Jayomatic
Active Member
Speechless after watching that. I really hope this is only the start of good things to come.
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U.S. Elections 2008
- Thread starter Admiral Beez
- Start date
afransen
Senior Member
It was better than average, but no 'I Have a Dream'. It good to see that we might have an eloquent American president.
MisterF
Senior Member
lol...you're setting your standards pretty high! I didn't see the speech but if that "hope over fear" line is any more than just a catchy slogan, I like him already.
Conrad Black
Senior Member
It was a pretty good speach. Hopefully things are finally moving in the right direction after 7 years of "ugly" America.
Zephyr
Active Member
This is the complete text according to AP, with some suggested corrections that I have added. To see the original only, just go to the source at the bottom.
Transcript of Barack Obama's Iowa victory speech
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) applauds as he thanks supporters following the Iowa caucuses January 3, 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa. …
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:48 AM EST, January 4, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - This a transcript of Senator Barack Obama's victory speech to his supporters in Des Moines after the Iowa Caucuses, as provided by Congressional Quarterly via The Associated Press.
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA:
Thank you, Iowa.
You know, they said this day would never come.
They said our sights were set too high.
They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.
But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.
You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days.
You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008.
In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and ndependents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.
You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington.
To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.
Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
We are choosing hope over fear.
We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.
You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government -- we do. And we are here to take it back.
The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.
And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that [P]resident for America.
I'll be a [P]resident who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American, the same way I expanded health care in Illinois, by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done.
I'll be a [P]resident who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.
I'll be a [P]resident who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.
And I'll be a [P]resident who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century.
Common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.
Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa.
And so I'd especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains, the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.
And while I'm at it on thank you[‘]s, I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail.
Give it up for Michelle Obama.
I know you didn't do this for me. You did this -- you did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas -- that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
I know this. I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa, organizing and working and fighting to make people's lives just a little bit better.
I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay and a lot of sacrifice.
There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this; a night that … years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children -- when Malia and Sasha and your children inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.
This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.
This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who have never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do [something] ...
This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear and doubts and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.
Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.
It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.
Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill. A young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.
Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq. Who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.
Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire.
What led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation.
What led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.
Hope -- hope is what led me here today. With a father from Kenya, a mother from Kansas[,] and a story that could only happen in the United States of America.
Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
That is what we started here in Iowa and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond. The same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can save this country, brick by brick, block by block, … [calloused hands by calloused hands] that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Because we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America. And in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.
Thank you, Iowa.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
SOURCE
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) applauds as he thanks supporters following the Iowa caucuses January 3, 2008 in Des Moines, Iowa. …
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:48 AM EST, January 4, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - This a transcript of Senator Barack Obama's victory speech to his supporters in Des Moines after the Iowa Caucuses, as provided by Congressional Quarterly via The Associated Press.
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA:
Thank you, Iowa.
You know, they said this day would never come.
They said our sights were set too high.
They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.
But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.
You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days.
You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008.
In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and ndependents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.
You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington.
To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.
Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
We are choosing hope over fear.
We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.
You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government -- we do. And we are here to take it back.
The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.
And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that [P]resident for America.
I'll be a [P]resident who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American, the same way I expanded health care in Illinois, by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done.
I'll be a [P]resident who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.
I'll be a [P]resident who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.
And I'll be a [P]resident who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century.
Common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.
Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa.
And so I'd especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains, the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.
And while I'm at it on thank you[‘]s, I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail.
Give it up for Michelle Obama.
I know you didn't do this for me. You did this -- you did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas -- that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
I know this. I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa, organizing and working and fighting to make people's lives just a little bit better.
I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay and a lot of sacrifice.
There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this; a night that … years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children -- when Malia and Sasha and your children inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.
This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.
This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who have never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do [something] ...
This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear and doubts and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.
Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.
It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.
Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill. A young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.
Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq. Who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.
Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire.
What led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation.
What led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.
Hope -- hope is what led me here today. With a father from Kenya, a mother from Kansas[,] and a story that could only happen in the United States of America.
Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
That is what we started here in Iowa and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond. The same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can save this country, brick by brick, block by block, … [calloused hands by calloused hands] that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Because we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America. And in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.
Thank you, Iowa.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
SOURCE
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
His speechwriter must be thrilled to work for someone with such convincing delivery.
Edward
Senior Member
Indeed. Would love to see Bush give that speech.
allabootmatt
Senior Member
Just goes to show, though...even after the last several years, there's still something special about the USA. Can any of you imagine a speech like that being given in Canada? Or Europe?
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Oh, oh....I'll give it a shot."OBAMA wins first Democratic Primary"? What does O.B.A.M.A. stand for?
O.B.A.M.A. = one bad ass minority applicant?
Minority and bad ass in a good way of course, as in shaking up those right wing Christian wackos.
Zephyr
Active Member
There is no way to highlight Obama on the title line other than to capitalise it (standard is always bold, you cannot use colour or italicise).
_____
It is ironic that Obama is being accused by a few of sounding like a preacher with his intonations and repetitive use of certain words - linking it all with a type of call-and-response motif. But the actual preacher turned politician, Huckabee, who won on the Republican side, is being characterised by the same crowd as a "regular sounding, low key, next door neighbour." There is much that can be read into all this, but I shall let others do that.
Finally, I have seen blogs where Europeans reacted to Obama's speech. They are all over the map: from excitement and encouragement from a few Swedes, to labels like 'overly emotional' or 'over-the-top' given respectively by people who identified themselves as Dutch or English. And there is much in betwixt these two extremes. Again, let others interpret all this.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I wonder who wrote it? It could easily have been written by a Canadian. It wouldn't be the first time.
JasonParis
Moderator
The Iowa Caucuses are not a primary, so I've changed the name of this title. Sorry to nitpick!
Incredible speech though. It honestly moved me too!
Incredible speech though. It honestly moved me too!
Zephyr
Active Member
I beg your pardon, it most certainly is a primary and it is called that by both parties.
The Caucus is a method of selecting a candidate, and there are variations of the causus method for the Republicans versus the Democrats.
The Iowa Caucuses are alternately called the "first primary" in this election year.
JasonParis
Moderator
I'm not doubting you, but nothing I've ever been taught/read has referred to Iowa as a "primary" nor do the media refer to is as such. A primary is run much like an election where as a caucus is more like a series of nomination meetings. Most states have primaries, but a few have kept the caucus system instead. I've never heard of anything but New Hampshire being referred to as "the first primary." There's no need for the bold type either.
Zephyr
Active Member
Why say anything in response to that last throw in?
Returning in the meantime to what is more important, the "primary" in US context does double duty. On the one hand, both state primaries and state caucuses are grouped under a singular label of "Primaries" to describe the entire exercise of party selection; while on the other hand, they are divided up to bring about further distinctions in methods of selection where appropriate. Seems contradictory at first, but is nothing more than a paradox of word usage which we have repeatedly quoted from the US sources themselves - from headlines to text underneath. Just look back at all the posts, only more carefully the second time around.
Returning in the meantime to what is more important, the "primary" in US context does double duty. On the one hand, both state primaries and state caucuses are grouped under a singular label of "Primaries" to describe the entire exercise of party selection; while on the other hand, they are divided up to bring about further distinctions in methods of selection where appropriate. Seems contradictory at first, but is nothing more than a paradox of word usage which we have repeatedly quoted from the US sources themselves - from headlines to text underneath. Just look back at all the posts, only more carefully the second time around.
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