the neighboring states to begin this process. they are going to begin meeting today with senior israeli leaders that are in boston today., ""second, we need to impose diplomatic isolation of iran s government. ahmadinejad should not be provided the trappings, and respect, and recognition of a responsible head of state as he travels. in fact, when former iranian president khatami traveled to boston last year to lecture at harvard university, i, denied him state police security for his visit. of course, the real question is: why did harvard invite him in the first place? i was in another foreign capital traveling and i saw a 707 i believe it was and flags draped along the passageway from the doorway all the way to the terminal, flags a red carpet, and i asked,  who s that?  and they said,  oh president ahmadinejad is here visiting.  and i thought  is that the kind of, welcome for a man who says what he said?  i don t believe that s what should happen in this country, in this world. ahmadinejad, of course, is even more strident and violent spokesman than khatami was. he should neither be invited to foreign capitals nor feted by foreign leaders. this would have an important symbolic significance, not just to ahmadinejad, but to the people of iran. the message must be heard loud and clear., ""diplomatic isolation should also include an indictment of ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide under the geneva convention, excuse me the genocide convention. the united states should lead this effort., ""the full title of the genocide convention is the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. remember that word: prevention., ""article iii of the treaty establishes  public incitement to commit genocide  is a punishable crime. every signatory to this treaty shares an obligation to enforce it. so do human rights groups that care about international humanitarian law., ""nobel prize winner elie wiesel, and human rights advocate and former canadian justice minister irwin cotler have spoken out on this issue., ""in addition, former u.s. ambassador john bolton has been a forceful advocate for this effort, and he s joined by alan dershowitz. if these two can agree, there must be something to it., ""third, arab states must join this effort to prevent a nuclear iran. these states can do much more than, wring their hands and urge america to act. they should support iraq s nascent government, they can help america s focus on iran by quickly turning down the temperature of the arab-israeli conflict, stopping the financial and weapons flows to hamas and hezbollah, thawing relations with israel, and telling the palestinians they must drop terror and recognize israel s right to exist., ""fourth, we have to make it clear that while nuclearization may be a source of pride to the iranian people, it also should be considered as a source of peril. the military option remains on the table. and further, any people should know that if nuclear material their own nation develops falls into the hands of terrorists and would be used that would surely provoke a devastating response from the civilized world to any who provided that fissile material., ""fifth, our strategy should be integrated into a broad approach to the broader muslim world. i agree with our friend, former prime minister aznar of spain, that a central purpose of nato should be to defeat, radical islam. and i believe this has two critical dimensions. on the one hand, is an unquestionably capable military. that s key. that s at the heart of things. that will mean a greater investment by the united states as well as other nations. but there s a second dimension as well. it s what i ll call a partnership for progress - a global partnership which includes nato and other allies. its mission would be to support progressive muslim communities and leaders in every nation where radical islam is battling modernity and, moderation. this partnership for prosperity should help provide the tools and funding necessary for, moderates to win the debate in their own societies. they need secular public schools, not wahhabi schools, micro credit and banking, the rule of law, adequate healthcare, human rights, and competitive economic policies. in the final analysis, only muslims will be able to permanently defeat radical islam. but we can and should help., ""we should remember that in the two other global confrontations with totalitarianism in the past century, it was not always obvious that the west would prevail. indeed, in those conflicts, the balance of power was not always in the west s favor. those were wars we could have lost, but we did not., ""in the current conflict, the balance of forces is not nearly as dangerously close as it was during the moments of world war ii and the cold war. there is no comparison between the economic, diplomatic, and military resources of the civilized world and the weak terrorist states that threaten us., ""in those previous global wars, there were many ways to lose, and victory was far from guaranteed. in the current conflict, there is only one way to lose, and that is if we as a civilization decide not to lift a finger to defend ourselves, our values, and our way of life., ""it is time for the world to plainly speak three truths:, one, iran must be stopped. two, iran can be stopped., and three, iran will be stopped, ""thank you so much."""	
", ""i must admit - i love exaggeration and hyperbole when it applies to me and i, i appreciate that very, very much."", ..., ""we used to drive ramblers - i had the rambler station wagon for my dates. my friends called it  mrs. romney s grocery getter. , ""i used to ask my dad,  how in the world can you compete as head of america motors when you ve got such huge competitors, gm, ford, chrysler, the big three - how do you possibly think you can succeed?  and he d say in a way that i have not forgotten:  mitt, there s nothing as vulnerable as entrenched success. there s nothing as vulnerable as entrenched success. , ""and over the years, we ve seen companies that have become complacent and they get passed by nimble upstarts. big steel was overtaken by the mini mills, the main line air carriers are seeing a real run for their money from people like jet blue and southwest, and perhaps the, most interesting of these cases comes from the computer industry, where ibm was overtaken by digital and in mini-computers, and then digital was overtaken by wang in work stations, and then wang was overtaken by compaq in desktops, then, of course, a new distribution model from dell took over compaq, and then now you ve got hp making another run at, at dell. it s extraordinary to see what happens., ""but there are many companies that are able to maintain their lead, over many, many years. and these are the ones that remain vigilant, that change as their industry faces challenges. names like ge, and hewlett packard, microsoft, motorola come to mind., ""the same can be true for countries., ""about 100 years ago, at the golden jubilee of queen victoria, i m sure people in the audience could not have imagined that any country would ever overtake great britain as the world s economic and military superpower. but 50 years later, we had., ""it s inconceivable to us today that we could in any way be passed by any other nation. we ve been competing with europe so long that we ve gotten a little over-confident. but look east., asia is emerging as an economic powerhouse. and that s great news, people who couldn t buy our products in the past are now able to buy our goods and services - i must admit, i was, delighted in december when i was over in beijing to see so many buicks driving around town. but it s also a real challenge as they emerge out of poverty. will rogers used to say,  even if you re on the right track, if you don t move, you ll get run over. , ""so standing still isn t a viable option for america. the question for us is this: what direction should we take?, ""history can be a guide for us. the 20th century saw two economic systems pitted against, each other. ours was built on free enterprise and the preeminence of the consumer. the soviet union s was built on government control and command, and the preeminence of the state., ""ours produced the most powerful economy in the world and it gave its citizens a standard of living our grandparents would have never dreamed possible; theirs produced a downward spiral standard of living and a collapsed economy., ""that 20th century history lesson is what has made us understand why america s economy is so strong and that is because we put our trust in the american people, and in the free enterprises the free american people create., ""i spent some 25 years, as john indicated, working in the private economy, starting businesses, acquiring businesses, consulting to businesses, managing businesses. i ve invested in companies in germany, italy and new zealand. i ve negotiated in china and ecuador. i ve, managed businesses in japan and russia. you get a lot better in educating yourself by being in the arena than you do by sitting in the bleachers. my successes and failures, by the way, have given me some insights on what i think it takes to grow a business, and an economy, and a nation., ""and today, i d like to offer a few perspectives., ""let me begin with our objectives. on the screen, i hope you can read that, well, maybe you can, maybe you can t, it s a long way away. i m going to read them. objective:, "" remain an economic superpower-we can t be a military superpower unless we re also an economic superpower., "" a growing economy-growth is essential if you want to have a future that s brighter than your past., "" shared prosperity-economic success that s only narrowly shared will divide a nation ultimately and kill the entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity to pursue happiness. that s the, quintessential american hope and dream - that every person has the opportunity to achieve the success that they desire in their own heart., ""now, the words may sound a little academic there, but don t forget these objectives are very critical to human interests, a higher standard of living, greater job security, a brighter future for our children and income security for our senior years., ""now my experience has taught me that there are a lot of things that create a growing economy and a vibrant nation. let me look at five of them in particular. next slide, please., - skilled and educated and motivated people, on the top of my list. - free trade, on the level, - capital and savings, - innovation and technology, - consumer freedom, ""but, in addition to the things which propel the growth of an economy and create a higher, standard of living for our citizens are those things which put in a braking action. on the other side of this equation, next slide, are these five:, - excessive taxation and spending - excessive regulation, - excessive burdens on business activity - excessive health care costs, - excessive energy costs, ""now, part of the history of america can be seen by looking at that slide - we ve done very, well educating our people, making sure they have the skills they need to compete, making sure we have open markets that we can participate in, having adequate capital, assuring that we, have the leading edge in innovation and technology and relying on the consumer to point the way. we ve also done our very best to hold down taxation - john f. kennedy did that, ronald, reagan did that, george w. bush did that. we tried to pare back government regulation when we can. we ve also tried to take off burdens on our business activity to hold down our energy costs, and as a result, we ve had a vibrant, fast-growing economy over these last 30 years., ""now, you ll be relieved to hear that i m not going to dwell on every single one of those ten today in great depth, but i want to give you a few thoughts about a number of them., ""let me begin on the one of the far left, which is education. our schools are falling behind those of other nations - you ve seen that. it s true particularly in math and science. our 15 years olds ranked 24th out of 29 oecd nations in math. 24th out of 29. our high school, seniors rank in the bottom 10% in math and the bottom 25% in science. how can you lead the world if the kids in the next generation are falling behind in the skills they need to innovate and create new enterprises?, ""now, when i became governor, i sat down with educators and leaders and said,  what do i, have to do to improve our schools?  and some folks said to me,  well, you have to get a much smaller classroom size. that s key.  coming from the private sector, i don t just take people s advice, i ask for the data. we have 351 cities and towns in massachusetts. i said,  let s do something, let s compare the average classroom size of all of our school districts with our, performance of the young people on our statewide exams.  because we have statewide exams that determine how well our kids are doing. the chart we expected would have the trend you see in the next slide., ""that is, on the bottom, you have the classroom size, from the large classes on the far right-hand side to smaller classes on the left. and then we had how well our schools - our students - were performing. high performers on the top, low performers on the bottom. if there s a strong relationship between how big your classrooms are and how well the kids are doing, there should be a pattern along that line you see - a downward sloping line., ""but here s the real data: you can see those red dots, you can see there s no relationship at all. as a matter of fact, some of the districts that had the smallest classes had the worst, performance on the student scores. and vice versa. and so we decided to spend a little more time talking to teachers and parents and people who d focused on education - educators and others. and they came up with a list of things that would really make a difference in education. let me show you some of those., ""first, was making sure that we treated teaching as a profession - not just as a labor job, an hourly labor job. we wanted to make sure that we gave bonuses to our teachers for having math and science capability and ap credentials. we wanted to have bonuses for superior work. we wanted to make sure that we could provide incentives for higher academic, achievement. as a matter of fact, we put into place in our state a scholarship called the adams scholarship - you score in the top quarter of your high school class on your state exam and you re entitled to 4 years, tution-free at our state universities or state colleges. and so those were the kinds of commitments we made. we also said,  if you want to improve schools, give every kid a laptop computer, make sure that we also have math and science academies where our best and brightest kids can go. , ""english immersion: we put this in place in our state, no more bilingual education. we said if you want to be successful in a nation that speaks english, you ve got to be fluent in english. we also felt it was critical to measure student performance, put in place a graduation exam, we insisted on school choice, longer school days, parental involvement. parental involvement means not only a preparatory effort to help our parents get up to snuff, but also to make sure that we do everything we can to have two-parent families., there s nothing like a mom and a dad to help kids be successful in school. these are the ideas that make a real difference in education., ""we ve got to raise the bar folks, or the future is not going to be as bright as the past., ""let me turn to another topic and that s capital. of course capital flows quite easily around the world, but even so new ideas and new technologies tend to be funded by people who are close to home. my venture capital experience taught me that companies close to where we lived and where we work had a better, chance to get funded than those that were far around the world. capital at home today is quite plentiful, but ultimately capital here is enhanced when people are investing their savings in the economy - in the future., ""and that chart up there shows that our savings rate is looking pretty grim., ""the bars that are upward in number show that two, three percent kind of savings rate that we ve had over the past several years, but in the last year-and-a-half, we actually have a negative personal savings rate., now the government has come up with all sorts of savings programs for our families, i m told there are as many as 20 different plans. they present a daunting phalanx of penalties and rules. the government lets us save, but only if we do it in the way the nanny state tells us we can save., ""it s time to make saving easy in america. i believe people should be allowed to earn interest dividends and capital gains, up to a certain amount per year, tax-free and without restrictions on how or when their, savings or investments are spent. as an example, let s take the number of 5,000 bucks. let s say, and that s not a final number, but let s use 5,000 dollars as an example for joint filers. what i d say is people ought to be able to save annually or to be able to receive income annually, in capital gains, dividends in interest on 5,000 bucks and not have to pay any taxes on it at all, and not have to worry where that investment got spent. this would help the middle class to be able to invest and save. it also would allow them to spend their savings the way that americans like to spend their savings, - any way they want., ""let me turn to free trade for a moment. my growth factors - don t show the chart yet, we ll get there in a, second. my growth factors include free trade. there ll be a growing clamor in this country for isolation and protectionism. just wait for that  08 campaign to get underway, you re going to hear it time and time again. protectionism might feel good for a few years, but then we d be passed by the products that met the new world competitive standards like we were standing still. protectionism would virtually guarantee that america would become a second-tier economy in a couple of decades, with a second-class standard of living., ""at the same time we have to make sure that the rules of free trade are fair. it s time to make sure china s markets, for instance, are open to our goods. and it s time to sure they enforce our intellectual property, rights as well as they enforce their own. try to counterfeit an olympic tee-shirt in beijing, for instance, and see how long it takes for them to find you. no, the easy money for the criminal counterfeiters is in software, entertainment, pharmaceuticals: the things that we export., ""fair trade has to be fair in both directions, but don t forget, it s good for all of us., ""let s look at technology. without serious question, america is the innovation capital of the world., ""that chart you can put up now shows the patents issued by the u.s. patent office. the red bars are patents issued to american enterprises, the yellow are those that come from all the other nations in the world. we lead the world, one country leads the entire world in patent applications., ""the internet started here, biotech is headquartered here, microsoft is here. but china and other nations aren t going to just cede permanently our leadership in innovation and technology., ""now and then i hear people say that it s probably good economics for manufacturing to go from here, to go to asia, because they can do it there cheaper. then they go on and say,  but we ll continue to keep the, design and engineering right here, they ll just do the manufacturing.  but that belies very little experience in the real world. my experience is that design and innovation ultimately are done best next to manufacturing. those that are proximate tend to get the best designs and the most innovative ideas. if the chinese are, making a product, you better expect them someday to be engineering it and designing it as well. it s critical, therefore, that america maintain our lead in manufacturing, if we also want to maintain our lead in innovation., ""now you know that where america invests in technology we lead the world. places like healthcare and defense technology. let me just show you a chart that shows how our investment dollars are spent at the federal government level., ""the dark blue portion of that bar is money spent in health and the other areas are in the lines below. i d, like to make sure that we review how government invests our research dollars, because i want to see more research dollars going into power generation, fuel technology, materials science. i think it s critical that, america continue to invest in our future in technology. it is what will allow us to lead the nations of the world for generations to come., ""now i mentioned five of the factors which accelerate our growth. how about those that slow down our, growth? let me look at those. here s where they ve seen, perhaps, the most dramatic change over the last 30 years., ""i was with bibi netanyahu, the prime minister of israel. he said that when he came into israel that the economy was shrinking not growing. he said as he looked at what was going on and talked to business leaders, he said it reminded him a bit of the first day of basic training in the israeli army. they lined, everybody up along a football field, they said take the person next to you and put them on your shoulders, we re going to have a race. and he said he had a big guy on his shoulders, so he couldn t run very fast. but somebody next to him had a real small guy on his shoulders and he won the race. he said the guy running the race, those are your corporations, your enterprises, your inventors. the guy on the shoulders, that s your government. and if government s too big it slows down the inventors and the entrepreneurs., ""now bibi didn t come up with this all by himself. ronald reagan saw the same thing back in 1982. he, and his team initiated a three-part strategy for our sclerotic economy. he said number one, we need to have a steady monetary policy, number two, deregulate, number three, we want sweeping tax cuts. those three ingredients, low inflation, deregulation and tax relief lay the foundation for an economic renaissance, and help to unleash the spirit of enterprise in this country. what alex de tocqueville had once called america s restlessness of temper. by contrast the european path led to high unemployment and anemic job growth., ""now the big issue we re going to face coming soon is taxes. what is the better course for america? a european model of high taxes and regulations, or low taxes and free trade, the ronald reagan model? that s the choice the next president is going to make. some of course are already working hard to implement a massive tax increase., ""let me show you what it would look like. on the left-hand portion of that chart where you see the squiggly line go up and down, that s the taxation in the united states, the federal taxation is a percentage of gdp. it s gone up and down but pretty much level, over a bunch of years, around 18 percent. you ll see that big, decline in the middle of the graph, that s what happened when president bush instituted the tax cuts, as well as the recession in our economy. when the economy went south he said we need to lower taxes to get it going again and boy did it work, seven-million new jobs later. the chart to the right shows what would happen, the top line, if you saw a big tax cut, tax increase rather. that shows what would happen if the, bush tax cuts were allowed to expire. you d see a massive tax increase, which without question would halt this economy in its tracks. if you see the flat line around 18 percent, that s what happens if the bush tax cuts are made permanent. so its pretty simple, isn t it? it s absolutely critical that we don t have that massive tax hike and instead we make the bush tax cuts permanent., ""we need reform of our tax code. we need to move it toward a system that s encouraging of growth, fairness and simplicity. now of course some people want to increase taxes because they want to spend, more. when the party that s been in charge has been our own, i m a little embarrassed to say that we haven t distinguished ourselves by reigning in spending. the chart that i m going to show now, go ahead, shows spending by year in non-military discretionary accounts., ""the last few years there aren t as low as i d like them to be. if we re serious about holding down taxes, we have to be serious about fundamental reforms to government and to entitlements. i have a pretty simple idea about how to keep our spending in check: give congress a specific spending number and insist that, that number is hit. if congress doesn t hit that target, then its appropriations bills shall be vetoed, i regularly exercised my veto power when i was governor., ""the alternative of course is for the congress to vest the president with a power held by governors in some 43 states, including my state, the line-item veto., ""and it s time, at long last, that the federal government is taken through the kind of cost and quality improvement process, and the kind of benchmarking process, and the kind of best practices process, that you in the private enterprise world carry on almost every single year. the duplication and waste, and inefficiency in government is absolutely mind boggling., ""our greatest challenge though is in entitlements. this next chart shows entitlements as a percentage of gdp., ""the bar on the left is where we are right now. a little over 8 percent of gdp is spent on medicare,, medicaid and social security. fifty years from now the bar on the right would be in existence. that would say that we would be spending about 18 to 20 percent of our entire gdp on those entitlements. if you recall from my earlier slide, that is the total amount of taxation we receive. that would say that on the, current trend, these entitlements would completely take over the federal budget and taxes would have to go through the roof. our economy would be stalled., ""today s seniors are living in a world that almost no one could have imagined. the inventiveness and vitality of our pharmaceutical and biotech industries and our healthcare providers have meant groundbreaking advances and long life and i say it is worth it., ""but when social security and medicare were created, they were meant to solve a particular need - seniors living in poverty and without healthcare. they have done that. now it s time to address a new set of challenges., ""in the case of social security - we know the levers we can pull to bring it under control. it is time for, republicans and democrats to come together and agree on a solution. medicare and medicaid are going to require more fundamental reform to tame their runaway costs., ""how to do it? well some people are going to say the best way to reform health care is have the government take it over, a single payer system, let the tax payer pick up the bill. as p.j o rourke once said,  if you think health care is expensive now, wait till it is free. , ""my suggestion is that the european model for solving health care is not the model at all. there is an american reform model: apply free market principles and individual responsibility. we took steps to do that in my state this last year. here are the keys., ""make sure that the consumer of health services cares how much those services cost. number two, get, everyone in the system. you can t have people showing up at the hospital expecting free care because that ends up being passed on to everybody else., ""let me turn to another topic, tort reform. it s a big burden on our economic future. last year, i was, shocked to see that u.s. corporations spent more money defending tort claims than they spent on research and development., ""i spoke with one member of the plaintiff s bar the other day. he said that tort lawyers are o.k. with state level tort reform, just not federal tort reform. you know what that means - as long as there is one lawsuit-friendly state, they can sue virtually any deep-pockets company in america. no thanks, america needs national tort reform., ""our regulatory burden is overbearing. i d re-institute a regulatory relief board to cut back on the regulations that choke off growth., ""energy. another burden on our future is our dependence on foreign energy. every year, we spend hundreds of billions of dollars, sending it to countries for oil imports, and many of those countries don t like, us. it s bad for our economy, it s bad for our foreign policy, it s bad for our environment. a reasonable and thoughtful energy equation has to have two sides., ""on one side is supply - it means developing alternative sources of energy, liquefied coal, nuclear power, biofuels, and other sources of renewable energy. it also means investing to develop new technology, and obtaining oil from domestic sources such as oil shale, enhanced oil recovery, anwr and the outer continental shelf., ""the other side of the equation is demand. we need to become more energy efficient - we use twice as much energy per person as a european, four times as much energy as the japanese. pursuing policies to reduce our per capita energy consumption is a critical step towards becoming energy independent., ""this kind of a national goal of energy independence can t be achieved by simply counting on the market to do its job. and that is because the oil market is managed by a cartel. it makes no sense to continue to live in a fiction that says it behaves like a market. we cannot allow our future and our growth and prosperity to be held in the grip of an oil cartel, particularly when it includes people like chavez and ahmadinejad. what does this mean for detroit? well, it means that the automotive fleet will have to become more fuel, efficient. café improved mileage initially, but the consumer has gotten around it over the last couple of decades. you ve seen the chart., ""this next chart shows fuel economy rising like crazy from 75 to 80 as those café requirements came into place. and then it has actually been flat to downward ever since., ""cafe has some real problems as a vehicle for bringing down average fleet economy. it distorts the market. it penalizes the domestic automakers. it can ignore technical realities. so before i d change the, cafe standards, i want to sit down with every major knowledgeable party and evaluate the alternatives. a good number have been proposed; let s decide which is the best course by looking at the data and carrying out analysis, rather than by playing to the tv cameras., ""let s not forget though that a far more efficient fuel fleet is going to be necessary for our energy future. the issue is to find the least distorting way to accomplish that goal., ""by the way, i get a little tired of listening to supposed experts coming on tv and saying that detroit just can t make cars that americans want. domestic cars, as you know, are burdened with over $2,000 more in healthcare and pension costs than a car that comes from toyota for instance. to be competitive, american innovators right here in michigan have come up with what i will call, wow styling - look at the dodge for instance; super quality - look at the ford fusion; and extra ordinary power plant fuel economies - look at the chevy silverado. as the son of an old auto guy, i got to say, i think detroit deserves to be proud!, ""america faces new challenges. some are unprecedented. if we fail to react, to adjust, we could fall behind our potential. the standard of living of our citizens could fail to keep pace. the future could be less prosperous than the past., ""there are some who insist that the way to address these new challenges is by growing government, growing spending, raising taxes, protecting ourselves from the rest of the world by building isolating, barriers and regulations. a government-centered strategy has been tried before, first by the soviets, then by european welfare states. it has lead to economic stagnation, falling standards of living and high unemployment. to take the same path they have taken and expect a different destination is foolishness., ""it is the american way that leads to a brighter future for our children, to higher incomes, to a more secure employment, and to a more secure retirement. the american way, tested and proven, is low taxes, open, markets, low burdens on employment, excellent education, good healthcare and reliable energy., ""the american way will help us build a new american dream, for all americans. it will be built in strong families and good schools, by innovative and nimble businesses, and by leaders who know that it is the people of america - free, hard-working, innovative people - that make america the hope of the world. thank you so much."","	
"""oh gosh, look at this group of friends, my goodness, thank you so much. what friends here! boy this warms my heart to see you all here, to have my family over there to my side, my, sweetheart introducing me, some extraordinary things around me. it s an honor to be here with you. i am happy to be in michigan. i m happy to have my brother scott and sister lynn here. and as anne said, we re proud to have all of our kids and grandkids here - there s some 20 in total. ., ""michigan is of course the place where ann and i were born and it s the place where we fell in love. well, we still love each other and we love michigan!, ""during mom and dad s campaigns, i visited all 83 counties of michigan, doing my best to convince michiganders that george romney and republicans could do a good job getting michigan prosperous again., ""now, you knew my dad. he was a business leader, he was a governor, he was a tireless promoter of volunteerism. but he came from very humble roots. he was a lath and plaster, person originally. he never graduated from college. but he made his dreams come true like many, many other americans., ""and he made a difference. my father worked here to improve detroit schools. he worked to help write a new state constitution. and he worked as your governor for six years trying to get michigan on the move again. his character and his integrity left an impression that has lasted through the decades., ""it was mom, though, who did the lion s share of raising lynn, jane, scott and me. dad used to say, that as a successful mom, she had accomplished more than he ever did. later she, worked in charities, and then foster care, in music and the arts, and in volunteerism. she even ran for u.s. senate., ""i always imagined that i d come back to michigan someday. that s why i took the bar exam here. i hadn t imagined it would happen this way, but i am back today - thank you michigan., ""now, i chose this site for a number of reasons. it s filled with cars and memories. dad and i loved cars. most kids read the sports box scores. dad and i read automotive news. we came here together, him teaching me about cars that were built way before my time., ""the rambler automobile that he championed right there was the first american car designed and marketed exclusively for the purpose of economy and mileage. he dubbed it a compact car, and a car that would slay the gas-guzzling dinosaurs. and it transformed the industry., ""this place isn t just about automobiles, as you can see; it s about innovation, innovations that transformed an industry, and gave america a way of life our grandparents would have never dreamed possible., ""the dc 3 above us there was the first true commercial airliner. it transformed aviation from a luxury to a standard mode of transportation. i think if you look carefully enough, you ll see the first lost luggage., ""next to us is the ford hybrid over here. it is the first giant step away from our reliance on the gasoline engine. it s already changing the world of transportation., ""just down the hall is rosa parks  bus. her courage transformed hearts. outside, is thomas edison s library. there, the electricity that benjamin franklin had discovered was transformed from a novelty into a necessity., ""innovation and transformation have been at the heart of america s success from the very, beginning. and if there ever was a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now., ""we ve lost faith in government, and not in just one party, and not in just one house, but in government., ""we are weary of the bickering and the bombast, we re fatigued by the posturing and self-promotion. for even as america faces a new generation of challenges, the halls of government are clogged with petty politics and stuffed with peddlers of influence., ""it s time for innovation and transformation in washington. it s what our country needs. it s what our people deserve., ""i don t believe washington can be transformed from within by lifetime politicians. there, have been too many deals, too many favors, too many entanglements.. .and too little real world, experience managing, guiding and leading., ""i don t believe washington can be transformed by someone who has never tried doing such a thing before, in any setting, by someone who has never even run a corner store, let alone the largest enterprise in the world., ""throughout my life, i have pursued innovation and transformation. it has taught me the vital lessons that come only from experience, from failures and from successes, from public, private and voluntary sectors, from small and large enterprises, from leading a state, from, actually being in the arena, not just talking about it. talk is easy, talk is cheap. it s the doing that s hard. and it s only in the doing that hopes and dreams can come to life."", ""this christmas, ann and i gathered our five sons, our five daughters-in-law and grandkids together and we asked the kids whether i should run for president., ""we talked about the special time this is in the history of our country. we talked about the qualities that are needed in america s leaders. and they were unanimous. they know ann and mine s hearts. they know our values. they know my experience innovating and, transforming, in business, in the olympics, and in massachusetts. and they know we love this country., ""and so, with them next to us, with the fine people of michigan in front of me, and with my sweetheart at my side, i declare my intention to run for president of the united states., ""it s been said, thank you. it s been said that a person is defined by what he loves and by what he believes and by what he dreams., ""i love america and i believe in the people of america., ""i believe in god and i believe that every person in this great country, and every person on this great planet, is a child of god. i believe that we are all sisters and brothers., ""i believe that the family is the foundation of america - and that it needs to be protected and strengthened., ""i believe in the sanctity of human life., ""i believe that people and their elected representatives should make the laws, not unelected judges., ""i believe that we are overtaxed and government is overfed. washington is spending too much money., ""i believe that homeland security begins with securing our borders. ""i believe that our best days are before us, because..., ""i believe in america!"", ""at this critical time, we must first transform the role we play in the world, secondly strengthen our nation, and third build a brighter future for the american family., ""today, as we stare at the face of radical violent jihad and at the prospect of nuclear epidemic, our military might should not be subject to the whims of ever-changing political agendas. the best ally of peace in the world is a strong america!, ""i believe that our role in the world must be defined not only in terms of our might, but also by our willingness to lead, to serve, and to share. we must campaign for freedom and democracy in our own hemisphere, now threatened by a second aspiring tyrant. we must extend our hand to africa s poor and diseased and brutalized. we must lead the world s civilized nations in a, partnership that will support moderate muslim nations and peoples, to help them embrace principles of modernity and defeat violent jihad. we must link arms with all responsible nations to block iran from realizing its nuclear ambition. america must never engage and negotiate with jihadists who want to destroy us, destroy our friends, and destroy our way of life!, ""across the nation, there is debate about what course we should take in iran. we want our, troops home, and we want our troops home as soon as they possibly can be here. our desire to bring our troops home however, safely and soon, is met with our recognition that if iraq, descends into all-out civil war, millions could die; iraq s sunni region could become a base for al qaeda; its shia region could be seized by iran; kurd tension could destabilize turkey; and even the broader middle east could be engulfed in conflict. the possible implications for, america could be devastating. it could mean a future with far more military involvement and far more loss of american life. for these reasons, i believe that so long as there is a reasonable prospect of success, our wisest course is to seek stability in iraq, with additional troops to secure the civilian population., ""and no matter how iraq is resolved, we must honor and care for the veterans who risked their lives, and for the families whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice. our nation has a, sacred pact with those who defend freedom. it is a pact we must never break!, ""america must also regain our standing in the world. our influence must once again match our generosity. over the 20th century, no nation gave more, shed more precious lives, and took less for itself than, america. our sacrifice for freedom and human dignity continues unabated today. but this is not the way it is seen by others. america s goodness and leadership in the world, must be as bright and bold as our military might!, ""let me turn to the home-front, america can also overcome the challenges and seize our abundant opportunities here at home, but only if we follow the right course., ""there are some who believe that america s strength comes from government - that challenges call for bigger government, for more regulation in our lives and our livelihoods, and for more protection and isolation from competition that comes from open markets., ""that is the path that has been taken by much of europe. it is called the welfare state. it has led to high unemployment and anemic job growth. it is not the path to prosperity and leadership., ""i believe the american people are the source of our strength. they always have been. they always will be. the american people: hard working, educated, willing to sacrifice for family and country, patriotic, willing to put opportunity ahead of dependence. free american people are the source of america s strength. and when america needs to call on the strength of our country, we call on the strength of the american people, we do not strengthen government., ""we strengthen the american people by giving people in our country more freedom, by letting them keep more of what they earn, by making sure our schools are providing the skills our children will need for tomorrow, and by keeping america at the leading edge of innovation and technology., ""look, america faces unprecedented challenges. we are under attack from jihadists, we face new, competition from asia unlike anything we have known before. we are spending too much money here, our schools are failing too many of our kids, forty-five million people don t have health insurance, we are using too much oil. and what does washington do, it talks and debates and talks and kicks the ball down the field. it is time for less talk and more action in government., ""our government has become a weight on the american people, sapping their strength and slowing their, climb. we must transform our government - to become a government that is smaller and less bureaucratic, one with fewer regulations and more freedom for our people. the innovation we need today is to make, government more responsive to the needs of everyday american citizens. it s time to put government in its place, and to put the american people first!, ""at the core of america, at the heart of america are millions of individual families: families of children, and parents, aunts and uncles and cousins, grandparents, foster parents. the work done in the home is the most important work that can possibly be done for the future of this great country., ""their work in the home, these parents, grandparents, foster parents isn t getting easier. values and morals that have long shaped the development of our children are under constant attack. in too many cases,, schools are failing. for some, healthcare is inadequate. family expenses and government take a larger and larger bite. america cannot continue to lead the family of nations if we fail the families here at home., ""how is the american family made stronger? with marriage before children. with a mother and a father in the life of every child. with healthcare that is affordable and portable. with schools that succeed. with taxes that are lower. and with leaders who strive to demonstrate enduring values and morality., ""this was the agenda i pursued as governor of massachusetts. this is the agenda i will pursue if i am elected your president., ""when i was a boy, the american dream meant a house in the suburbs. the american dream today must mean more than a house. the new american dream should include a strong family, enduring values,, excellence in education, dependable and affordable healthcare, secure employment and secure retirement, and a safe and prosperous homeland. it s time to build a new american dream for all americans., ""how will this new american dream be built? our hopes and dreams will inspire us, for americans are an optimistic people. but hope alone is just crossing fingers, when what we need is industrious hands. it is time for hope and action. it is time to do, as well as to dream!, ""as we look around us in this extraordinary museum, we see the evidence of american innovation - airplanes, automobiles, appliances. but these are not america s greatest innovation. america s greatest innovation is freedom. without freedom, we have nothing. with freedom, nothing can hold us back., ""with freedom, nothing can hold us back., ""freedom has made the american dream possible. freedom will make the new american dream possible. and with the work, sacrifice, and greatness of spirit of the american people, freedom has made america - and will keep america - the greatest nation on earth. god bless the united states of america."""	
"""the mainstream media is surprised that we re here. they wrote our obituary last fall. course, they ve written our obituary before: after watergate, after the 82 midterm elections, after, iran-contra, and after bill clinton s election. the truth is that their wishful thinking reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. in fact, i predict that we ll be around a lot longer than . . . say, newspapers., ""no conservatism is alive and well. and it is needed more than ever. america faces a new generation of challenges, critical challenges. today is similar in many respects to what we faced as a nation 30 years ago, looking at the menacing face of communism., ""in fact, 30 years ago, in this very conference, one man stood up and told america what was needed. it was conservatism, a new coalition of conservatives that would lead to a brighter future for the nation. ronald reagan said this:  what i envision is not simply a melding, together of the two branches of american conservatism into a temporary uneasy alliance, but the creation of a new, lasting majority.  and here is where he said that this conservative alliance would lead:  i have seen the conservative future, and it works. , ""coming from massachusetts, i saw first hand the liberal future, and it doesn t work. that s, why i ran against ted kennedy. liberal social programs weren t solving poverty; they were in fact creating a culture of poverty. i didn t win, but at least teddy had to take out a mortgage on his home to beat me., ""i was once campaigning in a poor section in boston when a person came up to me and said:  what are you doing here? this is kennedy country.  i looked around at the vacant store fronts and boarded up windows and replied:  yeah, it looks like kennedy country. , ""no, it is the conservative coalition represented here that can build a brighter future for america: economic conservatives, social conservatives, and national security conservatives., ""i saw the potential of economic conservatism when i became governor. the state budget was, $3 billion short. liberals wanted to raise taxes, but i cut government instead. i eliminated and, combined duplicative and wasteful agencies and programs, and i balanced the budget four years in a row. one commentator said that i didn t just go after the sacred cows, i went after the whole herd. and after four years as governor, i m proud to report that massachusetts has 600 fewer state workers than when i took office., ""i went after taxes as well. the legislature passed a $250 million retroactive capital gains tax increase. i knew my veto would be overridden by the 85% democrat majority. so i had the department of revenue send every taxpayer a pro forma bill for their new higher taxes, and, then i waited for folks to call their legislators. and did they ever. then, i sent the legislature an amendment that turned the $250 million tax increase into a $250 million refund. amazingly, the legislature now saw the error of their ways., ""i didn t stop there. we made the investment tax credit permanent. we passed sales tax holidays. we gave tax breaks to medical manufacturing companies. we gave real estate tax, breaks to seniors. and in each of my last three years, i submitted a budget that cut the income tax., ""it s time for some economic conservatism in washington as well., ""we ve seen an embarrassing spike in non-defense, discretionary spending. as you know, i m proud to be the first presidential candidate to sign grover norquist s tax pledge. but i have another pledge i am making to you today. if i am elected president, i will cap non-defense, discretionary spending at inflation minus one percent. that alone will save $300 billion over 10 years. if congress sends me a budget that exceeds the cap, i will veto that budget. i don t care if it s a republican or democrat congress, i will veto that budget., ""and i know how to veto. i like vetoes. i vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as, governor. and, by the way, if congress doesn t want to do the cutting itself, then give me the same line item veto i had as governor., ""and one more thing, i will personally lead a top to bottom review of government programs, agencies, procurement and spending. it s time to cut out the mountains of waste and inefficiency and duplication in the federal government. i ve done that in business, i ve done that in the olympics, and i ve done that in massachusetts. and boy, i can t wait to get my hands on washington., ""democrats in washington are itching to raise taxes - 2011 is set to be a record breaking tax hike. not if i m president. i ll fight to stop the tax hike. and i ll fight for a new savings plan for middle class americans as well - one that will grow the economy and help families at the, same time. under my plan, the amount of tax they will pay on dividends, interest and capital, gains will be absolutely zero., ""it s high time to take government apart and put it back together, but this time simpler, smarter and smaller., ""let s talk about social conservatism too., ""massachusetts became center stage for the liberal social agenda - sort of san francisco east, nancy pelosi style., ""ten months into my term, the massachusetts supreme judicial court said our constitution requires gay marriage. john adams, who wrote it, would be surprised., ""less than a year later, scientists were trying to convince me that it s not a moral issue to clone entirely new human embryos solely for research., ""not long after that, the catholic church was forced to exit their adoption service because they preferred placing kids in homes with a mom and a dad, not two dads or two moms., ""i have stood in the center of the battlefield on every major social issue. i fought to preserve our traditional values and to protect the sanctity of life., ""i vetoed bills, and filed new bills. i enforced a law that banned out-of-state same sex couples from coming to massachusetts to get married. i went to the court again and again, i testified before congress for the federal marriage amendment, and i championed our successful drive that collected 170,000 signatures for a citizen ballot initiative to protect marriage., ""to me, a fundamental principle of democracy is at stake. it is the people who are sovereign in america, not a few folks in black robes. judges add things that aren t in the constitution, and they take away things that are in the constitution. in that regard, they let the campaign finance lobby take away first amendment rights. if i m president, i will fight to repeal, mccain-feingold., ""another aspect of american sovereignty is the security of our borders. the current system is a virtual concrete wall against those who have skill and education, but it s a wide open walk across the border for those that have neither., ""mccain-kennedy isn t the answer. as governor, i took a very different approach. i authorized our state police to enforce immigration laws. i vetoed a tuition break for illegals and said no to, driver s licenses. mccain-kennedy gives benefits to illegals that would cost taxpayers millions. and more importantly, amnesty didn t work 20 years ago, and it won t work today., ""the new generation of challenges we face today includes challenges to our national security as well. violent jihadists are intent on replacing moderate islamic governments with a caliphate. to do that, they seek the collapse of our economy and our military., ""we will defeat the violent jihad with a two-part strategy. first, an unquestionably strong military. the best ally peace has in the world is a strong america. we need more men and women in the military, better armaments, and a strategic defense initiative. and there s a, second aspect of our strategy: we must bring together all the civilized nations of the world in what might be called a second marshall plan. together with them, and with volunteers, businesses and ngos, we must support moderate muslim nations and peoples. they need, public schools that are not wahabi schools, the rule of law, property rights, modern banking and agriculture and pro-growth economic policies. in the end, it is the muslim people themselves who will eliminate radical jihad., ""iraq is just one front in the war. we removed hussein, but afterward, we were, under-prepared, under-planned, under-manned, and under-managed. but walking away now or dividing the country and then walking away would have real and severe risks for america and for our troops. i support the troop surge for that reason. and one thing i know, we shouldn t let nancy pelosi and harry reid dictate our battle strategy to the commanders in the field or to, the commander-in-chief., ""conservatism is a belief in strength. it is because of america s strength that we don t all speak german and that our kids don t all speak russian. and it is because of america s strength that our grandchildren will not have to speak farsi or arabic or chinese. america must remain the world s military superpower. that is a first principle of conservatism. to remain the military superpower, we must remain the world s economic superpower as well. you can t be a tier i military with a tier ii economy - the soviet union tried to keep that up for a while, and lost., ""it s inconceivable to us that we could ever be passed economically. but 100 years ago, it was inconceivable that anyone could have passed england or france. but we did. and if you look east, you can see that we are facing much more difficult competition from asia than we have faced before. they want to move the center of manufacturing and technology and innovation from america to asia. we may just smile, but don t forget what will rogers said:, "" even if you re on the right track, if you don t move, you ll get run over.  america will move, but the question is,  in what direction? , ""history can be a guide. the 20th century saw two economic systems pitted against each, other. ours was built on free enterprise, free trade and the primacy of the individual. the soviet s was built on government command and control, and the primacy of the state., ""ours produced the most powerful economy in the world that has given its citizens a standard of living our grandparents never dreamed possible; theirs produced a downward spiraling standard of living and eventual collapse., ""the 20th century history lesson is that america s economy is strong because we put our trust in freedom, in the american people, and in the free enterprises they create., ""if we are to keep america strong, we must turn to the source of america s strength. liberals think that government is the source of our greatness. they re wrong. the american people are the source of our strength: hard working, educated, skilled, family-oriented, willing to sacrifice for their family and their, country, god-fearing, freedom-loving american people. they always have been the source of our strength and they always will be., ""and so if we need to call on the strength of america, you don t strengthen government, you strengthen the american people., ""you strengthen the american people by letting them keep more of their own money, and not taxing their families at death., ""you strengthen the american people by making sure that the voice of millions of voters trumps the voice of unelected judges., ""you strengthen the american people by securing our borders and by insisting that the children who come legally to this land are taught in english., ""and perhaps most importantly, you strengthen the american people when you strengthen the american family. marriage must come before children because every child deserves a mother and a father., ""this is not the time for us to shrink from conservative principles. it is time for us to stand in strength., ""because america faces unprecedented challenges, strength is the only answer. strong military, strong economy, strong families., ""thirty years ago, in challenging times, a great coalition was forged in these halls. today, we face a new generation of challenges., ""if we in this room lock our arms together, we can forge the political will to rebuild our military might. if we in this room will simply march forward we can propel america s growth and prosperity to lead to the world. if we in this room lift up our eyes, we will lift the spirit of the nation., ""now is the time, this is the place, for us to stand together, to lead a great coalition of strength, for our families, for our future, for america. may god bless this great land."""	
", ""it is good to be back in miami. if ever there was a place which shows the vitality and, dynamism of the american spirit, this is it. one friend told me that he considers miami to be the capital of latin america –and it looks like a capital – bold architecture, bold people ... a truly gleaming city. miami and florida owe a great deal to jeb bush., ""thirty years ago, miami was a different city. and so was america. america faced the menace of global communism, stagnation, and high inflation. jimmy carter told us that our problems were the fault of the american people. but one man stood up and said that carter was wrong; that the fault was in america s politicians. the answer, he said, was in conservatism – strong military, strong economy and strong families. ronald reagan said this:  i have seen the future of conservatism, and it works. , ""today, we face a new generation of challenges. i believe they are every bit as threatening as was the threat of the cold war. and the principles of conservatism are once again the answer for america., ""as governor, i saw the power of fiscal conservatism. the state budget was $3 billion short. liberals wanted to raise taxes, but i cut government instead. i eliminated and combined, duplicate agencies and wasteful programs, and i balanced the budget four years in a row. one commentator said that i didn t just go after the sacred cows, i went after the whole herd. and after four years as governor, i m proud to report that massachusetts has fewer state workers than when i took office., ""spending isn t the only target of republican conservatism. i went after taxes as well. we, killed a $250 million capital gains tax increase. we made the investment tax credit permanent. we passed sales tax holidays. we gave real estate tax breaks to seniors. you guys are lucky. you don t have an income tax. that s why in each of my last three years, i submitted a budget that cut the income tax., ""it s time to bring that same kind of republican economic conservatism to washington, dc as well., ""we ve seen an embarrassing spike in federal spending, even as republicans held the majority in both houses. as you know, i m proud to be the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge, not to raise taxes. but i have another pledge. if i am elected president, i will cap non-defense discretionary spending at inflation minus one percent. that alone will save $300 billion over 10 years. if congress sends me a budget that exceeds the cap, i will veto that budget. i don t care if it s a republican or democrat congress, i will veto that budget., ""and one more thing, i will personally lead a top to bottom review of government programs, agencies, procurement and spending. it s time to cut out the mountains of waste and inefficiency and duplication in the federal government. i ve done that in business, i ve done that in the olympics, and i ve done that in massachusetts. and boy, i can t wait to get my hands on washington., ""democrats in washington are itching to raise your taxes – 2011 is set to be a record breaking tax hike. not if i m president. i ll fight to stop the tax hike. and i ll fight for a new savings, plan for middle class americans as well – one that will grow the economy and help families at the same time. under my plan, middle-class americans will be able to earn thousands of dollars in dividends, interest and capital gains entirely tax-free., ""it s high time to take government apart and put it back together, but this time we will make it simpler, smarter and smaller., ""the simple truth is this: washington is the problem. big government, big spending, washington saps the vitality and growth of the american people and of american enterprise. it is time once again to bring republican principles to washington. it s time to take, government apart and put it back together again – only this time, smaller, simpler and smarter., ""as governor, i also fought to preserve our traditional values. massachusetts became center stage for the liberal social agenda, ""ten months into my term, the massachusetts supreme judicial court said our constitution requires gay marriage., ""less than a year later, scientists were trying to convince me that it s not a moral issue to clone entirely new human embryos solely for research., ""not long after that, the catholic church was forced to end their adoption service because they preferred placing kids in homes with a mom and a dad, not two dads or two moms., ""i have stood in the center of the battlefield on every major social issue. i fought to preserve our traditional values and to protect the sanctity of life., ""i have been asked why we have fought so hard, for family, for marriage, for life, for religious, freedom. the answer is that i believe that the culture and values of the american people are the source of our strength as a nation. some liberals believe that america is a great nation because we have a great government. well, we have a great government, but that is not the source of our strength. the source of our strength is the american people – hard working,, educated, risk taking, opportunity loving, god-fearing, family oriented, free american people. and when we need to call on america s strength, you don t strengthen the government, you strengthen the american people., ""you strengthen the american people by making sure their children have good schools and good healthcare. you strengthen the american people by opening the doors to opportunity. and you strengthen the american people by strengthening the american family. there is no, work more important to the future of america than the work done within the four walls of the home. today, far too many of our children are born to a home that has only one parent. my friends, i think we can all agree: every child should have a mother and a father., ""republicans believe in strength. and american strength starts in the home., ""republican principles are also needed in national security. tonight, i d like to consider two, critical regions where the strength and resolve of our foreign policy is being tested: first, in the middle east. and second, in latin america., ""in the middle east and through much of the world, violent jihadists are intent on replacing moderate islamic governments with a caliphate. to do that, they seek the collapse of our economy and our military., ""we will defeat the violent jihad with a two-part strategy. first, an unquestionably strong military. the best ally peace has in the world is a strong america. we need more men and women in the military, better armaments, and a strategic defense initiative. and there s a, second aspect of our strategy: we must bring together all the civilized nations of the world in what might be called a second marshall plan. together with them, and with volunteers, businesses and ngos, we must support moderate muslim nations and peoples. they need, public schools that are not wahhabi schools, the rule of law, property rights, modern banking and agriculture and pro-growth economic policies. in the end, it is the muslim people themselves who will eliminate radical jihad., ""iraq is just one front in the war. we removed hussein, but afterward, we were, under-prepared, under-planned, under-manned, and under-managed. but walking away now or dividing the country and then walking away would have real and severe risks for america and for our troops. i support the president s troop surge for that reason. and one thing i know, we shouldn t let nancy pelosi and harry reid dictate our battle strategy to the commanders in the field or to the commander-in-chief., ""i would like now to turn to another region, to another challenge to america. i want to talk, about latin america and about the unprecedented challenge and opportunity that confront us., ""i owe a great deal to americans of latin american descent. when i was starting my business, i came to miami to find partners that would believe in me, and that would finance my, enterprise. my partners were ricardo poma, miguel duenas, pancho soler, frank kardonski, and diego ribandinarea., ""these friends didn t just help me, they taught me. ricardo s brother had been tortured and murdered by rebel terrorists in el salvador. miguel himself had been chained to a floor in guatemala for weeks, and tortured. and their torturers were financed by fidel castro. i learned from these friends about the human cost when castro has money., ""so many of you here, in profound and personal ways, know all too well the precious value of liberty – and the agonizing pain of tyranny. you have seen it your families, your friends, your neighbors, and in your own lives., ""in two years, we will mark the 200th anniversary of lincoln s birth. we will also note a far, more sobering occasion – the half century that will have passed since darkness descended 90 miles to our south, and a despotic reign fell over a proud people. unless something happens to hasten the demise of a corrupt dictatorship, 50 years will have passed since fidel and raul castro seized havana, confiscated property, and tore apart families and lives., ""the year 2009 will also mark nearly three decades since castro set tens of thousands of his, countrymen adrift on the open seas, confirming in every rational mind the moral depravity of his tyranny., ""through the internet, tv, radio marti and other miami radio stations that broadcast into, cuba, we know that word of news and events here in the u.s. gets back to cuba. to this daily flow of truth i would like to add my message to your own. america will never back down to the castro brothers. there will be no accommodation, no appeasement. there will be no end to our insistence that political prisoners are set free, and that cubans themselves are finally given the privileges that today are enjoyed only by castro s cronies, and by foreign tourists. after 50 years, with so much suffering, so much sacrifice, we will not relent until the day when the castro brothers meet their ignominious end and their history is written among the world s most reviled despots, tyrants and frauds., ""as president, i will stand side-by-side with the members of this community in fighting the menace of the cuban monsters., ""i will work with mel martinez – who at age the age of 15 came to orlando from his native sagua la, grande as part of  operation pedro pan.  mel lived with foster families who generously opened their homes to him until he was reunited with his family a few years later – and the rest, as they say, is history. i will, stand side by side with your congressional leaders – lincoln and mario diaz-balart, ileana ros-lehtinen. and i will work with leading exiles like armando perez-roura, whose life and whose continued commitment to cuban freedom is nothing short of inspiring. also, let me say, i know that many of you, tonight are mourning the passing of agustin tamargo, a local legend in spanish radio. i offer my deepest condolences to his wife, their seven children and the entire community on the loss of a friend and leader., ""i said at the outset that the threat in latin america is unprecedented. i say that because the castros have a second tyrant and he has great wealth, from oil. we must stand just as firm against caudillos like hugo, chavez, tutored by fidel castro. chavez and castro are brothers in blood, intent on personal gratification at the expense of their people. hugo chavez and fidel castro have stolen the phrase –  patria o muerte, venceremos.  this phrase should not be used by dictators, but by liberators., ""there are two spheres of influence in the western hemisphere. one is dark, bellicose and spreads misery by denying people basic freedoms; the other shines like a powerful light, is peaceful and wants only for its people to live in liberty and prosper., ""it is time for the united states to adopt a latin american strategy that will strengthen human rights and freedom, that will advance our own interests, and that will weaken the threat of the castros and chavez. i propose seven elements in this strategy., ""first, we must continue to isolate castro with economic and diplomatic sanctions., ""second, we must help our friends. foreign aid and foreign investments must be focused on those who stand alongside us., ""third, we must once again act to inform public opinion in latin america. we should use our world renowned media and communications savvy to spread the truth about american freedom, and castro tyranny., ""fourth, we must improve our economic ties. the president has negotiated vital free trade agreements with latin american neighbors like peru, columbia and panama, but some democrats in congress are so beholden to their labor bosses that they have refused to confirm them. it is time to put the interests of humanity and of the nation first., ""fifth, we must rebuild relationships of respect and trust and friendship. our latin american friends must always feel welcome in the white house. and congratulations are in order to the president for his travels this week to latin america., ""sixth, as we finally and belatedly secure the border and solve the problem of illegal immigration, we must reaffirm our appreciation of legal immigration. we are a nation of immigrants and refugees, and they have contributed a great deal to our culture of hard work, entrepreneurship, faith in god, love of family, and respect for human life., ""and finally, we must never again ignore latin america. it is a great deal easier to prevent a crisis than to end one. since the end of the cold war and since the terror of 9/11, america has become so preoccupied with other regions that we have forgotten our friends in our own hemisphere. and we have ignored the, potential threat. consider with concern the visit here from ahmadinejad, the aspiring nuclear terrorist and genocidist., ""as we face these challenges, there is one more principle we must remember. america must remain the world s military superpower., ""it is the strength of our military, the strength of our families, the strength of the american people, the strength of the many americans who trace their roots to the soil of cuba and latin america, it is all this, strength that gives me such confidence that someday, soon, the people of cuba will be free. i look forward to the day when the stain of castro is rinsed from the cuban soil, when the cuban people can stand with their american brothers and sisters and say these words - libertad, libertad, libertad."""	
", thank you for that welcome, and thank you president and mrs. bush for this invitation to, speak at texas a&m, a proud university with time honored traditions. i ve only been here for a few hours, but spending that time with students here, i understand why you chose this place for your library., you are all lucky to have a national treasure here in this library. i m not talking about the memorabilia and records – i m talking about president and mrs. bush., once they led a nation - today they inspire a nation., the navy s youngest pilot became the nation s commander-in-chief. and now, he comforts the wounded from hurricanes and tsunami., his 16 year old dance partner became the mother of 6 - including a president and a governor - the nation s first lady, and the love of their 62 married years., inspired by them both, their grandson, george p. bush, has joined the navy reserve. their accomplishments changed global politics. their character changed our hearts., let me also add a word of thanks to the texas a&m community for allowing the federal government to ""borrow"" secretary of defense robert gates., mr. president, i am told that you have objected to calling your generation the greatest generation. you prefer to add others to the list, including the brave men and women who fought to protect us in desert storm, and those who are in harms way today., i wholly agree with your characterization of our armed forces as the bravest and most patriotic in the world. but i still line up with tom brokaw on this. not due to any deficiency in, bravery. but because of what your entire generation of american s sacrificed, and because of what you accomplished., , frankly, what your generation achieved, for america, and for the world, was so astounding that historians may have a difficult time convincing future students that they are not grossly exaggerating., mid century, a menacing madman had captured the wealth and land of all continental europe. his rantings of genocide had been dismissed as hyperbole, but they were appallingly real., allied with japan, hitler was poised to conquer one last european island and her most famous former colony - us. you stopped them both - your blood washing the beaches of the atlantic and the pacific., and then, another threat, just as horrific. the soviet empire hung an iron curtain, and spread its leaden weight around the world. the peril of nuclear holocaust was reminiscent of the, holocaust that the world had just seen in europe. this time, the holocaust threatened the entire human race. and again, your generation won., and the victor was truly an entire generation, not just those, like yourself, who served in the armed forces. in the 40 s, you rationed and saved. your mothers and daughters enlisted to, work in factories, just as you did mrs. bush. and in the 60 s and 70 s and 80 s, you relentlessly pursued learning and innovation to lead the world in space, in technology, in productivity -, you out-competed the soviets. you drove them to the economic bankruptcy that matched their moral bankruptcy., today, we face a new generation of challenges, globally and here at home. we will do as american have always done: we will rise to the occasion., we have all that we need. we have technology, technology that would have been beyond the imagination of our grandparents. we have national wealth. and most important, we have the heart and passion of the american people - always the greatest source of our strength as a nation., we need leadership. we are fortunate today to have a president who loves america, who acts solely out of a desire to protect her and to promote liberty around the world. we have a president who leads., but i think most americans look at washington and are appalled at the divisiveness, the, bitterness, the smallness, the disunity. senator arthur vandenberg once famously opined that ""politics stops at the water s edge."" but last week, the democratic chair of house foreign, affairs said that we have two foreign policies, one for each party. and then the speaker of the house helped dignify a state sponsor of terror. at this time of war, her action stands as one of the most partisan, divisive, and ill-considered of any national leader in this decade., , united we stand. united we have stood the test of time and tyrants. divided is not the american way., today, the attention of the nation is focused on iraq. all americans want our troops home as soon as possible. but walking away from iraq, or dividing it in parts and then walking away would present grave risks to america. iran could seize the shia south, al qaeda could, dominate the sunni west, and the kurds could destabilize the border with turkey. a regional conflict could ensue, perhaps even requiring our return into far worse circumstances. the troop surge has a real chance of working, and early signs are encouraging. it is time for congress to follow the lead of the commanders in the field and the commander-in-chief., what do you see beyond iraq, into the coming decades? i see what america can be for our children, if we stand united, and if we finally act to honestly face the new generation of challenges that confront us. it is an america that is safe and that is prosperous, even more, prosperous than today. it is an america that is respected and appreciated by the nations of the world, because they too will have been blessed with the gifts we enjoy - freedom, security, and prosperity., i am often asked whether i am a neo-conservative or a realist. sorry, those terms are too confining. in my view, our objective is a strong america and a safe world., we should always remember that those two things are connected. as ronald reagan, observed: ""of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the u.s. was too strong."", a strong america requires a strong military and a strong economy. you can t be a military superpower if you are a second tier economy. the weakness of the soviet economy was the, vulnerability that presidents reagan and bush exploited to bring down the evil empire. i have previously addressed action we must urgently take to preserve our economic lead - smaller, government, lower taxes, better schools and healthcare, greater investment in technology, free trade., but there is further action we must take if we are to remain strong and if we are to build a safe world, with peace, prosperity, freedom and dignity. this action will be controversial. it will be strongly resisted. because this action requires change., change in and of itself is difficult. and in the absence of a clear and convincing crisis, it is even harder to garner the will necessary to set a new course. look at how long it took us to confront the reality of jihadism. they bombed our embassies, they bombed our marines in, lebanon, they bombed the uss cole, they even set off a bomb in the basement of the world trade center. but we failed to truly see the threat, and to change. after september 11, 2001, our president led us from denial to action., , i think many of us still fail to comprehend the extent of the threat posed by radical islam, by jihad. understandably, we focus on afghanistan and iraq. our men and women are dying there. we think in terms of countries, because we faced countries in last century s conflicts. but the jihad is much broader than any one nation or nations. jihad encompasses far more than the israeli-palestinian conflict. for radical islam, there is an over-arching conflict and goal - replacing all modern islamic states with a caliphate, destroying america, and conquering the world., it sounds insane. it is insane. it is just as insane as hitler and stalin. but it is also just as real., their methods are entirely different than those of the world wars and the cold war. rather than armies, they employ sleeper networks and indiscriminate terror. their soldiers include children, as do their victims; among their generals are radical clergy. they communicate by internet. they recruit in schools and in houses of worship and in prisons. and now, they pursue nuclear weapons - they even contemplate using them., what we face is different, different than what we have faced before. and that means we will have to change if we are to defeat it. and the change will require sacrifice from the american people. i believe america is ready for the challenge., today, i d like to discuss four changes among those i believe are needed. first, we need a stronger military. , i propose that we sharply increase our investment in national defense. i want to see at least, 100,000 more troops. i want to see us finally make the long overdue investment in equipment, armament, weapon systems, and strategic defense., after president bush left office in 1993, the clinton administration began to dismantle our military, in what some called a peace dividend. they took the dividend, but didn t get the peace. it seems that we had come to believe that war and threats and evil men were gone forever. as charles krauthammer observed: we took a holiday from history., simply look at the neglect of our military, we purchased only a small fraction of what was needed to maintain our strength. instead, we have lived off the assets that had been purchased in the prior decades. the equipment and armament gap continues to this day., we wring the useful life out of old and inadequate equipment, starving our budget for, , purchasing modern and ample armament., what is the right amount to spend? secretary gates has proposed a 10% increase for next year. bravo. but we will need at least an additional $30 to 40 billion per year over the next several years to modernize our military, address gaps in our troop levels, ease the strain on our national guard and reserves and support our wounded soldiers., a look at our military spending over time is instructive., based on my analysis, we should commit to spend a minimum of 4% of gdp on our national defense., but increase spending must not mean increased waste. if i am fortunate enough to become president, i will convene a team of private sector leaders and defense experts to carry out a stem-to-stern analysis of military purchasing. first, i want to hear about spending on equipment and programs that is more about making a politician s home district happy, than about protecting our nation. that s worse than pork-barrel spending, and it s got to stop. i will work with congress to install strict lobbying rules and new sunshine provisions to keep a far more watchful eye on self-serving politicians, current and past. and second, i want my team to see if and where we are being fleeced by contractors and suppliers. there will be no sheep allowed in the military purchasing department!, so number one: a stronger military., number two: america must become energy independent. , our economic and military strength require it. i m not just talking about symbolic measures, i mean that we must finally take the necessary steps to actually produce as much energy as we use. this may take twenty years or more. of course, we will continue buying fuels from our friends, but we will buy and sell. we, will end our strategic vulnerability to an oil shut-off by nations like iran, russia, and venezuela. we will stop sending $1 billion a day to other nations, some of whom are using that same money against us. and we will rein in our emissions of greenhouse gasses at the same time., true energy independence will require employing technology to make our use of energy more efficient, in our cars, in our homes, and in our businesses., energy independence will also mean pursuing our ample domestic sources of energy: more drilling offshore and in anwr, nuclear power, renewable sources like ethanol, biodiesel, solar, wind, and full exploitation of coal - solid and liquid. in some cases, we may need to guarantee floor prices to stimulate private investment. in others, shared investments or incentives may be required., i will initiate a bold and far-reaching research initiative - an energy revolution. it will be our generation s equivalent of the manhattan project or of the mission to reach the moon. this will be a mission to create, , new, economic sources of energy, clean energy. we will license our technology to other nations and we will employ it here at home. it will be good for our national defense, for our foreign policy and for our economy. it will also be good for the world. and while scientists are still debating how much human activity impacts the environment, we can all agree that alternative energy sources will be good for the planet. for any and all of these reasons, the time for true energy independence has come., three: we must transform our international civilian resources, to enhance our influence for peace, for security, and for freedom. , following world war ii, america created structures designed to meet the demands of the cold war. it worked. during the reagan-bush years, it became clear that the bureaucratic boundaries in the military between the branches were getting in the way. so the goldwater-nichols act removed barriers to unify, efforts across the services. this included establishing ""joint commands"" with individual commanders fully responsible for their geographic region. those theaters of responsibility are as shown here., our non-military resources enjoy no such jointness, no such clear leadership, no such clear lines of authority and responsibility. too often we struggle to integrate our military and civilian instruments of national power into coherent, timely and effective operations. when facing the need to strengthen the democratic underpinnings of a country like lebanon, our education, health, banking, energy, commerce,, law enforcement and diplomatic resources are in separate bureaucracies, all under separate leadership, all protecting their own powers and their own prerogatives. so while we watched, hezbollah brought healthcare and schools to the lebanese. guess who the people followed when conflict ensued? the same thing happened with hamas and the palestinians., the problem was just as evident in iraq. while the military moved in rapid order to topple saddam hussein, many of our non-military resources moved like they were stuck in tar. they fight over which agency will pay the $11.00 per diem cost of food at the same time that we are spending over $7 billion a month and taking human casualties., it is high time to truly transform our civilian instruments of national power. we need to enable joint, strategies and joint operations. just as the military has divided the world into common regions for all of its branches, so too the civilian agencies should align along consistent boundaries. and one civilian leader, a deputy lets call him or her, with authority and responsibility for all agencies and departments, must be fully empowered, just like the single military commander for centcom. these deputies of our civilian, resources must have sufficient authority over the activities in their region. they will be heavy hitters, with recognized reputations around the world. they must be given objectives, budgets, and responsible oversight. they will be measured by their success in their region in improving such things as healthcare, education, and economy, and for their progress in promoting peace and democracy., the wonders of america - like our healthcare technology - can be powerful tools to promote the foundations of liberty. it is time that we apply these american wonders to make the world, and in turn to, , make america, a safer, freer, and more prosperous place., four. we need to strengthen old partnerships and alliances, and we need to inaugurate a new one. , i don t need to tell you that the failures of the un are simply astonishing. consider the infamous work of the un human rights council., the infamy of the un has made a number of people understandably cynical when it comes to multinational and multilateral institutions. some of us will be tempted to retreat to american isolation. others will favor american unilateralism. but america s strength is amplified when it is combined with the strength of other nations. whether diplomatic, military, or economic, america is stronger when we have friends standing, with us., that may be even more true tomorrow than it is today. the world will look quite different in the future than it has in the past., the middle east is facing a demographic crisis. today, over half the region is under 22 years old. but the combined gdp of all arab nations, including oil, is less than that of spain. with the growing populations and lack of jobs, the ground for radical islam will be increasingly fertile., i agree with former prime minister aznar of spain that we should build on the nato alliance to defeat radical jihad. he has called for greater coordination in military, homeland security, and non-proliferation efforts. he is right. we should look to expand and deepen this and other alliances., today, i want to take his recommendation a step further. as one of my first acts as president, i would call for a summit of nations. in addition to the united states, the convening countries would include moderate islamic states and other leading developed nations. the objective of the summit would be to create a worldwide strategy to support muslim nations and peoples, in their effort to defeat radical, violent jihad., i would envision that the summit would lead to the creation of a partnership for prosperity and progress. this partnership would assemble the resources of all developed nations to work to assure that threatened islamic states had public schools, not wahhabi madrassas, micro credit and banking, the rule of law, human, rights, basic healthcare, and competitive economic policies. the resources would be drawn from public and private institutions, and from volunteers and ngos. and policies would favor expansion of free trade and investment., merely closing our eyes and hoping that radical jihad will go away is not an acceptable answer. and american military action cannot change the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of muslims. only, muslims will be able to defeat the violent radicals. but we can help them. and we must help them. for the consequences - for america and for all nations - of a radicalized islamic world, possessing nuclear weapons, are unthinkable., , conclusion, i know that the new generation of challenges that we face seems daunting. but confronting challenges has always made america stronger. and the heart of the american people is good. and it is willing. when called to rise to the occasion, the american people will be just as valiant as those of you in the greatest generation., the world awaits our leadership., on the wall of your library are these words: ""let future generations understand the burden and the blessings of freedom. let them say we stood where duty required us to stand."" we do understand. we stand in duty today. and we are ready stand again, for the future of america., thank you."	
"thanks ... it is an honor to receive this award and to be associated in a small way with the legacy of president reagan who fought tirelessly to lift the nation., i m sure he would be cheering the life affirming decision of the supreme court. the great, issues of our times - the life and death issues - should be, as this court realizes, in the hands of the people and the democratic process., but our hearts are more heavy than buoyant tonight. they are heavy with the awful weight that rests on them – the weight of lost lives, lost senselessly, purposelessly, inexplicably. as our pace slows, we can look beyond the tumult of daily living into the wells of deeper meaning, and perhaps we can learn one of life s solemn sermons., ann and i spent monday at our home on a lake in new hampshire. it was a grey day with, record rainfall. the lake ice had still not entirely melted - but it was giving way to the waves and the rain. inside, was toasty warm. our entire family had gathered - all 22 of us. parker, mitt is crawling; owen just scoots. eleven year old allie reads better than a few of the adults. this new romney generation has been planted in good homes., a call from the office told me about the tragedy in virginia. i went outside to let the news penetrate. i could see my family through the windows. i tried to imagine the sorrow i would, feel in losing one of them. but i couldn t do it. it was simply beyond my imagination. there is a great deal in life, it seems, that can only be understood if it is actually experienced. my heart mourns for the parents and families of the fallen, even though i know i cannot fully comprehend the depth of their loss. i pray for them., what are we to make of what happened at virginia tech? you may have already drawn your own lessons. others will be added over days and weeks by both the thoughtful and the, thoughtless. i hope that you will find what i have to offer tonight to be in the former category., i picked up my bible yesterday to re-read the account of the senseless murder of abel by his brother. it s only one page after the fall of adam and eve from the garden, where they were told by god that he would place what he called ""enmity"" on the earth. there is a lesson being, taught: evil and good have been here from the beginning., cain murdered his younger brother abel because he was jealous of him, angry that he was, more favored. evil is not going to simply go away. we are going to have to learn to live in a world that has evil as well as good., perhaps that sounds obvious. i think it is. but when hitler wrote of his genocidal plans, educated people simply couldn t believe that such evil was possible. the same is true of, ahmadinejad today - his evil is excused by those who cannot bring themselves to believe that evil like that actually exists in the heart of man., following the end of the cold war, president clinton began to dismantle our military. he, reduced our forces by 500,000. he retired almost 80 ships. our spending on national defense dropped from over 6% of gdp to 3.8% today. he called it a ""peace dividend."", we got the dividend, but we didn t get the peace., charles krauthammer called our blissful disarmament a ""holiday from history."" for history has plainly taught that evil is on earth and that there are evil people who will threaten the good, the peaceful and the free., there is no question in my mind that if the opposition party had full reign in washington, we would not only withdraw without regard to consequence from iraq, we would also continue to reduce military spending to finance social programs. some would celebrate, chanting that they are going to ""give peace a chance."" but peace has had many chances and it will have many more., history teaches us this: the best ally of peace is a strong america. , as ronald reagan said: ""of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the u.s. was too strong."", and it was also president reagan who labeled the soviet union an evil empire - much to the horror of foreign policy elites. yet he was right., twenty years later, president bush was criticized for labeling certain countries part of the ""axis of evil."" again, foreign policy elites recoiled., but what these elites fail to recognize is that radical islam has as its intention the overthrow of, all moderate islamic governments ... caliphate ... collapse of the west and the us. today, iran, is working to develop a nuclear bomb ... iran, whose president denies the history of holocaust, and calls for the destruction of the nation founded by its emaciated yet hopeful survivors. evil indeed exists in the world., the right course for america in a world where evil still exists is not acquiescence and , weakness, it is assertiveness and strength. i would like to see us add at least 100,000 troops to our military, increase defense spending to at least 4% of our gdp, and re-organize our non-military resources to support moderate, modern muslim people and nations., some of our citizens see the evil in the world, but argue that we should simply isolate ourselves from it. but one characteristic of evil is that it seeks domination over others, all others. hitler was poised to conquer one last european island and japan had attacked our pacific fleet - there is no safe place if evil is unrestrained. the weak may hide, but they become weaker still, until at last they are discovered, and easily conquered. it is up to us to keep america strong., and while we will always defend america on our own if ever called, we know our strength is amplified when it is combined with the strength of other nations. whether diplomatic, economic, or military, america is stronger when we have friends standing with us., i agree with former prime minister aznar of spain that we should build on the nato alliance to defeat radical islam. and further, if i were fortunate enough to be elected president, i would call for a summit of nations to create a new partnership - a partnership for hope and prosperity., this partnership would assemble the resources of all the nations of the developed world to work to assure that islamic states that are threatened with violent jihad have public schools, not wahhabi madrases, micro credit and banking, the rule of law, human rights, basic, healthcare, and competitive economic policies. the resources would be drawn from public and private institutions, and from volunteers and ngos., together, we would be laying the groundwork of freedom and democracy., merely closing our eyes and hoping that radical jihad will go away is not an acceptable, answer. and american military action alone cannot change the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of muslims. only muslims will be able to defeat radical jihad., but we can help them. and we must help them. for the consequences for america and for all nations of a radicalized islamic world, possessing nuclear weapons, are unthinkable., it is another attribute of evil to call itself good and to label the good as evil. it is stupefying to most americans that bin laden and ahmadinejad and chavez call us, america, evil., but millennia ago, isaiah, a prophet of the old testament, said this: ""woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"", and so, we should not be terribly surprised when we are so widely scorned by these purveyors of hate. but we are not entirely without fault. we can – and should – do a better job to promote freedom. when lebanon s new leadership was facing the test of democracy, we watched as hezbollah brought the lebanese people schools and healthcare., our resources could have helped but they are all housed in separate bureaucracies, intent on, protecting their own powers and budgets and prerogatives. so guess who the people followed when conflict broke out? and so too for hamas among the palestinians., the problem was just as evident in iraq. while the military moved in rapid order to topple saddam hussein, our non-military resources moved like they were stuck in tar. they fight over which agency will pay the $11.00 per diem cost of food at the same time that we are spending $7 billion a month and taking human casualties., it is high time to transform our civilian instruments of national power. just as the military has divided the world into common regions with a single commander, our civilian agencies must now follow suit. with a single civilian leader, who like their military counterpart is fully, empowered with authority, responsibility and resources, we can spread our great instruments of peace, like health care and the rule of law to nations everywhere., it is time that we apply these american wonders to make the world, and in turn to make, america, a safer, freer, and more prosperous place. and so, we can project america s strength and its goodness to the world. but we cannot project more strength and more goodness than we actually have. what is their source?, my liberal friends would say that america is great because of our great government., it is a great government. but that is not the source of our strength. the source of america s strength is the american people - hard working, educated, risk taking, god-loving, family-oriented, sacrificing, patriotic, freedom-loving american people. they always have been the source of our strength and they always will be!, i have great faith in the american people. i have faith in our children, and in our, grandchildren. but at the same time, i am deeply troubled by the culture that surrounds them today. following the columbine shootings, peggy noonan wrote an article describing what, she called ""the ocean in which our children swim."" it was a cesspool of violence, sex, drugs, indolence, perversion. she said that the boys who did the shooting had ""inhaled too deep the, ocean in which they swam."", i d like to clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. i d like to keep pornography from coming up on kid s computers. i d like to keep drugs off the streets., i d like to see less violence and sex on tv and in movies and in video games., if we get serious about this, we can do a great deal more to clean the swimming water., but there s another thing i d like to do as well., i remember swimming one afternoon in lake huron, one of the great lakes. my friend tommy mccaffrey and i were 11 or 12 as i recall. the lake was rough, with 4 foot waves breaking at the second sandbar. we were instructed to stay in close, but we wandered out too deep, and found ourselves being drawn beyond our resistance. then suddenly mrs. mccaffrey was there, grabbing us both by the arm. she had her dress on. and her face, it was serious. and it was set like a flint toward shore. i don t remember what she said. but i remember what i felt: thankful!, i d like there to be a lot more mrs. mccaffrey s. i believe that the most important work being done to strengthen america s future is the work that is being done within the 4 walls of the american home., as a child swims through our increasingly polluted and turbulent waters, there is no help that is more sure than a loving mother and father. it is time that we say what we know: every child deserves a mother and a father., i know that many people are pessimistic about the future. the new generation of challenges is daunting., freedom confronts enemies on far-flung battlefields, and its children of promise must navigate the troubled waters at home., abigail adams wrote to her son when he was concerned about the future of our democracy ""great necessities, she said, bring forth great virtues."" and so it is., i see them in the american people as i travel across the country. i have seen them throughout my life., on monday we saw good and evil in stark contrast at a campus in virginia. and while we ll always remember the evil, we must also remember the good., liviu librescu, an engineering professor at virginia tech, was a holocaust survivor., it s fair to say that he had already experienced the worst evil imaginable. yet on monday he died while barring the classroom door with his body so his students could flee out of the windows to escape a brutal killer. as a posting on a website said, ""though not in height, he was in so many other ways a man of stature."", america is a nation of stature, thanks to men like professor librescu, thanks to brave and patriotic soldiers around the world, thanks to great and noble men and women across the country. it is why we know that, america will rise to the occasion of today s challenges. it is why we can be confident that, in the words of one great american this nation, will always remain a ""shining city on a hill"".,"	
", ""it s a honor to be with you and be with people who exemplify the pro-life values throughout their lives., ""i believe it s an honor to receive this award, as you can imagine., ""i recognize that it is awarded for where i am on the issue of life, not for where i ve been. ""and i respect the fact that you arrived at this place of principle a long, long time ago., ""and i appreciate the fact that you re inclined to honor someone who arrived here only a few years ago., ""i m evidence that your work, that your relentless campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit., ""and i do follow, as kevin indicated, a long line of converts - george herbert walker bush, henry hyde, ronald reagan. each of them made meaningful contributions to this cause., ""it is instructive to see the double standard at work here. when a pro-life figure changes to, pro-choice, it hardly gets a mention. but when someone becomes pro-life, the pundits go into high dudgeon., ""and so, i m humbled and grateful to be welcomed this evening so warmly and so openly., ""i think a lot of you know that you were always welcome in my office when i was governor., ""together we worked arm-in-arm on a number of issues. and i can promise you this - if i m lucky enough to win a couple of elections ahead of me, that will also be the case when i m president., ""i m often asked when i go traveling around the country, how i, as a conservative republican, could possibly have been elected in massachusetts. and i tell them there were three things that helped account for a relatively improbable victory. let me just reverse these for a moment., ""one, of course, was the state was in a fiscal crisis. a meltdown, of sorts. beacon hill couldn t get budgets done on time. another big tax hike looked like it was on the way. and i promised that i would balance the budget without raising taxes. and, as you know, together with the, legislature, that s what we did. we eliminated a $3 billion shortfall. and by the time i left, our surpluses had replenished the rainy-day fund to over $2 billion., ""second, we were in a jobs crisis. we were losing jobs every month in massachusetts. people were afraid. i went to work to bring jobs back to our state. from the end of the recession, we added some 60,000 new jobs to massachusetts. and we finally got our economic development act together. it s in large measure responsible for a lot of the economic growth that we continue to experience even to this day., ""and third, i think that values also played a role in my campaign success. my opponent said that she would sign a bill in favor of gay marriage. i said that i oppose gay marriage and civil unions. my opponent favored bilingual education in school, remember? i did not. i said that to be successful in america, kids needed to learn the language of america. and as you will, surely recall, my opponent wanted to lower the age of consent for an abortion from 18 to 16 - and i said no way., ""and so, social conservatives, many of them democrats and independents, joined fiscal conservatives to elect a republican., ""now, that being said, i had no inkling that i was going to find myself in the center of the battlefield on virtually every social issue of our time after becoming governor., ""the first battle came, as you recall, when the massachusetts supreme judicial court, decided by a one vote majority, they found a right to same-sex marriage in our constitution. now, i m sure that john adams, who wrote our constitution, would be surprised., ""the court said that traditional marriage as we have known it, and i quote here,  is rooted in persistent prejudices,  that s marriage, it s rooted in persistent prejudices, and  works a deep and scarring hardship ... for no rational reason. , "" for no rational reason  they said. how about children? isn t marriage about the development and nurturing of children? and isn t a child s development enhanced by access to both genders, by having both a mom and a dad., ""i believe that the court erred because it focused on adults and adult rights., ""they should have focused on the rights of children. the ideal setting for raising a child is in a home with a loving mom and a loving dad., ""i can tell by your that many of you joined the effort to stop, or block or to slow, down this very unprecedented court decision. we took every step we could think of, within the law., ""first, we pushed for a stay - that was denied., ""then, we fought for an amendment limiting marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman - that lost in the legislature by only two votes., ""we upheld the 1913 law that prohibited out of state couples from coming to massachusetts and getting married here. that prevented us from becoming the las vegas of gay marriage., ""and in the final analysis, as you know, we went to work to secure a vote of the citizens, and that s a battle that took us all the way to court, we got a win there. and now we re just one, step away from putting it back on the ballot. and i m sure this representative and this senator will get the job done., ""of course, the issue now is whether a single vote majority of our supreme judicial court will be allowed to trump the voice of the people in a democracy. if it is, then john adams would truly be astonished., ""by the way, we learned that the phrase  slippery slope  describes a very real phenomenon, because the implications of the marriage decision quickly went well beyond adult rights and adult marriage. efforts were made to change the birth certificate by removing  mother  and  father  and replacing them with  parent a  and  parent b.  i said no to that. and parents of a, child in the 2nd grade were told that their son had to listen to a book called the  king and the king,  about a prince who marries a prince. the school s rationale was since gay marriage was legal in massachusetts, there s nothing wrong with such a policy., ""and then one more slide along the slippery slope. the catholic church was forced to end its adoption service, which was crucial in helping the state find some homes for some of our most difficult to place children. why? because the church favors placements in homes with a, mother and a father. and now, even religious freedom was being trumped by the new-found right of gay marriage. so you know why i immediately drafted and introduced legislation to grant religious liberty protection, but the legislature hasn t taken it up yet., ""now, i ve taken this message to washington, explaining the far-reaching implications of the gay marriage decision and the need to support a federal amendment to protect marriage. i, testified before congress. i wrote to every u.s. senator. you can write to them too, but they don t always listen. unfortunately, several senators even from my own party voted against the, marriage amendment., ""but that fight is not over. we re going to combine together, lock arms to win it., ""now, in the midst of that battle, another one came up. and it involved cloning and embryo farming for the purposes of stem cell research. and as kevin said, i studied the subject in, quite a bit of depth. i have high hopes for stem cell research. but for me, a bright moral line is crossed when we create new life for the sole purpose of experimentation and ultimate destruction., ""that s why i fought to keep cloning and embryo farming illegal in massachusetts., ""it was during this battle on cloning and embryo farming that i began to focus a good deal more attention of my own views with regards to abortion., ""as you know, when i first ran for office, i considered whether this should be a personal decision or whether it should be a societal or governmental decision. i concluded, wrongly, that i would support the law as it was in place - effectively, a pro-choice position., ""and i was wrong., ""the roe v. wade mentality has so cheapened the value of human life that rational people saw human life as mere research material to be used, and then destroyed. the slippery slope could soon lead to racks and racks of living human embryos, brave new world-like, awaiting termination., ""what some see as a mere clump of cells is actually a human life. human life has identity., human life has the capacity to love and to be loved. human life has profound dignity, dignity undiminished by age or infirmity., ""and so i publicly acknowledged my error, and joined with you to promote the sanctity of human life., ""and you know that my words were matched with my actions. as you know, every time i faced a decision as the governor that related to human life, i came down on the side of the sanctity of life., ""i fought to ban cloning., ""i fought to ban embryo farming., ""i fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at implantation. ""i fought for abstinence education in our schools., ""i vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls drugs without prescription, drugs that could be abortive and not just contraceptive., ""that s my record as your governor., ""it was fought against long odds. you know that, you go up against those odds every day. i always appreciated the strong support i received from you, the members of the pro-life community, for your actions., ""now of course you recognize not everyone agrees with me or with you. you can t be a pro-life governor in a very pro-choice state without considering that there are heartfelt and thoughtful arguments on both sides of the question. and i certainly believe in treating all people with respect and tolerance. it s our job to persuade our fellow citizens of our position., ""the problem is that there are some people who believe that their views must be imposed on everyone. more and more, the vehicle for this imposition is the courts. slowly but surely, the courts have taken it upon themselves to be the final arbiters of our lives. they forget that the most fundamental right in a democracy is the right to participate in your own governance., ""make no mistake: abortion and same-sex marriage are not rights to be discovered in the constitution., ""i think chief justice john roberts put it best at his confirmation hearing. he described the role of a judge. he said,  judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. judges are like umpires,  he said.  umpires don t make the rules, they apply the rules...and i will remember that it s my job,  he said,  to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat. , ""that s my kind of judge and that s the kind i d appoint., ""on the tenth anniversary of roe v. wade, ronald reagan observed that the court s decision had not yet settled the abortion debate. it had become as he said,  a continuing prod to the conscience of a nation. , ""and now, more than thirty years later, that is still the case. honored court decisions haven t settled this question, but have further divided the nation. and roe v. wade continues to work its destructive logic throughout our society., ""this can t continue., ""at the heart of american democracy is the principle that the most fundamental decisions should ultimately be decided by the people themselves., ""we re a decent people who have a commitment to the worth and dignity of every person, ingrained in our hearts and etched in our national purpose., ""so these are the challenges that face the next president: strengthening our country and our families, protecting marriage and human life and preserving for our children the true blessings of liberty., ""these are noble purposes, worthy of a great people. ""thank you so very much. it s an honor to be with you. """	
"""thank you carol. we appreciate your many years of dedicated service to the cause of life. ""i was honored to accept your invitation to address the national right to life convention., ""i am humbled to be standing among the many who have toiled for the pro-life movement for so long, when i arrived at this place of principle only a few years ago., ""i appreciate the decades of dedication and the effective advocacy of people like jim bopp, the special adviser to my campaign on life issues., ""i know that it is not time but conviction that unites us., ""i proudly follow a long line of converts – george herbert walker bush, henry hyde, and ronald reagan to name a few, ""i am evidence that your work, that your relentless campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit., ""consider the double standard at work here, by the way. when a pro-life figure changes to pro-abortion, they get praised for their courage. but when someone becomes pro-life, the pundits go into high dudgeon., ""and so, i am humbled but also grateful to be welcomed so warmly by so many with whom i share a common dedication., ""anyone here from the pro-life community in massachusetts knows they were always welcome in my office when i was governor. together we worked arm in arm., ""i can promise you this – you will be welcomed, and we will work together, if i m fortunate enough to be elected president., ""people often ask me how a conservative republican such as myself could have been elected, in massachusetts. i tell them that there were three things that helped account for my improbable victory., ""first, the state was in a fiscal crisis. a meltdown, of sorts. state government couldn t get budgets done on time. another big tax hike looked like it was on the way. i promised to, balance the budget without raising taxes. and together with the legislature, that s what we did. we eliminated a $3 billion shortfall. and by the time i left, my surpluses had replenished the rainy-day fund to over $2 billion., ""second, we were in an economic crisis. massachusetts was losing jobs every month and our citizens were afraid of losing more. i went to work to bring employers back to our state. by the end of the recession, we added 60,000 new jobs. we got our economic development act, together – which explains much of the economic growth that the commonwealth continues to experience even today., ""and third, we were in the beginnings of a cultural crisis. social values also played a role in my campaign success. my opponent said she would sign a bill that would sanction same sex marriage. i said that i would oppose gay marriage and civil unions. my opponent favored bilingual education. i did not. i said that to be successful in america, children need to speak, the language of america. and my opponent wanted to lower the age of consent for an abortion from 18 to 16 – and i did not., ""and so, social conservatives, many of them democrats and independents, joined fiscal conservatives to elect a republican., ""that being said, i had no inkling that i would find myself in the center of the battlefield on virtually every major social question of our time., ""the first battle came when the massachusetts supreme judicial court, by a one vote majority, found a right to same sex marriage in our constitution. john adams wrote that constitution. i m sure he d be surprised., ""the court said that traditional marriage – the natural union of one man and one woman –  is rooted in persistent prejudices  and  works a deep and scarring hardship ... for no rational reason. , ""no rational reason? how about children? isn t it clear that marriage provides the best, environment for the development and nurturing of children? and isn t a child s development enhanced by having both a mother and a father?, ""i believe that the court got it wrong because it focused on the desires and perceived rights of, adults., ""the court should have focused on the needs of children. the ideal setting for the raising of a child is a home built on a marriage between a loving mother and father., ""then came the  slippery slope  – not the argument but the reality., ""the implications of the marriage decision quickly went well beyond adult marriage. efforts were made to change birth certificates by removing  mother  and  father  and replacing them with  parent a  and  parent b.  i said no to that. and parents of a child in second grade were, told that their son is required to listen to the reading of a book called the  king and the king,  about a prince who marries another prince. the school s rationale was since same sex marriage was legal, the education system should advance the idea., ""and then another slide along the slippery slope. the catholic church was forced to end its adoption service, which was crucial in helping the state find homes for some of our most difficult to place children. why? because the church favors placements in homes with a, mother and a father. now, even religious freedom was being trumped by the new-found  right  of gay marriage. i immediately drafted and introduced legislation to grant religious liberty protection, but the legislature wouldn t even take it up., ""when i was governor, we took every conceivable step within the law to stop, block or slow down this unprecedented court decision., ""our goal was to take the decision away from the court and give it back to the people. but, yesterday, the massachusetts state legislature, at the urging of the new democratic governor, refused to allow the voice of the people to be heard., ""the fight is not over., ""we need to take this battle to washington again. we need to explain the far-reaching, implications of the push to dramatically change our marriage laws. now is the time to pass a federal marriage amendment to protect marriage in all 50 states., ""in the midst of that battle, another arose. it involved cloning and embryo farming for purposes of research. i studied the subject in great depth. i have high hopes for stem cell research. but for me, a bright moral line is crossed when we create new life for the sole purpose of experimentation and destruction., ""that s why i fought to keep cloning and embryo farming illegal., ""it was during this battle that i began to focus a good deal more of my thinking on abortion., ""when i first ran for office, while i was always personally opposed to abortion, i considered whether this should be a private decision or whether it should be a societal and government decision. i concluded that i would support the law as it was in place – effectively, the pro-choice position., ""and i was wrong., ""what became clear during the cloning debate is how the harsh logic of an absolute right to, abortion had cheapened the value of human life to the point that rational people saw a human embryo as nothing more than mere research material to be used, and then destroyed., ""the slippery slope was taking us to racks and racks of living human embryos, brave new world-like, awaiting termination., ""what some see as just a clump of cells is actually a human life. human life has identity. human life has the capacity to love and be loved. human life has a profound dignity, undiminished by age or infirmity., ""my experience as governor taught me firsthand that the threat to our culture is real and those in a position to do so must take action to defend it., ""times of decision are moments of great clarity. before i was governor, the life issue was just that, an issue. but when responsibility for life or ending life was placed in my hands, i made the right decision. i chose life., ""just like some others in the pro-life movement, a moment of decision became a defining moment., ""and so, every time i faced a decision as governor that related to life, i came down on the side of life., ""i fought to ban cloning., ""i fought to ban embryo farming., ""i fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation. ""i fought for abstinence education in our schools., ""and i vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent., ""that is my record as governor of massachusetts., ""recently, i was attacked by one of my opponents because when i ran for governor i promised to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion in massachusetts. of course, i kept that promise. but in massachusetts, that meant vetoing pro-choice legislation – as i consistently did as governor. that s why last month i was honored with an award from massachusetts citizens for life in recognition of the actions i took as governor to protect life., ""the next president, especially if faced with a hostile congress, will be confronted with many legislative tests, such as challenging the hyde amendment and advancing cloning. you can be sure that i will be bringing my gubernatorial experience – and my veto pen – with me to washington., ""the larger problem is there are some people who believe that their pro-choice views must be imposed on everyone. more and more, the vehicle for this imposition is the courts., ""some say that it is  ok  for the courts to impose their personal public policy preferences on society. i am not among them., ""make no mistake: the claimed rights of abortion-on-demand and same-sex marriage are not in the constitution., ""but the problem of an activist bench goes beyond the issue of abortion and gay marriage that., ""slowly but surely, the courts have taken it upon themselves to be the final arbiters of our lives. they have forgotten that the essence of democracy is the right to govern ourselves., ""chief justice john roberts put it best at his confirmation hearing, when he described the role of a judge.  judges and justices are servants of the law,  he said,  not the other way around. judges are like umpires. umpires don t make the rules, they apply them ... and i will remember that it s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat. , ""now that s the type of justice that i would appoint to the court., ""on the tenth anniversary of roe v. wade, ronald reagan observed that the court s decision had not yet settled the abortion debate. it had become  a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation. , ""more than thirty years later, that is still the case. numerous court decisions have not settled this question, but have further divided the nation. and roe v. wade continues to work its destructive logic throughout our, society., ""this cannot continue., ""at the heart of american democracy is the principle that the most fundamental decisions should ultimately be decided by the people themselves., ""i certainly believe in treating all people with respect and dignity. you can t be a pro-life governor in the bluest of blue states without understanding that there are heartfelt and thoughtful arguments on both sides of the question., ""it is our great task to persuade our fellow citizens of the truth of our convictions., ""strengthening our country and our families, protecting marriage and human life and preserving for our children the true blessings of liberty; these are noble purposes. i am confident we are worthy of them., ""after all, we are a decent people who have a commitment to the worth and dignity of every person. this is ingrained in our hearts and etched in our national purpose., ""thank you."""	
", ""we ve just come from celebrating the 4th of july. for me, it was parades in iowa and, fireworks in idaho. you know, the kind of celebrating the democrats usually reserve for april 15th., ""but this week, we were celebrating our nation s birthday. july 4, 1776 was an inflection point in history - a moment that set a new course for america., ""today, we face what is sure to be another inflection point in american history. a new generation of challenges, unprecedented challenges, means that we must change our present course. domestically, our addiction to spending and borrowing is breaching crisis proportion. competitively, our citizens choose to buy hundreds of billions more from foreign nations than they buy from us. and militarily, we face an entirely new type of threat - violent jihad whose sponsors seek nuclear weapons., ""to confront unprecedented challenges, we must change. both parties claim to be the party of change, and i think both are right. but there s a big difference in the direction their change would take us., ""republicans look to our american heritage. the 4th of july marked our independence from england. but there was more to it than that. the founding fathers established a nation where the people were sovereign, not the state, not the king. we would not rely on the divine right of kings, or their whimsical beneficence. we would rely on ourselves. succeed or fail, america would be the land of opportunity. so when republicans talk of change, we are talking about opportunity and freedom. we are talking about people, not government., ""democrats look beyond our heritage - they look to the europe of the past. when democrats talk of change, they are thinking about big government, big welfare, big taxes and big brother. but those are the very policies that led to europe s decline. in short, big mistake., ""look at how democrats like senator clinton think about the economy. she said that it is,  time to reject the idea of an ""on your own"" society and replace it with shared responsibility.  she says she prefers a  we re all in it together society.  i see, out with adam smith and in with karl marx!, ""don t democrats see that individual initiative is at the heart of america s unprecedented march to world economic leadership? adam smith wasn t heartless. adam smith saw that individual initiative would produce the greatest wealth for the entire society., ""can t democrats see that since the 1970 s while europe s growth stagnated, america created 57 million new jobs? look at unemployment, look at growth - america won, europe lost. that s why europeans are beginning to elect conservatives. come to think of it, with her economic plan, hillary clinton couldn t be elected president of france!, ""senator clinton s economic plan goes beyond utopian visions of collective good. she also has a special program for corporate taxes: she wants to raise them. it s time, she says, to require corporations  to pay their fair share. , ""the last time i checked, american corporations were subject to the second highest tax rates in the industrialized world, just a smidgen below japan. in our new  flat  world economy,, many corporations can move their headquarters and their operations almost at will. just look at the economic boom produced by ireland s move to lower corporate taxes., ""let s not raise taxes on the employers who create jobs and national wealth, let s lower them!, ""corporate taxes aren t the end of it. democrats have their sights on 2011 for a, record-breaking personal income tax hike. and whenever you take money away from citizens, and give their money to government, you slow down the economy., ""when democrats talk about change, they re referring to what you d have left in your pockets., ""i have a different answer. let s make the bush tax cuts permanent. let s kill the death tax. and let s have a new tax rate for middle income americans who want to save their money,, who are investing in america. the tax rate on their interest, dividends and capital gains should be. ..exactly zero!, ""our fiscal problem is not that we are taxing too little; it is that washington is spending too much., ""shame on both parties in congress for all the earmarks, the waste, the duplication, and the, failure to reform entitlements. i am proud to be the first presidential candidate to have signed grover norquist s tax pledge. but i have made another pledge as well. if i am elected, president, i will cap non-defense discretionary spending at inflation minus one percent. that alone will save $300 billion over ten years. if congress sends me appropriations that exceed that cap, i will veto them. i don t care if it s a republican or a democratic congress. i will veto., ""and i know how to veto. i like vetoes. i vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as, governor. and by the way, if congress doesn t want to do the cutting itself, then give me the line-item veto., ""of course, i will do more than veto. i will personally lead a top-to-bottom review of, government programs, agencies, procurement and spending. it s time to cut out the mountains of waste and inefficiency and duplication from the federal government. only in washington would someone think that 342 different economic development programs make sense., ""cutting waste, streamlining, benchmarking - this is what i do. i have done it in business, i ve done it in the olympics, and i ve done it in state government. i simply can t wait to get my hands on washington!, ""funny thing, democrats talk about raising taxes on people. we talk about cutting spending by government. for them, it s always government first, people last. here s an inconvenient truth al gore won t tell you about – one thing you can count on if america elects a democratic president is higher taxes., ""time and again when hillary and the democrats see a problem, they think government first. there are 45 million people who don t have health insurance. that s not good for those people, and it s not good for everyone else either. when people who don t have insurance get sick, they go to the hospital and get free care. free for them, that is, but expensive for you because you are the ones that pay their bills, either in your taxes or in your insurance premiums., ""the democrats  solution? government-managed universal healthcare. but the last thing america needs is socialized medicine - hillary-care!, ""at least barack obama had the courage to admit that his plan means higher taxes. it s just like p.j. o rourke said:  if you think healthcare is expensive now, wait till it s free! , ""the right answer for healthcare isn t government, and the new secretary of health and human services should not be michael moore., ""let s provide people with their own private, affordable and portable insurance by insisting on personal responsibility and the principles of the free market. let s not have the same bureaucracy that ran the katrina clean-up manage our healthcare!, ""the democrats have a plan for illegal immigration as well. it s amnesty. hillary clinton,, barack obama and their colleagues insist that every illegal immigrant become a legal permanent resident of this country. some people think that their position has less to do with, compassion than with calculation - they hope these illegal immigrants will vote them in power forever., ""but this is not about power or politics. it is about sovereignty and security. and it is about fairness. millions of applicants are waiting to come here legally, to be joined with family members, to bring education and skill that will strengthen our nation, not burden it. legal immigration is a boon to our nation. we are made a greater nation when immigrants come here legally, seeking opportunity., ""let s secure the border, install an employment verification system and tell illegal immigrants to get in line with everyone else. there should be no special pathway to permanent residency or citizenship for those who have come here illegally!, ""amnesty didn t work before and it won t work now!, ""beyond our domestic challenges, we face a very different world around us. asia is emerging from generations of poverty. it s becoming a far more effective competitor in the marketplace than we have ever faced before. in the past, we ve competed primarily with europe. we know how to compete with europeans - they are a lot like us. they like short work weeks and long vacations. but china and india are very different. their workforce is almost never-ending; and it is very hard-working. americans are buying hundreds of billions of dollars more from them than they do from us., ""the democrats see this challenge and shrink from it. they don t think the american people can compete. they want to pull up the drawbridge to protect us. they re so pessimistic about americans that they have been trying to scuttle free trade agreements with nations in latin america and central america. are they kidding? we can t compete with colombia?, ""our only choice is to compete., ""fail to compete and you end up with a soviet-style economy - laughable products, anemic standards of living and economic collapse. the answer for america is not to retreat, it is to lower the ramps and charge into the emerging asian marketplace., ""invest in our people. invest in technology. democrats fear the strength of others, republicans believe in the strength of americans!, ""the new generation of challenges we face today includes challenges to our national security as well. violent jihadists are intent on replacing moderate muslim governments with a caliphate or imam. and they seek the collapse of our economy, our government, and our military., ""during this last week, they sought to maim and kill innocent civilians in london and glasgow. these were not impoverished malcontents; they were doctors serving in britain s public health system. they were jihadists. theirs is a face of evil not seen in the civilized world since the gas chambers of hitler s horror., ""i know that it is popular today to be critical of the president. and he is not above making mistakes. but we should thank him for doing everything in his power to keep us safe. against the objections of democrats and even some in our own party, he pushed though the patriot act. he made sure that someone was listening in when al qaeda was calling. he made sure we were interrogating terrorists to learn how we could prevent attacks on our citizens., ""when khalid sheikh mohammad, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was captured, he said,  see you with my lawyer in new york.  nope, that s not at all what he saw: he saw the cia and our gi s at guantanamo!, ""all this talk of jihadists, salafi muslims, and the war on terror makes democrats like john edwards, uncomfortable. senator edwards says there isn t a war on terror - it s only a slogan. tell that to the people in london and glasgow. and to the people in bali and malaysia, pakistan and lebanon, tanzania and kenya, saudi arabia and israel. tell that to the people of new york and boston and washington, d.c., ""one thing you can count on if i am president, if there is a war being waged by the terrorists, there will be war waged on the terrorists. and we will win!, ""this convergence of challenges is why i am convinced that america is at an inflection point in our history. our over-spending, our dependence on foreign oil, the emergence of asia, the jihadist threat to world civilization – these challenges will force us to change. and that change will either make us stronger or it will make us weaker., ""america will either remain the world s superpower or instead become just another member of the family of nations. if we choose strength, we will be remembered by our children as a great generation. if we choose weakness, we will be remembered as something much less., ""conservatism, republicanism, is a philosophy of strength. we believe in a strong military, a strong economy, and in strong families and values. we believe in the american people., ""democrats believe that government is the source of our strength. they re wrong. i love what ronald reagan said:  it s not that liberals are ignorant, it s just that what they know is wrong! , ""the american people are the source of our strength - hard working, educated, risk taking, opportunity, loving, god fearing, willing to sacrifice for their family and their country, freedom loving american people. they have always been the source of our strength and they always will be!, , ""and when you need to call on the strength of america, you don t strengthen government, you strengthen the american people., ""you strengthen the american people by letting them keep more of their own money, not by taxing them more when they earn, taxing them when they save and taxing them when they die!, ""you strengthen the american people by making sure that the voice of millions of voters trumps the voice of a handful of unelected judges., ""you strengthen the american people with the world s best healthcare, the world s best schools, and the, world s strongest families. we must preserve the institution of marriage - every child deserves a mother and a father!, ""this is not a time for our party to shrink from conservative principles. it is a time to hold them aloft., ""we didn t suffer losses last year because we were conservative. we suffered losses because we strayed, from conservative principles. too much spending, too little ethics and a war that everyone recognizes was not effectively managed., ""the way forward is not to look left. the way forward is to look ahead. there is too much at stake to do otherwise., ""shimon peres, the president-elect of israel, visited boston not too long ago. he was asked what he thought about the conflict in iraq., "" first,  he said,  i must put that in context. america is unique. in the history of the world, whenever there s been war, the nation that wins takes land from the nation that loses. that is because land has been the, source of value in the world. one nation in history, and this during the last century, laid down hundreds of thousands of lives and took no land. no land from the germans, no land from the japanese. , ""the only land america takes is enough land to bury her dead., ""america fights for freedom - for itself and for freedom-loving people around the world., ""this is the america our parents chose, a nation that is good, a nation that is strong. and now it is time for us to choose what america will be. i know what i choose. i know what you choose. we choose a strong america that will always be the land of the free, the home of the brave and the hope of the world."""	
"""it s good to be back home in mackinac. one of the things i like best is that there are no cars on the island. unfortunately, that s al gore s vision for all of america., ""i spent a few great summers here – up in that big white home on the hill. we need to get a, republican family back in there again. and we need to keep a republican family in the white house in washington as well!, ""i don t have to tell you that my dad made a mark on michigan. and he made a mark on me. and i guess that is at the heart of things; he s a big part of why i m running for president today. in 1957, when he was the president of american motors, he gave a speech in which he reported the following conversation:, "" my nine year old son  – that would be me –  came home from school and said ""mom, we really build the best cars, don t we?"" , ""she said,  why mitt, of course we do. why do you ask? , "" well, if we build the best cars, why is it that less than three percent of the people agree with us? , ""after my dad heard of this conversation, he took me aside and said,  look, mitt, size doesn t always indicate strength and popularity doesn t always indicate truth, and sales volume doesn t always indicate value. , ""and then he added:  right always prevails. , ""quite a dad, teaching lessons like that to his nine year old son. lessons i have taken to heart., ""now, a few years older, as i have looked at the history of this nation, i have become, convinced that right does indeed prevail. america has faced and overcome great challenges. these have become defining moments, inflection points, where the course of our history has changed., ""i believe that we are at an inflection point today. forces of globalization, the emergence of, new economic powerhouses like china and india, and the spread of radical violent jihad have created a perfect storm that will change the course of our nation. and, we face unprecedented challenges in securing our borders, protecting the family, creating new jobs and achieving energy security., ""the people of this great nation have always taken a hand in shaping our own destiny. i believe the american people will rise to the occasion once again, as we have always done before. but at this critical time in our nation s history, washington is failing us., ""i think we d have to admit that the blame doesn t all belong to the democrats. we, republicans have to put our own house in order. we can t be like democrats – a party of big spenders. we can t pretend our borders are secure from illegal immigration. we can t have ethical standards that are a punch line for jay leno. when republicans act like democrats, america loses., ""we ve got to start acting like republicans, not earmarking republicans, not big government republicans, but like reagan republicans and teddy roosevelt republicans. they led us along the right course., ""it s time for us to show the confidence my dad had that right will always prevail. ""it s time for change in washington and change begins with us., ""republicans for change believe in small government. governments should be restrained so that the freedoms and vitality of individuals and enterprises can be unleashed. compared to free markets and free enterprises, government is slow to act, wasteful, duplicative, bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive. have i left anything out? other than that, government isn t all bad., ""hillary clinton fundamentally doesn t trust the private sector. of course not, she s never worked in the private sector, except to sue people. so when she sees a problem in the, marketplace, she naturally thinks more government and higher taxes are the solution. she sees the problems in healthcare, for example, and proposes more government. with her plan,, patients would have to get used to hearing these words:  the bureaucrat will see you now.  the right answer is less government, less regulation, more individual responsibility, and more of the market dynamics that propel the rest of our economy. this is why i predict that hillarycare version 2.0 will meet the same fate as version one: ignominious defeat., ""republicans for change like small government., ""republicans for change are also fiscally responsible. we refuse to charge our children and grandchildren for our excessive spending. even in massachusetts facing a nearly $3 billion, budget gap, the legislature and i balanced the budget every year and replenished the rainy day fund, without raising taxes and without raising our borrowing cap. now it s washington s turn to do the same. if i am elected president, i will cap non-military discretionary spending at inflation less one percent. if i get appropriations above that amount, i will veto them. and i, like vetoes. i ve vetoed hundreds of items already. let s put some fresh ink in the presidential veto pen!, ""here in michigan, governor granholm has taken this state to the brink. by not restructuring state programs and by not shrinking government, she has precipitated a hobbesian choice – raise taxes or shut down government. if you like what governor granholm has done to, michigan, you ll love what a president hillary clinton would do to america. let s make sure america doesn t make the same mistake michigan made last november!, ""republicans for change believe in strength. we know that the best foe against tyrants and the best ally peace has ever known is a strong america. we will strengthen the military with more troops, better armament, and better care for our veterans. we will also strengthen our economy with lower taxes and energy security. and we will strengthen the american family. there is, no work more important to the future of america than the work that goes on within the four, walls of the american home. the american family is the foundation upon which this country s greatness has been built, but it is a foundation in need of shoring up., ""republicans for change know how to run a tight ship. the katrina clean-up didn t look like republicans were in charge. we need to bring more accountability back to washington. you have heard of the sub-prime credit crisis. well, there s a government agency that s supposed to prevent problems like that from occurring, warning consumers, warning lenders. but they, didn t do their job. and do you know what will happen? congress will give them more money. do you know what should happen? heads should roll., ""republicans for change have high ethical standards. i m tired of hearing washington officials remind us that everyone makes mistakes. yes, but not everyone is a congressman or a senator or a president. they asked for this job and asked for our trust. they represent the american, people. they are held up before our children. we expect higher standards of ethical conduct from washington. we expect our elected officials to be good role models, not bad examples – thank you president bush for restoring personal integrity and dignity to the white house. and i can guarantee you, ann and i will do nothing that would embarrass the people of america!, ""presidents lead by example. and so, if i m elected president, one of my first acts will be to issue an executive order prohibiting the immediate family of my cabinet and senior staff, from lobbying the executive branch. the standard for high ethical conduct has to be set at the top., ""republicans for change are respectful and civil. we will work with good democrats,, democrats who also love america, to change washington and confront the new generation of challenges we face. the political atmosphere in washington has become so toxic, we are in danger of weakening ourselves from within. america needs unifying leadership. i ve found that we can find common ground with democrats from time to time. i love what ronald reagan said  it s not that liberals are ignorant, it s just that what they know is wrong! , ""well, we can teach them now and then, and when we do, america wins., ""republicans for change aren t afraid to tackle big problems. none is greater than the spread of radical, violent jihadism. john edwards says there is no war on terror – it s just a bumper sticker. tell that to the people of indonesia, malaysia and bali. tell that to the people of tanzania, kenya and spain. tell that to the people of london, washington and new york, city. there is a war being waged against us by the terrorists for the future of our civilization, and if i am president, the war against the terrorists will be won!, ""let s not forget that our president has kept us safe these last six years. and it has not been, easy. he fought for the patriot act. he listened when al-qaeda was plotting. he interrogated terrorists. when khalid sheik mohammad, the so-called mastermind of 9/11 was captured, he told his captors,  i ll see you in new york with my lawyers.  that didn t happen. instead, he saw gi s and cia interrogators at guantanamo, and that s just the way it ought to be!, ""republicans for change fight to protect the family. the family is under attack. our children need to be taught that before they have babies, they need to get married. out-of-wedlock childbirth should once again be out of fashion., ""there are different kinds of families, many doing a heroic job under difficult circumstances. the ideal setting for raising a child is and will always be where there is a mother and a father. some liberal judges don t see it that way. that is why it is time for a federal amendment that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman!, ""after the columbine school shooting, peggy noonan wrote that our kids are swimming in an ocean of filth – pornography, sex, violence, perversion. the boys who did the shooting, she said, had drunk too deep of the polluted water. it s time to clean up the water our kids are, swimming in. i will make sure every home computer has an easy to engage filter to keep filth out of our homes. i want to enforce our obscenity laws. and for those who use the internet to find children for their perverted abuse, i say,  one strike and you re ours!  you ll be facing a long prison sentence, and when you get out, a gps tracking device for the rest of your life., ""republicans for change aren t afraid to talk about faith. we recognize the hand of the creator in the, founding of our nation. we will fight to keep the words  under god  in the pledge of allegiance. have you seen the new dollar coin?  in god we trust  has been moved. it s not on the face of the coin anymore, it s on, the edge – virtually invisible, just like the aclu wants him to be. i will go to work to get god back on the front of our coin!, ""i will fight to make sure our future is not defined by the letters  aclu,  but by the letters  usa. , ""republicans for change are patriotic. we love the flag. we say the pledge. we tell soldiers in the airport,  thank you for your service, for your sacrifice.  and when a republican says  we support our troops,  it comes from the heart., ""have you noticed what happens at the olympics when someone wins the gold medal? athletes from other countries ascend the medal stand, and they high-five and celebrate while their country s anthem is played. but americans place their hand on their heart and they sing the words to the star spangled banner., ""i don t know where our tradition of placing our hand over our heart during the national anthem came from. i imagine that it is a sign of love – for our flag, for america, for freedom. and it is something more – our hand covers our heart to show our appreciation for the patriots who have shed their blood for our freedom.  o beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life. , ""american patriotism is why i am convinced this nation will always prevail as the greatest hope of the earth., ""america faces unprecedented challenges, a virtual perfect storm buffeting the pillars of our strength. the course of our history will change. and for america to remain the great nation it has always been, it will look to republicans for leadership., ""at the beginning of my remarks, i told you about that speech my dad gave a half-century ago. in it, he quoted ralph waldo emerson, one of the great american philosophers, who said,  there is no weakness except from within, and the only unsurmountable barrier is our own inherent weakness of purpose. , ""that was true then, and it s true now. it s why change must begin with us., ""now is the time, this is the place, for republicans to stand together – to stand for republican principles. ""now is the time, this is the place, for the campaign of change to move boldly forward., ""now is the time, this is the place for republicans to lead america in strength, in faith, in family, in what is, right. for right will always prevail. ""thank you, and god bless you."""	
"""thank you for your warm welcome. thank you for the work you do to strengthen families and protect life., ""i think those who know me would say that i am pro-family on every level, from personal to political. i know this: the greatest blessing in my life is ann and our five sons and daughters-in-law and ten grandchildren. my driving motivation is to have our kids and grandkids grow up in an america that is safe, prosperous and strong., ""to achieve that, it s not just what happens in the white house that matters, it is also what, happens in your house. america s future will be determined not just by heads of state but also by heads of households., ""that being said, there is a good deal that our nation can do to assist and validate parents in their vital role. as c.s. lewis said, parenthood is the ultimate career  for which all others exist. , ""that rings true, doesn t it? that may be because of our judeo-christian heritage. we have, been taught from our youth that marriage is ordained of god and that  children are a heritage of the lord; happy is he who hath his quiver full of them. , ""but there is another reason, a societal reason, for the fundamental role of family. family is, the building block of the nation; it is the economic unit of our society. this is not just rhetoric. it is reality., ""a mother and father who love each other and are devoted to their children will have children that are better educated, better adjusted, healthier, less likely to be raised in poverty and less inclined to crime and drugs., ""with two parents, there are more financial resources and more time to devote to the next generation – and there is someone around to take over when one parent is at their wit s end with the kids!, ""family also means that there is a compassionate caregiver when the inevitable sickness or infirmity strikes a family member., ""and when you consider the source of most of society s social problems, from teenage, pregnancy to drug use to crime, you will find that they stem from the breakdown of the family., ""for all these reasons, a society is wealthier, healthier and stronger when it has strong families. in america, then, the family is a vital economic unit, the foundation of our nation., and it is the strength of this nation s families that ultimately determines america s strength in the family of nations., ""that is why i believe that the most important work for the future of america is the work that goes on within the four walls of the american home., ""of course, not all families will have two loving parents. there are many great single parents – like my sister jane, who raised four wonderful children on her own. so not always, but in the vast numbers of an entire nation, two parents are the ideal setting for raising a child, and for forming the economic unit of society., ""i certainly don t need to tell the family research council and focus on the family that the american family is under stress, and under attack., ""one of the biggest threats to the fabric of our society is out-of-wedlock childbirth. ann and i will use the bully pulpit to teach america s children that before they have babies, they should get married. it s time to make out-of-wedlock births out-of-fashion again., ""in 1965, a researcher named daniel patrick moynihan was troubled by an alarming statistic – approximately 25% of african-american children were born out of wedlock. how would they escape poverty? today, not 25% but 68% of african-american children are born out of, wedlock. bill cosby related that in some inner cities:  there are whole blocks with scarcely a married couple, whole blocks without responsible males to watch out for wayward boys, whole neighborhoods in which little boys and girls come of age without seeing up close a, committed relationship and perhaps never having attended a wedding.  this simply breaks my heart. and then there are the broad national implications of this tragedy. a nation built on the principles of the founding fathers cannot thrive when so many children are being raised without fathers in the home., ""ann taught a class of at-risk girls at mother caroline academy in boston. one day she asked her 5th graders how many of them wanted to go to college. almost every hand went up. then she asked how many were planning on having a baby before they graduated from high school – almost every hand went up again. and then she told them the truth: you just won t be able to, do both., ""every first lady champions a cause. for nancy reagan, it was to just say no to drugs. for barbara and laura bush, it has been reading. ann has worked to help children make good choices like marriage and high school before having babies. if she is first lady, this will be her mission., ""and if i am elected president, i will convene a white house summit to look at ways we can strengthen the family, particularly in the inner city., ""in addition to using the bully pulpit, there are specific policy initiatives that i d like to bring forward, as well as some goals we can set to accomplish together., ""i will re-align government incentives to encourage marriage, not penalize it. as we all know, few things had as devastating an impact on poor families as the 1960 s welfare system. to some degree, that has been reformed, but there is more work to do. for example, a single, mother with child care who marries the father of her child can lose as much as $6,000 a year in government benefits. their combined incomes can disqualify them for medicaid, housing vouchers, food stamps and welfare., ""it is time that we made fathers responsible for their child s health and care, whether or not they have married the mother. and further, the tax penalty we attach to married couples is, simply offensive. the words  i do  in marriage should not result in the government saying  you don t  when it comes to the economic security of a family., ""some years ago, dr. dobson met with president reagan to determine how they could keep government from doing things that hurt families and that weakened the family structure in america. this meeting led the president to issue an executive order which established the requirement that new government policies and programs be subject to a family impact, statement. and then years later, without fanfare or reason, bill clinton simply snuffed it out. if i become president, i will re-instate the family impact statement., ""in addition, i will initiate an audit of all current programs and policies which negatively, impact families. and i will look to support the rights of parents who are not always consulted about decisions affecting their children. there is something wrong when a school can tell a parent that they have no right to remove their second grader from a class where they are teaching about same-sex marriage. the work of being a parent is hard enough without the government making it harder., ""i will work with the people in this room, as i have for the past four years, to champion a, federal marriage amendment to protect marriage as the union of a man and a woman. within, months of taking office as governor, the massachusetts supreme judicial court got the gay marriage ball rolling. they said it was in our state constitution. john adams, who wrote it, would be surprised. it was not in our constitution, but it was in the heads of a one vote majority on the bench to birth new law without the benefit of democracy., ""the court s error i believe was that it focused on adult rights – if heterosexual couples can marry, it reasoned, then to have equal rights, homosexual couples should also be able to marry. but they forgot that one of the primary purposes of marriage is the development and nurturing of children. every child deserves a mother and a father., ""the court s opinion is as astonishing as its ruling. it said that traditional marriage between a man and a woman  works a deep and scarring hardship.. .for no rational reason.  no rational reason? how about the strength and preservation of our civilization?, ""and this is no longer just a massachusetts issue. as recently as a few months ago, a judge in iowa said that gay couples have the right to marry because current marriage law  operates only to harm same sex couples and their children.  astonishing., ""after the ruling in massachusetts, i testified in washington in favor of a federal marriage amendment. i wrote every republican u.s. senator to support it. but even some of our own voted against it. make no mistake: a federal amendment is the only way we can protect marriage from liberal, unelected judges., ""i will be a pro-life president. i will appoint and fight for justices who follow the law and the constitution, who understand judicial restraint and who won t legislate from the bench. but, being a pro-life president also means promoting policies that reflect our respect for the sanctity of life. i will oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, oppose partial birth abortion, oppose, abortion in military clinics, oppose funding abortion in international aid programs, and i will work to ban embryonic cloning. i will work to increase adoptions by making the adoption tax credit permanent and raising awareness about embryonic adoption, or snowflake babies., ""and you don t have to take my word for it, you can look at my record as governor. on every piece of legislation, i came down on the side of life. i was honored to receive the political, leadership award from massachusetts citizens for life in recognition of the actions i took as governor to protect life. i am grateful for the work all of you have done for years on this issue. like ronald reagan and henry hyde, i am a convert to this cause. i have joined the fight to win the hearts and minds of others, and to work to create a culture of life., ""i will fight the modern plague of internet pornography, especially as it effects our youth., following the columbine shooting, peggy noonan said that our children are swimming in an ocean of filth – pornography, perversions, violence and sex. it s time we not only clean up that, water our kids are swimming in., ""computer pornography has given new meaning to the words  home invasion.  if i am president, i will work to make sure that every computer sold into the home has an easy to engage pornography filter so that every parent can protect their child from unwanted filth., ""and these predators who use the internet to lure in children? in my book, it s one strike and you re ours. long prison sentences followed by ankle bracelets for the rest of their lives., ""i will take the campaign against drugs to a new level. we can do a better job educating our kids on the perils of drug use. parents may be the best anti-drug there is. a study reported last month that young, children who come from homes where families had dinner together five times a week or more were 1/6th as likely to have used drugs., ""dr. dobson famously wrote that  parenting isn t for cowards.  i know how hard it is to raise kids in today s world. i want to help families by making sure that every family has health care. my plan gets every citizen insured, without new taxes and without hillarycare and socialized medicine. we put a plan to work in massachusetts and already, the ranks of the uninsured have been cut in half., ""i will work for better schools and better education for our children. i want school choice – every child should have an equal opportunity to have a good education. i fought and won the fight to add charter schools in massachusetts., ""and by the way, let s do something to help parents who are home schooling with a federal tax credit to help defray the cost of their home schooling expenses., ""i want to help parents save for their children s college education. my tax plan says that for every family earning $200,000 a year or less, the new tax rate on their interest, dividends and capital gains will be absolutely zero., ""i will defend america s religious heritage. i am convinced that a family with faith, a family with a pastor or other adult who cares about every child, has a distinct advantage in guiding children to successful adulthood., ""i will make sure my attorney general defends the free exercise of religion., ""the effort to establish an anti-religion in america, the anti-religion of secularism, has got to come to an end. we are a nation under god, and we do place our trust in him., ""by the way – a few of you may have heard that i m a mormon. i understand that some people think they couldn t support someone of my faith. that may be because they ve listened to harry reid., ""actually, i m pleased that so many people of so many faiths have come to endorse my candidacy and my message. my campaign is about changing washington to strengthen america: i want to build a stronger military, a stronger economy, and stronger families. i call these the three legs of the republican stool., these three unite the coalition of conservatives that ronald reagan championed – defense conservatives, economic conservatives, and social conservatives., ""we won t win the white house with only two out of three or one out of three. republicans win the white house by motivating all three parts of our coalition to carry us to victory. we re not going to beat hillary clinton by acting like hillary clinton., ""my whole family has been working on my campaign. and we ve loved it. but we take this quite seriously as well. we know that if we win your vote for the presidency, we will be expected to live by a higher standard. everything we do will be under a microscope, whether we like it or not. the first family represents america to the world, and just as important, it represents america to your children and, grandchildren. we will live up to a higher standard. our family is far from perfect, but we ll always try to make you proud., ""this, after all, is why i am running – to strengthen our nation so that our children and yours will have a safe and free and prosperous future. and to strengthen our nation, we must begin by strengthening the, family. it is the place where america s future is born, and where it is shaped. i need your help in this cause. you know the importance of the family. you know what we must do. i can t wait for us to do it together., ""thank you, and god bless you."""	
"""faith in america"", ""thank you, mr. president, for your kind introduction., ""it is an honor to be here today. this is an inspiring place because of you and the first lady and because of the film exhibited across the way in the presidential library. for those who have not seen it, it shows the president as a young pilot, shot down during the second world war, being rescued from his life-raft by the crew of an american submarine. it is a moving reminder that when america has faced challenge and peril, americans rise to the occasion, willing to risk their very lives to defend freedom and preserve our nation. we are in your debt. thank you, mr. president., ""mr. president, your generation rose to the occasion, first to defeat fascism and then to vanquish the soviet union. you left us, your children, a free and strong america. it is why we call yours the greatest generation. it is now my generation s turn. how we respond to today s challenges will define our generation. and it will determine what kind of america we will leave our children, and theirs., ""america faces a new generation of challenges. radical violent islam seeks to destroy us. an emerging china endeavors to surpass our economic leadership. and we are troubled at home by government overspending, overuse of foreign oil, and the breakdown of the family., ""over the last year, we have embarked on a national debate on how best to preserve, american leadership. today, i wish to address a topic which i believe is fundamental to america s greatness: our religious liberty. i will also offer perspectives on how my own faith would inform my presidency, if i were elected., ""there are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. if so, they are at odds with the nation s founders, for they, when our nation faced its greatest peril, sought the blessings of the creator. and further, they discovered the essential connection between the survival of a free land and the protection of religious freedom. in john adams  words:  we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled, by morality and religion... our constitution was made for a moral and religious people. , ""freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with god. freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone., ""given our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty, some wonder whether, there are any questions regarding an aspiring candidate s religion that are appropriate. i believe there are. and i will answer them today., ""almost 50 years ago another candidate from massachusetts explained that he was an american running for president, not a catholic running for president. like him, i am an american running for president. i do not define my candidacy by my religion. a person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith., ""let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin., ""as governor, i tried to do the right as best i knew it, serving the law and answering to the constitution. i did not confuse the particular teachings of my church with the obligations of the office and of the constitution – and of course, i would not do so as president. i will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law., ""as a young man, lincoln described what he called america s  political religion  – the commitment to defend the rule of law and the constitution. when i place my hand on the bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to god. if i am fortunate to become your president, i will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest. a president must serve only the common cause of the people of the united states., ""there are some for whom these commitments are not enough. they would prefer it if i would simply distance myself from my religion, say that it is more a tradition than my personal conviction, or disavow one or another of its precepts. that i will not do. i believe in my mormon faith and i endeavor to live by it. my faith is the faith of my fathers – i will be true to them and to my beliefs., ""some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. if they are right, so be it. but i think they underestimate the american people. americans do not respect believers of convenience. americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world., ""there is one fundamental question about which i often am asked. what do i believe about jesus christ? i believe that jesus christ is the son of god and the savior of mankind. my church s beliefs about christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. these are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree., ""there are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church s distinctive doctrines. to do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution. no candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. for if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths., ""i believe that every faith i have encountered draws its adherents closer to god. and in every faith i have come to know, there are features i wish were in my own: i love the, profound ceremony of the catholic mass, the approachability of god in the prayers of the evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the pentecostals, the confident independence of the lutherans, the ancient traditions of the jews, unchanged through, the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the muslims. as i travel across the country and see our towns and cities, i am always moved by the many houses of worship with their steeples, all pointing to heaven, reminding us of the source of life s blessings., ""it is important to recognize that while differences in theology exist between the churches in america, we share a common creed of moral convictions. and where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it s usually a sound rule to focus on the latter – on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course. whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in america that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people., ""we separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. no religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. but in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. they seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of god. religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. it is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in america – the religion of secularism. they are wrong., ""the founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not, countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. we are a nation  under god  and in god, we do indeed trust., ""we should acknowledge the creator as did the founders – in ceremony and word. he should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public, places. our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. i will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but i will not separate us from  the god who gave us liberty. , ""nor would i separate us from our religious heritage. perhaps the most important, question to ask a person of faith who seeks a political office, is this: does he share these american values: the equality of human kind, the obligation to serve one another, and a steadfast commitment to liberty?, ""they are not unique to any one denomination. they belong to the great moral inheritance we hold in common. they are the firm ground on which americans of different faiths meet and stand as a nation, united., ""we believe that every single human being is a child of god – we are all part of the, human family. the conviction of the inherent and inalienable worth of every life is still the most revolutionary political proposition ever advanced. john adams put it that we are  thrown into the world all equal and alike. , ""the consequence of our common humanity is our responsibility to one another, to our fellow americans foremost, but also to every child of god. it is an obligation which is fulfilled by americans every day, here and across the globe, without regard to creed or race or nationality., ""americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of god, not an indulgence of government. no people in the history of the world have sacrificed as much for liberty. the lives of, hundreds of thousands of america s sons and daughters were laid down during the last century to preserve freedom, for us and for freedom loving people throughout the, world. america took nothing from that century s terrible wars – no land from germany or japan or korea; no treasure; no oath of fealty. america s resolve in the defense of liberty has been tested time and again. it has not been found wanting, nor must it ever be. america must never falter in holding high the banner of freedom., ""these american values, this great moral heritage, is shared and lived in my religion as it is in yours. i was taught in my home to honor god and love my neighbor. i saw my, father march with martin luther king. i saw my parents provide compassionate care to others, in personal ways to people nearby, and in just as consequential ways in leading national volunteer movements. i am moved by the lord s words:  for i was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: i was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: i was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me... , ""my faith is grounded on these truths. you can witness them in ann and my marriage and in our family. we are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the self-same as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation. and these convictions will indeed inform my presidency., ""today s generations of americans have always known religious liberty. perhaps we forget the long and arduous path our nation s forbearers took to achieve it. they came, here from england to seek freedom of religion. but upon finding it for themselves, they at first denied it to others. because of their diverse beliefs, ann hutchinson was exiled from massachusetts bay, a banished roger williams founded rhode island, and two centuries later, brigham young set out for the west. americans were unable to accommodate their commitment to their own faith with an appreciation for the convictions of others to different faiths. in this, they were very much like those of the european nations they had left., ""it was in philadelphia that our founding fathers defined a revolutionary vision of liberty, grounded on self evident truths about the equality of all, and the inalienable rights with which each is endowed by his creator., ""we cherish these sacred rights, and secure them in our constitutional order. foremost do we protect religious liberty, not as a matter of policy but as a matter of right. there will be no established church, and we are guaranteed the free exercise of our religion., ""i m not sure that we fully appreciate the profound implications of our tradition of, religious liberty. i have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in europe. they are so inspired ... so grand ... so empty. raised up over generations, long ago, so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too,  enlightened  to venture inside and kneel in prayer. the establishment of state religions in europe did no favor to europe s churches. and though you will find many people of strong faith there, the churches themselves seem to be withering away., ""infinitely worse is the other extreme, the creed of conversion by conquest: violent jihad, murder as martyrdom... killing christians, jews, and muslims with equal indifference. these radical islamists do their preaching not by reason or example, but in the coercion of minds and the shedding of blood. we face no greater danger today than theocratic tyranny, and the boundless suffering these states and groups could inflict if given the chance., ""the diversity of our cultural expression, and the vibrancy of our religious dialogue, has kept america in the forefront of civilized nations even as others regard religious freedom as something to be destroyed., ""in such a world, we can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends and allies in the cause of liberty, joined against the evils and dangers of the day. and you can be certain of this: any believer in religious freedom,, any person who has knelt in prayer to the almighty, has a friend and ally in me. and so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: we do not insist on a single strain of religion – rather, we welcome our nation s symphony of faith., ""recall the early days of the first continental congress in philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. with boston occupied by british troops, there were rumors of imminent, hostilities and fears of an impending war. in this time of peril, someone suggested that, they pray. but there were objections.  they were too divided in religious sentiments , what with episcopalians and quakers, anabaptists and congregationalists, presbyterians and catholics., ""then sam adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot., ""and so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of god ... they founded this great nation., ""in that spirit, let us give thanks to the divine  author of liberty.  and together, let us pray that this land may always be blessed,  with freedom s holy light. , ""god bless the united states of america."","	
"""thank you. this is quite an institution. it s good to be back here with you. it s good to be back in michigan., ""you know, somehow everything just seems right here. in the winter, of course, the skies are cloudy all day. most of the cars you see on the roads are made here in the good old u-s-of a., ""people know that pop is not a relative, it s a soft drink, and they know that vernors is the best ginger ale in the world., ""and of course, for me, i have a lot of memories here. this is where both ann and i were born. it s where i met her. we were in our senior year when we went to a party together. i was in senior year, she was a sophomore. she came with someone else. i, noticed her at age 16. she was very interesting. i went to the guy who brought her there and said,  look, i live closer to ann than you do, can i give her a ride home?  we ve been going steady ever since., ""so we know each other real well. i said to her after we made the decision to get into this race, and you ve probably heard it before, i said,  ann, in your wildest dreams did you see me running for president of the united states?  and she said,  mitt, you weren t in my wildest dreams.  she d be here today, but she s in lansing, by the way, speaking at another event for me., ""first, one of the things i like best about coming back to michigan is the memories i have in my heart of my mom and dad., ""one of my favorite stories, and you may have heard this because they told it more than once, was about my dad s visit to mt. pleasant, michigan, on the 4th of july. he got up and spoke before the town. he said,  it sure is great being here in mt. clement.  there was this big ooooh in the audience and my mother leaned forward and said,  george,, it s pleasant, pleasant!  he said,  yeah, it sure is pleasant here in mt. clement. , ""now i have to tell you, if i m elected as president of this great land, i will not need a compass to tell me where michigan is., ""and i won t need to be briefed on what s going on in the auto industry or what s, happening to michigan s economy. you see, i ve got michigan in my dna. i ve got it in my heart and i ve got cars in my bloodstream., ""when i was living here, michigan was the pride of the country and really the envy of the entire world. detroit was the motor city to everybody in the world. of course, the hudson s thanksgiving day parade was one of the grand traditions my family enjoyed., ""and perhaps the biggest day of the year for me was being able to go to the detroit auto show. this was really something. my dad was head of a car company, you know, he made ramblers. and we were escorted from the hotel with a police escort, motorcycles, awfully cool, even though we had to go in a rambler. so exciting., ""but a lot has changed since then, as you know, and not all of it is good. michigan is enduring a one-state recession, and the problem has only been exacerbated by poor choices made by some of the leaders in lansing to raise taxes and take that course instead of cutting spending., ""unemployment, now you know these numbers, unemployment at 7.4% is in the, basement of the entire country. a state agency just this week forecast that next year it s going to go to 8.2% and after that 8.7% the year after., ""and the question is, what has washington done with this looming, not looming, this existing crisis, this recession, what has washington done to help? the answer is not very much at all., ""in fact, in face of all of the existing burdens that weigh down our domestic auto, industry, instead of throwing over a life preserver, washington has dropped yet another anvil on michigan with higher cafe standards. and now, it s passively sitting back to see if the car companies can swim. and the answer is: just barely., ""a lot of washington politicians are aware of the pain, but they haven t done anything, about it. and of course, i hear people from time to time say,  well, that s michigan s problem.  or, they say something like,  well, it s the car companies. they just brought it on themselves. , ""but that s where they re wrong. what michigan is feeling will be felt by the entire nation unless we win the economic battle here. michigan is a bit like the canary in the mine shaft. what s hurting michigan, if it s left unchecked, will ultimately imperil the entire nation., ""what s at stake here, in fact, is even larger than that. it s even larger than an industry, and a state. the world is seeing the beginning of a global competitive struggle. it pits at least four major economic strategies against each other, and each of them has far reaching consequences for the peace of the planet, the prosperity, and security of america and the world., ""our strategy – the american strategy – you know well. it is economic freedom combined with personal freedom. that s our strategy., ""china s strategy is communism combined with an unbridled morphing of free, enterprise. china doesn t flinch at buying oil from the genocidal sudanese government or selling nuclear technology to the iranians who threaten genocide. today, china alone accounts for one-third of our trade imbalance as a nation., ""there s a third strategy; it s based on the control of energy and oil. it s pursued by a resurgent russia, by hugo chavez in venezuela, by iran s president ahmadinejad. today, as you know, our energy purchases account for another one-third of our trade imbalance., ""the fourth strategy that s being pursued is radical, violent jihadism. it is a very different campaign. it wants to return the world to the economy and the human condition of the dark ages. violent jihadism has cost america this year more in our, treasure than even our purchases of oil. and, of course, much more, it has cost the lives of our countrymen, and other people throughout the world., ""we re accustomed as a people to measuring our national security in terms of missiles and aircraft and defense spending. but i would suggest that as we look down the lane for this next century, a better measure of our national security is the health of our economy. you cannot have a first-tier military and have a second-tier economy. the soviet union learned that the hard way and ronald reagan taught it to them., ""michigan s economic worries should be america s worries. i don t know about the washington politicians, but i can tell you this: if i am president, i will not rest until michigan has come back!, ""i am convinced that michigan can once again lead the world s automotive industry. but it means we re going to have to change things in washington. we re going to have to go from politicians who say they are  aware  of michigan s problems to have a president instead who will actually take action to do something about them., ""let me tell you some of the places where i d start., ""first of all, we have to be honest about the problems we have and tackle them head on. if i m president of this country, i will roll up my sleeves in the first 100 days i m in office, and i will personally bring together industry, labor, congressional and state, leaders and together we will develop a plan to rebuild america s automotive leadership. it will be a plan that works for michigan and that works for the american taxpayer., ""and as part of this, we will directly address and rectify the enormous product cost and capital cost disadvantages that currently burden the domestic automakers. from legacy costs, to health care costs, to increased cafe standard costs, to the cost of embedded taxes, detroit can only thrive if washington is an engaged partner, not a disinterested observer. the plan is going to have to include increases in funding for automotive related research as well as new tax benefits including making the research and development tax credit permanent., ""i am not open to a bail out, but i am open to a work out. washington should not be a benefactor, but it can and must be a partner., ""but that s only one step. washington also has to stop loading detroit down with unfunded mandates. of course, we all want fuel mileage to rise, but discontinuous, cafe leaps, uncoordinated with the domestic manufacturers, and absent consideration of competitiveness, kills jobs and imperils the entire industry. washington dictated cafe is not the right answer., ""we also have to stop washington politicians from imposing enormous unilateral energy costs on american manufacturing, including automotive manufacturing. for, example, the mccain-lieberman bill pending in congress unilaterally imposes new, high energy costs on u.s. manufacturers, with no safety valve. the energy information agency estimated that this bill would raise electric rates by as much as 25% and gasoline by as much as 68 cents a gallon. and their estimate of the cost in u.s. jobs - 300,000 jobs. so it s not just a job killer, it would also make it harder for families to make their ends meet., ""now of course we have to tackle the threat of climate change. but we don t call it, america warming, we call it global warming. placing caps and taxes on the u.s. alone just drives manufacturers to china and india, and does little more than make washington politicians feel welcome at the embassy cocktail parties., ""next, and you ve heard this before, there is more healthcare cost in an automobile than steel costs. we got healthcare insurance premiums down in my state and we got everyone on track to be insured. we will work to do the same here and for the rest of the nation., ""and then a final burden, it s time to fix the tax code. corporations, like individuals, need lower and simpler taxes. embedded taxes put our products at a disadvantage in our home market and wherever they compete around the world. when we send for, example, a ford mustang overseas, it s not just loaded with accessories. it s loaded with our excessive healthcare costs, our excessive regulatory burdens, our excessive legal liability burden, and the taxes paid by every single automotive supplier to help put product into that car. you take off those burdens and let s show them how fast a mustang will actually go., ""of course, taking off those burdens is only part of the solution. if we re going to be the world s greatest economic power, we also have to invest in the future. it s time for us to be bold. i will make a five-fold increase – from $4 billion to $20 billion – in our national investment in energy research, fuel technology, materials science, and automotive technology. let s invest in our future., ""as you know, research spins out new ideas for new products, from both small businesses and large businesses. that s exactly what s happened in healthcare. we, spend what $30 billion a year in nih, and we lead the world in healthcare products. in defense, we spend even more. we lead the world in defense products. we also spend money in the space industry. and we lead the world in products coming out of space. look how industries in these other states that have those advantages that thrive from the spin of other technologies, from our investment there. so if we can invest in healthcare, and defense, and space, why not also invest in energy and fuel technology right here in michigan?, ""michigan can be a laboratory, just like other states – a drawing board, from which we can invent the future., ""second, we ll turn government workforce training programs that are managed by, bureaucrats, into personal accounts that can be managed by the workers themselves so they can gain education at community college or they can pay for on-the-job training in real jobs., ""there are currently some 40 different workforce training programs in government, spread out all over the entire federal government. now let s replace the bureaucracy and the bureaucrats with personal responsibility and individual ownership., ""long term, we re only going to lead the world only if our students coming in now are the best-educated in the world. and you know this, almost every independent group that s looked at our public schools has said that we re falling behind international standards. and their number one prescription time and again – treat teachers like the real professionals they are. better teachers should be better paid. teachers should also be evaluated and promoted. and, here s a novel idea, education of our children should come ahead of the interests of the teacher s union., ""and finally, we have to shape america s trade policy to open markets for our goods and level the playing field across the world. for america to remain the world s, superpower, we have to remain the world s economic superpower. and that requires us to successfully compete everywhere in the world., ""however, as we pursue new trade agreements, i m far less interested in just getting an agreement signed than i am in getting an agreement signed that is good for america. i promise you that any nation that unfairly manipulates its currency, steals our patents and designs, dumps unsafe products in our markets, or stifles the american goods in their market place, will face a very aggressive president across the negotiating table., ""now let me be clear, i strongly support free trade, but free trade has to be fair in both directions. and when the playing field is level, america can compete with any country in the world. and we will win., ""i came here about a year ago and talked about a number of actions which i thought, were necessary to keep our national economy strong. i talked about cutting spending in washington, about across the board tax cuts, about national tort reform liability, and i also talked about entitlement reform. but these aren t enough. what we face here in michigan and what we face around the country if we don t take action here in michigan, is a far more complex set of problems than most politicians have been willing to acknowledge., ""there is no one silver bullet. when it comes to getting michigan back on track and, building a strong america, we have to address every single problem i ve spoken about. and i will., ""and by the way, that s what i have done all my life. i ve taken on complex situations,, led tough negotiations, found solutions, and then gotten things back on track. that was the job that i had as a leader in the business world, and then as the head of the olympics in salt lake city, and of course as governor of massachusetts., ""and i am the only candidate with that kind of experience, and frankly, that s exactly the kind of experience that michigan and america needs in the white house today., ""now, i know that there are some people who don t think that there s a future for the domestic automobile industry. they think that the industry and its jobs are gone forever. and they re wrong., ""innovation and change present the opportunity for transformation. and the burdens on american manufacturing are largely imposed by government, and new leadership in washington can lift the burdens and lift the industry., ""washington politicians look at michigan and they see a rust belt. but the real rust is in washington., ""the pessimist will point to an empty factory and a laid-off worker and say they have no future., ""instead, i see vital infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and an innovative spirit, all worthy of an optimistic vision, and deserving of a leader who will work tirelessly to deliver the power and potential of michigan and the american people., ""the pessimist says that the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been lost, have, been lost forever. that logic of course says that the 200 jobs that were lost last week at willow run, they re lost forever too. and by the way, that logic would also say that all the rest of the jobs in the auto industry will one day be gone forever, and there s nothing that can be done about it., ""well, the pessimists are wrong. the auto industry and all its jobs do not have to be lost. and i am one man who will work to transform the industry and save those jobs., ""now, after this speech, i am going to do with my son tagg, who s sitting right there, what my dad did with me 50 years ago. we re going to go to the international auto show where i will show him the best of today and the vision of what we can be tomorrow., ""and the next time i visit the auto show here in detroit, i hope it will be as the president of the united states. thank you so much. thank you!"","	
