I'm a futures man.

If the house is on fire, and the fireman shows up, you don't question his color or credentials. You don't send him back to the firehouse and say, 'Send somebody else.'

Jesse Jackson is not anti-Semitic, but in politics, you always get in trouble when you try to be cute.

I guess it is ironical that I have a chance to say to Jesse Jackson, 'You need to be mature. You need to be positive. You need to be bigger than the folks who are trying to tear you down.'

All these years, they've been giving lip service to saying that we are a party that is inclusive instead of exclusive. We've said the Democratic Party has a great big umbrella, and everybody can be comfortable under that umbrella. If they didn't mean it, then it ought to be pulled apart.

I don't know how smart I am. I just try to be what I am. I hope I'm modest. I think that's a desirable trait.