If you - and all the rest of the Right minded thinkers whose brains exploded when he said that had said, "This is what happens when someone goes off script!" I'd be right there with ya, but that snippet is not only HUGELY out of context, it's out of place. It wasn't part of the written speech (so much for the "Mr. Teleprompter" hype). For your edification, if not education, I have embedded the entire speech here. The dreaded quote comes at 16:43.

Below the embed, I have copied the part of the speech where it occurred. I didn't mark every deviation of his words from his script, if you feel so inclined you can click on the previous link and read along. I did insert the quote into the written words, highlighted, so they may be understood. My own take wasn't so much that he was calling for a brown-shirted squad of thugs as he was better funding for AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and the other alternatives to military service.

Just as we must value and encourage military service across our society, we must honor and expand other opportunities to serve. Because the future of our nation depends on the soldier at Fort Carson, but it also depends on the teacher in East LA, the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia. Americans have shown that they want to step up. But we're not keeping pace with the demand of those who want to serve, or leveraging that commitment to meet national challenges. FDR not only enlisted Americans to create employment, he targeted that service to build our infrastructure and conserve our environment. JFK not only called on a new generation, he made their service a bridge to the developing world, and a bright light of American values in the darkest days of the Cold War.

Today, AmeriCorps - our nation's network of local, state and national service programs - has 75,000 slots. I know firsthand the quality of these programs. My wife Michelle once left her job at a law firm to be the founding director of an AmeriCorps program in Chicago that trains young people for careers in public service. These programs invest Americans in their communities and their country. They tap America's greatest resource - our citizens.

As President, I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots, and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their efforts connected to a common purpose. People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem - they are the answer.

We'll send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an Energy Corps to conduct renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects in their neighborhoods. We'll enlist veterans to help other vets find jobs and support, and to be there for our military families. And we'll also grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered, and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. And we'll use technology to connect people to service. We'll expand USA Freedom Corps to create an online network where Americans can browse opportunities to volunteer. You'll be able to search by category, time commitment, and skill sets; you'll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities. This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda, and make their own change from the bottom up.

We also need to invest in ideas that can help us meet our common challenges, because more often than not, the next great social innovation won't be generated by the government.

by MedfordTim on 03/12/2010 03:06:09 AM EST

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