Nobody's cooler than my two girls. They just seem to take whatever comes with, you know - happiness and - steadiness. And they're loving school. They're making friends... and - they've already joined some clubs. And Sasha, you know - I think maybe to endear - myself to her, she - she decided she wanted to join a basketball team. So - what more could I want?

When your team loses, everybody gets deflated. And it's hard, and it's challenging.

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.

I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that's beyond fixing.

The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.

I think the irony ... is that I actually would like to see a relatively light touch when it comes to the government.

It's harder to end a war than begin one. Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq -- all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering -- all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We're building a new partnership between our nations.