When I Was a Boy in Junior High School

When I was a boy in junior high school, millions of young Americans like me were called to the noble patriotism of service by John F. Kennedy. I felt then—and I know now—that his words were directed at me.

I carried his call in my heart as my wife, Jessica, and I joined the Peace Corps, served in Tunisia, and took my first job back home helping some of America's most desperately poor at an Indian reservation in Chinle, Arizona. I carry his call today as I fight for the working families of Wisconsin.

Democrats, this is our time to revive the spirit of Kennedy that brought so many of us into public service and together in this great hall. We are ready to move past eight years of an economic doctrine that favors the rich and ignores the rest. We are ready to reject John McCain's campaign that offers nothing but four years of more of the same. We are ready to innovate, build and work hard to achieve our dreams. For the people of my state, hard work is nothing new. We get up every day to face the challenges ahead of us: caring for our families, teaching our children and doing our jobs to the very best of our abilities.

For as long as I can remember, there has been a sort of unwritten rule in America. Some call it the American dream. It says that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can go as far in life as your talent and dedication will take you. In Wisconsin and across our country today, people are working just as hard as ever. They are still playing by the rules. But they are finding their dreams further and further out of reach.

My family, I think, was among the earliest to endorse Barack Obama. I'd say it happened about five minutes into the keynote speech he delivered four years ago. I have asked all my family members why they support Senator Obama so strongly, but no one said it better than my 8-year-old grandson, Asiah. He said, "We need a president who will work hard for us." That's the wisdom of a child.

In Barack Obama, we will know what it is to have a president who really works hard for us. And he knows that the best way to get America working again is by investing in the green energy jobs of tomorrow. Just this month, I was at a small-town factory in northern Wisconsin called Merit Gear, which has a long history of making gearboxes. Most of them used to go into cars and trucks. But now, their largest and most highly engineered gears are turning inside the generators of windmills. They say business is booming.

The boom at Merit Gear can happen in factories and towns everywhere. But that will only happen if we have a president committed to investing in education, job training and low taxes for clean energy innovators. John McCain stands for more of the same. Barack Obama has a plan to put 5 million Americans to work in well-paying clean energy jobs. That's the kind of change we need, and now is our chance to make it happen.

But this victory and this new direction will not come easy. The entrenched powers of the Bush/Cheney years have everything to gain from keeping things just the way they are. They will pull out all the stops to elect John McCain because they know he'll keep looking out for them. But I have news for them: their days are numbered.

Our time has come. I promise to you that I am going to work my heart out for Barack Obama. I'll do it for my grandson so that he is blessed in his life with the hopeful and determined spirit that John Kennedy gave me. I'll work for Barack Obama so that all of our children and grandchildren know what it means to have a president who works for us. I know Wisconsin will work hard. I know all of you will work hard. And together, we will elect a president as good as the people of our great country.

Thank you, everyone. On, Wisconsin. And God bless America.

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