I congratulate you on your election and wish you success in carrying out your mandate.

I would exercise my authority to fill critically needed positions in the Federal Government temporarily through the use of recess appointments.

I can report that over the past year, this work has begun.

Today the United States Senate confirmed 27 of my high-level nominees.

Our potential is still unrivaled.

I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future.

I'm going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals.

The sooner the business community has a sense that we've got our act together here in Washington, the better off the entire country is going to be.

It's hard to sing in times like that.

We've got to get past the tired debates that have plagued our politics.

Math is not partisan.

My hope is this is not going to be a rare situation; we're going to be doing these on a regular basis.

I think the American people want to see that concrete action.

Michelle and I were deeply saddened today to hear about the passing of Congressman John Murtha.

...it's important to remember that actually the majority of Democrats did vote to set up this commission.

We are eliminating lobbyists from boards and commissions...

I have not ruled it out...

I would have loved nothing better than to simply come up with some very elegant academically approved approach to health care.