The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. We seek no military bases there. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true. Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.
But then I asked myself: Are we serving Shamus as well as he is serving us? It's been several months now since I announced I was running for president. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story - of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to. They endure the daily humiliations - large and small - that come with occupation.
If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. That promise is our greatest inheritance. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely.
They would give me an African name, Barack, or "blessed," believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. And so this will be a difficult debate next week. It is on your lips and in your heart. And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.
Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.