President Barack Obama at Coney Island in Cincinnati today, this Labor Day 2009, to speak at the AFL-CIO company picnic.
“Hello Cincinnati. Hello Ohio. I can’t think of a better place to be on Labor Day than at America’s biggest Labor Day picnic-with the workers and families of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO… … … Now, like a lot of Americans, you’re having some fun today. Taking the day off. Spending time with the kids. Enjoying some good music and good food-some famous Cincinnati chili.(hell yah!) But today we also pause. To remember. To reflect. To reaffirm… … . .
We remember that the rights and benefits we enjoy today were not simply handed out to America’s working men and women. They had to be won.… … We’ve extended unemployment benefits for 12 million Americans, including Charlie and nearly 570,000 Ohio citizens. Across America, we’ve saved the jobs of tens of thousands of state and local workers-including teachers and first responders here in Ohio. We’re rebuilding America’s infrastructure, including the improvements to I-75 in Hamilton County-led by a local Cincinnati contractor-and more than 200 other highway projects across Ohio.… …”
