Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton supports Obama

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I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud
American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.
My friends, it is time to take back the country we love.
Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a
single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the
sidelines.
This is a fight for the future. And it’s a fight we must win.
I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children,
campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and
fighting for women’s rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican
in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.
And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight
years, to suffer through more failed leadership.
No way. No how. No McCain.
Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our President.
Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When
the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you -- the
American people, your lives, and your children’s futures.
For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and
your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America’s greatness is bound
up in the lives of the American people -- your hard work, your devotion to duty, your
love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of
enormous obstacles.
You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . you even made me cry. You
allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.
I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism,
didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her
bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.
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I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited
months for medical care and said to me: “Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still
over there….and then will you please help take care of me?”
I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum
wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his
family was going to do.
I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the
territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind
by the Bush Administrtation.
To my supporters, my champions -- my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits –
from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
You never gave in. You never gave up. And together we made history.
Along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have
been here with us tonight. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Party
Chair, Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South could be
and should be Democratic from top to bottom.
And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a
loving mother and courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America
fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon
grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.
Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr, and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who
traveled to Denver to join us at our convention.
Bill and Stephanie knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting
at home, and our standing has eroded around the world. We have a lot of work ahead.
Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a rightwing
headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our
nation’s history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis.
Putin and Georgia, Iraq and Iran.
I ran for President to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class
and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to work hard and have that
work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries
and still have a little left over each month.
To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.
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To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so
that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be
stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.
To create a world class education system and make college affordable again.
To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality - from civil
rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to
promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for
our families. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.
To make America once again a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.
To bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and make our government an
instrument of the public good, not of private plunder.
To restore America's standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our
troops home and honor their service by caring for our veterans.
And to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and
genocide to terrorism and global warming.
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their
government for eight long years.
Those are the reasons I ran for President. Those are the reasons I support Barack
Obama. And those are the reasons you should too.
I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you
in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling
with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on
the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American
confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest
challenges. Leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our
ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in
America.
This won’t be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight
to put a Democrat in the White House.
We need to elect Barack Obama because we need a President who understands
that America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy
speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need
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a President who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by
giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new
technologies that will build a green economy.
We need a President who understands that the genius of America has always
depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.
Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global
economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must
start from the ground up, not the top down. He knows government must be about “We the
people” not “We the favored few.”
And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy,
defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time.
Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it
before. And President Obama and the Democrats will do it again.
He’ll transform our energy agenda by creating millions of green jobs and building
a new, clean energy future. He’ll make sure that middle class families get the tax relief
they deserve. And I can’t wait to watch Barack Obama sign a health care plan into law
that covers every single American.
Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly and bring our troops home – a
first step to repairing our alliances around the world.
And he will have with him a terrific partner in Michelle Obama. Anyone who saw
Michelle’s speech last night knows she will be a great First Lady for America.
Americans are also fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama’s side. He is
a strong leader and a good man. He understands both the economic stresses here at home
and the strategic challenges abroad. He is pragmatic, tough, and wise. And, of course, Joe
will be supported by his wonderful wife, Jill.
They will be a great team for our country.
Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend.
He has served our country with honor and courage.
But we don’t need four more years . . . of the last eight years.
More economic stagnation …and less affordable health care.
More high gas prices …and less alternative energy.
More jobs getting shipped overseas …and fewer jobs created here.
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More skyrocketing debt ...home foreclosures …and mounting bills that are
crushing our middle class families.
More war . . . less diplomacy.
More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes
last.
John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t
think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to
privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn
equal pay for equal work.
With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will
be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell
apart.
America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of
every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the
common good.
And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m
a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave
men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to
participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.
And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed
down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the
way.
These women and men looked into their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and
freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and
harassment. To brave violence and jail.
And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment
guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.
My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter
got to vote for her mother for President.
This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never
give up.
How do we give this country back to them?
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By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life
to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.
And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.
If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.
Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep
going.
I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police
officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military –
you always keep going.
We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.
But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing
Barack Obama president.
We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.
Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the
balance.
I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day.
And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big
impact on your life and on the life of our nation.
We've got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices
of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.
That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in
America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for
all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our
country, and in each other.
Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all.