Obama Ipsum

Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. 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 because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now.

But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence.

They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. I'll invest in early childhood education. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country - you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world.

Not with so much work to be done. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

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