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Hello, Chicago. (APPLAUSE)

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. (APPLAUSE)

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America. (APPLAUSE)

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America. (APPLAUSE)

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America. (APPLAUSE)

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain. (APPLAUSE)

Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead. (APPLAUSE)

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton... (APPLAUSE) ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. (APPLAUSE)

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years... (APPLAUSE) ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady... (APPLAUSE) ... Michelle Obama. (APPLAUSE)

Sasha and Malia... (APPLAUSE) ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us... (LAUGHTER) ... to the new White House.  (APPLAUSE)

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them. (APPLAUSE)

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe... (APPLAUSE) the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America. (APPLAUSE)

To my chief strategist David Axelrod... (APPLAUSE) ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics... (APPLAUSE) ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you. 

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy... (APPLAUSE) ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory. (APPLAUSE)

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there. (APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. (APPLAUSE)

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too. (APPLAUSE)

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. (APPLAUSE)

To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. (APPLAUSE)

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. (APPLAUSE)

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. (APPLAUSE)

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. (APPLAUSE)

무엇이라 여러분들에게 감사의 말씀을 드려야할지 고맙고, 또 고맙고 정말 고맙습니다.

저는 진심으로 대한민국 국민 여러분에게 감사하는 마음을 가집니다. 제가 어려움을 당하고 있을 때마다, 힘들었을 때마다 국민들은 저를 지켜주셨습니다. 저는 국민의 따뜻한 마음이 아니었다면 바람이 불 때, 비가 내릴 때, 날씨가 추울 때 버티지 못했을 겁니다. 어려운 과정마다, 고비다마 국민들이 지켜주셨습니다. 바로 여기 계신 여러분들이 지켜주셨습니다. 저 뒤에 계시는 분들의 얼굴은 잘 안 보이시지만 한 분 한 분에게 고맙다는 말을 드리고 싶습니다.

오늘의 저의 승리는 저 개인의 승리, 한나라당의 승리를 떠나 국민 모두의 승리라고 말씀드리고 싶습니다. 저에게 절대적 지지를 보내주신 국민의 뜻을 잘 알고 있습니다. 저는 앞으로 겸허한 마음으로, 섬기는 마음으로 국정을 수행하겠다고 분명히 말씀드리겠습니다. 저는 이번 승리로 정치는 어제에 머물러있지만 국민은 이미 미래에 가 있다는 것을 알았습니다. 그래서 대한민국 국민들은 위대합니다.

저는 저를 지지했던 분들, 저의 반대편에 섰던 분들, 제가 울분을 참지 못할 정도로 힘들게 했던 상대 모두들 내일부터는 하나가 되자고 제안합니다. 제가 당선이 된 이 시간 이 밤부터 대한민국 5천만 국민은 하나가 되어야 합니다. 서로 미워하고, 서로 갈등하고 남을 증오해야 할 아무 이유가 없습니다. 서로 사랑하고 인정할 줄 알아야 합니다. 믿어야 합니다. 저와 함께 하나가 된다면 우리나라를 둘러싼 국제환경이 아무리 어렵더라도 우리가 꿈꾸는 것들은 이뤄질 수 있습니다.

이 곳을 보십시오. 3년 전 이곳은 냄새가 나고 썩은 물이 고여있었고 고가가 언제 무너질지 모를 위험에 처해 있었습니다. 그러나 아무도 어떻게 해야 할지 몰랐습니다. 우리는 그 어려운 꿈을 가지고 실현하니까 이렇게 아름다운 세상을 이뤘습니다. 저는 앞으로 어두운 곳,힘든 곳도 우리가 힘을 모으고 함께 하면 이와 같이 아름답게 만들 수 있다고 생각합니다. 우리의 역사에서, 인류의 역사에서도 할 수 없다. 불가능하다 했을 때 절대 역사를 만들 수 없었습니다. 할 수 있다. 가능하다고 해야만 이와 같이 아름답게 만들 수 있습니다. 학부모, 아이들, 서민 모두가 힘들어 하고 있습니다. 편안하지가 않습니다. 새로운 대한민국, 새로운 시대를 열어갑시다.

오늘 이 시간부로 힘들어하시는 분들, 내일이 없다고 절망하시는 분들, 장사를 집어치울까 고민하시는 분들, 외국으로 이민갈까 고민하시는 분들, 기업을 외국으로 옮겨야 할지, 그만두어야 할지 고민하시는 분들 모두 희망을 갖고 이 자리에서 함께 해나갑시다. 저의 능력만으로 할 수 없습니다. 그러나 모두의 큰 힘으로 모든 것을 이룰 수 있다는 것을 5년 동안 보여드리겠습니다. 저의 절대적인 지지자인 여러분들도 5년 간 절대적 협력자, 건강한 비판자가 되어주십시오.

저는 부족하지만 국민과의 약속을 분명히 지키겠습니다. 많이 추우시죠? 손 한번 들어봅시다. 여기 있는 경찰 빼고 다들 손을 들어봅시다. 외국에서 오신 분 계십니까? 미국에서 오셨나요. 중국에서 오셨나요. 어제 외국에서 오신 분들이 많았습니다. 외국에서 왜 오셨냐고 물어보니 투표하러 왔다고 했습니다. 그 대답을 듣고 저는 생각했습니다. 이런 절대적인 지지자가 있는데 못 이기면 바보입니다. 정동영, 이회창, 문국현, 권영길 후보. 이제 서로 용서하고 이해하고 대한민국의 내일을 위해 하나가 됩시다. 그분들을 지지했던 분들도 하나가 되어 대한민국의 미래를 위해 함께 나가자고 부탁드립니다.

고맙습니다. 고맙습니다. 고맙습니다. 선거기간 저와 함께 해준 분들 정말 고맙습니다. 그렇지만 앞으로도 함께 해주십시오. 아셨죠? 앞으로도 제가 힘들 때마다 절대적 지지를 해주십시오.