알로하보이의사이비세상

Barack Obama

Commencement Address at Knox College

delivered 4 June 2005, Galesburg, Illinois

버락 오바마 전 대통령이 상원의원 시절인 2005년 6월 녹스대학 졸업식에서 한 연설문

Good morning President Taylor, Board of Trustees, faculty, parents, family, friends, the community of Galesburg, the class of 1955 -- which I understand was out partying last night, and yet still showed up here on time -- and most of all, the Class of 2005. Congratulations on your graduation, and thank you -- thank you for the honor of allowing me to be a part of it. Thank you also, Mr. President, for this honorary degree. It was only a couple of years ago that I stopped paying my student loans in law school. Had I known it was this easy, I would have ran [sic] for the United States Senate earlier.

You know, it has been about six months now since you sent me to Washington as your United States Senator. I recognize that not all of you voted for me, so for those of you muttering under your breath "I didn’t send you anywhere," that's ok too. Maybe we’ll hold -- What do you call it? -- a little Pumphandle after the ceremony. Change your mind for the next time.

It has been a fascinating journey thus far. Each time I walk onto the Senate floor, I'm reminded of the history, for good and for ill, that has been made there. But there have been a few surreal moments. For example, I remember the day before I was sworn in, myself and my staff, we decided to hold a press conference in our office. Now, keep in mind that I am ranked 99th in seniority. I was proud that I wasn’t ranked dead last until I found out that it’s just because Illinois is bigger than Colorado. So I’m 99th in seniority, and all the reporters are crammed into the tiny transition office that I have, which is right next to the janitor’s closet in the basement of the Dirksen Office Building. It’s my first day in the building, I have not taken a single vote, I have not introduced one bill, had not even sat down in my desk, and this very earnest reporter raises his hand and says:

“Senator Obama, what is your place in history?”

I did what you just did, which is laugh out loud. I said, "place in history?" I thought he was kidding. At that point, I wasn’t even sure the other Senators would save a place for me at the cool kids’ table.

But as I was thinking about the words to share with this class, about what’s next, about what’s possible, and what opportunities lay ahead, I actually think it’s not a bad question for you, the class of 2005, to ask yourselves: What will be your place in history?

In other eras, across distant lands, this question could be answered with relative ease and certainty. As a servant in Rome, you knew you’d spend your life forced to build somebody else’s Empire. As a peasant in 11th Century China, you knew that no matter how hard you worked, the local warlord might come and take everything you had -- and you also knew that famine might come knocking at the door. As a subject of King George, you knew that your freedom of worship and your freedom to speak and to build your own life would be ultimately limited by the throne.

And then America happened.

A place where destiny was not a destination, but a journey to be shared and shaped and remade by people who had the gall, the temerity to believe that, against all odds, they could form “a more perfect union” on this new frontier.

And as people around the world began to hear the tale of the lowly colonists who overthrew an empire for the sake of an idea, they started to come. Across oceans and the ages, they settled in Boston and Charleston, Chicago and St. Louis, Kalamazoo and Galesburg, to try and build their own American Dream. This collective dream moved forward imperfectly -- it was scarred by our treatment of native peoples, betrayed by slavery, clouded by the subjugation of women, shaken by war and depression. And yet, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, people kept dreaming, and building, and working, and marching, and petitioning their government, until they made America a land where the question of our place in history is not answered for us. It’s answered by us.

Have we failed at times? Absolutely. Will you occasionally fail when you embark on your own American journey? You surely will. But the test is not perfection.
The true test of the American ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life’s big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams.

We have faced this choice before.

At the end of the Civil War, when farmers and their families began moving into the cities to work in the big factories that were sprouting up all across America, we had to decide:  Do we do nothing and allow captains of industry and robber barons to run roughshod over the economy and workers by competing to see who can pay the lowest wages at the worst working conditions? Or do we try to make the system work by setting up basic rules for the market, instituting the first public schools, busting up monopolies, letting workers organize into unions?

We chose to act, and we rose together.

When the irrational exuberance of the Roaring Twenties came crashing down with the stock market, we had to decide: do we follow the call of leaders who would do nothing, or the call of a leader who, perhaps because of his physical paralysis, refused to accept political paralysis?

We chose to act -- regulating the market, putting people back to work, expanding bargaining rights to include health care and a secure retirement -- and together we rose.

When World War II required the most massive home front mobilization in history and we needed every single American to lend a hand, we had to decide: Do we listen to skeptics who told us it wasn’t possible to produce that many tanks and planes? Or, did we build Roosevelt’s Arsenal for Democracy and grow our economy even further by providing our returning heroes with a chance to go to college and own their own home?

Again, we chose to act, and again, we rose together.

Today, at the beginning of this young century, we have to decide again. But this time, it is your turn to choose.

Here in Galesburg, you know what this new challenge is. You’ve seen it. All of you, your first year in college saw what happened at 9/11. It’s already been noted, the degree to which your lives will be intertwined with the war on terrorism that currently is taking place. But what you’ve also seen, perhaps not as spectacularly, is the fact that when you drive by the old Maytag plant around lunchtime, no one walks out anymore. I saw it during the campaign when I met union guys who worked at the plant for 20, 30 years and now wonder what they’re gonna do at the age of 55 without a pension or health care; when I met the man who’s son needed a new liver but because he’d been laid off, didn’t know if he could afford to provide his child the care that he needed.

It’s as if someone changed the rules in the middle of the game and no wonder -- no one bothered to tell these folks. And, in reality, the rules have changed.

It started with technology and automation that rendered entire occupations obsolete. When was the last time anybody here stood in line for the bank teller instead of going to the ATM, or talked to a switchboard operator? Then it continued when companies like Maytag were able to pick up and move their factories to some under developed country where workers were a lot cheaper than they are in the United States.

As Tom Friedman points out in his new book, The World Is Flat, over the last decade or so, these forces -- technology and globalization -- have combined like never before. So that while most of us have been paying attention to how much easier technology has made our own lives -- sending e-mails back and forth on our blackberries, surfing the Web on our cell phones, instant messaging with friends across the world -- a quiet revolution has been breaking down barriers and connecting the world’s economies. Now business not only has the ability to move jobs wherever there’s a factory, but wherever there’s an internet connection.

Countries like India and China realized this. They understand that they no longer need to be just a source of cheap labor or cheap exports. They can compete with us on a global scale. The one resource they needed were skilled, educated workers. So they started schooling their kids earlier, longer, with a greater emphasis on math and science and technology, until their most talented students realized they don’t have to come to America to have a decent life -- they can stay right where they are.

The result? China is graduating four times the number of engineers that the United States is graduating. Not only are those Maytag employees competing with Chinese and Indian and Indonesian and Mexican workers, you are too. Today, accounting firms are e-mailing your tax returns to workers in India who will figure them out and send them back to you as fast as any worker in Illinois or Indiana could.

When you lose your luggage in Boston at an airport, tracking it down may involve a call to an agent in Bangalore, who will find it by making a phone call to Baltimore. Even the Associated Press has outsourced some of their jobs to writers all over the world who can send in a story at a click of a mouse.

As Prime Minister Tony Blair has said, in this new economy, "Talent is the 21st century wealth."  If you've got the skills, you've got the education, and you have the opportunity to upgrade and improve both, you’ll be able to compete and win anywhere. If not, the fall will be further and harder than it ever was before.

So what do we do about this? How does America find its way in this new, global economy? What will our place in history be?

Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn’t much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government -- divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on.

In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it -- Social Darwinism -- every man or woman for him or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford -- tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job -- life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child who was born into poverty -- pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: “You’re fired!”

But there is a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it’s been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. That’s what’s produced our unrivaled political stability.

And so if we do nothing in the face of globalization, more people will continue to lose their health care. Fewer kids will be able to afford the diploma you’re about to receive.

More companies like United Airlines won’t be able to provide pensions for their employees. And those Maytag workers will be joined in the unemployment line by any worker whose skills can be bought and sold on the global market.

So today I’m here to tell you what most of you already know. This is not us -- the option that I just mentioned. Doing nothing. It’s not how our story ends -- not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes.

It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.

So let’s dream. Instead of doing nothing or simply defending 20th century solutions, let’s imagine together what we could do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st century.

What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy?  If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said “Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we’re going to seriously retrain you and there’s life-long education that’s waiting for you -- the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program.

What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future?

Right now, all across America, there are amazing discoveries being made. If we supported these discoveries on a national level, if we committed ourselves to investing in these possibilities, just imagine what it could do for a town like Galesburg. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant could re-open its doors as an Ethanol refinery that turned corn into fuel. Down the street, a biotechnology research lab could open up on the cusp of discovering a cure for cancer. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out electric cars. The new jobs created would be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education.

All of that is possible but none of it will come easy. Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits -- like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We’ll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs.

It won’t be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment.

And we need each of you.

Now, no one can force you to meet these challenges. If you want, it will be pretty easy for you to leave here today and not give another thought to towns like Galesburg and the challenges they face. There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy.

But I hope you don’t walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It’s primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

And I know that all of you are wondering how you’ll do this, the challenges seem so big. They seem so difficult for one person to make a difference.

But we know it can be done. Because where you’re sitting, in this very place, in this town, it’s happened before.

Nearly two centuries ago, before civil rights, before voting rights, before Abraham Lincoln, before the Civil War, before all of that, America was stained by the sin of slavery. In the sweltering heat of southern plantations, men and women who looked like me could not escape the life of pain and servitude in which they were sold. And yet, year after year, as this moral cancer ate away at the American ideals of liberty and equality, the nation was silent.

But its people didn’t stay silent for long.

One by one, abolitionists emerged to tell their fellow Americans that this would not be our place in history -- that this was not the America that had captured the imagination of the world.

This resistance that they met was fierce, and some paid with their lives. But they would not be deterred, and they soon spread out across the country to fight for their cause. One man from New York went west, all the way to the prairies of Illinois to start a colony.

And here in Galesburg, freedom found a home.

Here in Galesburg, the main depot for the Underground Railroad in Illinois, escaped slaves could roam freely on the streets and take shelter in people’s homes. And when their masters or the police would come for them, the people of this town would help them escape north, some literally carrying them in their arms to freedom.

Think about the risks that involved. If they were caught abetting a fugitive, you could’ve been jailed or lynched. It would have been simple for these townspeople to turn the other way; to go live their lives in a private peace.

And yet, they didn’t do that. Why?

Because they knew that we were all Americans; that we were all brothers and sisters; the same reason that a century later, young men and women your age would take Freedom Rides down south, to work for the Civil Rights movement. The same reason that black women would walk instead of ride a bus after a long day of doing somebody else’s laundry and cleaning somebody else’s kitchen. Because they were marching for freedom.

Today, on this day of possibility, we stand in the shadow of a lanky, raw-boned man with little formal education who once took the stage at Old Main and told the nation that if anyone did not believe the American principles of freedom and equality, that those principles were timeless and all-inclusive, they should go rip that page out of the Declaration of Independence.

My hope for all of you is that as you leave here today, you decide to keep these principles alive in your own life and in the life of this country. You will be tested. You won’t always succeed. But know that you have it within your power to try. That generations who have come before you faced these same fears and uncertainties in their own time. And that through our collective labor, and through God’s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other’s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that distant horizon, and a better day.

Thank you so much class of 2005, and congratulations on your graduation. Thank you.

오바마 전 대통령의 유명한 2004년 민주당 전당대회 기조연설문

Barack Obama

2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address

delivered 27 July 2004, Fleet Center, Boston

Audio AR-XE mp3 of Address

click for pdf 

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)]

On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, Land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention.

Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father -- my grandfather -- was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before.

While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs and farms through most of the Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor my grandfather signed up for duty; joined Patton’s army, marched across Europe. Back home, my grandmother raised a baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through F.H.A., and later moved west all the way to Hawaii in search of opportunity.

And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter. A common dream, born of two continents.

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or ”blessed,” believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined -- They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren’t rich, because in a generous America you don’t have to be rich to achieve your potential.

They're both passed away now. And yet, I know that on this night they look down on me with great pride.

They stand here, and I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our Nation -- not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That is the true genius of America, a faith -- a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted -- at least most of the time.

This year, in this election we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we're measuring up to the legacy of our forbearers and the promise of future generations.

And fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you tonight: We have more work to do --  more work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that’s moving to Mexico, and now are having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour; more to do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears, wondering how he would pay 4500 dollars a month for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on; more to do for the young woman in East St. Louis, and thousands more like her, who has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but doesn’t have the money to go to college.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The people I meet -- in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks -- they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead,  and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. Go in -- Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach our kids to learn; they know that parents have to teach, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things.

People don’t expect -- People don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all.

They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

In this election, we offer that choice. Our Party has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. And that man is John Kerry.

John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith, and service because they’ve defined his life. From his heroic service to Vietnam, to his years as a prosecutor and lieutenant governor, through two decades in the United States Senate, he's devoted himself to this country. Again and again, we’ve seen him make tough choices when easier ones were available.

His values and his record affirm what is best in us. John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded; so instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies creating jobs here at home.

John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves.

John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren’t held hostage to the profits of oil companies, or the sabotage of foreign oil fields.

John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, nor use faith as a wedge to divide us.

And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world war must be an option sometimes, but it should never be the first option.

You know, a while back -- awhile back I met a young man named Shamus in a V.F.W. Hall in East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid -- six two, six three, clear eyed, with an easy smile. He told me he’d joined the Marines and was heading to Iraq the following week. And as I listened to him explain why he’d enlisted, the absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I thought this young man was all that any of us might ever hope for in a child.

But then I asked myself, "Are we serving Shamus as well as he is serving us?"

I thought of the 900 men and women -- sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors, who won’t be returning to their own hometowns. I thought of the families I’ve met who were struggling to get by without a loved one’s full income, or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or nerves shattered, but still lacked long-term health benefits because they were Reservists.

When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

Now -- Now let me be clear. Let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued. And they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure.

John Kerry believes in America. And he knows that it’s not enough for just some of us to prosper -- for alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga,  a belief that we’re all connected as one people. If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there is a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief -- It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us -- the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of "anything goes." Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there’s the United States of America.

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end -- In the end -- In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?

John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope.

I’m not talking about blind optimism here -- the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

Hope -- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!

In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity.

I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair.

I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us.

America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do -- if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as President, and John Edwards will be sworn in as Vice President, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.

Thank you very much everybody.

God bless you.

Thank you.

거대한 주, 전국을 가로지르는, 링컨의 고향 일리노이를 대표하여 저에게 이번 전당대회 연설의 특혜를 허락해주셔서 깊은 감사의 말씀을 드립니다. 오늘은 저에게 아주 명예로운 밤입니다. 왜냐하면, 보십시오, 이 무대에서의 저의 참석은 아주 이례적인 일입니다. 저의 아버지는 국제 학생이셨으며 케냐의 작은 마을에서 태어나 자라셨습니다. 아버지는 염소를 몰면서 자랐으며 낡아빠진 지붕아래 학교에 다니셨습니다. 아버지의 아버지, 나의 할아버지께서는 영국의 가사 노예로서, 요리사였습니다.

하지만 할아버지는 그의 자식에 대한 보다 큰 꿈을 가지고 있었습니다. 근면 성실과 인내를 통하여 아버지는 장학금을 받으셨고 꿈의 장소에서 공부할 수 있었습니다. 그 마법과 같은 장소는 미국입니다. 예전에 그 곳의 사람들에게 자유와 기회의 등불을 밝히었던 곳입니다. 아버지는 거기서 공부하시는 동안 어머니를 만나셨습니다. 어머니께서는 나라의 아주 변두리에 있는 자그마한 마을, 켄사스에서 태어나셨습니다. 어머니의 아버지는 세계 대공황 가운데서 오일 공장과 농사를 지으며 일하셨습니다. 진주만 습격 사건 다음날 그는 패턴 장군의 군대에 입대하셨고 유럽으로 진군하셨습니다. 집으로 돌아오셨을 때, 저의 외할머니는 그 분의 자식들을 폭탄 제조 공장으로 일을 보내셨습니다. 전쟁이 끝나고, 그들은 GI Bill을 공부하셨고, FHA를 통해 집을 구입하셨으며 기회를 좇아 서부로 이사를 가셨습니다.

그리고 그들 역시 그 분들의 딸에 대해서 큰 꿈을 가지고 있었습니다. 저의 부모님들은 아주 멋진 사랑을 나누셨을 뿐만 아니라 이 국가의 가능성에 대한 변치 않는 믿음도 나누셨습니다. 부모님은 저에게 아프리카의 이름을 주셨습니다. 그것은 바로‘버락’입니다. 이것은‘축복받은’을 의미합니다. 이 이름에는 관용의 나라인 미국에서 사람의 이름은 성공에 대한 장애를 주지 않는 다는 믿음이 있습니다. 부모님은 제가 미국에서 가장 좋은 대학에 가기를 꿈꾸셨습니다. 비록 우리집은 가난했지만요. 왜냐하면 관대한 나라 미국에서는 우리의 잠재력을 발휘하기 위해 꼭 부자가 될 필요는 없었으니까요. 우리 부모님들은 지금 모두 돌아가셨습니다. 하지만 저는 압니다. 오늘 이 밤, 우리 부모님께서는 저를 자랑스러운 눈으로 보고 계시다는 것을.

오늘 저는 여기에 서있고, 나의 다양한 유산에 감사하고 있습니다. 그리고 나는 저의 부모님의 꿈이 나의 소중한 딸들 안에 존재하고 있다고 믿고 있습니다. 그리고 나의 스토리는 보다 큰 미국인들의 스토리 중에 일부분임을 알며, 내가 오기 전의 많은 사람들에게 제가 빚이 있음을 알고 있습니다. 왜냐하면 (미국이 아닌 이상)지구상의 그 어떤 나라에서도 저의 이야기는 불가능하기 때문입니다. 오늘 밤, 저는 미국의 위대함을 확인시키고자 이 자리에 왔습니다. 그것은 초고층 빌딩, 군사력의 막강함, 우리 경제의 거대한 규모에 있지 않습니다. 우리의 자부심은 매우 단순한 전제에 기초하고 있습니다. 그 전제는 200년 전에 만들어진 공언인데 그것은 바로“모든 사람은 평등하게 창조되었다 라는 자명한 진리를 단단히 붙들고 있으며, 우리는 창조자에게 결코 굽힐 수 없는 권리, 삶과 자유와 행복의 추구라는 권리를 부여 받았다. ”라는 것입니다.

이것이 바로 미국의 참된 자질이요, 아주 작은 기적을 향한 미국인들의 담백한 신앙입니다. 우리는 자녀들에게 밤에 이불을 덮어줄 수 있고, 먹여주고 입혀주며 해로부터 안전하게 해줄 수 있다는 그러한 아주 작은 기적 안에 담백한 믿음 말입니다. 누구의 방해 없이 우리가 생각한 것을 말할 수 있고, 우리가 생각하는 것을 쓸 수 있는 그런 작은 기적 안에 담백한 믿음 말입니다. 뇌물이나 비리 없이 우리의 생각을 우리 자신의 사업으로 창업할 수 있는, 보복에 대한 두려움 없이 정치 행렬에 참여할 수 있고 최소한 선거의 시간동안 우리의 한 표가 귀중하게 여겨질 수 있는 그런 작은 기적 안에 담백한 믿음 말입니다.

올해, 선거에서, 우리는 우리의 가치와 서약을 재 확증하고자 하는 부름을 받고 있습니다. 그 확증은 고된 현실을 대항하여 그 가치와 서약을 지키고 우리가 어떻게 우리 선조들의 유산을 헤아리고 미래의 세대들을 위한 약속의 가능성의 측정을 염두에 둔 것입니다. 그리고 미국인들로서 민주당원들 공화당원들 무소속인들 모두에게 나는 오늘 말하고 싶습니다. 우리는 해야 할 일들이 많이 있습니다. 게일스버그, 일리노이에서 내가 만난 맥시코로 옮겨버린 메이테그 회사에서 직장을 잃어버린 노동자들을 위해 할 일이 많습니다. 또한 시간당 7달러 밖에 주지 않는 직업을 위해 그들의 자식과 함께 싸워야만 노동자들을 위해 할 일이 많습니다. 또한, 직장을 잃어버리고 의료 혜택을 받지 못해 한 달에 아들을 위해 약 값으로 4500 달러를 어떻게 감당해야할지 몰라 당황하며 눈물을 삼키고 있는 제가 만난 한 아버지를 위해서도 할 일이 많습니다. 또한, 동기가 있고 의지는 있지만 돈이 없어서 대학에 가지 못하는 동부 세인트루이스에 사는 수천 명의 젊은 여성들을 위해서도 할 일이 많습니다.  

저를 오해 하지는 마십시오. 크고 작은 마을에서, 저녁 식탁과 직장 공원에서 내가 만난 사람들은 정부가 그들의 모든 문제를 해결해 줄 것이라고 생각하지 않습니다. 그들은 그들 스스로가 열심히 일하며 앞으로 나아가야 한다는 것을 알고 있으며 기꺼이 그것을 원합니다. 시카고 주위의 collar counties(<-- 이게 뭔지 모르겠네요) 로 가 보십시오, 그들은 당신에게 말할 것입니다. “우리는 우리의 세금이 복지 당국과 국방부에 의해서 낭비되는 것을 원하지 않아요.” 라고. 주위의 아무 슬럼가(inner city)로 가 보세요, 거기에 사람들 당신에게 말할 것입니다. “정부 혼자서는 그들의 자녀를 가르칠 수 없다고.” 그들은 부모들이 부모역할을 해야 한다는 것을 압니다. 또한 우리가 우리 자녀들의 기대를 올려주지 않는 이상, 텔레비전을 끄지 않는 이상, 공부하는 흑인들은 백인을 흉내 낸다는 그런 중상을 근절하지 않는 이상 우리의 자녀들이 목표한 바를 성취하지 못할 것이라는 것을 알고 있습니다. 결코, 사람들은 정부가 그들의 모든 문제를 해결해 줄 것이라 기대치는 않습니다. 그들은 우선 사항들을 변화함으로써, 미국의 모든 어린이들에게 삶의 바람직한 기회가 주어지고 모두에게 기회의 창이 열릴 수 있다는 확신을 뼈 속 깊이 느끼고 있습니다. 그들은 우리 스스로가 더 잘할 수 있다는 것을 알고 있으며 그러한 기회를 원합니다.

이번 선거에서, 우리는 그 선택의 기회를 제공하고 있습니다. 민주당은 우리를 이끌어 나갈, 이 나라가 제공해야만 하는 최고의 것을 실현화 하는 한 사람을 선택했습니다. 그 사람은 바로 존 캐리입니다. 수많은 사람들이 그의 삶을 특징 지웠기에(define을 그가 해야 할 일을 특징짓는 다로 해석했습니다), 존 캐리는 지역사회와 믿음과 희생의 이념들을 이해하고 있습니다. 베트남전에서의 장교와 검찰관으로서의 영웅적인 군복무부터 시작하여 20년간의 미국 상원의원으로서 그는 자기 자신을 이 나라를 위해 바쳤습니다. 몇 번이고, 우리는 그가 쉬운 길을 갈 수 있음에도 힘든 길을 선택해 나가는 그를 보았습니다. 그의 가치와 행적은 우리에게 무엇이 가장 최선인지를 확인해주고 있습니다.

존 캐리는 이 미국 땅에서 근면 성실이 인정받는 것을 믿고 있습니다. 때문에, 해외로 일터를 옮겨가는 기업에 세금 감면을 제공하는 대신(정확한 해석인지 모르겠습니다), 그는 이 땅에 일자리 창출을 제공할 것입니다. 존 캐리는 미국이 워싱턴 정계의 정치인들의 건강 보험 범위가 미국인 모두에게 똑같이 적용되는 땅이라고 믿고 있습니다. 존 캐리는 우리가 오일 회사의 이윤이나 해외 유전 파괴행위의 인질이 되지 않기 위한 에너지 독립을 믿습니다. 존 캐리는 세계의 부러움을 자아내는 헌법의 자유를 믿습니다. 그리고 그는 결코 우리의 기본적 자유를 희생시키거나 우리를 이간질 하는 신념 따위는 사용하지 않을 것입니다. 그리고 존 캐리는 위험에 빠진 이 세상에서, 전쟁은 치러져야 하지만, 결코 다른 것보다 중요한 선택 사항이 되어서는 안 된다고 믿습니다.

예전, 저는 일리노이 동쪽 몰린(Moline)해안에 VFW Hall에서 샤무스(Shamus)라는 한 청년을 만났습니다. 그는 훤칠한 사내였고, 183~185정도로 보이는 총명한 눈과 편안한 미소를 가진 청년이었습니다. 그는 자기가 군대에 입대했고 이번 주에 이라크로 출병할 것이라고 말했습니다. 그에게서 그가 왜 군에 입대했는지, 그의 국가와 국가의 지도자에 대한 신념, 의무와 사명에 대한 헌신을 들었을 때, 이 청년이야 말로 우리가 다음 세대에 기대하는 바로 그런 사람이라고 생각했습니다. 하지만 그때 저는 스스로에게 물었습니다. 그가 우리를 위해 이토록 봉사하는 것처럼 우리도 그에게 봉사할 수 있는가? 나는 900명 이상의 고향에 돌아오지 못하는 군복무 남성과 여성, 아들과 딸, 남편과 아내, 친구와 이웃들을 생각했습니다. 저는 사랑하는 이들의 완전한 보수도 받지 못하고 살아가려고 근근이 애쓰는 가족들 혹은 사랑하는 가족이 돌아왔지만 불구가 되거나 정신적인 전쟁 후유증을 겪어야만 했고 예비병이기 때문에 장기 보험혜택을 받을 수 없는 그런 가족들을 생각했습니다.

우리가 우리의 젊은 청년들을 전쟁터로 보낼 때는, 우리는 그 숫자(인원수)를 조작해서는 해서는 안 되며, 그들이 왜 가는지에 대한 진실을 감춰서도 안 되며, 그들이 나가있는 동안 그들의 가족들을 보살펴 주어야 하며, 군인들에게 마땅한 보수를 줘야하며, 전쟁을 승리하고, 평화를 지키고 세계의 신망을 받을만한 충분한 병력이 없이는 결코, 절대로 보내지 말아야 하는 엄숙한 의무를 가지고 있습니다. 

(진정하시고) 저에게 좀더 명백히 할 기회를 주십시오. 제 말을 좀더 들어주십시오. 우리는 이 세계에 진정한 적을 가지고 있습니다. 이 적은 반드시 색출해내어야 합니다. 그들은 반드시 추적되어야 합니다. 그리고 그들을 반드시 패배시켜야만 합니다. 존 캐리는 이 방법을 알고 있습니다. 그리고 존 캐리가 당시 장교였을 때 베트남전에서 그들의 전우들을 위해 자신의 목숨 아끼기를 주저하지 않은 것과 같이, 캐리가 대통령이 된다면 우리의 병력을 미국의 안보와 안전을 지키게 사용하는 것에 대해 단 한 순간의 주저함도 없을 것입니다.

존 캐리는 미국에 대한 믿음이 있습니다. 그리고 그는 우리 중에 몇 명만이 잘 사는 것으로는 충분치 않다는 것을 압니다. 우리의 훌륭한 개인주의의 더불어, 우리를 하나로 연결해주는 지혜와 믿음이라는 미국의 고유한 또 다른 요소가 존재합니다. 만약 시카고 남쪽 지역의 글을 읽지 못하는 한 아이가 있으면, 그 아이가 비록 나의 자식은 아니지만, 그것은 저에게 중요한 문제입니다. 만약 어딘가 약 값을 제대로 감당할 수 없고 병원에 갈 것이냐 집을 임대할 것이냐 하는 하나를 포기해야만 하는 그러한 선택을 해야 하는 어르신이 있다면, 그 분은 비록 저의 할아버지가 아닐지라도, 그 사실은 나의 삶을 더욱 가난하게 만듭니다. 만약 변호사나 다른 정당한 과정의 혜택 없이 살아가고 있는 아랍에서 이민한 미국인 가족이 있다면, 그것은 분명 나의 시민의 자유를 위협하는 것입니다.

여기에 근본적인 믿음이 있습니다. 나는 내 형제의 지킴이요, 나는 내 자매의 지킴이라는 믿음 말입니다. 이것이 이 나라를 움직이게 하는 것입니다. 그것이 우리가 우리 개인의 꿈을 추구하게 허락해주면서도 우리는 여전히 미국‘한가족’이라는 것입니다. “E pluribus unum: 많은 사람 중에, 우리는 하나”입니다.

제가 연설을 하는 와중에도, 누군가는 우리를 갈라놓으려고 수작을 부리고 있습니다. 그것은 바로 “무엇이든 되긴 된다.”라는 정책을 품고 있는 부정적 광고업자들인 spin master(무슨 의미인지 모르겠습니다. 안 좋은 뜻이겠죠?)입니다. 자, 오늘 밤 저는 그들에게 말합니다. 급진적인 미국은 없습니다. 보수적인 미국도 없습니다. 미'합'중국만이 있습니다. 흑인들의 미국도 백인들의 미국도 라틴계 인들의 미국도 아시아인들의 미국도 없습니다. 미'합'중국만이 있습니다.

그 젠체하는 사람은 우리의 나라를 레드 스테이트(공화당)와 블루 스테이트(민주당)으로 나누는 것을 좋아합니다. 하지만 저는 그들에 향한 소식을 가지고 있습니다. 우리는“경외로우신 하나님”만을 블루스테이트 안에서 경배합니다. 그리고 우리는 연방 에이전트(agent)들이 레드 스테이트 안에 있는 우리 도서관을 쿡쿡 찌르는 것을 원치 않습니다. (무슨 말일까요?--;;) 우리는 블루 스테이트에서 작은 리그(League) 를 안고, 그래요, 우리는 레드 스테이트에 게이 친구들이 있습니다. (무슨 말인지 정작 저도 모르겠습니다. 오바마가 미국을 갈라놓는 사람들을 향해서 풍자하는 듯합니다.) 이라크 전쟁을 반대하는 애국자도 있고, 이라크 전쟁을 옹호하는 애국자도 있습니다. (하지만) 우리 모두는 별과 줄무늬(미국의 국기를 뜻함)를 향한 충성을 맹세하고, 미합중국을 지키는 한 사람입니다.

결국, 이것이 이 선거가 의미하는 것입니다. 우리는 냉소주의의 정치에 가담할 것입니까 희망의 정치에 참여할 것입니까?

존 캐리는 우리에게 희망을 갖기를 요청합니다. 존 에드워드 또한 우리에게 희망을 갖기를 바랍니다.

저는 여기서 맹목적 낙관주의를 말하고자 하는 것이 아닙니다. 고집 센 무지한 사람들은 우리가 실업에 대해서 생각하지 않으면 실업은 해결될 것이라고 생각합니다. 또 우리가 의료 보험 위기에 대해서 무시하면 그것은 스스로가 알아서 해결될 것이라고 생각합니다. 이것은 제가 말하고자 하는 바가 아닙니다. 저는 좀더 실체적이고 본질적인 것을 말하고자 합니다. 그것은 화로 가에 앉아 희망의 노래를 부르고 있는 노예들의 희망입니다. 저 먼 바다에서 이민한 사람들의 희망입니다. 메콩 삼각주(Mekong Delta)를 용감하게 거니는 청년 해군 장교들의 희망입니다. 불의를 용감히 참지 않는 공장노동자의 아들의 희망입니다. 미국이 언젠가는 빼짝 곯고 웃긴 이름을 가진(오바마 자신을 뜻함) 사람을 위한 자리를 마련해줄 것이라는 믿음을 가지고 있는 사람의 희망이기도 합니다.

어려움에 맞서는 희망. 불확실성에 맞서는 희망. (바로 이것이) 희망의 대담성입니다!

결국, 그것(희망)은 하나님께서 우리에게 주신 선물이자, 이 국가의 토대입니다. 희망 안에 있는 믿음은 보이는 것이 아닙니다. (하지만)보다 밝은 미래로 향하는 믿음이 있습니다.

저는 우리가 우리 중산층들에게 위안을 주고 일하는 가족들에게 기회의 길을 제공해 줄 수 있다고 믿습니다.

저는 우리가 우리의 등을 밀어(앞을 향해 나아가도록 도와주는) 의로운 바람을 가지고 있음을, 그리고 역사의 갈림길에 서있는 지금, 우리는 바른 선택을 할 수 있고 우리를 직면하고 있는 역경들을 맞을 준비가 되어 있다고 믿습니다.

미국이여! 오늘밤, 만약 당신들이 제가 느끼고 있는 것과 같은 에너지를 느끼고 있다면, 만약 당신들이 제가 느끼고 있는 긴박함을 느끼고 있다면, 만약 당신들이 제가 느끼고 있는 열정을 느끼고 있다면, 만약 당신들이 제가 느끼고 있는 희망을 느끼고 있다면, 만약 우리게 해야 할 무엇이 있다면, 저는 플로리다로부터 오리곤까지, 워싱턴으로부터 메인까지 전국에 걸쳐 사람들이 11월 모두 함께 일어나 존 캐리를 대통령으로, 존 에드워드를 부통령으로 지명시킬 것을 의심치 않습니다. 그러면 조국은 그 약속대로 쇄신되고 이 길고 긴 정치적 암흑에서 벗어나 보다 밝은 빛을 맞이할 것임을 믿습니다.

감사합니다, 정말 감사합니다. 신의 축복이 있기를! 감사합니다.