My Remarks at a Harris-Walz Rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Remarks as delivered in support of Vice President Kamala Harris

Hello, Philly. It’s good to be back. Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? All right. It is good to be back in Pennsylvania. Good to be back in Philadelphia. Give it up for John and his outstanding introduction. It’s good to be back. Y’all are in a good mood. the Eagles look good yesterday. — (Cheers, applause) — Something happened to my bears we’re not going to talk about. It is good to be back with a couple of great friends. Give it up for John Legend and Bruce Springsteen. (Applause.)

There’s a reason why those guys are headliners, they are tough acts to follow. I was going to come up here and sing a little with them. You don’t want do this too often; the people might start taking me for granted. Despite how hard it is to follow them; I’m going to do my best because I am here for a very important reason: To ask you to vote. For your next Auditor General, Malcolm Kenyatta. For your next attorney general, Eugene DePasquale. For your next state treasurer, Erin McClelland. For the speaker of the Pennsylvania House, Joanna McClinton. For my dear friend and your outstanding United States Senator, Mr. Bob Casey. And for the next President of the United States, Kamala Harris.

Come on. Now, you’ve heard this already, but it’s worth repeating. If you plan to vote early in person, tomorrow is your last chance. Do it tomorrow. Do not dilly or dally. Get out there. Vote. If you’ve got a mail ballot, return it right now. You don’t want to be waking up and looking down at, oh man. You don’t want to be that person. You forgot. Don’t wait. If you’re going to vote on Election Day, November 5th, go to iwillvote.com and make a plan.

Now, let’s face it, if you’re here at this rally, you’re probably going to vote. — (Cheers) — I am preaching to the proverbial choir right here. But you’ve still got work to do because you need to talk to your friends and family, so they have a plan to vote, too. 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. Now, we know this election is going to be tight. It shouldn’t be, but it will be because a lot of Americans are still struggling. We have been through a lot over the last few years. A historic pandemic that wreaked havoc on communities and businesses. Then, disruptions from the pandemic caused price hikes and that put a strain on family budgets. People started feeling like no matter how hard they worked, they were just treading water.

I get why people might want to shake things up, I understand that. What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you. — (Cheers) — Because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself. I’ve said this before. Here’s a man, a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down that golden escalator nine years ago.

He’s still tweeting all times of the night. All caps. — (Laughter) — When he’s not complaining, he’s trying to sell you stuff. Trying to sell you gold sneakers. I’m trying to sell you $100,000 watch. Says it’s a Swiss watch; they can’t find where in Switzerland it’s actually made. He wants to sell you a Trump Bible. Do not boo, vote! Remember that. I want everybody to understand. Nobody can hear your boos, but they can hear your vote. — (Cheers) — He wants you to buy the word of God: Donald Trump Edition. Got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke. Couldn’t recite a verse, but he’ll sell you that Bible. Guess where it’s made.

CROWD: China!

BARACK OBAMA: Made in China. You’re Mr. Tough guy on China, except when you can make a few bucks. You cannot make this stuff up. If it were on Saturday Night Live, everybody would just say, well, that’s exaggerated. It’s not. He’s doing it. the reason he’s doing it is because that’s what he cares about: His ego, his money, his status. He is not thinking about you. Donald Trump sees power as nothing more than a means to his ends. He wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his country club buddies. He doesn’t care if he costs women their reproductive freedoms; it won’t make a difference in his life. Most of all, Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided between us and them.

Between the “Real Americans” who support him, of course, and “the outsiders” who don’t. the enemies within. — (Crowd booing) — Because what did I say about booing? — (Laughter) — Vote! Because Donald Trump understands, and he’s not wrong about this, that dividing people, making them angry will boost his chances of being elected. It’s not good for the country, but it might improve his odds. We saw it last night. I know nobody’s going to boo now. All you’re going to do is vote. Hold on a second.

The man holds this big rally at Madison Square Garden, and the warmup speakers were trotting out and peddling the most racist, sexist, bigoted stereotypes. One guy called Puerto Rico, “an island of garbage.” — (Crowd chants) — These are fellow citizens he’s talking about. Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors. They are your friends. They are your coworkers. Their kids go to school with your kids. (Applause)

These are Americans. They’re people. That is the reason why this election should not be close. It should be clear. Here’s a good rule: If somebody does not respect you, if somebody does not see you as fellow citizens with equal claims to opportunity, to the pursuit of happiness, to the American dream, you should not vote for them.

You should not expect them to make your life better. They will not help you pay the bills. They’re not going to work hard to make sure your kid gets a good education. They’re not going to help you with a downpayment on a house. We have to reject the kind of politics of division and hatred that we saw represented.

America is ready to turn the page. America is ready for a better story. Philadelphia, we are ready for a president Kamala Harris. — (Cheers) — the good news is Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and need a champion. Kamala wasn’t born into privilege; she was raised in a middle-class family. Worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses. She didn’t just pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed. — (Cheers) — She actually cares what people are going through. As the oldest child, she saw how the world would sometimes treat her mom, single mother, five-foot tall, Brown woman with an accent. She’d watch how her mom never lost her cool. She’d call Kamala and her baby sister over and say, “Don’t complain about injustice, do something about it.”

That’s what Kamala did. That’s what Kamala did as a prosecutor, standing up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse. Standing up as attorney general of California, fighting the big banks and for-profit colleges, securing billions of dollars for people they had scammed. After the home mortgage crisis, Kamala pushed me and my administration hard to make sure that homeowners got a fair settlement. It did not matter that I was a Democrat. It didn’t matter that she had knocked on doors for my campaign in Iowa. She was not going to let anything stop her from winning as much relief as possible for families who deserved it. That’s who she is. That’s what she stands for.

You may not agree with every decision she makes. You didn’t agree with every decision I made. You didn’t. But you won’t find somebody who you agree with on everything. Here’s one thing you have to think about and that you can count on with Kamala: If you elect Kamala Harris, she will see you. She will hear you. She will have your back every single day. — (Cheers, applause) — She knows what it’s like to struggle and to work hard, and to be on the outside looking in. She’ll have an outstanding partner in Governor Tim Walz.

I love that dude. He’s a veteran. He’s a teacher. He’s a coach. He’s a marksman, a hunter. Been a great governor. I found out a while back he can even take a vintage truck apart and then put it back together again, which made me wonder, do you think Donald Trump can do that?

CROWD: No!

BARACK OBAMA: For that matter, do you think Donald Trump has ever changed a flat tire in his life?

CROWD: No!

BARACK OBAMA: If he’s got a flat tire, he calls over his chauffeur. “Jeeves, change that tire.” I don’t know that his name is actually Jeeves, but it might be. Got a fake English accent. Jeeves. — (Laughter) — Hey, listen. the point is, if you elect Kamala and Tim, they won’t be focused on their problems, they’ll be focused on your problems. They actually understand that to many folks here in Pennsylvania and across the country are struggling to pay the bills. They know what it’s like to struggle to pay the bills. Now, even though wages have been steadily growing, inflation is finally slowing. the price of everything from healthcare to housing to groceries, it’s still too high for a lot of folks, and that hurts. the question is: Who’s actually going to do something about it?

CROWD: Kamala!

BARACK OBAMA: I knew you guys knew the answer. That was a rhetorical question. Let me expand. On the economy, which all the polls show that’s people’s main concern, Donald Trump’s main idea is to give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations. (Crowd booing) Now, do not boo, vote! That’s the last time I’m going to say it. I know you all got it now. Now, I have heard because I’m talking to folks, and what I understand is some people are saying, well, I remember the economy when he first came in. That was pretty good. That was good. Yeah, it was good because it was my economy.

Yes. I had spent the previous eight years cleaning up the mess the Republicans had left me: Financial crisis, Great Recession, the auto industry flat on its back. After those eight years, I then hand it over 75 straight months of job growth to Donald Trump, and all he did was give a tax cut to people who didn’t need it, drove up the deficit in the process. Now he wants to do it all over again. All right. That’s on the economy. People have this weird pre-COVID memory as if somehow, he did something. He didn’t do nothing.

The other thing that I hear is, “Donald Trump sent me a check during the pandemic.” Now, I want you to understand this. First of all, Congress sent you a check. Democrats and Republicans, in the midst of a crisis, passed a law so that people could absorb not working during COVID. By the way, Joe Biden also sent you a check during the pandemic, just like I gave people financial relief during the Great Recession. the difference is Joe Biden, and I didn’t put our names on the check. Because it wasn’t about feeding our egos or advancing our politics, it was about helping people out during a tough time.

Don’t be fooled. I’m serious because I’ve heard this a bunch of times: “I got a check.” Don’t be fooled into thinking that somehow that was something special. Do not fall for that okey-doke. Do not be bamboozled, don’t be hoodwinked, and don’t get fooled when he talks about healthcare either. If you ask Donald Trump what’s his idea to make healthcare more affordable, he’s got one answer, which is, “Well, we’re going to replace Obamacare, Affordable Care Act.” He’s not actually sure why it should be replaced, except for the fact that I did it. I have space in his head.

The challenge for him is that Obamacare is now popular. Almost 50 million people have gotten healthcare because of it that didn’t have it before. A couple of weeks ago, his running mate on a debate stage had the nerve, had the chutzpah, to say Donald Trump’s “savaged the Affordable Care Act.” — (Crowd booing) — That is not correct. Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear it down, and he couldn’t even do that right. Now, eight years after he was elected, when asked, well, if you get rid of Obamacare, how do you how would you replace it? He said, “Well, I have concepts of a plan for how I would replace it.” “Concepts of a plan.”

I want you to think about this for a second. Let’s say your boss gives you an assignment. Says I need it by Friday. Friday rolls around. the boss comes, you finish that project I asked for. Scratch your head, you say, well, I haven’t actually started, but I do have a concept of a plan for how I might do this project you asked me to do. Or you could try it at home. Honey, did you do the dishes? Throw out the trash? No, but I do have a concept of a plan to do the dishes right after this game is over. How’s that going to go? If it wouldn’t work for you, why should it work for the president of the United States? It shouldn’t, which is why Kamala Harris doesn’t have concepts of a plan, she’s got actual plans to make your life better.

BARACK OBAMA: Concepts of a plan. Kamala has plans to go after corporations that unfairly jack up prices. She has plans to make it easier for you to build and buy a home. She’s got plans to limit out-of-pocket healthcare costs. She’s got a plan to give a tax cut to 100 million middle class and working Americans. If Congress passes a bill to restore the reproductive freedom that women had for nearly 50 years, the freedom that Donald Trump bragged about taking away, Kamala Harris will sign it into law. — (Cheers, applause) — That’s who Kamala Harris is. That’s what she stands for. Not concepts of a plan, actual plans.

Now, if you challenge Trump on his concepts, you say, well, those don’t make sense. That’s not well thought out. That’s impractical, I don’t understand that word salad you just issued. — (Laughter) — He will fall back on one answer: Blame immigrants. He wants you to believe that if you reelect him and let him round up whoever he wants, ship him out detain them, all your problems will be solved. Well, this has traction among a bunch of voters, so I want to talk about this for a second. I want everybody to understand this. We have a real issue at our borders.

We are a nation of immigrants. Somewhere in your family, somebody came from someplace else. We are a nation of immigrants, but we’re also a nation of laws, and we have to make sure the system works the way it’s supposed to. That it’s orderly. That it’s safe. That it’s fair. But here’s the thing I don’t understand. If you are concerned about immigration, if you think it’s a top problem, I want you to just ask yourself this simple question. Donald Trump, JD Vance, they’re always talking about, well, Kamala’s been vice-president for four years. She has to take responsibility for all that even though she wasn’t actually president. Well, wasn’t Donald Trump, president for four years? Somehow that’s conveniently forgotten, but I haven’t forgotten.

If rounding up and deporting millions of people, many of them women and children, if rounding up millions of desperate people is the answer to everything, why is it that the number of undocumented immigrants was basically the same when Trump left office as when he took office? Why didn’t he solve this problem when he was in office? Well, I’ll tell you why. Because he did not have a real plan, he had concepts of a plan. It was a mean and ugly plan and an impractical plan. You know what would actually help bring order to the border and fix our immigration system? A bipartisan deal that Kamala Harris as vice-president supported, even though it was written by one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress and Congress was all set to go. Then Donald Trump called up the Republicans in Congress and said, “Well, you can’t vote for that.”

Because he believed that it was better not to solve the problem so he could use the issue in the election so he could engage in fear mongering. Vote! — (Crowd chanting) — We do not need a president who will make problems worse just to make his politics better. — (Cheers, applause) — We need a president who actually cares about solving problems, not exploiting problems. About making your life better, not just making you angry and resentful. We need somebody like Kamala Harris who will be focused on doing the right thing, rolling up her sleeves, getting stuff done. To help her do it, she’s going to need a Senate full of public servants like Bob Casey.

I have known Bob for almost 20 years. I know his wife. I have watched his gorgeous daughters grow up. Now he’s a grandpa. Although his grandson, the little guy, wouldn’t give me a fist bump in the photo line. He was feeling kind of shy. I was like, oh man, next time. Just left me hanging. I can tell you this. I love this entire family, and I can tell you there is nobody who is more humble, more honest, more rooted in his community, more dedicated to this great state than Bob Casey. All that guy cares about is doing the job and looking after the people he was elected to serve. That’s the kind of person we need to send back to Washington. We need public servants like that. He’s the kind of person who’s going to help Kamala get stuff done. Leaders who share our values and will move this country forward.

Now, in these closing days, because remember, you all are the choir here. But we need to reach the unconvinced. When we talk to people, I think it is super important for us to be respectful and to listen, not just talk and understand where folks are coming from and recognize not everybody’s going to have the exact same perspective as we do. But one thing that you will hear from a bunch of folks, including maybe some of your friends, family members, coworkers, is they don’t believe politics can make a difference in their lives. They just think politics is nasty and it’s frustrating.

With so much crazy swirling around, I understand why people would just say, you know what? That’s just not for me. It has no impact on me. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. That’s why whenever I talk to people who are frustrated or disillusioned or cynical about politics, I don’t try to sell them the moon. I’m honest with them. Politics is not going to solve all your problems. It won’t. Whoever’s in there as president is not going to change everything. It’s not going to eliminate poverty. No matter how well-meaning a president might be, it’s not going to get rid of all racism. You’ll still get frustrated with your boss. Your kids, especially if they’re teenagers, they’ll still act up. People you love may still get sick.

Politics is not a cure all, but your vote matters because government, a president, a senator, they can make your life a little better or a little worse. That little better adds up, and that little worse adds up, too. When I was president, we didn’t solve all the problems with our healthcare system, but 50 million people who got healthcare who didn’t have it, their lives were better. You know somebody who has healthcare because of that law. More than 50 million people with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage or charged more, that made a real difference to them.

The Biden-Harris administration making insulin, capping it at $35. Making prescription drug prices cheaper, that helped somebody. It made their lives a little better. All that better adds up. Now, the reverse is true. I’m going to give you one more example. When I was president, we put together an entire playbook for how to deal with the pandemic. We had dealt already with H1N1 the first year of my term. We dealt with Ebola in my second term. We said, you know what? Scientists are telling us that eventually there’s going to be a serious airborne pandemic. Let’s put together a plan. We gathered all the experts. We put together a playbook. We had all of our agencies come together. Let’s practice the same way we do with natural disasters. If this happens, what are we going to do with schools? What are we going to do coordinating with public health programs at the state level? How do we accelerate vaccination? Had all this all set up.

I presented it just like I did those 75 straight months of job growth to Donald Trump. I said, here you go. Apparently, that was dumped in the trash. Three years later, a pandemic hits. Now, I want to be fair about this. No matter who was president, this pandemic was going to be a massive crisis. People were going to get sick. People were going to die. There were going to be businesses shut down, travel restrictions. This was a once-in-100-years pandemic. But if you look at a country like Canada, their per-capita death rate was 60% lower than the United States. Now, I want you to do the math. Over a million people died during the pandemic here in the United States from COVID. 60% of that number is 600,000 people. That’s people’s Grandparents, parents, coworkers, friends. There are people in this auditorium who were affected by that. Some of those folks would be here if we had had a competent response.

Not somebody who was suggesting injecting bleach, but somebody who was actually working in a serious fashion to make things better. If somebody tells you this election doesn’t matter, just remind them, please. It makes a difference when you’ve got a leader who sees you and cares about you and is serious and honest. It will affect your life. You may not see it right away, but it will. If that’s not enough, then also please remind them that any election is about more than just policies, it’s also about values. It’s also about character. Some of you know that when I was growing up, I didn’t have a father in the house, but I did have 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 be honest and to be responsible and to work hard and to treat other people the way I wanted to be treated.

I did not always live up to those values when I was a teenager, I partied a little too much, but over time, I internalized them, and I tried to live up to them. I suspect most of you grew up the same way. One of the most disturbing things about this election and about Trump’s rise in politics generally is how we seem to have set aside the values that we were taught. A few weeks ago, we had one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history. While President Biden and Vice-president Harris were in some of the communities that were affected, meeting with local officials, comforting families, Donald Trump, and his running mate were out there circulating stories about how the Biden administration was withholding aid and giving it to undocumented immigrants and not giving to Republican counties.

Even Republicans on the ground said it was a bald-faced lie. My question is: When did that become okay? No matter where you stand on the issues, why would you go along with that? If your coworkers acted like that, they would not be your coworkers for very long. If you had a family member who acted like that, you would still love them, but you would not trust or put them in charge of anything. Yet, time and again, when Donald Trump lies, cheats, or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls service members who died in battle “losers and suckers,” when he calls fellow citizens “vermin,” people make excuses for it. I see it. If you’re a Christian and you care deeply about the abortion issue, I understand that, but does that mean you’ll support somebody who seems to violate pretty much every precept of the Ten Commandments?

If you are a service member and you’re somewhat conservative and you’re used to voting Republican, I can understand it. But somebody who genuinely does not believe in duty and honor and does not understand why anybody would sacrifice themselves on behalf of their country, why would you do that? If you’re a Muslim-American and you’re upset about what’s happening in the Middle East, why would you put your faith in somebody who passed a Muslim ban and repeatedly suggested that somehow you weren’t part of our American community?

If you’re an African American or Latino, if you’re from Puerto Rico and you see somebody whose values seem to indicate that you’re not part of their equation, how do you think it’s okay? How can you tell yourself it’s okay as long as “our side” wins? I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior is somehow a sign of strength. the fake macho thing. I’m here to tell you that’s not what real strength is. It never has been. — (Cheers, applause) — Real strength about working hard. Real strength about taking responsibility. Real strength is about telling the truth even when it’s inconvenient. Real strength is about being confident enough to treat everybody with dignity and respect. 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 in our daughters and our sons, and that is what I want to see in the next president of the United States of America. the good news is that you have candidates to vote for in this election who demonstrate that kind of character. Who know what real strength looks like. Who will set a good example, do the right thing, and lead this country better than they found it. Pennsylvania, that is the choice in this election. It’s not just policies that are on the ballot, it’s who we are and what we stand for. Whether this election is making you feel excited, scared, hopeful, or frustrated or anything in between, do not sit back. Don’t just hope for the best. Get off your couch and vote! Put down your phone and vote!

Vote for Kamala Harris as the next president. Vote for Tim Walz as the next vice-president. Vote for Bob Casey and this whole incredible Pennsylvania Democratic ticket. Help your family and friends and neighbors and coworkers go to the polls. If enough of us make our voices heard, we will leave no doubt about the outcome of this election. We will leave no doubt about who we are and what America stands for. Together we will keep building a country that is fairer and more just and more equal and freer. That is our task. That is our responsibility.

Let’s go do the work.

Thank you. Philadelphia. Thank you. Pennsylvania. Let’s go vote!