Progressive Bumper Sticker

Barack Obama. Yes We Can.

The theme of tonight’s victory speech by Barack Obama was simple: Yes we can. It’s an effective short response to all the cynicism of political operatives from both the Republican and Democratic parties who are busy trying to proclaim what can and cannot be done, and who can and cannot be elected. It’s also a positive reaction to the negative slurs that have been hurled at the Obama for President campaign over the last couple of weeks.

Here’s the last part of Barack Obama’s South Carolina primary victory speech, the part where this theme becomes most clear:

“Don’t tell me we can’t change. Yes, we can change.

Yes, we can heal this nation.

Yes, we can seize our future, and as we leave this state with a new wind at our backs, and take this journey across the country we love with the message we’ve carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire; from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words:

Yes. We. Can.

Barack Obama. Yes we can.