The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
I'm not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity.
More to do for the young woman in East St. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. 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.
But at the end of the day, we cannot walk away - not for the sake of passing a bill, but so that we can finally address the real concerns of Americans and the persistent hopes of all those brothers and sisters who want nothing more than their own chance at our common dream. That's why organizations are rising up across the country to reclaim the language of faith to bring about change.
That's why I've been fighting to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage. The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. They could've heard words of anger and discord. Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President.
It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions.
God bless you.