R.T. Rybak Speech to Democratic National Convention
Content
It was a cold December morning four and a half years ago when we pulled our van full of college students into Buffalo Center, Iowa, population 905. We went door to door, person to person, campaigning for Barack Obama. Almost no one had heard of him, and they asked tough questions, like Iowans do. Would he stand up for middle class people like them, not just those at the very top? Would he get us out of the mess in Iraq? And they asked did he have the guts to take on the insurance companies and reform health care? Conversations like that were happening all over Iowa. Iowans can be tough but Iowans know the real deal when they see them. But Iowans looked him in the eye, took the measure of the man, and sent him on to become President of the United States. Thank you, Iowa, for that. A lot has happened since then. We still have a long, long way to go. But today we can go back to Buffalo Center, and towns across America, and say that in the toughest of times, this President delivered for the middle class. He walked into a Washington was paralyzed, after the greatest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression he took over. The auto industry was on the brink of collapse. He faced two wars, Bin Laden was at large. And so much more. Barack Obama got to work. Our president delivered a Recovery Act that’s one of the reasons why we’ve had 29 straight months of private sector job growth. He put 400,000 teachers and education workers in our schools, and thousands of police and firefighters on the streets of our cities.
He ignored skeptics — like Mitt Romney — and took bold action to save the auto industry. Romney was wrong. Obama was right. One million more people work in the auto industry today. Romney was wrong. Obama was right. He added years to Medicare’s life by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse — while preserving services for seniors. He got us out of Iraq. He got Bin Laden. There are thousands more college students can pay for school because our President got middlemen out of college loans. College graduates have one less bill to pay because they can stay on their parents’ health care until they are 26. In Minneapolis, President Obama's leadership has helped us train 500 unemployed workers in clean-energy jobs, and in Denver, hundreds more are working on commuter rail lines. And in Minneapolis, where we know the human tragedy of a bridge collapse -Thank you president Obama for delivering the resources to help us rebuild the Camden Bridge. And that bridge in Louisville. And bridges and infrastructure across the country. Thank you president Obama. President Obama did all this, and much, much more, in spite of a Republican Party that said its number-one goal wasn't to help solve any of these problems. They said their number-one goal was to stop President Obama. Think about this, Ladies and Gentleman, In the middle of one of the greatest crisis in American history, they sat on their hands and played politics.
Look, I was raised a Republican, but I don't recognize a once-proud party that’s been hijacked by extremists who've driven it off the flat earth they pretend we’re living on. They spent eight years creating a colossal mess and the last four doing almost nothing — except, of course, trying to blame it on President Obama. Hey, pyromaniacs shouldn't blame the firefighter. Okay, now Mitt Romney wants to go back to the bad old days that got us into this mess. He would give up everything that creates opportunity for the middle class — just to pay for those massive tax breaks for those who are already very, very comfortable. Romney’s message is clear: in tough times, folks, you’re on your own. Now, President Obama knows something different. He knows America became great because in tough times, we come together. My pioneer relatives didn't cross the Plains alone; they did it in a wagon train. And my immigrant relatives who settled New Prague, Minnesota could succeed in their general store on Main Street because they needed the farmers and the farmers needed them. There were native people who survived the incredibly harsh Minnesota winters because they hunted and cooked together. And when it snows in Minnesota today, all over town people look in on their elderly neighbor and shovel their walk. When my dad died, and left my mom with three kids and a drug store in the inner city, she picked up the piece – and I owe everything to her – but my mom would be the first to tell you she didn’t do it alone. We were surrounded by a community of support.
In tough times, we come together. It's the most basic American value. It's the value that built the Midwest. President Obama learned that value from his Kansan family. That’s why he believes in an America: Where women get equal pay for equal work; Where every person, in the words of that great Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey, can "walk out of the shadows and into the bright sunlight" of equal rights; Where you can serve the country you love without hiding you love; Where in the country of the Statue of Liberty, every child, every child can live the American Dream. We come together in tough times. Back on that cold day in Buffalo Center, I so incredibly proud to campaign for Barack Obama. But I'm even prouder today. Back then, I hoped he would be a great leader. Today, I know it. President Obama earned every gray hair on his head fighting for the middle class, and for every American. Now it is time to stand up America and fight for this man as hard as he has for you. And if you do that, we’ve come a long way but the best is yet to come.
He ignored skeptics — like Mitt Romney — and took bold action to save the auto industry. Romney was wrong. Obama was right. One million more people work in the auto industry today. Romney was wrong. Obama was right. He added years to Medicare’s life by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse — while preserving services for seniors. He got us out of Iraq. He got Bin Laden. There are thousands more college students can pay for school because our President got middlemen out of college loans. College graduates have one less bill to pay because they can stay on their parents’ health care until they are 26. In Minneapolis, President Obama's leadership has helped us train 500 unemployed workers in clean-energy jobs, and in Denver, hundreds more are working on commuter rail lines. And in Minneapolis, where we know the human tragedy of a bridge collapse -Thank you president Obama for delivering the resources to help us rebuild the Camden Bridge. And that bridge in Louisville. And bridges and infrastructure across the country. Thank you president Obama. President Obama did all this, and much, much more, in spite of a Republican Party that said its number-one goal wasn't to help solve any of these problems. They said their number-one goal was to stop President Obama. Think about this, Ladies and Gentleman, In the middle of one of the greatest crisis in American history, they sat on their hands and played politics.
Look, I was raised a Republican, but I don't recognize a once-proud party that’s been hijacked by extremists who've driven it off the flat earth they pretend we’re living on. They spent eight years creating a colossal mess and the last four doing almost nothing — except, of course, trying to blame it on President Obama. Hey, pyromaniacs shouldn't blame the firefighter. Okay, now Mitt Romney wants to go back to the bad old days that got us into this mess. He would give up everything that creates opportunity for the middle class — just to pay for those massive tax breaks for those who are already very, very comfortable. Romney’s message is clear: in tough times, folks, you’re on your own. Now, President Obama knows something different. He knows America became great because in tough times, we come together. My pioneer relatives didn't cross the Plains alone; they did it in a wagon train. And my immigrant relatives who settled New Prague, Minnesota could succeed in their general store on Main Street because they needed the farmers and the farmers needed them. There were native people who survived the incredibly harsh Minnesota winters because they hunted and cooked together. And when it snows in Minnesota today, all over town people look in on their elderly neighbor and shovel their walk. When my dad died, and left my mom with three kids and a drug store in the inner city, she picked up the piece – and I owe everything to her – but my mom would be the first to tell you she didn’t do it alone. We were surrounded by a community of support.
In tough times, we come together. It's the most basic American value. It's the value that built the Midwest. President Obama learned that value from his Kansan family. That’s why he believes in an America: Where women get equal pay for equal work; Where every person, in the words of that great Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey, can "walk out of the shadows and into the bright sunlight" of equal rights; Where you can serve the country you love without hiding you love; Where in the country of the Statue of Liberty, every child, every child can live the American Dream. We come together in tough times. Back on that cold day in Buffalo Center, I so incredibly proud to campaign for Barack Obama. But I'm even prouder today. Back then, I hoped he would be a great leader. Today, I know it. President Obama earned every gray hair on his head fighting for the middle class, and for every American. Now it is time to stand up America and fight for this man as hard as he has for you. And if you do that, we’ve come a long way but the best is yet to come.
