Obama:Use Money For Health Care, Not Insurance Companies

This is President Obama's visit to Shaker Heights, Ohio on July 23, 2009
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank, please, everybody have a seat. Thank you. Hello! (Applause.) Hello, Shaker Heights! Hello, Ohio! It is great to be here. There are a couple of quick acknowledgments I want to make. First of all, please give Rick a big round of applause for his introduction. (Applause.)

Some special guests that we've got. First of all, the governor of the great state of Ohio, Ted Strickland, is in the house. (Applause.) There he is right there. Your State Treasurer Kevin Boyce is here. (Applause.) Your Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is here. (Applause.) The mayor of the great city of Cleveland, Frank Jackson, is here. (Applause.) Shaker Heights Mayor Earl Leiken is here. (Applause.) The Shaker Heights school superintendent Mark Freeman is here. (Applause.)

Not here, but a couple of my favorite people: Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and Sherrod Brown couldn't be here today. They've got work to do in Washington. (Applause.)

It is good to be back in the great state of Ohio. (Applause.) Now, I know there are those who like to report on the back-and-forth in Washington. But my only concern is the people who sent us to Washington -- the families feeling the pain of this recession; the folks I've met across this country who have lost jobs and savings and health insurance but haven't lost hope; the citizens who defied the cynics and the skeptics -- who went to the polls to demand real and lasting change. Change was the cause of my campaign; it is the cause of my presidency.

And when my administration came into office, we were facing the worst economy since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month. Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans have felt that pain firsthand. Our financial system was on the verge of collapse, meaning families and small businesses couldn't get the credit they need. And experts were warning that there was a ...

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