Although we averted nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches. Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city-- be it New York or Moscow; Tokyo or Beijing; London or Paris-- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And it would badly destabilize our security, our economies, and our very way of life.

It is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009, more than at any point in human history, the interests of nations and peoples are shared. We must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual respect and our work must begin now.

This is when the special interests and the insurance companies and the folks who think, you know, this is a good way to bring Obama down-- this is when they're going to fight with everything they've got. This is when they'll spread all kinds of wild rumors designed to scare and intimidate people. That's why I need your help.

He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last 14 months he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time.

Her life is one of those only-in-America stories: raised by a single mom in the South Bronx determined to give her every opportunity to succeed, propelled by the talent and hard work that would earn her scholarships and honors at the best schools in the country; driven always by the belief that it doesn't matter where you come from or what you look like or what challenges life throws your way, no dream is beyond reach in the United States of America.