Obama Highlights National Service
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) Barack Obama used the impending Fourth of July holiday today as a backdrop to highlight his national service plan, which includes expanding AmeriCorps and doubling the size of the Peace Corps.
"Loving your country shouldn't just mean watching fireworks on the 4th of July," Obama said at the University of Colorado. "Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. If you do, your life will be richer, and our country will be stronger."
Today's speech was part of a week-long effort to highlight Obama's values and biography. A campaign aide said the speeches underscore what makes up Obama's "moral compass."
Obama also spoke about September 11th at greater length today, recounting where he was on the day of the attacks. He was deeply critical of the Bush's policies after 9/11, criticizing the Administration for not using the attacks to inspire American's to serve.
"Instead of a call to service, we were asked to go shopping. Instead of a call for shared sacrifice, we gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in a time of war for the very first time in our history," Obama said. "Instead of leadership that called us to come together, we got patriotism defined as the property of one party, and used as a political wedge to take us into a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged."