We must work to help all families and all communities realize their dream of a better future.

When nearly a third of our high school students do not graduate on time with their peers, we have work to do. We must design our middle and high schools so that no student gets lost in the crowd and disconnected from his or her own potential.

We can seize this time and do it our way and in the process be proud of ourselves and prosper as well.

We are thinking ahead to long-term care, aware that many folks don't plan ahead and won't be ready. We want to see to it that people will have choices.

We all leave personal legacies for the people we know and love.

Truly, the challenges we face are not Democratic challenges or Republican challenges. In fact, they are not political challenges at all; they are fiscal challenges, and educational challenges, and the challenges of figuring out how to take care of each other.

There is just no reason why the richest nation in the world can't provide health care to all its people.

One of the most powerful tools for empowering individuals and communities is making certain that any individual who wants to receive a quality education can do so.

We need to take advantage of the opportunity we have now to create a vision and become great.