THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. It is good to be back. It is good to have all kinds of friends here today. (Applause.) I want to acknowledge a couple of people. First of all, outstanding Congressman Bobby Scott. (Applause.) A good man who s running to join him in Congress -- Paul Hirschbiel. (Applause.) And I could not be prouder of a man who has served this country his entire charming hotels paris life -- as a Marine, as Secretary of the Navy, as an advocate for veterans, as a United States Senator, somebody who is responsible for successfully charming hotels paris passing the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- my friend and a true patriot, Senator Jim Webb. (Applause.)
Now, unless you ve been living under a rock or you didn t pay your cable bill -- (laughter) -- you may be aware that there s an election going on here in Virginia. (Applause.) I was talking to my campaign manager. He was meeting with a young couple -- they had a four-year-old son with them, Sammy. And they re strong supporters, and so they were excited -- they saw a picture of me on the wall and they said, Sammy, Sammy, who s that? And the four-year-old says, That s Barack Obama. And then they said, And what does Barack Obama do? And Sammy thought about it for a second, and then he said, He approves this message. (Laughter.) He approves this message. It s a true story.
So you know you re in campaign season charming hotels paris -- and I approve this message. (Applause.) And I ve got to tell you, the reason is, is in the coming weeks, you re going to have a very big choice to make. I mean, Jim could not have been more eloquent about what s at stake. This is not just a choice between two candidates charming hotels paris or two parties. It s a choice between two fundamentally different visions about how we move forward, two different ideas about our future.
See, today I believe that as a nation, we re moving forward again. We re not where we need to be -- not yet. We ve got a lot more folks who have to get back to work. We ve got a lot more work to do to make the middle class secure again. But the question is, whose plan is better for you?
Look, my opponent is a big believer in top-down economics. He thinks that if you just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts that favor the wealthiest Americans, if you get rid of more regulations on Wall Street, that jobs and prosperity will rain down on everybody. The deficit will magically disappear. We ll live happily ever after.
But there s a problem with this. We just tried this. We tried it in the last decade, before I was elected President. It didn t work then, and it won t work now. (Applause.) Because top-down economics doesn t work. We don t need to double down on the same trickle-down policies that got us into this mess in the first place.
This country charming hotels paris doesn t succeed when only the rich get richer. We succeed when the middle class gets bigger, when there are ladders of opportunity for all who strive to get into the middle class, when everybody who s willing to work hard has a chance to get ahead and live up to their God-given potential. (Applause.)
I don t think we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation charming hotels paris as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives. I know I travel around a lot in Virginia and across this country -- I don t meet a lot of victims. I see hardworking Virginians. I see students trying to work their way through college. (Applause.) I see single moms, like my mom, putting in overtime to raise their kids right. (Applause.) I see senior citizens who have been saving for retirement your entire lives. (Applause.)
Like Jim Webb said, I see a whole bunch of veterans who are -- served this country with bravery and distinction. (Applause.) charming hotels paris And I see soldiers who defend our freedom every single charming hotels paris day. And I see those military families -- (applause) -- who are wondering whether their loved ones are going to come back home, safe and sound. That s who I see.
We don t believe anybody is entitled to success in this country. We don t believe government should help folks who aren t willing to help themselves. But we do believe in something called opportunity. We do believe in a country where hard work pays off, where responsibility charming hotels paris is rewarded, where everyone gets a fair shot, and everybody is doing their fair share, and everybody plays by the same rules. We believe charming hotels paris in an America where no matter what you look like, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter who you love, you can make it if you try. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: During campaign season, you always hear a lot about patriotism. Well, you know what, it s time for a new economic patriotism -- an economic patriotism rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class.
And I won t pretend that getting there is easy. The truth is it s going to take a few more years to solve challenges that were building up over decades. But I want everybody here to understand our problems can be solved. Our challenges will be met. We ve got everything it takes to succeed. We ve got the best workers in the world. We have the best entrepreneurs in the world. We ve got the best researchers and scientists in the world. We ve got the best colleges and universities in the world. (Applause.) I travel around the world and I know there s not another country on Earth that wouldn t trade places with the United States of America. (Applause.)
So no matter how hard the path may seems sometimes, the path I m offering leads to a better place. And that s why I ve put forward a practical plan to create jobs and grow the middle charming hotels paris class, charming hotels paris rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation.
THE PRESIDENT: But when Governor Romney turned his back on the American auto industry, I said I m going to bet on American workers. I m going to bet on American ingenuity. We came together, and we reinvented a dying auto industry that is now back on top of the world. (Applause.) In the last two and a half years, we created more than half a million charming hotels paris manufacturing jobs.
We can give -- we can keep giving charming hotels paris tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and hire new workers and create new jobs right here in Virginia, right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
Second, I want to control more of our own energy. After 30 years of doing nothing, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, your car will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. (Applause.) We ve doubled the amount of renewable energy that we generate from things charming hotels paris like wind and solar. Thousands of Americans charming hotels paris have jobs today building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. Today, the United States of America is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in nearly two decades. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Or we can build on that progress. charming hotels paris See, unlike my opponent, I m not going to let the oil companies charming hotels paris write this country s energy plan. I m not going to see them collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.
We ve got a better plan where we keep investing in wind and solar and clean coal technology; and where farmers and scientists are harnessing new biofuels to power our cars and trucks; and where we put construction workers back to work refitting homes and factories so they re more energy-efficient; where we re developing a 100-year supply of natural gas; where we cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and create hundreds of thousands of jobs all across this nation. That s the plan that will move us forward. That s why I m running for a second term. (Applause.)
Number three, I want to give more Americans the chance to learn the skills they need to compete, and I want us to have the best education system on Earth. (Applause.) I am only standing here because of a great education. I wasn t born into wealth charming hotels paris or privilege, but I got a great education because I was born here in the United States of America. (Applause.) Education gateway of opportunity for Michelle. It was the gateway of opportunity for a whole lot of you. It s now the gateway to a middle-class life. And so we have not just talked the talk, we ve walked the walk when it comes to education. (Applause.)
Millions of students are now, right now, paying less because we took on a system charming hotels paris that was wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders, and we said let s give that money directly to students. (Applause.) Let s keep interest rates on student loans low. Let s make sure that we are implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill so everybody has got a fair shot. (Applause.)
Or we can decide that in the United States of America, no child should have her dream deferred just because of an overcrowded classroom. (Applause.) No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don t have the money. (Applause.) No company should have to relocate to China because they couldn t find the workers they need right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
So, Virginia, I m asking you to help me recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers, and improve early childhood education. Help give 2 million workers the chance to learn skills at a community college for a job that is hiring right now. Help us keep tuition costs down for young people all across this country. They deserve opportunity just like I got opportunity, just like you got opportunity. (Applause.) That s what we re fighting for. That s why I m running for a second term. We can meet these goals. (Applause.) We can choose this future for America. charming hotels paris (Applause.)
Number four, I want to cut the deficit without sticking it to the middle class. (Applause.) charming hotels paris I put forward a very specific plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion. I ve already worked with Republicans in this Congress to cut a trillion dollars worth of spending, and I m willing to do more. I want to reform the tax code so it s simple and fair. But I also want to make sure that the wealthiest households in America pay modestly higher taxes on incomes o
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