I've never seen a time when Washington has watched so many
people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back
up. Almost every night, I take the train home to Wilmington, sometimes
very late. As I sit there in my seat and I look out my window and I see
the flickering lights of the homes we pass by, I can almost hear the
conversation they're having at their kitchen table after they put their
kids to bed. Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as
ordinary as they are profound. Questions they never ever thought they'd
have to ask themselves:

_Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?
_Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars just to fill up the gas tank?
_How in God's name, with winter coming, how are we gonna heat the home?
_Another year, no raise?
_Did you hear? Did you hear they may be cutting our health care at the company?
_Now, now we owe more on the house than it's worth. How in God's name are we
going to send the kids to college?
_How are we gonna retire?

You
know, folks, that's the America that George Bush has left us, and
that's the America we'll continue to get if George - excuse me, if John
McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian
slip! Freudian slip! And folks, these are not isolated discussions
among families down on their luck. These are common stories among
middle-class people who've worked hard their whole life, played by the
rules on the promise that their tomorrows would be better than their
yesterdays.

That promise is the promise of America. It defines
who we are as a people. And now it's in jeopardy. I know it. You know
it. But John McCain doesn't get it. Barack Obama gets it though. Like
many of us in this room, like many of us in this hall, Barack worked
his way up. His is the great American story. You know, I believe the
measure of a man is not the road he travels; it's the choices he's made
along that road.

And ladies and gentlemen, Barack
Obama could have done anything after he graduated from college. With
all his talent and promise, he could have written his own ticket to
Wall Street. But what did he choose to do? He chose to go to Chicago.
The South Side of Chicago. There - there in the South Side of Chicago
he met men and women who had lost their jobs. Their neighborhood was
devastated when the local steel plant closed. Their dreams had to be
deferred. Their self-esteem gone. And ladies and gentlemen, he made
their lives the work of his life. That's what you do when you're raised
by a single mom, who worked, went to school and raised two kids on her
own. That's how you come to believe, to the very core of your being,
that work is more than a paycheck. It's dignity. It's respect. It's
about whether or not you can look your children in the eye and say:
We're going to be all right.

Because Barack made that choice,
150 (thousand) more children and parents have health care in Illinois.
He fought to make that happen. And because Barack made that choice,
working families in Illinois pay less taxes and more people have moved
from welfare to the dignity of work. And he got it done.
And
when he came to Washington, when he came to Washington, John and I
watched with amazement how he hit the ground running, leading the fight
to pass the most sweeping ethics reform in a generation. He reached
across party lines to pass a law that helps keep nuclear weapons out of
the hands of terrorists. And then he moved Congress and the president
to give our wonderful wounded veterans the care and dignity they
deserve.

You know, you can learn a lot about a man campaigning
with him, debating him, seeing how he reacts under pressure. You learn
about the strength of his mind, but even more importantly, you learn
about the quality of his heart. I watched how Barack touched people,
how he inspired them, and I realized he had tapped into the oldest
belief in America: We don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear.
We have the power to change it. And change it - and change it is
exactly what Barack Obama will do. That's what he'll do for this
country.

You
know, John McCain is my friend, and I know you hear that phrase used
all the time in politics. I mean it. John McCain is my friend. We've
traveled the world together. It's a friendship that goes beyond
politics. And the personal courage and heroism demonstrated by John
still amazes me.

But I profoundly - I profoundly disagree with
the direction that John wants to take the country, from Afghanistan to
Iraq. From Amtrak to veterans. You know, John thinks, John thinks that
during the Bush years "we've made great economic progress." I think
it's been abysmal. And in the Senate, John has voted with President
Bush 95 percent of the time. And that is very hard to believe. And when
John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate
America, $1 billion alone for just eight of the largest companies, but
no, none, no relief for 100 million American families, that's not
change; that's more of the same. Even today, as oil companies post the
biggest profits in history - nearly a half trillion dollars in the last
five years - John wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks.

That's
not change, that's the same. And during the same time John voted again
and again against incentives for renewable energy: solar, wind,
biofuels. That's not change; that's more of the same. Millions of
Americans have seen their jobs go offshore, yet John continues to
support corporations that send them there. That's not change. That's
more of the same. He voted 19 times against raising minimum wage for
people that are struggling just to make it to the next day. That's not
change. That's more of the same. And when he says to continue to spend
$10 billion a month when the Iraqis have a surplus of nearly $80
billion, that's not change. That's more of the same.

The
choice in this election is clear. These times require more than a good
soldier. They require a wise leader. A leader who can change, change -
the change that everybody knows we need. Barack Obama is going to
deliver that change. Because, I want to tell you, Barack Obama will
reform our tax code. He will cut taxes for 95 percent of the American
people who draw a paycheck. That's the change we need. Barack Obama,
Barack Obama will transform our economy by making alternative energy a
national priority and in the process creating 5 million new jobs and
finally, finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil. That's the
change we need.

Barack Obama knows that any country that
outteaches us today will outcompete us tomorrow. That's why he'll
invest in the next generation of teachers and why he'll make college
more affordable. That's the change we need. Barack Obama will bring
down health care costs by $2,500 for the average family and at long
last deliver affordable, accessible health care for every American.
That's the change we need. Barack will put more cops on the street, put
security back in social security and he'll never ever ever give up
until we achieve equal pay for women. That's the change we need.

As
we gather here tonight, our country is less secure and more isolated
that it has been any time it has in recent history. The Bush foreign
policy has dug us into a very deep hole, with very few friends to help
us climb out. And for the last seven years, the administration has
failed to face the biggest the biggest forces shaping this century. The
emergence of Russia, China and India's great powers, the spread of
lethal weapons, the shortage of secure supplies of energy, food and
water. The challenge of climate change and the resurgence of
fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the real central front in
the war on terror.

Ladies
and gentlemen, in recent years and in recent days we once again see the
consequences of the neglect, of this neglect, of Russia challenging the
very freedom of a new democratic country of Georgia. Barack and I will
end that neglect. We will hold Russia accountable for its action and we
will help Georgia rebuild. I have been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms, this
administration's policy has been an abysmal failure. America cannot afford four more years of this failure.

And
now, now, despite being complacent in the catastrophic foreign policy,
John McCain says Barack Obama, Barrack Obama is not ready to protect
our national security. Now let me ask you this. Whose judgment do you
trust? Should you trust the judgment of John McCain when he said only 3
years ago, "Afghanistan - we don't read about it anymore in the papers,
because it succeeded"? Or do you believe Barack Obama, who said a year
ago, "We need to send two more combat battalions to Afghanistan"?

The
fact of the matter is, al-Qaida and the Taliban - the people who have
actually attacked us on 9/11 - they've regrouped in the mountains
between Afghanistan and Pakistan and are plotting new attacks. And the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has echoed Barack's call for more
troops and John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right. Should we
trust John McCain's judgment? When he rejects, when he rejected talking
with Iran and asked what is there to talk about? Or Barack Obama, who
said we must talk and must make clear to Iran that it must change?

Now,
after seven years of denial, even the Bush administration recognizes
that we should talk to Iran because that's the best way to ensure our
security. Again and again John McCain has been wrong and Barack Obama
has been right. Should we trust John McCain's judgment when he says,
when he says that we can't have no timelines to withdraw our troops
from Iraq, that we must say indefinitely? Or should we listen to Barack
Obama, who says shift the responsibility to the Iraqis and set a time
to bring our combat troops home? Now, after six long years, the
administration and the Iraqi government are on the verge of setting a
date to bring our troops home. John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama
was right.

Again,
again and again on the most important national security issues of our
time, John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama has been proven right.
Folks, remember when the world used to trust us, when they looked to us
for leadership? With Barack Obama as our president, they'll look at us
again. They'll trust us again and we'll be able to lead again. Folks,
Jill and I are truly honored to join Michelle and Barack on this
journey.

When I look at their young children, and when I look at
my grandchildren, I realize why I'm here. I'm here for their future. I
am here for everyone I grew up with in Scranton and Wilmington. I am
here for the cops and firefighters, the teachers and assembly line
workers, the folks whose lives are the very measure of whether the
American dream endures.

Our
greatest presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to John
Kennedy, they all challenged us to embrace change. Now, it's our
responsibility to meet that challenge.

Millions of Americans
have been knocked down. And this is the time as Americans, together, we
get back up. Back up together. Our debt to our parents and grandparents
too great, our obligation to our children is too sacred.

These
are extraordinary times. This is an extraordinary election. The
American people are ready. I'm ready. Barack is ready. This is his
time. This is our time. This is America's time.

God bless America, and may God protect our troops! Thank you!