Taking the Past Seriously

Cannot think of a Canadian politician ever to make a historical reference with the kind of weight and seriousness that President Obama did here:

In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history.

(Quote via Daily Dish)