America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail.

Sometimes if your only approach is cutting spending at a time when the economy's contracting, then the economy will contract further.

If we win all those fights, and now let's say the income gap, and the wealth gap, and the education gap have for the most part been closed - let's say hypothetically, , first of all, America as a whole would be a lot richer.

The biggest problems with Iran in the region are not due to the size of their resources, but due to the fact that they've been more effective in supporting proxies and stirring up dissension and conflict in the region than America or our allies have been in stopping those activities.

I think that today, faith drives so much of our politics, that I thought, "If you don't talk about it, you are missing a whole big part of what is going on politically."

Reading makes all other learning possible. We have to get books into our children's hands early and often.

Obviously, we've all had disagreements and differences in the past. I suspect we'll have them again in the future. But last night as Americans learned that the United States had carried out an operation that resulted in the capture and death of Osama bin Laden. I think we experienced the same sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. We were reminded again that there is a pride in what this nation stands for. And what we can achieve that runs far deeper than party, far deeper than politics.