I've been really at the highest levels of American political life.

I think it's important that we do it [defeat ISIS] in concert with other nations in Europe, the Middle East, elsewhere if necessary. And that means you've got to work with people. You don't insult them. You don't insult their religion. And it means we have to see our entire country, all of the people in it, as part of our first line of defense.

The challenges of change are always hard. It is important that we begin to unpack those challenges that confront this nation and realize that we each have a role that requires us to change and become more responsible for shaping our own future.

We need a return to transparency and a system of checks and balances, to a president who respects Congress' role of oversight and accountability.

We got an international coalition [against Iran], and we imposed that. It was slow, patient diplomacy, nothing at all particularly headline-worthy. But then you got to the point where the negotiations - which I started and Secretary [John] Kerry completed - I think made the world safer.

The Congress is not willing to think about the long term. They act like activist shareholders, to use that phrase again. They're not thinking about what can we do that will make us richer, safer, and stronger next year, and the year after, and five and 10 years out.

We have to save as many lives as we possibly can.