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 the 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 to
yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made 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 Sasha and Malia – I love you so much, and I’m so proud of all of you. vFour
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.
That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and
thirty two 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.
This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana
has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for twenty 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 American people, 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
like the last eight. On November 4th, 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 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
ninety percent of the time. Senator 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 ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not
ready to take a ten 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 – Senator 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 advisors – the man who wrote his economic plan
– was talking about the anxiety 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 auto workers 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 give
back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.
Now, I don’t believe that Senator 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 five million dollars 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 one hundred
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 – you’re on your own. Out of
work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty?
Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re
on your own.
Well it’s time for them to own their failure. It’s time for us
to change America.
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 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 to 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 who 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, 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.
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 me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this
election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States.
What is that 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, 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 new 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.
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 will 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 cut taxes
– cut taxes – for 95% 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 ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from
the Middle East.
Washington’s
been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain
has been there for twenty-six of them. 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 as the day that
Senator 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 dollars 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 five million new jobs that pay
well and can’t ever 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.
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 your 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 jobs 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 exactly the 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 twenty-first century
challenges with a twentieth 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 for providing
the love and guidance their children need.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the
essence of America’s promise.
And just as we keep our keep our 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 Senator 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 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. 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 a $79 billion surplus while we’re 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 eighty
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 it is not the change
we need.
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
patriotism. T
he 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 – our sense of higher purpose. And
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 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. Passions 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. 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 the 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 nay-sayers don’t understand is that this
election has never been about me. It’s been about you.
For eighteen 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. 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, when 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 terrorist hands.
And I’ve seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted
for the first time, and in 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
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.
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 forty five 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.