America's Still A Very, Very Powerful Symbol

But, Clearly, The Prime Minister Has Laid Down Some Ground Rules Which Any Functioning Democratic State Would Insist Upon, Having To Do With, You Know, Arms Belonging To The State, Not To -- Not In Private Hands. The Current Circumstances Come Out Of What I Think Is A Very Important And Indeed Appropriate Action That The Iraqi Government Has Taken.

I Know That People Look At My Life And Ask, "how Can I Achieve Some Of Those Things?" So, I Suppose In That Sense, Yes, I'm A Role Model. But I Try To Think Of Myself More As A Mentor, As Somebody Who I Hope Young People Feel Comfortable Approaching Or Writing To.

I Wish That After The War Against Saddam Hussein We Had Been More Effective At Rebuilding Iraq Quickly. I Think Had We Done It From The Provinces, In, Rather Than From Baghdad, Out, We Might Have Been More Successful.

Even When You Cherish Democratic Ideals, It Is Never Easy To Turn Them Into Effective Democratic Institutions. This Process Will Take Decades.

I'm A Strong Believer That You Have To Have An Equal Opportunity To Fail And To Try Things That Are Hard. I Always Tell My Students, "don't Just Take Things That Are Easy For You. If You're Really Good At Math, Don't Take Just Math. Take Classes That Make You Write. If You're A Really Great Writer, But Bad At Math, Take Math And Make Yourself Work Your Way Through It."