Obama's Promise To Workers

In his acceptance speech last night, President Obama detailed his long-term blueprint for America. What does it mean for workers?

He’s bringing jobs home.

“We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs,” Obama said. “After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we're getting back to basics and doing what America's always done best. We are making things again. I've met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they'd never build another American car. And today they can't build them fast enough because we reinvented a dying auto industry that's back on the top of the world. I worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to America not because our workers make less pay, but because we make better products because we work harder and smarter than anyone else.”

He believes in a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.

“We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers enough to buy the cars that they build, the whole company does better,” Obama declared.

He is committed to strong middle class.

“I refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut,” the president concluded. “I refuse to ask students to pay more for college or kick children out of Head Start programs to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor and elderly or disabled all so those with the most can pay less. I'm not going along with that. And I will never — I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.”