the Lion's last roar

In last week's healthcare address, Obama referred to this letter from Ted Kennedy. Although written at the end of Kennedy's life, it looks forward--anticipating the fulfillment of his healthcare dream:

At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.

And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.

[...]

...while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society.