Thank you so much.
You know it's hard to believe that it has been eight years since
I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought
my husband should be President.
Remember how I told you about his character and conviction.
His decency and his grace, the traits that we've seen
every day that he served our country in the White House.
I also told you about our daughters. How they are the heart of our hearts,
the center of our world and during our time in the White House we've had the
joy of watching them grow from bubbly little girls into poised young women,
a journey that started soon after we arrived in Washington,
when they set off for their first day at their new school
I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls just seven and
ten years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men with guns.
And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window and the only thing
I could think was, What have we done?
See, because at that moment I realized that our time in the White House would
form the foundation for who they would become and how well we manage this
experience could truly make or break them.
That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect
our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight.
How we urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith.
How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV
does not represent the true spirit of this country.
How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully,
you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.
With every word we utter, with every action we take,
we know our kids are watching us.
We as parents are their most important role models and let me tell you
Barack and I take that same approach to our jobs as President and First Lady because
we know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls,
but the children across this country. Kids who tell us,
"I saw you on TV. I wrote a report on you for school."
Kids like the little black boy who looked up
at my husband, his eyes wide with hope and he wondered,
"Is my hair like yours?"
And make no mistake about it,
this November when we go to the polls,
that is what we're deciding. Not Democrat or Republican, not left or right.
No, in this election and every election
it's about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives
And I.... I am here tonight because in this election
there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility.
Only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be President
of the United States, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton.
I trust Hillary to lead this country because I've seen her lifelong devotion to our nation's children
not just her own daughter who she has raised to perfection,
but every child who needs a champion, kids who take the long way to school to
avoid the gangs, kids who wonder how they'll ever afford college
kids whose parents don't speak a word of English but dream of a better life.
Kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be.
You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless thankless work
to actually make a difference in their lives,
advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer fighting for children's
health care as First Lady, and for quality childcare in the Senate
and when she didn't win the nomination eight years ago, she didn't get angry or dislillusioned.
Hilary did not....
Hilary did not pack up and go home because, as a true public servant,
Hilary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments.
She proudly stepped up to serve our country once again as Secretary of State
traveling the globe to keep our kids safe. And look, there were plenty of
moments when Hillary could have decided that this work was too hard, that the
price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart
for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs.
But here's the thing.
What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure.
She never takes the easy way out
And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.
And when I think about the kind of President that I want
for my girls and all our children,
that's what I want. I want someone with the proven strength to persevere,
someone who knows this job and takes it seriously,
someone who understands that the issues a President faces are not black and white
and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.
Look, because....
Because when...
When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command,
you can't make snap decisions, yet you can't have a thin skin or tendency to lash out.
You need to be steady and measured and well-informed.
I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life's work
shows our children that we don't chase fame and fortune for ourselves.
We fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.
And we give back even when we're struggling ourselves because we know that there is always
someone worse off out there but for the grace of God, go I.
I want a President who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters.
A President who truly believes in the vision that our founders put forth all those years ago,
that we are all created equal, each of the loved part of the great American story.
And when crisis hits, we don't turn against each other.
No, we we listen to each other. We lean on each other
because we are always stronger together.
And I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of President that
Hillary Clinton will be and that's why in this election
I'm with her.
You see, Hillary understands that the President is about one thing and one thing only.
It's about leaving something better for our kids.
That's how we've always moved this country forward, by all of us coming together on behalf of our children.
Folks who volunteer to coach that team, to teach that Sunday school class
because they know it takes a village.
Heroes of every color and creed who wear the uniform and risk their lives to
keep passing down those blessings of liberty.
Police officers and the protesters in Dallas who all desperately want to keep our children safe.
People who lined up in Orlando to donate blood
because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club.
Leaders like Tim Kaine,
who show our kids what decency and devotion look like.
Leaders like Hillary Clinton who has the guts and the grace
to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest
and hardest glass ceiling and so she finally breaks through,
lifting all of us along with her.
That is the story of this country,
the story that has brought me to the stage tonight.
The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage,
the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and hoping and
doing what needed to be done so that today
I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.
And I watch my daughters, two beautiful intelligent, black young women
playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.
And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters
now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States
Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great,
that somehow we need to make it great again
because this right now is the greatest country on earth.
And as my my daughters prepare to set out into the world,
I want a leader who is worthy of that truth.
A leader who is worthy of my girls' promise and all our kids' promise
a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope
and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children.
So in this election, we cannot sit back and hope
that everything works out for the best.
We cannot afford to be tired or frustrated or cynical.
No, hear me.
Between now and November we need to do what we did eight years ago in four years ago.
We need to knock on every door.
We need to get out every vote.
We need to pour every last ounce of our passion and our strength and our love for this country
into electing Hillary Clinton as President of the United States of America.
Let's get to work.
Thank you all. God bless.
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