Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: Back to the Failed Top-Down Policies

President Barack Obama Weekly Address August 11, 2012 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
August 11, 2012

Hi, everybody. Today, I want to talk about something that most of you know already – it’s hot outside. It’s really hot. And if this feels worse than normal, that’s because it is. We just found out that the month of July was the warmest month on record – warmer than any other month since we began keeping track more than a century ago.
But the heat is just half the story. We’re also suffering through one of the worst droughts in over 50 years. More than a fifth of this country is experiencing what we call “extreme” or “exceptional” drought – with states like Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas getting hit harder than most.
That’s bad news for a lot of people, but it’s especially tough on our farmers. Right now, half of the corn crop in America is in poor or very poor condition. Cattle farmers are struggling to feed their animals. Many folks are seeing their livelihoods dry up in front of their eyes. And if we don’t get relief soon, Americans everywhere will start feeling the pinch, with higher prices on grocery store shelves all across the country.
We can’t let that happen. That’s why, at my direction, the Department of Agriculture, led by Secretary Vilsack, has been working with other agencies across the federal government to make sure we’re doing everything we can to help farmers and ranchers fight back and recover from this disaster. Already, we’ve given farmers across 32 states access to low-interest emergency loans.
We’ve opened up more federal land for grazing. And we’re working with crop insurance companies to give farmers a short grace period on their premiums, since some families will be struggling to make ends meet at the end of the year.
This past week, we went even further – announcing an additional $30 million to help get more water to livestock and restore land affected by the drought. We’re making it easier for even more farmers, ranchers and businesses to get emergency loans. And the Department of Transportation is helping more truck drivers deliver supplies to states that need them the most.
This is an all-hands-on-deck response, and we’ll be doing even more in the coming weeks to help families and communities that are suffering right now.
But my Administration can’t do it alone. Congress needs to do its part, too. They need to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to these kinds of disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some certainty year-round. That’s the single best way we can help rural communities right now, and also in the long-term.
So call your Members of Congress, write them an email, and tell them that now is the time to come together and get this done. Too many Americans are suffering right now to let politics get in the way. Let’s help farmers, ranchers and business owners recover. Let’s make sure that families who already stretch their budgets to the limit don’t have to pay more for groceries this fall.
In the meantime, I’ll keep doing everything I can to help respond to this disaster. Because at times like these, it doesn’t matter if you live in Des Moines or Detroit – we’re Americans first. And if we look out for each other, we’ll come out of this stronger than before.
Have a great weekend, everybody. And stay cool.

Why do I prefer President Barak Obama?

Well, I think President Barak Obama is the better choice because he has proven over and over again that he is not just a good  rhetorician but really cares about people, regardless of color, sex, heritage,wealth, income or sexual orientation.

I have to ask myself, do I want to have a man who says that only a good businessman, such as a CEO of a company, can also be a good President for the country, as Governor Mitt Romney does.

 Someone who needs to hide his tax returns so that no one ever finds out how wealthy he really is.

 Someone who agrees with Donald Trump who wants children from poor families (especially welfare recipients) work and serve the rich at schools and Universities, so that we don’t get the feeling that they (children from poor families or families on welfare ) get a free ride. At the same time, these measures would teach them where their place in our society is . 

 Someone who wants to get rid of any kind of birth control or other women rights and at the same time force everyone else to follow his religious believes. 

Someone who wants health to be a privilege of the wealthy since regular and poor people cannot afford the ever rising insurance premiums. He opposes the attempt made by President Barak Obama to make healthcare affordable to every American not just the wealthiest. 

Someone who has changed his policy positions, he has advocated as Governor of Massachusetts, because they do not please the ultra conservatives of the Republican Party. 

No, I rather have someone like President Barak Obama who is
 a President of all people!

Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 (Video/Transcript)

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I want to thank everybody who is here because they all did outstanding work to help us get this legislation completed.

As you know, I think all Americans feel we have a moral, sacred duty towards our men and women in uniform.  They protect our freedom, and it’s our obligation to do right by them.  This bill takes another important step in fulfilling that commitment.

I want to thank the members of Congress who helped to make this happen.  It is going to have immediate impact.  It is going to improve access to health care, streamline services in the VA. It expands support for veterans who are homeless.

There are two parts to the bill, though, that I especially want to highlight.  First of all, this bill ends a decade-long struggle for those who serve at Camp Lejeune.  Some of the veterans and their families who were based in Camp Lejeune in the years when the water was contaminated will now have access to extended medical care.  And, sadly, this act alone will not bring back those we’ve lost, including Jane Ensminger, but it will honor their memory by making a real difference for those who are still suffering.

The second part of this bill that I want to highlight -- prohibit protesting within 300 feet of military funerals during the two hours before and two hours after a service.  I supported this step as a senator.  I am very pleased to be signing this bill into law.  The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground.  And obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech, but we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.

So I’m glad that Congress passed this bill and I hope that we can continue to do some more good bipartisan work in protecting our veterans.  I’ve been advocating, for example, for a veterans job corps that could help provide additional opportunities for the men and women who are coming home as we’re winding down our operations in Afghanistan and having ended the war in Iraq.  And so this is a good sign of a bipartisan spirit that I’m sure is going to carry through all the way to Election Day and beyond.

With that, I’m going to sign the bill.  Make sure I sign the right place, though.

(The bill is signed.)

There you go.  Congratulations, everybody.  Good work.  Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, after the Wisconsin shooting, are you going to push for any further gun control measures?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, first of all, we’re still awaiting the outcome of a full investigation.  Yesterday I had the chance to speak to both the Governor and the Mayor, as well as leaders of the Sikh community in Oak Creek.  All of us are heartbroken by what’s happened.  And I offered the thoughts and prayers not only of myself and Michelle but also for the country as a whole.

I think all of us recognize that these kinds of terrible, tragic events are happening with too much regularity for us not to do some soul-searching and to examine additional ways that we can reduce violence.  And as I've already said, I think there are a lot of elements involved in it, and what I want to do is to bring together law enforcement, community leaders, faith leaders, elected officials of every level to see how we can make continued progress.

We don’t yet know fully what motivated this individual to carry out this terrible act.  If it turns out, as some early reports indicate, that it may have been motivated in some way by the ethnicity of those who were attending the temple, I think the American people immediately recoil against those kinds of attitudes, and I think it will be very important for us to reaffirm once again that, in this country, regardless of what we look like, where we come from, who we worship, we are all one people, and we look after one another and we respect one another.

But as I said, the FBI is working with local officials and they’re still investigating what motivated this individual.  And as we find out more, I suspect that not only the White House but others in Congress and at the local level will have more to say.

Thank you very much, everybody.

END

President Barack Obama Weekly Address August 04, 2012 (Video/Transcript)

Hi, everybody.  Today, I want to take a break from the back-and-forth of campaign season, and talk about something that’s brought us all together this week – the Summer Olympics.
These games remind us that for all our differences, we’re Americans first.  And we could not be prouder of the men and women representing our country in London, in both the Olympics and in the Paralympics.
Last weekend, Michelle led the American delegation to London and reaffirmed the special relationship we share with our strongest ally, Great Britain.  She met with the Queen, and with Prime Minister Cameron’s wife, Samantha.  She spent some time thanking our brave service members and military families.  And, of course, she took in as many events as she could to cheer on our athletes.
I’ve got to admit I was a little jealous she got to go.  But like many of you, I caught as many events as I could, jumping off the couch for a close race, or a perfect vault.  I watched the wonderful young women of our gymnastics team recapture the team gold for America, and I was filled with pride watching Gabby Douglas win the all-around gold with incredible poise and grace.  I watched our swimmers win a haul of medals, and Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.  I saw our women’s soccer team power through the competition.
And I’m just as proud of all our athletes in sports that don’t always get as much attention.  The U.S. women’s eight continued its rowing dominance with another gold medal.  Kayla Harrison won America’s first-ever gold medal in Judo, and Marti Malloy won a bronze.  Kim Rhode became the first American to win individual medals in five straight Olympics with her gold in skeet shooting; and her teammate, Army Sergeant Vincent Hancock, won his second skeet gold.
I also thought of the truly difficult journeys that many of our athletes have made.  Some have faced personal loss, or beaten cancer.  Some have worked long shifts at multiple jobs to feed their Olympic dream.  And some have done the impossible.  Less than four years ago, Bryshon Nellum was shot three times in his legs.  But this week, he’ll run the 400 meters.  And as a boy, Lopez Lomong fled war and persecution and life as a refugee – one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan.  Today’s he’s an American – and representing his country at the Olympics for the second time.
So it’s no surprise America is vying for the top of the medal count.  But it’s not the medal count alone that inspires us – most of our athletes won’t claim a medal at all.  It’s the character of the men and women who compete for those medals.  It’s their hard work and sacrifice – the countless hours in the gym, in the pool, on the track.  It’s their dogged perseverance and unyielding determination, through disappointment and triumph alike.
It’s that unconquerable spirit – that American spirit – that says even though we may have very different stories to tell; even though we may not look alike or talk alike or be dealt the same hand in life – if we work hard, we can achieve our dreams.  We can make it if we try.  We are one people, with common values and ideals; we celebrate individual excellence, but recognize that only together can we accomplish great and important things we cannot accomplish alone.
That’s why we watch.  That’s why we cheer.  That’s why we come together, for two weeks in summer, and swell with pride at the incredible things our fellow citizens can do.
So to all our Olympic and Paralympic athletes – whether you’ve already competed or have yet to compete – your country could not be prouder of you.  Thank you for presenting the best of America to the rest of the world.  And, thank you for becoming new role models to our children – mine included – and inspiring them to believe that if they work hard and do their best, they can achieve great things, too.
Go get ‘em this week, Team USA.  We can’t wait to welcome you home.
God bless you, and God bless America.

President Barack Obama on Tax Cuts for the Middle Class (Video/Trascript)

South Court Auditorium

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)  Good morning.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Have a seat.  Well, it is great to see all of you, and I hope you guys are having a wonderful summer.
I am joined here today by moms and dads, husbands and wives, middle-class Americans who work hard every single day to provide for their families.  And like most Americans, they work hard and they don’t ask for much.  They do expect, however, that their hard work is going to pay off.  They want to know that if they put in enough effort, if they are acting responsibly, then they can afford to pay the bills; that they can afford to own a home that they call their own; that they can afford to secure their retirement; and most of all, that they can afford to give their kids greater opportunity -- that their children and grandchildren can achieve things that they didn’t even imagine.
Every single decision that I make is focused on giving them that chance -- because if we want to keep moving this country forward, these are the folks who are going to get us there.
This morning, we learned that our businesses created 172,000 new jobs in the month of July.  That means that we've now created 4.5 million new jobs over the last 29 months -- and 1.1 million new jobs so far this year.  Those are our neighbors and family members finding work, and the security that comes with work.
But let’s acknowledge, we’ve still got too many folks out there who are looking for work.  We’ve got more work to do on their behalf -- not only to reclaim all the jobs that were lost during the recession, but also to reclaim the kind of financial security that too many Americans have felt was slipping away from them for too long.
And we knew when I started in this job that this was going to take some time.  We haven’t had to come back from an economic crisis this deep or this painful since the 1930s.  But we also knew that if we were persistent, if we kept at it and kept working, that we’d gradually get to where we need to be.
Here’s the thing.  We are not going to get there, we’re not going to get to where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess in the first place.  And the last thing that we should be doing is asking middle-class families who are still struggling to recover from this recession to pay more in taxes.
Rebuilding a strong economy begins with rebuilding our middle class.  And what we should do right now is give middle-class families and small business owners a guarantee that their taxes will not go up next year.  When families have the security of knowing that their taxes won’t go up they’re more likely to spend, and more likely to grow the economy.  When small business owners have certainty on taxes and can plan ahead they’re more likely to hire and create new jobs.  And that benefits all of us.
And that’s why, last week, I was pleasantly surprised -- I was glad to see the Senate come together and extend tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income.  That means 98 percent of Americans won’t see their income taxes go up next year.  That means that 97 percent of small businesses wouldn’t see their income taxes go up next year.  Not a single dime.  That would be important.
And that’s why it’s so disappointing that, so far at least, House Republicans have refused to follow the Senate’s example and do the same thing.  On Wednesday, they voted to hold these middle-class tax cuts hostage unless we also spend a trillion dollars over the next decade on tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.  In fact, it’s a little worse than that because their plan would actually raise taxes on 25 million hardworking American families by about $1,000 each.
So, at a time when too many working families are already struggling to make ends meet, they want to give millionaires and billionaires and folks like me tax cuts that we don’t need and that the country can’t afford, even if middle-class families have to pick up the tab for it.  Those are their priorities.
And this week, we learned that there's some in the Republican Party who don’t want to stop there.  An independent, non-partisan study found that one plan at least would give more tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, and they’d pay for those tax cuts by raising taxes on the middle class -- an average tax hike of more than $2,000 for families with children.
Now, I just think we’ve got our priorities skewed if the notion is that we give tax breaks to folks who don't need them and, to help pay for that, we tax folks who are already struggling to get by.  That's not how you grow an economy.  You grow an economy from the middle out, and from the bottom up.  And the kind of approach that the House Republicans are talking about is bad for our families and it’s bad for our economy.
The people standing behind me should not have to pay more just so the wealthiest Americans can pay less.  That’s not just top-down economics, that's upside-down economics.  (Laughter.)
Instead of the middle class paying more, we should ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more, a modest amount, so that we can reduce our deficit and still make investments in things like education that help our economy grow.
And keep in mind, we're talking about folks like me going back to the tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton.  If you remember, that was when we created 23 million new jobs, we went from deficits to surplus, and folks at the top did well, too -- because when middle-class families have money in their pockets, they go out and buy that new car, or that new appliance, or that new computer for their kids, or they go out to a restaurant, or, heaven forbid, they take a vacation once in a while.  And that money goes back into the economy, and businesses do well because they've got more customers.
And here's the thing -- there are a lot of well-to-do Americans, patriotic Americans, who understand this and are willing to do the right thing, willing to do their part to make this country strong.
So, for those of you who are keeping score at home, here’s where we stand.  We might have a whole bunch of disagreements with folks in the other party on whether it’s a good idea to spend more money giving tax breaks to millionaires or billionaires.  And frankly, that issue is probably not going to be resolved until after November.  In the meantime, though, we say we all agree on extending tax cuts for middle-class families. The House says it agrees.  The Senate has already shown that it agrees.  And I certainly agree.  So let’s at least work on what we agree on.
Let’s keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans, and we can argue about the other 2 percent.  Let's keep taxes low for the 97 percent of small business owners, and we can argue about the other 3 percent.  If Congress sends me a clean bill extending the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income, I will sign it right away.  (Applause.)  I will sign it right away.
There’s no reason to wait.  There’s no reason to make families and small businesses anxious just so one party can score political points.  Let’s go ahead and give them that guarantee now that their taxes won’t go up next year.
And keep in mind -- just one last point I want to make -- we're saying nobody's income taxes go up on the first $250,000 of their income.  So even somebody who makes more than $250,000 is still getting a tax break on their first $250.000.  Yuu understand?  Even somebody who's worth $200 million -- on that first $250,000 they're still paying lower taxes.
It's the right thing to do.  It's the smart thing to do.  It would be good for the economy, and most importantly, it would be good for your families.
So we're going to have plenty to argue about in the next three months, and probably in the next five years.  (Laughter.)  This shouldn’t be one of those things we argue about.  (Applause.)
Let’s do what the American people sent us here to do.  Let's work on those things we can agree on; let's make progress; let's do right by the people behind me, and the millions of Americans that they represent.  I’m going to be fighting every single day to make sure that you have opportunity.  I expect, and I hope, that Congress will do the same.
So, thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  And have a great weekend.  (Applause.)

Dick Cheney calls Obama worse than Jimmy Carter

 

It is amazing to me that Dick Cheney calls Obama worse than Jimmy Carter after what he and President J.W. Bush have done to our world and the economy.

We need to take a closer look at the Republican Party. Do they have the good of the American people in mind or only the good of the wealthiest people in the world?

No matter how you look at it, a politician should represent all people, not only the ones who give them the most money.   A politician should be a representative of the people in its country and always have the peace and happiness of all people around the world in mind.

Neither Dick Cheney nor J.W. Bush nor W. Mitt Romney are these kind of politician.They only have their own agenda. Their ideology is to let the banks and corporations do whatever they want as long as the make more money for them and to be a  long-term advocate of tax cuts but mostly for the wealthiest in the country!