I don't get into the book-telling business of conversations I have with the president. That's not my style, and I don't think that's a responsible thing to do.

I'm not saying my idea is the one and only idea. We should have other ideas, but the president has not laid down a specific plan as to how he's going to get us to solvency. I do that.

Assad must go. He's lost the legitimacy to govern.

No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record.

We live in a world of absolute immediacy. It is an interconnected, combustible world, where technology and many other actions have given nonstate actors a reach, into countries and societies, for both good and evil, that we have never seen before. So it isn't a matter of just state versus state challenges or conflict. The bigger problem is nonstate actors.

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.

There has to be a reason and objective (to air strikes). What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political conversation?