Circumstances

Barack Obama delivered his 2008 election speech on 4th of November, 2008, the night of the US presidential elections.

The speech was addressed live in front of 240,000 people, at Grand Park, Chicago, Illinois (Obama's home state). The location of the speech also had a historical significance as it was the place of 1968 protests at the Democratic Convention against issues like police violence and the war in Vietnam.

Obama won the electoral race against his Republican opponent John McCain, winning most popular votes and electoral votes. Furthermore, he won the greatest percentage of popular votes (total number of votes) since the 1964 elections won by Lyndon B. Johnson.

As he says in the speech, Obama had been working towards the election for 21 months (l. 96). His electoral campaign focused on issues like the war in Iraq, the healthcare system, the failure of Bush’s administration, the economic crisis, and race relations.

At that time, Obama understood Americans’ frustration with the war in Iraq, which started because the Bush administration suspected Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. Even though no evidence was found of such weapons, the war continued. This is why one of Obama’s electoral campaign promises was...