Listen
I know we live in a cynical time,
and I know elections,
and all the negative ads,
tend to heighten that cynicism.
Just last week a journalist
asked me if I still believe the optimism
I express that night back in Boston 12 years ago.
That we were more than a collection of red and blue states,
that there was no liberal America or a conservative America;
black America or white America;
it was just the United States of America.
He asked me if I still held onto the hope of 2008,
if I still believe in change.
"After all," he said, "the country's so divided,
"Hillary's in such a close race with someone
who stands in total opposition for all that
you've ever stood for.
"Maybe your vision was misguided," he suggested,
"or at least very naive."
And it was a fair question.
I had to acknowledge that I hadn't fully counted on
the obstruction we see when
I first came into office and had to save the economy.
I didn't anticipate the way social media
would magnify our divisions and muddy up facts.
None of us knew then how deep the great recession would cut,
and how many people would suffer
and how it makes so many people anxious
about their futures, their kids futures,
even after the economy recover.
"But despite all that," I told him,
"the answer is 'Yes'." I still believe in hope.
I'm still as optimistic as ever about our future
and that's because of you, the American people.
In my visits to schools and factories,
war theaters, national parks,
in the letters you've written me,
in the tears you shed over a lost loved one,
I have seen again and again
your goodness, and your strength, and your heart.
In 2008, you gave me a chance,
a skinny guy with a funny name.
And for these past eight years, I saw how hard
you worked in the face of impossible odds.
I saw the values you teach your children.
I saw the way you treat strangers in need.
I've seen the young men and women in uniform,
who meet every mission.
And the military families who serve and
sacrifice just as well.
And the wounded warriors who've never ever quit.
You bet on me all those years ago,
and I will always be grateful for the
privilege you gave me to serve.
But I'll be honest with you:
I've always had the better odds,
because I've always bet on you.
And America, I'm betting on you one more time.
I'm betting that tomorrow, most moms
and dads across America won't cast
their vote for someone who denigrates
their daughters from the highest office
in the land
I'm betting that most Americans won't
vote for someone who considers
minorities and immigrants and people
with disabilities is inferior,
who considers people who practice different
phases object of suspicion.
I'm betting that tomorrow true
conservatives won't cast their vote for
someone with no regard for the Constitution.
I'm betting that young people turn out to vote,
because your future is at stake.
I'm betting that men across this country
will have no problem
voting for the more qualified candidate
who happens to be a woman.
I'm betting that African Americans will
vote in big numbers because this journey
we've been on was never about the color
of a president but the content of his or
her character.
I'm betting that America would reject
a politics of resentment, and a politics of blame,
and choose a politics that says,
"We are Stronger Together."
I am betting that tomorrow, you will reject fear,
and you'll choose hope. I'm betting that the
wisdom and decency and generosity of the
American people
will once again win the day.
And that is a bet that I have never ever lost.
Philadelphia, in this place, where our
founders forged the documents of freedom.
in this place where they gave us the
tools to perfect our union.
If you share my faith, that I asked you to vote.
If you want a president who shares our faith in America,
who's lived that faith in America,
who will finally shatter a glass ceiling
and be a president for each and every one of us,
that I'm asking you
to work as hard as you can
this one last day to elect, my fellow Americans,
this fighter, this stateswoman,
this mother, this grandmother, this patriot,
our next president of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton!