The word "perfect" trips up a lot of people in their everyday lives. Because it's what we all want to be, but few of us ever really achieve it.

The same is true of the United States, of our government and our society as a whole. We strove for perfection 200 years ago when we fought for our freedom. But we haven't quite made it there yet.

In choosing "A More Perfect Union" as the title for his speech, Obama was reminding us of what we set out to do: create a nation where everyone has the same rights, the same access to opportunity. He was also making it very clear that it was average people who wrote our Constitution, who took off their white wigs and replaced them with stars and stripes.

They were courageous and forward-thinking, not only in what they did to help us achieve freedom and equality, but in drafting a Constitution wherein we can continue to evolve and make changes for the better.