The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families.
A common dream, born of two continents. They know we can do better. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward.
I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. 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. They have killed people of different faiths - more than any other, they have killed Muslims.
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. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq's democratically-elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012. I am emphasizing such investments within my country. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort - that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash.
A belief in things not seen. Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. 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. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.