Barack Obama: “Hanukkah's lessons inspire us all to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy.”

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…

The success of this experiment was never a given.

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.

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