A dream fulfilled: Obama evokes King as he lays out his goals

And Obama hit hard at John McCain, the GOP candidate who will win his party's nomination next week at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell — but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

He also attacked the campaign methods employed by Republicans.

"If you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters," he said. "If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from."

And he also addressed those who may not vote for him because of his skin color or his name.

"You make a big election about small things," he said.

While he also delivered a lot of attacks on McCain, he also had a lot of optimism in his words. He also continually returned to the campaign theme of change.

"But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring," he said. "The change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington."

His speech tackled many significant issues, including the economy.

"The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great — a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight," he said.

Obama said he will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and start giving them to companies that create good American jobs.

"I will cut taxes for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class," Obama said.

Speaking of his wife, Obama said: "Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance."

Speaking about what America can do, he said: "It is the American spirit — that American promise — that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend."

Obama said it was the promise of a better America that people from every corner to the Mall in Washington, 45 years ago, to hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

"America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone," he said near the end of his speech. "At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise — that American promise — and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."