During the spring of 2006, I had the extraordinary experience of bringing 700 college kids here to New Orleans to work. These are kids who gave up their spring break to come to New Orleans to work, to rehabilitate houses, because of their commitment as Americans, because they believed in what was possible, and because they cared about their country.

I began my presidential campaign here to remind the country that we, as citizens and as a government, have a moral responsibility to each other, and what we do together matters. We must do better, if we want to live up to the great promise of this country that we all love so much.

It is appropriate that I come here today. It's time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path. We do not know who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but what we do know is that our Democratic Party will make history. We will be strong, we will be unified, and with our convictions and a little backbone we will take back the White House in November and we'll create hope and opportunity for this country.

This journey of ours began right here in New Orleans. It was a December morning in the Lower Ninth Ward when people went to work, not just me, but lots of others went to work with shovels and hammers to help restore a house that had been destroyed by the storm.

We joined together in a city that had been abandoned by our government and had been forgotten, but not by us. We knew that they still mourned the dead, that they were still stunned by the destruction, and that they wondered when all those cement steps in all those vacant lots would once again lead to a door, to a home, and to a dream.

We came here to the Lower Ninth Ward to rebuild. And we're going to rebuild today and work today, and we will continue to come back. We will never forget the heartache and we'll always be here to bring them hope, so that someday, one day, the trumpets will sound in Musicians' Village, where we are today, play loud across Lake Ponchartrain, so that working people can come marching in and those steps once again can lead to a family living out the dream in America.

We sat with poultry workers in Mississippi, janitors in Florida, nurses in California.

We listened as child after child told us about their worry about whether we would preserve the planet.

We listened to worker after worker say "the economy is tearing my family apart."

We walked the streets of Cleveland, where house after house was in foreclosure.

And we said, "We're better than this. And economic justice in America is our cause."

And we spent a day, a summer day, in Wise, Virginia, with a man named James Lowe, who told us the story of having been born with a cleft palate. He had no health care coverage. His family couldn't afford to fix it. And finally some good Samaritan came along and paid for his cleft palate to be fixed, which allowed him to speak for the first time. But they did it when he was 50 years old. His amazing story, though, gave this campaign voice: universal health care for every man, woman and child in America. That is our cause.

And we do this -- we do this for each other in America. We don't turn away from a neighbor in their time of need. Because every one of us knows that what -- but for the grace of God, there goes us. The American people have never stopped doing this, even when their government walked away, and walked away it has from hardworking people, and, yes, from the poor, those who live in poverty in this country.

For decades, we stopped focusing on those struggles. They didn't register in political polls, they didn't get us votes and so we stopped talking about it. I don't know how it started. I don't know when our party began to turn away from the cause of working people, from the fathers who were working three jobs literally just to pay the rent, mothers sending their kids to bed wrapped up in their clothes and in coats because they couldn't afford to pay for heat.

We know that our brothers and sisters have been bullied into believing that they can't organize and can't put a union in the workplace. Well, in this campaign, we didn't turn our heads. We looked them square in the eye and we said, "We see you, we hear you, and we are with you. And we will never forget you." And I have a feeling that if the leaders of our great Democratic Party continue to hear the voices of working people, a proud progressive will occupy the White House.

Now, I've spoken to both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. They have both pledged to me and more importantly through me to America, that they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.

And more importantly, they have pledged to me that as President of the United States they will make ending poverty and economic inequality central to their Presidency. This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause.

And I want to say to everyone here, on the way here today, we passed under a bridge that carried the interstate where 100 to 200 homeless Americans sleep every night. And we stopped, we got out, we went in and spoke to them.

There was a minister there who comes every morning and feeds the homeless out of her own pocket. She said she has no money left in her bank account, she struggles to be able to do it, but she knows it's the moral, just and right thing to do. And I spoke to some of the people who were there and as I was leaving, one woman said to me, "You won't forget us, will you? Promise me you won't forget us." Well, I say to her and I say to all of those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you.

But I want to say this -- I want to say this because it's important. With all of the injustice that we've seen, I can say this, America's hour of transformation is upon us. It may be hard to believe when we have bullets flying in Baghdad and it may be hard to believe when it costs $58 to fill your car up with gas. It may be hard to believe when your school doesn't have the right books for your kids. It's hard to speak out for change when you feel like your voice is not being heard.

But I do hear it. We hear it. This Democratic Party hears you. We hear you, once again. And we will lift you up with our dream of what's possible.

One America, one America that works for everybody.

One America where struggling towns and factories come back to life because we finally transformed our economy by ending our dependence on oil.

One America where the men who work the late shift and the women who get up at dawn to drive a two-hour commute and the young person who closes the store to save for college. They will be honored for that work.

One America where no child will go to bed hungry because we will finally end the moral shame of 37 million people living in poverty.

One America where every single man, woman and child in this country has health care.

One America with one public school system that works for all of our children.

One America that finally brings this war in Iraq to an end. And brings our service members home with the hero's welcome that they have earned and that they deserve.

Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency.

But I want to say this to everyone: with Elizabeth, with my family, with my friends, with all of you and all of your support, this son of a millworker's gonna be just fine. Our job now is to make certain that America will be fine.

And I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard – all those who have volunteered, my dedicated campaign staff who have worked absolutely tirelessly in this campaign.

And I want to say a personal word to those I've seen literally in the last few days – those I saw in Oklahoma yesterday, in Missouri, last night in Minnesota – who came to me and said don't forget us. Speak for us. We need your voice. I want you to know that you almost changed my mind, because I hear your voice, I feel you, and your cause is our cause. Your country needs you – every single one of you.

All of you who have been involved in this campaign and this movement for change and this cause, we need you. It is in our hour of need that your country needs you. Don't turn away, because we have not just a city of New Orleans to rebuild. We have an American house to rebuild.

This work goes on. It goes on right here in Musicians' Village. There are homes to build here, and in neighborhoods all along the Gulf. The work goes on for the students in crumbling schools just yearning for a chance to get ahead. It goes on for day care workers, for steel workers risking their lives in cities all across this country. And the work goes on for two hundred thousand men and women who wore the uniform of the United States of America, proud veterans, who go to sleep every night under bridges, or in shelters, or on grates, just as the people we saw on the way here today. Their cause is our cause.

Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams are our dreams.

Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do not give up on the causes that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what's possible, because it's time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two Americas one.

Thank you. God bless you, and let's go to work. Thank you all very much.

Ames, Iowa – On day seven of the Main Street Express bus tour, Senator John Edwards delivered a major speech on his bold vision to lift up middle-class families and make sure that all Americans have a fair shot at the American Dream. At this critical time in our nation's history, with the economic divide wider now than at any other time in the last thirty years, Edwards unveiled his Middle Class Rising agenda that will help build One America where the middle class prospers and all hardworking Americans can find good jobs, save for the future, and have guaranteed health care and retirement security.

"America was built on an idea – that all of us are equal," Edwards said in a town hall in Ames. "The idea that how hard you work, and what kind of choices you make will determine the kind of life you build, and what you pass onto your children – but not the circumstances you're born into, never that. The greatness of America is that promise – that every generation will leave its children a better life. That is our social compact with the middle class – the promise that if you work hard and do what's right, you'll be able to build a better life for yourself and your family. But today, that compact is being threatened.

"Here's what's happened," Edwards continued. "Corporate greed and political calculation have taken over our government and sold out the middle class. Our government is selling out their future at the command of lobbyists and their corporate clients and we have to rise up together and stop it.

"We need a president who will take these powers on and fight to get you your voice back, and your government back. We need a president who is going to fight every day to make sure that all Americans can find good jobs, save for the future, and be guaranteed health care and retirement security. We need a president who is going to lift up the middle class."

Because of corporate greed and a broken system in Washington, almost half of all economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top one percent of American families. Middle-class incomes have stagnated for the past seven years, the number of Americans living in poverty is growing every year, and families are working longer hours, but finding it harder to get by.

To address this growing inequality and help the middle class rise again, Edwards' Middle Class Rising agenda will:

• Create good jobs: Edwards will invest in renewable sources of energy to create new industries and at least 1 million new, good-paying jobs. He will pursue a trade policy that ends tax loopholes for companies that send American jobs overseas, and end the NAFTA trade model. Edwards will also raise the minimum wage, reform our tax code, build career ladders, and strengthen organized labor.
• Give middle-class families the tools to build a secure financial future: Edwards will create Universal Retirement Accounts that people can take with them from job to job, and to respond to the mortgage crisis, he will pass a tough new national law to prevent predatory lending abuses. Edwards will also reign in credit card and other abusive lending practices by creating a new consumer watchdog agency.
• Remove the burdens that are weighing families down: Edwards will help families afford rising home heating costs, make sure that college is affordable for everyone, so that every child can have a fair shot at the American Dream, help people balance their work and home lives by making sure that workplace policies are keeping up with changes in the economy, through expanding early education programs, providing paid leave, including sick leave, to all workers, and expanding job protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
• Create universal health care in America: Edwards' top domestic priority will be making sure that every man, woman and child in America is covered with high-quality care.

Edwards was joined in Ames by acclaimed actor Kevin Bacon, who also traveled with the campaign yesterday as part of Edwards' Main Street Express bus tour across the state. During the eight-day tour, Edwards is highlighting his plans to fight for regular families like the ones he grew up with in his small, rural hometown. Later today, Edwards will hold events in Colfax and Ottumwa, and on Monday, he will wrap up the tour with events in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and a finale event in Davenport.

More information on the Main Street Express can be found at http://jre.gigliwood.com/Iowa. Attached are excerpts from Edwards' prepared remarks. Also attached is Edwards Middle Class Rising agenda.

Excerpts of prepared remarks by Senator John Edwards

Lifting Up the Middle Class
Ames, Iowa
December 16, 2007

"America was built on an idea – that all of us are equal. The idea that how hard you work, and what kind of choices you make will determine the kind of life you build, and what you pass onto your children – but not the circumstances you're born into, never that. The greatness of America is that promise – that every generation will leave its children a better life. That is our social compact with the middle class – the promise that if you work hard and do what's right, you'll be able to build a better life for yourself and your family. But today, that compact is being threatened.

"Here's what's happened – corporate greed and political calculation have taken over our government and sold out the middle class. Washington isn't looking out for the middle class because Washington doesn't work for the middle class anymore…That is wrong. It doesn't say life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profit in the Declaration of Independence. America is about opportunity for you… and your families, your children. But our government is selling out their future at the command of lobbyists and their corporate clients and we have to rise up together and stop it. We have to rise up and say, no more. Not on our watch.

…

"We need a president who will take these powers on and fight to get you your voice back, and your government back. We need a president who is going to fight every day to make sure that all Americans can find good jobs, save for the future, and be guaranteed health care and retirement security. We need a president who is going to lift up the middle class. That is why today, I am proposing my Middle Class Rising agenda, a comprehensive plan to help hardworking families get ahead, and make sure that all Americans have a fair shot at the American Dream.

…

"None of this is going to be easy. I hear all these candidates talking about how we're going to bring about the big, bold change that America needs. And I hear some people saying that they think we can sit at a table with drug companies, oil companies and insurance companies, and they will give their power away. That is a fantasy. We have a fight in front of us. We have a fight for the future of this country. And the change we need will not happen easily. We need someone who is going to step into that arena on your behalf, someone who is ready for that fight.

…

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have been in this fight my whole life. From the time I was young, until when I was a lawyer. For twenty years, I walked into courtrooms representing families like yours against big corporations and their armies of lawyers. Every time, they looked at me and said, we can win. But they didn't. Because I beat them. I beat them. And I beat them again. And I learned that it may not be easy to beat these powerful interests, but if you're right, and you're willing to stand up, you can win.

…

"That's what the American people have always done. Every time in our history that the American people have been faced with great challenges, they rose up and met them. They made certain that they left America better than they found it; they left their children a better life than they had. That's what your parents did. It's what your grandparents did. And it's what my parents did for me.

…

"I take it very personally when I see powerful, well-financed interests taking over this democracy, and taking it away from regular Americans, people like my parents. We have got to reclaim this democracy for them. For you. For your children. For your grandchildren. Because if we don't, we're going to have to look our children in the eye and say, "we're leaving this mess to you." Our parents didn't do that. Our grandparents didn't do it. Twenty generations of Americans who came before us didn't do it. And I'll tell you something: we're not going to do it. We're going to make absolutely certain that America rises again."

Middle Class Rising: A Plan to Strengthen America's Middle Class

The social compact with the middle class is under siege because big corporations and special interests have taken over Washington. That compact says that if you work hard and do what's right, you'll get some security and the chance to build a better life for yourself and your family. But today, middle class families are not rising, and the gap between the haves and everyone else has grown wider than at any time since the great Depression.

The American middle class is struggling. Wages are stagnant even though the economy is growing, while the cost of middle-class essentials like health care and child care continues to grow. The basic American bargain is breaking down.

Today, John Edwards outlined his Middle Class Rising plan to restore the American dream and meet the moral test passed by 20 generations before us: to leave a better future to our children than we inherited. We must strengthen America's middle class to make sure that all Americans have a fair shot at the American Dream.

Create Good Jobs that Pay Enough to Support a Family

Give Americans the Tools to Build a Secure Retirement

Remove the Burdens that Are Weighing Families Down

Guarantee True Universal Health Care

Tells Democrats he will break down the wall that separates Washington from the American people

District of Columbia – Today, at the DNC fall meeting in Washington, D.C., Senator John Edwards will tell Democrats that he is the candidate who will fight to build One America and break down the wall that separates Washington from the American people.

Included below are excerpts from Edwards' remarks:

Since George Washington’s Continental Army fought to create this nation, millions of men and women have put on America’s uniform to defend, protect and carry the cause of freedom for all humanity. With valor and sacrifice, through hardship and peril, they have changed the course of history for our nation and the world. Let us begin today with a moment of silent prayer for all those who have served in our armed forces ever since there has been an idea and a place called America. For our veterans, join me in a prayer of thanks.

Thank you.

Veterans Day is a time to remember our men and women in uniform who have served and sacrificed and risked for our nation - and the too many, far too many who have lost life, blood, and limb so that we could live free, and enjoy our rights and liberties. As many of you know, Elizabeth comes from a military family - her father Vincent was a Navy pilot for more than 30 years - a real hero, who flew reconnaissance missions over China and North Korea and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. So we know personally how sacred this day is for all who have served and are serving today.

But this day is about more than remembering and honoring our veterans. It is a day to reflect on what it means to be American. To consider not just the sacrifices of those who serve in uniform, but what their sacrifices demand of each of us.

It is a day to look at the ideal of America and reflect on our own obligation and responsibility to keep that ideal alive. That our veterans have kept faith there can be no doubt. Today we must ask ourselves if we have done the same.

For twenty generations, Americans have kept the one moral commandment that makes us American - to pass a better future on to our children than we received.

My father had to borrow $50 to bring me home from the hospital. Home was a small house in the mill village owned by the mill where my father worked. I am here today because, like all the people my father worked with in the mill, my parents got up every day believing in the promise of America, and they worked hard - no matter what obstacles were thrown against them - to give me the chance for a better life.

But everywhere I travel today - in every corner of America - I hear uncertainty - a real concern that we could be the first generation of Americans that fails to leave our children a better future than our parents left us.

To be the first generation of Americans to fail that commandment would be an abomination.

This is the great moral test of our generation - to ensure that we give our children a better future than we inherited, just as our parents did for us.

It is not surprising people are worried that the promise of America is at risk - the warning signs are everywhere.

We see the gap between those at the very top and everyone else grow wider and wider every day.

Thirty-seven million Americans - citizens of the richest country on earth - still live in poverty.

Forty-seven million Americans live without health care.

Lobbyists and corporate power runs rampant in Washington, subverting our government to its own ends - NAFTA-style trade deals pad corporate profits but cost millions of American jobs; so-called prescription drug reform benefits drug companies, not patients; tax breaks and loopholes are showered on the very wealthiest while working Americans struggle to get by.

George Washington led the Continental Army that enabled the creation of our nation - his name symbolizes the greatness of America. And now, the city that bears his name symbolizes what is wrong with America.

Last century, we had a president who reminded us that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Now we have a president who says be afraid, be very afraid. He used fear to sell us a war we did not need to fight. He uses fear to trample over our civil liberties and deface the Bill of Rights.

But the blame for all of this does not lie only with President Bush. Too many politicians - at worst, without conviction, or at best, without courage - have stood by and let all of this happen.

Here’s the hard truth. It’s not just politicians. It’s not just Republicans or Democrats or even just Washington. It’s all of us. This is our democracy - if it is failing us, we have nowhere to look but to ourselves.

But here’s another, greater truth - in America, true power does not lie in the arms of a deceitful president, cynical politicians, or calculating insiders, it lies with all of us.

This is our democracy - to reclaim it, we need only look to ourselves.

Of course, cleaning up Washington won’t solve everything by itself - Washington is the problem that stops us from dealing with our problems. If we are going to meet the challenges we face and prevail over them, we must fix our broken system and we must think as big as the challenges we face. Our ideas must be bold enough to succeed and our government must be free to enact them without compromising principle or sacrificing results.

One without the other isn’t good enough. All the big ideas in the world won’t make a difference if they have to go through this broken system that remains controlled by big business and their lobbyists. And if we fix the system, but aren’t honest with the American people about the scope of our challenges and what’s required of each of us to meet them, then we’ll be left with the baby steps and incremental measures that are Washington’s poor excuse for progress.

But if we do both - if we have the courage to offer real change and the determination to change Washington - then we will meet the great moral test of our generation. We will leave our children a greater America - One America, where every man, woman and child is blessed with the same, great opportunity and held to the same, just rules.

Last night, I called on Iowans and Americans to join together and meet the moral test of our generation, which begins by reclaiming our democracy. Today, I am laying out my Plan to Build One America. Over the course of the last year, I have offered detailed, honest plans and specific, forthright proposals. But I don’t want anyone in Iowa to have to take my word for it, so I’ve gone and put them all on paper. Over the next few weeks, we'll be delivering more than 100,000 copies of this book to Iowa caucus-goers. And if you want one, but don’t get one, just let our campaign know.

Iowans have a right to know where I stand and what I'll do as president. You are the guardians of what kind of president we'll have, and whether America meets the great challenges we face. I'm not afraid to stand here and answer your tough questions and tell you where I stand.

Now, it’s about 80 pages long, so I’m not going to read the whole thing, but here’s the big picture. I believe there are four broad areas we must tackle.

First, we need to stand up for working and middle class families.

We need, as a nation, to invest in fighting poverty, strengthening workers right to organize, and smarter and safer trade, if we are to build a stronger and larger middle class.

We need to pass universal health care. Achieving universal health care will help everyone - by covering the 47 million Americans who lack health care - and bringing more choices, more security, lower costs, and better care to the rest of us. But it is only going to happen if we fight for it and share responsibility for getting there. Businesses and the government must sacrifice and pay their fair share.

The second thing we need to do restore America’s moral leadership around the world, which starts with ending the war in Iraq. We need a new path to stop terrorism that brings nations together in a counter-terrorism alliance - we become stronger and safer, not weaker, when we work with the world. And, we need to stand up, together, and tell this Congress that we elected them to end the war in Iraq and bring our brave men and women home.

The third thing we need to do is to invest in a better future for our children.

We need to invest in improving our schools and making college affordable so that we can compete in the 21st century.

And we need to face what may be the great challenge of this generation: addressing global warming. For the sake of our national and domestic security, we need a historic shift in how we make and use energy. We need to cut our emissions of greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050. We may face higher energy bills as we make this transition. But the payoff is great - a cleaner, safer world and a new energy economy with more than a million new jobs.

Fourth, we need to create opportunity for all - the promise of America is a promise made to every American - black, white; gay, straight; healthy, sick; working, retired; rich, poor; born, bred, or just arrived. Every man, woman, and child in this country deserves the same, great chance. And I believe there is a sacred contract between our country and our veterans and armed forces. We have a moral obligation to take care of them and their families.

Those who fought to create this nation did not liberate this ground for freedom and democracy so that some two centuries later, on our watch, government of the people would become government of the corporate interests.

Those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and Antietam in the name of Union and equality did not die for a nation, on our watch, still divided by opportunity and justice.

Those who fell at Guadalcanal and at Normandy to save the world from tyranny did not perish to let corruption seep into our government slowly and persistently over decades almost unnoticed until, on our watch, it threatens the lifeblood of our democracy.

Those who fell in Vietnam - who did what their leaders asked of them long after those leaders knew it was a mistake - and whose valor, bravery and sacrifice was all the harder to bear because they suffered their wounds without the full support of the American people - did not fall so that, on our watch, we would tolerate leaders who once more would refuse to admit their mistakes, but instead press on with a war that should have ended a long time ago.

Those who died defending freedom and the rights of Americans for all time did not die so that, on our watch, we would let the president take those rights away. They did not die for a 21st century America where poverty is still endemic, one of every three African-American children has no health care, and one in four homeless people are veterans.

All those who have served our nation from Valley Forge to Baghdad have risked everything they have and everything they are - not so the torch that Americans pass from one generation to the next - the torch of a better America - might be dropped, but to keep it burning strong.

In their name, we must no longer turn our heads. We must no longer live in vague acknowledgment of the corruption and incompetence that threatens the promise of our children’s future while saying to ourselves, the problem’s just too big, there’s nothing we can do about it.

I stand before you today to say - that is not good enough. There is something we can do. Our founders placed the ultimate power in our hands - ours alone. When we take its reins, it is irresistible. If someone tells you there is nothing we can do, you tell them the ghost of generations proves them wrong - there is nothing we cannot do.

It will not be easy, but we are Americans - we never take the easy way out. So hear this - it is a call to your conscience and your heart. A call not for me, but for them. For those who have served. For those who will. For our children, their children, and their children after them.

Let us stand up and give everything we have as all those before us have done.

In their name, let the world know that the fight for a greater America begins today. For universal health care, ending poverty, honoring our veterans, reclaiming our democracy, and ending the war in Iraq. For opportunity, equality, justice, and the idea of America.

This is the moral test of our generation. We can meet it. We will meet it. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Five years ago, the Bush Administration went to war with Iraq, a war we all know now we did not need to fight. Today, we see the results of that fateful decision -- a civil war with no end in sight... a black hole in our budget... and nearly 4,000 brave men and women in our military who have paid the ultimate price.

A famous philosopher once observed that those who don't remember history are condemned to repeat it. Unfortunately, the war in Iraq isn't even history yet, but the Bush Administration is repeating the march to war with Iran -- and they're getting help from people who should know a lot better.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the neocon warmongers used 9/11 to start a war with Iraq and now they're trying to use Iraq to start a war with Iran. And we have to stop them. We owe our American heroes -- the men and women in our armed services who are fighting so bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan today -- no less. Many of our soldiers are the same age as some of you here today -- or even younger. We owe them and their families this solemn oath: we will make every national security decision as carefully and responsibly as is humanly possible.

This is a critical moment. As a nation, we stand today at a fork in the road with Iran. We have a real choice about the direction we'll take. One path will replay the last seven years. It leads toward a dark future of belligerence, aggression, and war.

We need a new direction -- one that will defuse the Iran threat, rather than aggravate it, one that will make America safer, not make the world more dangerous.

To understand exactly what the administration is trying to do with Iran, we need to go back to the beginning of the Bush Administration and look at how they took us to war with Iraq.

In the spring of 2002, the nation was struggling to recover from the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11. At the same time, a group of Bush Administration neoconservatives, like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, were strategizing for ways to start a war with Iraq. And suddenly, instead of reacting to 9/11 by working to protect America from terrorists, they saw a political opportunity to promote their right-wing ideological agenda and demonize anyone who disagreed with them.

Here's what you have to know about these neocons -- they think might makes right, every time. They believe in domination, not debate. They think America should use our military power to impose our will wherever and whenever we want. They use a sledgehammer when we should use a scalpel.

And here's what you need to know about George Bush's foreign policy -- it's written by these neocons, lock, stock, and barrel.

So after 9/11, instead of focusing on the terrorist threat, George Bush started promoting a radical new neoconservative doctrine he called, quote, "preventive war" -- which would soon become part of his argument for war in Iraq.

Here's what they mean by preventive war -- if we see a possible threat, we go to war; we don't exhaust diplomatic, political, and economic options, we go straight to war. Under this Bush doctrine, military force is no longer the option of last resort.

By September of 2002, President Bush had included the new doctrine in his administration's National Security Strategy -- the document that guides our military in planning our defense. And then the next month, Congress voted to authorize the president to use force in Iraq. I was wrong to vote for this war. It was a mistake to give this president the authority to wage a reckless war in Iraq.

Now, I want to be very clear about something. I believe very strongly that any commander-in-chief must retain the right to respond with appropriate force when there's real intelligence about an imminent threat to America.

But there is a difference between doing everything in our power to keep America safe and a reckless, belligerent policy that actually makes us less safe. The preventive war doctrine was a stunning departure from the policy that had kept America safe during both world wars and during the Cold War. It is wrong on the merits, wrong on the morals, and wrong for America.

Harry Truman once said, "There is nothing more foolish than to think that war can be stopped by war. You don't 'prevent' anything other than peace."

That's exactly right. Think about it -- you don't prevent wars by starting them. It would be ridiculous if it weren't so dangerous.

This George Bush policy instead is, almost literally, "shoot first, ask questions later."

Armed with their preventive war doctrine, the administration used every excuse to march to war, when he should have taken every reasonable step to prevent war. And the war has backfired terribly. It damaged America's moral reputation, decreased our national security, and increased terrorism worldwide.

It will take years to repair the damage, and we must begin by ending the war in Iraq. It has now been exactly a year since the American people voted for a Democratic Congress that would end the war. Yet we still have the status quo.

When I am president, I will immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops, launch a diplomatic offensive to invest all local, national, and regional parties in the comprehensive political solution that will end the violence, and will completely withdraw all combat troops within 9 to 10 months.

The bottom line is simple -- no combat troops; no combat missions; no combat, period. Not sometime to be determined, not by 2013. By the end of my first year as president, by the end of 2009.

I believe every candidate for president owes the American people a clear and specific plan for ending the Iraq War, and I have done my part. You deserve to know exactly where we stand. With less than 60 days to the caucus, Senator Clinton has still not given specific answers to specific questions. How many troops will she withdraw, and when will she withdraw them? All she's said is that she will meet with her generals within two months of taking office. That's not a plan. That's not even a real promise. It's the promise of a planning meeting.

What's more, Senator Clinton wants to keep combat troops in Iraq to perform combat missions in Iraq. She will extend the war. I will end the war. Only in Washington would anybody believe that you can end the war and continue combat. On a matter as serious as Iraq, we need honesty and real answers -- not more double-talk.

And all of this is occurring in a very dangerous context -- when we badly need leadership that will stand up to the president. The neocons are once again preparing for war. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently told reporters that the administration has prepared "contingency plans" for attacks. George Bush has been rolling out reckless rhetoric, saying that "World War III" is just around the corner with Iran. And just over a week ago, Bush and Cheney declared the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.

We have seen this movie before. And it doesn't end well -- in fact, as we all know too well, in Iraq, it hasn't ended at all.

In order to declare the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization -- something we've never done before for a government-run militia -- Bush was supported by the Senate. Many in our party opposed this vote, like Senator Dodd and Senator Biden, and I applaud them for that. Unfortunately, some supported it. Senator Clinton once again sided with Bush and the neocons -- helping them rattle their sabers and build their case for another preventive war.

It's clear that Senator Clinton and I learned very different lessons from the run up to the Iraq war. I learned that if you give this president an inch, he will take a mile -- and launch a war. But Senator Clinton apparently learned a different lesson, and she's giving the administration exactly what it wants once again.

Senator Clinton is voting like a hawk in Washington, while talking like a dove in Iowa and New Hampshire. One of her advisors told the New York Times that was because she was shifting from primary mode to general election mode. Well, we only need one mode from our president -- tell the truth mode all the time.

So let me be clear.

We should take Iran very seriously. And as commander-in-chief, if I ever learn that any nation is threatening an imminent attack, I will do what's necessary to protect America.

But the one thing we absolutely should not be doing is launching another so-called "preventive war" with Iran. American and the world possess a powerful arsenal of diplomatic and economic options that have not yet been used, let alone exhausted.

We need to use all those tools to force President Ahmadinejad, the Ayatollah Khameini, and the mullahs to understand that their nuclear ambitions and their support of terrorism will put the Iran on a fast track to utter isolation.

We already know diplomacy can work with even the toughest foes. The few foreign policy successes of the Bush Administration have come through the diplomacy it derides. Both North Korea and Libya have given up their struggle for weapons of mass destruction. While we need to keep the pressure on to make sure these countries keep their promises, the progress so far shows what can be accomplished in Iran.

We need to increase the division between extremists and the Iranian population. Ahmadinejad is already unpopular in his country and has failed to meet his promises to reduce corruption and improve the economy.

This is a country that's ready for change.

Women in Tehran today put on clothing they want to wear under the burkhas and veils they are forced to wear. Iranians everywhere share a hunger for ideas and free expression, seen in Iran's thriving black market in great literature, new classics, and even western videos. And it is Iranians like many of you in this room -- young people, students -- who are leading the charge to undermine the stifling oppression of Ahmadinejad.

We need to let the people of Iran know that Ahmadinejad's extremism and pursuit of nuclear weapons will only hurt them and destroy their country's prospects for advancement.

We need, in short, a new strategy for Iran. My plan for Iran has five principles.

First and foremost, we need to ensure that the preventive war doctrine goes where it belongs -- the trash-heap of history. As he has done with so much else, Vice President Al Gore got it right about the preventive war doctrine. In 2002 -- the same year that George Bush introduced his preventive war doctrine -- Gore made a speech at the Commonwealth Club in California. He said, and I quote, "What this doctrine does is to destroy the goal of a world in which states consider themselves subject to law, particularly in the matter of standards for the use of violence against each other. That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the President of the United States."

These are especially chilling words to read five years later -- after Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, and the president's refusal to condemn torture, and they are particularly relevant to the situation with Iran.

I believe every candidate owes it to the American people to be very clear about where he or she stands on this question. As commander-in-chief, my national security policy will be based on deterrent strength and always protecting Americans -- in short, the use of force as a last resort.

As a part of this strategy, I will ask my National Security Advisor to remove President Bush's explicit endorsement of a preventive war doctrine from my National Security Strategies. And I will ask our Joint Chiefs of Staff to form military plans in accordance with proven national security strategies that we know can keep us and our allies safe -- not discredited and dangerous ideological fancies.

This strategy will keep America and our allies safe -- while showing the world we are once again a strong country that can always win war, but that prefers peace over war. Most importantly, it will restore our legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Everyone knows we're powerful. The question is what we use our power for -- and whether the rest of the world will once again see us as a force for good, rather than the bully we've become under Bush.

The second principle is to use bolder and more targeted economic sanctions to force Iran's leaders to understand that they cannot continue to buck the will of the international community without destroying their ability to be the modern, advanced nation they so desperately want to become.

There are smart sanctions that will achieve results, and there are reckless sanctions that will backfire and play into a policy of military attacks. The Bush-Cheney sanctions Senator Clinton supports are the most radical, unprecedented, and belligerent sanctions possible. These reckless sanctions will escalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran -- the thing Bush and Cheney most want -- and have other unintended consequences, such as higher oil prices.

Instead, we should pursue smarter sanctions that will force Iran's leaders to realize that their pursuit of nuclear weapons will shut down their economy, further isolate them from the world community, and make them a rogue nation for generations.

We must fully enforce the Iran Sanctions Act, a law Congress passed to let the president punish companies who do business with Iran's extremist regime. We must work multilaterally -- most importantly, with our Western European allies -- to strengthen economic sanctions on Iran. And we should shut down Iranian access to the American financial system. The Bush Administration recently banned two Iranian banks from accessing our system. However, Iranians can still do business through third parties and through other banks. This must stop.

The third principle of my plan is to use "carrots" -- diplomatic measures to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and re-join the world community. We should draw Iran into compliance through incentives including increased refinery capacity and a regional fuel bank that Iran could use for peaceful purposes.

And we need to use the possibility of bringing Iran into multilateral economic organizations, including the WTO, as a carrot for change.

The fourth principle of my policy is to reengage with Iran.

Even Republicans like Senator Hagel are now urging the president to open up communications with Iran. Communication is not a concession. After all, we talked to our great enemy, the Soviet Union, at the height of tensions during the Cold War.

We should begin building a new course of diplomatic relations with Iran by expanding low-level talks between government officials on both sides in a neutral country. The goal of these talks should be to find a path out of the log-jam created by the Bush Administration and, ultimately, to achieve full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

But we must always negotiate from a position of strength. Unlike President Bush, I believe we do need to meet with Iran. But any higher-level meeting should only happen if we verify that the meetings would promote America's national security interests and would not be used for propaganda or other improper purposes.

And the fifth and final principle is to reengage with other major nations on the challenge of Iran.

We must work with China and Russia on the problem of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Both nations have economic relationships with Iran on trade and energy. But both nations also have a strong interest in stability in the Middle East. And neither nation wants the nuclear club to expand. In the first year of my administration, I will convene a conference with my Secretary of State and representatives from the "E.U. 3" -- Great Britain, France, and Germany -- Russia, China and Iran, to discuss a way out of the stalemate of the Bush Administration.

The strategy I've described to you today is the right way to keep America strong while keeping the peace.

It is the right way to force Iran to forgo its nuclear ambitions.

And it is the right way to restore America's historic role as a leader of the world community -- through a combination of strength, vision, and reengagement with the world.

America needs a president who can guide America through a dangerous world, with the wisdom of history by our side.

America has gone through similar challenges before.

In his first inaugural speech, in 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected the failed Republican policy of military intervention in Latin America and Europe. Instead, he told the nation, we should "dedicate this Nation to the policy of the Good Neighbor . . . the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors."

That's the America we should be.

This is the great vision of our great presidents. It is the vision of a nation of honor. It is the vision of a nation of everyday heroes, like the brave men and women fighting every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it is the vision that guides me as I seek to be your president.

But I need your help. We can only rebuild America if we rebuild it together.

Together, we can restore our values to Washington, and restore America's moral authority to the world. Thank you for being with me here today. God bless you and God bless America.

And all of you know about some of the challenges we have faced in myfamily. But there came a time, a few months ago, when Elizabethand I had to decide, in the quiet of a hospital room, after manyhours of tests and getting pretty bad news -- what we were going todo with our lives.

And we made our decision. That we were not going to go quietly intothe night -- that we were going to stand and fight for what webelieve in.

As Elizabeth and I have campaigned across America, I've come to abetter understanding of what that decision really meant -- and whywe made it.

Earlier this year, I spoke at Riverside Church in New York, where,forty years ago, Martin Luther King gave a historic speech. Italked about that speech then, and I want to talk about it today.Dr. King was tormented by the way he had kept silent for two yearsabout the Vietnam War.

He was told that if he spoke out he would hurt the civil rightsmovement and all that he had worked for -- but he could not take itany more -- instead of decrying the silence of others -- he spokethe truth about himself.

"Over the past two years" he said, "I have moved to break thebetrayal of my own silence and speak from the burning of my ownheart."

I am not holier than thou. I am not perfect by any means. Butthere are events in life that you learn from, and which remind youwhat this is really all about. Maybe I have been freed from thesystem and the fear that holds back politicians because I havelearned there are much more important things in life than winningelections at the cost of selling your soul.

Especially right now, when our country requires so much more of us,and needs to hear the truth from its leaders.

And, although I have spent my entire life taking on the big powerfulinterests and winning -- which is why I have never taken a dime fromWashington lobbyists or political action committees -- I too havebeen guilty of my own silence -- but no more.

It's time to tell the truth. And the truth is the system inWashington is corrupt. It is rigged by the powerful specialinterests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. Andas a result, the American people have lost faith in our brokensystem in Washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinaryAmericans. They're right.

As I look across the political landscape of both parties today --what I see are politicians too afraid to tell the truth -- goodpeople caught in a bad system that overwhelms their good intentionsand requires them to chase millions of dollars in campaigncontributions in order to perpetuate their careers and continuetheir climb to higher office.

This presidential campaign is a perfect example of how our politicsis awash with money. I have raised more money up to this point thanany Democratic candidate raised last time in the presidentialcampaign -- $30 million. And, I did it without taking a dime fromany Washington lobbyist or any special interest PAC.

I saw the chase for campaign money at any cost by the frontrunner inthis race -- and I did not join it -- because the cost to our nationand our children is not worth the hollow victory of any candidate. Being called president while powerful interests really run thingsis not the same as being free to lead this nation as president of agovernment of the people, by the people, and for the people.If protecting the current established structure in Washington is inyour interest, then I am not your candidate. I ran for presidentfour years ago -- yes, in part out of personal ambition -- but alsowith a deep desire to stand for working people like my father andmother -- who no matter how hard things were for our family, alwaysworked even harder to make things better for us.

But the more Elizabeth and I campaigned this year, the more wetalked to the American people, the more we met people just like myfather, and hard working people like James Lowe. James is a decentand honest man who had to live for 50 years with no voice in therichest country in the world because he didn't have health care. The more people like him that I met, the more I realized somethingmuch bigger was stirring in the American people. And it has stirredin each of us for far too long.

Last month Ken Burns -- who made the great Civil War documentary --launched his newest epic on World War II on PBS -- and what a storyit tells.

At the cost of great suffering, blood and enormous sacrifice, withinfour years after Pearl Harbor it is incredible what this nationachieved. America built the arsenal of democracy worthy of ourgreat history. We launched the greatest invasion armada in thehistory of warfare against Hitler's fortress Europe, and, with ourallies, we freed a continent of suffering humanity.

At the same time on the other side of the globe we crossed 10,000miles of ocean and liberated another hemisphere of humanity --islands and nations freed from the grip of Japanese militarists. While at the same time succeeding in the greatest scientificendeavor ever undertaken -- the Manhattan project -- and topped itoff with building the Pentagon, one of the largest buildings in theworld in a little over a year.

It is incredible what America has accomplished. Because no matterwhat extraordinary challenges we have been faced with, we didexactly what America has always done in our history -- we rose tothe challenge.

And, now, as I travel across America and listen to people, I hearreal concern about what's going on. For the first time in ournation's history, people are worried that we're going to be thefirst generation of Americans not to pass on a better life to ourchildren.

And it's not the fault of the American people. The American peoplehave not changed. The American people are still the strong,courageous people they have always been. The problem is what ourgovernment has become. And, it is up to us to do something aboutit.

Because Washington may not see it, but we are facing a moral crisisas great as any that has ever challenged us. And, it is this test-- this moral test -- that I have come to understand is at the heartof this campaign.

Just look at what has happened in Iraq. What was the response ofthe American people to the challenge at hand? Our men and women inuniform have been heroes. They've done everything that's been askedof them and more. But what about our government? Four years afterinvading Iraq, we cannot even keep the lights on in Baghdad.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the American people were attheir best. They donated their time and their money in recordnumbers. There was an outpouring of support. I took 700 collegekids down to help -- young people who gave up their spring break. But what about our government? Three years after hurricane Katrinathousands of our fellow Americans, our brothers and sisters, arestill housed in trailers waiting to go home.

There's no better example of the bravery and goodness of theAmerican people than the response to the attacks of 9/11:firefighters and first responders risking and too often giving theirlives to save others, charging up the stairs while everyone else wascoming down; record bloodbank donations; and the list goes on. But what about our government? Six years after 9/11, at GroundZero there sits only a black hole that tortures our conscience andscars our hearts.

In every instance we see an American people who are good, decent,compassionate and undeterred. And, American people who are betterthan the government that is supposed to serve and represent them.

And what has happened to the American "can do" spirit? I will tellyou what has happened: all of this is the result of the bitterpoisoned fruit of corruption and the bankruptcy of our politicalleadership.

It is not an accident that the government of the United Statescannot function on behalf of its people, because it is no longer ourpeople's government -- and we the people know it.

This corruption did not begin yesterday -- and it did not even beginwith George Bush -- it has been building for decades -- until it nowthreatens literally the life of our democracy.

While the American people personally rose to the occasion with anenormous outpouring of support and donations to both the victims ofKatrina and 9/11 -- we all saw our government's neglect. And we sawgreed and incompetence at work. Out of more than 700 contractsvalued at $500,000 or greater, at least half were given without fullcompetition or, according to news sources, with vague or open endedterms, and many of these contracts went to companies with deeppolitical connections such as a subsidiary of Haliburton, BechtelCorp., and AshBritt Inc.

And in Iraq -- while our nation's brave sons and daughters put theirlives on the line for our country -- we now have mercenaries undertheir own law while their bosses sit at home raking in millions.

We have squandered millions on building Olympic size swimming poolsand buildings that have never been used. We have weapons andammunition unaccounted for that may now be being used against ourown soldiers. We literally have billions wasted or misspent --while our troops and their families continue to sacrifice. And thepolitically connected lobby for more. What's their great sacrifice-- higher profits.

It goes on every minute of every day.

Corporate executives at United Airlines and US Airways receivemillions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy,while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay.

Companies like Wal-Mart lobby against inspecting containers enteringour nation's ports, even though expert after expert agrees that thelikeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the United States is througha container, because they believe their profits are more importantthan our safety. What has become of America when America's largestcompany lobbies against protecting America?

Trade deals cost of millions of jobs. What do we get in return?Millions of dangerous Chinese toys in our children's cribs ladenwith lead. This is the price we are made to pay when tradeagreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits formultinational corporations instead of what is best for America'sworkers or the safety of America's consumers.

We have even gotten to the point where our children's safety ispotentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumedby our children comes from apples grown in China. And Americansare kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushedback country of origin labeling laws again and again.

This is not the America I believe in.

The hubris of greed knows no bounds. Days after the homelandsecurity bill passed, staffers from the homeland security departmentresigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. And, where was the outrage? There was none, because that's how itworks in Washington now. It is not a Republican revolving door or aDemocratic revolving door -- it is just the way it's done.

Someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure outhow to get rich when you leave the government.

Recently, I was dismayed to see headlines in the Wall Street Journalstating that Senate Democrats were backing down to lobbyists forhedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire andbillionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as everyhard-working American. Now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fundmanagers do not need or deserve are not going to be closed, allbecause Democrats -- our party -- wanted their campaign money.

And a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leadingpresidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as aHomeland Security themed event in Washington, D.C. targeted tohomeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. These lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special"treat" -- the opportunity to participate in small, hour longbreakout sessions with key Democratic lawmakers, many of whom chairimportant sub committees of the homeland security committee. Thatpresidential candidate was Senator Clinton.

Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detourright through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hiddenbidding of K Street in Washington -- and history tells us that whenthat bus stops there it is the middle class that loses.

When I asked Hillary Clinton to join me in not taking money fromWashington lobbyists -- she refused. Not only did she say that shewould continue to take their money, she defended them.

Today Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyiststhan any candidate from either party -- more money than anyRepublican candidate.

She has taken more money from the defense industry than any othercandidate from either party as well.

She took more money from Wall Street last quarter than RudyGiuliani, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama combined.

The long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abysscontinues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the bestinterests of America.

We have a duty -- a duty to end this.

I believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyistswho prevent change. You cannot take on the entrenched interests inWashington if you choose to defend the broken system. It will notwork. And I believe that, if Americans have a choice, and candidatewho takes their money -- Democrat or Republican -- will lose thiselection.

For us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend allthat we believe in. As Democrats, we continue down this path onlyif we believe the party of the people is no more.

As Americans, we continue down this path only if we fail to heedLincoln's warning to us all.

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected," heasked, "if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot -- we mustourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men wemust live through all time or die by suicide."

America lives because 20 generations have honored the one moralcommandment that makes us Americans.

To give our children a better future than we received.

I stand here today the son of Wallace and Bobbie Edwards. Thefather of Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack -- and I know, as well asyou, that we must not be the first generation that fails to live upto our moral challenge and keep the promise of America.

That would be an abomination.

There is a dream that is America. It is what makes us American. And I will not stand by while that dream is at risk.

I am not perfect -- far from it -- but I do understand that this isnot a political issue -- it is the moral test of our generation.

Our nation's founders knew that this moment would come -- that atsome point the power of greed and its influence over officials inour government might strain and threaten the very America they hopedwould last as an ideal in the minds of all people, and as a beaconof hope for all time.

That is why they made the people sovereign. And this is why it isyour responsibility to redeem the promise of America for ourchildren and their future.

It will not be easy -- sacrifice will be required of us -- but itwas never easy for our ancestors, and their sacrifices were fargreater than any that will fall on our shoulders.

Yet, the responsibility is ours.

We, you and I, are the guardians of what America is and what it willbe.

The choice is ours.

Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporateRepublicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynastyfor another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democraticversion of the Republican corruption machine.

It is the easier path. It is the path of the status quo. But, itis a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failedto deliver the change the American people demand, but has dividedAmerica into two -- one America for the very greedy, and one Americafor everybody else.

And it is that divided America -- the direct result of this corruptsystem -- which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned usof -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while nonenotice.

Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations ofAmericans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept thefaith.

I run for president for my father who worked in a mill his entirelife and never got to go to college the way I did.

I run for president for all those who worked in that mill with myfather.

I run for president for all those who lost their jobs when that milwas shut down.

I run for president for all the women who have come up to Elizabethand me and told us the like Elizabeth they had breast cancer -- butunlike Elizabeth they did not have health care.

I run for president for twenty generations of Americans who madesure that their children had a better life than they did.

As Americans we are blessed -- for our ancestors are not dead, theyoccupy the corridors of our conscience. And, as long we keep thefaith -- they live. And so too the America of idealism and hopethat was their gift to us.

I carry the promise of America in my heart, where my parents placedit. Like them, like you, I believe in people, hard work, and thesacred obligation of each generation to the next.

This is our time now. It falls to use to redeem our democracy,reclaim our government and relight the promise of America for ourchildren.

Let us blaze a new path together, grounded in the values from whichAmerica was forged, still reaching toward the greatness of ourideals. We can do it. We can cast aside the bankrupt ways ofWashington and replace them with the timeless values of the Americanpeople. We can liberate our government from the shackles ofcorporate money that bind it to corporate will, and restore thevoices of our people to its halls.

This is the cause of my life. This is the cause of our time. Joinme. Together, we cannot fail.

We will keep faith with those who have gone before us, strong andproud in the knowledge that we too rose up to guard the promise ofAmerica in our day, and that, because we did, America's best daysstill lie ahead.

We all need role models, and Doug is one in my book. I think role models are people who wake up every morning, work hard and do the right thing to build a better life for themselves and their family.

That’s what Doug has done, and that’s what lots of hard-working men and women here in Des Moines and all across this country do every day. In America, that should be enough to get ahead. But today, it’s barely enough to squeak by.

That is not the way it’s supposed to be. I know, because I’ve experienced the way it is supposed to be in my own life.

I was born in a small town in South Carolina. When I was born, my parents had to borrow $50 to take me home from the hospital. But when I was growing up, they taught me that if I worked hard and played by the rules, I could be anything I wanted to be. I went to good public schools, where I had teachers who helped me learn to believe in myself. Then I had the chance to go to college, and that has made all the difference in my life.

This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because in America, there is a grand social compact – anyone who is willing to work hard and do the right thing should have the opportunity to share in our nation’s prosperity. In good times, a rising tide will lift all boats; in tough times, it’s all hands on deck to set things right.

Over the course of our history, every generation of Americans has helped to expand the reach of that compact, moving us ever closer to the America of our ideals, where opportunity is truly shared by all. But now, instead of expanding further, our social compact is falling apart.

The statistics say our economy is growing, that the economic tide is rising. But if you look around, only the yachts are rising with it. Everyone else is taking on water. Profits are skyrocketing on Wall Street, but Main Street is drowning under waves of cost and debt.

The truth is our economy is only growing at the top. Forty percent of the economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top one percent of American families. Middle-class incomes have stagnated for the past seven years. Families are working longer hours, but finding it harder to get by. And for the 37 million Americans living in poverty, things are only getting worse.

But not everyone is struggling. In corporate America, where a broader sense of social responsibility once held sway, a culture of greed has taken over. Instead of treating their employees fairly, being accountable to their shareholders and contributing to America’s prosperity, CEOs are acting like their corporations exist primarily to build their own massive fortunes.

In 1960, the average CEO made 41 times what the average worker made. But in 2005, the average CEO made over 400 times the average worker salary. The share of corporate profits going to CEO pay has doubled since the 1990s. Meanwhile, the value of the minimum wage has plummeted 30 percent since 1979.

What does Washington do while corporate profits climb and the wealth of the very wealthiest grows – all at the expense of the vast majority of hardworking Americans? It circles the wagons around the people who are already doing the best. Instead of protecting the compact of equal opportunity and shared prosperity, Washington protects corporate profits and hoards prosperity.

That is wrong, it is shameful, and it is bad for our economy to boot. As Franklin Roosevelt said, “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals. We know now that it is bad economics.”

Unfortunately, this is no accident. Today, our economy is designed to benefit the wealthy and the powerful because it has been manipulated by the wealthy and the powerful.

The system in Washington is badly broken. It used to be that big business hired lobbyists and lawyers to help them get around the rules. That was bad enough – but today, they hire them to write the rules. And it works, because the politicians who are supposed to make the rules are indebted to the lobbyists that the corporations hire.

The folks at the top tell us that this is how it’s supposed to be in the global economy. They tell us that we should accept the fact that we’re losing millions of jobs overseas because it’ll make us more efficient. They tell us not to worry that middle-class wages are stagnating while corporate profits soar, because those profits will be reinvested. And they tell us not to be concerned that plants like the on in Newton that Doug worked for are closing, because it’s just a reallocation of resources.

You don’t need a business degree to know that these things hurt the middle class. And America cannot be getting stronger if its middle class is getting weaker.

Enough is enough. We don’t need any more doubletalk. We need straight talk. We don’t need any more empty promises. We need to restore one promise – the promise of America, and the social compact that built the greatest economy in the world.

Corporations and powerful interests have run roughshod over regular middle-class families here in Iowa and all across America because that social compact has broken down.

As globalization, technology and demographic change have transformed our economy, corporations have adapted to protect their own interests. But Washington has not adapted the social compact to protect the interests of the middle class. Today, we are living in a 21st century economy, but asking our workers to compete with a 20th century set of tools.

We can fix this. We can restore the social compact, just as generations before us have restored it in their time.

But to do that, we have to do two things. First, we need to modernize the compact in the face of today’s new economic realities. Instead of relying on a single employer to provide for its workers for life, we need universal health care and universal retirement savings accounts that follow workers from job to job.

Second, to restore the balance of power to the compact, we need to hold corporations accountable for serving the interests of workers and customers, not just corporate insiders, with stronger corporate responsibility laws and consumer protections.

Updating the social compact with the middle class starts with recognizing that times have changed. We are never going back to the 1950s – we need a new social compact that works in the 21st century.

The first thing we need to do is to make affordable, high-quality health care a part of that compact. This should have been done sixty years ago, when Harry Truman tried to enact universal health care. He was blocked by short-sighted special interests then, just as Senator Clinton was blocked by special interests when she tried to enact her health care plan in 1993.

I say it’s time we stood up to those lobbyists and the special interests they work for. Forty-seven million Americans without health insurance is an abomination, and it needs to end. As president, universal health care will be my number one domestic priority.

We also need to adapt the compact to the new, short-term nature of the modern work environment by providing Americans with pensions they can take with them from job to job.

In the past, it was common for someone to stay with the same company for their entire career. And so it made sense for pensions to be connected to employers. Today, the average worker will probably hold jobs with multiple companies throughout the course of his or her career. So if you depend on your employer for retirement security, you’re just one layoff away from a crisis.

As president, I will create a new universal retirement account requiring every business to automatically enroll its workers in at least one plan: a traditional pension, a 401(k), or an IRA. Workers will be able to choose to have their contributions deducted automatically from their paychecks, and they will be able to carry these accounts with them from job to job.

I will also help families save for retirement by creating new “Get Ahead” credits that will match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $500 in savings a year. These credits will double what families are able to put away each year.

We also need to ensure that corporations honor the pension promises they’ve made to workers. We can’t allow fundamentally healthy companies to go into bankruptcy just to avoid keeping their promises to employees, or to emerge from bankruptcy with millions for executives and nothing for workers. As president, I’ll give workers a claim for lost pensions, just like lost wages.

To make sure that this compact stays intact, we need to fix the balance of power between big corporations and the American people. The American people created corporations to increase our shared prosperity as a nation. But from the way things are going today, you’d think that the American people were created to serve corporations.

Restoring the balance of power starts with restoring democracy in the workplace.

History has taught us that the best way to fix the unfair treatment of American workers is to strengthen organized labor. Throughout the last century, unions helped build America’s strong middle-class. But today, the right to organize is being routinely ignored by businesses who know they will face little or no penalty for doing so.

I believe that if a person can join the Republican or Democratic Party simply by signing his or her name to a card, then any worker in America ought to be able to join a union just as easily.

Restoring the balance of power also means reigning in the culture of corporate greed.

The crisis in corporate governance today is being driven by abuse from insiders. But it has not always been this way. American companies used to have a strong sense of obligation both to their workers and to America’s well-being. Henry Ford knew that his company would prosper only if his own workers earned enough to actually buy the Fords they produced.

Of course, there are still some good CEOs out there, one of whom is my great friend and very long-time supporter Jim Sinegal, the founder and CEO of Costco.

Jim was asked why Costco offers better wages and benefits than all of its rivals – especially its most direct competitor, Wal-Mart. He said simply, “You get what you pay for. If you hire good people, pay them good wages and provide good jobs and careers, good things will happen in your business.”

We need more people like Jim in corporate America today. Because the success of our own economy, as well as our leadership in the global economy, demands that we uphold the values our country stands for: fair rewards for work, sound business and environmental practices, and fairness to all stakeholders.

Whether it’s the workers on the factory floor, service workers in a hospital, or people around the globe looking to America as an example, hard-working people everywhere should see that America’s corporate culture reflects the core values that our nation was built upon. They should see that America is about creating long-term, sustainable economic value that its citizens can depend on. Because if we can be an example for the world, we can leverage our strength in the global marketplace to ensure fairness and prosperity not just here at home, but in trading nations everywhere.

To start reforming America’s corporate culture, we should increase transparency so that the public can see what corporations are doing. As president, I will enact a new law requiring all businesses to disclose a wealth of new and important information in annual reports to their shareholders, the appropriate government regulator, and to the public. I will also give shareholders new rights and responsibilities so that they can call shareholder meetings, remove directors who are doing bad jobs, and have a say on executive pay.

Today, too many companies in America are putting far too much of their earnings into excessive CEO and executive pay, when this money could be going to increased worker salaries, better benefits, and investments in plant and equipment. As president, I will immediately cap untaxed deferred compensation for executives and strengthen shareholder rights to rein in excessive pay.

And decades of de-regulation in Washington have weakened consumer protection laws, leaving Americans vulnerable to malfeasance and abuse by corporations, banks, and lenders.

Responsible regulation is good for American business, the American economy and American families. As president, I will make sure that the things we bring into our homes won’t harm our families, by ensuring the safety of imported food and drugs, strengthening toy and other product safety and protecting families from toxic chemicals.

The cynics would have you believe that none of what I’ve talked about here today is possible. They’d say we can’t have leaders who will be straight with you anymore. They’d say that an economy based on shared prosperity has gone the way of the Model T.

Well, I’m here to tell you they’re wrong. Our nation has gotten off track before. But every time that has happened, the American people stood up and demanded that it be fixed. They demanded that our leaders make the right decisions. And if their leaders didn’t, they elected ones who would.

In America today, we need action measured by conviction, not just words. In this election, you face a choice between honest leadership and say anything politics, between conviction and calculation, between strength and compromise.

Let me tell you something: it takes strength to say “no” to the lobbyists and special interests – it’s much easier to just go along to get along. But I will never compromise my principles for the sake of politics. I’ve been saying “no deal” to the big corporations, the special interests, and the lobbyists who work for them my entire life.

John F. Kennedy once said, “The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated.”

Isn’t that the America we want? I believe it is. And we can have it, because throughout our history, one constant has remained: if the American people stand together, if we fight together and if we vote together, we can change this country.

Because no matter how corrupt Washington gets, it cannot change the fact that the strength of this country does not lie with the politicians in Washington. It does not lie with the lobbyists on K Street, or the special interests they work for. It lies with all of you.

We can change this country. Our time is now. So stand with me today. And together, let’s fix this country.

Thank you. God bless you.

Thank you. Good to see all of you.

There’s been a lot of talk up here in New Hampshire about change lately. But change is just a word when it’s not backed up by real action. Anybody can say it. It’s what you do that shows whether you really mean it.

To actually create change, we should start by telling the truth.

Here’s the truth: the system in Washington is broken. Money is corrupting our democracy. Lobbyists and the special interests they represent are pouring millions of dollars into the system, and stopping the change we need dead in its tracks.

Our founding fathers intended our government to do the will of the people. But today, it’s doing the will of the special interests instead.

The cynics say that it will always be this way. They say that the kind of big, bold change we need today can’t be achieved, and we just shouldn’t try.

But you can’t listen to them. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again. Throughout our history, there have been times when good people have had to take the power back from the powerful interests. This is one of those times.

A century ago, the system was broken, too. Powerful business interests established control over the biggest sectors of the American economy. Men like Rockefeller and Carnegie colluded to control prices, eliminate competition, and manipulate the free market in the name of their own narrow interests.

Then as now, the American people knew the system was broken. And they had the same choice that we have today: accept it, or demand change.

We all know what happened. They demanded change, and elected a leader named Theodore Roosevelt to deliver it.

Because of Roosevelt’s leadership, the coming decades were known as the “American Century,” and in it we built the biggest, strongest, most prosperous middle class in history.

Today, once again, powerful special interests have established control over our democracy. But what we face today is not a monopoly of control over our economy – it is a monopoly of influence over our government.

We can fix this broken system, as generations before us fixed the problems they faced in their time. But we need a leader who won’t accept the corruption in Washington. We need a leader strong enough to say “No” to money from lobbyists and special interests. We need a leader who will fight for the big change we need to see.

To clean up our government, you have to do two things. You have to be committed to changing the system. And you have to run a campaign that does not take money from lobbyists or special interests – so you are not beholden to the people who are corrupting our system by the time you get to Washington.

You can’t do one without the other. You have to do both. In this election, more than any other, the candidate who stands with the special interests will lose.

I have fought the special interests my entire life. As a lawyer, I defended hard-working Americans during the toughest times of their lives against the big corporations that were trying to victimize them.

As a United States Senator, I unseated a corrupt Republican incumbent in a red state – because the voters knew that I would fight for them, and not the special interests.

Now, I am running for president to end the corrupt system in Washington, and return the power of this government back to the hard-working people of America.

And I am refusing to take money from lobbyists and special interests – because if there’s one thing I’ve learned out here on the campaign trail, it’s that the American people are looking for more than just talk about change. They are looking for a leader who will back up their words with action.

The American people are sick and tired of business as usual. The status quo and the Washington establishment will not get us the change we need.

When I was in Congress, I saw what business as usual looked like. Sometimes it’s blatant – like the time current House Minority Leader John Boehner handed out checks from big tobacco companies to lawmakers on the floor of the House of Representatives. Or the time someone offered $100,000 to Congressman Nick Smith’s son’s campaign in exchange for a vote.

But usually, it’s more subtle. The influence peddlers buy seats at the table where decisions are made. They explain their special needs to politicians, in their offices and at cocktail parties. And they surround them with hand-picked experts who will back up their case.

The problem is that one side of the argument usually has all the money and all the manpower. It’s like a courtroom where only one side of the case is being argued.

If you want to see how the special interests get their way, just look at the universal health care bill that Senator Clinton tried to get passed in the 1990s. At first, the American people supported her proposal. But then the health insurance companies deployed armies of lobbyists to Capitol Hill to pressure lawmakers. They spent millions of dollars on television ads. And they won.

I believe Senator Clinton deserves credit for her effort. Her plan wasn’t perfect, but it included a lot of good ideas. The place where she and I differ is the lessons we’ve learned since then.

She seems to think that you should still give lobbyists a seat at the table. I think if you give them a seat at the table, they’ll eat all the food.

She seems to think you can talk about ending the influence of lobbyists, but still take millions of dollars from them. I believe that if you are serious about ending the influence of lobbyists, you have to stop taking their money.

When I challenged her on this, she responded by defending the system. I don’t think you can talk about changing America, and then turn around and defend the broken system in Washington.

And I think if you are going to talk about ending the influence of special interests, you can’t turn around and hold a fundraiser where you bring the special interests together with the very lawmakers they are trying to influence.

This is the poster child for what is wrong with politics today. Politicians try to have it both ways: they talk about changing the system, but then conduct business as usual.

The American people need a president who will be straight with them – who will be honest about the greatest challenges our government faces. And one of the most important of those is the looming Social Security crisis. First, Senator Clinton said she would just wait for things to get better. Now, she has apparently told some people that she really supports my idea of asking people who make more than $200,000 a year to contribute a little more.

I don't believe open government means popular answers in public and honest candor in private.

Part of the reason the system is broken is that the special interests are winning many fights behind the scenes, before the American people ever hear about them.

Just a few days ago, the hedge fund industry won a behind-the-scenes war to kill a bill that would have plugged a loophole that funnels billions of dollars into the pockets of some of the highest-paid people in America.

The hedge fund industry hired more than 20 lobbying firms – corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats. At the same time, they stepped up their campaign contributions, to remind politicians what they would be missing if they didn’t play along.

Of course, Congress dropped the bill, and left the loophole wide open. This happens all the time in Washington. Measures that lobbyists oppose just fall off the schedule.

Look at the debate over global warming. Earlier this year, over 2,000 of the world’s top client scientists released a report that concluded with at least 90 percent certainty that global warming is happening, and that man-made greenhouse gases are a major cause.

This is the same group that is sharing the Nobel Prize with Vice President Al Gore. But the facts in their report were not the facts that the big oil companies wanted to hear. So a conservative think tank funded by ExxonMobil offered scientists $10,000, plus travel and other expenses, to undermine the facts in the report to politicians on Capitol Hill. It was no wonder that the energy bill that passed Congress did not include a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Are you seeing a pattern here? The American people want change. But the special interests see change as a threat to their profits. So they hire lobbyists, step up their campaign contributions – and block the change that people want. In Washington, that’s the way the game is played.

*****

Well, I say it’s time we end this game. This government belongs to the American people. It’s time we put the power back in their hands. That is why today, I am proposing the One Democracy Initiative, to end the power of the special interests, restore our democracy, and start building One America.

The first thing we have to do is cut off special interests’ ability to influence campaigns with their money, and increase the power of regular people.

Right now, any individual can donate up to $2,300 to a campaign. That means candidates are spending their time glad-handing with the tiny fraction of Americans who can write a $2,300 check. As president, I would rewrite the rules to put small donors in charge by matching the first $100 of donations at a rate of 8-to-1. Under my plan, two $100 checks will be worth the same as one $1,000 check – and no one will be allowed to give more than $1,000.

But I will not stop there. With all the money that is flooding into this race, you would think it was an auction, not an election. I have decided to take public financing – which will help my campaign raise money from small donors, and make a statement about my independence from big donors.

This is another place where Senator Clinton and I part ways. We have both said we support the public financing of campaigns as the best way to get special interest money out of our elections. I have backed up my words with actions, and challenged her to do the same.

She hasn’t yet, but I hope she will. If she is not going to take public financing, I believe the American people deserve to know why she says she believes in the public financing system, but will not participate in it.

Unlike Senator Clinton, I have also never taken a dime from federal lobbyists or political action committees, because I know that money comes with strings attached. I think that should be the rule, not the exception. As president, I will prohibit all candidates and federal office holders from accepting contributions from lobbyists.

All this money is making it extremely difficult for non-wealthy candidates to run. I believe that a high-school teacher here in Keene, or a nurse in Manchester, should have the same opportunity to run for Congress as a lawyer from North Carolina. I believe everyone should have the same chance to run for office as I had.

But today, the cost of even a congressional campaign is climbing into the millions. Unfortunately, our broken system helps create the perception that to run for office, you either need to be very wealthy or willing to be very bought by the special interests.

As president, I will fix this by creating a public financing option for Congressional candidates that would give all candidates equal budgets and equal airtime. That way, regular Americans just like the people in this room can run for office without having to cozy up to big contributors.

*****

We also need to restore confidence in our democracy. In America, everyone’s vote should count the same. But after the vote-counting fiascoes of recent years, we need to reassure people that their vote will be counted correctly. As president, I will require that all voting machines, including electronic ones, use paper ballots that can be verified by voters.

We also need to make sure that all of our citizens are able to participate in our democracy, and have the representation they deserve. We need to end the disenfranchisement of residents of Washington, D.C., and give D.C. residents a vote in Congress. We also need to end the disenfranchisement of former prisoners who have served their time. And we need to end the voter suppression and intimidation that has been reported in recent elections.

I believe in the wisdom of the American people, and I think the more power they have in our democracy, the better our country will be. That’s why every two years, I will ask one million citizens to come together to tackle our toughest issues in local forums across the nation.

These Citizen Congresses will combine old-fashioned town halls with 21st century technology. They will give regular Americans a chance to speak to each other, and to their elected officials in Washington, without the filters of interest groups and the media.

Like so much of what Washington needs, this idea of grassroots democracy is already working out in the real world, in towns just like this one.

Right here in New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Study Circle has brought hundreds of regular people together for over a decade to work out issues – from school redistricting to ending racial profiling to the city’s 10-year plan. And the November 5th Coalition is working to raise awareness of local democracy and promote a new generation of citizen-centered work.

*****

That is the promise of our democracy: that everyday, hard-working Americans and their families can come together and exercise their democratic power to change this country for the better.

But to give them that power, we need to do more than just clean up our elections. We also need to break the link between K Street and Capitol Hill.

The bread and butter of wealthy lobbyists are earmarks – taking money from the U.S. Treasury and sending it directly to their clients through spending bills. Top lobbyists earn millions this way. I will end that practice with a constitutional version of the line-item veto, where the president can require an up or down vote on any spending item he deems irresponsible or inappropriate

We also need to close the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street. I will reinstate the five-year ban on lobbying by former top government officials. President Bill Clinton passed that ban, but then he cancelled it in his last days in office. I will reenact it by statute so no president can rescind it again.

We also need to bar federal lobbyists from setting policy over their former industries. When I’m president, there will be no more foxes guarding the henhouse. If you want to see whether another candidate really stands for change, ask them whether they will do the same.

*****

The way Washington is rushing to do the bidding of special interests these days, you would think that they were the ones that made America great. But they’re not. The hard-working men and women of America, like the people in this room, are the ones who made this country great.

I’ve talked a lot about what I will do as president to fix the broken system in Washington. But you all have a role to play in this, too.

The status quo will only continue if you let it. It will continue if you look the other way while people defend a system we all know is broken. It will continue if you settle for replacing a bunch of corporate Republicans with a bunch of corporate Democrats.

The status quo will continue if you let it – but it will change if you demand it.

That is why I am challenging you today: be vigilant. Remember that democracy does not defend itself. Every generation has to fight to fulfill the promise of America – of a nation where everyone is equal, and the government responds to the will of the people.

We are the great nation we are today because the generations that went before us stood up and fixed our democracy when it was broken. Today, that responsibility falls on all of us.

My youngest daughter, Emma Claire, is 9 years old. Many of you may have children or grandchildren around that age.

If we join together, starting today, and demand change, think about how different this country could be by the time they are out of high school.

We could be living in an America where every man, woman and child is guaranteed high-quality health care.

An America where we are finally working to halt global warming, develop clean fuels and end our addiction to foreign oil. An America on the road to ending poverty, with the American dream becoming a new reality for millions of hard-working Americans. An America where we have restored our moral leadership in the world.

But to reach that America tomorrow, we need to rise to the challenges we face today. No matter what the cynics say, if we join together and fight for real change, we can restore our democracy, and make our government work again.

So don’t settle for more of the same. Don’t settle for a broken system that ignores your cries for change.

Demand better. Let’s be the generation that restores our democracy. Let’s be the generation that returns the power of our government back to the people. Let’s be the generation that restores our nation to greatness. Let’s be the change we want to see.

This is our government. This is our America. And this is our moment to take it back. Stand with me today. And together, we can change this country.

Thank you, and God bless.

Thank you for having me here today. Thank you.

On a beautiful, bright September day almost six years ago, a group of 19 men stepped onto four airplanes, intending to kill as many people as they could, intending to terrorize America. Just a few blocks from here, the hijackers crashed their terrible ideology into the American dream.

Nearly 3,000 Americans died on that horrible day in New York City, in Arlington, Virginia, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They were bankers and busboys, secretaries and firemen, and they were all our brothers and sisters.

Their sacrifice is a harsh and lasting reminder of what must become one of the great goals of our generation—the need to protect our citizens from these horrors, to root out and shut down terrorist cells wherever they fester, to remove the poverty and instability that give radicalism a toehold, and to make terrorism utterly unacceptable among nations everywhere, for all time.

In August of 2001, while George Bush was in Crawford ignoring memos about the threat from Al Qaeda, I authored an op-ed in which I named terrorism as the most vital national security challenge our country would face in the coming years. I still believe that today.

The world stood united behind America after 9/11. But instead of leading a truly visionary campaign against global terrorism, our president led America down a garden path. He used the attacks to justify a preconceived war against a nation he now admits had no ties to Al Qaeda. He then offered belligerence and hostility to the world community, and we have been rewarded in kind.

President Bush, like the Republicans following him today and even some Democrats, was stuck in the past, and he still is. He had no grasp of the new threats we faced, so he failed to offer a vision to keep us safe in a world that had changed. Saddam Hussein was the threat he knew, so Iraq was the war he waged.

We needed new thinking and a bold vision to protect the world for our children; instead, George Bush literally gave us his father's war—but without his father's allies or his father's sense of decency. What's more and what's worse, the so-called "war on terror" he used as his excuse for war in Iraq became his excuse for trampling our Constitution and, most perversely, for ignoring the demands of the actual struggle against terrorism. Because in George Bush's reality, disagreement is called weak, challenge is suspect, and opposition downright unpatriotic.

Six years later, the devastating consequences of the Bush "war on terror" doctrine are so clear that his own Administration has had to admit them.

A recent National Intelligence Estimate found that Al Qaeda is now as strong as it was before 9/11. In a recent survey of America's most respected foreign policy experts, the vast majority said the world is becoming more dangerous for Americans and the United States. The State Department recently released a study showing that terrorism has increased worldwide 25 percent in 2006, including a 40 percent surge in civilian fatalities.

And as everyone here knows, Osama bin Laden is still at large. Six years ago, President Bush declared that he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive." This is his starkest failure. Apparently, bin Laden plans to address America on the anniversary of 9/11. But I don't need to wait and hear what this murderer has to say. My position is clear. I can make you this solemn promise: as president, I will never rest until we have hunted bin Laden down and served him justice.

George Bush's approach to terrorism has not only failed to make the world safer. It has demolished the foundation of America's foreign policy: our relationships with other countries. In the first Gulf War, our allies shared the cost of troops, casualties, and funding. But in the current Iraq War, the Bush approach left us largely on our own, bearing almost all of the burden.

Tragically for America and the world, George Bush's "war on terror" approach walked directly into the trap the terrorists set for us. Islamic extremists wanted to frame the conflict with the U.S. as a war of civilizations, and the Bush Administration, stuck in a Cold War mentality, happily complied.

There is now only one key question we must ask ourselves: are we any closer to getting rid of terrorism than we were six years ago? And the terrible answer is no, we're further away. Today, terrorism is worse in Iraq, and it's worse around the world. So what does all this mean? It means the results are in on George Bush's so-called "global war on terror" and it's not just a failure, it's a double-edged failure.

The Bush approach hasn't only made the terror problem worse. The Administration has rigidly stuck to outdated approaches that are ineffective against the modern terrorist threat. We need a counterterrorism policy that will actually counter terrorism. That matches 21st century threats with 21st century tactics. That replaces Cold War thinking designed to defeat a single, implacable enemy with new world thinking that can defeat a multi-national, diverse, and often hidden foe—not just now, but for the long-term. That's strong, fast, and hard enough to stop terrorists cold, but also smart, honest, and prescient enough to draw people away from terrorism in the first place.

And to do all of this, we must do one thing. We've got to throw away the failed George Bush policies of the past, and move in a bold new direction.

Instead of Cold War institutions designed to win traditional wars and protect traditional borders, we need new institutions designed to share intelligence, cooperate across borders, and take out small, hostile groups.

Instead of a foreign policy of convenience that readily does business with whoever is available and regularly turns a blind eye when our allies behave wrongly or fail to cooperate, we need a new foreign policy of conviction that requires cooperation in exchange for our support, whether it's arms sales, trade, or foreign aid.

Instead of an exclusively short-term focus on the enemy we know, we need a long-term strategy to win the minds of those who are not yet our enemies, by offering education, democracy, and opportunity in place of radicalism, hatred and fear.

Most of all, instead of a reckless, solo pursuit of an ideological agenda that abandons our moral authority and disregards our allies, we need to reengage with the world and reassert our moral leadership.

In a few short days, we will all take time to remember 9/11. This year, we should all make the anniversary not only a time of mourning, but of reflection on the very real choices we face.

We learned on 9/11 the consequences of not dealing with the threat of terrorism. You will have a very real choice to make in this election, and the choice will have consequences. You and your children will have to live with the decisions we make in the next four years.

There is no doubt that some progress has been made. We should thank the professionals who have uncovered plots like the one on John F. Kennedy Airport.