In July 2004, when the country was embroiled in two wars and facing the possibility of more terror attacks, a young Illinois state senator named Barack Obama gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. The presidential candidate being nominated, John Kerry, would go on to lose the race, but the speech captured the attention of the country. “Hope” would become the theme of Obama’s own campaign in 2008.
Obama has now served two terms as president. As his time in office comes to an end and the political pendulum swings back once more, we are reminded of his 2004 speech. We offer it here, slightly abridged to focus less on the Democratic candidate and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more on Obama’s central message: that America is a land of promise, and it’s our responsibility as citizens to keep that promise.
