President Barack Obama made a speech today — July 24, 2010 — to the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. A video of that speech (with a recorded intercession by Rachel Maddow) has helpfully been made available by Netroots Nation but apparently without a transcript, and the White House has not (yet) posted either video or text of President Obama’s remarks on the whitehouse.gov website. To get President Obama’s appeal on the record for discussion, here’s a transcription of the remarks by Obama and Maddow:
President Barack Obama: I’m grateful for the chance to talk with all of you, because we meet at a difficult moment for America. Over the last 18 months we’ve been working to put our country back on the right path, to dig our way out of this recession, and begin building an economy that makes America more competitive and our middle class more secure. And while we’ve got a long way to go, I’m confident that America is once again moving forward.
Still, change has not come fast enough for too many Americans. I know that. It hasn’t come fast enough for me either. And I know it hasn’t come fast enough for many of you who fought so hard during the election. The fact is, it took years to get here. It’ll take time to get us out. We’ve known that since the beginning of our campaign. But I hope you take a moment to consider all we’ve accomplished so far.
[Rachel Maddow, recorded narration:
"Turns out that a lot of things that have happened in the last two years of this administration are the biggest or first or most important in generations:
- Wall Street reform agreement
- Health reform
- The stimulus bill. It didn't just throw a lasso around our entire economy and yank it back from the brink; it also pumped about a $100,000,000,000 into the crumbling embarrassment of our national infrastructure and transportation system
- Tax incentives for renewable and clean energy
- Unheralded but giant investment in science and tech
- Also expanded state kids' health insurance to cover another 4 million kids.
- The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- A nuclear arms deal with Russia that would reduce both countries' arsenals by a third. An international way forward on that radical left-wing proposition of Ronald Reagan: a world without nuclear weapons.
- The Hate Crimes prevention act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act
- Dismantled the scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service
- Overhauled the astonishing stupidity of the student loan system
The last any president did this much in office, booze was illegal. If you believe in policy, if you believe in government that addresses problems, cheers to that."]
Barack Obama: So in ways large and small, we’ve begun to deliver on the change we’ve fought so hard for. But we’re not done. We’re working to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We’re working to close Guantanamo in a responsible way. And thanks to the heroism of our troops, we are poised to end our combat mission in Iraq by the end of August, completing a drawdown of more than 90,000 troops since I took office.
We’re moving America forward, and when we’ve come this far, we can’t afford to slide backward. And that’s the choice America faces this November. Between going back to the failed policies that got us into this mess, and moving forward with policies that are leading us out.
I don’t need to tell you that. What I’m asking you is to keep making your voices heard. To keep holding me accountable. To keep up the fight. Change is hard, but if we’ve learned anything these past 18 months, it’s that change is possible. It’s possible when folks like you remember that fundamental truth of our democracy: that change doesn’t come from the top down. It comes from the bottom up. It comes from the netroots, the grassroots, from every American who loves their country and believes they can make a difference.
We’ve done it before. We can do it again. Let’s finish what we’ve started. Thanks so much.
If you consider yourself a progressive American, Barack Obama is speaking to you. What’s your reaction?
I’m verry tired of the blame game.
JD, what do you mean by that in the context of this speech?
…”we can’t afford to slide backward. And that’s the choice America faces this November. Between going back to the failed policies that got us into this mess…”. I think it’s much more complicated than blaming one man or one party for what we are facing and I’m a tad worried that the present economic policies may result in a bigger mess. Further I don’t like the scare tactic. If the democrats loose enough seats to face a filibuster from time to time, it may turn out to be a good thing economically.
You mean you’re tired of holding leaders accountable to their promises? I don’t think that’s a game.
I’m tired of problems being blamed on one party or one man. It’s simply not that simple.
Holding leaders accountable to their promises isn’t what I was referring to. See my response to Jim.
Obama’s accomplishments: Fired GM CEO; shut down auto dealerships across the nation laying off thousands; criticized flying on private planes causing a blow against the private plane industry; criticized going to Las Vegas causing conference and meeting cancellations laying off thousands of Las Vegas and Nevada workers; shut down oil drilling in shallow and deep water ignoring protests of Democrats and Republicans in Louisiana and the Gulf putting thousands out of work; took $60 million from SEIU for his campaign plus thousands of SEIU volunteer workers and then spent more meeting time with SEIU president Andy Stern than with General McChrystal and then gave unions favorite treatment in the health care bill and white house policies; ignored disasters in the states (flooding, ice storms, tornados) while partying in the White House and playing golf and flying in his latest chef of the week; made an $80 million private deal paid by pharmaceutical companies so they wouldn’t complain about health care items; cut $500 billion from Medicare advantage; said we would have transparency then refused to allow the health care or financial reform bills and details to be published to citizens before he signed them; grew government – only place in the economy growing jobs – for people to regulate, monitor and enforce items in the health care bill like 16,000 IRS health care payment enforcers —— and this is just part of the Obama destruction strategy for the economy
Oh there’s way more than that, mp. His financial advisors, being former Goldman Sachs alums, have us citizens on permanent bailout status:
http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2010/fdic071210-3a2-incoming.pdf
and the response:
http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/2010/fdic071210-3a2.htm
For perspective on this confusing stuff:
http://fridayinvegas.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-guaranteed-box-full-of-crap-via.html
Further: Obama failed so badly on the environmental front: allowing BP to drill in the Gulf with shoddy paperwork, no plan for any problems, and now the complete death of the entire Gulf; Copenhagen and his kowtowing to big business rather than heeding the warnings of scientists; and not changing us over to green tech via green jobs and govt investment all add up to HUGE disappointment, becoming Bush III in policies, lack of leadership, failure on his campaign promises, and short-sightedness (or outright corporate agenda).
The healthcare bill is basically written so that the insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry and for profit hospitals benefit while the taxpayer/common citizen is FORCED to buy this crap and continues to get the same bullshit coverage and insurance company tricks and games when we ask them to pay out on our behalf.
Every one of Maddow’s bullet points has more to it than just the headline, but she doesn’t critique them. AND there are more “disappointments”: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/cat_obama_disappointments.php
I don’t think that the Wall Street reform and health care reform bills are good selling points for Obama with liberal activists. They’re both very disappointing compromises that were severely weakened due to the influence of industry lobbyists.
The bailout didn’t really save the nation at large from economic disaster, as the continuing high unemployment and foreclosure show. The bailout did a great job for Wall Street investors, though.
Tax credits for renewable energy were already around, and are a tiny compensation for Obama’s abandonment of comprehensive climate legislation.
The Mineral Management Service item is laughable, because of the context of Obama pushing for expanded offshore drilling just days before the Deepwater Horizon – a position he hasn’t really given up in the long term.
It’s striking to me that Obama had to struggle to look for items like “Overhauled the astonishing stupidity of the student loan system”. That’s nice and all, but it’s hardly been a rallying cry.
On the other hand, dismantling George W. Bush’s attacks on the Constitution was. Nothing about that here – because Obama knows he’s had a terrible record on that score.
Oh, and where’s that reform of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives that Obama promised? He hasn’t even TRIED to do that.
Obama was elected because voters believed that he would offer a strong departure from the policies of George W. Bush. Obama hasn’t offered that, and neither have the congressional Democrats. That’s what’s going to place the Republicans into a powerful position in this year’s elections, and in 2012 – that the Democratic Party has abused the trust of its liberal base for far too long.
Hold you accountable? You bet, Mr. Obama.
Do as your told.
My reaction? I’m an advocate for change. I’m going to keep pushing for change, and the acceleration of that change. The Federal Government needs to do two things. First, prop up the state governments that are facing deficits. No more cuts to state education budgets, or health care budgets, or unemployment benefits. Put resources into the hands of people, not banks or corporations. Second, make a huge, HUGE, investment in renewable energy, one that makes up for the last 30 years of inaction. We need solar panels on the roof of every government building in the country. We need a line of solar panels along every inch of Federal Highway. We need to revitalize our rail infrastructure and push it forward 50 years with high speed rail paralleling the Highways from coast to coast, border to border.
All of this is going to take money. It’s money that we have to spend if we are going to save our country, or civilization and our planet. I honestly believe that it is possible for us to reverse course and fix the problems that we have created over the past 200 years through the industrial revolution. Yes, we can do this.
If we don’t… If we continue as we are now… If we advocate for, or even tolerate the systems and attitudes that we see in the media today… Well, then we are sentencing our children to death. We will not just hand the next generation the problems we have created, we will have ended their future. I have friends that tell me that I’m wrong, that there will be small pockets of humanity that survive in specific places around the globe. Is that really what we want to resign ourselves to?
Mr. President, you have done a lot over the last year and a half. Thank you for working so hard. I’m not going to say that you have done a poor job. I think you’ve done the best job that you could do with the tools that you have. But as you said on the campaign trail, it’s not up to you. It’s up to us.