Barack Obama for President

As some of you may know, today was a new day for the United States of America. For years, what we have seen in our nation is a reduction in our hope, our belief in a better future, our bond with our fellow Americans. What we have seen is a divided America, intolerant, disagreeable, angry, disappointed, and cynical. What we have seen is our loss of what it means to be an American.

It doesn't have to be that way. Senator Obama is a different kind of politician with a different notion of politics. He believes in the common good, that we all have a stake in each other's lives, that we must work to better all of our lives, that we are all in this grand experiment called America together. And whether you came over on slave ships, the Mayflower, the Bering Strait, or a transcontinental airliner, we are all in the same boat now.

Senator Obama's life is exactly why he understands where we as a country must go. He was born to a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. He overcame economic adversity, drugs, the seduction of a life outside the law, and worked to go to college, graduating from Columbia University with a degree in International Relations. He could have gone anywhere after that, graduate school, law school, investment banking. He chose a different path. He became a community organizer, moving to Chicago, committing to a lower income, and working to help the impoverished, the homeless, the uneducated, and the despondent overcome the odds and achieve what is our country's greatest gift, the promise of the American Dream.

Senator Obama has spent ten years in public service, in the Illinois State Senate and now in the United States Senate. He hasn't passed budget supplementals, learned the powers of committee chairmen, or passed major reform. But in the Illinois State Senate, he fought for universal health care, writing a comprehensive bill to implement it in Illinois. He fought to eliminate poverty by cutting taxes, reform the death penalty by fixing our broken system of obtaining confessions, passed a law banning racial profiling, and increasing funds for education.

In the United States Senate, he has opened up the earmark process to full public disclosure, is the sponsor of the broadest ethics reform legislation in the history of the United States, championed a law to remove nuclear weapons from the hands of terrorists, and has sponsored new and innovative strategies to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and fight global warming. He has traveled to Kenya, inspiring millions to get tested for HIV/AIDS, and demonstrating that even a US Senator can get tested, with no fear of stigma. He has traveled throughout the Middle East and Central Asia and the former Soviet Union, meeting with world leaders.

Senator Obama opposed the war in Iraq, and throughout 2002, he was a leader arguing that an invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq would be disastrous. He was right. Senator Clinton, Senator Edwards, and all the others running for the Democratic nomination for President supported the War in Iraq. They have admirably recanted, but what their decisions demonstrated was a lack of good judgment. Senator Obama had the foresight, the expertise, and the perspective of someone who had lived abroad, worked in local communities, and understood that an ill-conceived war based on fragile justifications was a recipe for the largest foreign policy blunder in our nation's history.

Senator Obama's strength lies in his detachment from the culture wars of the past. Senator Obama, unlike the politicians of the 1980's through today, rejects the idea that Americans are inevitably divided by values. He believes we all share the same core values that America has instilled in us, hard work, honesty, integrity, compassion, and hope. He has worked with both Democrats and Republicans, not to compromise our principles, but to get things done, bridge the divides, and make America a better place. He transcends the divisions, and is exactly the right man to be President at this time. As President, he will unite our country, renew American leadership and moral authority in the world, and reintroduce the American Dream to those who have lost all hope.

A brighter day is ahead of us, and you can join us at Students for Barack Obama or at Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign.

Watch this video.

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