一键复制
人的记忆力会随着岁月的流逝而衰退，写作可以弥补记忆的不足，将曾经的人生经历和感悟记录下来，也便于保存一份美好的回忆。范文怎么写才能发挥它最大的作用呢？这里我整理了一些优秀的范文，希望对大家有所帮助，下面我们就来了解一下吧。
米歇尔助选演讲篇一
september 4,2012
thank you so much, elaine...we are so grateful for your family's service and sacrifice...and we will always have your the past few years as first lady, i have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this everywhere i've gone, in the people i've met, and the stories i've heard, i have seen the very best of the american spirit.i have seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family, especially our girls.i've seen it in teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay.i've seen it in people who become heroes at a moment's notice, diving into harm's way to save others...flying across the country to put out a fire...driving for hours to bail out a flooded i've seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families...in wounded warriors who tell me they're not just going to walk again, they're going to run, and they're going to run marathons...in the young man blinded by a bomb in afghanistan who said, simply, “...i'd give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what i have done and what i can still do.”
every day, the people i meet inspire me...every day, they make me proud...every day they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on g as your first lady is an honor and a privilege...but back when we first came together four years ago, i still had some concerns about this journey we'd i believed deeply in my husband's vision for this country...and i was certain he would make an extraordinary president...like any mother, i was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight? pbs newshour/youtube
first lady michelle obama addresses the dnc after being introduced by military mom elaine brye, from pbs would they feel being uprooted from their school, their friends, and the only home they'd ever known?
our life before moving to washington was filled with simple joys...saturdays at soccer games, sundays at grandma's house...and a date night for barack and me was either dinner or a movie, because as an exhausted mom, i couldn't stay awake for the truth is, i loved the life we had built for our girls...i deeply loved the man i had built that life with...and i didn't want that to change if he became president.i loved barack just the way he see, even though back then barack was a senator and a presidential candidate...to me, he was still the guy who'd picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, i could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door...he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too when barack started telling me about his family – that's when i knew i had found a kindred spirit, someone whose values and upbringing were so much like see, barack and i were both raised by families who didn't have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable – their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for father was a pump operator at the city water plant, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and i were even as a kid, i knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain...i knew there were plenty of mornings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of every morning, i watched my father wake up with a smile, grab his walker, prop himself up against the bathroom sink, and slowly shave and button his when he returned home after a long day's work, my brother and i would stand at the top of the stairs to our little apartment, patiently waiting to greet him...watching as he reached down to lift one leg, and then the other, to slowly climb his way into our despite these challenges, my dad hardly ever missed a day of work...he and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education they could only dream when my brother and i finally made it to college, nearly all of our tuition came from student loans and my dad still had to pay a tiny portion of that tuition every semester, he was determined to pay that bill right on time, even taking out loans when he fell was so proud to be sending his kids to college...and he made sure we never missed a registration deadline because his check was see, for my dad, that's what it meant to be a so many of us, that was the measure of his success in life – being able to earn a decent living that allowed him to support his as i got to know barack, i realized that even though he'd grown up all the way across the country, he'd been brought up just like was raised by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills, and by grandparents who stepped in when she needed 's grandmother started out as a secretary at a community bank...and she moved quickly up the ranks...but like so many women, she hit a glass for years, men no more qualified than she was – men she had actually trained – were promoted up the ladder ahead of her, earning more and more money while barack's family continued to scrape day after day, she kept on waking up at dawn to catch the bus...arriving at work before anyone else...giving her best without complaint or she would often tell barack, “so long as you kids do well, bar, that's all that really matters.”
like so many american families, our families weren't asking for didn't begrudge anyone else's success or care that others had much more than they did...in fact, they admired simply believed in that fundamental american promise that, even if you don't start out with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and 's how they raised us...that's what we learned from their learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make...that helping others means more than just getting ahead learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters...that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules...and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean...and we were taught to value everyone's contribution and treat everyone with are the values barack and i – and so many of you – are trying to pass on to our own 's who we standing before you four years ago, i knew that i didn't want any of that to change if barack became , today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways i never could have imagined, i have seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are – it reveals who you see, i've gotten to see up close and personal what being president really looks i've seen how the issues that come across a president's desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer...the judgment calls where the stakes are so high, and there is no margin for as president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you when it comes to rebuilding our economy, barack is thinking about folks like my dad and like his 's thinking about the pride that comes from a hard day's 's why he signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay act to help women get equal pay for equal 's why he cut taxes for working families and small businesses and fought to get the auto industry back on its 's how he brought our economy from the brink of collapse to creating jobs again – jobs you can raise a family on, good jobs right here in the united states of it comes to the health of our families, barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another didn't care whether it was the easy thing to do politically – that's not how he was raised – he cared that it was the right thing to did it because he believes that here in america, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine...our kids should be able to see a doctor when they're sick...and no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care...that's what my husband stands it comes to giving our kids the education they deserve, barack knows that like me and like so many of you, he never could've attended college without financial believe it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our were so young, so in love, and so in 's why barack has fought so hard to increase student aid and keep interest rates down, because he wants every young person to fulfill their promise and be able to attend college without a mountain of in the end, for barack, these issues aren't political – they're e barack knows what it means when a family knows what it means to want something more for your kids and knows the american dream because he's lived it...and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we're from, or what we look like, or who we he believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity...you do not slam it shut behind you...you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you when people ask me whether being in the white house has changed my husband, i can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, barack obama is still the same man i fell in love with all those years 's the same man who started his career by turning down high paying jobs and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work...because for barack, success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's 's the same man who, when our girls were first born, would anxiously check their cribs every few minutes to ensure they were still breathing, proudly showing them off to everyone we 's the man who sits down with me and our girls for dinner nearly every night, patiently answering their questions about issues in the news, and strategizing about middle school 's the man i see in those quiet moments late at night, hunched over his desk, poring over the letters people have sent letter from the father struggling to pay his bills...from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won't cover her care...from the young person with so much promise but so few opportunities.i see the concern in his eyes...and i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me, “you won't believe what these folks are going through, michelle...it's not 've got to keep working to fix 've got so much more to do.”
i see how those stories – our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams – i see how that's what drives barack obama every single i didn't think it was possible, but today, i love my husband even more than i did four years ago...even more than i did 23 years ago, when we first met.i love that he's never forgotten how he started.i love that we can trust barack to do what he says he's going to do, even when it's hard – especially when it's hard.i love that for barack, there is no such thing as “us” and “them” – he doesn't care whether you're a democrat, a republican, or none of the above...he knows that we all love our country...and he's always ready to listen to good ideas...he's always looking for the very best in everyone he i love that even in the toughest moments, when we're all sweating it – when we're worried that the bill won't pass, and it seems like all is lost – barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward...with patience and wisdom, and courage and he reminds me that we are playing a long game here...and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at eventually we get there, we always get there because of folks like my dad...folks like barack's grandmother...men and women who said to themselves, “i may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will...maybe my grandchildren will.”
so many of us stand here tonight because of their sacrifice, and longing, and steadfast love...because time and again, they swallowed their fears and doubts and did what was today, when the challenges we face start to seem overwhelming – or even impossible – let us never forget that doing the impossible is the history of this nation...it's who we are as americans...it's how this country was if our parents and grandparents could toil and struggle for us...if they could raise beams of steel to the sky, send a man to the moon, and connect the world with the touch of a button...then surely we can keep on sacrificing and building for our own kids and if so many brave men and women could wear our country's uniform and sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights...then surely we can do our part as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights...surely, we can get to the polls and make our voices heard on election farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire...if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores...if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote...if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time...if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream...and if proud americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love...then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great american e in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding is what has made my story, and barack's story, and so many other american stories i say all of this tonight not just as first lady...and not just as a see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still “mom-in-chief.” my daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my today, i have none of those worries from four years ago about whether barack and i were doing what's best for our e today, i know from experience that if i truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters...if we want to give all our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities worthy of their promise...if we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility – that belief that here in america, there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it...then we must work like never before...and we must once again come together and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward...my husband, our president, president barack you, god bless you, and god bless america.
米歇尔助选演讲篇二
this is my first first foreign trip as a first you believe that?(applause)and while this is not my first visit to the u.k., i have to say that i am glad this is my first official special relationship between the united states and the based not only on the relationship between governments, but the common language and the values that we i'm reminded of that by watching you all my visit i've been especially honored to meet some of britain's most extraordinary who are paving the way for all of you.这是我的第一次出访。是我作为第一夫人的第一次外事出访。你们能相信这个事实吗？（掌声）虽然这不是我第一次来英国，我必须说很高兴我的首次官方访问是来英国。美国和英国之间的特殊关系，不只是基于政府之间的关系，而且基于我们有共同的语言和价值观。看见你们大家就使我想到这一点。在访问期间我特别荣幸地会见了英国一些最出色的女士。这些女士在为你们所有女孩子铺路。
and i'm honored to meet you, the future leaders of great britain and this although the circumstances of our lives may seem very distant, with me standing here as the first lady of the united states of america, and you, just getting through school.i want you to know that we have very much in nothing in my life's path would have predicted that i'd be standing here as the first african-american first lady of the united states of is nothing in my story that would land me here.i wasn't raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of.i was raised on the south side of 's the real part of i was the product of a working-class father was a city worker all of his my mother was a stay-at-home she stayed at home to take care of me and my older r of them attended dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the prime of his even as it got harder for him to walk and get dressed in the morning--i saw him struggle more and more--my father never complained about his was grateful for what he just woke up a little earlier and worked a little my brother and i were raised with all that you really need: love, strong values and a belief that with a good education and a whole lot of hard work, that there was nothing that we could not do.我也很荣幸见到你们，这些英国和世界未来的领导者。虽然我们的生活境况好像相差很远，我作为美国第一夫人站在这里，而你们还正在上学。我想让你们了解我们有很多共同之处。因为在我生命历程中没有任何东西曾经预示我会站在这里，作为美利坚合众国的第一位非洲裔第一夫人。我的资历里没有什么东西能使我站在这个位置上。我不是用财富和资源养大的，也谈不上有什么社会地位。我是在芝加哥的南边养大的。那是芝加哥的真实部分。我出身于工人阶级。我父亲一辈子是个市政工人。我母亲是个家庭妇女。她待在家里照顾我和我哥哥。我父母都没上过大学。我爸爸被诊断有多种硬化症，当他壮年的时候。但就在他变得难以行走，而且早上难以穿衣的时候--我看着他挣扎得越来越厉害--我父亲却从来没有抱怨过他的困难。他对于自己拥有的一切心存感激。他只是起得更早一点，工作得更努力一点。我哥哥和我在成长过程中得到了人生真正需要的一切：爱，强有力的价值观，以及一个信念，就是靠着良好的教育，还有大量的辛勤工作，没有什么是我们做不到的。
i am an example of what's possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by the people around them.i was surrounded by extraordinary women in my others, teachers, aunts, cousins, neighbors, who taught me about quiet strength and my mother, the most important role model in my life, who lives with us at the white house and helps to care for our two little daughters, malia and 's an active presence in their lives, as well as mine, and is instilling in them the same values that she taught me and my brother: things like compassion, and integrity, and confidence, and of that wrapped up in an unconditional love that only a grandmother can give.我的例子就表明女孩子能创造奇迹，只要她们从生命最开始的时候，就受到周围人的爱护和教养。我的生命中围绕着非凡的女性。祖母，老师，姨妈，表姐妹，邻居，她们教会我沉默的力量和尊严。还有我母亲，我生命中最重要的榜样，她和我们住在白宫帮着照顾我们的两个小女儿，玛丽娅和萨莎。她在孩子们和我的生活中都很活跃，并正在给她们灌输，她教给我和我哥哥的价值观： 同情心，正直、自信和坚定。所有这些都包含在无条件的爱之中，那是只有一个祖母才能给予的爱。
i was also fortunate enough to be cherished and encouraged by some strong male role models as well, including my father, my brother, uncles and men in my life taught me some important things, as taught me about what a respectful relationship should look like between men and taught me about what a strong marriage feels it's built on faith and commitment and an admiration for each other's unique taught me about what it means to be a father and to raise a not only to invest in your own home but to reach out and help raise kids in the broader community.我也很幸运地从一些男性榜样那里得到珍爱和鼓励，包括我父亲，我哥哥，叔伯和祖父。我生命中的男人们也教会我一些重要的东西。他们教会我互相尊重的男女关系应该是什么样子的。拥有一个牢固的婚姻是什么感觉。就是建立在信念和承诺之上，以及对彼此独特天赋的赞赏。他们教我意识到什么叫当一个父亲并养育一家人。而且不只是关注自己的家庭也要伸手去帮助养育更广泛的社区里的孩子。
and these were the same qualities that i looked for in my own husband, barack when we first met, one of the things that i remember is that he took me out on a his date was to go with him to a community meeting.(laughter)i know, how romantic.(laughter)but when we met, barack was a community worked, helping people to find jobs and to try to bring resources into struggling he talked to the residents in that community center, he talked about two talked about “the world as it is” and “the world as it should be.” and i talked about this throughout the entire he said, that all too often, is that we accept the distance between those two sometimes we settle for the world as it is, even when it doesn't reflect our values and barack reminded us on that day, all of us in that room, that we all know what our world should look know what fairness and justice and opportunity look all he urged the people in that meeting, in that community, to devote themselves to closing the gap between those two ideas, to work together to try to make the world as it is and the world as it should be, one and the same.这些同样的品质也是我在自己的丈夫身上寻找的，就是巴拉克•奥巴马。在我们最初相识的时候我记得，他带我出去约会。他的约会是和他一起去开一个社区会议。（笑声）是啊，够浪漫的吧。（笑声）我们相识的时候，巴拉克是一个社区组织者。他的工作是帮助人家找工作。以及努力把资源带给有困难的邻里。当他同那个社区中心里的居民交谈的时候他谈到两个概念。他谈到“现实世界”和“理想世界”。我在竞选的整个过程中也谈到这些。他说，我们常常 接受了这两种观念之间的差距。有的时侯我们满足于现实世界，即使它没有反映我们的价值观和愿望。但是那天巴拉克提醒了我们，在那间屋子里的所有人，我们都知道。我们的世界应该是什么样子的。我们知道公平，正义和机会是什么样子的。我们全都知道。他敦促那个会上的人们，那个社区里的人们，把他们自己献身于缩小那两种观念之间的差距，一起努力把现实世界变成和理想世界一样。and i think about that today because i am reminded and convinced that all of you in this school are very important parts of closing that are the women who will build the world as it should 're going to write the next chapter in just for yourselves, but for your generation and generations to that's why getting a good education is so 's why all of this that you're going through--the ups and the downs, the teachers that you love and the teachers that you don't--why it's so e communities and countries and ultimately the world, are only as strong as the health of their that's important to keep in mind.我今天想起这些是因为我确信这所学校里你们所有的人都是缩小这差距非常重要的因素。你们是要建立理想世界的女性。你们将写出历史的下一个篇章。不只是为你们自己，而且是为你们一代人以及未来的几代人。这就是为什么得到良好的教育是这么的重要。这就是为什么你们正在经历的所有这一切好事和坏事，你们喜欢的和不喜欢的老师--为什么都这么重要。因为社区和国家还有归根结底这个世界，它们的强大只取决于其中女性的健康。记住这一点很重要。
a part of that health includes an outstanding difference between a struggling family and a healthy one is often the presence of an empowered woman or women, at the center of that difference between a broken community and a thriving one is often the healthy respect between men and women who appreciate the contributions each other makes to difference between a languishing nation and one that will flourish is the recognition that we need equal access to education for both boys and girls.这个健康的一部分包括出类拔萃的教育。一个艰困的家庭与一个健康的家庭之间的区别通常就是有一个或几个说话算数的女人处于家庭的核心。一个破败的社区与一个茁壮成长的社区的区别通常取决于男女间能否相互尊重他（她）们感激对方为社会所做的贡献。一个日趋衰弱的国家与一个强盛的国家的区别就是其中的男孩和女孩是否有平等受教育的机会。
and this school, named after the u.k.'s first female doctor, and the surrounding buildings named for mexican artist frida kahlo, mary seacole, the jamaican nurse known as the “black florence nightingale,” and the english author, emily bronte, honor women who fought sexism, racism and ignorance, to pursue their passions to feed their own allowed for no the sign said back there, “without limitations.” they knew no other way to live than to follow their having done so, these women moved many they opened many new doors for millions of female doctors and nurses and artists and authors, all of whom have followed by getting a good education, you too can control your own destiny.这所学校以英国的第一个女医生命名，学校的建筑以其他三位女士命名：墨西哥艺术家福丽达•卡萝，被称为“黑人南丁格尔”的牙买加护士玛丽•希珂，以及英国作家艾米丽•勃朗特，这都是为了纪念这些女士，她们与性别歧视，种族歧视和无知做斗争，从而追求她们的激情以充实自己的灵魂。她们没有顾及任何障碍。就像后面这个标语写的，“全然无限”。她们没想以其它的方式生活而只是追随她们的梦想。正因为如此，这四位女士去除了很多障碍。她们创造了很多新的机会为成百上千万的女医生和女护士们女艺术家和女作家们，她们都追随了这四位女士。通过得到良好的教育你们也可以掌控自己的命运。
please remember you want to know the reason why i'm standing here, it's because of education.i never cut , i don't know if anybody is cutting class.i never did it.i loved getting 'a's.i liked being smart.i liked being on time.i liked getting my work done.i thought being smart was cooler than anything in the you too, with these same values, can control your own too can pave the too can realize your dreams, and then your job is to reach back and to help someone just like you do the same y proves that it doesn't matter whether you come from a council estate or a country estate.请记住这一点。如果你们想知道我能站在这里的原因，那就是因为教育。我从来不逃课。对不起，我不知道这里是否有人逃课。我从来没那么做。我喜欢得‘优' 我喜欢做聪明人。我喜欢准时。我喜欢把我的功课做完。我觉得做聪明人比世界上任何事都要酷。按照同样的价值观，你们同样可以掌控你们自己的命运。你们也可以铺出路来。你们也可以实现你们的梦想，然后你们的任务就是伸出手去帮助像你们一样的人实现梦想。历史证明，无论是你们来自穷人家或来自富人家。
your success will be determined by your own fortitude, your own confidence, your own individual hard is is the reality of the world that we live now have control over your own it won't be 's for you have everything you hing you need to succeed, you already have right here.你们的成功取决于你们自己的坚韧，你们自己的信心，你们自己的辛勤工作。真是这样。这就是我们所生活的世界的真实情况。你们的命运现在掌握在自己手上。但这并不容易。那是一定的。可是你们拥有你们所需要的一切。要成功所需的一切，你们已经都有了。
my husband works in this big call it the oval the white house, there's the desk that he sits 's called the resolute was built by the timber of her majesty's ship resolute and given by queen 's an enduring symbol of the friendship between our two its name, resolute, is a reminder of the strength of character that's required not only to lead a country, but to live a life of purpose, as i hope in pursuing your dreams, you all remain resolute, that you go forward without limits, and that you use your talents--because there are 've seen 's you use them to create the world as it should e we are counting on are counting on every single one of you to be the very best that you can e the world is it's full of we need strong, smart, confident young women to stand up and take the reins.我丈夫在一个大办公室里工作。他们管它叫椭圆办公室。在白宫里，有一个他坐在那儿办公的桌子。那个办公桌名为“坚决”。桌子是用女王陛下“坚决”号船的木料打造的。是维多利亚女王送的。它是我们两国之间友谊的永久象征。它的名字，“坚决”，提醒我们要有这样的风骨，不只是领导一个国家，而且要度过一个有意义的人生。我希望在追求你们的梦想时，你们都能保持坚定，向前进而不受限制，发挥你们的才能--因为你们才华横溢。我们见识过确实有才华。用你们的才华去创建那个理想世界，因为我们指望着你们。我们指望着你们每一个人尽你们的全力，做到最好。因为这个世界很大。充满了挑战。我们需要坚强的，聪明的，自信的年轻女性站出来执掌乾坤。
we know you can do love you so much.我们知道你们能做到。我们爱你们。谢谢大家。
米歇尔助选演讲篇三
first lady michelle obama:
thank you so much, elaine…we are so grateful for your family’s service and sacrifice…and we will always have your the past few years as first lady, i have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this everywhere i’ve gone, in the people i’ve met, and the stories i’ve heard, i have seen the very best of the american spirit.i have seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family, especially our girls.i’ve seen it in teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay.i’ve seen it in people who become heroes at a moment’s notice, diving into harm’s way to save others…flying across the country to put out a fire…driving for hours to bail out a flooded i’ve seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families…in wounded warriors who tell me they’re not just going to walk again, they’re going to run, and they’re going to run marathons…in the young man blinded by a bomb in afghanistan who said, simply, “…i’d give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what i have done and what i can still do.”
every day, the people i meet inspire me…every day, they make me proud…every day they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on g as your first lady is an honor and a privilege…but back when we first came together four years ago, i still had some concerns about this journey we’d i believed deeply in my husband’s vision for this country…and i was certain he would make an extraordinary president…like any mother, i was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight? how would they feel being uprooted from their school, their friends, and the only home they’d ever known?
our life before moving to washington was filled with simple joys…saturdays at soccer games, sundays at grandma’s house…and a date night for barack and me was either dinner or a movie, because as an exhausted mom, i couldn’t stay awake for the truth is, i loved the life we had built for our girls…i deeply loved the man i had built that life with…and i didn’t want that to change if he became president.i loved barack just the way he see, even though back then barack was senator and a presidential candidate…to me, he was still the guy who’d picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, i could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door…he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he’d found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too when barack started telling me about his family that’s when i knew i had found a kindred spirit, someone whose values and upbringing were so much like see, barack and i were both raised by families who didn’t have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for father was a pump operator at the city water plant, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and i were even as a kid, i knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain…i knew there were plenty of mornings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of every morning, i watched my father wake up with a smile, grab his walker, prop himself up against the bathroom sink, and slowly shave and button his when he returned home after a long day’s work, my brother and i would stand at the top of the stairs to our little apartment, patiently waiting to greet him…watching as he reached down to lift one leg, and then the other, to slowly climb his way into our despite these challenges, my dad hardly ever missed a day of work…he and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education they could only dream when my brother and i finally made it to college, nearly all of our tuition came from student loans and my dad still had to pay a tiny portion of that tuition every semester, he was determined to pay that bill right on time, even taking out loans when he fell was so proud to be sending his kids to college…and he made sure we never missed a registration deadline because his check was see, for my dad, that’s what it meant to be a so many of us, that was the measure of his success in life being able to earn a decent living that allowed him to support his as i got to know barack, i realized that even though he’d grown up all the way across the country, he’d been brought up just like was raised by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills, and by grandparents who stepped in when she needed ’s grandmother started out as a secretary at a community bank…and she moved quickly up the ranks…but like so many women, she hit a glass for years, men no more qualified than she was men she had actually trained were promoted up the ladder ahead of her, earning more and more money while barack’s family continued to scrape day after day, she kept on waking up at dawn to catch the bus…arriving at work before anyone else…giving her best without complaint or she would often tell barack, “so long as you kids do well, bar, that’s all that really matters.” like so many american families, our families weren’t asking for didn’t begrudge anyone else’s success or care that others had much more than they did…in fact, they admired simply believed in that fundamental american promise that, even if you don’t start out with much, if you work hard and do what you’re supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and an even better life for your kids and ’s how they raised us…that’s what we learned from their learned about dignity and decency that how hard you work matters more than how much you make…that helping others means more than just getting ahead learned about honesty and integrity that the truth matters…that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules…and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and learned about gratitude and humility that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean…and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with are the values barack and i and so many of you are trying to pass on to our own ’s who we standing before you four years ago, i knew that i didn’t want any of that to change if barack became , today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways i never could have imagined, i have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are it reveals who you see, i’ve gotten to see up close and personal what being president really looks i’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer…the judgment calls where the stakes are so high, and there is no margin for as president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you when it comes to rebuilding our economy, barack is thinking about folks like my dad and like his ’s thinking about the pride that comes from a hard day’s ’s why he signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay act to help women get equal pay for equal ’s why he cut taxes for working families and small businesses and fought to get the auto industry back on its ’s how he brought our economy from the brink of collapse to creating jobs again jobs you can raise a family on, good jobs right here in the united states of it comes to the health of our families, barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically that’s not how he was raised he cared that it was the right thing to did it because he believes that here in america, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine…our kids should be able to see a doctor when they’re sick…and no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care…that’s what my husband stands it comes to giving our kids the education they deserve, barack knows that like me and like so many of you, he never could’ve attended college without financial believe it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our were so young, so in love, and so in ’s why barack has fought so hard to increase student aid and keep interest rates down, because he wants every young person to fulfill their promise and be able to attend college without a mountain of in the end, for barack, these issues aren’t political they’re e barack knows what it means when a family knows what it means to want something more for your kids and knows the american dream because he’s lived it…and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we he believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity…you do not slam it shut behind you…you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you when people ask me whether being in the white house has changed my husband, i can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, barack obama is still the same man i fell in love with all those years ’s the same man who started his career by turning down high paying jobs and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work…because for barack, success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in people’s ’s the same man who, when our girls were first born, would anxiously check their cribs every few minutes to ensure they were still breathing, proudly showing them off to everyone we ’s the man who sits down with me and our girls for dinner nearly every night, patiently answering their questions about issues in the news, and strategizing about middle school ’s the man i see in those quiet moments late at night, hunched over his desk, poring over the letters people have sent letter from the father struggling to pay his bills…from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won’t cover her care…from the young person with so much promise but so few opportunities.i see the concern in his eyes…and i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me, “you won’t believe what these folks are going through, michelle…it’s not ’ve got to keep working to fix ’ve got so much more to do.”
i see how those stories our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams i see how that’s what drives barack obama every single i didn’t think it was possible, but today, i love my husband even more than i did four years ago…even more than i did 23 years ago, when we first met.i love that he’s never forgotten how he started.i love that we can trust barack to do what he says he’s going to do, even when it’s hard especially when it’s hard.i love that for barack, there is no such thing as “us” and “them” he doesn’t care whether you’re a democrat, a republican, or none of the above…he knows that we all love our country…and he’s always ready to listen to good ideas…he’s always looking for the very best in everyone he i love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward…with patience and wisdom, and courage and he reminds me that we are playing a long game here…and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at eventually we get there, we always get there because of folks like my dad…folks like barack’s grandmother…men and women who said to themselves, “i may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will…maybe my grandchildren will.”
so many of us stand here tonight because of their sacrifice, and longing, and steadfast love…because time and again, they swallowed their fears and doubts and did what was today, when the challenges we face start to seem overwhelming or even impossible let us never forget that doing the impossible is the history of this nation…it’s who we are as americans…it’s how this country was if our parents and grandparents could toil and struggle for us…if they could raise beams of steel to the sky, send a man to the moon, and connect the world with the touch of a button…then surely we can keep on sacrificing and building for our own kids and if so many brave men and women could wear our country’s uniform and sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights…then surely we can do our part as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights…surely, we can get to the polls and make our voices heard on election farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire…if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores…if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote…if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time…if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream…and if proud americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love…then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great american e in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding is what has made my story, and barack’s story, and so many other american stories i say all of this tonight not just as first lady…and not just as a see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still “mom-in-chief.” my daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my today, i have none of those worries from four years ago about whether barack and i were doing what’s best for our e today, i know from experience that if i truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters…if we want to give all our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities worthy of their promise…if we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility that belief that here in america, there is always something better out there if you’re willing to work for it…then we must work like never before…and we must once again come together and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward…my husband, our president, president barack you, god bless you, and god bless america.
