Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention address

Full remarks from CBS News. Autosummarized to 10%.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and
Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is
our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. A nation of
whiners?


Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care
what’s going on in the lives of Americans.

It’s not because John McCain
doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it. Out of work? No health
care?

Well it’s time for them to own their failure. It’s time for us to
change America.

What is that promise?

Our government should work
for us, not against us.
Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the
lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who
deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to
corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies
that create good jobs right here in America.

I will cut taxes - cut
taxes - for 95% of all working families. I’ll make it easier for the American
people to afford these new cars.

America, now is not the time for small
plans.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable,
accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my
plan will lower your premiums.

Now is the time to help families with
paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to
choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that’s the essence
of America’s promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the
next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad. If John
McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that
is his choice - but it is not the change we need. I love this country, and so do
you, and so does John McCain.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We
all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy. This too
is part of America’s promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the
strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort. When Washington
doesn’t work, all its promises seem empty. Change comes to Washington.

America, this is one of those moments. Because I’ve lived it.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. America, we cannot turn back.
America, we cannot turn back. Let us keep that promise - that American promise -
and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we
confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of
America.