Women have always been the primary victims of war. Women lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat.

Every single child should have the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.

I think if you were to talk to women who have run, both successfully and unsuccessfully, nearly all of them would say, "You learn so much." You learn about yourself, what you're capable of doing.... And it doesn't have to all happen when you're young - I mean, one of the most powerful women in American politics is Nancy Pelosi. She had five children. She didn't go into politics until her youngest child was in high school.... That's one of the great things about being a woman in today's world: You have a much longer potential work life than our mothers or our grandmothers did.

In the days ahead, I will propose more ways for more Americans to get involved in national service and give back to our communities, because every one of us has a role to play in building the future we want.

Over the years, so many of the barriers that prevented people from getting married, crossing lines of faith or color or ethnicity have just disappeared. Because what's important is: 'Are you making a responsible decision? Have you thought it through? Do you understand the consequences?' And I think in the world that we're in today we need more of that.

I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again.

I am delighted to be here in these new [Council on Foreign Relations] headquarters. I have been often to, I guess, the mother ship in New York City, but it's good to have an outpost of the Council right here down the street from the State Department. We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won't have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future.