>> thank you all for jerry willis, we support her, see you at the race. thank you very much for joining us. have a lovely weekend. >> yeah. >> outnumbered starts now. >> fox news alert former president barack obama about to get back on the trail. the stump ahead of the mid-term elections. just moments from now he will give a speech at a packed house at the university of illinois. in his remarks, he is expected to address the state of america's democracy and so the-called consequences of apathy. the speech will preview the arguments he plans to make backing democrat candidates on the campaign trail this fall. reportedly. he won't hold back criticizing president trump although we're told he won't actually name him. we'll bring you some -- all of that when it begins. . >> melissa: president trump slamming the "new york times" sdoigs public an op ed from an

unnamed senior administration official describing an internal resistance. saying it could be called treason. this is outnumbered, i'm melissa francis. here is maris faulkner, fox news contributor lisa boothe, anchor of the intelligence report on fox business trish regan, and back, co-host of "fox & friends," brian kilmey. you have a lot of friends. >> it's called the brian kilmeade show now. this is a rehearsal. >> are you afraid to go anywhere without friends? >> harris knowts i'm very insecure. [laughing] at the end of the show it comes out. >> can we be friends? >> yeah! >> aww. always bringing the love. it's friday. >> melissa: president trump not holding back at a rally in montana, taking on that "new york times" op ed piece penned by an unnamed writer who claims

to be part of a, quote, resistance working from within to thwart president trump's most dangerous impulses. >> president trump: the latest act of resistance is the op ed published in the failing "new york times" by an anonymous, really anonymous, gutness coward. i can never get a good story. i mean, look at this horrible thing today, is it sub version, is it treason? it is e a horrible thing. >> melissa: the president saying that what the times did was very unfair. watch. >> president trump: i'll tell you, when somebody writes, and you can't discredit because you have no idea who they are, usually you'll find out it's the background that was bad, it may not be a republican, interest may not be a conservative, it may be a deep state person that's been there a long time. it's a very unfair thing. but it's unfair to our country,

and to the millions of people that voted, really, for us. they voted for us. [applause] >> melissa: more than two dozen administration officials stepping forward to say they did not author the piece. democrat elizabeth warren says if the president's cabinet thinks he's unfit for office they should remove him via the 25th amendment. brian, i mean, that unfitness for president, it's really something when i hear people throw that around. i think you're fit to be president if you've been elected. and to try and take that away, is i mean that is undoing the will of the people. that is a threat to democracy. >> in this was an administration that did everything like they did the travel ban, chaos, ill thought out, it was horribly implemented, this would be a major problem. but as they got their sea legs they began to catch fire. repeal and replace, you could say the president's fault but it wasn't really, that was congress's problem.

after that they started wheeling off the victories. then you see the job numbers, the economy start to click in, you see syria, afghanistan we have things are changing, pakistan we've had it, going with india. we have a policy being implemented. you may not like, this may be the report from the inside, accurate or not. from the outside, we kind of like the report card. i think what senator thune said was so true, this whole thing reinforces the message there's a bunch of folks embedded in the washington bureaucracy that are out to get him. this kind of reinforces people, like in montana with pete hegsmeade, this is why voted for you. >> melissa: what some have said, you may not like the messenger but you like the outcome f you read within this, the outcome is in spite of the president not because of him. the outcome are the silent people on the inside who are able to get great things done in spite of the fact that the president is insane.

>> he is in the white house. the policies named as positive things, historic tax reform, deregulation, robust mystery, because of president trump. he and the white house, it's his policies that he signed off on. you can't take it away from him. in his defense, anonymous is a hard word to say and i was on this couch trying to say recidivism, and it look five times. >> i will not say that word. >> you can put on it long list of things that the media cares about, washington, d.c. cares about, people at home don't care about. this is part of the reason why the media and so many people with washington miss, people at home don't care about the issues they're focused on, they care am i better off than when president trump took office. that's the question voters care about. there's all this time, who wrote it. quite frankly if the person didn't have the guts to put their name on the op ed i'm not going to waste my time worrying

about who moat it. >> harris: interesting, home of the brave, right? i mean, if you have something to say, stand up and say it. boom. speaking of stand up and say it, we told you, former. united states, barack obama, on the eve of jumping back into the game to help out democrats on the campaign trail mid-term season. he's at the university of illinois. let's watch. >> checking to see if you're awake. please have a seat, everybody. it is good to be home. [applause] 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 impressed. at my agricultural knowledge.

please give it up for amari-for-the outstanding introduction. 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. [applause] i also notice 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 president kileen and everybody at the u of i system for making it possible for me to be here today. and i am deeply honor ed 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. [laughing] 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. [laughing] 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 of 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. nd 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. and 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 followed him into battle. there was no constitution, no democratic norms that guided what he should or could do. and he could have made himself all powerful, he could have made himself potentially president for life. and instead he resigned as commander in chief and moved back to his country estate. and 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, everyone of us as citizens of the united states need to determine just who it is that we are. what we stand for. as fellow citizens, 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. [laughing] 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 side lines 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 great

depression, america 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 primary and secondary education. and stitching together a social safety net. all of this led to unrivaled prosperity. the rise of the broad and deep middle class in the sense that if worked hard you could climb the ladder of success. not everyone was included in this prosperity. there's 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 floodgates of opportunity for women and americans with disabilities. and lgbt americans. others, to make their own claims to full and equal citizenship. although discrimination remained a pernicious force in our society, and continues to this day, although there are controversy 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 is 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. to help poor countries develop. and 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 the men and women in uniform, we not only reduce 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. the notion of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. even those countries that didn't abide by the prims, are still subject to shame and still had

to at least give lip service to the idea. that provided a lever for people to continue the prospects around the world. that is the story of america. fitful progress but progress. that progress wasn't achieved by just a handful of famous leaders making speeches. it was won because of countless acts of heroism and dedication by citizens, by order people. many of them not much older than you.

rather than be bystanders to history 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 equally, 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 their family and pursue their small piece of the american dream. our ideales 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 have 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 manufacturing by the powerful and the privileged, who want to keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical because that helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege. you happen to be coming of age during one of those moments. it did not start with donald trump. he is a symptom, not the cause. [applause] he just capitalizes on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years. a fear, an anger that's rooted in our parent but also borne out

of the enormous uphooefls that have taken place -- upheavals that have taken place in our brief life times. by the way, it is brief. when i heard amari was 11 when i got elected. [laughing] 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 winds 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. when america wasn't at war. money, images, 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 faferbter than any time in human history. it creates a new economy that has unleashed incredible prosperity. 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, or 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. 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 shchlt riand shrinking the safe net. you have come of age during a time of growing inequality.rink. you have come of age during a time of growing inequality. fracturing of economic opportunity.

that growing economic divide come pounded on they are divisions in our country. regional, racial, religious, cultural. it 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 resulted in the worst recession in any of our life times and caused years of hardship for the american people. for many of our 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 action weiss took during that crisis returned the economy to healthy growth. and initiated the longest streak of job creation on record. we covered another 20 million americans with health insurance and cut our deficits by more than half, partly by making sure 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 us. [applause]

a and by the time i left office, household income was near its all-time high and the uninsured rate hit an all-time low and wages were rising and poverty rates were falling. i mention all this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started. [applause] i mean, 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, suddenly republicans are saying it's a miracle. i have to kind reef mind them, actually, those job numbers are

the same as they were in 2015 and 2016. [applause] anyway, i digress. [laughing] 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 our combat role in afghanistan and got iran to halt its nuclear program. the world is still full of threats and disorder that come screaming through people's televisions every single day. 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 is 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 the

political spectrum call out the bigots and the fearmongers and work to compromise and get things done. 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 grant ed, 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, other voices fill the void. politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. demagogues promise simple fixes, to complex problems.

no they'll promise to fight for the little guy even if they kater to the wealthiest and most powerful. they'll 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. and they appeal to racial nationalism that's barely veiled. if veiled at all. sound familiar? now, 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 partyies. southern democrats were the

bigger defenders of slavery. it took a republican president, abraham lincoln, to end it. dixicrats filibustered, opposed expanding civil rights. 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 dirkson. 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, wasn't true when jim egger was the governor here in illinois, or jim thompson was governor, got a lot of good republican friends here in illinois. 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. [applause]

handed out tax cuts without regard to deficits. slash the safety net wherever it could, cast dozens of votes to take away health insurance from order americans, embraced wild conspiracy theories like those surrounding benghazi. or my birth certificate. [laughing] 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. division that says the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions set the agenda. and over the past two years, this vision is now nearing its logical conclusion.

so that 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 conservativism. suddenly deficits don't 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 an xis citizenshl crisis. -- existential crisis. what changed? what changed?crisis. what changed? what changed?existential crisis.

-- crisis. what changed? what changed?what changed? what changed? they're subsidizing people with taxpayer money. allowing people to take advantage of students again. they made it so that the only nation on earth to pull out of the global climate agreement, it's not north kree arc 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. [applause] they're undermining our alliances, cozying up to russia. what happened to the republican party? its central organizing principle

in foreign policy was the fight against communism, and now they're koezying up to the former head of the kgb. actively blocking legislation that would defend our elections from russian attack. what happened? they're sabotaging the affordable care act, already cost more than three 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. flub answer -- republicans who know better in congress, they're

there, they're quoted saying we know this is crazy. are still bending over backwards to shield this behavior from scrutiny, accountability, consequence. seem unable to safeguard the institutions that make our democracy work. 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 is supposed to work. these people aren't elected. they're not accountable. [applause] they're not doing us a service by actively promoting 90% of the crazy stuff coming out of this white house. 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 abuses of power, and that's you. you and your vote.

but americans will always have disagreements on policy. this is a big country, a raucous country, people have different points of view. i happen to be a democrat. i support democratic candidates. i believe our policies are better and that we have a bigger, bolder vision of equality and justice and inclusive democracy. we know that 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 new ideas, medicare for all. giving workers seats on corporate boards. reversing the most egregious

corporate tax cuts to make sure chej students graduate debt free. [applause] college students. 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. and barring lobbyists from making campaign contributions. on good new ideas, like barring lobbyists from getting paid by foreign governments. we know that climate change isn't just coming, it is 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. put putting a price on carbon collusion n a smarl, more connected world we can't just put technology back in a box. we can't just put walls up around america. walls don't keep out threats like terrorism or disease. [applause] that's why we propose leading our alliances and helping other countries develop and pushing back against tyrants. and 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 strooifers and dreamers from all around the world -- strooifers and dreamers. that's why i'm a democrat.

that's a set of ideas that i believe in.dreamers. that's why i'm a democrat. that's a set of ideas that i believe in.and dreamers. that's why i'm a democrat. that's a set of ideas that i believe in. i'm here to tell you 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 kuj on to punish or -- cudgeol to punish our political opponents. or to explicitly call on the attorney general to protect members of our own party from persecution -- 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 public stories we don't like. 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. [applause] 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, 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 taxes. 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 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 reason to work when all you're concerned about is maintaining power. the more cynical people are about government, the angrier and more disspirited 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. we won't win people over by calling them names. or dismissing entire chunks of the country as chasists or sexist or homophobic. or raceists. i mean all of our people. this 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 demograph demographic, we won by reaching out to everybody and competing everywhere and fighting for every vote. that's what we got to do in this election and every election after that. 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 not -- they're white or they're black or they're men or woman or gay or 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 absolutes when 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 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 we can thing their minds and remain open to them changing ours. 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 the definition of civility offered by

congressional republicans. we will be polite as long as we get 100% what we want and you don't call us out on the fact we're sticking to it people. we'll click our tongues 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 i degres. meaning democracy work, means having charity about our principles, and having the confidence to get in the arena and have a serious debate. it also means realizing progress doesn't 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.

let me tell you, 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 isn't worth it because you won't get everything that you want. the idea that, well, there's racism in america so i'm not going to bother voting. no point.

that makes no sense. can you make it better. better is always worth fighting for. that's how our founders expected the 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. that common ground exists. maybe it's not fashionable to say that right now. it's hard to see it with all of the nonsense in washington, hard to hear with it all of 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 treated unfairly. i have talked to them and loved them. there are black people who care deeply about the struggles of white rural america. i'm one of them. i have a track record to prove it. i know there are evangelicals who are deeply committed to doing something about climate change. i have 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 functioning, one of those 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 r day. 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 common ground exists, doesn't mean it will inevitably win out. history shows the power of fear. and the closer that we get to election day the more those invested in the politics of fear

and division will work to -- will do anything to hang on to their recent gains. onto their recent gains. fortunately, i am hopeful. they 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. for the first time in a long time. marching and organizing and registering people to vote and running for office themselves. look at this crop of democratic candidates running for congress and running for governor, running for the state legislature. running for district attorney. a movement of citizens who happen to be younger, more

diverse, and more female than ever before, and that's really useful. [applause] we need more women in charge. but we've got first-time candidates, veterans of iraq and afghanistan, record numbers of women. americans who 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, believed that this time is different. this moment is too important to set out. and if you listen to what these candidates are talking about in individual races across the country, they are not running against something, they are running for something. they are running to expand opportunity and restore the honor and compassion that should

be the essence of public servic service. and speaking of the democrats, that's when the democratic party has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the american people. when we lead with conviction and principle and bold new ideas. the antidote to a government controlled by a powerful figure, a government that divides, is a government by the organized, energized, inclusive many. that's what this moment is abou about. it has to be the answer. you cannot sit back and wait for a savior.

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