Obama: "Fired Up? Ready To Go!"

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Manassas, Virginia, 11/3/08 Obama: Finally we get to Greenwood. We pull up first of all, you dont know youre in Greenwood right away when you get to Greenwood, there arent a lot of tall buildings there. We pull up to a small building, a field house in the park. We go inside. And lo and behold, after an hour and a half drive, turns out there are twenty people there. Twenty people, and they all look kind of damp and kind of sleepy, like maybe they arent really excited to be there either. But you know, I am a professional. Ive got to do what I got to do. [applause] So I go around, Im shaking hands, Im saying how ya doing, what are ya doing? [applause] Wait, wait. As I go around the room suddenly I hear this voice cry out behind me, Fired Up! And Im shocked. I jump up. I dont know whats going on. But everybody else acts like this is normal and they say, fired up. Then I hear this voice say, ready to go! And the other twenty people in the room, they act like this happens all the time, they say ready to go. I dont know whats going on. So I look behind me, and theres this small woman, about sixty years old, a little over five feet. It looks like she just came from church, got a big church hat. [laughter] And shes standing there and she looks at me and shes smiling. And she says, fired up! Turns out she is a city councilwoman from Greenwood who also moonlights as a private detective Im not making this up. [laughter] And it turns out she is famous for her chant. She does this wherever she goes, she says fired up! and everybody says ready to go, ready to go. So for the next five minutes she proceeds to do this, fired up everybody says ready to go. And Im standing there and Im thinking that I am being outflanked by this woman here. Shes stealing my thunder. I look at my staff, they shrug their shoulders, they dont know how long this is going to go. But heres the thing, Virginia after a minute or so, Im feeling kind of fired up. [applause] Im feeling like Im ready to go. So I join in the chant. And it feels good. And for the rest of the day, even after we left Greenwood, even though it was still raining, even though I was still not getting big crowds anywhere, even though we hadnt gotten the endorsements of the people we were hoping for, somehow I felt a little lighter, I felt a little better. Id see my staff, Id say, are you fired up? Theyd say wetre fired up boss, are you ready to go? Heres my point, Virginia thats how this thing started. It shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room; and if a voice can change a room, it can change a city; and if it can change a city it can change a state; and if change a state, it can change a nation; and if it can change a nation, it can change the world! Virginia, your voice can change the world tomorrow! [applause] In 21 hours, if you are willing, if you are willing to endure some rain, if you are willing to drag that person you know who was not going to vote to the polls, if youre willing to organize and volunteer in the offices, if you are willing to stand with me, if you are willing to fight with me, I know that your voice will matter. So Ive just got one question for you, Virginia. Are you fired up? [Yeah] Are you ready to go? [Yeah] Fired up? [Fired Up!] Ready to go? [Ready to Go!] Fired up? [Fired Up!] Ready to go? [Ready to Go!] Fired up? [Fired Up!] Ready to go? [Ready to Go!] Virginia, lets go change the world. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

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