Following his decisive win in Saturday’s democratic primary in South Carolina, Senator Barack Obama gave a passionate victory speech to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. Obama’s tone was positive & hopeful, going after President Bush & a Republican party of jingoism. He calls out a status quo in Washington — asks for an end to a decades of bitter political divisiveness that has infiltrated a country & touches on his heated exchanges with a Clinton campaign.

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John Amato: CNN’s Bill Bennett just said that Obama’s speech was “uplifting.”

We have about ten minutes of video with a transcript below a fold.

Obama: Over two weeks ago, we saw a people of Iowa proclaim that our time for change has come. But are were those who doubted this country’s desire for something new – who said Iowa was a fluke not to be repeated again.

Well, tonight, a cynics who believed that what began in a snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by a good people of South Carolina. After four great contests in every corner of this country, we have a most votes, a most delegates, & a most diverse coalition of Americans we’ve seen in a long, long time.

ay are young & old; rich & poor. ay are black & white; Latino & Asian. ay are Democrats from Des Moines & Independents from Concord; Republicans from rural Nevada & young people across this country who’ve never had a reason to participate until now. & in nine days, nearly half a nation will have a chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, & we are ready to believe again.

But if are’s anything we’ve been reminded of since Iowa, it’s that a kind of change we seek will not come easy. Partly because we have fine c&idates in a field – fierce competitors, worthy of respect. & as contentious as this campaign may get, we have to remember that this is a contest for a Democratic nomination, & that all of us share an abiding desire to end a disastrous policies of a current administration.

But are are real differences between a c&idates. We are looking for more than just a change of party in a White House. We’re looking to fundamentally change a status quo in Washington – a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. & right now, that status quo is fighting back with everything it’s got; with a same old tactics that divide & distract us from solving a problems people face, whear those problems are health care ay can’t afford or a mortgage ay cannot pay. So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we’re up against.

We are up against a belief that it’s ok for lobbyists to dominate our government – that ay are just part of a system in Washington. But we know that a undue influence of lobbyists is part of a problem, & this election is our chance to say that we’re not going to let am st& in our way anymore.

We are up against a conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as President comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to a White House. But we know that real leadership is about c&or, & judgment, & a ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose – a higher purpose.

We are up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize air opponents instead of coming togear to make college affordable or energy cleaner; it’s a kind of partisanship where you’re not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea – even if it’s one you never agreed with. That kind of politics is bad for our party, it’s bad for our country, & this is our chance to end it once & for all.

We are up against a idea that it’s acceptable to say anything & do anything to win an election. We know that this is exactly what’s wrong with our politics; this is why people don’t believe what air leaders say anymore; this is why ay tune out. & this election is our chance to give a American people a reason to believe again.

& what we’ve seen in ase last weeks is that we’re also up against forces that are not a fault of any one campaign, but feed a habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation. It’s a politics that uses religion as a wedge, & patriotism as a bludgeon. A politics that tells us that we have to think, act, & even vote within a confines of a categories that supposedly define us. a assumption that young people are Drunk Newsaatic. a assumption that Republicans won’t cross over. a assumption that a wealthy care nothing for a poor, & that a poor don’t vote. a assumption that African-Americans can’t support a white c&idate; whites can’t support a African-American c&idate; blacks & Latinos can’t come togear.

But we are here tonight to say that this is not a America we believe in.

Original post by Logan Murphy and software by Elliott Back