January
26, 2008
Transcript
Barack Obama’s South Carolina Primary Speech
The following is a transcript of Senator Barack Obama’s speech to
supporters after the South Carolina primary, as provided by the
Federal News Service.
BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, South Carolina! (Cheers, applause.)
(Chants of "Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can!")
MR. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you.
(Continued chants of "Yes, We Can!")
MR. OBAMA: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, South
Carolina. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you. Thank you, South Carolina.
Thank you to the rock of my life, Michelle Obama. (Cheers,
applause.)
Thank you to Malia and Sasha Obama, who haven't seen their daddy in
a week. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you to Pete Skidmore for his
outstanding service to our country and being such a great supporter
of this campaign. (Cheers, applause.)
You know, over two weeks ago we saw the people of Iowa proclaim that
our time for change has come. (Cheers, applause.) But there were
those who doubted this country's desire for something new, who said
Iowa was a fluke, not to be repeated again. Well, tonight the cynics
who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an
illusion were told a different story by the good people of South
Carolina. (Cheers, applause.)
After four great contests in every corner of this country, we have
the most votes, the most delegates -- (cheers, applause) -- and the
most diverse coalition of Americans that we've seen in a long, long
time. (Cheers, applause.)
You can see it in the faces here tonight. There are young and old,
rich and poor. They are black and white, Latino and Asian and Native
American. (Cheers, applause.) They are Democrats from Des Moines and
independents from Concord and, yes, some Republicans from rural
Nevada. And we've got young people all across this country who've
never had a reason to participate until now. (Cheers, applause.)
And in nine days, in nine short days, nearly half the nation will
have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business
as usual in Washington. (Cheers, applause.) We are hungry for
change, and we are ready to believe again. (Cheers, applause.)
(Chants of "We Want Change! We Want Change!")
But if there's anything, though, that we've been reminded of since
Iowa, it's that the kind of change we seek will not come easy. Now,
partly because we have fine candidates in this field, fierce
competitors who are worthy of our respect and our admiration --
(applause) -- and as contentious as this campaign may get, we have
to remember that this is a contest for the Democratic nomination and
that all of us share an abiding desire to end the disastrous
policies of the current administration. (Cheers, applause.)
But there are real differences between the candidates. We are
looking for more than just a change of party in the White House.
We're looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington.
(Cheers, applause.) It's a status quo that extends beyond any
particular party. And right now that status quo is fighting back
with everything it's got, with the same old tactics that divide and
distract us from solving the problems people face, whether those
problems are health care that folks can't afford or a mortgage they
cannot pay.
So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we're up
against. We're up against the belief that it's all right for
lobbyists to dominate our government, that they are just part of the
system in Washington. But we know that the undue influence of
lobbyists is part of the problem, and this election is our chance to
say that we are not going to let them stand in our way anymore.
(Cheers, applause.)
We're up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to
lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to
the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor
and judgment and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of
life around a common purpose, a higher purpose. (Cheers, applause.)
We're up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause
politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together
to make college affordable or energy cleaner. It's the kind of
partisanship where you're not even allowed to say that a Republican
had an idea, even if it's one you never agreed with. That's the kind
of politics that is bad for our party. It is bad for our country.
And this is our chance to end it once and for all. (Cheers,
applause.)
We're up against the idea that it's acceptable to say anything and
do anything to win an election. But we know that this is exactly
what's wrong with our politics. This is why people don't believe
what their leaders say anymore. This is why they tune out. And this
election is our chance to give the American people a reason to
believe again. (Cheers, applause.)
But let me say this, South Carolina. What we've seen in these last
weeks is that we're also up against forces that are not the fault of
any one campaign but feed the habits that prevent us from being who
we want to be as a nation.
It's a politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a
bludgeon, a politics that tells us that we have to think, act, and
even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly
define us, the assumption that young people are apathetic, the
assumption that Republicans won't cross over, the assumption that
the wealthy care nothing for the poor and that the poor don't vote,
the assumption that African-Americans can't support the white
candidate, whites can't support the African-American candidate,
blacks and Latinos cannot come together.
We are here tonight to say that that is not the America we believe
in. (Cheers, applause.)
(Chants of "Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can!")
I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a
white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina
-- (cheers, applause) -- because in the end, we're not up just
against the ingrained and destructive habits of Washington. We're
also struggling with our own doubts, our own fears, our own
cynicism. The change we seek has always required great struggle and
great sacrifice. And so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds
about what kind of country we want and how hard we're willing to
work for it.
So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. Change
will take time. There will be setbacks and false starts, and
sometimes we'll make mistakes. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot
lose hope, because there are people all across this great nation who
are counting on us, who can't afford another four years without
health care. (Cheers.) They can't afford another four years without
good schools. (Cheers.) They can't afford another four years without
decent wages because our leaders couldn't come together and get it
done.
Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina --
the mother who can't get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick
child. She needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and
makes health care available and affordable for every single
American. That's what she's looking for. (Cheers, applause.)
The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin' Donuts after school
just to make ends meet -- she needs us to reform our education
system so that she gets better pay and more support and that
students get the resources that they need to achieve their dreams.
(Cheers, applause.)
The Maytag worker who's now competing with his own teenager for a
$7-an-hour job at the local Wal-Mart because the factory he gave his
life to shut its doors -- he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to
companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the
pockets of working Americans who deserve it -- (cheers, applause) --
and put them in the pockets of struggling homeowners who are having
a tough time, and looking after seniors who should retire with
dignity and respect.
That woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since
the day her nephew left for Iraq, or the soldier who doesn't know
his child because he's on his third or fourth or even fifth tour of
duty -- they need us to come together and put an end to a war that
should have never been authorized and should have never been waged.
(Cheers, applause.)
So understand this, South Carolina. The choice in this election is
not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich
versus poor, young versus old, and it is not about black versus
white.
(Cheers, applause.)
This election is about the past versus the future. (Cheers,
applause.) It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and
distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we
reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of
shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.
There are those who will continue to tell us that we can't do this,
that we can't have what we're looking for, that we can't have what
we want, that we're peddling false hopes. But here's what I know. I
know that when people say we can't overcome all the big money and
influence in Washington, I think of that elderly woman who sent me a
contribution the other day, an envelope that had a money order for
$3.01 -- (cheers, applause) -- along with a verse of Scripture
tucked inside the envelope. So don't tell us change isn't possible.
That woman knows change is possible. (Cheers, applause.)
When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos
can't join together and work together, I'm reminded of the Latino
brothers and sisters I organized with and stood with and fought with
side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So
don't tell us change can't happen. (Cheers, applause.)
When I hear that we'll never overcome the racial divide in our
politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for
Strom Thurmond, who's now devoted to educating inner-city children,
and who went out into the streets of South Carolina and knocked on
doors for this campaign. Don't tell me we can't change. (Cheers,
applause.)
Yes, we can. Yes, we can change.
(Chants of "Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can!")
Yes, we can.
(Continued chants of "Yes, We Can!")
Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as
we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs, and we take
this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the
message we've carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New
Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the
same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out
of many we are one, that while we breathe we will hope, and where we
are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that
we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the
spirit of the American people in three simple words: Yes, we can.
Thank you, South Carolina. I love you. (Cheers, applause.)
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