With troops headed home, time to rebuild America, Obama says in weekly address

By the end of next year, America's war in Afghanistan will be over.

Hot on the heels of his meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai yesterday, President Obama explicitly tied the draw-down of troops in Afghanistan to nation-building at home'with a specific call to address gun violence in America:

After more than a decade of war, the nation we need to rebuild is our own.

As we do, we have to care for our troops and veterans who fought in our name. We have to grow our economy and shrink our deficits. Create new jobs and boost family incomes. We have to fix our infrastructure and our immigration system. We have to protect our planet from the destructive effects of climate change'and protect our children from the horrors of gun violence.

While admitting it's not an easy list of items he meant to address, the president told listeners that if our soldiers can lay their lives on the line for years in the Middle East, surely the rest of us can do them proud by rebuilding the country and having services in place to help them with their transition home.

These, too, will be difficult missions for America. But they must be met. And if we can summon just a fraction of the determination of our men and women in uniform, I know we can meet them. And I intend to work as hard as I know how to make sure we do.

To read the transcript in full, check below the fold or visit the White House website.