America Must Always Lead On The World

I Would Not Be Running For President If I Didn't Believe With All My Heart That This Is What The Vast Majority Of Americans Want For This Country. This Union May Never Be Perfect, But Generation After Generation Has Shown That It Can Always Be Perfected. And Today, Whenever I Find Myself Feeling Doubtful Or Cynical About This Possibility, What Gives Me The Most Hope Is The Next Generation - The Young People Whose Attitudes And Beliefs And Openness To Change Have Already Made History In This Election.

Cutting Benefits Is Not The Right Answer. Raising The Retirement Age Is Not The Best Option.

Part Of What's Unique About Climate Change, Though, Is The Nature Of Some Of The Opposition To Action. It's Pretty Rare That You'll Encounter Somebody Who Says The Problem You're Trying To Solve Simply Doesn't Exist. When President Kennedy Set Us On A Course For The Moon, There Were A Number Of People Who Made A Serious Case That It Wouldn't Be Worth It; It Was Going To Be Too Expensive, It Was Going To Be Too Hard, It Would Take Too Long. But Nobody Ignored The Science. I Don't Remember Anybody Saying That The Moon Wasn't There Or That It Was Made Of Cheese.

One Of The Challenges Over The Last Decade Is America Has Done Experiments In Nation Building In Places Like Iraq And Afghanistan And We've Neglected, For Example, Developing Our Own Economy, Our Own Energy Sectors, Our Own Education System. And It's Very Hard For Us To Project Leadership Around The World When We're Not Doing What We Need To Do.

This Is Why The Anti-discrimination Principle Being Enforced Is Important. Because It Won't Stop If Some Of The Underlying Biases Aren't Challenged And Surfaced. And That In And Of Itself Creates Backlash And Denial. This Is What I Mean When I Say Better Is Hard.