Obama Ipsum

And when the Civil War was fought and our country dedicated itself to a new birth of freedom, they took on the problems of an industrializing nation - fighting the crimes against society and the sins against God that they felt were being committed in our factories and in our slums. But somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments - provided they govern with respect for all their people.

I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with. I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources.

John Kerry knows this. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change. Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential. In all nations - including my own - this change can bring fear.

But I think they also sensed that a part of me remained removed and detached - that I was an observer in their midst. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.