Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.

The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit. We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light - through the prism of our experience on 9/11.

The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.

The reality is that [Barack] Obama has some 15 countries in the current Libya coalition. President Bush put together close to 50 countries for the Afghan coalition, some 40 countries for the Iraqi coalition, more than 90 countries for the Proliferation Security Initiative and over 90 countries in the Global War on Terror.

The press always wants to know how many people will be killed or how much it will cost, but the answers to those questions are not knowable.

The United States, as all you know, did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help.