The challenge is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.

Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that[Bashar] Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles.

I think we're going to have to take a hard look about what more we can do to prevent this kind of lone wolf attack.

I am going to get officers training to deescalate situations, ban racial profiling, and make body cameras available.

You just have to sort of figure out how to - getting back to that word, "balance" - how to balance the public and the private efforts that are necessary to be successful, politically, and that's not just a comment about today. That, I think, has probably been true for all of our history.

I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts.

There are 4 billion cell phones in use today. Many of them are in the hands of market vendors, rickshaw drivers, and others who've historically lacked access to education and opportunity. Information networks have become a great leveler, and we should use them together to help lift people out of poverty and give them a freedom from want.