And for this final one, I’m going to try to make it a little shorter. I know some of
you are antsy to get back to Iowa. I’ve been there. I will be shaking hands afterwards,
if you want some tips.
We have to make college affordable for every American.
Food Stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did.
For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the families we can still save, let’s make America
the country that cures cancer once and for all. What do you say, Joe?
We’ve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly 60 percent, and cut carbon pollution
more than any other country on Earth.
Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future — especially in
communities that rely on fossil fuels.
60 years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there.
We didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built
a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later, we were walking on the moon.
Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it.
You’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating our military, most of America’s
business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community,
and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it.
American leadership in the 21st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of
the world — except when we kill terrorists; or occupying and rebuilding whatever society
is unraveling. Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world
behind causes that are right.
But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play
into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting
in apartments or garages, they pose an enormous danger to civilians, they have to be stopped.
But they do not threaten our national existence.
We need to reject any politics, any politics, that targets people because of race or religion.
When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque
is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn’t
make us safer. That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us
in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals.
It betrays who we are as a country.
It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency — that the rancor and suspicion between the parties
has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln
or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying
to be better so long as I hold this office.
We've got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians
can pick their voters, and not the other way around.
A little over a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with
you as a citizen — inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and
good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far. Voices that help us see ourselves
not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant
or native born; not Democrat or Republican, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed.