No matter who you are, no matter what your color, creed, how you choose to pray or who you choose to love, that if you are an American - first generation or fifth - one who is willing to work hard, play by the rules and apply your God-given talents - that you should be able to find a job that pays the bills.

It is okay not to like someone, but it is never okay to try and degrade, humiliate, or dehumanize them.

We choose forward. We choose inclusion. We choose growing together. We choose American economic might and muscle, standing strong on the bedrock of the American ideal: a strong, empowered and ever-growing middle class.

If you look at great human civilizations, from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union, you will see that most do not fail simply due to external threats but because of internal weakness, corruption or a failure to manifest the values and ideals they espouse.

I still have that new senator smell.

Give the respect you want to receive; embody the grace you hope to encounter; and help others with no expectations whatsoever.

If Donald Trump governs the way he campaigned, it'll be a disastrous presidency. This is a chance for him to be magnanimous, humble. To work across the aisle. If that's the kind of president we have, that's fine. But if not, I want our DNC chair, I want Democratic senators and Congresspeople, citizens, we need to resist.