Barack Obama

He's terrific.

Really talented young man.

And, you know, it does require a certain confidence in your actual convictions to debate and have a conversation with somebody who disagrees with you on a whole bunch of stuff.

You know what?

So...

In our foundation, a lot of the work that I do is working with young civic leaders, political leaders, journalists, human rights lawyers, not just here in the United States, but around the world.

And one of the first things I say to them is, know what you really believe.

Right.

Like that's your starting point.

Right.

And first of all, if you understand your convictions, you got a moral compass, you got a code, you've spent time wrestling with what it is that you care about and what you believe.

Then it's a lot easier now to be open and actually listen to other people as opposed to constantly trying to beat off –

anybody who might contradict your current perspective.

And I think a guy like him, his starting point is, let me say what I believe.

And it doesn't mean that anybody in public life, and by the way, anybody who's married, anybody who's in a relationship, it doesn't mean that you can't practice the art of diplomacy, that you can't say it in ways that

Are more likely to be received.

Right.

But I think now more than ever, what people long for, and the word authenticity gets overused, I think.

What people long for is some core integrity that seems absent.

Just a sense that, ah, you know, the person seems to...