Two Of Their Best Speeches

Here are the two speeches I have selected as the best to present as these campaigns come to a close. Here is how I chose these speeches.
1. Length: I chose speeches that were long, but not too long. Obama had another speech that I would have used instead but it was over 30 minutes.
2. Time: These speeches were given relatively early in these campaigns, so they do not contain anywhere near as many attacks and finger pointing. Though note that McCain's still has a good deal of it (let me also say that at Obama's speech he did not know he would have the nomination or be facing McCain). By looking at these older speeches we can see where these candidates came from and how their campaigns have changed, for better or worse.
3. Message: I chose speeches that had a good general message, and one that the candidate, at least for some time, used as their main argument. I was not looking for specifics, attacks, or the usual stump speeches.
4. Popularity: McCain's speech here was the most viewed, nearly full length speech of his on Youtube. Obama had a couple more popular speech videos but they did not fit the criteria I set out to use.

The quotes I give highlight the lines in the speech that I used to fulfill the criteria.


McCain (Broken up to remove attacks and specifics):
"The decision facing Americans in this election couldn't be more important to the future security and prosperity of American families. This is indeed a change election. No matter who wins this election the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change. Between going forward and going backward. America has seen tough times before, but we have always known how to get through them, and we have always believed that the best days are ahead of us....
......Now you'll hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, in every interview, every press release that I am running for president Bush's third term. You'll hear every policy of the president is described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get American's to believe something that they know is false......
........They know I have a long record of bipartisan problem solving. They've seen me put our country before any president, before any party, before any special interest, before my own interest."






Obama:
"We will restore out moral standing in the world, and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century. Terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease. All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All of the candidates in this race have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably. But the reason our campaign has always been different. The reason we began this improbable journey almost a year ago. Is because it's not just about what I will do as president. It is also about what you, the people who love this country, the citizens of the United States of America, can do to change it. That's what this election is all about. That's why tonight belongs to you."