Instead of measuring military readiness in terms of overall size and numbers, we must focus on metrics of capability, particularly in technology, and positioning.Collection: Technology
Your U.S. military has the best child care in the nation. Full, paid family and medical leave benefits. Why aren't we doing that to empower our workforce?Collection: Medical
The way forward in the Middle East, as it has been around the world and throughout history, is communication. There must be direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, mediated by the United States.Collection: Communication
Everybody in the military is a Democrat. They just don't know it.
I want to be a public servant, not a politician.
You can get so focused on a strategy and making it work that you lose sight of your larger mission.
We must make sure the stigma is removed around mental health and commanders must make it clear on a consistent basis that their door is open for everyone. Servicemembers need to know that command is there for them, to offer assistance however and wherever needed.
We can improve the military at less cost and with increased capability. It's not acceptable to keep investing in structure when we would be wiser to invest in dominating the new warfare domain of cyberspace.
In the face of a rising China, along with authoritarian regimes from Brazil to the Philippines to Turkey to Russia, and the constant presence of belligerent non-state actors, we need to reform our military to deal with asymmetrical threats.
Human rights in China should absolutely play a role in broader U.S. policy toward China. When we look the other way on fundamental issues of human rights, we are also responsible.
I want to restore U.S. leadership within a rules-based liberal world order that collectively holds nations accountable for their illiberal behavior, whether in foreign or domestic spheres.
Collectively, we must find points of leverage in order to convince China to improve their treatment of Uighurs, Tibetans, and other minority groups, to ensure the autonomy of Hong Kong, and to continue to protect democracy in Taiwan, among other issues.
Certainly, the JCPOA was not a perfect agreement. It did not deal with the threat from Iranian missiles, or their support for violent extremism. And it contains a 'sunset clause,' meaning it expires after a decade. But it was accomplishing the one goal it set out to achieve: stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Just as we need a productive warrior force to carry out our national defense mission, our national workforce must be equally able to carry out our economic mission.
To be productive and focused, the rugged individuals in our economy need health security so that our country can remain competitive and agile in the changing economy.
We only won our freedom because of our allies, and we can only sustain it because of them.
The citizens of this nation gave us - my wife and I - a health care plan that saved our daughter's life.
I understand the challenge with student loans. But what about the labor force, the enlisted men and women, so to speak, of ships. Those who work with their hands and their minds. We need to do what we do in the military, is we train and retrain.
For a public option, I voted for that when I was in Congress, and the Senate couldn't stand up to the health insurance industry and took it out.
I don't want to be president if I have to win by outrage. I don't want to just win. I want to govern, and not just by executive order.
I'm not beholden to one party or any special interests.
I fought for the rule of law in America.
One answer to transportation infrastructure funding is public-private partnerships.
Trade is part of our national security.
I'm a guy that verifies before he trusts.
Nobody under 40 carries a comb.
What people in Washington worry about - they forget about the people. They forget the mission.
The Democratic Party isn't any good unless they know it's about people!
Economic mobility will fix income inequality.
People don't trust party leaders.
It's like I learned in the military: the officers always ate last. When you're responsible for people, that's how it should be.
At the end of the day, Israel is its own self-determining government.
A comprehensive approach to a two-state solution is not just, we believe, in Israel's interest. It's in our interest.
The United States must ensure that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons, as this poses a direct threat to our interests, including Israel, and would in all likelihood provoke a regional arms race.
In the military, we just don't leave fights.
I don't look at Israel through the prism of running an election.
If you took money out of politics, you'd solve 80 percent of all the problems.
Yes, I'll stand up to the party if they're wrong and they aren't going the right way for people in Pennsylvania. But I do believe in Democratic principles.
I come from a background in the military where everyone had health care. We understood the value of education as a given. You learn a skill, earn a pension and go on to 'Be all that you can be'... You invest in people. You hold people accountable.
The career politicians down in Washington don't want to be held accountable.
The Democratic Party has been perceived to have a deficit of credibility on defense issues since the Vietnam War, unfairly or not.
My party needs to understand that business is not a bad word - especially when it has the word 'small' before it.
When there's no light at the end of the tunnel, it's hard to keep things going.
During my years in the Navy and in the White House, I was involved in assessing how a war with Iran would go. In summary: It would be ugly.
Cyberspace is the new domain of warfare.
We did more to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions with a computer virus than we ever could have with bombs (and we did still more with diplomacy - the abandonment of which is also bad for our military, because militaries can only stop a problem, not fix a problem).
Amateurs do tactics, experts do logistics, as we learn in the military.
Our 21st-century world is an incredibly dangerous one. Between brutal civil wars, violent extremism, spreading autocracy, rising inequality, territorial expansionism, election interference, and nuclear proliferation, our policymakers have their hands full.
A President can obstruct justice and Congress has the full right to hold a President accountable for such law-breaking through impeachment. After a President leaves office, I believe they may be held accountable through the courts as well.
We need a president who will stand up for the CFPB and get it back into fighting shape. It is too important to be allowed to disintegrate.