The failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics... has stopped us from meeting these challenges.

I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

I might play a small part in building a better America.

If you sense, as I sense, that the time is now... then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you.

Through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.

In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope.

Let us be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis.

Let us honor their valor by providing the care they need and rebuilding the military they love.

Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?

Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation.

I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.

Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.

Let us be the generation that ends poverty in America.

We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be.

Divided, we are bound to fail.

Let us be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.

Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.

The time for waiting in Iraq is over.

I'm ready. Let's go.

We worship an awesome God in the blue states. And we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states. And yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.

there are countless reasons that the American people have lost confidence in the President's Iraq policy, but chief among them has been the Administration's insistence on making promises and assurances about progress and victory that have…

today in Iraq we sadly find ourselves at the very point I feared when I opposed giving the President the open-ended authority to wage this war in 2002, an occupation of undetermined length and undetermined cost, with undetermined…