Citing Auto Bailout, Gays in Military, Health Care, Obama Claims ‘Vision That Is Truest to Our History’
At a campaign fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said that the vision of America he is fighting for “is the vision that is truest to our history.”
He then went on to cite his accomplishments in bringing the federal government to the “rescue” of the economy and the auto industry, in ending the war in Iraq, in lifting the ban on homosexuality in the military, in enacting his health-care reform plan and in bringing “some integrity to the financial sector.”
“I am confident that the vision that we believe in so deeply and that we've worked so hard for is the vision that is truest to our history and most representative of the core decency of the American people,” Obama told a group of contributors.
“But we're going to have to fight for it. It's not a slam-dunk,” said Obama, according to the White House transcript of his remarks. “We're going to have to deliver this message effectively all across the country. And at a time when people have been battered by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, it's understandable if people aren’t feeling as chipper as they were back in 2008. There's going to be some skepticism. There's going to be some pushback.
“All of the things that we've done over the last three years--to rescue the economy and rescue the auto industry, and end the war in Iraq and make sure that health care is in place, and financial reform brings back some integrity to the financial sector--all those things don't mean that much to somebody if they're still out of work right now, or their house is still underwater by $100,000,” said Obama.
“So, yeah, this is going to be tough,” he said. “But I just want to remind all of you that you didn’t decide to support Barack Hussein Obama because it was going to be easy. There were always easier choices to make, just as there would have been easier political choices for me to make. We took a flyer on this thing because we believe passionately in an America in which everybody is getting ahead.
“That's worth fighting for,” he said. “And here's my message to you. If you guys stick with this, if you don't falter, if you stay steady, we are going to win this thing. We are going to win this thing, and America is going to win as a consequence.”
