Status Updates From Barack Obama: His Essential...

This is our first task--caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged.

And then there's Ted Cruz. Ted had a tough week. He went to Indiana--Hoosier country--stood on a basketball court, and called the hoop a 'basketball ring.' What else is in his lexicon? Baseball sticks? Football hats? But sure, I'm the foreign one.

I tease Joe sometimes, but he has been at my side for seven years. I love that man. He's not just a great vice president, he is a great friend. We've gotten so close, in some places in Indiana, they won't serve us pizza anymore.

**I love Joe Biden almost as much as President Obama**

Slamming the door in the face of refugees would betray our deepest values. That's not who we are. And it's not what we're going to do.

Dropping bombs on someone to prove that you're willing to drop bombs on someone is just about the worst reason to use force.

When we send out young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they are going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about. That's not keeping it real, or telling it how it is. That's not challenging political correctness. That's just not knowing what you're talking about.

Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You will be pretty lonely, because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and two hundred nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it.

We have to shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we're going to suffer the consequences--together.