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May 2nd, 2008
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Well, good afternoon. You know, let me begin by apologizing. We don't do late. But the weather in Chicago wasn't cooperating. We were sitting on a plane for two hours waiting for that little window. But we made it, and I am grateful to all of you for sticking around, for coming. It means a great deal to me. I just want to do a few thank you and acknowledgements before I get going. I want to thank Ebony Covington for that wonderful introduction, for all the work that she's doing on behalf of the campaign. I didn't get a chance to meet Carol Faulkner Fox, but I know she did the Pledge of Allegiance, and hopefully I'll get a chance to meet her. But I want to thank her. Mayor Bell was here. I got to meet him before going out, and he had to get back to the business of running this city, but we thank him for all of his support. As he said to me, we should expect to win this state, and win this city. And I will hold him to that, along with all of you all. He was pretty fired up and ready to go.
I also want thank our staff and volunteers. I know you met Tony Elmo, who is the campaign field organizer who did the pitch. It's important for you all to know that we wouldn't be here if it were not for our staff, and for our volunteers, the folks, folks who have sacrificed just as much if not more as Barack and I. People have given up their jobs, left school, they're sleeping on people's floors, they've been doing it for fifteen months. And they have built what has become a phenomenal organization with a power that has been unmatched. So we are proud of everyone for all of their work.
And I also want to acknowledge Senator Floyd McKissick, who is…I'm not sure, there you go, how you doing? It's good to see you again. And Representative Mickey Mashaw as well. Representative, it's good to see you again. And one important thing, tomorrow is the last day of early voting. So vote. Early. Don't wait 'til Tuesday, because it could be raining, you might get sick. Go vote. Do it. It's easy, and you know all those trifling people in your life who aren't voting, get them up. It's Saturday, so you can get them up, drive them around, you don't have to wait. Remind them to make it happen. So let's just put that note in our to-do list, tomorrow early voting.
So it has been a pretty exciting year for the Obama family. I don't know if you've been paying attention this year. But this guy that I'm married to, Barack Obama, is running to become the next president of the United States. And he's been working mighty hard. And I like to walk people through this year, because you know, it has been amazing. And when you look over the year and what has happened, you realize just how amazing this journey is, so come with me for the last fifteen or so months when it started in Sprinfield, Illinois at Barack's announcement in February, a year or so ago. And 16,000 people showed up for that announcement. It was freezing cold, North Carolina, like 10 below? And the announcement was outside. I know you all don't understand that, but yes, people came out and stood to watch what they believed would be a historic journey. And it has been all of that and more, and we were very excited. We took that crowd to be an omen, sort of a sign, that even before anybody knew Barack, 16,000 people showed up. So we were excited.
But then right after that happened, as things started building up, everyone said this race is over. They said there was no way that Barack Obama could win. They said there was an inevitable candidate. And right now, I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office. But the odds were against Barack Obama, because they said there were many tests that would determine a strong candidacy. And they said of course, Barack Obama would not be able to do any of it. And it started with raising money. I don't know if you remember, money was the measure. They were saying whoever could raise the millions that would be required to run would be a strong candidate, would be the strongest candidate. And they said there was no way Barack could compete against a political juggernaut, a fundraising machine, a dynasty, that had been raising money and building relationships throughout the nation for decades. But then what Barack did was a little different. He said I'm going to try a different approach to this presidential fundraising. I'm going to reach out to regular folks. I'm going to start talking to people who no one has ever approached about contributing to a campaign. Not the big dollar donors, and we have our share, and we love them, but we were talking to folks who were writing $10, $20, $30, $40, $50 dollar checks, people who never felt that that small amount could make a difference in a presidential campaign. But you know what? When there are millions of people doing that, then you raise millions of dollars. And Barack's approach to political fundraising has changed the dynamic in presidential politics forever, because not they can't say that people without means will not give, because if they're asked, and they believe in the candidate, yes they will. Barack has more than one million donors. More than one million people have contributed to this campaign. And as a result of those forces, regular folks bringing their resources together, Barack has raised millions.
But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete, because against again, the inevitable candidate, had been building relationships and an organization for decades. And they said there was no way that in such a short period of time, this guy nobody every knew could build a political organization that could compete. But then, Barack tried something different. He started relying on regular folks, you know, people who had never been engaged in the process before, people who had never felt any desire to be involved in politics, because either they didn't think it would change anything, or no one had asked them. No one had reached out. Young folks, who everyone said you don't bother with young people, because they will not vote, they'll be excited, they'll come to the rally, but again, they won't vote. But Barack didn't listen to that. So he reached out not just to young folks and old folks, but people in all types of parties. He built a kind of new working majority - Republicans and Democrats and independents and young and old, and black and white, and all colors of the rainbow. And it was a strong organization that has led us to where we are now. And many of the old time Democratic folks have looked at this organization and said they have never seen as well organized, as well functioning a political organization as this one. So he built it.
But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure, because you remember Iowa, remember, remember Iowa? I know that was a long time ago, but I remember Iowa, because everyone said that Iowa was different, and it was an important state because it was a caucus, and that with Iowa, you had to go into those states, and the citizens would spend time looking over every single candidate, asking questions, poking and prodding. There would be an analysis of the candidates by those voters that would be unavailable to most in other states. So this was an important state. And whoever came out of Iowa strong, they said, was going to be a strong presidential nominee. So we go to Iowa. And we spent months in Iowa, and it was a wonderful experience, because let me tell you, the voters of Iowa were everything that folks said. They were thoughtful, they were open-minded, they were gracious, they didn't decide. They wouldn't just hand you their support. You had to earn it. And we didn't know what people were doing until caucus night, because folks felt an obligation not to pick a candidate. So we were in people's living rooms and open air barns, and stores. I've been in every county, almost, in Iowa. And it was a wonderful experience. And what happened in Iowa? Barack won Iowa. And he won it by an overwhelming majority. He blew out the caucuses.
But see, after that happened, then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus. It wasn't a primary was the argument, and that was different. So I'm scratching my head, I'm like okay, so, here we go. So now what was important was the national numbers. Iowa's no longer important, it was a national race. That was going to tell the picture. That was going to tell the story. And of course, at least at that time, Barack was down in the national polls by double digits. So it was nice that it was then a national race, because the folks said well, there's no way that Barack Obama, somebody that folks didn't know nationally, could narrow that gap, because they said his opponent was known nationally, and had contacts throughout the country. So here we go. And then those numbers started narrowing, each and every month, each and every week. Those numbers narrowed. And we go into New Hampshire, and New Hampshire was supposed to be his opponent's firewall. Barack was supposed to be crushed in New Hampshire. That was supposed to be the outcome, because his opponent lived near that state, had been building relationships in New Hampshire for a lifetime. But what happened in New Hampshire? We didn't win that state, but we lost by such a narrow margin of victory, we walked away with just as many delegates. We considered that a tremendous victory.
So then we go into South Carolina. We were excited about South Carolina. But then they said don't be so excited about South Carolina, because South Carolina doesn't count. They said it doesn't count for Barack Obama, because Barack Obama was supposed to win South Carolina. You remember that? So yeah, we won South Carolina. But we won it by such a huge margin of victory that it was hard to spin it. And it's important for people to remember that Barack just didn't win South Carolina, not just the black vote, as folks tried to spin it. Barack won every county in that state except for two.
So then, we roll into Super Tuesday. Again, the race was supposed to be over on Super Tuesday. It was. But what happened on that day? Barack racked up so many victories. And since that time, he's continued to build on his victories. When was the last time we've seen a candidate who was able to win states like Utah and Georgia, Missouri and Illinois, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Wisconsin? And yes, Barack won the Texas caucuses.
So at this stage of the game, this is where we are. These are the facts. Barack has raised more money. Barack has built a stronger, more functioning organization. Barack has won more of the popular vote. Barack has won more pledged delegates. Barack has won more states. And let me tell you, he's won in all kinds of states. He's won in big states and small states, red and blue, swing states. He's won the black vote and the white vote. He's won among women, he's won votes from seniors, from young, from brown. Let's understand this. These victories cannot be minimized. This is what has happened. Oh, yes, and those superdelegates? We're still behind a little bit, but let me tell you what's happened since Super Tuesday, when the superdelegate lead was in the hundreds. That lead has now narrowed. It is about twenty. Barack has closed that gap continuously, through all the ups and downs, all the drama. That gap has continued to close. So here we are. What a year. We are not supposed to be here. So don't tell me Barack is the frontrunner. Don't tell me that. Barack has been beating the odds, every day, every week, every month, and just giving us a different kind of hope in the process, the hope that politics can be different, that you don't have to wallow in the mud, that you can rise up above it.
And we've learned a few things. We've learned a couple of things in this year. We've learned first and foremost that the American people are hungry for change. I mean, it's a real hunger, and it knows no race and no gender. People know that where we are isn't where we should be. They know that we can't keep on the same path hoping for a different outcome. Folks know this inside. People are a little nervous about what change will look like. Change is not easy. But folks know that what we've been doing hasn't worked. So they're paying attention this time around. The American people are focuses on this election like they have not been in a long time, at least not in my lifetime. People are attending political rallies, they're standing two hours waiting for me to come from Chicago. And I am always proud to see people who bring their children, just to have them witness this, so that they understand what it means to be engaged, what it feels like. When was the last time you've seen families sitting around the TV's to watch a political debate? When was the last time you've heard anybody in this nation talking about delegates, super, pledged or otherwise? Quite frankly, admit it, you didn't even know there were delegates up until this race. So people are engaged, and it isn't just Barack. All supporters of the candidates are focused in a way that they have not been, and that's a good thing, and it's something that we should all be proud of.
But we've also learned something else this year, something that we've all sort of felt at some point in our life, that we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach. And that's a little bit of what Barack has been experiencing. The bar is constantly changing for this man. Raise the money? Not enough. Build an organization? Not enough. Win a whole bunch of states? Not the right states. You got to win certain states. So the bar has been shifting and moving in this race, but the irony is, the sad irony is that that's exactly what's happening to most Americans in this country. The bar is shifting and moving on people all the time. And folks are struggling like never before, working harder than ever, believing that their hard work will lead to some reward, some payoff. But what they find is that they get there and the bar has changed, things are different, wasn't enough. So you have to work even harder.
And see what happens when you live in a nation where the vast majority of Americans are struggling every day to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar, then what happens in that nation is that people do become isolated. They do live in a level of division, because see, when you're that busy struggling all the time, which most people that you know and I know are, that you don't have time to get to know your neighbor. You don't have time to reach out and have conversations, to share stories. In fact, you feel very alone in your struggle, because you feel that somehow, it must be your fault that you're struggling so hard. Everybody else must be doing okay. I must be doing something wrong, so you hide. You don't realize that the struggles of that farmer in rural Iowa are the same as the struggles as a city worker in the south side of Chicago, because we don't talk to each other. And when you live in a nation with a vast majority of Americans are struggling to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar, then naturally, people become cynical. They don't believe that politics can do anything for them. So they fold their arms in disgust, and they say you know, I can't be bothered voting, because it has never done anything for me before. So let me stay home, let me not bother. Naturally, we as a nation get cynical.
And when you live in a nation where people are struggling every day to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar, then what happens in that kind of nation is that people are afraid, because when your world's not right, no matter how hard you work, then you become afraid of everyone and everything, because you don't know who's fault it is, why you can't get a handle on life, why you can't secure a better future for your kids. And the problem with fear is that it cuts us off. Fear is the worst enemy. It cuts us off from one another and our own families, and our communities, and it has certainly cut us off from the rest of the world. It's like fear creates this veil of impossibility, and it is hanging over all of our heads, and we spend more time now in this nation talking about what we can't do, what won't work, what can't change. See, and the problem with that kind of thinking is that we passed that on to our children, because see, the thing I know as a mother is our children are watching everything we do and say, every explicit and implicit sign, they are watching us. And our fear is helping us to raise a nation of young doubters, young people who are insular and they're timid. And they don't try, because they already heard us tell them why they can't succeed. See, and I don't want that for my kids.
I got these little kids, Malia and Sasha. They're nine and six. And like every single child in this room, in this country, they're precious. They come here open and clean and whole, able to dream anything for themselves with no prejudice, no limitation, no fear. They're looking to us. See, and I think that by now, in 2008, with all the struggle that we've had, in this country, and we've come so far, we've got a lot to be proud of, but we have a long way to go. In 2008, we should be at a point in time where every single child in this nation, regardless of their race, their gender, their parents' political affiliation, their religion, their location, they should be able to dream huge, gigantic dreams for themselves, and know that they are going to have the love and support and resources of a nation behind them. That's what we owe the next generation. That's what this race is about. It isn't about Barack or Hillary or McCain. It is about our future.
But we're not where we need to be. And that, we know. We can disagree on a whole bunch of things, but we're not where we need to be for our future. And a lot of that has to do with that struggle we talked about. See, because when you're struggling, you don't have time to look at the future. You don't really have time to think this thing through. And they see the reason I understand this struggle is because of the life that I've lived. Barack and I, the couple that's supposed to have the silver spoons in our mouths, which I don't quite get, either, that's another one of those bar-shifting things. It's like how all of a sudden did we become the elite people? How did that happen? I don't quite get that. But all I can say is that folks still don't really know who we are. So my job is to help people understand who we are, because yes, I understand the struggle because of how I was raised.
As you already know, I'm the product of a working-class background. My father was a city worker all of his life. So no, the only silver spoons we have were those little utensil things that, stuff you could bend. It was silver. That's about all it was. But there was nothing miraculous about my upbringing, and I say that to young kids, because when they look at me, I don't want them to see something different and foreign and out of reach, because young folks start thinking well, I can't be that, because she must be different from me. And the truth of the matter is no. My father went to work every day, my mother stayed at home, because see, back then, when we were growing up, forty-some odd years ago, a man like my father could raise a family of four on a single city worker salary. Now we didn't have much. We lived in a little apartment over a little apartment. My brother and I shared a room until we were teenagers. But we didn't need much.
We went to the public schools around the corner, the neighborhood public schools. And I also say that because I want people, when they see me, to see what an investment in public education can look like, because I think sometimes we forget just how critical public education can be, and what an investment is required, because I wouldn't be here, standing here before you, if it weren't for those solid neighborhood schools, with those solid teachers that weren't getting paid a lot, but they cared about their kids, and they knew how to bring them up. We had library and recess and music and art. See, back then, you didn't have to have extra money for tutoring classes and for ballet and for dance, because you got it right in the school at the Y. So we got exposed to a whole bunch of things that many kids nowadays will not ever see way back then when I was a little girl. Life has changed for regular working people.
The only thing miraculous about my upbringing was that I saw hard work and sacrifice every day, see, because when you see a father like mine, a man with a disability, my father had MS, multiple sclerosis, contracted in the prime of his life, went from being a man who could swim, who could box, served in the military. He couldn't walk without the assistance of a cane. But he got up and went to work every day. That's what I saw, a man who did not complain, was never late, never expressed any level of doubt about his situation in life, and taught us that we could dream of anything. And see, the beauty of my upbringing, the thing that I know for sure, is that my father took great pride in what he could do with that little salary. That is what gave him his hope. He had long since put down his hopes and dreams for his own life. But by getting up and going to work every day, and keeping a roof over our heads, and being diligent and honest, he put two kids through Princeton. Imagine that. But see, you could do that back then.
See, and the beauty of this country is that most Americans are like my father. That's what traveling around this year has taught me, and I wish every American could do it, going into somebody else's neighborhood, sit down in somebody else's kitchen, share your stories and your fears, and cry a little bit, and you realize that we do share the same values. We are hoping for the same things. We don't always know how to get it, but most Americans don't want much. They're not asking for much. Most folks like my father don't mind having a high bar. My father was proud to go up against a high bar. He just wanted the bar to be still. That's all he was asking for, just a little fairness and equity and opportunity to actually reach the bar one day. He wanted to know that if he got up and went to work every day like most Americans, that he'd earned enough to take care of his family. He wanted to know if he got sick, he wouldn't go bankrupt. He wanted to know that his kids could get an education in a solid neighborhood public school, maybe go to college, but at least be prepared for a decent job, a better life for themselves. My father, like most Americans, just wanted to know that after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice that one day, he could put his feet up and look over all that he had done and retire with a little respect and dignity. That's all most Americans want.
But the truth is, right now, that little nugget of a dream that was my life is getting further and further out of reach for most Americans because of that bar constantly moving. You know, jobs like my father had those blue collar jobs where you got pensions, vacation, all that, they're dwindling. They're drying up. They're disappearing, going overseas. And if you're lucky enough to have a job, nine times out of ten, your salary's not keeping up with the cost of living. Barack and I met with a family of railroad workers, union folks. They said for eight years, they hadn't seen a pay increase. For eight years, zero pay increase. Eight years. No increase. Gas prices going up, food going up, rent, insurance, own a home, what's going with the mortgages? That's going up. It's all going up, and salaries are staying stagnant. So no wonder that bar feels like it's moving. And I don't know how single parents do it. There are millions of them all over this country. Let me tell you, single parents love their kids, too. But it is almost impossible to raise a family of any size on a single salary. So now you've got single parents who have to double and triple shift, taking on two, three jobs, working all the time, and feeling like they're failing because that bar is moving, because how on Earth are you going to work as hard as you need to to pay the bills and be at parent/teacher conferences, and sit down and do homework when a kid has trouble? How are you going to manage all that? Well, folks are not, and they're doing it suffering in silence, blaming themselves for the fact that they're not working hard enough. Maybe something's wrong.
The bar is moving and shifting on them, and it's moving and it's shifting with regard to education, because we all know that No Child Left Behind is not doing what it needs to do for children in this country. So now on top of all the other worries that families have, now they're worried about education, because we all know that you cannot measure the success of a child by a single test. And if that were the case, I wouldn't be here, because I was not a good test taker. How many kids do you know who are like me? Teachers don't have the resources to teach, the freedom to do what they know that they need to do. So the bar is shifting and moving, and college is another ever-shifting and moving bar. Even when kids do everything that's asked of them, do your homework, stay out of trouble, get good grades, take those tests, do well on them, many of them apply, got into the colleges of their choices, only to look at the cost, look at their family's income, sticker shock, so they walk away from college, not because they didn't get in, but they couldn't afford it.
And then you've got the other half of young people who were like me and Barack, who too, out loans to pay for our college. So yeah, we have Ivy League degrees, but they cost us a whole lot of money to get. And see, what we did was what we thought we were supposed to do. We got those fancy degrees, and then we left corporate America, and went to work in the community. And with every job we took, we made less money. My mother told us we were crazy, but we thought we were doing the right thing. And I do believe we were. But where we found ourselves, in a position like most young couples, with our PhD's and JD's and MPh's and WLMOP's, all those wonderful degrees, all mired in debt. We had not paid off our loan debts until just a few years ago. Barack couldn't even run for president. You can't be in debt running for president. So I ask people, when was the last time we've had a president of the United States who's just a few years out of debt? Well, that would be him. And the only reason we're not in that position today is because Barack wrote two best-selling books. And thank you for buying those books. But that was not a sound financial plan. That was like hitting the lotto. And we know we're blessed, and we do not complain. But the reality is, is that there are so many young couples like ours who didn't hit the lotto, when at a time when they need to be saving for their own kids' college education, that bar has moved. They haven't even paid off their own debt. Now tell me, does this sound familiar? Am I out of touch?
The bar is moving on our seniors. That's a whole generation of hard-working people, all of whom have sacrificed for us. I know most of us are here because of somebody's hard work, going to a job they didn't love for a lifetime earning a salary that was never enough, saving pennies, sacrificing on their health, and every aspect of their lives so that we could have more. And in the time when they should be able to rest, they are now in a position where that pension they had, if they're lucky to have it, isn't enough to cover their cost of living. Folks are trying to go back to work, get retrained. There's no time to rest. See, and the problem with our seniors situation is that we need to be more selfish, because we need our seniors. We need them whole and healthy, and ready to take on the challenges of helping all of us raise the next generation. But see, seniors can't do that if they're still in their own struggle.
I am here today because my 70 year old mother is at home with my kids. And as I always say, if you're a working mother out there, there is nothing like Grandma, see, because now that we all have to work, working is not an option, you can't work and be steady in your profession if you don't know your kids are safe and being loved in a situation that is going to nurture them and lift them up. And we're living in a society where child care is unaffordable, it's not accessible. So now we've got young mothers, young parents worrying about their kids as they're off at work, wishing that they still lived in their communities near their families. But see, jobs don't exist anymore in those communities, so young families move away. The economy tears up families when it's not right. So you move away from all the informal support structures that you ever knew, those great-aunts and uncles, the cousins, the sisters and brothers, and you go where the jobs are, and you're alone. So we need our seniors, whole and healthy and secure. But I could go on.
I haven't talked about health care, I haven't talked about the environment. We know where we're living. This is where we are right now. And this has been the case for my entire lifetime. That trajectory of hope has gotten more difficult for regular folks. And this has been true through Republican and Democratic administrations. But what Barack knows is that our greatest challenge is not that we're suffering from a deficit of resources or policies or plans. We know what we need to do. We know what we need to do with education. Just as an example, we know what good schools look like. They exist all over this country. There are, there is some good public school in almost every community, in every city in the nation. And you know how we know? Because everybody's lining up to try to get in that school. They're changing addressed, they've got the kids living with an auntie so they'll be in the right district to be able to get in the school. They're calling up the mayor, state senator, can you help my baby get into this school? We know what these schools look like. We know how much they cost. We know what the student-teacher ratio needs to look like. See, the challenge that we face in this nation is that we haven't found the will to ensure that those kind of schools are available for all kids.
And this is where Barack gets it. He understands that our challenge is us, that we have lost a sense of empathy. We have had leadership that has told us you can go it on your own. You don't have to worry about your neighbor, just make sure your little world is okay. You don't have to compromise and sacrifice for anybody, just take care of yourself. We're a nation at war right now, where the only people sacrificing and compromising on a regular basis are the soldiers who are over there fighting, and their families. We've all been told just keep shopping, don't worry about it. And at first glance, that notion that we don't have to worry about anybody else feels good, feels like it's a burden lifted, that if I just keep fighting to get to my bar, then I'll be okay. But the truth is, is that we are one another's brothers and sisters' keepers, that we cannot measure our greatness as a society by the richest and strongest. We measure it by the least of these, and that's what Barack understands. And right now, my view is the only reason we're not there is because we haven't had the right kind of leadership. We need a little inspiration. We need somebody whose going to challenge us to be better as a nation. And the only person in this race who I believe has a chance of uniting this country around a set of common values is my husband, Barack Obama.
But let me tell you why I say this, and it is so important, because Barack has been characterized as many things that have nothing to do with who he is. So people need to understand how special he is, and yes, I'm his wife. I love him, I care about him, but I am not crazy. My first priority is as a mother, and I want the president of the United States to have some sense. So I wouldn't be here if I didn't know that Barack had some true gifts. And you need to understand who he is. Don't let other people shape him. So let me explain who Barack Obama is, and why he's different, because a lot of it begins with how you're raised. Don't we know that? Who you are is greatly affected by how you were raised. And how Barack was raised has affected the choices that he's made throughout his entire life. And my father always said you measure the character of the individual not by what they do when everyone's looking and the lights are shining, and you decided you want to be president, so now you're going to shape yourself. My father said you measure the character of an individual by what they do in the shadows, when no one's watching. See, and a lot of what Barack's opponents want to characterize as inexperience, it just happens to be stuff y'all didn't see, because he was doing it in the shadows, living a life of honor and dignity and grace. But see, that happens, sometimes, when you're raised in a little bit of a struggle, see, because when you've had little, you know when you're blessed.
And Barack Obama is one of those guys, raised by a single parent, teenage mother. His mother was a young, 18 year old white woman raising a black kid in the 60's. Now you tell me whether that sounds like. You imagine the life that she was living, and you tell me whether there were silver spoons. You tell me whether there is a creation of an elitist from that kind of upbringing. Well see, his mother had a lot of nerve on her own, right? She thought that she could be something special, even though she grew up in a little town in Kansas. She had dreams for herself. She had a lot of audacity of hope going on, see, because she believed that even though she was young and had a kid that she could still pursue greatness. So she worked with these little kids, trying to finish her PhD, living in other countries. And as a result of her dreaming, yes, sometimes Barack and his family, they lived on food stamps. But Barack also got to live in the world in the way that most Americans do not, lived in places like Indonesia, traveled in third world countries, understanding other traditions. And I just say just imagine a president of the United States who understands and respects other cultures without fear, someone who will understand how a great nation like ours can impact small villages across oceans, not just because he's received a set of policy briefings from a bunch of Washington insiders, but because he's actually lived in those villages. He's got a grandmother still living in a small village in Kenya. Just imagine the perspective that his life will bring to the Oval Office.
But it doesn't stop there. Barack was also raised by his maternal grandparents, Toot and Gramps. Now they weren't dreamers. They were Midwestern folks with their feet firmly planted on the ground. The only difference between his grandparents and my parents was race, because our values were the same. I married Barack because of his values, what I call common sense values. We were taught in our household a few things, like honesty and truth actually matter, that your word is your bond. Your word is all you have. When you do, say you're going to do something, you do it. And you do it to the best of your ability. We were taught that when you're a working-class kid, you never feel entitled to anything ever. You know you have to work harder, be smarter, be tougher, to reach that bar that will move on you. We know that, and you do it without complaint. We were also taught in our households that you treat people, all people, with respect and dignity, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.
So one of the reasons why Barack has led this campaign the way he has is because of how he was raised. See, we were taught that you don't rip your opponents into pieces. You don't leave them on the roadside with nowhere to go, because you never know when you're going to need to sit right back down at the table with them. So Barack is always thinking about that. He's thinking three steps ahead. What are we going to need to do to make change? I can't let my ego, my anger, my frustration get in the way of the ultimate goal. But that's how he was raised. So that's who Barack Obama is. You don't have to wonder. You don't have to rely on some other distorted image. Barack has been consistent, and let me tell you why, because he's been living those values. And I tell young folks when you're looking for a mate, cute is good, but you want to see how they live out their lives. What do they do? How do they talk about, how do they put those values into action? Well see, I am here right now because I know Barack the man. Every step that he has made has been guided by the simple fact that to whom much is given, much is expected.
And he has spent every ounce of his time running over the decisions in his head - do I…when graduating from college, do I work on Wall Street? Make a lot of money, that'd be better for me, or do I go work in a community as an organizer? Well, what did Barack do? He became a community organizer, working in some of the toughest neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, worked for years in neighborhoods where people had a reason to give up hope, because their jobs had been lost, steel mills shut down, living in brown fields left by those closed steel plants, unsafe streets, schools deteriorating, grandparents raising grandkids. Barack spent years working with churches, busing single mothers down to City Hall to help them find their voice, building the kind of operations on the ground just like he's doing in this race, block by block, person by person. Now you tell me whether there's anybody in this race who can claim to have made the same choice with their lives. You tell me, but I think that Barack Obama is the only person that can claim that kind of choice.
But it doesn't stop there. Barack, yeah, went back to law school. So did I. But he didn't go into corporate America and make a lot of money. He could have. What did he do? He became a civil rights attorney in a small firm in Chicago, and a Constitutional law scholar. Why? Because to whom much is given, much is expected. And when you're given the gift of advocacy, you don't sell it to the highest bidder, according to Barack. So Barack spent years in the shadows when no one was looking, working on issues of justice and fairness, housing discrimination, employment discrimination, voting rights. And Barack has more legislative experience than his opponent does. Yeah, that's something we don't talk about. He's been in the state senate for eight years before going to the U.S. Senate. But that was done in the shadows. No one was watching. So his opponents want to cast that as inexperience. But let me tell you something, wouldn't it be nice to have a president of the United States who understand how federal law can impact local government?
And I remind people that his battles in Springfield, that wasn't just anywhere. You know, his opponents try to couch him and say well, because Barack won't cut and slash and mudsling, that maybe he's weak. You know, maybe he's not tough enough. Well, let me tell you something. We lived in Illinois. We have been living through Chicago politics, eight years in some of the toughest, most divisive political climates that you can imagine. Chicago politics are infamous. So trust me, we've seen it all. Barack has seen it all. And in the midst of all of that, Barack still maintained his values, because his experiment in the state senate was let me see what happens when I bring my values to politics, see, because when you get to your seat on the shoulders of the people, and you don't become beholden to lobbyists and special interests, then you can try some stuff out. So Barack said let me try telling the truth. Let me try working harder than anybody. Let me try reaching across the aisles and talking to people who I'm supposed to hate, people who were supposed to not have anything in common with me. Let me talk to Republicans and folks in rural areas. Let me build friendships and bring down barriers. And what happens when you do all that? Well, Barack found out you can get a lot done.
So let me tell you what Barack was doing in the shadows in the state senate, expanding health care for kids in our state, passing earned income tax credit for working folks, helped to mend a broken death penalty that sent dozens of innocent men to death row, worked on racial profiling. See, one thing that you have to understand about Barack Obama, he will never take the easy road. Trust me, I am married, I've been begging him to take an easy road. Barack doesn't tell the easy truth. He will not tell you what you want to hear. He is banking on the fact that if he tells you the truth, and he's honest and straightforward, that you can handle the truth, just like on this tax holiday. So if you want to know what kind of president he will be, he will be the kind of person that will say don't be fooled by a political gimmick that will earn you maybe $30 dollars over the course of the whole thing, and will drain the federal highway system of resources and jobs. He will say the only way that we can bring fuel prices down is to change the way we use fuel, that we have to change ourselves, that this is not a quick fix, that this requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. That is not the easy thing to say when people want gas prices to go down, and you're about to vote on Tuesday. The easy thing to say is holiday, but that's not who Barack is. He never was. He never will be.
But we still have more evidence. There's still more. Remember, I'm a lawyer. I can break an argument down to the bare essentials. And let me tell you what I call Exhibit A of what I believe is a clear sign of who these folks are. You don't have to wonder who Barack is. You don't have to wonder how he will act in a certain situation. All we need to do is look at what happened with the war in Iraq, see, because we're not talking about it as much now, but let me remind you we're in this war right now because every other opponent in this race did not stand up and say no, because at the time, the war was popular. I know it's hard to believe, but remember when Bush was popular and the war was popular. And we were mad, 9/11 had just happened. We wanted some revenge. We wanted tough talk. We wanted the people to make us feel safe. And fear was a good resource. So it was very hard to speak out against that war. And the only person in this race who had the character and the courage and the guts to do it is Barack.
But let me tell you how this works, because his opponents will say that his opposition doesn't count. Bar raised once again. Why do they say that? They say well, Barack wasn't in the U.S. Senate when he spoke out, so he didn't have to cast a vote. So we don't really know what he would do. Well, let me tell you where Barack Obama was, and why he wasn't in the U.S. Senate. He was trying to get to the U.S. Senate. He was in the midst of his own tough 7-way U.S. Senate primary race in Illinois, mean, tough Illinois. And it was a race that he wasn't supposed to win, folks, because I was there, too. Let me tell you what they were saying about Barack Obama in Illinois. They said he was too young, they said he was too experienced, they said he should wait his turn, they said he was too black, and then they said he was not black enough. And let me tell you something, when all of that didn't work, they said let's try fear, because fear always works. So they said his name, first. Look out for his name. Let me just imply a little stuff, give you a little pause of this man with a funny name. Who is he? What does he stand for? He's not like us. His name is funny. Oh, yes they did.
So we've seen it all before. So I don't want you to think that Barack is crazy, because you've seen how reserved he can be, how calm, how he doesn't get flustered. Through all of this, he has remained very presidential. But a lot of that has to do with the fact that when you've seen and heard all this stuff before, it's just not new. It's the game of politics. Let us define Barack Obama before you get to know him yourself, because when you do get to know him, there is no other choice. But even in the midst of all that negativity, all of that going on around him, could have lost his U.S. Senate seat. Barack still stood up, publicly, at a rally, and said this war is wrong. He said it will cost us billions of dollars, and thousands of lives. Now you tell me, is that not courage? Does that not take a level of wisdom? So I want you to think about that when you wonder who these candidates are, because the question in this race is not whether Barack Obama is ready. That's what his opponents want you to think. They want you to doubt and question. They want you to hesitate. They want you to be afraid of change. Trust me, Barack is ready. He will be ready on Day One, on Day Twelve, on Day Two Hundred. Barack will be one of the best leaders that this nation has ever seen.
The question for us, North Carolina, as you go into those polls on Tuesday, and tomorrow, remember what I said, early voting, is not whether Barack is ready. The question is are we ready? Are we ready for change? Well, here's another thing about change. You've seen this race. Change is hard. And there is nothing simple or easy about a Barack Obama presidency, never was supposed to be easy. But in order to embrace this man, and this different way of politics, we have to come a little bit of the way. I've always said this. A Barack Obama presidency will be 70% him and 30% us. We have to be ready to go that other 30%. And in order to do that, we've got to be ready to do a few things like moving away from our isolation and division, that division that has us locked away, not talking to one another, not getting good information, not sharing, living as if we don't care or know our neighbors. We've got to move away from that. That's on us.
And we have to be ready to put down our cynicism, as bad as things are, as rightfully as you feel about your skepticism about politics, we can't afford it. Everybody has to be engaged in the political process, not just on Tuesday, but every single day. If you have any leaders who want you to believe that all you have to do is vote for them and go back to your lives as usual, be suspicious, because you have to be at the table of democracy forever, because the minute you turn your back and you walk away, somebody is going to come and take your seat, and they're going to make decisions about your lives that have nothing to do with you. So you have to talk to your neighbors. You have to know what's going on in Washington, in the state house, in the city council. I'm sorry, it requires work. And you can't rely on somebody else giving you the information, because you don't know what their agenda is. So you're going to have to do this work.
And the last thing you're going to have to do, and the hardest thing is to put down that fear. We can no longer make choices in this nation based on fear, based on the fear of what might happen if we do something different. And we all know this feeling. Change is hard, especially for folks who don't change ever. Look, I've got grandparents who don't take the plastic off their furniture. Ah, you all know. I'm sure there's some plastic furniture guilty people right here among us, people that plastic is cracking, it's scratching your leg, it's all yellow, so you don't even know what the couch looked like to begin with. And it is understandable, because when you don't have much, when you know how precious life is, even in the worst state, you are afraid to give up what you have for fear that something different will be worse. But the truth of the matter is things have gotten worse. That's just the reality. We've painted that picture of how things have gotten harder, the bar is moving. So we can't keep doing the same thing with the same players, and expecting a different outcome.
So we need you to be courage, to show courage. And we need you. Barack can't do this without you. He has said that from the very beginning. Change is always bottom up, real change that is meaningful. It starts from the bottom up, which is why Barack has run this campaign in the way that he does, that he's betting on the fact that if you've invested in him with your money and your hours and your time and your patience, that you will fight for the change that's needed. And if you're ready for all of that, then I don't know what the choice is. I don't understand these folks who are like we've got so many choices. We got one choice. We have one real choice, and that is Barack Obama. One choice.
But the last thing that I will share with you, then I'll let you go, because they're all waiting for me to go in the back, is the story that I share with everyone, everywhere I go, because it reminds me of what's at stake when I get frustrated and tired, when I start feeling sorry for myself. I think about this little girl in Newberry, South Carolina, that I met right before the South Carolina primaries. And she was ten years old, and I do not know her name. I'm hoping that by telling this story, I will find her. But she came up to me at the end of a rally in a beauty shop, and we were packed in, too. She came up to me and patted me on my thigh. She said Mrs. Obama, I need to tell you something. And I said okay, what you got to say? She said do you realize that when your husband becomes the next president of the United States, it will be historical? She was serious, too. And I looked at her and I said well yeah. But I thought to say well, what does that mean to you? And she said it means that I can imagine anything for myself.
And then that little girl started to cry. I mean, she broke down in hard tears, streaming down her face, sobbing. And I thought well, what is causing this little girl to cry so hard at the thought that she could dream of anything for herself? What would cause those tears? And I said well see, you know what? This little girl gets it. See, she knows what's at stake. See, remember what I said? Kids are watching us? She knows that she's probably already five steps behind in schools that are underfunded, without the resources to prepare her. She knows that if she or her family gets sick, she doesn't have access to a primary care doctor. She's going to be sitting in some ER for hours on end. She knows that her parents work situation is hit or miss. They don't know what's going to happen day to day. She knows that. But you know what she also knows? That she's so much better than this nation's limited expectations of her. And all she has is hope. That's all she has, is a little hoping and praying, and she's hoping upon hope that we get this right. She is hoping that we get this right. And the reason why that story affects me, and I'm sure it affects everyone, is because there are parts of that little girls in all of us, especially those of us who are struggling, who have hit some ceiling where they've been told you're not good enough, that you're not ready, that you're not smart enough. No, don't, you can't, wait your turn. We have all heard those limits. And see, what I want young people to understand, no matter what the outcome of this race is, never let anybody limit your dreams. Don't let anybody tell you who you can become.
So what I ask people to do is just do a little dreaming, because it took us all a little dreaming to be here. We're not supposed to be here, not Barack or I. All we have are dreaming and hoping, and I ask you to envision the day that a man like Barack Obama is standing in front of the Capitol with his hand on the Bible, taking the oath of office. And just imagine what that image will send, what that will mean for all these kids around the country who are looking for a sign that they can be better, that they can see a different possibility for their lives, and that they have a nation ready to change for them. Imagine that day. And if we can do that for kids in this nation, then imagine what that image will mean to kids around the world, see, because the world is watching us, too. And they want to know who we are as a nation, the land of the free, the home of the brave. What are we ready to do for change? So I ask you, can we do this? Can we do this? Can we do this? We're going to need you every step of the way. Thank you.
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July 12, 2008
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Thank you so much. You guys, please. Sit down, rest your feet. This is a round table for working women, so I don't want you standing up anymore than you have to. You work hard enough as it is. Even, even the men that are here, you can sit down.
I want to thank Susan [Montee] for that wonderful introduction. It, it has meant so much for us to have strong early supporters in this candidacy. And have people who came out a year ago when nobody knew who Barack Obama was, really. It, it means a great deal and we are grateful to have her support.
I also want to thank Chancellor Bailey here at the University of Missouri for opening up this institution to us. I got an opportunity to meet him and the student body president. Would you gentlemen please stand up so that we can just say, "Hello."
But I am just delighted to be here in this state to have a conversation about what's on so many of our minds. I know it's, it's on my mind. And in this issue of balancing work and family and making sure we all have an opportunity to create sane home lives for our kids and keep ourselves together at the same time. I know that there's so many people here like me who wear so many different hats. And I've done that all my life. I am not just the wife of a presidential candidate, which is like eight hats, but I am a professional, still I had a job, another job that, but I'm a daughter, a sister, a best friend, but the roll that I cherish most is, is the role of mom. That role means so much to me.
Like so many of you my little precious girls are, are all that I think about. They are the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last, the last things I think about before I go to bed at night. And it, it doesn't really matter what I'm doing. In the whole, talking to folks, they are on my mind, whether I'm campaigning or working. I am constantly worried about how they're doing, how they're feeling, are they being loved, are they having fun. So, for me the policies that support working women and families, it's not just about politics for me, this stuff is personal. these are the issues that I have mulled around my head my entire life. And no matter what the outcome is of this election, I'm gonna to continue to work and talk, and fight to make sure that we put women and families in a better place in this country.
And I don't know about you all, but I'm, I'm always amazed at how different things have, are today for working women and families s compared to when I was growing up. As Susan alluded to, I'm the product of a working class community. I'm a proud product. I talk about it everywhere I go. But back then, a man like my father, who was a city worker, he worked a shift, could raise a family of four on a single city salary. And allow my mother to stay home to take care of me and my brother. And today one income, let alone the kind of income that would come from a man like my father, just doesn't cut it anymore. [voice: "That's right."] What we're finding in this country is that working families are finding that two people have to be working to make ends meet. And I don't how people do it when there's only one parent, a single parent in the household. But people are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. And that's not even including the kind of jobs that you do once we get off of work [voices: "Right." "That's right."] and I know as women the truth of the matter is, is that those jobs still disproportionately fall on our laps. Those jobs like getting laundry done, making lunch, signing field trip form. I can tell you what I did before I got on the plane to come here, 'cause no matter who's in the house, a grandma or me, the kids come to me for all of that. They look straight to me.
And then as those bills pile up, and the tasks seem to get harder and harder, we all have the job of late night worrier. And like many of you I have wished in, in those late hours that I had this magic machine that create more time in the day that would allow me to get a little more sleep at night. Or maybe duplicate myself, once or twice, so that I could be at three places at once. But even as I dream in, in those late nights I, I do know, Barack and I know, that we are blessed. We are fortunate. We are among the lucky ones because we have the resources that we need to make sure that our family can hold it together. And I, of all people, have the most important resource of all. I've got my mom who lives near by me and is there to take care of my girls when I'm not there. And I've said this around the campaign trail, there's nothing like grandma. When you were , and I know that more and more families are finding it hard to have that informal support structure. When jobs are drying up in states and cities all over the, this country young families have to move away from grandma and great aunts. And they're left to fend for themselves. So there's so much more that happens when an economy crumbles. It's not just the loss of jobs, but its the break down of those informal support structures. So, Barack and I know we're blessed.
But we know that so many of families around this country are not as fortunate. As I've traveled around the country for the last year and a half I've heard stories, so many stories of families that are doing their best to keep it together. I've heard from so many mothers who are struggling to make ends meet. And were gonna talk to some of those mothers today. Folks who are seeing their income stagnate as prices continue to climb, making decisions about putting gas in the car or getting the grocery bill paid. And then there are the women who find it difficult to take time off of work to care for a sick child for fear that they'll be penalized. Or mothers to be that don't want to let their bosses know that they're pregnant because they're afraid of losing their jobs. And then there are the women who are working hard every single day doing some of the same jobs as men but they're not getting paid the same thing.
And then there are military families. That's a group of families that I've just begun to talk to as I've traveled around the country. And you just imagine all the struggles that the average families are dealing with and you take that struggle and you double it and you triple it and you add on two, or three, or four consecutive tours of duty. So these young families are struggling just as well trying to make it on one paycheck when there used to be two. They're still dealing with the questions of how to cover the cost of child care, trying to get mental health support for their families and for themselves. And they welcome their loved ones home with open hearts, but often find that the government just isn't there to provide the support to honor the service that some of these men and women have given.
So those are some of the struggles. These are the types of struggles that we hear all over the country. And the struggles aren't new to me, not new to anyone in this room, but I want people to understand these struggles certainly aren't new to my husband, Barack. He understands the struggles. He understands them because he was raised by strong women. He is the product of two great women in his life. His mother and his grandmother. Barack saw his mother, who was very young and very single when she had him, and he saw her work hard to complete her education and try to raise he and his sister. And he saw through her struggle essentially what she tried to teach him, that you can do anything with a little hard work in this country. But he also saw her struggle to make ends meet, sometimes relying on food stamps. And the pain, that it effect, that hit her, the pride of ask, having to ask someone else for help. He saw his grandmother. who is now in her eighties, was the primary breadwinner in their household. Held the family together. He saw her rise from being the secretary at a bank to being a senior level executive. This woman in her eighties, a ground breaker in her own right. But he also , but he also saw her hit that proverbial glass ceiling that even with her abilities and her hard work there was only so far that she'd be able to go. And he also sees me, his wife, who struggles every day with that guilt we all hold deep in our heart as women. That guilt that you don't have the choice to stay home, and even if you do you feel guilty, you're working. When you're working you're not with your kids, so you feel bad about that. And when you're with your kids you know you need to be doing more somewhere else. It's a guilt that we all hold. He has seen me struggle with this my entire life, so trust me, Barack, Barack understands the struggles of women. Because the women he loves the most in his life, he has learned these lessons from. So Barack, you have to know, carries our stories as women in his heart every day. And they have affected who he has become as a man. And they've impacted the choices that he's made over his entire life.
That's why, when Barack graduated from college, he moved to Chicago to become a community organizer, working on the south side of Chicago and some communities that had been devastated by the closing of steel plants. He saw the struggles of single parent mothers, grandmothers raising grandchildren, and folks who had given up hope that the government could help them. He came into those communities and worked for years trying to help folks find their own power to build a life, better life for themselves and their children. That's why Barack, when he became an Illinois state senate, worked to pass welfare reform law. That would move people from welfare to work so that generations of children would have a better life. And that's why in the Illinois senate he fought to pass legislation to give three hundred thousand more women protection from paycheck discrimination.
And that's why he's been fighting so hard in the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to help women hold their employers more accountable when they're not paid fairly. And that's why as President of the United States Barack has determined to change Washington so that we don't just talk a good game about family values, but we actually develop policies , real policies that have meaning to working women and families.That help us raise our children, to care for them. And to insure that we're not just surviving, but that we're thriving.
Right now in this country thousands of women don't have any family leave, nothing. And for those who do many of them don't take it because it is unpaid. And people can't afford to do something unpaid. Right now in this country , twenty two million working women don't have a single paid sick day. Not a single paid sick day. And that's, it's not only unacceptable, it's unrealistic. [voice: "Right."] In this country families shouldn't be punished because somebody gets sick or there's a family emergency. That's why Barack is going to be working hard to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, so that millions of additional Americans will be able to take a little time off when they need to. Maybe take care of a sick child, or elderly parent, or go, heaven forbid, to a school play or a parent teacher conference. Or just spend a few hours reading to your child, that they need a little extra attention. Barack is going to require every single employer to make sure that all their workers have at least seven paid sick days a year.
Barack has also put, to committed to insuring that women are paid fairly for the work that they do. And today although a majority of women are now the primary bread winners in their households, women still earn seventy seven cents for every dollar that a man earns. And a recent Supreme Court decision made it actually harder for women to hold employers accountable for paying them less for the same amount of work. And that's why Barack was a proud supporter of legislation that would overturn that Supreme Court decision. And let me know, just want to let you know as president Barack is gonna keep fighting and working hard until that gap in equity is closed once and for all.
So in my famous Michelle Obama honesty that sometimes gets me in trouble I have to say that when Barack approached me, when he was seriously considering this run for president I said, "No way." "Absolutely not. Please don't." Because the truth be told it's, I thought politics was mean rough business. I don't know that I feel any differently about it today. But the last thing in the world that I wanted for my girls was to have their lives turned upside down. I mean, you can understand that. {voices: "Uh, huh."] I couldn't bear the thought of them being in the public eye or hearing their parents being criticized on national TV. Or having their dad away from them for weeks on end. It broke my herat just to think about it. I, I wanted, like all mothers and parents, do I want the best possible life for my girls. But then I had to take a step back. And I had to take off my me hat. And I had to put on my citizen hat. And I started thinking more broadly about the kind of world that I would want my girls to grow up in. And I thought about a world where when they grew up they'd be paid equally and fairly for the work that they'd do. A world where they could choose a career and not have to worry about choosing between their kids and earning a living. I wanted them to be in a world where they could dream as women without limitations and imagine anything for themselves. And then I realized that's the kind of world that I wanted for my girls and for all of our children. And I had no choice but to work hard to make sure that a man like Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States.
So, so that's why I'm here. That's it. Because I'm gonna do my part to make sure that we get this man in office. And we're gonna need your help every step of the way.
So, I'm gonna stop now and we're gonna open this conversation up to the wonderful women on this panel who have so eagerly agreed to share their stories.
I see breathing a little hard it's. Ignore the cameras if you can. is like, "Oh, just keep talkin'." You're doin' just fineby me. I feel that way, too, when there's a good speaker, I'm just sort of like, "Oh good!"But we're gonna have a conversation that we've had, I've, I've helped to organize these conversations all over the country for the last year and a half. And this is the best thing I've done in my life because we need to start sharing our challenges and our struggles, first of all, so that we know that we're not alone.
I don't care what city I'm in, what state I'm in, whether it's rural or urban - the stories that you will share are the same stories we hear everywhere. Folks are hurting in ways that sometimes we don't want to admit. But in order to fix it we have to admit it. But this is only the beginning. These are the kind of conversations that I know we have to continue to have, not just for the rest of this campaign season, but for, for the next four or eight years. So this is just the beginning.
So I want you guys to relax, breathe deeply, drink water. And also we're gonna ask everyone else to join in, share stories, ask questions. And thank you again for giving us the time. let's begin. ...
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