“A strong economy depends on a strong middle class, but George Bush has put the middle class in a hole, and John McCain has a plan to keep digging that hole with George Bush’s shovel.”

You have a burden going into any campaign when you’re raising money to fund that effort because there’s always a desire to spend more money than you have.

When people told me ‘It’s great to be here’, they meant at the house, not with me.

Under Superintendent Johnson’s leadership, our police department is on a path to earn the respect of every community in the City of Chicago.

Israel has a security concern involving geography. But geography does not have the same value it did in 1967.

As individuals, we will be judged in our lives by the totality of our actions. Not one thing will stand out. And I think that’s how we get judged by our colleagues and that’s how we get judged by the good lord.

It is one thing to train officers on fighting crime. It is a whole other thing to train them to build friendships and relationships, which are integral to fighting crime. This takes time, effort, and patience on the part of police officers.

We can define the rules of police-citizen engagement, but everyday decisions will always be made by men and women in uniform, on the street, in the community, under extreme pressure, in a dangerous world where guns easily fall into the wrong hands.

I believe the record I was allowed to help establish by the side of the president was important.

Because of the president’s leadership, every American will have access to affordable, quality health care.

I sometimes joke, Paula, even paranoid people have enemies.

For all the things that make Chicago great, for all the things that make us proud to call ourselves Chicagoans, the violence that is happening corrodes our core. It is not the Chicago we know and love.

In the White House, you can be on the pitcher’s mound or you can be in the catcher’s position. Put points on the board. Show people you can govern. Deliver on what you said you were going to deliver on.

When it comes to federal elections law, Tom DeLay and his special-interest friends live by one set of rules, and everyone else lives by a very different set.

The American people want change. They want big ideas, big reform.

I do not believe the government has the right to investigate somebody’s private life.

You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

An economy that we need that works for everyone. Where everyone works, everyone counts and everyone contributes.

Today, we jump into this globalization of the economy and the internet age.

I think this is a moment of a lot of possibilities, and openings. Occupy and the 99% movement are really going to break through, and we are going to create a new economy.

They are simply not capable of promoting the indigenous economy. Many billions of dollars flooded into Afghanistan, but without any significant effect.

To handle the economy and services in a country like Iraq requires delegation of authority and the choice of competent people.

What is doing the damage is the fact that the U.K. is pulling in more imports, which shows the continued strength of the economy and the strength of sterling.

Russia is a competitor. They’re a strong nation, something we need to recognize, but their economy is just a little bit bigger than Illinois, so they’re not our equal.

Eric Schlosser’s book on the economy and strategies of the fast-food business should be read by anyone who likes to take their children to fast-food restaurants.