obama's speech in virginia!!!

Obama's Speech to Virginia's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner



Barack Obama


Remarks of Senator Barack ObamaVirginia Jefferson-Jackson Dinner
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
Richmond, Virginia

It has now been one year since we began this campaign for the
presidency on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield,
Illinois - just me and 15,000 of my closest friends.

At the time, there weren't too many who imagined we'd be standing
where we are today. I knew I wouldn't be Washington's favorite
candidate. I knew we wouldn't get all the big donors or endorsements
right off the bat. I knew I'd be the underdog in every contest from
January to June. I knew it wouldn't be easy.

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But then something started happening. As we met people in their
living rooms and on their farms; in churches and town hall meetings,
they all started telling a similar story about the state of our
politics today. Whether they're young or old; black or white; Latino or
Asian; Democrat, Independent or even Republican, the message is the
same:

We are tired of being disappointed by our politics. We are tired of
being let down. We're tired of hearing promises made and ten-point
plans proposed in the heat of a campaign only to have nothing change
when everyone goes back to Washington. Because the lobbyists just write
another check. Or because politicians start worrying about how they'll
win the next election instead of why they should. Or because they focus
on who's up and who's down instead of who matters.

And while Washington is consumed with the same drama and division
and distraction, another family puts up a For Sale sign in the front
yard. Another factory shuts its doors forever. Another mother declares
bankruptcy because she cannot pay her child's medical bills.

And another soldier waves goodbye as he leaves on another tour of
duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been
waged. It goes on and on and on, year after year after year.

But in this election - at this moment - Americans are standing up
all across the country to say, not this time. Not this year. The stakes
are too high and the challenges too great to play the same Washington
game with the same Washington players and expect a different result.
And today, voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of
America stood up to say that it is time to turn the page. We won
Louisiana, and Nebraska, and the state of Washington, and I believe
that we can win in Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for
change.

Each of us running for the Democratic nomination agrees on one thing
that the other party does not - the next President must end the
disastrous policies of George W. Bush. And both Senator Clinton and I
have put forth detailed plans and good ideas that would do just that.

But I am running for President because I believe that to actually
make change happen - to make this time different than all the rest - we
need a leader who can finally move beyond the divisive politics of
Washington and bring Democrats, Independents, and Republicans together
to get things done. That's how we'll win this election, and that's how
we'll change this country when I am President of the United States.

This week we found out that the presumptive nominee of the
Republican Party is Senator John McCain. Now, John McCain is a good
man, an American hero, and we honor his half century of service to this
nation. But in this campaign, he has made the decision to embrace the
failed policies George Bush's Washington.

He speaks of a hundred year war in Iraq and sees another on the
horizon with Iran. He once opposed George Bush's tax cuts for the
wealthiest few who don't need them and didn't ask for them. He said
they were too expensive and unwise. And he was absolutely right.

But somewhere along the line, the wheels came off the Straight Talk
Express because he now he supports the very same tax cuts he voted
against. This is what happens when you spend too long in Washington.
Politicians don't say what they mean and they don't mean what they say.
And that is why in this election, our party cannot stand for
business-as-usual in Washington. The Democratic Party must stand for
change.

This fall, we owe the American people a real choice.

It's a choice between debating John McCain about who has the most
experience in Washington, or debating him about who's most likely to
change Washington. Because that's a debate we can win.

It's a choice between debating John McCain about lobbying reform
with a nominee who's taken more money from lobbyists than he has, or
doing it with a campaign that hasn't taken a dime of their money
because we've been funded by you - the American people.

And it's a choice between taking on John McCain with Republicans and
Independents already united against us, or running against him with a
campaign that's united Americans of all parties around a common purpose.

There is a reason why the last six polls in a row have shown that
I'm the strongest candidate against John McCain. It's because we've
done better with Independents in almost every single contest we've had.
It's because we've won in more Red States and swing states that the
next Democratic nominee needs to win in November.

Virginia Democrats know how important this is. That's how Mark
Warner won in this state. That's how Tim Kaine won in this state.
That's how Jim Webb won in this state. And if I am your nominee, this
is one Democrat who plans to campaign in Virginia and win in Virginia
this fall.

We are here to make clear that this election is not between regions
or religions or genders. It's not about rich versus poor; young versus
old; and it is not about black versus white.

It is about the past versus the future. The Republicans in
Washington are already running on the politics of yesterday, which is
why our party must be the party of tomorrow. And that is the party I
will lead as President of the United States.

I know what it takes to pass health care reform because I've done it
-- not by demonizing anyone who disagrees with me, but by bringing
Democrats and Republicans together to provide health insurance to
150,000 children and parents in Illinois.

And when I am President, we'll pass universal health care not in
twenty years, not in ten years, but by the end of my first term in
office. But you don't have to take my word for it. Senator Ted Kennedy
recently said that he wouldn't have endorsed me if he didn't believe
passionately that I will fight for universal health care as President.
And if there's someone who knows something about health care, it's Ted
Kennedy.

My plan would bring down premiums for the typical family by $2500 a
year. We'd ban insurance companies from denying you coverage because of
a pre-existing condition. We'd allow every American to get the same
kind of health care that members of Congress get for themselves. And
the one difference between my plan and Senator Clinton's plan is that
she said she'd 'go after' your wages if you don't buy health care. Well
I believe the reason people don't have health care isn't because no
one's forced them to buy it, it's because no one's made it affordable -
and that's why we bring down the cost of health care more than any
other plan in this race.

It's also time to bring the cost of living down for working families
who are struggling in this economy like never before. They're facing
rising costs and falling wages, and we owe it to them to end the
Bush-McCain tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% and put a tax cut into the
pockets of the families who need it.

That's what I did in Illinois when I brought Democrats and
Republicans together to provide $100 million in tax relief to working
families and the working poor, and that's the kind of tax relief I'll
provide as President.

I will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas
and give a middle-class tax break to 95% of working Americans. And
homeowners who are struggling. And seniors who deserve to retire with
dignity and respect. And I won't wait another ten years to raise the
minimum wage in this country - I will raise it to keep pace with
inflation every single year.

It's also time to give every child, everywhere, a world-class
education, from the day they're born to the day they graduate college.
I am only here today because somebody, somewhere, gave my father a
ticket to come study in America. Because my mother got the opportunity
to put herself through graduate school. Because even though we didn't
have much growing up, I got scholarships to go to some of the best
schools in the country. That's the chance I believe every child should
have.

When I am President, we will give our children the best possible
start by investing in early childhood education. We'll stop talking
about how great our teachers are, and start rewarding them for their
greatness, with better pay and more support. And we will provide every
American with a $4,000 a year tax credit that will finally help make a
college education affordable and available for all.

And when I am President, this party will be the party that finally
makes sure our sons and daughters don't grow up in a century where our
economy is weighed down by our addiction to oil; our foreign policy is
held hostage to the whims of dictators; and our planet passes a moment
of no return.

When I called for higher fuel efficiency standards, I didn't do it
in front of an environmental group in California - I did it in front of
the automakers in Detroit. Now it was pretty quiet - I didn't get a lot
of applause. But we need leadership that tells the American people not
just what they want to hear, but what we need to know. That's why I
will set the goal of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, and
we will meet it - with higher fuel standards and new investments in
renewable fuels that will create millions of new jobs and entire new
industries right here in America.

Finally, it is time to turn the page on eight years of a foreign
policy that has made us less safe and less respected in the world. If I
am the nominee of this party, John McCain will not be able to say that
I agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq; agreed with him on
giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; and agree with him
in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't
like. Because that doesn't make us look strong, it makes us look
arrogant. John F. Kennedy said that you should never negotiate out of
fear, but you should never fear to negotiate. And that's what I will do
as President. I don't just want to end this war in Iraq, I want to end
the mindset that got us into war. It is time to turn the page.

This is our moment. This is our time for change. Our party - the
Democratic Party - has always been at its best when we've led not by
polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when
we've called all Americans to a common purpose - a higher purpose.

We are the party of Jefferson, who wrote the words that we are still
trying to heed - that all of us are created equal - that all of us
deserve the chance to pursue our happiness.

We're the party of Jackson, who took back the White House for the people of this country.

We're the party of a man who overcame his own disability to tell us
that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself; who faced down
fascism and liberated a continent from tyranny.

And we're the party of a young President who asked what we could do for our country, and the challenged us to do it.

That is who we are. That is the Party that we need to be, and can
be, if we cast off our doubts, and leave behind our fears, and choose
the America that we know is possible. Because there is a moment in the
life of every generation, if it is to make its mark on history, when
its spirit has to come through, when it must choose the future over the
past, when it must make its own change from the bottom up.

This is our moment. This is our message - the same message we had
when we were up, and when we were down. The same message that we will
carry all the way to the convention. And in seven months time we can
realize this promise; we can claim this legacy; we can choose new
leadership for America. Because there is nothing we cannot do if the
American people decide it is time.

If we win Virginia this Tuesday, it will be difficult to stop us. I cross my fingers waiting for tomorrow.

Go Obama!

By the way I will really consider Obama as invinsible if we wins one of these states:Ohio and/or Texas.

He has to prove me this, that he can win big states, with great diversities. I bet, if Obama wins one then we can ask Hillary to join the ticket.