Obama：This Victory Belongs to You
If there is anyone out there who still doubts
that America is a place where all things are possible,
who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time,
who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches
in numbers this nation has never seen,
by people who waited three hours and four hours,
many for the first time in their lives,
because they believed that this time must be different,
that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor,
Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian,
Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled.
Americans who sent a message to the world
that we have never been just a collection of individuals
or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many
to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve
to put their hands on the arc of history
and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight,
because of what we did on this date in this election
at this defining moment change has come to America.
The election had many firsts and many stories
that will be told for generations.
But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman
who cast her ballot in Atlanta.
She is a lot like the millions of others who stood in line
to make their voices heard in this election except for one thing—
Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land,
she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal,
new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world,
she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness
and a democracy was saved.
Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham,
a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta
who told a people that "We Shall Overcome."
Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin,
a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen,
and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America,
through the best of times and the darkest of hours,
she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much.
But there is so much more to do.
So tonight, let us ask ourselves
if our children should live to see the next century;
if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper,
what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
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. Thank you, God bless you,
and may God Bless the United States of America.