PRESS RELEASES

Transcript: Governor Corzine's Speech with President Obama
July 16, 2009


Hey, New Jersey!

Thank you for joining in welcoming our great, new President ... Barack Obama!

Across New Jersey ... throughout America ... and around the globe ... President Obama is inspiring people to discover the best in themselves...

He is challenging all of us to build a world where our children and grandchildren are able to realize their fullest potential.

We are proud that Barack Obama is our President ...

And we are honored that he's here, today.

Let me thank all of the elected officials who have joined us for this exciting moment ...

Governor Dick Codey...

Speaker Joe Roberts ...

Mayors Booker, Healy, Palmer ...

County Executives DiVincenzo, McNerney, Hughes ... and all the others.

There are too many to recognize ... but I want you all to know how proud all of us are of your service and commitment to the people of New Jersey.

To my family ...
to friends ... supporters ... and all people who believe in America and New Jersey’s promise ...

Thank you for standing with me.

You know, for almost nine years, it’s been my highest honor ... my greatest privilege ... to serve the people of New Jersey, both in the U.S. Senate and as your governor.

Today, I can’t begin to express how proud I am ... how humbled ... to introduce our remarkable new President, Barack Obama!

(Can we give President Obama a real New Jersey welcome?)

I first met President Obama in early 2004...

At the time, I was the chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee ... and he was one of seven Illinois Democrats running in a crowded U.S. Senate primary.

When you’re the chair of the DSCC, you’re supposed to be impartial ...

If you take sides in a contested primary, it better be for a very good reason.

So when we sat down to share a meal at a steak house in Chicago, I didn’t expect to be swept up by a little-known law professor and state senator with a funny name.

But I walked away from that dinner convinced that Barack Obama was unlike anyone I had ever met in my life.

Once in a generation ... if we’re lucky ... a leader emerges from the crowded ranks of public life to summon our best instincts ...
a leader to marshal the generous and inventive spirit of the American people.

At that first meeting ... I knew that Barack Obama could be just that kind of leader.

Millions of Americans have now had that same experience.

This wouldn’t be the first time in America’s history that Illinois has offered us a man of courage ... conviction ... and uncommon vision.

As someone born and raised on a small farm near Springfield, Illinois ... I grew up living and breathing the story of a country lawyer who appealed to the “better angels of our nature.”

Like Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln came of age in an era of trial and strife.

Like Lincoln, President Obama is “binding up our nation’s wounds” and challenging us to create a “new birth of freedom” for our children ...
our grandchildren ... and generations to come.

Mr. President ... it was an honor to serve with you in the U.S. Senate ... and it is a great privilege to call you my friend.

I share your values ... I share your commitment ... and I share the sense of purpose you bring to public life.

We are both engaged in the fight to bring quality, affordable health care to all New Jerseyans ... and all Americans ...

To win the “race to the top” in educating our children ...

To combat climate change, create green jobs, and grow our way out of the global recession ...

We are both working every day to repair the incredible damage inflicted on our country by a Republican Congress and a Republican White House.

Leaders don’t choose their moment in history ... but they have a responsibility to seize it.

The people of New Jersey didn’t choose to live ... work ... and raise their families amid the longest and deepest global recession since the 1930s.

Most Americans recognize that the roots of this crisis lie
in a series of bad decisions in Washington and on Wall Street ... and in
a business and governing philosophy that said “anything goes.”

But Americans have never failed to turn crisis into renewal.

This is our time ...
renewal is our task ... and we will succeed.

John F. Kennedy once summoned our country to “explore the stars ... conquer the deserts ... eradicate disease ...
tap the ocean depths ... and encourage the arts and commerce.”

He said that we should do these things ... ”not ... because they are easy, but because they are hard ...”

More than 40 years later, these words still resonate.

President Obama isn’t running from the hard challenges.

He’s meeting them head on.

Here in New Jersey, we have also been meeting these same challenges ... head on ... for the past four years ... often, with Washington working against us.

Now, with a partner in the White House, there is no limit to what we can accomplish ...

President Obama believes that health care is a right ... not a privilege ...

That’s why he is fighting to create America’s first universal health care system -- a system that preserves patient choice while holding down costs.

We’ve been fighting that same fight in New Jersey.

That’s why we expanded our Family Care program to cover every child and enrolled over 80,000 more children and their families.

Now, with a partner in the White House, there is no limit to what we can accomplish ...

President Obama believes that we have an obligation to be good stewards of our Earth ...

he knows that we can grow our way out of the global recession by creating green jobs and promoting smart growth.

We’ve been fighting the same fight in New Jersey.

That’s why we put in place an Energy Master Plan that will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020 ...

That’s why New Jersey has installed more solar panels in three years than any state except California ...

that’s why we’re building wind turbines off our coastlines and creating thousands of green collar jobs.

Now, with a partner in the White House, there is no limit to what we can accomplish ...

President Obama knows that we have an affirmative role to play in helping our neighbors weather today’s economic storm.

That’s why the President created the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ... a measure that is providing at least
$17 billion in new investments and tax relief for New Jersey’s middle-class families ... creating or saving 100,000 New Jersey jobs.

Whether it’s health care dollars for the most vulnerable ...

additional funding for our schools, colleges, and universities ...

or new initiatives to grow the green energy economy ... the President’s Recovery Act is making a real difference in people’s lives.

We’ve been fighting the same fight in New Jersey.

That’s why we were the first state in the nation to pass a comprehensive economic recovery plan ...

That’s why we’re putting more than 40,000 people to work building highways ... bridges ... tunnels ... and schools ...

That’s why we created a mortgage mediation and modification initiative that has become a model for the nation ...

that’s why our home foreclosure rate is almost 50% lower than the national average.

Now, with a partner
in the White House, there is no limit to what we can accomplish ...

(PAUSE)

Now, there will always be critics ... some, who are into deceit.

Here in New Jersey, those critics promise the moon:

They want to cut government ... increase spending ... slash taxes ... and end collective bargaining.

They offer no plans ... no specifics.

They won’t tell you which taxes they’ll cut...

They won’t tell you how they’ll balance the budget ...

They say they’ll lay off at least 10,000 public employees, maybe more ... but they won’t say who ... or when ... or at what consequence.

They won't tell you what services will end ... which pre-school they'll close ... or whose teacher, police officer, or fire fighter will be laid off.

They say there should be two legal systems ... one for them ... and one for the rest of us.

No-bid contracts for their friends ... and tough talk for everyone else.

They say we should just trust them.

Well, I don’t know about you ... but I’m not about to put my trust in the same people who gave us skyrocketing unemployment ...

a housing crisis ...

bank bailouts ...

corruption in the Justice Department ...

and a war in Iraq.

It boils down to this:

The same people who failed so miserably in the White House ... now want you to hand them the keys to the State House.

They know how to criticize ... they know how to point fingers ... but they don’t know how to lead.

Real leadership is about taking on the hard challenges ... and doing so in an honest and specific way.

If a candidate won’t be straight with New Jersey ...

if a candidate won’t step up to the plate and offer specific solutions to our shared problems ... then he isn’t prepared to lead.

For those Republican critics who don’t understand the meaning of leadership, I have a simple piece of advice:

Get out your dictionary, and look up “Barack Obama.”

Leadership is the essence of our President’s actions.

He knows that Americans are a courageous, can-do people.

He knows that they can look beyond the moment.

He is summoning our generosity and ambition ...

He is challenging us to make this country a
better place for your grandchildren ... and mine.

That’s why it’s so good to have a partner in the White House!

That’s why it’s so good to have Barack Obama in the White House.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming ... our great President ... the 44th President of the United States ...

President ... Barack Obama!