Barack Obama: “We cannot settle for a second Gilded Age in America.”
Narrator: Four years ago Barack Obama was elected on a promise to change the way things work in Washington.
Barack Obama: “Washington is broken. My whole campaign has been premised from the start on the idea that we have to fundamentally change how Washington works.”
Narrator: But you can’t say you want to change the game and still play it.
Rocky Anderson: “This country is being transformed in dramatic ways. Our government is bought and paid for and we need to put it to an end.
We’re not going to put up with them toadying to Wall Street anymore. Goldman Sachs through its own PAC and through its employees gave over a million dollars to Barack Obama four years ago.
There hasn’t been one prosecution by the Obama administration of anybody on Wall Street for committing the kind of fraud that helped lead to the 2008 meltdown.
The Republicans and Democrats alike both feed at the same trough of special interest money and continually betray the public interest.”
Unknown Speaker: We functionally have a government that is not Democrats or Republicans but that is six major industries. The politicians are more happy to work for those who write the checks at the expense of the balance of our country.
Barack Obama: “I have said repeatedly that money is the original sin in politics and I am not sinless.”
Tim Russert: “There seems to be a real inconsistency the amount of money you raise and where it is coming from and your rhetoric.”
Narrator: But there is always more rhetoric.
Barack Obama: “We need to end an era in Washington where accountability has been absent, oversight has been overlooked. You need leadership you can trust to work for you: not for the special interests that have their thumb on the scale.”
Rocky Anderson: “Republicans and Democrats are in collusion. It’s got to come to an end.”
Barack Obama: “Ask yourself if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the PACs and the lobbyists, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over.”
Narrator: Good question.
It’s time to take our country back. It’s time to stand up, break the cycle, end corporate rule, and restore our democracy.
Rocky Anderson: “We have done a dismal job in protecting and nurturing our republic.
The American people want to see change. We need a party, we need candidates, we need people in public office who are pledged to change the system and get the corrupting influence of corporate and other concentrated wealth out of our system of government.
This is not America. This is not who we are or what we believe in.
We won’t let up. We will demonstrate our love for our nation by always speaking up and taking whatever action is required to keep our republic.”
Rocky Anderson, the people’s candidate, standing for us, and with us. There is a better choice in 2012.
Barack Obama: “We can either have an election in which we are taking on the root causes of special interest dominated politics in Washington, or we can ignore the
problem and we can wake up four years from now and still be talking about an energy crisis, and still be talking about a healthcare crisis, and still be talking about a tax bill that’s not fair to you. I don’t want to wake up that way.”
Narrator: Neither did we.
But we are awake. And your time is up.
Rocky Anderson 2012.