Obama Vows to Keep Pushing Until Women Earn Equal Pay and Workers Make a Living Wage

President Obama reminded the American people that change is hard, but he vowed to keep pushing forward until women earn equal pay, and all workers make a living wage.
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At the the White House screen of the film Cesar Chavez: An American Hero, President Obama said:

Cesar himself said that he spent his first 20 years working as an organizer without a single major victory. But he never gave up. He kept on going, and the world is a better place because he did. And that’s one of the great lessons of his life. You don’t give up the fight no matter how long it takes. No matter how long the odds, you keep going, fueled by a simple creed — sí, se puede.
Sometimes people ask me — in fact, while we were backstage, somebody said, oh, you look pretty good. You look better than I expected. The implication being that there might be reason for me not to look good.
But part of what sustains me and part of what I’ve said in the past — and some of you who have been in meetings with me when we’ve experienced setbacks or frustrations on particular issues — I’ve tried to remind people change is hard. It doesn’t happen easily. It doesn’t happen smoothly or painlessly. It happens because you put your shoulder behind the wheel and you keep on pushing. And then, sometimes it’s going to roll back a little bit on you. And then, you got to dig in and you’ve got to push some more.
And Cesar Chavez understood that. You have to push and you create this space. And sometimes you won’t even see all the victories that are achieved, but you’ve invested that time and that effort, and you’ve inspired others. And, eventually, things change, and you pass the baton and future generations then continue this process.
So we’ve got a lot of causes that are worth fighting for. We’ve got to keep fighting to make sure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care. We were very persistent about getting that website fixed. It’s fixed now. And we’ve got more than 5 million people signed up. But we’ve got two more weeks to sign them up. So cuidadodesalud.gov — get on the website, spread the word.
We’ve got to keep fighting to make sure that our economy rewards the hard work of every American with a fair and living wage and equal pay for equal work. We’ve got to keep working to fix our broken immigration system. This is an example of where this is hard, but we’ve made progress and we are going to get this done. This is going to happen. It’s not a matter of if, just a matter of when. And I want it to happen now, so we are going to keep on pushing.

Change is hard. That is why the Obama presidency has been extraordinary. If when the president first took office you would be told that he was going to bring the United States closer than it has ever to universal healthcare access, many of us would have been pleased.
If you had been told that the war in Iraq would be over and that troops will soon be home from Afghanistan back in 2007, how would you have felt?
President Obama has brought change, but that change has been hard fought. Every single day those who are fighting for change have had to battle with repugicans who have made it their mission to oppose any and every change. It doesn’t matter if the proposed change was once their idea. If Obama is for it, repugicans are against it.
Millions of people around this country have fought to preserve what has been accomplished. In future elections, Democrats and supporters will be called on to continue to defend this change.
The president was correct. Change rarely comes quickly and easily, but these gains must continue to be fought for. The repugicans want nothing more than to wipe out the progress made during the Obama years.
Electing President Obama twice was just the beginning. Democrats must be willing to keep fighting for change even after this president’s time in office has come to an end.
Income inequality continues to grow. Women still don’t earn as much as men. Our political system is under constant threat from billionaires who think our government is for sale.
So much has been done, but there is even more to do.