Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.

I think the Prime Minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia's still got some work to do. Just like the United States, by the way, has some work to do on these issues. Human Rights Watch probably has a list of things they think we should be doing as a government.

I use a different style if I'm speaking to a big crowd; I can gin up folks pretty well. But when I'm in these town hall settings, my job is not to throw them a lot of red meat. I want to give them a sense of my thought process.

Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.

When it comes to the budget, we know that we shouldn't be cutting more on core investments, like education, that are going to help us grow in the future. And we've already seen the deficit cut in half. It's going down faster than any time in the last 60 years. So why would we make more cuts in education, more cuts in basic research? Nobody thinks that's a good idea.

After my election there was talk of a postracial America. And such a vision, however well intended, was never realistic.

I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.