The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn. "People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States. And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.
You know, a while back, I met a young man named Shamus [Seamus?] in a V.F.W. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. Because I've lived it. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election.
The questions I had didn't magically disappear. We cannot ignore that we have a right and a duty to protect our borders. America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.
If you're working forty hours a week, you shouldn't be living in poverty. Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. 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. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. That does not mean we should ignore sources of tension.
That we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
God bless you.