Personally, I don't pick books for how people think about me. I read books so I can learn.

We've been at war for many years in Afghanistan following 9/11. We know that we've got young men and women on the ground now. We've got our blood and treasure at stake there already.

And the last thing that I want to see us do is ask more and more of our troops [in Afghanistan ] without guaranteeing that we're providing more and more of what's necessary to make the mission successful.

Republicans are 'bad people who deserve a two-by-four upside their heads.'

I think the most important thing for us to make judgments about is what can we really do? What can we achieve?

We invoke the sacrifices of our fallen heroes in the abstract, but we seldom take time to thank them individually.

I hope President [Hamid] Karzai understands that our national security interests don't depend entirely on his decision there whether to allow a recount. Obviously the legitimacy of that government is an important component of it. My point is it shouldn't be the lynch pin for us deciding whether we're going to protect our national security interests in that region.