All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

We are the change we have been waiting for.

The biggest deficit that we have in our society and in the world right now is an empathy deficit. We are in great need of people being able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see the world through their eyes.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs.

I believe there are too many children who need loving parents to deny one group of people adoption rights. A child will benefit from a healthy, loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

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.'

That is the nature of democracy. It is hard. It is not always inspiring.