announcer: a two-time pulitzer prize-winning author, david lewis on his biography of presidential candidate, wendell wilkie. >> here was an internationalist, a great civil libertarian a man of civil rights convictions or would have matched a know, perhaps. say, obama, matched perhaps. a man who was liberal and at the to the rolecessible ,f government in the economy but only to a great degree. i thought all the things about him were appealing and his honesty in reality there was a part of the book really have roosevelt asking him to consider being his vice president when he is going to overthrow henry wallace, he wanted somebody new, typical fdr. wilkie says no.

>> tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a on c-span. >> days to go until the midterm elections, former president obama was on the campaign trail in indiana today. >> whose ears, please welcome ! hoosiers please welcome your senator, joe donnelly! [applause] [cheers and applause] >> ready! hello gary indiana! [cheers and applause]

>> are you ready to win on tuesday? [cheers and applause] mayor, theelcome our mayor of gary, indiana, karen our congressman andre carson, our state ticket, our county officials, our state officials, our local officials, i have a question for all of you. are you going to vote in this election? [cheers and applause] that is what this is about. this is a very, very close .lection and every vote counts your vote is your voice. if we do this rally and you don't vote, this really means

nothing. so are you ready to vote? [cheers and applause] >> are you ready to win? >> [cheers and applause] >> here is how powerful your vote in. is. in 2012, they said i could never win this election? were they wrong? [cheers and applause] >> here is what happened. in lake county alone, we won that election by over 70,000 votes, in lake county, indiana! but here's the result of what that did. mcconnell trych to kill health care in the united states. survived by one vote.

the people of lake county gave me the chance to cast a vote to save health care for the people of the united states of america. [applause] if you have a pre-existing condition, is a fancy term for that child on the gary schoolbus who has asthma and feels their chest tightening and needs their inhaler. it is for the young girl in st. john who has arthritis in her single mom is struggling to make ends meet but she can get that expensive health care because of the affordable care act that we passed and kept in place. [applause] you have that power. and mitch mcconnell has now told us he is going after social

security and medicare. [crowd boos] >> are we going to let him do that? are we going to protect social security and medicare? [applause] vote.n that is the power that you have. i have been so honored to be your senator, to fight for all of our families, and we have a special friend here with us today who has fought for all of our families. [cheers and applause] i will give you a hint. he came across the skyway to get here today. [cheers and applause] this is an amazing day because this. exactly 10 years ago today, 10 years ago today, barack obama was elected president of the

united dates. states of america. [cheers and applause] >> and i will tell you, he won indiana that year as well. when he became president we had a country with an economy in trouble and bin laden was hiding in pakistan. president, osama bin laden is dead. chrysler and general motors, they are alive. there are more workers worker working for chrysler in our state than i think any time in history. consecutive months of job growth under president obama.

he walked into a crisis and finished with 75 consecutive months of job growth. and for that child with asthma, the affordable care act made it so that they could get an inhaler. for our neighbor who has sickle will care actrt made it so they could get their medicine. privilege to introduce to you -- [raucous applause] >> a person who is a great dad, a great husband, has an amazing ago today, 10 years

today, he is in gary, 10 years today, heyears ago was elected the 44th president of the united states, president barack obama! [raucous applause] ♪ [crowd chanting obama]

president obama: hello, hoosiers! [cheers and applause] it is good to indiana! back in gary, i love you back. now first of all, as you may hear come and have been doing a little campaigning and i'm a little out of shape. , so i am going to be a little bit horse, i hope you don't mind. hoarse, ittle bit hope you don't mind.

it just means i am out there working. [applause] the second thing i want to say is that at least when i got out of the car, my bears or up a lot. [applause] i wasn't watching the game, but i wasn' was checked in the score. third income it is good to be back in my home area. [applause] there is something about the midwest that makes you feel good. give it up for a man we are going to send back to the united states senate on tuesday, joe donnelly.

[applause] because although i always like a good excuse to come back home, the main reason i am here is to that we send joe donnelly back to the u.s. senate. [applause] in two days,s -- you get to vote in what i believe will be the most important election of our lifetime. i know politicians always say that, but this time it is really true.

crossroadsrica is a -- is at a crossroads. the health care of millions is on the ballot. a fair shake for working families is on the ballot. perhaps most importantly, the character of our country is on the ballot. [applause] we have been at crossroads before. time, ultimately, america has made good decisions. has taken a little longer than it should. decision,de the right when we have chosen the better course, it has not just happened by itself.

it happened because ordinary have decided to get off the couch, mobilize, march, and vote. [applause] it is because of the efforts of that weike you abolished slavery and ended a great depression and workers had the right to unionize and women won the right to vote. that is why we had a civil rights movement. movement.er's rights and and lgbtq movement.

because people fought for it. [applause] time wehe way, every move thectory, we country in a more generous, progressive direction. usually there is someone who was pushing back, wanting to preserve the status quo. of advancement and then conservative retrenchment. in the closing weeks of this election, we have seen repeated attempts to divide us with and try to rhetoric turn us on one another. the powerful and privileged will say whatever it takes to protect their power and privilege, even if it hurts the country and puts people at risk.

the good news, indiana, is that when you vote, you can reject that kind of politics. [applause] when you vote, you can be a check on bad behavior. [applause] when you vote, you can choose hope over fear. [applause] bigger, moree the prosperous, more generous, kinder version of america. are, all of us, whoever we whatever we look like, whatever our last name is, however we can all comee, we together to shape our countries course. -- country's course. [applause] indiana, that is what joe

donnelly stands for. that is what you can vote for on tuesday. comeser, progress never without a fight. every time we pull closer to the founding ideals that all of us are created equal, the status to bust you.wants higher minimum wage, suddenly congress says they will not raise the minimum wage. you try to vote, they make it harder for you to vote. making this country better has never been easy. joe mentioned 10 years ago, i was campaigning for president. [applause]

i had no gray hair at the time. [laughter] [applause] picture and victor looked the same, but i don't. [laughter] but i earned my gray hair. [applause] when i came into the presidency, you remember, republicans had been in one of those times of retrenchment and they had been cutting taxes for the rich and cutting rules for big banks.

we had been hit by the worst financial crisis in our lifetime. and democrats had to come in and clean it up. [applause] [cheers] i had to take off my coat and roll up my sleeves and get a , and we had to clean it up. [cheers] and we got the economy growing again. covered another 20 million people with health care. cut the deficit by more than

half. make sure the wealthiest paid their fair share of taxes. so by the time i left office, wages were rising, the uninsurance rate was falling, the economy created more jobs in than it has inhs the 21 months since i have left office. [cheers] so when you hear the republicans talking about how good the economy is, think about where you make that start. [cheers] somebody had to clean it up.

that is what a progressive agenda did. now we did not get everything done that we wanted to do. 40 at -- not reverse 40 years of economic trends in thatcher years. years, especially once republicans took over, because they tried to block everything we do. so now they have had two years of total control in washington. what have they done with their time? it is not true that they have not done nothing. they have done something. they promised they were going to take on corruption in washington. instead, they racked up enough to field a football league. nobody in my administration got that done. [cheers]

, by the way, is not that high a bar. they pledged to fight for the little guy. do you remember that? so what are they doing instead? trillion int $1.5 tax cuts aimed at billionaires and corporations. [boo] boo,dent obama: don't vote. [applause] deficitt obama: our shot up. money,nt whole bunch of and suddenly, you are in debt. that when we were in the middle of the recession,

terrible crisis, folks out of work and losing her homes and pensions -- losing their homes and pensions, when we were spending money to lift the economy up and clean up after the mess they left, they said, no, you cannot spend money helping teachers. you cannot spend money helping working folks. you cannot spend money on early childhood education programs. because that will blow up the deficit. that would be terrible. we cannot do that. that would be fiscally irresponsible. but when it came to giving tax cuts to people who did not need them, who were not even asking for them, suddenly, deficits were not a problem.

but it gets worse. , now that they gave away all the money to people who me, by thed it, like way. it worked out good for me. [laughter] now that that has happened, suddenly you have republican leader in congress, mitch mcconnell saying, i am disturbed by these deficits. the deficitsbring down, we are going to have to cut programs like medicare and medicaid and social security. >> [boo] boo,dent obama: do not vote!! unlike some people, i do not just make stuff up when i am talking.

[cheers] president obama: i believe in fact based campaigning. i believe in reality-based campaigning. so. cutting medicare and social security in order to pay for a billionaires tax cut does not sound like fighting for the little guy to me. the good news is, joe donnelly is not going to let that happen. on tuesdaye to vote to make sure it doesn't happen. [applause] let's talk about health care. let's talk about it.

eight years ago, democrats passed the affordable care act. [applause] 339,000 helps to cover folks in indiana, just in one state. it also made it illegal for the first time for insurance to discriminate against people who have pre-existing conditions. [applause] you heard joe talk about that. with you are a child asthma. maybe you are a cancer survivor. before the affordable care act, insurance companies could charge you more for that.

before the affordable care act, insurance companies could charge you more for being a woman. although that is true it is a pre-existing condition, that condition allows all of us to be here. so to charge them more does not make sense. so we changed the law. [applause] democrats made that happen. [applause] not a single republican in congress joined us. zero. nada. non--- none. zilch. they came up empty. when it came to voting to protect your ability to get insurance with pre-existing conditions. nobody voted for it. they then spent the last eight years actively trying to

sabotage and repeal the law. it was their cause. it was their north star, their holy grail. the thing that was most important to them for the last eight years was trying to take away health care for working people who had finally got health care. that was the most important thing to them, i do not know. i mean, i will let you speculate. right?nteresting, anyway, this was their number one priority. and because of the sabotage, because they made it harder, upmiums in indiana are going by something like $800 next year

because they systematically undermined the law. they made all kinds of changes to it, that it is still standing. now, it is election time. republicansese same well,l out there saying, vote for pre-existing conditions. trust us. joe donnelly supported -- joe donnelly's opponent supported proposals and a law that would for hoosiersage living with pre-existing conditions. [booing] president obama: do not boo, vote! if they win on tuesday, they

might succeed. indiana, we cannot let joe's finalizingcome the vote that ends at your protection for pre-existing conditions. democrats will protect you. joe donnelly will protect you. the republicans will not. [applause] largerant to make a point. if there about hopkins actually thought there tax cuts for billionaires -- if the republicans actually thought the tax cuts for billionaires were possible, that is what they would campaign on. suddenly, right at election time, they are running millions of dollars in ads saying we are going to do exactly the opposite of what we have been doing. gall., that takes

that would be like me, all these years i have been rooting for the chicago bulls. , then these years suddenly i say, i love indianapolis. i loved when reggie miller was sinking threes in our face. that is not true. that is making stuff up. that is revisionist history. that brings me to a bigger question in this election. what kind of politics do we want? politicians, let me say this. politicians have always tried to put the best light on things. they may take a promise that turns out to be harder than they expected. they do some good things, but other things do not work out.

so they try to put a positive spin on things. it is not just politicians, by the way. sometimes we all do that. and i'm,will come home like doing the dishes. and i will be like, honey, look. i am doing the dishes. and she will say, first of all, you have not done dishes in one month. secondly, what did you do wrong? because i know you are trying to put a positive spin on things, but you must have messed up somewhere. what is it? [laughter] will try to put a favorable light on things and politicians are no different. seen, atwe have not is, righty memory, now you have politicians, these

republicans are just blatantly, shamelesslybaldly, lying. just making up stuff. they are just creating stuff, just making it up. office i was running for and i said, man, i hate the affordable care act. that would not make any sense. because it was my bill. and you would expect me to stand up and defend what i had done. if the republicans want to stand up and defend the fact that they

tried to take away your health care, they should do so. but for them to go out there and pretend like they did not do it, --e we are stupid [cheering] obama: here is the problem and what you have to watch out for, indiana. this is not the first time they have done this. up, or theyke stuff will try to distract you from the stuff they have done. they try to scare the heck out of you. 2010, when we were passing the affordable care act, they said obama is going to kill your

grandma. >> [laughter] -- president obama: they never explained why i would want to do that. that is a weird thing to do. folksl those tea party saying, he is trying to kill your grandma. [laughter] were insisting obama is going to kill everybody, keep all the folks out. and we had a large business and we dealt with the emergency in africa, but they made it out that this was the thing that was going to kill us all. after the election, they just stopped talking about it. in 2016, hillary's emails, do you remember? that is all we heard about.

hillary's emails. a terrible breach of national security. we need an investigation. do you know, they really did not care about it. if they did, they would be pretty upset that our current president has not -- has an unsecured iphone that he leaves in his golf cart. but that does not matter. it was just trying to spin it. [applause] and now, weeks before the election, they are saying the single most grave threat to america is a bunch of poor, , broke, hungry refugees 1000 miles away. that is fronting and center.

jobs not like we need more , it's not health care, how are we going to educate our kids, get the guns out of the hands of gangs. that is not the thing. the thing is these people 1000 miles away. and by the way, they are even using our brave troops, sending them now as a political stunt. men and women of our military are better than that. [applause] [cheering] obama: listen up, the reason i is saying this, this is important. unfortunately, sometimes, these tactics are scaring people and making stuff up works. do you remember charlie brown?

it's almost coming up on christmas time and i love charlie brown's christmas. and do you remember how he wanted to kick the football so bad, and lucy would say, come on, take it. she would set it for him and he would run up and he pulls it away at the last minute and he falls on his back. and he always fell for it. do not be charlie brown with the football. do not be hoodwinked. do not be bamboozled. [cheers] whileent obama: because they are trying to distract you with all of this stuff, they are robbing you blind. look, look, caravan.

as they give tax cuts to their billionaire friends. , whatever scary thing. and then they are sabotaging your health care. you cannot fall for it. importantly, we have to stuff that is so basic, our parents, our grandparents taught us. there will be consequences when people do not come through. [cheering] president obama: when words stop meeting anything. when people can just live with lie withdemocracy -- abandon, democracy cannot work. nothing works.

business where a your business partner says, here is what we will do, and then they do the opposite. work unless not words have meaning and consequences. and the only check right now on the behavior of these republicans is you and your vote . [applause] on tuesday, you can vote for politics that are decent, honest, and lawful and try to do right by people, like joe donnelly does. [applause] evenaybe i am naive, but in this time of hyper partisanship and tribal politics, i am hoping that they're all folks out there who, maybe do not agree with

democrats all the time, but they say, some things transcend party. it should not be democrat or republican to say your words should mean something. it should not be democratic or republican to say we do not target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. it should not be democratic or republican to say it is wrong to spend all of your time vilifying people and calling them enemies of the people, and then when sad things happen, suddenly you are concerned with civility. [applause] proud democrat. i think democrats have better ideas and have consistently shown to fight for the little guy. but joe donnelly and i did not agree all the time.

we ok? all good? bend your knees sometimes if you are standing too much. keep things circulating. joe donnelly and i did not agree all the time, but joe always let me know where he stood and what he believed in. what islways focused on the best thing for the hoosiers that he served. he was honest and direct. you can count on that. [applause] that is what you want. you do not want a yes-man all the time. right now, the republicans in congress, some of them claim to be concerned when they hear about crazy stuff going on.

but they do not do anything about it. they are yes-man. not standing up. we need leaders who will actually stand up for what is right, regardless of party loyalty. [applause] [cheering] we need people to actually stand up for anyone whose basic rights are at stake, who see in some ways health care is at stake, they will fight for it, even if they have health care. if they see someone's kid being bullied in school, because of their last name, because of their race or religion, they will stand up for that kid. they see a neighbor being harassed because they are gay or lesbian, it will stand up for that neighbor because they are going to say, that is not how we treat people. [applause]

president obama: you have me all fired up. [laughter] [applause] thatdent obama: indiana, is what all of us have to stand up for with purpose, patriotism, and moral parity. the values that bind us to our fellow citizens, no matter who we are. that is what americans do. that is what americans are supposed to do. that is what america is supposed to be. that is what joe donnelly believes. that is what you believe. and that is why i am hopeful, indiana.

tuesday, we that on are going to cut through the lies, the noise, and the nonsense. -- we willl will remember who we are. i am hopeful we will remember who we are called to be. i am hopeful because out of the political darkness, i am seeing across the country a great awakening of citizenship. i have been so encouraged, watching so many people in involved for the first time in a very long time. marching, running for office, record numbers of women. you know we need more women. [applause] [cheering] young veterans of afghanistan and iraq, americans who never had much of an interest in know,cs who said, you

this is different, i better get to work. this moment is too important to sit out. antidote toa, the government by a powerful few is government by the organized energized group. the antidote to a politics of anger, division, and hatred, is the politics of generosity and hope. that is what this moment is about. let me say this, because sometimes, especially young people, a hear them say, nothing will change -- i hear them say, nothing will change. my vote does not matter. they get discouraged and cynical. they say, one election will not fix everything.

it is not as if suddenly, because of one election, gary, indiana, will not have poverty problems. it is not as if in one election, suddenly the criminal justice system, as if it is not working the way it should. in one election, we will not solve all of the jobs that were moved overseas. it is not like one election solves climate change or eliminates sexism or racism. one election will not do all that. but one election will make things a little better. means some families get health cares that would not have it before. medes a child gets a better education than they -- means a child gets a better education than they would have otherwise had.

one election mean someone gets an apprenticeship and can make a life for themselves and raise a family and pass on the pride of work to it the next generation. one election is a start. take, of step you making things better, a little bit of hope ripples out and it gets bigger and people start feeling better. people start looking at each other and acting better toward each other. they are a little bit less out inand they reach friendship and they say, i am going to help you. how can i be a good neighbor? how can i look out for your child, along with mine? [applause] like what isnot going on right now, do not just

sit there. do not just sit there and complain. >> vote! president obama: do not just hang your head and say, oh my god. you need to vote. [applause] votehen you early tomorrow, or would you vote on tuesday for joe donnelly, powerful things are going to happen. change will happen and hope will happen. with each new step we take in the direction of fairness and justice and equality and spread.ity, hope will goodness will spread. [applause] and you will be the ones who will have done it. it starts with you.

let's go vote. let's go make change. let's go make hope. god bless you, indiana. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [applause] [cheering] ♪