[00:01] [Music]
[00:14] [Applause]
[00:19] Barack Obama in
[00:21] 2004 was totally unknown people were
[00:25] saying huh I don't know who this guy is
[00:27] wonder why they picked him he had this
[00:29] reputation as a bit of an upstart as
[00:31] sort of a young Rising figure in the
[00:33] party but no one knew who this guy was
[00:35] this was his chance to introduce himself
[00:36] to people tonight is a particular honor
[00:39] for me because let's face it my presence
[00:42] on this stage is pretty
[00:45] unlikely my father was a foreign student
[00:48] born and raised in a small village in
[00:52] Kenya what makes a great political spe
[00:54] is if you can somehow fold your story
[00:56] into this larger American story the next
[00:58] thing he says is about his mother family
[01:00] his grandfather fought in World War II
[01:03] he used the GI bill they settled in
[01:04] Kansas so white people could say uh oh
[01:09] he's just like us my parents shared not
[01:12] only an improbable love they shared an
[01:15] Abiding Faith in the possibilities of
[01:17] this
[01:18] nation I stand here knowing that my
[01:21] story is part of the larger American
[01:23] story that I owe a debt to all of those
[01:26] who came before me and that in no other
[01:28] country on earth is my story even
[01:32] [Music]
[01:32] [Applause]
[01:34] possible going into this speech we've
[01:37] had uh four years of George Bush and we
[01:40] felt as a country like we've grown
[01:42] further apart 04 was very much a
[01:45] divisive partis and race Obama's speech
[01:47] is in some ways an antidote to that
[01:49] alongside our famous individualism
[01:51] there's another ingredient in the
[01:53] American Saga a belief that we're all
[01:56] connected as one people if there's a
[02:00] child on the south side of Chicago who
[02:01] can't read that matters to me even if
[02:03] it's not my child if there's a senior
[02:06] citizen somewhere who can't pay for
[02:08] their prescription drugs and having to
[02:10] choose between medicine and the rent
[02:12] that makes my life poor even if it's not
[02:14] my
[02:16] grandparent it is that fundamental
[02:18] belief I am My Brother's Keeper I am My
[02:21] Sister's Keeper that makes this country
[02:24] work e pluris UNAM out of many one gives
[02:30] a speech that prees his entire political
[02:33] message of 2008 which is this sort of
[02:35] post-partisan argument now even as we
[02:38] speak there are those who are preparing
[02:40] to divide us the Spin Masters the
[02:43] negative ad pedlers who embrace the
[02:45] politics of anything
[02:47] goes well I say to them tonight there is
[02:51] not a liberal America and a conservative
[02:54] America there is the United States of
[02:56] America
[03:01] Obama was bornn with two great gifts one
[03:04] is his mind and the other is his ability
[03:08] to speak to large groups of people there
[03:11] are three things that Obama does that
[03:13] really makes that speech effective he
[03:16] wants concrete detail he likes story and
[03:19] he loves antithesis the use of
[03:22] repetition inst structure to show
[03:24] contrast there is not a liberal America
[03:26] or a conservative America there is one
[03:28] America very is not a Black America and
[03:31] a white America and Latino America and
[03:35] Asian America there's the United States
[03:37] of America the pundits like to slice and
[03:41] dice our country into red States and
[03:44] blue States but I've got news for them
[03:46] too we worship an awesome God in the
[03:48] blue States and we don't like federal
[03:50] agents poking around in our libraries in
[03:52] the red
[03:54] States we coach little league in the
[03:57] blue States and yes we've got some gay
[03:59] friends in the red States We Are One
[04:02] people all of us pledging allegiance to
[04:04] the Stars and Stripes all of us
[04:06] defending the United States of
[04:10] America the way he uses his hands he
[04:12] actually points a lot and does a lot of
[04:14] this and a lot of this a lot of that in
[04:16] doing so he gives off this sense of
[04:17] energy I am new I'm someone who is
[04:20] dynamic and he doesn't do that much
[04:22] anymore he's a little more solemn and
[04:25] reserved when he get speeches today but
[04:27] I think it's more reflective of his
[04:28] office
[04:33] in the end in the end that's what this
[04:35] election is
[04:37] about do we participate in a politics of
[04:41] cynicism or do we participate in a
[04:44] politics of hope it's the hope of slaves
[04:47] sitting around of fire singing freedom
[04:49] songs the hope of immigrants setting out
[04:52] for Distant
[04:53] Shores the hope of a young Naval
[04:56] Lieutenant bravely patrolling the makong
[04:58] Delta the hope of a mill worker's son
[05:01] who dares to defy the odds the hope of a
[05:03] skinny kid with a funny name who
[05:06] believes that America has a place for
[05:08] him
[05:09] too hope hope in the face of difficulty
[05:15] hope in the face of
[05:17] uncertainty The Audacity Of
[05:20] Hope his appearance at that convention
[05:24] which was the best speech of the
[05:25] convention better than John K's was
[05:28] electrifying and and without it he
[05:30] wouldn't be president I think sincerity
[05:32] means a lot there are people who when
[05:34] they speak they speak the truth as they
[05:37] see it and they're they're very
[05:39] effective doing that I believe this
[05:41] country will reclaim its promise and out
[05:44] of this long political Darkness a
[05:46] brighter day will come thank you very
[05:47] much everybody God bless you
[05:59] a
[06:03] [Music]