"What I could not support was "a dumb war, a rash war, a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics"." - Barack Obama

What I was quickly discovering about the presidency was that no problem that landed on my desk, foreign or domestic, had a clean, 100 percent solution. If it had, someone else down the chain of command would have solved it already.

Our fates are linked, and we cannot ignore those who are yearning not only for freedom but also prosperity.

I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior — for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure — and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.