PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years! Four more
years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much everybody
Thank you
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Michelle, I love you so much.
[HOOTS]
A few nights ago everybody was reminded just
what a lucky man I am.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
The other night, I think the entire country
saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha,
we are so proud of you.
[CHEERS]
And yes, you do have to go to school in the
morning.
[LAUGHTER]
And Joe Biden, thank you for being the best
Vice President I could have ever hoped for,
and being a strong and loyal friend.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your
nomination for President of the United States.
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years! Four more
years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: The first time I addressed
this convention in 2004, I was a younger man.
[LAUGHER]
A Senate candidate from Illinois who spoke
about hope – not blind optimism or wishful
thinking, but hope in the face of difficulty;
hope in the face of uncertainty; that dogged
faith in the future which has pushed this
nation forward, even when the odds are great;
even when the road is long. 
 
Eight years later, that hope has been tested
– by the cost of war; by one of the worst
economic crises in history; and by political
gridlock that’s left us wondering whether
it’s still even possible to tackle the challenges
of our time.   
 
I know that campaigns can seem small, and
even silly sometimes.  Trivial things become
big distractions.  Serious issues become
sound bites.  And the truth gets buried under
an avalanche of money and advertising.  If
you’re sick of hearing me approve this message,
believe me – so am I. 
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
But when all is said and done – when you
pick up that ballot to vote – you will face
the clearest choice of any time in a generation. 
Over the next few years, big decisions will
be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy;
taxes and deficits; energy and education;
war and peace – decisions that will have
a huge impact on our lives and on our children’s
lives for decades to come.     
 
On every issue, the choice you face won’t
just be between two candidates or two parties. 
 
It will be a choice between two different
paths for America. 
 
A choice between two fundamentally different
visions for the future.
 
Ours is a fight to restore the values that
built the largest middle class and the strongest
economy the world has ever known.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
The values my grandfather defended as a soldier
in Patton’s Army; the values that drove
my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly
line while he was gone.  
 
They knew they were part of something larger
– a nation that triumphed over fascism and
depression; a nation where the most innovative
businesses turned out the world’s best products,
and everyone shared in the pride and success
– from the corner office to the factory
floor.  My grandparents were given the chance
to go to college, buy their own, their own
home, and fulfill the basic bargain at the
heart of America’s story:  the promise
that hard work will pay off; that responsibility
will be rewarded; that everyone gets a fair
shot, and everyone does their fair share,
and everyone plays by the same rules – from
Main Street to Wall Street to Washington,
DC. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
I ran for President because I saw that basic
bargain slipping away.  I began my career
helping people in the shadow of a shuttered
steel mill, at a time when too many good jobs
were starting to move overseas.  And by 2008,
we had seen nearly a decade in which families
struggled with costs that kept rising but
paychecks that didn’t; folks racking up
more and more debt just to make the mortgage
or pay tuition; to put gas in the car or food
on the table.  And when the house of cards
collapsed in the Great Recession, millions
of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their
homes, and their life savings – a tragedy
from which we’re still fighting to recover.   
 
Now, our friends down in Tampa at the Republican
convention were more than happy to talk about
everything they think is wrong with America,
but they didn’t have much to say about how
they’d make it right. 
[APPLAUSE]
They want your vote, but they don’t want
you to know their plan.  And that’s because
all they have to offer is the same prescriptions
they’ve had for the last thirty years:
 
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.” 
 
“Deficit too high? Try another.”
[LAUGHTER]
 
“Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts,
roll back some regulations, and call us in
the morning!”
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it
--
[HOOTS]
– middle-class families and small businesses. 
But I don’t believe that another round of
tax breaks for millionaires will bring good
jobs to our shores, or pay down our deficit. 
I don’t believe that firing teachers or
kicking students off financial aid will grow
the economy, or help us compete with the scientists
and engineers coming out of China. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
After all that we’ve been through, I don’t
believe that rolling back regulations on Wall
Street will help the small businesswoman expand,
or the laid-off construction worker keep his
home.  We have been there, we’ve tried
that, and we’re not going back.   We’re
moving forward, America.
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
Now I won’t pretend the path I’m offering
is quick or easy.  I never have.  You didn’t
elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. 
You elected me to tell you the truth. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
And the truth is, it will take more than a
few years for us to solve challenges that
have built up over decades.  It will require
common effort, shared responsibility, and
the kind of bold, persistent experimentation
that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the
only crisis worse than this one.  And by
the way – those of us who carry on his party’s
legacy should remember that not every problem
can be remedied with another government program
or dictate from Washington. 
 
But know this, America:  Our problems can
be solved. 
[CHEERS]
Our challenges can be met.  The path we offer
may be harder, but it leads to a better place.
And I’m asking you to choose that future. 
I’m asking you to rally around a set of
goals for your country – goals in manufacturing,
energy, education, national security, and
the deficit; a real, achievable plan that
will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and
rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation.  
That’s what we can do in the next four years,
and that is why I’m running for a second
term as President of the United States. 
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We can choose a future where
we export more products and outsource fewer
jobs.  After a decade that was defined by
what we bought and borrowed, we’re getting
back to basics, and doing what America has
always done best:
 
We’re making things again. 
 
I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo…
[CHEERS]
…who feared they’d never build another
American car.  Today, they can’t build
them fast enough, because we reinvented a
dying auto industry that’s back on the top
of the world.  
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
AUDIENCE: U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! 
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I’ve worked with business
leaders who are bringing jobs back to America
– not because our workers make less pay,
but because we make better products. 
[CHEERS]
Because we work harder and smarter than anyone
else.   
 
I’ve signed trade agreements that are helping
our companies sell more goods to millions
of new customers – goods that are stamped
with three proud words:  Made in America. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
AUDIENCE: U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! 
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: After a decade of decline,
this country created over half a million manufacturing
jobs in the last two and a half years.  And
now you have a choice:  we can give more
tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs
overseas, or we can start rewarding companies
that open new plants and train new workers
and create new jobs here, in the United States
of America. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
We can help big factories and small businesses
double their exports, and if we choose this
path, we can create a million new manufacturing
jobs in the next four years.  You can make
that happen.  You can choose that future. 
 
You can choose the path where we control more
of our own energy.  After thirty years of
inaction, we raised fuel standards so that
by the middle of the next decade, cars and
trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of
gas.  
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
We’ve doubled our use of renewable energy,
and thousands of Americans have jobs today
building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. 
In the last year alone, we cut oil imports
by one million barrels a day – more than
any administration in recent history. 
[CHEERS]
And today, the United States of America is
less dependent on foreign oil than at any
time in nearly two decades.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
So now you have a choice – between a strategy
that reverses this progress, or one that builds
on it.  We’ve opened millions of new acres
for oil and gas exploration in the last three
years, and we’ll open more.  But unlike
my opponent, I will not let oil companies
write this country’s energy plan, or endanger
our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion
in corporate welfare from our taxpayers. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
We’re offering a better path – where we,
a future where we keep investing in wind and
solar and clean coal; where farmers and scientists
harness new biofuels to power our cars and
trucks; where construction workers build homes
and factories that waste less energy; where
we develop a hundred year supply of natural
gas that’s right beneath our feet.  If
you choose this path, we can cut our oil imports
in half by 2020 and support more than 600,000
new jobs in natural gas alone. 
 
And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the
carbon pollution that is heating our planet
– because climate change is not a hoax. 
More droughts and floods and wildfires are
not a joke.  They’re a threat to our children’s
future.  And in this election, you can do
something about it. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
You can choose a future where more Americans
have the chance to gain the skills they need
to compete, no matter how old they are or
how much money they have.  Education was
the gateway to opportunity for me.  It was
the gateway for Michelle.  It was the gateway
for most of you. And now more than ever, it
is the gateway to a middle-class life. 
 
For the first time in a generation, nearly
every state has answered our call to raise
their standards for teaching and learning. 
Some of the worst schools in the country have
made real gains in math and reading.  Millions
of students are paying less for college today
because we finally took on a system that wasted
billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and
lenders.
 
And now you have a choice – we can gut education,
or we can decide that in the United States
of America, no child should have her dreams
deferred because of a crowded classroom or
a crumbling school.  No family should have
to set aside a college acceptance letter because
they don’t have the money.  No company
should have to look for workers overseas because
they couldn’t find any with the right skills
here at home. That’s not our future. That
is not our future.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
Government has a role in this.  But teachers
must inspire; principals must lead; parents
must instill a thirst for learning, and students,
you’ve got to do the work.  And together,
I promise you – we can out-educate and out-compete
any nation on Earth.  So help me, help me
recruit 100,000 math and science teachers
in the next ten years, and improve early childhood
education. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Help give two million workers the chance to
learn skills at their community college that
will lead directly to a job.  Help us work
with colleges and universities to cut in half
the growth of tuition costs over the next
ten years.  We can meet that goal together. 
You can choose that future for America. 
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
That’s our future. You know, in a world
of new threats and new challenges, you can
choose leadership that has been tested and
proven.  Four years ago, I promised to end
the war in Iraq.  We did. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I promised to refocus on the terrorists who
actually attacked us on 9/11.  And we have. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in
Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war
will be over. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
A new tower rises above the New York skyline,
al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama
bin Laden is dead.
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
AUDIENCE: U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!
 U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!  U.S.A!
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Tonight, we pay tribute to
the Americans who still serve in harm’s
way.  We are forever in debt to a generation
whose sacrifice has made this country safer
and more respected.  We will never forget
you.  And so long as I’m Commander-in-Chief,
we will sustain the strongest military the
world has ever known.  When you take off
the uniform, we will serve you as well as
you’ve served us – because no one who
fights for this country should have to fight
for a job, or a roof over their head, or the
care that they need when they come home. 
 
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old
alliances and forged new coalitions to stop
the spread of nuclear weapons.  We’ve reasserted
our power across the Pacific and stood up
to China on behalf of our workers.  From
Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have advanced
the rights and dignity of all human beings
– men and women; Christians and Muslims
and Jews.      
 
But for all the progress that we’ve made,
challenges remain.  Terrorist plots must
be disrupted.  Europe’s crisis must be
contained.  Our commitment to Israel’s
security must not waver, and neither must
our pursuit of peace. 
[CHEERS]
The Iranian government must face a world that
stays united against its nuclear ambitions. 
The historic change sweeping across the Arab
World must be defined not by the iron fist
of a dictator or the hate of extremists, but
by the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people
who are reaching for the same rights that
we celebrate here today. 
 
[CHEERS]
So now we face a choice.  My opponent and
his running mate are new to foreign policy…
[LAUGHTER]
…but from all that we’ve seen and heard,
they want to take us back to an era of blustering
and blundering that cost America so dearly.
 
After all, you don’t call Russia our number
one enemy – and not al Qaeda, Russia – unless
you’re still stuck in a Cold War time warp. 
You might not be ready for diplomacy with
Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics
without insulting our closest ally. 
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]
My opponent said it was “tragic” to end
the war in Iraq, and he won’t tell us how
he’ll end the war in Afghanistan.  Well
I have, and I will. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
And while my opponent would spend more money
on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs
don’t even want, I’ll use the money we’re
no longer spending on war to pay down our
debt and put more people back to work
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
– rebuilding roads and bridges; schools
and runways.  After two wars that have cost
us thousands of lives and over a trillion
dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building
right here at home.
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
You can choose a future where we reduce our
deficit without sticking it to the middle
class.  Independent analysis shows that my
plan would cut our deficits by $4 trillion. 
Last summer, I worked with Republicans in
Congress to cut $1 billion in spending – because
those of us who believe government can be
a force for good should work harder than anyone
to reform it, so that it’s leaner, more
efficient, and more responsive to the American
people. 
[APPLAUSE]
 
I want to reform the tax code so that it’s
simple, fair, and asks the wealthiest households
to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000
– the same rate we had when Bill Clinton
was president; the same rate we had when our
economy created nearly 23 million new jobs,
the biggest surplus in history, and a whole
lot of millionaires to boot. 
 
Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement
based on the principles of my bipartisan debt
commission.  No party has a monopoly on wisdom. 
No democracy works without compromise.  I
want to get this done, and we can get it done.
But when Governor Romney and his allies in
Congress tell us we can somehow lower our
deficits by spending trillions more on new
tax breaks for the wealthy – well, what
did Bill Clinton call it? “Well, you do
the arithmetic.”  You do the math. I refuse
to go along with that.  And as long as I’m
President, I never will. 
 
[CHEERS]
I refuse to ask middle class families to give
up their deductions for owning a home or raising
their kids just to pay for another millionaire’s
tax cut. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I refuse to ask students to pay more for college;
or kick children out of Head Start programs,
or eliminate health insurance for millions
of Americans who are poor, elderly, or disabled
– all so those with the most can pay less. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I’m not going along with that!
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Four more years! Four more
years! Four more years!
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA: And I will never turn Medicare
into a voucher. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
No American should ever have to spend their
golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. 
They should retire with the care and dignity
they have earned.  Yes, we will reform and
strengthen Medicare for the long haul, but
we’ll do it by reducing the cost of health
care – not by asking seniors to pay thousands
of dollars more. 
[AUDIENCE MEMBER HOOTS LOUDLY]
And we will keep the promise of Social Security
by taking the responsible steps to strengthen
it – not by turning it over to Wall Street.  
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
This is the choice we now face.  This is
what the election comes down to.  Over and
over, we have been told by our opponents that
bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are
the only way; that since government can’t
do everything, it should do almost nothing. 
If you can’t afford health insurance, hope
that you don’t get sick.  If a company
releases toxic pollution into the air your
children breathe, well, that’s just the
price of progress.  If you can’t afford
to start a business or go to college, take
my opponent’s advice and “borrow money
from your parents.” 
[LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE, BOOS]
 
You know what?  That’s not who we are. 
That’s not what this country’s about. 
As Americans, we believe we are endowed by
our Creator with certain inalienable rights
– rights that no man or government can take
away.  We insist on personal responsibility
and we celebrate individual initiative. 
We’re not entitled to success.  We have
to earn it.  We honor the strivers, the dreamers,
the risk-takers, the entrepreneurs who have
always been the driving force behind our free
enterprise system – the greatest engine
of growth and prosperity the world has ever
known. 
 
But we also believe in something called citizenship.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Citizenship – a word at the very heart of
our founding, at the very essence of our democracy;
the idea that this country only works when
we accept certain obligations to one another,
and to future generations. 
 
We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers
enough to buy the cars that they build, the
whole company does better. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
We believe that when a family can no longer
be tricked into signing a mortgage they can’t
afford, that family is protected, but so is
the value of other people’s homes, and so
is the entire economy. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
We believe that a little girl who’s offered
an escape from poverty by a great teacher
or a grant for college could become the next
Steve Jobs, or the scientist who cures cancer,
or the President of the United States – and
it is in our power to give her that chance. 
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
We know that churches and charities can often
make more of a difference than a poverty program
alone.  We don’t want handouts for people
who refuse to help themselves, and we certainly
don’t want bailouts for banks that break
the rules.  We don’t think government can
solve all our problems.  But we don’t think
that government is the source of all our problems
– any more than are welfare recipients,
or corporations, or unions, or immigrants,
or gays, or any other group we’re told to
blame for our troubles.
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
 
Because, because America, we understand that
this democracy is ours. 
 
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities
as well as rights; that our destinies are
bound together; that a freedom which asks
only what’s in it for me, a freedom without
a commitment to others, a freedom without
love or charity or duty or patriotism, is
unworthy of our founding ideals, and those
who died in their defense. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
As citizens, we understand that America is
not about what can be done FOR us.  It’s
about what can be done BY us, together, through
the hard and frustrating but necessary work
of self-government. That’s what we believe.
 
So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t
about me.  It was about you.  My fellow
citizens – you were the change. 
[CHEERS]
 
You’re the reason there’s a little girl
with a heart disorder in Phoenix who’ll
get the surgery she needs because an insurance
company can’t limit her coverage.  You
did that. 
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado
who never thought he’d be able to afford
his dream of earning a medical degree is about
to get that chance.  You made that possible. 
 
You’re the reason a young immigrant who
grew up here and went to school here and pledged
allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported
from the only country she’s ever called
home.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Why selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out
of the military because of who they are or
who they love; why thousands of families have
finally been able to say to the loved ones
who served us so bravely: “Welcome home.” 
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
“Welcome home.” You did that! You did
that! You did that!
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
If you turn away now – if you buy into the
cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t
possible…well, change will not happen. 
If you give up on the idea that your voice
can make a difference, then other voices will
fill the void: lobbyists and special interests;
the people with the $10 million checks who
are trying to buy this election and those
who are trying to make it harder for you to
vote; Washington politicians who want to decide
who you can marry, or control health care
choices that women should be making for themselves. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] 
Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. 
Only you have the power to move us forward. 
[CHEERS, INDIVIDUAL AUDIENCE MEMBERS SHOUT
EMOTIONALLY]
 
I recognize that times have changed since
I first spoke to this convention.  The times
have changed – and so have I.
 
I’m no longer just a candidate.  I’m
the President. 
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
And that, and that…
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: And that means I know what
it means to send young Americans into battle,
for I have held in my arms the mothers and
fathers of those who didn’t return.  I’ve
shared the pain of families who’ve lost
their homes, and the frustration of workers
who’ve lost their jobs.  If the critics
are right that I’ve made all my decisions
based on polls, then I must not be very good
at reading them. 
[LAUGHTER]
And while I’m very proud of what we’ve
achieved together, I’m far more mindful
of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln
meant when he said, “I have been driven
to my knees many times by the overwhelming
conviction that I had no place else to go.”  
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
But as I stand here tonight, I have never
been more hopeful about America. 
[CHEERS]
Not because I think I have all the answers. 
Not because I’m naïve about the magnitude
of our challenges. 
 
I’m hopeful because of you. 
 
The young woman I met at a science fair who
won national recognition for her biology research
while living with her family at a homeless
shelter – she gives me hope. 
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
The auto worker who won the lottery after
his plant almost closed, but kept coming to
work every day, and bought flags for his whole
town and one of the cars that he built to
surprise his wife – he gives me hope. 
 
[CHEERS]
The family business in Warroad, Minnesota…
[ISOLATED PART OF AUDIENCE CHEERS]
…that didn’t lay off a single one of their
four thousand employees during this recession,
even when their competitors shut down dozens
of plants, even when it meant the owners gave
up some perks and some pay – because they
understood their biggest asset was the community
and the workers who had helped build that
business – they give me hope. 
 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hope!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: And I think about the young
sailor I met at Walter Reed hospital, still
recovering from a grenade attack that would
cause him to have his leg amputated above
the knee.  Six months ago, we would watch
him walk into a White House dinner honoring
those who served in Iraq, tall and twenty
pounds heavier, dashing in his uniform, with
a big grin on his face; sturdy on his new
leg.  And I remember how a few months after
that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing
with his fellow wounded warriors on a sparkling
spring day, inspiring other heroes who had
just begun the hard path he had traveled. 
 
He gives me hope. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
 
He gives me hope. I don’t know what party
these men and women belong to.  I don’t
know if they’ll vote for me.  But I know
that their spirit defines us.  They remind
me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is
a “future filled with hope.” 
[HOOTS AND CHEERS]
 
And if you share that faith with me – if
you share that hope with me – I ask you
tonight for your vote. 
FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER: You got our vote!
[EXTENDED CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
PRESIDENT OBAMA: If you reject the notion
that this nation’s promise is reserved for
the few, your voice must be heard in this
election. 
SAME AUDIENCE MEMBER: You will!
[ENDURING CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
PRESIDENT OBAMA: If you reject the notion
that our government is forever beholden to
the highest bidder, you need to stand up in
this election. 
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
If you believe that new plants and factories
can dot our landscape; that new energy can
power our future; that new schools can provide
ladders of opportunity to this nation of dreamers;
if you believe in a country where everyone
gets a fair shot, and everyone does their
fair share, and everyone plays by the same
rules, then I need you to vote this November. 
 
[HOOTS, ENDURING CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
America, I never said this journey would be
easy, and I won’t promise that now.  Yes,
our path is harder – but it leads to a better
place. 
AUDIENCE: Yes!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes our road is longer – but
we travel it together. 
AUDIENCE: Yes!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We don’t turn back. 
AUDIENCE: No!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We leave no one behind. 
AUDIENCE: No!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We pull each other up. 
[ENDURING CHEERS AND APPLAUSE WHILE OBAMA
CONTINUES]
We draw strength from our victories, and we
learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes
fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that
Providence is with us, and that we are surely
blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation
on Earth. 
 
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless
these United States.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE GROW]
[“WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN” BY BRUCE SPRINGSTEIN
PLAYS]
♫ I've been knockin' on the door that holds
the throne ♫
♫ I've been lookin' for the map that leads
me home ♫
♫ I've been stumblin' on good hearts turned
to stone ♫
♫ The road of good intentions has gone dry
as bone ♫
♫ We take care of our own ♫
♫ We take care of our own ♫
♫ Wherever this flag's flown ♫
♫ We take care of our own ♫
♫ We take care of our own ♫
♫ We take care of our own ♫
