Excerpt from Deval Patrick’s acceptance speech

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I want more than short-term band-aids. I want more than government by photo op and press release and sound bites. I want real and lasting and meaningful progress. I want you to see the potential I see in you, the same way Massachusetts people saw potential in this frightened little boy from Chicago.

I have been a leader in government, in business, in nonprofits and in community work. I have built bridges across more differences and helped solve more problems in more varied settings than any other candidate in this race, from either party. I don’t have the insider connections and the money the other candidates do. But what I do have is a plan to move us forward, the life and leadership experience to make it real, and a grassroots organization across this state the likes of which we have never seen.

Even so, it’s not all up to me. It’s never up to any one leader. It’s up to us. Our cause succeeds only if you see this not as my campaign, but as yours. Not just my chance to be governor, but yours to rebuild our community, to reclaim your stake in your neighbors’ dreams and struggles as well as your own.

I cannot hope for the best and work for it alone. You have to go to work.

If you go to work, I win. And if I win, so do you.

Because when I win, Democratic values win.  

It’s time for Democrats to stop apologizing for being Democrats and to be proud. We are the Party that hopes for the best — and works for it. But we have become captives of cynicism, people who think they are smarter than you here and those outside. And that is our biggest challenge.

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