The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
The questions I had didn't magically disappear. And so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path.
Because we all have the capacity to do justice and show mercy; to treat others with dignity and respect; and to rise above what divides us and come together to meet those challenges we can't meet alone. Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities.
It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper that makes this country work. America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do - if we do what we must do, then I have no doubts that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president, and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come. And I found that I recognized in these folks a part of myself. 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. That is the world we seek.
John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, nor use faith as a wedge to divide us. I can assure you it is not. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners." Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.
My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, nor use faith as a wedge to divide us. And I've found that no matter where I am, or who I'm talking to, there's a common theme that emerges. And he does not bring up a specific issue. This is not simply about America's interests. I know there is debate about this issue.
Thank you very much everybody.