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Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort - a sustained effort - to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.
We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
John Kerry believes in America. I was not raised in a particularly religious household. The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight. Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition.
You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter our principles.
His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. The people I meet - in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks - they don't expect government to solve all their problems. And I found that I recognized in these folks a part of myself. Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.
Thank you.