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As You Travel Through The Middle East What Keeps On Striking Home To Me Is How Similar Everyone Is, And Yet The Degree To Which We Can Find Differences To Fight Wars Over. It Requires A Great Deal Of Empathy, I Think, Between Various Sides To Overcome This History And Live In Peace.

-Barack Obama

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As You Travel Through

Barack Obama

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As You Travel Through The Middle East What Keeps On Striking Home To Me Is How Similar Everyone Is, And Yet The Degree To Which We Can Find Differences To Fight Wars Over. It Requires A Great Deal Of Empathy, I Think, Between Various Sides To Overcome This History And Live In Peace.

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This Comes From A Group Of People Who`ve Been Wrong About Every Foreign Policy Issue Over The Last Two Decades. They Supported Hillary Clinton`s War In Libya. They Supported President [barack] Obama`s Bombing Of Assad.

No One Is Pro-abortion.

This Kind Of Inequality - A Level That We Haven’t Seen Since The Great Depression - Hurts Us All. When Middle-class Families Can No Longer Afford To Buy The Goods And Services That Businesses Are Selling...it Drags Down The Entire Economy From Top To Bottom. America Was Built On The Idea Of Broad-based Prosperity... That’s Why A Ceo Like Henry Ford Made It His Mission To Pay His Workers Enough So That They Could Buy The Cars He Made. It’s Also Why A Recent Study Showed That Countries With Less Inequality Tend To Have Stronger And Steadier Economic Growth Over The Long Run.

This Massacre In Orlando Is Therefore A Further Reminder Of How Easy It Is For Someone To Get Their Hands On A Weapon That Lets Them Shoot People In A School Or In A House Of Worship Or A Movie Theater Or In A Nightclub. And We Have To Decide If That's The Kind Of Country We Want To Be. And To Actively Do Nothing Is A Decision, As Well.

Whether Our Forebears Were Strangers Who Crossed The Atlantic Or The Pacific Or The Rio Grande, We Are Here Only Because This Country Welcomed Them In And Taught Them That To Be An American Is About Something More Than What We Look Like, Or What Our Last Names Are, Or How We Worship.

The Laws Of Our Land Are Catching Up To The Fundamental Truth That Millions Of Americans Hold In Our Hearts: When All Americans Are Treated As Equal, No Matter Who They Are Or Whom They Love, We Are All More Free.

I Didn't Have A Perfect Model, But I Wanted To Try To Blend My Own Personal Reflections And Experiences With This Broader Canvas To See How A Lot Of The Narratives We Have About Economy And Foreign Policy Got Stuck. Because We Have These Categories Of Liberal, Conservative, Free Marketer, Open Government - All These Stereotypes About Our Politics And The Categories We Try To Put Things In Are Inadequate To This Sort Of Complex, Ambiguous, Sometimes Contradictory Experience We Have As Ordinary People And That I Have As An Elected Official.

We’re Making New Investments In The Development Of Gasoline And Diesel And Jet Fuel That’s Actually Made From A Plant-like Substance-algae... We Could Replace Up To 17 Percent Of The Oil We Import For Transportation With This Fuel That We Can Grow Right Here In The United States.

Now, Today, Some Children Are Enrolled In Excellent Programs. Some Children Are Enrolled In Mediocre Programs. And Some Are Wasting Away Their Most Formative Years In Bad Programs....that's Why I'm Issuing A Challenge To Our States: Develop A Cutting-edge Plan To Raise The Quality Of Your Early Learning Programs; Show Us How You'll Work To Ensure That Children Are Better Prepared For Success By The Time They Enter Kindergarten. If You Do, We Will Support You With An Early Learning Challenge Grant That I Call On Congress To Enact.

The Trade Agreement Itself Does Have Labor And Environmental Protections, But We Have To Stand For Human Rights And We Have To Make Sure That Violence Isn't Being Perpetrated Against Workers Who Are Just Trying To Organize For Their Rights.

The United States Does Not Have A Monopoly On Crazy People. It's Not The Only Country That Has Psychosis. And Yet We Kill Each Other In These Mass Shootings At Rates That Are Exponentially Higher Than Anyone Else. Well, What's The Difference? The Difference Is That These Guys Can Stack Up A Bunch Of Ammunition In Their Houses, And That's Sort Of Par For The Course.

What Americans Expect From Washington Is Action That Matches The Urgency They Feel In Their Daily Lives.

I Don't Presume To Have Knowledge Of What Happens After I Die. But I Feel Very Strongly That Whether The Reward Is In The Here And Now Or In The Hereafter, The Aligning Myself To My Faith And My Values Is A Good Thing.

Christian Values

The President Does Not Have Power Under The Constitution To Unilaterally Authorize A Military Attack In A Situation That Does Not Involve Stopping An Actual Or Imminent Threat To The Nation.

I Did Not Suggest That Iran Is A Democracy; Just The Opposite. I Talked About It Being A Repressive Theocracy. What I Think Is Indisputable Is That Even Within This Repressive Regime, The Political Leaders There - Including The Supreme Leader - Are Sensitive To The Concerns Of The Population Within Bounds.

No One In America Should Ever Be Afraid To Walk Down The Street Holding The Hand Of The Person They Love.

Our Lives Are Now In A Telephone, All Our Data, All Our Finances, All Our Personal Information, And So It's Proper That We Have Some Constraints On That. But It's Not Going To Be 100 Percent. If It Is 100 Percent, Then We're Not Going To Be Able To Protect Ourselves And Our Societies From Some People Who Are Trying To Hurt Us.

Around The World, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela -- What They Did Was Hard. It Takes Time. It Takes More Than A Single Term. It Takes More Than A Single President. It Takes More Than A Single Individual.

I Think Ronald Reagan Changed The Trajectory Of America In A Way That Richard Nixon Did Not And In A Way That Bill Clinton Did Not. He Put Us On A Fundamentally Different Path Because The Country Was Ready For It.

When Americans Are Called On To Innovate, That's What We Do - Whether It's Making More Fuel-efficient Cars Or More Fuel-efficient Appliances, Or Making Sure That We Are Putting In Place The Kinds Of Equipment That Prevents Harm To The Ozone Layer And Eliminates Acid Rain. At Every One Of These Steps, There Have Been Folks Who Have Said It Can't Be Done. There Have Been Naysayers Who Said This Is Going To Destroy Jobs And Destroy Industry. And It Doesn't Happen Because Once We Have A Clear Target To Meet, We Typically Meet It. And We Find The Best Ways To Do It.

It's Good To Get Fresh Legs In [the White House]. I Think That It Refreshes Our Democracy.

[the] United States Is Proud To Stand With You As Your Strongest Ally And Greatest Friend. I See This Visit As An Opportunity To Reaffirm The Unbreakable Bond Between Our Nations, To Restate America's Unwavering Commitment To Israel's Security, And To Speak Directly To Israel And To Your Neighbors.

It Is In The Interests Of All Of Us - The United States, China And The Rest Of The World - To Make Sure That The Rules Of The Road Are Upheld. These Rules And Norms Are Part Of The Foundation Of Regional Stability, And They Have Allowed Nations Across The Region, Including China, To Grow And Prosper.

I Do Believe, Separate And Apart From Any Particular Election Or Movement, That We Are Going To Have To Guard Against A Rise In A Crude Sort Of Nationalism Or Ethnic Identity Or Tribalism That Is Built Around An Us And A Them.

I Can Guarantee That Not Because I Give Attorney General [loretta] Lynch A Directive. That Is Institutionally How We Have Always Operated. I Do Not Talk To The Attorney General About Pending Investigations [on Hillary Clinton].

Guarantees That

There's Something About These Steps [in Oval Office] And Thinking About Everybody Who's Walked Here And All The Business That's Been Done Here.

No One Built This Country On Their Own. This Nation Is Great Because We Built It Together.

99.9% Of Plumbers Make Less Than A Quarter Million Dollars A Year, And I'm Going To Give Joe A Break Whether He Wants It Or Not.

I Am Absolutely Convinced That Race Relations On The Whole Are Actually Better Now Than They Were 20 Years [ago].

If We Think That We Can Secure Our Country By Just Talking Tough Without Acting Tough And Smart, Then We Will Misunderstand This Moment And Miss Its Opportunities. If We Think That We Can Use The Same Partisan Playbook Where We Just Challenge Our Opponent's Patriotism To Win An Election, Then The American People Will Lose. The Times Are Too Serious For This Kind Of Politics.

I Think That Donald Trump Is Coming To This Office With Fewer Set Hard-and-fast Policy Prescriptions Than A Lot Of Other Presidents Might Be Arriving With.

I Think [obamacare] Will Survive. Or It May Be Called Something Else. And As I Said I Don't Don't Mind.

I Confess To Wincing Every So Often At A Poorly Chosen Word, A Mangled Sentence, An Expression Of Emotion That Seems Indulgent Or Overly Practiced. I Have The Urge To Cut The Book By Fifty Pages Or So, Possessed As I Am With A Keener Appreciation For Brevity.

It Is The Kindness To Take In A Stranger When The Levees Break; The Selflessness Of Workers Who Would Rather Cut Their Hours Than See A Friend Lose Their Job Which Sees Us Through Our Darkest Hours. It Is The Firefighter's Courage To Storm A Stairway Filled With Smoke, But Also A Parent's Willingness To Nurture A Child, That Finally Decides Our Fate.

At A Time When The European Project Is Facing Challenges, It's Especially Important To Show The Benefits Of Economic Integration By Continuing To Invest In Our People And Working To Reduce Inequality, Both Within And Across Our Countries.

People Will Still Be Looking To The United States. Our Example Will Still Carry Great Weight.

Let Me Even Say Before I Even Get Inaugurated, During The Transition We Are Going To Be Having Meetings All Across The Country With Community Organizations So That You Have Input Into The Agenda For The Next Presidency Of The United States Of America.

The Best Education I Received Was Working With People In The Community On A Grassroots Basis. Because What It Taught Me Was That Ordinary People, When They Are Working Together Can Do Extraordinary Things.

Working Together

In The Past, There Have Been A Range Of Treaties That Divided Congress And Every Administration Was Able To Get Them Through.

Government Without A Tough And Vibrant Media Is Not An Option For The United States Of America.

The One Thing I've Said To [donald Trump] Directly, And I Would Advise My Republican Friends In Congress And Supporters Around The Country, Is Just Make Sure That, As We Go Forward Certain Norms, Certain Institutional Traditions Don't Get Eroded, Because There's A Reason They're In Place.

[the White House Staff] Start Bringing In Their Kids, Who You Think Should Be Babies And Now Are In Second Grade Or Something, And You've Watched Them Grow Up. So I Think What Ends Up Happening Is You End Up Maintaining Those Networks And Those Contacts, But The Concentrated Interactions And Experience That You Have Here, I Don't Think, I Don't Expect You Can Duplicate Anyplace Else.

Each Side Has Legitimate Aspirations - And That's Part Of What Makes Peace So Hard. And The Deadlock Will Only Be Broken When Each Side Learns To Stand In The Other's Shoes; Each Side Can See The World Through The Other's Eyes. That's What We Should Be Encouraging. That's What We Should Be Promoting.

Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me 35 Years Ago.

Could Have Been

Our Job Is Not To Ask That God Respond To Our Notion Of Truth. Our Job Is To Be True To Him, Hi-his Word And His Commandments, And We Should Assume Humbly That We're Confused And Don't Always Know What We're Doin' And We're Staggerin' And Stumblin' Towards Him And Have Some Humility In That Process.

I Think A Basic Principle Of Our Constitution Is Nobody Above The Law

America Is, Is No Longer, Uh, What It, Uh, Could Be, Uh, What It Was Once Was, Uh, And I Say To Myself, Uh, I Don't Want That Future, Uh, For My Children.

Our Journey Is Not Complete Until Our Gay Brothers And Sisters Are Treated Like Anyone Else Under The Law.

The American People Intuitively Understand This, Which Is Why The Majority Of Catholics Practice Birth Control And Some Of Those Opposed To Gay Marriage Nevertheless Are Opposed To A Constitutional Amendment To Ban It. Religious Leadership Need Not Accept Such Wisdom In Counseling Their Flocks, But They Should Recognize This Wisdom In Their Politics.

In America, There's A Failure To Appreciate Europe's Leading Role In The World.

My Presidency Is Not Over. I've Got Another Five Years Coming Up.

I Mentioned Charter Schools, And Experimenting With Our School System, To Make It Work. I Think That's Something We Really Have To Pay Attention To.

I Want Every Math Teacher To Know Math. I Want Every Science Teacher To Have Expertise In Science. I Want Them To Know How To Inspire And Engage Young People.

Now Is The Time For All Of Us To Take Our Share Of Responsibility For A Global Response To Global Challenges.

I'm Not Just A Candidate, I'm The President

All Of Us Have A Responsibility To Work For The Day When The Mothers Of Israelis And Palestinians Can See Their Children Grow Up Without Fear; When The Holy Land Of The Three Great Faiths Is The Place Of Peace That God Intended It To Be; When Jerusalem Is A Secure And Lasting Home For Jews And Christians And Muslims, And A Place For All Of The Children Of Abraham To Mingle Peacefully Together As In The Story Of Isra - (applause) - As In The Story Of Isra, When Moses, Jesus, And Mohammed, Peace Be Upon Them, Joined In Prayer. (applause.)

I Actually Believe That We Need Missile Defense, Because Of Iran And North Korea And The Potential For Them To Obtain Or To Launch Nuclear Weapons, But I Also Believe That, When We Are Only Spending A Few Hundred Million Dollars On Nuclear Proliferation, Then We're Making A Mistake.

Usually, I'm Pretty Good About Sorting Through The Options And Then Making Decisions That I'm Confident Are The Best Decisions In That Moment, Given The Information We Have. But There Are Times Where I Think I Wish I Could Have Imagined A Different Level Of Insight.

The Holy Koran Tells Us, 'o Mankind! We Have Created You Male And A Female; And We Have Made You Into Nations And Tribes So That You May Know One Another.'

They Will Tell You That The Americans Who Sleep In The Streets And Beg For Food Got There Because They’re All Lazy Or Weak Of Spirit. That The Inner-city Children Who Are Trapped In Dilapidated Schools Can’t Learn And Won’t Learn And So We Should Just Give Up On Them Entirely. That The Innocent People Being Slaughtered And Expelled From Their Homes Half A World Away Are Somebody Else’s Problem To Take Care Of.

I Can't Even Get A Credit Card Without Three Credit Bureaus Saying I'm Good Enough.

The Middle East Is Obviously An Issue That Has Plagued The Region For Centuries.

The United States Believes That Every Nation Should Respect International Law, Including In The South China Sea.

This Was The Moment When The Rise Of The Oceans Began To Slow And Our Planet Began To Heal.

It May Be Something That Future Generations Are More Open To, But I Am Pretty Confident That For The Foreseeable Future, Using The Argument Of Nondiscrimination, And "let's Get It Right For The Kids Who Are Here Right Now," And Giving Them The Best Chance Possible, Is Going To Be A More Persuasive Argument.

I Think What Will Happen With Donald Trump Is There Are Going To Be Certain Elements Of His Temperament That Will Not Serve Him Well Unless He Recognizes Them And Corrects Them.

I Refuse To Leave Our Children With A Debt That They Cannot Repay.

Broken Promises

In Addition To Giving Our Children The Science And Math Skills They Need To Compete In The New Global Context, We Should Also Encourage The Ability To Think Creatively That Comes From A Meaningful Arts Education.

And So You [young Americans]need To Be The Idea Generation. The Generation Who's Always Thinking On The Cutting Edge, Who's Wondering How To Create And Keep The Next Wave Of American Jobs And American Innovations, Who's Figuring Out How To Out-compete The Idea Generations Of Indias And Chinas Of The World.

I Think We Want To See New Voices And New Ideas Emerge - That's Part Of The Reason Why Term Limits Are A Really Useful Thing.

There Is Probably A Perverse Pride In My Administration... That We Were Going To Do The Right Thing, Even If Short-term It Was Unpopular. And I Think Anybody Who's Occupied This Office Has To Remember That Success Is Determined By An Intersection In Policy And Politics And That You Can't Be Neglecting Of Marketing And P.r. And Public Opinion.

What I Want To Try To Do Is Unify The Two Wings Of The Democratic Party. What's Considered The More Progressive Wing Of The Democratic Party - The More Centrist Wing Of The Party. I Think We Can Craft An Approach That Is More American, Pro-worker, Pro-business, Pro-growth.

There's No Doubt That When It Comes To Our Treatment Of Native Americans As Well As Other Persons Of Color In This Country, We've Got Some Very Sad And Difficult Things To Account For. I Personally Would Want To See Our Tragic History, Or The Tragic Elements Of Our History, Acknowledged. I Consistently Believe That When It Comes To Whether It's Native Americans Or African-american Issues Or Reparations, The Most Important Thing For The U.s. Government To Do Is Not Just Offer Words, But Offer Deeds.

Native American

I've Said This Before, And I Know This Raises Questions In The Minds Of Some Evangelicals. I Do Not Believe That My Mother, Who Never Formally Embraced Christianity As Far As I Know ... I Do Not Believe She Went To Hell.

Raises Questions

What We Can Do Is To Shape How That Process Of Global Integration Proceeds, So That It's Increasing Opportunity For Ordinary People, So That It's Creating Better Jobs, So That We Are Strengthening Protections For Workers, So That We Are Addressing Some Of The Environmental Challenges That Come With Rapid Growth.

I'd Like To Help Struggling Homeowners Who Can't Pay Their Mortgages, I'd Like To Invest In Our Crumbling Infrastructure, I'd Like To Reform The Tax System So Multimillionaires Can't Pretend Their Earnings Are Capital Gains And Pay At The Rate Of 15 Percent. I'd Like To Make Public Higher Education Free, And Pay For It With A Small Transfer Tax On All Financial Transactions. I'd Like To Do Much More - A New New Deal For Americans. But Republicans Are Blocking Me At Every Point.

No Single Nation Should Pick And Choose Which Nations Holds Nuclear Weapons. And That's Why I Strongly Reaffirmed America's Commitment To Seek A World In Which No Nations Hold Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear Weapons

Yes, Our Greatness As A Nation Has Depended On Individual Initiative, On A Belief In The Free Market. But It Has Also Depended On Our Sense Of Mutual Regard For Each Other, Of Mutual Responsibility. The Idea That Everybody Has A Stake In The Country, That We're All In It Together And Everybody's Got A Shot At Opportunity. Americans Know This. We Know That Government Can't Solve All Our Problems - And We Don't Want It To. But We Also Know That There Are Some Things We Can't Do On Our Own. We Know That There Are Some Things We Do Better Together.

We Reward People A Lot For Being Rich, For Being Famous, For Being Cute, For Being Thin... One Of The Values I Think We Need To Instill In Our Country, In Our Children, Is A Sense Of 'usefulness', In Other Words, Are We Useful, Are We Making Other Peoples' Lives A Little Bit Better?

There Will Be Setbacks And False Starts. There Are Many Who Won't Agree With Every Decision Or Policy I Make As President. And We Know The Government Can't Solve Every Problem. But I Will Always Be Honest With You About The Challenges We Face. I Will Listen To You, Especially When We Disagree. And, Above All, I Will Ask You To Join In The Work Of Remaking This Nation, The Only Way It's Been Done In America For 221 Years -- Block By Block, Brick By Brick, Calloused Hand By Calloused Hand.

I Know That There Are Millions Of Americans Who Are Content With Their Health Care Coverage - They Like Their Plan And, Most Importantly, They Value Their Relationship With Their Doctor.

My Goal Is To Maintain The International Norm On Banning Chemical Weapons. I Want That Enforcement To Be Real. I Want It To Be Serious. I Want People To Understand That Gassing Innocent People, Delivering Chemical Weapons Against Children Is Not Something We Do. It's Prohibited In Active Wars Between Countries. We Certainly Don't Do It Against Kids. And We've Got To Stand Up For That Principle.

Islamic Culture Has Given Us Majestic Arches And Soaring Spires; Timeless Poetry And Cherished Music; Elegant Calligraphy And Places Of Peaceful Contemplation.

I Think It Is Important For Europe To Understand That Even Though I Am President And George Bush Is Not President, Al Qaeda Is Still A Threat.

I Said That America’s Role Would Be Limited; That We Would Not Put Ground Troops Into Libya; That We Would Focus Our Unique Capabilities On The Front End Of The Operation And That We Would Transfer Responsibility To Our Allies And Partners.

Both President Kennedy And President Reagan Were Roundly Criticized By Parts Of The Foreign Policy Establishment That Felt They Were Being Weak By Engaging Our Adversaries. So Some Of It Is Built Into A Political Lexicon That Makes You Sound Tougher If You Don't Talk To Somebody, And Rather, Very Loudly, Wield A Big Stick.

It's Time To Fundamentally Change The Way That We Do Business In Washington. To Help Build A New Foundation For The 21st Century, We Need To Reform Our Government So That It Is More Efficient, More Transparent, And More Creative. That Will Demand New Thinking And A New Sense Of Responsibility For Every Dollar That Is Spent.

Singapore Was The Very First South-east Asian Nation To Join The Global Coalition Against Isil (isis) Coalition, And We'll Work To Sustain Our Momentum In Destroying That Terrorist Organisation.

But Another Thing I Know Is This — We Can’t Steer Ourselves Out Of This Crisis By Heading In The Same, Disastrous Direction. We Can’t Change Direction With A New Driver Who Wants To Follow The Same Old Map. And That’s What This Election Is All About.

I Am A Christian. So, I Have A Deep Faith. So I Draw From The Christian Faith...so, I'm Rooted In The Christian Tradition. I Believe That There Are Many Paths To The Same Place.

We Will Finish The Race.

Making Products We Sell Around The World, Stamped With Three Proud Words, 'made In The Usa!'

For Now, Whether You Are Young Or Whether You're Young At Heart, I Do Have One Final Ask Of You As Your President, The Same Thing I Asked When You Took A Chance On Me Eight Years Ago. I Am Asking You To Believe Not In My Ability To Bring About Change, But In Yours.

The United States Was The First Country To Recognize Israel In 1948, Minutes After Its Declaration Of Independence, And The Deep Bonds Of Friendship Between The U.s. And Israel Remain As Strong And Unshakeable As Ever.

Under My Plan Of A Cap And Trade System, Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket… Because I’m Capping Greenhouse Gasses, Coal Power Plants, Natural Gas…you Name It…whatever The Plants Were, Whatever The Industry Was, They Would Have To Retro-fit Their Operations. That Will Cost Money…they Will Pass That Money On To The Consumers.

America Can Do Whatever We Set Our Mind To. That Is The Story Of Our History, Whether It's The Pursuit Of Prosperity For Our People, Or The Struggle For Equality For All Our Citizens; Our Commitment To Stand Up For Our Values Abroad, And Our Sacrifices To Make The World A Safer Place. Let Us Remember That We Can Do These Things Not Just Because Of Wealth Or Power, But Because Of Who We Are: One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

I Know That Gaps Can Be Closed. And They Can Be Closed Substantially, More Than I Think We Believe.

Health Care Has Become A Proxy For A Broader Set Of Issues About How Much Government Should Be Involved In Our Economy, Particularly Coming Off A Huge Economic Crisis.

And, You Know, I Don’t Want To Have To Worry That She Is Going To Get Sick As The Consequence Of Having, Having Her Lunch.

We've Been Able To Organize The International Community Around It In Ways That Aren't Going To Go Back.

More Than A Building That Houses Books And Data, The Library Represents A Window To A Larger World, The Place Where We've Always Come To Discover Big Ideas And Profound Concepts That Help Move The American Story Forward And The Human Story Forward.

If We Want To Really Reduce Foreign Influence On Our Elections, Then We Better Think About How To Make Sure That Our Political Process, Our Political Dialogue Is Stronger Than It's Been.

I Think It's Fair To Say That My Temperament Is Steady - And On The Buoyant Side.

If We’re Going To Have Arguments, Let’s Have Arguments — but Let’s Make Them Debates Worthy Of This Body And Worthy Of This Country.

My Job Is Not To Represent Washington To You, But To Represent You To Washington.

If We Are Truly Created Equal Then Surely The Love We Commit To One Another Must Be Equal As Well

This Is Not Class Warfare. It’s Math.

[fall Of The Berlin Wall] Is A Reminder That The Commitment Of The United States, To Europe Is Enduring And It's Rooted In The Values We Share; Our Commitment To Democracy, Our Commitment To Rule Of Law, Our Commitment To The Dignity Of All People In Our Own Countries And Around The World.

Of All The Rocks Upon Which We Build Our Lives, We Are Reminded Today That Family Is The Most Important. And We Are Called To Recognize And Honor How Critical Every Father Is To That Foundation. They Are Teachers And Coaches. They Are Mentors And Role Models. They Are Examples Of Success And The Men Who Constantly Push Us Toward It.

It's Probably A Prerequisite For The Job, Or At Least You Have To Have Enough Craziness To Think That You Can Do The Job. I Think That [donald Trump] Has Not Spent A Lot Of Time Sweating The Details Of, You Know, All The Policies.

America Is Governed By Rules Of Law, And Those Are Not Ones That The President Of The United States Or Anybody Else Can Just Set Aside For The Sake Of Expediency Even When We Are Deeply Supportive Of Turkish Democracy, And Even When We Care Deeply About Any Attempts To Overthrow Their Government Or Any Other Illegal Actions, We've Got To Go Through A Legal Process.

The Public School System Is Not About Educating Black Children. Never Has Been. Inner-city Schools Are About Social Control. Period. They’re Operated As Holding Pens—miniature Jails, Really. It’s Only When Black Children Start Breaking Out Of Their Pens And Bothering White People That Society Even Pays Any Attention To The Issue Of Whether These Children Are Being Educated.

Let's Face It, Fox News, You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone. It'll Be Harder To Convince The Public That Hillary Clinton Was Born In Kenya.

I Don't Want To Exaggerate; Having As Many African American Men As We've Had In The Criminal-justice System, And The Amount Of Time It Takes For The Damage Done By That To Wash Through Our Society And Our Communities, The Disadvantages Born Out Of Kids Being Undiagnosed With Mental-health Problems Early, Or Not Getting The Kind Of Exposure To Reading And Math When They're 4 Or 5 Or 6 Years Old, That Carries A Cost.

When Michelle And I Decided That I Would Run For President, It Was Because Of A Shared Belief In The Power Of Community And Connection, A Commitment To The Idea That We Are Our Brothers' Keepers.

Being Attentive To Inequality And Not Tone Deaf To It. But Offering Prescriptions That Are Actually Going To Help Folks In Communities That Feel Forgotten. That's Going To Be Our Most Important Strategy. And I Think We Can Successfully Do That.

Let Me Tell Your Something. I'm From Chicago. I Don't Break.

It Still Puts Burden On Some Troops Of Ours Who Are There [in Afghanistan And Iraq] As Advisors And Facilitators.

The Best Anti-poverty Program Is A World-class Education.

There Are So Many Errors And Misstatements In That List That I Won't Even Begin To Name Them. Obama Was Right About One Thing, Though - Islam Has Always Been A Part Of America's Story.

We Shouldn't Assume That Government Is Always Trying To Do The Wrong Thing.

Climate Change Is One Of The Issues I Worry Most About Because Its Impacts Are Enormous. But They're Gradual, They're Not Immediate.

The Challenges Posed By Threats Like Terrorism, Proliferation, And Cyber Attacks Are Not Going Away Any Time Soon, And For Our Intelligence Community To Be Effective Over The Long Haul, We Must Maintain The Trust Of The American People And People Around The World.

Let's Say I'm On The Policy Wonk End Of The Spectrum. As Much As I Can Dive Into A Briefing Book And Really Work To Master Various Subjects That Come Before My Desk, I'm Still Not An Expert On A Huge Amount Of The Stuff That We Work On.

The Path Towards Sustainable Energy Sources Will Be Long And Sometimes Difficult. But America Cannot Resist This Transition, We Must Lead It.

Now, At Times This Issue Has Tended To Degenerate Into An 'either-or' Type Of Debate. Either We Protect Our People From Terror Or We Protect Our Most Cherished Principles. But That Is A False Choice. It Asks Too Little Of Us And Assumes Too Little About America.

We Are Willing To Uphold Principles That Have Resulted In Unprecedented Prosperity And Security Throughout Europe And Around The World. With The Threat Of Climate Change Only Becoming More Urgent, Angela [merkel] And I Focused On The Need For American And E.u. Leadership To Advance Global Cooperation.

My Identity Might Begin With The Fact Of My Race, But It Didn't, Couldn't End There. At Least That's What I Would Choose To Believe.

We Know What Happens When Europeans Start Dividing Themselves Up And Emphasizing Their Differences And Seeing A Competition Between Various Countries In A Zero Sum Way.

Those Of Us Who Have The Privilege To Serve This Country Have An Obligation To Do Our Job As Best We Can. We Come From Different Parties, But We Are Americans First. And That's Why Disagreement Cannot Mean Dysfunction. It Can't Degenerate Into Hatred. The American People's Hopes And Dreams Are What Matters, Not Ours. Our Obligations Are To Them. Our Regard For Them Compels Us All, Democrats And Republicans, To Cooperate, And Compromise, And Act In The Best Interests Of Our Nation - One Nation, Under God, Indivisible With Liberty And Justice For All.

It Is This World, A World Where Cruise Ships Throw Away More Food In A Day Than Most Residents Of Port-au-prince See In A Year, Where White Folks' Greed Runs A World In Need, Apartheid In One Hemisphere, Apathy In Another Hemisphere...that's The World! On Which Hope Sits!

Suppressing Ideas Never Succeeds In Making Them Go Away.

I Think That There's A Power In That [information Through Tweets And Sound Bites ]. There's Also A Danger, What Generates A Headline Or Stirs Up A Controversy And Gets Attention Isn't The Same As The Process Required To Actually Solve The Problem.

Empowering Women Isn’t Just The Right Thing To Do - It’s The Smart Thing To Do.

And As Husbands And Fathers And Brothers, We Have To Step Up - Because Every Girl’s Life Matters. Every Daughter Deserves The Same Chance As Our Sons. Every Woman Should Be Able To Go About Her Day - To Walk The Streets Or Ride The Bus - And Be Safe, And Be Treated With Respect And Dignity. She Deserves That.

You Have To Have A Strong Team Around You [being A President].

Since I'm The President And Democrats Have Controlled The House And The Senate, It's Understandable That People Are Saying, You Know, 'what Have You Done?'

Here In Europe, I Think That There Are A Lot Of Young People Who Forget The Issues That Were At Stake During The Cold War.

The People Of The United Kingdom Have Spoken, And We Respect Their Decision. The Special Relationship Between The United States And The United Kingdom Is Enduring, And The United Kingdom's Membership In Nato Remains A Vital Cornerstone Of Us Foreign, Security And Economic Policy.

I Can No More Disown (jeremiah Wright) Than I Can Disown The Black Community. I Can No More Disown Him Than I Can My White Grandmother - A Woman Who Helped Raise Me, A Woman Who Sacrificed Again And Again For Me, A Woman Who Loves Me As Much As She Loves Anything In This World, But A Woman Who Once Confessed Her Fear Of Black Men Who Passed By Her On The Street, And Who On More Than One Occasion Has Uttered Racial Or Ethnic Stereotypes That Made Me Cringe.

Iran Is A State Sponsor Of Terrorism. And For Them To Be Able To Provide Nuclear Technology To Non-state Actors, That's Unacceptable.

Our Stories May Be Singular, But Our Destination Is Shared.

There Is Enough Oil Out There For World Demand. It Is True That A Lot Of What's Driving Oil Prices Up Right Now Is Not The Lack Of Supply. There's Enough Supply.

I Think When You Spread The Wealth Around It's Good For Everybody.

It's Important To Know That The Vast Majority Of People Who Were Excited In 2008 Are Still Really Enthusiastic. We've Got More Volunteers Now Than Ever, And They're Engaged, They're Motivated, They're Not Paying Attention To The Ups And Downs Of Polls Or Washington.

Number One, It Is Absolutely Critical That We Tone Down The Rhetoric When It Comes To The Immigration Debate, Because There Has Been An Undertone That Has Been Ugly. Oftentimes, It Has Been Directed At The Hispanic Community. We Have Seen Hate Crimes Skyrocket In The Wake Of The Immigration Debate As It Has Been Conducted In Washington, And That Is Unacceptable.

[t]hese Tax Cuts For The Wealthiest Americans Are Also The Tax Cuts That Are Least Likely To Promote Growth.

I Don't Want To Make Promises, Not Knowing What The Situation's Going To Be Three Or Four Years Out.

I've Called Chicago Home For Nearly 25 Years. It's A City Of Broad Shoulders And Big Hearts And Bold Dreams; A City Of Legendary Sports Figures, Legendary Sports Venues, And Legendary Sports Fans.

The Journey Will Be Difficult. The Road Will Be Long. I Face This Challenge With Profound Humility, And Knowledge Of My Own Limitations. But I Also Face It With Limitless Faith In The Capacity Of The American People.

There's Been A Lot Of Talk About Body Cameras As A Silver Bullet Or A Solution. I Think The Task Force Concluded That There Is A Role For Technology To Play In Building Additional Trust And Accountability, But It's Not A Panacea, It Has To Be Embedded In A Broader Change In Culture And A Legal Framework That Ensures That People's Privacy Is Respected And That Not Only Police Officers But The Community Themselves Feel Comfortable With How Technologies Are Being Used.

I Hope We Can All Agree That, Instead Of Continuing To Subsidize Yesterday's Energy Sources. We Need To Invest In Tomorrow's.

The World Is Less Violent Than It Has Ever Been.

When It Comes To Immigration, I Have Actually Put More Money, Under My Administration, Into Border Security Than Any Other Administration Previously. We've Got More Security Resources At The Border - More National Guard, More Border Guards, You Name It - Than The Previous Administration. So We've Ramped Up Significantly The Issue Of Border Security.

I Think The Turks' Willingness To Take Seriously Action On The Borders To Stop The Flow Of Foreign Fighters Joining Isil Is Significant.

There Is A Wonderful Book Called "gandhi's Truth," By Erik Erikson, The Psychologist. It Is A Great Book. And I Remember Reading That And Thinking About This Connection Between What We Think In Our Personal Lives And How That Manifests Itself In Our Politics. Those Are Two Books, Just Off The Top, That I Think Are Sort Of Representative Of Reading That I Did At That Time. I Never Get A Chance To Read Anymore.

The Gulf States Are Extraordinarily Suspicious Of Iran For Good Reason. They View Iran As Meddling In Their Affairs. They Have Seen Iran Level Asymmetric Attacks Against Their Facilities Or Their Interests.

You Work With What You Got.

I've Been Called Worse On The Basketball Court.

Basketball Court

If You Want To Get At African American Poverty, The Income Gap, Wealth Gap, Achievement Gap, That The Most Important Thing Is To Make Sure That The Society As A Whole Does Right By People Who Are Poor, Are Working Class, Are Aspiring To A Better Life For Their Kids.

I Don`t Think The Donald Trump`s Qualified To Be President Of The United States, And Every Time He Speaks, That Opinion Is Confirmed.

I Always Say That Campaigning And Governing Are Two Different Things.

As Tough As Things Have Been, I Am Convinced You Are Tougher. I've Seen Your Passion And I've Seen Your Service. I've Seen You Engage And I've Seen You Turn Out In Record Numbers. I've Heard Your Voices Amplified By Creativity And A Digital Fluency That Those Of Us In Older Generations Can Barely Comprehend. I've Seen A Generation Eager, Impatient Even, To Step Into The Rushing Waters Of History And Change Its Course.

So Long As I'm Commander-in-chief, We Will Sustain The Strongest Military The World Has Ever Known. When You Take Off The Uniform, We Will Serve You As Well As You've Served Us - Because No One Who Fights For This Country Should Have To Fight For A Job, Or A Roof Over Their Head, Or The Care That They Need When They Come Home.

There's Just A Whole Different Attitude And Vibe When You're Not In Power As When You're In Power.

To This Day, The United States Is Profoundly Grateful For Our Friendship And Alliance With Greece.

Let Me Tell You Another Place To Look For Some Savings. We Are Currently Spending $10 Billion A Month In Iraq When They Have A $79 Billion Surplus. It Seems To Me That If We're Going To Be Strong At Home As Well As Strong Abroad, That We Have To Look At Bringing That War To A Close.

If You Look At Countries Like South Africa, Where You Had A Black Majority, There Have Been Efforts To Tax And Help That Black Majority, But It Hasn't Come In The Form Of A Formal Reparations Program.

The Very Technologies That Empower Us To Do Great Good Can Also Be Used To Undermine Us And Inflict Great Harm.

Climate Change Constitutes A Serious Threat To Global Security, An Immediate Risk To Our National Security, And, Make No Mistake, It Will Impact How Our Military Defends Our Country.

No Party Has A Monopoly On Wisdom. No Democracy Works Without Compromise. But When Governor Romney And His Allies In Congress Tell Us We Can Somehow Lower Our Deficit By Spending Trillions More On New Tax Breaks For The Wealthy - Well, You Do The Math. I Refuse To Go Along With That. And As Long As I'm President, I Never Will.

Working Full-time Should Mean Enough To Support A Family.

More Broadly, Prime Minister Lee [hsien Loong] And I Will Work To Advance The Us-singapore Partnership Across The Board. We're Committed To Sustaining The Dynamism Of Our Economies With The Trans-pacific Partnership - The Highest-standard Trade Agreement Ever - Which Will Support Trade And Innovation In Both Our Countries.

Let Us Reach For The World That Ought To Be -- That Spark Of The Divine That Still Stirs Within Each Of Our Souls.

Those Of Us In Positions Of Responsibility, We'll Need To Be Less Concerned With The Judgment Of Special Interests And Well-connected Donors, And More Concerned With The Judgment Of Posterity.

Higher Education Cannot Be A Luxury Reserved Just For A Privileged Few. It Is An Economic Necessity For Every Family. And Every Family Should Be Able To Afford It.

We Are An American Family And We Rise And Fall Together As One Nation.

American Family

Politics, Differences Of Religion Or Race, All That Fades Away When We Are Confronted With The Awesome Power Of Nature, And We're Reminded That All We Have Is Each Other.

This Kind Of Gaping Inequality Gives Lie To The Promise That’s At The Very Heart Of America: That This Is A Place Where You Can Make It If You Try. We Tell People - We Tell Our Kids - That In This Country, Even If You’re Born With Nothing, Work Hard And You Can Get Into The Middle Class. We Tell Them That Your Children Will Have A Chance To Do Even Better Than You Do. That’s Why Immigrants From Around The World Historically Have Flocked To Our Shores.

This Is A Matter Of Congress Authorizes Spending. They Order Me To Spend.

I Think Every Case Is Different. Every Situation Is Different. People Come On The F.b.i.'s Radar Screen For A Variety Of Reasons At A Variety Of Times.

In The Midst Of This Enormous Economic Crisis, I Think Canada Has Shown Itself To Be A Pretty Good Manager Of The Financial System And The Economy In Ways That We Always - Haven't Always Been Here In The United States.

I Am Sorry That They Are Finding Themselves In This Situation Based On Assurances They Got From Me.

I Believe That The Free Enterprise System Is The Greatest Engine Of Prosperity The World's Ever Known. I Believe In Self-reliance And Individual Initiative And Risk-takers Being Rewarded. But I Also Believe That Everybody Should Have A Fair Shot And Everybody Should Do Their Fair Share And Everybody Should Play By The Same Rules, Because That's How Our Economy's Grown. That's How We Built The World's Greatest Middle Class.

One Of The Things That You Learn, Having Been In This [president's] Office For Four Years, Is The Old Adage Of Abraham Lincoln's. That With Public Opinion There's Nothing You Can't Do And Without Public Opinion There's Very Little You Can Get Done.

Now, Because He Knows That His Economic Theories Don't Work, He's Been Spending These Last Few Days Calling Me Every Name In The Book. Lately He's Called Me A Socialist For Wanting To Roll-back The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthiest Americans So We Can Finally Give Tax Relief To The Middle Class. I Don't Know What's Next. By The End Of The Week He'll Be Accusing Me Of Being A Secret Communist Because I Shared My Toys In Kindergarten. I Shared My Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich.

It's Hard To Anticipate. I Can Tell You What I'm Feeling Right Now Is That I'm Busier Than I Expected These Last Two Weeks. A Great Deal Of Emotion Around The People That I've Worked With And The Gratitude I Feel For The Sacrifices They've Made On Behalf Of The American People, But Also On Behalf Of Me Personally.

Robin Williams Was An Airman, A Doctor, A Genie, A Nanny ... And Everything In Between. But He Was One Of A Kind.

I Hoped For Something Else. It's A Simple Dream, But It Speaks To Us So Powerfully Because It Is Our Dream - One That Exists At The Very Center Of The American Experience. One That Says If You're Willing To Work Hard And Take Responsibility, Then You'll Have The Chance To Reach For Something Else; For Something Better.

The Worst Thing That Colonialism Did Was To Cloud Our View Of Our Past.

One Of The Things That I've Urged The President-elect To Do Is To Develop A Strong Working Relationship With The Intelligence Community And I Think It's Important That Congress, On A Bipartisan Basis.

Our Founding Fathers, Faced With Perils We Can Scarcely Imagine, Drafted A Charter To Assure The Rule Of Law And The Rights Of Man, A Charter Expanded By The Blood Of Generations. Those Ideals Still Light The World, And We Will Not Give Them Up For Expedience's Sake.

It Is Time To Leave Behind The Divisive Battles Of The Past. It Is Time To Move Forward As One Nation.

Thank You, Planned Parenthood. God Bless You.

My Hope And Expectation Is That Regardless Of What Donald Trump Said During The Campaign, He's Going To Have To Look Carefully At The Realities When He Moves Forward.

At Least Romney And Mccain, They Respect The Rule Of Law. At Least Romney And Mccain, They Understand Their Limitations.

National Legislation Will Prevent Other States' Flawed Concealed-weapons Laws From Threatening The Safety Of Illinois Residents.

There's No Way To Resolve Syria Without Iran Being Involved, Given Its Financing Of Assad And The Fact That Hezbollah Is Probably The Most Effective Fighting Force That Assad Can Count On.

Lieutenant Al-kaseasbeh's Dedication, Courage And Service To His Country And Family Represent Universal Human Values That Stand In Opposition To The Cowardice And Depravity Of Isil, Which Has Been So Broadly Rejected Around The Globe.

What Has Made America The Wealthiest, Most Successful Country On Earth Historically Has Been Our Commitment To Education.

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