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Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Now, Mr. Mayor, fellow democrats we are here to nominate a President, and I've got one in mind.

I want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty. I want to nominate a man who ran for President to change the course of an already weak economy and then just six weeks before the election, saw it suffer the biggest collapse since the Great Depression. A man who stopped the slide into depression, and put us on the long road to recovery, knowing all the while that no matter how many jobs that he saved or created created and saved, there would still millions more waiting, worrying about feeding their own kids, trying to feed their children and trying to keep their hopes alive.

I want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside but who burns burning for America on the inside. I want a man who believes, with no doubt, that we can build a new American Dream economy driven by innovation and creativity, by education, and yes, by cooperation. And by the way, after last night I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama.

Now, I, I, I want Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States and I proudly nominate him to be as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party.

In Tampa, a few days ago, we heard a lot of talk about how the President and the Democrats don't believe in free enterprise and individual initiative, how we want everyone to be dependent on the government, how bad we are for the economy.

This The Republican narrative, this alternative universe says that everyone of us in this room who amounts is that all of us who amount to anything were are completely self-made. One of the our greatest chairmen the Democratic Chairmen ever had, Bob Strauss, used to say that "every politician wants you to believe he was born in a log cabin he built himself," but as Strauss then admittied, "it ain't so."

We Democrats, we think the country works better with a strong middle class, with real opportunities for poor people folks to work their way into it, and with a relentless focus on the future, with business and government actually working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. You see, we believe that We think "we're all in this together" is a better philosophy than "you're on your own."

Now, so. Who's right? Well since 1961, f0r 52 years now, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. In those 52 years, our private economy produced 66 million private sector jobs. So, Wwhat's the jobs score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 million!

Now, there's a reason for this. It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics. Why?, Bbecause poverty, discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth. When you stifle human potential when you don't invest in news ideas, it doesn't just cut of the people who were affected it hurts us all, while We know that investments in education, and infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it growth, creating moreThey increase good jobs and they create new wealth for all the rest of us.

Now, there's something I've noticed lately, and you probably have too. And it's this, maybe it's just because I grew up in a different time. Though I often disagree with Republicans, I actually never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate our President Obama and a lot of other the Democrats. That would be impossible for me because After all, President Eisenhower sent federal troops to my home state to integrate Little Rock Central High School. and President Eisenhower built the interstate highway system. And When I was a as governor, I worked with President Reagan and his White House on the first round of welfare reform and with President George H.W. Bush on national education goals.

I am actually very grateful, if you saw from the film of what I do today, I have to be grateful and you should be too to that President George W. Bush for supported PEPFAR., which It is saving saved the lives of millions of people in poor countries and I have been honored to work with to both Presidents Bush on National disasters; in the for the work we've done together after the aftermath of the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the horrible earthquake in Haiti. Haitian earthquake.

Through my foundation, both, in America and around the world, I am working all the time with Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Sometimes I couldn't tell you on my life on who I am working with because we focus who are focused on solving problems and seizing opportunities, and not fighting each otherall the time.

So here's what I want to say to you, and here is what I want the people at home to think about.When times are tough, and people are frustrated, and angry and hurting and uncertain, the politics of constant conflict may be good politics but what is good politics does not necessarily work in the real world. What works in the real world is, cooperation works better. What works in the real world is cooperation, business and government, foundations and universities. Ask the mayor's who are here. Los Angeles is getting green and Chicago is getting an infrastructure bank because Republicans and Democrats are working together to get it. They didn't check their brains at the door, they didn't stop disagreeing, but their purpose was to get something done. Now, why is this true, why does cooperation work better than constant conflict After all,because nobody's right all the time, and a broken clock is right twice a day. And every one of us, every one of All of us and every one of them we're compelled are destined to live our fleeting lives between those two extremes. No one is ever going to be right all the time and hopefully we're right more than twice a day. Unfortunately, the faction that now dominates the Republican Party doesn't see it that way. They think government is always the enemy, they're always right and compromise is weakness.

Just in the last couple of elections they defeated two distinguished Republican senators because they dared to cooperate with Democrats on issues important to the future of the country, even National Security. They beat a Republican congressman with almost a hundred percent voting record on every conservative score because he said he realized he did not have to hate the President to disagree with him. Boy, that was a non-starter and they threw him out.

One of the main reasons we ought to America should re-elect President Obama is that he is still committed to constructive cooperation. Look at his record, look at his record, Look at his record. He appointed Republican Secretaries of Defense, the Army and Transportation. He appointed a Vice President who ran against him in 2008, and trusted him that Vice President to oversee the successful end of the war in Iraq and the implementation of the recovery act. And Joe Biden did a great job with both. Now, Hhe, President Obama appointed several members of his Cabinet members who even though they supported Hillary in the primaries. Heck, he even appointed Hillary! I'm I am so very proud of her and grateful toI am proud of the job she and our entire the national security team have done for America. I am grateful that they have worked together for all they've done to make us safer and stronger and to build a world with more partners and fewer enemies. I'm also grateful for the relationship, respect, and partnership that she and the President have enjoyed and the signal that sends to the world that democracy does not have to be a bloodsport. It can be an honorable enterprise that advances the public interest.

Besides the national security team I have very grateful to the young men and women who served our country in uniform through these perilous times. the military andAnd I am especially grateful to Michelle Obama and to Jill Biden for supporting military families when while their loved ones are overseas and for helping supporting our veterans when they came home., wWhen they come home bearing the wounds of war, or needing help with to find education, or jobs or housinghousing, and jobs.

President Obama's whole record on national security is a tribute to his strength, and his judgment, and to his preference for inclusion and partnership over partisanship. We need more of it in Washington D.C.

Now, we all know Hhe also tried to work with Congressional Republicans on Health Care, debt reduction, and new jobs, but and that didn't work out so well. Probably But it could have been because, as the Senate Republican leader said, in a remarkable moment of candor, said two full years before the election, their number one priority was not to put America back to work, but it was to put the President Obama out of work. Senator, I hate to break it to you, but we're going to keep President Obama on the job! Are you ready for that? Are you willing to work for it?

Audience: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

In Tampa, did you watch their convention? I did. In Tampa, the Republican argument against the President's re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. It went something like this: we left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.

But they did it well. They looked good they sounded good. They convinced me that they all love their families and their children and were grateful that they had been born in America and all, really I am not being – they did. And this is important, they convinced me that they were honorable people who believed what they said and they are going to keep every commitment they've made. We just got to make sure the American people know what those commitments are.

Because in In order to look like an acceptable, reasonable, moderate alternative to President Obama, they just couldn't didn't say very much about the ideas they have offered over the last two years. They couldn't because You see they want to go back to the same old policies that got us into trouble in the first place.: They want to cut taxes for high income Americans even more than President Bush did; , they want to get rid of those pesky financial regulations designed to prevent another crash and prohibit future bailouts; , they want to increase defense spending two trillion dollars more than the Pentagon has requested without saying what they'll spend the moneyit on; and they want to make enormous cuts in the rest of the budget, especially programs that help the middle class and poor kidschildren. As another President once said – there they go again.

Now, I like the argument for President Obama's re-election a lot better. Here it is. He inherited a deeply damaged economy, he put a floor under the crash, he began the long hard road to recovery, and laid the foundation for a modern, more well-balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses, and lots of new wealth for the innovators. Now, aAre we where we want to be? No. Is the President satisfied? NoOf course not. Are we better off than we were when he took office?, Listen to this, everybody has forgot that when President Barack Obama took office, the with an economy was in free fall, it had just shrunk nine full percent of GDP. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is YES.

Here is the challenge he faces, and the challenge all of you who support him face. I get it, I know it, I've been there. I understand the challenge we face. I know manyA lot of Americans are still angry and frustrated with about thise economy. If you look at the numbers you knowThough employment is growing, banks are beginning to lend again and in a lot of places even housing prices are even beginning to picking up a bit, but too many people don't do not feel it, yet.

I had experienced the same thing happen in 1994 and early '1995. Our We could see that the policies were working, and that the economy was growing but most people didn't feel it yet. Thankfully Bby 1996, the economy was roaring, everybody felt it and we were halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in American the history of the United States..

But, the difference this time is purely in the circumstances. President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. Listen to me now. No President, no president – not me, or not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years. But he has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy of shared prosperity,conditions are improving and if you'll renew the President's contract you will feel it. You will feel it.

Folks, whether the American people believe what just said or not, maybe the whole election I just want you to know that I believe that it. wWith all my heart, I believe it..

Now why do I believe it? I'm fixing to tell you why. I believe it because President Obama's approach embodies the values, the ideas, and the direction America must has to take to build a 21st century version of the American Dream in. a A nation of shared opportunities, shared prosperity, a shared sense of community. and shared responsibilities.

So let's get back to the story. In 2010, as the President's recovery program kicked in, the job losses stopped and things began to turn around.

The Recovery Act saved and or created millions of jobs and cut taxes, let me say this again, cut taxes for 95% percent of the American people. In the last 29 months the economy has produced about 4.5 million private sector jobs. We could have done better Bbut last year, the Republicans blocked the President's jobs plan costing the economy more than a million new jobs. So here's another jobs score: President Obama plus 4.5 million, Congressional Republicans zero.

Over that sameDuring this period, more than more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been created under President Obama, that's – the first time manufacturing jobs have increased since the 1990s.

And I'll tell you something else, Tthe auto industry restructuring worked. It saved more than a million jobs, and not just at GM, Chrysler and their dealerships, but in auto parts manufacturing all over the country. That's why even auto-makers that who weren't part of the deal supported it. They needed to save the those part suppliers too. Like I said, we're all in this together.

So what's happened? Now tThere are now 250,000 more people working in the auto industry than on the day the companies were restructured. Now we all know, Governor Romney opposed the plan to save GM and Chrysler. So here's another jobs score, are you listening in Michigan and Ohio and across the country? Here is another jobs score: Obama two hundred and fifty thousand, Romney, zero.

The agreement the administration made with management, labor and environmental groups to double car mileage that was a good deal too.over the next few years is another good deal: it will cut your gas prices in half — your gas bill — no matter what the price is if you double the mileage of your car it will cut your gas bill in will be half of what it would have been., It will make us more energy independent, it wil cut greenhouse gas emissions, and according to several analyses, over the next 20 years it will bring us add another half a million 500,000 good, new jobs into the American economy.

The President's energy strategy which he calls Obama's "all of the above" energy plan is helping too – the boom in oil and gas production combined with greater energy efficiency has driven oil imports to a near 20 year low and natural gas production to an all time high. And Rrenewable energy production has also doubled.

Of course we need a lot more new jobsWe do need more new jobs, lots of them, but there are already more than three million jobs open and unfilled in America today, mostly because the applicants people who apply for them don't, yet, have the required skills to do them. So even as we get Americans more jobs Wwe have to prepare more Americans for the new jobs that are actually going to being created. The old economy is not coming back we got to build a new one and educate people to do those jobs. in a world fueled by new technology. That's why investments in our people are more important than ever.

The President and his education secretary has have supported community colleges and employers in working together to train people for open jobs that are actually open in their communities. And even more important, after a decade in which exploding college costs have increased the drop-out rate so much that the percentage of our young people with four year college degrees has come down so much that we've fallen to 16th in the world in the percentage of our young adults people with college degrees.,

So the Presidents his student loan reform is more important than ever. Here's what it does, you need to tell every voter where you live about this: it lowers the cost of federal student loans and even more important, it gives students the right to repay the loans as a clear fixed low percentage of their incomes for up to 20 years. Now what does this mean? What does this mean? Think on it. It means That means no one will have to drop-out of college again for fear they can't repay their debt, and it means that if someone wants to take a job with a modest income, no one will have to turn down a job, as a teacher, a police officer or a small town doctor in a little rural area, they won't have to turn those jobs down because it doesn'tthey don't pay enough to make repay the debt payments. Their debt obligation will be determined by their salary.This will change the future for young Americans.

I don't know about you, but all these issues, I know we're better off because President Obama made these the decisions he did.

Now, tThat brings me to health care.

The Republicans call it, derisively, Obamacare. and They say it's a government takeover, a disaster and if we just elect them they'll repeal it. Well are they right?

AUDIENCE: NO!

 

of health care that they'll repeal. Are they right? Let's look at what's happened so far. First, Iindividuals and businesses have secured more than a billion dollars in refunds from their insurance premiums because the new law requires 80% percent to 85 percent % of your premiums to go to yourbe spent on health care, not profits or promotion. And the gains are even greater than that because a bunch of Other insurance companies have lowered their rates to meet comply with the requirement. Second, Mmore than 3 million young people between 19 and 25 are insured for the first time because their parents policies can now carrycover them on family policies. Third, Mmillions of seniors are receiving preventive care, including all the way from breast cancer screenings and to tests for heart problems, and scores of other things, and younger people are getting them, too. Fourth, Ssoon the insurance companies, not the government, the insurance of companies will have millions of new customers many of them middle class people with pre-existing conditions who could never get insurance before. Now, finally, listen to thisAnd. Ffor the last two years, after going up at three times the rate of inflation for a decade, for the last two years health care spending has growncosts have been under 4%, percent in both years, for the first time in 50 years.

So, let me ask you something, are we all better off because President Obama fought for it and passed ithealth care reform? You bet we are.

Now, Tthere were two other attacks on the President in Tampa that deserve an answer. Both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan attacked the President for allegedly robbing Medicare of 716 billion dollars. That's the same attack they leveled against congress in 2010, and they got a lot of votes on it. But it's not true. Look, Hhere's what really happened. You be the judge. Here's what really happened.There were no cuts to benefits, at all. None. What the President did was to save money by taking the recommendations of a commission of professionals to cut cutting unwarranted subsidies to providers and insurance companies that weren't were not making people any healthier and were not necessary to get the providers to provide the service.

And instead of raiding medicare, Hhe used the savings to close the donut hole in the Medicare drug program, and, you all got to listen to this, this is really important. And to add eight years to the life of the Medicare Trust Fund so it is . It's now solvent until 2024. So President Obama and the Democrats didn't weaken Medicare, they strengthened itMedicare.

Now, Wwhen Congressman Ryan looked into the TV camera and attacked President Obama's Medicare savings as the "biggest coldest power play," in raiding Medicare, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. You seeBecause, that 716 billion dollars is exactly, to the dollar, the same amount of Medicare savings Congressman Ryanthat he hads in his own budget. You got give one thing: It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.

Now you are having a good time, but this is getting serious, and I want you to listen. It's important, because a lot of people believe this stuff.

Now at least on this issue, At at least on this one issue, Governor Romney's been consistent. He attacked President Obama too, but he actually wants to repeal the savings and give the money back to the insurance companies. He wants to go back to the old system which means we'll, re-open the donut hole and force seniors to pay more for drugs, and we'll reduce the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by eight full years. So now if he's elected and if does what he promised to do, Medicare will now go broke by 2016. Think about that. That means after all we won'tIf that happens, you won't have to wait until their voucher program to begins in 2023 to see the end of Medicare as we know it. They're going to do it to us sooner than we thought.

Now folks this is serious, becauseBut it gets worse, and you won't be laughing when I finish telling you this. They also want to block grant Medicaid and cut it by a third over the coming decadeten years. Of course, that's going to will hurt a lot of poor kids, but that's not all. A lot of folks don't know it butAlmost nearly two-thirds of Medicaid is spent on nursing home care for seniors for Medicare seniors who are eligible for Medicaid. It's going to end Medicare as we know it. aAnd a lot of that money is spent on people with disabilities, including kids froma lot of middle class families, with special needs like, whose kids have Downs syndrome or Autism, or other severe conditions. And, honestly just think about it. If that happens, I don't know how what those families are going to do. deal with it.So I know what I'm going to do, I am going to do everything I can to see that it doesn't happen. We can't let it happen. We can't.

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

Now let's look at the other big charge the Republicans made. It's a real doozy. They actually have charged and run ads saying that President Obama wants to weaken the work requirements in the welfare reform bill I signed that moved millions of people from welfare to work.

You need to know, Hhere's what happened. Nobody tells you what really happned. Here's what happened.When some Republican governors asked if they could have waivers to try new ways to put people on welfare back to work, the Obama Administration listened. Because we all know that it's hard for even people with good work histories to get jobs today, so moving folks from welfare to work is a real challenge. And the administration agreed to give waivers to those governors and others said they would only do it if they had a credible plan to increase employment by 20%. percent. And they could keep the waivers only if they did increase employment.You hear that?Now, did I make myself clear? The requirement was Mmore work, not less.

So, this is personal to me, we moved millions of people off welfare. It was one of the reasons, that in the eight years I was president, we had 100 times as many people move out of poverty into the middle class than happened under the previous 12 years, a 100 times as many. It's a big deal. But I am telling you, the claim that President Obama weakened welfare reform's work requirement is just not true. But they keep running ads on claiming it. You want to know why? As theirTheir campaign pollster said "we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers." Now, finally I can say, that is true. I couldn't have said it better myself – and I just hope you and every Americanremember that every time you see one of those the ads, and it turns into an ad to reelect Barack Obama and the keep fundamental principles of personal empowerment and moving everybody who can get a job into work as soon as we can..

Now, Llet's talk about the debt. Today, interest rates are lower, lower than the rate of inflation. People are practically paying us to borrow money, to hold their money for them. But it will become a big problem when the economy grows and the interest rates start to rise. We have to deal with it this big long-term debt problem or it will deal with us. It will goggle up a bigger and bigger of the federal budget we'd rather spend on education, and health care, and sciene and technology. We got to deal with it.

Now what has the President done? President ObamaHe has offered a reasonable plan with of $4 trillion dollars in debt reduction over a decade, with two and a half$2.5 dollars trillion coming from — for every $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, he raises a dollar in new revenues. 2.5 to 1. of spending reductions for every one dollar of revenue increases, aAnd he has tight controls on future spending. It's That's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, a bipartisan commision.

Now I think the President's this plan is way better than the Gov. Romney's plan., because First the Romney plan fails the first test of fiscal responsibility: The numbers just don't add up.

I mean consider this. What would you do if you had this problem? Somebody says, "Oh we got a big debt problem, we got to reduce the debt." So whats the first thing he says we're going to do? "Well, to reduce the debt, It's supposed to be a debt reduction plan but it begins withwe're going to have another five $5 trillion dollars in tax cuts over a ten-year periodheavily weighted to upper-income people. That makesSo we'll make the debt hole bigger before they even start to dig outwe start to get out of it."

Now, when you say "What you're going to do about this $5 trillion you just added on?" They say "Oh we'll they'll make it up by eliminating loopholes in the tax code." So, Wthen you ask "which loopholes and how much?," You know what they say "See me about that me after the election on that." I'm not making it up, that's their position, "See me about that after the election."

Now, Ppeople ask me all the time how we delivered got four surplus budgets in a row. What new ideas did we bring to Washington? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic.

If they stay with a this $5 trillion dollar tax cut in a debt reduction plan – the – arithmetic tells us, no matter what they say, that one of three things will happen: 1) Assuming they try to do what they say they'll do cover it by deductions, cutting those dedeductions. One tthey'll have to eliminate so many deductions like the ones for home mortgages and charitable giving that middle class families will see their tax bill go up two thousand dollars$2,000 year while people anybody making over 3 million dollars or more a year get will still see their tax billget a go down $250,000 dollar tax cut; or 2) they'll have to cut so much spending that they'll obliterate the budget for our the national parks, for ensuring clean air, clean water, safe food, safe air travel; or, they'll cut way back on Pell Grants, college loans, early childhood education, child nutrition programs. All the and other programs that help empower middle class families and help poor childrenkids, not to mentionor they'll cut back in cutting investments in roads, and bridges, and science and, technology and biomedical research. That's what they will do. They will hurt the middle class and the poor, and the put the future on hold to give tax cuts to upper income people who have been getting it all along; or 3) Despite all their rhetoric they'll just keep doing what they've been doing for thirty plus years now – they're going to cut taxes way more than they're going to cut spending especially with that big defense increase. And they'll, explode the debt, and weaken the economy, and they'll desetroy the federal government's ability to help you by letting interest gobble up all your tax payments.

Remember,Don't you ever forget, when you hear them talking about this, that Republican economic policies quadrupled the national debt before I took office, in the 12 years before I took office and doubled the debt it in the eight years after I left, because it defied arithmetic. It was a highly inconvenient thing for them in our debates that I was just a country boy from Arkansas and I came from a place where people still thought two and two was four. It's arithmetic.We simply cannot't afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double-down on trickle-down.

Now, think about this, President Obama's plan cuts the debt, honors our values, and brightens the future for our children, our families and our nation. It's a heck of a lot better. It passes the arithmetic test, and far more important it passes the values test.

My fellow Americans, all of us in this grand hall and everybody watching at home, when we vote in this election we will be you have to decideing what kind of country you we want to live in. If you want a winner take all you're on your own, winner take all society you should support the Republican ticket. If But if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibilities – a "we're all in it together" society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. If you want America, if you want every American to vote and you think itsit's wrong to change voting procedures just to reduce the turnout of younger, poorer, minority and disabled voters, you should support Barack Obama. If you think the President was right to open the doors of American opportunity to all those young immigrants who were brought here as childrenwhen they were young so who want to go to college orthey can serve in the military or go to college, you should must vote for Barack Obama. If you want a future of shared prosperity, where the middle class is growing and poverty is declining, where the American Dream is reallyalive and well, and where the United States remains the leadingits leadership as a force for peace and prosperity in a this highly competitive world, you should have to vote for Barack Obama. Look, I love our country so much– and I know we're coming back. For more than 200 years, through every crisis, we've always come back. People have predicted our demise ever since George Washington was criticized for being a mediocre surveyor with a bad set of wooden false teeth. And so far ever single person who has bet against America has lost money. Because we always comeback, we come through every fire outa little stronger a little better. than we went in. And we will again as long as we do it together.And we do it because in the end Wwe champion the cause for which our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, the cause of – to forming a more perfect union.

My fellow Americans, Iif that's what you want believe, if that's what you believewant, we you must vote and you have tomust re-elect President Barack Obama.

God Bless You – and God Bless America.