The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. And as I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, the absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I thought this young man was all that any of us might hope for in a child. King delivered his prayer for our country. Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. Palestinians must abandon violence.
The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. I was not raised in a particularly religious household. And it's around this time that some pastors I was working with came up to me and asked if I was a member of a church. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. That is why the U.S. 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.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. They all have different stories and reasons. That promise is our greatest inheritance.
And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny. 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. And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad.
It wasn't until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma. Now, as children of God, we believe in the worth and dignity of every human being; it doesn't matter where that person came from or what documents they have. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul.
Thank you, and God bless America.