He added, "And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. "What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives -- from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry -- an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our 'better angels,' " he said, using a phrase from President Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address in 1861.