Tennessee. Its great to have you here. I should have my passport stamped. Were about to see the biggest contrast you can a imagine, the president last night in montana, on his way to north dakota, and then of course barack obama in illinois, where he launched it all well, not that far from springfield, illinois, at least. What do we expect to hear from president obama . This is going to be a remarkable split screen, andrea, one that democrats and republicans have been anticipating, some of them dreaming about. What will we hear from former president obama . Were told no one is going to come away from his Speech Thinking that he held his punching. This is going to be a sharp, pointed speech about the state of democracy. He is going to be calling on democrats to get into the fray. I spoke with one of his advisers, who said, look, part of his message will be that democrats dont get engaged
exhibit after exhibit of what the trump era embodies. Its the rule of law, its the cohen, the manafort, the mccain funeral, which was a very large bit of implication, and then you have barack obama who is arguably the most popular former president in democratic history. We should point out, as the president takes the stage, he is not the most Popular Democratic politician, that is michelle obama, who has her book coming out in november, and youll have phil rucker, as were about to go to the former president , this is the launch of the Democratic Campaign and there could not be a better spokesperson for the democrats right now, at least, than barack obama. Lets listen. Beans . I was trying to explain to somebody as we were flying in, thats corn. The truth is after eight years in the white house, i needed to spend time one on one with michelle if i wanted to stay married. And she says hello, by the way. I also wanted to spend quality time with my daughters, who were suddenly young women on their way out the door. And i should add, by the way, now that i have a daughter in college, i can tell all the students here, your parents suffer. They cry privately. It is brutal. So please call. Send a text. We need to hear from you, just alternates something. A Little Something form the truth was i was also intent on
following a Wise American Tradition of expresident s gracefully exiting the political stage and making room for new voices and new ideas. We have our first president , george washington, to thank for setting that example. After he led the colonies to victory as general washington, there were no constraints on him really. He was practically a god to those who had followed him into battle. There was no constitution. There were no democratic norms that guided what he should or could do, and he could have made himself allpowerful. He could have made himself potentially president for life. Instead, he resigned as Commander In Chief and moved back to his country estate. Six years later, he was elected
president , but after two terms, he resigned again and rode off into the sunset. The Point Washington made, the point that is essential to american democracy is that that in a government of and by and for the people there should be no permanent ruling class. There are only sit zents, who through their elected and temporary representatives determine or course and determine our character. Im here today because this is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us as citizens of the United States need to determine just who it is that we are. Just what it is that we stand
for. And as a fellow citizen, not as an expresident , but as a fellow citizen, im here to deliver a simple message, and that is that you need to vote because our democracy depends on it. Now, some of you may think im exaggerating when i say this novembers elections are more important than any i can remember in my lifetime, and i know politicians say that all the time. I was guilty of saying it a few times, particularly when i was on the ballot, but just a glance at recent headlines should tell you that this moment really is different. The stakes really are higher. The consequences of any of is
sitting on the sidelines are more dire. Its not as if we havent had big elections before or big choices to make in our history. The fact is democracy has never been easy, and our Founding Fathers argue ed about everythi. We waged a civil war. We overcame depression. Weve lurched from Eras Of Great Progressive Change to periods of retrenchment. Still most americans alive today, certainly the students who are here, have operated under some common assumptions about who we are and what we stand for. Out of the turmoil of the industrial revelation and the great depression, america adapted a new economy, a 20th century economy, guiding our free market, with regulations to protect health and safety and fair competition. Empowering workers with union movements. Investing in science and infrastructure and educational institutions like u of i. Strengthening or system of primary and secondary fed indication, and stitching together a social safety net. All of this led to Unrivals Prosperity and the rise of a broad and deep middle class, and the sense that if you worked hard, you could climb the ladder of successes. Not everyone was included in this prosperity. There is a lot more work to do. So in response to the state of slavery and segregation and the reality of racial discrimination, the Civil Rights Movement not only opened new doors for africanamericans, but also opened up the floodgates of opportunity for women and americans with disabilities, and lgbt americans. Others to make their own claims to full and equal citizenship. Although discrimination remained a pernicious force in our society and continues to this day, and although there are controversies about how to best ensure genuine equality of opportunity, there is been at least rough agreement
among. Overwhelming majority of americans that our country is strongest when everybody is treated fairly. When people are judged on the merits and the content of their character, and not the color of their skin, or the way in which they worship god, or their last names. That consensus then extended beyond our borders, and from the wreckage of world war ii, we built a postwar web, architecture, systems of alliances, institutions to underwrite freedom and oppose soviet totalitarianism, and help poor countries develop. American leadership across the globe wasnt perfect. We made mistakes, at times we lost sight of our ideals, we had
fierce arguments about vietnam and we had fierce arguments about iraq. But thanks to our leadership, a bipartisan leadership and the efforts of diplomats and peace corps volunteers, and most of all thanks to the constant sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we not only reduced the prospects of war between the worlds great powers, we not only won the cold war, we helped spread a commitment to certain values and principles like the rule of law and human rights, and democracy, and the notion of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. Even those countries that didnt abide by those principles were still subject to shame and still
had to at least give lip service to the idea, and that provided a lever to continually improve the prospects for people around the world. Thats the story of america. A Story Of Progress Fitful progress, incomplete progress, but progress. That progress wasnt achieved by just a handful of famous leaders making speeches. It was won because of countless quiet acts of heroism, and dedication, by citizens, by order, many of them not much older than you. It was won because rather than be bystanders to history, ordinary people fought and marched, and mobilized and built, and yes, voted to make history. Of course theres always been another darker aspect to americas story. Progress doesnt just move in a straight line. Theres a reason why progress hasnt been easy and why throughout our history every two steps forward seems to sometimes produce one step back. Each time we painstakingly pull ourselves closer to our founding ideas, that all of us are
created equality, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, the ideals that say every child should have opportunity, and every man and woman in this country whos willing to work hard should be able to find a job, support their family and pursue their small piece of the american dream. Ideals that say we have a collective responsibility to care for the sick and the infirminfirm ed, and we have a responsibility to conserve the amazing bounty, the resources of this country and this planet for future generations. Each time we get close to those ideals, Somebody Somewhere pushes back. The status quo pushes back. Sometimes the backlash comes from people who are genuinely,
if wrongly, fearful of change. More often its manufactured by the powerful and the privileged, who want to keep us divided, keep is angry and keep us cynical, because it helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege. And you happen to be coming of age during one of those moments. It did not start with donald trump. He is a symptom, not the cause. Hes just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years. Rooted in our past, but also born out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes. By the way, it is brief. When i heard amari was 11 when i got elected and now hes, like, started a company, that was yesterday. But think about it. Youve come of age in a smaller, more connected world, where demographic shifts and the Winds Of Change have Skraum Abled Nournl or commitments, but our civic institutions. Most of you dont remember a
time before 9 11, when you didnt have to take off your shoes at an airport. Most of you dont remember a time when america wasnt at war, or when money and images and information could travel instantly around the globe. Or when the climate wasnt changing faster than our efforts to address it. This change has happened fast, faster than any time in human history. And it created a new economy that has unleashed incredible prosperity, but its also upended peoples lives in profound ways. For those with unique skills or access to telliknowledge and
technologies, its presented the possibility for wealth. For those not so lucky, for the factory workers, office worker, even middle managers, those same forces may have wiped out your job, or at least put you in no position to ask for a raise. As wages slowed and inequality accelerated, those at the top of the Economic Pyramid have been able to influence government to skew things even more in their direction. Cutting taxes on the wealthiest americans, Unwinding Regulations and weakening worker protections, shrinking the safety net. So you have come of age during a time of growing inequality, of
fracturing of economic opportunity. That growing economic divide compounded other divisions in our country. Regional, racial, religious, cultural, made it harder to build consensus on issues. It made politicians less willing to compromise, which increased gridlock, which made people even more cynical about politics. Then the reckless behavior of financial elease elites trigger massive financial crisis, ten years ago this week, that resulted in the worst recession in our lifetimes and caused years of hardships for the american people. For many of your parents, for many of your families. Most of you werent old enough
to fully focus on what was going on at the time, but when i came into office in 2009, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. 800,000. Millions of people were losing their homes. Many were worried we were entering into a second great depression. So we worked hard to end that crisis, but also to break some of these longerterm trends. The actions we took returned the economy to healthy growth and initiated the longest streak of job creation on record. We covered another 20 million americans with Health Insurance. We cut or deficits by more than half, partly by making sure that people like me, who have been given such amazing opportunities by this country, pay our fair share of taxes to help folks
coming up behind us. And by the time i left office, Household Income washington near its alltime high, and the Uninsured Rate had hit an alltime low, wages were rising, Poverty Rates were falling. I mention all this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, lets just remember when this recovery started t. I mean, im glad its continued, but when you hear about this economic miracle thats been going on when the job numbers come out, monthly job numbers and suddenly republicans are
saying, its americ i actuall to remind them the job number are the same as in 2015 and 2016. Anyway, i digress. So we made progress but and this is the truth my administration couldnt reduce 40year trends in only eight years, eexceptly once the republicans took over the House Of Representatives in 2010 and decided to block everything we did. Even things they used to support so we pulled the economy out of the crisis, but to this day too many people who once felt solidly middle class still feel
very real and very personal economic insecurity. Even though we took out bin laden and wound down the wars in iraq and our combat role in afghanistan, and got iran to halt its nuclear program, the world is still full of threats and disorder. It comes streaming through peoples televisions every single day. These challenges get people worried, and it frays our civic trust, and it makes a lot of people feel like the fix is in and the game is rigged, and nobodys looking out for them. Especially those communities outside our big urban centers. Even though your generation is the most diverse in history,
with a greater acceptance and celebration of our differences than ever before, those are the kinds of conditions that are ripe for exploitation by politicians who have no compunction and no shame about tapping into americas dark history of racial and ethnic and religious division. Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it werent for those who dont look like us, or dont sound like us, or dont pray like we do. Thats an old playbook. Its as old as time. And in a healthy democracy, it doesnt work. Our Antibodies Kick in, and
people of goodwill from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fearmongers and work to compromise as get things done and promote the better angels of our nature. But when theres a vacuum in our democracy, when we dont vote, we take our Basket Rights and freedom for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing, and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. Demagogues promise simple fixes to complex promises. No promise to fight for the little guy as they cater to the wealthiest and most powerful. Theyll promise to clean up corruption, and then plunder away. They start undermining norms that ensure accountability. And try to change the rules to entrench their power further. They appeal to racial nationalism thats barely veiled, if veiled at all. Sound familiar . I understand this is not just a matter of democrats versus republican or liberals versus conservatives. At various times in our history, this kind of politics has
inducted both parties. Southern democrats were the bigger defenders of slavery. It took a republican president , abraham lincoln, to end it. Dixicrats filibustered opposed expanding rights. Though it was a Democratic Congress spurred on by young marchers and protesters that got the civil rights and Voting Rights act over the finish line, those historic laws also got passed because of the leadership of republicans like illinois own everett dirksen. So Neither Party has had a monopoly on wisdom. Neither party has been exclusively responsible for us
going backwards inspected deed forwards, but i have to say this, because sometimes we hear a plague on both your houses. Over the past few decades it Wasnt True When Jim Egger was a governor here in illinois, or jim thompson was governor. Got a lot of good republican friends here in illinois, but over the past few decades, the politics of division, resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party. This congress has championed the unwinding of Campaign Finance laws to give billionaires outside influence over or politics, systematically attack Voting Rights to make it harder
for young people and minorities and the poor to vote. Handed out tax cuts without war to deficits. Slashed the safety net wherever it could, cast dozens of votes to take away Health Insurance from ordinary americans, embraced wild Conspiracy Theories like those surrounding benghazi. Or my birth certificate. Rejected science, rejected facts on things like Climate Change. Embraced a rising absolutism from a willingness to default on americas debt by not paying our bills, to a refusal to even meet, much less consider, a
qualified nominee for the Supreme Court because he happened to be nominated by a democratic president. None of this is conservativcons. I dont mean to champion abraham linging noun, i dont think when he helped to form the Republican Party. Its not conservative. It sure isnt normal. Its radical. Its a vision that says the protection of our power and those who back us is all that matters even when it hurts the country. Its a vision who says the few who can afford highpriced lobbyists and