The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
But I think they also sensed that a part of me remained removed and detached - that I was an observer in their midst. The President vetoed a similar plan, but he doesn't have the last word, and we're going to keep at it, until we bring this war to an end. 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. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities.
That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. Last time we took up immigration reform, it failed. 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. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."
As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead.
Today there are 12 million undocumented immigrants in America, most of them working in our communities, attending our churches, and contributing to our country. 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. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security.
She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive.
Thank you, and God bless America.