President-elect Barack Obama spoke to the world from his home
city of Chicago as he became the first black president of the United States.
Here is the full text of his victory speech:
Hello, Chicago.
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.