Hope

I've never been more hopeful about our future
I have never been more hopeful about America
And I ask you to sustain that hope
I'm not talking about blind optimism,
The kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead
Or the road blocks that stand in our path
I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us
To just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists,
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better
Awaits us so long as we have the courage
To keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting

I believe we can keep the promise of our founding,
The idea that if you're willing to work hard,
It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from
Or what you look like or where you love
It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian
Or Native American or young or old or rich or poor,
Abled, disabled, gay or straight
You can make it here in America

I believe we can seize this future together
Because we are not as divided as our politics suggests
We're not as cynical as the pundits believe
We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions
And we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states
We are, and forever will be, the United States of America
And together, with your help and God's grace,
We will continue our journey forward and remind the world
Just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth
Thank you, America