Obama Ipsum

This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we are measuring up, to the legacy of our forbearers, and the promise of future generations. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism - it is an important part of promoting peace.

Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. Many bring up a specific issue. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. All these things must be done in partnership.

Our Party has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. They are moral problems, rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man. And so long as we're not doing everything in our personal and collective power to solve them, we know the conscience of our nation cannot rest. And it's a testament to what we can achieve when good people with strong convictions stand up for their beliefs. I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. troops and civilians.

The day after Pearl Harbor my grandfather signed up for duty; joined Patton's army, marched across Europe. My father, who I didn't know, returned to Kenya when I was just two. Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight.

Thank you, and God bless America.