FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2008
FULL TEXT OF JOHN EDWARDS ADDRESS IN NEW
ORLEANS
Thank you all very much. We're very proud to be
back here.
During the spring of 2006, I had the
extraordinary experience of bringing 700 college
kids here to New Orleans to work. These are kids
who gave up their spring break to come to New
Orleans to work, to rehabilitate houses, because
of their commitment as Americans, because they
believed in what was possible, and because they
cared about their country.
I began my presidential campaign here to remind
the country that we, as citizens and as a
government, have a moral responsibility to each
other, and what we do together matters. We must
do better, if we want to live up to the great
promise of this country that we all love so
much.
It is appropriate that I come here today. It's
time for me to step aside so that history can
blaze its path. We do not know who will take the
final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but
what we do know is that our Democratic Party
will make history. We will be strong, we will be
unified, and with our convictions and a little
backbone we will take back the White House in
November and we'll create hope and opportunity
for this country.
This journey of ours began right here in New
Orleans. It was a December morning in the Lower
Ninth Ward when people went to work, not just
me, but lots of others went to work with shovels
and hammers to help restore a house that had
been destroyed by the storm.
We joined together in a city that had been
abandoned by our government and had been
forgotten, but not by us. We knew that they
still mourned the dead, that they were still
stunned by the destruction, and that they
wondered when all those cement steps in all
those vacant lots would once again lead to a
door, to a home, and to a dream.
We came here to the Lower Ninth Ward to rebuild.
And we're going to rebuild today and work today,
and we will continue to come back. We will never
forget the heartache and we'll always be here to
bring them hope, so that someday, one day, the
trumpets will sound in Musicians' Village, where
we are today, play loud across Lake Ponchartrain,
so that working people can come marching in and
those steps once again can lead to a family
living out the dream in America.
We sat with poultry workers in Mississippi,
janitors in Florida, nurses in California.
We listened as child after child told us about
their worry about whether we would preserve the
planet.
We listened to worker after worker say “the
economy is tearing my family apart."
We walked the streets of Cleveland, where house
after house was in foreclosure.
And we said, "We're better than this. And
economic justice in America is our cause."
And we spent a day, a summer day, in Wise,
Virginia, with a man named James Lowe, who told
us the story of having been born with a cleft
palate. He had no health care coverage. His
family couldn't afford to fix it. And finally
some good Samaritan came along and paid for his
cleft palate to be fixed, which allowed him to
speak for the first time. But they did it when
he was 50 years old. His amazing story, though,
gave this campaign voice: universal health care
for every man, woman and child in America. That
is our cause.
And we do this -- we do this for each other in
America. We don't turn away from a neighbor in
their time of need. Because every one of us
knows that what -- but for the grace of God,
there goes us. The American people have never
stopped doing this, even when their government
walked away, and walked away it has from
hardworking people, and, yes, from the poor,
those who live in poverty in this country.
For decades, we stopped focusing on those
struggles. They didn't register in political
polls, they didn't get us votes and so we
stopped talking about it. I don't know how it
started. I don't know when our party began to
turn away from the cause of working people, from
the fathers who were working three jobs
literally just to pay the rent, mothers sending
their kids to bed wrapped up in their clothes
and in coats because they couldn't afford to pay
for heat.
We know that our brothers and sisters have been
bullied into believing that they can't organize
and can't put a union in the workplace. Well, in
this campaign, we didn't turn our heads. We
looked them square in the eye and we said, "We
see you, we hear you, and we are with you. And
we will never forget you." And I have a feeling
that if the leaders of our great Democratic
Party continue to hear the voices of working
people, a proud progressive will occupy the
White House.
Now, I've spoken to both Senator Clinton and
Senator Obama. They have both pledged to me and
more importantly through me to America, that
they will make ending poverty central to their
campaign for the presidency.
And more importantly, they have pledged to me
that as President of the United States they will
make ending poverty and economic inequality
central to their Presidency. This is the cause
of my life and I now have their commitment to
engage in this cause.
And I want to say to everyone here, on the way
here today, we passed under a bridge that
carried the interstate where 100 to 200 homeless
Americans sleep every night. And we stopped, we
got out, we went in and spoke to them.
There was a minister there who comes every
morning and feeds the homeless out of her own
pocket. She said she has no money left in her
bank account, she struggles to be able to do it,
but she knows it’s the moral, just and right
thing to do. And I spoke to some of the people
who were there and as I was leaving, one woman
said to me, “You won’t forget us, will you?
Promise me you won’t forget us.” Well, I say to
her and I say to all of those who are struggling
in this country, we will never forget you. We
will fight for you. We will stand up for you.
But I want to say this -- I want to say this
because it’s important. With all of the
injustice that we’ve seen, I can say this,
America’s hour of transformation is upon us. It
may be hard to believe when we have bullets
flying in Baghdad and it may be hard to believe
when it costs $58 to fill your car up with gas.
It may be hard to believe when your school
doesn’t have the right books for your kids. It’s
hard to speak out for change when you feel like
your voice is not being heard.
But I do hear it. We hear it. This Democratic
Party hears you. We hear you, once again. And we
will lift you up with our dream of what’s
possible.
One America, one America that works for
everybody.
One America where struggling towns and factories
come back to life because we finally transformed
our economy by ending our dependence on oil.
One America where the men who work the late
shift and the women who get up at dawn to drive
a two-hour commute and the young person who
closes the store to save for college. They will
be honored for that work.
One America where no child will go to bed hungry
because we will finally end the moral shame of
37 million people living in poverty.
One America where every single man, woman and
child in this country has health care.
One America with one public school system that
works for all of our children.
One America that finally brings this war in Iraq
to an end. And brings our service members home
with the hero’s welcome that they have earned
and that they deserve.
Today, I am suspending my campaign for the
Democratic nomination for the Presidency.
But I want to say this to everyone: with
Elizabeth, with my family, with my friends, with
all of you and all of your support, this son of
a millworker’s gonna be just fine. Our job now
is to make certain that America will be fine.
And I want to thank everyone who has worked so
hard – all those who have volunteered, my
dedicated campaign staff who have worked
absolutely tirelessly in this campaign.
And I want to say a personal word to those I’ve
seen literally in the last few days – those I
saw in Oklahoma yesterday, in Missouri, last
night in Minnesota – who came to me and said
don’t forget us. Speak for us. We need your
voice. I want you to know that you almost
changed my mind, because I hear your voice, I
feel you, and your cause it our cause. Your
country needs you – every single one of you.
All of you who have been involved in this
campaign and this movement for change and this
cause, we need you. It is in our hour of need
that your country needs you. Don’t turn away,
because we have not just a city of New Orleans
to rebuild. We have an American house to
rebuild.
This work goes on. It goes on right here in
Musicians’ Village. There are homes to build
here, and in neighborhoods all along the Gulf.
The work goes on for the students in crumbling
schools just yearning for a chance to get ahead.
It goes on for day care workers, for steel
workers risking their lives in cities all across
this country. And the work goes on for two
hundred thousand men and women who wore the
uniform of the United States of America, proud
veterans, who go to sleep every night under
bridges, or in shelters, or on grates, just as
the people we saw on the way here today. Their
cause is our cause.
Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams are
our dreams.
Do not turn away from these great struggles
before us. Do not give up on the causes that we
have fought for. Do not walk away from what’s
possible, because it’s time for all of us, all
of us together, to make the two Americas one.
Thank you. God bless you, and let’s go to work.
Thank you all very much.
Thank You! (e-mail to
supporters)
Let me start by saying, "Thank
you." You have stood with Elizabeth and me
throughout this campaign. Your support has
sustained us as we have traveled across this
country.
Earlier today, I suspended my campaign for the
Democratic nomination for the presidency. I made
this announcement from where our journey began
just over 12 months ago: New Orleans.
I began my presidential campaign in New Orleans
to remind the country that all of us -- as
citizens and as a government -- have a moral
responsibility to each other, and what we do
together matters.
Now, it's time for me to step aside so that
history can blaze its path. We do not know who
will take the final steps to the White House --
but what we do know is that our Democratic Party
will make history.
And, along the way, all of you who have been
involved in this campaign and this movement for
change and this cause, I am asking you to
continue speaking out for those who have no
voice, just as Elizabeth and I will continue to
do. We need you.
Do not turn away from the great struggles before
us. Do not give up on the causes that we have
fought for. Do not walk away from what's
possible, because it's time for all of us -- all
of us together -- to make the two Americas one.
We need you.
I hope you will take a few moments to listen to
the video clip of my speech in New Orleans
earlier this afternoon or to read it below.
In the meantime, Elizabeth and my family join me
in thanking all of you for your support and for
working so hard on my behalf. We are truly
blessed to have such friends.
Thank you.
John Edwards
January 30, 2008 |