On a day in early September of 2009, I received the following letter from Senator Edward Kennedy. He'd written in May of that year, shortly after he learned that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered to me upon his death.
It is a letter about the cause of his career -- what he called "that great unfinished business of our society" -- health care reform.
"What we face," he writes, "is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country."
Senator Kennedy never stopped asking what he could do for his country. Today, tens of millions of Americans are better for it.
And while Teddy didn't live to see his life's work signed into law, more than five years after its passage, the spirit of his words ring true. This is, fundamentally, about the character of our country. Doing right by one another.
It's who we are.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
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