45 years later

Martin Luther King Jr’s dream is one huge step closer to reality. I love my country.

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America — they have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

Full text of the speech can be found all over the internet. I could pull about a dozen lines that made me cheer, or wipe away tears or just grin from ear to ear. But that one above? That is the one that really wrapped it all up for me. After having the patriotism of literally anyone in my party questioned (including my own), something which bites me to the core – well, Obama truly truly spoke for me.