THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you so much.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Have a seat.

Well, we have some just extraordinary leaders here today.  I want to acknowledge（承认，答谢） a few of them.  First of all, please give another round of applause to your outstanding young mayor, Kasim Reed.  (Applause.)  Three wonderful members of Congress who are fighting day in, day out, on behalf of the people of Georgia but also on behalf of people all across this country -- Congressman² Sanford Bishop³ -- (applause) -- Congressman David Scott -- (applause) -- and one of the genuine heroes of this country, Congressman John Lewis.  (Applause.)

Our Labor⁴ Commissioner⁵ and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Thurmond is in the house.  (Applause.)  Attorney General Thurbert Baker⁶ -- (applause) -- I think is here.  If not, give him a round of applause anyway.  Ag Commissioner Tommy Irvin.  (Applause.) State party chair Jane Kidd.  (Applause.)  And the DNC Southern finance chair Daniel Halpern is in the house.  (Applause.) 

So, Atlanta, it is wonderful to be here, wonderful to be among so many good friends.  A lot of people here worked hard on behalf of my campaign.  I am reminded of the story President Lincoln told about one of his supporters who came to the White House seeking some patronage⁷（赞助，光顾） , seeking a job.  And apparently⁸ in the outdoor reception area, he said, look, I want to see Lincoln personally because I’m responsible for him getting that job.  Nobody did more than me.  It’s payback time.  So Lincoln lets him into his office.  He says, sir, I understand that you take responsibility for me having this job.  The guy says, that’s right.  And Lincoln says, you’re forgiven.  (Laughter.)

Look, we all know that the last few years have been extraordinarily⁹ challenging for the United States.  Eighteen months ago, I took office after nearly a decade of economic policies that gave us sluggish¹⁰（萧条的，迟钝的） growth, falling incomes, and a record deficit¹¹, and policies that culminated¹² in the worst financial crisis that we’ve seen since the Great Depression.  In the last six months of 2008, three million Americans lost their jobs.  The month I was sworn, January of 2009, 750,000 Americans lost their jobs; 600,000 were lost a month later.  All told, 8 million jobs lost as a consequence of this crisis.

Now, we didn’t get here by accident.  We got here after 10 years of an economic agenda in Washington that was pretty straightforward¹³（简单的，坦率的） :  You cut taxes for millionaires, you cut rules for special interests, and you cut working folks loose to fend¹⁴ for（照料，抚养） themselves.  That was the philosophy of the last administration and their friends in Congress.  If you couldn’t find a job or you couldn’t go to college, tough luck -- you’re on your own.  But if you’re a Wall Street bank or an insurance company or an oil company, then you got to write your own ticket and play by your own rules.  And we know how this turned out.

So when I took office, because of the help of some of the people in this room, we put forward a new economic plan -- a plan that rewards hard work instead of greed; a plan that rewards responsibility instead of recklessness（鲁莽，轻率） ; a plan that’s focused on making our middle class more secure and our country more competitive in the long run -- so that the jobs and industries of the future aren’t all going to China and India, but are being created right here in the United States of America.

Instead of spending money on tax breaks for folks who don't need them and weren’t even asking for them, we’re making smart investments in innovation and clean energy and education that are going to benefit all of our people and our entire economy over the long run.  (Applause.)

And instead of giving special interests free reign¹⁵ to do whatever they want, we’re demanding new accountability from Wall Street to Washington -- so that big corporations have to play by the same rules that small businesses and entrepreneurs do.

Now, because the policies of the last decade got us in such a deep hole, it’s going to take some time for us to dig ourselves out.  We’re certainly not there yet.  But I want everybody to understand, after eighteen months, I can say with confidence we are on the right track.  (Applause.)

When we were -- instead of losing millions of jobs, we have created jobs for six straight months in the private sector（私营部门）#p#分页标题#e# .  Instead of an economy that is contracting, we’ve got an economy that is expanding.  So the last thing we would want to do is go back to what we were doing before.

And I want everybody in this room to understand, that is the choice in this election.  (Applause.)  The choice is -- the choice is whether we want to go forward or we want to go backwards¹⁶ to the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

Now, understand, it’d be one thing if the Republicans had seen the error of their ways.  (Laughter.)  Right?  I mean, if after the rejections¹⁷ of 2006 and 2008, realizing, gosh, look at this big disaster that we caused and taking record surpluses（剩余） into record deficits¹⁸ and causing all this hardship -- we’re going to rethink our approach and go out in the wilderness¹⁹ for a while, come back with some new ideas.  (Laughter.)

But that’s not what happened.  It’s not like they’ve engaged in some heavy reflection. They have not come up with a single, solitary²⁰, new idea to address the challenges of the American people.  They don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas -- not one.  (Applause.)

Instead, they’re betting on amnesia²¹（健忘症） .  (Laughter.)  That’s what they’re counting on.  They’re counting on that you all forgot.  They think that they can run the okey-doke on you.  (Laughter.)  Bamboozle²²（欺骗，迷惑） you.  (Laughter.)

I mean, think about it, these are the folks who were behind the steering²³ wheel and drove the car into the ditch（沟渠，壕沟） .  So we’ve had to put on our galoshes（胶套鞋） , we went down there in the mud, we’ve been pushing, we’ve been shoving.  They’ve been standing¹ back, watching, say you’re not moving fast enough, you ain’t doing it right.  (Laughter.)  Why are you doing it that way?  You got some mud on the car.  Right?  (Applause.)