People are looking back and trying to, you know, get compensation for bad mortgages and all the rest of it in some of the agreements that are being reached. There's nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad.

I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator [Barack] Obama served on a board with Mr. [Bill] Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.

We need more good jobs, and that means we've got to start educating young people, starting literally in the first five years of life making sure that every kid in every zip code has good teachers and good schools, making college affordable, helping people pay down their debt.

This country of ours, this system of ours, the rule of law, the opportunity to get an education and go as far as your hard work and ambition will take you, and we created the biggest engine of economic growth in the world, the American middle class.

I am grateful to organizations like the International Child Art Foundation that gives us the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of our nation’s young people. I encourage you to continue to support programs that help children to discover their talents and believe in themselves.

The Russians need to understand. I think they've been treating it as almost a probing, how far would we go, how much would we do.

There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want and going after it.