You know, it's fashionable right now for people to be cynical. We go in cycles like this and right now a lot of people are saying, 'Oh, America is doing terribly' and 'What are we going to do?'

The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person.

Generally speaking, people who know me will tell you that my public persona is not that different from my private persona.

Americans... still believe in an America where anything's possible - they just don't think their leaders do.

I think it is important that we are targeting HIV/AIDS resources into the communities where we're seeing the highest growth rates. That means education and prevention, particularly with young people.

In the course of a healthy debate, we prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit new information and concede that your opponent might be making a fair point, and that science and reason matter - then we're going to keep talking past each other, and we'll make common ground and compromise impossible.

I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I’m asking you to believe in yours.