加载中…
Barack Obama’s Victory
Speech
If there is anyone out
there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are
possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive
in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy,
tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and
churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who
waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in
their lives, because they believed that this time must be
different; that their voice could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat
and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay,
straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message
to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and
Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of
America.
It’s the answer that led those who’ve been told for so long
by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can
achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once
more toward the hope of a better day.
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did
on this date in this election at this defining moment change has
come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily
gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he’s fought
even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has
endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to
imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave
and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they’ve
achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this
nation’s promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned
from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on
the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to
Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe
Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding
support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our
family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady Michelle
Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you
have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the new White
House.
And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother’s
watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them
tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and
sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you’ve given
me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this
campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I
think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who’s been a partner with me
every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics
you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve
sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs
to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t
start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not
hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of
Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of
Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what
little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the
cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of
their generation’s apathy who left their homes and their families
for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter
cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and
from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and
proved that more than two centuries later a government of the
people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the
Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn’t do this just to win an election. And I know
you didn’t do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that
lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the
challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our
lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis
in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans
waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan
to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children
fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their
doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college
education.
There’s new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools
to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not
get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have
never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get
there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t
agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we
know the government can’t solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face.
I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all,
I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the
only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block,
brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot 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 can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new
spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of 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,
it’s 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’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship
and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so
long.
Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried
the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party
founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and
national unity.
Those are values that 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 tonight, 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 the world, our stories are singular, but
our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at
hand.
To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat
you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to
all those who have wondered if America’s 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.
That’s the true genius of America: that America can change. Our
union can be perfected. What we’ve 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 that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman
who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s 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
couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because
of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her
century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and
the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people
who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women’s 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, 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 doubts and
those who tell us that we can’t, 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.
顶