Arguably, he was the most woefully underrated to ever be POTUS (actually, he was a joke to those who were intimidated by his decency) and, almost inarguably, he was the best former POTUS ever.
Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, dies at age 100
The death of former President Jimmy Carter will constitute a rare event in America: a state funeral.
Public observances honoring Carter’s legacy will be held in Atlanta and Washington, DC, followed by a private interment in Plains, Georgia, according to the Carter Center.
The full statement on Carter's passing, from President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, courtesy whitehouse.gov, is here -
Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian.
Over six decades, we had the honor of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well.
With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe.
He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism. We will always cherish seeing him and Rosalynn together. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership and their humble leadership is the definition of patriotism.
We will miss them both dearly, but take solace knowing they are reunited once again and will remain forever in our hearts.
To the entire Carter family, we send our gratitude for sharing them with America and the world. To their staff – from the earliest days to the final ones – we have no doubt that you will continue to do the good works that carry on their legacy.
And to all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility. He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.
To honor a great American, I will be ordering an official state funeral to be held in Washington D.C. for James Earl Carter, Jr., 39th President of the United States, 76th Governor of Georgia, Lieutenant of the United States Navy, graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and favorite son of Plains, Georgia, who gave his full life in service to God and country.
The statement of former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, courtesy Medium.com, is here -
For decades, you could walk into Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia on some Sunday mornings and see hundreds of tourists from around the world crammed into the pews. And standing in front of them, asking with a wink if there were any visitors that morning, would be President Jimmy Carter — preparing to teach Sunday school, just like he had done for most of his adult life.
Some who came to hear him speak were undoubtedly there because of what President Carter accomplished in his four years in the White House — the Camp David Accords he brokered that reshaped the Middle East; the work he did to diversify the federal judiciary, including nominating a pioneering women’s rights activist and lawyer named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench; the environmental reforms he put in place, becoming one of the first leaders in the world to recognize the problem of climate change.
Others were likely there because of what President Carter accomplished in the longest, and most impactful, post-presidency in American history — monitoring more than 100 elections around the world; helping virtually eliminate Guinea worm disease, an infection that had haunted Africa for centuries; becoming the only former president to earn a Nobel Peace Prize; and building or repairing thousands of homes in more than a dozen countries with his beloved Rosalynn as part of Habitat for Humanity.
But I’m willing to bet that many people in that church on Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter’s decency.
Elected in the shadow of Watergate, Jimmy Carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth. And he did — advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. He believed some things were more important than reelection — things like integrity, respect, and compassion. Because Jimmy Carter believed, as deeply as he believed anything, that we are all created in God’s image.
Whenever I had a chance to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn’t just profess these values. He embodied them. And in doing so, he taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Carter said, “God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.” He made that choice again and again over the course of his 100 years, and the world is better for it.
Maranatha Baptist Church will be a little quieter on Sundays, but President Carter will never be far away — buried alongside Rosalynn next to a willow tree down the road, his memory calling all of us to heed our better angels. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from this remarkable man.
They have other things to deal with right now, so this won't matter to them, but my deepest condolences go out to his family and friends on their loss.
In historians' Presidents Day survey, Biden vs. Trump is not a close call
President Biden is in a tight race to keep former President Donald Trump from reclaiming the White House, recent polls show. But that's not how 154 historians and presidential experts see it: They rate Biden in the top third of U.S. presidents, while Trump ranks dead last.
The historians rated Barack Obama highly, and as I consider him to be the best POTUS of my lifetime, I don't disagree with them on Obama or Cheeto. In between, however, there are some differences.
They rated Obama 7th overall and the best of my lifetime (and the highest ranked living ex-president), so I agree with that one.
Bill Clinton and Joe Biden were ranked 12th and 14th, respectively. Clinton's ranking is a little high for my taste - top half, certainly though. As for Joe Biden, I think he deserves an incomplete because his term is ongoing.
Ronald Reagan is ranked 16th, which is way too high - he took advantage of Richard Nixon's criminality. Society was tired and wanted someone in the White House who reminded them of the "good ol' days".
George HW Bush was ranked 19th, which was a little high, but I think that his biggest failing was that he wasn't Reagan - most of the folks who voted for him were hoping for a 3rd Reagan term. They didn't get that.
Jimmy Carter was ranked 22nd, near the middle of the pack. I have always thought he was underrated as a POTUS
Gerald Ford was ranked 27th; I don't disagree with that, but since he was an unelected placeholder who replaced Nixon, an incomplete might be appropriate here.
George W. Bush was ranked 32nd (which was way too high in my estimation) and until Cheeto, was the worst POTUS of my lifetime and it wasn't even close (I don't believe that it's a coincidence that both people who were the worst at being POTUS in my lifetime have MBAs - POTUS isn't a gig where the concept of right and wrong synchs up with profitable and not profitable.) Also, W was in charge of the most corrupt presidential administration ever.
At least until Cheeto came along.
The biggest reason that I rate W ahead of Cheeto is, as bad as he was, is that I never thought he was a traitor.
Nixon was ranked 35th, which I feel is too high. He made cynicism about politicians part of the American psyche.
Cheeto was ranked 45th. The main reason he wasn't ranked lower is because there aren't more Presidents.
Is the NRA right that Obama is 'coming for our guns'?
[snip]
"The gun control debate is over," said Rick Wilson, a GOP political consultant. "We live in a country where guns are a fundamental part of mainstream American culture. The moment I saw that Walmart now sells AR-15s (a type of semi-automatic rifle), I knew the debate was over."
[snip]
In a new campaign mailer -- the contents of which we expect to be repeated in emails and at dinner tables -- the gun rights group is casting Obama as a gun control crusader who is "coming for our guns."
In 2000, they went after then-president Bill Clinton.
In televised ads and media interviews, the National Rifle Association has launched an all out attack on the Clinton administration as the president lobbies for more extensive gun laws in the wake of recent shootings.
But as CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports, that's not just hot smoke and insults the NRA is blowing at President Clinton. It's a tried and true political strategy.
In the past week, the president has blamed the NRA for influencing lawmakers to stall gun control reforms, and the rifle association has accused the president of dragging his feet on enforcing existing gun laws. Then the gun group charged the president tolerated gun violence for political advantage.
Observers say the strategy looks familiar.
Every time there's a school shooting or mass killing, Clinton urges passage of new gun control laws. And every time—in order to deflect from the carnage, say some observers—you can count on the NRA to attack Clinton.
In 2016, they went after then-presidential candidate (and former US Senator and Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton.
NRA Ad: Hillary Clinton Could Get Rid of Your Guns
A new advertisement from the National Rifle Association asserts that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will take away people's right to self-defense via firearm.
The ad, which runs for 30 seconds, features a woman in bed hearing the sound of breaking glass in her house and leaping up to call 911.
“She’ll call 911," a narrator says. "Average response time: 11 minutes. Too late.”
The woman reaches for a safe and inputs the code to get out a handgun, but then the safe and the gun disappear.
“She keeps a firearm in this safe for protection. But Hillary Clinton could take away her right to self-defense,” the narrator explains. “And with Supreme Court justices, Hillary can.”
President Barack Obama spoke in Phoenix today (January 8, 2015). His topic was housing.
The speech video is above, courtesy the White House's website; the text is below, also courtesy the White House's website -
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Arizona! (Applause.) Hey! (Applause.)
Happy New Year, Arizona. (Applause.) Go, Bobcats. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.)
It’s good to be in Phoenix. (Applause.) And I mean that, because I
was in Detroit yesterday, which is a great city but it was 60 degrees
colder. (Laughter.) So it feels pretty good, this weather right here.
I had a couple staff people who said, we’re going to miss the plane.
(Laughter.) They’re just going to try to get stranded here for a
while. (Laughter.)
But I went to Detroit, I went here -- I guess between the Lions and
the Cardinals, this is my post-wild card consolation tour. (Laughter.)
As a Bears fan, I want you to know that, first of all, you guys did a
lot better than we did. (Laughter.) You got a great coach; you got a
great team. You had some bad luck. And there’s always next year. So
keep your chin up. Keep your chin up.
I want to thank Secretary Castro not just for the terrific
introduction, but for the great job he’s doing every day. (Applause.) I
want to thank your Congressman, Ruben Gallego. (Applause.) Where’s
Ruben? Where is he? Ruben, I already liked him, and then he told me he
was from Chicago originally, before he got smart and moved to warmer
weather (Laughter.)
I want to thank your Mayor, Greg Stanton. (Applause.) He was
there. There he is. Greg is doing a great job. I want to thank your
principal, John Biera, Jr. (Applause.) And your superintendent, Kent
Scribner. (Applause.) And I want to thank all the students and staff
and faculty who may be here. We really appreciate your hospitality.
One last acknowledgement. I had a chance to meet a couple of really
good friends -- Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords. (Applause.) This was a
remarkable meeting for me because it was four years ago today that Gabby
and some other wonderful Arizonans were gunned down outside a
supermarket in Tucson. It's a tough day for a lot of folks down there.
We keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
But Gabby is doing great. She looks wonderful, and she’s got the
same energy and passion that she always has had. Even as she’s waged
her own fight to recover, she’s fought to prevent the next tragedies
from happening to others. She’s a hero, and she is a great Arizonan.
(Applause.) So we’re really proud of her. And her brother, who is also
an astronaut -- her brother-in-law, who’s also an astronaut, is going
to be in space for a year. He was just on the cover of Time Magazine,
which I know there’s some folks in Washington who wish I was going to be
in space for a year, but -- (laughter) -- but I'm still around.
(Applause.) Because I got some work to do.
Now, I am here because one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make
sure more Americans in Phoenix and in Arizona and all across the country
feel like they’re coming back. Because the country is coming back, but
I want everybody to feel like things are getting better and we are
moving in the right direction. And let there be no doubt -- thanks to
the steps we took early on to rescue our economy, to rebuild it on a new
foundation, America is coming back. (Applause.)
And that’s not just my own opinion. Here are the facts. 2014 was
the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. (Applause.) We’ve
had 57 straight months of private sector job growth, created nearly 11
million new jobs. (Applause.) Since 2010, we’ve put more people back
to work than Europe, Japan, and every advanced economy combined.
(Applause.) American manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace since
the ‘90s. We’re now the number-one producer of oil, of gas. And by
the way, you’re saving about a buck-ten a gallon at the pump over this
time last year. (Applause.)
Although I was in Detroit and I told folks yesterday, gas prices
aren’t going to be low forever, so don’t start suddenly saying you don’t
have to worry about fuel efficiency. If you’re going out shopping for a
new car, don’t think it’s always going to be this low, because then
you’ll be surprised and you’ll be mad at me later -- (laughter) -- and
I’ll be able to say, I told you don’t get a gas guzzler because gas is
going to go back up. But while it’s low, enjoy it. And feel free to
spend some of that money on local businesses, who then will hire more
people and put more folks back to work. (Applause.)
Meanwhile, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, about 10 million
Americans have gained health insurance in the past year alone.
(Applause.)
We’ve done all this while cutting our federal deficit by about
two-thirds. And I’m going to repeat that, because they did a poll the
other day and like 70 percent of the people think the deficit is going
up. No, 70 percent of the people. You stop people on the street -- 7
out of 10 think the deficit is going up. The deficit has gone down by
two-thirds since I was President of the United States. (Applause.) So
we’re doing all this in a fiscally responsible way. (Applause.)
And maybe closest to my heart, after 13 long years, our war in
Afghanistan has come to a responsible end, which means more of our brave
troops spent time with their families this holiday season, right here
back home. (Applause.)
So these last six years required hard work and sacrifice by
everybody. But as a country, we have a right to be proud that all that
hard work paid off. America’s resurgence is real. And now that we’ve
got some calmer waters out there, if everybody does their part, if we
all work together, we can make sure that the tide starts lifting all
boats again. We can get wages and incomes growing faster. We can make
sure the middle class is growing, that the ladders of the middle class
for folks who are struggling are firm and steady and have a lot of rungs
to them. Because it’s the middle class, it’s working families that
power America’s prosperity. That’s always been the case; that will be
true for decades to come. (Applause.)
And I’ve got a State of the Union address in about two weeks and
that’s what I want to talk about -- building on the progress we’ve
made. But of course, why wait for the State of the Union? It’s sort of
like you’ve got presents under the tree, you kind of start shaking them a
little bit. (Laughter.) I want to kind of give you a little sense of
what I want to talk about. So we’re going to start this week laying out
some of the agenda for the next year.
And here in Phoenix, I want to talk about helping more families
afford their piece of the American Dream, and that is owning their own
home. (Applause.)
Now, let me just say, right now Michelle and I live in rental
housing. (Laughter.) We don’t own where we live. We’ve got two years
remaining on our lease. (Laughter.) I’m hoping I get my security
deposit back. (Laughter.) Although Bo and Sunny have been tearing
things up occasionally -- we’re going to have to clean things up a
little bit. (Laughter.)
But I’ll never forget the day we bought our first place, a place of
our own -- a condo, back in Chicago. And for us, and millions of
Americans like us, buying a home has always been about more than owning a
roof and four walls. It’s about investing in savings, and building a
family, and planting roots in a community. So we bought this place --
it was about, I guess, probably about 2,000 square feet. It was in this
complex called East View Park. It was sort of like a railway
apartment. And it felt huge when we moved in. And then Malia and Sasha
were born, and their toys got everywhere. (Laughter.) And then it felt
small because they basically took over the whole dining room with their
toys.
But I have such good memories not just about the place itself, but
all the work we had to do to save to get in there, and then to fix it
up, and that sense of accomplishment that you were building something
for your family and for your future.
And that's always been true. When my grandfather came back from
World War II, this country gave him the chance to buy his first home
with a loan from the FHA. For folks like him, a home was proof that
America was a place where if you worked hard, if you were responsible,
it was rewarded.
But we all know what happened in the last decade when responsibility
gave way to recklessness. Families who did the right thing and bought a
home that they could afford, and made their payments each month, and
did everything right, when the market plummeted they got hurt. Even
though somebody else was acting irresponsibly -- whether on Wall Street,
or folks who weren’t responsible in terms of how they were dealing with
their real estate -- ordinary families got hurt bad. And that was
especially true here in Arizona.
There were folks who borrowed more than they should have. There were
lenders who really were just worried about making profits and not
whether the people they were lending to were going to be able to keep up
their homes. So home values plunged. Americans sank underwater.
Foreclosures skyrocketed. Builders stopped building. Construction
workers lost their jobs.
And when I came into office, I believed we could not let this crisis
play itself out. If we could save more families from losing everything
they had worked so hard to build, we had to make the effort. So less
than a month after I took office, I came here to Arizona to lay out my
plan to get responsible homeowners back on their feet. And I said that
healing our housing market wouldn’t be easy, it would not be quick. But
we were going to act swiftly, we were going to act boldly, we were
going to try everything that we could to help responsible homeowners.
If something didn't work, we’d try something else. But we were going to
try to keep folks in their homes.
And we ended up helping millions stay in their homes. We helped
millions more save thousands of dollars each year by refinancing. We
helped folks who didn’t want to buy a home or who weren’t ready to buy
find an affordable place to rent. We kept up our fight against
homelessness. And by the way -- there’s some homeless advocates here --
since 2010, we’ve helped bring one in three homeless veterans off the
streets. (Applause.) And I want to make sure everybody knows -- under
Mayor Stanton, Phoenix is leading the way in that effort. (Applause.)
Phoenix is doing a great job. (Applause.)
So as a result of all these efforts, today, home sales are up nearly
50 percent from where they were in the worst of the crisis.
Homebuilding has more than doubled. That's created hundreds of
thousands of construction jobs. New foreclosures are at their lowest
level since 2006. Since 2012, nearly 10 million fewer Americans have
their homes underwater. Rising home prices have put hundreds of
billions of dollars of wealth back in the pockets of middle-class
families.
Now, I want everybody to be clear -- this progress is not an
accident. It is not luck. It’s what happens when you have policies
that put middle-class families first. (Applause.)
And what’s true in Arizona is true all across the country: We’ve
still got some more work to do, our job is not done, but what we're
doing is working. And we’ve got to keep at it. We’ve got to stay at
it.
Today, here in Phoenix, I’m going to take a new action to help even
more responsible families stake their claim on the middle class and buy
their first new home. Starting this month, the Federal Housing
Authority will lower its mortgage insurance premium rates enough to save
the average new borrower more than $900 a year. (Applause.) Now,
that's $900 that can go towards paying the groceries, or gas, or a
child’s education. Or, depending on what your mortgage is, it might be a
month’s mortgage payment.
And for those who aren’t familiar with FHA, FHA underwrites, it
guarantees, it’s the backstop for a lot of loans around the country,
especially for middle-class folks. So a lot of people pay these fees,
and if they’re saving $900 that’s money that’s going to be going
throughout the economy.
Over the next three years, these lower premiums will give hundreds of
thousands more families the chance to own their own home, and it will
help make owning a home more affordable for millions more households
overall in the coming years.
And just to give you an example, earlier today, Secretary Castro and I
visited Nueva Villas. It’s a new neighborhood here in Phoenix where a
lot of families are buying homes with the help of the FHA. And we
actually -- this was a big development that wasn’t finished or wasn’t
all sold; the crisis came, half the homes were still unsold. Folks lost
their homes. It started getting boarded up. People were feeling
insecure. It was starting to get depressed. Nonprofits, with the help
of HUD, came in, purchased some of the properties, hired local residents
to rehab them. Now people are building them -- beautiful homes. And
with the help of the FHA, we can now make sure that more people are
getting access to these homes. And today’s action will mean more money
in the pockets of families like the ones that we’ve met.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Is this about housing? (Laughter.) All right.
And keep in mind, hundreds of thousands of new buyers is going to
mean a healthier housing market for everybody. So how many people here
own their own home? (Applause.) All right. So even though you’ve
already got your mortgage or your loan, already have your home, if your
neighbors are buying more homes, that’s lifting the whole market here,
which means the value of your home starts going up. And that’s good for
you. (Applause.) It means fewer foreclosure signs as people fix up
old properties. It means more construction, which means more jobs,
which means a better economy. So this is the kind of boost that we need
to keep the momentum that we have seen over the last several years --
keep it going here in Phoenix and all across the country.
So I want to be clear. If you’re looking to take advantage of these
lower rates, that’s great. On the other hand, don’t buy something you
can’t afford. (Applause.) You’re going to be out of luck. These rates
are for responsible buyers. We’re not going down the road again of
financing folks buying things they can’t afford. We’re going to be
cracking down on that. We put in place tough rules on Wall Street and
we created a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and we’re really
policing irresponsible lenders luring folks into buying stuff they can’t
afford. (Applause.)
And we designed a mortgage form that’s written in simple language so
that people understand what the commitments are when you buy a home.
We’re cracking down on some of the worst practices that led to the
housing crisis. We’re going to protect middle-class families from
getting ripped off.
And that’s why we had the Justice Department fight for buyers who
were discriminated against or preyed upon, and we won a settlement that
awarded more money to victims in one year than in the previous 23 years
combined. (Applause.) That’s why we worked with states to force big
banks to repay more than $50 billion to more than 1.5 million borrowers
who had been treated wrongly -- and that was the largest lending
settlement in history. (Applause.) And that’s why I’ve called on
Congress to wind down the government-backed companies known as Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac.
So the bottom line is we don't think there’s anything wrong with
pursuing a profit, but we want to make clear the days of making bad bets
on the backs of taxpayer money and then getting bailed out afterwards
-- we're not going back to that. (Applause.) We've worked too hard,
and everything we’ve done to heal the housing markets we want to
preserve. But we do want to make sure that the housing market is strong
and that responsible homeowners can get a good deal. For people who
have saved, done the right thing, now are looking to buy their first
home, we want to make sure that they get a little bit of help.
In the end, everything we've done to heal the housing market is about
more than just restoring housing values. It's about restoring our
common values. It's about who we are as a country and who we are as
communities.
And I want to just tell you a quick story. Lorraine Cona, from Sun
City, next door, she did everything right. She had a good job as a
librarian. She bought a home she could afford. She wanted to retire in
that home. She made her payments on time. Then, five years ago,
through no fault of her own, she was laid off, and she started falling
behind in her payments. She knew foreclosure was coming. She said,
“I’d look out the window and I’d see somebody taking pictures of my
house.”
But when things seemed darkest, Lorraine learned about something
called the Hardest Hit fund –- it's a program that we created to help
folks in states like Arizona that had been especially hard hit by the
real estate crash. And they helped her make her late payments --
because she had a great track record until she had lost her job. They
set her up with financial counseling so she could stay on track. It
wasn’t easy, but Lorraine repaired her credit. She refinanced her
mortgage. And today, after a lifetime of hard work, Lorraine is
retired, she’s back to making her payments every single month. She’s in
her home. She was able to accomplish that. Even though it was scary
at times, she got it done. Lorraine came back, just like Phoenix has
come back. (Applause.) Just like Arizona has come back. Just like
America has come back. (Applause.)
It’s not just the economy turning around. It’s turning around the
lives of hardworking people, making sure that that hard work finally
pays off. (Applause.) It’s making sure you finally get that job you’re
looking for, or the raise you deserve, or a little bit of security, or
the retirement that you’ve earned, or being able to send your kid to
college so their lives are better than yours. (Applause.) That's what
this is about.
So I just want everybody to know that we have been through some tough
times, but we are moving. There are workers today with jobs who didn’t
have jobs last year. There are families who have got health insurance
who didn’t have health insurance before. (Applause.) There are
students who are in college right now who didn’t think they could afford
it before. (Applause.) There are heroes who had served tour after tour
who are finally home with their families. There are autoworkers who
are building great American cars now when they thought that those plants
were going to shut down.
America is coming back. (Applause.) And the key, Arizona, is for us all to work together to make sure we keep it going.
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)
President Obama gave an important speech on Wednesday regarding economic inequality and mobility; the video of the speech is at the bottom of this post.
Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much.
Please, please have a seat. Thank you so much. Well, thank you,
Neera, for the wonderful introduction and sharing a story that resonated
with me. There were a lot of parallels in my life and probably
resonated with some of you.
Over the past 10 years, the Center for American Progress has done
incredible work to shape the debate over expanding opportunity for all
Americans. And I could not be more grateful to CAP not only for giving
me a lot of good policy ideas, but also giving me a lot of staff.
(Laughter.) My friend, John Podesta, ran my transition; my Chief of
Staff, Denis McDonough, did a stint at CAP. So you guys are obviously
doing a good job training folks.
I also want to thank all the members of Congress and my administration
who are here today for the wonderful work that they do. I want to thank
Mayor Gray and everyone here at THEARC for having me. This center,
which I’ve been to quite a bit, have had a chance to see some of the
great work that’s done here. And all the nonprofits that call THEARC
home offer access to everything from education, to health care, to a
safe shelter from the streets, which means that you’re harnessing the
power of community to expand opportunity for folks here in D.C. And
your work reflects a tradition that runs through our history -- a belief
that we’re greater together than we are on our own. And that’s what
I’ve come here to talk about today.
Over the last two months, Washington has been dominated by some pretty
contentious debates -- I think that’s fair to say. And between a
reckless shutdown by congressional Republicans in an effort to repeal
the Affordable Care Act, and admittedly poor execution on my
administration’s part in implementing the latest stage of the new law,
nobody has acquitted themselves very well these past few months. So
it’s not surprising that the American people’s frustrations with
Washington are at an all-time high.
But we know that people’s frustrations run deeper than these most
recent political battles. Their frustration is rooted in their own
daily battles -- to make ends meet, to pay for college, buy a home, save
for retirement. It’s rooted in the nagging sense that no matter how
hard they work, the deck is stacked against them. And it’s rooted in
the fear that their kids won’t be better off than they were. They may
not follow the constant back-and-forth in Washington or all the policy
details, but they experience in a very personal way the relentless,
decades-long trend that I want to spend some time talking about today.
And that is a dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward
mobility that has jeopardized middle-class America’s basic bargain --
that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead.
I believe this is the defining challenge of our time: Making sure our
economy works for every working American. It’s why I ran for President.
It was at the center of last year’s campaign. It drives everything I
do in this office. And I know I’ve raised this issue before, and some
will ask why I raise the issue again right now. I do it because the
outcomes of the debates we’re having right now -- whether it’s health
care, or the budget, or reforming our housing and financial systems --
all these things will have real, practical implications for every
American. And I am convinced that the decisions we make on these issues
over the next few years will determine whether or not our children will
grow up in an America where opportunity is real.
Now, the premise that we’re all created equal is the opening line in
the American story. And while we don’t promise equal outcomes, we have
strived to deliver equal opportunity -- the idea that success doesn’t
depend on being born into wealth or privilege, it depends on effort and
merit. And with every chapter we’ve added to that story, we’ve worked
hard to put those words into practice.
It was Abraham Lincoln, a self-described “poor man’s son,” who started a
system of land grant colleges all over this country so that any poor
man’s son could go learn something new.
When farms gave way to factories, a rich man’s son named Teddy
Roosevelt fought for an eight-hour workday, protections for workers, and
busted monopolies that kept prices high and wages low.
When millions lived in poverty, FDR fought for Social Security, and insurance for the unemployed, and a minimum wage.
When millions died without health insurance, LBJ fought for Medicare and Medicaid.
Together, we forged a New Deal, declared a War on Poverty in a great
society. We built a ladder of opportunity to climb, and stretched out a
safety net beneath so that if we fell, it wouldn’t be too far, and we
could bounce back. And as a result, America built the largest middle
class the world has ever known. And for the three decades after World
War II, it was the engine of our prosperity.
Now, we can’t look at the past through rose-colored glasses. The
economy didn’t always work for everyone. Racial discrimination locked
millions out of poverty -- or out of opportunity. Women were too often
confined to a handful of often poorly paid professions. And it was only
through painstaking struggle that more women, and minorities, and
Americans with disabilities began to win the right to more fairly and
fully participate in the economy.
Nevertheless, during the post-World War II years, the economic ground
felt stable and secure for most Americans, and the future looked
brighter than the past. And for some, that meant following in your old
man’s footsteps at the local plant, and you knew that a blue-collar job
would let you buy a home, and a car, maybe a vacation once in a while,
health care, a reliable pension. For others, it meant going to college
-- in some cases, maybe the first in your family to go to college. And
it meant graduating without taking on loads of debt, and being able to
count on advancement through a vibrant job market.
Now, it’s true that those at the top, even in those years, claimed a
much larger share of income than the rest: The top 10 percent
consistently took home about one-third of our national income. But that
kind of inequality took place in a dynamic market economy where
everyone’s wages and incomes were growing. And because of upward
mobility, the guy on the factory floor could picture his kid running the
company some day.
But starting in the late ‘70s, this social compact began to unravel.
Technology made it easier for companies to do more with less,
eliminating certain job occupations. A more competitive world lets
companies ship jobs anywhere. And as good manufacturing jobs automated
or headed offshore, workers lost their leverage, jobs paid less and
offered fewer benefits.
As values of community broke down, and competitive pressure increased,
businesses lobbied Washington to weaken unions and the value of the
minimum wage. As a trickle-down ideology became more prominent, taxes
were slashed for the wealthiest, while investments in things that make
us all richer, like schools and infrastructure, were allowed to wither.
And for a certain period of time, we could ignore this weakening
economic foundation, in part because more families were relying on two
earners as women entered the workforce. We took on more debt financed
by a juiced-up housing market. But when the music stopped, and the
crisis hit, millions of families were stripped of whatever cushion they
had left.
And the result is an economy that’s become profoundly unequal, and
families that are more insecure. I’ll just give you a few statistics.
Since 1979, when I graduated from high school, our productivity is up
by more than 90 percent, but the income of the typical family has
increased by less than eight percent. Since 1979, our economy has more
than doubled in size, but most of that growth has flowed to a fortunate
few.
The top 10 percent no longer takes in one-third of our income -- it now
takes half. Whereas in the past, the average CEO made about 20 to 30
times the income of the average worker, today’s CEO now makes 273 times
more. And meanwhile, a family in the top 1 percent has a net worth 288
times higher than the typical family, which is a record for this
country.
So the basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed. In fact,
this trend towards growing inequality is not unique to America’s market
economy. Across the developed world, inequality has increased. Some of
you may have seen just last week, the Pope himself spoke about this at
eloquent length. “How can it be,” he wrote, “that it is not a news item
when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when
the stock market loses two points?”
But this increasing inequality is most pronounced in our country, and
it challenges the very essence of who we are as a people. Understand
we’ve never begrudged success in America. We aspire to it. We admire
folks who start new businesses, create jobs, and invent the products
that enrich our lives. And we expect them to be rewarded handsomely for
it. In fact, we've often accepted more income inequality than many
other nations for one big reason -- because we were convinced that
America is a place where even if you’re born with nothing, with a little
hard work you can improve your own situation over time and build
something better to leave your kids. As Lincoln once said, “While we do
not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man
an equal chance to get rich with everybody else.”
The problem is that alongside increased inequality, we’ve seen
diminished levels of upward mobility in recent years. A child born in
the top 20 percent has about a 2-in-3 chance of staying at or near the
top. A child born into the bottom 20 percent has a less than 1-in-20
shot at making it to the top. He’s 10 times likelier to stay where he
is. In fact, statistics show not only that our levels of income
inequality rank near countries like Jamaica and Argentina, but that it
is harder today for a child born here in America to improve her station
in life than it is for children in most of our wealthy allies --
countries like Canada or Germany or France. They have greater mobility
than we do, not less.
The idea that so many children are born into poverty in the wealthiest
nation on Earth is heartbreaking enough. But the idea that a child may
never be able to escape that poverty because she lacks a decent
education or health care, or a community that views her future as their
own, that should offend all of us and it should compel us to action. We
are a better country than this.
So let me repeat: The combined trends of increased inequality and
decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream, our
way of life, and what we stand for around the globe. And it is not
simply a moral claim that I’m making here. There are practical
consequences to rising inequality and reduced mobility.
For one thing, these trends are bad for our economy. One study finds
that growth is more fragile and recessions are more frequent in
countries with greater inequality. And that makes sense. When families
have less to spend, that means businesses have fewer customers, and
households rack up greater mortgage and credit card debt; meanwhile,
concentrated wealth at the top is less likely to result in the kind of
broadly based consumer spending that drives our economy, and together
with lax regulation, may contribute to risky speculative bubbles.
And rising inequality and declining mobility are also bad for our
families and social cohesion -- not just because we tend to trust our
institutions less, but studies show we actually tend to trust each other
less when there’s greater inequality. And greater inequality is
associated with less mobility between generations. That means it’s not
just temporary; the effects last. It creates a vicious cycle. For
example, by the time she turns three years old, a child born into a
low-income home hears 30 million fewer words than a child from a
well-off family, which means by the time she starts school she’s already
behind, and that deficit can compound itself over time.
And finally, rising inequality and declining mobility are bad for our
democracy. Ordinary folks can’t write massive campaign checks or hire
high-priced lobbyists and lawyers to secure policies that tilt the
playing field in their favor at everyone else’s expense. And so people
get the bad taste that the system is rigged, and that increases cynicism
and polarization, and it decreases the political participation that is a
requisite part of our system of self-government.
So this is an issue that we have to tackle head on. And if, in fact,
the majority of Americans agree that our number-one priority is to
restore opportunity and broad-based growth for all Americans, the
question is why has Washington consistently failed to act? And I think a
big reason is the myths that have developed around the issue of
inequality.
First, there is the myth that this is a problem restricted to a small
share of predominantly minority poor -- that this isn’t a broad-based
problem, this is a black problem or a Hispanic problem or a Native
American problem. Now, it’s true that the painful legacy of
discrimination means that African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans
are far more likely to suffer from a lack of opportunity -- higher
unemployment, higher poverty rates. It’s also true that women still
make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. So we’re going to need
strong application of antidiscrimination laws. We’re going to need
immigration reform that grows the economy and takes people out of the
shadows. We’re going to need targeted initiatives to close those gaps.
(Applause.)
But here’s an important point. The decades-long shifts in the economy
have hurt all groups: poor and middle class; inner city and rural
folks; men and women; and Americans of all races. And as a consequence,
some of the social patterns that contribute to declining mobility that
were once attributed to the urban poor -- that’s a particular problem
for the inner city: single-parent households or drug abuse -- it turns
out now we’re seeing that pop up everywhere.
A new study shows that disparities in education, mental health,
obesity, absent fathers, isolation from church, isolation from community
groups -- these gaps are now as much about growing up rich or poor as
they are about anything else. The gap in test scores between poor kids
and wealthy kids is now nearly twice what it is between white kids and
black kids. Kids with working-class parents are 10 times likelier than
kids with middle- or upper-class parents to go through a time when their
parents have no income. So the fact is this: The opportunity gap in
America is now as much about class as it is about race, and that gap is
growing.
So if we’re going to take on growing inequality and try to improve
upward mobility for all people, we’ve got to move beyond the false
notion that this is an issue exclusively of minority concern. And we
have to reject a politics that suggests any effort to address it in a
meaningful way somehow pits the interests of a deserving middle class
against those of an undeserving poor in search of handouts. (Applause.)
Second, we need to dispel the myth that the goals of growing the
economy and reducing inequality are necessarily in conflict, when they
should actually work in concert. We know from our history that our
economy grows best from the middle out, when growth is more widely
shared. And we know that beyond a certain level of inequality, growth
actually slows altogether.
Third, we need to set aside the belief that government cannot do
anything about reducing inequality. It’s true that government cannot
prevent all the downsides of the technological change and global
competition that are out there right now, and some of those forces are
also some of the things that are helping us grow. And it’s also true
that some programs in the past, like welfare before it was reformed,
were sometimes poorly designed, created disincentives to work.
But we’ve also seen how government action time and again can make an
enormous difference in increasing opportunity and bolstering ladders
into the middle class. Investments in education, laws establishing
collective bargaining, and a minimum wage -- these all contributed to
rising standards of living for massive numbers of Americans.
(Applause.) Likewise, when previous generations declared that every
citizen of this country deserved a basic measure of security -- a floor
through which they could not fall -- we helped millions of Americans
live in dignity, and gave millions more the confidence to aspire to
something better, by taking a risk on a great idea.
Without Social Security, nearly half of seniors would be living in
poverty -- half. Today, fewer than 1 in 10 do. Before Medicare, only
half of all seniors had some form of health insurance. Today, virtually
all do. And because we’ve strengthened that safety net, and expanded
pro-work and pro-family tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, a
recent study found that the poverty rate has fallen by 40 percent since
the 1960s. And these endeavors didn’t just make us a better country;
they reaffirmed that we are a great country.
So we can make a difference on this. In fact, that’s our generation’s
task -- to rebuild America’s economic and civic foundation to continue
the expansion of opportunity for this generation and the next
generation. (Applause.) And like Neera, I take this personally. I’m
only here because this country educated my grandfather on the GI Bill.
When my father left and my mom hit hard times trying to raise my sister
and me while she was going to school, this country helped make sure we
didn’t go hungry. When Michelle, the daughter of a shift worker at a
water plant and a secretary, wanted to go to college, just like me, this
country helped us afford it until we could pay it back.
So what drives me as a grandson, a son, a father -- as an American --
is to make sure that every striving, hardworking, optimistic kid in
America has the same incredible chance that this country gave me.
(Applause.) It has been the driving force between everything we’ve
done these past five years. And over the course of the next year, and
for the rest of my presidency, that’s where you should expect my
administration to focus all our efforts. (Applause.)
Now, you'll be pleased to know this is not a State of the Union
Address. (Laughter.) And many of the ideas that can make the biggest
difference in expanding opportunity I’ve presented before. But let me
offer a few key principles, just a roadmap that I believe should guide
us in both our legislative agenda and our administrative efforts.
To begin with, we have to continue to relentlessly push a growth
agenda. It may be true that in today’s economy, growth alone does not
guarantee higher wages and incomes. We've seen that. But what's also
true is we can’t tackle inequality if the economic pie is shrinking or
stagnant. The fact is if you’re a progressive and you want to help the
middle class and the working poor, you’ve still got to be concerned
about competitiveness and productivity and business confidence that
spurs private sector investment.
And that’s why from day one we’ve worked to get the economy growing and
help our businesses hire. And thanks to their resilience and
innovation, they’ve created nearly 8 million new jobs over the past 44
months. And now we’ve got to grow the economy even faster. And we've
got to keep working to make America a magnet for good, middle-class jobs
to replace the ones that we’ve lost in recent decades -- jobs in
manufacturing and energy and infrastructure and technology.
And that means simplifying our corporate tax code in a way that closes
wasteful loopholes and ends incentives to ship jobs overseas.
(Applause.) And by broadening the base, we can actually lower rates to
encourage more companies to hire here and use some of the money we save
to create good jobs rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our
airports, and all the infrastructure our businesses need.
It means a trade agenda that grows exports and works for the middle
class. It means streamlining regulations that are outdated or
unnecessary or too costly. And it means coming together around a
responsible budget -- one that grows our economy faster right now and
shrinks our long-term deficits, one that unwinds the harmful sequester
cuts that haven't made a lot of sense -- (applause) -- and then frees up
resources to invest in things like the scientific research that's
always unleashed new innovation and new industries.
When it comes to our budget, we should not be stuck in a stale debate
from two years ago or three years ago. A relentlessly growing deficit
of opportunity is a bigger threat to our future than our rapidly
shrinking fiscal deficit. (Applause.)
So that’s step one towards restoring mobility: making sure our economy
is growing faster. Step two is making sure we empower more Americans
with the skills and education they need to compete in a highly
competitive global economy.
We know that education is the most important predictor of income today,
so we launched a Race to the Top in our schools. We’re supporting
states that have raised standards for teaching and learning. We’re
pushing for redesigned high schools that graduate more kids with the
technical training and apprenticeships, and in-demand, high-tech skills
that can lead directly to a good job and a middle-class life.
We know it’s harder to find a job today without some higher education,
so we’ve helped more students go to college with grants and loans that
go farther than before. We’ve made it more practical to repay those
loans. And today, more students are graduating from college than ever
before. We’re also pursuing an aggressive strategy to promote
innovation that reins in tuition costs. We’ve got lower costs so that
young people are not burdened by enormous debt when they make the right
decision to get higher education. And next week, Michelle and I will
bring together college presidents and non-profits to lead a campaign to
help more low-income students attend and succeed in college.
(Applause.)
But while higher education may be the surest path to the middle class,
it’s not the only one. So we should offer our people the best technical
education in the world. That’s why we’ve worked to connect local
businesses with community colleges, so that workers young and old can
earn the new skills that earn them more money.
And I’ve also embraced an idea that I know all of you at the Center for
American Progress have championed -- and, by the way, Republican
governors in a couple of states have championed -- and that’s making
high-quality preschool available to every child in America. (Applause.)
We know that kids in these programs grow up likelier to get more
education, earn higher wages, form more stable families of their own.
It starts a virtuous cycle, not a vicious one. And we should invest in
that. We should give all of our children that chance.
And as we empower our young people for future success, the third part
of this middle-class economics is empowering our workers. It’s time to
ensure our collective bargaining laws function as they’re supposed to --
(applause) -- so unions have a level playing field to organize for a
better deal for workers and better wages for the middle class. It’s
time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women will have more
tools to fight pay discrimination. (Applause.) It’s time to pass the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act so workers can’t be fired for who they
are or who they love. (Applause.)
And even though we’re bringing manufacturing jobs back to America,
we’re creating more good-paying jobs in education and health care and
business services; we know that we’re going to have a greater and
greater portion of our people in the service sector. And we know that
there are airport workers, and fast-food workers, and nurse assistants,
and retail salespeople who work their tails off and are still living at
or barely above poverty. (Applause.) And that’s why it’s well past the
time to raise a minimum wage that in real terms right now is below
where it was when Harry Truman was in office. (Applause.)
This shouldn’t be an ideological question. It was Adam Smith, the
father of free-market economics, who once said, “They who feed, clothe,
and lodge the whole body of the people should have such a share of the
produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed,
clothed, and lodged.” And for those of you who don’t speak old-English
-- (laughter) -- let me translate. It means if you work hard, you
should make a decent living. (Applause.) If you work hard, you should
be able to support a family.
Now, we all know the arguments that have been used against a higher
minimum wage. Some say it actually hurts low-wage workers -- businesses
will be less likely to hire them. But there’s no solid evidence that a
higher minimum wage costs jobs, and research shows it raises incomes
for low-wage workers and boosts short-term economic growth. (Applause.)
Others argue that if we raise the minimum wage, companies will just
pass those costs on to consumers. But a growing chorus of businesses,
small and large, argue differently. And already, there are
extraordinary companies in America that provide decent wages, salaries,
and benefits, and training for their workers, and deliver a great
product to consumers.
SAS in North Carolina offers childcare and sick leave. REI, a company
my Secretary of the Interior used to run, offers retirement plans and
strives to cultivate a good work balance. There are companies out there
that do right by their workers. They recognize that paying a decent
wage actually helps their bottom line, reduces turnover. It means
workers have more money to spend, to save, maybe eventually start a
business of their own.
A broad majority of Americans agree we should raise the minimum wage.
That’s why, last month, voters in New Jersey decided to become the 20th
state to raise theirs even higher. That’s why, yesterday, the D.C.
Council voted to do it, too. I agree with those voters. (Applause.) I
agree with those voters, and I’m going to keep pushing until we get a
higher minimum wage for hard-working Americans across the entire
country. It will be good for our economy. It will be good for our
families. (Applause.)
Number four, as I alluded to earlier, we still need targeted programs
for the communities and workers that have been hit hardest by economic
change and the Great Recession. These communities are no longer limited
to the inner city. They’re found in neighborhoods hammered by the
housing crisis, manufacturing towns hit hard by years of plants packing
up, landlocked rural areas where young folks oftentimes feel like
they've got to leave just to find a job. There are communities that
just aren’t generating enough jobs anymore.
So we’ve put forward new plans to help these communities and their
residents, because we’ve watched cities like Pittsburgh or my hometown
of Chicago revamp themselves. And if we give more cities the tools to
do it -- not handouts, but a hand up -- cities like Detroit can do it,
too. So in a few weeks, we’ll announce the first of these Promise
Zones, urban and rural communities where we’re going to support local
efforts focused on a national goal -- and that is a child’s course in
life should not be determined by the zip code he’s born in, but by the
strength of his work ethic and the scope of his dreams. (Applause.)
And we're also going to have to do more for the long-term unemployed.
For people who have been out of work for more than six months, often
through no fault of their own, life is a catch-22. Companies won’t give
their résumé an honest look because they’ve been laid off so long --
but they’ve been laid off so long because companies won’t give their
résumé an honest look. (Laughter.) And that’s why earlier this year, I
challenged CEOs from some of America’s best companies to give these
Americans a fair shot. And next month, many of them will join us at the
White House for an announcement about this.
Fifth, we've got to revamp retirement to protect Americans in their
golden years, to make sure another housing collapse doesn’t steal the
savings in their homes. We've also got to strengthen our safety net for
a new age, so it doesn’t just protect people who hit a run of bad luck
from falling into poverty, but also propels them back out of poverty.
Today, nearly half of full-time workers and 80 percent of part-time
workers don’t have a pension or retirement account at their job. About
half of all households don’t have any retirement savings. So we’re
going to have to do more to encourage private savings and shore up the
promise of Social Security for future generations. And remember, these
are promises we make to one another. We don’t do it to replace the free
market, but we do it to reduce risk in our society by giving people the
ability to take a chance and catch them if they fall. One study shows
that more than half of Americans will experience poverty at some point
during their adult lives. Think about that. This is not an isolated
situation. More than half of Americans at some point in their lives
will experience poverty.
That’s why we have nutrition assistance or the program known as SNAP,
because it makes a difference for a mother who’s working, but is just
having a hard time putting food on the table for her kids. That’s why
we have unemployment insurance, because it makes a difference for a
father who lost his job and is out there looking for a new one that he
can keep a roof over his kids' heads. By the way, Christmastime is no
time for Congress to tell more than 1 million of these Americans that
they have lost their unemployment insurance, which is what will happen
if Congress does not act before they leave on their holiday vacation.
(Applause.)
The point is these programs are not typically hammocks for people to
just lie back and relax. These programs are almost always temporary
means for hardworking people to stay afloat while they try to find a new
job or go into school to retrain themselves for the jobs that are out
there, or sometimes just to cope with a bout of bad luck. Progressives
should be open to reforms that actually strengthen these programs and
make them more responsive to a 21st century economy. For example, we
should be willing to look at fresh ideas to revamp unemployment and
disability programs to encourage faster and higher rates of
re-employment without cutting benefits. We shouldn't weaken fundamental
protections built over generations, because given the constant churn in
today’s economy and the disabilities that many of our friends and
neighbors live with, they're needed more than ever. We should
strengthen them and adapt them to new circumstances so they work even
better.
But understand that these programs of social insurance benefit all of
us, because we don't know when we might have a run of bad luck.
(Applause.) We don't know when we might lose a job. Of course, for
decades, there was one yawning gap in the safety net that did more than
anything else to expose working families to the insecurities of today’s
economy -- namely, our broken health care system.
That’s why we fought for the Affordable Care Act -- (applause) --
because 14,000 Americans lost their health insurance every single day,
and even more died each year because they didn’t have health insurance
at all. We did it because millions of families who thought they had
coverage were driven into bankruptcy by out-of-pocket costs that they
didn't realize would be there. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens
couldn’t get any coverage at all. And Dr. King once said, "Of all the
forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and
inhumane.”
Well, not anymore. (Applause.) Because in the three years since we
passed this law, the share of Americans with insurance is up, the growth
of health care costs are down to their slowest rate in 50 years. More
people have insurance, and more have new benefits and protections -- 100
million Americans who have gained the right for free preventive care
like mammograms and contraception; the more than 7 million Americans who
have saved an average of $1,200 on their prescription medicine; every
American who won’t go broke when they get sick because their insurance
can’t limit their care anymore.
More people without insurance have gained insurance -- more than 3
million young Americans who have been able to stay on their parents’
plan, the more than half a million Americans and counting who are poised
to get covered starting on January 1st, some for the very first time.
And it is these numbers -- not the ones in any poll -- that will
ultimately determine the fate of this law. (Applause.) It's the
measurable outcomes in reduced bankruptcies and reduced hours that have
been lost because somebody couldn't make it to work, and healthier kids
with better performance in schools, and young entrepreneurs who have the
freedom to go out there and try a new idea -- those are the things that
will ultimately reduce a major source of inequality and help ensure
more Americans get the start that they need to succeed in the future.
I have acknowledged more than once that we didn’t roll out parts of
this law as well as we should have. But the law is already working in
major ways that benefit millions of Americans right now, even as we’ve
begun to slow the rise in health care costs, which is good for family
budgets, good for federal and state budgets, and good for the budgets of
businesses small and large. So this law is going to work. And for the
sake of our economic security, it needs to work. (Applause.)
And as people in states as different as California and Kentucky sign up
every single day for health insurance, signing up in droves, they’re
proving they want that economic security. If the Senate Republican
leader still thinks he is going to be able to repeal this someday, he
might want to check with the more than 60,000 people in his home state
who are already set to finally have coverage that frees them from the
fear of financial ruin, and lets them afford to take their kids to see a
doctor. (Applause.)
So let me end by addressing the elephant in the room here, which is the
seeming inability to get anything done in Washington these days. I
realize we are not going to resolve all of our political debates over
the best ways to reduce inequality and increase upward mobility this
year, or next year, or in the next five years. But it is important that
we have a serious debate about these issues. For the longer that
current trends are allowed to continue, the more it will feed the
cynicism and fear that many Americans are feeling right now -- that
they’ll never be able to repay the debt they took on to go to college,
they’ll never be able to save enough to retire, they’ll never see their
own children land a good job that supports a family.
And that’s why, even as I will keep on offering my own ideas for
expanding opportunity, I’ll also keep challenging and welcoming those
who oppose my ideas to offer their own. If Republicans have concrete
plans that will actually reduce inequality, build the middle class,
provide more ladders of opportunity to the poor, let’s hear them. I
want to know what they are. If you don’t think we should raise the
minimum wage, let’s hear your idea to increase people’s earnings. If
you don’t think every child should have access to preschool, tell us
what you’d do differently to give them a better shot.
If you still don’t like Obamacare -- and I know you don’t -- (laughter)
-- even though it’s built on market-based ideas of choice and
competition in the private sector, then you should explain how, exactly,
you’d cut costs, and cover more people, and make insurance more secure.
You owe it to the American people to tell us what you are for, not
just what you’re against. (Applause.) That way we can have a vigorous
and meaningful debate. That’s what the American people deserve. That’s
what the times demand. It’s not enough anymore to just say we should
just get our government out of the way and let the unfettered market
take care of it -- for our experience tells us that’s just not true.
(Applause.)
Look, I’ve never believed that government can solve every problem or
should -- and neither do you. We know that ultimately our strength is
grounded in our people -- individuals out there, striving, working,
making things happen. It depends on community, a rich and generous
sense of community -- that’s at the core of what happens at THEARC here
every day. You understand that turning back rising inequality and
expanding opportunity requires parents taking responsibility for their
kids, kids taking responsibility to work hard. It requires religious
leaders who mobilize their congregations to rebuild neighborhoods block
by block, requires civic organizations that can help train the
unemployed, link them with businesses for the jobs of the future. It
requires companies and CEOs to set an example by providing decent wages,
and salaries, and benefits for their workers, and a shot for somebody
who is down on his or her luck. We know that’s our strength -- our
people, our communities, our businesses.
But government can’t stand on the sidelines in our efforts. Because
government is us. It can and should reflect our deepest values and
commitments. And if we refocus our energies on building an economy that
grows for everybody, and gives every child in this country a fair
chance at success, then I remain confident that the future still looks
brighter than the past, and that the best days for this country we love
are still ahead. (Applause.)
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless America.
For those readers who aren't fans of reading, the video of the speech -
