of our values. As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we're
threatened, which is why I have prohibited torture and worked to make
sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained.
It's why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has
resurfaced in certain parts of the world. It's why we continue to
reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims, the vast majority of whom
share our commitment to peace. That's why we defend free speech and
advocate for political prisoners and condemn the persecution of women
or religious minorities or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender. We do these things not only because they are the right
thing to do, but because ultimately, they will make us safer.
As Americans, we have a profound commitment to justice. So it makes no
sense to spend $3 million per prisoner to keep open a prison that the
world condemns and terrorists use to recruit. Since I've been President,
we've worked responsibly to cut the population of Gitmo in half. Now it
is time to finish the job. And I will not relent in my determination to
shut it down. It is not who we are. It's time to close Gitmo.
As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties, and we need to uphold
that commitment if we want maximum cooperation from other countries and
industry in our fight against terrorist networks. So while some have
moved on from the debates over our surveillance programs, I have not.
As promised, our intelligence agencies have worked hard, with the
recommendations of privacy advocates, to increase transparency and
build more safeguards against potential abuse. And next month, we'll
issue a report on how we're keeping our promise to keep our country
safe while strengthening privacy.
Looking to the future instead of the past, making sure we match our
power with diplomacy and use force wisely, building coalitions to meet
new challenges and opportunities, leading always with the example of
our values--that's what makes us exceptional. That's what keeps us
strong. That's why we have to keep striving to hold ourselves to the
highest of standards: our own.
You know, just over a decade ago, I gave a speech in Boston where I
said there wasn't a liberal America or a conservative America, a Black
America or a White America, but a United States of America. I said this
because I had seen it in my own life, in a nation that gave someone
like me a chance; because I grew up in Hawaii, a melting pot of races
and customs; because I made Illinois my home, a State of small towns,
rich farmland, one of the world's great cities, a microcosm of the
country where Democrats and Republicans and Independents, good people
of every ethnicity and every faith, share certain bedrock values.
Over the past 6 years, the pundits have pointed out more than once that
my Presidency hasn't delivered on this vision. How ironic, they say,
that our politics seems more divided than ever. It's held up as proof
not just of my own flaws--of which there are many--but also as proof that
the vision itself is misguided, naive, that there are too many people
in this town who actually benefit from partisanship and gridlock for us
to ever do anything about it.
I know how tempting such cynicism may be. But I still think the cynics
are wrong. I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that
together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long.
I believe this because over and over in my 6 years in office, I have
seen America at its best. I've seen the hopeful faces of young
graduates from New York to California and our newest officers at West
Point, Annapolis, Colorado Springs, New London. I've mourned with
grieving families in Tucson and Newtown, in Boston, in West, Texas, and
West Virginia. I've watched Americans beat back adversity from the Gulf
Coast to the Great Plains, from Midwest assembly lines to the Mid-
Atlantic seaboard. I've seen something like gay marriage go from a
wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our
country, a civil right now legal in States that 7 in 10 Americans call
home. So I know the good and optimistic and big-hearted generosity of
the American people who every day live the idea that we are our
brother's keeper and our sister's keeper. And I know they expect those
of us who serve here to set a better example.
So the question for those of us here tonight is how we, all of us, can
better reflect America's hopes. I've served in Congress with many of
you. I know many of you well. There are a lot of good people here on
both sides of the aisle. And many of you have told me that this isn't
what you signed up for: arguing past each other on cable shows, the
constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base
will react to every decision.
Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did
something different. Understand, a better politics isn't one where
Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine. A
better politics is one where we appeal to each other's basic decency
instead of our basest fears. A better politics is one where we debate
without demonizing each other, where we talk issues and values and
principles and facts rather than "gotcha" moments or trivial gaffes or
fake controversies that have nothing to do with people's daily lives.
A politics--a better politics is one where we spend less time drowning
in dark money for ads that pull us into the gutter and spend more time
lifting young people up with a sense of purpose and possibility, asking
them to join in the great mission of building America.
If we're going to have arguments, let's have arguments, but let's make
them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country. We still
may not agree on a woman's right to choose, but surely we can agree
it's a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing
alltime lows and that every woman should have access to the health care
that she needs.
Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see
something of ourselves in the striving young student and agree that no
one benefits when a hard-working mom is snatched from her child and
that it's possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a
nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. I've talked to Republicans
and Democrats about that. That's something that we can share.
We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the
right to vote is sacred, that it's being denied to too many, and that
on this 50th anniversary of the great march from Selma to Montgomery
and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we can come together,
Democrats and Republicans, to make voting easier for every single
American.
We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But
surely we can understand a father who fears his son can't walk home
without being harassed. And surely we can understand the wife who won't
rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door
at the end of his shift. And surely we can agree that it's a good thing
that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the
incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting
point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law
enforcement, to reform America's criminal justice system so that it
protects and serves all of us.
That's a better politics. That's how we start rebuilding trust. That's
how we move this country forward. That's what the American people want.
And that's what they deserve.
I have no more campaigns to run.
[At this point, some audience members applauded.]
My only agenda--[laughter]. Audience member. [Inaudible]
The President. I know because I won both of them. [Laughter] My only
agenda for the next 2 years is the same as the one I've had since the
day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol: to do what I believe
is best for America. If you share the broad vision I outlined tonight,
I ask you to join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of
it, I hope you'll at least work with me where you do agree. And I
commit to every Republican here tonight that I will not only seek out
your ideas, I will seek to work with you to make this country stronger.
Because I want this Chamber, I want this city to reflect the truth:
that for all our blind spots and shortcomings, we are a people with the
strength and generosity of spirit to bridge divides, to unite in common
effort, to help our neighbors, whether down the street or on the other
side of the world.
I want our actions to tell every child in every neighborhood, your life
matters, and we are committed to improving your life chances, as
committed as we are to working on behalf of our own kids. I want future
generations to know that we are a people who see our differences as a
great gift, that we're a people who value the dignity and worth of
every citizen: man and woman, young and old, Black and White, Latino,
Asian, immigrant, Native American, gay, straight, Americans with mental
illness or physical disability. Everybody matters. I want them to grow
up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true:
that we are still more than a collection of red States and blue States,
that we are the United States of America.
I want them to grow up in a country where a young mom can sit down and
write a letter to her President with a story that sums up these past 6
years: "It's amazing what you can bounce back from when you have
to. . . . We are a strong, tight-knit family who's made it through some
very, very hard times."
My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We too
have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new
century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun
again the work of remaking America. We have laid a new foundation. A
brighter future is ours to write. Let's begin this new chapter together,
and let's start the work right now.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless this country we love. Thank you.
***
Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union
Barack Obama
January 12, 2016
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my
fellow Americans: Tonight marks the eighth year that I've come here to
report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, I'm going to
try to make it a little shorter. I know some of you are antsy to get
back to Iowa. [Laughter] I've been there. I'll be shaking hands
afterwards if you want some tips. [Laughter]
Now, I understand that because it's an election season, expectations
for what we will achieve this year are low. But, Mr. Speaker, I
appreciate the constructive approach that you and other leaders took at
the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts permanent for
working families. So I hope we can work together this year on some
bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform and helping people
who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse. So, who
knows, we might surprise the cynics again.
But tonight I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for
the year ahead. Don't worry, I've got plenty--[laughter]--from helping
students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical
treatments for patients. And I will keep pushing for progress on the
work that I believe still needs to be done: fixing a broken immigration
system, protecting our kids from gun violence, equal pay for equal work,
paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to
hard-working families. They're still the right thing to do. And I won't
let up until they get done.
But for my final address to this Chamber, I don't want to just talk
about next year. I want to focus on the next 5 years, the next 10 years,
and beyond. I want to focus on our future.
We live in a time of extraordinary change, change that's reshaping the
way we live, the way we work, our planet, our place in the world. It's
change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic
disruptions that strain working families. It promises this education
for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists
plotting an ocean away. It's change that can broaden opportunity or
widen inequality. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this
change will only accelerate.
America has been through big changes before: wars and depression, the
influx of new immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, movements
to expand civil rights. Each time, there have been those who told us to
fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change; who
promised to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that
was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those
fears. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the "dogmas of
the quiet past." Instead, we thought anew and acted anew. We made
change work for us, always extending America's promise outward, to the
next frontier, to more people. And because we did, because we saw
opportunity with a--where others saw peril, we emerged stronger and
better than before.
What was true then can be true now. Our unique strengths as a nation--
our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery, our diversity,
our commitment to rule of law--these things give us everything we need
to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come.
In fact, it's in that spirit that we have made progress these past 7
years. That's how we recovered from the worst economic crisis in
generations. That's how we reformed our health care system and
reinvented our energy sector. That's how we delivered more care and
benefits to our troops coming home and our veterans. That's how we
secured the freedom in every State to marry the person we love.
But such progress is not inevitable. It's the result of choices we make
together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the
changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, turning
against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with
confidence in who we are, in what we stand for, in the incredible
things that we can do together?
So let's talk about the future and four big questions that I believe we
as a country have to answer, regardless of who the next President is or
who controls the next Congress. First, how do we give everyone a fair
shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we
make technology work for us and not against us, especially when it
comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do
we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?
And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what's best in us and
not what's worst?
Let me start with the economy and a basic fact: The United States of
America right now has the strongest, most durable economy in the world.
We're in the middle of the longest streak of private sector job
creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs, the strongest 2
years of job growth since the 1990s, an unemployment rate cut in half.
Our auto industry just had its best year ever. That's just part of a
manufacturing surge that's created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past
6 years. And we've done all this while cutting our deficits by almost
three-quarters.
Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling
fiction. Now, what is true--and the reason that a lot of Americans feel
anxious--is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes
that started long before the great recession hit, changes that have not
let up.
Today, technology doesn't just replace jobs on the assembly line, but
any job where work can be automated. Companies in a global economy can
locate anywhere, and they face tougher competition. As a result,
workers have less leverage for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to
their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated
at the very top.
All these trends have squeezed workers, even when they have jobs, even
when the economy is growing. It's made it harder for a hard-working
family to pull itself out of poverty, harder for young people to start
their careers, tougher for workers to retire when they want to. And
although none of these trends are unique to America, they do offend our
uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a
fair shot.
For the past 7 years, our goal has been a growing economy that also
works better for everybody. We've made progress, but we need to make
more. And despite all the political arguments that we've had these past
few years, there are actually some areas where Americans broadly agree.
We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the
education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The
bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and
together, we've increased early childhood education, lifted high school
graduation rates to new highs, boosted graduates in fields like
engineering. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by
providing pre-K for all and offering every student the hands-on
computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one.
We should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids.
And we have to make college affordable for every American. No hard-
working student should be stuck in the red. We've already reduced
student loan payments by--to 10 percent of a borrower's income. And
that's good. But now we've actually got to cut the cost of college.
Providing 2 years of community college at no cost for every responsible
student is one of the best ways to do that, and I'm going to keep
fighting to get that started this year. It's the right thing to do.
But a great education isn't all we need in this new economy. We also
need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security.
It's not too much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in
America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a
health and retirement package for 30 years are sitting in this Chamber.
[Laughter] For everyone else, especially folks in their forties and
fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has
gotten a lot tougher. Americans understand that at some point in their
careers, in this new economy, they may have to retool, they may have to
retrain. But they shouldn't lose what they've already worked so hard to
build in the process.
That's why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever.
We shouldn't weaken them, we should strengthen them. And for Americans
short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as
everything else is today. That, by the way, is what the Affordable Care
Act is all about. It's about filling the gaps in employer-based care so
that when you lose a job or you go back to school or you strike out and
launch that new business, you'll still have coverage. Nearly 18 million
people have gained coverage so far. And in the process, health care
inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single
month since it became law.
Now, I'm guessing we won't agree on health care anytime soon, but--
[laughter]--a little applause back there. [Laughter] Just a guess. But
there should be other ways parties can work together to improve
economic security. Say a hard-working American loses his job. We
shouldn't just make sure that he can get unemployment insurance, we
should make sure that program encourages him to retrain for a business
that's ready to hire him. If that new job doesn't pay as much, there
should be a system of wage insurance in place so that he can still pay
his bills. And even if he's going from job to job, he should still be
able to save for retirement and take his savings with him. That's the
way we make the new economy work better for everybody.
I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling
poverty. America is about giving everybody willing to work a chance, a
hand up. And I'd welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can
all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers who don't
have children.
But there are some areas where--we just have to be honest--it has been
difficult to find agreement over the last 7 years. And a lot of them
fall under the category of what role the Government should play in
making sure the system's not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and
biggest corporations. And it's an honest disagreement, and the American
people have a choice to make.
I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. I
think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed. There is
redtape that needs to be cut. [Applause] There you go! Yes! See? But
after years now of record corporate profits, working families won't get
more opportunity or bigger paychecks just by letting big banks or big
oil or hedge funds make their own rules at everybody else's expense.
Middle class families are not going to feel more secure because we
allowed attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered. Food stamp
recipients did not cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall
Street did. Immigrants aren't the principal reason wages haven't gone
up; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that all too often put
quarterly earnings over long-term returns. It's sure not the average
family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore
accounts. [Laughter]
The point is, I believe that in this new economy, workers and startups
and small businesses need more of a voice, not less. The rules should
work for them. And I'm not alone in this. This year, I plan to lift up
the many businesses who have figured out that doing right by their
workers or their customers or their communities ends up being good for
their shareholders. And I want to spread those best practices across
America. That's part of a brighter future.
In fact, it turns, out many of our best corporate citizens are also our
most creative. And this brings me to the second big question we as a
country have to answer: How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to
meet our biggest challenges?
Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny
Sputnik was up there. [Laughter] We didn't argue about the science or
shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program
almost overnight. And 12 years later, we were walking on the Moon.
Now, that spirit of discovery is in our DNA. America is Thomas Edison
and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. America is Grace
Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. America is every immigrant
and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley, racing to
shape a better future. That's who we are.
And over the past 7 years, we've nurtured that spirit. We've protected
an open Internet and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-
income Americans online. We've launched next-generation manufacturing
hubs and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she
needs to start a business in a single day. But we can do so much more.
Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America
can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give
scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources
that they've had in over a decade. Well--so tonight I'm announcing a new
national effort to get it done. And because he's gone to the mat for
all of us on so many issues over the past 40 years, I'm putting Joe in
charge of mission control. For the loved ones we've all lost, for the
families that we can still save, let's make America the country that
cures cancer once and for all. What do you say, Joe? Let's make it
happen.