Obama’s “in this” a contrast to Clinton’s “in it to win it”

I’d like to take a quick "look" back at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s speech this past Saturday night at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.  The reason?  Obama repeatedly offered an almost direct response/comparison to Hillary Clinton’s "I’m in it to win it" declaration back in January.  I have transcribed the end of Obama’s speech, highlighting segments where his contrast is obvious.  This mp3 is a 3 minute compilation of all the highlighted references below.

"…a party that doesn’t just offer change as a slogan but real, meaningful change — change that America can believe in.  That’s why I’m in this race.  That’s why I’m running for the presidency of the United States of America — to offer change that we can believe in," Obama said, to cheers.  "I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over.  I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on the lobbyists and I have won.  They have not funded my campaign.  They will not work in my White House and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."  The crowd cheered again.

"I’m in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard-working Americans who deserve it and I won’t raise the minimum wage every 10 years.  I will raise it to keep pace so that workers don’t fall behind.  That is why I am in it, to protect the American worker, to fight for the American worker," Obama said, his voice raised, with a slight pause after he said "in it."

"I am in this race because I want to stop talking about the outrage of 47 million Americans without health care and start actually doing something about it," Obama continued.  "I expanded health care in Illinois by bring Democrats and Republicasn together, by taking on the insurance industry and that is how I will make certain that every single American in this country has health care that they can count on and I won’t do it 20 years from now.  I won’t do it 10 years from now.  I will do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America."

"I run for president to make sure that every American child has the best education that we have to offer from the day they are born to the day they graduate from college and I won’t just talk about how great teachers are.  As president, I will reward them for their greatness by raising salaries and giving them more support.  That’s why I am in this race," Obama said, his voice rising as he repeated that last phrase.

"I am running for president because I am sick and tired of Democrats thinking that the only way to look tough on national security is by talking and acting and voting like George Bush Republicans.  When I am this party’s nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, or that I support Bush/Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don’t like and he will not be able to say that I wavered on something that as fundamental as whether or not it is o.k. for America to torture because it is never o.k.  That’s why I am in it.

"As president, I will end the war in Iraq.  We will have our troops home in 16 months.  I will close Guantanamo.  I will restore habeus corpus.  I will finish the fight against al Qaida and I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century — nuclear weapons and terrorism, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease and I will send, I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, ‘You matter to us.  Your future is our future and our moment is now.’  America, our moment is now.  Our moment is now. 

"I don’t want to spend the next year or the next four years re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s.  I don’t want to pit red America against blue America.  I want to be the president of the United States of America," Obama said, referencing (of course) the years Bill & Hillary Clinton spent in the White House.  The crowd at this point started chanting OH-BAM-UH.

"And if those Republicans come at me with the same fear-mongering and Swift-Boating that they ususally do, then I will take them head on because I believe the American people are tired of fear, tired of distractions and tired of diversions.  We can make this election not about fear but about the future and that won’t just be a Democratic victory.  That will be an American victory and that is a victory that America needs right now.

"I am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions or because I feel it is somehow owed to me.  I never expected to be here.  I always knew this journey was improbable.  I’ve never been on a journey that wasn’t.  I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called the ‘fierce urgency of now’ because I believe that there is such a thing as being too late and that hour is almost upon us.  I don’t want to wake up four years from now and find out that millions of Americans still lack health care because we couldn’t take on the insurance industry.  I don’t want to see that the oceans have risen a few more inches, the planet has reached a point of no return because we couldn’t find a way to stop buying oil from dictators.  I don’t want to see more American lives put at risk because no one had the judgment or the courage to stand up against a misguided war before we sent our troops in to fight. I don’t want to see homeless veterans on the streets.  I don’t want to send another generation of American children to failing schools.  I don’t want that future for my daughters.  I don’t want that future for my schools.  I do not want that future for America. 

"I’m in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of Chicago, for the same reason that I fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer, for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade because I will never forget that the only reason I’m standing here today.  It’s because somebody somewhere stood up for me when it was risky, stood up when it was hard, stood up when it wasn’t popular and because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up and then a few thousand stood up and then a few million stood up and standing up with courage and clear purpose they somehow managed to change the world.

"That’s why I’m running, Iowa — to give our children and grandchildren the same chances that somebody gave me.  That’s why I’m running, Democrats — to keep the American Dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality.  That’s why I’m asking you to stand with me.  That’s why I’m asking you to Caucus for me.  That’s why I’m asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept.  In this election, in this moment, let us reach for what we know is possible — a nation healed, a world repaired, an America that believes again.  Thank you very much everybody.  Thank you."