Political Quotes

“Mr. President, 1 year and 1 week ago, on a cold, snowy morning in Cleveland, OH, not much different from what I woke up to this morning in Cleveland, OH, I attended the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Breakfast in that city, which is also my hometown. A minister at that breakfast said something that we all know but probably have not thought about and rarely put in such succinct, meaningful words. He said: Your life expectancy is connected to your ZIP Code. Think about that. Whether you grew up on the east side of Cleveland or Gary, IN, or whether you grew up in Appalachia, OH, or southern Indiana, or whether you grew up in a city, suburb, small town, affluent, less affluent, low income, rural, or urban, your ZIP Code often determines whether you have access to quality health care, to a good, solid education, and the social support that is necessary to succeed. It is up to this body to help ensure--not to do it and not to do it alone--that every ZIP Code is one that provides opportunity, not inequality. Ten years ago, the ZIP Code where my wife and I live in the city of Cleveland had the highest foreclosure rate of any ZIP Code in America. Think about what that means for a 12 year-old-child of a family where the father gets laid off from work and the mother has her hours cut back. Even though they were doing everything right, they can't pay their mortgage.…”