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“Ours is a fight to restore the values that built the largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has ever know.” – President Barack Obama
“We believe that `we’re all in this together’ is a far better philosophy than `you’re on your own.’” --ex-President Bill Clinton, contrasting Democratic and Republican parties
By Miriam R
aftery
September 6, 2012 (Charlotte, North Carolina) -- President Barack Obama, accepting his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention tonight, said voters have “the clearest choice in a generation…It will be a choice between two different paths for America.”
A nominating speech by former President Bill Clinton laid out arguments for reelecting Obama. Since 1991, Republicans have held the White House for 28 years, Democrats 24 years, yet Democrats have provided more jobs, he noted.
“So what’s the job score? Republicans, 24 million, Democrats 42 million," Clinton said. "It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics. Why? Because poverty, discrimination and ignorance restrict growth. When you stifle human potential, when you don’t invest in new ideas, it doesn’t just cut off the people who are affected; it hurts us all.”
He said the President’s administration halted the economic downturn and created a half million new manufacturing jobs by providing incentives to bring jobs back from overseas—and by crafting a plan that saved General Motors and Chrysler, which have since added 250,000 jobs. Romney opposed that plan. “Here’s another job score: Obama 250,000; Romney zero,” Clinton said.
Clinton further argued that the Republicans plans to cut taxes on the wealthy, get rid of financial regulations and cut programs that help the poor and middle class don’t make economic sense—and provided a history lesson.
“Don’t you ever forget ,” he said, “that Republican economic policies quadrupled the national debt…in the 12 years before I took office—and doubled the debt in the eight years after I left…People ask me all the time how we got four surplus budgets in a row,” he said of his administration. “I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic….We simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on trickle down.”
Clinton noted that it takes time for economic policies to take effect and said a similar path was followed after his first term of office in 1994, when most people hadn’t yet felt the impacts. By 1994 the economy was “roaring”, he recalled.
He praised Obama’s foreign policy record including ending the Iraq War, capturing and killing top Al Qaeda leaders including bin Ladin, while also restoring America’s positive reputation around the world.
The former president also praised Obama for his leadership to lower costs of federal student loans and let students pay back loans over 20 years as a percentage of their income. “It means no one will ever 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, a teacher, a police officer…a small town doctor in a rural area, they won’t have to turn those jobs down because they don’t pay enough to repay their debt…This will change the future for young Americans.”
He noted that Obama succeeded in pushing through healthcare reforms, something his own administration could not complete. Clinton faulted Republicans who “want to repeal those savings and give the money back to the insurance companies” and said Republican’s plans for Medicare would have devastasting impacts on seniors and the disabled.
Accepting the nomination, President Obama noted that “hope has been tested” after he inherited one of the worst economic crises in history, as well as by the costs of war and political gridlock. “In a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been testsed and proven,” he said, citing his foreign policy accomplishments. “A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Obama bin Laden is dead.”
He took aim at his Republican opponent, suggesting that Mitt Romney would “take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy—and not al Qaeda—unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp…My opponent said it was `tragic’ to end the war in Iraq, and he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in Afghanistan. …I’ll use the money we are no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work—rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways.”
Obama faulted the Republican healthcare plan as “if you can’t afford health insurance, hope that you don’t get sick” and cited some successes: a little girl in Phoenix who will get heart surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t limit her coverage, for instance. He also emphasized his support for women controlling their own healthcare choices.
“As I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America,” the President concluded. “If you reject the notion that our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election. If you believe that new plants and factories can dot our landscape, that new energy can power our future, that new schools can provide ladders of opportunity to this nation of dreamers, if you believe this is a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this November.”
President Obama concluded, “Yes, our path is harder—but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer, but we travel it together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up.”
Highlights and analysis of Democratic Convention speeches:
Video of President Obama’s speech: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-09-06/democratic-national-convention-thursday-obama/57641804/1?csp=34news
Obama outlines goals for second term (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-dnc-second-term-20120906,0,468008.story
Clinton: GOP left “total mess” for Obama (CBS News)
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7420692n&tag=stack
View full Clinton speech: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/politics/clinton-speech-analysis/?hpt=hp_t2
Michelle Obama’s full DNC speech (Washington Post)
Elizabeth Warren: “The system is rigged” (CBS)
Fact-checking 7 things in Bill Clinton’s speech (CBS)
First Lady’s speech inspiring but veterans are still hurting (Reno report)
http://therenodispatch.blogspot.com/2012/09/first-ladys-speech-inspiring-but.html
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