Ask not what your country can do for you...

[waiting for hope]

Does anyone else see any similarities between these two? I may be stretching it a bit, but Edwards is no Quayle...

John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address
Friday, January 20, 1961

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge—and more.

~Snip~

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html

Since President George W. Bush's re-election, Edwards has continued to speak out on the nation's income divide and became head of the University of North Carolina's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

``It's wrong we have 37 million Americans living in poverty,'' Edwards said in a June 22 speech in Washington. ``Poverty is the great moral issue of our time, and we all have an obligation to do something about it.''

Edwards came to New Orleans to draw attention to what he said is the government's continued failure to help poorer residents recover from Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, killing more than 1,400 and flooding large areas of New Orleans.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/headlines/bloomberg20061228/

Edwards said it's not just Iraq that it is chaos and in need of moral leadership from the United States. He said the United States should be leading an end to genocide in Sudan and to atrocities in northern Uganda. He also said the United States should be part of the International Criminal Court, something that Bush has fought against to keep Americans from facing politically motivated prosecutions.

He also said the country should end its dependence on foreign oil. He said he would tax oil company profits and eliminate Bush's tax cuts to pay for his priorities.

Edwards said he will have a health care plan that will provide coverage for every American, something that few presidential candidates have considered a winning issue because of the high cost. He said he's still working out the details and doesn't yet have a cost estimate.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/headlines/ap20061228/

This campaign is about each of us taking responsibility for our country's future -- and ensuring America’s greatness in the 21st century.

It is a campaign not just about what we can do in the White House -- but what we can do on the way.

We all must take responsibility and take action now to:

Provide moral leadership in the world
Strengthen our middle class and end poverty
Guarantee universal health care for every American
Lead the fight against global warming
Get America and other countries off our addiction to oil
If we want to live in a moral and just America tomorrow, we cannot wait until the next President is elected to begin to take action.

Tomorrow begins today. Join us.

http://www.johnedwards.com/