After almost two years of campaigning, Barack Obama will make his "closing argument" today and I like where he's going. I have some excerpts here from the prepared remarks. Key to me is this:
So the choice in this election isn't between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It's about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it.
Time: Excerpts of Senator Barack Obama's Remarks—as prepared for delivery. Closing Argument Speech On The Change We Need
More, after the fold.
There are core principles at issue in this election. Outside all the smears and hate spun by John McCain, there are real differences. Does America stand only for the right of the wealthy to exploit working people? Do we accept Two Americas as permanent? Or do we work to bring One America together? In some ways, Hoover v. FDR. Unregulated, rapacious capitalism v. reform capitalism with a human face.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We need real change.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked, and it's time for change. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
snip
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
Time: Excerpts of Senator Barack Obama's Remarks—as prepared for delivery. Closing Argument Speech On The Change We Need
A fundamental, transformative change in our political culture:
But as I've said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn't just about new programs and policies. It's about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
snip
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That's what's been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that's what we need to restore right now.
Time: Excerpts of Senator Barack Obama's Remarks—as prepared for delivery. Closing Argument Speech On The Change We Need
We now start to reclaim America on November 4.