The President was in Minnesota today and I spoke at the Lake Harriet bandshell before his remarks. He talked from the heart about how people need to stop giving in to the cynicism they see every day on TV. There is so much we can do right now...increasing the minimum wage, making it easier to pay for college, immigration reform...but these common sense ideas have been blocked by a cynicism in Washington that can only be overcome by people casting their votes this November.

A few miles away from where the President spoke are these words etched on the gravestone of Minnesota's most endearing Senator Hubert Humphrey: "I have enjoyed my life, its disappointments outweighed by its pleasures. I have loved my country in a way that some people consider sentimental and out of style. I still do. And I remain an optimist with joy, without apology, about this country and about the American experiment in democracy."

At some point Washington's obsession with the roller coaster of day-to-day news and scandals and up-and-down polls all become a blur and a distraction. The President reminded us today that what really matters is the people of our country--their work, their hopes, their dreams. That's what this "American experiment in democracy" is all about and that's what our President, "with joy and without apology," was here in Minnesota to say.