February 5, 2008 Speech Quotes
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Source: February 5, 2008 Speech
Speaker: Barack Obama
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
You see, the challenges we face will not be solved with one meeting in one night. It will not be resolved on even a Super Duper Tuesday. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys who have so little, who've been told that they cannot have what they dream, that they cannot be what they imagine. Yes, they can.
Context
This line was spoken by Barack Obama in a Super Tuesday Speech (February 5, 2008).
Back in good ol' 2008 before anyone knew that Barack Obama would one day be elected president (twice!), he had to run in the primaries against Hillary Clinton. On Super Tuesday, he had a pretty good showing, but didn't manage to pull out a slam dunk win, so it helped to deliver a great speech as the polls were coming in. This one was a doozy.
Obama reflected on the themes of this 2008 campaign—hope and change. But, this part of his speech is pretty memorable because he's essentially telling the audience that he can't do it alone. He's not gonna swoop in and solve all their problems single-handedly—they're part of this too.
The American people are the ones who are gonna change the system. Not Barack Obama. Not some other guy down the road. The time to act is now and the way to do it is together. The country has been waiting for some hope and change, but, turns out, they're just like Dorothy. They had the power to do it all along. All they had to do was tap their heels together three times and think, “Hope and change! Hope and change! Hope and change!"
Where you've heard it
President Obama was widely recognized as a great speaker, so you'll probably hear this quoted among his already vast library of quotable quotes.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Unless you happen to already be the president (or are currently running for president), stuff like this does wind up coming off pretty pretentious. It doesn't really have the same ring to it if you're just throwing it out during game night with friends.