Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Iowa Caucus Night
  Des Moines, IA | January 03, 2008
  Thank you, Iowa.
  You know, they said this day would never come.
  They said our sights were set too high.
  They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.
  But on this January night - at this defining moment in history - you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this New Year, 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.
  You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that's been all about division and instead make it about addition - to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
  We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.
  You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government, we do; and we are here to take it back.
  The time has come for a President who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that president for America.
  Thank you.
  I'll be a President who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American the same way I expanded health care in Illinois - by--by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done.
  I'll be a President who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.
  I'll be a President who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.
  And I'll be a President who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home; who restores our moral standing; who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes, but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century; common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.
  Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa. And so I'd especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains; the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.
  And while I'm at it, on "thank yous," I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail; give it up for Michelle Obama.
  I know you didn't do this for me. You did this-you did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.
  I know this-I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa - organizing, and working, and fighting to make people's lives just a little bit better.
  I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay, and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this - a night-a night that, years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in; when more families can afford to see a doctor; when our children-when Malia and Sasha and your children-inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer; when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united; you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.
  This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.
  This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long - when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who'd never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.
  This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.
  Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment - this was the place - where America remembered what it means to hope.
  For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope.
  But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.
  Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.
  Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.
  Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.
  Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
  That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe.

  我衷心感谢艾奥瓦的公民们。
  众所周知，有人说这一天永远不会到来。
  有人说我们好高骛远。
  有人说人民异见纷呈，悲观失望，不可能再为了一个共同的目标而众志成城。
  但在这个一月的夜晚，在这个书写历史的时刻，你们做到了那些愤世嫉俗的人断言我们做不到的事。五天后新罕布什尔州的选民也将完成你们的壮举。在刚刚来到的2008年，美国人民也会完成同样的壮举。在学校和教堂，在小市镇和大城市，你们——民主党人、共和党人、无党派人士——熙熙攘攘地走到一起，自豪地宣称：我们是一个国家，我们是一个民族；变革的时刻已经到来。你们还说，华盛顿被冷酷、萎缩和愤怒所淹没，现在是超越这种政治手段、以相加替代分割的时刻，是在红州和蓝州建立变革联盟的时刻。这是因为我们将以此在11月取胜，我们也将以此面对我们国家面临的挑战。
  我们选择希望，抛弃恐惧；我们选择联合，拒绝分裂；我们向美利坚高声宣布变革就在眼前。
  你们宣布，政治说客自以为他们的财富和影响力比公众舆论的威力更大，但是他们并不拥有这个政府。政府是我们的，我们正在把它收回。
  人民此刻需要这样一位总统：他能诚实面对机遇和挑战；即使跟人民见解不同也会倾听和了解他们的想法；他不仅要说人民愿意听到的话，更要提供人民需要知道的信息。如果新罕布什尔也给我今晚艾奥瓦给我的机会，我将会是这样一位总统。
  感谢你们。
  我会是这样一位总统：让每个人都能看上病和看得起病。我在伊利诺斯州就通过民主党人和共和党人的携手合作实现了这一目标。
  我会是这样一位总统：终止所有把工作运往海外的公司的税收优惠政策，并给美国最值得享受减税的中产阶级减税。
  我会是这样一位总统：让农场主、科学家和企业家发挥他们的创造力，使我们国家一劳永逸地摆脱石油的主宰。
  最后，我会是这样一位总统：我要结束伊拉克战争并让我们的士兵回家；我要恢复我们的道德地位；我知道9/11不是骗取选票的借口，而是使美国和世界联合起来应对21世纪这个世界面临的共同威胁：恐怖主义和核扩散，全球变暖和贫困，种族屠杀和疾病。
  今晚，因为艾奥瓦公民的选择，我们距离那样的美国蓝图又近了一步。在此，我特别想感谢选举的组织者和各个投票站的站长、志愿者和我的竞选团队的工作人员。没有你们就没有今晚的胜利。
  当我站在这里表达谢意时，我想有必要感谢我的至爱，奥巴马家庭的坚实后盾，竞选旅途的殿后者，米歇尔·奥巴马。
  我明白你们不是为了我才这样做的。你们这样做，你们这样做，是因为你们坚信一个美国信念，那就是，无论条件多么艰难困苦，相信这个国家的人是可以改变它的。
  我明白这一点，我明白这一点，是因为虽然我此刻站在这里，我永远也不会忘记我的行程从芝加哥的街头开始。我曾经作过你们为我的竞选和艾奥瓦所有的竞选作过的一切：组织，工作，为了让人民的生活能够得到一点点改善而奋斗。
  我知道这样的工作的艰辛，睡眠不足，薪酬低微，大量的自我牺牲，失望常常伴随着我们。但是偶尔，仅仅是偶尔，也会有象今晚这样的时刻，在这样一个夜晚，这样一个我们数年后想起来会自豪地说那个更好的美国就是从那个时刻开始的夜晚。在这样的美国，我们实现了我们坚信不移的变革：更多的家庭看得起病；我们的孩子，我的女儿玛利亚和萨沙和你们的孩子会生活在一个更干净和更安全的星球上；世界将以不同的眼光来看待美国，而美国将把自己看作一个更少歧见、更多团结的国家。
  这一刻是勇往直前的人击败了华盛顿总是说战无不胜的人的时刻。
  这一刻是我们拆除长久分裂我们的藩篱，让不同党派和不同年龄的人们为了一个共同的目的联合起来，并给那些从不过问政治的人们一个关心政治的理由的一刻。
  这一刻是我们终于击退恐惧、疑虑和犬儒主义政治的一刻，是我们用国家携手向上替代政客相互践踏的政治的一刻。这是我们期待的那一刻。
  数年后，遥想往事，你们也许会说，就是这一刻，在这个地方——美国人民记起希望究竟意味这什么。
  几个月以来，我们因为谈论希望而遭到挖苦，甚至嘲弄。
  但我们一直认为，希望不是盲目的乐观主义。希望不是忽视未来的艰巨任务或横亘在我们前行道路上的障碍。希望不是置身事外或从拼斗中退缩。希望是我们心中坚守一种东西：它告诉我们，不管遭遇多少艰难险阻，只要有勇气去争取，只要愿意付出努力和艰辛，更好的东西就会等待我们。
  我在一个来自樟泉（Cedar Rapids）的年轻女士的眼中看到了希望：她白天全天在大学上课，晚上加夜班，但却仍然不能负担生病的妹妹的医疗费；但她仍相信这个国家会提供她实现梦想的机会。
  我从一个来自新罕布什尔州的妇女的声音中听到了希望：她告诉我自从她的侄儿奔赴伊拉克战场她就一直感到气短；但是她每晚睡觉前都要为侄子的安全回归祈祷。
  希望引领一群殖民者揭竿而起反对一个帝国；希望引领我们伟大的祖先解放了一个大陆，复活了一个民族；希望引领青年男女为了自由围坐在（不向黑人提供服务）的餐桌旁，引领他们勇敢地面对高压水龙，穿越（阿拉巴马州的）塞尔玛和蒙哥马利。
  希望，希望引领我今天来到这里，——我的父亲来自肯尼亚，母亲来自堪萨斯，这样的故事只可能发生在美利坚合众国。希望是美利坚民族的基石，希望是我们执着的信仰：我们的命运不是被人写就，而是要由我们自己写就，由那些不愿意勉强接受这个世界并信心百倍地按照它应该变成的蓝图去改造它的男男女女们写就。
  这就是我们从艾奥瓦开始的开拓，这也是我们要向新罕布什尔州和其他州传达的信息。我们顺利的时候没有忘记它，失利的时候也没有忘记它。这个信息可以帮助我们一块砖一块砖地、一条街道一条街道地、一只接一只布满老茧的手地去改变这个国家。团结起来，普通人也能铸就宏图伟业，因为我们不是红色的州或蓝色的州的组合，我们是美利坚合众州。在此刻，在这次选举中，我们乐于再次相信。谢谢，艾奥瓦。

  关于这篇演讲的一些解释：
  1）1月4日，艾奥瓦举行2008年总统选举全国第一次预选－－政党党团选举会议。奥巴马出奇制胜。这篇演讲是他在获胜后发表的讲话。在场听到他演讲的和后来看到他的演讲稿的美国学者、官员和普通人先后提出奥巴马不仅仅是一个候选人，他是一场运动。
  2）奥巴马试图借艾奥瓦的东风在1月11日的新罕布什尔州的预选中击败对手希拉里·克林顿。当时的民调也显示奥巴马领先克林顿。但是，由于比尔·克林顿对奥巴马的攻击和希拉里·克林顿的第一次流泪，选民开始出现摇摆。最终希拉里在新罕布什尔获胜。
  3）奥巴马本科毕业于哥伦比亚大学，之后在哈佛大学法学院获得法学博士。奥巴马的妻子米歇尔在芝加哥大学任职。他们有两个女儿。
  4）奥巴马的父亲来自肯尼亚，据说是目前肯尼亚反对党领袖奥丁加的叔叔。他在夏威夷读书时认识了那里的研究生，奥巴马的母亲。奥巴马两岁的时候，他父亲返回非洲。
  5）红州指共和党控制的州，蓝州指民主党势力大的州。
6）“希望引领青年男女为了自由围坐在（不向黑人提供服务）的餐桌旁，引领他们勇敢地面对高压水龙，穿越（阿拉巴马州的）塞尔玛和蒙哥马利。”这句话是指60年代黑人为了抵抗种族隔离举行的示威、静坐和游行。