086 - 6 October 2022 - Remarks by President Biden at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Reception

Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0

6 October 2022 - Remarks by President Biden at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Reception


7:32 P.M. EDT
...

There’s a lot at stake in American foreign policy as well, where I spend most of my time and my — my career, I should say.

And we have some real difficult decisions to make, relative to what’s going on in Ukraine, and we’re going to continue to support them. But first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use of the nuclear weapon if, in fact, things continue down the path they’ve been going. That’s — that’s a different deal. That’s a different deal.

And, you know, we’re trying to figure out: What — what is Putin’s off-ramp? Where — where does he get off? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face, but lose significant power within Russia?

So I guess what I’m saying is that we have to keep the Senate because two years of — of chaos is going to create a lot of changes around the world as well. I’ve spent the bulk of my time — not a joke; and I don’t think any of you would think it’s an exaggeration — I’ve spent a couple hundred hours so far just trying to hold NATO together so we’re all in the same spot.

Everybody is united in Europe, relative to what we do in Ukraine and relative to Russia. We find ourselves in positions that we’ve been able to get significant support from the Quad — from Australia, India, and Japan — relative to China and the South China Sea.

There’s a lot of changes going on — a whole lot that I’d like to talk about with you if you want to talk about them in the question-and-answer period.

But the bottom line is this: If you take a look at what’s happened, we have over — I know no one thought we could get any of this done. But from the very beginning, I introduced legislation relating to the — the infrastructure of this country. We used to be, in the United States — have the best infrastructure in the world. Now we rank in the low 20s in terms of the quality of our infrastructure.

We’re in a situation where — you know, you all are successful, most of you, business people. If you’re going to invest where you can get your product to market, where you have ports that you can function out of, where you have highways and bridges that function.

And so, you know, we used to be — for example, in terms of investment of research and development, we used to be number two in the world. Now we’re number nine. China used to be number eight. Now they’re number two.

We’re finally investing in research and development, which is generating an awful lot of ingenuity. Things are happening in a big way. For example, I was just upstate. We — you all know what’s going on in terms of semiconductors. And, you know, we’re in a position now where there’s investments that are occurring that are going to exceed probably $3- to $400 billion over the next five years, employing an awful lot of people, putting us in position, once again, to lead the world.

We invented the computer chip. We invented it here in the United States. We used to have — just 30 years ago, we had 40 percent of the market. Now we have virtually no percent of the market, and we’re in a situation where we, in fact, don’t have the ability, up to now, to deal with so- — very sophisticated computer chips.

We did all that technology. Well, it’s about time we take it back, and we’re doing that now. As I said, we’re talking about investments that are consequential but generating an awful lot of investment off the sidelines from all of you people around the wo- — the United States.

And the thing is we- — in Upstate New York, in Poughkeepsie and — and up in Syracuse. And you’re — you know, there going to be billions of dollars invested.

And here’s the deal: It’s all made in America. It’s made in America. It’s about time we control the — the idea of access, instead of we have pandemic and you find out you can’t — there — they stopped production in Lat- — excuse me, in the Far East or in the Pacific. And guess what? We don’t have —

One of the reasons why inflation was so high last year was the lack of semiconductors to build automobiles. That was one of — 30 percent of all the inflation that occurred.

And so, there’s a whole lot that we have an opportunity to deal with. And I know — I’m got to short-circuit this in the interest of time for all of you. But the deal is that I’m more optimistic about America’s prospects. We’re better positioned than any na- — any major nation in the world to own the second quarter of the 21st century. And we re- — we really are.

Since I’ve become President, with the help a lot of you, we’ve created 10 million new jobs — 10 million new jobs. We’ve created 685,000 manufacturing jobs.

Where is it written to say we can’t be the manufacturing capital of the world again? Where does it say that? I don’t know — I didn’t read that anywhere.

And I’m also encouraged because we talked about — see this handsome young man here, who’s going to be going to college next year? I’m encouraged because of his generation and those people between 30 years of age and his year. And I’m — I’m not joking. Because they’re the best-educated, the best-informed, the least prejudiced, and the most engaged administration [generation] in American history — I mean, generation.

So, we got a lot to look forward to — a whole hell of a lot to look forward to, but we got to focus on it. We’ve got to focus. We can’t walk away from the opportunity that exists.

And I will say very respectfully, we’re the only nation in the world, in my view, that has come out of cri- — every crisis we’ve faced, we’ve come out of it stronger than we went in — stronger than we went in. I know I get kidded about saying “build back better,” but I mean what I’m saying, that we have to build back better. We’re at a real inflection point in American history, in world history.

I mean, you know, so much has changed and not just because of any particular leader. It happens every four to six generations.

If you’re Putin, you got eight time zones and the tundra is melting and methane is leaking and it’s four times as consequential. It’s not going to — the permafrost is not going to again freeze.

I mean, you know, you look around the world at all the things that are changing. And so, we have an opportunity not only to help ourselves but once again lead the world in a way that makes sense for the rest of the world.

You have most of Africa, over a billion people — you have people all over the world that need help and can generate economic growth. And we can be an engine to allow all that — all of that.

So I guess — I said I was not going to talk very long; I’ve already talked too long. But — but there’s a lot going on in terms — both domestically and in terms of foreign policy. And it’s a very —

Let me put it this way. Think about it: We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. We’ve got a guy I know fairly well; his name is Vladimir Putin. I spent a fair amount of time with him. He is not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical and nuclear weapons, or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.

It’s part of Russian doctrine that they will not — they will not — if the motherland is threatened, they’ll use whatever force they need, including nuclear weapons.

I don’t think there’s any such thing as an ability to easily lose a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.

So there’s a lot at stake — a lot at stake. And we — I guess I’ll conclude by saying this. I knew — I spent most of my career dealing with criminal justice issues in the Supreme Court and foreign policy. 

I was chairman of those committees as a senator for 360 years. (Laughter.) 36 years. I was Vice President for eight years, where the President asked me to be Vice President because he wanted me to deal with a lot of foreign policy pieces.

And now — and I — I didn’t realize how much — and you all travel the world and know the world. I didn’t realize how much serious damage the last administration did to our relationships around the world. The America First policies put us basically last.

I’ll end with a quote. I showed up at the first G7 meeting in England, in February after I was elected. And I’m sitting there with the NATO heads of state, sitting between Macron and the new Chancellor of Germany, Scholz. And I said, “America is back.” You know what the response was? “For how long?” Not a joke. “For how long?”

And then one said — and I will not say who it was — but one of those heads of state looked at me and said, “What would you say, Mr. President, if you went back to your hotel room and on the television here in Britain, there was showing — there was a showing that you had a group of armed people going down the halls of Parliament breaking down the doors to stop the succession of the parliamentary process and who would be the prime minister? What would you say about Great Britain? What would you say if the same thing happened in the Bundestag?”

Folks, don’t underestimate what the rest of the world is looking at and wondering about: Are we still the United States of America? Are we still that democracy that they look to?

And one of the things I realize — and I’ve been — as I said, I’ve known every major head of state in the last 30 years and dealt with them face to face. What I didn’t realize — and I knew America was critical, but I didn’t realize when you walk into a foreign leaders’ conference, and you’re the President of the United States — it’s not me; you’re President of the United States — they all look to you. Look to you. “How stable is your country? What are you going to do? What’s going to happen?” And there’s a great deal of doubt around the world right now, and there need not be.

We can turn this into an enormous asset, enormous prospects for the United States if we do the right thing. But we can’t do it if we lose control of the House and the Senate.

And so what you’re doing here, particularly we’re talking about the Senate, is a big, big deal.

So I’m going to hand the microphone to — back over to the senator. And then I’ll — and then I’ll do whatever I’m told. (Laughter and applause.)

7:50 P.M. EDT

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[MRT: Here it is 4 years]

11 September 2023 - Remarks by President Biden at Roundtable Meeting with CEOs

And I think we’re at those inflection points in history. I really do. I think what we do in the next three, four years is going to determine what the world looks like in the next three or four decades.

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