Loose Transcript of Barack Obama's Speech in Lancaster County on March 31, 2008

Following is a "loose" transcript of Barack Obama's speech at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA. Since I live in Lancaster County, I thought I'd take the opportunity to check out what he had to say. Please don't take this is a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is based on the notes I took during his speech, which picks up just as he finished outlining his energy plans.

I will be offering my take on his speech later today.

Energy
George bush put my cousin Dick Cheney in charge of energy policy. (laughter) That was really embarrassing. Some of you may have read about that. We've got some distant cousin in common.

Dick met with renewable energy groups once, environmental groups once and gas companies 40 times. That’s Good for Exxon mobile, not so good for you.

Change
I have a lot of good plans to bring about change; Sen. Clinton has a lot of good plans to bring about change.

But it’s not enough to change the Democratic Party if we don't change the culture in Washington so it's actually listening and paying attention to you.

That's the problem that we have. Washington is not listening.

They’re not listening to the story of the guys who got laid off from a plant that got its jobs shipped overseas. Now they have to compete for a job at the local Wal-Mart that pays seven, eight bucks an hour.

They’re not listening to the vets who come home from Iraq and Afghanistan and have post traumatic stress disorder and are homeless on the streets.

The American people aren't looking for a hand-out from Washington. They expect if they're able and willing to work they should find a job that pays a living wage. They should be able to raise kids and retire with respect. That's the kind of change I want to bring about over the next eight years. That's why I don't take PAC money that’s why I don’t take lobbyist money. I want to be accountable to you. John Mccain takes it, Hillary Clinton takes it. I don't. You funded my campaign.

If we can create a new climate in Washington, there are ways we can start making changes that make a difference in people’s lives. We can tell lobbyists their days of running things in Washington are over.

Health Care
We can stop talking about the outrage of 47 million people without health care.

If you have health care, we’re going to lower your premiums by $2,500 per family per year by working with your employers.

If you don't, you will be able to buy in, so everyone will have a chance to have coverage, so we can have a health care system instead of a disease care system. So seniors can get the full prescriptions they can afford.

Education
I wanna make sure every child in America and every child in Lancaster has a chance to make it from birth to graduation. To do that, we have focus on education.

We have to pay teachers more money, give them more support so they can do an even more effective jobs in schools. I want high standards, but I don't want those standards judged by just a single high-stakes test. I want them learning art and music, not just learning how to take a test. I don't know about you but I think we have to make college affordable.

We're going to give a four thousand dollar tuition credit to students, but students are going to give something in return. They’re going to provide community service, help out their community through different organizations like the Peace Corps, etc. That’s how we’re going to move this country forward.

Economy
I wan to create an economy that's fair. I believe in capitalism and entrepreneurship, but when a company executive makes more in 10 minutes than the average worker makes in a year ... something is wrong and something has to change. You and I together, we're going to change it. We're going to stop giving tax breaks to companies that take jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that keep jobs here in Pennsylvania and here in America.

Seniors making less than 50k a year, won't have to pay income tax on social security [if I’m president]. They’re already paying taxes that are too high.

We’re going to fight for trade agreements that are fair to American workers. We need better bargaining and a president who is looking out for our economy, which is something we haven't had.

I want to invest in infrastructure. If we can spend $10 billion rebuilding Baghdad, we can spend a few billion to restore our economy.

Energy
I want to deal with this energy problem, but I don't want to make promises I can't keep. The minute I'm elected, prices won’t drop to 10 cents a gallon. It won't happen. We need to invest in alternative approaches to energy. Solar wind. Biodiesel fuel. We need to put Americans back to work building windmills, refining ethanol, making cars more efficient. We need to invest in the green technologies for long term. That’s going to reduce prices at the pump.