This morning, Senator Obama concluded a two economic tour with an Economic Competitiveness Summit at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before the question and answer session began, Barack spoke about some of his experiences over the past fourteen days:
For the last three weeks, I've been traveling around the country, talking about how we can change our economy so that it works for the American people. I've also been listening.I met with parents in Wisconsin who struggle to afford the groceries to let their family eat well, or the gas that takes them to and from work. I talked to a man in Missouri whose wife works two jobs and has arthritis that costs $1,500 a week to care for. I heard from a student in Minnesota who has done everything that's been asked of her, but worries that she won't be able to take her final tests because she's maxed out her student loans. Stories like these can be found all across the country, because far too many Americans are working hard and doing their part, but still can't keep pace.
Barack went on to outline his policy approach to the economy, focusing on energy, education, health care, infrastructure, and innovation.
Here's the video of Barack's full remarks:
You can watch videos and read coverage of the entire tour at the Change That Works For You page.
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A note on history. (6+ / 0-) Thank you for your reply, and I do appreciate your concerns. Many people voiced these same concerns in the wake of Watergate, when prosecutions were limited to the burglars and a handful of others. They said, rightly, "There was more going on than just this burglary, and nobody's looking." But the 1974 midterm elections, and then the 1976 elections, brought in larger, very angry majorities ready to take a hard look at the "more going on." That's how we got the Church Hearings, and the other Congressional acts that peeled back the ugly scab on COINTELPRO and the excesses of the CIA and other intelligence agencies. This is not irrelevant history, as in fact it was the executive-trimming results of Watergate that folks like Dick Cheney spent the last 30 years working to overturn. They found a vehicle for that in 9/11 and the "global war on terror." Back to the old battle lines we've gone. This is an-ongoing battle, and not one we're going to win before the 2008 election. The present FISA bill is irrelevant, in that even if Bush followed FISA to the letter, our Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights are still in tatters after USAPA took down the wall of separation between secret intelligence-gathering and public criminal prosecutions. It's an election year, so everything gets a bit nuts on Capitol Hill - and out here as well - and we all tend to "look through the wrong end of the telescope" at such times. So there's been a lot of huffing and puffing over this bill, as if this bill is our last, best chance to return to constitutional government. But it's not. We the People have fought these battles before, and we've won. We'll fight them again, aided by a Democratic President and larger Democratic majorities in Congress. We'll win again. ...20-30 years from now, our children and grandchildren will probably have to fight these same battles again, after some future president has made a hash of our Constitution. Jefferson said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." There are no once-and-for-all fixes in government. Every generation has its own battles to fight, to secure our constitutional republic. This is our generation's turn. So let's please not get so frustrated with each other that we forget to work together during our turn at the wheel.
