Thank you, thank you, thank you. I told the senator, i said i know that eyes and the back of your head. My mother had them. Every damn thing i i did she caught me doing. [laughing] its so great to see it all. What a wonderful, wonderful crowd. Let me begin by just saying the obvious. Every four years democracy begins in iowa. Its not hyperbole. Democracy begins in iowa. You are the one who has the starting gun to do with one to decide and have Significant Impact on who is likely to be the nominee in the democratic party. For that matter, Republican Party when theres not an incumbent president. And it matters a lot. Because of the values you will bring to the process are real. I want to talk a little bit today about values. You know, folks, im running forward, i decided, jill and i decided we are going to run this time for three basic reasons. Most important one was is we have to literally notte figuratively restore the soul of this country. Were in trouble. Were in trouble. [applause] the way our National Government is acting out is not who we are. It doesnt reflect who america is. The way the president speaks of his opponents, the way the president speaks of the people who should be our opponents, thugs like kimhe jongun and otr dictators around the world, the way he pokes folks in the eyes of her allies for years and years. The way he characterizes peopleo who have any deficiency at all, any physical ailment, the way he talks about people that disagree with them. Its not how we were raised. Not how any of you were raiseds in this town, in this community, in this county. Not have jill and i were raised at him. Not a joke. Think about it. Our children a listing. Our children are listening to whats going on and it has an effect. When president s speak, thewh matter who the president is, the matter who it is, people listen. President cant buy his or her words brazen a klatch markets outa there. President by their words can send brave men and went to war. They can bring peace but they can also breathe oxygen into the hatred that exist in small amounts, that lives under the rocks out there in america. This has not been a fairytale. We have gone through periods where we have had folks and circumstances that allow peoplee the demagogue to blame whatever the problem they think they have on the other. Its always the other, the other. I guy became a a good friend michael jon meacham, wrote a book about the soul of america and has a chapter book that talks about how back in 1925 yob had over 32,000 at least the number he showed, he gives, people in the ku klux klan and appointed hats has marching doe streets in washington, d. C. Because then it wasnt about africanamericans. It was about making sure catholics after world war ii excuse me, world war i, who were, in fact, decimated were leaving and coming to the United States of america. G of christianity because of those catholics coming from Eastern Europe and italy and other places. And he points out what it took then and every other time we had to confront this kind of this kind of demagoguery, is it took everybody standing up. All faiths. All parties. All leaders. People standing up and saying not here. This is the United States of america. Its not what you fought for. Its not what you fought for as a United States marine. I am not being melodramatic. It is not. It is about we the people, in order to form a more perfect union. Or we hold these truths to be selfevident. It sounds corny. But thats why the people look to the United States of america. We are the most powerful nation in the history of the world. That is not hyperbole. Our warriors are the finest warriors that have ever, ever lived on this earth, but thats not why we have been able to lead the world. Necessary, but not sufficient. Weve led the world by the example, our example, the power of our example. Thats why the rest of the world looks up to us. That is why we have been able to unite, keep the peace for the last 70 years through nato and other organizations that we put together. And folks, the rest of the world is wondering about us. You know, if you look at that National Polling data that interNational Polling data that goes on about i think its the pew poll, that goes out and looks at where we stand in we are the most respected nations in the world. We are just behind china and just ahead of russia. Think about that for a second. You say, what difference does that make . We are not running a popularity contest. But we are. We are. As former secretary of state said, the essential nation, we genuinely are. We are the outfit that holds things together. And here at home, did you ever think youd see a time, coming out of the civil rights movement, i never thought id, i come from the state that has the eighth largest black state in population in america. I love reading these biographies of me. Biden knew he was going to run for president. Blah, blah, blah. I was just a kid. Just got engaged. It just got me, it motivated me in a way i never thought would happen. But because of the presidency that existed. But, folks, i never thought id see in 2017, as a sitting Vice President , then out of office, coming out of the streets of, in charlottesville, people coming out of the fields carrying torches, contorted faces. I mean, screaming antisemitic bile that the same bile that was hollered and screamed and chanted in germany before world war ii began accompanied by the ku klux klan. White supremacists. A young woman gets killed. She was protesting. The president gets asked, what do you think, mr. President . And he says something no president has ever said. He said, there were very fine people on both sides. Folks, we got a lot at stake here, a lot going on. In order to get about the business that we have to do to increase the quality and Economic Opportunity in the United States, we have to get rid of this administration. We have to get to restore the to begin to restore the essence of who america is. The second reason im running is because we have to restore, we have to rebuild the backbone of this country. The backbone of the country has always been, always been hardworking, working class and middleclass people. The middle class built this country. Wall street didnt build the country. They are not bad, per se, but they didnt build america. People that built america are the people in the neighborhoods i come from and people here in mason city and thats not a joke. Think about it. How we are all raised. We are all raised the same way, basically. Different emphasis, but if you work hard, you play by the rules, you can do anything. No matter what your background is, no matter what your zip code was, no matter where you came from, you can do anything given half a chance. Well, thats not happening now. Middle class in america is getting clobbered. Were no longer the wealthiest middle class in the world for the first time in the lifetime of anybody in this room. Secondly, you have well over half the American People who are in the middle class thinking their children will never have the standard of living as high as theirs. Theres never been so much, how can i say it . Not depression. So much anxiety. Since probably the Great Depression about the future, whats going to happen, whats going to happen. And we have to rebuild the middle class. This time bring everybody along. We have to build, we have to rebuild the middle class in small towns and Rural America, in the small towns and in Rural America. Not just rebuild the middle class so that in fact what happens is you raise your children and they decide they have to leave to go have an opportunity somewhere else. We have to build it here. Here. In the parts of my state, the towns of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people, in towns of 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 people, so people have a reason to stay, because you all are, it sounds like a little bit of hyperbole. You are the moral center of the country. You know, we all say, yall talk about American Values and midwestern values and middleclass values but its true. Its who we are. Its who we are. And folks, the third thing we have to do, we have to unite this country. I know a lot of the folks who are seeking nomination dont think thats possible. They are very good people, by the way. All the people im running with and we are running with one another, they are good, decent, honorable people. But the fact is, a lot of them think theres no way to unite the country, no way to bring us together because things have changed. If you watch any of those debates which are really not debates, they are 60second assertions we make [laughter] and thats no candidates fault. Its just the nature of having 10, 12, 90 people on a stage. [laughter] but look, the fact is that if you think about it, if you think about it, unless we pull the country together again, we got a real problem. The way our rules are set up, the way our constitution is set up, you have to be able to reach consensus. Or you dont get anything done. It just results in the abuse of power if you dont get consensus. The president says, well, no ones acting so i have the right to act. Thats not right for a democrat or a republican. And folks, you know, the American People, i think, are ready. Look, look how were even getting divided based on urban and rural now. Why should someone who lives in a skyscraper in new york city or in los angeles have any more or less of an opportunity, why do we have to choose between that and someone living on a farm in this county . But thats how were kind of making it out these days. Look at the split. You read all that, those Opinion Pieces in the press. The great divide between urban america and Rural America. Theres no reason for it. That didnt always exist. All these differences but never existed the way it does now. And folks, we got to change it. And the way to start to change it, and i am going to get right to it and not keep you long here. The way to change it is that your children and your grandchildren growing up in mason city in this county should be able to be in a position that when they grow up, they can choose that theyre going to stay, raise their families right here in mason city and in the Rural Counties around surrounded surrounding you. But its getting harder and harder to do, isnt it . I remember as a kid, we used to take the iowa test. Remember the iowa test . No, i mean it. You had the best Education System in the country and you were thought to have the best Education System in the country. But whats happening . Whats happening . So folks, let me get right to it. I think, you think about all the things i want to do and others want to do, is to have a Health Care System that in fact provides for everyone, everyone having access to health care, everybody. Well, i think theres a way to do that. The way is to build on obamacare. The proudest, one of the proudest moments i had as Vice President is helping the president get every democrat we needed, which is not all that easy to do initially, all the, come on up. Come on. How are you doing . Meet my campaign manager. [laughter] [applause] whats your name deck of whats your name . Thank you. Thank you. It was a gigantic change. We made sure there were hundreds of thousands of kids and people with preexisting conditions could be covered, they get insurance, can afford it. 20 Million People that didnt have insurance before are covered. We can go on, but the point im making is this. Now is time to build on that. Do what barack and i wanted to do the first time out, add a public option, medicare option, significantly reduce the price of drugs by setting up a board that in fact sets the price of those drugs like they do in other countries. Put in a position where you are going to increase the subsidies to buy into what will become, god willing, bidencare, obama, bidencare, obamacare aside. We can do it. It costs a lot of money over 10 years but allows you to keep your insurance if you negotiated an insurance policy that your employer set up. You dont have to give it up. But if you want to, you can buy into a plan where you have no more than 1,000 deductible. You can afford it. If you cant afford it, you can automatically join a medicare plan that exists within this problem. This public option. But heres the point. It doesnt cost 35 trillion. [laughter] but we can do it. We can do it. Think about what happens in Rural America. My state is rural, by the way. Everybody thinks that delaware is a big urban state. The largest town is 85 thousand, next largest town is 20000 and everything below that. Guess what . If you dont have access to good teachers, dont have access, and you do, dont have access to a good education, its getting tougher. Were losing. We already are about 150,000 thats the president calling me. Just put him through. [laughter] he always does that. He wants to know what i want him to do. [applause] do me a favor. Hes with nato right now. Tell him dont keep screwing it up, ok. Tell him to, ok. All right. Anyway. I guess i shouldnt kid so much. Anyway. Im violating my own rule. Never criticize the president whenever hes abroad. I cant wait until he gets home. Anyway. [laughter] but anyway, look, if we dont do something about making sure teachers salaries are more competitive, were going to be down 500,000 to 700,000 teachers in the next generation. [applause] they get paid a lot less. Theres answers. Theres things called title 1 schools, schools in districts that dont have a lot of money. Doesnt matter what their background is, its not based on race or, its based on income of the community. Well, a lot of Rural Communities dont, theyre title 1 schools. Right now what we do, we spend a total of 15 billion yearly for all those schools to subsidize them. If we triple that to 45 billion a year and by the way, just eliminated a couple incredibly lucrative tax cuts this president has put forward for the top 0. 1 , we can pay for all this. Anyway, the point is, if we do that, what were going to be able to do is make sure that every single child no matter what their background is can start school, not daycare, school at age 3, 4, and 5. The studies at one university here in this state show the following. A child with that opportunity has an exponentially greater chance of succeeding all the way through high school. Staying out of trouble. Being able to do well. Its a gigantic impact for them because they will catch up quickly. Were going to be able to make sure teachers get paid a competitive salary. Thats what they have to do with the money first because teachers, as they graduate from iowa state or university of iowa or anywhere else around here, what happens . They graduate and they make 27 less than any other graduate coming out of the same school with a different degree. And it sounds corny. Its not just because id be sleeping alone if i didnt share this view. [laughter] you think im kidding, dont you . No. Teaching is not what jill does, its who she is. My point is this. We are in an incredible position. Teachers are the most important people we have. They are the, these arent somebody elses kids. They are all our kids. Theyre the kite strings that lift our National Ambitions to National Ambitions aloft. As jill says all the time, any country that outeducates us is going to outcompete us. Its just that simple. Not a joke. Does anybody think its possible in 2020 or 2030 or 2040 to be in the middle class with 12 years of education alone . Its not, things are changing so rapidly. Dont have to have a College Degree but you may have to have a certificate. You may have to have an apprenticeship that you can move through quickly. You may have to go to Community College. We can afford these things. I can make sure that every single solitary person qualified for a Community College can go for free, including those who are older, who have lost their jobs because of, because of artificial intelligence, because of the changes thats taking place to come back and be retrained as hard as it is. Weve lost over 200,000 sales jobs in america. Average age of the person losing a job, 49. Average salary, 50,000. Why . Not bad. Not because somebody is evil. But amazon came along. Everybody, i am not going to ask you but how many buy online for christmas . Again, i am not saying its bad. Guess whats happened . You got an awful lot, many of you have gone through it like my dad did. All of a sudden youve been doing well, youve been able to provide for your family, all or half the income, and all of a sudden you have no job and youre 50 years old. What do you do . We have to understand that every other major technological change is taking place in the history of america we have not only provided for the technology, weve provided for options for people who get put out of place because of the technology. Were not doing it. Theres so many things available to us. And folks, i think the best comment i ever heard, the most honest comment i ever heard President Trump use, remember, right after he got elected, the press will rightly correct me on this. I hope theyll help me on this one to get it right. I think it was about two months after he was elected he said, you know, this job is harder than running a real estate empire. I was like, ok. [laughter] but he said it. I didnt think he was serious. Its harder than running a real estate empire. Well, i guess so. I guess so. But heres the thing. Look whats happening in Rural America under his policies. Farming. This trade war is devastating. Its devastating not only to agriculture but manufacturing. I saw someone had a john deere hat on. John deere has a problem right now. People are getting laid off. What about the Automobile Indust