Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:
Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some
of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud
salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow
citizens fought – and several thousand gave their lives.
We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the
United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first
time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the
first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this
country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The
Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have
begun to come home.
These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and
teamwork of America’s Armed Forces. At a time when too many of our
institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not
consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their
differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think
about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in
educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of
high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in
control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so
tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where
hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.
We can do this. I know we can, because we’ve done it before. At the
end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home
from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world
has ever known. My grandfather, a veteran of Patton’s Army, got the
chance to go to college on the GI Bill. My grandmother, who worked on a
bomber assembly line, was part of a workforce that turned out the best
products on Earth.
The two of them shared the optimism of a Nation that had triumphed
over a depression and fascism. They understood they were part of
something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that
every American had a chance to share – the basic American promise that
if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a
home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.
The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No
challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either
settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well,
while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an
economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share,
and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not
Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to
reclaim them.
Let’s remember how we got here. Long before the recession, jobs and
manufacturing began leaving our shores. Technology made businesses more
efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete. Folks at the top saw their
incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled
with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren’t, and personal debt
that kept piling up.
In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had
been sold to people who couldn’t afford or understand them. Banks had
made huge bets and bonuses with other people’s money. Regulators had
looked the other way, or didn’t have the authority to stop the bad
behavior.
It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a
crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and
left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag. In the six months
before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost
another four million before our policies were in full effect.
Those are the facts. But so are these. In the last 22 months,
businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they
created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring
again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together,
we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we’ve put
in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like
that never happens again.
The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we’ve come too far to
turn back now. As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in
this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight
obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the
very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first
place.
No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad
debt, and phony financial profits. Tonight, I want to speak about how we
move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to
last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy,
skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.
This blueprint begins with American manufacturing.
On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of
collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at
stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded
responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their
differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today,
General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker.
Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford
is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the
entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.
We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.
What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries. It can
happen in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Raleigh. We can’t bring back
every job that’s left our shores. But right now, it’s getting more
expensive to do business in places like China. Meanwhile, America is
more productive. A few weeks ago, the CEO of Master Lock told me that it
now makes business sense for him to bring jobs back home. Today, for
the first time in fifteen years, Master Lock’s unionized plant in
Milwaukee is running at full capacity.
