Americans’ Turn to Choose
Today, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine traveled to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was joined by Governor Ed Rendell for an event kicking off the Democratic Party’s fall campaign. In front of a cheering crowd of University of Pennsylvania students and energized Democrats, Kaine delivered a major address outlining the choice voters face this fall: a choice between Democrats who are moving America forward and Republicans who want to take America back to the failed policies of the past. Said Chairman Kaine:
“On Election Day, it will be Americans’ turn to choose. They can choose Republicans who drove our country into a ditch. Who have not offered a helping hand to the millions of middle class Americans they left stranded at the bottom. And who have not presented a single idea for how to get America growing again.
“Or they can choose Democrats who are helping us climb out of that ditch. Who have taken the bold actions necessary to repair the damage caused by nearly a decade of failed Republican leadership. And who are committed to doing everything within their power to help American families, workers, and businesses succeed.”
Chairman Kaine also talked about the economic progress made by President Obama and Congressional Democrats to date despite the Republican Party’s politically motivated opposition to these efforts, and highlighted the important contrast between Democratic and Republican leadership. He said:
“Our President and Congress enacted tax cuts for 95% of working families and millions of small businesses…They passed legislation guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work. And…they passed the Recovery Act…
“Up to 3.3 million people employed in June owed their jobs to the Recovery Act. And an economy that was shrinking in 2008 is growing again.
“Instead of sitting at home, those 3.3 million workers are helping to lay a new foundation for American growth and prosperity. They are rebuilding the roads, rails and runways that will help American businesses grow and add jobs. They’re building the solar panels, wind turbines, electric car batteries, and other critical 21st century goods here in the United States instead of overseas in China and India. They’re back at work making American cars – including the cars of tomorrow – vehicles with better gas mileage and reduced emissions…
“Instead of working with Democrats to help to rebuild our economy and the middle class, Republicans have opposed every effort to undo the economic damage that their polices created…Republicans are more interested in positioning themselves for the next election than they are in supporting the American people for the next generation.
“When President Obama fought for health insurance reform, Republicans chose to stand with big insurance and against reform…
“When President Obama fought for the people of the Gulf Coast, promising to hold BP accountable and to see to it that Gulf Coast residents were compensated for their losses, Republicans stood with big oil and fought for BP…
“And when President Obama fought for Wall Street reform, fought to put an end to the bailouts, and fought to finally hold big financial institutions accountable, Republicans stood with the very same special interests that helped to cause the financial crisis that has hurt millions of Americans and fought against that reform too…
“On each of these issues and more, President Obama and Democrats chose to stand with the American people so we could move America forward. The Republican Party chose to stand with the special interests.”
Chairman Kaine closed by speaking about how Democrats are ready to step up and get tough when it comes to this November’s elections:
“Tough is what Democrats do. We campaign tough, we win tough, we govern tough…We love a tough battle because the nation is counting on us at a challenging time and we know that, while change is never easy, we can’t make progress without fighting for it.”
