Oct. 29 / Administration of , 2010 the time and space they need to plan attacks American people should know that the counter- from within its borders. terrorism professionals are taking this threat The events of the past 24 hours underscores very seriously and are taking all necessary and the necessity of remaining vigilant against ter- prudent steps to ensure our security. And the rorism. As usual, our intelligence, law enforce- American people should be confident that we ment, and homeland security professionals have will not waver in our resolve to defeat Al Qaida served with extraordinary skill and resolve and and its affiliates and to root out violent extrem- with the commitment that their enormous re- ism in all its forms. sponsibilities demand. We’re also coordinating Thank you very much. closely and effectively with our friends and our allies, who are essential to this fight. NOTE: The President spoke at 4:22 p.m. in the As we obtain more information, we will keep James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the the public fully informed. But at this stage, the White House.

Remarks at a Rally for Representative Thomas S.P. Perriello in Charlottesville, October 29, 2010

The President. Hello, Cavaliers! Thank you! And that’s not who Tom is. He did not go to Are you fired up? Oh, it is good to be back in Washington—he didn’t go to Washington to do Charlottesville. Good to be back. what was easy, to do what was popular. He went I want to thank Mayor Dave Norris for his to do what was right. hospitality. UVA, thank you. I was in the neigh- Audience members. Go, Tom, go! Go, Tom, borhood and thought I’d stop by just to make go! Go, Tom, go! sure you get out and vote on Tuesday for one of The President. Go, Tom, go! Go, Tom, go! the best Congressmen Virginia has ever had, Go, Tom, go! Tom Perriello. Tom went to help make the tough decisions Audience member. I love you! necessary to save this economy from a second The President. Now—I love you back. It’s depression. He went to fight for jobs in Virginia. great to see you. Thank you. And in the last 6 months, this district has seen the announcement of over 2,000 new jobs, in- Now, look, I am here for one reason. I’m not cluding new clean energy jobs right here in this here because Tom votes with me on every issue. district. Sometimes he disagrees with me. There are Tom Perriello went—Tom went to Washing- times where I know that his first allegiance is ton to make college more affordable for stu- not to party labels, it’s not to the Democratic dents and families. We got any students here to- Party; it is to the people of his district and the day? The first bill Tom wrote was a $2,500 tu- people of Virginia. ition tax credit that is now the law of the land, The reason I am here is because in this day helping you. and age, let’s face it, political courage is hard to Tom went to Washington to take on the in- come by. The easiest thing to do, especially surance companies and the credit card compa- when you’re a first-term Congressman, the easi- nies and the Wall Street banks, to make sure est thing to do is make your decisions based on they can’t take advantage of his constituents or the polls. You put your fingers up to the wind, the American people. That’s what Tom Perriel- you check which way the political wind is blow- lo is about. ing before you cast every vote. That’s how a lot So Tom Perriello went to Washington to do of folks think they should do their jobs in Wash- what’s hard. He went to do what is right. And ington. now the lobbyists and the special interests are

1696 Administration of Barack Obama, 2010 / Oct. 29 going after him. And the question I have for you We’d lost almost 8 million jobs before any of is, when somebody like this has your back, do our economic policies had a chance to be put you have his back? into effect. Audience members. Yes, we can! Yes, we can! And when Tom and I went to Washington, Yes, we can! we both hoped that Republicans and Demo- The President. Sounds like you do. Look, crats would take some time to put politics aside Charlottesville, in 4 days, you have the chance because we had a once-in-a-generation chal- to set the direction of this State and this country lenge, because although we are proud to be not just for the next 2 years, but for the next 10 Democrats, we are prouder to be Americans. years, for the next 20 years, just like you did in And there are plenty of Republicans around 2008. the country that feel the same way. But Repub- You can defy the conventional wisdom. You lican leaders in Washington, they made a differ- know what that is: The conventional wisdom ent decision. They realized—they looked that says that you can’t overcome the cynicism around, they said: “Boy, we really made a big of our politics, that you can’t overcome the spe- mess out of this economy, and it’s going to take cial interests, you can’t overcome the big mon- a long time to fix it, and in the meantime people ey, you can’t tackle our biggest challenges, you will probably be angry and frustrated. So maybe don’t want to make waves. if we just sit on the sidelines and say no to ev- We always say we want integrity from our erything and don’t lift a finger to help, knowing elected officials. And you know what, this is a that unemployment will still be high, maybe test case right here in Charlottesville, because we’ll—maybe, just maybe, people will blame this man has integrity. And in 4 days, you have the Democrats instead of us.” That was their the chance to say, yes, we can. basic strategy. Now, there is no doubt this is a tough elec- And so now in this election the other side is tion. It’s tough in Tom’s district. It’s tough all betting on amnesia. They’re betting that you across the country because we have gone forgot who caused this mess in the first place. through an incredibly difficult time as a nation. So, Charlottesville, it is up to you to let them For most of the last decade, middle class know that we have not forgotten. It’s up to you families were hurting. Between 2001 and 2009, to remember this election is a choice between when the other party was in charge, we saw the the policies that got us into this mess and the slowest job growth of any time since World War policies that are getting us out of this mess. II. The average middle class income went down 5 percent. This is when they were in charge. Let me tell you something. If they win this election, the chair of a Republican campaign Meanwhile, as your incomes were going down, your costs of living, health care, college committee has promised, quote, “the exact tuition, groceries all were going up. Too many same agenda” as before Tom and I took office. jobs were leaving this area and going overseas. In other words—— Too many parents couldn’t afford to send their Audience members. Boo! kids to college or go to a doctor when they got The President. No, no—now, this is the agen- sick. Americans were working two to three jobs da that resulted in the worst economy since the just to make ends meet. All this was happening Great Depression, an agenda of cutting taxes before the crisis. And it all culminated and was mostly for millionaires and billionaires. You cut compounded by the worst economic situation the rules for special interests and big corpora- since the Great Depression. tions. You cut middle class families loose to We lost 4 million jobs before Tom and I were fend for themselves. It’s the same agenda that even sworn into office, in the 6 months before turned a record surplus into a record deficit, the we were sworn in, 750,000 the month we were same agenda that allowed Wall Street to run sworn in, 600,000 the month after that, 600,000 wild, the same agenda that nearly destroyed our the month after that. We were in a freefall. economy.

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Now, look, this is not as if we had not tried that invests in its children, that helps workers their agenda. Charlottesville, we tried it for 8 get retrained, where we look after one another, years. It didn’t work. And so I bring all this up where we say, I am my brother’s keeper, I am not because I want to reargue the past. I just my sister’s keeper. That’s that America we love. don’t want to relive the past. We’ve been That’s the America we believe in. That’s the through it before. We’re not going back there. choice in this election. We’re not going back. We believe in an America that invests in its Think about what has happened over the last future and its people, an America that’s built to 20 months. Because of the steps we’ve taken, compete in the 21st century. We know the jobs we no longer face the possibility of a second de- and businesses of tomorrow will end up in the pression. The economy is growing again. Private countries with the most educated workforce, sector jobs we’ve seen increase 9 months in a the best infrastructure, the strongest commit- row. ment to research and technology. I want that Now, look, nobody knows better than Tom nation to be the of America. Tom that we’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve still wants that nation to be the U.S. of A. got a lot of work to do. Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! There are too many people hurting here and The President. U.S.A.! all across the country. There are families who Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! are still hanging on by a thread. That’s what The President. There is no reason that China keeps me up at night. That’s what keeps Tom should have faster railroads or newer airports up at night. How can we help families who got than we do. We’re the nation that built the hit hard during this recession? How can we transcontinental railroad. We’re the nation that make sure that they’re back up on their feet? built the Interstate Highway System. But you know what, we’ve got a different idea Today, we see an America where we’ve put— about what the next 2 years should look like, because of Tom’s efforts, because of our efforts, what the next 10 and 20 years should look like. we’ve put thousands of people, people right It’s very different from what the Republicans here in Virginia, to work building new railroads are thinking. and runways and highways, an America where It’s an idea rooted in our belief about how we build an infrastructure for the 21st century this country was built. I just had a chance to and put people to work doing the work that meet Tom’s mom and—[applause]—Tom’s America needs doing. mom. And just talking to her, you can tell that We see an America where we invest in home- this is somebody who understands what it grown innovation and ingenuity, where we ex- means to work hard and to raise a family. And port more goods so we create more jobs here at both Tom and I know what it’s like to see our home, where we make it easier to start a busi- families struggle once in a while. And we know ness or patent an invention. that government doesn’t have all the answers to We don’t want to keep giving tax breaks to our problems. And we believe government companies that ship jobs overseas. We want to should be lean and it should be efficient. And give tax breaks to companies that are investing we believe that job growth is going to come right here in Charlottesville, right here in Vir- from the private sector and that each of us have ginia, to small businesses and American manu- responsibilities to take individual initiative to facturers and clean energy companies. I don’t make it. want solar panels and wind turbines and electric But in the words of the first Republican Pres- cars made in Europe or made in Asia. I want ident, Abraham Lincoln, we also believe that them made here in the United States of Ameri- government should do for the people what the ca with American workers. That’s the choice in people can’t do better for themselves. We be- this election. lieve in hard work and responsibility. But we al- We see an America where every citizen—not so believe in a country that invests in its future, just some, but every citizen—have the skills and

1698 Administration of Barack Obama, 2010 / Oct. 29 the training to compete with any worker in the won’t do it by putting the burden on our chil- world. We can’t allow other countries to out- dren or our seniors or our veterans or our mid- compete us when it comes to math or science or dle class families. We won’t do it by borrowing college graduation rates. We used to be number another $700 billion to give tax cuts to folks who one in college graduation rates. Now we’re don’t need them and weren’t even asking for number nine. We used to be number one in sci- them. We’ll do it by asking for shared sacrifice ence and math. Now we’re 21st and 25th. That from all Americans. That’s how we do things in makes no sense. America. That’s the choice in this election. And that’s why, working with Tom, we’ve So, Charlottesville, we’ve got a lot of work to made historic investments in education. That’s do in these next few years. why we set a goal that by 2020 we will once Audience member. [Inaudible] again have the highest proportion of college The President. Yes! [Laughter] Exactly. graduates in the world. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the next few That’s why Tom and I refuse to think it years. And we need to work together, Demo- makes sense to pay for a $700 billion tax cut for crats and Republicans, Independents, all to get millionaires and billionaires and then cut educa- it done. tion by 20 percent to pay for it. Let me tell you, But the leaders of the other party, so far they China is not cutting education. South Korea is don’t see it that way. They’re feeling kind of not cutting its education spending. India is not cocky right now. They’re feeling a little cocky. cutting education spending. Germany is not And the Republican leader in the House says cutting education spending. Those countries ar- that “this is not the time for compromise.” en’t playing for second place. And neither does That’s what he said. That’s a quote. “This is not the United States of America. We play for first the time for compromise.” place. The Republican leader of the Senate said That’s why, thanks to Tom, tens of billions of that his main goal for the next 2 years, this is his dollars in taxpayer subsidies that used to go to top priority, is to beat me in the next election. the big banks are now going where they should, That’s his top priority. I mean, he didn’t say, to you, to students, to help support your college “My top priority is to create jobs for folks in Vir- education. That’s why we want to make perma- ginia.” He didn’t say, “My top priority is to make nent the college tax credit that Tom Perriello America more competitive.” He’s already think- fought for, a tax credit worth $10,000 of tuition ing about the next election. This one is not even relief for each student. That is the choice in this over yet. We haven’t even finished this election. election. That is the America that we believe in. He’s already thinking about the next election. We see an America where corporations live That’s what’s wrong with Washington. That up to their responsibilities to treat consumers doesn’t make any sense. That’s the kind of cyni- fairly, to play by the same rules as everybody cism that we’re fighting against. That’s the kind else. That’s why we made sure insurance com- of politics we need to change in this country; panies can’t jack up your premiums for no rea- the kind of politics—you know, this kind of pol- son or deny you coverage because you’re sick. itics that puts scoring points ahead of solving That’s why we made sure credit card companies problems. I mean, it’s so prevalent it happens can’t hit you with hidden fees and penalties. every day. That’s why we made sure taxpayers never again And the sad thing is sometimes that cynicism are on the hook for the irresponsibility of Wall is rewarded. Sometimes, because of all the spe- Street. cial interest money pouring in, all the negative We see an America where we don’t pass on a ads, all the clout, sometimes folks who were op- mountain of debt to the next generation. And erating in the best interests of their constitu- we will attack the trillion-dollar deficit that I in- ents, sometimes they don’t win because folks herited when I took office. But we will do it in a don’t turn out, because folks don’t vote, because responsible way, not by cutting education. We folks feel like, well, this is just too hard.

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This is where all of you come in, because the ing their home and getting treatment for their only way to fight that cynicism, the only way to cancer. Because of you, there are parents who fight the millions of dollars of special interest at- can look their children in the eye and say, you tack ads that they’re running is with the millions are going to college. Because of you, there are of voices who are ready to finish what we start- small businesses who are able to keep their ed in 2008. doors open during this great recession. Because See, 2008 was just—that wasn’t the end goal. of you, there are nearly 100,000 brave men and It wasn’t just to put a President in. It wasn’t just women who are coming back from Iraq—be- to put Tom in. It was to keep building a move- cause of you. ment for change. And if everybody who fought So don’t let them tell you change isn’t possi- for change in 2008 shows up in 2010, then we ble. Here’s what I know. This country was will win this election, and Tom is going back. founded on what seemed impossible. We had So I want you to think back to—some of you 13 Colonies come together and have to battle got involved in 2008 because you believed we the greatest empire on Earth. And then they were at a defining moment in our history. We drafted this document nobody had ever tried still are. You believed this is a time where the before, proclaiming, “We hold these truths to decisions we make won’t just affect us, but will be self-evident”—a son of Virginia wrote those affect future generations, our children and our words—“that all men are created equal, and grandchildren. That’s still true. they are endowed by their Creator with certain You knocked on doors and you made phone inalienable rights, that among these are life and calls and you cast your vote, some for the very liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” first time, because you knew that if we didn’t And there were those that didn’t believe, but act now, then the opportunity to keep the the Founders understood, as imperfect as we American Dream alive might slip away. And were, as long as it would take, that we would be that’s still the case. set on a journey to perfect this Union. And Actually delivering change isn’t easy. Believe think of everything our forbearers went through me, I know. So does Tom. [Laughter] I mean, for us to be here tonight, those who braved we’ve got our lumps. We’ve been getting beat oceans because they emigrated, those who up pretty good. But the reason we’re here is be- fought slavery, those who made sure women cause the lumps we’ve taken are nothing like had the right to vote, those who made sure that the lumps that people have been taking for so workers had the right to organize. many years out there. Folks who have worked Imagine if they had given in to cynicism, if hard, done everything right and are at risk of they had said, oh, this is too hard. Oh, we’re be- losing their home or lost their job or suddenly ing attacked. [Laughter] Oh, there are negative aren’t sure whether they can send their kids to ads being run against us. [Laughter] Oh, this is college, we’ve got to remember those folks. taking too long. Oh, somebody is filibustering. We’ve got to remember what this is about. [Laughter] They could have given up. They I understand that some of the hoopla and the went through much tougher fights than we excitement of election night and Inauguration went through. They got beat up a lot; they got Day from a couple years ago, that fades. Be- beat up, literally. [Laughter] yonce was singing and Bono was there. All that But they kept on going. They kept on dream- stuff—all that stuff—fades away, but that spirit ing. They kept on believing. They kept on push- can’t fade. ing, even in the face of difficulty, even in the And it’s still in each of you. Don’t let anybody face of uncertainty. They understood that they take that away from you. Don’t let folks tell you had to do what was necessary. that all that effort has not been worth it. Don’t And that’s what brought us through war. And let them tell you we’re not making a difference. that’s what brought us through depression. And Because of you, right now there are folks in that’s what got us civil rights. And that’s what Virginia who don’t have to choose between los- got us women’s rights. And that’s what got us

1700 Administration of Barack Obama, 2010 / Oct. 30 workers’ rights. And that’s what made this the send Tom back to Congress, but we will rebuild greatest country on Earth. That’s the spirit we this middle class. And we will put people back need today. That’s the journey that put me in to work, and we will reclaim the American the White House. That’s what sent Tom Perri- Dream for future generations. ello to Congress. That is what we have to sus- God bless you, and God bless the United tain, is that realization that in the United States States of America. of America, anything is possible if we’re willing to work for it, if we are willing to fight for it and NOTE: The President spoke at 7:50 p.m. in Char- believe in it. lottesville Pavilion. In his remarks, he referred to So I need you guys to keep on fighting. Tom needs you to keep on believing. In these last 4 Linda Perriello, mother of Rep. Perriello; House days, I need you to knock on doors and make Republican Leader John A. Boehner; Senate Mi- phone calls and talk to your neighbors and vote, nority Leader A. Mitchell McConnell; and musi- because if you’re willing to step up to the plate, cians Beyonce G. Knowles and Paul D. “Bono” we won’t just win this election, we won’t just Hewson.

The President’s Weekly Address October 30, 2010 Tuesday is election day, and here in Washing- facing our country so that we remain competi- ton, the talk is all about who will win and who tive and prosperous in a global economy. That will lose, about parties and politics. But around means ensuring that our young people have the kitchen tables, I’m pretty sure you’re talking skills and education to fill the jobs of a new age. about other things: about your family finances, or That means building new infrastructure, from maybe the state of the economy in your home- high-speed trains to high-speed internet, so that town; about your kids and what their futures will our economy has room to grow. And that means bring. And your hope is that once this election is fostering a climate of innovation and entrepre- over, the folks you choose to represent you will neurship that will allow American businesses put the politics aside for a while and work to- and American workers to lead in growth indus- gether to solve problems. That’s my hope too. tries like clean energy. Whatever the outcome on Tuesday, we need On these issues—issues that will determine to come together to help put people who are our success or failure in this new century—I be- still looking for jobs back to work. And there are lieve it’s the fundamental responsibility of all who some practical steps we can take right away to hold elective office to seek out common ground. promote growth and encourage businesses to It may not always be easy to find agreement; at hire and expand. These are steps we all should be able to agree on, not Democratic or Republi- times we’ll have legitimate philosophical differ- can ideas, but proposals that have traditionally ences. And it may not always be the best politics. been supported by both parties. But it is the right thing to do for our country. We ought to provide continued tax relief for That’s why I found the recent comments by middle class families who have borne the brunt the top two Republicans in Congress so trou- of the recession. We ought to allow businesses bling. The Republican leader of the House ac- to defer taxes on the equipment they buy next tually said that “this is not the time for compro- year. And we ought to make the research and mise.” And the Republican leader of the Senate experimentation tax credit bigger and perma- said his main goal after this election is simply to nent to spur innovation and foster new products win the next one. and technologies. I know that we’re in the final days of a campaign, Beyond these near-term steps, we should so it’s not surprising that we’re seeing this heated work together to tackle the broader challenges rhetoric. That’s politics. But when the ballots are

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