|
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) unveiled a plan Wednesday that would seek to get more Americans to participate in public service, including the establishment of a Craigslist-like online network for volunteers. “Loving your country shouldn’t just mean watching fireworks on the Fourth of July; loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it,” Obama said in Iowa. “And if you do stand up, I promise you that your life will be richer, and our country will be stronger.” In addition to an online database of volunteering opportunities, which was laid out in documents provided by Obama’s campaign, the Illinois senator proposes more than tripling the slots in AmeriCorps, which would allow the program to focus on education, clean energy, veterans, healthcare and homeland security. In addition, Obama wants to double the size of the Peace Corps, put in place a program that boosts public diplomacy and get students to volunteer their time to community service. Obama argued that the current administration wasted an opportunity following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to bring the country together to meet a great challenge. “Whether you lived in Manhattan or here in Mount Vernon, you felt the pain and loss of that day not just as an individual, but as an American,” he said. “That’s why we lined up to give blood. That’s why we held vigils and flew flags. That’s why we rallied behind our president. We had a chance to step into the currents of history. “We were ready to answer a new call for our country,” he added. “But the call never came. Instead, we were asked to go shopping, and to prove our patriotism by supporting a war in Iraq that should never have been authorized and never been waged.” Though saying that time has been wasted to answer the call to face the challenges in a new world, Obama asserted that it is not too late for the country to unite and for citizens to serve America. “It is time to recapture that sense of a common purpose,” the senator said. “I’m tired of hearing about how America is on the wrong track — I want us to come together to put it on the right track. I’m tired of hearing about red America and blue America — I want to lead a United States of America,” Obama stated. “I’m tired of talking about what we can’t do, or won’t do, or won't even try — I want all of us to stand up and to start reaching for what is possible.” |
