CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- President Obama must continue to "Hope on!" for the American people and America's ideals, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told Democrats meeting in Charlotte, N.C.
Despite lampoons by his opponents over hope, Cleaver said Wednesday during the Democratic National Convention: "We are people of hope. Mr. President, hope on!"
Cleaver, one of the Congressional Black Caucus speakers, said he had to acknowledge the brinkmanship going on in Washington gives an "advantage to no political party and it weakens our nations."
"We can be tough without being toxic," he said. "We will never be better off without being better."
Cleaver said Republicans and Democrats in his district tell him "they would like to look at their political leaders and see more warm hearts and fewer hot heads."
But before anyone is a Democrat or Republican, "first and foremost, we are all human beings and Americans," he said. "There is something essential in the human spirit that always searches for hope. We are driven by hope."
To those who poke fun at the Democratic Party for going "too far with this inclusion stuff," Cleaver said, "God didn't burden America with a diversity of background and religions, he blessed America with them. We, in our diversity and our differences, are all in this together."
He said he wasn't referring to people of color when he uses the word "we."
"I'm not talking about anything but all of America," Cleaver said. "'We' means us, proud Americans."
