Many of you will recall that Buddy Holly played the Surf Ballroom the night before he, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash shortly after taking off from a Mason City airport in 1959.
The ballroom was kind enough to put Barack's name up on the marquee!
Tom Miller, Iowa’s great attorney general, did the introduction. And Barack took the stage to a standing ovation.
A much-deserved shout-out goes to the Hancock, Cerro Gordo, and Winnebago County Democrats and the folks at the Surf Ballroom for this event. The decorations looked amazing!
For many of the Road to Change events Barack has kept his remarks to a minimum so he could respond to the specific issues raised by the audience. But this was a keynote speech so Barack injected a significant amount of policy into his remarks.
He hit three big issues:
Health Care
If we invest in prevention, make sure everyone has a primary-care physician and is getting regular checkups, we will save money. ... Transitioning to electronic medical records will save us $100-$150 billion each year and we can take that money to ensure that every American has universal health care by the end of the next president's first term - by the end of my first term as president of the United States.
...
Transitioning to electronic medical records will save us $100-$150 billion each year and we can take that money to ensure that every American has universal health care by the end of the next president's first term - by the end of my first term as president of the United States.
And there is no reason we can’t fix our education system. Teachers tell me all the time that the kids who are behind are the ones who start out behind. If we want to fix that, we need to invest in early childhood education. ...If we invest those resources early in life there is no reason these children can’t succeed. ... And we must also invest in our teaching corps - the most important people at the head of the classroom. Why wouldn’t we pay them more money? Why wouldn't we give them more flexibility to tailor lessons to their specific classes? We should tell them don't just teach to the test, we’re not going to punish you, we’re going to reward you when you do good.
If we invest those resources early in life there is no reason these children can’t succeed.
And we must also invest in our teaching corps - the most important people at the head of the classroom. Why wouldn’t we pay them more money? Why wouldn't we give them more flexibility to tailor lessons to their specific classes? We should tell them don't just teach to the test, we’re not going to punish you, we’re going to reward you when you do good.
We must re-engage the world in ways we haven’t in a very long time. I imagine going before the United Nations in my first year as president and saying America is back. We’re going to lead - and not just with our military but with our values and ideals. We want to work with you to defeat terror and on nuclear proliferation. We want to work with you on Darfur, and to build schools in the Middle East that teach math and science - not just hate of America. ... And we're going to close Guantanamo and restore habeas corpus because that’s not who we are.
We want to work with you on Darfur, and to build schools in the Middle East that teach math and science - not just hate of America.
And we're going to close Guantanamo and restore habeas corpus because that’s not who we are.
Barack is confident in his ability to lead our country - otherwise he wouldn't be running. But he can't do it alone. He is fond of saying that change in America never happens from the top down, it happens from the bottom up. It happens because ordinary people decide they want to make their voices heard.
You can take a look at Barack's specific policy ideas here:
But the fact is, nothing will happen unless everyone makes their voices heard.
If you're in Iowa, sign up as an Obama supporter here, and let us hear your voice!
Tomorrow is a big day, with several events in Waverly and Cedar Rapids. Then it's off to Des Moines for the big debate on Sunday!
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