“Today, I announce my candidacy for President of the United States. I do so grateful for the privileges this country has already given me; mindful that I must seek this responsibility for reasons greater than my self-interest; and determined to use every lesson I’ve learned through hard experience and the history I’ve witnessed, every inspiration I’ve drawn from the patriots I’ve known and the faith that guides me to meet the challenges of our time, and strengthen this great and good nation upon whom all mankind depends.

“We’ve begun another campaign season earlier than many Americans prefer. So soon after our last contentious election, our differences are again sure to be sharpened and exaggerated. That’s the nature of free elections. But even in the heat of a campaign, we shouldn’t lose sight that much more defines us than our partisanship; much more unites us than divides us. We have common purposes and common challenges, and we live in momentous times. This election should be about big things, not small ones. Ours are not red state or blue state problems. They are national and global. Half measures and small minded politics are inadequate to the present occasion. We can’t muddle through the next four years, bickering among ourselves, and leave to others the work that is ours to do. Greatness is America’s destiny, but no nation complacent in its greatness can long sustain it.

“We must also prepare, far better than we have, to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. When Americans confront a catastrophe, natural or man-made, they have a right to expect basic competence from their government. They won’t accept that firemen and policemen are unable to communicate with each other in an emergency because they don’t have the same radio frequency. They won’t accept government’s failure to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies or rescue the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. They won’t accept substandard care and indifference for wounded veterans.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Government spends more money today than ever before. Wasteful spending on things that are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; deprives you of the fruits of your labor; fuels inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“No government program is the object of more political posturing than Social Security and Medicare. Here’s the plain truth: there are too few workers supporting too many retirees, and if we don’t make some tough choices today, Social Security and Medicare will go bankrupt or we’ll have to raise taxes so drastically we’ll crush the prosperity of average Americans. Too many politicians want to ignore the problem, and run for re-election by threatening anyone who wants to fix it.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Our tax code is used to game the system for some at the expense of the many instead of encouraging the thrift, investment, innovation and industry of all Americans. It’s complexity and waste costs Americans $140 billion in preparation and compliance costs each year.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Our dependence on foreign sources of energy not only harms our environment and economy, it endangers our security. So much of the oil we import comes from countries in volatile regions of the world where our values aren’t shared and our interests aren’t a priority.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“We’re not a country that prefers nostalgia to optimism. We’re not a country that would rather go back than forward. We’re the world’s leader, and leaders don’t pine for the past and dread the future. We make the future better than the past. Opening new markets to American goods and services is indispensable to our future prosperity. Lowering trade barriers creates more and better jobs; keeps inflation under control; keeps interest rates low; and makes more goods affordable to more Americans. We won’t compete successfully by using old technology to produce old goods. We’ll succeed by knowing what to produce and inventing new technologies to produce it.

“But open markets don’t automatically translate into a better quality of life for every American. While most gain, some are forced to struggle with very difficult choices. Right now we have a half dozen programs to help displaced workers and another half dozen for people who aren’t working at all. We have an unemployment insurance program that’s right out of the 1950s, designed to assist workers through a few tough months during an economic downturn.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“I don’t seek the office out of a sense of entitlement. I owe America more than she has ever owed me. Thirty-four years ago, I came home from an extended absence abroad. While I was away, I fell in love with my country. I learned that what’s good for America, is good enough for me. I have been an imperfect servant of my country ever since, in uniform and in office, in war and peace. I have never lived a single day, in good times or in bad, that I haven’t thanked God for the privilege.

“You can’t sell me on hopelessness. You can’t convince me our problems are insurmountable. Our challenges are an opportunity to write another chapter of American greatness. We must seize it, and those of us privileged to lead America must remember the principles that made us great, have the faith to stand by them, the integrity to honor our public trust, and the courage to keep our promise to put the nation’s interests before our own. Don’t tell me what we can’t do. Don’t tell me we can’t make our country stronger, and the world safer. We can. We must. And when I’m President we will.

“I’m not running for President to be somebody, but to do something; to do the hard but necessary things not the easy and needless things. I’m running for President to protect our country from harm and defeat its enemies. I’m running for President to make the government do its job, not your job; to do it with less and to do it better. I’m not running to leave our biggest problems to an unluckier generation of leaders, but to fix them now, and fix them well. I’m running for President to make sure America maintains its place as the political and economic leader of the world; the country that doesn’t fear change, but makes change work for us; the country that doesn’t long for the good old days, but aspires to even better days. I’m running for President of the United States; not yesterday’s country; not a defeated country; not a bankrupt country; not a timid and frightened country; not a country fragmented into bickering interest groups with no sense of the national interest; not a country with a bloated, irresponsible and incompetent government. I’m running for President of the United States, a blessed country, a proud country, a hopeful country, the most powerful and prosperous country and the greatest force for good on earth. And when I’m President, I intend to keep it so.”

That’s the true definition of leadership.

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