28 August 2008, Barack Obama


Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas
and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
America, this is one of those moments.
I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming.  Because I've seen it.  Because
I've lived it. Because I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and
moved more families from welfare to work.  I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party
lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our
veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.
And I've seen it in this campaign.  In the young people who voted for the first time, and in the
young at heart, those who got involved again after a very long time.  In the Republicans who never
thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did.  I've seen it in the workers who would rather
cut their hours back a day even if they can´t afford it  than see their friends lose their jobs, in
the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a
hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.
You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich.
We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong.  Our universities
and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our
shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the
path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye
not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance.  It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them
in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross
oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach
for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this
land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young
preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things.  They could've heard words of
anger and discord.  They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many
dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is
that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked.  That together, our dreams can be one.
"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried.  "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall
always march ahead.  We cannot turn back."
America, we cannot turn back.  Not with so much work to be done.  Not with so many children to
educate, and so many veterans to care for.  Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and
farms to save.  Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend.  America, we cannot
turn back.  We cannot walk alone.  At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to
march into the future.  Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of
Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.