Change We Can Believe In

Obama officially became the first African American presidential nominee for a major political party, giving his acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
"I Have a Dream" speech.

"I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I
don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of
Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring.
What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about
me. It’s been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the
politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk
we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect
a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining
moments like this one, the change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change
comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it -
because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics
for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments."
Barack Obama