Obama Ipsum

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all.

You know, a while back, I met a young man named Shamus [Seamus?] in a V.F.W. And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn. And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.

I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.

And so this will be a difficult debate next week. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles - principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. That is the world we seek.

But I'm hopeful because I think there's an awakening taking place in America. But as Americans, we also know that this is a nation of laws, and we cannot have those laws broken when more than 2,000 people cross our borders illegally every day. I'm hearing from progressives who understand that if we want to communicate our hopes and values to Americans, we can't abandon the field of religious discourse. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.

Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.