Raw Video. Presidential Seal Falls During Speech

And it means making sure that our people have what it takes to actually do those jobs. That’s what we’ve been discussing during the conference today, and it’s what I’d like to focus on tonight, because you know, as I do, that our businesses, our institutions, our economy cannot compete unless our workforce can compete — unless we harness the potential of every American and ensure that their skills match up to the work of the future.

And that starts with education — especially in fields like science and technology and engineering and math. We cannot sustain — oops — was that my? (Laughter.) Oh, goodness. That’s all right. (Laughter.) All of you know who I am. (Laughter and applause.) But I’m sure there’s somebody back there that’s really nervous right now. (Laughter.) Don’t you think? They’re sweating bullets back there right now. (Laughter.)

Where were we? (Laughter.) We cannot sustain high-tech, high-wage jobs here in America when our young people are lagging far behind competitors around the world. That’s one of the reasons we launched a national competition called Race to the Top, designed to raise standards in our schools. And it’s based on a simple idea: Instead of funding the status quo, we’re only going to invest in reform.