John Edwards Announces Bid for 2008 Democratic Presidential Nomination

And in order to do that, we're going to have to lead on things that, at least in the short term, seem like they're beyond our self- interests, things like the genocide in Sudan and Darfur. We said after Rwanda we'd never let anything like this happen again. Well, it's happening right now. America needs to lead.

I was in Uganda a few weeks ago where there are huge atrocities going on in northern Uganda. America can make an enormous difference there. I was there with the International Rescue Committee, who are another group of Americans that are making a huge difference in the world.

There's so many opportunities -- global warming, which is a huge moral issue for America and for the entire world.

We need to ask Americans to be willing to be patriotic about something beyond war. We need to ask America to be willing to conserve, to take the steps necessary to get off our addiction to oil, to create a new energy economy in this country.

It's critical to America being able to do what it needs to do in the 21st century. We ought to be the example for the rest of the world. It's not just what we do over there; it's also what we do here.

You know, we've got 46 million, 47 million people without health care coverage? When are we finally going to say, "America needs universal health care"? Because we do. We need it desperately.

I spoke earlier about this issue of poverty and the two Americas.

EDWARDS: I've been running the poverty center for the last couple of years at the University of North Carolina, which I'm very proud of. And we've developed a whole new set of ideas about what we ought to do about poverty.

But we should be the example for the rest of the world. We're not the only ones that saw these pictures that came out of New Orleans. The whole world saw. And we need to show that the most powerful nation on the Earth won't stand by and let this continue.

So whether it's poverty, energy, health care, demonstrating that we are once again the beacon for the rest of the world, which is what we need to be, not just for us, but also for them -- because when America doesn't lead, there is no stability. We are the stabilizing force in the world. We are the preeminent power in the world. And we need to maintain that power, we need to maintain our strength. That what allows us -- gives us the capacity to lead.

But we also have to show that we have a responsibility to humanity. And the world needs to see that from us. They need to see our better angels again. Because it will affect the way they respond to us and it will affect our ability to lead.

So we're asking everyone who's listening to join us in this cause. As I said earlier, you can join us by joining One Corps, but there's so much good to be done out there, and together we're going to do it. We are going to do it together.