Yes we can.

I have made no secret about my political beliefs here, so I have to tell you that I am indescribably thrilled about what we, as a country, did on November 4, 2008. I am looking forward to the journey we are about to embark on. What I wouldn't give to be in the other Washington on January 20, 2009. I know, and so does President Obama, that there are no easy fixes to the mess we've created over the last few decades, but I believe in him. And he believes in us.

It will take time, patience and a lot of hard work, but together we can make it better.

Yes we can.

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 toward freedom.

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 ballots; 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 stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. (We want change.)

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant …

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.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; 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.