I Will Promise You This, That If

When The United States Stands Up For Human Rights, By Example At Home And By Effort Abroad, We Align Ourselves With Men And Women Around The World Who Struggle For The Right To Speak Their Minds, To Choose Their Leaders, And To Be Treated With Dignity And Respect. We Also Strengthen Our Security And Well Being, Because The Abuse Of Human Rights Can Feed Many Of The Global Dangers That We Confront - From Armed Conflict And Humanitarian Crises, To Corruption And The Spread Of Ideologies That Promote Hatred And Violence.

Now Let Me Be Clear - I Suffer No Illusions About Saddam Hussein. He Is A Brutal Man. A Ruthless Man. A Man Who Butchers His Own People To Secure His Own Power. He Has Repeatedly Defied Un Resolutions, Thwarted Un Inspection Teams, Developed Chemical And Biological Weapons, And Coveted Nuclear Capacity. He's A Bad Guy. The World, And The Iraqi People, Would Be Better Off Without Him.

What I Remember Thinking At That Point, Having Gone Through Both The Ups And Downs Of My First Four Years, And Seeing The Sea Of People Was, "what A Remarkable Country This Is And How Lucky Am I That We Live In A Place Where The Son Of A Single Mom, Not Born Into Any Kind Of Fame Or Fortune, In A Pretty Remote State Somehow Can End Up Be In A Position To - To Make A Difference."

Do I Need To Apologize For Mr.[tom] Coburn's Statements? Because I Certainly Don't Agree With Those, Either.

America, This Is Our Moment. This Is Our Time. Our Time To Turn The Page Of The Policies Of The Past.