DNC Day 4: Speeches
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Democratic Nominee Barack Obama: Click Here
Fmr. Vice President Al Gore: Click Here
Governor Tim Kaine - Virginia
What an honor to be here on this powerful night! What an honor to speak not just to those gathered here in Denver but to homes across America—and not just those owned by John McCain.
Looking out at this crowd and feeling the energy, I can tell you this: We are making history.
I am here tonight not just as the governor of Virginia who knows the people of my state need a better partner in White House, not just as a Democrat who is tired of politics as usual, but most importantly as an American who wants to see American values guiding our country again.
For eight years we’ve seen what happens when a president lets Washington values become more important than American values. Gas prices skyrocket when the White House lets oil companies call the shots. Our children are left behind when an administration cares more about sound bites than sound schools. And middle-class families are left to fend for themselves to save their jobs, their homes, and their grasp on the American dream.
Maybe for John McCain the American dream means seven houses—and if that’s your America, John McCain is your candidate. But for the rest of us, the American dream means one home—in a safe neighborhood, with good schools and good health care and a little money left over every month to go out for dinner and save for the future.
Does that seem like too much to ask? John McCain thinks it is.
He’ll keep answering to the special interests and Washington lobbyists—we’re ready for leadership that answers to us. And the leader who will deliver the change we need is Barack Obama.
Now folks, it won’t be easy. Change never is. And if we are to succeed, we’ll need a little extra something. The Gospel of Matthew says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain ‘move mountain’ and it will move.” My life-long faith deepened when I traveled to Honduras to work with Catholic missionaries after my first year in law school.
Hay algunos Latinos aqui? Estamos unidos, verdad?
I learned from a great mentor there, Brother Jim O’Leary, that faith is about more than words or doctrine—it’s about action. And that led me to spend my life in public service. While I was learning how to put my faith into action in Honduras, Barack Obama was doing the same thing on the streets of South Side Chicago—empowering people to rebuild their communities and reclaim their lives after the steel plants closed down.
Joe Biden has also spent his lifetime putting faith into action—overcoming unspeakable tragedy in his personal life, and as a U.S. Senator making our world safer, our air cleaner, and protecting women from crimes of violence.
For Barack Obama, for Joe Biden, for me, for all of us, the principles of faith call us to service.
With faith in the American dream, we strive for better schools, economic justice, and smarter foreign policies because we believe in the God-given principles of equality, freedom, and opportunity. With faith in each other, we work for a common-sense approach to politics that focuses on results, not partisan division, because we recognize that we’re all in this together.
Aren’t we all tired of a Washington that doesn’t have any faith in us? Fellow delegates, fellow Democrats, and fellow Americans, now is the time to let our faith guide us to action once again.
We need to put our faith into action—to elect a president who will put middle-class Americans first again and reward companies who create jobs in America instead of shipping them overseas.
We need to put our faith into action—to elect a president who will end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil and invest in green-collar, clean-energy jobs right here at home.
We need to put our faith into action—to elect a president who will invest in our students, teachers and schools, and make college affordable once again for every American family.
We need to put our faith into action—to elect a president who will responsibly end the war in Iraq, give our veterans and their families the support they need, and reinvigorate our military to face the challenges ahead.
If we put our faith into action, we can move mountains.
We can move the mountains of negativity and division and gridlock.
We can move the mountains of special interests and business as usual.
We can move the mountains of hopelessness that surround too many of our people and communities.
Does anybody here have a little faith tonight? Is anybody here ready to move those mountains?
Starting right here in the Mile High City, we will put our faith into action; we will reject the failed policies of George Bush and John McCain; we will elect Barack Obama our next president.
In the words of the gospel hymn—“move mountain.”
Say it with me—“move mountain.”
Say it with me again—“move mountain.”
Mountain, get out of our way!
Martin Luther King III
While waiting to come to the podium, I could not help thinking how proud my father would be:
proud of Barack Obama, proud of the party that nominated him and proud of the America that will elect him.
On this day, exactly 45 years ago, my father stood on the National Mall in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln and proclaimed, “I have a dream! … That one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.”
We’re all children of the dream, and he is in all our hearts and minds. But not only that, he is in the hopes and dreams, the competence and courage, the rightness and readiness of Barack Obama.
But my father would be quick to remind us that realizing his dream is not Barack Obama’s job alone. America needs more than a great president to realize my father’s dream. What America needs is a great America.
Let me paraphrase my father: The ultimate measure of a nation is not where it stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where it stands in times of challenge and controversy.
On some questions, cowardice asks, is a position safe? Expediency asks, is a position politic? Vanity asks, is a position popular? But, that something deep inside us called conscience asks, is a position right?
Sometimes we must take positions that are neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; we must take them because they are right!
If we are to be a great democracy, we must all take an active role in our democracy. We must do democracy. That goes far beyond simply casting your vote. We must all actively champion the causes that ensure the common good.
In five short years, when we reflect upon the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, let us look back and celebrate our audacity to redress poverty, commemorate the hope and faith that led us to take charge of our lives and communities, and venerate our dream of life, liberty and happiness, through our renewed commitment to prevent unjust wars from ever being waged.
Then let us look forward to the next 50 years as we stand together, because our potential as a people is limitless. Work together, because our ability to do good in the world is boundless. And live together, because of our values of fairness, full justice, opportunity and the majesty of the dream.
On this, the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington, and in honor of the legacies of my father and of Bobby Kennedy, let us give our nation a leader who has heard this clarion call and will help us achieve the change we still need: Barack Obama.
Chairman of Democratic National Committee Howard Dean
I’m Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. I know exactly how many houses I own.
Not too long ago, many of us wanted to know what happened to our party. We were on the short end of the last two elections. We were in the minority in the House and Senate.
But we had hope. A plan: “Show up.” We knew if we knocked on doors and told people what we believe, they would respect us and vote for us. That’s exactly what you did. And because you did, today, our party competes in all 50 states. Today, we are a party that took back Congressional seats in Louisiana and Mississippi, and we’re gonna win in Virginia and Alaska. Today, ours is a party that had 35 million Americans vote in our primaries. Today, our party knows that power grows from the grassroots up.
If you’re a young American wanting change, if you’re looking for a government that’s on your side, we are your party. And Barack Obama will be your president.
If you’re a working American wanting change, we are your party. And Barack Obama will be your president.
If you’re an older American or a veteran wanting change, and deserve a government that honors you and your sacrifice, when you’re serving and when you come home, we are your party.
And Barack Obama will be your president.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden both know that this is not just about turning red states blue. It’s about turning our country around. We can’t afford four more years of the same. No matter how many times John McCain tries to hide from it, it’s a fact: John McCain has voted with George Bush and his policies 95 percent of the time over the past year.
John McCain is not a maverick. John McCain is a “yes man.” Like George Bush, John McCain would let companies that ship American jobs overseas keep their tax giveaways. Barack Obama would end those tax breaks and instead reward companies that create jobs in America.
Who do we want as our president?
Like George Bush, John McCain does not see that health care costs are sinking the fortunes of American families and small businesses. Barack Obama will reduce costs and make coverage available to every American.
Who do we want as our president?
Like George Bush, John McCain proposes spending $10 billion a month in Iraq and he’s fine being there for 100 more years. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we should bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, bring our troops home, and invest at home.
Who do you want as our president?
We’ve been working hard to register voters. Recently, these efforts took me to Macon, Georgia. I met a young woman named Randa, whose husband, a staff sergeant in the United States Army, is serving his third tour in Iraq. She has three small children. Her hands, and her days, are pretty full. Yet somehow she has found time to register 450 new voters.
Like millions of Americans all over our country, Randa wants change. She wants her husband to come home safely. She wants better opportunities for her children. She wants to vote for a leader who can move us past the partisanship and bring our country together.
So who do we want as our president?
On behalf of all Democrats, let’s welcome Randa here tonight. Randa knows that Barack Obama and Joe Biden don’t just believe in change. They know how desperately Americans need change.
And with your help—block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, vote by vote—we’ll elect Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.
