The New York Observer, January 8th, 2008
Barack Obama and his wife were just met with rioutous applause. The first thing he said was, "Thank you New Hampshire."
There's no sense of defeat or loss to them whatsoever--you'd have no sense at all that he hadn't won the primary if you hadn't seen it on the TV, just before they shut it off.
"There is no destiny we cannot fulfill," he said.
"When I am president of the United States, we will end this war in Iraq." The crowd is delighted: This is no longer a mourning party.
UPDATE: “First of all I want to congratulate Senator Clinton,” said Obama.
“A few weeks ago no one imagined that we would have accomplished what we did here in New Hampshire,” said Obama, pointing out that “We were far behind” only a few weeks ago. (He didn’t mention that yesterday’s polls had him far ahead.)
“You came out and you spoke out for change,” he told the crowd, adding, “At this moment in this election there is something happening in America.”
“There is something happening when [those] who are young in age and in spirit turn up in numbers never seen because they know this time it must be different,” he said. And “There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to.”
“All of the candidates in this race have good ideas and all are patriots who served this country honorably,” he said. “But the reason our campaign has always been different , a reason we began this improbable journey a year ago, it is because it is not just what I will do as president, but what you the people who love this country, the citizens of the United states of America will do to change it.”
“We’ve been warned against offering this nation false hope,” he said but added “There has never been anything false about hope.”
He finished with, “I am still fired up and ready to go.”
“When we have been told we are not ready,” he said “generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed.”
“Yes we can, yes we can, yes we can.”
That’s not a concession speech one reporter in the room said.
