benji1000, Sebaset and dolphin888
And there he is,
President-elect,
Barack Obama,
his wife Michelle,
and daughters Sasha and Malia.
Hello, Chicago!
Is 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 fonders
is alive in our son ?
Who still questions
the power of our Democracy?
Tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines
that stretched around
schools ans churches
in numbers that this nation
has never seen,
by people who waited
three hours, 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.
We are and always will be
the United States of America.
It's the answer
that led those
who've been told for so long
by so many to be cynical, and fearfull,
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 day,
in this election,
at this defining moment,
changes come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening,
I received an extraordinarily
gracious call
from Senator McCain.
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
can not 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.
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 the train home
to Delaware.
The vice President-elect
of the United States,
Joe Biden.
And 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,
the love of my life,
the nation's next first lady,
Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia,
I love you both
more than you can imagine.
And you have earned
the new poppy that is coming with us
to the White House.
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
you've given me.
I'm grateful to them.
To my campaign manager, David Plouffe...
The unsung heroe of this campaign
who built the best...
...the best political campaign, I think,
in the history of
the United States of America.
To my chief strategist, David Axelrod,
who has been a partner with me
every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever,
ever assembled
in the history of politics,
you made this happen,
and I'm forever grateful,
for what you 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 endorsments.
Our campaign has not hatched
in the halls of Washington,
it began in the backyards of Des Moines,
in the livingrooms of Concord,
in the front porches of Charleston.
It was built by working men and women
who dug into what little savings
they had to give 5$, $10, $20
to the 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.
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 than 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Thank you.
God bless you.
And may God bless
the United States of America.
And the unlikely journey of the junior
senator from Illinois
brings in here to Grand Park
where he speaks moonily
before some 125 000 supporters
who've waited for him all night long,
cheering every victory in every state.
He spoke movingly about
that 106 years freakin' american woman
Ann Nixon Cooper and what
she has endured
in those 106 years.
He spoke of course about change
and about this... not the change,
but the chance to an act to change
that he's talking about.
Joined now by the new vice President,
Joe Biden.
Congratulations to Barack Obama
for his great victory.
The Subbers In Black
benji1000, Dolphin888 and Sebaset