That will be good for you and your forebears and  progeny.
 
Dear Haruna,

Let me start by saying, "Thank you."  You have stood with Elizabeth and me 
throughout this campaign. Your support has  sustained us as we have traveled 
across this country.

Earlier today, I  suspended my campaign for the Democratic nomination for the 
presidency. I made  this announcement from where our journey began just over 
12 months ago: New  Orleans. 

I began my presidential campaign in New Orleans to remind the  country that 
all of us -- as citizens and as a government -- have a moral  responsibility to 
each other, and what we do together matters.

Now, it's  time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path. We 
do not know who  will take the final steps to the White House -- but what we do 
know is that our  Democratic Party will make history. 

And, along the way, all of you who  have been involved in this campaign and 
this movement for change and this cause,  I am asking you to continue speaking 
out for those who have no voice, just as  Elizabeth and I will continue to do. 
We need you.

Do not turn away from  the great struggles before us. Do not give up on the 
causes that we have fought  for. Do not walk away from what's possible, because 
it's time for all of us --  all of us together -- to make the two Americas 
one. We need you.

I hope  you will take a few moments to listen to the video clip of my speech 
in New  Orleans earlier this afternoon or to read it below. 

In the meantime,  Elizabeth and my family join me in thanking all of you for 
your support and for  working so hard on my behalf. We are truly blessed to 
have such  friends.

Thank you.

John Edwards
January 30,  2008

---

Thank you all very much. We're very proud to be back  here.

During the spring of 2006, I had the extraordinary experience of  bringing 
700 college kids here to New Orleans to work. These are kids who gave  up their 
spring break to come to New Orleans to work, to rehabilitate houses,  because 
of their commitment as Americans, because they believed in what was  possible, 
and because they cared about their country.

I began my  presidential campaign here to remind the country that we, as 
citizens and as a  government, have a moral responsibility to each other, and what 
we do together  matters. We must do better, if we want to live up to the 
great promise of this  country that we all love so much.

It is appropriate that I come here  today. It's time for me to step aside so 
that history can blaze its path. We do  not know who will take the final steps 
to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but what we  do know is that our Democratic 
Party will make history. We will be strong, we  will be unified, and with our 
convictions and a little backbone we will take  back the White House in November 
and we'll create hope and opportunity for this  country.

This journey of ours began right here in New Orleans. It was a  December 
morning in the Lower Ninth Ward when people went to work, not just me,  but lots 
of others went to work with shovels and hammers to help restore a house  that 
had been destroyed by the storm.

We joined together in a city that  had been abandoned by our government and 
had been forgotten, but not by us. We  knew that they still mourned the dead, 
that they were still stunned by the  destruction, and that they wondered when 
all those cement steps in all those  vacant lots would once again lead to a 
door, to a home, and to a  dream.

We came here to the Lower Ninth Ward to rebuild. And we're going  to rebuild 
today and work today, and we will continue to come back. We will  never forget 
the heartache and we'll always be here to bring them hope, so that  someday, 
one day, the trumpets will sound in Musicians' Village, where we are  today, 
play loud across Lake Ponchartrain, so that working people can come  marching 
in and those steps once again can lead to a family living out the dream  in 
America.

We sat with poultry workers in Mississippi, janitors in  Florida, nurses in 
California.

We listened as child after child told us  about their worry about whether we 
would preserve the planet.

We listened  to worker after worker say "the economy is tearing my family 
apart."

We  walked the streets of Cleveland, where house after house was in  
foreclosure.

And we said, "We're better than this. And economic justice  in America is our 
cause."

And we spent a day, a summer day, in Wise,  Virginia, with a man named James 
Lowe, who told us the story of having been born  with a cleft palate. He had 
no health care coverage. His family couldn't afford  to fix it. And finally 
some good Samaritan came along and paid for his cleft  palate to be fixed, which 
allowed him to speak for the first time. But they did  it when he was 50 years 
old. His amazing story, though, gave this campaign  voice: universal health 
care for every man, woman and child in America. That is  our cause.

And we do this -- we do this for each other in America. We  don't turn away 
from a neighbor in their time of need. Because every one of us  knows that what 
-- but for the grace of God, there goes us. The American people  have never 
stopped doing this, even when their government walked away, and  walked away it 
has from hardworking people, and, yes, from the poor, those who  live in 
poverty in this country.

For decades, we stopped focusing on  those struggles. They didn't register in 
political polls, they didn't get us  votes and so we stopped talking about 
it. I don't know how it started. I don't  know when our party began to turn away 
from the cause of working people, from  the fathers who were working three 
jobs literally just to pay the rent, mothers  sending their kids to bed wrapped 
up in their clothes and in coats because they  couldn't afford to pay for heat.

We know that our brothers and sisters  have been bullied into believing that 
they can't organize and can't put a union  in the workplace. Well, in this 
campaign, we didn't turn our heads. We looked  them square in the eye and we 
said, "We see you, we hear you, and we are with  you. And we will never forget 
you." And I have a feeling that if the leaders of  our great Democratic Party 
continue to hear the voices of working people, a  proud progressive will occupy 
the White House.

Now, I've spoken to both  Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. They have both 
pledged to me and more  importantly through me to America, that they will make 
ending poverty central to  their campaign for the presidency.

And more importantly, they have  pledged to me that as President of the 
United States they will make ending  poverty and economic inequality central to 
their Presidency. This is the cause  of my life and I now have their commitment 
to engage in this cause.

And I  want to say to everyone here, on the way here today, we passed under a 
bridge  that carried the interstate where 100 to 200 homeless Americans sleep 
every  night. And we stopped, we got out, we went in and spoke to them.

There  was a minister there who comes every morning and feeds the homeless 
out of her  own pocket. She said she has no money left in her bank account, she 
struggles to  be able to do it, but she knows it's the moral, just and right 
thing to do. And  I spoke to some of the people who were there and as I was 
leaving, one woman  said to me, "You won't forget us, will you? Promise me you 
won't forget us."  Well, I say to her and I say to all of those who are 
struggling in this country,  we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will 
stand up for  you.

But I want to say this -- I want to say this because it's important.  With 
all of the injustice that we've seen, I can say this, America's hour of  
transformation is upon us. It may be hard to believe when we have bullets flying  in 
Baghdad and it may be hard to believe when it costs $58 to fill your car up  
with gas. It may be hard to believe when your school doesn't have the right  
books for your kids. It's hard to speak out for change when you feel like your  
voice is not being heard.

But I do hear it. We hear it. This Democratic  Party hears you. We hear you, 
once again. And we will lift you up with our dream  of what's possible.

One America, one America that works for  everybody.

One America where struggling towns and factories come back to  life because 
we finally transformed our economy by ending our dependence on  oil.

One America where the men who work the late shift and the women who  get up 
at dawn to drive a two-hour commute and the young person who closes the  store 
to save for college. They will be honored for that work. One America where  no 
child will go to bed hungry because we will finally end the moral shame of 37 
 million people living in poverty.

One America where every single man,  woman and child in this country has 
health care.

One America with one  public school system that works for all of our children.

One America that  finally brings this war in Iraq to an end. And brings our 
service members home  with the hero's welcome that they have earned and that 
they  deserve.

Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Democratic nomination  for the 
Presidency.

But I want to say this to everyone: with Elizabeth,  with my family, with my 
friends, with all of you and all of your support, this  son of a millworker's 
gonna be just fine. Our job now is to make certain that  America will be fine.

And I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard  – all those who have 
volunteered, my dedicated campaign staff who have worked  absolutely tirelessly 
in this campaign.

And I want to say a personal word  to those I've seen literally in the last 
few days – those I saw in Oklahoma  yesterday, in Missouri, last night in 
Minnesota – who came to me and said don't  forget us. Speak for us. We need your 
voice. I want you to know that you almost  changed my mind, because I hear your 
voice, I feel you, and your cause is our  cause. Your country needs you – 
every single one of you.

All of you who  have been involved in this campaign and this movement for 
change and this cause,  we need you. It is in our hour of need that your country 
needs you. Don't turn  away, because we have not just a city of New Orleans to 
rebuild. We have an  American house to rebuild.

This work goes on. It goes on right here in  Musicians' Village. There are 
homes to build here, and in neighborhoods all  along the Gulf. The work goes on 
for the students in crumbling schools just  yearning for a chance to get 
ahead. It goes on for day care workers, for steel  workers risking their lives in 
cities all across this country. And the work goes  on for two hundred thousand 
men and women who wore the uniform of the United  States of America, proud 
veterans, who go to sleep every night under bridges, or  in shelters, or on 
grates, just as the people we saw on the way here today.  Their cause is our cause.

Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams  are our dreams.

Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do  not give up on the 
causes that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what's  possible, 
because it's time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two  Americas one.

Thank you. God bless you, and let's go to work. Thank you  all very much. 





**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
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