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6:13
Transcript
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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Barack Obama in
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2004 was totally unknown people were
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saying huh I don't know who this guy is
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wonder why they picked him he had this
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reputation as a bit of an upstart as
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sort of a young Rising figure in the
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party but no one knew who this guy was
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this was his chance to introduce himself
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to people tonight is a particular honor
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for me because let's face it my presence
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on this stage is pretty
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unlikely my father was a foreign student
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born and raised in a small village in
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Kenya what makes a great political spe
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is if you can somehow fold your story
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into this larger American story the next
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thing he says is about his mother family
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his grandfather fought in World War II
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he used the GI bill they settled in
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Kansas so white people could say uh oh
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he's just like us my parents shared not
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only an improbable love they shared an
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Abiding Faith in the possibilities of
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this
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nation I stand here knowing that my
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story is part of the larger American
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story that I owe a debt to all of those
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who came before me and that in no other
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country on earth is my story even
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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possible going into this speech we've
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had uh four years of George Bush and we
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felt as a country like we've grown
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further apart 04 was very much a
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divisive partis and race Obama's speech
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is in some ways an antidote to that
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alongside our famous individualism
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there's another ingredient in the
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American Saga a belief that we're all
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connected as one people if there's a
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child on the south side of Chicago who
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can't read that matters to me even if
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it's not my child if there's a senior
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citizen somewhere who can't pay for
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their prescription drugs and having to
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choose between medicine and the rent
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that makes my life poor even if it's not
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my
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grandparent it is that fundamental
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belief I am My Brother's Keeper I am My
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Sister's Keeper that makes this country
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work e pluris UNAM out of many one gives
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a speech that prees his entire political
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message of 2008 which is this sort of
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post-partisan argument now even as we
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speak there are those who are preparing
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to divide us the Spin Masters the
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negative ad pedlers who embrace the
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politics of anything
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goes well I say to them tonight there is
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not a liberal America and a conservative
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America there is the United States of
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America
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Obama was bornn with two great gifts one
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is his mind and the other is his ability
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to speak to large groups of people there
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are three things that Obama does that
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really makes that speech effective he
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wants concrete detail he likes story and
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he loves antithesis the use of
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repetition inst structure to show
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contrast there is not a liberal America
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or a conservative America there is one
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America very is not a Black America and
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a white America and Latino America and
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Asian America there's the United States
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of America the pundits like to slice and
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dice our country into red States and
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blue States but I've got news for them
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too we worship an awesome God in the
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blue States and we don't like federal
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agents poking around in our libraries in
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the red
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States we coach little league in the
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blue States and yes we've got some gay
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friends in the red States We Are One
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people all of us pledging allegiance to
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the Stars and Stripes all of us
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defending the United States of
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America the way he uses his hands he
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actually points a lot and does a lot of
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this and a lot of this a lot of that in
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doing so he gives off this sense of
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energy I am new I'm someone who is
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dynamic and he doesn't do that much
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anymore he's a little more solemn and
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reserved when he get speeches today but
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I think it's more reflective of his
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office
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in the end in the end that's what this
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election is
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about do we participate in a politics of
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cynicism or do we participate in a
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politics of hope it's the hope of slaves
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sitting around of fire singing freedom
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songs the hope of immigrants setting out
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for Distant
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Shores the hope of a young Naval
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Lieutenant bravely patrolling the makong
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Delta the hope of a mill worker's son
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who dares to defy the odds the hope of a
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skinny kid with a funny name who
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believes that America has a place for
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him
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too hope hope in the face of difficulty
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hope in the face of
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uncertainty The Audacity Of
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Hope his appearance at that convention
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which was the best speech of the
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convention better than John K's was
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electrifying and and without it he
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wouldn't be president I think sincerity
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means a lot there are people who when
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they speak they speak the truth as they
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see it and they're they're very
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effective doing that I believe this
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country will reclaim its promise and out
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of this long political Darkness a
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brighter day will come thank you very
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much everybody God bless you
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a
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[Music]
— end of transcript —
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