Barak Obama: Yes We Can, Thank You New Hampshire
BARACK OBAMA NEW HAMPSHIRE SPEECH TRANSCRIPT:
I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire.
A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we
were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep.
But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that
at this moment - in this election - there is something happening in America.
There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the
snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.
There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit - who have never before participated in
politics - turn out in numbers we've never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.
There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common -
that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or
South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in America
right now. Change is what's happening in America.
You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness - Democrats, Independents and
Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree
without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that's
stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there's no problem we can't solve - no destiny
we cannot fulfill.
Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors
and patients; workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together; and we can tell the drug and insurance
industry that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now.
Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into
the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.
We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. We
can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. We can do this with our new
majority.
We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists; citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny
of oil and save our planet from a point of no return.
And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against al Qaeda
in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will never use
9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite
America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate
change and poverty; genocide and disease.
All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country
honorably.
But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it's not just about what I will do as President, it's
also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.
That's why tonight belongs to you. It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who believed in our
improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can
withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to
come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false
hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down
impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of
Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving
wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new
frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can
repair this world. Yes we can.
And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in
Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who
goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will
remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are
one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words
that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.
ENDS