I talked about the need for American leadership I talked about the importance of the United States to a more peaceful world a world that has been quite turbulent in recent years and needs a strong American anchor.

The person who takes the oath of office in the next four months will shape not just the next four years but the next forty years of our nation. In these next four years we need proven leadership proven judgment and proven values. America needs four more years of President Barack Obama.

If we are to negotiate the coming years safely we may need a new kind of leadership. To put it more precisely we need the rediscovery of an ancient kind of leadership that has rarely been given the prominence it deserves. I mean the leader as teacher.

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

What's missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell forever shifting blame to the last administration is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago - isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?

Leadership can not be measured in a poll or even in the result of an election. It can only be truly seen with the benefit of time. From the perspective of 20 years not 20 days.

These past years as we have been recovering and given our city a rebirth we have been encouraged by our faith knowledge and steadfast belief that we will pull through. There will be challenges and setbacks as there have already been but we will continue and we the citizens of New Orleans will prevail in bringing our city back.

For the longest time I was brought up listening to only two genres of music pop and rock. So in the past few years I've been trying to expand my interests because I think that you can only write to the extent of your knowledge and if your knowledge is limited you can't write past that.

It's extremely hard for athletes to accept what's happened to them sometimes. It's hard to be beaten by a small margin and I've spoken with athletes who for years afterward have been tormented by the knowledge that had they done something ever so slightly different they could have been one-ten-thousandth of a second quicker.

My knowledge of science came from being with Carl not from formal academic training. Carl gave me a thrilling tutorial in science and math that lasted the 20 years we were together.