After the joyous and electrifying Election Night in Grant Park, Chicago on November 4, 2008, I recalled the last words of Senator Robert F. Kennedy after he won the California Democratic primary on June 5, 1968, “And now it’s on to Chicago, and let’s win there.”

Here’s an excerpt from Robert Kennedy’s final words from a Democracy Now! Special: Robert F. Kennedy’s Life and Legacy 40 Years After His Assassination — On June 5, 1968, Kennedy had just won the California Democratic primary, a major boost in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Just after midnight, Kennedy addressed supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in LA in what would be the last moments of his life.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY: What I think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last analysis and that what has been going on within the United States over the period of that last three years, the divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society, the divisions, whether it’s between blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups or on the war in Vietnam, that we can start to work together. We are a great country, an unselfish country and a compassionate country. And I intend to make that my basis for running over the period of the next few months.
Mayor Yorty has just sent me a message that we’ve been here too long already. So, my thanks to all of you, and now it’s on to Chicago, and let’s win there. Thank you very much.

With Barack Obama’s win, a spirit of hope has been rekindled in this country. Addressing the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama stated: “Hope – hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.”