Obama Ipsum

At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings. Let us be our sister's keeper.

I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. People don't expect government to solve all their problems. The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. And this restlessness - this search for meaning - is familiar to me. The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist.

In the following century, men and women of faith waded into the battles over prison reform and temperance, public education and women's rights - and above all, abolition. So doing the Lord's work is a thread that's run through our politics since the very beginning. But as Americans, we also know that this is a nation of laws, and we cannot have those laws broken when more than 2,000 people cross our borders illegally every day. This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. So I've got news for you, John McCain.

Now don't get me wrong. And that man is John Kerry. I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."

When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world. I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I'm hearing from progressives who understand that if we want to communicate our hopes and values to Americans, we can't abandon the field of religious discourse. For we have a choice in this country.

Thank you, and God bless America.