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And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight,
we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours: “We are not enemies but friends...”
“Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
To those Americans who — whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight,
but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your President, too.
And all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces,
to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular,
but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those... To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you.
To those who seek peace and security: We support you.
And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright:
Tonight we’ve proved once more that the true strength of our nation
comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth,
but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
That’s the true genius of America: that America can change.
Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations.
But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta.
She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line
to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing:
Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery;
a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky;
when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons:
because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America
— the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress;
the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed,
she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
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, 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. |
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