America, Our Endless Blessings Bestow An Enduring

If We Think That We Can Secure Our Country By Just Talking Tough Without Acting Tough And Smart, Then We Will Misunderstand This Moment And Miss Its Opportunities. If We Think That We Can Use The Same Partisan Playbook Where We Just Challenge Our Opponent's Patriotism To Win An Election, Then The American People Will Lose. The Times Are Too Serious For This Kind Of Politics.

We Remember The Grind Of The Insurgency -- The Roadside Bombs, The Sniper Fire, The Suicide Attacks. From The 'triangle Of Death' To The Fight For Ramadi; From Mosul In The North To Basra In The South -- Your Will Proved Stronger Than The Terror Of Those Who Tried To Break It.

The American Story Has Never Been About Things Coming Easy. It Has Been About Rising To The Moment When The Moment Is Hard. About Rejecting Panicked Division For Purposeful Unity. About Seeing A Mountaintop From The Deepest Valley. That Is Why We Remember That Some Of The Most Famous Words Ever Spoken By An American Came From A President Who Took Office In A Time Of Turmoil: "the Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself.

You Know, I Have More Than Enough To Do Without Having To Worry About The Financial System.

I Believe In Evolution, Scientific Inquiry, And Global Warming; I Believe In Free Speech, Whether Politically Correct Or Politically Incorrect, And I Am Suspicious Of Using Government To Impose Anybody's Religious Beliefs -including My Own- On Nonbelievers.