I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.

One of the brightest lights of our time-a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman.

The ability of Republican leaders to rile up their base - helped along by folks like Rush Limbaugh, some commentators on Fox News - I think created an environment in which Republican voters would punish Republicans for cooperating with me. That hothouse of back-and-forth argument and - and really sharp partisanship I think has been harmful to America.

If some of these [Republican] folks were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the 'flat earth society.' They would not believe that the world was round.

There's nothing that America can't handle if we actually look squarely at the problem. ...Change depends on our actions.

I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.

The Democrats are using the human trafficking bill's language that's been there for 40 years, regarding the use of federal funds for abortion.