WE DID IT!!! I AM SO PROUD OF MY COUNTRY!!

Announcement and Crowd Reactions:


A Crowd Outside the White House:



Obama's Victory Speech:


I can't even put into words how happy I am that Obama won! I have been so inspired by the campaign that he has run and am SO PROUD of my generation and my country that we not only elected Obama, but that we did it by such a large margin! I feel like we have hit the "reset" button after the disastrous Bush years, and now we can get back to the way that this country is supposed to be. I think Obama said it best in his victory speech in Chicago: "Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow." (Read the full transcript)

I'm proud of America not only because we elected an African American man, which is a HUGE step for this country, but because they elected Barack Obama, a man with great integrity, intelligence and honesty. I truly believe he is the best candidate this country has ever seen, and I am greatly reassured by the fact that Americans saw past any prejudices and any false claims about Obama to elect him president.

I'm also incredibly proud of my generation. I always have had hopes that my generation would come to the forefront and stand for something big and important, just like the 60s generation stood for peace and civil rights and made great strides for this country. Not only did young voters turn out in large numbers for Obama, but we volunteered our time and energy and gave our hard earned money to Obama's cause because we believed that this was the man our country needs. I'm a very shy person, but I even made some calls for Obama and volunteered to register voters. We're finally standing up and making ourselves heard, and we're taking the rest of the country with us. I think this is in large part because of Obama's belief in young voters and in the younger generation in general. He didn't write us off like most politicians do, and allowed us to really own a large part of his campaign. We are taught growing up that America is great because we are a democracy and that every vote and every citizen counts, and Obama has given a chance to not only believe that but act on it.

When it was first announced last night that Obama won I could hardly believe it, I was in a real state of shock. But today, in re-watching Obama's speech and the crowds all over the country and the world reacting so positively to Obama's victory, I find myself getting really emotional. I believe Obama is a leader who can truly unite us...not just in this country, but all over the world. Obama's campaign was successful in large part because he included and respected ALL people and ALL opinions, and I believe that is the way he will lead this country.

Not only will we have a great president in Obama, but a great Vice President in Joe Biden and a great First Lady in Michelle Obama. Joe Biden is a man of great character and great experience who will be a close advisor and ally to Obama, but will stand up to him if need be. Obama surrounds himself not only with people who believe in what he believes and will tell him he is right, but people who have great experience and intelligence on ALL sides of the issues -- people who will fill in any gaps in Obama's expertice and allow him to make a balanced and well informed opinion.

Michelle Obama is a very intelligent, warm human being and an incredibly strong woman. I look up to her as the kind of woman I aspire to be, and believe she will be an amazing role model for an entire generation of young women. She will not only work on important issues like caring for our military families and discrimination against women, but will also keep Barack Obama grounded. I can only imagine what I bright future Malia and Sacha Obama have, being raised by two people like Barack and Michelle Obama. Not only would they be a great example for their children if they didn't lead public lives, but these young girls get to see their father become the first African American president and their mother become first lady. Years from now, I bet we'll see them running for office somewhere.

This is the beginning of a new dawn, a bright new era for this country, and I couldn't be happier and prouder to be a part of it.

One Day to Change the World...VOTE TOMORROW!!!

Tomorrow, NOVEMBER 4. 2008 is ELECTION DAY!!

It is very important that everyone, regardless of political views or affiliation, goes to the polls tomorrow and casts their vote. This is our chance to make not only America, but the WORLD a better place.

If you're registered to vote, but not sure where your polling place is, please visit www.voteforchange.com to find out.



I will be supporting Barack Obama tomorrow, and I hope you will consider doing the same. To find out about the Obama-Biden Plan for America, read the BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE and watch the videos below.

Blueprint for Change: Iraq



Blueprint for Change: The Economy



Blueprint for Change: Foreign Policy





I hope you will consider voting for Obama, but even if you chose not to, it is imperative that you VOTE TOMORROW, even if the lines are long.

Obama's 30 Minute TV Spot

BBC: "A six-pack of Joes"

An interesting article from the BBC:

A six-pack of Joes

"The next president of the United States will not be called Joe, but Joes of various kinds have been all over the news from the campaign trail.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden has been joined by Joe the plumber, Joe Six-Pack and others.

So here is a guide to six Joes in the news:

JOE THE PLUMBER
Joe the plumber confronted Barack Obama on a walkabout in Toledo, Ohio, asking awkward questions about his plan to increase income tax on high earners. "I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," he said. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" John McCain seized on this - and on Mr Obama's reply, that "when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody". He mentioned Joe Wurzelbacher the plumber more than 20 times in the final presidential debate.

It later turned out that Joe's real name was Samuel, he was not a licensed plumber, he was unlikely to be buying a company any time soon, and would probably benefit from Mr Obama's tax plans. He also refused to confirm that he would be voting for Mr McCain.

The original Joe, or Samuel, has spawned a number of others. Mr Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, said on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday that in his neighbourhood they didn't know many plumbers making $250,000 a year, and that people were "kind of worried about Joe the fireman, Joe the policeman, Joe the real plumber with a licence". This weekend the Democratic Party went a step further, running a pro-Obama telephone ("robocall") advertisement recorded by "Joe Martinez... a plumber from Denver, Colorado, calling for Barack Obama's campaign for change".

JOE SIX-PACK
Joe Six-Pack is a close relative of Regular Joe, Average Joe, Ordinary Joe, Joe Schmo, Joe Blow and others. The name "Six-Pack" refers to his favourite drink rather than a well-sculpted washboard stomach.

The phrase "six-pack" in Joe's name does not refer to a muscular stomach
Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin sees something of Joe Six-Pack in herself. As she told one interviewer: "It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice-presidency… it's motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious, and we put government back on the side of the people, of Joe Six-Pack like me."

So Joe Six-Pack is definitely not a Washington insider. Nor is he responsible for the problems on Wall Street. He is a male version of the hockey mom. This is how Mrs Palin put it in the vice-presidential debate on 2 October, answering a question about the financial crisis: "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves, just everyday American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say, 'Never again, never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars.'"

The Palins may be a bit wealthier than some Joe Six-Packs and hockey moms. The Anchorage Daily News writes: "Add up the couple's 2007 income and the estimated value of their property and investments and they appear to be worth at least $1.2 million."

JOE "LUNCH-PAIL" BIDEN
Joe Biden, Barack Obama's vice-presidential candidate, is the most prominent Joe on the Democratic side of the race. John McCain, a four-term senator, has referred to him as "Joe the six-term senator", but conservative columnists and bloggers prefer the derisive "Lunch-pail Joe Biden" - a reference to his habit of talking up his working class roots in the coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania (where most working men would have taken their lunch to work in a lunch box, or lunch pail).

Joe Biden in Scranton: He's been called "Pennsylvania's third senator"
One of the main reasons Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate - apart from his experience in foreign policy - was his potential appeal to working class white male voters. "The pick works if it is positioned as Obama picking a lunch-pail Dunkin' Donuts Democrat to complement his Starbucks Democrat brand," Democratic strategist Chris Lehane told the New York Times. But Mr Biden's grandfather was a mining engineer rather than a miner, and Joe left Scranton at the age of 10, when his father got a job at a car-dealership in Delaware.

It was this lunch-pail tendency that led him during his bid for the 1988 Democratic nomination to recycle parts of a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, asking why it was that he was the first Biden (Kinnock) in a thousand generations to go to college.

One of the least wealthy members of the Senate, Joe Biden nonetheless lives in a colonial-style lake-front house worth in the region of $3m.

JOE LIEBERMAN
Joe Lieberman, an Independent (formerly Democratic) senator from Connecticut, has been tipped as a possible Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State if John McCain wins the White House. Both are foreign policy hawks. Mr Lieberman endorsed Mr McCain in a speech at the Republican convention, and has appeared at countless McCain rallies around the US - he knows the routine, having been Al Gore's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2000.

On the stump last week in Florida, he could not help joining in the fun surrounding another Joe: "Which of the two candidates is the fighter we need for Joe the Plumber?" he said. "I think you know what I'm saying, John McCain will fight for Jose el Plomero!"

If Mr McCain does not win the White House, Mr Lieberman's role in the Senate could be an interesting one. Since the 2006 mid-term elections, he has continued to caucus with the Democrats in the Senate, giving them a majority of one. After the election, if the Democrats end up with 59 Senate seats, it will be in his power to grant them a filibuster-proof "super-majority" of 60.

SHOELESS JOE JACKSON
Shoeless Joe has only played a bit-part in this election - alluded to by Sarah Palin, knowingly or not, in the vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden.

This is how it happened. Joe Biden launched into lunch-pail mode for one of his attempts to draw parallels between the McCain/Palin ticket and George Bush: "Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years."

Sarah Palin replied: "I'll say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again, pointing backwards again. You prefaced your whole comment with 'the Bush administration'. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future."

The words "Say it ain't so, Joe" date back to 1920. They were allegedly spoken to Chicago White Sox baseball star Shoeless Joe Jackson by a broken-hearted young supporter, as Joe was leaving a grand jury hearing where he had admitted taking part in a match-fixing scandal.

(Chat show host David Letterman has suggested Mrs Palin set-up her use of the "Say it ain't so" quotation by asking Mr Biden before the debate if she could call him Joe. Mr Biden's critics, meanwhile, have cast doubt on the suggestion that he spends a lot of time in Home Depot - and point out that Katie's Restaurant closed down a decade ago or more.)

GI JOE

You can buy GI Joe-style action figures of Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin. But the real GI Joes are the sons of the candidates who are, or have been, serving in Iraq.

Captain Beau Biden (real name Joseph Robinette Biden III, in other words, a genuine GI Joe) introduced his father at the Democratic Convention in Denver, with an oblique reference to his forthcoming deployment: "But because of other duties, it won't be possible for me to be here this fall to stand by him the way he stood by me. So I have something to ask of you. Be there for my dad like he was for me." His father responded: "Beau, I love you. I am so proud of you." Two days later, Mr McCain picked Mrs Palin as his running mate. She gave the Republican Convention the news that her son, Private First Class Track Palin, would, on 11 September, "deploy to Iraq with the Army Infantry in the service of his country".

Both VP candidates made speeches at their sons' deployment ceremonies. John McCain, by contrast, has maintained an almost total silence about his own son Jimmy's role in Iraq - a marine who returned from a tour of duty in February. Another of Mr McCain's sons, Jack, aged 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy in 2009. This gives rise to the possibility of Mr McCain becoming the first occupant of the White House since Eisenhower to have a son at war. "

DC/VA VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS TODAY!!! MD's IS OCTOBER 14TH!! REGISTER NOW!!!!

For DC and Virginia residents, the last day to get registered to vote is TODAY!!! (October 6) For Marylanders, the deadline is coming up on Tuesday, October 14. DON'T PROCRASTINATE!!!

It is vital for the future of this country that every American voice be heard, so we need all eligible voters to be registered!!!

Voters in Virginia need to have their registration forms postmarked by 5 p.m. today. Voters in D.C. need to have their registration forms postmarked by midnight. DON'T RELY ON MAILBOXES at this point! Registration forms MUST be hand postmarked today to ensure eligibility for the October 6th deadline

There will be non-partisan voter registration at metro stops in Northern Virginia, as well as at countless other locations.

You can also register to vote online/download registration forms using the following sites:

www.voteforchange.com

DC Board of Elections

MD Board of Elections

VA Voter Registration Form

If you think you are already registered, but want to double check your registration status, please visit www.voteforchange.com

REGISTER TO VOTE!!!

ARE YOU F@#KING KIDDING ME!?!?

The McCain campaign and the Republicans have been driving me absolutely insane lately, and this video is the final straw.

"McCain/Palin Couric Interview 9/29 RE: 'Gotcha Journalism' & Attacking Pakistan"



First of all, if you're trying to make the argument that your VP candidate is perfectly qualified to handle not only the vice presidency, but the PRESIDENCY if anything was to happen to you, shouldn't she be able to handle an interview with Katie Couric without having a babysitter? John McCain should not have to jump in and defend Sarah Palin from a JOURNALIST!! And you can tell that he's nervous about it by all of the fidgeting he's doing with his hands.

I'm all for female politicians, provided I agree with them on the issues, and I am, of course, against all forms of sexism. HOWEVER, the media's treatment of Sarah Palin has (in most cases) been far from sexist. They are simply asking her the same types of questions they would ask Joe Biden, Barack Obama, John McCain, or for that matter, Hillary Clinton. This is not "gotcha journalism"! They have ON TAPE, a clear question from a voter regarding Palin's stance on Pakistan, as well as a clear response from Palin. She knew there were cameras recording it, and she CHOSE to answer the voter's question. Just because she said the exact opposite of what McCain says she "understands" they stand for and got called out on it doesn't mean that the media is somehow being tricky or sexist. (ex] The media got hold of a grainy recording of Obama from a closed-door fundraiser saying something about "clinging to guns and religion" and rather than say it was unfair of them to bring it up, he explained what he meant!). If its not racist to nitpick everything Obama says (and it ISN'T), then it's not sexist to do the same for Sarah Palin.

If anything, it is the McCain campaign that is being sexist towards Sarah Palin. First of all, they chose her out of nowhere very early in her campaign, when there were many more qualified men (and women!) out there. Then, when the media and voters raise questions about her qualifications or dealings in her personal life, then they say its sexist to ask those questions! But somehow, its perfectly okay to ask if Obama is qualified, or question his relationship with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, or with Rezko or Ayers...even if his connection to them is flimsy at best! Are you trying to tell me that if Obama had a pregnant teenage daughter the right and the media wouldn't be all over that story? If you can hold a man accountable for what his pastor says, then why can't you hold a woman accountable for advocating abstinence only education when it so clearly didn't work in HER OWN FAMILY!!! I'm not saying we should treat it as a scandal, or unduly put the spotlight on her daughter, but I think that if the Republicans can talk about how one of her great qualifications is that she's a mother of 5 kids, then the failure of her policies when applied to her own family should be fair game.

And finally, what is up with McCain saying that so-called "inexperienced" Governors have been underestimated in the past (Clinton, Reagan) and using that as a reason why Palin is perfectly qualified? And he says that he's proud of how she's inspired people!? This whole campaign they've been saying that Obama is too inexperience and that being inspiring is not enough. And the Senator/Governor difference is almost irrelevant, considering her State is so small and he's the Senator for a large state like Illinois. They're so hypocritical it makes me sick...and not just on this, but on just about everything.

Ok, rant over!....(for now)

Photos From Tonight

The Best Night EVER for the Democratic Party!!!

Howard Dean at the DNC (Thursday, August 28, 2008)



Bill Richardson



Al Gore's Speech at the DNC



Joe Biden "Open Convention" Speech



Barack Obama Tribute at the DNC



AND FOR THE MAIN EVENT....BARACK OBAMA'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

A Great Night For the Democratic Party!!

I LOVE the Democratic Party!!

John Kerry's Speech at the DNC (Wednesday, August 27, 2008)

Read speech transcript HERE.



Biden's Speech at the DNC (Wednesday, August 27, 2008)

Read speech transcript HERE.





Obama Makes a Surprise Appearance after Biden's Speech

Awesome "People" Interview with the Obamas and the Bidens

From People.com:

Barack Obama Reveals How He Popped the Question to Joe Biden
By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall


When PEOPLE caught up with the candidates the day of their Aug. 23 announcement, the banter was easy between the onetime rivals – who became a team once Obama, 47, asked the senator from Delaware, 65, to help on the ticket. Also joining in the conversation: wives Michelle Obama, 44, and Jill Biden, 57.

This is the first mate you've chosen since Michelle.
Barack Obama: That's a good point.
Michelle Obama: Barack is looking for people who will challenge him, who will tell him no.
Barack: That's exactly what you need [in a vice-president].
Michelle: That's why he married me. (Laughs.) So I'd tell Sen. Biden, don't pull any punches.

Now, if Sen. Biden starts yelling at you about picking up your socks ...
Barack: Then we're in trouble. Don't do that, Joe.
Joe Biden: Don't worry.

How did you pop the question?
Barack: I called his office and they had to hunt him down. When I finally got him, he said he was at the dentist's office. I realized only later that he was being a doting husband, looking after Jill during a root canal.

How did Sen. Biden tell the family?
Jill Biden: My granddaughter, Maisy, turned 8 and we were having a little birthday party for her. We had just finished blowing out the candles and were cutting the cake. Joe said to everybody, 'Hey, I have something that I'd like to announce.' And he said, 'Barack called me and asked me to be vice-president.' Everybody – I get so emotional when I think about it – and everybody clapped and started hugging.
Joe: Every single birthday, all of our kids and grandkids – no matter where they are – they come home to our house. We have this big, old farm table [in the kitchen], and that's where we were. Maisy was totally unfazed. She said, 'Pop, can I have some more ice cream cake?'

Sen. Biden, are you ready to hit the basketball court with Barack?
Joe: Hell yeah, man.
Jill: He plays with the grandkids; we have a basketball hoop. He can train with Maisy.
Joe: I can't keep up with Maisy! The one thing I want my kids to remember about me is that I was an athlete. The hell with the rest of this stuff.

You were a college freshman when your new boss was born. Does that make you feel old?
Joe: I'm not old. There are still 44 senators older than me.

Are you carrying your rosary with you?
Joe: (Grimaces) No. I did have it with me [earlier], but I had a light blue suit on and Jill said, 'No, wear a dark one.' So I changed my suit and forgot the rosary in my pocket. I keep losing them. I think people steal 'em on me – I'm joking.

You used to stutter. Is it still something you have to consciously control?
Joe: I don't worry about it, but every once in a while you catch yourself and you're like, 'Oh, man.' It's not very often, but it's a humble reminder.

You conquered it when?
Joe: Really finished with it by my third year in college. I had to screw up all my courage to take a public speaking class in college. I was scared to death to take it. Speech therapy was a luxury no one could afford. But stuttering taught me a lot. It was probably the best experience. I wouldn't trade it – but I am so glad it's gone.

Mrs. Biden, what should Sen. Obama know about your husband's habits?
Jill: He's pretty much a night owl, so they have that in common. He's on that Blackberry and his phones constantly. I won't let him drive the car because everything's ringing. I say, 'Pull over!' It's too dangerous. Or we go the wrong places. (Laughs.)

What kinds of plans have you had to un-do now that you're otherwise booked until Election Day, at least?
Jill: I teach English at the community college, and I've already taught one week. This morning, early, I was putting my grades together, answering my students' e-mails. So that still needs to be resolved. I've been teaching 27 years. I teach writing, so you can bet that I'm going to journal this experience every chance I get.

Sen. Obama has said that chemistry was important to his choice. What do you see when you look at the two of them together?
Jill: I see a historic moment. This country has to change direction [and make] sweeping changes. I think the two of them will pull in all Americans. I have goose bumps, really, when I think of what these two can do for the country.

Have you had much time to get to know the Obamas?
Jill: Not really. It's always been at the debates, always sort of, 'Hello, how are you? How many more of these do we have to do?' But Michelle and I spent some time together this morning and we're really looking forward to being together. (Hugs Mrs. Obama.) If you think those guys have chemistry, I think we have chemistry.

Mrs. Obama, anything Sen. Biden should know about working with your husband?
Michelle: Barack is a very easy guy to work with.

What did he say when he told you his choice – and when was that?
Michelle: I've stayed out of this process. But when he told me his choice, I said, 'That's the right choice.' I was like, (snaps fingers) 'Good!' And the thing that was important for me is the reputation that Joe Biden has of being a good man. He's a good guy, he loves his family. I like the fact that he's on the train every day getting back home. Those are the kind of values that I respect. And uniformly, people have said the same thing about Jill. So, you want people you can hang out with, that you trust, that you sit down and have a good conversation with, in addition to the advice, guidance and wisdom he brings. I think about it as a wife who's got to hang out with this crew, right?

It's Official!! Obama/Biden '08!!

Click HERE to watch today's event on C-SPAN.org

Or watch it below on CNN:







Here is the text of Obama's speech from BarackObama.com:

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Vice President Announcement
As Prepared For Delivery
Springfield, Illinois
August 23, 2008

Nineteen months ago, on a cold February day right here on the steps of the Old State Capitol, I stood before you to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

We started this journey with a simple belief: that the American people were better than their government in Washington – a government that has fallen prey to special interests and policies that have left working people behind. As I’ve traveled to towns and cities, farms and factories, front porches and fairgrounds in almost all fifty states – that belief has been strengthened. Because at this defining moment in our history – with our nation at war, and our economy in recession – we know that the American people cannot afford four more years of the same failed policies and the same old politics in Washington. We know that the time for change has come.

For months, I’ve searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me, and to join in me in making Washington work for the American people. I searched for a leader who understands the rising costs confronting working people, and who will always put their dreams first. A leader who sees clearly the challenges facing America in a changing world, with our security and standing set back by eight years of a failed foreign policy. A leader who shares my vision of an open government that calls all citizens – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – to a common purpose. Above all, I searched for a leader who is ready to step in and be President.

Today, I have come back to Springfield to tell you that I’ve found that leader – a man with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency – Joe Biden.

Joe Biden is that rare mix – for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him. He’s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. He has stared down dictators and spoken out for America's cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track.

Now I could stand here and recite a list of Senator Biden’s achievements, because he is one of the finest public servants of our time. But first I want to talk to you about the character of the man standing next to me.

Joe Biden’s many triumphs have only come after great trial.

He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His family didn’t have much money. Joe Sr. worked different jobs, from cleaning boilers to selling cars, sometimes moving in with the in-laws or working weekends to make ends meet. But he raised his family with a strong commitment to work and to family; to the Catholic faith and to the belief that in America, you can make it if you try. Those are the core values that Joe Biden has carried with him to this day. And even though Joe Sr. is not with us, I know that he is proud of Joe today.

It might be hard to believe when you hear him talk now, but as a child he had a terrible stutter. They called him “Bu-bu-Biden.” But he picked himself up, worked harder than the other guy, and got elected to the Senate – a young man with a family and a seemingly limitless future.

Then tragedy struck. Joe’s wife Neilia and their little girl Naomi were killed in a car accident, and their two boys were badly hurt. When Joe was sworn in as a Senator, there was no ceremony in the Capitol – instead, he was standing by his sons in the hospital room where they were recovering. He was 30 years old.

Tragedy tests us – it tests our fortitude and it tests our faith. Here’s how Joe Biden responded. He never moved to Washington. Instead, night after night, week after week, year after year, he returned home to Wilmington on a lonely Amtrak train when his Senate business was done. He raised his boys – first as a single dad, then alongside his wonderful wife Jill, who works as a teacher. He had a beautiful daughter. Now his children are grown and Joe is blessed with 5grandchildren. He instilled in them such a sense of public service that his son, Beau, who is now Delaware’s Attorney General, is getting ready to deploy to Iraq. And he still takes that train back to Wilmington every night. Out of the heartbreak of that unspeakable accident, he did more than become a Senator – he raised a family. That is the measure of the man standing next to me. That is the character of Joe Biden.

Years later, Senator Biden would face another brush with death when he had a brain aneurysm. On the way to the hospital, they didn’t think he was going to make it. They gave him slim odds to recover. But he did. He beat it. And he came back stronger than before.

Maybe it’s this resilience – this insistence on overcoming adversity – that accounts for Joe Biden’s work in the Senate. Time and again, he has made a difference for the people across this country who work long hours and face long odds. This working class kid from Scranton and Wilmington has always been a friend to the underdog, and all who seek a safer and more prosperous America to live their dreams and raise their families.

Fifteen years ago, too many American communities were plagued by violence and insecurity. So Joe Biden brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass the 1994 Crime Bill, putting 100,000 cops on the streets, and starting an eight year drop in crime across the country.

For far too long, millions of women suffered abuse in the shadows. So Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act, so every woman would have a place to turn for support. The rate of domestic violence went down dramatically, and countless women got a second chance at life.

Year after year, he has been at the forefront of the fight for judges who respect the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people; college tuition that is affordable for all; equal pay for women and a rising minimum wage for all; and family leave policies that value work and family. Those are the priorities of a man whose work reflects his life and his values.

That same strength of character is at the core of his rise to become one of America’s leading voices on national security.

He looked Slobodan Milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal, and then helped shape policies that would end the killing in the Balkans and bring him to justice. He passed laws to lock down chemical weapons, and led the push to bring Europe’s newest democracies into NATO. Over the last eight years, he has been a powerful critic of the catastrophic Bush-McCain foreign policy, and a voice for a new direction that takes the fight to the terrorists and ends the war in Iraq responsibly. He recently went to Georgia, where he met quietly with the President and came back with a call for aid and a tough message for Russia.

Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be – a statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong.

Joe won’t just make a good Vice President – he will make a great one. After decades of steady work across the aisle, I know he’ll be able to help me turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people. And instead of secret task energy task forces stacked with Big Oil and a Vice President that twists the facts and shuts the American people out, I know that Joe Biden will give us some real straight talk.

I have seen this man work. I have sat with him as he chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and been by his side on the campaign trail. And I can tell you that Joe Biden gets it. He’s that unique public servant who is at home in a bar in Cedar Rapids and the corridors of the Capitol; in the VFW hall in Concord, and at the center of an international crisis.

That’s because he is still that scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds; the dedicated family man and committed Catholic who knows every conductor on that Amtrak train to Wilmington. That’s the kind of fighter who I want by my side in the months and years to come.

That’s what it’s going to take to win the fight for good jobs that let people live their dreams, a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth, and health care that is affordable and accessible for every American family. That’s what it’s going to take to forge a new energy policy that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil and $4 gasoline at the pump, while creating new jobs and new industry. That’s what it’s going to take to put an end to a failed foreign policy that’s based on bluster and bad judgment, so that we renew America’s security and standing in the world.

We know what we’re going to get from the other side. Four more years of the same out-of-touch policies that created an economic disaster at home, and a disastrous foreign policy abroad. Four more years of the same divisive politics that is all about tearing people down instead of lifting this country up.

We can’t afford more of the same. I am running for President because that’s a future that I don’t accept for my daughters and I don’t accept it for your children. It’s time for the change that the American people need.

Now, with Joe Biden at my side, I am confident that we can take this country in a new direction; that we are ready to overcome the adversity of the last eight years; that we won’t just win this election in November, we’ll restore that fair shot at your dreams that is at the core of who Joe Biden and I are as people, and what America is as a nation. So let me introduce you to the next Vice President of the United States of America...