this is an abc news special. >> yes, we can. fired up, ready to go. >> in just minutes, president barack obama walks in. >> we have more work to do. we have more doors in opportunity and we have to open them to every single american. >> we have come too far to turn back now. >> it's the biggest speech on the biggest night. >> four more years! >> this is the democratic national convention. it's "your voice your vote," now reporting live from the time warner cable arena in charlotte, north carolina, diane sawyer and

george stephanopoulos. >> welcome everyone at home. it's filled to the rafters here in the arena. they are ready for this final night in charlotte, north carolina, the democratic national convention and tonight, president barack obama about to enter this arena to fire up this crowd and voters across the country. you know, george, he's a fourth-quarter player, a clutch hitter, he's got to begin tonight. >> that's right. a high degree of difficulty tonight. no president has been re-elected with unemployment this high. 2/3 of the country believe we're headed in the wrong direction. he needs to bring back the themes of hope and change. and say that voters can make good on that promise if they make the right choice now. we'll tackle it tonight with jon karl, cokie roberts on the floor. matthew dowd right here in the studio. >> we want to let you in on an

emotional motion. a familiar face, former congresswoman gabrielle giffords, one year and seven months after a gunshot wound to her head changed her life. walked out onto stage and in this arena, listen to her, led the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [ cheers and applause ] >> that smile on her face, and we have a camera, our own special camera, watching behind the podium. look what happened. she's going off stage, and there waiting for her is her astronaut

husband. there he is, mark kelly, former commander and astronaut. what a hug that was. you know, i had a chance to meet with them earlier today because i spent time with her earlier. i think everyone could see, how hard she's been working, how much stronger she is. >> there was so much determination in her face and so much joy when she finished. giving a lot of joy to this crowd, firing them up right now, much like michele obama did two nights ago, president clinton last night, as character witnesses for barack obama, bringing them inside the white house. bailing out the auto companies and here's account he summed that up. >> ladies and gentlemen, i'm here to tell you, but i think you already know, that i watch it up close. bravery resides in the heart of barack obama and time and time

again, i witness him summon it. this man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart, and a spine of steel. and because of all the actions he took, because of the calls he made, because of the determination of american workers and the unparalleled bravery of our special forces, we can now proudly say what you've heard me say the last six months. osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive! [ cheers and applause ] >> i cannot help but think as the obama campaign continues to point out, he's made eight trips to iraq alone since he was vice president. a total of, i have it here, 16 trips all-tolled in his career. they want that in everybody's mind when he heads into the

debate with the opposition and paul ryan, of course. i want to tell everybody, we're going down to the floor right now. we have quick takes from our entire team. jake? >> we've heard osama bin laden's name mentioned a number of times. but white house advise oars say they expect the president's biggest task is to paint a picture of the economy over the next four years. they've contrasted well the choice between president obama, running the country for the next four years, versus mitt romney. but what they really need to do is make it so president obama paints a popular and powerful picture of the economy going forward for the next four years, as opposed to the last four years. >> across the floor from me, jon karl. >> they're trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle you've heard the president talk about from 2008. you heard from joe biden, his favorite slogans. down here on the floor, the delegates already have their bumper sticker here.

bin laden is dead. gm is alive. america has turned a corner, it's coming back. it's playing in the crowd. the question, will it play in the battleground states? >> cokie? >> the crowd is ecstatic, but the most important thing biden comment. he said, look, we know we're not finished yet. we have a long way to go. but it makes me comfortable to know that barack obama is in the white house making the tough decisions. that's what people vote on. they vote for somebody that they think will make the right decision no matter what issue comes along in the next four years. if he can convince people he's the person who makes those decisions, that will do it for them. >> we'll hear from our colleagues in the booth in just a minute. when we come back, the countdown is on to president obama's big

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>> abc news live coverage of the democratic national convention. once again, diane sawyer and george stephanopoulos. >> and welcome back once again here in charlotte, north carolina, the vice president has finished his speech. everyone is cheering, and again, this is the last night of the big democratic national convention. countdown on to president obama coming up. >> that's right. we have another video on president obama. but let's hear more from our team here in the booth. we just heard joe biden, the bumper sticker. >> the president comes out and gives an all-time brief speech, one word. comes out and says mulligan. that's what golfers say when they muck the first shot and would like a do-over. he can't do that because he's not conceding that progress hasn't been made. instead he must ask the american

people to be something they famously are not -- patient. >> we've heard the word patient a lot, but the democrats in the first two nights of the convention believe that michele obama and president clinton, and biden cleared the way to talk about the future, more than the past. >> absolutely. president obama has one simple assignment, to tell the country where he intends to go over the next four years, to do what mitt romney failed to do last week. lay out a strategy for progress. you cannot simply rekindle hope and change without giving voters a vision of where exactly he will lead the country. >> matt dowd, the white house talking a lot about the choice before the country tonight. unlikely to hear a lot of mitt romney's name from president obama. >> that's my guess. it's an entirely different circumstance from denver four years ago. the country was on the wrong track. he was riding a big wave. now he's got a wave against him. he's got to convince the public,

that they give him hope, but don't make a change, get out ahead of that wave, out into calmer waters. he wants a lot of hope, but doesn't want a lot of change. >> and he's doing it before a big jobs report. >> absolutely. that could do one of two things, give them a bump out of this, or could put water on the whole parade. >> jake tapper, the jobs number will be so critical and the white house knows how much that's going to mean for their bounce or lack of a bounce out of the convention. >> that's right. and what's so important and key about this is that you put millions of dollars and so much effort into a convention like this, and a horrible jobs report could really wipe away any gains made, or conversely, could do a lot more than all the effort you've made with rhetoric and

balloons and films. go ahead, george. >> i was just going to say, earlier this evening, george said this. they're saying relentlessly, the campaign is saying, we don't expect a bounce out of this convention. they want a bounce. >> they want a bounce. there's some hope that they've gotten it with this convention so far. no major glitches in the convention. there was a slap in the platform over some issues that got resolved. but so far, it's gone as well as the democrats could have hoped for. >> not off script, not unplugged. it's smooth as ice. they've had no clint eastwood moments, for better or worse. and in that sense, first convention to do no harm. it's not done harm, and shown them as smooth, competent and exciting. >> the question is, do people really have ears to listen right now when times are so tough? >> absolutely. i think the american people want

to be inspired. by their leaders, especially if they know their leaders have a plan forhe future. president obama, this is like a job interview, he's going to have to tell the american people, i want you to re-hire me. >> we heard when james taylor came out on stage earlier and there was a chair there, and he said, don't get nervous. i want to go to cokie roberts. >> you were talking about this convention. this is my 12th democratic convention and i've really never seen one that has been this well organized. they bring out for every speaker, signs which you've probably been seeing from the back, but with vice president biden just now, fired up, ready to "joe," and the signs are held by everybody. so for you on the stage, you see every single delegate with a sign up in the air, inspiring you and pushing you on, and it's had an energizing effect on the speakers and on the whole

convention. so that part of it i think has gone very, very well. the other part that they have done in this convention over and over and over again, in the speeches that we haven't been playing because they haven't been by important people, is they have emphasized women's rights, gay rights, and immigrant rights, because those are the groups in the population that they are hoping to get in large numbers regardless of what the jobs numbers are. that's what they need to do. >> they were going to have this outside in the big stadium. it had to be brought back inside because of the threat of thunderstorms. you believe that was a lucky break? >> absolutely. strategically, they don't want the comparison to four years ago. they could have filled the stadium, but could not have repeated the energy. they love him, but you can't repeat that energy. >> they had 84,000 people last

year, they said. in this arena, 20, 30, 40, not sure how many they've packed into the rafters. we'll take another break and then we'll join in the video about president obama and again, it's just minutes away until mrs. obama introduces him and he

♪ >> and we are back at the democratic national convention

here in charlotte. the hall dark right now, watching a video of barack obama. first i want to go to the floor. >> one point about those jobs numbers that are coming out tomorrow, the white house has already seen those numbers and they're not released until the morning. they go to the white house at 4:00. so good or bad news on the jobs, they already know. but the selling job they're doing here is that america has turned the corner. america is coming back. yes, you are better off -- america is better off than it was four years ago. it's something that is clearly selling here. these guys would buy almost anything from the speakers on that stage, but it goes against where the american public is right now. so it's a sales job they have to do over the next few months in a country with 8% unemployment where most people think the country is going in the wrong direction. >> starting tomorrow morning, the romney campaign will launch a whole new series of ads for the battleground states.

>> let's join the video in progress that will lead straight to mrs. obama and she will lead straight to the president. here it is. >> so he wasn't going to back out just because it got hard, just because it didn't poll well. that's just never been who he is and it's certainly not how he will ever govern this country. >> when my mom got cancer, she wasn't a wealthy woman, and it pretty much drained all of her resources. >> watching your mother die of something that could have been prevented, that's a tough thing to deal with. >> the reason he pushed ahead, knowing that there could be horrible political consequences for him, just as for me, is that health care costs have gone up three times the rate of inflation. this is a huge economic issue. because we spent 17.5% of our income on health care. >> anybody who gets medical care, hundreds of thousands of dollars, you don't imagine

working-class moms, opening up that kind of bill, you know. with somebody sending that to her with a straight face. that understanding of that kind of reality for millions of americans drove him to make sure that this legislation got passed. it takes a conscious effort to stay connected with what's going on in people's lives. >> this was a matter of principle for him. he ran on it, he said he was going to do it. and he did it. >> you hire the president to make the calls when no one else can do it. he had to decide. it's one thing george bush said that was right, the president is the decider in chief. >> we were only about 50% sure that bin laden was in that compound. but i had 100% confidence in our

navy seals. >> i sat in that room with him when we were getting feeds on what was going on at the time. he sat there resolute, concerned, just watching. got him. confirm it. just boom, boom, boom. then explained to everybody the next day in the cabinet room, what happened. this is a guy who has a backbone like a ram rod. >> good evening, tonight i can report to the american people and to the world. >> he took the harder and the more honorable path, and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result. when i saw what had happened, i thought to myself, i hope that's

the call i would have made. it was just the right thing to do. >> we have a long way to go. but with every new beginning, every homecoming, every step forward, we remember who we are. >> what's really allowing this economy to heal and to get us moving again is the resilience and strength and character of the american people. they don't quit. they don't give up. ♪ partly because of family, partly because of a sense of community, patriotism and pride in this country, they keep going. ♪

>> that's the incredible gift that the american people keep giving back to me in this job. [ cheers and applause ] >> and now michele obama, who opened this convention with a big night of her own on tuesday. >> thank you so much. tonight, i am so thrilled and so honored and so proud to introduce the love of my life, the father of our two girls, and the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [ cheers and applause ] ♪

♪ [ cheers and applause ] [ music by u2 ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you.

thank you so much. [ crowd chanting four more years ] >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you, everybody. thank you. michele, i love you so much. a few nights ago everybody was reminded just what a lucky man i am. malia and sasha, we are so proud

of you. and, yes, you do have to go to school in the morning. [ laughter ] >> and joe biden, thank you for being the very best vice president i could have ever hoped for and being a strong and loyal friend. madam chairwoman, delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. [ applause ]

[ crowd chanting "four more years" ] >> now, the first time i addressed this convention in 2004, i was a younger man. a candidate from illinois who spoke about hope -- not blind optimi optimism, not wishful thinking, but hope in the face of uncertainty, that dogged faith in the future which has pushed this nation forward even when the odds are great. even when the road is long. eight years later, that hope has been tested -- by the cost of war, by one of the worst economic crises in history, and

by political gridlock that's left us wondering whether it's still even possible to tackle the challenges of our time. i know campaigns can seem small, even silly sometimes. trivial things become big distractions. serious issues become sound bites. the truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. if you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me, so am i. [ applause ] but when all is said and done, when you pick up that ballot to vote, you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. over the next few years, big decisions will be made in washington on jobs, the economy, taxes, and deficits, energy,

education, war and peace. decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and on our children's lives for decades to come. and on every issue, the choice you face won't just be between two candidates or two parties, it will be a choice between two different paths for america. a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future. ours is a fight to restore the values that built the largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has ever known. [ applause ] the values my grandfather defended as a soldier in patton's army. the values that drove my grandmother to work on a bomber assembly line while he was gone. they knew they were part of something larger. a nation that triumphed over fascism and depression.

a nation where the most innovative businesses turned out the world's best products. and everyone shared in that pride and success, from the corner office to the factory floor. my grandparents were given the chance to go to college by their own home, and fulfill the basic bargain at the heart of america's story. the promise that hard work will pay off, that responsibility will be rewarded, that everyone gets a fair shot. and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, from main street to wall street to washington, d.c. [ applause ] and i ran for president because i saw that basic bargain slipping away. i began my career helping people in the shadow of a shuttered steel mill, at a time when too many good jobs were starting to

move overseas. by 2008, we've seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with costs that kept rising, but paychecks that didn't. folks racking up more and more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition, put gas in the car, or food on the table. when the house of cards collapsed in the great recession, millions of innocent americans lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. a tragedy from which we're still fighting to recover. now, our friends down in tampa at the republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with america, but they didn't have much to say about how they'd make it right. they want your vote, but they don't want you to know their plan. and that's because all they had to offer is the same prescriptions they've had for

the last 30 years. have a surplus, try a tax cut. deficit too high, try another. feel a cold coming on, roll back some regulations and call us in the morning. [ cheers and applause ] now, i've cut taxes for those who need it. middle-class families, small businesses. but i don't believe that another round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our shores, or pay down our deficit. i don't believe that firing teachers or kicking students off financial aid will grow the economy or help us compete with the science and engineers coming out of china.

after all we've been through, i don't believe that rolling back regulations on wall street will help the small businesswoman expand or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. we have tried that. we are not going back. we are moving forward, america. [ cheers and applause ] now, i won't pretend the path i'm offering is quick or easy. i never have. you didn't elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. you elected me to tell you the truth. [ applause ] and the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. it will require common effort and shared responsibility, and the kind of bold persistent experimentation that franklin

roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one. and by the way, those of us who carry on his party's legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from washington, but know this, america. our problems can be solved. our challenges can be met. the path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place, and i'm asking you to choose that future. i'm asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country, goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit. real achievable plans that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. that's what we can do in the next four years, and that is why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ]

we can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. after a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we're getting back to basics and doing what america has always done best. we are making things again. i've met workers in detroit and toledo who feared they'd never build another american car. today they can't build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that's back on top of the world. i've worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to america, not because our

workers make less pay, but because we make better products. because we work harder and smarter than anyone else. i signed trade agreements that are helping our companies sell more goods to millions of new customers. goods that are stamped with three proud words -- "made in america." [ cheers and applause ] [ crowd chanting "usa" ] and after a decade of decline, this country created over a half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years. now you have a choice. we can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants, and train new workers and create jobs here in the united states of america.

[ cheers and applause ] we can help big factories and small businesses double their exports. if we choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. you can make that happen. you can choose that future. you can choose the path where we control more of our own energy. after 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. [ applause ] we have doubled our use of renewable energy, and thousands of americans have jobs building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. in the last year alone, we cut oil imports by one million barrels a day, more than any administration in recent history. today the united states of

america is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the last two decades. [ cheers and applause ] so now you have a choice between a strategy that reverses this progress, or one that builds on it. we've opened millions of acres for oil and gas exploration and we'll open more. i won't let our coastlines being endangered or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers. we're offering a better path. we're offering a better path. a future where we keep investing in wind and solar and clean

coal. what farmers and scientists find new fuels, where construction workers build homes and factories that use less energy. where we use the natural gas right beneath our feet. if you choose this path, we can cut our oil imports in half and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone. [ applause ] yes, my plan will continue to reduce, the carbon pollution that is heating our planet. because climate change is not a hoax. more drought and floods and wild fires are not a joke. they are a threat to our children's future. and in this election, you can do something about it. [ cheers and applause ]

you can choose a future where more americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete. no matter how old they are or how much money they have. education was the gateway to opportunity for me. it was the gateway for michele. it was the gateway for most of you. and now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life. for the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered our call to raise their standards for teaching and learning. some of the worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and reading. millions of students are paying less for college today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders. and now you have a choice. we can gut education, or we can decide that in the united states of america, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling

school. no family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don't have the money. no company should have to look for workers overseas because they couldn't find any with the right skills here at home. that's not our future. that is not our future. [ cheers and applause ] a government has a role in this. but teachers must inspire. principals must lead. parents must instill a thirst for learning. and students, you got to do the work. and together, i promise you, we can out-educate and out-compete any nation on earth. so help me, help me recruit a hundred thousand math and science teachers within ten years and improve early childhood education. help give two million workers

the chance to learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a job. help us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth of tuition costs over the next ten years. we can meet that goal together. you can choose that future for america. that's our future. you know, in a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been tested and proven. four years ago, i promised to end the war in iraq. we did. [ applause ] i promised to refocus on the testifies who actually attacked us on 9/11 and we have. we've blunted the taliban's momentum in afghanistan and in

2014, our longest war will be over. [ applause ] a new tower rises above the new york skyline. al qaeda is on the path to defeat, and osama bin laden is dead. [ cheers and applause ] tonight we pay tribute to the americans who still serve in harm's way. we are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer. we will never forget you. so long as i'm commander in chief, we'll sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. when you take off the uniform,

we will serve you as well as you've served us because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof over their head, or the care they need when they come home. [ cheers and applause ] around the world, we have strengthened old alliances and forged new coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. we've reasserted our power across the pacific and stood up to china on behalf of our workers. from burma to libya, to south sudan, we've advanced the rights and dignity of all human beings, men and women, christians and muslims and jews. but for all the progress we've made, challenges remain. testify plots must be disrupted. europe's crisis must be contained. our commitment to israel's

security must not waiver and neither must our pursuit of peace. the iranian government must face a world that stays united against his nuclear ambitions. the historic change sweeping the arab world must be defined not by the iron fist of a dictator or the hate of extremist, but the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people who are reaching for the rights that we celebrate here today. so now we have a choice. my opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy. [ laughter and applause ] but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost america so dearly. after all, you don't call russia our number one enemy, not al qaeda -- russia. unless you're still stuck in a

cold w cold war mind war. you might not be ready for diplomacy with beijing if you can't visit the olympics without insulting our closest ally. my opponent said that it was tragic to end the war in iraq. and he won't tell us how he'll end the war in afghanistan. well, i have and i will. [ applause ] and while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our joint chiefs don't even want, i will use the money we're no longer spending on war, to pay down our debt and put people back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways, because after two wars that cost us

thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it's time to do some nation-building right here at home. [ cheers and applause ] you can choose a future where we reduce our deficit, without sticking it to the middle class. independent experts say that my plan would cut our deficit by $4 trillion. last summer i worked with republicans in congress to cut a billion dollars in spending because those of us who believe government can be a force for good, should work harder than anyone to reform it. so that it's leaner and more efficient and more responsive to the american people. [ applause ] i want to reform the tax code so that simple, fair, and ask the wealthiest households to pay

higher taxes with incomes over $250,000. the same rate we had when bill clinton was president, the same rate we had when our economy created 83 million jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and a whole lot of millionaires to boot. now i'm still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of my bipartisan debt commission. no democracy works without compromise. i want to get this done, and we can get it done. but when governor romney and his friends tell us we can lower or deficits by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy, well, what did bill clinton call it? you do the arithmetic. you do the math. [ applause ] i refuse to go along with that. and as long as i'm president, i

never will. i refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut. i refuse to ask students to pay more for college or kick children out of head start programs that eliminate health insurance for millions of americans who are poor and elderly, or disabled, all so those with the most can pay less. i'm not going along with that. and i will never, i will never turn medicare into a voucher. no american should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. they should retire with the care and the dignity that they have

earned. yes, we will reform and strengthen medicare for the long haul, but we'll do it by reducing the cost of health care, not by asking seniors to play thousands of dollars more. and we will keep the promise of social security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it. not by turning it over to wall street. [ cheers and applause ] this is the choice we now face. this is what the election comes down to. over and over we've been told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only way, that since government can't do everything, it should do almost nothing. if you can't afford health insurance, hope that you don't

get sick. if a company releases toxic pollution into the air your children breathe, well, that's the price of progress. if you can't afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent's advice and borrow money from your parents. [ laughter and applause ] you know what, that's not who we are. that's not what this country is about. as americans, we believe we are endowed by our creator with certn inalienable rights, rights that no man or government can take away. we insist on personal responsibility and we celebrate individual initiatives. we're not entitled to success. we have to earn it. we honor the strivers, the dreamers, the entrepreneurs who have been the driving force behind our free enterprise system, the greatest engine of growth and prosperity that the

world's ever known. but we also believe in something called citizenship. citizenship. a word at the very heart of our founding, a word at the very essence of our democracy, the idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another. and to future generations. we believe that when a ceo pays his auto workers enough to buy the cars they build, the whole company does better. [ applause ] we believe that when a family can no longer be tricked into signing a mortgage they can't afford, that family is protected, but so is the value of other people's homes and so is the entire economy. we believe the little girl who's offered an escape by poverty or

a grant for college could be the next scientist to cure cancer or the next president of the united states, and it is in our power to give her that chance. we know that churches and charities can often make more of a difference than a poverty program alone. we don't want handouts for people who refuse to help themselves. and we certainly don't want bailouts for banks that break the rules. [ applause ] we don't think the government can solve all of our problems. but we don't think the government is the source of all of our problems -- any more than our welfare recipients or corporations or unions or immigrants or gays or any other

group we're told to blame for our troubles. [ cheers and applause ] becau because, america, we understand that this democracy is ours. we, the people, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights. that our destinies are bound together. that freedom which asks only what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals and those who died in their defense. [ cheers and applause ] as citizens we understand that america's not about what can be

done for us. it's about what can be done by us. together. through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. that's what we believe. so you see, the election four years ago, wasn't about me. it was about you. my fellow citizens, you were the change. you're the reason there's a little girl with a heart disorder in phoenix who gets the surgery she needs because an insurance company can't limit her coverage. you did that. [ eers and applause ] you're the reason a young man in colorado who never thought he'd be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree, is

about to get that chance. you made that possible. you're the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she's ever called home. why self-less soldiers won't be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love, why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely, welcome home. welcome home. you did that! you did that! [ cheers and applause ] you did that. if you turn away now, if you turn away now, if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible, well, change will not happen.

if you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void. the lobbyists and special interests, the people with the $10 million checks who are trying to buy this election and those who are trying to make it harder for you to vote. washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry or control health care choices that women should be making for themselves. [ cheers and applause ] only you can make sure that doesn't happen. only you have the power to move us forward. you know, i recognize that times have changed since i first spoke to this convention. times have changed and so have

i. i'm no longer just a candidate. i'm the president. [ cheers and applause ] and that -- and that -- and that means i know what it means to send young americans into battle. i've held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn't return. i shared the pain of families who lost their homes and the frustration of workers who have lost their jobs. if the critics are right, that i've made all my decisions based on polls, then i must not be very good at reading.

and while i'm very proud of what we've achieved together, i'm far more mindful of my own failings. knowing exactly what lincoln meant when he said, i have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that i have no place else to go. [ applause ] but as i stand here tonight, i have never been more hopeful about america. not because i think i have all the answers. not because i'm naive about the magnitude of our challenges. i'm hopeful because of you. the young woman i met at the science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter. she gives me