We recognize that violence is a learned behavior. One of the best classrooms for learning violence is in the home.

What has too often happened in the past is that people have threatened punishment but have failed to carry it out. It's imperative in any initiative that is undertaken that punishment be real and that there be truth in sentencing, and that the truly dangerous offenders - the recidivists and the career criminals - be put away and kept away.

My earnest hope is that what we started in terms of building partnerships with communities across America will continue, that we will continue our efforts to reduce crime and violence.

We're building on an international network with many others for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are so many things we can do to carry forward policies.

The economy is the start and end of everything. You can't have successful education reform or any other reform if you don't have a strong economy.

Half the point of education is to build peer groups and social bonds.

I do regret that when I went to college, I didn't have a liberal arts education. I got a BFA in musical theater, so it was a very directed toward what I was doing. I wish that I had expanded my horizons a little bit.

We stand in the shadow of Jefferson who believed that a society founded upon the rule of law and liberty was dependent upon public education and the diffusion of knowledge.