"I want to begin by thanking my wife Elizabeth, who is here in the gallery, for her constant support during my service in the United States Congress, and to thank the people of Ohio's 10th Congressional District for their constant support, as well as a great Congressional staff, both at the district and the DC level.

"I also, before I make further remarks, want to express my support for my colleagues from New York and New Jersey, in their tireless efforts on behalf of their constituents who have suffered so grievously from Hurricane Sandy. 

"We must unite for the people.

"And that is really the idea of the United States.  It’s the Unity of States.  But it’s even deeper than that.  It’s expressive of the Unity of People, that it’s all for one and one for all.  Our nation’s first motto, E pluribus unum, out of many we are one, stresses the power of unity.

"The idea of human unity is implicit in this nation.

"In my visits across America, I discovered that there is an underlying unity which binds us as Americans, which calls us forward to a higher purpose. 

"I have also come to understand that our politics divides people.  The politics of polarization and hyperpartisanship has become obviously quite destructive, nearly incapacitating government.

"Yet at such a time the hunger for unity is the greatest.  But the ideological difference between us widens.  

"We need a new politics in America, which unites people, which sets aside partisan differences for the greater good of the country, which strives to reconnect with the greatness of the nation and the goodness of the American people.

"What would that politics look like? 

"The rhetoric would change to one of mutual respect.  The questioning of motives would end.  The poisoned system of pay to play would be transformed by public financing.  And our government would be rededicated to addressing the practical aspirations of all the American people, for jobs, for health care for all, for education for all, for retirement security for all and for environmental security.  We need a new politics which creates jobs and celebrates the dignity of work.  Our government must raise the status of working people and protect their rights.  Our government must stress wealth creation over taxation, investment over debt, health over illness, peace over war, liberty over surveillance.

"We have the capacity of choosing and choosing again, as we are involved in the most creative endeavor of human achievement - - actualizing the highest principles upon which this country was founded and infusing those principles into self-government.  Unity.  One nation.  Under God.  Liberty and justice for all.  A new America is waiting to emerge.  Let us call it forward with the same sense of wonder and expectation that the founders first evoked: the United States of America."