INDEPTH: US ELECTION 2004
Transcript: Barack Obama
CBC News Online | July 27, 2004
The following is the transcript of the keynote speech by Barack Obama, a senatorial candidate from Illinois, at the Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004:
U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama, a state senator from Illinois, gives the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004. (AP Photo)
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John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.
So instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs
overseas, he'll offer them to companies creating jobs here at home.
John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford
the same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for
themselves.
John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we
aren't held hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage
of foreign oil fields.
John Kerry believes in the constitutional
freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he
will never sacrifice our basic liberties nor use faith as a wedge
to divide us.
And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world,
war must be an option, but it should never he the first option.
A while back, I met a young man named Shamus at the VFW Hall in
East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid, six-two or
six-three, clear-eyed, with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined
the Marines and was heading to Iraq the following week.
As I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, his absolute faith in
our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I
thought this young man was all any of us might hope for in a child.
But then I asked myself: Are we serving Shamus as well as he was
serving us?
I thought of more than 900 service men and women, sons
and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors, who will
not be returning to their hometowns. I thought of families I had
met who were struggling to get by without a loved one's full
income, or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or
with nerves shattered, but who still lacked long-term health
benefits because they were reservists.
When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a
solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about
why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to
the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough
troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.
Now let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These
enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be
defeated. John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did
not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with
him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use
our military might to keep America safe and secure.
John Kerry believes in America. And he knows it's not enough for just some of
us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's
another ingredient in the American saga: A belief that we are connected as one people.
If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me,
even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere
who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between
medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not
my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up
without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my
civil liberties.
It's that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's
keeper, I am my sister's keeper -- that makes this country work.
It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come
together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of
many, one.
Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to
divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace
the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's
not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the
United States of America. There's not a black America and white
America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United
States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country
into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue
States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship
an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents
poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little
League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.
There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who
supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to
the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of
America.
In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we
participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?
John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope.
I'm not talking about blind optimism here -- the almost willful
ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't
talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we
just ignore it. No, I'm talking about something more substantial.
It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom
songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the
hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong
Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds;
the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that
America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!
In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of
this nation: the belief in things not seen; the belief that there
are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class
relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I
believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless,
and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and
despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history,
we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face
us. America!
Tonight, if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I
do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do -- if we do
what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country,
from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will
rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president,
and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this
country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political
darkness a brighter day will come. Thank you and God bless you.
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| QUICK FACTS: |
Voting age population (VAP) in 2000:
205,815,000
Eligible voters (VEP) in 2000:
193,199,543
Voter turnout (% of VEP) in 2000:
54.5%
Numbers of seats up for election (2004):
House: 435 (all of them)
Senate: 34 (of 100)
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