A perfectly organized, well crafted 3 day event, culminated just minutes ago with an emotional speech from Vice President Joe Biden and a spectacularly rousing speech by President Obama. He only mentioned his opponent on occasion, making a couple of jokes at his expense. Some of the best quotes from the speech, and some of the best Twitter comments are listed below, followed by a replay of President Obama's entire speech. If you prefer, the text of his speech is below the video.
@KrystalBall1
Overall, I have to say this was a fantastic convention. Beautifully orchestrated, moving testimony, powerful vision
Am I supposed to sleep after that? I'm ready to canvass the entire block in my pajamas.
Fox points out LACK OF BALLOON DROP
60 days until the election. 2 conventions down. 3 debates to go.
I do think it sets optimistic tone for campaign and stark choice for Americans
@edshow
McCain '08 manager Steve Schmidt: "i don't think Dems could have possibly done a better job making a case for their candidate"
Joy Reid @TheReidReport
People are still chanting "fired up, ready to go!" This crowd is hyped
@KrystalBall1
God bless this man. We are so lucky that he wants to serve.
@BarackObama
President Obama: “We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up.”
@BarackObama
"If you reject the notion that our govt is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election"
@BarackObama
“Ours is a future filled with hope. If you share that hope with me, I ask you tonight for your vote.”—President Obama
@BarackObama
“So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens—you were the change.”—President Obama
Brilliant way to highlight his accomplishments by empowering us as the ones who made the change.
@Nightline
"Selfless soldiers won't be kicked out of the military because of who they are and who they love." -Pres. Obama
@BarackObama
“I refuse to ask students to pay more for college; or kick children out of Head Start programs so those with the most can pay less.”
@HuffingtonPost
Obama: If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and “borrow money from your parents.”
Joy Reid @TheReidReport
Obama: "I will never turn Medicare into a voucher." Seniors "should not have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance cos."
@MoveOn
"You don’t call Russia our #1 enemy (and not al Qaeda) unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp." -@BarackObama.
@thinkprogress
"You may not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit Olympics without insulting our closest ally." -- Barack Obama
@HuffPostPol
"After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here at home."
That crinkling sound you hear? that's mitt #romney, weeping and drying his tears with $100 bills
@edshow
"my opponent and his runningmate are *new* to foreign policy" hahahaha
@BarackObama
“No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the money.”—President Obama
Joy Reid @TheReidReport
Obama: "no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof over his head."
@KrystalBall1
President Obama doing now what Romney never did and paying tribute to our troops overseas.
@richardwolffedc
Remind me: what did Romney say again about the war at his convention? Oh yeah. Nothing.
Katrina vandenHeuvel @KatrinaNation
Hubby --who's no fan of Obama--just said no rational person could vote for Romney except those motivated by greed, racism.
@CBSNews
Pres. Obama: "Climate change is not a hoax."
Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor:
In Romney's world, the cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft.
Sen John Kerry (during his speech):
Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off than he was four years ago.
Sen John Kerry (during his speech):
Advice to Mitt Romney -- before you have a debate about foreign policy with President Obama, finish the debate with yourself.
President Barack Obama: "Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw
just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proud…but don’t get
any ideas, you’re still going to class tomorrow. And Joe Biden, thank
you for being the best Vice President I could ever hope for.
Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for President of the United States.
The first time I addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger
man; a Senate candidate from Illinois who spoke about hope – not blind
optimism or wishful thinking, but hope in the face of difficulty; hope
in the face of uncertainty; that dogged faith in the future which has
pushed this nation forward, even when the odds are great; even when the
road is long.
Eight years later, that hope has been tested – by the cost of war; by
one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock
that’s left us wondering whether it’s still possible to tackle the
challenges of our time.
I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things
become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. And the
truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If
you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I.
But when all is said and done – when you pick up that ballot to vote –
you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. Over
the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs
and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace
– decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our
children’s lives for decades to come.
On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties.
It will be a choice between two different paths for America.
A choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.
Ours is a fight to restore the values that built the largest middle
class and the strongest economy the world has ever known; the values my
grandfather defended as a soldier in Patton’s Army; the values that
drove my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly line while he was
gone.
They knew they were part of something larger – a nation that
triumphed over fascism and depression; a nation where the most
innovative businesses turned out the world’s best products, and everyone
shared in the pride and success – from the corner office to the factory
floor. My grandparents were given the chance to go to college, buy
their first home, and fulfill the basic bargain at the heart of
America’s story: the promise that hard work will pay off; that
responsibility will be rewarded; that everyone gets a fair shot, and
everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules –
from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, DC.
I ran for President because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I
began my career helping people in the shadow of a shuttered steel mill,
at a time when too many good jobs were starting to move overseas. And
by 2008, we had seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with
costs that kept rising but paychecks that didn’t; racking up more and
more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition; to put gas in the
car or food on the table. And when the house of cards collapsed in the
Great Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their
homes, and their life savings – a tragedy from which we are still
fighting to recover.
Now, our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to
talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t
have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote,
but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they
have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty
years:
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.”
“Deficit too high? Try another.”
“Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it – middle-class families and
small businesses. But I don’t believe that another round of tax breaks
for millionaires will bring good jobs to our shores, or pay down our
deficit. I don’t believe that firing teachers or kicking students off
financial aid will grow the economy, or help us compete with the
scientists and engineers coming out of China. After all that we’ve been
through, I don’t believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street
will help the small businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction
worker keep his home. We’ve been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not
going back. We’re moving forward.
I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never
have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You
elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more
than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over
decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the
kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued
during the only crisis worse than this one. And by the way – those of
us who carry on his party’s legacy should remember that not every
problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from
Washington.
But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our challenges
can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better
place. And I’m asking you to choose that future. I’m asking you to
rally around a set of goals for your country – goals in manufacturing,
energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real,
achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and
rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. That’s what we can do
in the next four years, and that’s why I’m running for a second term as
President of the United States.
We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource
fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and
borrowed, we’re getting back to basics, and doing what America has
always done best:
We’re making things again.
I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d never build
another American car. Today, they can’t build them fast enough, because
we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on top of the world.
I’ve worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to
America – not because our workers make less pay, but because we make
better products. Because we work harder and smarter than anyone else.
I’ve signed trade agreements that are helping our companies sell more
goods to millions of new customers – goods that are stamped with three
proud words: Made in America.
After a decade of decline, this country created over half a million
manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years. And now you have a
choice: we can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs
overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and
train new workers and create new jobs here, in the United States of
America. We can help big factories and small businesses double their
exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a million new
manufacturing jobs in the next four years. You can make that happen.
You can choose that future.
You can choose the path where we control more of our own energy.
After thirty years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the
middle of the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a
gallon of gas. We’ve doubled our use of renewable energy, and
thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines and
long-lasting batteries. In the last year alone, we cut oil imports by
one million barrels a day – more than any administration in recent
history. And today, the United States of America is less dependent on
foreign oil than at any time in nearly two decades.
Now you have a choice – between a strategy that reverses this
progress, or one that builds on it. We’ve opened millions of new acres
for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, and we’ll open
more. But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this
country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4
billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.
We’re offering a better path – a future where we keep investing in
wind and solar and clean coal; where farmers and scientists harness new
biofuels to power our cars and trucks; where construction workers build
homes and factories that waste less energy; where we develop a hundred
year supply of natural gas that’s right beneath our feet. If you choose
this path, we can cut our oil imports in half by 2020 and support more
than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone.
And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is
heating our planet – because climate change is not a hoax. More
droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They’re a threat to
our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about
it.
You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain
the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much
money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It
was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway
to a middle-class life.
For the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered
our call to raise their standards for teaching and learning. Some of
the worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and
reading. Millions of students are paying less for college today because
we finally took on a system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on
banks and lenders.
And now you have a choice – we can gut education, or we can decide
that in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams
deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. No
family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they
don’t have the money. No company should have to look for workers in
China because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here at home.
Government has a role in this. But teachers must inspire; principals
must lead; parents must instill a thirst for learning, and students,
you’ve got to do the work. And together, I promise you – we can
out-educate and out-compete any country on Earth. Help me recruit
100,000 math and science teachers in the next ten years, and improve
early childhood education. Help give two million workers the chance to
learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a
job. Help us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the
growth of tuition costs over the next ten years. We can meet that goal
together. You can choose that future for America.
In a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose
leadership that has been tested and proven. Four years ago, I promised
to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the
terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We’ve blunted
the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will
be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on
the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead.
Tonight, we pay tribute to the Americans who still serve in harm’s
way. We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made
this country safer and more respected. We will never forget you. And
so long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest
military the world has ever known. When you take off the uniform, we
will serve you as well as you’ve served us – because no one who fights
for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their
head, or the care that they need when they come home.
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old alliances and forged new
coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We’ve reasserted our
power across the Pacific and stood up to China on behalf of our workers.
From Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have advanced the rights and
dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians and Muslims and
Jews.
But for all the progress we’ve made, challenges remain. Terrorist
plots must be disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be contained. Our
commitment to Israel’s security must not waver, and neither must our
pursuit of peace. The Iranian government must face a world that stays
united against its nuclear ambitions. The historic change sweeping
across the Arab World must be defined not by the iron fist of a dictator
or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and aspirations of ordinary
people who are reaching for the same rights that we celebrate today.
So now we face a choice. My opponent and his running mate are new to
foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to
take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so
dearly.
After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy – and not al
Qaeda – unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp. You might
not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics
without insulting our closest ally. My opponent said it was “tragic” to
end the war in Iraq, and he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in
Afghanistan. I have, and I will. And while my opponent would spend
more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want,
I’ll use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt
and put more people back to work – rebuilding roads and bridges; schools
and runways. After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and
over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here
at home.
You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without wrecking
our middle class. Independent analysis shows that my plan would cut our
deficits by $4 trillion. Last summer, I worked with Republicans in
Congress to cut $1 trillion in spending – because those of us who
believe government can be a force for good should work harder than
anyone to reform it, so that it’s leaner, more efficient, and more
responsive to the American people.
I want to reform the tax code so that it’s simple, fair, and asks the
wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 –
the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president; the same rate we
had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest
surplus in history, and a lot of millionaires to boot.
Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of
my bipartisan debt commission. No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No
democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his
allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending
trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy – well, you do the
math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m President, I
never will.
I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their deductions for
owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another
millionaire’s tax cut. I refuse to ask students to pay more for
college; or kick children out of Head Start programs, or eliminate
health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor, elderly, or
disabled – all so those with the most can pay less.
And I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should
ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance
companies. They should retire with the care and dignity they have
earned. Yes, we will reform and strengthen Medicare for the long haul,
but we’ll do it by reducing the cost of health care – not by asking
seniors to pay thousands of dollars more. And we will keep the promise
of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it –
not by turning it over to Wall Street.
This is the choice we now face. This is what the election comes down
to. Over and over, we have been told by our opponents that bigger tax
cuts and fewer regulations are the only way; that since government can’t
do everything, it should do almost nothing. If you can’t afford health
insurance, hope that you don’t get sick. If a company releases toxic
pollution into the air your children breathe, well, that’s just the
price of progress. If you can’t afford to start a business or go to
college, take my opponent’s advice and “borrow money from your parents.”
You know what? That’s not who we are. That’s not what this
country’s about. As Americans, we believe we are endowed by our Creator
with certain inalienable rights – rights that no man or government can
take away. We insist on personal responsibility and we celebrate
individual initiative. We’re not entitled to success. We have to earn
it. We honor the strivers, the dreamers, the risk-takers who have
always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system – the
greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known.
But we also believe in something called citizenship – a word at the
very heart of our founding, at the very essence of our democracy; the
idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to
one another, and to future generations.
We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers enough to buy the cars that they build, the whole company does better.
We believe that when a family can no longer be tricked into signing a
mortgage they can’t afford, that family is protected, but so is the
value of other people’s homes, and so is the entire economy.
We believe that a little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by
a great teacher or a grant for college could become the founder of the
next Google, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the President of the
United States – and it’s in our power to give her that chance.
We know that churches and charities can often make more of a
difference than a poverty program alone. We don’t want handouts for
people who refuse to help themselves, and we don’t want bailouts for
banks that break the rules. We don’t think government can solve all our
problems. But we don’t think that government is the source of all our
problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or
unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame
for our troubles.
Because we understand that this democracy is ours.
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as
rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only
asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a
freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of
our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done
for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard
and frustrating but necessary work of self-government.
So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens – you were the change.
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart disorder in
Phoenix who’ll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company
can’t limit her coverage. You did that.
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he’d be
able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get
that chance. You made that possible.
You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to
school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be
deported from the only country she’s ever called home; why selfless
soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who they are or
who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say
to the loved ones who served us so bravely: “Welcome home.”
If you turn away now – if you buy into the cynicism that the change
we fought for isn’t possible…well, change will not happen. If you give
up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices
will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests; the people with the
$10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who
are making it harder for you to vote; Washington politicians who want to
decide who you can marry, or control health care choices that women
should make for themselves.
Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have the power to move us forward.
I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed – and so have I.
I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. I know what it
means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms
the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve shared the
pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers
who’ve lost their jobs. If the critics are right that I’ve made all my
decisions based on polls, then I must not be very good at reading them.
And while I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more
mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he
said, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming
conviction that I had no place else to go.”
But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about
America. Not because I think I have all the answers. Not because I’m
naïve about the magnitude of our challenges.
I’m hopeful because of you.
The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for
her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter
– she gives me hope.
The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost closed, but
kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for his whole town and
one of the cars that he built to surprise his wife – he gives me hope.
The family business in Warroad, Minnesota that didn’t lay off a
single one of their four thousand employees during this recession, even
when their competitors shut down dozens of plants, even when it meant
the owners gave up some perks and pay – because they understood their
biggest asset was the community and the workers who helped build that
business – they give me hope.
And I think about the young sailor I met at Walter Reed hospital,
still recovering from a grenade attack that would cause him to have his
leg amputated above the knee. Six months ago, I would watch him walk
into a White House dinner honoring those who served in Iraq, tall and
twenty pounds heavier, dashing in his uniform, with a big grin on his
face; sturdy on his new leg. And I remember how a few months after that
I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded warriors
on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun
the hard path he had traveled.
He gives me hope.
I don’t know what party these men and women belong to. I don’t know
if they’ll vote for me. But I know that their spirit defines us. They
remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is a “future filled with
hope.”
And if you share that faith with me – if you share that hope with me – I ask you tonight for your vote.
If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is reserved for the few, your voice must be heard in this election.
If you reject the notion that our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election.
If you believe that new plants and factories can dot our landscape;
that new energy can power our future; that new schools can provide
ladders of opportunity to this nation of dreamers; if you believe in a
country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair
share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote
this November.
America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise
that now. Yes, our path is harder – but it leads to a better place.
Yes our road is longer – but we travel it together. We don’t turn back.
We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from
our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes
fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and
that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on
Earth.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless these United States."
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