He was a good-looking kid, six two, six three, clear eyed, with an easy smile. 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. As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. They have killed in many countries. For peace to come, it is time for them – and all of us – to live up to our responsibilities. That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people.
That’s why I’ve been fighting to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise. That together, our dreams can be one.
It seems to me that each day, thousands of Americans are going about their lives – dropping the kids off at school, driving to work, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets, trying to kick a cigarette habit – and they’re coming to the realization that something is missing. Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons.
They know those things. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. And in exchange, I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition.
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