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Why Obama Now

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    ♫ Music ♫
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    In this country, broad-based
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    prosperity has never trickled down from the
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    success of a wealthy few.
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    It has always
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    come from the success of a strong and growing middle class.
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    That's how a generation
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    who went to college on the G.I. Bill, including my
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    grandfather, helped build the most prosperous
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    economy the world has ever known. That's why a CEO like Henry Ford
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    made it his mission to pay his workers enough
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    so they could buy the cars that they made.
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    And yet for much of the last century, we have
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    been having the same argument with folks
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    who keep peddling
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    some version
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    of trickle-down economics.
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    They keep telling us that if we'd convert
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    more of our investments in education and research and health care
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    into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy,
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    our economy will grow stronger.
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    Now the problem for advocates of this theory
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    is that we've tried their approach.
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    At the beginning of the last decade, the
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    wealthiest Americans received a huge tax cut
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    in 2001, and another huge tax cut
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    in 2003. We were promised that
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    these tax cuts would lead to faster job growth.
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    They did not. The wealthy got wealthier,
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    but prosperity sure didn't trickle down.
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    Instead, during the last decade we had
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    the slowest job growth in half a century.
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    There was a period when insurance companies
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    and mortgage lenders,
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    and financial institutions
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    didn't have to abide by strong enough regulations.
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    And what was the result?
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    Profits for many of these companies soared.
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    But so did people's health insurance premiums.
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    Patients were routinely denied care, often when they needed it most.
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    Families were enticed and sometimes just plain tricked into
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    buying homes they couldn't afford.
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    Huge, reckless bets were made with other
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    people's money on the line.
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    And our entire financial system was nearly destroyed.
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    So we've tried this theory out.
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    And you would think that after the results of this experiment,
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    that the proponents of this theory
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    might show some humility. You'd think they'd say,
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    "You know what? Maybe some rules and regulations
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    are necessary to protect the economy!"
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    "Maybe just maybe, at a time of growing debt
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    and widening inequality,
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    we should hold off on giving the wealthiest Americans
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    another round of big tax cuts!"
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    But that's exactly the opposite of what they've done.
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    Instead of moderating their views even slightly,
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    the Republicans running Congress right now have doubled down.
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    This is what they're running on!
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    (Shouts): Hooray!!
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    This larger debate that we'll be having
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    about the size and role of government;
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    this debate has been with us since our founding days.
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    But no matter what we argue, or where we stand,
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    We have always held certain beliefs as Americans:
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    We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms
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    and pursue our own happiness, we can't just think about ourselves.
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    We have to think about the country that made
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    those liberties possible.
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    We have to think about our fellow citizens,
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    with whom we share a community.
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    We have to think about what's required
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    to preserve the American dream for future generations.
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    And if we keep that in mind, and uphold our obligations to one another
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    and to this larger enterprise that is America,
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    then I have no doubt that we will continue our
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    long and prosperous journey as the greatest nation on Earth.
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    Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
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    (Applause/Clapping)
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    Thank you.
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    (Man hammering nails on a table)
Title:
Why Obama Now
Description:

An animated short about the big choice in 2012's presidential election, by Simpsons / Family Guy animator Lucas Gray.
http://whyobamanow.org. Get registered and ready at http://gottavote.com

Click the "cc" button for captions in English or Spanish.

Donate to the campaign:
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/2012/whyobamanow
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Video Language:
English
Team:
Captions Requested
Duration:
03:44
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