obama speech at dnc

8/12/2019 Obama Speech at DNC

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US President Barack Obama has delivered his acceptance speechafter being formally nominated as the Democratic candidate forpresident.

His speech caps off three days of Democratic pageantry as theymade their case for Mr Obama's reelection. Belo! is the f"ll te#t ofMr Obama's acceptance speech.

Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw justhow lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proudbut don't getany ideas, you're still going to class tomorrow. nd !oe "iden, thank you#or being the best $ice %resident I could ever hope #or.

Madam &hairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination #or %residento# the nited States.

The #irst time I addressed this convention in ())*, I was a younger man+a Senate candidate #rom Illinois who spoke about hope not blindoptimism or wish#ul thinking, but hope in the #ace o# di##iculty+ hope in the#ace o# uncertainty+ that dogged #aith in the #uture which has pushed thisnation #orward, even when the odds are great+ even when the road islong.

-ight years later, that hope has been tested by the cost o# war+ by oneo# the worst economic crises in history+ and by political gridlock that's le#tus wondering whether it's still possible to tackle the challenges o# ourtime.

I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial thingsbecome big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. nd thetruth gets buried under an avalanche o# money and advertising. I# you're

sick o# hearing me approve this message, believe me so am I.

"ut when all is said and done when you pick up that ballot to vote youwill #ace the clearest choice o# any time in a generation. ver the ne/t#ew years, big decisions will be made in 0ashington, on jobs and theeconomy+ ta/es and de#icits+ energy and education+ war and peace decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children'slives #or decades to come.

n every issue, the choice you #ace won't be just between twocandidates or two parties.


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It will be a choice between two di##erent paths #or merica.

choice between two #undamentally di##erent visions #or the #uture.

urs is a #ight to restore the values that built the largest middle class andthe strongest economy the world has ever known+ the values mygrand#ather de#ended as a soldier in %atton's rmy+ the values thatdrove my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly line while he wasgone.

They knew they were part o# something larger a nation that triumphedover #ascism and depression+ a nation where the most innovativebusinesses turned out the world's best products, and everyone shared in

the pride and success #rom the corner o##ice to the #actory #loor. Mygrandparents were given the chance to go to college, buy their #irsthome, and #ul#ill the basic bargain at the heart o# merica's story1 thepromise that hard work will pay o##+ that responsibility will be rewarded+that everyone gets a #air shot, and everyone does their #air share, andeveryone plays by the same rules #rom Main Street to 0all Street to0ashington, 2&.

I ran #or %resident because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I

began my career helping people in the shadow o# a shuttered steel mill,at a time when too many good jobs were starting to move overseas. ndby ())3, we had seen nearly a decade in which #amilies struggled withcosts that kept rising but paychecks that didn't+ racking up more andmore debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition+ to put gas in the caror #ood on the table. nd when the house o# cards collapsed in the 4reat5ecession, millions o# innocent mericans lost their jobs, their homes,and their li#e savings a tragedy #rom which we are still #ighting torecover.

6ow, our #riends at the 5epublican convention were more than happy totalk about everything they think is wrong with merica, but they didn'thave much to say about how they'd make it right. They want your vote,but they don't want you to know their plan. nd that's because all theyhave to o##er is the same prescription they've had #or the last thirty years1

78ave a surplus9 Try a ta/ cut.7

72e#icit too high9 Try another.7


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7:eel a cold coming on9 Take two ta/ cuts, roll back some regulations,and call us in the morning;7

6ow, I've cut ta/es #or those who need it middleclass #amilies and

small businesses. "ut I don't believe that another round o# ta/ breaks #ormillionaires will bring good jobs to our shores, or pay down our de#icit. Idon't believe that #iring teachers or kicking students o## #inancial aid willgrow the economy, or help us compete with the scientists and engineerscoming out o# &hina. #ter all that we've been through, I don't believethat rolling back regulations on 0all Street will help the smallbusinesswoman e/pand, or the laido## construction worker keep hishome. 0e've been there, we've tried that, and we're not going back.0e're moving #orward.

I won't pretend the path I'm o##ering is


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another merican car. Today, they can't build them #ast enough, becausewe reinvented a dying auto industry that's back on top o# the world.

I've worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to merica

not because our workers make less pay, but because we make betterproducts. "ecause we work harder and smarter than anyone else.

I've signed trade agreements that are helping our companies sell moregoods to millions o# new customers goods that are stamped with threeproud words1 Made in merica.

#ter a decade o# decline, this country created over hal# a millionmanu#acturing jobs in the last two and a hal# years. nd now you have a

choice1 we can give more ta/ breaks to corporations that ship jobsoverseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plantsand train new workers and create new jobs here, in the nited States o#

merica. 0e can help big #actories and small businesses double theire/ports, and i# we choose this path, we can create a million newmanu#acturing jobs in the ne/t #our years. =ou can make that happen.=ou can choose that #uture.

=ou can choose the path where we control more o# our own energy. #ter

thirty years o# inaction, we raised #uel standards so that by the middle o#the ne/t decade, cars and trucks will go twice as #ar on a gallon o# gas.0e've doubled our use o# renewable energy, and thousands o#

mericans have jobs today building wind turbines and longlastingbatteries. In the last year alone, we cut oil imports by one million barrelsa day more than any administration in recent history. nd today, thenited States o# merica is less dependent on #oreign oil than at anytime in nearly two decades.

6ow you have a choice between a strategy that reverses this progress,or one that builds on it. 0e've opened millions o# new acres #or oil andgas e/ploration in the last three years, and we'll open more. "ut unlikemy opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country's energy plan,or endanger our coastlines, or collect another >* billion in corporatewel#are #rom our ta/payers.

0e're o##ering a better path a #uture where we keep investing in windand solar and clean coal+ where #armers and scientists harness new

bio#uels to power our cars and trucks+ where construction workers buildhomes and #actories that waste less energy+ where we develop a


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hundred year supply o# natural gas that's right beneath our #eet. I# youchoose this path, we can cut our oil imports in hal# by ()() and supportmore than ?)),))) new jobs in natural gas alone.

nd yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that isheating our planet because climate change is not a hoa/. Moredroughts and #loods and wild#ires are not a joke. They're a threat to ourchildren's #uture. nd in this election, you can do something about it.

=ou can choose a #uture where more mericans have the chance to gainthe skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how muchmoney they have. -ducation was the gateway to opportunity #or me. Itwas the gateway #or Michelle. nd now more than ever, it is the gateway

to a middleclass li#e.

:or the #irst time in a generation, nearly every state has answered ourcall to raise their standards #or teaching and learning. Some o# the worstschools in the country have made real gains in math and reading.Millions o# students are paying less #or college today because we #inallytook on a system that wasted billions o# ta/payer dollars on banks andlenders.

nd now you have a choice we can gut education, or we can decidethat in the nited States o# merica, no child should have her dreamsde#erred because o# a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. 6o#amily should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because theydon't have the money. 6o company should have to look #or workers in&hina because they couldn't #ind any with the right skills here at home.

4overnment has a role in this. "ut teachers must inspire+ principals mustlead+ parents must instil a thirst #or learning, and students, you've got to

do the work. nd together, I promise you we can outeducate and outcompete any country on -arth. 8elp me recruit @)),))) math andscience teachers in the ne/t ten years, and improve early childhoodeducation. 8elp give two million workers the chance to learn skills attheir community college that will lead directly to a job. 8elp us work withcolleges and universities to cut in hal# the growth o# tuition costs over thene/t ten years. 0e can meet that goal together. =ou can choose that#uture #or merica.

In a world o# new threats and new challenges, you can chooseleadership that has been tested and proven. :our years ago, I promised


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to end the war in Ira


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hardware that our !oint &hie#s don't even want, I'll use the money we'reno longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more peopleback to work rebuilding roads and bridges+ schools and runways. #tertwo wars that have cost us thousands o# lives and over a trillion dollars,

it's time to do some nationbuilding right here at home.

=ou can choose a #uture where we reduce our de#icit without wreckingour middle class. Independent analysis shows that my plan would cutour de#icits by >* trillion. Dast summer, I worked with 5epublicans in&ongress to cut >@ trillion in spending because those o# us who believegovernment can be a #orce #or good should work harder than anyone tore#orm it, so that it's leaner, more e##icient, and more responsive to the

merican people.

I want to re#orm the ta/ code so that it's simple, #air, and asks thewealthiest households to pay higher ta/es on incomes over >(E),))) the same rate we had when "ill &linton was president+ the same rate wehad when our economy created nearly (F million new jobs, the biggestsurplus in history, and a lot o# millionaires to boot.

6ow, I'm still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles o# mybipartisan debt commission. 6o party has a monopoly on wisdom. 6o

democracy works without compromise. "ut when 4overnor 5omney andhis allies in &ongress tell us we can somehow lower our de#icit byspending trillions more on new ta/ breaks #or the wealthy well, you dothe math. I re#use to go along with that. nd as long as I'm %resident, Inever will.

I re#use to ask middle class #amilies to give up their deductions #orowning a home or raising their kids just to pay #or another millionaire'sta/ cut. I re#use to ask students to pay more #or college+ or kick children

out o# 8ead Start programs, or eliminate health insurance #or millions o#mericans who are poor, elderly, or disabled all so those with the mostcan pay less.

nd I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. 6o merican should everhave to spend their golden years at the mercy o# insurance companies.They should retire with the care and dignity they have earned. =es, wewill re#orm and strengthen Medicare #or the long haul, but we'll do it byreducing the cost o# health care not by asking seniors to pay thousandso# dollars more. nd we will keep the promise o# Social Security bytaking the responsible steps to strengthen it not by turning it over to


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0all Street.

This is the choice we now #ace. This is what the election comes down to.ver and over, we have been told by our opponents that bigger ta/ cuts

and #ewer regulations are the only way+ that since government can't doeverything, it should do almost nothing. I# you can't a##ord healthinsurance, hope that you don't get sick. I# a company releases to/icpollution into the air your children breathe, well, that's just the price o#progress. I# you can't a##ord to start a business or go to college, take myopponent's advice and 7borrow money #rom your parents.7

=ou know what9 That's not who we are. That's not what this country'sabout. s mericans, we believe we are endowed by our &reator with

certain inalienable rights rights that no man or government can takeaway. 0e insist on personal responsibility and we celebrate individualinitiative. 0e're not entitled to success. 0e have to earn it. 0e honourthe strivers, the dreamers, the risktakers who have always been thedriving #orce behind our #ree enterprise system the greatest engine o#growth and prosperity the world has ever known.

"ut we also believe in something called citiGenship a word at the veryheart o# our #ounding, at the very essence o# our democracy+ the idea

that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to oneanother, and to #uture generations.

0e believe that when a &- pays his autoworkers enough to buy thecars that they build, the whole company does better.

0e believe that when a #amily can no longer be tricked into signing amortgage they can't a##ord, that #amily is protected, but so is the value o#other people's homes, and so is the entire economy.

0e believe that a little girl who's o##ered an escape #rom poverty by agreat teacher or a grant #or college could become the #ounder o# the ne/t4oogle, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the %resident o# the nitedStates and it's in our power to give her that chance.

0e know that churches and charities can o#ten make more o# adi##erence than a poverty program alone. 0e don't want handouts #orpeople who re#use to help themselves, and we don't want bailouts #or

banks that break the rules. 0e don't think government can solve all ourproblems. "ut we don't think that government is the source o# all our


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problems any more than are wel#are recipients, or corporations, orunions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we're told to blame #orour troubles.

"ecause we understand that this democracy is ours.

0e, the %eople, recogniGe that we have responsibilities as well as rights+that our destinies are bound together+ that a #reedom which only askswhat's in it #or me, a #reedom without a commitment to others, a #reedomwithout love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy o# our #oundingideals, and those who died in their de#ence.

s citiGens, we understand that merica is not about what can be done

#or us. It's about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and#rustrating but necessary work o# sel#government.

So you see, the election #our years ago wasn't about me. It was aboutyou. My #ellow citiGens you were the change.

=ou're the reason there's a little girl with a heart disorder in %hoeni/who'll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can'tlimit her coverage. =ou did that.

=ou're the reason a young man in &olorado who never thought he'd beable to a##ord his dream o# earning a medical degree is about to get thatchance. =ou made that possible.

=ou're the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went toschool here and pledged allegiance to our #lag will no longer be deported#rom the only country she's ever called home+ why sel#less soldiers won'tbe kicked out o# the military because o# who they are or who they love+

why thousands o# #amilies have #inally been able to say to the lovedones who served us so bravely1 70elcome home.7

I# you turn away now i# you buy into the cynicism that the change we#ought #or isn't possiblewell, change will not happen. I# you give up onthe idea that your voice can make a di##erence, then other voices will #illthe void1 lobbyists and special interests+ the people with the >@) millionchecks who are trying to buy this election and those who are making itharder #or you to vote+ 0ashington politicians who want to decide who

you can marry, or control health care choices that women should make#or themselves.


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nly you can make sure that doesn't happen. nly you have the powerto move us #orward.

I recogniGe that times have changed since I #irst spoke to this

convention. The times have changed and so have I.

I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the %resident. I know what it means tosend young mericans into battle, #or I have held in my arms themothers and #athers o# those who didn't return. I've shared the pain o##amilies who've lost their homes, and the #rustration o# workers who'velost their jobs. I# the critics are right that I've made all my decisionsbased on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them. nd whileI'm proud o# what we've achieved together, I'm #ar more mind#ul o# my

own #ailings, knowing e/actly what Dincoln meant when he said, 7I havebeen driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming convictionthat I had no place else to go.7

"ut as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hope#ul aboutmerica. 6ot because I think I have all the answers. 6ot because I'mnaive about the magnitude o# our challenges.

I'm hope#ul because o# you.

The young woman I met at a science #air who won national recognition#or her biology research while living with her #amily at a homeless shelter she gives me hope.

The auto worker who won the lottery a#ter his plant almost closed, butkept coming to work every day, and bought #lags #or his whole town andone o# the cars that he built to surprise his wi#e he gives me hope.

The #amily business in 0arroad, Minnesota that didn't lay o## a singleone o# their #our thousand employees during this recession, even whentheir competitors shut down doGens o# plants, even when it meant theowners gave up some perks and pay because they understood theirbiggest asset was the community and the workers who helped build thatbusiness they give me hope.

nd I think about the young sailor I met at 0alter 5eed hospital, stillrecovering #rom a grenade attack that would cause him to have his leg

amputated above the knee. Si/ months ago, I would watch him walk intoa 0hite 8ouse dinner honouring those who served in Ira


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twenty pounds heavier, dashing in his uni#orm, with a big grin on his#ace+ sturdy on his new leg. nd I remember how a #ew months a#ter thatI would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his #ellow wounded warriorson a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun the

hard path he had travelled.

8e gives me hope.

I don't know what party these men and women belong to. I don't know i#they'll vote #or me. "ut I know that their spirit de#ines us. They remindme, in the words o# Scripture, that ours is a 7#uture #illed with hope.7

nd i# you share that #aith with me i# you share that hope with me I

ask you tonight #or your vote.

I# you reject the notion that this nation's promise is reserved #or the #ew,your voice must be heard in this election.

I# you reject the notion that our government is #orever beholden to thehighest bidder, you need to stand up in this election.

I# you believe that new plants and #actories can dot our landscape+ that

new energy can power our #uture+ that new schools can provide ladderso# opportunity to this nation o# dreamers+ i# you believe in a countrywhere everyone gets a #air shot, and everyone does their #air share, andeveryone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this6ovember.

merica, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won't promisethat now. =es, our path is harder but it leads to a better place. =es ourroad is longer but we travel it together. 0e don't turn back. 0e leave no

one behind. 0e pull each other up. 0e draw strength #rom our victories,and we learn #rom our mistakes, but we keep our eyes #i/ed on thatdistant horiGon, knowing that %rovidence is with us, and that we aresurely blessed to be citiGens o# the greatest nation on -arth.

Thank you, 4od bless you, and may 4od bless these nited States

obama speech at dnc

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