There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.

There is a major ingredient missing from our perception of how changes are brought about; that ingredient is power.

The future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard.

I dare to imagine a country where every child I hold in my hands, are all God's children, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of whether they're boy or girl, regardless of religion, regardless of rich or poor, that every child I hold in my hands, will have the same chance to reach her full potential or his full potential. That is the goodness of our country. That is the essence of the American dream.

We're not going to have real security until we invest in our children.

The idea of democracy has been stripped of it moral imperatives and come to denote hollowness and hypocrisy.

If a teacher does not involve himself, his values, his commitments, in the course of discussion, why should the students?