Obama Ipsum

Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

It's a journey that takes us back to our nation's founding, when none other than a UCC church inspired the Boston Tea Party and helped bring an Empire to its knees. Not even close.

Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. And nothing will change. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. You're on your own. As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. America, our work will not be easy. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end.

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