Michelle Obama Keynote Address at DNC

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[Music] w w as as you might imagine for for Barack running for

president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother Craig I I can't tell you how much it

means to have Craig and my mom here tonight like like Craig I can feel my dad looking down on us uh just as I've felt his presence in every Grace fill

moment of my life and it's 6'6 I've often felt like Craig was looking down on me too literally but the truth is both when we

were kids and today Craig wasn't looking down on me he was watching over me and he has been there for

me every step of the way since that clear day February 19 months ago when with little more than our faith in each

other and a hunger for change we joined my husband Barack Obama on the improbable Journey that has led us to this moment but each of us comes here

also by way of our own improbable Journey I come here tonight as a sister blessed with a brother who is my mentor my

protector and my lifelong friend and I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary

president and I come here as a mom as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart heart and the center of my world they're the first things I think

about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed at night their future and all our children's future is my stake in this

election and I come here as a daughter raised on the south side of Chicago by a father who was a blue colar city worker and a mother who stayed at

home with my brother and me my mother's love has always been a sustaining Force for our family and one of my greatest Joys is seeing her Integrity her

compassion her intelligence reflected in my daughters my dad was our Rock and although he was diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis in his early 30s he was our provider he was our champion our hero but as he got sicker it got harder

for him to walk took took him longer to get dressed in the morning you know but if he was in pain he never let on he never stopped smiling and laughing even

while struggling to button his shirt even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my mom a kiss he just woke up a little earlier

and he worked a little harder he and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig it was the greatest gift a child could receive

never doubting for a single minute that you're loved and cherished and have a place in this world and thanks to their faith and their hard work we both were

able to go to college so I know firsthand from their lives and mind that the American dream endures and you

know what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name name and even though he had grown up all the way across the

continent in Hawaii his family was so much like mine he was raised by grandparents who were workingclass folks just like my parents and by a single

mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did and like my family they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities that they never had for

themselves and barock and I were raised with so many of the same values like you work hard for what you want in life that

your word is your bond that you do what you say you're going to do that you treat people with dignity and respect even if

you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them and Barack and I set out to build lives Guided by these values and to pass

them on to the next generation because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is

the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them and as our friendship grew and I learned more about Barack he

introduced me to work the work that he' done when he first moved to Chicago after college you see instead of going to Wall Street Barack

went to work in neighborhoods that had been devastated by the closing of Steel plants jobs dried up and Barack was invited back to speak to people from

those neighborhoods about how to rebuild their community and the people gathered there together that day were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build

a good life see they were parents uh trying to get by from paycheck to paycheck grandparents trying to get it together on a fixed income men

frustrated that they couldn't support their families after jobs that disappeared you see those folks weren't asking for a handout or a shortcut see

they were ready to work they wanted to contribute they believe like you and I believe that America should be a place where you can make it if you

try and Barack stood up that day and he spoke words that have stayed with me ever since he talked about the

world as it is and the world as it should be and he said that all too often we accept the distance between the two and we settle for the world as it is even when it doesn't reflect our values

and aspirations but he reminded us that we also know what the world should like look like he said we know what fairness

and and Justice and opportunity look like and he urged us to believe in ourselves to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it

should be and isn't that the Great American story it's it's the story of men and women gathered in churches and union

halls in high school gyms and people who stood up and marched and risked everything they had refusing to settle determined to mold our future into the

shape of our ideals and it's because of their will and determination that this week we celebrate two anniversaries the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to

vote and the 45th anniversary and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr King lifted our sights and our hearts starts with his dream for our

nation and I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history knowing that my pce of the American dream is a

blessing hard one by those who came before me all of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly

dress himself for work the same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country people who work the dayshift and kiss their kids good night and head out

for the night shift without disappointment without regret see that good night kiss is a reminder of everything they're working for the

military families who say grace each night with an empty seat at the table the servicemen

the service men and women who love this country so much they leave those they love most to defend it the young people across America serving our communities

teaching children cleaning up neighborhoods caring for the least Among Us each and every day people like Hillary Clinton

who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so that our daughters and our sons Can Dream a little bigger and aim a little higher people like Joe

Biden who has never forgotten where he came from and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side

again all of us driven by the simple belief that the world as it is just won't do that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be and

that is the thread that connects our hearts that is the thread that runs through my journey and barack's journey and so many other improbable Journeys

that have brought us here tonight where the current of History meets this new tide of Hope and you see that is why I

love this country and in my own life in my own life in my own small way I've Tred to give back to this country

that has given me so much see that's why I left a job at a big Law Firm for a career in public service working to empower young people to volunteer in

their communities because I believe that each of us no matter what our age or our background or our walk in life each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation and it's a belief

that Barack shares a belief at the heart of his life's work see it's what he did all those years ago in Chicago setting up job training to get people back to

work and after school programs to keep kids safe working block by block to help people lift up their families it's what he did in the Illinois Senate moving

people from welfare to jobs passing tax cuts for hardworking families and making sure women get equal pay for equal

work it's what he's done in the United States Senate fighting to ensure that the men and women who serve this country are welcomed home not just with medals

and parades but with good jobs and benefits and health care including Mental Health Care see that's why barack's running to

end the war in Iraq responsibly to build an economy that lifts every family to make sure Health Care is available

for every American and to make sure that every single child in this nation has a worldclass education all the way from preschool to

college that's what Barack will Obama will do as president of the United States of America he'll achieve these goals the

same way he always has by bringing us together and reminding us how much we share and how alike we really are you

see Barack doesn't care where you're from or what your background is or what party if any you belong to see that's just not how he sees the world he knows

that thread that connects us our belief in America's promise our commitment to our children's future he knows that that threat is strong enough to hold us

together as one nation even when we disagree it was strong enough to bring hope to those neighborhoods in Chicago it was strong enough to bring hope to

the mother he met who was worried about her child in Iraq hope to the man who's unemployed and can't afford gas to find

a job hope to the student working nights to pay for his sister's Health Care sleeping just a few hours a day and it was strong enough to bring hope to

people who came out on a cold Iowa night and became the first voices in this Chorus for change that has been echoed by millions of Americans from every

corner of this nation millions of Americans who know that Barack understands their dreams millions of Americans who know that

Barack will fight for people like them and that Barack will bring finally the change that we need and in the

end and in the end after all that's happened these past 19 months see the Barack Obama I know today is the same

man I fell in love with 19 years ago he's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital 10 years ago this

summer inching along at a snail's pace peering at us anxiously at the through the rearview mirror feeling the

whole weight of her future in his hands determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself determined to give her something

he never had the affirming Embrace of a Father's Love and as I tuck that little girl in as I

tuck that little girl in and her little sister in the bed at night you see I I think about how one day they'll have families of their own and how one day

they and your sons and daughters will tell their own children about what we did together in the election they'll tell them they'll tell them

how this time we listen to our hopes instead of our fears how this time how this time we decided to stop doubting and to start

dreaming how this time in this great country where a girl from the south side of Chicago can go to college and law school and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the

White House and we committed ourselves we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be so

tonight in honor of my father's memory and my daughter's future out of gratitude for those whose triumphs we mark this week and those whose everyday

sacrifices have brought us to this moment let us devote ourselves to finishing their work let us work together to fulfill build their hopes

and let's stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America thank you God bless you and God

bless America [Applause] [Applause]

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[Applause] he see love [Applause] this see [Applause]

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wonderful [Music] [Applause]

[Music] you hi Daddy hey

sweetie hello everybody hello from Kansas C how about Michelle Obama now you know why I asked her out so many

times even though she said no you want a persistent president he Michelle you were uh you were

unbelievable and uh you also look very cute thank you that's Sasha and listen I'm I I I'm

here with the the Gerardo family uh here in St Louis this is Jim and Al and like us got

daughters the uh we've got uh Lindsay and we've got Hannah and we've got Grace over here and and and uh they have just been

wonderful hosts uh the the whole time that we've been watching Daddy what city are you

in I'm in Kansas City sweetie and and uh Malia Sasha how do you think Mom

did I think she did good all right I think so too well listen I want you guys to look

after the girls uh look after Mommy uh before I get there and I'll I'll see you guys on Thursday all right I love you Daddy love you guys love you

byebye love you Daddy love you swe [Applause]

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