He more than tried.He was passionate.He turned up in the offices of his adversaries.He turned up in restaurants with me to meet the concerns of his Republican counterparts.There is a posh restaurant in Washington they won"t let US in now.Such was theheat of his debate-blood on the walls，wine in the vinegar.
If you"re called up before the new President of Har vard and he gives you the hairy eyeball，drums his fingers，and generally acts disinterested it could be the beginning of a great adventure.
It"s good thing that I got invited up here before President Rudenstine handsover the throne.
Well.It"s at this point that I have to ask-if your family don"t do it first-why am I telling you these stories？It"s certainly not because I"m running for role model.
I"m telling you these stories because all that fun I had with Jeff Sachs and Larry Summers was in the service of something deadly serious When people around the world heard about the burden of debt that crushes the poorest countries，when they heard that for every ten dollar of government aid we sent to developing nations，nine dollars came back in debt service payments，when they heard all that，people got angry.
They took to the streets-in what was without doubt the largest movement since the campaign to end apartheid Politics is，as you know，normally the art of the possible but this was something more interesting.This was becoming the art of the impossible.We had priests going into pulpits，pop stars into parliaments.The Pope put on my sunglasses.
The religious right started acting like student protesters.And finally，after a floor fight in the House of Representatives，we got the money-four three five million.That four three five-which is starting to be a lot of money-leveraged billions more from other rich countries.
So where does that money go？Well，so far，23of the poorest countries have managed to meet the sometimes over-st r ingent cond it ions to get t hei r debt pay ment s re duce d -a nd to sp end t he money on the people who need it most.In Uganda，twice as many kids are now going to school.That"s good.In Mozambique，debt p ay ment s a r e dow n 42p er c ent ，allowing health spending to increase by$14million.That"s good，too.$14million goes a long way in Mozambique.
If I could tell you about one remarkable man in rural Uganda named Dr.Kabira.In 1999，measles-a disease that"s almost unheard of in theU.S.-killed hundreds of kids in Dr.Kabira"s district.Now，thanks to debt relief，he"s got an additional $6，000from the state，enough for him to employ two new nurses and buy two new bicycles so they can get around the district and immunize children.Last year，measles was a killer.This year，Dr Kabim saw less than ten cases.
I just wanted you to know what we pulled of f with the help of Harvard-with the help of people like Jeffrey Sachs.
But I"m not here to brag，or to take credit，or even to share it.Why am I here？Well，again I think to just say "thanks."But also，I think I"ve come here to ask you for your help.This is a big problem.We need some smart people working on it.I think this will be the defining moment of our age.When the history books （that some of you will write）make a record of our times，this moment will be remembered for two things：the Internet.And the everyday holocaust that is Africa.Twenty five million HIV positives will leave behind 40million AIDS orphans by 2010.This is the biggest health threat since the Bubonic Plague wiped out a third of Europe.
It"s an unsustainable problem for Africa and，unless we hermetically seal the continent and close our conscience.
It"s an unsustainable problem for the world but it"s hard to make this a popular cause because it"s hard to make it pop，you know？T hat，I g uess，is what I"m trying to do.Pop is often the oxygen of politics.
Didn"t John and Rober t Kennedy come to Harvard？Isn"t equality a son of a bitch to follow through on？Isn"t"Love thy neighbour"in the global village so inconvenient？GOD writes us these lines but we have to sing them…take them to the top of the charts，but it"s not what the radio is playing-is it？I know.
But we"ve got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are.Outside these gates，and even within them，the culture of idealism is under siege beset by materialism and narcissism and all the other"isms"of indifference.And their defense mechanism-knowingness，the smirk，the joke.Worse still，it"s a marketing tool.They"ve got Martin Luther King selling phones now.Have you seen that？
Civil Rights in America and Europe are bound to human rights in the rest of the world.The fight to live like a human.But these thoughts are expensive-they"re going to cost us.Are we ready to pay the price？Is America still a great idea as well as a great country？
