Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama
Announcement of Secretary of Education
December 16, 2008
Chicago, Illinois
[As Prepared for Delivery]
 
Over the past few weeks, Vice President-elect Biden and I have announced key members of our economic team, and they are working as we speak to craft a recovery program that will save and create millions of jobs and grow our struggling economy. 
 
But we know that in the long run, the path to jobs and growth begins in America’s classrooms.  So today, we’re pleased to announce the leader of our education team, whose work will be critical to these efforts: our nominee for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. 
           
In the next few years, the decisions we make about how to educate our children will shape our future for generations to come.  They will determine not just whether our children have the chance to fulfill their God-given potential, or whether our workers have the chance to build a better life for their families, but whether we, as a nation, will remain in the twenty-first century, the kind of global economic leader that we were in the twentieth.  Because at a time when companies can plant jobs wherever there’s an Internet connection, and two-thirds of all new jobs require a higher education or advanced training, if we want to out-compete the world tomorrow, we must out-educate the world today.
 
Yet, when our high school dropout rate is one of the highest in the industrialized world; when a third of all fourth graders can’t do basic math; when more and more Americans are getting priced out of attending college – we are falling far short of that goal. 
 
For years, we have talked our education problems to death in Washington, but failed to act, stuck in the same tired debates that have stymied our progress and left schools and parents to fend for themselves: Democrat versus Republican; vouchers versus the status quo; more money versus more reform – all along failing to acknowledge that both sides have good ideas and good intentions.
 
We cannot continue on like this.  It is morally unacceptable for our children – and economically untenable for America.  We need a new vision for a 21st century education system – one where we aren’t just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation; where we’re not just investing more money, but demanding more reform; where parents take responsibility for their children’s success; where we’re recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers; where we hold our schools, teachers and government accountable for results; and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good paying job.
 
These are precisely the goals to which Arne Duncan has devoted his life – from his days back in college, tutoring children here in Chicago; to his work at the helm of a non-profit remaking schools on the South Side; to his time working for the Chicago Public Schools, where he became Chief Executive Officer of this city’s school system.
 
When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners.  For Arne, school reform isn’t just a theory in a book – it’s the cause of his life.  And the results aren’t just about test scores or statistics, but about whether our children are developing the skills they need to compete with any worker in the world for any job.
 
When faced with tough decisions, Arne doesn’t blink.  He’s not beholden to any one ideology – and he doesn’t hesitate for one minute to do what needs to be done.  He’s worked tirelessly to improve teacher quality, increasing the number of master teachers who’ve completed a rigorous national certification process from 11 to just shy of 1,200, and rewarding school leaders and teachers for gains in student achievement.  He’s championed good charter schools – even when it was controversial.  He’s shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs – even when it was unpopular.  Dodge Renaissance Academy is a perfect example – since this school was revamped and re-opened in 2003, the number of students meeting state standards has more than tripled. 
 
In just seven years, he’s boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent.  The dropout rate has gone down every year he’s been in charge.  And on the ACT, the gains of Chicago students have been twice as big as those for students in the rest of the state.  
 
So when Arne speaks to educators across America, it won’t be from up in some ivory tower, but from the lessons he’s learned during his years changing our schools from the bottom up. 
 
I remember a conversation we had about one of those lessons a while back.  We were talking about how he’d managed to increase the number of kids taking and passing AP courses in Chicago over the last few years.  And he told me that in the end, the kids weren’t any smarter than they were three years ago; our expectations for them were just higher. 
 
Well, I think it’s time we raised expectations for our kids all across this country and built schools that meet – and exceed – those expectations.  As the husband and brother of educators, the Vice President-Elect and I know this won’t be easy – we’ve seen how hard Jill and Maya work every day.  And we know it’s going to take all of us, working together.  Because in the end, responsibility for our children’s success doesn’t start in Washington.  It starts in our homes and our families.  No education policy can replace a parent who makes sure a child gets to school on time, or helps with homework and attends those parent-teacher conferences.  No government program can turn off the TV, or put away the video games and read to a child at night.
 
We all need to be part of the solution.  We all have a stake in the future of our children. 
 
I’ll never forget my first visit to this school several years ago, when one of the teachers here told me about what she called the “These Kids Syndrome” – our willingness to find a million excuses for why “these kids” can’t learn – how “these kids” come from tough neighborhoods, or “these kids” have fallen too far behind. 
 
“When I hear that term, it drives me nuts,” she told me.  “They’re not ‘these kids,’ they’re our kids.”
 
I can’t think of a better way to sum up Arne’s approach to education reform.  With his leadership, I am confident that together, we will bring our education system – and our economy – into the 21st century, and give all our kids the chance to succeed.
 
Thank you.
 
###



Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
Announcement of Energy and Environment Team
December 15, 2008
Chicago, Illinois
[As Prepared for Delivery]
 
Good afternoon. Over the past few weeks, Vice President-Elect Biden and I have announced key members of our economic and national security teams. In the 21st century, we know that the future of our economy and national security is inextricably linked to one challenge: energy. So today, we’re pleased to introduce the team that will lead our efforts on energy and the environment.
 
In the next few years, the choices that we make will help determine the kind of country – and world – that we will leave to our children and grandchildren. All of us know the problems rooted in our addiction to foreign oil – it constrains our economy, shifts wealth to hostile regimes, and leaves us dependent on unstable regions. These urgent dangers are eclipsed only by the long-term threat of climate change, which – unless we act – will lead to drought and famine abroad, devastating weather patterns and terrible storms on our shores, and the disappearance of our coastline at home.
 
For over three decades, we’ve listened to a growing chorus of warnings about our energy dependence. We’ve heard President after President promise to chart a new course. We’ve heard Congress talk about energy independence, only to pull up short in the face of opposition from special interests. We’ve seen Washington launch policy after policy. Yet our dependence on foreign oil has only grown, even as the world’s resources are disappearing.
 
This time must be different. This time we cannot fail, nor be lulled into complacency simply because the price at the pump has – for now – gone down from $4 a gallon. To control our own destiny, America must develop new forms of energy and new ways of using it. This is not a challenge for government alone – it is a challenge for all of us. The pursuit of a new energy economy requires a sustained, all-hands-on-deck effort because the foundation of our energy independence is right here, in America – in the power of wind and solar; in new crops and new technologies; in the innovation of our scientists and entrepreneurs, and the dedication and skill of our workforce. Those are the resources we must harness to move beyond our oil addiction and create a new, hybrid economy.
 
As we face this challenge, we can seize boundless opportunities for our people. We can create millions of jobs, starting with a 21st Century Economic Recovery Plan that puts Americans to work building wind farms, solar panels, and fuel-efficient cars. We can spark the dynamism of our economy through long term investments in renewable energy that will give life to new businesses and industries, with good jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. We will make public buildings more efficient, modernize our electric grid, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect and preserve our natural resources.
 
We must also recognize that the solution to global climate change must be global. I spoke a few days ago with Senator John Kerry, who updated me on the recent climate negotiations in Poland. Just as we work to reduce our own emissions, we must forge international solutions to ensure that every nation is doing its part. As we do so, America will lead not just at the negotiating table – we will lead, as we always have, through innovation and discovery; through hard work and the pursuit of a common purpose.
 
The team that I have assembled here today is uniquely suited to meet the great challenges of this defining moment. They are leading experts and accomplished managers, and they are ready to reform government and help transform our economy so that our people are more prosperous, our nation is more secure, and our planet is protected.
 
Dr. Steven Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who has been working at the cutting edge of our nation’s effort to develop new and cleaner forms of energy. He blazed new trails as a scientist, teacher, and administrator, and has recently led the Berkeley National Laboratory in pursuit of new alternative and renewable energies. Steven is uniquely-suited to be our next Secretary of Energy as we make this pursuit a guiding purpose of the Department of Energy, as well as a national mission. The scientists at our national labs will have a distinguished peer at the helm. His appointment should send a signal to all that my Administration will value science, we will make decisions based on the facts, and we understand that the facts demand bold action.
 
For my Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, I have chosen Lisa Jackson. Lisa has spent a lifetime in public service at the local, state and federal level. As Commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, she has helped make her state a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing new sources of energy, and she has the talent and experience to continue this effort at the EPA. Lisa also shares my commitment to restoring the EPA’s robust role in protecting our air, water and abundant natural resources so that our environment is cleaner and our communities are safer. 
 
Nancy Sutley will be an integral part of this team as the Chair of my Council on Environmental Quality in the White House. In recent years, we have seen states and cities take the initiative in forging innovative solutions on energy. Nancy has been at the cutting edge of this effort – working as a Regional Administrator for the EPA, at the state level in Sacramento, and recently as the Deputy Mayor for Energy and the Environment in Los Angeles. Now, she will bring this unique experience to Washington, and be a key player in helping to make our government more efficient, and coordinating our efforts to protect our environment at home and around the globe.
 
Finally, the scope of the effort before us will demand coordination across the government, and my personal engagement as President. That is why I’m naming Carol Browner to a new post in the White House to coordinate energy and climate policy. Carol understands that our efforts to create jobs, achieve energy security and combat climate change demand integration among different agencies; cooperation between federal, state and local governments; and partnership with the private sector. She brings the unmatched experience of being a successful and longest-serving Administrator of the EPA. She will be indispensable in implementing an ambitious and complex energy policy.
 
Later this week, I will be announcing my designee for Secretary of the Interior, which will fill out my energy and environmental team. The Interior Department will play a critical role in meeting the challenges that I have discussed today.
 
Looking ahead, I am confident that we will be ready to begin the journey towards a new energy frontier on January 20th. This will be a leading priority of my presidency, and a defining test of our time. We cannot afford complacency, nor accept any more broken promises. We won’t create a new energy economy and protect our environment overnight, but we can begin that work right now if we think anew, and act anew. Now, we must have the will to act, and to act boldly.
 
Thank you, and I’d now like to invite my team to say a few words, starting with Dr. Chu.
 
 
###