Some May Still Deny The Overwhelming Judgment

My Guiding Principle As President Has Been To Try To Do The Right Thing Even When It's Not Politically Convenient.

We Remember The Surge And We Remember The Awakening -- When The Abyss Of Chaos Turned Toward The Promise Of Reconciliation. By Battling And Building Block By Block In Baghdad, By Bringing Tribes Into The Fold And Partnering With The Iraqi Army And Police, You Helped Turn The Tide Toward Peace.

In The Course Of A Healthy Debate, We Prioritize Different Goals, And The Different Means Of Reaching Them. But Without Some Common Baseline Of Facts, Without A Willingness To Admit New Information And Concede That Your Opponent Might Be Making A Fair Point, And That Science And Reason Matter - Then We're Going To Keep Talking Past Each Other, And We'll Make Common Ground And Compromise Impossible.

We've Got To Be Able To Have A Conversation And Recognize We're All Americans; We All Want The Best For This Country. We May Have Some Disagreements In Terms Of How To Get There, But All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Our Economy Is Strong, That Jobs Are Growing. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That People Aren't Bankrupt When They Get Sick. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Young People Can Afford An Education.

Health Care Has Become A Proxy For A Broader Set Of Issues About How Much Government Should Be Involved In Our Economy, Particularly Coming Off A Huge Economic Crisis.