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Barack Obama
Related: About this forum‘the past is a bucket of ashes … there is only an ocean of tomorrows’
Text of the Presidents Knox College speech:
But if thats our choice if we just stand by and do nothing in the face of immense change understand that an essential part of our character will be lost. Our founding precept about wide-open opportunity and each generation doing better than the last will be a myth, not reality. The position of the middle class will erode further. Inequality will continue to increase, and moneys power will distort our politics even more. Social tensions will rise, as various groups fight to hold on to what they have, and the fundamental optimism that has always propelled us forward will give way to cynicism or nostalgia.
Thats not the vision I have for this country. Thats not the vision you have for this country. That is not the America we know. Thats not a vision we should settle for, or pass on to our children. I have now run my last campaign. I do not intend to wait until the next one before tackling the issues that matter. I care about one thing and one thing only, and thats how to use every minute of the 1,276 days remaining in my term to make this country work for working Americans again. Because I believe this is where America needs to go. I believe this is where the American people want to go. It may seem hard today, but if we are willing to take a few bold steps if Washington will just shake off its complacency and set aside the kind of slash-and-burn partisanship weve seen these past few years our economy will be stronger a year from now. And five years from now. And ten years from now. More Americans will know the pride of that first paycheck; the satisfaction of flipping the sign to Open on their own business; the joy of etching a childs height into the door of their brand new home.
After all, what makes us special has never been our ability to generate incredible wealth for the few, but our ability to give everyone a chance to pursue their own true measure of happiness. We havent just wanted success for ourselves weve wanted it for our neighbors, too. Thats why we dont call it Johns dream or Susies dream or Baracks dream we call it the American Dream. Thats what makes this country special the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or who you love you can make it if you try.
One of Americas greatest writers, Carl Sandburg, was born right here in Galesburg over a century ago. He saw the railroad bring the world to the prairie, and the prairie send its bounty to the world. He saw the advent of bustling new industries and technologies; he watched populations shift; he saw fortunes made and lost. He saw how change could be painful how a new age could unsettle long-settled customs and ways of life. But possessed with a frontier optimism, he saw something more on the horizon. I speak of new cities and new people, he wrote. The past is a bucket of ashes yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west there is only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows.
America, we have made it through the worst of yesterdays winds. And if we find the courage to keep moving forward; if we set our eyes on the horizon, we too will find an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows for Americas people, and for this great country that we love.
Thats not the vision I have for this country. Thats not the vision you have for this country. That is not the America we know. Thats not a vision we should settle for, or pass on to our children. I have now run my last campaign. I do not intend to wait until the next one before tackling the issues that matter. I care about one thing and one thing only, and thats how to use every minute of the 1,276 days remaining in my term to make this country work for working Americans again. Because I believe this is where America needs to go. I believe this is where the American people want to go. It may seem hard today, but if we are willing to take a few bold steps if Washington will just shake off its complacency and set aside the kind of slash-and-burn partisanship weve seen these past few years our economy will be stronger a year from now. And five years from now. And ten years from now. More Americans will know the pride of that first paycheck; the satisfaction of flipping the sign to Open on their own business; the joy of etching a childs height into the door of their brand new home.
After all, what makes us special has never been our ability to generate incredible wealth for the few, but our ability to give everyone a chance to pursue their own true measure of happiness. We havent just wanted success for ourselves weve wanted it for our neighbors, too. Thats why we dont call it Johns dream or Susies dream or Baracks dream we call it the American Dream. Thats what makes this country special the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or who you love you can make it if you try.
One of Americas greatest writers, Carl Sandburg, was born right here in Galesburg over a century ago. He saw the railroad bring the world to the prairie, and the prairie send its bounty to the world. He saw the advent of bustling new industries and technologies; he watched populations shift; he saw fortunes made and lost. He saw how change could be painful how a new age could unsettle long-settled customs and ways of life. But possessed with a frontier optimism, he saw something more on the horizon. I speak of new cities and new people, he wrote. The past is a bucket of ashes yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west there is only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows.
America, we have made it through the worst of yesterdays winds. And if we find the courage to keep moving forward; if we set our eyes on the horizon, we too will find an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows for Americas people, and for this great country that we love.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/24/the-past-is-a-bucket-of-ashes-there-is-only-an-ocean-of-tomorrows/#more-130676
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‘the past is a bucket of ashes … there is only an ocean of tomorrows’ (Original Post)
sheshe2
Jul 2013
OP
Cha
(305,137 posts)1. Thanks for the President Speech from Knox College in
in Galesburg, Illinois!
Will listen to when time permits..
Mahalo, she BOG
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)2. Amen to that
The hour seems late, with fascist storm clouds surrounding us at times, but we shall overcome; not 'someday', but moving forward NOW.