I just finally got around to watching a video of Obama's Town Hall Meeting in New Orleans yesterday. There were many powerful moments in his speech. But one stands out for me.
If you check out a transcript of his prepared remarks, you'll see that the crowd definitely got him "fired up" in the moment.
But I love the fact that he reminded us of what he said so often during the campaign...that change was not going to be easy. And this time he added that he doesn't quit - that he's just getting started.
Do you think that perhaps he was sending a message to those who are fighting so hard against health care reform - specifically the public option? Do you suppose he's letting them know that he's just getting started and isn't about to quit? Isn't that the biggest battle on his plate right now?
And do you think that perhaps he was also sending a message to us - that he's fighting for us and isn't going to quit? He knew what he was facing with this fight - that it would be an uphill battle. Just as everything he campaigned on will be.
I don't know about you - but this got my juices going to work as hard as I can. It feels like a lifetime since I've experienced a POTUS who knew what the battle would entail and yet is willing to take it on - all while asking us to be the power behind him to get it done.
And it reminds me of words that were spoken over a year ago now...on a cold night in New Hampshire. Something that was forever immortalized by will i am during the campaign. So just take a moment with me now to think about this as a call to action about health care reform.
We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come.
We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.
It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.
Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.
And so, tomorrow, as we take the campaign south and west, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas, that the hopes of the little girl who goes to the crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A., we will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one nation.
And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can.
I don't know about you, but I'm with Obama. I'm not quitting...as a matter of fact, I'm just getting started.