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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you. God bless you.

And may God bless the United States of America.