what happened tonight is far different than that, and that's why my friend from tennessee poppedded the question to the majority leader. we had a bill and it may be a messaging bill, but if it's passed, it would be a significant piece of legislation. i think both sides acknowledge this, and no amendments were allowed precloture, and no amendments have been allowed post-cloture, and the majority leader this very day after the cloture vote assured the senate that we would be operating under an open process. process, he said those words. of not only that and perhaps the majority leader when i finish in just a moment or two could --

could correct me, but i believe i heard the majority leader say we would be allowed to offer motions to suspend the rules on a number of amendments and debate would be allowed. now, what occurred was senator coburn offered his motion to coburn offered his motion to senator coburn offered is a motion to suspend the rules on his amendment.e and we assumed that we would bea able to do this on at least a few amendment.ndment t but the very first amendment that was offered, the majority of the very suggested to the chr chair and make the point of order to the chair that that was dilatory.endment one amendment. one amendment we wanted. and that was deemed dilatory byr parliamentarian correctly instructed the chair to overrule

reat suggestion by the majorityp leader. upholding the precedents of the senate. and one by one, democratic, members of this body had to of march down and vote to overrule the parliamentarian of the senate for the very purpose of shutting down the chance to offer one single amendment. when the majority leader well knew he had the votes to win, but our rules have i thought they designed it and i think our society is designed around the concept that the minority has an opportunity to be. the minority has an opportunitys to be heard in this body of all bodies. and what we have done tonight, unless we can remove that if we have changed the rules of the

senate on a messaging though, oj a matter that the majorityor leader had the vote fund. my and so, that is my objection. that is why i am so disturbed on about the overreaction and heav. handedness of this move.ter this is not a matter of supporting the leader on one o bill that he wn.ants to get us w of town on.ave this is precedent and we have, unless we can change it, we have forever changed the rights of the majority to be heardto post-cloture and i am saddened about that.tell >> majority leader. >> first of all, let me tell my friend that amendments could then offered pre-cloture. m f and my friend said we thought wo were going to be able to offer

some amendments post-cloture to with their motions to suspend the rules. and that's what i said would have been in agree to that. w seven amendments. now, people say you choose theio i didn't come up with these the. things. they came up with them. and select 'swhich ones they din and that's what i did. i could not get an agreement on some of these amendments andone explain them in some detailrules previously. also, everyone should recognize motions to suspend the rules ara still available they're just not available post-cloture that the rolled 22 provides a sense of bt the senate debate shall be brought to a close. the relisten understatements for a long time. so i'm sorry my friend is disappointed, but i think theaye playbook he is reading from is not really accurate. is

>> republican leader. jus >> the senator from mississippit is accurate. until the vote we had just a few moments ago, motions to suspend post-cloture were appropriatesem appropriate because as my friend mississippi pointed out, we have an effect. >> majority leader. >> i yield my friend from tennessee. tennessee >> first of all, i want to thank the leader for taking the time m to explain from this perspective what is happening. i guess what i'd like, mr. president, to understand is when amendment are offered, why don't we just go ahead and vote on them? i mean, it's become standard procedure. >> could you start over? pro >> i want to thank the leader for taking the time to explain

happening.'t here's what i don't understand. we have a cloture motion on a motion to proceed on a monday. g it's the night. a we've had no votes on anything other than a cloture vote. i guess what i would love to understand is why don't we justn immediately began voting on bill amendments. we could have been done with this bill yesterday. their instead, everybody cools their s shows, waits around while some o negotiation takes place this sort of a self-appointed rules e committee and then at the hand o comes something like thiserspeci happen.pres i'd like to understand from the mr. president, why we don't go ahead and vote on amendments.jo. again, we could have been donepe yesterday. >> majority leader. >> if i could respond to my t around here are talking us that this is something that has never happened before. if this has happened, i not a

remember all the times i've been in the senate, but the chair is at parliamentarian ms. and the chair does his best to sustain what the parliamentarian wants, he is not only sustain. examples. asinds ofve and i've been involved in ad number of those. so this isn't as if it never happened before. we did this with the understanding that what is going on here is dilatory en masse at the majority of the senate fell. a >> yield for a question. t >> senator from new york.stion o we are all frustrated. the senator from tennessee and i talked about that frustration at the beginning of the session anb it obviously doesn't work terribly well to try and straighten this out.we calk and you are frustrated. we can talk about specifics. the one point i would makehe flr offered on the floor, he said in will allow amendments on this bill yesterday unveiled the amendment that was into s. was e

the amendments to have a vote os the president's budget. is that correct? i was before cloture was filed.b it was not widely known on this site, but the majority leader had offered amendments on this bill. ot the question i want to asks- and i want to make a statement drive onto the edge of the heel t question. you are frustrated you feel thew tree is built all the time andhe you can make amendments. 60- but we are frustrated because thevo 60-vote rule, which hassed always been used here is now n used routinely, which should never have been done before. dic tjudges, district court judges. i've been here in the senate 13 years. i was in the house 18 years and followed the senate, cared about judges.ine it never happened before. routine appointments. assistant secretaries of this, deputy secretaries of that. and on 60 votes.

and on bill after bill after t bill, the procedure of thisat'sy place works but somebody has to object. that's why you go cloture. otherwise we could perceive. in the past, the most and to proceed was not routinely blah and almost every single bill, te import and those obviously. have no one thinks that health care should should've passed by 51n r votes. but on minor bills, we had a filibuster on technical corrections to the wansportation bill, where route 287 was written down route 387 by mistake and it was still untrue filibuster, 60 votes. so our defenses to build abut we chain. but what we ought to try to do here and as i said come in the

senator from tennessee and i calm things down is maybe use this flashpoint to come togethek and work that out again. that may be the minority would not filibuster routinely everything. appointments, judges, j minor an bills, save it for the major bills.an and in return, i agree with the minority leader, the republicani leader. the deal around this place is the majority said a the agenda s get us to offer amendments.e abl that has been the rule since i got there in one o ff the reasos you're absolutely correct. i say to my friend from kentucky i left my house to run for the senate. but it's gotten to an extreme. a you would say, we got to the te. extreme because we always build a tree. we g would say they got to the extreme because you filibuster v everything and require 60 votes. we only have 53.

we know that. on on everything. bri judges, appointments, minor to bills. never going to bring this place that to order and my friend the senator from tennessee and the juni junior from tennessee if werereg going to bring this place where we can legislate, we have c to both sides backoff. work on a have to figure out how to do that, which we have it y theoreticallyet have.e one other point before ethnic question. the senator from west senator from west virginia had a few oft us on his vote this week.e aislr a number of the freshman senator's friends the other side run the vote and we began to is talk about their asking, why is the place so bottled up? some of the greatest joys i've e had in the senate and the house or conferenceees committees and offering amendments and things like that. bac

and we akll sat together, why cn but let me say that it is not simply filling the tree in preventing amendments that has caused this problem.ri it is routinely requiring 60 votes before the senate gets a drink of water. and so my question to the majority leader is this, would he be willing -- or when heth tt debated a cooling off period, an with the minority leader and others in an effort to try and figure out how we can get back to somewhat more of a regular order in regards to what i said? >> to others who are listening,o so everyone understands a little bit of the frustration that it have, we all went to the battle on the fema bill. everyone remembers that.

people in the dark bottles of this b this building someplace typed the build up. they made a mistake and hadn t acomment in the wrong place. i asked consigns that was a technical correction.dy could we get that done? their press releases out for my republican friends who won't agree to anything. so you talk about frustration. there's plenty of it to got to ound. around. mr. president, i want to try to end this on a high note. i love this institution. b orre inui this building but i lived here going to law school.

i love this building, but this o institution. i don't want to do anything toha denigrate the institution. maybe there's blame to go around.ult of but the frustration builds upont frustration and as a result of that, we have situations just like this. so here is my suggestion. we i think that just as we have a n cooling off. as we indicated that we wouldlif come if the mets er, we had a cool enough.th here the republican leader and i agree there would be the rightii to do and we came back to work o something out.tion, i it wasn't reverent satisfaction. i wehad people upset and get people upset. so would be my suggestion thatri we do what i originally suggested.r i think we should go ahead and do final passage on this matter on tuesday night into the judgee first and third on a and will dy the tree's death.

i am happy to not only sit down with the republican leader and i am sure we cannot send shofari t bills and as they say in the ols and new testament, girt up our loins and train do a better job of how we try to get along here. i've talked to the republican leader only briefly about this,y that i had a discussion with myo leadership today and one of the things that i was going toof tht announce, so here it is, one of the things i want to do is have a joint caucus. s and at that time we can all talk about some of the frustrations we all have. back a i want to do that the first weee we got back after the next abous recess.certainly i i hope all my people don't know about thist and certainly i hae not finalized this at the

i could either in front of everyone else. questions could be asked towoula misstatements and that could let a little air out of the tires. i'd be happy to next time we gem cloture in that event sometime f in the future to sit down and point out what if anything we w should do post-cloture on state, matters relating to people who are frustrated. so that is in a statement, anytt mr. president.would hop so i'm not asking for consent oc anything, but i would hope that we could all leave and i would have senator mcconnell directed staff to come up with something -- ant arrangement comfortable with what i just suggested. >> house speaker john boehner said president obama has given up on the country to campaign. the speaker made his comments at

a forum hosted by the atlantic and the aspen institute thursday in washington. he was interviewed by major garrett of national journal. this is 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> you're on the right side. the mac's speaker, whatever you say. just following directions. >> mr. speaker, welcome. by happy coincidence the president of the united states on a press conference in 10 minutes and as you know i have some vague familiarity with the cable news industry sola give you an opportunity you don't often have, which is to look into this camera is a nasa president of the united states a question which might be translated to the president. >> mr. president, why have you given up on the country and decided to campaign full-time for doing what the american people sent us all here to do and find common ground that face our economy to face. >> cable news, have at it.

[laughter] >> what a great way to get started. >> mr. speaker, the vice president was on the tv instead roughly the following, that there was a rough agreement to train yourself, ara kanter, vice president and the president on the debt ceiling but for the inability or mr. kantor to control your rank-and-file house republicans have gone through and he implied that the republican party is divided and weak enough foothold in the country back and prevent bad deal. would you like to address that assessment from the vice president? >> i sure would. >> i thought you might. >> all your attached device present amount about the need to do what i call the big deal. but i thought it was critical important for our country to deal with the debt probably hunt and that the best way to get there would be for united come to some agreement.

i put every ounce of effort i could into trying to come to some agreement. the president said he needed revenues. i told the president that i'd be willing to do revenues, but only if the president were willing to really look at fundamental reform of our entitlement programs, which is a big driver of our deficit and had to. and so i put revenues on the table, even though the president never said, not one time ever said yes to any meaningful reform of our entitlement programs. when the president called me and asked for $400 billion of more revenue, before he ever agree to any changes in the entitlement programs is when i decided we were never going to get there. you can never get the president to the point where he could say yes to real changes in our entitlement programs.

i have myself out as far as i'm as i could possibly walk, trying to come to some agreement. it takes two to tango in the president would never say yes. >> let's look at the legislative record for first year in congress. you would does for your own republicans have decided your request to vote with them. that indicates both to the white house into a larger audience that there are times when significant buzz worded house democrats to support or you can keep your own site together. does this not weaken your hand legislatively and in high-stakes negotiations with the white house? >> there's no question it does and i made it clear to my colleagues when i don't have 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow one time, i don't have the strongest hand that i could have. but having said that, when i look at my colleagues, and these are not freshmen members by and large. these are more senior members. i think it's a story that's been

misunderstood most of the years. but some of our members just want more. listen, i want more, too. they want more change. they want faster and i don't disagree with them. but when you've got senate control by the democrats and you've got democrats in the white house, my job is to move the ball down the field, get things done on behalf of the american people and i tried to get as much as i can, but i want to be able to move the ball down the field on behalf of the american people. >> getting things done, moving the ball up in the field. we'll correlate those desires with what is a historic and perpetually low assessment of congressional conference and posting to july of this year. the lowest ratings in mr. speaker ewan i've known each other long time. i've been on capitol hill since 1990. a nursing consistently disparity is 7070% or more of approval disapproval.

how much of that is your full? how much is the fault of being unable to get things done and the ball down the field? >> listen, congress of united dates have been the favorite whipping boy for two years. >> not to this magnitude. you can see that. >> can people are concerned about our country. the concern i've seen over the last year frankly is turning to what i would describe as fear. and when they watch washington, they don't see the kind of answers that they expect. we've got a unique system in right now is that divided government. so when were having principled arguments in opposition with each other, the american people don't like to see it. i understand that. of my job and our job every day is to listen to the american people, express their will as we try to address the big challenges that face our country.

>> you helped create the super committee. what should the public access to super committee and give any incense that it will not make its goal of putting proposal before congress by november 23rd in that it might fetch its way to work, but the soccer come from not? >> taste in my experience with the president and my long conversations with the president and vice president over the course of this year, i believe the congress and the administration, our government has to have. with a big deficit problem, a big problem. the problems in europe continue to live. their problems are larger than ours and it's incumbent upon us to show the american people we can do the right thing. frankly it's also incumbent upon us to show the rest of the world that they can address their big challenges as well. so as a result, i am firmly committed to to ensuring that the so-called super committee come to an outcome in a

successful outcome. >> fun sans tax revenue. >> i'm not too going to predict what they will or will not do, but there has to be an outcome. >> is your willingness and conversations with the president to entertain increases in revenue send a signal that she would take the super committee to hear and act upon? >> i made it clear to the republican members of the super committee but i expect there will be an outcome, but there has to be an outcome. the sequester that was built behind this is ugly and it was meant to be a place that no one would go there. i don't underestimate how hard it's going to be to come to an agreement by the so-called super committee, but we have to get one. we cannot let these challenges continue. you just can't keep taking the can down the road. it's happened here in washington for far too long. do not let me ask you button

issue live in the senate today and could be life in your chamber in the near future. there's a currently valid as a 79 to 19 motion to proceed though. 61 cosponsors of identical legislation the house. allen west yesterday said you had to bring it to the floor. rob portman from ohio, senator you know well supported this legislation. why are you not supportive? why is it not dangerous and are you going to reassess your assessment of that if it passes the senate? >> well, there has been concerned for my part and frankly from a lot of quarters here in america about how the chinese have manipulated the courtesy. there has been every effort that you can imagine out of our treasury department over the last seven or eight years, addressing mess with the chinese. there has been a significant improvement in the valuation of china's current fee as a result of those conversations. before the congress of the

united states to pass legislation, to force the chinese to do what is arguably very difficult to do i think is wrong. it's dangerous. you could start a trade war and a trade were given the economic uncertainty here and all around the world is at issue is very dangerous and we should not be engaged in this. and i frantically over my position is. i frankly think that the president agrees with me. but why is that the speaking out? too busy campaigning? why isn't he out there making it clear that this is ill-conceived? i believe he agrees with me, but he won't say it. >> to your point about exports and imports. charles schumer were here and i here and i do want to speak for him, he say we spent a hundred billion dollars in imports, china anywhere from 325 million

exports to us. they will not engage in a trade because it would harm them economically. charles schumer describes, as does lindsey graham and other members of the republican party, china is a currently bully. is it not? >> they have a lot of challenges in china. i've always believed that engagement with them was the right thing for our country in the right thing for the world. building a commercial relationship between the chinese and the united states is in both of our interest. we should be aware that they are probably the largest buyer of the united states agricultural products. there is a balance here that i think for the long-term good of our country and for the future, for kids and grandkids, maintaining this type of relationship is good. at any relationship is not going to be perfect and they are to be combined a lot of imperfections

in this relationship. the administration needs to continue to work with the chinese to get their valuation of their current speaker at. but this is not, in my opinion, an appropriate role for the congress of the united states. >> you mention campaigning. i'd like to know to what degree you are either relieved or alarmed that the sarah palin is not running for president. [laughter] >> i like sarah palin. i know sarah palin. i spent a couple days in alaska and she ended up in the odyssey of the last few years and i think she made the right decision for herself. i think she can play a role in the up coming elections. i wish her well. >> to minor with house republicans are either seeking ones they don't critic of the

someone's are trying to defend? >> a thing to be very helpful. >> you mentioned the president come he suggested an inordinate amount of time campaigning. are you saying that is complicated your efforts to achieve results for the american people? >> nature, let me put it this way. i've dealt my share of disappointments this year. the president and i couldn't come to an agreement on the big deal, disappointed that we couldn't pass and stronger legislation in the house from some of my own colleagues, but nothing has disappointed a more than what's happened over the last five weeks. to watch the president of the united states give up on governing, give up on me being and spend full time campaigning. we are on the hill legislating. we've moved dozens of bills over to the united states senate that are just sitting there, that would help create jobs in

america. no leadership from the president. and i can't tell you how dangerous a situation and economy and send or how dangerous the situation in europe is and yet the president some 14 months before the election goes in the towel and decides he's going to spend all this time out campaigning. we are legislating. he's campaigning. it's very disappointing. >> vice president a few moments ago said he believes you're a partner of his and the presidents. if i hear correctly, you are declaring here and now the president is no longer a partner of yours. >> all sit down with the president any day at any time, with charity have all year, but i'll continue to do that, to seek common ground. yes, we have different ideas about what the appropriate role of the federal government should be in our country and in our society and in our economy, but

just because we have different views doesn't mean that we shouldn't be seeking to find the common ground. his fitness jobs bill and mr. cantor and i sent him a letter back last week outlining areas where he thought we could find common ground, whether it be free-trade proposals, whether it be the infrastructure ideas and a long-term highway bill, whether it be on one of the tax credits that he outlined. but that's our job. our job is to find common ground to help our country. while the american people know were not know is going to agree, they do expect were going to get something done. but it takes two to 10 go. and all year i've reached out to the president, reached out to the president, but you have to have a willing partner. all your advice the president from a sentry to.

and here we are on the eve of the visit to the president of south korea and were going to have to move these trade bills that expeditious speed in order to maintain our very good relationship with a very good ally. >> to national security questions were approaching the 10th year in afghanistan. the country is to put it mildly conflicted about that ongoing war. what is it achieved? how much longer should it continue and secondarily, related to the word terrorism, has president obama been as effective, more effective are equally as good as president bush? >> well, i think as he watched over the course of the last three years have been very supportive of the president's decision in iraq and afghanistan i raise them forthrightly the president has continued the effort to take on the taliban,

to take on al qaeda and to help ensure that america stay secure. listen, i think our number one responsibility of the federal government is to ensure the safe g8 and security of the american people. i think that making sure in afghanistan that the enemy doesn't have safe ground on which to plan, train and execute attacks on americans here and abroad is the goal. we need to have success there. and i think so far the president has done just fine. >> would be those who say that osama bin laden, and were unlucky, other tron strikes have made him a more effective prosecutor of the war on terror with president bush. would you agree? >> when you look at the prosecution of the war effort against the enemy in the tribal areas, there's clearly more been

done under president obama then i was under president bush. in terms of a more aggressive effort focused at them. >> mr. speaker, to broaden with about two and half for minutes. america lost one of its great american minds last night, steve jobs. he had a career that was innovative at the early stages and then he was fired and sidelined in this company and then he came back. to put too fine a point on it, that is some way consistent with your trajectory here in washington. [laughter] >> i'm starting to get the gist of the questionnaire. [laughter] >> broadly speaking, mr. speaker, what if steve jobs cut you in america about the power of innovation will you ever or have you ever worn blue jeans and i'm not turtleneck in public? >> that would probably be no and no. listen, we live in the greatest country in the world and our forefathers gave us an economic system that produced

opportunities for citizens unlike any other country in the world. i came here for one reason, to make sure that those opportunities were available to our kids and grandkids. i think a lot of americans don't believe that the opportunities we've had, all of the sinister patter going to be available to her kids and grandkids because we are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. it's america's free enterprise system. it's america's openness. it's america's openness. it's americans diversity that has allowed us the opportunity to succeed and frankly the opportunity to fail. you can't have one or the other. you're always going to vote. and i just think that the government has gotten too big. it's gotten way too involved in our society. it's become way too expensive and all of that get in the way of what i would describe as the

american dream. but in america, i tell audiences, i was born with the glass half full. i'm the optimists. if i was in a sure would be here. and i want all americans to believe and understand that they can do whatever they want to do. they can succeed. they can innovate. this is america and aims to go to law schools. i don't go to sending any more because i ended up in too many poor schools with great kids, most of them will never have a chance because they're in a broaden school. and i get a little worked up over it as you well know. but my mission -- my message to all these kids in schools is listen, you can grow up and be whatever you want to be. and i think most of us have to

work for a living. work becomes white central activity, so go do something you like. go succeed at something you want to succeed at regardless of what it is. >> mr. speaker behalf of the atlantic museum and the washington forum, thank you premature time. >> thank you. [applause] >> presidential candidate and governor, mitt romney delivered an address at charleston, south airliner. he spoke to cadets at the citadel at the military college at the auditorium on the citadel campus. his remarks are 20 minutes. >> -- the opportunity you've given me to speak and address a number of items of great significance. it's always an honor to be here in south carolina, where patriotism is a passionate tops even barbecuing football.

[applause] it's a great honor to be here at the citadel. every university and college produces future engineers and doctors and lawyers here to set a value course do that, but you have another specialty as well. you produce heroes. over 1400 of your alumni have served in iraq and that cannot stand and elsewhere fighting the war against terrorism and 16 have paid the ultimate price. since 1842, every tyrant, every petty flood were great power that threatened america learned if you wanted to take on america you have to take on the citadel as well. that's a lot of heroes that's never broken and never will be. [applause]

this is in fact a true citadel of american honor, values encourage the other day i heard that americans had gone soft. i guess he wasn't talking about how hard it is for millions of americans who are trying to get a job or stretchy too small paycheck to the week. as each of you looks beyond this and did shushan, their life before you, i know you face many difficult questions in a world fraught with uncertainty. america is in an economic crisis which we've never seen in our lifetimes. europe is struggling with the greatest economic crisis since the cold war. the very definition of the european union. around the world we see a people and change. our next president will face extraordinary challenges that could alter audacity of american and freedom of the world.

today i want you to join me and looking forward beyond the next recognition jay, beyond ring weekend to four years from today, tober seventh, 2015. what kind of world will we be facing them? will iran be a fully activated nuclear weapons state threatening its neighbors, dominating the world oil supply with stranglehold on the street of partners in the hands of ayatollahs come a nuclear iran is nothing less than existential threat to israel. iran's suicide fanatics could blackmail the world. a 2015 kernel israel be even more isolated by a hostile international community, with those who seek american ambivalence? to israel have been forced to fight another war to protect its citizens in his right to exist,

after the united states with the taliban and a pat act to power after over a decade of american sacrifice and treasure and blood for the country sank into the medieval terrors of the rules and the mullahs again open a sanctuary for terrorists pakistan on what the uncertain future on with more than 100 nuclear weapons. the danger of a feared pakistan is difficult to overestimate. it's thought with nightmare scenarios. willie nuclear weapons in the hands of islamic fundamentalists? china has made it clear that it intends to be a military and economic superpower. with his rulers believe the people for a new era of freedom and prosperity, or will they go down a darker path, intimidating their neighbors, brushing aside an inferior american navy in the

pacific and building a global alliance of authoritarian states? breccia come at that historic crossroads. vitamin e appeared and is called the breakup of the soviet empire the great tragedy of the 20th century. will he try and reverse what he calls a tragedy and bludgeon the countries of the former soviet union into submission and intimidate europe with a lover of its energy resources? to our south, will the malign socialism of hugo chavez of venezuela in tight alliance with milan socialist of castro's cuba undermine the prospects of democracy and it thirsting for freedom and stability and prosperity? our border with mexico remains an open sort. what drug cartels dominate the united states with greater and greater violence spilling over into our country?

olea failed to secure the border to extend the tide of illegal immigrants and what drug smugglers and terrorists increasingly make their way into our minute? this'll be a troubling and threatening world for america, but it's not in real estate. these are only some of the very real dangers that america faces if we continue to sockless policies of the past three years? of course it doesn't have to be this way. this is in our destiny. it's a choice. were a democracy. you decided. and this campaign for the presidency of the united states, i will offer a very different vision of america's role and of america's destiny will face many difficult and complex foreign policy decisions, if you will be black and white, and i'm here today to tell you i'm guided by one overwhelming conviction and

passion. the century must be an american century. [applause] [applause] in an american century, america has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. in american century, america leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world. god did not create this country to be a nation of followers. america is not destined to be one of several equally balanced powers. america must lead the world or someone else will without american leadership we've got cleared the without resolve the world becomes a far more dangerous place and liberty and prosperity would surely be among the first casualties.

as president of the united states, i will devote myself to an american century and i will never ever apologize for america. [applause] [cheers and applause] now, some may ask, why america? why should america be any different than scores of other countries around the globe? i believe we are an exceptional country with a unique destiny and role in the world. not exceptional as the president has derisively said in the way that british bank great britain is exceptional or the birds think greece is exceptional. a barack obama's profoundly

mistaken view, there's nothing unique about the united states, but we are exceptional and were exceptional because her a nation founded on the precious ideas that was first in the american revolution and propounded by our greatest statesmen and our fundamental documents. we are a people who threw off the yoke of tierney and established a government in abraham lincoln's words, other people, by the people and for the people. we are a people in a language of our declaration of independence hold certain truths to be self-evident, namely that all men are created by their creator, with certain unalienable rights. it is our belief in the universality of these unalienable rights, that lead us to our exceptional role on the world stage, that of a great champion of human dignity and american and human freedom. we love the principles of america's founding.

i was born in 1947, classic baby boomer. i grew up in a world formed by one dominant threat to america. the soviet union and communism. the duck and cover drills we learned in school during the cuban missile crisis resulted from a threat by no identifiable enemy was clear borders and established leaders. we need a spy planes to find the hidden missile bases in cuba, but we didn't need them to find the keys to shift. president reagan could negotiate with mikhail gorbachev and sign treaties for which each side could be held accountable. and what we cut the soviets cheating, we could bring the world's attention to their transgressions. today, our world is far more chaotic. we still face great threats, but they come not from one country or one group or one ideology. the world is unfortunately not so defined. what america and our allies are facing is a series of

threatening force is, once that overlap and reinforce one another to defend america and to secure a peaceful and prosperous world, we need to clearly understand this emerging threat, grasp their complexity and formulate a strategy that deals with them before they explode into conflict. it's far too easy for a president to jump from crisis to crisis, dealing with one hot spot after another. but to do so as to be shaped by events, rather than to shape events, to avoid this paralyzing seduction of action rather than progress, a president must have a broad vision of the entire world coupled with clarity of purpose. when i look around the world, i see a handful of major forces that side with america and free nations to shape the world in an image of their choosing. these are not exclusively

military threats. rather, they are determined, powerful forces that may threaten freedom, prosperity and america's national interest. first, islamic fundamentalism with which we've been up 4 cents at number 11 and, 2001. second, struggle and the greater middle east between those who yearn for freedom and those who seek depression. the dangerous and destabilizing ripple effects of failed and failing states from which terror and the anti-american visions of regimes in iran, north korea, venezuela, cuba, two of which are seeking nuclear weapons. and these forces include pricing nations with hidden and emerging aspirations like china, determined to be a world superpower and a resurgent russia, led a man who believes the soviet union was great, not evil. there's no one approach to these challenges. there is no wall that the next

president can demand to be torn down, but there is one unifying thread that connects each of these threats. when america is strong, the world is safer. president reagan called this peace through strength and he was never more right than he is today. it is only american power conceived in the broadest terms that can provide the foundation of an international system that ensures the security and prosperity of the united states and our friends and allies around the world. american strength rises from a strong economy, a strong defense and the enduring strength of our strong values. [applause] unfortunately -- unfortunately, out of this president, all three of those elements have that

weekend. as president on day one, i will focus on rebuilding america's economy. it's a foundation of our strength. i will reverse president of ominous massive defense cuts time and again. we've seen the attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price in the future, not only in treasure, but also in blood. my strategy of american strength is guided by a set of core principles. first, american foreign policy must be prosecuted with clarity and resolve. our friends and allies must have no doubts about where we stand and neither should our rivals. if the world knows we are resolute, our allies will be comforted and those who wish us harm will be far less tempted to test that resolve. second, america must promote open markets, representative governments and respect for human rights.

the path from authoritarianism to freedom and representative government is not always a straight line to use the evolution, but history teaches us that nations that share our values will be reliable partners and stand with us in pursuit of common security and shared prosperity. third, the united states will apply the full spectrum of hard and soft power to influence events before they arrived into conflict. resort to force is always the least desirable at the costliest option. we must therefore employed all the tools of statecraft to shape the outcome of threatening situations before they demand military action. the united states should always retain military supremacy to deter would-be aggressors and to defend our allies and ourselves. [applause]

and know this, if america is the undisputed leader of the world, it reduces our need to policing more chaotic world. fourth, the united states must exercise leadership at multilateral organizations and our alliances. american leadership when credibility in the ultimate success of any action in the trachsel participation from other nations. american leadership will also focus multilateral institutions like the u.n. on achieving the sensitive goals of democracy and human rights enshrined in their charters. too often those bodies pries the active negotiating over the outcome to be reached. and shamefully, they could become forms for the attentions of tyrants and the airing of the world's most ancient prejudices,

anti-semitism. the united states must fight to return these bodies to their proper role. but know this, while america should work with other nations, we always reserve the right to act alone to protect our vital national interests. [applause] in my first 100 days in office, i will take a series of measures to put these principles into action and place america and the world unsafe for footing. among the factions will be an effort to restore america's national defense. i will reverse the hollering of our navy and announced an initiative to increase the shipbuilding rate from nine per year to 15 ships per year.

[applause] i will begin reversing obama era cuts to national missile defense and prioritize the full deployment of a multilayered national ballistic missile defense system and i will order the formulation of a national sabres. he strategy should deter and defend against the current draft of militarized cyberattacks, cyberterrorism and cyberespionage. [applause] i will enhance our deterrent against the iranian regime by ordering the regular presence at aircraft carrier task forces, one in the eastern mediterranean and one in the persian gulf region. i'll begin discussions with israel to increase the level of our military assistance and coordination and i will again reiterate that iran obtaining a

nuclear weapon is unacceptable. [applause] all began organizing all of our diplomatic and assistance efforts in the greater middle east under one official, with the authority and accountability necessary to train all our soft power resources on ensuring that the arab spring does not read into a long winter. i'll launch a campaign to advance economic opportunity and latin america and contrast the benefits of democracy, free trade and free enterprise against the material and moral bankruptcy of the venezuelan and cuban model. i'll order a full review of our transition to the afghan military to secure that nations sovereignty for the tyranny of the taliban. i'll speak with our generals in the field and receive the best recommendations of our military

commanders. the force level necessary to secure gains and complete our mission successfully is a decision i will make free from politics. [applause] i will bolster and repair our alliances. our friends should never fear that we will not stand by and in an hour of need. i will reaffirm as a vital national interest, israel's existence as a jewish state. iowa county steer our special relationship the united kingdom and i will begin talks with mexico to strengthen our cooperation on our shared problems of drugs that. he. [applause] this is america's moment. we should embrace the challenge

and not shrink from it, not crawl into an isolationist shell, not wave the white flag of surrender, nor given to those who assert that america's time has passed as utter nonsense and al apparently justifies surrender of world leadership is still surrender. i will not surrender america's role in the world. this is very simple. if you do not want america to be the strongest nation on earth, i'm not your president. you have that president today. [applause] [applause] the 21st century can and must be an american century.

it began with terror, war, economic calamity. it is our duty to steer it onto the path of freedom, peace and prosperity. my hope is that our grandchildren will remember us in the same way that we remember the past generations of americans who overcame it or city. the generations that thought in world wars, that came through the great depression and that gained victory in the cold war. but future generations will back on us and say, they rose to the occasion. they embrace their duty and they lead our nation to safety and to greatness. [applause] ..