The Left discovered that its post-electoral strategy of constant confrontation was actually helping Felipe Calderon and his popularity instead of undermining it. So Marcelo Ebrard, the mayor of Mexico City, who's a very savvy politician, he changed course. He decided to actually govern instead of simply trying to bring the Calderon government down.

For too long, government officials have tinkered with Mexico's economic structure through piecemeal reforms that seek to ensure political stability but that do not address the key obstacles to greater innovation and competitiveness.

There are too many unions, monopolists, and bureaucrats that behave like hungry sharks, accustomed to feeding off oil revenues and appropriating the extraordinary wealth that Mexico produces but does not share in an equitable and democratic way.

The PRI can afford to push democratization; it can afford to be generous because it has a very good chance of winning in clean elections.

When I left the Senate in January 2013, I decided to take a full year away from all media interviews, editorial articles, and direct political activities.

The president who achieved a true democracy. The president who built a peaceful relationship between the North and the South. The president who achieved a more equal and fair economy. That's how I want to be remembered.

Local Arab partners and the Iraqi government must lead the fight against ISIL. U.S. military advisers are important to this effort, but we cannot be engaged in combat operations. That is why Congress must revoke the previous war authorization and define our appropriate role in defeating ISIL.

Change is not in the hands of government, not in the hands of a leader or guru, and not in the hands of the powerful or wealthy. It is in our hands: the hands of each and every one of us.