Jobs and Infrastructure in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - July 29, 2016

Thank you! Thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. I have to begin by thanking our hosts, the people of Philadelphia. You know a little something about history and about making history. And I am so grateful to everyone in this city who pulled such a great convention together, who were so gracious, welcoming and hospitable, and I am thrilled that so many Americans from everywhere got a chance to see Philadelphia! To see what's in this great city.

People kept coming back from going for walks, going to museums, going to other sites, telling me how much they were impressed. And so I want to thank your mayor. Thank you, Mayor Kenney. I want to thank your Congressman who tries to come home to Philadelphia every day and I know why, because he loves this city: Bob Brady!

I am always happy to be here with someone who's been a friend for Bill and me over so many years, an extraordinary public servant and advocate, former governor and mayor, Ed Rendell.

Now I, like Tim, I had the great pleasure of serving in the senate with Senator Bob Casey, and I appreciated his tenacity, the attention to detail, the work he did for you every single day. And so I want to thank Bob, and I want also to recognize who I hope will be his partner in the Senate come November, Katie McGinty.

And I hope the next Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.

This has been such an invigorating, exciting week. As I said last night, we heard from the man from Hope, Bill Clinton. And we heard from the man of hope, Barack Obama.

And I was so excited to introduce to America our partners. It's going to be fun to travel with both Tim and Anne because they are going to demonstrate to the country what the people of Virginia already know. There are no better people to have in your corner than Tim Kaine and Anne Holton.

Now I don't know about you, but I stayed up really late last night. It was just hard to go to sleep. Oh, thank you, thank you. It was so exciting, but I have to tell you, it was also kind of overwhelming. I take deeply and with great humility the responsibility that this campaign imposes on us.

There is no doubt in my mind that every election in our democracy is important in its own way, but I can't think of an election that is more important, certainly in my lifetime. And it's not so much that I'm on the ticket, it is because of the stark choice that is posed to America in this election.

So when I did, when I did wake up this morning, thank you—when I did start moving, and Bill and I started drinking our coffee, or asking that it be administered through an IV, we suddenly looked at each other and we realized, as of tomorrow, we have 100 days to make our case to America.

So what better place to kick off this campaign than right here in Philadelphia where it all started 240 years ago. I believe with all my heart that our Founders came together to create one nation because they understood what we understand: we are stronger together!

And as we pointed out during our four great days of our convention, you heard something very different from the Republicans, didn't you? We might as well be talking about two different countries, or, as someone said to me, two different planets.

Donald Trump painted a picture, a negative, dark, divisive picture of a country in decline. He insisted that America is weak, and he told us all, after laying out this very dark picture, that "I alone can fix it."

Now, as I watched and heard that, it set off alarm bells because just think about what happened here 240 years ago. Think about our Founders, coming together, a Declaration of Independence, writing a Constitution. They set up our form of government, the longest lasting democracy in the history of the world. And you know they did it because they knew they didn't want one person, one man to have all the power like a king. And think about George Washington, our first president. After he served, he stepped down voluntarily. People around him couldn't believe it, but he said no, this is an example we should set.

A democracy requires something from all of us, not just people we elect, but every single one of us. And Washington set that example. And I don't know any Founder, no matter how strong they were, how smart they were who believed that only they could solve our problems, so—and I'll tell you something else—they also expected a kind of raucous debate in America. But at the end of the debate, we have to come together and get things done, don't we?

So as Tim said, we are going to get on a bus as soon as we leave here and we're going to drive through Pennsylvania into Ohio. It's kind for nostalgic for me, my dad was born in Scranton, I spent every summer of my life up in northeast Pennsylvania. My father, my brother went to Penn State, so I know, I know how beautiful this commonwealth is and how wonderful the people are.

But we've got work to do. I'm not satisfied with the status quo. I'm not telling you that everything is just peachy keen. I'm telling you, we've made progress but we have work to do if we're going to make sure that everybody is included.

And you know, I think that we've got to have more good jobs, we've got to raise wages, we've got to tackle inequality. We've got to make this economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.

And if you listen really closely to the Republican Convention, you know that Donald Trump talked for 75 minutes and did not offer one solution. In fact, his speech, his whole convention seemed more about insulting me instead of helping the American people.

So here's what I've said I will do. And we're going to get to work on the very first day, within the first 100 days of our administration we're going to break through the gridlock in Washington and make the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II. We're going to do it in infrastructure, technology, clean energy, advanced manufacturing.

And I'm also going to pay special attention to those parts of our country that have been left out and left behind. From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country. From communities ravaged by addiction and places hollowed out by plant closures.

Anybody willing to work in America should be able to find a job to get ahead and stay ahead. That's my goal.

So on our bus tour we're going to be visiting a few places where people are making things. I find it highly amusing that Donald Trump talks about "Make America Great Again." He doesn't make a thing in America except bankruptcies.

So there's a lot to be done my friends, and I'm excited. I'm excited to have Tim and Anne as part of this team, and I'm excited to have the 42nd President of the United States as part of this team. The four of us are going to barnstorm the country because, as a very smart president who just so happens to be here today once said, "There is nothing wrong with America that can't be cured by what's right with America."

So now, we had a great convention, but we've got to go out and we've got to fight for our vision of the future. And I can't do it alone. I need each and every one of you, here's what I ask you to do. Please, join us. Go to hillaryclinton.com or text JOIN, J-O-I-N to 47246 to be part of this campaign. And we are hiring organizers here in Pennsylvania and across the country.

And between now and election day, we are going to register 3 million more people. And we're not just going to register them, we're going to get them to commit to vote.

We feel deeply the responsibility for continuing the work that started down the road from here 240 years ago. Now, nobody who looks like me was thought to be possible to run for president back then. No one who looked like Barack Obama was thought to be possible.

But contrary to Donald Trump, I believe every time we knock down a barrier in America, it liberates everyone in America.

I have to say, last night, after the end of our convention, I knew that every parent in this country could look at their son or their daughter and now say the very same thing: you too could be President of the United States.

Thank you all, God bless you!