How you staff, particularly the chief of staff, the national security adviser, your White House counsel, how you set up a process in the system to surface information and generate options for a president, understanding that ultimately the president is going to be the final decision-maker. That's something that has to be attended to right away.

Medicare in particular, will run out of money, and we will not be able to sustain that program.

With respect to Syria, we are going to continue to work as we have over the last five, six years to push towards a political transition and settlement.

We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world - including in my own country.

It is important to combine structural reforms and good fiscal stewardship with a growth strategy, because when your economy's growing and more revenue's coming in, that helps relieve debt.

If you look at what happened, I came in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. And unlike Franklin Delano Roosevelt who waited, well, didn't take office until about three years into the Great Depression, it was happening just as I was elected.

It's true that I have not been able to completely close Guantanamo, but we've drastically reduced the population from 700 or so to around 60 now.