PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Our journey is not complete until all of our children from the streets of Detroit to hills of Appalachia, to the twi-plains of Newtown know they’re cared for and cherished and always safe from harm. That is our generation’s task, to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty in the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean that we all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same, precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle the debate about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time. For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We can not mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for politics or treat name calling as reasoned debate. We must act, we must act knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act knowing that todays victories will only be partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.