Transcript: President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address

Jan. 21, 2013

As Prepared for Delivery –

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

For more than two hundred years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.
This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

That is our generation’s task – to make these words, these rights, these values – of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time – but it does require us to act in our time.

For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction – and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.

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President Obama delivered his speech to the Democratic National Convention today. Here is the transcript of the speech and after my reasons why the choice is clear!

OBAMA: Michelle, I love you.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: A few night nights ago, everyone was reminded just
what a lucky man I am.
(APPLAUSE)
Malia and Sasha, we are so proud of you.
(APPLAUSE)
And yes, you do have to go to school in the morning.
(LAUGHTER)
And Joe Biden, thank you for being the best Vice President
I could have ever hope for, and being a strong and loyal friend.
(APPLAUSE)
Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for
President of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
(AUDIENCE MEMBERS): Four more years, four more years, four
more years.
Now, the first time I addressed this convention in
2004, I was a younger man; a Senate candidate from Illinois who
spoke about hope, not blind optimism or wishful thinking, but
hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty;
that dogged faith in the future which has pushed this nation
forward, even when the odds are great; even when the road is
long.
Eight years later, that hope has been tested, by the cost
of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by
political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s still
even possible to tackle the challenges of our time.
I know campaigns can seem small, and even silly sometimes.
Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become
sound bites. The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money
and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this
message, believe me, so am I.
(APPLAUSE)
But when all is said and done, when you pick up that ballot
to vote, you will face the clearest choice of any time in a
generation. Over the next few years, big decisions will be made
in Washington, on jobs, the economy; taxes and deficits; energy,
education; war and peace, decisions that will have a huge impact
on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.
And on every issue, the choice you face won’t be just
between two candidates or two parties.
It will be a choice between two different paths for
America.
A choice between two fundamentally different visions for
the future.
Ours is a fight to restore the values that built the
largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has
ever known.
(APPLAUSE)
The values my grandfather defended as a soldier in Patton’s
Army; the values that drove my grandmother to work on a bomber
assembly line while he was gone.
They knew they were part of something larger, a nation that
triumphed over fascism and depression; a nation where the most
innovative businesses turned out the world’s best products, and
everyone shared in that pride and success, from the corner
office to the factory floor.
My grandparents were given the chance to go to
college, buy their own — their — their own home, and fulfill
the basic bargain at the heart of America’s story: the promise
that hard work will pay off; that responsibility will be
rewarded; that everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does
their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, from
Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, D.C.
(APPLAUSE)
And I ran for President because I saw that basic bargain
slipping away. I began my career helping people in the shadow
of a shuttered steel mill, at a time when too many good jobs
were starting to move overseas. And by 2008, we had seen nearly
a decade in which families struggled with costs that kept
rising, but paychecks that didn’t; folks racking up more and
more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition; put gas in
the car or food on the table.
And when the house of cards collapsed in the Great
Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their
homes, their life savings, a tragedy from which we are still
fighting to recover.
Now, our friends down in Tampa, at the Republican
convention, were more than happy to talk about everything they
think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say
about how they’d make it right.
(APPLAUSE)
They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their
plan. And that’s because all they had to offer is the same
prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years:
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.”
“Deficit too high? Try another.”
(LAUGHTER)
“Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some
regulations, and call us in the morning.”
(APPLAUSE)
Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it, middle-class
families, small businesses. But I don’t believe that another
round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our
shores, or pay down our deficit. I don’t believe that firing
teachers or kicking students off financial aid will grow the
economy, or help us compete with the scientists and engineers
coming out of China.
(APPLAUSE)
After all that we’ve been through, I don’t believe that
rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help the small
businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep
his home. We have been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not
going back.
We are moving forward, America.
(APPLAUSE)
I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I
never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to
hear.
You elected me to tell you the truth.
(APPLAUSE)
And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us
to
solve challenges that have built up over decades. It’ll require
common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold,
persistent
experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only
crisis
worse than this one.
(APPLAUSE)
And by the way, those of us who carry on his party’s legacy
should remember that not every problem can be remedied with
another
government program or dictate from Washington.
But know this, America: Our problems can be solved.
(APPLAUSE)
Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be
harder, but
it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that
future.
I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country,
goals
in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the
deficit; real, achievable plans that will lead to new jobs, more
opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation.
That’s what we can do in the next four years, and that’s why I’m
running for a second term as President of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
We can choose a future
XXX
where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs.
After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed,
we’re getting back to basics, and doing what America has always
done best:
We’re making things again.
(APPLAUSE)
I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d
never build another American car. And today, they can’t build
them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry
that’s back on top of the world.
(APPLAUSE)
I’ve worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs
back to America, not because our workers make less pay, but
because we make better products. Because we work harder and
smarter than anyone else.
(APPLAUSE)
I’ve signed trade agreements that are helping our companies
sell more goods to millions of new customers, goods that are
stamped with three proud words: Made in America.
(APPLAUSE)
After a decade of decline, this country created over half a
million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years.
And now you have a choice: we can give more tax breaks to
corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding
companies that open new plants and train new workers and create
new jobs here, in the United States of America. We can help big
factories and small businesses double their exports, and if we
choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs
in the next four years. You can make that happen. You can
choose that future.
And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a
middle- class life.
For the first time in a generation, nearly every state has
answered our call to raise their standards for teaching and
learning.
(APPLAUSE)
Some of the worst schools in the country have made real
gains in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less
for college today because we finally took on a system that
wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders.
(APPLAUSE)
And now you have a choice. We can gut education, or we can
decide that in the United States of America, no child should
have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a
crumbling school. No family should have to set aside a college
acceptance letter because they don’t have the money. No company
should have to look for workers overseas because they couldn’t
find any with the right skills here at home. That’s not our
future. That is not our future.
(APPLAUSE)
A government has a role in this. But teachers must
inspire; principals must lead; parents must instill a thirst for
learning, and students, you’ve gotta do the work.
(APPLAUSE)
And together, I promise you, we can out-educate and
out-compete any nation on Earth. Help me recruit 100,000 math
and science teachers within ten years, and improve early
childhood education.
(APPLAUSE)
Help give two million workers the chance to learn skills at
their community college that will lead directly to a job. Help
us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth
of tuition costs over the next ten years. We can meet that goal
together.
You can choose that future for America.
(APPLAUSE)
That’s our future.
You know, in a world of new threats and new challenges, you
can choose leadership that has been tested and proven. Four
years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did.
(APPLAUSE)
I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually
attacked us on 9/11. And we have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s
momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be
over.
(APPLAUSE)
A new tower rises above the New York skyline, Al Qaeda is
on the path to defeat, and Osama Bin Laden is dead.
(APPLAUSE)
And tonight, we pay tribute to the Americans who still
serve in harm’s way. We are forever in debt to a generation
whose sacrifice has made this country safer and more respected.
We will never forget you. And so long as I’m
Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest military the
world has ever known.
(APPLAUSE)
When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as
you’ve served us because no one who fights for this country
should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or
the care that they need when they come home.
(APPLAUSE)
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old alliances and
forged new coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
We’ve reasserted our power across the Pacific, and stood up to
China on behalf of our workers. From Burma to Libya to South
Sudan, we have advanced the rights and dignity of all human
beings, men and women; Christians and Muslims and Jews.
(APPLAUSE)
But for all the progress we’ve made, challenges remain.
Terrorist plots must be disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be
contained.
Our commitment to Israel’s security must not waver,
and neither must our pursuit of peace.
(APPLAUSE)
The Iranian government must face a world that stays united
against its nuclear ambitions. The historic change sweeping
across the Arab World must be defined not by the iron fist of a
dictator or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and
aspirations of ordinary people who are reaching for the same
rights that we celebrate here today.
(APPLAUSE)
So now we face a choice. My opponent and his running mate
are new to foreign policy,
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take
us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America
so dearly.
After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy, not
Al Qaeda, Russia, unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind
warp.
(APPLAUSE)
You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you
can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.
(APPLAUSE)
My opponent — my opponent said it was “tragic” to end the
war in Iraq, and he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in
Afghanistan. Well I have, and I will. And while my opponent
would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint
Chiefs don’t even want, I will use the money we’re no longer
spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to
work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways.
Because after two wars that have cost us thousands
of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some
nation- building right here at home.
(APPLAUSE)
You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without
sticking it to the middle class. Independent experts say that
my plan would cut our deficits by $4 trillion. And last summer,
I worked with Republicans in Congress to cut billion in spending
because those of us who believe government can be a force for
good should work harder than anyone to reform it, so that it’s
leaner, and more efficient, and more responsive to the American
people.
(APPLAUSE)
I want to reform the tax code so that it’s simple, fair,
and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on
incomes over $250,000, the same rate we had when Bill Clinton
was president; the same rate we had when our economy created
nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and
a whole lot of millionaires to boot.
Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement based on the
principles of my bipartisan debt commission. No party has a
monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. I
want to get this done, and we can get it done. But when
Governor Romney and his friends in Congress tell us we can
somehow lower our deficits by spending trillions more on new tax
breaks for the wealthy, well, what’d Bill Clinton call it? You
do the arithmetic, you do the math.
(APPLAUSE)
I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m
President, I never will.
(APPLAUSE)
I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their
deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay
for another millionaire’s tax cut.
(APPLAUSE)
I refuse to ask students to pay more for college; or kick
children out of Head Start programs, to eliminate health
insurance for millions of Americans who are poor, and elderly,
or disabled, all so those with the most can pay less.
I’m not going along with that.
(APPLAUSE)
And I will — I will never turn Medicare into a voucher.
(APPLAUSE)
No American should ever have to spend their golden years at
the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the
care and the dignity they have earned. Yes, we will reform and
strengthen Medicare for the long haul, but we’ll do it by
reducing the cost of health care, not by asking seniors to pay
thousands of dollars more. And we will keep the promise of
Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen
it, not by turning it over to Wall Street.
(APPLAUSE)
This is the choice we now face. This is what the election
comes down to. Over and over, we have been told by our
opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the
only way; that since government can’t do everything, it should
do almost nothing.
If you can’t afford health insurance, hope that you don’t
get sick.
(LAUGHTER)
If a company releases toxic pollution into the air your
children breathe, well, that’s just the price of progress. If
you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my
opponent’s advice and “borrow money from your parents.”
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
You know what? That’s not who we are. That’s not what
this country’s about. As Americans, we believe we are endowed
by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, rights that no
man or government can take away. We insist on personal
responsibility, and we celebrate individual initiative. We’re
not entitled to success. We have to earn it. We honor the
strivers, the dreamers, the risk- takers, the entrepreneurs who
have always been the driving force behind our free enterprise
system, the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world
has ever known.
But we also believe in something called citizenship
(APPLAUSE)
a word at the very heart of our founding, at the very
essence of our democracy; the idea that this country only works
when we accept certain obligations to one another, and to future
generations.
We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers enough to
buy the cars that they build, the whole company does better.
(APPLAUSE)
We believe that when a family can no longer be tricked into
signing a mortgage they can’t afford, that family is protected,
but so is the value of other people’s homes, and so is the
entire economy.
(APPLAUSE)
We believe the little girl who’s offered an escape from
poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could become
the next Steve Jobs, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the
President of the United States, and it’s in our power to give
her that chance.
(APPLAUSE)
We know that churches and charities can often make more of
a difference than a poverty program alone. We don’t want
handouts for people who refuse to help themselves, and we
certainly don’t want bailouts for banks that break the rules.
(APPLAUSE)
We don’t think the government can solve all our problems.
But we don’t think that the government is the source of all our
problems, any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations,
or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told
to blame for our troubles.
(APPLAUSE)
Because — because America, we understand that this
democracy is ours.
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as
well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a
freedom which asks only what’s in it for me, a freedom without a
commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty
or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who
died in their defense.
(APPLAUSE)
As citizens, we understand that America is not about what
can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us,
together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of
self-government. That’s what we believe.
So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me.
It was about you. My fellow citizens, you were the
change.
(APPLAUSE)
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart
disorder in Phoenix who’ll get the surgery she needs because an
insurance company can’t limit her coverage.
You did that.
(APPLAUSE)
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought
he’d be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is
about to get that chance.
You made that possible.
(APPLAUSE)
You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and
went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no
longer be deported from the only country she’s ever called home,
(APPLAUSE)
why selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military
because of who they are or who they love; why thousands of
families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who
served us so bravely: “Welcome home, welcome home.”
You did that. You did that.
(APPLAUSE)
If you turn away now — if you turn away now, if you buy
into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible,
well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that
your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill
the void: the lobbyists and special interests; the people with
the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election, and
those who are making it harder for you to vote; Washington
politicians who want to decide who you can marry, or control
health care choices that women should be making for themselves.
(APPLAUSE)
Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have
the power to move us forward.
You know, I recognize that times have changed since I first
spoke to this convention. The times have changed, and so have
I.
I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President.
(APPLAUSE)
And — and that — and that — and that means I know what
it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in
my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return.
I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and
the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs. If the
critics are right that I’ve made all my decisions based on
polls, then I must not be very good at reading them.
(LAUGHTER)
And while I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved together,
I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what
Lincoln meant when he said, ”I have been driven to my knees many
times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to
go.“
But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more
hopeful about America.
(APPLAUSE)
Not because I think I have all the answers. Not because
I’m
naive about the magnitude of our challenges.
I’m hopeful because of you.
The young woman I met at a science fair who won national
recognition for her biology research while living with her
family at a
homeless shelter, she gives me hope.
(APPLAUSE)
The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost
closed, but kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for
his
whole town and one of the cars that he built to surprise his
wife, he
gives me hope.
(APPLAUSE)
The family business in Warroad,
XXX
Minnesota that didn’t lay off a single one of their 4,000
employees during this recession, even when their competitors
shut down dozens of plants, even when it meant the owners gave
up some perks and some pay, because they understood their
biggest asset was the community and the workers who helped build
that business, they give me hope.
(APPLAUSE)
I think about the young sailor I met at Walter Reed
hospital, still recovering from a grenade attack that would
cause him to have his leg amputated above the knee. Six months
ago, We would watch him walk into a White House dinner honoring
those who served in Iraq, tall and 20 pounds heavier, dashing in
his uniform, with a big grin on his face; sturdy on his new leg.
And I remember how a few months after that I would watch
him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded warriors on a
sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun
the hard path he had traveled.
He gives me hope.
(APPLAUSE)
I don’t know what party these men and women belong to. I
don’t know if they’ll vote for me. But I know that their spirit
defines us. They remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours
is a ”future filled with hope.“
And if you share that faith with me, if you share that hope
with me, I ask you tonight for your vote.
(APPLAUSE)
If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is
reserved for the few, your voice must be heard in this election.
If you reject the notion that our government is forever
beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this
election.
(APPLAUSE)
If you believe that new plants and factories can dot our
landscape; that new energy can power our future; that new
schools can provide ladders of opportunity to this nation of
dreamers; if you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair
shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by
the same rules, then I need you to vote this November.
(APPLAUSE)
America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I
won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder, but it leads
to a better place. Yes our road is longer, but we travel it
together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull
each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we
learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that
distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we
are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on
Earth.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless these United
States.

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“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

“The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.”

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He’s just playing the American card or the patriot card, the prisoner of war story or whatever, and that happens to appeal to some people.  But this is where I would distance myself from the analysis of my friend, and that is I think McCain really plays up this “maverick” business.  He loves the maverick business.  What is a maverick?  A maverick is somebody that bucks tradition and principles held by a majority of people.  A maverick is somebody in it for himself.  Even Cindy McCain has said that her husband loves the maverick label, and she does, too.  Who attached the maverick label to McCain?  The Drive-By Media!  Are there any Democrat mavericks?  Are there any mavericks on Democrat side?  Lieberman is a maverick, and look what the Democrats have done to him.  They ran him out of the party! Now, we’re left to believe that the Drive-Bys and the Democrats, that they love these mavericks. They love these independent thinkers, these “straight talkers.” Only when they’re on our side!  When the maverick is on our side denouncing our side, running against our side, doing what he can to diminish our side, of course the Drive-Bys love him. The New York Times, Washington Post, whoever it is endorsed this guy, the Drive-By Media choosing our candidate.

And that was directly from Rush Limbaugh’s own website. Do a search on Rush’s website and look at anything prior to the Republican nominee being picked and you will see that Rush was highly critical of McCain. Here he says McCain is surrounded by liberals.

RUSH:  Well, that’s really helpful.  He reaches across the aisle well. (sigh) That means he reaches out to Democrats — and of course Schwarzenegger probably could write the book on that.  Look, folks, make up your own mind on this stuff.  It’s just out there staring you in the face.  It’s up to you to see it.  I can’t make you see it.  I can only put it in front of you.  If you wish to keep your eyes closed, feel free.

The list goes on and on directly from rush’s own mouth but now that McCain has the nomination Rush changes his tune.“Well he is the guy for us!!”. So who is John McCain is he a Liberal, a maverick, a conservative, a bipartisan aisle crosser? Let’s take a look; McCain is now calling to make the Bush tax cuts permanent however in 2001 he aligned with Democrats to oppose the Bush tax cuts.

Last week, McCain reached across the Capitol to lobby for votes on overhauling campaign finance, his signature issue. He holed up in the office of House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt and plotted how to defeat his own party’s House leaders on a crucial test vote. The move came on the heels of his high-profile opposition to the White House on Bush’s tax cut and patients’ rights legislation.

In Fact we can see that if Senator McCain hopes to be called a maverick, someone who will break the good ol’ boy politics of Washington then we should expect to see that reflected in his voting record but in fact most of the positions he supports fall right in line with the failed policies of the last eight years promoted by President Bush. As far as I can tell he only differed with Bush on two issues, stem cell research which he supports and President Bush does not and the tax cuts for the rich which McCain opposed and now supports. McCain is even more out of touch to me when you look at the events of the last week, America is in a precarious position right now, you have CEO’s and lobbyist raiding the US through corporations, sending jobs overseas, bankrupting institutions that survived the great depression and then turning to the government for a corporate bailout all at the expense of the average taxpayer. These same companies side with McCain and Bush when it comes to smaller government, less oversight “Stay out of my pocket” taxation but sure enough want that handout in the end.

McCain supports the policies of George Bush that have led us to this point. And let’s not forget that he has not spoken out against other Bush policies some of them we should not forget, let me make a quick list.

1. The biggest domestic terrorist attack occurred under whose watch.

2. The US deficit now stands at nearly 10 trillion dollars, when Bill Clinton left us with a Budget surplus on his way out. (Please remember there was still a national debt at the time but with a balanced budget we would have been able to reduce the national debt)

3. WE ARE AT WAR IN 2 COUNTRIES AND ARE OBJECTIVE HAS NOT BEEN MEET. I believe our mission in Afghanistan was to crush the Taliban and get Osama Bin Laden. However the Taliban right now is reconstituted and Osama produces more videos then the best music video director on MTV. In Iraq we hear the surge is working but the surge was to put more troops in Bagdad and quiet the capital down. Truth be told that has worked, violence in Bagdad is down but only slightly as you can see here. But Iraq is not made up of just Bagdad and the violence continues in the rest of Iraq. (By the way what is our mission in Iraq? Originally it was WMD’s, oh yeah none there so then we moved on to Nation Building which cost us $70 billion in 2008 while Iraq socked away some $50 billion in oil revenue. When we settle on what our mission is then only then can we hope to accomplish it)

4. Environment: President Bush has denied that we are facing a crisis with global warming and we can see that his record on the environment reflects that belief.

5. Civil liberties: President Bush claims he is for your civil and constitutional rights prominently your rights to bear arms (and attack foreign countries without proven provocation) but when it comes to your right not the be wiretapped, or our rights as citizens trampled on by the patriot act, Water boarded or a State attorney general that won’t do his bidding and therefore has to be fired we see that he care very little for our rightsl, And since Senator McCain backed President Bush what conclusion can we draw?

And when you talk about abuse of power we see that Senator McCain is right in line with President Bush on that issue. Besides going out on a limb and assuming that Hillary Clinton supporters are so stupid as to be swayed by the selection of a woman as VP. He presents us with governor Palin who may or may not be a nice person and totally qualified to be governor but VP? Ok I admit I was willing to give her a chance and see what she had to say but that evaporated quickly when she discussed possibly going to war with Russia! Are you kidding me even President Bush would never mouth something that absurd? But she doesn’t stop there let me ask you if there was a probe into the affairs of Barack Obama or Joe Biden and they refused to cooperate as Governor Palin and her husband have do you think the republicans would ever let them live that down? For Governor Palin to suggest that the investigation is somehow engineered by Obama when we all know this investigation was instigated before she was ever announced as a VP candidate is an affront to the common sense of the American people.

Lastly let me say that healthcare is a major issue in this country. And I am for Obama’s plan for national healthcare, with it I know that there is an enormous cost so I would also like to see where Barack intends to cut back on spending by the federal government. But like we teach our kids something’s in life are tough especially when it comes to doing the right thing. So do we sit back and not do what is right because it is tough. No we teach them that even if it is tough we are obligated to push forward. I know that we can push forward. We once again can make a change, we can be the country that every other country looks to and aspires to be!! YES WE CAN!!!!

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