The purpose of politics is to give people tools to make the most of their lives.

The era of big government is over.

Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think.

Rarely have Americans lived through so much change, in so many ways, in so short a time. Quietly, but with gathering force, the ground has shifted beneath our feet as we have moved into an Information Age, a global economy, a truly new world.

We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither.

President Obama has offered a plan with 4 trillion dollars in debt reduction over a decade, with two and a half dollars of spending reductions for every one dollar of revenue increases, and tight controls on future spending. It's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

The great thing about not being president anymore is I can say whatever I want, about anything. Of course [now], nobody really cares what I say. And now I have the worst of all worlds -- my wife has become the secretary of state, so no one really cares what I say -- unless I mess up.