Obama: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine
its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward.
(Applause)
Obama: It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you
reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit
that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of
hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we
are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one
people.
(Applause)
Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while
our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked
ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for
the United States of America the best is yet to come.
(Applause)
Obama: I want to thank every American who participated in this election…
(Applause)
… whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long
time.
(Applause)
By the way, we have to fix that.
(Applause)
Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone…
(Applause)
… whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard
and you made a difference.
I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a
hard-fought campaign.
(Applause)
We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country
deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their
son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public
service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight.
(Applause)
In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney
to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.
(Applause)
I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, America’s happy
warrior, the best vice president anybody could ever hope for, Joe Biden.
(Applause)
Obama: And I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to
marry me 20 years ago.
(Applause)
Let me say this publicly: Michelle, I have never loved you more. I have never
been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you, too, as our
nation’s first lady.
(Applause)
Sasha and Malia, before our very eyes you’re growing up to become two strong,
smart beautiful young women, just like your mom.
(Applause)
Obama: And I’m so proud of you guys. But I will say that for now one dog’s
probably enough.
(Laughter)
To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics…
(Applause)
The best. The best ever. Some of you were new this time around, and some of
you have been at my side since the very beginning.
(Applause)
But all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here,
you will carry the memory of the history we made together and you will have the
life-long appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the
way, through every hill, through every valley.
(Applausé)
You lifted me up the whole way and I will always be grateful for everything
that you’ve done and all the incredible work that you put in.
(Applause)
I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly. And
that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics that tell us that politics is
nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But if
you ever get the chance to talk to folks who turned out at our rallies and
crowded along a rope line in a high school gym, or saw folks working late in a
campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, you’ll discover
something else.
OBAMA: You’ll hear the determination in the voice of a young field organizer
who’s working his way through college and wants to make sure every child has
that same opportunity.
(Applause)
You’ll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer who’s going door to door
because her brother was finally hired when the local auto plant added another
shift.
(Applause)
You’ll hear the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse whose
working the phones late at night to make sure that no one who fights for this
country ever has to fight for a job or a roof over their head when they come
home.
(Applause)
That’s why we do this. That’s what politics can be. That’s why elections
matter. It’s not small, it’s big. It’s important. Democracy in a nation of 300
million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each
of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make
big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up
controversy.
That won’t change after tonight, and it shouldn’t. These arguments we have
are a mark of our liberty. We can never forget that as we speak people in
distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue
about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did
today.
(Applause)
But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America’s
future. We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the
best schools and the best teachers.
(Applause)
A country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and
discovery and innovation, with all the good jobs and new businesses that
follow.
OBAMA: We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by
debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the
destructive power of a warming planet.
(Applause)
We want to pass on a country that’s safe and respected and admired around the
world, a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best
troops this — this world has ever known.
(Applause)
But also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war, to
shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every
human being. We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a
tolerant America, open to the dreams of an immigrant’s daughter who studies in
our schools and pledges to our flag.
(Applause)
To the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the
nearest street corner.
(Applause)
To the furniture worker’s child in North Carolina who wants to become a
doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a
president — that’s the future we hope for. That’s the vision we share. That’s
where we need to go — forward.
(Applause)
That’s where we need to go.
Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there. As it has
for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not
always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path.
By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won’t end all
the gridlock or solve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of
building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this
country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is
recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over.
(Applause)
And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned
from you, and you’ve made me a better president. And with your stories and your
struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than
ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.
(Applause)
Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual.
(Applause)
You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and
months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both
parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit.
Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from
foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.
(Applause)
OBAMA: But that doesn’t mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our
Democracy does not end with your vote. America’s never been 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 the principle we were
founded on.
(Applause)
This country has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us
rich. We have the most powerful military in history, but that’s not what makes
us strong. Our university, our culture are all the envy of the world, but that’s
not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most
diverse nation on earth.
Obama: The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works
when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The
freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with
responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and
duty and patriotism. That’s what makes America great.
(Applause)
I am hopeful tonight because I’ve seen the spirit at work in America. I’ve
seen it in the family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than
lay off their neighbors, and in the workers who would rather cut back their
hours than see a friend lose a job.
I’ve seen it in the soldiers who reenlist after losing a limb and in those
SEALs who charged up the stairs into darkness and danger because they knew there
was a buddy behind them watching their back.
(Applause)
I’ve seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from
every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a
community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm.
(Applause)
And I saw just the other day, in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story
of his 8-year-old daughter, whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their
family everything had it not been for health care reform passing just a few
months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care.
(Applause)
I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father, but meet this incredible
daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd listening to that father’s
story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes, because we knew that
little girl could be our own.
And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. That’s
who we are. That’s the country I’m so proud to lead as your president.
(Applause)
Obama: And tonight, despite all the hardship we’ve been through, despite all
the frustrations of Washington, I’ve never been more hopeful about our
future.
(Applause)
I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that
hope. I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores
the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I’m
not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the
sidelines or shirk from a fight.
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that
insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits
us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep
fighting.
(Applause)
America, I believe we can build on the progress we’ve made and continue to
fight for new jobs and new opportunity and new security for the middle class. I
believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you’re willing
to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or what you
look like or where you love. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or
Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able,
disabled, g*y or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to
try.
(Applause)
I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as
our politics suggests. We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are
greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a
collection of red states and blue states. We are and forever will be the United
States of America.
(Applause)
And together with your help and God’s grace we will continue our journey
forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation
on Earth.
Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States.
