Obama and Patriotism

This, from Obama's speech at the Montana Democratic Party dinner last night, is a fine statement:

I love this country not because it's perfect, but because we've always been able to move it closer to perfection. Because through revolution and slavery; war and depression; great battles for civil rights and women's rights and worker's rights, generations of Americans have shown their love of country by struggling and sacrificing and risking their lives to bring us that much closer to our founding promise. And as long as I live, I will never forget that I am only standing here because they did...
It's a country where the improbable love of my parents was actually possible; where my mother could raise me without much money but still send me to the best schools in the nation; a country where I've seen hope triumph in neighborhoods that were devastated by joblessness and poverty; where I've seen ordinary Americans find justice in a courtroom; where I've seen progress made for working families who need leaders who are willing to stand up and fight for them.
That is the country I love. That is the promise of America. And in this election, if we can shed our cynicism and our doubts and our fears; if we remember that we rise or fall as one people, and that we can meet any challenge that comes our way if we meet it together, then I believe that this generation will do its part to perfect our union and keep our promise alive in the twenty-first century. Good night, God Bless, and as they say here in Butte, “tap ‘er light.”