Actress Eva Longoria's DNC Speech | 2012 Democratic National Convention | Ora TV

Actress Eva Longoria discusses President Obama's values in her 2012 National Democratic Convention (DNC) speech.

Transcript of Eva Longoria's speech as prepared for delivery:
LONGORIA: Hello, Charlotte! I am honored to be here as co-chair of President Obama's re-election campaign and so proud of my friend & fellow Texan, Julian Castro. Didn't he do a great job? I feel fortunate to be standing on this stage tonight. I never could've imagined it growing up. I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas & the youngest of four girls, including my oldest sister, Lisa, who has special needs. My mom was a special education teacher & my dad worked on the Army base. We weren't wealthy, but we were determined to succeed. In my family, there was one cardinal priority: education. College was not an option; it was mandatory. So even though we didn't have a lot of money, we made it work. I signed up for financial aid, Pell Grants, work study, anything I could. Just like our president & first lady, I took out loans to pay for school. Then I changed oil in a mechanic shop, flipped burgers at Wendy's, taught aerobics, & worked on campus to pay them back. Like a lot of you, I did whatever it took & four years later, I got my degree. More importantly, I got a key to American opportunity. That's who we are - a nation that rewards ambition with opportunity & where hard work can lead to success, no matter where you start. Traveling the country for the president, I see young Americans of every background fighting to succeed. They're optimistic, ambitious, hardworking. But they also want to know that their hard work will pay off. We're lucky our president understands the value of American opportunity because he's lived it! And he's fighting to help others achieve it. He's fighting to make college more affordable! He's cut taxes for every working American. He's helping small businesses get loans & has cut their taxes eighteen times. Eighteen times! That's important - small businesses create two out of every three new jobs in America. It's the suburban dad who realizes his neighborhood needs a dry cleaner. It's the Latina nurse whose block needs a health clinic & she knows she's the one to open it! It's the high school sophomore who is building Facebook's competitor. They are the entrepreneurs driving the American economy, not Mitt Romney's outsourcing pioneers. He would raise taxes on middle class families to cut his own & mine. That's not who we are as a nation & here's why: The Eva Longoria who worked at Wendy's flipping burgers? She needed a tax break. But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not. We face a choice this election. President Obama is fighting for changes that grow the economy from the middle out & help all Americans succeed: jobs, education, health reform, the DREAM Act, equal pay for women. He is moving us forward with opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow. Mitt Romney wants to take us back to yesterday. But America was built by optimists. Optimists like my friend Amanda who recently started a small business. When she went to buy her website address - her first and last name - she found that someone already owned it but wasn't using it. So my friend emailed the owner of the site to ask if she could buy it. The owner wrote back. She is a 13 year old girl who shares Amanda's name & politely explained that she could not give up the website. Why? Because the younger Amanda plans to be president of the United States & she's going to need the website for her campaign. Here is a girl who at 13 years old firmly believes she can build her American dream. And here's a president who's building an America where that dream is possible. Let's fight for the American dream! Amanda's, yours, mine, all of ours! We know how to do that. We know what we need to do. Let's re-elect President Obama!
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[NicolaEve]

When you write these things about Eva Longoria, remember that she is a person as well. Despite being famous and working on movie sets, she too has feelings just like each and every one of you, so think next time you go to write something like that and decide how you would feel if someone said that to you.

[chuckpierce]

I could not have said it better! You just made me feel good to know that someone else has their eyes open.

[Savilly]

"The Eva Longoria who worked at Wendy's flipping burgers, she needed a tax break. But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does not."
You killed it. Go Eva.

[Savilly]

So proud of her. Her hard work payed off. She made it. So can we.

[Merlinever]

Thank you. And it sure is good to know that someone else (you) has their eyes open.

[TheronC]

There's a reason so many artists are opposed to the Republican party. The Republican party is deeply authoritarian, and creative types instinctively reject authoritarianism.

[clasemarcela]

Very inspirational speech. Excellent line, "the Eva Longoria, she needed a tax break, but Eva Longoria: the actress, does not."

[nadinek]

I listen to Michael Berry, by the way, a native Texan and proud of it. He would trash liberals / Obama supporters in a heartbeat and Eva is no exception.

[RDJ]

Does anyone know the percentage the burger flipping eva paid in tax? Just wondering if anyone has checked that out.

[berricslove]

there's other people out there who work for success. she's being used since she's so famous and she's a model to the american man's vision of a "perfect woman".

[Merlinever]

"Eva Longoria Speaks at DNC 2012 "?
W H Y ? ? ? ? ?
What are her qualifications???

[minato]

you do realise that EVERYONE has a word limit, don't you? it would be impossible for youtube to identify each and every single instance of someone attempting to post an anti-obama comment. the word limits are so people don't leave essays and clog up the system.

[samirakkk]

As rafeal correro said the difference between democrates and republican is less than what i think in the morning and afternoon

[MandoUCR]

guess i'm not ignorant then, and latino does not imply white blood. your perspective is based on the hegemony that whites have imposed, that is why you only talk about the "important characters". You do know where the hispanic term came from right? U.S. Census didn't know how to group together people like me. So they created something that they could understand hispanic, related to origins of spain, spaniard spanish...etc. read up on that and then you'll see. Latino is an alternate.

[Joachim]

Why ? it's just because she's the perfect representation to the American Dream. If obama, eva made it, WE CAN DO IT. She fought for her success. LIsten to her speech. She wants equality, love, opportunity, no matter where u come from !

[JeffersonDinedAlone]

What a class act. She's just on the wrong side.

[Savilly]

everyone has their own opinion but that's no reason to hate on me, I respect yours, so please respect mine.

[billyk]

you're fresh outta high school by the way you overstate your case. listen theres millions of people whose conditions were a lot worse who made it. democrats want more credit than is due for doing accepted things that normal people take for granted.she didn't " fought for her success". she came from a middle class american family and worked her way through college. thats done every day by millions of americans ...lady macbeth

[computerpurple]

WOW gotta admit you make a good point. For SOME NOT ALL their carefree anything goes outlook is problematic , it can lead down to a road of having NO MORAL COMPASS , thereby leading to MORAL BANKRUPTCY. For SOME NOT ALL are standing on IMMORAL QUICKSAND.

[BluecopetitaTL]

Hang on, this isn't a JoJoke video.