On the recordJanuary 20, 2011
Well, I often ask my constituents, what is our number one job? What is the President's number one job? Is it to keep us safe, or is it to keep us free? And of course you get a number of different hands being raised. In my opinion, based on the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the President's--and therefore the Congress'--number one responsibility is to keep us free, because if we are not free, we will never be truly safe. {time} 1250 And safety is obviously pretty close on the same level. And they play into one another. But our national defense, flowing down from our national security strategy, our national strategy, that's paramount.
Source
govinfo.gov
