Believe!

It was four years ago this summer that Chuck and I stood before our television in our kitchen, riveted by a passionate speaker at the Democratic Party Convention in Boston. Chills ran down our spines. We applauded. We were choked up with emotion. We felt the first wave of hope in four long years - no, even longer. The speaker was Barack Obama.

Tonight, Senator Barack Obama is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party! Tonight, he spoke again, just as passionately, just as powerfully. Below is an excerpt from the finale of his speech.

“...Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes.  And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again. 
 
So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.
 
So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity. 
 
So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom’s cause. 
 
So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that’s better, and kinder, and more just.
 
And so it must be for us.  
 
America, this is our moment.  This is our time.  Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.  Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face.  Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
 
The journey will be difficult.  The road will be long.  I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations.  But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.  Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.  This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.  Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.”

- Senator Barack Obama
June 3, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota

You can read the entire speech, as prepared, here.

Or you can watch and listen to Senator Obama here: