1
00:00:00,029 --> 00:00:04,718
[Off voice] Please welcome Kal Penn, actor and political activist.

2
00:00:04,718 --> 00:00:11,257
[Applause and cheers, also interspersing the whole of Kal Penn's speech]

3
00:00:11,257 --> 00:00:15,121
[Kal Penn] Hello! Thank you - thank you guys

4
00:00:18,266 --> 00:00:22,216
Nice! See you're like that: thank you very much

5
00:00:22,731 --> 00:00:28,252
I am honored to accept your nomination for president of the United States!

6
00:00:29,779 --> 00:00:33,374
Wait, this is not my speech.

7
00:00:35,266 --> 00:00:38,312
Prompter guy, can we pull up my speech, please?

8
00:00:38,312 --> 00:00:40,659
This is awkward

9
00:00:41,798 --> 00:00:43,682
So while we’re waiting:

10
00:00:43,682 --> 00:00:45,852
I guess I should have a message,

11
00:00:45,852 --> 00:00:49,321
a special message for those of you at home who have recently turned 18.

12
00:00:50,308 --> 00:00:56,446
Good news. I can now legally register you to vote.

13
00:01:01,545 --> 00:01:05,005
Now, I’ve worked on a lot of fun movies,

14
00:01:05,005 --> 00:01:10,161
but my favorite job was having a boss who gave the order to take out bin Laden

15
00:01:10,161 --> 00:01:13,728
and who’s cool with all of us getting gay-married.

16
00:01:14,513 --> 00:01:17,912
So, thank you, invisible man in the chair, for that,

17
00:01:24,512 --> 00:01:30,346
and for giving my friends access to affordable health insurance

18
00:01:30,346 --> 00:01:32,767
and doubling funding for the Pell grants.

19
00:01:34,325 --> 00:01:39,247
Now, I started volunteering for Barack Obama back in 2007.

20
00:01:39,247 --> 00:01:42,819
But nothing compares to what I saw behind the scenes at the White House,

21
00:01:42,819 --> 00:01:45,610
when I had the honor to serve for two years

22
00:01:45,610 --> 00:01:48,538
as President Obama’s liaison to young Americans.

23
00:01:48,557 --> 00:01:51,149
I saw how hard he fights for us.

24
00:01:51,503 --> 00:01:56,257
And one of the most special days was a Saturday in 2012.

25
00:01:56,257 --> 00:01:59,186
The Senate had repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell,”

26
00:01:59,186 --> 00:02:03,518
so that anyone can serve the country they love, regardless of whom they love.

27
00:02:04,301 --> 00:02:08,088
But that same day, the Dream Act was blocked.

28
00:02:09,051 --> 00:02:11,158
That bill would give immigrant children

29
00:02:11,158 --> 00:02:13,937
-who’ve never pledged allegiance to any flag but ours -

30
00:02:13,937 --> 00:02:18,623
the chance to earn their citizenship. Simple. Important.

31
00:02:20,103 --> 00:02:25,358
And I was in a small office on the second floor of the West Wing with eight other staffers

32
00:02:25,358 --> 00:02:27,503
and we had worked our hearts out

33
00:02:27,503 --> 00:02:30,368
and cared very deeply about what this would mean for other young people.

34
00:02:30,368 --> 00:02:34,569
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, tears of joy for the history that was made,

35
00:02:34,569 --> 00:02:38,698
but also tears of sadness because some American dreams would still be deferred.

36
00:02:39,205 --> 00:02:43,469
And about five minutes later, President Obama walked in, sleeves rolled up.

37
00:02:43,469 --> 00:02:49,329
And he said to us, “This is not over. We’re gonna keep fighting. I’m gonna keep fighting.

38
00:02:49,329 --> 00:02:51,451
I need young people to keep fighting.”

39
00:02:51,451 --> 00:02:52,990
That’s why we’re here!

40
00:02:55,964 --> 00:03:00,974
A few months later, President Obama fought to keep taxes

41
00:03:00,974 --> 00:03:03,698
from going up on middle-class families.

42
00:03:03,698 --> 00:03:06,031
Our Republican friends said, “Sure you can do that.”

43
00:03:06,031 --> 00:03:08,652
But one of the things they were willing to trade

44
00:03:08,652 --> 00:03:11,973
is a little item called the college tax credit,

45
00:03:11,973 --> 00:03:17,038
which today is saving students up to $10,000 over four years of school.

46
00:03:17,517 --> 00:03:22,854
Now, President Obama paid off his own student loans not too long ago.

47
00:03:22,854 --> 00:03:24,624
So he remembers what that's like.

48
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,558
And he said that making it easier to go to college and get technical training

49
00:03:28,558 --> 00:03:34,238
is exactly how we grow our economy and create jobs and out-compete the world.

50
00:03:35,331 --> 00:03:40,585
So he stood firm. And that tuition tax credit is still there.

51
00:03:43,903 --> 00:03:50,353
But here is the thing: if we don’t register, if we don’t vote, it won’t be.

52
00:03:50,775 --> 00:03:54,616
I volunteered in Iowa in 2007 because, like you,

53
00:03:54,616 --> 00:03:59,810
I had friends serving in Iraq, I had friends who were looking for jobs,

54
00:03:59,810 --> 00:04:02,619
others who couldn’t go to the doctor because they couldn’t afford it.

55
00:04:02,619 --> 00:04:04,111
I felt that had to change.

56
00:04:04,111 --> 00:04:05,934
So I knocked on some doors.

57
00:04:05,934 --> 00:04:07,250
I registered voters.

58
00:04:07,250 --> 00:04:09,315
And I’m volunteering again

59
00:04:10,115 --> 00:04:14,512
because my friend Matt got a job at a Detroit car company that still exists,

60
00:04:14,512 --> 00:04:17,726
and Lauren can get the prescription that she needs.

61
00:04:17,739 --> 00:04:20,961
I’m volunteering because Josiah is back from Iraq,

62
00:04:20,961 --> 00:04:23,193
Chris is finishing college on the GI Bill,

63
00:04:23,193 --> 00:04:25,753
and three weeks ago, my buddy Kevin’s boyfriend was able to

64
00:04:25,753 --> 00:04:28,546
watch him graduate from Marine Corps training.

65
00:04:28,550 --> 00:04:30,103
That’s change!

66
00:04:32,991 --> 00:04:35,908
And we can’t turn back now.

67
00:04:35,908 --> 00:04:39,716
So before I close

68
00:04:39,716 --> 00:04:44,451
- and as I wonder which Twitter hash tags you’ll start using when I’m done talking,

69
00:04:44,451 --> 00:04:45,951
hash tag #sexyface? -

70
00:04:47,212 --> 00:04:50,307
I ask all of you young people to join me.

71
00:04:50,307 --> 00:04:52,377
You don’t even have to put pants on.

72
00:04:53,515 --> 00:04:58,069
Go to commit.barackobama.com and register right there.

73
00:04:58,069 --> 00:05:01,836
And you know what? the oldies out there, you guys can do it too, OK?

74
00:05:01,836 --> 00:05:06,305
Let’s keep fighting for a president who has never stopped fighting for us!

75
00:05:06,305 --> 00:05:07,344
Go online.

76
00:05:07,344 --> 00:05:09,336
Find your local campaign office.

77
00:05:09,336 --> 00:05:12,489
Call your friends. Call some strangers. Volunteer.

78
00:05:12,489 --> 00:05:14,436
That’s how we’re going to win this thing.

79
00:05:14,451 --> 00:05:19,221
Now, I really, really enjoyed listening to Rahm’s speech.

80
00:05:19,221 --> 00:05:22,385
But he’s a mayor now, so he can’t use four-letter words.

81
00:05:23,139 --> 00:05:27,922
But I’m no mayor. So I’ve got one for you:

82
00:05:27,922 --> 00:05:29,330
Vote.

83
00:05:29,330 --> 00:05:30,576
Thank you very much.

84
00:05:32,346 --> 00:05:36,751
(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/)