I have never been in a violent movie or television show.

We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.

I think as a kid I always liked to listen to people. I loved hearing stories.

I happen to be a hopeaholic. I tend to look at problems as an opportunity to do some work.

I think what I am is a "convener"; I like to convene people around ideas.

People realize that we're very good at sending people to war, but we're not good at taking care of them. And people are coming back from war now; years ago, they would have been killed, now they're wounded; and they're coming back alive and with post-traumatic stress. So, I think Americans are sensible enough to know we've got to figure out a way to take care of them.

I call the language of political figures, pundits and administrators "the haute couture of language."