Obama Ipsum

We cannot ignore that we have a right and a duty to protect our borders. 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. Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.

Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with. Let me also address the issue of Iraq.

Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships. That's the change we need right now. America, we cannot turn back. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world.

Now don't get me wrong. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

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