Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to the
Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Here is the text of that
speech:
Barack Obama greets the crowd at the Democratic National Convention.
Barack Obama: To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to
all my fellow citizens of this great nation.
With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination
for presidency of the United States.
Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who
accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled
the farthest -- a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to
my daughters and yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Bill
Clinton, who made last night the case for change as only he can make
it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the
next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am
grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of
our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the
conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.
To the love of my life, our next first lady, Michelle Obama, and to
Malia and Sasha -- I love you so much, and I'm so proud of you.
Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story -- of the
brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from
Kansas who weren't well off or well-known, but shared a belief that in
America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.
It is that promise that has always set this country apart -- that
through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual
dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that
the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
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That's why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment
when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women -- students
and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the
courage to keep it alive.
We meet at one of those defining moments -- a moment when our nation
is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has
been threatened once more.
Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder
for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching
your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to
drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's
beyond your reach.
These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure
to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and
the failed policies of George W. Bush.
America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better
country than this.
This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the
brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster
after a lifetime of hard work.
We're a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up
the equipment he's worked on for 20 years and watch it shipped off to
China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure
when he went home to tell his family the news.
We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep
on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands
while a major American city drowns before our eyes.
Tonight, I say to the people of America, to Democrats and Republicans
and independents across this great land -- enough! This moment -- this
election -- is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American
promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that
brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this
country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too
much to let the next four years look just like the last eight. On
November 4, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."
Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has
worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for
that we owe him our gratitude and our respect. And next week, we'll
also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as
evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.
But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90
percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but
really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George
Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know
about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in
your lives -- on health care and education and the economy -- Sen.
McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has
made "great progress" under this president. He said that the
fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief
advisers -- the man who wrote his economic plan -- was talking about
the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just
suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I
quote, "a nation of whiners."
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud autoworkers at a Michigan
plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every
day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people
who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military
families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved
ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are
not whiners. They work hard and they give back and they keep going
without complaint. These are the Americans I know.
Now, I don't believe that Sen. McCain doesn't care what's going on in
the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would
he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How
else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big
corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more
than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan
that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that
would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that
would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain
doesn't get it.
For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited
Republican philosophy -- give more and more to those with the most and
hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington,
they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is that
you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. You're on your own. No
health care? The market will fix it. You're on your own. Born into
poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps -- even if you don't
have boots. You are on your own.
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to
change America. And that's why I'm running for president of the United
States.
You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what
constitutes progress in this country.
We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the
mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of
each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college
diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were
created when Bill Clinton was president -- when the average American
family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000 like it
has under George Bush.
We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of
billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether
someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or
whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off and look
after a sick kid without losing her job -- an economy that honors the
dignity of work.
The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we
are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country
great -- a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.
Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq
and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl
Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful
nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.
In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before
working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister
and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once
turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best
schools in the country with the help of student loans and
scholarships.
When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut
down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago
I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant
closed.
And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her
own business or making her way in the world, I think about my
grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to
middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions
because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work.
She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself
so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into
me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching
tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.
Now, I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that
celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs
are the stories that shaped my life. And it is on behalf of them that
I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president
of the United States.
What is that American promise?
It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own
lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each
other with dignity and respect.
It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation
and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their
responsibilities to create American jobs, to look out for American
workers, and play by the rules of the road.
Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems,
but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves --
protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep
our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads
and science and technology.
Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us,
not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the
most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to
work.
That's the promise of America -- the idea that we are responsible for
ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the
fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's
keeper.
That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right
now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am
president.
Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote
it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.
You know, unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to
corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to
companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the
start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
I will, listen now, cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all
working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we
should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
And for the sake of our economy, our security and the future of our
planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will
finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East. We will do
this.
Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30
years, and by the way John McCain's been there for 26 of them. And in
that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars,
no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And
today, we import triple the amount of oil that we had as the day that
Sen. McCain took office.
Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling
is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.
As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean
coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll
help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of
the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for
the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest $150
billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of
energy -- wind power and solar power and the next generation of
biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million
new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.
America, now is not the time for small plans.
Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every
child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to
compete in the global economy. You know, Michelle and I are only here
tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not
settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll
invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new
teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And
in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability.
And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit
to serving your community or our country, we will make sure you can
afford a college education.
Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible
health care for every single American. If you have health care, my
plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the
same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as
someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she
lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop
discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family
leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping
their job and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.
Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions
are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social
Security for future generations.
And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal
day's work, because I want my daughters to have the exact same
opportunities as your sons.
Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out
how I'll pay for every dime -- by closing corporate loopholes and tax
havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the
federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work
and making the ones we do need work better and cost less -- because we
cannot meet 21st century challenges with a 20th century bureaucracy.
And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise
will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of
responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called
our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on
energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes
and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to
success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we
must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that
government can't turn off the television and make a child do her
homework; that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love
and guidance to their children.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility -- that's the
essence of America's promise.
And just as we keepour promise to the next generation here at home, so
must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a
debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the
next commander in chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.
For while Sen. McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after
9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract
us from the real threats that we face. When John McCain said we could
just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and
more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually
attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin
Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. You know,
John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of
Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq
has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush
administration, even after we learned that Iraq has $79 billion in
surplus while we are wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone
in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.
That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need
a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping
at the ideas of the past.
You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by
occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by
talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when
you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow
George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice
-- but that is not the change that America needs.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't
tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that
Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has
squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and
Republicans -- have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.
As commander in chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation,
but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission
and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle
and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.
I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against
al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military
to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct
diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and
curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the
threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation;
poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore
our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope
for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of
peace, and who yearn for a better future.
These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look
forward to debating them with John McCain.
But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions
for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to
change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without
challenging each other's character and each other's patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same
partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I
love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and
women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans
and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and
some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a
Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of
America.
So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require
tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast
off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has
been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages
or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of
common purpose. That's what we have to restore.
We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the
number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun
ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for
those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we
can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the
hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage,
but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters
deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live
lives free of discrimination. You know, passions may fly on
immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is
separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American
wages by hiring illegal workers. But this, too, is part of America's
promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength
and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.
I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They
claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and
more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes
and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected.
Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics
to scare voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint
your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what -- it's worked before. Because it feeds into the
cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work,
all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and
again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already
know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this
office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my
career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is
stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election
has never been about me. It's about you. It's about you.
For 18 long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to
the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the
greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the
same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what
history teaches us -- that at defining moments like this one, the
change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to
Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it --
because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new
politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming.
Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. Because I've seen it in
Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more
families from welfare to work. I've seen it in Washington, where we
worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists
more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep
nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorist.
And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for
the first time, and the young at heart, those who got involved again
after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd
pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in the workers who
would rather cut their hours back a day even though they can't afford
it than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who
re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a
stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.
You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but
that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on
Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our
culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world
coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit -- that American promise -- that
pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us
together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on
what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my
daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to
yours -- a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and
pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines,
and women to reach for the ballot.
And it is that promise that 45 years ago today, brought Americans from
every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington,
before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia
speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They
could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to
succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color,
from every walk of life -- is that in America, our destiny is
inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.
"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must
make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn
back."
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not
with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for.
Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.
Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.
America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in
this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let
us keep that promise -- that American promise -- and in the words of
Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.
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