BARACK OBAMA TIMELINE
|
Barack Obama Campaign Timeline | Barack Obama News Timeline | Parents of Barack Obama | Michelle Obama Tape |
2008 DNC Joe Biden Speech in which he accepts the Vice Presidential nomination
This page contains both the video and the text of the speech delivered by Joe Biden at August 27, 2008, in which he accepts the Democratic Party Vice Presidential nomination.
Following is the full text of the 2008 DNC Joe Biden Speech:
Beau, I love you. I am so proud of you. Proud of the son you
are. Proud of the father you’ve become. And I’m so proud of my
son Hunter, my daughter Ashley, and my wife Jill, the only one
who leaves me breathless and speechless at the same time.
It is an honor to share this stage tonight with President
Clinton. And last night, it was moving to watch Hillary, one of
the great leaders of our party, a woman who has made history
and will continue to make history: my colleague and my friend,
Senator Hillary Clinton.
And I am honored to represent our first state—my
state—Delaware.
Since I’ve never been called a man of few words, let me say
this as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to
run and serve alongside our next President of the United States
of America, Barack Obama.
Let me make this pledge to you right here and now. For every
American who is trying to do the right thing, for all those
people in government who are honoring their pledge to uphold
the law and respect our Constitution, no longer will the eight
most dreaded words in the English language be: “The vice
president’s office is on the phone.”
Barack Obama and I took very different journeys to this
destination, but we share a common story. Mine began in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then Wilmington, Delaware. With a
dad who fell on hard economic times, but who always told me:
“Champ, when you get knocked down, get up. Get up.”
I wish that my dad was here tonight, but I am so grateful that
my mom, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, is here. You know,
she taught her children—all the children who flocked to our
house—that you are defined by your sense of honor, and you are
redeemed by your loyalty. She believes bravery lives in every
heart and her expectation is that it will be summoned.
Failure at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable, but
giving up is unforgivable. As a child I stuttered, and she
lovingly told me it was because I was so bright I couldn’t get
the thoughts out quickly enough. When I was not as well dressed
as others, she told me how handsome she thought I was. When I
got knocked down by guys bigger than me, she sent me back out
and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down that
street the next day.
After the accident, she told me, “Joey, God sends no cross you
cannot bear.” And when I triumphed, she was quick to remind me
it was because of others.
My mother’s creed is the American creed: No one is better than
you. You are everyone’s equal, and everyone is equal to you.
My parents taught us to live our faith, and treasure our
family. We learned the dignity of work, and we were told that
anyone can make it if they try.
That was America’s promise. For those of us who grew up in
middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington, that
was the American dream and we knew it.
But today that American dream feels as if it’s slowly slipping
away. I don’t need to tell you that. You feel it every single
day in your own lives.
I’ve never seen a time when Washington has watched so many
people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get
back up. Almost every night, I take the train home to
Wilmington, sometimes very late. As I look out the window at
the homes we pass, I can almost hear what they’re talking about
at the kitchen table after they put the kids to bed.
Like millions of Americans, they’re asking questions as
profound as they are ordinary. Questions they never thought
they would have to ask:
* Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?
* Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car?
* Winter’s coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills?
* Another year and no raise?
* Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care?
* Now, we owe more on the house than it’s worth. How are we
going to send the kids to college?
* How are we gonna be able to retire?
That’s the America that George Bush has left us, and that’s the
future John McCain will give us. These are not isolated
discussions among families down on their luck. These are common
stories among middle-class people who worked hard and played by
the rules on the promise that their tomorrows would be better
than their yesterdays.
That promise is the bedrock of America. It defines who we are
as a people. And now it’s in jeopardy. I know it. You know it.
But John McCain doesn’t get it.
Barack Obama gets it. Like many of us, Barack worked his way
up. His is a great American story.
You know, I believe the measure of a man isn’t just the road
he’s traveled; it’s the choices he’s made along the way. Barack
Obama could have done anything after he graduated from college.
With all his talent and promise, he could have written his
ticket to Wall Street. But that’s not what he chose to do. He
chose to go to Chicago. The South Side. There he met men and
women who had lost their jobs. Their neighborhood was
devastated when the local steel plant closed. Their dreams
deferred. Their dignity shattered. Their self-esteem gone.
And he made their lives the work of his life. That’s what you
do when you’ve been raised by a single mom, who worked, went to
school and raised two kids on her own. That’s how you come to
believe, to the very core of your being, that work is more than
a paycheck. It’s dignity. It’s respect. It’s about whether you
can look your children in the eye and say: we’re going to be
ok.
Because Barack made that choice, 150,000 more children and
parents have health care in Illinois. He fought to make that
happen. And because Barack made that choice, working families
in Illinois pay less taxes and more people have moved from
welfare to the dignity of work. He got it done.
And when he came to Washington, I watched him hit the ground
running, leading the fight to pass the most sweeping ethics
reform in a generation. He reached across party lines to pass a
law that helps keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of
terrorists. And he moved Congress and the president to give our
wounded veterans the care and dignity they deserve.
You can learn an awful lot about a man campaigning with him,
debating him and seeing how he reacts under pressure. You learn
about the strength of his mind, but even more importantly, you
learn about the quality of his heart.
I watched how he touched people, how he inspired them, and I
realized he has tapped into the oldest American belief of all:
We don’t have to accept a situation we cannot bear.
We have the power to change it. That’s Barack Obama, and that’s
what he will do for this country. He’ll change it.
John McCain is my friend. We’ve known each other for three
decades. We’ve traveled the world together. It’s a friendship
that goes beyond politics. And the personal courage and heroism
John demonstrated still amaze me.
But I profoundly disagree with the direction that John wants to
take the country. For example,
John thinks that during the Bush years “we’ve made great
progress economically.” I think it’s been abysmal.
And in the Senate, John sided with President Bush 95 percent of
the time. Give me a break. When John McCain proposes $200
billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion
alone for just eight of the largest companies, but no relief
for 100 million American families, that’s not change; that’s
more of the same.
Even today, as oil companies post the biggest profits in
history—a half trillion dollars in the last five years—he wants
to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. But he voted
time and again against incentives for renewable energy: solar,
wind, biofuels. That’s not change; that’s more of the same.
Millions of jobs have left our shores, yet John continues to
support tax breaks for corporations that send them there.
That’s not change; that’s more of the same.
He voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage. For people
who are struggling just to get to the next day, that’s not
change; that’s more of the same.
And when he says he will continue to spend $10 billion a month
in Iraq when Iraq is sitting on a surplus of nearly $80
billion, that’s not change; that’s more of the same.
The choice in this election is clear. These times require more
than a good soldier; they require a wise leader, a leader who
can deliver change—the change everybody knows we need.
Barack Obama will deliver that change. Barack Obama will reform
our tax code. He’ll cut taxes for 95 percent of the American
people who draw a paycheck. That’s the change we need.
Barack Obama will transform our economy by making alternative
energy a genuine national priority, creating 5 million new jobs
and finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil. That’s the
change we need.
Barack Obama knows that any country that out teaches us today
will out-compete us tomorrow. He’ll invest in the next
generation of teachers. He’ll make college more affordable.
That’s the change we need.
Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for
the typical family, and, at long last, deliver affordable,
accessible health care for all Americans. That’s the change we
need.
Barack Obama will put more cops on the streets, put the
“security” back in Social Security and never give up until we
achieve equal pay for women. That’s the change we need.
As we gather here tonight, our country is less secure and more
isolated than at any time in recent history. The Bush-McCain
foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole with very few
friends to help us climb out. For the last seven years, this
administration has failed to face the biggest forces shaping
this century: the emergence of Russia, China and India as great
powers; the spread of lethal weapons; the shortage of secure
supplies of energy, food and water; the challenge of climate
change; and the resurgence of fundamentalism in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, the real central front against terrorism.
In recent days, we’ve once again seen the consequences of this
neglect with Russia’s challenge to the free and democratic
country of Georgia. Barack Obama and I will end this neglect.
We will hold Russia accountable for its actions, and we’ll help
the people of Georgia rebuild.
I’ve been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan and
Afghanistan, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms: this
Administration’s policy has been an abject failure. America
cannot afford four more years of this.
Now, despite being complicit in this catastrophic foreign
policy, John McCain says Barack Obama isn’t ready to protect
our national security. Now, let me ask you: whose judgment
should we trust? Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he
said only three years ago, “Afghanistan—we don’t read about it
anymore because it’s succeeded”? Or should we trust Barack
Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two
additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?
The fact is, al-Qaida and the Taliban—the people who actually
attacked us on 9/11—have regrouped in those mountains between
Afghanistan and Pakistan and are plotting new attacks. And the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff echoed Barack’s call for
more troops.
John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he rejected talking
with Iran and then asked: What is there to talk about? Or
Barack Obama, who said we must talk and make it clear to Iran
that its conduct must change.
Now, after seven years of denial, even the Bush administration
recognizes that we should talk to Iran, because that’s the best
way to advance our security.
Again, John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Should we trust John McCain’s judgment when he says there can
be no timelines to draw down our troops from Iraq—that we must
stay indefinitely? Or should we listen to Barack Obama, who
says shift responsibility to the Iraqis and set a time to bring
our combat troops home?
Now, after six long years, the Bush administration and the
Iraqi government are on the verge of setting a date to bring
our troops home.
John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
Again and again, on the most important national security issues
of our time, John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was proven
right.
Folks, remember when the world used to trust us? When they
looked to us for leadership? With Barack Obama as our
president, they’ll look to us again, they’ll trust us again,
and we’ll be able to lead again.
Jill and I are truly honored to join Barack and Michelle on
this journey. When I look at their young children—and when I
look at my grandchildren—I realize why I’m here. I’m here for
their future.
And I am here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton and
Wilmington. I am here for the cops and firefighters, the
teachers and assembly line workers—the folks whose lives are
the very measure of whether the American dream endures.
Our greatest presidents—from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin
Roosevelt to John Kennedy—they all challenged us to embrace
change. Now, it’s our responsibility to meet that challenge.
Millions of Americans have been knocked down. And this is the
time as Americans, together, we get back up. Our people are too
good, our debt to our parents and grandparents too great, our
obligation to our children is too sacred.
These are extraordinary times. This is an extraordinary
election. The American people are ready. I’m ready. Barack
Obama is ready. This is his time. This is our time. This is
America’s time.
May God bless America and protect our troops.
Timeline of Barack Obama's Mother: Ann Dunham
Timeline of Barack Obama's Father: Barack Obama Sr.
The Great Schlep - A Wake Up Call For Jews Who Have Grandparents In Florida
Israelis for Barack Obama- Watch a video in which prominent Israeli figures voice their firm support for Barack Obama
2008 DNC: Barack Obama Acceptance Speech Video and Text - 28 August 2008: Barack Obama delivers his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado
2008 DNC: Al Gore Speech: Seize the Oppurtunity to Change Course - Vote for for Barack Obama- 28 August 2008: Al Gore addresses the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado and asks to seize the opportunity to change course and elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States of America.
2008 DNC: Joe Biden Speech in which he accepts the Vice Presidential nomination. At the end of Joe Biden's speech, Barack Obama appears on stage to greet him.
2008 DNC: Bill Clinton Speech in which he asks Hillary's supporters to vote for Barack Obama and asserts that Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.
2008 DNC: Hillary Clinton Speech in which she asks her supporters to vote for Barack Obama
© 2008 Barack-Obama-Timeline.com
