BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Or they'll bring up Obamacare-this is tried and true-despite the fact that our businesses have created nearly twice as many jobs in this recovery as businesses had at the same point in the last recovery when there was no Obamacare.</s>OFF-MIKE)  OBAMA: I appreciate that.</s>OBAMA: That's what-that's what we've been fighting for. But with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington's taken its eye off the ball. And I'm here to say: This needs to stop. This needs to stop.</s>OFF-MIKE) OBAMA: True-that, too. I'm also going to use the power of my office over the next few months to highlight a topic that's straining the budgets of just about every American family, and that's the soaring cost of higher education.</s>OBAMA: Now, some colleges are testing new approaches to shorten the path to a degree or blending teaching with online learning to help students master material and earn credits in less time. And some states are testing new ways to fund college based not just on how many students enroll, but how many of them graduate. How well do they do? So this afternoon, I'll visit the University of Central Missouri to highlight their efforts to deliver more bang for the buck to their students. And in the coming months, I will lay out an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families. It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who's willing to work for it.
Barack Obama Speaks From Galesburg, Illinois