This is a defining moment. We are fighting a misguided war in Iraq — a war that Barack Obama opposed from the start. Our economy is sliding into a recession. People are working harder for less, losing their homes and paying more for health care and college. Worst of all, too many Americans have lost faith that their leaders can or will do anything to protect our American Dream.
Barack is different. I have known him for many years, and seen his ability to make change from the bottom up.
As a community organizer, he brought jobs to the jobless and fought for justice on the South Side of Chicago. As a civil rights lawyer, he stood up for the rights of people denied opportunity in the workplace or a voice in the voting booth. He took on the tough issues in Springfield — expanding health care, giving working people a tax cut and reforming a broken death penalty system. In Washington, he was the Democratic Party’s point person on the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.
Now, Barack gives us an opportunity that comes along once in a generation. He can end the politics of division and distraction in Washington by doing what he’s done since he came to Chicago over two decades ago — bringing people together, pushing back against special interests and being honest and open about the challenges we face. That’s the leadership we need to make progress on problems that have festered year after year after year.
As president, Obama will end this war in Iraq and restore our standing in the world. He will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and give a tax cut to working people and seniors. He will pass health care that is affordable and accessible for every American, and pursue an energy policy that creates jobs and protects our environment. And he will rebuild our broken schools, offer universal early childhood education and make college more affordable.
We can’t afford to keep choosing the same Washington players and expect a different result. That’s why the real choice in this election isn’t between gender or class, religion or race — it is between the past and the future. Barack has spent his life bridging our divides, and calling on peoples’ hopes — not our fears. This election is too important to settle for the past. It’s time to choose Barack Obama.
