At least Romney and McCain, they respect the rule of law. At least Romney and McCain, they understand their limitations.

Tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.

I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.

The American people recognize that their careers or their kids' careers are going to have to be more dynamic. That they might not be working at a single plant for 30 years. That they might have to change careers. They might have to get more education. They might have to retool or retrain. And I think the American people are game for that.

The conservative revolution that Reagan helped usher in gained traction because Reagan's central insight - that the liberal welfare state had grown complacent and overly bureaucratic, with Democratic policy makers more obsessed with slicing the economic pie than with growing the pie - contained a good deal of truth.

I mentioned charter schools, and experimenting with our school system, to make it work. I think that's something we really have to pay attention to.