It begins with our economy. Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds. She waited tables. He worked construction. Their first child, Jack, was on the way. They were young and in love in America. And it doesn't get much better than that. "If only we had known," Rebekah wrote to me last spring, "what was about to happen to the housing and construction market."

首先让我们谈谈经济。七年前，明尼阿波利斯的瑞贝卡和本•艾勒是一对新婚夫妇。瑞贝卡是饭店服务员，艾勒在建筑工地上班，他们当时即将迎来第一个孩子杰克。他们很年轻，在美国相爱，没有什么比这更好的了。瑞贝卡去年春天写信给我称：“如果我们当时知道住房和建筑市场将发生什么就好了。”

As the crisis worsened, Ben's business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time. Rebekah took out student loans and enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career. They sacrificed for each other. And slowly, it paid off. They bought their first home. They had a second son, Henry. Rebekah got a better job and then a raise. Ben is back in construction -- and home for dinner every night.

随着危机恶化，本的生意越来越少，他只能做他能找到的工作，即便这些工作让他花漫长的时间在路上。瑞贝卡办理了学生贷款，在社区大学上学，为一份新的职业生涯培训。他们为彼此牺牲。慢慢地，他们的努力得到了回报，他们买了首套房子，他们有了第二个儿子亨利。瑞贝卡找到了一份更好的工作，还加了薪。本也重返建筑业，每天晚上能回家吃晚餐。

"It is amazing," Rebekah wrote, "what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times."

瑞贝卡写道：“这是令人惊奇的，你在被迫的情况下东山再起，我们是一个强有力的、关系密切的家庭，我们一起熬过了一段非常非常艰难的时刻。”

America, Rebekah and Ben's story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard and scrimped, and sacrificed and retooled. You are the reason that I ran for this office. You are the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it has been your resilience, your effort that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.

美国同胞们，瑞贝卡和本的故事就是我们的故事，他们代表着那些努力工作，精打细算，作出牺牲，重新培训的数百万人。你们是我竞选总统职位的原因。在那个危机最黑暗的岁月里，你们是我六年前的那一天所想到的人，那天当我站在国会山的台阶上，承诺我们将在一个新的基石上重建我们的经济。你们的努力和坚韧，使美国在危机过后变得更加强大成为可能。

We believed we could reverse the tide of outsourcing and draw new jobs to our shores. And over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs.

我们相信，我们能够扭转劳务外包的势头，将新就业机会带回国内。在过去五年期间，我国企业创造了1100多万个新就业机会。

We believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect our planet. And today, America is number one in oil and gas. America is number one in wind power. Every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in all of 2008. And thanks to lower gas prices and higher fuel standards, the typical family this year should save about $750 at the pump.

我们相信，我们能够降低对外国石油的依赖，并保护我们的地球。如今，美国的石油和天然气产量位居世界第一。美国的风力发电量位居世界首位。我国每三个星期产出的太阳能，就相当于2008年的总量。由于石油价格下跌和燃料标准提高，一个典型的美国家庭今年会节省750美元油费。

We believed we could prepare our kids for a more competitive world. And today, our younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record. Our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high. More Americans finish college than ever before.

我们相信，我们能够使我们的孩子们为面对一个更具有竞争性的世界做好准备。现在，我国年轻学生们的数学和阅读分数都达到了前所未有的水平。我国的高中生毕业率也达到历史新高。完成大学学业的人数超过了以往任何一个时期。

We believed that sensible regulations could prevent another crisis, shield families from ruin, and encourage fair competition. Today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices. And in the past year alone, about 10 million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage.

我们相信，明智的规章能够避免另一场危机，使家庭免于被毁，并鼓励公平竞争。如今，我们拥有新手段，不再使用纳税人的钱来救助企业；我们拥有新的消费者监管机构，保护我们免受掠夺性借贷和信用卡违规行为之害。仅在去年一年，就有大约一千万没有医保的美国人终于得到医疗保险。

At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits. Instead, we've seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in 50 years. This is good news, people.

在我们采取每个步骤时，我们曾被警告：我们的目标被误导，或者过于雄心壮志，我们将破坏就业或使赤字大幅增长。但与这些观点相反的是，我们看到了过去十年最快的经济增长，我们的赤字减少了三分之二，股市市值翻了一倍，医疗通货膨胀率是过去50年来最低的。这是个好消息，同胞们。

So the verdict is clear. Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work as long as politics don't get in the way. We can't slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns. We can't put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we've got to fix a broken system. And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, I will veto it. It will have earned my veto.

因此，结论是明确的。中产阶级经济行之有效。扩大机会行之有效。只要政治权术不予掣肘，这些政策就将继续行之有效。我们不能允许政府机构关闭或财政关门迫使企业活动放缓，或使我国经济面临危险。我们不能让家庭安全面临危险，所以我们不能剥夺家庭的医保，不能取消针对华尔街的新规则，不能在我们需要休整一个破败不堪的机制时，再为移民问题争执不休。如果哪个议案想做以上任何一件事，一旦送交到我办工桌上，我将予以否决。它必将获得我的否决票。

Today, thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. We know that more small business owners plan to raise their employees' pay than at any time since 2007. But here's the thing: Those of us here tonight, we need to set our sights higher than just making sure government doesn't screw things up; that government doesn't halt the progress we're making. We need to do more than just do no harm. Tonight, together, let's do more to restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American.

现在，由于经济不断增长，越来越多的人受到经济振兴的影响。工资水平终于开始再次上升。我们知道，自2007年以来，从未有任何一个时期比现在有更多的小企业主计划提高雇员的工资。但需要注意一点，今晚在座诸位需要把眼光放得更远，不能仅仅是确保政府不去阻碍我们正在取得的进步。我们需要做得更多，而不仅是不造成损害。今晚，让我们共同采取更多措施，重建努力工作与每个美国人获得更多机会之间的纽带。

Because families like Rebekah's still need our help. She and Ben are working as hard as ever, but they've had to forego vacations and a new car so that they can pay off student loans and save for retirement. Friday night pizza, that's a big splurge. Basic childcare for Jack and Henry costs more than their mortgage, and almost as much as a year at the University of Minnesota. Like millions of hardworking Americans, Rebekah isn't asking for a handout, but she is asking that we look for more ways to help families get ahead.

因为，像瑞贝卡这样的家庭仍需要我们的帮助。她和本比任何时候都要努力工作，但不得不放弃休假和购买新车，以支付贷款和为退休存钱。杰克和亨利的基本儿童护理费用超出了房贷费用，几乎相当于明尼苏达州立大学一年的学费。与数百万努力工作的美国人一样，瑞贝卡并不是在讨要施舍，但她在要求我们找到更多帮助改善家庭生活的方法。

And in fact, at every moment of economic change throughout our history, this country has taken bold action to adapt to new circumstances and to make sure everyone gets a fair shot. We set up worker protections, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid to protect ourselves from the harshest adversity. We gave our citizens schools and colleges, infrastructure and the Internet -- tools they needed to go as far as their effort and their dreams will take them.

实际上，在我国历史上的每个经济变化时刻，美国都采取果敢行动以适应新环境，确保每个人都得到公平的机会。我们采取了工人保护、社保、医保以及医疗救助等措施，保护我们免于陷入最困难的处境。我们为我国公民提供了基础教育和高等教育、基础设施和互联网，他们需要这些手段使自己的努力获得最大成果。

That's what middle-class economics is -- the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don't just want everyone to share in America's success, we want everyone to contribute to our success.

这就是中产阶级经济，只要每个人获得公平的机会，每个人做出公平的贡献，每个人遵循同样的规则，美国就能发展得最好。我们不仅希望每个人共享美国的成功，也希望每个人都为美国的成功做出贡献。