Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Blood Test: Health Care is Not a Right

I remember talking to a friend, shortly before the 2008 presidential election. She shockingly told me she planned to vote for Barack Obama. “Why?” I asked. I’ve known this person for years and she has always been pretty conservative on a majority of issues; why on earth could she possibly want to vote for the man who would become the most radical, left-wing president this country has ever seen?

Her response? “Health care. I’m tired of paying so much for my kids’ health insurance. No one seems to understand that we have a right to health care and it’s being taken away from us.” I wasn’t sure whether I wanted laugh in her face or re-read the Declaration of Independence and make sure I hadn’t missed the part that promised free medication and surgery for all, but I digress. 

The truth of the matter is, health care is not a right. And it’s as simple as going back to the Declaration of Independence and reading the line about our right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The pursuit of happiness. What does that mean? It means that every individual who is an American citizen, was created equal and has the right to pursue what will make their life better, whether it be education, health care, or a trip to the mall to buy a new purse.

True, many modern politicians want to pervert that right by providing more for their constituents, whether it be in the form of health care or some other type of handout. Some do it for their own pockets, some do it to stay in power and some do it because they are simply afraid to deny health care to a sick person, because on the surface, that makes them look pretty despicable. But the fact of the matter is, that by forcing a government-run health care plan on people, the government is hindering our rights, instead of providing them.

In order for us to pursue our own happiness (so long as we’re not taking away the rights, life and liberties of others), no option in any circumstance should be made off-limits. If government is controlling our health care system, there is suddenly a huge list of do’s and don’t’s. Doctors are limited, patients are limited and our opportunity to pursue much of anything is taken away. Congress is not made up of health care and business experts, so why in the world would we ever give them the power to control our medical future? In the most sensitive time of life or death for you and your family, do you really want a group of mostly corrupt, greedy public officials whose, for the most part, medical expertise doesn’t go beyond dissecting a frog in their high school biology class, making your decisions for you?

And look at the costs of what Congress has proposed. Let’s face it, the government isn’t sitting around with dollar bills hanging out of their wallets, looking for something to spend it on. That money is going to come from your hard-earned paycheck, putting even more restrictions on your life.

Many will say that this is an over-simplified argument. Simple as it may be, it trumps every other single argument anyone tries to make. Our country was built on a few simple rules and this entire health care debate that has been going on, not just this year, but for dozens of years before, focuses on taking that away. We didn’t become the best, strongest, richest and most powerful nation by limiting ourselves, why should we start now?

There are ways to use our Founding Father-given rights, rights “endowed by [our] Creator,” to build the best damn health care system in the world, but the first thing we have to do is take government out of it and let the free markets take over. I’ve never been a big Ron Paul fan, but I think he says it better than any other politician I’ve seen in recent months and not shockingly,  he is an actual medical doctor:

“I want everybody to have maximum care at the best price and that’s why I want the government out of it completely. There is no authority for the government to be in medicine…if you want good health are at the best rate, at the cheapest price possible, you have to have a market phenomenon. [Democrats] base it on a false assumption of understanding of human rights and personal liberty. They say you have a right to it. Well, I dont have a right to medical care, I dont have a right to a job, I don’t have a right to an automobile, I dont have a right to a house. I have a right to my life and my liberty and to keep the fruits of my labor. That’s where you get production and that’s where you have the best distribution and the wealthiest situation in the world: the market.”

Personally, I don’t exactly know how to improve our health care system. I’ve talked to my doctor, I’ve talked to friends and relatives who are doctors and I have some general ideas. I’m not a health care expert and I’m not a business expert. But I am an American citizen who believes in the principle on which this country was founded. I believe in the free market and I believe in taking big government out of our lives and our hospitals, and letting competition prevail as it has for decades.

H1N1 Vaccine Problems: Gitmo, Wrong Patients, and Shortages, Oh My!

It seems like every day there’s a new H1N1 story in news. Either there are shortages, mishaps, people standing in lines for hours, doctors turning people away from their clinics, people having bad reactions to the vaccine, etc. Now we get news that amongst all the tomfoolery, there’s going to be a hefty batch of vaccines headed to our favorite little bunch of misfits at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are so many problems with this vaccine its difficult to even know where to begin. But one thing is clear, its the governments first duty to protect its citizens, right?!?

First of all, we’re sending a bunch of vaccines to the detainees in Cuba. Ok, I get it, we need to prevent prisoners from getting sick and dying, because there’s some clause in the Geneva Convention about it, fantastic! But lets be realistic here, there isn’t enough vaccines to give to every American, but we’re going to take from what we have and give it to non-American alleged terrorists? Um…Hey Obama, that’s not how its supposed to work! But what do I know, I’m just a regular American, with no criminal history, wait…even the criminals in our country aren’t getting the vaccine! They’re exposed to the same risk as the Gitmo crew, confined quarters, limited access to proper health care, etc. So when I read articles like the one from the AMA, about how difficult things are becoming for doctors, I probably shouldn’t think anything of it because hey, at least those guys down in Cuba are getting properly vaccinated. To be fair, a majority of the doses are going to military personnel first (mandatory vaccines), then the prisoners will be briefed on the vaccine and can choose to get it or not.

Well sure, that’s all well and good, but there are stories breaking every day about mishaps with the vaccine in the States. Just today, I saw a story about nurses being so overwhelmed that they’re accidentally giving the wrong students the H1N1 vaccine. As many as 3 students have received the vaccine without parental permission. One child, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a terrible reaction to the vaccine which landed the 6 year old with epilepsy in the hospital. Her teacher sent the wrong student down to the nurse and the nurse never asked the girl’s name to verify she was injecting the right person. Nikiyah’s mother said she didn’t send in the permission slip because she was waiting to hear back from her family doctor to make sure the vaccine would not interfere with her daughters epilepsy medication. The terrible mistake was made even more fishy when the nurse who mistakenly injected her daughter requested that her mother sign a consent form, after her daughter had received the injection.

So, not only are we having a shortage of the vaccine because of prisoners at Gitmo, mistakes in administering them, but we have to take into account that its also the regular flu season. The companies that are producing the vaccine for seasonal flu, are the same ones producing the H1N1 vaccine and doing both at the same time are producing less of each product. The U.S. government has ordered 250 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, the week of Oct 14-Oct 21, 5.4 million doses were shipped. Well that’s just fantastic! By the time we get all 250 million doses the flu season will be over. But once again, good work on being prepared! At this rate, an estimated 5 million doses a week, it’ll take roughly 50 weeks for all the doses to be delivered. (That’s obviously not taking into account the amount that we have already received)

The Obama administration has already declared H1N1 a national emergency, yet, it kinda seems like there isn’t much of an emergency at all. At least not by the way they’re reacting to the shortages and the insanity at the clinics. But at least we have it in writing that they declared it a crisis, so when all of this goes down hill, we certainly can’t blame the epidemic on Obama and crew, because lets face it guys, H1N1 started under the Bush Administration, Obama simply inherited this crisis.

Is health care dividing the left?

Of course we all know about the war raging between conservatives and leftists over health care reform. But recently we’ve been hearing about new battles from within the Democrat Party in congress. Both houses are having some major issues, and if this keeps up, those coveted 60 votes in the senate and 218 in the house may be a bit short. But I wouldn’t bet all my money on that horse…or donkey just yet. Those Democrats are tricky, but apparently a few in congress are willing to stand up and challenge their leaders.

The first problem the senate Democrats have is trying to get their plans right, some are looking for an “opt-out” version of the health care bill, so states won’t have to deal with a public plan. While others are only willing to vote on a bill with a full fledged public option. Senator Burris (D-IL) is one such democrat. He is unwilling to budge on his stance that a public option is the only option. He stated earlier this week that the “opt-out” version falls short of what is truly needed for real health care reform. Stating on CSPAN: “opt-out provision represents a “watered-down public option” and a “weakening position” that will allow insurance companies to get around the tough rules of a nationally run plan.” Burris doesn’t seem to be too big of a threat, yet. Reid hasn’t called him personally and Obama hasn’t invited him to the White House for a stern talking to.

If that wasn’t enough for Senator Harry Reid to deal with, he has to deal with Joe Lieberman (I-CONN). He said that he would support a Republican filibuster of Reid’s health care bill. Lieberman said, “We’re trying to do too much at once. To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.” Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats, but is against any bill that contains a public option, even one that contains an “opt-out” saying that, “it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which the taxpayers will be on the line.” Lieberman has even said he told Reid that he’d vote against cloture. So, good luck with that one Harry!

Then we have the issues in the House. Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) is bumping heads with Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get the provisions taken out of the house health care bill that allow money to go toward paying for abortions. He’s said that he wants a vote on the house floor to take the language out, and if he doesn’t get it, he and 39 other representatives will vote “no” on the motion to bring the bill to the floor. Stupak is holding firm in his stance, yet hopes to reach an agreement with Democrat leadership. He said, “”I’m comfortable with where I’m at. This is who I am. It’s reflective of my district. If it costs me my seat, so be it.” I don’t know many Democrats who are so willing to put their seat on the line for the sake of standing up for their beliefs, I have to admit, I’m impressed.

Pelosi has a lot on her plate. Especially given that Nancy Pelosi cannot get a consensus bill out of committee to save her soul. Apparently the issue with that is the liberals want to be the ones to set the fees paid to doctors, hospitals and other providers treating patients with government plans but the moderates want there to be some negotiations to take place with the providers. There are also issues with dealing with the abortion language and insurance for illegal immigrants.

Its going to be tough for the Democrats to overcome their differences before taking on the Republicans in what will be one of the biggest legislative battles this year, or next year, you know, whenever they get this thing done. To be honest with you all, I hope they never get their heads out of their asses when it comes to health care, because nothing good can come of another government entitlement program. NOTHING.

Jobs!! Jobs. Jobs?!?

Remember when President Obama said that he will be saving and/or creating 80 billion jobs? Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but he did say the $787 Billion stimulus package passed in February would be creating 3.5 million jobs and unemployment would top out at 8%. Oh the good old days! Oh, oh! Remember when Obama said, benefits of the plan would “accelerate greatly throughout the summer and the fall.” Well lets take a look at this, its mid-October and we’re sitting 9.8% unemployment and that number has really been calculated at roughly 16% if you include part-time employees who want to be full-time and the unemployed who have given up looking. And most forecasters are expecting unemployment to rise past 10%. So, where are the jobs?

Well if you’re in the infrastructure business, you’re in luck! If you can make roads and fix bridges, then the government has a (short-term) job for you! But if you happen to work in a major metropolitan area, like Chicago, you’re probably out of a job or you’re looking at severe furloughs. If you’re a teacher in Hawaii, you’re looking at a 4 day work week starting next week. States and county governments all across our country are cutting jobs as quickly as words fall out of President Obama’s mouth. Remember when Obama said that 600,000 jobs were created or saved this summer, but instead over a million were lost? Remember when Joe Biden said, “We miscalculated how bad the economy was”? Oh and we can’t forget that the Democrats in congress are talking about a SECOND stimulus package to, you know, create more jobs.

Of course, anyone who has a taken even a high school level economics class can tell you people are going to keep losing jobs when the government is taxing the hell out of small businesses and the wealthy. Why? Those are the people who are providing jobs for Americans, those are the people with the means to provide a place for employment. When the government starts taking more of their money, they, like everyone else who’s short on money, need to start making some cuts. Well they’re going to start cutting back on trivial things, but eventually they’ll get to the point where the trivial, ie: office supplies, lunch at meetings, etc, isn’t enough to make ends meet, they then start cutting their workforce, either by hours or by people. Either way, the average worker loses. When they lose their job, they lose their health insurance, their homes, their cars, and the only option is for them to go to the government until they can get on their feet again. So natuarally one can see why jobs in the federal sector are on the rise, they need more bureaucrats and the like to manage all the “businesses” the government needs to run in order to provide for the people that they’re putting out of work.

Now if you’re looking for a job, like so many Americans are, don’t worry, Obama is going to be saving or creating 3.5 million jobs. It may take until 2010, but if the ONE has said it, it must be true, right? Not so much. If this Administration doesn’t get on the ball with the creation of REAL jobs, not temporary road construction jobs and seasonal work, there’s going to be a whole workforce out there, a majority of them voted for Obama, with nothing but time on their hands, and what do people do when they have time on their hands? They read and watch television, eventually they’re going to put the pieces together and get angry like the rest of us, and honestly, I hope I see that happening. Instead of trying to push Obamacare through congress, accepting unearned peace prizes, and making 3 speeches a week to raise money for the DNC, perhaps Obama and congress can spend a little more time worrying about the REAL Americans out there that are hurting and looking for work. After all, the American economy is in shambles and the dollar is close to extinct, but apparently that’s not really an issue. The only way to make sure this country stays great is to support the American worker that has made it so. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is making sure we are not great and its becoming quite clear, they do not care about jobs for the American people, just as long as there are a few businesses still open for looting.

The President, Palin, Polanski and Michael Moore

You may or may not have noticed that much of the general metro Atlanta area was basically underwater over the last few weeks; don’t worry, I don’t think President Obama noticed either. But during that time, a lot happened in the rest of the world and while I wasn’t busy fighting old ladies for the last pack of bottled water at Publix, I was watching the news, taking notes on the last few weeks’ hot topics and I have a few things I’d like to say about them.

1. We’ll start with the United Nations. Particularly Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. After watching the world’s kooks and dictators take stage – you know, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and Barack Obama, among others – it was refreshing to see a leader take the stand and, well, lead. Not only did Netanyahu speak with the passion of someone who truly cares about his country, he spoke with substance. He denounced Ahmadinejad for denouncing the Holocaust and condemned the United Nations for allowing such a person a platform. He was tough, he was firm and he was proud. He did not apologize for Israel and he did not back down from his message. More importantly, he actually had a message. What’s a country gotta do to get a leader like that? Kind of makes me miss President Bush.

2. It didn’t take long for word of Sarah Palin’s yet-to-be-released book, “Going Rogue” to spread across the internet and become the number one best-seller on popular book-selling websites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The book is being ordered in numbers so large that it’s already pushed past popular authors such as Dan Brown, Mitch Albom and a book by the late Ted Kennedy. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t actually come out until mid-November. So why is this important? In my opinion, it only furthers the idea that the former governor and her ideals (small government, conservative values) still have a strong presence in this country. She’s popular with a large segment of the population and almost a year after leaving the national scene, that popularity hasn’t died down at all. Rush Limbaugh recently said that liberals and the media would let us know who they feared, who the true voice of the right is, and I can’t think of a bigger sign than the treatment of Palin. I don’t care what anyone says, name another political figure, republican, democrat or anyone in between, who is still making that kind of impression? Go on, I’m waiting.  The truth is Sarah Palin represents what so many Americans believe in and want in a leader and I don’t think she’s going anywhere, anytime soon. 

3. This person is probably the most irrelevant on my entire list and I’ve yet to figure out what exactly he’s contributed to our common good, so this shouldn’t take long. Michael Moore has released a “documentary” about how capitalism is not good.  Not much to say other than does no one else realize the irony here? The man directed three of the six highest grossing “documentaries” of all time! Where exactly has capitalism failed him??  Why do we let people who are walking balls of hypocrisy shape and mold our ideology?  

4.This wasn’t so much political but it immediately screamed “bigger picture.” Director Roman Polanksi, who drugged and raped a thirteen year old girl over thirty years ago and then fled the country, was arrested a few weeks ago, upon entering Switzerland for a film festival. Good, right? This is a black and white issue – no gray area. The man broke the law, took away a little girl’s innocence and he should pay for what he did, right? Not so fast. At least, not if you live in or around Hollywood. Fellow directors, actors, and actresses took to their soap boxes and came up with every reason under the sun as to why Polanski didn’t deserve this. From the old “but it’s been so long” excuse to my favorite, Whoopi Goldberg’s “it wasn’t rape-rape” (what does that even mean)?    They were signing petitions and calling into radio shows and letting the world know that Hollywood is so far out of touch with the rest of the country, that they believe being a creative and accomplished person puts you above the law and general civility.  Why is it we worship these people again?  Why do they get any credibility when it comes to elections or major decisions that affect our families?

5. Now, back to our leader or lack thereof, Barack Obama. With the unemployment rate rising like crazy, a giant health care debate dominating Congress and the Senate, and another crisis or two brewing in the Middle East, you’d think the man would have better things to do than see to it that his good ol’ hometown of Chicago gets the Olympics, right? Wrong. Not long after that whole United Nations ordeal, our President, his wife, and Oprah Winfrey set off for Europe to convince International Olympic Committee that Chicago is not nearly as bad as it seems on the news with all that corruption and crime and stuff, and that allowing the city to host the 2016 Olympics would be a fabulous idea. Fortunately, the IOC had other plans and Brazil was the “lucky” recipient of the Olympic games. Given the President’s lack of interest in promoting United States relations with the rest of the world 99.9% of the time (see: the constant bad-mouthing and apologizing on foreign soil), I really think we need to look into just why, exactly, the President was so intent on helping out the great city of Chicago. It couldn’t have anything to do with him owing any favors to any number of Chicago’s most famous thugs and crooks (aka their politicians), could it? Nah, if I recall correctly, the friends the President keeps aren’t important; at least that’s what the media kept telling us during that goofy 2008 election cycle!

6. Finally, this is just an observation I’ve had, living in what is probably the town that was affected most by the Great Atlanta Floods of ‘09 (or whatever nonsense the local media has been breathlessly calling it). We have, last I heard, over 137 roads and bridges that need to be rebuilt and/or fixed, and in some cases, that’s not going to happen until next year. Admittedly, it’s slightly annoying and wastes a lot of gas to drive way out of my way to get anywhere and I imagine many people feel the same. I assume the hold-up is that there is simply not enough man-power and funds to fix every little back road that got washed away, but there’s something that sticks in the back of my mind. Remember when the POTUS said all that stuff about stimulus money going to fix roads and bridges and give people jobs? Every time I drive by one of those big fancy “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” signs, I remember. Those signs, at least in my town, are placed at intersections and on sides of highways that haven’t seen the slighest bit of work since they were placed there several months ago. So, my question is, where’s all that money? Where are all those workers the money was supposed to create jobs for? Can’t that money be taken away from some of the previously allotted projects and be redisbursed in areas where the flood damage is so bad that people’s cars are sinking into the road? I mean, I’m not a rocket scientist but the President spent so much time talking about damaged roads and bridges back in the day, and how that was the key to fixing unemployment, yet here I sit in a town with over 100 broken roads and bridges and a ridiculously high unemployment rate.  Something just doesn’t add up.

Obama, Brown, and Sarkozy’s September 25 Remarks Against Iran

On Friday, September 25, 2009, while attending the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Presidents Barack Obama (United States) Nicolas Sarkozy (France) and United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke out about IAEA findings that Iran has been building a secret uranium enrichment facility. The three leaders mentioned that they were also speaking out on behalf of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Below is a transcript of their remarks as prepared by the White House:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning. We are here to announce that yesterday in Vienna, the United States, the United Kingdom and France presented detailed evidence to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) demonstrating that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years.

Earlier this week, the Iranian government presented a letter to the IAEA that made reference to a new enrichment facility, years after they had started its construction. The existence of this facility underscores Iran’s continuing unwillingness to meet its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions and IAEA requirements. We expect the IAEA to immediately investigate this disturbing information, and to report to the IAEA Board of Governors.

Now, Iran’s decision to build yet another nuclear facility without notifying the IAEA represents a direct challenge to the basic compact at the center of the nonproliferation regime. These rules are clear: All nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; those nations with nuclear weapons must move towards disarmament; those nations without nuclear weapons must forsake them. That compact has largely held for decades, keeping the world far safer and more secure. And that compact depends on all nations living up to their responsibilities.

This site deepens a growing concern that Iran is refusing to live up to those international responsibilities, including specifically revealing all nuclear-related activities. As the international community knows, this is not the first time that Iran has concealed information about its nuclear program. Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear power that meets the energy needs of its people. But the size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program. Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow — endangering the global nonproliferation regime, denying its own people access to the opportunity they deserve, and threatening the stability and security of the region and the world.

It is time for Iran to act immediately to restore the confidence of the international community by fulfilling its international obligations. We remain committed to serious, meaningful engagement with Iran to address the nuclear issue through the P5-plus-one negotiations. Through this dialogue, we are committed to demonstrating that international law is not an empty promise; that obligations must be kept; and that treaties will be enforced.

And that’s why there’s a sense of urgency about the upcoming meeting on October 1st between Iran, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. At that meeting, Iran must be prepared to cooperate fully and comprehensively with the IAEA to take concrete steps to create confidence and transparency in its nuclear program and to demonstrate that it is committed to establishing its peaceful intentions through meaningful dialogue and concrete actions.

To put it simply: Iran must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions and make clear it is willing to meet its responsibilities as a member of the community of nations. We have offered Iran a clear path toward greater international integration if it lives up to its obligations, and that offer stands. But the Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.

I should point out that although the United Kingdom, France and the United States made the presentation to Vienna, that Germany, a member of the P5-plus-one, and Chancellor Merkel in particular, who could not be here this morning, wished to associate herself with these remarks.

I would now like to turn to President Sarkozy of France for a brief statement.

PRESIDENT SARKOZY (translated):  Ladies and gentlemen, we have met yesterday for a meeting — a summit meeting of the Security Council on disarmament and nuclear disarmament. I repeated my conviction that Iran was taking the international community on a dangerous path. I have recalled all the attempts that we have made to offer a negotiated solution to the Iranian leaders without any success, which what has been revealed today is exceptional. Following the enriching plant of Natanz in 2002, it is now the Qom one which is revealed. It was designed and built over the past several years in direct violation of resolutions from the Security Council and from the IAEA. I am expecting from the IAEA an exhaustive, strict and rigorous investigation, as President Obama just said.

We were already in a very severe confidence crisis. We are now faced with a challenge, a challenge made to the entire international communities. The six will meet with the Iranian representatives in Geneva. Everything — everything must be put on the table now.

We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running. If by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken. This is for the peace and stability. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER BROWN: America, the United Kingdom and France are at one. Iran’s nuclear program is the most urgent proliferation challenge that the world faces today.

As President Obama and President Sarkozy have just said, the level of deception by the Iranian government, and the scale of what we believe is the breach of international commitments, will shock and anger the whole international community, and it will harden our resolve.

Confronted by the serial deception of many years, the international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand. On October the 1st, Iran must now engage with the international community and join the international community as a partner. If it does not do so, it will be further isolated.

And I say on behalf of the United Kingdom today, we will not let this matter rest. And we are prepared to implement further and more stringent sanctions.

Let the message that goes out to the world be absolutely clear: that Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program. Thank you.

Transcript of Barack Obama’s First Speech to the United Nations

On Wednesday, September 23, Barack Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the first time. In what some are calling a controversial speech, the President addressed a number of issues including United States involvement in Afghanistan and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Critics say the President’s speech was self-centered and didn’t take a strong stance on a number of issues. The President’s supporters say the clear message was “how can the United States help the world?”   Below you will find a full transcript of the speech:   

Good morning. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to address you for the first time as the 44th president of the United States.

I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me, mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history, and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad. I have been in office for just nine months, though some days it seems a lot longer.

I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. Rather, they are rooted, I believe, in the discontent with the status quo that has allowed U.S. to be increasingly defined by our differences and outpaced by our problems.

But they are also rooted in hope. The hope that real change is possible and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change.

I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. A part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies and a belief on, on certain critical issues, America had acted unilaterally without regard for the interests of others.

And this is has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism which, too often, has served as an excuse for collective inaction.

Now, like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interests of my nation and my people. And I will never apologize for defending those interests. But it is my deeply held belief that, in the year 2009, more than at any point in human history, the interests of nations and peoples are shared. The religious convictions that we hold in our hearts can forge new bonds among people or they can tear us apart.

The technology we harness could light the path to peace or forever darken it. The energy we use can sustain our planet or destroy it. What happens to the hope of a single child anywhere can enrich our world or impoverish it.

In this hall, we come from many places, but we share a common future. No longer do we have the luxury of indulging our differences to the exclusion of the work that we must do together. I have carried this message from London to Ankara, from Port of Spain to Moscow, from Accra to Cairo, and it is what I will speak about today.

Because the time has come for the world to move in a new direction, we must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. And our work must begin now.

We know the future will be forged by deeds and not simply words. Speeches alone will not solve our problem. It will take persistent action. For those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions we have taken in just nine months.

On my first day in office, I prohibited without expectation or equivocation the use of torture by the United States of America.

I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And we are doing the hard work of forging a framework to combat extremism within the rule of law.

Every nation must know America will live its values, and we will lead by example. We have set a clear and focused goal to work with all members of this body to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaida and its extremist allies, a network that has killed thousands of people of many faiths and nations and that plotted to blow up this very building.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, we and many nations here are helping these governments develop the capacity to take the lead in this effort, while working to advance opportunity and security for their people.

In Iraq, we are responsibly ending a war. We have removed American combat brigades from Iraqi cities and set a deadline of next August to remove all our combat brigades from Iraqi territory. And I have made clear that we will help Iraqis transition to full responsibility for their future and keep our commitment to remove all American troops by the end of 2011.

I have outlined a comprehensive agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. In Moscow, the United States and Russia announced that we would pursue substantial reductions in our strategic warheads and launchers. At the Conference on Disarmament, we agreed on a work plan to negotiate an end to the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. And this week, my secretary of state will become the first senior American representative to the annual members conference of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Upon taking office, I appointed a special envoy for Middle East peace. And America has worked steadily and aggressively to advance the cause of two states, Israel and Palestine, in which peace and security take root and the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians are respected.

To confront climate change, we have invested $80 billion in clean energy. We have substantially increased our fuel-efficiency standards. We have provided new incentives for conservation, launched an energy partnership across the Americas, and moved from a bystander to a leader in international climate negotiations. To overcome an economic crisis that touches every corner of the world, we worked with the G-20 nations to forge a coordinated international response of over $2 trillion in stimulus to bring the global economy back from the brink. We mobilized resources that helped prevent the crisis from spreading further to developing countries, and we joined with others to launch a $20 billion global food security initiative that will lend a hand to those who need it most and help them build their own capacity.

We have also re-engaged the United Nations. We have paid our bills. We have joined the Human Rights Council.

We have signed the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals, and we address our priorities here in this institution, for instance, through the Security Council meeting that I will chair tomorrow on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament and through the issues that I will discuss today.

This is what we have already done, but this is just a beginning. Some of our actions have yielded progress. Some have laid the groundwork for progress in the future. But make no mistake: This cannot solely be America’s endeavor.

Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone. We have sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world, and now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.

If we are honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are not living up to that responsibility. Consider the course that we’re on if we fail to confront the status quo: extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world, protracted conflicts that grind on and on, genocide, mass atrocities, more nations with nuclear weapons, melting ice caps and ravaged populations, persistent poverty and pandemic disease.

I say this not to sow fear but to state a fact. The magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our actions.

This body was founded on the belief that the nations of the world could solve their problems together. Franklin Roosevelt died before he could see his vision for this institution become a reality. He put it this way, and I quote, “The structure of world peace should not be the work of one man or one party or one nation. It cannot be a piece of large nations or of small nations. It must be a piece which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.”

Cooperative effort of the whole world — those words ring even more true today, but it is not simply peace but our very health and prosperity that we hold in common. Yet we also know that this body is made up of sovereign states and, sadly but not surprisingly, this body has often become a forum for sowing discord instead of forging common ground, a venue for playing politics and exploiting grievances rather than solving problems.

After all, it is easy to walk up to this podium and point fingers and stoke divisions. Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions. Anybody can do that.

Responsibility and leadership in the 21st century demand more. In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero-sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate other nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed.

No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional divisions between nations of the south and the north make no sense in an interconnected world nor do alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long-gone Cold War.

The time has come to realize that the old habits, the old arguments are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people. They lead nations to act in opposition to the very goals that they claim to pursue and to vote, often in this body, against the interests of their own people.

They build up walls between us and the future that our people seek. And the time has come for those walls to come down. Together, we must build new coalitions that bridge old divides, coalitions of different faiths and creeds, of northern and south, east, west, black, white, and brown.

The choice is ours. We can be remembered as a generation that chose to drag the arguments of 20th century into the 21st, that put off hard choices, refused to look ahead, failed to keep pace because we defined ourselves by what we were against instead of what we were for. Or we can be a generation that chooses to see the shoreline beyond the rough waters ahead; that comes together to serve the common interests of human beings and finally gives meaning to the promise embedded in the nation given to this institution, the United Nations.

That is the future America wants; a future of peace and prosperity that we can only reach if we recognize that all nations have rights but all nations have responsibilities as well. That is the bargain that makes this work. That must be the guiding principle of international cooperation.

Today, let me put forward four pillars that I believe are fundamental to the future that we want for our children. Nonproliferation and disbarment, the promotion of peace and security, the preservation of our planet, and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.

First, we must stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the goal of a world without them. This institution was founded at the dawn of the atomic age, in part, because man’s capacity to kill had to be contained. For decades, we averted disaster even under the shadow of a superpower standoff. But today the threat of proliferation is growing in scope and complexity.

If we fail to act, we will invite nuclear arms races in every region and the prospect of wars and acts of terror on a scale that we can hardly imagine.

A fragile consensus stands in the way of this frightening outcome, and that is the basic bargain that shapes the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. It says that all nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy, that nations with nuclear weapons have a responsibility to move toward disarmament, and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them. The next 12 months could be pivotal in determining whether this compact will be strengthened or will slowly dissolve.

America intends to keep our end of the bargain. We will pursue a new agreement with Russia to substantially reduce our strategic warheads and launchers. We will move forward with ratification of the test ban treaty and work with others to bring the treaty into force so that nuclear testing is permanently prohibited.

We will complete a Nuclear Posture Review that opens the door to deeper cuts and reduces the role of nuclear weapons. And we will call upon countries to begin negotiations in January on a treaty to end the production of fissile material for weapons.

I will also host a summit next April that reaffirms each nation’s responsibility to secure nuclear material on its territory and to help those who can’t, because we must never allow a single nuclear device to fall into the hands of a violent extremist. And we will work to strengthen the institutions and initiatives that combat nuclear smuggling and theft.

All of this must support efforts to strengthen the NPT. Those nations that refuse to live up to their obligations must face consequences. Let me be clear: This is not about singling out individual nations. It is about standing up for the rights of all nations that do live up to their responsibilities, because a world in which IAEA inspections are avoided and the United Nations’ demands are ignored will leave all people less safe and all nations less secure.

In their actions to date, the governments of North Korea and Iran threaten to take us down this dangerous slope. We respect their rights as members of the community of nations. I have said before and I will repeat: I am committed to diplomacy that opens a path to greater prosperity and more secure peace for both nations if they live up to their obligations. But if the governments of Iran and North Korea choose to ignore international standards, if they put the pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of regional stability and the security and opportunity of their own people, if they are oblivious to the dangers of escalating nuclear arms races in both East Asia and the Middle East, then they must be held accountable.

The world must stand together to demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise and that treaties will be enforced. We must insist that the future does not belong to fear.

That brings me to the second pillar for our future: the pursuit of peace.

The United Nations was born of the belief that the people of the world can live their lives, raise their families, and resolve their differences peacefully. And yet we know that in too many parts of the world this ideal remains an abstraction, a distant dream.

We can either accept that outcome as inevitable and tolerate constant and crippling conflict or we can recognize that the yearning for peace is universal and reassert our resolve to end conflicts around the world.

That effort must begin with an unshakeable determination that the murder of innocent men, women and children will never be tolerated. On this, no one can be — there can be no dispute.

The violent extremists who promote conflict by distorting faith have discredited and isolated themselves. They offer nothing but hatred and destruction. In confronting them, America will forge lasting partnerships to target terrorists, share intelligence, and coordinate law enforcement, and protect our people.

We will permit no safe haven for Al Qaida to launch attacks from Afghanistan or any other nation. We will stand by our friends on the front lines, as we and many nations will do in pledging support for the Pakistani people tomorrow. And we will pursue positive engagement that builds bridges among faiths and new partnerships for opportunity.

Our efforts to promote peace, however, cannot be limited to defeating violent extremists for the most powerful weapon in our arsenal is the hope of human beings, the belief that the future belongs to those who would build and not destroy, the confidence that conflicts can end and a new day can begin.

And that is why we will support — we will strengthen our support for effective peacekeeping while energizing our efforts to prevent conflicts before they take hold. We will pursue a lasting peace in Sudan through support for the people of Darfur and the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement so that we secure the peace that the Sudanese people deserve.

And in countries ravaged by violence from Haiti to Congo to East Timor, we will work with the UN and other partners to support an enduring peace. I will also continue to seek a just and lasting peace twice Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world. We will continue to work on that issue…

Yesterday, I had a constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas. We have made some progress. Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security. Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians. As a result of these efforts on both sides, the economy in the West Bank has begun to grow, but more progress is needed.

We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel. And we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.

The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions that address the permanent status issues, security for Israelis and Palestinians, borders, refugees and Jerusalem. The goal is clear: Two states living side by side in peace and security; a Jewish state of Israel with true security for all Israelis and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people.

Now, as we pursue this goal, we will also pursue peace between Israel and Lebanon, Israel and Syria, and a broader peace between Israel and its many neighbors. In pursuit of that goal, we will develop regional initiatives with multilateral participation alongside bilateral negotiations.

Now, I am not naive. I know this will be difficult. But all of us — not just the Israelis and the Palestinians — but all of us must decide whether we are serious about peace or whether we will only lend it lip service. To break the old patterns, to break the cycle of insecurity and despair, all of us must say publicly what we would acknowledge in private.

The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians.

And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks against Israel over constructive willingness to recognize Israel’s legitimacy and its right to exist in peace and security.

We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It’s not paid by politicians. It’s paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night. It’s paid for by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own.

These are all God’s children. And, after all the politics and all the posturing, this is about the right of every human being to live with dignity and security. That is a lesson embedded in the three great faiths that call one small slice of Earth the Holy Land. And that is why — even though there will be setbacks, and false starts, and tough days — I will not waiver in my pursuit of peace.

Third, we must recognize that in the 21st century there will be no peace unless we take responsibility for the preservation of our planet.

And I thank the secretary general for hosting the subject of climate change yesterday.

The danger posed by climate change cannot be denied. Our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred. If we continue down our current course, every member of this assembly will see irreversible changes within their borders.

Our efforts to end conflicts will be eclipsed by wars over refugees and resources. Development will be devastated by drought and famine. Land that human beings have lived on for millennia will disappear. Future generations will look back and wonder why we refused to act, why we failed to pass on — why we failed to pass on an environment that was worthy of our inheritance.

And that is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over. We will move forward with investments to transform our energy economy, while providing incentives to make clean energy the profitable kind of energy.

We will press ahead with deep cuts in emissions to reach the goals that we set for 2020 and eventually 2050.

We will continue to promote renewable energy and efficiency and share new technologies with countries around the world. And we will seize every opportunity for progress to address this threat in a cooperative effort with the entire world.

Now, those wealthy nations that did so much damage to the environment in the 20th century must accept our obligation to lead, but responsibility does not end there. While we must acknowledge the need for differentiated responses, any effort to curb carbon emissions must include the fast-growing carbon emitters who can do more to reduce their air pollution without inhibiting growth.

And any effort that fails to help the poorest nations both adapt to the problems that climate change have already wrought and help them travel a path of clean development simply will not work.

It’s hard to change something as fundamental as how we use energy. I know that. It’s even harder to do so in the midst of a global recession. Certainly, it will be tempting to sit back and wait for others to move first.

But we cannot make this journey unless we all move forward together. As we head into Copenhagen, let us resolve to focus on what each of us can do for the sake of our common future.

This leads me to the final pillar that must fortify our future: a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.

The world is still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. In America, we see the engine of growth beginning to churn, and yet many still struggle to find a job or pay their bills. Across the globe, we find promising signs, but little certainty about what lies ahead.

And far too many people in far too many places live through the daily crises that challenge our humanity: the despair of an empty stomach; the thirst brought on by dwindling water supplies; the injustice of a child dying from a treatable disease; or a mother losing her life as she gives birth.

In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world’s largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained. That means vigilance to ensure that we do not let up until our people are back to work. That means taking steps to rekindle demand so that a global recovery can be sustained. And that means setting new rules of the road and strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed and the excess and the abuse that led us into this disaster and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.

At a time of such interdependence, we have a moral and pragmatic interests, however, in broader questions of development, the questions of development that existed even before this crisis happened.

And so America will continue our historic effort to help people feed themselves. We have set aside $63 billion to carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS, to end deaths from tuberculosis and malaria, to eradicate polio, and to strengthen public health systems.

We are joining with other countries to contribute H1N1 vaccines to the World Health Organization. We will integrate more economies into a system of global trade. We will support the Millennium Development Goals and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.

Now is the time for all of us to do our part. Growth will not be sustained or shared unless all nations embrace their responsibilities. And that means that wealthy nations must open their markets to more goods and extend a hand to those with less, while reforming international institutions to give more nations a greater voice.

And developing nations must root out the corruption that is an obstacle to progress, for opportunity cannot thrive where individuals are oppressed and business have to pay bribes. That is why we support honest police and independent judges, civil society and a vibrant private sector. Our goal is simple: a global economy in which growth is sustained and opportunity is available to all.

Now, the changes that I’ve spoken about today will not be easy to make, and they will not be realized simply by leaders like us coming together in forums like this, as useful as that may be.

For as in any assembly of members, real change can only come through the people we represent. That is why we must do the hard work to lay the groundwork for progress in our own capitals. That’s where we will build the consensus to end conflicts and to harness technology for peaceful purposes, to change the way we use energy, and to promote growth that can be sustained and shared.

I believe that the people of the world want this future for their children. And that is why we must champion those principles which ensure that governments reflect the will of the people. These principles cannot be afterthoughts; democracy and human rights are essential to achieving each of the goals that I’ve discussed today, because governments of the people and by the people are more likely to act in the broader interests of their own people, rather than narrow interests of those in power.

The test of our leadership will not be the degree to which we feed the fears and old hatreds of our people. True leadership will not be measured by the ability to muzzle dissent or to intimidate and harass political opponents at home.

The people of the world want change. They will not long tolerate those who are on the wrong side of history.

This assembly’s charter commits each of us — and I quote — “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.” Among those rights is the freedom to speak your mind and worship as you please, the promise of equality of the races, and the opportunity for women and girls to pursue their own potential, the ability of citizens to have a say in how you are governed, and to have confidence in the administration of justice.

For just as no nation should be forced to accept the tyranny of another nation, no individual should be forced to accept the tyranny of their own people.

As an African-American, I will never forget that I would not be here today without the steady pursuit of a more perfect union in my country. That guides my belief that no matter how dark the day may seem, transformative change can be forged by those who choose to side with justice.

And I pledge that America will always stand with those who stand up for their dignity and their rights, for the student who seeks to learn, the voter who demands to be heard, the innocent who longs to be free, the oppressed who yearns to be equal.

Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside. Each society must search for its own path, and no path is perfect. Each country will pursue a path rooted in the culture of its people and in its past traditions, and I admit that America has, too often, been selective in its promotion of democracy.

But that does not weaken our commitment. It only reinforces it. There are basic principles that are universal. There are certain truths which are self-evident, and the United States of America will never waiver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny.

Sixty-five years ago, a weary Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the American people in his fourth and final inaugural address. After years of war, he sought to sum up the lessons that could be drawn from the terrible suffering, the enormous sacrifice that had taken place. We have learned, he said, to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.

The United Nations was built by men and women like Roosevelt from every corner of the world, from Africa and Asia, Europe to the Americas. These architects of international cooperation had an idealism that was anything but naive. It was rooted in the hard- earned lessons of war, rooted in the wisdom that nations could advance their interests by acting together instead of splitting apart.

Now, it falls to us. Where this institution will be what we make of it, the United Nations does extraordinary good around the world feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, mending place that have been broken. But it also struggles to enforce its will and to live up to the ideals of its founding.

I believe that those imperfections are not a reason to walk away from this institution. They are a calling to redouble our efforts. The United Nations can either with a place where we bicker about outdated grievances or forge common ground, a place where we focus on what drives us apart or what brings us together, a place where we indulge tyranny or a source of moral authority.

In short, the United Nations can be an institution that is disconnected from what matters in the lives of our citizens or it can be an indispensable factor in advancing the interests of the people we serve. We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation, one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations. So with confidence in our cause and with a commitment to our values, we call on all nations to join us in building the future that our people so richly deserve.

Thank you very much, everyone.

Hey Media, Where’s the outrage?!?!

Last Thursday news broke that someone had gone undercover to expose A.C.O.R.N. in a major scandal. The story involved everything you’d expect to see in a late summer thriller: prostitution, human trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, direct ties and support from the sitting President of the United States of America. Unfortunately, this is not a Hollywood blockbuster and Matt Damon is not the lead actor. This is real life, with real people and real consequences, and your tax dollars hard at work.

The story, originally posted on Andrew Breitbart’s new website, BigGovernment.com by James O’Keefe, involved the A.C.O.R.N. office in Baltimore, Maryland O’Keefe and accomplice pretended to be a “pimp” and a “hooker” and apply for housing aid from A.C.O.R.N. The two employees pretty much helped out the pimp and hooker by providing them a “tax code” to make there “business” legit. Offered them advice on how to keep the feds from noticing how much money they were really making, even went as far as to explain to the undercover investigators that the 13 under-aged girls from El Salvador, who would be “working” for the couple, could be claimed as dependents on their tax returns. Sick right? But it gets even better on Friday, Sept, 11th they released another video, this time including the A.C.O.R.N. office in Washington D.C. and today the video from New York.

Perhaps you haven’t heard about these undercover investigations, perhaps you’re like a majority of Americans who still gets their news from the “Networks” ie: ABC, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC. It appears that FoxNews, lead by Glenn Beck, is leading the charge in exposing the corruption that is A.C.O.R.N. Now, in true “lets just sweep it under the rug” Obama administration fashion, late Friday evening the Census Director sent the A.C.O.R.N headquarters a letter relieving them of their 2010 census duties. Ultimate cutting all ties with the organization in light of the scandal. Great! Well if you just happened to be home and online surfing the news sites, you would have surely seen it. But if you were out, as most people are on a Friday evening, you probably missed it. It was too late for the evening national news, but too early to be “breaking” news for your 10/11pm local news channels. If your stations were like mine in the Twin Cities, you got to hear about how awesome High School football is. Hardly comparable to the ACORN scandal.

What I find to be so bizarre about the whole ordeal is not that Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, or even Andrew Breitbart have been screeching about this “organization” for MONTHS, but every other conservative in the country has had a bad feeling about ACORN since before the election when they were registering dead people, entire football teams, even Mickey Mouse to vote. But everyone of them were scoffed at, “Ohhh that crazy Glenn Beck, he’s just a right winger lunatic” or “Oh that racist Michelle Malkin, she just hates black people.” I’ve heard it all. And I must admit, when ACORN first popped up on my radar all kinds of red flags popped up. But having worked for a non-profit organization for the past 7 years, and seeing the inside of great charitable organizations all over the country and state of Minnesota, I WANTED to believe that they weren’t as bad as everyone said they were. Call me naive, but I tend to think there’s more good in the world and that a few bad apples can’t REALLY spoil the whole bunch. But I’m going to admit this publicly, I was very very wrong.

I applaud O’Keefe, Breitbart, Malkin, Beck and others for staying on top of the corruption within ACORN and the Obama Administration. I can only hope that the MSM will follow suit and start to pay attention to the lies and corruption, a few are waking up to the reality that Obama and Co. aren’t what they wanted them to be but I pray more will see the light. I know, I have high hopes. Liberals and the liberal media have, in the past, taken serious notice to any presidential/congressional scandal, even Bill Clinton and he didn’t even have ties to an organization providing aid to a pimp trying to bring a bunch of illegal minors into the country to work as hookers in a brothel in Baltimore. The fact that the senate, just this evening, has voted to deny ACORN any federal housing funds is a major indication of the seriousness of this news. But perhaps they’ll throw it on page 4 of the newspapers in the morning. Hey, at least its in there, right?

My faith in the liberal media and do-good organizations with ties to the president, the little that I had, has now been shattered and with the disgusting and vile things I saw, with my own eyes, ACORN trying to do. It only makes me wonder how many times an actual pimp or hooker received help from ACORN to fund their brothels and child sex trafficking rings. It really is evil and corruption at its worst and it makes me sick just thinking that OUR president was once a member of this “organization” of thugs and pimps.

Transcript: Obama’s 9/9/09 Health Care Reform Address to Congress

Tonight, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to discuss health care reform.  His goal was to address the concerns of skeptics on both sides of the political aisle, but many are already saying he merely repeated the same talking points he has been using for months and continued distorting the truths of what is actually in the health care bill. 

Here is the transcript from tonight’s speech:   

Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, and the American people:

When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month, credit was frozen, and our financial system was on the verge of collapse.

As any American who is still looking for work or a way to pay their bills will tell you, we are by no means out of the woods. A full and vibrant recovery is still many months away. And I will not let up until those Americans who seek jobs can find them.

Until — until those — until those businesses that seek capital and credit can thrive. Until all responsible homeowners can stay in their homes.

That it our ultimate goal. But thanks to the bold and decisive action we’ve taken since January, I can stand here with confidence and say that we have pulled this economy back from the brink.

Now, I want to thank the members of this body for your efforts and your support in these last several months, and especially those who have taken the difficult votes that have put us on the path to recovery.

I also want to thank the American people for their patience and resolve during this trying time for our nation.

But we did not come here just to clean up crises. We came here to build a future. So…

So tonight, I return to speak to all of you about an issue that is central to that future, and that is the issue of health care.

I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.

It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform.

And ever since, nearly every president and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell, Sr., in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge year after year, decade after decade, has led us to the breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed and can’t afford it since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer.

Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or too expensive to cover.

We are the only democracy, the only advanced democracy on Earth, the only wealthy nation that allows such hardship for millions of its people.

There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two-year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage.

In other words, it can happen to anyone.

But the problem that plagues the health care system is not just a problem for the uninsured. Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today.

More and more Americans worry that if you move, lose your job or change your job, you’ll lose your health insurance, too. More and more Americans pay their premiums, only to discover that their insurance company has dropped their coverage when they get sick, or won’t pay the full cost of care. It happens every day.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn’t reported gallstones that he didn’t even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.

Another woman, from Texas, was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer had more than doubled in size.

That is heartbreaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.

Then there’s the problem of rising costs. We spend one- and-a-half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren’t any healthier for it. This is one of the reasons that insurance premiums have gone up three times faster than wages.

It’s why so many employers, especially small businesses, are forcing their employers — employees to pay more for insurance, or are dropping their coverage entirely.

It’s why so many aspiring entrepreneurs cannot afford to open a business in the first place, and why American businesses that compete internationally, like our automakers, are at a huge disadvantage.

And it’s why those of us with health insurance are also paying a hidden and growing tax for those without it, about $1,000 per year that pays for somebody else’s emergency room and charitable care.

Finally, our health care system is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers. When health care costs grow at the rate they have, it puts greater pressure on programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

If we do nothing to slow these skyrocketing costs, we will eventually be spending more on Medicare and Medicaid than every other government program combined.

Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close.

Nothing else.

Now, these are the facts. Nobody disputes them. We know we must reform this system. The question is how. Now, there are those on the left who believe that the only way to fix the system is through a single-payer system like Canada’s, where we would — where we would severely restrict the private insurance market and have the government provide coverage for everybody.

On the right, there are those who argue that we should end employer-based systems and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own.

I have said — I have to say that there are arguments to be made for both these approaches. But either one would represent a radical shift that would disrupt the health care most people currently have. Since health care represents one-sixth of our economy, I believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn’t, rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch.

And that is precisely what those of you in Congress have tried to do over the several — past several months. During that time, we’ve seen Washington at its best and at its worst. We’ve seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform. Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week.

That has never happened before.

Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses, hospitals, seniors’ groups, and even drug companies — many of whom opposed reform in the past.

And there is agreement in this chamber on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.

But what we’ve also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have towards their own government. Instead of honest debate, we’ve seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.

Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed.

Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do.

Now’s the time to deliver on health care.

Now’s the time to deliver on health care.

The plan I’m announcing tonight would meet three basic goals.

It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance for those who don’t. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.

It’s a plan that asks everyone to take responsibility for meeting this challenge — not just government, not just insurance companies, but everybody, including employers and individuals.

And it’s a plan that incorporates ideas from senators and congressmen; from Democrats and Republicans, and yes, from some of my opponents in both the primary and general election.

Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan.

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the V.A., nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.

Let me — let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

What this plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition.

As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most.

They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime.

We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of- pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.

And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies.

Because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse.

That makes sense. It saves money, and it saves lives.

That’s what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan: more security and more stability.

Now, if you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans who don’t currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. If you…

… if you lose your job or you change your job, you’ll be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you’ll be able to get coverage. We’ll do this by creating a new insurance exchange, a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices.

Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It’s how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it’s time to give every American the same opportunity that we give ourselves.

Now, for those individuals and small businesses who still can’t afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we’ll provide tax credits, the size of which will be based on your need.

And all insurance companies that want access to this new marketplace will have to abide by the consumer protections I already mentioned.

This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can’t get insurance today because they have preexisting medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill.

This was a good idea when Senator John McCain proposed it in the campaign; it’s a good idea now, and we should all embrace it.

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those, and especially the young and the healthy, who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage.

The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don’t sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people’s expensive emergency room visits.

If some businesses don’t provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.

And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek, especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions, just can’t be achieved.

That’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.

Likewise — likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers.

There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still can’t afford coverage, and 95 percent of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements.

But…

But we can’t have large businesses and individuals who can afford coverage game the system by avoiding responsibility to themselves or their employees.

Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part. And while there remains some significant details to be ironed out, I believe…

(LAUGHTER)

… I believe a broad consensus exists for the aspects of the plan I just outlined: consumer protections for those with insurance; an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase affordable coverage; and a requirement that people who can afford insurance get insurance.

And I have no doubt that these reforms would greatly benefit Americans from all walks of life, as well as the economy as a whole.

Still, given all the misinformation that’s been spread over the past few months, I realize — I realize that many Americans have grown nervous about reform. So tonight, I want to address some of the key controversies that are still out there.

Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens.

Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie plain and simple.

Now…

Now, there are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

(UNKNOWN): That’s a lie. [Editor's note -- Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., yelled that. You can voice your opinion about his behavior at http://www.house.gov/formwilson/IMA/issue.htm]

(AUDIENCE BOOING) (ph)

That’s not true.

And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up: under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.

Now, my health care proposal has also been attacked by some who oppose reform as a “government takeover” of the entire health care system.

Now, as proof, critics point to a provision in our plan that allows the uninsured and small businesses to choose a publicly- sponsored insurance option, administered by the government, just like Medicaid or Medicare.

So let me set the record straight here.

My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there’s choice and competition. That’s how the market works.

Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama, almost 90 percent is controlled by just one company.

And without competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly — by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and trying to drop the sickest; by overcharging small businesses who have no leverage; and by jacking up rates.

Insurance executives don’t do this because they’re bad people. They do it because it’s profitable. As one former insurance executive testified before Congress, insurance companies are not only encouraged to find reasons to drop the seriously ill, they are rewarded for it.

All of this is in service of meeting what this former executive called “Wall Street’s relentless profit expectations.”

Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable.

And the insurance reforms that I’ve already mentioned would do just that, but an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.

Now, let me — let me be clear.

Let me be clear, it would only be an option for those who don’t have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance. In fact, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, we believe that less than 5 percent of Americans would sign up.

Despite all this, the insurance companies and their allies don’t like this idea. They argue that these private companies can’t fairly compete with the government, and they’d be right if taxpayers were subsidizing this public insurance option, but they won’t be. I’ve insisted that, like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums its collects.

But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better, the same way public colleges and universities provide additional choice and competition to students without in any way inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and universities.

Now, it is…

It’s — it’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I’ve proposed tonight. But its impact shouldn’t be exaggerated by the left or the right or the media. It is only one part of my plan, and shouldn’t be used as a handy excuse for the usual Washington ideological battles.

To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage available for those without it.

The public option — the public option is only a means to that end, and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.

And to my Republican friends, I say that rather than making wild claims about a government takeover of health care, we should work together to address any legitimate concerns you may have.

For example — for example, some have suggested that the public option go into effect only in those markets where insurance companies are not providing affordable policies. Others have proposed a co-op or another non-profit entity to administer the plan.

These are all constructive ideas worth exploring. But I will not back down on the basic principle that, if Americans can’t find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice.

And — and I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need.

Finally, let me discuss an issue that is a great concern to me, to members of this chamber, and to the public, and that’s how we pay for this plan.

Now, Here’s what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future.

I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future — period.

I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future. Period. And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promise don’t materialize.

Now, part of the reason I faced a trillion-dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for, from the Iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy.

I will not make that same mistake with health care.

Second, we’ve estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system, a system that is currently full of waste and abuse. Right now, too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care don’t make us any healthier. That’s not my judgment. It’s the judgment of medical professionals across this country.

And this is also true when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, I want to speak directly to seniors for a moment, because Medicare is another issue that’s been subjected to demagoguery and distortion during the course of this debate.

More than four decades ago, this nation stood up for the principle that after a lifetime of hard work, our seniors should not be left to struggle with a pile of medical bills in their later years.

That’s how Medicare was born. And it remains a sacred trust that must be passed down from one generation to the next. And that…

That is why not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.

The only…

The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies…

… subsidies that do everything to pad their profits, but don’t improve the care of seniors.

And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.

Now, these steps will ensure that you — America’s seniors — get the benefits you’ve been promised. They will ensure that Medicare is there for future generations. And we can use some of the savings to fill the gap in coverage that forces too many seniors to pay thousands of dollars a year out of their own pockets for prescription drugs.

That’s what this plan will do for you. So don’t pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut — especially since some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past…

… and just this year supported a budget that would essentially have turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program.

That will not happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.

Now, because Medicare is such a big part of the health care system, making the program more efficient can help usher in changes in the way we deliver health care that can reduce costs for everybody.

We have long known that some places, like the Intermountain Healthcare in Utah or the Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania, offer high-quality care at costs below average.

So the commission can help encourage the adoption of these common-sense best practices by doctors and medical professionals throughout the system — everything from reducing hospital infection rates to encouraging better coordination between teams of doctors.

Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan. Now, much…

Much of the rest would be paid for with revenues from the very same drug and insurance companies that stand to benefit from tens of millions of new customers.

And this reform will charge insurance companies a fee for their most expensive policies, which will encourage them to provide greater value for the money — an idea which has the support of Democratic and Republican experts.

And according to these same experts, this modest change could help hold down the cost of health care for all of us in the long run.

Now, finally, many in this chamber, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle, have long insisted that reforming our medical malpractice laws can help bring down the costs of health care.

Now — there you go.

There you go.

Now, I don’t believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, but I’ve talked to enough doctors to know that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs. So — so — so I’m proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine. I know…

… I know that the Bush administration considered authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these ideas. I think it’s a good idea, and I’m directing my secretary of health and human services to move forward on this initiative today.

Now, add it all up and the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years, less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.

Now, most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent — but spent badly — in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit. The middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1 percent each year — one-tenth of 1 percent — it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term.

Now, this is the plan I’m proposing. It’s a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight — Democrats and Republicans. And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open.

But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it.

I won’t stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out. And I will not…

And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time; not now.

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it the most. And more will die as a result.

We know these things to be true.

That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans counting on us to succeed — the ones who suffer silently and the ones who shared their stories with us at town halls, in e-mails, and in letters.

I received one of those letters a few days ago. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had written it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death.

In it, he spoke about what a happy time his last months were, thanks to the love and support of family and friends, his wife, Vicki, his amazing children, who are all here tonight.

And he expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform — “that great unfinished business of our society,” he called it — would finally pass.

He repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that “it concerns more than material things.”

“What we face,” he wrote, “is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom, and our healthy skepticism of government. And figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and, yes, sometimes angry debate. That’s our history.

For some of Ted Kennedy’s critics, his brand of liberalism represented an affront to American liberty. In their minds, his passion for universal health care was nothing more than a passion for big government. But those of us who knew Teddy and worked with him here — people of both parties — know that what drove him was something more.

His friend, Orrin Hatch, he knows that. They worked together to provide children with health insurance. His friend, John McCain, knows that. They worked together on a patients’ bill of rights. His friend, Chuck Grassley, knows that. They worked together to provide health care to children with disabilities.

On issues like these, Ted Kennedy’s passion was born not of some rigid ideology, but of his own experience — the experience of having two children stricken with cancer.

He never forgot the sheer terror and helplessness that any parent feels when a child is badly sick. And he was able to imagine what it must be like for those without insurance, what it’d be like to have to say to a wife or a child or an aging parent, “There is something that could make you better, but I just can’t afford it.”

That large-heartedness, that concern and regard for the plight of others is not a partisan feeling. It’s not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character.

Our ability to stand in other people’s shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together, that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand. A belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play. And an acknowledgement that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.

This has always been the history of our progress.

In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that Social Security would lead to socialism. But the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it.

In 1965, when some argued that Medicare represented a government takeover of health care, members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, did not back down.

They joined together so that all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind.

You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom.

But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited.

And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter — that at that point we don’t merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.

That was true then. It remains true today.

I understand how difficult this health care debate has been. I know that many in this country are deeply skeptical that government is looking out for them. I understand that the politically safe move would be to kick the can further down the road, to defer reform one more year, or one more election, or one more term.

But that is not what this moment calls for.

That’s not what we came here to do. We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it’s hard.

I still believe…

… I still believe that we can act when it’s hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things and that here and now we will meet history’s test, because that’s who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.

Thank you. God bless you and may God bless the United States of America.

Obama Addresses the Nation’s Schools, 9/8/09 Transcript

On September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama took the stage at a school in Arlington, Virginia to address school children of all ages – kindergarten students to high school seniors – across the country.  The speech was not without controversy.  Many claimed it was a step towards indoctrinating our children with the President’s political ideology.  Others claimed it was simply a motivational speech not unlike those given by previous Presidents.  Below, you will find the transcript of the speech as released by the White House.   

The President:  Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today. 

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.   

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year. 

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. 

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve. 

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. 

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. 

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. 

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. 

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. 

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right. 

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. 

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. 

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall. 

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. 

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. 

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” 

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. 

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. 

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. 

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?  

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.