There is a growing sense among Americans outside the Beltway that while President Obama may be a good talker, he is a lousy manager.

The president doesn't order the military to seize political opponents. He doesn't order his intelligence community to lie about national security for political purposes. He uses the military or intelligence communities to protect the United States and our citizens, not to help him win elections.

Whatever the final outcome in Iraq, our men and women in uniform should stand tall with pride for a job well done. It was our political leaders - of both parties and both presidencies - who failed us.

Every president, as he nears the end of his final term in office, thinks about his place in history.

Our opponent and many in Congress criticized our decision to end the Iraq war.

War is so complex; human nature is so complex. There's no filmmaker who has ever figured it out perfectly.

After World War II, scientific research in the U.S. was well supported. In the 1960s, when I came to America, the sky was the limit, and this conducive atmosphere enabled many of us to pursue esoteric research that resulted in America winning the lion's share of Nobel Prizes.

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war.