That first responsibility as a school board member - meals for latch-key children - was absolutely critical in my understanding of the extraordinary problems of poverty.

I am convinced that the majority of American people do understand that we have a moral responsibility to foster the concepts of opportunity, free enterprise, the rule of law, and democracy. They understand that these values are the hope of the world.

The United States cannot feed every person, lift every person out of poverty, cure every disease, or stop every conflict. But our power and status have conferred upon us a tremendous responsibility to humanity.

As a practical matter, every immigrant needs to master English to be a full participating citizen and to have full economic opportunity.

We have the responsibility to ensure that our first impulse in foreign affairs is one of bipartisanship.

Ethanol is a premier, high performance fuel. It has tremendous environmental benefits and is a key component to energy independence for our country.

Grandchildren have taught me how important the future is. I try to look through their eyes and envision what's in their imagination. What's the world going to look like when they're my age? That really does take a huge imagination.