Hello Everybody. This Labor Day weekend, we don’t just celebrate the end of summer. We also honor the hardworking men and women who have made this country what it is. And, the American labor movement that has fought tirelessly to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions. America was built by its laborers, but today our workers are struggling just to get by, in an economy that no longer works for them. That’s why we can’t afford four more years of the failed George Bush economic policies. Policies that Senator McCain has proudly embraced and promises to continue.

It’s time we had a President who will stand up for working men and women, by building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but work, and the workers who created it. It’s time you had a partner in the White House, who knows that the struggles facing working families can’t be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs. And, that hardworking families need immediate relief.

That’s why, as President, I’ll end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and give them to companies that create good-paying jobs, here at home. And, while Senator McCain is proposing $4 billion in new tax breaks for oil companies that are making record profits, I’ll put a $1000 tax cut into the pockets of 95% of workers and their families.

I’ve spent my entire career fighting for working men and women. And so has my running mate, Joe Biden – a man whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. With him by my side, I am confident that we can take this country in a new direction, and restore that fair shot at your dreams that is the core of what Joe Biden and I stand for, and what America stands for, as a nation.



The text of this speech is in the public domain.
1.) Which sentence best summarizes the central idea of the text?

A) Obama is running for president.
B) Obama will fight to help the working man.
C) Obama will work hard.
D) Obama will take us in a new direction.