I have something else to ask you, to ask every American. I ask you to pray for this great nation.

America needs a military where our breast and brightest are proud to serve.

There's just something about this job as president every president faces, you know, that you think one thing going in and then the pressures of the job or the realities of the world, you know, are different than you thought.

For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. Oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom, and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.

Some call this civil war; others call it emergency -- I call it pure evil.

I have made education a top priority of this Administration because when we get it right, when every child learns, America will be a more hopeful place.

For decades, the public school system failed too many children, so we passed the No Child Left Behind Act and demanded schools show results in return for money.