And yet, as I stand here today, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you -- Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.
It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together -- Democrats, Republicans, independents; Latino, Asian and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not -- then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.
This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day when I walk into that Oval Office -- the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans -- that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.
--奥巴马 在 JANUARY 17, 2009 We Are One Concert 上的讲话摘要--
PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The Obama political machine is merging with the Democratic National Committee.
The President-elect launched Obama 2.0, or Organizing for America, this morning with a YouTube video.
An Obama political aide said that OFA will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, resolving a longstanding debate about whether the entity should be separate.
A press release prepared by OFA calls the organization "the next phase" of the Obama organization, and will offer "volunteers the continued opportunity to work for change in their communities by organizing in support of reform in Washington."
"As President, I will need the help of all Americans to meet the challenges that lie ahead. That's why I'm asking people like you who fought for change during the campaign to continue fighting for change in your communities. Since the election hundreds of thousands of you have shared your ideas about how this movement should move forward, and we've listened carefully," Obama says in the video.
The announcement follows month of debate among Obama's political aides about how best to leverage his record-shattering campaign organization as a tool to help Obama in office. Legal questions, too, arose about coordination between the Democratic National Committee and the campaign entity, which possesses the 13-million person e-mail, telephone and contact list that powered Obama's political activity.
More than 500,000 Obama supporters completed post-election surveys. According to the press release, "A clear majority believe that organizing in support of President-elect Obama's agenda should be the most important goal for the organization. Organizing for America will partner with Governor [Tim] Kaine and the DNC."
Campaign aides Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, Jeremy Bird and Mitch Stewart form triumvirate at the head of this new behemoth.