Obama Ipsum

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability.

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. Yet what we also understand is that our values should express themselves not just through our churches or synagogues, temples or mosques; they should express themselves through our government. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for.

They're telling me that their conversation about what it means to be Catholic continues. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. We cannot impose peace. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio.

In this election, we offer that choice. There is real evil and hardship and pain and suffering in the world and we should be humble in our belief that we can eliminate them.

He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Not even close. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. America, this is one of those moments. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely.

Thank you.