Utah Business Lawyer: READ: President Obama's Speech At The Democratic Convention

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President Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Wednesday night time. The following is a transcript:

Twelve years in the past tonight, I addressed this conference for the very first time.

You met my two little women, Malia and Sasha – now two superb younger ladies who simply fill me with delight. You fell for my sensible spouse and associate Michelle, who has made me a greater father and a greater man; who’s gone on to encourage our nation as first woman; and who someway hasn’t aged a day.

I do know the identical can’t be stated for me. My women remind me on a regular basis. “Wow, you’ve changed so much, Daddy.” And then they attempt to clear it up. “Not bad, just more mature.”

And it is true – I used to be so younger that first time in Boston. And look, I am going to admit it, perhaps I used to be just a little nervous addressing such an enormous crowd. But I used to be crammed with religion; religion in America – the beneficiant, huge-hearted, hopeful nation that made my story – that made all of our tales – potential.

So much’s occurred through the years. And whereas this nation has been examined by conflict and it has been examined by recession and all method of challenges – I stand earlier than you once more tonight, after virtually two phrases as your president, to inform you I’m extra optimistic about the way forward for America than ever earlier than.

How might I not be – in any case that we have achieved collectively?

After the worst recession in 80 years, we have fought our means again. We’ve seen deficits come down, 401(okay)s recuperate, an auto business set new data, unemployment attain eight-yr lows, and our companies create 15 million new jobs.

After a century of making an attempt, we declared that well being care in America isn’t a privilege for a number of, it’s a proper for everyone. After many years of speak, we lastly started to wean ourselves off overseas oil. We doubled our manufacturing of unpolluted power.

We introduced extra of our troops house to their households, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. Through diplomacy, we shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program. We opened up a brand new chapter with the individuals of Cuba, introduced almost 200 nations collectively round a local weather settlement that would save this planet for our youngsters.

We put insurance policies in place to assist college students with loans; shield shoppers from fraud; reduce veterans’ homelessness virtually in half. And via numerous acts of quiet braveness, America discovered that love has no limits, and marriage equality is now a actuality throughout the land.

By so many measures, our nation is stronger and extra affluent than it was once we began.

And via each victory and each setback, I’ve insisted that change isn’t straightforward, and by no means fast; that we would not meet all of our challenges in a single time period, or one presidency, and even in a single lifetime.

So tonight, I am right here to inform you that sure, we have nonetheless received extra work to do. More work to do for each American nonetheless in want of a superb job or a increase, paid depart or an honest retirement; for each youngster who wants a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class schooling; for everybody who has not but felt the progress of those previous seven and a half years. We have to hold making our streets safer and our felony justice system fairer; and our homeland safer, our world extra peaceable and sustainable for the subsequent era. We’re not executed perfecting our union, or dwelling as much as our founding creed – that each one of us are created equal. All of us are free within the eyes of God.

And that work includes a wide selection this November. And it is truthful to say, this isn’t your typical election. It’s not only a selection between events or insurance policies; the standard debates between left and proper. This is a extra elementary selection – about who we’re as a individuals, and whether or not we keep true to this nice American experiment in self-authorities.

Look, we Democrats have all the time had loads of variations with the Republican Party, and there is nothing fallacious with that; it is exactly this contest of concepts that pushes our nation ahead.

But what we heard in Cleveland final week wasn’t notably Republican – and it positive wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic imaginative and prescient of a rustic the place we flip towards one another, and switch away from the remainder of the world. There have been no critical options to urgent issues – simply the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate.

And that isn’t the America I do know.

The America I do know is filled with braveness, and optimism, and ingenuity. The America I do know is respectable and beneficiant. Sure, we’ve actual anxieties – about paying the payments, and defending our youngsters, caring for a sick mother or father. We get annoyed with political gridlock, and fear about racial divisions; we’re shocked and saddened by the insanity of Orlando or Nice. There are pockets of America that by no means recovered from manufacturing unit closures; males who took satisfaction in onerous work and offering for his or her households who now really feel forgotten; mother and father who ponder whether their youngsters could have the identical alternatives that we had.

All of that’s actual. We are challenged to do higher; to be higher. But as I’ve traveled this nation, via all fifty states; as I’ve rejoiced with you and mourned with you, what I’ve additionally seen, greater than something, is what is true with America. I see individuals working exhausting and beginning companies; I see individuals educating youngsters and serving our nation. I see engineers inventing stuff, docs arising with new cures. I see a youthful era filled with power and new concepts, not constrained by what’s, able to seize what should be.

And most of all, I see Americans of each social gathering, each background, each religion who consider that we’re stronger collectively – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, younger, previous, homosexual, straight, males, ladies, people with disabilities, all pledging allegiance underneath the identical proud flag, to this huge, daring nation that we love. That’s what I see. That’s the America I do know.

And there is just one candidate on this race who believes in that future, has devoted her life to that future; a mom and a grandmother who would do something to assist our youngsters thrive; a pacesetter with actual plans to interrupt down obstacles, and blast by way of glass ceilings, and widen the circle of alternative to each single American – the subsequent president of the United States, Hillary Clinton.

Now, eight years in the past, that is proper. Let me inform you, eight years in the past, you could keep in mind, Hillary and I have been rivals for the Democratic nomination. We battled for a yr and a half. Let me inform you, it was robust, as a result of Hillary was robust. I used to be worn out. She was doing every part I used to be doing, however identical to Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels. And each time I assumed I may need that race gained, Hillary simply got here again stronger.

But after it was throughout, I requested Hillary to hitch my group. And she was somewhat stunned, a few of my employees was stunned, however finally, she stated sure – as a result of she knew that what was at stake was greater than both of us. And for 4 years, I had a entrance-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment, and her self-discipline. I got here to comprehend that her unbelievable work ethic wasn’t for reward, it wasn’t for consideration – that she was on this for everybody who wants a champion. I understood that in any case these years, she has by no means forgotten simply who she’s preventing for.

Hillary’s nonetheless obtained the tenacity that she had as a younger lady working on the Children’s Defense Fund, going door to door to finally be sure that youngsters with disabilities might get a top quality schooling.

She’s nonetheless obtained the guts she confirmed as our first woman, working with Congress to assist push via a Children’s Health Insurance Program that to today protects tens of millions of youngsters.

She’s nonetheless seared with the reminiscence of each American she met who misplaced family members on 9/11, which is why, as a senator from New York, she fought so arduous for funding to assist first responders, to assist the town rebuild; why, as secretary of state, she sat with me within the Situation Room and forcefully argued in favor of the mission that took out bin Laden.

You know, nothing really prepares you for the calls for of the Oval Office. You can examine it. You can research it, however till you’ve got sat at that desk, you do not know what it is wish to handle a worldwide disaster, or ship younger individuals to struggle. But Hillary’s been within the room; she’s been a part of these selections. She is aware of what’s at stake within the selections our authorities makes, what’s at stake for the working household, for the senior citizen, for the small enterprise proprietor, for the soldier, for the veteran. And even within the midst of disaster, she listens to individuals, and she or he retains her cool, and she or he treats everyone with respect. And regardless of how daunting the chances; regardless of how a lot individuals attempt to knock her down, she by no means, ever quits.

That is the Hillary I do know. That’s the Hillary I’ve come to admire. And that is why I can say with confidence there has by no means been a person or a lady, not me, not Bill, no one, extra certified than Hillary Clinton to function president of the United States of America. I hope you do not thoughts, Bill, however I used to be simply telling the reality, man.

And, by the best way, in case you have been questioning about her judgment, check out her selection of operating mate. Tim Kaine is nearly as good a person, as humble and as dedicated a public servant, as anyone that I do know. I do know his household, I really like Anne, I really like their youngsters. He shall be an excellent vice chairman, and he’ll make Hillary a greater president. Just like my pricey good friend and brother Joe Biden has made me a greater president.

Now, Hillary has actual plans to deal with the considerations she’s heard from you on the marketing campaign path. She’s acquired particular concepts to spend money on new jobs, to assist staff share of their firm’s income, to assist put youngsters in preschool, and put college students via school with out taking over a ton of debt. That’s what leaders do.

And then there’s Donald Trump. Don’t boo. Vote. You know The Donald just isn’t actually a plans man. He’s not likely a details man, both. He calls himself a enterprise man, which is true, however I’ve to say, I do know loads of businessmen and ladies who’ve achieved exceptional success with out leaving a path of lawsuits, and unpaid staff, and other people feeling like they acquired cheated.

Does anybody actually consider that a man who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth displaying no regard for working individuals is out of the blue going to be your champion? Your voice? Hey in that case, you need to vote for him. But in case you’re somebody who’s really involved about paying your payments, in case you’re actually involved about pocketbook points and seeing the financial system develop, and creating extra alternative for everyone, then the selection is not even shut. If you need somebody with a lifelong monitor document of preventing for larger wages, and higher advantages, and a fairer tax code, and a much bigger voice for staff, and stronger laws on Wall Street, then it is best to vote for Hillary Clinton.

And for those who’re rightly involved about who’s going to maintain you and your loved ones protected in a harmful world – properly, the selection is even clearer. Hillary Clinton is revered around the globe not simply by leaders, however by the individuals they serve. I’ve to say this, individuals outdoors of the United States don’t perceive what is going on on on this election. They actually do not. Because they know Hillary. They’ve seen her work. She’s labored intently with our intelligence groups, our diplomats, our army. She has the judgment and the expertise, and the temperament to satisfy the menace from terrorism. It’s not new to her. Our troops have pounded ISIL with out mercy, taking out their leaders, taking again territory. And I do know Hillary will not relent till ISIL is destroyed. She will end the job – and she is going to do it with out resorting to torture, or banning complete religions from getting into our nation. She is match and she or he is able to be the subsequent commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump calls our army a catastrophe. Apparently, he does not know the women and men who make up the strongest preventing pressure the world has ever recognized. He suggests America is weak. He should not hear the billions of women and men, and youngsters, from the Baltics to Burma, who nonetheless look to America to be the sunshine of freedom, and dignity, and human rights. He cozies as much as Putin, praises Saddam Hussein, tells our NATO allies that stood by our aspect after 9/11 that they need to pay up if they need our safety. Well, America’s guarantees don’t include a price ticket. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one cause why virtually each nation on Earth sees America as stronger and extra revered at present than they did eight years in the past once I took workplace.

America is already nice. America is already robust. And I promise you, our power, our greatness, doesn’t rely upon Donald Trump.

In reality, it does not rely upon anybody individual. And that, in the long run, would be the largest distinction on this election – the which means of our democracy.

Ronald Reagan referred to as America “a shining city on a hill.” Donald Trump calls it “a divided crime scene” that solely he can repair. It does not matter to him that unlawful immigration and the crime fee are as little as they have been in many years, as a result of he is not truly providing any actual options to these points. He’s simply providing slogans, and he is providing worry. He’s betting that if he scares sufficient individuals, he may rating simply sufficient votes to win this election.

And that is one other guess that Donald Trump will lose. And the rationale he’ll lose it’s as a result of he is promoting the American individuals brief. We’re not a fragile individuals. We’re not a frightful individuals. Our energy does not come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order so long as we do issues his means. We do not look to be dominated. Our energy comes from these immortal declarations first put to paper proper right here in Philadelphia all these years in the past: we maintain these truths to be self-evident, that each one males are created equal, that we, the individuals, can type a extra good union.

That’s who we’re. That’s our birthright – the capability to form our personal future. That’s what drove patriots to decide on revolution over tyranny and our GIs to liberate a continent. It’s what gave ladies the braveness to succeed in for the poll, and marchers to cross a bridge in Selma, and staff to arrange and struggle for collective bargaining and higher wages.

America’s by no means been about what one individual says he’ll do for us. It’s about what might be achieved by us, collectively, by way of the onerous, and sluggish, and typically irritating, however finally enduring work of self-authorities.

And that is what Hillary Clinton understands. She is aware of that this can be a huge, numerous nation. She has seen it. She’s traveled. She’s talked to people. And she understands that the majority points are not often black and white. She understands that even once you’re 100% proper, getting issues executed requires compromise. That democracy does not work if we continuously demonize one another. She is aware of that for progress to occur, we have now to pay attention to one another, and see ourselves in one another, and battle for our rules but in addition struggle to seek out widespread floor, regardless of how elusive which will typically appear.

Hillary is aware of we will work by way of racial divides on this nation once we understand the fear black mother and father really feel when their son leaves the home is not so totally different than what a courageous cop’s household feels when he places on the blue and goes to work; that we will honor police and deal with each group pretty. We can do this. And she is aware of that acknowledging issues which have festered for many years is not making race relations worse – it is creating the likelihood for individuals of goodwill to hitch and make issues higher.

Hillary is aware of we will insist on a lawful and orderly immigration system whereas nonetheless seeing striving college students and their toiling mother and father as loving households, not criminals or rapists; households that got here right here for a similar purpose our forebears got here – to work, and to review, and to make a greater life, in a spot the place we will speak and worship and love as we please. She is aware of their dream is quintessentially American, and the American dream is one thing no wall will ever include.

These are the issues that Hillary is aware of. It could be irritating, this enterprise of democracy. Trust me, I do know. Hillary is aware of, too. When the opposite aspect refuses to compromise, progress can stall. People are harm by the inaction. Supporters can develop impatient, and fear that you simply’re not making an attempt onerous sufficient; that you’ve got perhaps bought out.

But I promise you, once we maintain at it; once we change sufficient minds; once we ship sufficient votes, then progress does occur. And when you doubt that, simply ask the twenty million extra individuals who have healthcare at the moment. Just ask the Marine who proudly serves his nation with out hiding the husband that he loves. Democracy works, America, however we gotta need it – not simply throughout an election yr, however all the times in between.

So in case you agree that there is an excessive amount of inequality in our financial system, and an excessive amount of cash in our politics, all of us have to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders’ supporters have been throughout this election. We all have to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, after which maintain them accountable till they get the job carried out. That’s proper – Feel the Bern.

If you need extra justice within the justice system, then we have all acquired to vote – not only for a president, however for mayors, and sheriffs, and state’s attorneys, and state legislatures. That’s the place the legal law is made. And we have set to work with police and protesters till legal guidelines and practices are modified. That’s how democracy works.

If you need to struggle local weather change, we have got to interact not solely younger individuals on school campuses, we have got to succeed in out to the coal miner who’s fearful about taking good care of his household, the only mother fearful about fuel costs.

If you need to shield our youngsters and our cops from gun violence, we have got to get the overwhelming majority of Americans, together with gun house owners, who agree on issues like background checks to be simply as vocal and simply as decided because the gun foyer that blocks change by way of each funeral that we maintain. That is how change occurs.

Look, Hillary’s received her share of critics. She has been caricatured by the best and by some on the left; she has been accused of every thing you’ll be able to think about – and a few issues that you simply can’t. But she is aware of that is what occurs once you’re underneath a microscope for forty years. She is aware of that typically throughout these forty years she’s made errors, identical to I’ve; identical to all of us do. That’s what occurs once we attempt. That’s what occurs once you’re the sort of citizen Teddy Roosevelt as soon as described – not the timid souls who criticize from the sidelines, however somebody “who is actually in the arena…who strives valiantly; who errs…but who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement.”

Hillary Clinton is that lady within the area. She’s been there for us – even when we’ve not all the time observed. And in the event you’re critical about our democracy, you possibly can’t afford to remain house simply because she won’t align with you on each problem. You’ve received to get within the area together with her, as a result of democracy is not a spectator sport. America is not about “yes he will.” It’s about “yes we can.” And we will carry Hillary to victory this fall, as a result of that is what the second calls for. Yes we will. Not sure she will, not sure I can, sure we will.

You know, there’s been a variety of speak on this marketing campaign about what America has misplaced – individuals who inform us that our lifestyle is being undermined by pernicious modifications and darkish forces past our management. They inform voters there is a “real America” on the market that have to be restored. This is not an concept, by the best way, that began with Donald Trump. It’s been peddled by politicians for a very long time – in all probability from the beginning of our Republic.

And it is obtained me desirous about the story I advised you twelve years in the past tonight, about my Kansas grandparents and the issues they taught me once I was rising up. See my grandparents, they got here from the heartland; their ancestors started settling there about 200 years in the past. I do not know if that they had their start certificates, however they have been there. And they have been Scotch-Irish principally, farmers, academics, ranch palms, pharmacists, oil-rig staff. Hardy, small-city people. Some have been Democrats, however a whole lot of them, perhaps even most of them, have been Republicans. Party of Lincoln. And my grandparents defined that people in these elements, they did not like present-offs. They did not admire braggarts or bullies. They did not respect imply-spiritedness, or people who have been all the time in search of shortcuts in life. Instead, what they valued have been traits like honesty and arduous work. Kindness. Courtesy. Humility. Responsibility. Helping one another out.

That’s what they believed in. True issues. Things that final. The issues we attempt to train our youngsters.

And what my grandparents understood was that these values weren’t restricted to Kansas. They weren’t restricted to small cities. These values might journey to Hawaii; they might journey even to the opposite aspect of the world, the place my mom would find yourself working to assist poor ladies get a greater life, making an attempt to use these values. My grandparents knew these values weren’t reserved for one race; they might be handed right down to a half-Kenyan grandson, or a half-Asian granddaughter; in reality, they have been the identical values Michelle’s mother and father, the descendants of slaves, taught their very own youngsters dwelling in a bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. They knew these values have been precisely what drew immigrants right here, they usually believed that the youngsters of these immigrants have been simply as American as their very own, whether or not they wore a cowboy hat or a yarmulke; a baseball cap or a hijab.

America has modified through the years. But these values that my grandparents taught – they have not gone anyplace. They’re as robust as ever; nonetheless cherished by individuals of each get together, each race, each religion. They stay on in every of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what’s in right here. That’s what issues. And that is why we will take the meals and music and holidays and types of different nations, and mix it into one thing uniquely our personal. That’s why we will appeal to strivers and entrepreneurs from across the globe to construct new factories and create new industries right here. That’s why our army can look the best way it does, each shade of humanity, cast into widespread service. That’s why anybody who threatens our values, whether or not fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will all the time fail in the long run.

That is America. That is America. Those bonds of affection; that widespread creed. We do not worry the longer term; we form it, we embrace it, as one individuals, stronger collectively than we’re on our personal. That’s what Hillary Clinton understands – this fighter, this stateswoman, this mom and grandmother, this public servant, this patriot – that is the America she’s preventing for.

And that’s the reason I’ve confidence, as I depart this stage tonight, that the Democratic Party is in good arms. My time on this workplace, it hasn’t fastened the whole lot; as a lot as we have achieved, there’s nonetheless a lot I need to do. But for all of the robust classes I’ve needed to study; for all of the locations the place I’ve fallen brief; I’ve advised Hillary, and I am going to inform you, what’s picked me again up, each single time.

It’s been you. The American individuals.

It’s the letter I carry on my wall from a survivor in Ohio who twice virtually misplaced the whole lot to most cancers, however urged me to maintain preventing for well being care reform, even when the battle appeared misplaced. Do not give up.

It’s the portray I hold in my personal workplace, an enormous-eyed, inexperienced owl, with blue wings, made by a seven-yr-previous woman who was taken from us in Newtown, given to me by her mother and father so I would not overlook – a reminder of all of the mother and father who’ve turned their grief into motion.

It’s the small enterprise proprietor in Colorado who minimize most of his personal wage so he would not have to put off any of his staff within the recession – as a result of, he stated, “that wouldn’t have been in the spirit of America.”

It’s the conservative in Texas who stated he disagreed with me on the whole lot, however he appreciated that, like him, I attempt to be a superb dad.

It’s the braveness of the younger soldier from Arizona who almost died on the battlefield in Afghanistan, however who has discovered to talk once more and stroll once more – and earlier this yr, stepped by means of the door of the Oval Office on his personal energy, to salute and shake my hand.

It is each American who believed we might change this nation for the higher, so lots of you who’d by no means been concerned in politics, who picked up telephones, and hit the streets, and used the Internet in superb new ways in which I did not actually perceive however made change occur. You are one of the best organizers on the planet, and I’m so pleased with all of the change that you simply made attainable.

Time and once more, you’ve got picked me up. And I hope, typically, I picked you up, too.

And tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you probably did for me. I ask you to hold her the identical approach you carried me. Because you are who I used to be speaking about twelve years in the past, once I talked about hope – it has been you who’ve fueled my dogged religion in our future, even when the chances have been nice; even when the street is lengthy. Hope within the face of problem; hope within the face of uncertainty; the audacity of hope.

America, you’ve got vindicated that hope these previous eight years. And now I am able to move the baton and do my half as a personal citizen. So this yr, on this election, I am asking you to hitch me – to reject cynicism and reject worry, and to summon what’s greatest in us; to elect Hillary Clinton as the subsequent president of the United States, and present the world we nonetheless consider within the promise of this nice nation.

Thank you for this unimaginable journey. Let’s maintain it going. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.