Barack Obama in Philly: "We Can Declare Our Independence"

K Gardner

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Fri Apr-18-08 09:58 PM
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Barack Obama in Philly: "We Can Declare Our Independence"

It was over two hundred years ago that a group of patriots gathered in this city to do something that no one in the world believed they could do. After years of a government that didn�t listen to them, or speak for them, or represent their hopes and their dreams, a few humble colonists came to Philadelphia to declare their independence from the tyranny of the British throne.

The union they created has endured for two centuries not because we�re perfect, but because we�ve always been perfectible � because each generation of Americans has been willing to stand up and sacrifice and do what�s necessary to inch us closer to the ideals at the core of our founding promise � equality, and liberty, and opportunity for all who seek it. That�s how we survived a civil war and two world wars; a Great Depression and great struggles for civil rights and women�s rights and worker�s rights, and now Philadelphia it's our turn.

The challenges we face are not just the fault of one man or one party. How many years � how many decades � have we been talking about solving our health care crisis? How many Presidents have promised to end our dependence on foreign oil? How many jobs have gone overseas in the 70s, and the 80s, and the 90s? And we still don�t have a strategy for American workers to succeed in a global economy. We�re still talking about it in 2008. And everyone here knows why.

Because in every election, politicians come to your cities and your towns, and they tell you what you want to hear, and they make big promises, and they lay out all these plans and policies. But then they go back to Washington when the campaign�s over, and nothing changes. Lobbyists spend millions of dollars to get their way. Folks would rather score political points than solve real problems. Instead of fighting for health care or jobs, Washington ends up fighting over the latest distraction of the week. It happens year after year after year.

But not this year. Not this time. This year we can�t afford the same old politics. This year we can declare our independence from this kind of politics. That�s change we need right now. And that�s the choice you�ll face on Tuesday.

...

In four days, you get the chance to help bring about the change that we need right now. Here in the city and the state that gave birth to our democracy, we can declare our independence from the politics that has shut us out, and let us down, and told us to settle.

We can declare our independence from the politics that�s put the oil companies, and the drug companies, and the insurance companies in charge of the decisions that impact our lives and our children�s lives.

We can declare independence from the say-anything, do-anything politics that�s all about how to win and not why we should; that politics that exploits our differences instead of speaking to our common concerns and our common destinies as Americans.

We can do all these things, but only if we declare our independence from the cynicism and the doubt that tells us that change can�t happen.