The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
These enemies must be found. Universities and states, including Illinois, are taking part in a divestment campaign to pressure the Sudanese government to stop the killings. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement? I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the Road Map are clear.
I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people.
The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. That has been my experience at Trinity. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class. "We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried.
Imagine Lincoln's Second Inaugural without its reference to "the judgments of the Lord." Or King's "I Have a Dream" speech without its reference to "all of God's children." Or President Kennedy's Inaugural without the words, "here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own." At each of these junctures, by summoning a higher truth and embracing a universal faith, our leaders inspired ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. This is the hope of all humanity. It is easier to start wars than to end them.
It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Indeed, faith should bring us together.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.