thank goodness she did. >> absolutely. >> great to see you. thanks for coming. congratulations. an amazing accomplishment. be sure to tune in. "rbg" airs this sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. thank you, all, so much for joining me. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thank you, kate. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your friday with us. 60 days to the midterm elections, and barack obama rejoins the fray. the former president is making a big speech, framing the 2018 stakes. plus, two democrats mulling 2020 presidential bids make a big splash at the brett kavanaugh hearings, but they also get the fact checkers busy, and there's no evidence they changed the math that favors a supreme court confirmation. and the president calls that damning "new york times" op-ed from a top administration official treason, says his

supporters better vote to save him from impeachment. a top senate ally says the president, forgive me, his language, not mine, is pissed off but urges him to let it go. >> the op-ed piece should disturb you because you do have disloyalty in your ranks, but don't dwell on the op-ed piece. don't dwell on the book. you're going to get re-elected based on your performance. so far, so good. he said, i've got to fight back. i said, fight back smartly. >> back to that story in a moment. a live look here in illinois, where the 44th president of the united states is about to make his case against the 45th. consider this remarkable fact as barack obama prepares to take a central role in the 2018 midterm debate. president obama has not spoken to the man who succeeded him since inauguration day 2017. the bad blood between the two is obvious, but today is noteworthy because mr. obama has mostly

stayed on the sidelines. today, though, begins a flurry of campaign activity. this speech framing the stakes, then campaigning in california this weekend, ohio next week. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. jeff, it has been some time since we have seen president obama in such a political setting. what do we expect, and how direct do we look for here in the confrontations with the current president? >> reporter: john, it has been some time. of course we saw president obama delivering one of the eulogies at senator john mccain's funeral over the weekend, last weekend. there were political undertones to that, no doubt. but this is an entirely different moment. this has been in the works for a while. this is his 2018 midterm kickoff. no, he's not going to mention president trump by name. he's not going to do that, i'm told, by advisers. that's not surprising at all. but there will be no mistaking the fact that he is, indeed, talking about this moment in our time. he's talking about a backlash to a progress, in the words of one aide, and essentially that this administration, this white house has been trying to undo

everything that he did during his eight years in office. so it is a bit unusual. this wasn't always the plan, to have the president get back in the fray. but they believe that the time is too important. his advisers, and in fact, he believes the time is too important to stay out of the fight. now, he certainly knows something about presidents losing midterm elections. he had a bruising 2010 midterm election, a bruising 2014 midterm election. he would like, and democrats would like, president trump to have the same thing as well. but john, it will be very interesting to see how he calibrates this. he's always been of the mind, don't boo, vote. always been of the mind of getting activists and supporters out to midterm elections. democrats have not done a very good job of that. they certainly are fired up in this respect, but he will have some tough medicine, i'm told, for democrats as well and independents to do the right thing, in his view. a very interesting speech. as you said, he'll be campaigning more between now and november. >> appreciate that. live from the white house, jeff zeleny. you see the student there on stage introducing the former

president. we're going to keep that picture there. we'll take you to president obama when he starts to speak. with me in studio to share their reporting and insights, politico's eliana johnson, cnn's abby philip. it began as no drama obama back in 2008, 2009. now he's stepping back into the stage. it's hard to understate the drama of this moment, whether we're talking about the chaos, the anger of the current president, the chaos inside the white house, and the stakes for the democratic party in an election that is just 60 days away. what should we be looking for most here? and i'll start with this. if you look at the primary so far, it is the obama coalition plus, as some have said -- that is coming out in these elections. we know republican grip on the house is going to come down to suburban women, a constituency obama has good support with. then the college audience, younger voters. will they play in a midterm? they usually don't.

indications this time are the democrats can maybe get them out. >> midterm elections are typically base elections. i don't think this will be all that different. he remains one of democrats' best motivators for their base. i think the dynamics are a little bit interesting, though, as you point out because of course ex-presidents usually refrain from criticizing current presidents. it's hard to see how he gets through a speech like this without making some kind of critique of the current administration, even if he doesn't necessarily, you know, name president trump by name. i think that message will be implicit, if not explicit in his remarks. >> your health care is at risk is one thing i'm told he's going to talk about. he's going to talk about climate. the question is, does he use the words president trump? that's one thing. and to the point where we started, it is remarkable, unprecedented in my time in washington, that the current president of the united states has not had one conversation with the previous president, the man who handed him the keys to the oval office and the white house since leaving office. presidents routinely check in,

sometimes for advice -- and here we go. let's just watch this. president obama returning to the stage, 60 days before the 2018 midterm elections. his first big political speech this year. his adopted home state of illinois. the 44th president of the united states. let's listen. >> hello, illinois! [ cheers and applause ] i.l.l.! i.l.l.! okay, okay. just checking to see if you're awake. please have a seat, everybody. it is good to be home. [ cheers and applause ] it's good to see corn, beans. i was trying to explain to somebody as we were flying in, that's corn. that's beans.

they were very impressed at my agricultural knowledge. please give it up for amari, once again, for that outstanding introduction. [ cheers and applause ] i have a bunch of good friends here today, including somebody who i served with who is one of the finest senators in the country, and we're lucky to have him. your senator, dick durbin, is here. [ cheers and applause ] i also noticed, by the way, former governor edgar here, who i haven't seen in a long time, and somehow he has not aged and i have. it was great to see him. i want to thank everybody at the u of i system for making it possible for me to be here

today. i am deeply honored at the paul douglas award that is being given to me. he is somebody who set the path for so much outstanding public service here in illinois. now, i want to start by addressing the elephant in the room. i know people are still wondering why i didn't speak at the 2017 commencement. the student body president sent a very thoughtful invitation. students made a spiffy video, and when i declined, i hear there was speculation that i was boycotting campus until antonio's pizza reopened. so i want to be clear. i did not take sides in that late-night food debate. the truth is, after eight years

in the white house, i needed to spend some time one on one with michelle if i wanted to stay married. and she says hello, by the way. i also wanted to spend some quality time with my daughters, who were suddenly young women on their way out the door. and i should add, by the way, now that i have a daughter in college, i can tell all the students here, your parents suffer. they cry privately. it is brutal. so please call. send a text. [ applause ] we need to hear from you. just a little something. truth was, i was also intent on following a wise american

tradition of ex-presidents gracefully exiting the political stage and making room for new voices and new ideas. we have our first president, george washington, to thank for setting that example. after he led the colonies to victory as general washington, there were no constraints on him, really. he was practically a god to those who had followed him into battle. there was no constitution. there were no democratic norms that guided what he should or could do. and he could have made himself all powerful, could have made himself potentially president for life. instead, he resigned as commander in chief and moved back to his country of state. six years later, he was elected

president. but after two terms, he resigned again and rode off into the sunset. the point washington made, the point that is essential to american democracy is that in a government of and by and for the people, there should be no permanent ruling class. there are only citizens, who through their elected and temporary representatives, determine our course and determine our character. i'm here today because this is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us as citizens of the united states need to determine just who it is that we are. just what it is that we stand for.

and as a fellow citizen, not as an ex-president, but as a fellow citizen, i'm here to deliver a simple message, and that is that you need to vote because our democracy depends on it. [ applause ] now, some of you may think i'm exaggerating when i say this november's elections are more important than any i can remember in my lifetime. i know politicians say that all the time. i have been guilty of saying it a few times, particularly when i was on the ballot. but just a glance at recent headlines should tell you that this moment really is different. the stakes really are higher. the consequences of any of us

sitting on the sidelines are more dire. and it's not as if we haven't had big elections before or big choices to make in our history. fact is, democracy has never been easy, and our founding fathers argued about everything. we waged a civil war. we overcame depression. we've lurched from eras of great progressive change to periods of retrenchment. still, most americans alive today, certainly the students who are here, have operated under some common assumptions about who we are and what we stand for. out of the turmoil of the

industrial revolution and the great depression, america da adapted a new economy, a 20th century economy, guiding our free market with regulations to protect health and safety and fair competition, empowering workers with union movements, investing in science and infrastructure and educational institutions like u of i, strengthening our system of primary and secondary education, and stitching together a social safety net. all of this led to unrivalled prosperity and the rise of a broad and deep middle class and the sense that if you worked hard, you could climb the ladder of success. not everyone was included in this prosperity.

there was a lot more work to do. and so in response to the stain of slavery and segregation and the reality of racial discrimination, the civil rights movement not only opened new doors for african-americans but also opened up the flood gates of opportunity for women and americans with disabilities and lgbt americans, others to make their own claims to full and equal citizenship. and although discrimination remained a pernicious force in our society and continues to this day, and although there are controversies about how to best ensure genuine equality of opportunity, there's been at least rough agreement among the

overwhelming majority of americans that our country is strongest when everybody's treated fairly, when people are judged on the merits and the content of their character and not the color of their skin or the way in which they worship god or their last names. and that consensus then extended beyond our borders. and from the wreckage of world war ii, we built a post-war web, architecture, system of alliances and institutions to underwrite freedom and oppose soviet totalitarianism and to help poorer countries develop. american leadership across the globe wasn't perfect. we made mistakes. at times we lost sight of our

ideals. we had fierce arguments about vietnam and we had fierce arguments about iraq. but thanks to our leadership, a bipartisan leadership, and the efforts of diplomats and peace corps volunteers, and most of all thanks to the constant sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we not only reduced the prospects of war between the world's great powers, we not only won the cold war, we helped spread a commitment to certain values and principles like the rule of law and human rights and democracy and the notion of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. and even those countries that didn't abide by those principles

were still subject to shame and still had to at least give lip service to the idea, and that provided a lever to continually improve the prospects for people around the world. that's the story of america. a story of progress, fitful progress, incomplete progress, but progress. and that progress wasn't achieved by just a handful of famous leaders making speeches. it was won because of countless acts of quiet heroism and dedication by citizens, by ordinary people, many of them not much older than you.

it was won because rather than be bystanders to history, ordinary people fought and marched and mobilized and built, and yes, voted to make history. of course, there's always been another darker aspect to america's story. progress doesn't just move in a straight line. there's a reason why progress hasn't been easy and why throughout our history every two steps forward seems to sometimes produce one step back. each time we painstakingly pull ourselves closer to our founding ideals, that all of us are created equal, endowed by our

creator with certain inalienable rights, the ideals that say every child should have opportunity and every man and woman in this country who's willing to work hard should be able to find a job and support a family and pursue their small peace of the american dream, ideals that say we have a collective responsibility to care for the sick and the infirm. and we have a responsibility to conserve the amazing bounty, the natural resources of this country and of this planet for future generations. each time we've gotten closer to those ideals, somebody somewhere has pushed back. the status quo pushes back. sometimes the backlash comes from people who are genuinely,

if wrongly, fearful of change. more often it's manufactured by the powerful and the privileged who want to keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical because it helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege. and you happen to be coming of age during one of thouse moment. it did not start with donald trump. he is a symptom, not the cause. [ applause ] he's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years, a

fear and anger that's rooted in our past but it's also born out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes. by the way, it is brief. when i heard amari was 11 when i got elected and now he's like started a company, that was yesterday. but think about it. you've come of age in a smaller, more connected world where demographic shifts and the wind of change have scrambled not only traditional economic arrangements but our social arrangements and our religious commitments and our civic institutions. most of you don't remember a time before 9/11, when you

didn't have to take off your shoes at an airport. most of you don't remember a time when america wasn't at war or when money and images and information could travel instantly around the globe. or when the climate wasn't changing faster than our efforts to address it. this change has happened fast, faster than any time in human history. and it created a new economy that has unleashed incredible prosperity, but it's also upended people's lives in profound ways. for those with unique skills or access to technology and capital, a global market has meant unprecedented wealth.

for those not so lucky, for the factory worker, for the office worker, or even middle managers, those same forces may have wiped out your job or at least put you in no position to ask for a raise, and as wages slowed and inequality accelerated, those at the top of the economic pyramid have been able to influence government to skew things even more in their direction. cutting taxes on the wealthiest americans, unwinding regulations and weakening worker protections, shrinking the safety net. so you have come of age during a time of growing inequality, a

fracturing of economic opportunity. and that growing economic divide compounded other divisions in our country. regional, racial, religious, cultural. and made it harder to build consensus on issues. it made politicians less willing to compromise, which increased gridlock, which made people even more cynical about politics. and then the reckless behavior of financial elites triggered a massive financial crisis. ten years ago this week a crisis that resulted in the worst recession in any of our lifetimes and caused years of hardship for the american people. for many of your parents, for many of your families. most of you weren't old enough

to fully focus on what was going on at the time, but when i came into office in 2009, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. 800,000. millions of people were losing their homes. many were worried we were entering into a second great depression. so we worked hard to end that crisis but also to break some of these longer term trends. the actions we took during that crisis returned the economy to healthy growth and initiated the longest streak of job creation on record. and we covered another 20 million americans with health insurance and cut our deficits by more than half, partly by making sure that people like me who have been given such amazing opportunities by this country pay our fair share of taxes to

help folks coming up behind me. [ applause ] and by the time i left office, household income was near its all-time high, and the uninsured rate hit an all-time low, poverty rates were falling. i mention this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started. [ cheers and applause ] i'm glad it's continued, but when you hear about this economic miracle that's been going on, when the job numbers come out, monthly job numbers and suddenly republicans are saying it's a miracle, i have to kind of remind them, actually,

those job numbers are the same as they were in 2015 and 2016 and -- anyway. [ applause ] i digress. so we made progress, but -- and this is the truth -- my administration couldn't reverse 40-year trends in only eight years. especially once republicans took over the house of representatives in 2010 and decided to block everything we did. even things they used to support. so we pulled the economy out of crisis, but to this day, too many people who once felt solidly middle class still feel

very real and very personal economic insecurity. even though we took out bin laden and wound down the wars in iraq and afghanistan, got iran to halt its nuclear program, the world's still full of threats and disorder that come streaming through people's televisions every single day. and these challenges get people worried and it frays our civic trust and it makes a lot of people feel like the fix is in and the game is rigged and nobody's looking out for them. especially those communities outside our big urban centers. and even though your generation is the most diverse in history

with a greater acceptance and celebration of our differences than ever before, those are the kinds of conditions that are ripe for exploitation by politicians who have no compunction and no shame about tapping into america's dark history of racial and ethnic and religious division. appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren't for those who don't look like us or don't sound like us or don't pray like we do, that's an old playbook. it's as old as time. and in a healthy democracy, it doesn't work. our antibodies kick in, and

people of goodwill from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fear mongers and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature. but when there's a vacuum in our democracy, when we don't vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. a politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold and demagogues

promise simple fixes to complex problems. no promise to fight for the little guy, even as they cater to the wealthiest and most powerful. no promise to clean up corruption and then plunder away. they start undermining norms that ensure accountability and try to change the rules to entrench their power further. they appeal to racial nationalism that's barely veiled, if veiled at all. sound familiar? i understand this is not just a matter of democrats versus republicans or liberals versus conservatives. at various times in our history, this kind of politics has

infected both parties. southern democrats were the bigger defenders of slavery. it took a republican president, abraham lincoln, to end it. although it was a democratic president and a majority democrat congress spurred on by young marchers and protesters that got the civil rights act and the voting rights act over the finish line, those historic laws also got passed because of the leadership of republicans like illinois's own everett dirksen. so neither party has had a monopoly on wisdom. neither party has been exclusively responsible for us

going backwards instead of forwards. but i have to say this because sometimes we hear a plague on both your houses. over the past few decades, it wasn't true when jim edgar was governor here in illinois. but over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the republican party. this congress has championed the unwinding of campaign finance laws to give billionaires outside influence over our politics. systematically attacked voting rights to make it harder for

young people and minorities and the poor to vote. handed out tax cuts without regard to deficits. slashed the safety net wherever it could, cast dozens of votes to take away health insurance from ordinary americans, embraced wild conspiracy theories like those surrounding benghazi or my birth certificate, rejected science, rejected facts on things like climate change, embraced a rising absolutism from a willingness to default on america's debt by not paying our bills to a refusal to even meet much less consider a qualified nominee for the supreme court

because he happened to be nominated by a democratic president. none of this is conservative. i don't mean to pretend i'm channelling abraham lincoln now, but that's not what he had in mind, i think, when he helped form the republican party. it's not conservative. it sure isn't normal. it's radical. it's a vision that says the protection of our power and those who back us is all that matters even when it hurts the country. it's a vision that says the few who can afford high-price lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions set the agenda, and over the past two years, this vision is now nearing its

logical conclusion. so with republicans in control of congress and the white house, without any checks or balances whatsoever, they've provided another $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to people like me who i promise don't need it and don't even pretend to pay for them. it's supposed to be the party supposedly of fiscal conservatism. suddenly deficits do not matter. even though just two years ago when the deficit was lower, they said i couldn't afford to help working families or seniors on medicare because the deficit was in existential crisis. what changed? what changed?

they're subi did sisidizing cor polluters. they've made it so that the only nation on earth to pull out of the global climate agreement, it's not north korea, it's not syria, it's not russia or saudi arabia, it's us. the only country. there are a lot of countries in the world. we're the only ones. they're undermining our alliances, closiozying up to ru. what happened to the republican

party? its central organizing principle in foreign policy was the fight against communism, and now they're cozying up to the former head of the kgb. actively blocking legislation that would defend our elections from russian attack. what happened? their sabotage of the affordable care act has already cost more than 3 million americans their health insurance, and if they're still in power next fall, you better believe they're coming at it again. they've said so. in a healthy democracy, there's some checks and balances on this kind of behavior, this kind of inconsistency, but right now there's nothing. republicans who know better in

congress, and they're there, they're quoted saying, yeah, we know this is kind of crazy, are still bending over backwards to shield this behavior from scrutiny or accountability or consequence, seem utterly unwilling to find the backbone to safeguard the institutions that make our democracy work. and by the way, the claim that everything will turn out okay because there are people inside the white house who secretly aren't following the president's orders, that is not a check. i'm being serious here. that's not how our democracy's supposed to work. these people aren't elected. they're not accountable. they're not doing us a service by actively promoting 90% of the crazy stuff that's coming out of this white house, and then

saying, don't worry, we're preventing the other 10%. that's not how things are supposed to work. this is not normal. these are extraordinary times. and they're dangerous times. but here's the good news. in two months we have the chance, not the certainty, but the chance to restore some semblance of sanity to our politics. [ applause ] because there is actually only one real check on bad policy and abuse of power. that's you. you and your vote.

look, americans will always have disagreements on policy. this is a big country. it is a raucous country. i happen to be a democrat. i believe our policies are better and we have a bigger, bolder vision of equality and justice and inclusive democracy. we know there are a lot of jobs young people aren't getting a chance to occupy or aren't getting paid enough or aren't getting benefits like insurance. it's harder for young people to save for a rainy day let alone retirement. so democrats aren't just running on good old ideas like a higher minimum wage, they're running on good new ideas like medicare for all, giving workers seats on

corporate boards, reversing the most egregious corporate tax cuts to make sure college students graduate we know that people are tired of toxic corruption and that democracy depends on transparency and accountability, so democrats aren't just running on good old ideas like requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns. but on good new ideas like bo barring lobbyists from getting paid by foreign governments. we know that climate change isn't just coming. it's here. so democrats aren't just running on good old ideas like increasing gas mileage in our

cars, which i did and which republicans are trying to reverse, but on good new ideas like putting a price on carbon pollution. we know in a smaller, more connected world, we can't just put technology back in a box. we can't just put walls up all around america. walls don't keep out threats like terrorism or disease. and that's why we propose leading our alliances and helping other countries develop and pushing back against tyrants. democrats talk about reforming our immigration system so, yes, it is orderly and it is fair and it is legal, but it continues to welcome strivers and dreamers from all around the world. that's why i'm a democrat.

that's a set of ideas that i believe in. but i am here to tell you that even if you don't agree with me or democrats on policy, even if you believe in more libertarian economic theories, even if you are an evangelical and our position on certain social issues is a bridge too far, even if you think my assessment of immigration is mistaken and the democrats aren't serious enough about immigration enforcement, i'm here to tell you that you should still be concerned with our current course and should still want to see a restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness in our government. [ applause ]

it should not be democratic or republican. it should not be a partisan issue to say that we do not pressure the attorney general or the fbi to use the criminal justice system as a cudgel to punish our political opponents. [ applause ] or to explicitly call on the attorney general to protect members of our own party from prosecution because an election happens to be coming up. i'm not making that up. that's not hypothetical. it shouldn't be democratic or republican to say that we don't threaten the freedom of the press because they say things or publish storyinies we don't lik.

i complained plenty about fox news, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people. it shouldn't be democratic or republican to say we don't target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. we are americans. we're supposed to stand up to bullies. not follow them. we're supposed to stand up to discrimination, and we're sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to nazi sympathizers. [ applause ] how hard can that be? saying that nazis are bad.

i'll be honest, sometimes i get into arguments with progressive friends about what the current political movement requires. there are well-meaning folks passionate about social justice who think things have gotten so bad, the lines have been so starkly drawn, that we have to fight fire with fire. we have to do the same things to the republicans that they do to us. adopt their tactics. say whatever works. make up stuff about the other side. i don't agree with that. it's not because i'm soft. it's not because i'm interested in promoting an empty

bipartisanship. i don't agree with it because eroding our civic institutions and our civic trust and making people angrier and yelling at each other and making people cynical about government, that always works better for those who don't believe in the power of collective action. you don't need an effective government or a robust press or reasoned debate to work when all you're concerned about is maintaining power. in fact, the more cynical people are about government, the angrier and more dispirited they are about the prospects for change, the more likely the powerful are able to maintain their power. but we believe that in order to move this country forward, to actually solve problems and make people's lives better, we need a well-functioning government.

we need our civic institutions to work. we need cooperation among people of different political persuasions. and to make that work, we have to restore our faith in democracy. we have to bring people together, not tear them apart. we need majorities in congress and state legislatures who are serious about governing and want to bring about real change and improvements in people's lives. and we won't win people over by calling them names or dismissing entire chunks of the country as racist or sexist or homophobic. when i say bring people together, i mean all of our people. this whole notion that has

sprung up recently about democrats needing to choose between trying to appeal to white working class voters or voters of color and women and lgbt americans, that's nonsense. i don't buy that. i got votes from every demographic. we won by reaching out to everybody and competing everywhere and by fighting for every vote. and that's what we've got to do in this election and every election after that. [ applause ] and we can't do that if we immediately disregard what others have to say from the start because they're not like us, because they're white or they're black or they're man or a woman or they're gay or they're straight. if we think that somehow there's no way they can understand how i'm feeling and therefore don't have any standing to speak on certain matters because we're

only defined by certain characteristics, that doesn't work if you want a healthy democracy. we can't do that if we traffic in absolute when is it comes to policy. to make democracy work, we have to be able to get inside the reality of people who are different, have different experiences, come from different backgrounds. we have to engage them even when it is frustrating. we have to listen to them, even when we don't like what they have to say. we have to hope that we can change their minds, and we have to remain open to them changing ours. and that doesn't mean, by the way, abandoning our principles or caving to bad policy in the interests of maintaining some phony version of civility. that seems to be, by the way, the definition of civility

offered by too many congressional republicans right now. we will be polite so long as we get 100% of what we want and you don't call us out on the various ways we're sticking it to people. and we'll click our tongues and issue vague statements of disappointment when the president does something outrageous, but we won't actually do anything about it. that's not civility. that's abdicating your responsibilities. but again, i digress. making democracy work means holding on to our principles, having clarity about our principles, and then having the confidence to get in the arena and have a serious debate. it also means appreciating progress does not happen all at once but when you put your shoulder to the wheel, if you're willing to fight for it, things

do get better. and let me tell you something, particularly young people here. better is good. i used to have to tell my young staff this all the time in the white house. better is good. that's the history of progress in this country. not perfect, better. the civil rights act didn't end racism, but it made things better. social security didn't eliminate all poverty for seniors, but it made things better for millions of people. do not let people tell you the fight's not worth it because you won't get everything that you want. the idea that, well, you know, there's racism in america, so i'm not going to bother voting,

no point, that makes no sense. you can make it better. better is always worth fighting for. that's how our founders expected this system of self-government to work. through the testing of ideas and the application of reason and evidence and proof, we could sort through our differences, and nobody would get exactly what they wanted, but it would be possible to find a basis for common ground. and that common ground exists. maybe it's not fashionable to say that right now. it's hard to see it with all the nonsense in washington. it's hard to hear it with all

the noise. but common ground exists. i have seen it. i have lived it. i know there are white people who care deeply about black people being treated unfairly. i have talked to them and loved them, and i know there are black people who care deeply about the struggles of white rural america. i'm one of them. and i have a track record to prove it. i know there are evangelicals who are deeply committed to doing something about climate change. i've seen them do the work. i know there are conservatives who think there's nothing compassionate about separating immigrant children from their mothers. i know there are republicans who believe government should only

perform a few minimal functions but that one of those functions should be making sure nearly 3,000 americans don't die in a hurricane and its aftermath. [ applause ] common ground is out there. i see it every day. it's just how people interact, how people treat each other. you see it on the ball field. you see it at work. you see it in places of worship. but to say that common ground exists doesn't mean it will inevitably win out. history shows the power of fear and the closer that we get to to

election day, the more those invested in the politics of fear and division will work -- will do anything to hang on to their recent gains. fortunately, i am hopeful because out of this political darkness, i am seeing a great awakening of citizenship all across the country. i cannot tell you how encouraged i've been by watching so many people get involved for the first time or the first time in a long time. they're marching and they're organizing and they're registering people to vote and they're running for office themselves. look at this crop of democratic candidates running for congress and governor, running for the state legislature, running for district attorney, running for school board. it is a movement of citizens who happen to be younger and more

diverse and more female than ever before, and that's really useful. [ applause ] we need more women in charge. but we have first-time candidates. we have veterans of iraq and afghanistan. record numbers of women. americans who have previously maybe didn't have an interest in politics as a career but laced up their shoes and rolled up their sleeves and grabbed a clipboard because they, too, believe this time's different. this moment's too important to sit out. and if you listen to what these candidates are talking about in individual races across the country, you'll find they're not just running against something, they're running for something. they're running to expand opportunity and running to

restore the honor and compassion that should be the essence of public service. and speaking as a democrat, that's when the democratic party has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the american people. when we led with conviction and principle and bold new ideas. the antidote to a government controlled by a powerful few, a government that divides is a government by the organized, energized, inclusive many. that's what this moment's about. that has to be the answer.