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 Barack
Obama
won
the 2008 presidential election on
the 4th of November and gave the following
victory speech in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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.
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 very first time in their
lives, because they believed that this
time must be different; that their voice
could be that difference.
It's
the answer spoken by young and old, rich
and poor, Democrat and Republican, black,
white, Latino, Asian, Native American,
gay, straight, disabled and not disabled..
Americans who sent a message to the world
that we have never been a collection of
Red States and Blue States: we are, and
always will be, the United States of America.
It's
the answer that led those who have been
told for so long by so many to be cynical,
and fearful, and doubtful of 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 day, in
this election, at this defining moment,
change has come to America.
I
just received a very gracious call from
Senator McCain. He fought long and hard
in this campaign, and he's fought even
longer and harder for the country he loves.
He has endured sacrifices for America
that most of us cannot begin to imagine,
and we are better off for the service
rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him and Governor Palin
for all they have achieved, and I look
forward to working with them to renew
this nation's promise in the months ahead.
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 and rode
with on that train home to Delaware, the
Vice President-elect of the United States,
Joe Biden.
I
would not be standing here tonight without
the unyielding support of my best friend
for the last sixteen years, the rock of
our family and the love of my life, our
nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama.
Sasha
and Malia, I love you both so much, and
you have earned the new puppy that's coming
with us to the White House. And while
she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother
is watching, along with the family that
made me who I am. I miss them tonight,
and know that my debt to them is beyond
measure.
To
my campaign manager David Plouffe, my
chief strategist David Axelrod, and the
best campaign team ever assembled in the
history of politics--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.
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 five dollars and ten dollars and
twenty dollars to this cause. It grew
strength from the young people who rejected
the myth of their generation's apathy;
who left their homes and their families
for jobs that offered little pay and less
sleep; from the not-so-young people who
braved the bitter cold and scorching heat
to knock on the doors of perfect strangers;
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 this Earth. This
is your victory.
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 their children fall asleep and wonder
how they'll make the mortgage, or pay
their doctor's bills, or save enough for
college. There is new energy to harness
and new jobs to be created; new schools
to build and threats to meet and alliances
to repair.
The
road ahead will be long. Our climb will
be steep. We may not get there in one
year or even 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.
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 that 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 join in
the work of remaking this nation the only
way it's been done in America for two-hundred
and twenty-one years--block by block,
brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused
hand.
What
began twenty-one months ago in the depths
of winter must not end on this autumn
night. 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 cannot happen without you.
So
let us summon a new spirit of patriotism;
of service and 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
us resist the temptation to fall back
on the same partisanship and pettiness
and immaturity that has poisoned our politics
for so long.
Let
us 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,
individual liberty, and national unity.
Those
are values 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. 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, but I hear your voices, I need your
help, and I will be your president too.
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 our world--our
stories are singular, but our destiny
is shared, and a new dawn of American
leadership is at hand. To those who would
tear this 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 our 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.
For
that is the true genius of America--that
America can change. Our union can be perfected.
And what we have 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 is 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.
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 and a new sense of common
purpose. Yes we can.
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.
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.
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.
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 doubt, 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. Thank you, God bless you, and
may God Bless the United States of America.
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