Barack Obama - Barack Obama Selected Speeches

Barack Obama
Selected Speeches

Barack Obama
Selected Speeches

Introduction by Ken Mondschein, PhD

Canterbury Classics
An imprint of Printers Row Publishing Group
9717 Pacific Heights Blvd, San Diego, CA 92121

Compilation 2021 Canterbury Classics

Some speeches appear under a Creative Commons license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printers Row Publishing Group is a division of Readerlink Distribution Services, LLC.
Canterbury Classics is a registered trademark of Readerlink Distribution Services, LLC.

Correspondence concerning the content of this book should be sent to Canterbury Classics, Editorial Department, at the above address.

Publisher: Peter Norton Associate Publisher: Ana Parker
Art Director: Charles McStravick
Production Team: Julie Greene, Rusty von Dyl

Cover design: James Dean Johns and Rusty von Dyl

Photo used in front cover design: AP Photo/Mannie Garcia
Photo for endpapers: Brooks Kraft/Corbis Historical via Getty Images
Photo on page x: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

eBook ISBN: 978-1-64517-893-4
eBook Edition: September 2021

Editors Note: The pieces in this book have been published in their original form to preserve the authors intent and style.

CONTENTS

____________________

____________________

T he rise of Barack Obama on Americas political stage was nothing less than meteoric. It began in the 2004 United States Senate Democratic primaries when he received more than 52 percent of the vote, far ahead of his closest Democratic rival. If that wasnt impressive enough, in November that year, Obama won the U.S. Senate seat with an overwhelming 70 percent of the vote, the largest victory margin in Illinois history. Only three years later, he became the first African American to secure from a major political party the nomination for president. He won the nomination by a narrower margin, but was chosen over a formidable opponentSenator Hillary Clinton. Like the Founding Fathers he often references, his place in the history books was assured in 2008 when he became the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

Through the years, Obamas vision for a more perfect union was masterfully conveyed to the public through the strength of his writing and oration. Although he had speechwriters on his staff, few Americans may realize how much time the president himself dedicated to getting the words just right. In media interviews, Jon Favreau, former Director of Speechwriting, reflects on late nights spent with the President discussing ideas and making edits before a big speech, and last-minute adjustments in the motorcade. Campaign posters focused on optimism rose up from independent artist Shepard Fairey and were approved by the Obama campaign, forever linking Obamas name to the words hope and change. Obamas oratory compelled all Americans to embody those words in their desire for the future, whether for economic security, social equality, universal health care, or another poetic cause. His messages of unity, compassion, patriotism, and the need for action from a more positive perspective consistently reached out and asked all citizens and civil servants to examine who they were as individuals, then make decisions that reflected the best version of our nation as a whole.

This book is not a comprehensive collection of every one of Obamas speeches, but rather a selection of highlights from his oratory, spanning from his emergence onto the national stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (page 1) to his post-presidency appearances. Readers of this volume can appreciate the challenges the editors faced in determining which of the presidents speeches to include and which to exclude. When so many of his public pronouncements were considered significant, what criteria should be used to narrow down the selection? During his eight years in office, President Obama championed many causes, including (but certainly not limited to) job creation, education, national security, climate change, and economic growth. The speeches in this volume touch on each of these topics, and they primarily focus on what is generally considered his key policy initiative: health care. Also included are numerous speeches that Obama gave in response to the major moments, events, and anniversaries that affected American life and the trajectory of American history during his time in office. As the years continue to pass since Obamas administration came to an end, time allows us to view the importance of these speeches from a historical perspective, and also to rediscover and appreciate anew his ability to connect with all Americans not just those who represented his base or supported his policies, but citizens across the political spectrum. It was all Americans together who experienced the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings (page 290), the relief of the killing of Osama bin Laden (page 173), and the grief mingled with inspiration experienced at the funeral of a slain reverend (page 394). In these seminal moments in American life, citizens facing sadness, joy, or uncertainty looked to their president for guidance, for understanding, and for the comfort that comes from knowing their leader shared their fears and their concernsand, more important, their abiding hope.

You may view the volume you hold in your hands as a selection of speeches, but it is also a book of storiestales of individual American citizens, as well as the nation as a wholecovering more than a decade of our history. Obama often kept his audiences engaged by relating the points of his speeches to stories of everyday Americans, past and present, and their struggles to reach higher ideals. It is said that his mastery of human anecdotes will prove an important part of his legacy, as engaging stories tend to be remembered and retold, changing minds and influencing opinionssomething politicians with lesser speaking skills rarely accomplish long-term. Who doesnt relish a layered tale of heroism relating a journey with highs and lows, surprises, and a happy ending? The way Obama tells it, every U.S. citizen is a hero on a journey.

Right from the beginning, in his 2004 acceptance speech for the U.S. Senate (page 6), Obama relates how he met Margaret Lewis, an African American woman, who was 104 years old and very proud to have voted for himindeed, very proud to have the right to vote for him. In his speech, he reflects on the incredible changes she saw over her lifetime; he lays out the changes he hopes yet to make for a better future, and invites the audience on a journey to reach that destination. He states that he stands before them because the nation believed in the possibility of a government that was just as decent as the American people are. In his 2009 address to a joint session of Congress (page 76), Obama explains how hes found hope in unlikely places, such as Miami bank president Leonard Abess, who took care of his employees financially during hard times; the town of Greensburg, Kansas, which was destroyed by a tornado and was rebuilding as an environmentally greener city; and a little girl in South Carolina who wrote to Congress asking for help to fix leaks in her schools roof. When he addressed the public in 2012 after the favorable Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (page 241), he referenced a framed letter on his office wall from Natoma Canfield, a cancer survivor who had to surrender her health insurance because her rates became unaffordable. And in his address on the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma March (page 381) and his eulogy for John Lewis (page 472), he related the story of the civil rights icon who led peaceful protestors across a bridge to a more just and inclusive America. Each one of Obamas speeches, and the stories of heroic citizens contained therein, have inspired enormous faith in our country, and in our fellow countrymen.