How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph.Sentence)
Quote #1
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction. (10.1-2)
President Obama's blueprint for unity? Downplay our differences and seek a common goal. You might be crazy for waffles while your sister is straight up Team Pancakes, but if you and your siblings work together, you can make a stronger case in convincing your parents to let you have breakfast for dinner. Unity, people.
Quote #2
The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. (15.4)
During the financial crisis, there was a pretty huge gap between economic classes, with a pretty tiny proportion of the population controlling the majority of the country's wealth. (A few years later when the Occupy Wall Street movement came about, this was sometimes referred to as "the 1 percent.") Struggling working-class Americans developed a bit of a distaste for the finance industry (you know: banks, investment firms, etc.), who they saw as a symbol of excessive and unmerited wealth. Here, Obama is arguing for closing the gap between the haves and have nots. Or the have way too muches and the have nots, as it were.
Quote #3
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers. (21.1-2)
Never before had a modern president placed such an emphasis on our diversity as a nation. Here, President Obama gives a nod to our varied cultural backgrounds and religions as something that makes us great. Another first? Obama was the first president to acknowledge in an inaugural address that some people don't believe in God.
Quote #4
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. (24.1)
President Obama places America in a global context here. The country is part of a community of nations around the world, some of which are experiencing problems the United States hasn't had to face, at least not on the same scale. Obama wants to reach out to developing countries and help them thrive.
Quote #5
For as much as government can do, and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. (26.3-4)
Community is just something that Americans are intrinsically all about. As examples of this selfless, team-player attitude, Obama references workers banding together and taking pay cuts to save their coworkers' jobs, and people literally opening their homes to strangers with nowhere to go after Hurricane Katrina. We guess that last one could be a reference to Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." But we're pretty sure it's Katrina.