Obama Ipsum

My father, who I didn't know, returned to Kenya when I was just two. He does not say education or the war. But it is where we start. You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles - principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century.

At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley." And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain. I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

But somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretense of liberalism. But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek - a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are respected.

Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us. Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest - a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours - Hillary Rodham Clinton. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict.

But I also get the sense that there's a hunger that's deeper than that - a hunger that goes beyond any single cause or issue. And he does not bring up a specific issue. 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." I know there is debate about this issue. All these things must be done in partnership.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.