Barack Obama: “I am grateful he has agreed to serve in this critical role, and I look forward to working with him in the weeks and…”

In forming our union, the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration's promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property.

And there’s no reason to suggest that we can’t get through this one either.

Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold the values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did.

There’s no doubt that we are going through a period right now of disruption, polarization.