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希拉里.克林顿非常尊崇的美国前第一夫人埃莉诺.罗斯福曾经有这样的名言：女人就像是一个茶袋儿，只有把它放进热水里，才知道她有多厉害。
“不论怎样 我都不希望你们放弃自己的梦想，永远力争上游、勤奋工作、执着信念，跌下去要坚持信仰，被击倒要马上起来。决不要听任何人，说你不能或不该走下去”. (When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up.)
希拉里
Thank you so much. Thank you
all.
Well, this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the
company.
I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you -
to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this
campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade
signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors
and made calls, who talked and sometimes argued with your friends
and neighbors, who emailed and contributed online, who invested so
much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our
events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their
shoulders and whispered in their ears, “See, you can be anything
you want to be.”
To the young people like 13 year-old Ann Riddle from Mayfield, Ohio
who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World, and
decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with
her Mom and volunteer there as well. To the veterans and the
childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans who traveled across
the country and telling anyone who would listen why you supported
me.
To all those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women
could vote who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you
before about Florence Steen of South Dakota, who was 88 years old,
and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her
hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag
behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot. She passed away
soon after, and under state law, her ballot didn’t count. But her
daughter later told a reporter, “My dad’s an ornery old cowboy, and
he didn’t like it when he heard mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I
don’t think he had voted in 20 years. But he voted in place of my
mom.”
To all those who voted for me, and to whom I pledged my utmost, my
commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You
have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and
sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives and you have humbled
me with your commitment to our country.
18 million of you from all walks of life - women and men, young and
old, Latino and Asian, African-American and Caucasian, rich, poor
and middle class, gay and straight - you have stood strong with me.
And I will continue to stand strong with you, every time, every
place, and every way that I can. The dreams we share are worth
fighting for.
Remember - we fought for the single mom with a young daughter,
juggling work and school, who told me, “I’m doing it all to better
myself for her.” We fought for the woman who grabbed my hand, and
asked me, “What are you going to do to make sure I have health
care?” and began to cry because even though she works three jobs,
she can’t afford insurance. We fought for the young man in the
Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said,
“Take care of my buddies over there and then, will you please help
take care of me?” We fought for all those who’ve lost jobs and
health care, who can’t afford gas or groceries or college, who have
felt invisible to their president these last seven years.
I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction:
that public service is about helping people solve their problems
and live their dreams. I’ve had every opportunity and blessing in
my own life - and I want the same for all Americans. Until that day
comes, you will always find me on the front lines of democracy -
fighting for the future.
The way to continue our fight now - to accomplish the goals for
which we stand - is to take our energy, our passion, our strength
and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of
the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory
he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him,
and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join
me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.
I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in
this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and
gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I have had a front row seat
to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination,
his grace and his grit.
In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. As a
community organizer, in the state senate, as a United States
Senator - he has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is
realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become
involved in the democratic process and invested in our common
future.
Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White
House, and make sure we have a president who puts our country back
on the path to peace, prosperity, and progress. And that's exactly
what we're going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through
the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.
I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight. The
Democratic Party is a family, and it’s now time to restore the ties
that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we
share, the values we cherish, and the country we love.
We may have started on separate journeys - but today, our paths
have merged. And we are all heading toward the same destination,
united and more ready than ever to win in November and to turn our
country around because so much is at stake.
We all want an economy that sustains the American Dream, the
opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for
college, a home and retirement, to afford that gas and those
groceries and still have a little left over at the end of the
month. An economy that lifts all of our people and ensures that our
prosperity is broadly distributed and shared.
We all want a health care system that is universal, high quality,
and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between
care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs
simply to keep their insurance. This isn’t just an issue for me -
it is a passion and a cause - and it is a fight I will continue
until every single American is insured - no exceptions, no
excuses.
We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality -
from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay
rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to
providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our
families.
We all want to restore America’s standing in the world, to end the
war in Iraq and once again lead by the power of our values, and to
join with our allies to confront our shared challenges from poverty
and genocide to terrorism and global warming.
You know, I’ve been involved in politics and public life in one way
or another for four decades. During those forty years, our country
has voted ten times for President. Democrats won only three of
those times. And the man who won two of those elections is with us
today.
We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic
President, with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace
and security respected around the world. Just think how much more
progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we had a
Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these
past seven years - on the environment and the economy, on health
care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme
Court. Imagine how far we could’ve come, how much we could’ve
achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.
We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and
accomplished too much.
Now the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can’t do
it. That it’s too hard. That we’re just not up to the task. But for
as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to
reject “can’t do” claims, and to choose instead to stretch the
boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a
pioneering spirit.
It is this belief, this optimism, that Senator Obama and I share,
and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make
their voices heard.
So today, I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes we
can.
Together we will work. We’ll have to work hard to get universal
health care. But on the day we live in an America where no child,
no man, and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a
stronger America. That’s why we need to help elect Barack Obama our
President.
We’ll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a
strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose
middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no
matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn
a decent living, we will live in a stronger America and that is why
we must elect Barack Obama our President.
We’ll have to work hard to foster the innovation that makes us
energy independent and lift the threat of global warming from our
children’s future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by
renewable energy, we will live in a stronger America. That’s why we
have to help elect Barack Obama our President.
We’ll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq, and get
them the support they’ve earned by their service. But on the day we
live in an America that’s as loyal to our troops as they have been
to us, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must
help elect Barack Obama our President.
This election is a turning point election and it is critical that
we all understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward
together or will we stall and slip backwards. Think how much
progress we have already made. When we first started, people
everywhere asked the same questions:
Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we
answered that one.
And could an African American really be our President? Senator
Obama has answered that one.
Together Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our
progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more
perfect union.
Now, on a personal note - when I was asked what it means to be a
woman running for President, I always gave the same answer: that I
was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I
thought I’d be the best President. But I am a woman, and like
millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out
there, often unconscious.
I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential
of every last one of us.
I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother
never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter’s
future and a mother who wants to lead all children to brighter
tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that women
and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and
mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and
equal respect. Let us resolve and work toward achieving some very
simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits and there are
no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century.
You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for
a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a
woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that
a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is
truly remarkable.
To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way -
especially the young people who put so much into this campaign - it
would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way
discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work
hard, and care deeply about what you believe in.
When you stumble, keep faith. When
you’re knocked down, get right back up.
And never listen to anyone who says you can’t
or shouldn’t go on.
As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the
50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can
blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the
White House.
Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass
ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks
in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling
us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a
little easier next time. That has always been the history of
progress in America.
Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and
those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think
of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of
slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who
marched, protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to
segregation and Jim Crow.
Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could
vote. Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that
children of all colors could go to school together. Because of
them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the
Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you,
children today will grow up taking for granted that an African
American or a woman can yes, become President of the United
States.
When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our
President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our
nation, proud that every little girl can dream and that her dreams
can come true in America. And all of you will know that because of
your passion and hard work you helped pave the way for that
day.
So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying - or
think to yourself - “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go
there.” Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving
forward.
Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too
high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for
what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make
sure that Senator Obama is our next President and I hope and pray
that all of you will join me in that effort.
To my supporters and colleagues in Congress, to the governors and
mayors, elected officials who stood with me, in good times and in
bad, thank you for your strength and leadership. To my friends in
our labor unions who stood strong every step of the way - I thank
you and pledge my support to you. To my friends, from every stage
of my life - your love and ongoing commitments sustain me every
single day. To my family - especially Bill and Chelsea and my
mother, you mean the world to me and I thank you for all you have
done. And to my extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters,
thank you for working those long, hard hours. Thank you for
dropping everything - leaving work or school - traveling to places
you’d never been, sometimes for months on end. And thanks to your
families as well because your sacrifice was theirs too.
All of you were there for me every step of the way. Being human, we
are imperfect. That’s why we need each other. To catch each other
when we falter. To encourage each other when we lose heart. Some
may lead; others may follow; but none of us can go it alone. The
changes we’re working for are changes that we can only accomplish
together. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are rights
that belong to each of us as individuals. But our lives, our
freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected, and best
advanced when we do work together.
That is what we will do now as we join forces with Senator Obama
and his campaign. We will make history together as we write the
next chapter in America’s story. We will stand united for the
values we hold dear, for the vision of progress we share, and for
the country we love. There is nothing more American than
that.
And looking out at you today, I have never felt so blessed. The
challenges that I have faced in this campaign are nothing compared
to those that millions of Americans face every day in their own
lives. So today, I’m going to count my blessings and keep on going.
I’m going to keep doing what I was doing long before the cameras
ever showed up and what I’ll be doing long after they’re gone:
Working to give every American the same opportunities I had, and
working to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up and
achieve his or her God-given potential.
I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and
abiding love for our country- and with nothing but optimism and
confidence for the days ahead. This is now our time to do all that
we can to make sure that in this election we add another Democratic
president to that very small list of the last 40 years and that we
take back our country and once again move with progress and
commitment to the future.
Thank you all and God bless you and God bless
America.
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