Leader Cantor Calls For An America That Leads On CNN's Out Front

Statement

We Need An America That Leads: "Clearly there is a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria. There is also a residue of America drawing a red line and failing to live up to its word. I'm very concerned about our reliance on Vladimir Putin and the UN to try to dismantle the chemical weapons in Syria. It's been 6 months perhaps since the agreement has materialized and yet Assad is still there, the chemical weapons are still there. A lot of people are being killed and frankly America's reputation as a leader has been severely tarnished. I believe we need an America that leads which means an America that will bring together our allies and work to defend the moderates over the extremists in Syria. This is not without risk and it's not going to be pretty or easy. But I hate to think of the future of those moderate fighters in Syria, or ours, if we do not attempt to try and lead and bring our partners together."

America Is A Force For Freedom: "I think there's no clear cut, definitive outcome in any challenge that America takes abroad, or policies frankly that we implement at home. I think we have to go and be calculated and understand that America is a force for freedom. The American people expect an America that leads. We know that the number of foreign fighters flowing into Syria now exceed those who were in Iraq or Afghanistan. We know also that the Secretary of Homeland Security and leaders in our Intelligence community have said this month that foreign fighters, the jihadists who are there, represent now a threat to us because they're armed with western passports. I think we've seen now and learned the lessons of history. America has to lead. I would say when the President drew the red line and called for regime change, I think the maxim of Lyndon Baines Johnson, which said, if you're going to tell a man to go to hell you better make sure you send him there, and that's been violated here."

The House Is Focused On Helping Working Middle Class Americans: "If the question is about 2016, first of all we have an election in 2014 in the House that I'm very focused on. And I predict that Republicans in the House will pick up seats and possibly Republicans will take the Senate. But think about the working middle class right now that is traveling across the George Washington Bridge or anywhere else in the country, they really aren't focused on electoral politics right now, they're focused on what Washington can do to help them, to help them get back to work, to help them see a bigger paycheck and have more opportunity."

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