Obama for America

It's official -- Barack Obama has been nominated by acclamation.

He is the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

You did it.

Barack is on the road today, but he wrote a response that he asked be posted on the blog. You'll find it below.

In addition, for the next 30 minutes or so, three members of our policy staff will be in the comments on this post to respond to any questions you have. Danielle Gray is our Deputy National Policy Director, Denis McDonough is a Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, and Ben Rhodes is Foreign Policy Advisor and Senior Speechwriter.

I hope that you'll join the discussion in the comments thread below, and continue to use the My.BarackObama.com tools as a resource for organizing in your local communities and around the issues that are important to you and to victory in November.

Here's the note from Barack:

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who oppose my decision to support the FISA compromise.

This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power. It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush Administration's program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That's why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.

But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court. In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited. As I've said many times, an independent monitor must watch the watchers to prevent abuses and to protect the civil liberties of the American people. This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility

The Inspectors General report also provides a real mechanism for accountability and should not be discounted. It will allow a close look at past misconduct without hurdles that would exist in federal court because of classification issues. The recent investigation uncovering the illegal politicization of Justice Department hiring sets a strong example of the accountability that can come from a tough and thorough IG report.

The ability to monitor and track individuals who want to attack the United States is a vital counter-terrorism tool, and I'm persuaded that it is necessary to keep the American people safe -- particularly since certain electronic surveillance orders will begin to expire later this summer.  Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise. I do so with the firm intention -- once I’m sworn in as President -- to have my Attorney General conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and to make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future.

Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere. For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion is an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions. No tool has been more important in focusing peoples' attention on the abuses of executive power in this Administration than the active and sustained engagement of American citizens. That holds true -- not just on wiretapping, but on a range of issues where Washington has let the American people down.

I learned long ago, when working as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago, that when citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I'm not exempt from that. I'm certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. That is why we have built the largest grassroots campaign in the history of presidential politics, and that is the kind of White House that I intend to run as President of the United States -- a White House that takes the Constitution seriously, conducts the peoples' business out in the open, welcomes and listens to dissenting views, and asks you to play your part in shaping our country’s destiny. 

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok.  But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have. After all, the choice in this election could not be clearer. Whether it is the economy, foreign policy, or the Supreme Court, my opponent has embraced the failed course of the last eight years, while I want to take this country in a new direction. Make no mistake: if John McCain is elected, the fundamental direction of this country that we love will not change. But if we come together, we have an historic opportunity to chart a new course, a better course. 

So I appreciate the feedback through my.barackobama.com, and I look forward to continuing the conversation in the months and years to come. Together, we have a lot of work to do.

Update: The discussion is going in the comments section. Here's a pic of Denis, Ben and Danielle right now reading the comments (regular HQ blogger Sam Graham-Felsen is back in that empty chair; he took the pic with his phone):

Update II: More than 600 comments and 90 minutes later (three times as long as we'd asked of them!) our policy folks are signing off. Thanks to Denis, Danielle and Ben for their time, and to all of you for your participation. We look forward to continuing the discussion.

Barack Obama spoke Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Here is the video ...

For the full text of his remarks as prepared for delivery, click here.

Barack spoke today at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. His full remarks as prepared for delivery follow ...

The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter.  The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force.  And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.   

But God had a plan for his people.  He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice.  And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church.  As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.   

Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression.

And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:

"Unity is the great need of the hour" is what King said.  Unity is how we shall overcome.

What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved.  But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake.  If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show.  If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose.  Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway.  And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour.  Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it's the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.

I'm not talking about a budget deficit.  I'm not talking about a trade deficit.  I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.

I'm talking about a moral deficit.  I'm talking about an empathy deficit.  I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.

We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame – schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.

We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.

We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.  

We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.

And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own.

So we have a deficit to close.  We have walls – barriers to justice and equality – that must come down.  And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour.

Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we've come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap.  We've come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily – that it's just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved.

All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick.  We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price.

But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won.  It starts with a change in attitudes – a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts.

It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes.  It's not easy to see past our differences.  We've all encountered this in our own lives.  But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart – that puts up walls between us.

We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do.  The welfare queen is taking our tax money.  The immigrant is taking our jobs.  The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant.

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man.  And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean.  If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community.  For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party.  It is played out on television.  It is sensationalized by the media.  And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.

So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds.  The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others – all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face – war and poverty; injustice and inequality.  We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down.  We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate.  It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.   

Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts.

But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there.  It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools.  It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms.  It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.

The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed.  And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.

And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear.  All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice.  None of us will be exempt from responsibility.  We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents.  We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip.

That is how we will bring about the change we seek.  That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words – words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.

He led with words, but he also led with deeds.  He also led by example.  He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity.  He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort.  Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.

That is the unity – the hard-earned unity – that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope – the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.

The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight.  They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives.  They happen in the moments we least expect.  Let me give you an example of one of those stories.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina.  She's been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer.  And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.  They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches.  Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign.  They all have different stories and reasons.  Many bring up a specific issue.  And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.  And Ashley asks him why he's there.  And he does not bring up a specific issue.  He does not say health care or the economy.  He does not say education or the war.   He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.  He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough.  It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we begin.  It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.   

And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta.

And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia.

And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America.  And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down.  The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down.  That is our hope – but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together.

Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.

In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.

In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone

In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.

So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.  May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.

###

Lots of folks have been asking for this video:

... on your local ABC station.

React on the comment thread below.

If you're one of the folks who receives text messages from the campaign, you received this alert earlier:

Debate tonight! Watch Barack live on ABC at 9 PM EST. REPLY with your thoughts after. Ask your friends to text JOIN to 62262 to be part of the movement.

We'll be publishing your reactions as they come in, and Sam is in New Hampshire and will be liveblogging from the debate.

Between now and then, make sure you check out this post from earlier of the amazing crowd in New Hampshire -- the photos are unbelievable, and you'll see a video from a New Hampshire voter who walked into the event undecided but left as a brand new supporter.

It starts with Iowa and before you know it more than half the states in the country will have weighed in by February 5th. We're about to head into what will be the decisive contests of this election, and this morning we gave our web site a bit of a refresh in order to prepare for it.

Things may look a little different, but the experience should be familiar for those of you who are regular visitors. My.BarackObama.com, for example, has been a work in progress from the very beginning thanks to your suggestions and feedback, and it will continue to evolve over the coming weeks.

Instead, we've focused this refresh on making sure those coming to the site for the first time are able to get all the information they need and find their way to what interests them the most.

The biggest changes are to the front page of the site, where we'll now be able to present a lot more information in a clear, concise format. You'll see more of the blog, more of the latest news, and more about events across the country on top of all the ways you can get involved. You'll also find a map and a list of states to help folks find ways to get involved wherever they live.

For those looking to learn more about Barack's positions, we also expanded the policy/issues section with more topic areas and more types of content for the various topics. 

As with any changes, there are bound to be bugs and breakages, so please let us know in the comments of this post if you experience any problems.

We hope you and the thousands of new people who join our movement every day will find the site that much more useful as a result.

Barack issued a statement this morning in response to a shameless column that appeared in a New York paper. He makes clear that this kind of politics has no place in our party our process, and shows that he will not sit idly by in the face of rumors, attacks and innuendo.   

Here's the full text of the statement:

"During our debate in Las Vegas on Thursday, we heard Senator Clinton rail against the politics of 'throwing mud.'

"At the very same time, in Washington, Robert Novak was publishing a column in which he reported the following: 'Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama...'

"The item did not identify these 'agents,' nor did it reveal the nature of the charge.  It was devoid of facts, but heavy on innuendo and insinuation of the sort to which we've become all too accustomed in our politics these past two decades.  If the purpose of this shameless item was to daunt or discourage me or supporters of our campaign from challenging and changing the politics of Washington, it will fail.  In fact, it will only serve to steel our resolve.

"But in the interest of our party, and her own reputation, Senator Clinton should either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none. 

"She of all people, having complained so often about 'the politics of personal destruction,' should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics. 

"I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party. 

"The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old ‘Swift boat’ politics.  The cause of moving America forward demands that we defeat it."

November 17, 2007 -- AGENTS of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look vulnerable and Clinton look prudent. It comes during a dip for the front-running Clinton after she refused to take a stand on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's now discarded plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Experienced Democratic political operatives believe Clinton wants to avoid a repetition of 2004, when attacks on each other by presidential candidates Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt were mutually destructive and facilitated John Kerry's nomination.

As Barack outlines his vision for technology and innovation today, we thought the issues and ideas would be a natural candidate for launching a MyPolicy discussion. So far thousands of people have people have shared stories and ideas that have been incorporated into this and other policy initiatives from the campaign.

In this space, we hope to foster some more detailed discussion of the plan and the opportunities the next president will have to streamline government and open up governance like never before. You'll hear from staff, outside experts, and folks like you. 

So please react to the plan in the comments, and watch this space for questions, commentary and new ideas on these exciting issues.

Lots of folks in the comments are talking about watching Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner live on C-SPAN.

Watch the JJ live on C-SPAN here.  

We're doing out best to give you the view from inside the hall -- but take a second and let us know where you're watching from. Where will you be when Barack takes the stage soon?

Iowans for Obama in the crowd at the JJ are organized (and vocal) ...

UPDATE: Best comment ever in the thread below:

By Deb for Obama

2 minutes ago

Was anyone else sitting at their computer, chanting with the crowd.

My husband is starting to worry about me.

What an amazing moment. Barack led a march of more than 4,000 supporters from the pre-JJ rally into the streets for an incredible show of support. Here's a quick clip of what it looked like:

The thousands of Obama supporters who marched in the parade had just hustled out of the pre-JJ rally to get to the parade site after Barack finished speaking. Lisa in advance, who shot the video above, also got a quick shot of that scene:

We're hustling to get you photos and videos live from the ground here in Des Moines. Stay tuned for more ...

Barack gave the following speech in South Carolina this morning -- take a moment to read the whole thing.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
A Change We Can Believe In
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007
Spartanburg, South Carolina

One year from now, you will have the chance to walk into a voting booth, pull back the curtain, and choose the next President of the United States.  

Here's the good news - for the first time in a long time, the name George Bush will not appear on the ballot.  The name Dick Cheney will not appear on the ballot.  The era of Scooter Libby justice, and Brownie incompetence, and the Karl Rove politics of fear and cynicism will be over.

But the question you will have to ask yourselves when you pick up your ballot a year from today is, "What next?"  How do we repair the enormous damage of these dismal years and recapture that sense of common purpose that has seen America through our toughest times?

I'm running for President because I believe we find ourselves in a moment of great challenge and great promise - a moment that comes along once in a generation.

It's a moment of challenge because America is less safe and less respected than at any time in recent history.  We are more dependent on oil from dictators and closer to the day when climate change becomes a climate catastrophe.

In the midst of great prosperity, families all across this country feel further from the American Dream. You know this from your own lives.  Most Americans are working harder for less and paying more for health care and college than ever before.  It's harder to save.  Harder to retire.  And the policies of the last seven years have added to that unfairness.

George Bush said whatever the politics of the moment required in order to get elected in 2000.  And those seven years of broken promises have left the American people with less trust in their leaders and less faith in their government than they have in years.

We were promised compassion and conservatism but we got Katrina and wiretaps.

We were promised a uniter, but we got a divider who couldn't even lead the half of the country who voted for him.

We were promised a kinder, gentler Washington but got a town that's more bitter, secretive, and corrupt than ever before.  And the only mission ever accomplished was using fear and falsehoods to take us to a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.

This catastrophic failure of leadership has led us to a moment where it's not just Democrats who are listening to what we have to say, but Independents and Republicans who have never been more disillusioned with what the state of our leadership in Washington has done to this country.

That's why this is also a moment of great promise.  It's a chance to turn the page by offering the American people a fundamentally different choice in 2008 - not just in the policies we offer, but in the kind of leadership we offer.  It's a chance to come together and finally solve the challenges that were made worse by George Bush, but existed long before he took office - challenges like health care and energy and education that we haven't met for decades because of a political system in Washington that has failed the American people.

And that's what this debate in our party right now is all about.

Much has been said about the exchanges between Senator Clinton and myself this week.  Now, understand that Hillary Clinton is a colleague and a friend.  She's also a skilled politician, and she's run what Washington would call a "textbook" campaign.  But the problem is the textbook itself.

It's a textbook that's all about winning elections, but says nothing about how to bring the country together to solve problems.  As we saw in the debate last week, it encourages vague, calculated answers to suit the politics of the moment, instead of clear, consistent principles about how you would lead America.  It  teaches you that you can promise progress for everyday people while striking a bargain with the very special interests who crowd them out.

Now, Senator Clinton is certainly not the only one in Washington to play this game.  It's gone on for years, and I understand the reasoning behind it.  It's a game that usually gets politicians where they need to go.  But I don't believe it gets America where we need to go.  When it comes to issues like war and diplomacy; energy and health care, I don't believe we can bring about real change if all we do is change our positions based on what's popular or politically convenient.  If we are going to seize this moment of challenge and promise, the American people deserve more when they head to the voting booth in 2008.  

I believe that our party has made the most difference in people's lives and the life of this country when we have led not by polls but by principle; not by calculation but by conviction; when we've been able to summon the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose.  That's how Roosevelt led us through war and lifted us from depression.  It's how Kennedy called on a new generation to ask what they could do for America.  And I am running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States because that's the kind of leadership America needs right now.

I don't pretend to be a perfect man, and I will not be a perfect President.  But I am in this race because I believe that if we want to break from the failures of the past and finally make progress as a country, we can't keep telling different people what we think they want to hear - we have to tell every American what they need to know.  We have to be honest about the challenges we face.

When I called for higher fuel standards so we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, I didn't say it to some environmental group in California - I said it in front of automakers in Detroit.  When I called for corporate responsibility so that middle-class Americans could get a tax cut, I said it in front of CEOs on Wall Street.  And when I was invited to speak out against George Bush's plan to invade Iraq as a Senate candidate five years ago, I didn't listen to those who warned me that it was politically risky position to take, I listened to my gut, and I said loud and clear that this was the wrong war at the wrong time and Congress should stand up and say so.

That's the kind of leadership we need right now.  That's why I'm this race.  Because I don't think you should settle for a President who's only there for you when it's easy or convenient or popular - I think you deserve a President who's willing to fight for you every hour of every day for the next four years. 

That's the change we can offer in 2008 - not change as a slogan, but change we can believe in.

One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over.  I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and I've won.  I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won't find a job in my White House.  Because real change isn't another four years of defending lobbyists who don't represent real Americans - it's standing with working Americans who have seen their jobs disappear and their wages decline and their hope for the future slip further and further away.   That's the change we can offer in 2008.

When I am President, I will end the tax giveaways to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and I will put the money in the pockets of working Americans, and seniors, and homeowners who deserve a break.  I won't wait ten years to raise the minimum wage - I'll raise it to keep pace every single year.  And if American workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes and I will walk on that picket line with you as President of the United States.

One year from now, we can stop campaigning on the outrage of 47 million uninsured Americans and finally start doing something about it.  I reformed health care in Illinois, and I didn't do it alone - I did it by reaching out to Democrats and Republicans.  We took on the insurance industry, and we won.  That's how I'll pass a universal health care bill that allows every American to get the same kind of health care that members of Congress get for themselves and cuts every family's premiums by up to $2500.  And mark my words - I will sign this bill by the end of my first term as President.  That's the change we can offer in 2008.

One year from now, we can stop sending our children down corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success.  When I am President, we will stop passing bills called No Child Left Behind that leave the money behind and start making real investments in education from cradle to adulthood.  That means early childhood education.  That means recruiting an army of new teachers, and paying them better, and supporting them more so they're not just teaching to test, but teaching to teach.  And it means finally putting a college education within reach of every American.  That's the change we can offer in 2008.

One year from now, we can stop sending hundreds of millions of dollars to dictators for their oil while we melt the polar ice caps in the bargain.  I will raise our fuel standards, and put a cap on carbon emissions to reduce then 80% by 2050.  We'll tell polluters that they have to pay for their pollution, because they don't own the skies, the American people own the skies.  And we'll use the money to invest in the clean, renewable fuels that are our future.  That's the change we can offer in 2008.

In this election, we have the chance to turn the page on the last six years of being told that the only way for Democrats to look tough on national security is to talk, and act, and vote like George Bush Republicans.

When I'm your nominee, my opponent won't be able to say that I was for the war in Iraq before I was against it; or that I supported an extension of the Iraq war into Iran; or that I support the Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don't like.  And he won't be able to say that I flip-flopped on something as fundamental as whether our nation should use torture. Because we are not a nation that makes excuses for torture, we are a nation that rejects it.  That's the change we can offer in 2008.

When I am President, I will end this war in Iraq.  I will bring our troops home within sixteen months.  I'll finish the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.  And I will lead the world against the common threats of the 21st century - nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.  That's what Democrats must stand for, and that's what America must stand for.  And I'll be a President who finally sends a message to the black, white, and brown faces beyond our shores; from the halls of power to the huts of Africa that says, "You matter to America.  Your future is our future.  And our moment is now."

America, our moment is now.  Now is our chance to turn the page.  Now is our chance to write a new chapter.

I am in this race because I don't want to see us spend the next year re-fighting the Washington battles of the 1990s.  I don't want to pit Blue America against Red America, I want to lead a United States of America.  I don't want this election to be about the past, because if it's about the future, we all win.  If this election is about whether or not to end this war, or pass universal health care, or make more college affordable, it won't just be a Democratic victory; it will be an American victory.

That's the victory this country needs right now.  This election and this moment are too important to settle for what we already know.  The time has come to reach for what we know is possible.

I am not running for this office to fulfill any long-held plans or because I believe it is somehow owed to me.  I never expected to be here, and I always knew the journey would be improbable.  I've never been on one that wasn't.

I am running because of what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now."  I am running because I do believe there's such a thing as being too late.  And that hour is almost here.

I'm running because I don't want to wake up one morning four years from now, and turn on one of those cable talk shows, and see that Washington is still stuck in the same food fight it's been in for over a decade.  I don't want to see that more Americans lost their health care and fell into bankruptcy because we let the insurance industry spend millions to stop us for yet another year.   I don't want to see that.

I don't want to see that the oceans rose another few inches and the planet has reached the point of no return because we couldn't find a way to stop ourselves from buying oil from dictators.  I don't want to see that.

I don't want to see that we risked more American lives in another misguided war because no one had the judgment to ask the tough questions before we sent our troops to fight.  I don't want to see that.

I don't want to see homeless veterans on the street.  I don't want to send another generation of children through corridors of shame.  I don't want this future for my daughters and I do not accept this future for America.  It is time to turn the page.

I run for the presidency for the same reason I drove halfway across the country over two decades ago to bring jobs to the jobless and hope to the hopeless on the streets of Chicago; for the same reason I stood up for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason I've fought for Illinois families for over a decade.  Because I will never forget that the only reason I am standing here today is because someone, somewhere stood up when it wasn't popular, when it was risky; when it was hard.  And because that someone stood up, a few more did.  And then a few thousand.  And then a few million.  And together, they changed the world.

That's why I run in this election.  I run to give my children and their children the same chances that someone, somewhere gave me.  I run so that a year from today, there is a chance that the world will look at America differently, and that America will look at itself differently.  And I run to keep the promise of the United States of America alive for all those who still hunger for opportunity and thirst for equality and long to believe again.

That is the change that's possible in this election.  That is the moment I want to seize as President.  And I ask you all to join me in this journey.  Thank you.  

As prepared for delivery.

Volunteers are prepping, the staff is hard at work, and the buzz around Washington Square Park is all about Barack and the movement you've built.

A couple of photos from the pre-rally preparations ...

There's still time to RSVP for the rally (it's free) and get your rapid entry pass. If you're in New York, come join us ....