President Obama's Conference Call With Organizing for America Volunteers, May 28th, 2009

President Obama's Conference Call with Organizing for America Volunteers, May 28, 2009

President Obama: Listen, it is great to talk to everybody.  I just want to start off by saying thanks, to everybody.  Everybody who’s made phone calls and knocked on doors and registered voters, because you guys were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics.  You had the confidence that we could reclaim the sense of responsibility in Washington, that instead of an economy built on huge inequalities and bubbles, we could restore a sense of fairness and stability to our economy and build a new foundation for lasting growth.  You believed that we had to keep ourselves safe, but we had to be true to our ideals as well.  That’s the kind of change you believed in, that’s the trust you placed in me, that’s the reason I’m president, and that’s something I’ll never forget. 

So just as you were with me during the campaign, you’ve been with us over the last several months as we’ve started to make some progress.  We passed an Economic Recovery Act partly because of the Economic Recovery house meetings you hosted and attended.  They were invaluable to get the message out about my plans to rebuild the economy.  Hundreds of thousands of pledges in support of my budget were collected by all of you and delivered to members of Congress.  And that helped send a message that Americans from coast to coast were commited to making long term investments in energy and health care that would lead to new jobs and new industries and a better competitive edge for America. 

We passed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, we passed the Budget Plan, but now we’re moving to one of our biggest priorities.  Something that all of us who have been on the phone have been talking about since the earliest mpments of this campaign, and that’s finally achieving the reform that assures quality affordable healthcare for all Americans.  We know what’s at stake.  We know we need reforms.  Healthcare costs are crushing families, businesses, and government budgets.  Americans now spend more on healthcare than on housing or food.  Costs have doubled in the last decade.  They by far represent the biggest threat to our long term fiscal situation in Washington.  But more importantly, businesses and families are just getting hammered, each and every day.  It makes it harder for businesses to expand or raise wages or compete.  Millions of Americans have lost their healthcare.  

And I’ve heard these stories from many of you, who have either via e-mail or other forms have told us what’s happening in your lives.  People like Anna Peterson in Minneapolis.  She wrote to OFA about her mother-in-law, Lynn.  Lynn and her husband Jack worked hard, they saved diligently, they built a solid nest egg.  But when Jack passed away and Lynn suffered a stroke, Anna tells us they had no choice but to dig into Lynn’s savings, and at this point, Anna’s fighting daily against an insurance company that’s trying to cut off her health insurance and is watching their life savings dissipate just on healthcare costs.

You’ve got Lisa Smith and Jennifer Davis, who wrote to OFA about how the cost of healthcare is prohibitive and only in emergencies could they afford to go see a doctor. 

So we need healthcare reform legislation that preserves what works about healthcare, but fixes the things that are broken.  I think the status quo is unacceptable, and that we’ve got to get it down this year.  If we don’t get it done this year, we’re not going to get it done.  To do that, we’re going to need all of you to mobilize.  We’ve got to have you knocking on doors, making calls, educating your neighbors. 

I truly believe that with your help we can reduce costs to families, business, and government.  We can protect people’s choice of doctors and hospitals and health plans and we can assure affordable quality healthcare for all Americans. 

This is our big chance to prove that the movement that started during the campaign isn’t over, we’re just getting started.  And I’m grateful for all of you for staying involved and continuing to organize for America.  

So, I know people have some questions out there.  Mitch, do you want me to call on the questions or are you going to call on them for me?

Mitch Stewart, National Director for Organizing for America: The first question is from Mary Alice in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Mary Alice, are you on the phone?

Mary Alice Williams: Yes, I am.  Thank you Mr. President for your strong leadership.

President Obama: Hi, Mary Alice. 

Mary Alice Williams: I’m Mary Alice Williams from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I’m an OFA team member and part of a group that turned out county blue for the first time since 1968.  We’re ready to go to work.  My question is as volunteers for Organizing for America, what do you need us to do in order to grow this grassroots movement, create community, and to bolster our change agenda?

President Obama:  We need to do what you’re already doing, Mary Alice.  We need you to stay involved.  The election in November, that didn’t bring about change, it just gave us an opportunity for change.  So now we’re really going to have to re-mobilize.  We’ve all had a chance to catch our breath after the election. We’ve gotten a lot of things done in the last four months, but healthcare, that’s a big push.  We’re going to need you guys to reach out to your friends and neighbors about the work that OFA is doing in your community.  And we need you to support our agenda for change.

So on June 6, you can host a kickoff event to help launch our campaign for healthcare reform.  You can watch a special video message that I’ve recorded.  And then work in your community to make sure healthcare reform is talked about, discussed, that we’re refuting arguments as to why we can’t drive down costs and improve quality.  That’s really the most important thing we can do is to mobilize people in local communities, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, one conversation at a time, so they understand that healthcare reform can happen. 

And when that happens, I promise you politicians take notice, members of Congress take notice.  Some of you are in already Democratic districts where your legislative officials are strong allies, but some of you are in districts or in states where right now politicians are resistant to bringing about change.  You need to help mobilize your community to say it’s not acceptable to preserve the status quo.

If you want more information about how to get involved, then just go to the Organizing for America website, on www.barackobama.com.  All right? 

Mary Alice Williams:  Thank you, Mr. President.

President Obama: Thank you. Who's next?

Mitch Stewart: Bonnie, from Portland, are you on?

Bonnie: Yes, I am. 

President Obama:  Hi, Bonnie.

Bonnie: Hi, Mr. President.  Thank you so much.  I’m humbled by this opportunity, and your campaign was one of the most inspiring things in my life, and the fact that you’re here talking and listening to us and remembering us and employing us just reinforces that.  I’m humbled, Mr. President, thank you so much.

President Obama:  I appreciate you.  Thank you.

Bonnie:  My question is, my son just graduated from college this past winter, and he is burdened with college loans and cannot afford healthcare.  What would you like to see be made available for young people who are burdened with student loan debt? 

President Obama:  Well, this is something that I have personal experience in, so I know how tough it is.  One of the things we’re trying to do is alleviate the pressure on young people like your son.  So the Recovery Act that we signed not only makes higher education more affordable by increasing Pell Grants, but it also creates what we’re calling the American Opportunity tax credit, which assists millions of students who need help paying their tuition bills. 

This year my administration will implement an income based repayment plan for student loans that will provide an option to repay outstanding debts at a monthly rate that’s affordable to individual students, especially if they’re experiencing financial hardship.  I’m also dedicated to simplifying the student loan application to make it easier for students to understand the financial aid procedures.

To fund these programs, all we need to do is eliminate the middle men in the current student loan program, where you’ve got banks and other intermediaries.  The loan is guaranteed to be repaid by the federal government, but they’re taking fees off the top as well.  It’s costing us tens of billions of dollars that could go into providing relief to young people who are going to school.

The other issue around healthcare for young people, one of the proposals I made during the campaign was that we ensure that young people can stay on health insurance up to the age of 25 during that transition period between college and getting a job that has steady healthcare.  That’s something that I’d like to see us potentially include in any healthcare reform package.

Bonnie:  Thank you.

President Obama:  Have we got time for one more?

Mitch Stewart:  We have one last question from Leanne in Birmingham, Alabama.  Leanne are you on?

Leanne:  I’m on.  Hi, Mr. President.  This is such an honor.

President Obama: Hey, Leanne.

Leanne:  And I have to tell you ‘hello’ from my daughter Drew.

President Obama: Okay.  Tell Drew I said ‘hi.’

Leanne:  I’ll tell her!  My question is, in a state as conservative as Alabama, what do you see as the most important goal that we could accomplish for your vision for our country?

President Obama: Well, first of all, there are a whole lot of states that folks said were conservative, like North Carolina and Virginia, that we ended up turning blue this election.  So if we just keep on organizing and working and talking to people, especially people who historically haven’t voted, like young people, a lot of times we can bring about surprising changes.

Now, there’s some issues that we’re dealing with that are huge.  Two wars, a fiscal and financial crisis, the deepest recession in 70 years.  What I think that the American people want, even in the most conservative communities, is they want action.  They want Washintong to stop delaying and deferring action.  I think that’s not a red state or a blue state thing, that’s an American recognition that Washington needs to get off the dime. 

So inaction on healthcare leads to unsustainable rises in cost everywhere, not just in California where I’m flying back from, but in Alabama. If we want to cut our deficits, and a lot of conservative communities rightly are concerned about all the national debt that was accumulated over the past eight years, and frankly the additional costs that we’re bearing in trying to clean up the mess of this economic recession that we’ve got. 

The most important thing we can do to close our budget gap is to reign in healthcare costs.  It’s going to be absolutely critical. 

As we proved during the campaign, change really comes from the bottom up.  It’s going to only happen when people in their individual communities are out there talking, persuading,  presenting facts, giving people information. That’s true on healthcare, it’s true on energy, it’s true on education, it’s true whether you’re in Alabama or Massachusetts. 

Grassroots work makes a difference, primarily because people trust their friends and their neighbors and their co-workers more than they trust some talking head on t.v.  Especially these days when commentators on t.v., everybody just seems to be screaming at each other. 

So having that tone of reasonably presenting the case of why change is needed, that is going to work everywhere.  And I know that’s what you guys did during the campaign.  That’s why I was successful, and I know that that’s why we can keep on being successful. 

So, thanks to all of you.  I had a great time.  Bye-bye, guys.

Click here to visit the Democratic Party of Denver's Window to the White House, a collection of speeches, press conferences, Town Halls, and releases from President Obama.