Ultimately, we didn't go to Germany to create a democracy. We went to overthrow Adolf Hitler. But once a democracy was there, Germany was a much bigger supporter of and help to our national interests, both economic and security than had ever been before.

Most of the people who were responsible for 9/11 are now in custody or have been killed. But there are others, and they plot and they plan, and they hope to pull it off again. And while we have to be right 100 percent of the time, they only have to be right once. So there's no way to overreact to that.

There is nothing better than being in a classroom with really, really brilliant students, and opening up new worlds to them. That's what I love doing.

The people of the Middle East share the desire for freedom. We have an opportunity - and an obligation - to help them turn this desire into reality.

After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history.

You never cede control of your own ability to be successful to something called racism.

When you’re young, your world is pretty limited. My parents, my family, my church dominated my world. And because Birmingham was so segregated, I didn’t really have to encounter the slings and arrows of racism on a daily basis. Obviously, from time to time I did, like when my parents took me to see Santa Claus and he wasn’t letting black children sit on his knee. But my parents tried to insulate me as much as they could.