OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.
(APPLAUSE)
If there
is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all
things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is
alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy,
tonight is your answer.
(APPLAUSE)
It's the
answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in
numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours
and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they
believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be
that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old,
rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian,
Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans
who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a
collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
OBAMA: We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
It's
the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be
cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their
hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a
better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight,
because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining
moment change has come to America.
(APPLAUSE)
It's
the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be
cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their
hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a
better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight,
because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining
moment change has come to America.
(APPLAUSE)
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
Senator
McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even
longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured
sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are
better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I
congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've
achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this
nation's promise in the months ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA:
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from
his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the
streets of Scranton...
(APPLAUSE)
... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years...
(APPLAUSE)
... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady...
(APPLAUSE)
... Michelle Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
Sasha and Malia...
(APPLAUSE)
... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us...
(LAUGHTER)
... to the new White House.
(APPLAUSE)
And
while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along
with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that
my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my
sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for
all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe...
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA:
... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best
political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of
America.
(APPLAUSE)
To my chief strategist David Axelrod...
(APPLAUSE)
... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics...
(APPLAUSE)
... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start
with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in
the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and
the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was
built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they
had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy...
(APPLAUSE)
... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It
drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold
and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the
millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that
more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You
did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead.
For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow
will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in
peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we
stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the
deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives
for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake
after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage
or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college
education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The
road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there
in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more
hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA:
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree
with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the
government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be
honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you,
especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in
the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in
America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand
by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
OBAMA: This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the
chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back
to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So
let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each
of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only
ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this
financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a
thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this
country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the
temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and
immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's
remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner
of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the
values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those
are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a
great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and
determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
(APPLAUSE)
As
Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies
but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our
bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I
have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your
voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA:
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from
parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the
forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our
destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
(APPLAUSE)
To
those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To
those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who
have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we
proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from
the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring
power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding
hope. (APPLAUSE)
That's the true genius of America: that
America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already
achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This
election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for
generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast
her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who
stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one
thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
(APPLAUSE) OBAMA:
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no
cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't
vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the
color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen
throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the
struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and
the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a
time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she
lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes
we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across
the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new
jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE:
Yes we can. OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny
threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to
greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE:
Yes we can. OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses
in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told
a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
AUDIENCE:
Yes we can. OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in
Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And
this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and
cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of
times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
AUDIENCE:
Yes we can. OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much.
But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if
our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters
should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change
will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This
is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of
opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause
of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental
truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope.
And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us
that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up
the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
n_speech_mccain_081104.flv
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