Illinois Senator Barack Obama with his family react to applause on the stage at Invesco field to accepts his parties nomination for President of the United States of America. The final night of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, August 28, 2008 at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Co. John Leyba, The Denver Post (THE DENVER POST | John Leyba)
I recently came out of shock.
The speeches, the emotions, everything was overload. Never would I have imagined that this year would be the year to change history.
We are all making history right now, the 18 million people who voted for Senator Obama, the 18 million people who voted for Senator Clinton. All of us, joined together to make Barack Obama the first African American candidate for President from a major political party. From Ted Kennedy’s emotional speech recalling John F. Kennedy, to Dennis Kucinich’s spine chilling speech telling American to “wake up”, to Hillary’s speech telling us “no McCain” to Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama’s speech.
All 80,000+ Americans in Denver witnessed it 38,300,000 Americans watched it from their homes, even more watched it online, or read about it in their papers.
Every word was one to remember. Every moment was historical. Below I have chosen two parts of Senator Obama’s speech which stuck with me for one reason or another.
Patriotism has no party. I love this party and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be democrats and republicans and independents but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America, or a blue America, they have served the United States of America.
Was has also been lost is our sense of common purpose, and that’s what we have to restore. We may not agree on abortion but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gun violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the second amendment while keeping AK-47’s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same sex marriage. But surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and deserve to live lives free of discrimination. Our passions may fly on immigration but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America’s promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength, and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.
- Barack Obama
What did you think of the convention? What speeches stuck with you?
