The enemy we face can only convince people to join their cause is when they find hopelessness. And so our strategy is threefold. One, protect the homeland. Two, stay on the offense against these folks. And three, provide an alternative — a hopeful alternative to despair and doubt and hopelessness. ...I hope you take heart in knowing there are a lot of really fine people working long, long hours to get the best information possible to protect the homeland. There's a — unbelievably dedicated folks. And as I said in the State of the Union the other night, we owe these folks a debt of gratitude. And we owe them more — we owe them the tools necessary to protect the American people. ...The second part of our strategy is to stay on the offense against these folks — I mean every day stay on the offense. An unrelenting effort to find them and bring them to justice. It's hard to plot, plan and attack America if you're running and hiding. It's hard to recruit if you're cutting off money. It is hard to spread your poison if other reasonable people join the cause. And so we spend a lot of time doing everything we can to keep the pressure on these folks. ...I repeat to you, I know there's some good folks who think this is just simply a law enforcement matter. It is not. ...The third part of our strategy is to spread liberty. I love to tell folks that one of the most unique relationships I had as your President was with the Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Koizumi. ...In Afghanistan — the interesting lesson on Afghanistan for the world to see is that how the vision of the enemy would be implemented — in other words, these poor folks had the Taliban as their oppressors. ...These thugs didn't believe in freedoms, they didn't believe in women having equal status, they didn't believe young girls should be educated. And if you dared express your opinion that didn't mesh with theirs, you'd be whipped in the public square or killed. These are brutal people. That's the vision that these folks have for the world. ...I had to make a tough decision. And the decision I made was based on the considered judgment of military people, considered judgment of a lot of folks who were following Iraq. It was not based upon any Gallup poll or focus group. ...And we went in with a counterinsurgency strategy, all aimed at, of course, helping the Iraqis stand up and do the hard work necessary, but in the meantime making sure that when the enemy was cleaned out of neighborhoods, there was somebody there to provide security for the folks. Our surge, by the way, was more than just military. We surged diplomats and public service officials, provincial reconstruction teams to make sure that in neighborhoods where an enemy had been routed — and we have folks there, along with the Iraqis, to provide security. ...People want to live in peace, whether you're Methodist or Muslim, whether you're American or Iraqi. And what you're watching play out now is that — folks are becoming more confident in their capacity to self-govern. ...We surged, we accomplished missions, the Iraqis are more capable. The commanders on the ground say that now we can do the same job with less troops. So folks came home for Christmas. ...You know, a lot of folks say, well, what's next, Mr. President? And my answer is, we have come too far in this important theater in this war on terror not to make sure that we succeed. ...The other question is politics. One of the lessons of democracy is, a lot of times what happens at the local level informs people at the central government level. And competition is pretty healthy in a democracy. As I told you, the local folks are reconciling.

We're building new VA facilities in places where veterans are returning, so more veterans can get top-quality health care closer to your home.

These extremists hope to impose that same dark vision across the Middle East by raising up a violent and radical caliphate that spans from Spain to Indonesia. So they kill fellow Muslims in places like Algeria and Jordan and Egypt and Saudi Arabia in an attempt to undermine their governments. And they kill Americans because they know we stand in their way. And that is why they attacked U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, and killed sailors aboard the USS Cole in 2001.

You know, I know gas prices are high. There's no magic wand to wave.

Today we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it. There was bombings today in Egypt.

I need people in Congress who understand the nature of this enemy. There are some that kind of feel like maybe these folks are just kind of angry citizens of the world who occasionally lash out. No, these folks are bound by a common ideology. They're totalitarian in nature.

They said, well, this is only good for the rich. Well, as a result of reforming health care, we now have got 3 million people who are now owners of health savings accounts, most of whom have got incomes of 50,000 dollars or less, about a third of those who signed up.

From its birth in the 1630s, the Guard protected the early colonists and helped win the War on Independence.

Now, my opponent is trying to turn Yucca Mountain into a political poker chip. He says he's strongly against yucca here in Nevada.

If a construction worker has got more money in his pocket, he's going to demand an additional good or a service. And when they demand that additional good or a service, somebody has to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces a good or a service, somebody is more likely to keep a job or find work.