Abroad, the question is whether we have the staying power to fight a very costly war, when the objective is limited and the danger to us is seemingly remote.
So our test is not whether we shrink from our country's cause when the dangers to us are obvious and dose at hand, but, rather, whether we carry on when they seem obscure and distant--and some think that it is safe to lay down our burdens.
I have come tonight to ask this Congress and this Nation to resolve that issue: to meet our commitments at home and abroad--to continue to build a better America--and to reaffirm this Nation's allegiance to freedom.
As President Abraham Lincoln said, "We must ask where we are, and whither we are tending." I.
The last 3 years bear witness to our determination to make this a better country.
We have struck down legal barriers to equality.
We have improved the education of 7 million deprived children and this year alone we have enabled almost 1 million students to go to college.
We have brought medical care to older people who were unable to afford it. Three and one-half million Americans have already received treatment under Medicare since July.
We have built a strong economy that has put almost 3 million more Americans on the payrolls in the last year alone.
We have included more than 9 million new workers under a higher minimum wage.