President Obama At George Mason, Yesterday -- Vote Tomorrow: Turning Point Arrives

Without any additional ado, the President (see full video-stream here, or just click the play button below), speaking at George Mason University, yesterday:

. . . .AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you, everybody. It’s good to be back with some real Patriots. I want to thank Dr. Alan Merten, the President of George Mason University, and his family. Dr. Shirley Travis, who’s here -- thank you. And Coach Larranaga, we were just talking a little bit about -- (Applause) -- looking forward to picking George Mason in my bracket next year. . . .

Okay. . . . here’s what I do know. I do know that this bill, this legislation, is going to be enormously important for America’s future. I do know the impact it will have on the millions of Americans who need our help, and the millions more who may not need help right now but a year from now or five years from now or 10 years from now, if they have some bad luck; if, heaven forbid, they get sick; if they’ve got a preexisting condition; if their child has a preexisting condition; if they lose their job; if they want to start a company -- I know the impact it will have on them. . . .



And in just a few days, a century-long struggle will culminate in a historic vote. We’ve had historic votes before. We had a historic vote to put Social Security in place to make sure that our elderly did not live out their golden years in poverty. We had a historic vote in civil rights to make sure that everybody was equal under the law. As messy as this process is, as frustrating as this process is, as ugly as this process can be, when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation, time and time again, has chosen to extend its promise to more of its people. . . .

You know, the naysayers said that Social Security would lead to socialism. (Laughter.) But the men and women of Congress stood fast and created that program that lifted millions out of poverty.

There were cynics that warned that Medicare would lead to a government takeover of our entire health care system, and that it didn’t have much support in the polls. But Democrats and Republicans refused to back down, and they made sure that our seniors had the health care that they needed and could have some basic peace of mind.

So previous generations, those who came before us, made the decision that our seniors and our poor, through Medicaid, should not be forced to go without health care just because they couldn’t afford it. Today it falls to this generation to decide whether we will make that same promise to hardworking middle-class families and small businesses all across America, and to young Americans like yourselves who are just starting out. . . .

We must not delay. We must act now for 33 million fellow Americans.