Barack Obama. Presidential Victory Speech Page #2

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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.

And the unlikely journey of the junior

senator from Illinois

brings in here to Grand Park

where he speaks moonily

before some 125 000 supporters

who've waited for him all night long,

cheering every victory in every state.

He spoke movingly about

that 106 years freakin' american woman

Ann Nixon Cooper and what

she has endured

in those 106 years.

He spoke of course about change

and about this... not the change,

but the chance to an act to change

that he's talking about.

Joined now by the new vice President,

Joe Biden.

Congratulations to Barack Obama

for his great victory.

The Subbers In Black

benji1000, Dolphin888 and Sebaset

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