This came today. No one was talking about it. It is another new speech.
http://www.clark04.com/speeches/027/(As prepared for delivery)
Manchester, NH
January 10, 2004
Thank you for that kind introduction. Now that's what I call a warm welcome! And thank you Jeremy Elliot for those nice words. It's a good thing you're not old enough to run for president, or I'd be reckoning with another fierce competitor. I'd like to recognize former Senator Harris Wofford. I'd also like to thank the conference co-chairs, Professors Phillip Kate Huckins,Wayne Lesperance and Jim Walsh of New England College. And I'd like to thank New England College for hosting this important convention - and all of you for bearing the cold and making your way here this morning.
You know, when I was in college I did whatever I could to avoid waking up early on Saturday mornings. So your attendance today is a testament to your commitment to the democratic process, and a sign that we're clearly doing something right in America.
It's been a few years since I was in college. But if there's one thing I remember like yesterday, it's the excitement I felt my first day of college at West Point. I remember that feeling of being part something so important - something so much bigger than me. That feeling led me to a career of service in the United States Army.
I hope you remember, just as fondly, the work you're doing for this election - and the satisfaction of being involved and getting others involved. This election is like none other in your lifetime, or in mine. It isn't just another partisan battle between Democrats and Republicans. It's a fundamental contest between totally different visions of America's future. And you are part of it. And I thank you for that.
I remember when I was about your age, sitting in front of the television, watching another Democrat talk about the importance of another election. That man was John F. Kennedy and the year was 1961. It was at the height of the Cold War, when our nation faced a growing nuclear threat. President Kennedy challenged my generation, with those now famous words, to ask not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country. We answered that call, because we believed in the America of tomorrow, we knew that we had responsibility in shaping it - not just for our own sake, but for the fate of the free world.
Today, we have arrived at another historical crossroads. The choices we make right now will not only affect where we'll be tomorrow, but where we'll be a generation from now.
I'm here to talk about my vision for America.
Several months ago, I talked about looking a hundred years ahead. And I asked how will the United States fare in such a world? How will we maintain our standard of living? What will we pass on to our grandchildren? Will we still be the leading power in the world?
Many have asked me, "How do we get there?" Others have warned half cynically that in American politics you can't talk about 100 year visions - politicians don't think that far ahead. Fair enough, but I'm not a politician. So today, I want to lay the groundwork for us to think about our world a century from now. I want to do that by providing a little of the connective tissue - by focusing on what we'll find in the next twenty years.
This is a speech about our future. It's not about 2004. It's about America in 2024. It's about what kind of country we want to be twenty years from now -- and the world we want to leave for our children. The world I want to leave for my grandson, Wes, who was born three weeks ago on Christmas Day.
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