Seeing the unity, energy and bravery of the kids in Tehran is so inspiring. They are not sitting around complaining about what jerks Ahmedinajad and Khameini are. They are going out to express their political will tomorrow, at great danger to themselves.
Those of us who have spent the last six months complaining about our President and complaining about Congress should be ashamed, I think, in the face of that. We too need to gather up our forces and demand to be heard, and fight, and not take no for an answer.
At least nobody is going to shoot us if we march on Washington and demand a public healthcare option. No secret police will come, if we demand representation from our own Congressmen on the telephone. We're free to band together and raise enough money to fight the fatcats. We showed that we could do this, and win, just a few short months ago. Now that we've won one election, too many seem to think they can just lie back and collect from the Administration, as if they were owed something. Well, that's not how it works.
Our new president said very clearly, that night in November of last year, that this was the beginning and not the end of our work together. That he would continue to need our help to create the change we need.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, callused hand by callused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So please, band together, organize, write letters and raise money to fight the lobbyists. Please don't forget what it was all about in the first place. Let's not squander what we already have--what they're risking their lives to get even a semblance of, in Tehran tomorrow.