To those - to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. 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.Ī message to America's enemies and friends: There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education. Įven 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. Obama spoke of the core issues facing the United States at the time, among them the economy, and the Iraq War. Supporters at Grant Park watch Obama delivering his speech And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us. I love you both more than you can imagine. Obama also made a reference to a prospective presidential pet for his daughters. change has come to America', an allusion to the Sam Cooke song ' A Change Is Gonna Come'. Obama proclaimed, 'It's been a long time coming, but. that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth' Obama also referred to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by saying '. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.' Obama directly quoted Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, by saying 'As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. We may not get there in one year, or even in one term-but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.' At another point in the speech he again referenced King when referring to the 'arc of history', a phrase King used regularly, most notably after the Selma to Montgomery marches, saying 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice'. Įchoing Martin Luther King's ' I've Been to the Mountaintop' address, he declared, 'But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America' and 'The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep.

Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, and also referred to speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. The speech heavily referenced the inaugural addresses of former presidents John F. Crowd at Grant Park during Obama's speech

Color war 2008