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But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans - the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need. Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems.
Out of many, one. I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country.
My mother, whose parents were non-practicing Baptists and Methodists, was one of the most spiritual souls I ever knew. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. That is true genius of this nation. 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." And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. For peace to come, it is time for them - and all of us - to live up to our responsibilities.
John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith, and service because they've defined his life. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need. Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party.
His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. They know those things. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.
Thank you very much everybody.