Military surge in Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban.

So many of my staff is young enough that they're going to do amazing things. And I'm going to be helping them try to do them.

The problem is that, over time, big pieces of business that have to get done without leadership from Washington, don't get done.

When times change, so must we.

I think a lot of teachers want to talk about how to continually improve performance.

I could never be a politician. But as uncomfortable as I would be doing so, I have no problem with Obama's long-planned 'change of heart.' This dude's made huge, measurable strides for gay rights, and if being coy about his plans for gay marriage for a few years was needed to get him elected, then so be it. LGBT persons will be better off, and federal same-sex marriage recognition will come sooner because of it.

People take pride in being Irish-American and Italian-American. They have a particular culture that infuses the whole culture and makes it richer and more interesting. I think if we can expand that attitude to embrace African-Americans and Latino-Americans and Asian-Americans, then we will be in a position where all our kids can feel comfortable with the worlds they are coming out of, knowing they are part of something larger.