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Victory
from Page 1 ?.
I would not be standing here tonight
without the unyielding support of my
best friend for the last sixteen years, the
rock of our family and the love of my
life, our nation's next First Lady,
Michelle Obama. Sasha and Majia, I
love you both so much, and you have
earned the new puppy that's coming
with us to the White House. And while
she's no longer with us, I know my
grandmother is watching, along with
the family that made me who I am. I
rniss them tonight, and know that my
debt to them is beyond measure. ^
To my campaign manager David
Plouffe, my chief strategist David
Axelrod. and the best campaign team
ever assembled in the?history of politics
- you made this happen, and I am for
ever grateful for what you've sacrificed
to get it done.
But above all, I wiH never forget
who this' victory truly belongs to - it
The Obamas
belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate
for this office. We didn't start with
much money or many endorsements.
Our campaign was not hatched in the
halls of Washington - it began in the
backyards of Des Moines and the living
rooms of Concord and the front porches
of Charleston.
It was built by working men and
women who dug into what little savings
they had to give five dollars and ten
dollars and twenty dollars to this
cause. It grew strength from the young
people who rejected the myth of their
generation's apathy; who left their
homes and their families for jobs that
offered little pay and less sleep; from
the not-so-young people who braved
the bitter cold and scorching heat to
knock on the doors of perfect strangers;
from the millions of Americans who
volunteered, and organized, and proved
that more than two centuries later, a
government of the people, by the peo
ple and for the people has not perished
from this Earth. This is your vic
6 tory
Barack Obama II with his father, the
late Barack Sr.
I know you didn't do this just to win
an election and I know you didn't do it
for me. You did it because you under
stand the enormity of the task that lies
ahead. For even as we celebrate
tonight, we know the challenges that
tomorrow will bring are the greatest of
our lifetime - two wars, a planet in
peril, the worst financial crisis in a cen
tury. Even as we stand here tonight, we
know there are brave Americans waking
up in the deserts of Iraq and the moun
tains of Afghanistan to risk their lives
for us. There are mothers and fathers
who will lie awake after their children
fall asleep and wonder how they'll
make the mortgage, or pay their doc
tor's bills, or save enough for college.
There is new energy to harness and new
jobs to be created; new schools to build
Obama with members of his high
school basketball team.
and threats to meet and alliances to
repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our
climb will be steep. We may not get
there in one year or even one term, but
America - I have never been more
hopeful than I am tonight that we will
get there. 1 promise you - we as a peo
ple will get there.
There will be setbacks and false
starts. There are many who won't agree
with every decision or policy I make as
President, and we know that govern
ment can't solve every problem. But I
will always be honest with you about
the challenges we face. I will listen to
you. especially when we disagree. And
above all, I will ask you join in the
work of remaking this nation the only
way it's, been, done in America for two
hundred and twenty-one years - block
by block, brick by brick, calloused hand
by calloused han<l.
What began twenty-one months ago
in the depths of winter must not end on
this autumn night. This victory alone is ?
not the change we seek - it is only the
chance for us to make that change. And
that cannot happen if we go back to the
way things were. It cannot happen
without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of
patriotism; of service and responsibility
where each of us resolves to pitch in
and work harder and look after not only
ourselves, but each other. Let us
remember that if this financial crisis
taught us anything, it's that we cannot
have a thriving Wall Street while Main
Street suffers - in this country, we rise
or fall as one nation; as one people.
Let us resist the temptation to fall
back on the same partisanship and petti
ness and immaturity that has poisoned
our politics for so long. Let us remem
ber that it was a man from this state
who first carried the banner of the
Republican Party to the White House -
a party founded on the values of self
reliance, individual liberty, and national
unity. Those are values we all share,
and while the Democratic Party has
won a great victory tonight, we do so
with a measure of humility and determi
nation to heal the divides that have held
back our progress. As Lincoln said to a
nation far more divided than ours, "We
are not enemies, but friends... though
passion may have strained, it must not
break our bonds of affection." And to
those Americans whose support I have ?
yet to earn - I may not have won your
vote, but I hear your voices, I need your
help, and I will be your President too.
And to all those watching tonight
from beyond our shores, from parlia
ments and palaces to those who are
huddled around radios in the forgotten
See Victory on Pace 14
Philadelphia
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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