Thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you. Ya'll sit down. We've gotta get on with the show, here!
C'mon. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here tonight.
Sit down. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you....I am honored to be
there tonight -- Please, stop. Thank you. Please, stop. Sit down....
You know, I -- I love
this. And I thank you. But we have important work to do tonight. I am
here -- first -- to support Barack Obama. And second -- And second, I'm
here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden,
though as you will soon see, he doesn’t need any help from me. I love Joe
Biden, and America will too.
What a year we Democrats
have had. The primary began with an all-star line up and it came down to
two remarkable Americans locked in a hard fought contest right to the very
end. That campaign generated so much heat it increased global warming.
Now, in the end, my
candidate didn't win. But I'm really proud of the campaign she ran. I am
proud that she never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes
she pushed for, on the future she wanted for all our children. And I'm
grateful for the chance Chelsea and I had to go all over America to tell
people about the person we know and love. Now, I am not so grateful for
the chance to speak in the wake of Hillary's magnificent speech last
night. But I'll do the best I can.
Last night, Hillary told us
in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to
elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18
million of us -- because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported
her to vote for Barack Obama in November. And here's why. And I have the
privilege of speaking here, thanks to you, from a perspective that no
other American Democrat, except President Carter, can offer.
Our -- Our nation is in
trouble on two fronts. The American dream is under siege at home, and
America's leadership in the world has been weakened. Middle-class and
low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining, job losses,
poverty, and inequality rising, mortgage foreclosures and credit card
debt increasing, health care coverage disappearing, and a very big spike
in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.
And our position in the
world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little
cooperation by a -- by a perilous dependence
on imported oil, by a refusal to lead on global warming, by a growing
indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders, by a severely burdened
military, by a backsliding on global nonproliferation and arms control
agreements, and by a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy,
from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern
Europe.
Clearly, the job of the next
President is to rebuild the American dream and to restore American
leadership in the world. And here's what I have to say about that: Everything I learned in my eight years as
President, and
in the work I have done since in America and across the globe, has
convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.
Now, he has a remarkable
ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high
purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful
President needs. His policies on the economy, on taxes, on health care,
on energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown --
He has shown
a clear grasp of foreign policy and national security challenges and a
firm commitment to rebuild our badly strained military. His family heritage and his
life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our
increasingly diverse nation in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary
tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the
selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park. With Joe Biden's experience
and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven understanding, instincts,
and insight, America will have the national security leadership we need.
And so, my fellow Democrats,
I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore
American leadership in the world. Barack Obama is ready to
honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States. Barack Obama is ready to be
President of the United States.
As President, he will work
for an America with more partners and fewer adversaries. He will rebuild
our frayed alliances and revitalize the international institutions which
helped to share the cost of the world's problems and to leverage the
power of our influence. He will put us back in the
forefront of the world's fight against global warming and the fight to
reduce nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He will continue and enhance
our nation's commendable global leadership in an area in which I am
deeply involved: the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria,
including -- including -- and this is very important -- a renewal of the
battle against HIV and AIDS here at home.
A President Obama will
choose diplomacy first and military force as a last resort. But, in a world troubled by
terror, by trafficking in weapons, drugs and people, by human rights
abuses of the most awful kind, by other threats to our security, our
interests, and our values, when he cannot convert adversaries into
partners, he will stand up to them.
Barack Obama also will not
allow the world's problems to obscure its opportunities. Everywhere, in rich and poor
countries alike, hard-working people need good jobs, secure, affordable
health care, food and energy, quality education for their children and
economically beneficial ways to fight global warming. These challenges cry out for
American ideas and American innovation. When Barack Obama unleashes
them, America will save lives, win new allies, open new markets, and
create wonderful new jobs for our own people.
Most important of all,
Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are
first strong at home. People the world over have
always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the
example of our power.
Look -- Look at the example the
Republicans have set. In this decade, American
workers have consistently given us rising productivity. That means, year
after year, they work harder and produce more. Now, what did they get in
return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the
previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising
poverty, and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s.
American families by the
millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining
coverage. I will never forget the
parents of children with autism and other serious conditions who told me
on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't
qualify their children for Medicaid unless they quit work and starved or
got a divorce.
Are these the family values
the Republicans are so proud of?
What about the military
families pushed to the breaking point by multiple, multiple deployments?
What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about
the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well-connected? And what about Katrina and
cronyism?
My fellow Democrats, America
can do better than that. And Barack Obama will do
better than that. Wait a minute. But first -- Yes, he can -- but, first, we
have to elect him.
The choice is clear. The
Republicans in a few days will nominate a good man who has served our
country heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese prison
camp. He loves his country every bit as much as we do. As a senator, he
has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some very
important issues. But on the two great
questions of this election -- how to rebuild the American dream and how
to restore America's leadership in the world -- he still embraces the
extreme philosophy that has defined his Party for more than 25 years.
And it is, to be fair to all
the Americans who aren't as hard-core Democrats as we, it's a
philosophy the American people never actually had a chance to see in
action fully until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of
both the White House and the Congress. Then we saw what would
happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades
actually were implemented. And look what happened. They took us from
record surpluses to an exploding debt; from over 22 million new jobs to
just 5 million; from increasing working families' incomes to nearly 7500
dollars a
year to a decline of more than 2,000 dollars a year; from almost 8 million
Americans lifted out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million driven into
poverty; and millions more losing their health insurance.
Now, in spite of all this
evidence, their candidate is actually promising more of the same. Think about it: more tax
cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase
inequality, and weaken the economy; more Band-Aids for health care that
will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families, and increase the
number of uninsured; more going it alone in the world, instead of
building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary
to advance our security and restore our influence. They actually want us to
reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more.
Now, let's send them a
message that will echo from the Rockies all across America, a simple
message: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case -- In this case, the third time
is not the charm.
My -- My fellow Democrats, 16
years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our Party to victory
and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared
prosperity. Together, we prevailed in a
hard campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too
inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992,
because we were on the right side of history. And it will not work in
2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.
Now, Senator Obama's life is
a 21st-century incarnation of the old-fashioned American Dream. His
achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the more
perfect union of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal
opportunity, which have given him his historic chance, will drive him as
President to give all Americans -- regardless of race, religion, gender,
sexual orientation, or disability -- their chance to build a decent life
and to show our humanity, as well as our strengths, to the world.
We see that humanity, that
strength, and our nation's future in Barack and Michelle Obama and their
beautiful children.
We see them reinforced by
the partnership with Joe Biden, his fabulous wife, Jill, a wonderful
teacher, and their family.
Barack Obama will lead us
away from the division and fear of the last eight years back to unity
and hope.
So if, like me, you believe
America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary and
Chelsea and me in making Barack Obama the next President of the United
States.
Thank you, and God bless
you. Thank you.
(Source: Americanrhetoric.com)
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