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[Off voice] Please welcome Kal Penn...

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[Applause and cheers]

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[Kal Penn] Thank you - thank you guys

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I am honored to accept your nomination for president of the United States!

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Wait, this isn’t my speech.

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Prompter guy, can we pull up my speech?

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While we’re waiting:

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a special message for those of you at home who have recently turned 18.

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Good news. I can now legally register you to vote.

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I’ve worked on a lot of fun movies,

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but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out bin Laden

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and who’s cool with all of us getting gay-married.

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Thank you, invisible man in the chair, for that,

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and for giving my friends access to affordable health insurance

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and doubling funding for the Pell grant.

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I started volunteering for Barack Obama in 2007.

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But nothing compares to what I saw behind the scenes at the White House,

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when I had the honor to serve for two years

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as President Obama’s liaison to young Americans.

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I saw how hard he fights for us.

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One of the most special days was a Saturday in 2010.

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The Senate repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,”

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so anyone can serve the country they love, regardless of whom they love.

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But that same day, the Dream Act was blocked.

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That bill would give immigrant children

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- who’ve never pledged allegiance to any flag but ours -

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the chance to earn their citizenship. Simple. Important.

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I was in a small office on the second floor of the West Wing with eight other staffers.

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We’d worked our hearts out and cared deeply about

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what this would mean for other young people.

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There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, tears of joy for the history that was made,

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but also tears of sadness because some American dreams would still be deferred.

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Five minutes later, President Obama walked in, sleeves rolled up.

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He said to us, “This is not over. We’re gonna keep fighting. I’m gonna keep fighting.

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I need young people to keep fighting.”

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That’s why we’re here!

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A few months later, President Obama fought to keep taxes

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from going up on middle-class families.

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Our Republican friends said, “Sure you can do that.”

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But one of the things they were willing to trade

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is a little item called the college tax credit,

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which today is saving students up to $10,000 over four years of school.

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Now, President Obama paid off his own student loans not too long ago.

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He remembers what it is like.

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He said making it easier to go to college and get technical training

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is exactly how we grow our economy, create jobs and out-compete the world.

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So he stood firm. And that tuition tax credit is still here.

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But, if we don’t register, if we don’t vote, it won’t be.

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I volunteered in Iowa in 2007 because, like you,

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I had friends serving in Iraq, friends who were looking for jobs,

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others who couldn’t go to the doctor because they couldn’t afford it.

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I felt that had to change.

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So I knocked on doors.

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I registered voters.

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And I’m volunteering again now

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because my friend Matt got a job at a Detroit car company that still exists,

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and Lauren can get the prescription she needs.

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I’m volunteering because Josiah is back from Iraq,

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Chris is finishing college on the GI Bill,

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and three weeks ago, my buddy Kevin’s boyfriend was able to

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watch him graduate from Marine Corps training.

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That’s change!

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And we can’t turn back now.

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So before I close

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- and as I wonder which Twitter hash tags you’ll start using when I’m done talking

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(hash tag sexy face) -

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I ask all you young people to join me.

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You don’t even have to put pants on.

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Go to commit.barackobama.com and register right there.

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And the oldies out there, you can do it, too.

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Let’s keep fighting for a president who’s never stopped fighting for us!

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Go online.

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Find your local campaign office.

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Call your friends. Call some strangers. Volunteer.

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That’s how we’re going to win this thing.

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I really enjoyed listening to Rahm’s speech.

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But he’s a mayor now, so he can’t use four-letter words.

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But I’m no mayor. So I’ve got one for you:

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Vote.

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(English captions based on the script in http://www.demconvention.com/pressrelease/2012-democratic-national-convention-remarks-as-prepared-for-delivery-by-kal-penn-actorproducer-former-associate-director-of-the-white-house-office-of-public-engagement/)

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