Barack Obama: “Michelle and I join with millions of Christians here and across the world to mark Ash Wednesday.”

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

No one was more skilled at bringing people together and getting legislation passed.

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…

They're meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what's possible, so we can forge ahead.