a shot, not simply by having a strong military, but because we had a better ideal to show the world. every american president must and will take up arms in the defense of our nation. it is a solemn oath that cannot -- and will not -- be compromised. but there is a fundamental difference between the defense of our nation and the doctrine of preemptive war espoused by this administration. [applause] the president's group of narrow-minded ideological advisors are undermining our nation's greatness in the world. they have embraced a form of unilateralism that is even more dangerous than isolationism. this administration has shown

disdain for allies, treaties and international organizations alike. in doing so they would throw aside our nation's role as the inspirational leader of the world the beacon of hope and justice in the interests of humankind. and instead, they would present our face to the world as a dominant power prepared to push aside any nation with which we do not agree. our foreign and military policies must be about america leading the world, not america against the world. [applause]

how did we come to this point? how is it that our leaders have abandoned our communities and repudiated our idealism and principles? when confronted with a dedicated band of right wing ideologues, too many americans have stopped participating, stopped voting, and stopped believing that they can change america. and we in politics have not given people a reason to vote or a reason to participate. we have slavishly spewed sound bites, copying each other while saying little. we raise millions of dollars and each year make lofty promises, while every year the struggles of ordinary americans increase and fewer americans vote. our politicians, many of them good people, have been paralyzed by their fear of losing office.

[applause] our leaders have developed a vocabulary which has become meaningless to the american people. there is no greater example of this than a self-described conservative republican president who creates the greatest deficits in history of america. or a president who boasts of a clear skies initiative which allows far more pollution into our air. or a president who co-opts from an advocacy organization the phrase "no child left behind," while paying for irresponsible tax cuts by cutting children's health care. [applause]

martin luther king, jr. said, "our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." the history of our nation is clear -- at every turn when there has been an imbalance of power, the truth questioned, or our beliefs and values distorted, the change required to restore our nation has always come from the bottom up from our people. and so, while the president raises $4 million more tonight to maintain his agenda, we will not be silent. [applause]

[crowd chanting howard dean] he calls his biggest fundraisers rangers and pioneers. but today, we stand together with who are more than 5,000 people in burlington, vermont. [applause] >> and tens of thousands of people across america standing with us right now in every single state in the nation.

and we call ourselves americans. [applause] [applause] and we stand today in common purpose to take our country back. i am a doctor and i was proud to

be governor of vermont, where we balanced our budgets where we and we had the greatest delegation in the united states senate and house. where we made sure that nearly every child in our state had health care coverage, where we are stewards of our land and natural resources, where on the first tuesday of march every year, vermonters gather to make decisions on matters vital to our communities where we hold these truths to be self evident: that all are created equal and are endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. and, where we, like all americans, love our country and want to see her flag stand for freedom and justice for all. that flag is not the property of either party, it belongs to all

of us. it is from this place that the rest of the journey of this campaign continues. we will ask the american people to participate in this campaign and this challenge. would weigh are an extraordinary grassroots campaign of the modern era. how many here from meetup.com? [applause] >> we are built from mousepads shoe lesther and hope and like move up.org we seek to strengthen the voice of our

people and we seek change. i ask all americans, regardless of party, to meet with me across the nation to come together in common cause to forge a new american century. help us in this quest to return greatness, and return high moral purpose to the united states of america. the biggest lie spoken by on platforms like this is the cry of "elect me and i will solve all your problems." the truth is the future of our country lies in your hands, and not in mine. abraham lincoln said that government of the people, by the

people and for the people shall not perish from this earth. you have the power to reclaim our nation's destiny. you have the power to rid washington of the politics of money. you have the power to make right as important as might. you have the power to give americans a reason to vote again. you have the power to restore our nation to fiscal sanity and bring jobs back to our people. you have the power to fulfill harry truman's dream and bring health insurance to every american. you have the power to give us a foreign policy consistent with american values again. you have the power to take back the democratic party. you have the power to take our country back. and you have the power to take the white house back in 2004 and that is exactly what we are

going to be doing. you have the power. you have the power. you have the power. you have the power to take this country back. you have the power. thank you very much. thank you very much. we are going to take our country back. thank you very much. you have the power. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> our special program on

presidential campaign announcements concludes with senator barack obama addressing a large crowd inenfront of the illinois old state capitol building in springfield. it marked the start of of a close contest between the junior senator and hillary clinton. this announcement is about 20 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> let me begin by saying thanks to all you who've traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today. i know it is a little chilly. but i'm fired up! [applause] we all made this journey for a reason. it's humbling to see a crowd

like this but in my heart i know you didn't just come here for me. no, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. [applause] in the face of war, you believe there can be peace. in the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. in the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union. that's the journey we're on today. but let me tell you how i came to be here. as most of you know, i am not a native of this great state. i moved to illinois over two

decades ago. i was a young man then, just a year out of college; i knew no one in chicago, was without money or family connections. but a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. and i accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea that i might play a small part in building a better america. my work took me to some of chicago's poorest neighborhoods. i joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. i saw that the problems people faced weren't simply local in nature that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the

skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence there's a hole in his heart no government could ever fill. it was in these neighborhoods that i received the best education i ever had, and where i learned the meaning of my christian faith. after three years of this work i went to law school, because i wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. i became a civil rights lawyer and taught constitutional law, and after a time, i came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. it was with these ideas in mind that i arrived in this capital city as a state senator.

it was here, in springfield, where i saw all that is america converge farmers and teachers businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. i made lasting friendships here friends that i see in the audience today. it was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable that it's possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we're willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst. that's why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. that's why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. that's why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that's why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.

it was here, in springfield, where north, south, east and west come together that i was reminded of the essential decency of the american people where i came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful america. and that is why, in the shadow of the old state capitol, where lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, i stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the united states of america. [applause]

[crowd chanting "obama"] >> now listen, i -- i -- thank you. thank you. [crowd chanting] >> i recognize there is a certain presumptuousness a certain audacity to this announcement. i know i haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of washington. but i've been there long enough to know that the ways of washington must change. the genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed.

and we should take heart because we've changed this country before. in the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an empire to its knees. in the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. in the face of depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. we welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a king's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. we have done this before. each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. today we are called once more and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

for that is our unyielding faith that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. that's what abraham lincoln understood. he had his doubts. he had his defeats. he had his setbacks. but through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. it is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, north and south, slave and free. it is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people as americans. all of us know what those challenges are today a war with no end, a dependence

on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. we know the challenges. we've heard them. we've talked about them for years. what's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. what's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems. for the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don't matter, we've been told that the anxiety americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an

illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. and when all else fails, when katrina happens, or the death toll in iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. we're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants. and as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what's filled the void. the cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. they write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back.