Lamenting the nation’s persistently deep divides, President Barack Obama will declare Tuesday night that opportunity and security for American families “will only happen if we fix our politics.”

In excerpts released ahead of his final State of the Union address, Obama says that while better politics doesn’t mean all parties are in agreement, “democracy does require basic bonds of trust between citizens.”

Obama’s election-year call for political civility amounts to an admission that he’s failed to make good on the lofty promises to bring Democrats and Republican together that were at the core of his political rise nearly eight years ago.