(
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall). . . this is a common-sense bill. It doesn’t do everything that everybody wants, but it moves us in the direction of universal health care coverage in this country and that's why everybody here fought so hard for it.
This is the reform that some folks in Washington are still hollering about, still shouting about. Now that they passed it -- now that we passed it, they’re already promising to repeal it. They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal in November. You’ve been hearing that. And my attitude is: Go for it.
If these congressmen in Washington want to come here in Iowa and tell small business owners that they plan to take away their tax credits and essentially raise their taxes, be my guest. If they want to look Lauren Gallagher in the eye and tell her they plan to take away her father’s health insurance, that’s their right. If they want to make Darlyne Neff pay more money for her check-ups, her mammograms, they can run on that platform. If this young man out here thinks this is a bad bill, he can run to repeal it. If they want to have that fight, we can have it. Because I don’t believe that the American people are going to put the insurance industry back in the driver’s seat. We’ve already been there. We're not going back. This country is moving forward.
The road to this victory, Iowa, has been long, it has been difficult. It’s a struggle that a lot of brave Americans have waged for years. For others, like our friend Ted Kennedy, it’s a struggle that was waged for nearly a lifetime.
(
REUTERS/Jason Reed )
But what this struggle has taught us -- about ourselves and about this country -- is so much bigger than any one issue, because it’s reminded us what so many of us learned all those months ago on a cold January night here in Iowa, and that’s that change is never easy, but it’s always possible. It comes not from the halls of power, but from the hearts of our people. Amid setbacks, it requires perseverance. Amid calls for delay, it requires the fierce urgency of now. In the face of unrelenting cynicism, it requires unyielding hope.
And when I came here three years ago, I told the story of when Lyndon Johnson stood with Harry Truman and signed Medicare into law. That wasn’t perfect either. I’m sure there was somebody who was dissatisfied with it at the time. And as he looked out over the crowd in Independence, Missouri, that day, he said, “History shapes men, but it is a necessary faith of leadership that men can shape history.”
What this generation has proven today is that we still have the power to shape history. In the United States of America, it is still a necessary faith that our destiny is written by us, not for us. Our future is what we make it. Our future is what we make it. Look, this is not the end of difficult times for America. From creating jobs to reducing deficits to making sure every child has a decent education, we still face enormous challenges in this country. And as we meet those challenges, we’re going to face more resistance. We’re going to face more doubt, we’re going to face more cynicism. We’re going to hear more voices who will warn us that we’re reaching too far, that we’re going too fast; who are going to tell us that we can’t, who are going to just make wild accusations about what we’re trying to do.
And when that happens, we’ve got to remember the promise that we have already fulfilled, and the people who fulfilled it, and the generations before us who made it possible. We’re going to have to respond with the creed that continues to define the character of this country we love, and it’s my favorite memory of Iowa, that creed that says: Yes, we can.
(
REUTERS/Jason Reed )
complete transcript of Iowa speech:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-health-insurance-reform-university-iowa-field-house-iowa-city-iow
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
