Sen.
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Final Primary Night
Xcel Energy Center
St. Paul, MN
June 3, 2008
[as prepared for delivery]
Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season
has finally come to an end.
Sixteen
months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the
Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles
have
been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And
because of
what you said – because you decided that change must come to
Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than
all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your
fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we
mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another – a
journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight,
I
can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for
President of the United States.
I want to thank
every American who stood with us over the course of this campaign –
through the good days and the bad; from the snows of Cedar Rapids to
the sunshine of Sioux Falls. And tonight I also want to thank the
men
and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for
President.
At this defining moment for our nation,
we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented,
qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I
have not
just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends,
as public servants, and as patriots who love America and are willing to
work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of
this
party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.
That
is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this
journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made
history in
this campaign not just because she’s a woman who has done what no woman
has done before, but because she’s a leader who inspires millions of
Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the
causes that brought us here tonight.
We’ve
certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But
as
someone who’s shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that
what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning – even in the face of tough
odds – is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their
first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at
the Children’s Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First
Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her
barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency – an unyielding desire to
improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the
fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win
the
battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central
to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our
children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it
happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her,
and I
am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary
Rodham Clinton.
There are those who say that this
primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say
that
because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast
their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and
Republicans who understand that this election isn’t just about the
party in charge of Washington, it’s about the need to change
Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans,
and
Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have
broken records and inspired a nation.
All of you
chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the
end of
the day, we aren’t the reason you came out and waited in lines that
stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn’t
do
that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it
because you know in your hearts that at this moment – a moment that
will define a generation – we cannot afford to keep doing what we’ve
been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our
country a
better future. And for all those who dream of that future
tonight, I
say – let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common
effort to
chart a new course for America.
In just a few short
months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very
different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a
man
who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and
I
respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny
mine. My
differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he
has proposed in this campaign.
Because while John
McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in
the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his
presidential campaign.
It’s not change when John
McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the
time, as he did in the Senate last year.
It’s not
change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that
have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help
Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college – policies that have
lowered the real incomes of the average American family, widened the
gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children with a
mountain of debt.
And it’s not change when he
promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave
men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians – a policy
where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend
billions of dollars a month on a war that isn’t making the American
people any safer.
So I’ll say this – there are
many words to describe John McCain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of
George Bush’s policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not
one of
them.
Change is a foreign policy that doesn’t
begin and end with a war that should’ve never been authorized and never
been waged. I won’t stand here and pretend that there are many
good
options left in Iraq, but what’s not an option is leaving our troops in
that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our
military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every
other threat to America is being ignored.
We must
be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but
start leaving we must. It’s time for Iraqis to take
responsibility for
their future. It’s time to rebuild our military and give our
veterans
the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come
home.
It’s time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda’s leadership and
Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st
century – terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty;
genocide and disease. That’s what change is.
Change
is realizing that meeting today’s threats requires not just our
firepower, but the power of our diplomacy – tough, direct diplomacy
where the President of the United States isn’t afraid to let any petty
dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must
once
again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is
the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That’s what the
American people want. That’s what change is.
Change
is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and
workers who created it. It’s understanding that the struggles
facing
working families can’t be solved by spending billions of dollars on
more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a
the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling
infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our
schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation.
It’s
understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go
hand-in-hand, as they did when Bill Clinton was President.
John
McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last
few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities
and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy – cities in
Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota – he’d understand the
kind of change that people are looking for.
Maybe if he went to Iowa and met the student who works the night shift
after a full day of class and still
can’t pay the medical bills for a sister who’s ill, he’d understand
that she can’t afford four more years of a health care plan that only
takes care of the healthy and wealthy. She needs us to pass
health
care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it and
brings down premiums for every family who needs it. That’s the
change
we need.
Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met
the man who lost his job but can’t even afford the gas to drive around
and look for a new one, he’d understand that we can’t afford four more
years of our addiction to oil from dictators. That man needs us
to
pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel
standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil
companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future – an
energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and
can’t be outsourced. That’s the change we need.
And
maybe if he spent some time in the schools of South Carolina or St.
Paul or where he spoke tonight in New Orleans, he’d understand that we
can’t afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that
we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to
recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more
support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to
get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few,
but the birthright of every American. That’s the change we need
in
America. That’s why I’m running for President.
The
other side will come here in September and offer a very different set
of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward
to. It
is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don’t
deserve is
another election that’s governed by fear, and innuendo, and
division.
What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of
politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon –
that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to
demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and
Republicans, but
we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.
Despite
what the good Senator from Arizona said tonight, I have seen people of
differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two
decades in public life, and I have brought many together myself.
I’ve
walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago
and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together
for good jobs and good schools. I’ve sat across the table from
law
enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice
system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. And I’ve
worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with
health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb
the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the American people know
where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of
lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in Washington.
In
our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we
agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false
divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering
and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous,
compassionate people, united by common challenges and common
hopes.
And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental
goodness to make this country great again.
So it
was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the
formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the
fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion
to save that same union.
So it was for the Greatest
Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from
tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and
prosperity.
So it was for the workers who stood
out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the
children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom’s cause.
So
it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest
challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world
that’s better, and kinder, and more just.
And so it must be for us.
America,
this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the
page on
the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new
ideas
to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for
the
country we love.
The journey will be difficult. The
road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility,
and
knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with
limitless
faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are
willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am
absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look
back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to
provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the
moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began
to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation
and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was
the
moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great
nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our
highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the
United
States of America.