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[0:06] ..." But Barack running for president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball but my brother Craig. I can't tell you how much it means to"...
[7:02] ..." I -- men and women. Gathered in searches and union hall in high school gym -- People who stood up and marched in risked everything they had refusing to settle determine. To mold our future into"...
[9:23] ..." dream a little bigger and came a little -- People like Joe Biden. "...
[16:41] ..." together exit that build their hopes and let stand together to elect Barack Obama. President I had. And."...
[0:00]" I."
[0:06]" But Barack running for president is nothing compared to that first game of basketball but my brother Craig. I can't tell you how much it means to have Craig in my mind here tonight. Like like Craig I can feel my dad looking down on us just as I've felt this presence in every grace filled moment of my life. And it's six foot six I've often felt like Craig was looking down on need to 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. Step of the way. Since that cleared days. February. Nineteen 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 -- 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. At the moment. As a -- girls are at the heart of my heart in 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 Southside of Chicago. But the collar city workers. And a mother stayed at home with my brother and me. My mothers love has always been a sustaining force or family. And one of my greatest joy at seeing her integrity. Her compassion. Her intelligence reflected in my daughter's. My dead was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his early thirties he was our provider. He was our champion our hero. But as he got sicker -- it got harder for him to walk. Took him longer to get dressed in the morning. You know what if he was in pain he never let. He never stopped smiling and laughing. Even while struggling to button shirt. Even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my mom a kiss. You just woke up a little earlier. And you worked a little harder. He and my mom court everything they had in the -- It was the greatest gift that child to recede. Never doubting for a single minute that you're loved and chairs and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith in their hard work we both were able to go to college. So I know firsthand from their lives in my mind that the American dream in doers."
[3:36]" Opinion. What."
[3:39]" What struck me when I first met Barack is that even though he had this funny name. And even though he had grown up all the way across the continent why. His family was so much like -- He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents. And -- single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. And like my family they scrimp and save so that he can have opportunities that they never happened themselves. And Iraq and I were raised with so many of the same values. Like you work hard for what you want life. That your word is your bond that you do what you say you going to do. That you treat people. Dignity and respect even if you don't know them. And even if you don't agree with them. -- filled lives. Guided by the values in the past 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 the achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them. And I learn more about Iraq. He introduced me to work -- work and he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college. You see instead headline a Wall Street. The rock. 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 they were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build a bit like. See they were. Parents. Trying to get five from paycheck to paycheck. Grandparents. Trying to get it together on a fixed income minute frustrated that they couldn't support their families after jobs disappeared. You see those folks we're asking for handouts or short cut. 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 -- rock. Barack stood up that -- Any spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about. The world and it is and the world -- it should be. Any said that all too often we accept the distance between the two and we settled 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 -- looked like. He said we know what fairness 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. I -- men and women. Gathered in searches and union hall in high school gym -- People who stood up and marched in risked everything they had refusing to settle determine. 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 88 anniversary of women winning the rights of vote. And the 45 anniversary of that hot summer day. When doctor king lifted our sites in our hearts with his dreams for our nation. It. I -- good day at the cross currents of that history. Knowing that my piece of the American dream is the blessing hard one but 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 addressed himself to work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country. People who work station they kissed their kids good night and head out for the night shift without disappointment. Without regret. To that goodnight kisses a reminder of everything the working poor. The military families who say -- each night with an empty seat at the table."
[8:47]" Men and women who love this country so much. They leave those they love most to defended. 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. Good. Eighteen million cracks. It -- glass ceiling so that our daughters and our sons -- dream a little bigger and came a little -- People like Joe Biden. "
[9:33]" It got where he came from the never stopped fighting for."
[9:35]" Folks who work long hours and face long. And needs someone on their side again. All of us driven by that 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 threat that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Iraq's journey and so many other improbable journey that have brought us here tonight. With the current of history meets this new tide of hope. Any seat back. Is why. I love this country."
[10:29]" And in my own."
[10:34]" In my own life. In my own small way I try to give back to this country that is given me so much. See that's why have left that job to big law firm for a career in public service. Working to. It -- young people to volunteer in their communities because I believe that each of us. No matter what our age or background are walking like each of us has something to contribute to the light of this nation. And it's a belief that -- I believe 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 an after school programs to keep kids safe. Working block by block to help people lift up their families. It's what he did it in Illinois and moving people from. Welfare to jobs passing tax cuts for hardworking families. And making sure the women get equal pay for equal work. That the men and women who serve this country. Are welcome home not just with medals in parades -- with good shops and benefits. And health care including -- Hair."
[12:03]" Michael -- remained. To end the war in Iraq responsibly. Some make -- health care is available for every American. And to make sure that every single child in this nation has a world class education. All the way from."
[12:32]" The land -- We'll."
[12:43]" It's the same way he always. Bringing us together. And reminding us how much we share. And how light really are. You see a rock doesn't care where -- from. What's your background is -- what party if any you belong to see that's just not how he sees the world. He knows that threat that connects us. Our belief in America's promise. Our commitment to our children's future he knows that that -- is strong enough to hold us together as one nation. Even when we disagree. It was strong enough to bring hope that. Those neighborhoods and Chicago. It was strong enough to bring hope to the mother he met -- worried about her child in Iraq. -- to the man who is unemployed and can't afford gas to find a job. Hope to this student working nights to papers 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."
[13:50]" It became the first voices in this. --"
[13:56]" But millions of American. Millions. American."
[14:05]" And their dream. Millions. Of Americans who know that Iraq will fight for people like them. And that the last Willer brain finally the change that we need."
[14:22]" And in the end. After all that's happened these past nineteen months. See the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with nineteen years ago. The same man. Throw me in our new baby daughter home from the hospital -- years ago this summer. Inching along in a snail's pace. Peering at us anxiously at that. -- the rearview mirror. Feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands. Determined. To give her everything he struggled so hard for himself. Determined to give her something he never had. The affirming embrace of a father's love. I got that little girl. Besides not fat girl Lynn and her little sister in the bed at night. You see I think about how one day they'll have families that their room. And how. One day in day in your Sons and Daughters will tell their own children about what we did together in this election."
[15:44]" We live -- to our hopes instead of -- beards. -- Excited to stop the -- at the start dreaming. How this time in this break. He -- girl from the south side of Chicago. Can go to college and law school in the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House."
[16:12]" We -- committed."
[16:19]" If things -- well at this should be so that night in honor of my father's memory. And my daughter's future. Out of -- soon. But those whose clients we -- this week and those whose every day sacrifices that brought us to this moment. Let us devote ourselves to finishing their work let us work together exit that build their hopes and let stand together to elect Barack Obama. President I had. And."
[16:59]" I."
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