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Transcript of Hillary Clinton’s Speech
Hillary Clinton delivered the following remarks in Washington, D.C., on
Saturday:
Thank you so much. Thank you all.
Well, this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the
company.
I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you to everyone
who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles
and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise
money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked and sometimes argued with
your friends and neighbors, who emailed and contributed online, who invested so
much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who
lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in
their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be."
To the young people like 13 year-old Ann Riddle from Mayfield, Ohio who had
been saving for two years to go to Disney World, and decided to use her savings
instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her Mom and volunteer there as well. To
the veterans and the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans who
traveled across the country and telling anyone who would listen why you
supported me.
To all those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women could vote
who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you before about Florence Steen
of South Dakota, who was 88 years old, and insisted that her daughter bring an
absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an
American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot. She passed away
soon after, and under state law, her ballot didn’t count. But her daughter later
told a reporter, "My dad’s an ornery old cowboy, and he didn’t like it when he
heard mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I don’t think he had voted in 20 years.
But he voted in place of my mom."
To all those who voted for me, and to whom I pledged my utmost, my
commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You have inspired
and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric
of our lives and you have humbled me with your commitment to our country.
18 million of you from all walks of life – women and men, young and old,
Latino and Asian, African-American and Caucasian, rich, poor and middle class,
gay and straight – you have stood strong with me. And I will continue to stand
strong with you, every time, every place, and every way that I can. The dreams
we share are worth fighting for.
Remember - we fought for the single mom with a young daughter, juggling
work and school, who told me, "I’m doing it all to better myself for her." We
fought for the woman who grabbed my hand, and asked me, "What are you going to
do to make sure I have health care?" and began to cry because even though she
works three jobs, she can’t afford insurance. We fought for the young man in the
Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, "Take care of
my buddies over there and then, will you please help take care of me?" We fought
for all those who’ve lost jobs and health care, who can’t afford gas or
groceries or college, who have felt invisible to their president these last
seven years.
I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction: that public
service is about helping people solve their problems and live their dreams. I’ve
had every opportunity and blessing in my own life – and I want the same for all
Americans. Until that day comes, you will always find me on the front lines of
democracy – fighting for the future.
The way to continue our fight now – to accomplish the goals for which we
stand – is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to
help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has
won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him, and throw my full
support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for
Barack Obama as you have for me.
I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this
campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe
with him in 22 debates. I have had a front row seat to his candidacy, and I have
seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit.
In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. As a community
organizer, in the state senate, as a United States Senator - he has dedicated
himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired
so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common
future.
Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House, and
make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace,
prosperity, and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do by ensuring
that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20,
2009.
I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight. The Democratic
Party is a family, and it’s now time to restore the ties that bind us together
and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the
country we love.
We may have started on separate journeys – but today, our paths have
merged. And we are all heading toward the same destination, united and more
ready than ever to win in November and to turn our country around because so
much is at stake.
We all want an economy that sustains the American Dream, the opportunity to
work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and
retirement, to afford that gas and those groceries and still have a little left
over at the end of the month. An economy that lifts all of our people and
ensures that our prosperity is broadly distributed and shared.
We all want a health care system that is universal, high quality, and
affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves
or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.
This isn’t just an issue for me it is a passion and a cause and it is a fight I
will continue until every single American is insured no exceptions, no
excuses.
We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality from civil
rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending
discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most
important job there is: caring for our families.
We all want to restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in
Iraq and once again lead by the power of our values, and to join with our allies
to confront our shared challenges from poverty and genocide to terrorism and
global warming.
You know, I’ve been involved in politics and public life in one way or
another for four decades. During those forty years, our country has voted ten
times for President. Democrats won only three of those times. And the man who
won two of those elections is with us today.
We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic President,
with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace and security respected
around the world. Just think how much more progress we could have made over the
past 40 years if we had a Democratic president. Think about the lost
opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on
health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme
Court. Imagine how far we could’ve come, how much we could’ve achieved if we had
just had a Democrat in the White House.
We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished
too much.
Now the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can’t do it. That
it’s too hard. That we’re just not up to the task. But for as long as America
has existed, it has been the American way to reject "can’t do" claims, and to
choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work,
determination, and a pioneering spirit. |
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发表于 2016-7-11 09:34:19