Obama's speech at Clintons Global Initiative [CGI]

Complete Text of speech. Below is not the full speech, as numerous paragraphs were dedicated to ass kissing.

I first saw it in my mother -- she was an anthropologist who dedicated her life to understanding and improving the lives of the rural poor, from Indonesia to Pakistan.  Whether working with USAID or the Asian Development Bank, the Ford Foundation, Bank Rakyat in Jakarta or Women's World Banking here in New York, she championed the cause of women's welfare and helped pioneer the micro loans that have helped lift millions from poverty.

She pioneered micro loans? Really?

My mother understood that whether you live in the foothills of Java or the skyscrapers of Manhattan, we all share common principles; justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. And we all share common aspirations, for ourselves and our children: to get an education, to work with dignity, and to live in peace and security.

That's where I first saw that spirit. That's who planted it in me. And I saw this spirit again when I moved to Chicago, working as a community organizer on some of the poorest streets in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States; in neighborhoods devastated by steel plant closings, I worked with local churches to help people in need. And change didn't come easy, but with a lot of time and effort, it did come -- block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.

That's when I learned that real progress does not just come from the top down, not just from government, it comes from the bottom up -- from people. (Applause.) If you want to bring about change in the world, you can't just be an advocate of somebody else doing it. You can't just preach lofty goals and wait for somebody else act. You have to step up. You have to serve.

Who "fixed" the problems in these poor communities you were a community organizer Mr. President? Was it not from those on top and from the government?

I've seen this spirit of service in my wife Michelle -- one of the millions of people whose lives has been touched by
AmeriCorps, created by President Clinton. She left her job at a law firm to be the founding director of an AmeriCorps program in Chicago that trains young people for careers in public service.  I've seen the transformation that occurs -- in their lives, in hers -- when people are empowered to live their dreams.

Thanks for reminding me about Michelle and Americrop, seems like she's still has her heart there.

And that's the spirit that's represented here tonight -- in the difference that CGI members have made around the world. The greenhouse gases you've cut. The entrepreneurs you've empowered with micro loans.  All the people, many of them children, you've helped to lead healthier, more productive lives -- more than 200 million in more than 150 countries.

If only you thought the micro loans worked the same way in the U.S. as compared to the really, really, big loans to those that are to big to fail.

Reckless speculation in any financial sector of the world, or someone's failure to pay a mortgage in Florida, can contribute to a global recession that undermines all of us.  Poverty in Somalia, the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the northbound flow of drugs from Colombia and the southbound flow of American guns and cash into Mexico -- all this fuels violence that endangers each and every one of us. A flu that starts in one country can become a pandemic that sickens millions.

Guess he didn't get the memo about Mexico and U.S. guns.

In short, we need a new spirit of global partnership.  And that is exactly the spirit that guides this organization; I hope that it is the spirit that guides my administration.

Here at home, we've summoned the American people to a new era of service: launching a historic expansion of community service; more than tripling the size of AmeriCorps; creating a new model -- an innovation fund to bring together nonprofits, foundations, the private sector and government to find the community solutions that work, to fund them and then replicate them across America.

Was that summoned, mandatory or forced? Ya, we heard you say this before:

In short, we're renewing development as a key element of American foreign policy -- not by lecturing and imposing our ideas, but by listening and working together; by seeking more exchanges between students and experts; new collaborations among scientists to promote technological development; partnerships between businesses, entrepreneurs to advance prosperity and opportunity for people
everywhere.

Man, he just can give a speech without pointing out some real or imagined failing of the U.S. prior to his own administration taking over. I guess all the HIV/AIDS policies for Africa that Bush advocated was just him imposing his own ideas on them.