Thank you all for being here.
And I want to thank the AFL-CIO for all you do every day for America’s working men and women. For nearly five decades, you’ve given a collective voice to those often left out. And that voice has improved health and safety standards in the workplace for all Americans. It’s given you a decent wage to help raise your families, and brought family-friendly policies to the workplace. And your voice has helped lift up the working poor by winning legislation to raise the minimum wage.
And, not to bring politics into this, but thanks to your voice, scores of people -- including me -- have won an election or two. We’re going to do it again this November, when America will hear your voice loud and clear all the way to the White House! I know I will. Let me say this: as president, I will work hard every day for you and for all of America’s workers. Because I believe, like Samuel Gompers did, that “only by the power of organization … can liberty and rights be secured.”
And it starts here today, because thanks to you, we’re one step closer to the end of the Bush Administration – we’re one step closer to an America stronger at home and respected in the world.
We’re here to fight for good-paying jobs that let American workers actually get ahead.
We’re here to make health care a right for all of our people.
We’re here to make this nation energy independent.
And we’re here to build a strong military, and lead strong alliances, so that our military is never overextended and young Americans are never put in harm’s way because we went it alone.
You know, I was born in an Army hospital in Colorado when my father was a pilot in World War II. My father and my mother taught me the value of service.
I’ve always been determined to give something back to my country – as a soldier, as a prosecutor, as a Senator. And now, I’m running for President. It’s been a great adventure and a great privilege. So many of you have welcomed Teresa and me and our kids into your homes and hearts. You have told us the stories of your lives – and they have become the work of my life.
The poet Langston Hughes told the stories in this way: “Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be” – for those “whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain must bring back our mighty dream again.”
In 2004, we have to bring back our mighty dream again. We have to make America all that it can become.
I’ve spoken with parents who want nothing more than to see their children be able to find a job in the place that they were raised. And children who want nothing more than to be able to live there. I’ve met steelworkers, and mineworkers and autoworkers who are now ex-workers. They’ve watched their jobs and equipment unbolted before their eyes and shipped overseas – and some have even had to train their foreign replacements. That’s wrong. Dead wrong. And I’m going to change it.
They all deserve a president who fights for jobs in New Jersey instead of outsourcing jobs from New Jersey.
I’ve spent time with seniors who’ve worked for a whole lifetime, but they can’t pay for their medicine on what they get from Social Security. And now there are some in Washington who want to put Social Security at risk.
Let me say it plainly, as President I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And I will fight for a prescription drug program that puts seniors ahead of big drug companies.
You know, I’ve been privileged to spend hours and days with members of the Greatest Generation and veterans from Korea to Vietnam to the Gulf War. They all feel betrayed by a VA where programs are underfunded and needs are overlooked.
They deserve a president who understands that the first definition of patriotism is to keep faith with those who’ve worn the uniform of the United States of America.
And I’ve talked with parents full of hope and ambition for their children, but they’re forced to send their kids to schools where classrooms are overcrowded and teachers are underpaid.
After three years of broken promises, they deserve a President who will keep the promise that no child should ever be left behind. They deserve a President who will make college affordable for every family – so that no young American will be denied the chance to learn more and earn a better life.
You know, working families all across our country are living by the oldest and greatest of American values – hard work, service, and caring for one another.
And I’m running for president because I believe that our government should live by those values, too.
It’s time to remember a basic truth: a stronger America begins right here at home.
More than a million Americans who were working three years ago have lost their jobs. And the new jobs finally being created pay an average of $9,000 less a year.
But, as wages are going down, your health care costs are going up; your tuitions are going up; your bills are going up. In the last three years, here in New Jersey, health care premiums jumped $3,000 and child care costs rose $2,000.
And to add insult to injury, your hard-earned tax dollars are actually paying corporations to export your jobs. So, more and more of you are working harder – and you’re still not getting ahead. Over the last few years, productivity has risen, corporate profits have risen, but the wages of working Americans have fallen to the lowest share of national income in our history.
Twenty years ago, middle class families with one parent working used to be able to buy a home and pay for college. But today, two incomes barely cover the basics.
And, as you know too well, if anything at all goes wrong – an illness or a temporary layoff – most families can’t pay the bills and they risk losing everything they’ve built and saved for. In 2003, 1.6 million households filed for bankruptcy. Today, one household goes bankrupt every 19 seconds – 42,000 families filed in New Jersey alone last year. That’s wrong. And we’re going to change it.
In America, a rising tide is supposed to lift all boats. But today, the middle class boat is taking on water. Like most Americans, I believe we can do better than 1.9 million lost private sector jobs, rising costs, and shrinking incomes. I believe in the American economy and American workers.
We all know that the middle class built this country. Franklin Roosevelt understood that. And so did Bill Clinton. But for nearly four years now, Washington has ignored the middle class, putting wealth ahead of work, something-for-nothing ahead of responsibility, and what’s right for the few ahead of what’s right for America.
I believe in building up our great middle class – respecting their work, honoring their values, and lifting them up in the toughest of times. I’m running for president because I want an economy that strengthens and expands the middle class, not one that squeezes it.
This week, I’m going to talk about how we’re going to relieve the middle class squeeze. Tomorrow, I will announce my plan to expand after school and child care, to help all Americans balance work and family. And Thursday, I will present my plan to help families who’ve fallen behind get out of debt.
The bottom line: America needs a president who fights for your job as hard as he fights for his own. And I will.
I have a plan to put and keep good paying jobs at the heart of our economy. And when I’m president, American taxpayers will never again subsidize the loss of their own jobs.
We’re going to close tax loopholes that pay companies to move our jobs overseas – and we’re going to reward companies that create good jobs here in America.
My plan calls for tough enforcement of our trade agreements. We’re gonna stop other countries from violating those agreements and walking away with the store. And we’re gonna fight for labor and environment protections in every single trade agreement.
Because I’ll tell you what I’ve seen traveling across this country, if you give American workers a level playing field, there’s no one in the world that the American worker can’t compete against.
And there’s one other thing I want to say about a level playing field: the right to organize is a basic right and it ought to be protected and honored in this country. It’s time, once and for all, that we change the laws so workers can organize when a majority of them want to, without intimidation and interference from management. And the day I become president is the day we start the fight to outlaw striker replacements.
And we’re also going to help working families by finally seeing to it that in America, women get equal pay for an equal day’s work. And you know what else we have to fight for? An economy that’s built on people and products, not perks and privileges. Our tax code has gone from 14 pages to 17,000 pages. Do any of you have your own page? Enron got its own a page. Exxon got its own page. And it looks like Halliburton got a whole chapter.
I believe it’s wrong for middle-class Americans to be saddled with endless debt and deficits, while the most fortunate among us walk away with billions in tax cuts. As president, I will fight to put America’s tax code in line with our moral code.
We’re going to cut taxes for the middle class. And we’re going to rollback the Bush tax cuts for those who make over $200,000 a year, invest in education, in health care, and we’re going to cut the deficit in half.
You know, we restored fiscal responsibility in the 1990s. We cut the deficit, we protected Social Security, and we created 23 million new jobs -- the longest period of prosperity in our nation’s history. And together we can do it again.
But you know who the White House thinks should pay for their deficit? They said it in a recent memo.
They think it ought to be children in Head Start, women with young babies who need nutritional help, veterans who need health care. They think we ought to cut life-saving medical research and even homeland security. And if you think that’s compassionate conservatism, then Dick Cheney is Mr. Rogers.
So on November 2nd, let’s send a message about the values of this country: this reckless deficit will not be put on the backs of veterans, cops and firefighters … on the backs of women and children in need.
The price of these deficits will not be paid by the poor. Let me tell you something, you don’t make America strong by attacking the weak.
Scripture tells us, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Let me tell you where my heart is: it’s with the middle class who are the heart of this country, it’s with the working families who built this country, it’s with the veterans who saved this country; with the cops and firefighters and soldiers who protect this country; and it’s with the children who are the future of this country.
That’s where my heart is and, when I’m president, that’s where America’s treasure will be. Because this country really should be the land of opportunity for all, and special privilege for none. Let America be America again.
And being strong at home means health care that is affordable and accessible to all Americans.
When I was campaigning in New Hampshire, I met John and Mary Ann Knowles.
John lost his job a year and a half ago, and Mary Ann has breast cancer. And even while she’s undergoing chemotherapy, she still has to go to work every day – just to hang onto their health insurance.
That’s the story of millions of Americans. But you know, it’s not the story of senators and congressmen. Because they give themselves great health care coverage and they give you the bill.
I’m running for President because I believe your family’s health care is just as important as any politician’s in Washington, DC.
Let me just ask you:
Have your health insurance premiums gone up in the last few years?
Have your co-payments gone up?
Have your deductibles gone up?
Then you need to tell this Administration we’re fed up and their time is up. And it’s time you aren’t asked to bear the brunt of health care costs in bargaining.
For almost four years, they’ve had no plan, while rising health care costs are hurting families and making it harder and harder for businesses to compete. My plan will take on the waste and greed in the health care system. It will reduce the average premium by $1,000 a year. And, it will crack down on skyrocketing drug prices.
This Administration has it absolutely backwards. They say it’s alright to export American jobs. Well, I say it’s only right to let Americans import prescription drugs from Canada.
They say we should give billions more to big drug companies. I say we should give seniors a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
And in a Kerry Administration, we will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the elected and the connected or the wealthy – it is a right for every American – so let America be America again.
And a stronger America is an America free and independent of Mideast oil.
Today, an Administration dominated by big oil has no answer except to let the polluters pollute more – and let gas prices go through the roof.
If I am President, never again will special interests go to secret meetings in the White House and rewrite our environmental laws.
We’re going to protect our environment. We’re going to renew our freedom, and control our own destiny. And we’re going to issue a declaration of energy independence from Mideast oil.
We’re going to invest in new technologies and alternative fuels, create tax incentives that help automakers produce more fuel efficient cars – and we’re going to reward the consumers who buy them. Above all, we’re going to do this because no young American in uniform should ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Mideast. Let America be America again.
A stronger America is also one that’s respected in the world. And as Commander-in-Chief, I will do whatever it takes to keep our people and our country safe and secure.
As president, I will strengthen the military and lead strong alliances. And let me tell you this, as president, I will do a better job of seeing to it that American troops and American taxpayers don’t have to carry the whole burden alone.
We need a President who understands that working with others – standing with allies like NATO – is not a sign of weakness, but a source of strength for our nation. We need to build that strength to find and get the terrorists before they get us.
My foreign policy will be guided by these principles:
First: The United States of America should never go to war because we want to, we should only go to war because we have to.
Second: It is the responsibility of the commander in chief never to let pride, ideology, or stubbornness get in the way of protecting our men and women in uniform. When it comes to sending young Americans to war, I will tell the truth to the American people. I will restore trust and credibility to the White House.
Third: Even as we take the fight to the terrorists around the world, we need to strengthen our homeland security.
We shouldn’t be opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them down in the United States of America.
Now there are those who question our patriotism when we offer a better course for our country. So here is our answer when they exploit fear and the flag for their political purposes: That flag doesn’t belong to any President or any ideology or any party.
I fought under that flag. That flag has been draped across the caskets of men I fought with, and friends I grew up with. That flag stands for the best hopes of all Americans and it belongs to all of the American people.
When I was in Vietnam, I served on a small boat on the Mekong Delta with men who came from places as diverse as South Carolina and Iowa … Arkansas and California.
We were literally all in the same boat – and we came together as one. No one asked us our politics. No one cared where we went to school or what our backgrounds were.
We were just a band of brothers who all fought under the same flag, and all prayed to the same God. Today, we’re a little bit older, we’re a little bit greyer. But we still know how to fight for our country. And what we’re fighting for is an America where all of us are truly in the same boat.
We‘re not just Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans. We have to end the divisions in this country. We have to work together for the America we can become.
So, I ask for your help. Talk to your neighbors; talk to your friends. Enlist in our cause.
My friends, this is the most important election of our lifetime. And that’s not something I’m telling you. That’s something you’ve told me again and again. And now, the outcome is more in your hands than in mine.
In great movements for civil rights and equal rights and the environment, we have come together as one America to give life to our mighty dream.
So come together again and stand up for a great purpose – to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.
We’re a country of the future; we’re a country of optimists. We’re the can-do people. And we just need to believe in ourselves.
Let America be America again. Thank you, and God bless you.
