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The President: Well, welcome to the White House.
Everybody looks fabulous.
I am truly honored to be one of Michelle Obama's
guests tonight here at dinner.
(laughter) I want to thank all the governors and
their better halves for being here tonight,
especially your chair, Mary Fallin,
and your vice chair, John Hickenlooper.
(applause) Tonight, we want to make sure that all
of you make yourselves at home, to which I'm sure
some of you are thinking that's been
the plan all along.
(laughter)
But keep in mind what a wise man once
wrote: "I am more than contented to be governor
and shall not care
if I never hold another office."
Of course, that was Teddy Roosevelt.
(laughter) So I guess plans change.
I look forward to working with each
of you not just in our meetings tomorrow, but throughout
this year, what I hope to be a year of action.
Our partnership on behalf of the American people,
on issues ranging from education to health care
to climate change runs deep,
deeper than what usually hits the front page.
Being here tonight, I'm thinking about moments
that I've spent with so many of you during
the course of the year -- with Governor Patrick
in a hospital in Boston, seeing the survivors of the
Boston bombing, seeing them fight through their
wounds, determined to return to their families,
but also realizing that a lot of lives were saved
because of the preparations that federal
and state and local officials had carried out
beforehand; with Governor Fallin at a firehouse
in Moore, thanking first responders who risked
their lives to save others after a devastating
tornado, but once again seeing the kind
of state-federal cooperation that's so vital in these
kinds of circumstances; spending time with
Governor O'Malley at the Naval Academy graduation
last spring and looking out over some of our
newest sailors and Marines as they join the greatest
military in the world, and reminding ourselves that
on national security issues, the contributions
of the National Guard obviously are
extraordinary and all of you work
so closely with them.
So if there's one thing in common in the moments like
these, it's that our cooperation is vital
to make sure that we're doing right
by the American people.
And what's common also is the incredible resilience
and the goodness and the strength of the American
people that we're so privileged to serve.
And that resilience has carried us from the depths
of the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes
to what I am convinced can be a breakthrough year for
America and the American people.
That of course will require that
we collectively take action on what matters to them --
jobs and opportunity.
And when we've got a Congress that sometimes
seems to have a difficult time acting, I want
to make sure that I have the opportunity to partner
with each of you in any way that I can to help
more Americans work and study and strive, and make
sure that they see their efforts and their faith
in this country rewarded.
I know we'll talk more about areas where
we can work together tomorrow.
So tonight, I simply would like to propose a toast
to the families that support us, to the citizens that
inspire us and to this exceptional country that
has given us so much.
Cheers.
And with that, I would lik to invite your chair, Mary Fallon,
to say a few words. Mary?
(applause)
Mary Fallon: On behalf of the National Governors'
Association and all of our Governors representing
in the room, Mr. President, and First Lady Michelle Obama,
it's a great honor to be here tonight in the
White House in this beautiful, historic
building filled with so much history and tradition
of our great nation.
We know, Mr. President, that it's a great
privilege and honor to be able to spend time with
you and the First Lady,
and we're very grateful for that.
Now, I do have to tell you, Mr. President, that
you do have some fellow colleagues like yourself
who were once legislators who are now reformed
legislators who have seen the light and, frankly, we
used to like to see the Lincoln Memorial -- it's a
beautiful facility -- but for us reformed former
legislators, we now like to be chief executive
officers, and we like to look at our own capital
buildings and see our own home.
And so, it's always a great honor to be here.
But in all seriousness, Mr. President, we know
that this nation has many challenges and many
opportunities ahead of it.
And we believe, as governors, that we have to
act upon our nation's problems.
We believe we have great solutions
that we can propose.
But it's also important that we all work together
on behalf of this great nation to do great things
for our people.
That's what they expect of us, and that's what they
deserve of us.
So, Mr. President, we appreciate the
collaboration, the cooperation.
There may be times that we don't always
see eye to eye.
But we also respect the Office of the President
and all your cabinet members that have joined
us here tonight.
And we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to be
able to have the collaboration, to be able
to talk, and to be able to work on behalf
of this great nation.
So, here is a toast to the President of the United States,
President Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama,
and to the prosperity of the great
United States of Americana.
So, toast.