Cory Booker: “Those leaders are no longer around. I read this, and I get excited by the possibility for our generation and for the new…”

“Those leaders are no longer around. I read this, and I get excited by the possibility for our generation and for the new leaders who are emerging in America. They have to. It is their obligation to not let the dream die and to redeem the dream. So here it is. I am just dying to read this to you. Here it is, Andy. I don't want to read too much of it to you. OK. Here we go: If in our case the representative system is ultimately to fail, this idea of a democratic government, popular governments must be pronounced impossible. He is saying: We have an obligation to make a more perfect Union. No combination of circumstances more favorable to this experiment can ever be expected. The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us. Can we make this democratic experiment work? And it should be proclaimed that our example had become an argument for the experiment. The principle of free government adheres to this American soil. It is bedded in the soil. It is as movable as this Nation's mountains. And let the sacred obligations-- This is the part, Senator Kim. And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts [the sacred obligations]. Those are daily dropping from among us who established our liberty and our government. The generation that established this Nation are now dying. The great trust now descends to our hands. Let us apply ourselves to which is presented to us as an appropriate object.…”