I didn't really hear any other music other than what my dad was working on until I was 12. My recollection of hearing other music was that I liked some things that I heard but I always thought 'Where's the rest of it?' It didn't have the same amount of detail or instrumentation or imagination in the arrangements.

You always give credit where credit is due - to high school coaches college coaches - but my dad the foundation that he built with me is where all of this came from. The speed the determination the mindset just the natural belief that you can do anything you put your mind to it all comes from my dad.

Within our culture every school has a swimming pool. We lived on the coast. People swam in the surf. It's a very sporty nation and at that particular time anyone who had an artistic bent was very much an outsider. So if you liked reading or ideas or playing the piano then your dad viewed you as a sissy basically.

Barack Obama knows that to create an economy built to last we need to focus on middle-class families. Families who stay up on Sunday nights pacing the floor like my dad did while their children tucked in bed dream big dreams. Families who aren't sure what Monday morning will bring but who believe our nation's best days are still ahead.

My dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years. And when he opened his campaign headquarters back in the early '70s when I was 5 years old my mother wanted me to play the national anthem. And they got an upright piano on the back of a flatbed truck and I played it.

When my mom ran for the Senate my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice 'Why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation?'

Resignation is the courage of Christian sorrow.

What I love about the East End is that there's a great perseverance determination and courage. What I dislike about it is that there is sometimes a celebration of ignorance.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to honor the greatest champion of racial equality who taught a nation - through compassion and courage - about democracy nonviolence and racial justice.

But after this natural burst of indignation no man of sense courage or prudence will waste his time or his strength in retrospective reproaches or repinings.

We must remind Americans that the promise of opportunity remains unbroken - that every person in this great nation can succeed through hard work courage and personal responsibility.

Rosa Parks' courage determination and tenacity continue to be an inspiration to all those committed to non-violent protest and change nearly half a century later.

Throughout the history of our young nation we have seen our military go bravely into battle armed with courage and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

For as long as this nation has known war we have embraced the heroes it has produced. Americans have rightfully noted the honor and nobility of courage under hostile fire and thanked those who perished in their defense.

There is a measure needing courage to adopt and enforce it which I believe to be of virtue sufficient to redeem the nation in this its darkest hour: one only I know of no other to which we may rationally trust for relief from impending dangers without and within.

Before I begin talking about the threats we face the vulnerabilities that we have and frankly the courage of the men and women in uniform that stand in harm's way on behalf of a very grateful Nation let me first honor the sacrifices of September 11.

Well I think that - I think leadership's always been about two main things: imagination and courage.