THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Can everybody please give Lisbeth a biground of applause? That was a great introduction. (Applause.)
Happy Halloween, everybody. I see a lot of you came as college students. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you, too. Those of you who have seats, feel free to sit down. Those ofyou who don’t, don’t. (Laughter.) I am not going to be too long. I’ve got to get back and trick-or-treat tonight with Michelle. Although, Malia and Sasha are a little old --
AUDIENCE: Aww --
THE PRESIDENT: It’s so sad. (Laughter.) I used to be able to -- we’d dress them up, and westill have the pictures. They’ll resent them later, but at the time they were fine with it. Theywere so cute.
A good thing about being President is we never run out of Presidential M&Ms -- (laughter) -- so we’re going to be giving those out.
AUDIENCE: (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You want some? Is that what you said? Only to kids. (Laughter.)
We’re so proud of Lisbeth, not just for the wonderful introduction but for being so determinedabout her education. And she’s a really remarkable young lady. I had a chance to speak to herbefore we came out. It turns out she went to school with my niece and nephew --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Classical!
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right. At Classical, is that right? So that was neat.
I have also brought some Halloween characters with me: Our Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez. (Applause.) They are all dressed up as really outstanding public servants. (Laughter.) AndTom has just been doing extraordinary work. His lovely daughter is there, who’s a freshman atBrown. Your great senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse. (Applause.) Your outstandingCongressman, David Cicilline, is here. (Applause.) Jim Langevin is here. (Applause.) And we’reproud of both of them.
But despite how much I love all the folks I just mentioned, the people I really came to see isyou. (Applause.) Because every decision I make every single day -- all the policies I pursue asPresident -- are all aimed at making sure we restore the promise of this country for yourgeneration and for every generation that comes after.
Now, the good news is we’ve made a lot of progress since the worst economic crisis of ourlifetimes. So when I first came into office, the economy was in a freefall, the auto industry wasin a freefall. Banks were frozen up. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Over the past 55months, our businesses have now added 10.3 million new jobs. (Applause.) For the first time inmore than six years, the unemployment rate is below 6 percent. Over the past six months,our economy has grown at its fastest pace in more than 10 years.
And in education, dropout rates are down, the national graduation rate is the highest on record,more young people are earning their college degrees than ever before. (Applause.) Good job,young people.
In energy, we’re less dependent on foreign oil than any time in nearly three facturing -- the quintessential producer of middle-class jobs, the heart of Rhode Island’seconomy for decades -- manufacturing has now created 700,000 new jobs since early 2010. Tenmillion Americans have gained the peace of mind that comes with having health insurance. (Applause.)
