Read this quotation from remarks given by then Senator Barack Obama in Springfield, Illinois. What was the purpose of this speech?
". . . in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States. I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness—a certain audacity—to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."
—Barack Obama, February 10, 2007