I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America's about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them.

We can lead this world and make it safer and more secure for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come.

It's time to put country ahead of party. It's time to put the next generation ahead of the next election.

I want to make sure America has got the best education system in the world. And we're retaining our workers for the jobs of tomorrow.

Think about it: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us.

What we also have to recognize is that the deficit levels that I'm inheriting, over a trillion dollars, coming out of last year, that that is unsustainable. At a certain point, other countries stop buying our debt, at a certain point, we'd end up having to raise interest rates, and it would end up creating more economic chaos and potentially inflation.

In the midst of economic recovery and global upheaval, disasters like this remind us of the common humanity that we share.