America is an idea. And it's the solemn responsibility of each 'temporary' president to protect and nurture that noblest of all ideas - with integrity. This man Mitt Romney has shown - not through his experience but through his actions and words - that he is unqualified to carry out that responsibility.

What if Barack Obama established a Presidential Advisory Committee that would meet once every couple of months bringing together the former presidents for a conference in order to seek their collective wisdom? There is a wealth of experience in former presidents that generally goes untapped.

The equality that we are all entitled to as citizens of this democracy can't be avoided by some religious dogma of a President who's is supposed to believe in the notion of separation of church and state. And he frankly doesn't.

This Bush administration has a growing credibility gap maybe even a credibility chasm on environmental policy. The President has lost the trust of the American people when it comes to the environment.

Since the day he came into office President Bush has worked to gut more than 34 years of hard work by weakening many of our Nation's standing environmental laws some of which were signed into law by his father.

Federal elections happen every two years in this country. Presidential elections every four years. And four years just isn't long enough to dismantle all the environmental laws we've got in this country.

I've used the prestige and influence of having been a president of the United States as effectively as possible. And secondly I've still been able to carry out my commitments to peace and human rights and environmental quality and freedom and democracy and so forth.

A knowledgeable and courageous U.S. president could help enormously in leading the world's nations toward saving the climate.

A lot of people criticize the primaries but I think they are absolutely essential to the education of the President of the United States.

We face a choice this election. President Obama is fighting for changes that grow the economy from the middle out and help all Americans succeed - jobs education health reform the DREAM Act equal pay for women. He is moving us forward with opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow. Mitt Romney wants to take us back to yesterday.

President Obama is a principled man who has worked hard to put healthcare and a good education in the reach of millions of Americans and believes that everyone who works hard and plays by the rules should have a fair shot at the American dream.

If there is something I would like to do as President of the General Assembly it is to place more emphasis on the issue of education which enables a better life for women.

The education cuts in the President's budget are both irresponsible and morally unjustifiable.

In his first year in office President Obama pulled us back from the brink of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and worked to lay a new foundation for economic growth. The president identified three key strategies to build that lasting prosperity: innovation investment and education.

Furthermore we believe that health care reform again I said at the beginning of my remarks that we sent the three pillars that the President's economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation - innovation begins in the classroom - clean energy and climate addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology and the third first among equals I may say is health care health insurance reform.

I pledge to you today that as president in my first budget I will introduce the largest increase in special education ever.

Strong advocacy for education health care and worker safety will be indispensable if they are to get their fair share of President Bush's austere budget for the next fiscal year.