Amy Klobuchar Presidential Campaign Launch Speech
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[Amy Klobuchar Presidential Campaign Launch Speech]
[Amy Jean Klobuchar:] Source: LYBIO.net
Hello everyone! Welcome to Boom Island. Where are we?
[Audience:]
BOOM ISLAND!
[Amy Klobuchar:]
We don’t let a little cold stop us! We don’t let a little cold stop us! Like are you guys even cold?
[Audience:]
NO!
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Tell the truth!
[Audience:]
No!
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Ok. Now when I said that elected leaders should go not just where it’s comfortable, but also where it’s uncomfortable, this is what I meant!
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Now John and I want to first thank our amazing and incredible team and staff for putting this together! Unbelievable!
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Also the City of Minneapolis parks, thank you.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
All the incredible people who turned out – my friends [Senator] Tina Smith and Governor Walz. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan – highest ranking Native American state official in our nation. Our congressional delegation – thank you. Mayors, commissioners, legislators – oh, I forgot my dad who is 90 years old.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And you always want to thank your in-laws! Bill & Marilyn from Mankato!
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Thank you Dudley D., who traveled with Prince for so many years for being here – hey if Price can do that Half-Time show in all that rain – I can do this – in this snow!
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Sounds of Blackness, thank you! Rabbi Zimmerman. Thank you friends from around the country, this is why we live here!
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Thank you greater Minnesota, thank you our suburbs, and thank you The Twin Cities of Minneapolis St. Paul.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
We are gathered here today on this beautiful Mississippi River—America’s great river, running straight through the middle of our country, through the heartland. It takes its name from a Native American word for “The Father of Waters.”
It starts small up North. And like many of you, as a kid, I got a thrill of going up there and claiming that I jumped clear over the Mississippi River.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
It then gets wider as it flows down here to the Twin Cities, and then to Wisconsin where my mom was born.
And then down to Iowa.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
A place where we in Minnesota like to go south for the winter. Or at least I do and then to Illinois, a state that boasts a lot of extraordinary presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Then the river meanders down to St. Louis, where you’ll find a big arch, a gateway that honors our country’s pioneers. Onwards to Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee. Where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went one April day to join sanitation workers fighting for dignity. Where he preached about the mountaintop and how he’d seen the Promised Land.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And then to Arkansas and Mississippi. All the way down to New Orleans where the spirit of resilience abounds.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
The Mississippi River! All our rivers connect us to one another to our shared story. For that is how this country was founded, with patriots who saw more than united them than divided them. And that is how this city – the Mill City – and our country prospered, right along this river and our nation’s railways and roads, grounded in the common belief that prosperity shared leads to better lives for all. And this is how we became the world’s beacon of democracy, one in which EVERYONE MATTERS.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
And we start in this place where about a mile downriver, on a beautiful summer day, a big bridge collapsed into this river. I said on that day, that a bridge just shouldn’t fall down in the middle of America. Not one of the busiest bridges in our state. Not a bridge just a few blocks from our home where John and Abigail and I drove over nearly every day. But it happened.
And suddenly the eyes of the nation were on our state. And that day America saw in a very visceral way that everyone matters. Everyone!
They saw it in the off-duty firefighter who dove into the murky water, over and over again, looking through those cars and trucks submerged for survivors.
They saw it in the story of Paul Eickstadt, the semi-truck driver, who sacrificed his own life by veering off the road to save a school bus full of kids.
They saw it in the school staff member, Jeremy Hernandez, who rescued each and every kid on that miracle school bus as it hung precariously next to a guardrail after plummeting 30 feet.
Later, we worked across the aisle to get the federal funding and we rebuilt that I-35W bridge in just over a year.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
That! That’s community. That’s a shared story. That’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
But my friends – that sense of community is fracturing across our nation right now, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics. We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, of the gridlock and the grandstanding.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Today on this snowy day, on this island, we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Our nation – OUR NATION – must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
And it has to start will all of us. My family’s story is like so many of yours. On both my mom and my dad’s side, they arrived in this country with nothing but a suitcase. But they made a home here. It was cold. O.K. maybe not as cold as this. They didn’t know anyone. But like so many immigrants, they wanted a better life for their families. My grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines up North on the Iron Range. He never graduated from high school. He saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to college.
My dad, whose here at age 90 –
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:] Source: LYBIO.NET
– got a two-year degree from Vermillion Junior College, and then finished up at the great University of Minnesota. He became – he became a journalist.
As a young (thank you – person cheering).
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
As a young Associated Press reporter he called the 1960 presidential race for John F. Kennedy.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
He covered the 1968 conventions. He interviewed everyone from Mike Ditka to Hubert Humphrey to Ronald Reagan to Ginger Rogers.
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Freedom of the press wasn’t some abstract idea to dad. He embraced it. He lived it.
My mom, a proud union member –
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
– taught – taught second grade in the suburbs until she was 70 years old. Her students, now grown, still come up to me on the street and tell me she was their favorite teacher. So today, on an island in the middle of the mighty Mississippi, in our nation’s heartland, at a time when we must heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good, I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the State of Minnesota to – to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.
[Audience:]
(EXTENDED CHEERING AND APPLAUDING & CHANTING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
I’m – I – I’m running for this job for every person who wants their work recognized and rewarded.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
I am running for every parent who wants a better world for their kids.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
I’m running for every student who wants a good education.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
For every senior who wants affordable prescription drugs.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
For every worker, farmer, dreamer and builder. I’m running for every American. And I am running for you.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And I promise you this: as your President, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That’s what I’ve done my whole life. And no matter what, I’ll lead from the heart.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING & CHANTING)
AMY!
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Thank you. Ok. Let me be blunt: for too long leaders in Washington have sat on the sidelines while others try to figure out what to do about the changing economy and its impact on our lives, what to do about the disruptive nature of new technologies, income inequality, the political and geographic divides, the changing climate, the tumult in our world. For a moment, let’s stop seeing those obstacles as obstacles on our path. Did we view the snow as an obstacle? No we did not!
[Audience:]
(NO!)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Let’s see those obstacles as our path.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
This is what I mean. There are insidious forces every day that are trying to make it harder for people to vote, trying to drown out our voices with big money. It is time to organize. Time to galvanize. Time to take back our democracy. It’s time, America!
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
Time to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and get the dark money out of our politics.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
It is time to stop discriminatory actions by restoring the Voting Rights Act.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
It is time to pass my bill to automatically register every young person to vote when they turn 18.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
You see the obstacles that they are throwing at us with big money and limits on voting, they’re obstacles but they’re also our path. They are how as Paul Wellstone would tell us, they are how we organize.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Here is another one: climate change. The people – the people are on our side when it comes to climate change. Why? Because like you and I, they believe in science.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
That;s why in the first 100 days of my Administration I will reinstate the clean power rules and the gas mileage standards and put forth sweeping legislation to invest in green jobs and infrastructure.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And on – and on day one, WE WILL rejoin the international climate agreement.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
The obstacles? They are our path. Here’s another challenge: Way too many politicians have their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to the digital revolution. Hey guys! It’s not just coming, it’s here. And if you don’t know the difference between a hack and Slack, it’s time to pull off the digital highway.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
What would I do – what would I do as President? We need to put some digital rules of the road into law when it comes to peoples privacy.
[Audience:] Source: LYBIO.NET
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
For too long the big tech companies have been telling you “Don’t worry! We’ve got your back!”
[Audience:]
(NO!)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
While your identities in fact are being stolen and your data is being mined. Our laws need to be as sophisticated as the people who are breaking them. We must revamp our nation’s cybersecurity and guarantee net neutrality for all.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And we need to end the digital divide by pledging to connect every household to the internet by 2022, and that means you rural America.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
I mean! Come on! If they can do it in Iceland, we can do it here.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
We need to train our workers today for the jobs of tomorrow and strengthen our economy by planning ahead. That means respecting and recognizing educational certifications and 2-year degrees and making it easier for people to get them. And yes, and yes – that means comprehensive immigration reform. It is time, America!
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And by the way we should close those tax loopholes designed by and for the wealthy and bring down our debt and make it easier for workers to afford child care, housing and education.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
That is what I mean by shared prosperity. But we won’t get there if people can’t afford their health care and that means getting to universal health care –
[Audience:]
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
– and bringing down – bringing down the costs of prescription drugs. Last week my guest to the State of the Union, who is here again with me today, was Nicole Smith-Holt. Nicole’s son Alec, a 26-year-old restaurant manager from the Southern suburbs, aged off his parents’ health insurance. Three days short of his payday, Alec, a diabetic, wasn’t able to afford his insulin. He tried rationing it to save money. It didn’t work and he died. This disgrace should never have happened in the United States of America.
[Audience:]
(NO.)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Not with a simple drug that’s been around for nearly a century. The obstacle to change? The big pharma companies think they own Washington. Well they don’t own me. And they don’t own Nicole.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
We – we are teaming up to pass meaningful legislation to bring in competitive safe drugs from other countries. To stop big pharma’s practice of paying off generic companies to keep their products off the market. We’re going to harness the negotiating power of 43 million seniors – that’s a lot of negotiating power and lift the ban on negotiating cheaper drug prices under Medicare for prescription drugs.
I have always believed in doing my job without fear or favor. That’s what I do as a Senator and that’s what I did as a prosecutor. And that means not only convicting the guilty but protecting the innocent.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
That’s why I have and why I will always continue to advocate for criminal justice reform.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
That’s why, in a state where we all value hunting and fishing and the great outdoors, I am not afraid to join the vast majority of Americans – including many gun owners, to stand up to the gun lobby and put universal background checks and – and commonsense gun legislation into law. It is time, America!
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And a safer world is not just about what we do here at home. Even if you want to isolate yourself from the rest of the world, the rest of the world won’t let you. International problems come banging at our door, just as opportunities come knocking.
We need to stand strong and consistently — with our allies.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
We need to be clear in our purpose. We must respect our front line troops, diplomats and intelligence officers who are there every day risking their lives for us – they deserve better than foreign policy by Tweet.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And one last obstacle that we must overcome to move forward together. Stop the fear-mongering and stop the hate.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
We may come from different places. We may pray in different ways. We may look different. And love different. But all live in the same country of shared dreams.
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(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:] Source: LYBIO.NET
In Minnesota we have the biggest Somali population in the country.
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[Amy Klobuchar:]
And we are very proud of that community. A few years ago at the height of the angry rhetoric, a Somali-American family of four went out to dinner. Right here in Minnesota – this guy walked by, he looked down at them and said “you four go home. You go home to where you came from.”
And the little girl looked up at her mom and she said “Mom, I don’t want to go home. You said we could eat out for dinner tonight. I don’t want to eat dinner at home.”
You think of the innocent words of that little girl.
She only knows one home.
And that’s our state. She only knows one home, and that’s the United States of America.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
Walt Whitman, the great American poet, once wrote these words:
“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.”
For Whitman those were the songs of the mechanics, the carpenters, the masons – the shoemakers. And those carols are still being sung today.
They are now also the songs of our sisters and brothers, a chorus of different faiths, races, creeds and ways of life.
E pluribus unum. Out of one – out of many, one.
It is more than a motto, America.
It is the North Star of our democracy.
It is the North Star of our effort.
I am asking you to join us on this campaign.
It is a homegrown one.
I don’t know if you can even see our number because of the snow.
But you can text Amy at 91990.
I don’t have a political machine. I don’t come from money. But what I do have is this: I have grit.
[Audience:] Source: LYBIO.NET
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
I – I have family. I have friends. I have neighbors. And I have all of you who are willing to come out in the middle of the winter, all of you – who took the time to watch us today from home, all of you who are willing to stand up and say people matter. I am asking you to not look down and not look away. I am asking you to look up. To look at each other. To look to the future before us. Let us rise to the occasion and meet the challenges of our day. Let us cross the river of our divides and walk across our sturdy bridge to higher ground.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
As one – as one faith leader reminded me this week, to pursue the good, we must believe that good will prevail.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:]
I do believe it and so do you. So let’s join together, as one nation, indivisible, under God, and pursue the good.
[Audience:]
(CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
[Amy Klobuchar:] Source: LYBIO.NET
Thank you and God bless America.
[Connect and Follow Amy Klobuchar:]
Amyklobuchar.com
Klobuchar.senate.gov
Twitter.com/amyklobuchar
Amy Klobuchar Presidential Campaign Launch Speech. For every worker, farmer, dreamer and builder. I’m running for every American. And I am running for you. Complete Full Transcript, Dialogue, Remarks, Saying, Quotes, Words And Text.