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He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. We have real enemies in the world. 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 we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments - provided they govern with respect for all their people. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretense of liberalism.
But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States.
It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. This has bred more fear and mistrust. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state.
We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we've got some gay friends in the Red States. People are coming together around a simple truth - that we are all connected, that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.
That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress.
Thank you, and God bless America.