To sustain a governing majority, that requires an ability for Republicans and Democrats to find some common ground. And right now, the structure of the system is such where it makes it really hard for people to work together.

Women deserve equal pay for equal work.

This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.

Does that mean that all vestiges of past discrimination would be eliminated, that the income gap or the wealth gap or the education gap [between Afro-Americans and white] would be erased in five years or 10 years? Probably not, and so this is obviously a discussion we've had before when you talk about something like reparations.

I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point.

We are not a nation that says, 'Don’t ask, don’t tell.' We are a nation that says, 'Out of many, we are one.' We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we upheld today.

Look at Chancellor [Angela] Merkel, her personal story helps to tell a story of incredible achievement that the German people have embarked on and I think is something that you should be very proud of.