Yes We Can

I was in conversation with a friend recently about the upcoming elections and we were hesitant to say we fell one way or the other but I am intrigued by the recent release of this video. It really struck me as interesting and a bit reminiscent of the early speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy's. I think the text of the speech is even more powerful than the actual video clip that was produced but it is fitting that in today's society of celebrity involvement that numerous high profile figures would feel it necessary to speak to the generation of youth looking to get out and vote. Regardless of your personal politics, it's a positive message for hope and change in the future.

Below is the text of Barack Obama's "Yes, We Can" speech it is edited in the video:

"It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can. It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality. Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can with stand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can.

That the hopes of the little girl who goes to the crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A., we will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one nation. And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can."