(quote)
"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.
Eighteen 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.
It is this belief, this optimism, that Senator Obama and I share, and
that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their
voices heard.
So today, I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes we can.
Together we will work. We’ll have to work hard to get universal health
care. But on the day we live in an America where no child, no man,
and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a stronger
America. That’s why we need to help elect Barack Obama our
President.
We’ll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a
strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose
middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no
matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn
a decent living, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we
must elect Barack Obama our President.
We’ll have to work hard to foster the innovation that makes us energy
independent and lift the threat of global warming from our children’s
future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by renewable
energy, we will live in a stronger America. That’s why we have to help
elect Barack Obama our President.
We’ll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq, and get
them the support they’ve earned by their service. But on the day we
live in an America that’s as loyal to our troops as they have been to
us, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must help
elect Barack Obama our President.
This election is a turning point election and it is critical that we all
understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward together or
will we stall and slip backwards. Think how much progress we have
already made. When we first started, people everywhere asked the
same questions:
Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we
answered that one.
And could an African American really be our President? Senator
Obama has answered that one.
Together Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our
progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more
perfect union.
Now, on a personal note – when I was asked what it means to be a
woman running for President, I always gave the same answer: that I
was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I
thought I’d be the best President. But I am a woman, and like millions
of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often
unconscious.
I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential
of every last one of us.
I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother
never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my
daughter’s future and a mother who wants to lead all children to
brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that
women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers
and mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay,
and equal respect. Let us resolve and work toward achieving some
very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits and there
are no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century.
You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a
woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman
in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a
woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly
remarkable.
To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way –
especially the young people who put so much into this campaign – it
would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way
discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work
hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble,
keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never
listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.
As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th
woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50
women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White
House.
Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling
this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the
light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and
the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That
has always been the history of progress in America.
Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and
those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of
the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery.
Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who marched,
protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to segregation
and Jim Crow.
Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote.
Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that
children of all colors could go to school together. Because of them,
Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the
Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you,
children today will grow up taking for granted that an African American
or a woman can yes, become President of the United States.
When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our
President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation,
proud that every little girl can dream and that her dreams can come
true in America. And all of you will know that because of your passion
and hard work you helped pave the way for that day.
So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or
think to yourself – “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go there.”
Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.
Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to
dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still
can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that
Senator Obama is our next President and I hope and pray that all of
you will join me in that effort.
To my supporters and colleagues in Congress, to the governors and
mayors, elected officials who stood with me, in good times and in bad,
thank you for your strength and leadership. To my friends in our labor
unions who stood strong every step of the way – I thank you and
pledge my support to you. To my friends, from every stage of my life
– your love and ongoing commitments sustain me every single day.
To my family – especially Bill and Chelsea and my mother, you mean
the world to me and I thank you for all you have done. And to my
extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters, thank you for working
those long, hard hours. Thank you for dropping everything – leaving
work or school – traveling to places you’d never been, sometimes for
months on end. And thanks to your families as well because your
sacrifice was theirs too.
All of you were there for me every step of the way. Being human, we
are imperfect. That’s why we need each other. To catch each other
when we falter. To encourage each other when we lose heart. Some
may lead; others may follow; but none of us can go it alone. The
changes we’re working for are changes that we can only accomplish
together. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are rights that
belong to each of us as individuals. But our lives, our freedom, our
happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected, and best advanced
when we do work together.
That is what we will do now as we join forces with Senator Obama and
his campaign. We will make history together as we write the next
chapter in America’s story. We will stand united for the values we hold
dear, for the vision of progress we share, and for the country we love.
There is nothing more American than that.
And looking out at you today, I have never felt so blessed. The
challenges that I have faced in this campaign are nothing compared
to those that millions of Americans face every day in their own lives.
So today, I’m going to count my blessings and keep on going. I’m
going to keep doing what I was doing long before the cameras ever
showed up and what I’ll be doing long after they’re gone: Working to
give every American the same opportunities I had, and working to
ensure that every child has the chance to grow up and achieve his or
her God-given potential.
I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and abiding love
for our country– and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the
days ahead. This is now our time to do all that we can to make sure
that in this election we add another Democratic president to that very
small list of the last 40 years and that we take back our country and
once again move with progress and commitment to the future.
Thank you all and God bless you and God bless America."
(end quote)
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