President Obama's Speech

This was an incredible speech. It draws from FDR, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Reinhold Niebuhr, some of the President's main influences. It makes the case for the use of force from the Democratic perspective. Nearly everyone has praised it, expect for conservative talk radio crackpots and John Bolton, who disdains international cooperation.

Here are my favorite quotes:

“Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.”
“Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.”
“To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”
“The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms.”
“So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.’
‘I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That's why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.”
“We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.”
“For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.”
“if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.”
“And yet too often, these words are ignored. For some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are somehow Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation's development.”
“Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace.”
“We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran.”
“Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights -- it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.”
“Even those of us with the best of intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.”
“We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place.”
“The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached -- their fundamental faith in human progress -- that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.”
“Let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.”