Barack Obama: “Thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us.”

The success of this experiment was never a given.

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.

We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse…

I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is.