Barack Obama: Remarks on Signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

( 2010 ) Commentary by Chester Pach, Ohio University

“That our generation is able to succeed in passing this reform is a testament to the persistence and the character of the American people, who championed this cause, who mobilized, who organized, who believed that people who love this country can change it.” - Paragraph 16
“With all the punditry, all of the lobbying, all of the game-playing that passes for governing in Washington, it's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing; to wonder if there are limits to what we as a people can still achieve. It's easy to succumb to the sense of cynicism about what's possible in this country. But today, we are affirming that essential truth, a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself, that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations.” - Paragraph 32
“We have now just enshrined … the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.” - Paragraph 34

Barack Obama (Library of Congress)

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