Barack Obama in Pittsburgh, PA: FULL SPEECH

are you ready to go it is good it is good to be back in Pennsylvania it is good to be back in Pittsburgh I I love Pittsburgh [Applause] you know I uh I I love the people of Pittsburgh I love uh the food in Pittsburgh I I don't usually do this but this is a little bit of a a Yelp rating uh uh just had some of Pamela's pancakes I I first had those like 10 15 years ago when I was running and I was all like I need some of those pancakes this time out

and uh and and even though I'm from Chicago some of you may know uh when I was a kid I was a Steelers fan so and and and watching the Steelers this season this seems I'm not the only guy from Chicago who likes being in Pittsburgh cuz so far just feels is doing pretty good now before we get started we we have a little bit of work to do here all right so I want everybody to be you know just settle in we got some work to do before we get started um I did want

to say that we are you know heartbroken about the loss of life in Florida North Carolina States across the Southwest we are thinking about people families whose lives have been upended by the storms over the last couple weeks uh I could not be more grateful for the First Responders and FEMA professionals who have put themselves In Harm's Way to try and help you know it it's times like this when you realize having honest confident leadership and government really matters it makes a difference and today I'm asking you to vote for some of those leaders including

some folks we need working with your outstanding governor who you just F heard from uh Governor Josh Shapiro we need them in Harrisburg so we need you to vote for your next auditor general Malcolm Kenyata your next attorney general Eugene dep pescal your next state treasurer Eric mcleland and my buddy your outstanding United States Senator Bob casy now here in Pennsylvania uh there are three ways to vote you can vote early in person at the county election office or at a satellite office you can also vote by mail and if if you need to figure

out how to do that just go to I will vote.com PA to find a place to vote early or to request a ballot and of course you can vote at your polling place on Election Day November 5th but if you're at this rally let's face it you're probably unless you are 12 so you also have to help your friends and family make a plan to vote and even if you're 12 you can do that talk to your mom and dad and aunts and uncles because together we have a chance to choose a new generation of

leadership in this country and start building a better and stronger and fairer and more hopeful America [Applause] [Music] now you you you you've already heard tonight this election is going to be tight because there are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there they're still striving to make life better for themselves for their families and for their kids and and let's face it as a country we've been through a lot these last few years we had a historic pandemic wreaking havoc on communities and businesses disruptions from the pandemic then caused prices to spike

and that put a strain on family budgets and in many ways it's felt like the aspirations of working people have taken a backseat to the priorities of the rich and the powerful so I get it why people are looking to shake things up I mean I am the Hopey changy guy so so I understand people feeling frustrated and feeling we can do better what I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you Pennsylvania I don't understand that because there is absolutely no

evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself I've said it before Donald Trump is a 78y old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he wrote down his golden escalator 9 years ago you you you've got the the the tweet in all caps the the ranting and the raving about crazy conspiracy theories got the the the the 2hour speeches word salad just you know it's like uh Fidel Castro just on and on constant attempt to to sell you stuff who does that selling you gold sneakers and $100,000 watch and and most

recently a trump [Applause] Bible youo he wants you to buy the word of God Donald Trump Edition got his name right there next next to Matthew and [Music] Luke I mean you could not make this stuff [Music] up if you saw it on Saturday Night Live you'd say well no that's I mean that's going too far no he's doing that he's Weir it it's it's it's crazy and and the reason he does it is because all he cares about is his ego and his money and his status he's not thinking about you Donald Trump sees

power as nothing more than a means to an end he wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his country club buddies doesn't care if he costs more women their reproductive freedoms because it won't make a difference in his life do do not boo vote they can't hear your booze but they can hear your votes most of all Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided between us and Them between the quote unquote Real Americans who support him and The Outsiders

who don't because having people divided and angry he figures boosts his chances of being elected and he doesn't care who gets hurt I mean think about it just the other day we learned that on January 6th couple years ago Donald Trump was told that Mike Pence was in the capital about 40 ft from an angry mob chanting hang Mike Pence and his response was quote so what don't boo if Donald Trump does not care that a mob might attack his own vice president do you think he cares about you no Pennsylvania we do not need

four more years to that we don't need four more years of arrogance and bumbling and Bluster and division America's Wai to turn the page we are ready for a better story one that helps us work together instead of turning against each other Pennsylvania we're ready for a president C Harris and and and the good news is KLA Harris is ready to do the job this is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a chance somebody who was raised in the middle class who worked a summer

job at McDonald's while she earned a degree who believes in the values that built this country somebody who has served with distinction in every office that she has ever held I think we probably had a painted spell back there so let's make sure make space for the Emergency folks this happens sometimes everybody bend their knees a little bit you've been standing for a while you can dance if you want I just suggested me but she'll be okay kamla is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been that's your Tom and

in the white house she will have an outstanding partner in Governor Tim wall Tim is a veteran he is a teacher he's a coach he's a hunter he's been a great Governor working with Democrats and Republicans to get stuff done yeah he can also take a vintage truck apart and put it back together again you think Donald Trump can do that for that matter do you think Donald Trump has ever changed a higher in his [Applause] life I'm just trying to [Music] picture the point is if you elect KLA and Tim they won't be focused

on their problems they'll be focused on yours they understand that too many folks here in Pennsylvania and across the country are struggling to pay the bills even though wages are steadly growing and inflation is finally slowing the price of everything from Health Care to housing to groceries it's still too high and that takes a real bite uh the paychecks it hurts so the question is who's really going to do something about it that's what you should be asking yourself now Donald Trump's plan is to do what he did last time which was give another massive

tax cut to billionaires and big corporations and then don't vot I'm going to break you of this habit and and and the reason some people think well I don't know I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good yeah it was pretty good cuz it was my economy we had had 75 straight months of job growth that I handed over to him it wasn't something he did I had spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me the last time so just in case everybody has a hazy memory

that that what he didn't he didn't do nothing except those big tax cuts his now his his other big economic plan now is to slap terorists on everything from food to TVs Now understand what terrorists are anything that's coming from out that that's made elsewhere and comes here you slap extra money on top of it and if other countries are cheating in in some cases it makes sense because you want to have a fair playing field but what he's proposing is basically a trump sales tax that could cost the average family almost $4,000 a year

so so if you're concerned about higher prices that is not the way to get lower prices that's going to come out of your pocket you think you think prices are high now the Donald Trump's message basically is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet all right so that that's as far as you can tell that's his point right cuz it's not written down anyway when it comes to healthcare you heard it in the debate Donald Trump's got one answer ending the Affordable Care that 45 million people relying uh the other day his running mate JB van had

the [Music] had you got to vote the other day his running mate had the nerve to say Donald Trump salvaged the affordable [Applause] [Music] car I mean Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear it down and by the way he couldn't even do that right and now 8 years after he was elected when he was asked about what he was going to do he says he's got concepts of a plan for how he'd replace now I want you all to think about this for a second let's say you're boss gives you an assignment

project he says I need this on Friday and Friday comes around and he says so uh did you finish that project I asked for he said well uh I actually haven't started but I have a concept of a plan or or you could try it at home uh honey did you do the dishes I have a concept of plan to do the dises how's that going to go over if it wouldn't work for you why in the heck should it work for the president of the United States but the good news is Kara she doesn't

have concepts for a plan she has an actual plan to make your life better to bring down the cost of things like groceries she'll go after corporations that are jacking up prices just like she went after big Banks and for-profit colleges when she was an attorney general in California and and believe me when when she does nobody's going to want to stand in her way I remember after after the Home Mortgage crisis kamla pushed me me and my Administration harder than any other attorney general in the country to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement

it did not matter that she was pushing a democratic Administration she was not going to let anybody stop her from winning as much relief as possible for the families who deserved it and because of the work she did those families got billions more than they would have otherwise got that's the kind of president kamla Harris will be to lower housing costs Kamala will cut red tape and work with Governors like Josh Shapiro as well as the private sector to build 3 million new homes and she'll give firsttime home buyers up to $25,000 to help with

a down payment W plans concrete plans and for a lot of folks that could be the difference between watching their dreams pass them by but finally owning a place of their own to lower healthc care cost kamla already worked with Joe Biden to take on the drug company and bring down the cost of insulin and hearing aids and more than 50 prescription drugs and as president she will never stop working the limit out of pocket cost and protect your care that's who KLA is she's got a track record they doing and here's here's a big

one instead of giving more tax breaks to billionaires and raising prices on Working Families KLA will give a tax cut to 100 million middle class and working people here in America so I I if you're a new parent you could qualify for a $6,000 tax credit during the first year of your child's life because I don't have to tell a lot of you raising kids is hard and she wants to make it easier to afford stuff like a crib or a car seat or diapers I remember buying diapers I I remember the first time I

went in the storm right after Malo was born I I was like what that's how much diapers cost I remember changing diapers you think Donald Trump ever changed the diaper [Applause] I almost said that but I decided I shouldn't say [Applause] it if if you're starting a small business kamla Harris will give you a $50,000 tax credit to help you get it off the ground that's who KLA Harris is that's what she stands for yeah so with kamla you've got actual PLS Trump concepts of a plan uh now if you challenged Trump to to elaborate

and enumerate his Concepts he will fall back on one end JD Vance does the same thing doesn't matter what the issue is housing Healthcare education paying in the bills their only answer is to blame immigrants he they they want you to believe that if you let Donald Trump round up whoever he wants by the way that's right and ship them out all your problems will be solved now we've got real issues at the border we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants we have to make sure it's fair there are communities at

the border that can be overrun we've got to actually solve a problem but when I hear Donald Trump talking I I've got one question as I recall Donald Trump was President for four years and and and if rounding up and deporting millions of desperate people and building the beautiful wall and didn't matter whether some of those folks you rounded up were were women and children if that's the answer to everything well why didn't you solve the problem why were the number of immigrants basically the same when you left office is when you took office I'll

tell you why because he didn't have a real plan he had talking points right he had concepts of a plan and the plan was mean and ugly and it was designed to enhance his politics and make people angry not to solve the problem you know what you you know what would actually help bring order to the border and fix our immigration system the bipartisan deal that KLA Harris supported even though it was written by one of the most conservative republicans in Congress the same bill that Donald Trump tanked on purpose be because he thinks fear-mongering

is how he's going to win this election he told Republicans even the ones who had originally supported don't vote for it CU he doesn't want the problem solved we don't need a president who will make problems worse just to make his own political circumstances better we need a president who actually cares about solving problems and making your life better and that's what K haris will do and to help her do it she will need a senate full of serious ious Public Service like Bob Cas I'm going to talk about this man just for a second

I I've known Bob for almost 20 years I've watched his daughters grow up I know his brothers and cousins and and let me tell you there are a lot of brothers and cousins and I can tell you that no is more humble and more honest and more rooted in his community and has more Integrity than Bob casy you know in in in Washington in Washington uh folks make a distinction between work horses and show horses and and Bob Cas he's not a show Pony all the guy cares about is doing the job and looking after

you the people he was elected to serve that's the kind of person we need to send back to Washington that's the kind of person who's going to help KLA get stuff done folks who share our values and will do what they can to move this country forward rather than backward that's who Bob Casey [Music] is one of those values is free and and during election time there are a lot of flags and there's a lot of talk about fre so let me talk about that just for a second because I don't think we've ever had

an election with candidates who understand Freedom more differently for Donald Trump and his cronies Freedom means that the powerful can do whatever they please fir workers for trying to organize a union Dodge paying their fair share of taxes try to throw out your votes when they lose an election control what women can and can't do with their bodies in other words for Trump freedom is getting away with stuck it it it's like you said in the middle of the pandemic I don't take any responsibility at all people were dying I don't take any responsibility at

all not sure any other president has ever uttered that statement we have a broader idea of fre we believe in the freedom to provide for our families if we're willing to work the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and send our kids to school without worrying if they come home we believe that true Freedom gives each of us the right to make decisions about our own life how we worship who we marry what our family looks like and and and real Freedom also means that we're going to disagree on how each of

us should live our lives and we have to respect other people's views on these issues you know I've always said there are good people of conscience on both sides of the abortion divide I respect anyone whose Faith tells them that it isn't something they support but if we believe in Freedom then we should at least agree that such a deeply personal decision should be made by the woman whose body is involved and not by politicians and it it has been it has been fascinating to watch Donald Trump just tie himself into a pretzel on this

issue when he was when he ran for president first time he said he would support punishing women who got an abortion that's what he said thank you now a couple weeks ago what did he say he said don't worry women I'll be your protector I'll tell you how he protected you he handpicked three of the Supreme Court Justices who overturned Ro versus W went out there and bragged about it and now there are Trump abortion bans in 20 States many of them with no exception for rape or incest and he's and and when you when

he's asked about it he he says well everybody wanted it this way really he thinks women want to have to drive hundreds of miles to find a doctor who can help them does he think doctors want to choose between letting a woman die or going to jail for giving her the life saving care that she needs that is not something people chose now Donald Trump may be confused about that issue but let's not be confused let's be clear about what's at stake here if you send Bob Casey back to the Senate he'll vote to restore

reproduction Freedom that women had for nearly 50 years and if Congress passes that Bill Tom Harris will sign it into law because they understand that freedom is about being able to make the right choice for ourselves and our families that's right it's about recog izing that other people have the freedom to make their own choices even if they're different from ours and and it's an example of how it's an example of how at the end of the day this election isn't just about policies it's about values it's about who we are and how we treat

Treet each other and the example we want to set for our children and for their children and it's about character you know uh some of you know that when I was growing up uh I didn't have a father in the house but I did have plenty of people around me stepfather grandparents teachers coaches most of all my mom who taught me the difference between right and wrong who showed me what it meant to have integrity and to be honest and to be responsible and to work hard and to treat other people like we wanted them

to treat us and and I had I had a bunch of Role Models out there who who helped raise me to become a man and I made mistakes and sometimes I didn't live up to those values that had been taught the way I should have and and I was I was checked and I was corrected and I internalized those values and I tried to live up with live up to them and I suspect most of you grew up the same way and and know that process of of of trying to live out your best self

trying to live out your values that doesn't stop after the age of 20 or 21 it keeps going and as I got older I continue to benefit from friends like Bob cas and and Josh Shapiro and and and others who would reinforce those values and who I didn't want to disappoint and and obviously my wife and and and and my daughters you know who who I want to make sure Mal and Sasha are watching I I I want to make sure that I I I don't disappoint them and that I'm I'm passing on these values

to them you know and I here in Pittsburgh I I'm I'm thinking about another example uh somebody who was a dear friend of mine and has passed away now Dan room who you know here here was a guy who won six Super Bowls a AFC championships had enormous wealth and power but I remember walking around I guess it was hin field by that time I'm old enough to remember Three River Stadium now I know it's something else but Dan knew the name of every single person in the Steelers organization you know we'd pass by a

custodian and he'd say hey Jimmy how you doing how's the family all the front office staff he cared about them he used his influence to get more black and brown head coaches hired in the NFL he gave back to his community he was known for his Integrity he helped support the peace process in Northern Ireland became my ambassador to Ireland and continued to help encourage people who were so far apart to come together he had character that's that's what I think about so much these days because it's so different from what we see out of

the Republican nominee and it's been one of the most disturbing aspects of this election season about Trump's Rising politics is how we seem to have set aside the values that people like Dan stood for and Bob stood for that I was taught and those didn't used to be Republican Democratic Values I mean it used to be we'd have arguments about tax policy or foreign policy but we didn't have arguments about whether you should tell the truth or not we we didn't we didn't make excuses for people who who just violated basic Norms of treating people

fairly and and with respect I mean just last week I I mean I I I talked about this we had one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history the beautiful town of Asheville North Carolina one one of my favorite places in the country spend spent time there amazing people devastating hundreds of people killed and President Biden and vice president Harris were down there meeting with local officials and comforting families asking how they could help and Donald Trump at a rally just started making up stories about the Biden Administration withholding aid from Republican areas and siphoning

off Aid to give to undocumented immigrants just made the stuff up everybody knew it wasn't true even local Republicans said it was not true and now the people of Florida are dealing with another devastating storm and I want you to watch what happens over the next few days just like the last time you're going to have leaders who try to help and then they're you have a guy who will just lie about it to score political points and this has consequences cuz people are afraid and they've lost everything and now they're trying to figure out

how do I apply for help and and and some of them may be discouraged from getting the help they need the idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments and my question is when did that become okay I I I'm not looking for Applause right now I I I want to ask Republicans out there you know people who are conservative I who who didn't vote for me who didn't agree with me I had friends who who disagreed with me on every issue when did did that become okay why would

we go along with that I mean if your co-workers acted like that they wouldn't be your co-workers very long if if if you're in business and and somebody you're doing business with just outright lies and manipulates you stop doing business with even if you had a family member who acted like that you might still love them but you tell him you got a problem and you wouldn't put him in charge of anything and yet when Donald Trump lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our constitution when he calls Po's losers or fellow citizens Vermin

people make excuses for it they think it's okay they think well at least he he's he he's in the libs he he's he he he's he's he's really sticking it to him it's okay as long as our side wins and and and and by the way I'm sorry gentlemen I I I've noticed this especially with some men who seem to think Trump's Behavior the bullying and the putting people down is a sign of strength and I am I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is it never has been real strength

is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it's inconvenient real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can't always stand up for themselves that is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons and that is what I want to see in a president of the United States of America and the good news is that you have candidates to vote for in this election that demonstrate that kind of character

who know what real strength looks like who will set a good example and do the right thing and Lead this country better than they found it so Pennsylvania that is the choice in this election it's not just about policies that're on the ballot it is about values and it is about character so whether this election is making you feel excited or scared or hopeful or frustrated or anything in between do not just sit back and hope for the best get off your couch and vote put down your phone and vote grab your friends and family

and vote vote for KLA Harris as the next president of the United States vote for Tim Walls as the next Vice President of the United States vote for Bob Casey and this whole incredible Pennsylvania Democratic check help your friends and family members and neighbors and co-workers do the same because if enough of us make our voices hurt we will leave no doubt about the election outcome we'll leave no doubts about who we are and what America stands for for and together we'll keep building a country that's more fair and more equal and more just and

more free that is our task that is our responsibility let's go do it thank you Pittsburgh thank you Pennsylvania let's go vote