Barack Obama Quotes About Middle Class

• It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

  Barack Obama

  Inspirational, Family, Retirement

  Daily Labor Report, Issues 169-189, Bureau of National Affairs, 2010.

• I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Cutting, Class, Lasts

  Democratic National Convention Presidential Nomination Acceptance, delivered 28 August 2008, INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado

• We can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back.

  Barack Obama

  Class, Mind, Special

  "Obama Tells Republicans to 'Sit in Back'". Speech, www.foxnews.com. October 25, 2010.

• In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can't afford it. And I refuse to renew them again.

  Barack Obama

  Inspirational, Cutting, Class

  "Obama’s Speech on Reducing the Budget", www.nytimes.com. April 13, 2011.

• I'm a warrior for the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Warrior, Class, Middle

  Remarks on the American Jobs Act in Cincinnati, OH, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. September 22, 2011.

• We're going to have to invest in the American people again, in tax cuts for the middle class, in health care for all Americans, and college for every young person who wants to go. In businesses that can create the new energy economy of the future. In policies that will lift wages and will grow our middle class. These are the policies I have fought for my entire career.

  Barack Obama

  Cutting, College, Class

• Every single thing I`ve done, from the Affordable Care Act to pushing to raise the minimum wage, to making sure that young people are able to go to college and get good job training, to what we`re pushing now in terms of sick paid leave,everything I do has been focused on how do we make sure the middle class is getting a fair deal.

  Barack Obama

  Jobs, College, Class

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

• Now, because he knows that his economic theories don't work, he's been spending these last few days calling me every name in the book. Lately he's called me a socialist for wanting to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. I don't know what's next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  Barack Obama

  Funny, Sarcastic, Book

  "Obama Mocks Socialist Attacks: 'I Shared My Toys'" by Sam Stein, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 29, 2008.

• Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed.

  Barack Obama

  Inspiring, Real, Practice

  A More Perfect Union, delivered 18 March 2008, Philadelphia, PA

• This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is a place where you can make it if you try. We tell people - we tell our kids - that in this country, even if you’re born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. We tell them that your children will have a chance to do even better than you do. That’s why immigrants from around the world historically have flocked to our shores.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Children, Lying

  Barack Obama's Remarks on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. December 6, 2011.

• This kind of inequality - a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression - hurts us all. When middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling...it drags down the entire economy from top to bottom. America was built on the idea of broad-based prosperity... That’s why a CEO like Henry Ford made it his mission to pay his workers enough so that they could buy the cars he made. It’s also why a recent study showed that countries with less inequality tend to have stronger and steadier economic growth over the long run.

  Barack Obama

  Running, Country, Hurt

  Barack Obama's Remarks on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. December 6, 2011.

• You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

  Barack Obama

  Education, Opportunity, Class

  Second Democratic Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, delivered 6 September 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina

• In the absence of sound oversight,responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system.

  Barack Obama

  Responsible Business, Class, Environmental

• In five days, you can turn the page on policies that put greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street. In five days, you can choose policies that invest in our middle class, and create new jobs, and grow this economy, so that everyone has a chance to succeed, not just the CEO, but the secretary and janitor, not just the factory owner, but the men and women on the factory floor.

  Barack Obama

  Jobs, Wall, Hard Work

• What can I do to make sure that middle-class families are feeling more secure, that more young people are able to access opportunity, that we are safe, that we are working with our international partners to try to create more order at a time when there's a lot of chaos? How do we deal with terrorism in a way that's consistent with our values? As long as I stay focused on those north stars, then I tend not to get too rattled.

  Barack Obama

  Stars, Opportunity, Order

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

• This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Retirement, Home

  "Obama evokes Roosevelt rhetoric". "The World Today with Eleanor Hall", www.abc.net.au. December 7, 2011.

• I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. I'm not going to ask students and seniors and middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me, making over $250,000, aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes.

  Barack Obama

  Senior, Class, People

  "Congress Barrels Toward Fiscal Cliff". "Weekend Edition Sunday" with Rachel Martin, www.npr.org. November 11, 2012.

• I believe that the free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world's ever known. I believe in self-reliance and individual initiative and risk-takers being rewarded. But I also believe that everybody should have a fair shot and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same rules, because that's how our economy's grown. That's how we built the world's greatest middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Believe, Self, Should Have

  "Exclusive: Expanding the Debate with Third-Party Candidates Jill Stein, Virgil Goode, Rocky Anderson". www.democracynow.org. October 17, 2012.

• I'll go anywhere and I'll do whatever it takes to get this done. It's too important for Washington to screw this up. Now's the time for us to work on what we all agree to, which is let's keep middle-class taxes low. That's what our economy needs. That's what the American people deserve.

  Barack Obama

  Class, People, Important

  Barack Obama's remarks on Extending Tax Cuts for the Middle Class at the South Court Auditorium in Washington, D.C., obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. November 28, 2012.

• We are going through historic times, and my vision is a world, first of all, in which America continues to be that one indispensable nation. Because we're taking care of our own people, because our economy is strong and our middle class is growing, and people feel like hard work is rewarded, and we are continuing to expand opportunity and diversity and tolerance and respect.

  Barack Obama

  Strong, Hard Work, Opportunity

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

• The Asia Pacific is home to nearly half the world's population, a growing middle class and holds so much opportunity for us all.

  Barack Obama

  Home, Opportunity, Class

  Source: www.straitstimes.com

• We can't afford more top-down economics. What we need are policies that will grow and strengthen the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Top Down, Class, Needs

• What we have to do is make sure that here in America, if you work hard, you can get ahead. If you worked hard, not only did you have a good job, but you also had decent benefits, decent health care. We've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to expand the middle class and people who are working hard can get into the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Jobs, Hard Work, Class

  Source: www.foxnews.com

• This is where I think policies do need to be somewhat race-specific, is making sure that institutions are not discriminatory. So you've got something like the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], which was on its face a universal program that involved a huge mechanism for wealth accumulation and people entering into the middle class.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, Race, Class

  Source: www.theatlantic.com

• The president is eager to get to work and looks forward to working with the new Congress on policies that will make sure middle-class Americans are sharing in the economic recovery, but the president is clear that he will not let this Congress undo important protections gained -- particularly in areas of health care, Wall Street reform and the environment.

  Barack Obama

  Wall, Health, Recovery

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