YES WE CAN!

[hedgehog]

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. I promise you – we as a people 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 government 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 hand.

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. (my emphasis)

.......

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/05/uselections2008-barackobama

[Autumn]

1. Nice speech n/t

[hedgehog]

2. People forget that he got his start in this business as a

community organizer, not as the Lone Ranger!

[Autumn]

5. No one wants the Lone Ranger for President..

Me? I want the guy who gave that speech.

[polichick]

7. Seems he was a figment of everyone's imagination - including his own. nt

[Autumn]

9. These were his words

"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 understand 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 century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains 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 doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair."

I'm not seeing a lot of improvement there. The financial crisis? The ones who created that crisis are doing very well and a lot of them are in charge. There was a report that 49% of all the jobs created are low wage jobs. Now there are mothers and fathers who will lie awake because they have lost their home.

Forgot to add the wars roll on.

[polichick]

10. One of the most inexplicable things is that he installed Wall Street players in the WH...

...the same people who helped to create the financial collapse, when he could have chosen any number of economic experts who would have worked for the people.

And the wars too are all about corporate gain.

Bait & switch is what comes to mind, however depressing!

[ClarkUSA]

14. He also has Elizabeth Warren in the WH. Summers & Geithner saved the economy from going off a cliff

Also, there is only one war now. It's plainly ridiculous to say the Afghanistan war is "all about corporate gain" unless you have proof to back up such rhetoric?

[inna]

3. Who's that guy and what happened to him, I wish he was a President now.

[treestar]

19. Did you miss the part about the climb being steep, the false starts,

and it taking more than one term?

If anything, it proves just how childish some people are.

[Solomon]

21. Thank you. Microwave society we got now.

We must have it now or it's no good.

[polichick]

4. That was our chance alright - best opportunity Dems have had in decades...

...only to be mostly pissed away in the service of status quo/corporate power politics.

[Armstead]

11. Exactly.. It's been a case of "Inspiration Interruptus"

[JuniperLea]

22. So, who you gonna vote for this time? eom

[opihimoimoi]

6. FUCK YEAH..... WE MUST NOT RETURN TO THEM GOPers....They are the BLK HOLE of our Nation....They SUCK

at the HELM...their trend is running the Ship into the reefs.

[rug]

8. Yes We Could Have

[Armstead]

12. Might have

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[creon]

15. Yes, we can

We can if we go by the motto of : "Solidarity".
The Democratic Party is a big tent with a many different people and groups; which is an asset, not a liabilty.

Now is not the time to argue about matters that do not mean very much.

[Clio the Leo]

16. I'd say it was Obama's emphasis too...

.... ;)

If I were him, I'd go on MSNBC and say, "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! Were you all DRUNK during my speech on election night!? Did you not hear a WORD I SAID!!!!?"

[displacedvermoter]

17. "I will listen to you, especially when we disagree"

Which, if you happen to be to the left of Dwight Eisenhower, will be frequently. I will use your ideas to frighten people on Fox, and my aides will all be to the right of all of you, with close ties to the Wall Street types who destroyed the economy. But I will listen to you, take your money if you still want to donate to me, and then do very much what I think "independents" and David Broder want to see done.

If I were him, I would go on MSNBC and say "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, the GOP has come close to destroying this nation, and conducted untold brutal illegal actions at home and abroad. It is time this evil organization is punished and prevented from doing further damage."

But no, we are still looking forward -- not backwards -- and this has allowed the destruction to continue.

[Youth Uprising]

18. Unbelievable...

What do you think real progressives have being doing all this time?! Obama said during the campaign that he needed us to push him towards the right direction, he didn't tell us to coddle him and make excuses for him.

[BklnDem75]

20. He said push, not push away

And what's a 'real' progressive? Anything like a 'real' American? Let's not go Palin now.

[JuniperLea]

23. Paying attention, I'd say...

Either you were in this from the beginning, listened and understood the fight/climb/struggle ahead, or you didn't.

I did. And I never for a moment thought everything was going to go our way. I paid attention and voted for a pragmatic President who wouldn't let the good go in search of the perfect. I paid attention and I know without question that Obama is President to all Americans, not just Democrats. That said, there have been more positive progressive turns in the past two years than there have been in the past ten... but that won't stop a lot of grumbling. I'm really beginning to see that grumbling as selfish, but that's my opinion and I'm allowed.

Here's to the second term!