Hope 'in unikely places'

After the lecturing and the to-do list, we finally got to the rousing inspirational part.

"Hope is found in unlikely places," President Obama said. And then he talked about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, from J.V. Martin Middle School in Dillon, S.C., which he visited during his campaign, "a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless," Obama said.

"But the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room [Congress]. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp."

And while Obama was recounting this, the camera showed Ty'Sheoma, sitting next to Michelle Obama and dressed up in lavender satin, looking shy but happy to be one of the stars of the evening.

The president continued, "The letter asks us for help, and says, 'We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. 'We are not quitters.' "

And in his closing, Obama again alluded to her letter, in his call to "summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit."