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Barack Obama acceptance speech - 2008 Democratic National Convention (DNC) Denver, Colorado
This page contains both the video and the text of the speech delivered by Barack Obama at August 28, 2008, in which he formally accepted the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States of America.
Following is the full text of Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech:
To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all
my fellow citizens of this great nation;
With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your
nomination for the presidency of the United States.
Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates
who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who
traveled the farthest - a champion for working Americans and an
inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham
Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case
for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies
the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the
United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish
this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a
man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors
on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.
To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama,
and to Sasha and Malia - I love you so much, and I'm so proud
of all of you.
Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story - of
the briefu nion between a young man from Kenya and a young
woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but
shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve
whatever he put his mind to.
It is that promise that has always set this country apart -
that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our
individual dreams but still come together as one American
family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their
dreams as well.
That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and
thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in
jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers,
farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage
to keep it alive.
We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when
our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the
American promise has been threatened once more.
Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working
harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even
more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have
cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't
afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.
These challenges are not all of government's making. But the
failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in
Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.
America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a
better country than this.
This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on
the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from
disaster after a lifetime of hard work.
This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana
has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years
and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he
explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell
his family the news.
We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans
sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits
on its hands while a major American city drowns before our
eyes.
Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and
Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough!
This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the
21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week,
in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of
George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third.
And we are here because we love this country too much to let
the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th,
we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."
Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John
McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and
distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and
respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions
when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver
the change that we need.
But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush
ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about
judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when
you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent
of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take
a ten percent chance on change.
The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference
in your lives - on health care and education and the economy -
Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that
our economy has made "great progress" under this President. He
said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when
one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan
- was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said
that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that
we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a
Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept
showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they
knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they
made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their
burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their
third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners.
They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint.
These are the Americans that I know.
Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's
going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't
know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making
under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose
hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil
companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one
hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health
care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an
education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for
college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and
gamble your retirement?
It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John
McCain doesn't get it.
For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited
Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the
most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.
In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what
it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough
luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into
poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you
don't have boots. You're on your own.
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for
us to change America.
You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what
constitutes progress in this country.
We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays
the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at
the end of each month so you can someday watch your child
receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23
million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was
President - when the average American family saw its income go
up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.
We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of
billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by
whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a
new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can
take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job
- an economy that honors the dignity of work.
The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are
whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has
made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I
am standing here tonight.
Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from
Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after
Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a
grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI
Bill.
In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours
before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who
raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned
her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able
to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of
student loans and scholarships.
When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has
shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side
of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after
the local steel plant closed.
And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting
her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her
way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite
years of being passed over for promotions because she was a
woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the
one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so
that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had
into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that
she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.
I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that
celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my
heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on
their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our
promise alive as President of the United States.
What is that promise?
It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of
our own lives what we will, but that we also have the
obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.
It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and
innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live
up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out
for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.
Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our
problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for
ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a
decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe;
invest in new schools and new roads and new science and
technology.
Our government should work for us, not against us. It should
help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just
for those with the most money and influence, but for every
American who's willing to work.
That's the promise of America - the idea that we are
responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one
nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I
am my sister's keeper.
That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need
right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would
mean if I am President.
Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who
wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who
deserve it.
Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to
corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving
them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.
I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses
and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech
jobs of tomorrow.
I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working
families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we
should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.
And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future
of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten
years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the
Middle East.
Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last
thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of
them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency
standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no
to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of
oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.
Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that
drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not
even close.
As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in
clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear
power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the
fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in
America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford
these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the
next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind
power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an
investment that will lead to new industries and five million
new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.
America, now is not the time for small plans.
Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide
every child a world-class education, because it will take
nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I
are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an
education. And I will not settle for an America where some
kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood
education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them
higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange,
I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we
will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit
to serving your community or your country, we will make sure
you can afford a college education.
Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable,
accessible health care for every single American. If you have
health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't,
you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of
Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother
argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of
cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating
against those who are sick and need care the most.
Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better
family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose
between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or
ailing parent.
Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your
pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to
protect Social Security for future generations.
And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an
equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly
the same opportunities as your sons.
Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've
laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate
loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I
will also go through the federal budget, line by line,
eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we
do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet
twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century
bureaucracy.
And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's
promise will require more than just money. It will require a
renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what
John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength."
Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of
us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more
efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for
young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we
must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that
government can't turn off the television and make a child do
her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for
providing the love and guidance their children need.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's
the essence of America's promise.
And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at
home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John
McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament,
and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a
debate I'm ready to have.
For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just
days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that
it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John
McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I
argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight
against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and
made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his
lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes
to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but
he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops
from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the
Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79
billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain
stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.
That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America
safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the
future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.
You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty
countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and
deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't
truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest
alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with
more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it
is not the change we need.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy.
So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country.
Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The
Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that
generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have
built, and we are here to restore that legacy.
As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this
nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a
clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the
equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they
deserve when they come home.
I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight
against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will
rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also
renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will
build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st
century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and
genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our
moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best
hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long
for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead,
I look forward to debating them with John McCain.
But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his
positions for political purposes. Because one of the things
that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people
cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and
patriotism.
The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this
same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no
party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John
McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be
Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have
fought together and bled together and some died together under
the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a
Blue America - they have served the United States of America.
So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country
first.
America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face
require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans
will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the
past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years
can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits.
What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our
sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.
We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on
reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.
The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in
rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in
Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second
Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.
I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely
we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters
deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to
live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on
immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother
is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts
American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of
America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can
find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in
common effort.
I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk.
They claim that our insistence on something larger, something
firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan
Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional
values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have
any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the
voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint
your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
And you know what - it's worked before. Because it feeds into
the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington
doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have
been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and
settle for what you already know.
I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for
this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't
spent my career in the halls of Washington.
But I stand before you tonight because all across America
something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is
that this election has never been about me. It's been about
you.
For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and
said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that
in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the
same old politics with the same old players and expect a
different result. You have shown what history teaches us -
that at defining moments like this one, the change we need
doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.
Change happens because the American people demand it - because
they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new
politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is
coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've
seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more
children and moved more families from welfare to work. I've
seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to
open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give
better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of
terrorist hands.
And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who
voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again
after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought
they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in
the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than
see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who
re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a
stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.
This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but
that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful
military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our
universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but
that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise -
that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that
binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us
fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that
better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I
make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a
promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led
immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a
promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach
for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought
Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a
Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young
preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there could've heard many
things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They
could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so
many dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and
color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our
destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can
be one.
"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk,
we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We
cannot turn back."
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be
done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many
veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to
rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to
protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn
back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election,
we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep
that promise - that American promise - and in the words of
Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we
confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of
America.
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