Thank you all for being here. Wow, what a turnout. This is just incredibly humbling. Thank you. But I know why you’re here. You’re not here for a lot of political rhetoric. You didn’t show up to hear a lot of talk about how things could be different and better than what they are. You’re here because you’re done with politics. You’re here because the promise of American democracy — the promise of opportunity for all — remains unfulfilled for too many. You’re here because this is the most important election in our lifetime. So let me start with something Ronald Reagan said in his State of the Union address in 1984. “Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us … that in our time we did everything that could be done.” And here are the words of Franklin Roosevelt, speaking at Oglethorpe University in 1932.
“It is common sense,” he said, “to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” Two icons of America’s rival political parties, one sentiment.
Try something.
Do something.
If you paid any attention to this election, or the last one, or the one before that, you can be forgiven for thinking that our problems are insurmountable, that there’s just nothing we agree on enough to get it done. But that’s not true. There’s more that unites us than divides us. And while elections focus on the divide, I want to focus on what we share. Because — yes — there’s sacred ground. But for each of us, I believe, there’s also common ground. And that’s the ground we need to cultivate.
“It is common sense,” he said, “to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” Two icons of America’s rival political parties, one sentiment.
Try something.
Do something.
If you paid any attention to this election, or the last one, or the one before that, you can be forgiven for thinking that our problems are insurmountable, that there’s just nothing we agree on enough to get it done. But that’s not true. There’s more that unites us than divides us. And while elections focus on the divide, I want to focus on what we share. Because — yes — there’s sacred ground. But for each of us, I believe, there’s also common ground. And that’s the ground we need to cultivate.