PETER BEINART

It is true that jihadists are often middle class. But that’s because terrorist groups are like other employers: they accept the best candidates who apply.

America’s power to intervene effectively overseas depends on its power to persuade and not merely coerce. The power to persuade depends on a willingness to be persuaded. And that willingness depends, ultimately, on America’s willingness to entertain the prospect that it is wrong.

…liberals have traditionally distinguished themselves from conservatives by insisting that to promote liberty, America must promote opportunity as well.

…knowing that democracy is something we pursue rather than something we embody, we advance it not merely by exhorting others but by battling the evil in ourselves. The irony of American exceptionalism is that by acknowledging our common fallibility, we inspire the world.

Iowa caucuses have been a graveyard for hawkish Democrats.

A caucus is basically an undemocratic method of selecting a candidate.

If we get hit again, with a biological or chemical attack, we will become a much less liberal society.

There is a political value in being honest and saying what you mean.

You can’t have opinions unless you have information.

At times, the politicians or pundits might admit that Americans have no tangible interests in a given country, just a moral obligation to prevent killing, poverty or oppression. That’d be fine. At least they’d be making the case honestly.

Foreign policy strategy requires harmonizing means and ends.

Foreign policy debates are frequently segregated from domestic policy ones, so commentators who propose increasing the defense budget or sending more foreign aid are seldom asked to explain which domestic programs they’d cut or which taxes they’d raise, in order to find the money.

For [Donald] Trump, popularity equals truth... He understands that in American public discourse, it's hard to say the people are wrong.

Among the emasculation men fear most is subordination to women.

I think ultimately Obama's ability to rebuild America's image in the world will depend less on his personal good will and more his ability to rebuild an American economic model that seems stable and humane and dynamic.

When you talk about the security and safety of average Americans it doesn't do average Americans a lot of good to expand America's military footprint if the daily lives of average Americans are being undermined by the fact that we're no longer able to compete in a global economy. I think that's the kind of human security we have to pay more attention to.

There's a ton of academic literature that shows people are much more critical of female leaders than they are of male leaders. They're much less tolerant of female ambition, much more threatened by female power.

I hope Barack Obama puts another woman on the Supreme Court. And this time, I hope it's a woman with kids.

Our sense of optimism, our can-do spirit, that's a source of great strength in America. But when there are no limits at all and we've gone through whole periods where we think everything has gone right, that's when disaster tends to strike.

Fears don't exist in isolation. They tend to rise and fall depending on what people think they can do about them.

There are real threats but there's a difference between recognizing real threats and an irrational kind of apocalyptic threat.

I think the tragedy of Barack Obama's presidency is that although a lot of people around the world really admire Barack Obama a lot, they don't admire the American political and economic model as much as they used to.

Clinton is a very capable, conscientious person. I think she cares very deeply about policy. She knows a lot about how the government works, and I think those things are very important. You don't really appreciate those things until you get a guy like George W. Bush in the White House, and then you realize that when you don't have someone who knows or cares about government policy, a lot of bad stuff can happen.

It's easy to see why conservatives would be salivating at the thought of a Hillary primary challenge. Presidents who face serious primary challenges—Ford, Carter, Bush I—almost always lose. The last president who lost reelection without a serious primary challenge, by contrast, was Herbert Hoover. But in truth, the chances that Obama will face a primary challenge are vanishingly slim, and the chances that he will lose reelection only slightly higher. No wonder conservatives are fantasizing about Hillary Clinton taking down Barack Obama. If she doesn't, it's unlikely they will.

The top line is that hubris is a disease that comes from success.