With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race.
Interpretation
This quote expresses hope for a change in political discourse and unity under Barack Obama's leadership.
Edward Kennedy's quote emphasizes the significance of Barack Obama's presidency as a transformative moment in American politics. He suggests that with Obama's leadership, there will be a shift away from divisive and misleading political tactics, particularly those that exploit racial tensions. This reflects a desire for a more honest and inclusive political environment where citizens can work together towards common goals.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the impact of political leadership on social issues.
Immigrant families have integrated themselves into our communities, establishing deep roots. Whenever they have settled, they have made lasting contributions to the economic vitality and diversity of our communities and our nation. Our economy depends on these hard-working, taxpaying workers. They have assisted America in its economic boom.
We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we made.
What we have in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.
Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.
We want to support our troops because they didn't make the decision to go there... but I don't think it should be open-ended. We ought to have a benchmark where the administration has to come back and give us a report.
Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.
Beware the military-industrial complex.
The bringing-about of order is the first and fundamental task of government. We accept limits on our rights for the sake of a larger social compact all the time.
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.
I learned to be far more skeptical of what I'm told by presidents, no matter who the presidents are, and also to be much more cautious, always, in any action or vote that could lead to the use of American military power and most particularly what we call 'boots on the ground.'
I will step outside the system. Voting for the “lesser evil”-or failing to vote at all-is part of the corporate agenda to crush what is left of our anemic democracy. And those who continue to participate in the vaudeville of a two-party process, who refuse to confront in every way possible the structures of corporate power, assure our mutual destruction.
Well, Nigeria has played a constructive role in peacekeeping in various parts of West Africa. But unless and until Nigeria itself is democratic and respects human rights, it too may well be a source of much greater instability as political repression limits the ability of the people of Nigeria to achieve their full potential.
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