Chicago - Continued text of US president-elect Barack
Obama's victory speech Tuesday night in Chicago, as issued by his
campaign.
'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, its 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 (note: referring to Civil War president Abe Lincoln) 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 Americas beacon still burns as bright tonight
we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not
from 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 thats on my mind tonight is about a woman
who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes 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
couldnt vote for two reasons because she was a woman and because
of the color of her skin.
'And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her
century in America the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the
progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who
pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
'At a time when womens 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 cant, 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.'
USA
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