Obama Ipsum

King delivered his prayer for our country. Now, some of you may have heard me talk about the Joshua generation. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. That's why I stand here tonight. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint.

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. In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships. These are my heroes. Because I've seen it.

Out of work? Tough luck. When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

More work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Ill., who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now are having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour. They know we can do better. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long road toward nothingness. Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. We are a better country than this.

You know, a while back, I met a young man named Shamus [Seamus?] in a V.F.W. Because the Iraq war is not just a security problem, it's a moral problem. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.

Thank you.