A Time To Campaign, A Time To Govern--Part 2

A speech for President Obama--

My fellow countrymen, I have come before you because I have something very serious to say. Something that needs to be said. Something that I and others can no longer pretend is not an issue.

When I ran for president, I pledged that I would change the political culture of this nation and I have tried and tried, and I will continue to try, but in many ways it has not succeeded. I want to tell you why. This job, this job of leadership for our great nation is stuck in stagnation, it's that simple, unable to move forward, unable to change.

I feel I must campaign everyday when I should be governing. And that is what I now propose to do. No longer do I care if I am reelected. Reelection is not my goal. It never was. My goal has always been to change the political culture of this nation, to bring trust back into politics, to create honesty in government.

I repeat--I no longer care if I am reelected. This is not why I am here. It never has been. I made a great number of pledges when I campaigned and I have kept a great number of them, but many others have not even made it past the door because even though those pledges--those policies--are good for America, the political culture of the Congress will not allow them to develop, to incubate, to become positive forces, legislation for the greater good.

I'm not advocating term limits. I'm advocating guts and courage and doing the right thing regardless of getting reelected or not. When I became president, I took it on as a great honor, not as a means to stay employed for the next several years.

So now I call to all of us in this great country to join with me and dig deep and discover our internal courage and the guts that built this nation and to not shy away from controversy and responsible actions that I know--that we as a nation know--will make this nation greater.

I am going to push my agenda of positive change, make this country strong again, and I propose to do this regardless of the consequences. Some of my ideas may be unpopular with some, but I feel very strongly that my ideas and the promises I made that brought me to this position of leadership are good ideas and they need to be addressed without fear of losing the next election.

I and every other elected and/or appointed politician is not here because this is our lifetime job; we are here because we are committed to the United States of America and I for one am prepared to forsake an additional term to make these commitments of excellence realities.

Who will not join me to help make our country the best in the world and who will fail to help me because campaigning and political job security is really all that one wanted.

No, this is not about term limits; this is about doing the right thing regardless of political party affiliation, regardless of creed, regardless of race, regardless of the what-is-in-it-for-me-mentality. We must rise above petty squabbles and work together united as one.

And I, I will now state again proudly and without shame, I am here to govern, not to campaign; I am here for positive results, not more of the same; I am here because I am proud to be called an American.

Thank you.