What drags down our entire economy is when there's an ever-widening chasm between the ultra-rich and everybody else.

I mentioned charter schools, and experimenting with our school system, to make it work. I think that's something we really have to pay attention to.

Many of our ideas of democracy, so much of our literature and philosophy and science can be traced back to roots right here in Athens.

I want my children - I want Malia and Sasha - to understand that they've got responsibilities beyond just what they themselves have done. That they have a responsibility to the larger community and the larger nation, that they should be sensitive to and extra thoughtful about the plight of people who have been oppressed in the past, are oppressed currently.

I found during the course of my political career on the national scene there's a point where the vanity burns away and you've had your fill of your name in the papers, or big adoring crowds, or the exercise of power. And for me that happened fairly quickly. And then you are really focused on: What am I going to get done with this strange privilege that's been granted to me? How do I make myself worthy of it?

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."

Across the globe there are girls who will one day lead nations, if only we afford them the chance to choose their own destinies.