Below is a piece from Obama's Presidential Exploratory Committee website, captured from his campaign for the US Senate open seat in Illinois in 2004. A rare piece of a very appealing speech I found he made there.
At the end of the speech, he called out for nation's unity by saying,
"The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
* Link to Obama's speech.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid416542522/bctid422561644
