(no subject)

[winterbadger]

I'm particularly annoyed at myself that, after hearing a profile of Barack Obama on NPR yesterday (a fascinatingly mixed profile for that admittedly liberal network), I did not hear him speak last night.

However, I have a feeling that I will not be short of chances to hear and see him in the future.

Although I haven't finished reading his speech, it is this portion, quotedd in the Post's account of the evening, that ruly speaks to me. I know that many of my friends and acquaintances do not share this sort of vision of what America means, but it sums up much of what I believe is essential to a healthy and ethically balanced nation and what is most important about liberalism to me.

from the transcript provided by the Post

For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.

If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent.

If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.