WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Off voice] Please welcome Kal Penn... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Applause and cheers] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Kal Penn] Thank you - thank you guys 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am honored to accept your nomination for president of the United States! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Wait, this isn’t my speech. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Prompter guy, can we pull up my speech? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 While we’re waiting: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a special message for those of you at home who have recently turned 18. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Good news. I can now legally register you to vote. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I’ve worked on a lot of fun movies, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out bin Laden 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and who’s cool with all of us getting gay-married. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you, invisible man in the chair, for that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and for giving my friends access to affordable health insurance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and doubling funding for the Pell grant. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I started volunteering for Barack Obama in 2007. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But nothing compares to what I saw behind the scenes at the White House, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when I had the honor to serve for two years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as President Obama’s liaison to young Americans. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I saw how hard he fights for us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One of the most special days was a Saturday in 2010. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Senate repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so anyone can serve the country they love, regardless of whom they love. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that same day, the Dream Act was blocked. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That bill would give immigrant children 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 - who’ve never pledged allegiance to any flag but ours - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the chance to earn their citizenship. Simple. Important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was in a small office on the second floor of the West Wing with eight other staffers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We’d worked our hearts out and cared deeply about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what this would mean for other young people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, tears of joy for the history that was made, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but also tears of sadness because some American dreams would still be deferred. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Five minutes later, President Obama walked in, sleeves rolled up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He said to us, “This is not over. We’re gonna keep fighting. I’m gonna keep fighting. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I need young people to keep fighting.” 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That’s why we’re here! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A few months later, President Obama fought to keep taxes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from going up on middle-class families. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our Republican friends said, “Sure you can do that.” 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But one of the things they were willing to trade 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a little item called the college tax credit, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which today is saving students up to $10,000 over four years of school. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, President Obama paid off his own student loans not too long ago. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He remembers what it is like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He said making it easier to go to college and get technical training 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is exactly how we grow our economy, create jobs and out-compete the world. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So he stood firm. And that tuition tax credit is still here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, if we don’t register, if we don’t vote, it won’t be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I volunteered in Iowa in 2007 because, like you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I had friends serving in Iraq, friends who were looking for jobs, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 others who couldn’t go to the doctor because they couldn’t afford it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I felt that had to change. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I knocked on doors. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I registered voters. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I’m volunteering again now 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because my friend Matt got a job at a Detroit car company that still exists, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and Lauren can get the prescription she needs. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I’m volunteering because Josiah is back from Iraq, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Chris is finishing college on the GI Bill, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and three weeks ago, my buddy Kevin’s boyfriend was able to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 watch him graduate from Marine Corps training. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That’s change! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we can’t turn back now. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So before I close 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 - and as I wonder which Twitter hash tags you’ll start using when I’m done talking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (hash tag sexy face) - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I ask all you young people to join me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You don’t even have to put pants on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Go to commit.barackobama.com and register right there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the oldies out there, you can do it, too. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let’s keep fighting for a president who’s never stopped fighting for us! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Go online. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Find your local campaign office. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Call your friends. Call some strangers. Volunteer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That’s how we’re going to win this thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I really enjoyed listening to Rahm’s speech. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But he’s a mayor now, so he can’t use four-letter words. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I’m no mayor. So I’ve got one for you: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Vote. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (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/) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999