The most powerful political moments for me come when I feel like my actions are aligned with a certain truth. I can feel it. When I'm talking to a group and I'm saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I'm just being glib or clever.

I think that the Democrats can be successful nationally in the future if we are able to capture some of the complexity of people's lives right now.

I think that dealing with guns is one way to handle the violent-crime issues that we have in this country.

For the first time, preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism is now at the top of America's nuclear agenda.

One of the challenges of a democratic government is making sure that even in the midst of emergencies and passions, we make sure that rule of law and the basic precepts of justice and liberty prevail.

I had said from the start that I thought Iraq was a mistake, that we should have stayed focused on Afghanistan. I think it was the right decision because the Taliban at that point had gotten a lot of momentum before I'd gotten into office, partly because we hadn't been paying attention as much as we needed to to Afghanistan.

Government without a tough and vibrant media is not an option for the United States of America.