By Jim Letizia
Columbus, OH – In his speech to the nation's oldest civil rights organization last night, presidential candidate Barack Obama told the NAACP convention in Cincinnati that African Americans must show greater responsibility for improving their lives.
"We've got to demand more responsibility from Wall Street. But you know what, we also have to demand more from ourselves," he said.
"I know there's some that say I've been too tough talking about responsibility. NAACP, I'm here to report: I'm not going to stop talking about it," Obama added.
Obama said Washington must provide greater education and economic assistance and called on corporate America to exercise greater social responsibility.
Obama also called for federal tax breaks for companies that create U.S. jobs. He told the group he's been advocating that plan for several years.
"I fought in the Senate to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and give those tax breaks to companies that create good jobs right here in the United States of America, right here in Cincinnati, right here in Ohio," Obama told the cheering crowd.
Obama also called for improvements to public education, discussing a plan to improve teacher pay while increasing academic accountability at individual schools.
"I understand that Sen McCain is going to be coming here in a couple of days, and he's going to talk about education. I'm glad he's going to, because this has to be a bipartisan effort. Not just Democrats, but Republicans need to recognize that too many of our young people are falling behind," Obama said.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks to the convention on Wednesday.