The art of politics consists in knowing precisely when it is necessary to hit an opponent slightly below the belt.

To balance China the democracies will need new friends - and India with its fast-growing economy youthful population and democratic politics seems the obvious candidate.

I still love following and thinking about politics. I enjoy recommending important journalism I read or see from other sources.

Growing up in politics I know that women decide all elections because we do all the work.

In the melting pot that is America inclusive trumps exclusive. Whether it's single women young adults or minorities alienating the rapidly growing voting blocs is not smart politics.

I think there's no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world.

I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry but a kind of instinct or inspiration such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.

I have this pet thing about how global communications are moving so fast now throwing information at you making everything available to you and yet I feel it's leaving us more and more isolated.

If our nation goes over a financial Niagara we won't have much strength and eventually we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not as our military friends say a 'robust strategy.'

But if our nation goes over a financial Niagara we won't have much strength and eventually we won't have peace. We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security. That is not as our military friends say a 'robust strategy.'