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We have real enemies in the world. But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize Israel's legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past. There is no straight line to realize this promise. Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans - Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy. You make a big election about small things. This history is well known. But it should be their choice.
My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm hearing from evangelicals who may not agree with progressives on every issue but agree that poverty has no place in a world of plenty; that hate has no place in the hearts of believers; and that we all have to be good stewards of God's creations. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve. Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.
In that time, I've had the chance to talk with Americans all across this country. Because whether it's poverty or racism, the uninsured or the unemployed, war or peace, the challenges we face today are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten-point plan.
They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. I get it.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.