Good to see you fired up….two years ago you defied conventional wisdom in Washington…the message was no you can't…can't overcome power of special interests…no you can't elect a skinny guy with a funny name Barack Hussein Obama, they said no you can't but what did you say Wisconsin?

YES WE CAN!

You went door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor and proved this was stronger than the status quo, makes more of a difference than advertising, is more powerful than PAC money.

You are all shareholders in that mission of rebuilding our country and reclaiming our future…back here today because on November 2 we face another test and the stakes could not be higher…

I hoped and expected that we could get beyond old political divides, red states v blue states, etc. because we are proud to be Democrats but we are prouder to be Americans…instead we found the rawest kind of politics, a party that was stuck in the failed policies of the past..their calculation was as simple as it was cynical..they knew it was going to take a long time to solve the economic challenges we faced..
They knew we had lost hundreds of thousands of jobs before our policies would be in place.. they knew people would be frustrated and they figured if they sit on the sidelines and just say no and just throw bombs and let Obama and the Democrats deal with everything, they would be able to prosper at the polls…and that's what they've done..opposed all of my ideas, even the ones they used to agree with..

The prediction among the pundits is that it will be a blood-letting for Dems  (boos…)…and they're saying that all of you aren't going to be as energized or engaged, enthusiasm gap, etc.   That's what they're saying that you're apathetic, disappointed, not sure you're going to turn out…we cannot sit this one out…we can't let this country fall backwards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight…and I'm going to get out there and fight as hard as I can and I'm sure you are too and we'll move this country forward…

Make no mistake…this election is a choice and the choice could not be clearer.  Understand for the last decade, the GOP in Washington wanted to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, cut regulations for special interests, cut back on investments and education and clean energy, and research and technology, and put blind faith in the market, let corporations play by their own rules, America would grow and prosper and that philosophy failed.  While they were in office, 2001-2009, job growth was slower than any decade since WWII.  The cost of everything just kept going up and a free-for-all on Wall Street led to what we have now.  They were in charge.  We saw what happened.

I've had 2 main jobs since I've been Pres… to clean up after their mess and to rebuild the economy as it was before..we no longer are facing the possibility of a second depression.  I emphasize the facts because the other side is not always interested in facts.

We passed Wall St. reform.  These reforms will end bail-outs…  We invested in American research and American technology…

We cut taxes for 95% of working families, tax cuts for small bus. owners, passed health care reform (cheers).  How many are under age of 26 in this crowd?  cheers…
We fixed the student loan system so that subsidies that were going to big banks, the middle men, are going to students.

We have removed combat troops from Iraq…expansion of national service…

We have made progress over the last 20 months…the hole we're digging out of is a deep one.. this recession was worst than the last three combined…I understand people are frustrated and impatient with the pace of change…I'm impatient…but now is not the time to lose heart, now is not the time to quit, every time we have been challenged, we come out stronger.  We do not quit!

In every instance, progress took time.  In every instance, progress took sacrifice, when workers were organizing they weren't sure when change was going to come but they knew it was going to come, when women were fighting for the vote they didn't know when it was going to come but they knew it was gonna come…I'm telling you change is going to come but you've gotta stick with me.  You can't lose heart.  Change is gonna come.  Change is gonna come for this generation…if we work for it..if we fight for it…if we believe in it…the biggest mistake we could make right now is to let disappointment and frustration lead to apathy and indifference.  If you let the other side win, it will lead to the very same policies that got us here in the first place. 

The centerpiece of their pledge, their main idea, for growing the economy and dealing with the 8 million lost jobs because of their earlier policies, is a tax cut for the wealthiest 2% of Americans…so 98% of Americans would never see a dime of the 700 billion dollar tax cut..which we would have to borrow….the party that lectures us on fiscal responsibility wants us to borrow billions to give tax cuts to billionaires…

Education:  Do you think China and Korea are cutting back on education?  Well let me tell you, America plays for first place!  I will not allow politicians in Washington to sacrifice your future with another round of tax cuts that they don't need and that we can't afford.

We know that gov't doesn't have all the answers to all the problems.  The other side has been able to hoodwink folks across the country….  We had to make sure the auto industry and the financial industry didn't go down the tubes because they (GOP) weren't minding the store..it's not because I came in with a big government agenda.  I believe government should do for the people what they can't do for themselves…a country that believes I'm my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper…I believe in an America that gave my grandfather a chance to go to college because of the GI bill..that's the America I know.  That's the choice in this election.   Instead of tax cuts for billionaires, we want tax cuts for the middle class.  No young American should have to sacrifice the dream of a college education just because they can't afford it…that's what we believe.

We want to give tax breaks to small businesses, entrepreneurs, clean energy, that's the choice in this election.  If the other side takes back congress they have promised to help the same special interests we've been fighting for months.  I refuse to let that happen. 

We can't give the reins back to the special interests.  Many of the folks in the other party spent their time in power driving the car into the ditch.  Finally, we get the car up on level ground…a little dented…a little busted…needs paint job…suddenly we get a tap on the shoulder and it's the Republicans asking for the keys back!  And we've gotta tell them, you can't have the keys back, you don't know how to drive!  We've gotta go forward by putting it in D, not backward by putting it in R…

Whether they get the keys back it's up to you…the other side have been pumped up to think that Obama is a socialist, and they've been fed…they're not hearing the other side of the argument…they are being helped by special interest groups that are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money…and they don't have to reveal who they are…this is why we've got to work even harder in this election…we've got to fight their millions of dollars with our millions of voices…  because if everybody who fought for change in 2008 shows up to vote in 2010 we will win.  We will win.  The polls say the same thing.  We will win.

The other side is counting on your apathy, they're counting on you staying home.  Let's show Washington. 

Change happens because of you.
Change happens because of you.
Change happens because of you.

I know times are tough…I know sometimes it feels a long way from the hope and excitement we felt on election day and inauguration day…but we always knew this was going to be hard…I said it was going to be hard…I said not everyone was going to be happy with everything I did…you didn't elect me to do what was easy…

you didn't elect me to look at the polls, you elected me to do what was right,  not what was expedient, not what was convenient. 

In the United States of America the future lies in our hands but only if we keep working for it, keep believing that change is possible. 

So, that is what is being tested right now.  The question is, are we going to have the courage to keep moving forward even in the face of uncertainty..It's about your future.  So get out there and shape it.  Get out there and fight for it.  We need you to commit to vote.  We need you to pledge to vote.  We need you to get out there and knock on doors and bring energy and passion, we will not just win this election, we are going to restore our economy, rebuild the middle class and we will reclaim the American Dream for all Americans.