A crowd of approximately 2,200 people gathered in the Herman Park Pavilion in Boone on Monday, Aug. 13, to listen to President Barack Obama at the second stop of his three-day bus tour.

“I’m going to work just as hard, maybe harder in this campaign as I did in the last one because the choice that you face in November couldn’t be bigger,” Obama said. “It is not just the choice between two candidates or two political parties; but more than any choice in recent history, this is a choice between two fundamentally different visions about how we move this country forward.”

Obama said the direction voters choose is one that will have an impact not only on them but also on the young people and their children and grandchildren. Now is the time to make the choice for change, he said.

“Here is what I want everyone to know,” Obama said. “We got so many things going for us, compared to the rest of the world. We still got the best workers in the world; we got the best entrepreneurs in the world; we got the best scientists and the best researchers in the world; we got the best colleges and the best universities in the world; we know how to work hard.”

Obama said there are no easy or quick fixes or solutions to the nation’s problems. He said America will have to keep working to move forward. The main problem, he said, is not a lack of ideas or solutions, but politics in Washington.

“The main problem we’ve got is one party just thinks compromise is a dirty word, and they got an economic theory that basically wants to go back to the old ‘top-down’ economics that got us into this mess in the first place.”

During his speech, Obama said Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, has the “wrong vision for America.”

“I’ve gotten to know Congressman Ryan,” Obama said. “He’s a good man, he’s a family man. He’s a very articulate spokesperson for Gov. Romney’s vision. The problem is it’s the wrong vision for America.”

Obama analyzed his GOP rival candidate’s plan for America.

“Their main recipe for solving America’s problems is getting rid of regulations on big corporations and big banks and then giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. Their theory is that somehow that’s going to leave jobs and prosperity for everybody,” Obama said. “In fact the centerpiece of Gov. Romney’s entire economic plan is a new $5 trillion tax cut, a lot of it going to the wealthiest Americans.”

Obama said under Romney’s tax plan, taxes on middle class families with children would be raised by an average of $2,000.

“They have tried to sell us this ‘trickle-down fairy dust’ before. It did not work then; it won’t work now,” Obama said. “It’s not a plan to create jobs, it’s not a plan to cut the deficit and it’s not a plan to move our economy forward. We don’t need more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. We don’t need a tax cut for Mr. Romney, we don’t need a tax cut for me. We need tax relief for middle class families. … That’s why I’m running for president. I’ve got a different idea than Mr. Romney. When I came into office, I promised that I would cut middle class taxes. And you know what? I kept that promise. The typical family is paying $3,600 less in taxes than when I came into office.”

Obama said he wants to keep taxes exactly where they are.

“If your family makes $250,000 a year or less, like 98 percent of Americans, you won’t see your income taxes increase by a single dime next year under my plan. If you’re fortunate enough to be in the 2 percent, you’ll still get a tax cut for the first $250,000 worth of income, but after that, we’re asking you to contribute just a little bit more so we can pay down our deficit and invest in things like education to help our economy grow.”