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For We Have A Choice In This Country. We Can Accept A Politics That Breeds Division, And Conflict, And Cynicism. We Can Tackle Race Only As Spectacle - As We Did In The Oj Trial - Or In The Wake Of Tragedy, As We Did In The Aftermath Of Katrina - Or As Fodder For The Nightly News. We Can Play Reverend Wright's Sermons On Every Channel, Every Day And Talk About Them From Now Until The Election, And Make The Only Question In This Campaign Whether Or Not The American People Think That I Somehow Believe Or Sympathize With His Most Offensive Words.

[about His Marijuana Use] I Did. It's Not Something That I'm Proud Of. It Was A Mistake As A Young Man, But You Know? I Mean Not Going To -- I Never Understood That Line. The Point Was To Inhale. That Was The Point.

I Have Said Repeatedly That America Doesn't Torture And I'm Going To Make Sure That We Don't Torture. Those Are Part And Parcel An Effort To Regain America's Moral Stature In The World.

[our Troops In Iraq And Afganistan] Does Give Us The Ability To Make Sure That We Are Strengthening Those Folk Who Are Interested In Building Up Their Countries Rather Than Destroying Them, And Doing So In A Way That Is Sustainable And Doesn't Put A Constant Burden On The Amazing Men And Women That We've Got In Uniform.

But Race Is An Issue That I Believe This Nation Cannot Afford To Ignore Right Now. We Would Be Making The Same Mistake That Reverend Wright Made In His Offending Sermons About America - To Simplify And Stereotype And Amplify The Negative To The Point That It Distorts Reality.