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It wasn't until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma. Our conscience can't rest so long as 37 million Americans are poor and forgotten by their leaders in Washington and by the media elites. Not this time. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.
And slowly, I came to realize that something was missing as well - that without an anchor for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart, and alone. I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition.
I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I've been speaking to a lot of churches recently, so it's nice to be speaking to one that's so familiar. We believe that everyone, everywhere should be loved, and given the chance to work, and raise a family. We cannot ignore that we have a right and a duty to protect our borders. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation.
Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. That is why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced.
And it's a lesson we need to remember today - as members of another Joshua generation. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely.
Thank you very much everybody.