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For Top Executives To Award Themselves These Kinds Of Compensation Packages In The Midst Of This Economic Crisis Isn't Just Bad Taste, It's Bad Strategy, And I Will Not Tolerate It As President.

-Barack Obama

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For Top Executives To

Barack Obama

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For Top Executives To Award Themselves These Kinds Of Compensation Packages In The Midst Of This Economic Crisis Isn't Just Bad Taste, It's Bad Strategy, And I Will Not Tolerate It As President.

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I Actually Think, When You're Young, Ambitions Are Somewhat Common - You Want To Prove Yourself. It May Grow Out Of Different Life Experiences. You May Want To Prove That You Are Worthy Of The Admiration Of The Demanding Father. You May Want To Prove That You Are Worthy Of The Love Of An Absent Father.

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The United States Has To Go Through Structural Reforms In Terms Of Improving Our Education System Or Revamping Our Infrastructure Or, You Know, Looking At Some Regulations That Weren't Properly Controlling Excesses On Wall Street.

This Is The Moment When We Must Build On The Wealth That Open Markets Have Created, And Share Its Benefits More Equitably. Trade Has Been A Cornerstone Of Our Growth And Global Development. But We Will Not Be Able To Sustain This Growth If It Favors The Few, And Not The Many.

We've Seen How Militarized Gear Can Sometimes Give People A Feeling Like There's An Occupying Force, As Opposed To A Force That's Part Of The Community That's Protecting Them And Serving Them.

A Nation That Can't Control Its Energy Sources Can't Control Its Future.

What I Believe Is That Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman, But What I Also Believe Is That We Have An Obligation To Make Sure That Gays And Lesbians Have The Rights Of Citizenship That Afford Them Visitations To Hospitals, That Allow Them To Be, To Transfer Property Between Partners, To Make Certain That They're Not Discriminated On The Job.

I Know There Are Problems That I Say To Myself, If Maybe I Was A Little More Gifted I Might Have Been Able To Solve. But That's Not Because I Believe What I Did Was A Mistake. It's That Maybe It Required The Talents Of A Lincoln.

When I Was A Kid, I Inhaled. Frequently. That Was The Point.

There Are A Lot Of Very Religious Scientists Around. I Think The Problem Here Is That In Our School Systems, And To Some Degree - And This Is Where It Is Relevant - With School Boards Around The Country That Are Mandating Curriculums And Textbooks, You Start Seeing This Weird Watering Down Of Scientific Fact So That Our Kids Are Growing Up In An Environment - And This Connects To What I Was Saying Earlier Abou The Media - Where Everything's Contested. Where Nothing Is True.

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.

My Hope Is That's Something [donald Trump] Is Thinking About, Because Not Only Is The President Of The United States Somebody That The Entire Country Looks To For Direction But Sets The Agenda Internationally In A Lot Of Ways.

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

Islam Is Not Part Of The Problem In Combating Violent Extremism - It Is An Important Part Of Promoting Peace.

After A Century Of Striving, After A Year Of Debate, After A Historic Vote, Health Care Reform Is No Longer An Unmet Promise. It Is The Law Of The Land.

There's So Much Active Misinformation And It's Packaged Very Well And It Looks The Same When You See It On A Facebook Page Or You Turn On Your Television. If Everything Seems To Be The Same And No Distinctions Are Made, Then We Won't Know What To Protect.

One Of The Things That We Have To Change In This Country Is The Idea That People Can't Disagree Without Challenging Each Other's Character And Patriotism. I Have Never Suggested That Sen. Mccain Picks His Positions On National Security Based On Politics Or Personal Ambition. I Have Not Suggested It Because I Believe That He Genuinely Wants To Serve America's National Interest. Now, It's Time For Him To Acknowledge That I Want To Do The Same. Let Me Be Clear: I Will Let No One Question My Love Of This Country.

The Amount Of Information, The Amount Of Incoming That Any Administration Has To Deal With Today And Respond To Much More Rapidly Than Ever Before, That Makes It Different.

And Above All, Children Need Our Unconditional Love - Whether They Succeed Or Make Mistakes; When Life Is Easy And When Life Is Tough.

If, Technologically, It Is Possible To Make An Impenetrable Device Or System Where The Encryption Is So Strong That There's No Key - There's No Door At All - Then How Do We Apprehend The Child Pornographer? How Do We Solve Or Disrupt A Terrorist Plot?

It Should Be The Power Of Our Vote, Not The Size Of Our Bank Accounts, That Drives Our Democracy

Like Joe Biden And So Many Other Americans, I've Lost People I Love Deeply To Cancer. I've Heard Often From Those Whose Loved Ones Are Suffering From Alzheimer's, Addiction, And Other Debilitating Diseases. Their Heartbreak Is Real, And So We Have A Responsibility To Respond With Real Solutions.

...as Parents, We Have To Find The Time And The Energy To Step In And Help Our Children Love Reading. We Can Read To Them, Talk To Them About What They're Reading, And Make Time For This By Turning Off The Television Set Ourselves. Libraries Are A Critical Tool To Help Parents Do This.

I Think What You're Seeing Is A Profound Recognition On The Part Of The American People That Gays And Lesbians And Transgender Persons Are Our Brothers, Our Sisters, Our Children, Our Cousins, Our Friends, Our Co-workers, And That They've Got To Be Treated Like Every Other American. And I Think That Principle Will Win Out.

I Think The Average American, If They Go To The Workplace, Somebody's Next To 'em, They're Not Poking Around Trying To Figure Out What Their Religious Beliefs Are.

It Was The Labor Movement That Helped Secure So Much Of What We Take For Granted Today. The 40-hour Work Week, The Minimum Wage, Family Leave, Health Insurance, Social Security, Medicare, Retirement Plans. The Cornerstones Of The Middle-class Security All Bear The Union Label.

What I Believe Unites The People Of This Nation, Regardless Of Race Or Region Or Party, Young Or Old, Rich Or Poor, Is The Simple, Profound Belief In Opportunity For All - The Notion That If You Work Hard And Take Responsibility, You Can Get Ahead.

Foreign Assistance Is Not An End In Itself. The Purpose Of Aid Must Be To Create The Conditions Where It's No Longer Need.

Unlike My Opponent, I Will Not Let Oil Companies Write This Country's Energy Plan, Or Endanger Our Coastlines, Or Collect Another $4 Billion In Corporate Welfare From Our Taxpayers.

A Lot Of Pictures Of Yourself - You Know, It's A Little Narcissistic.

Pictures Of Yourself

Because 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 A Generation Eager, Impatient Even, To Step Into The Rushing Waters Of History And Change Its Course.

I Would Put Our Legislative And Foreign Policy Accomplishments In Our First Two Years Against Any President - With The Possible Exceptions Of Johnson, Fdr, And Lincoln - Just In Terms Of What We've Gotten Done In Modern History. But, You Know, But When It Comes To The Economy, We've Got A Lot More Work To Do. And We're Gonna Keep On At It.

When The Economy Is Still Struggling, Putting People Back To Work, Finding Ways To Spur Economic Activity, Ultimately Can Help To Reduce The Structural Deficits And Debts That Countries Experience.

America, This Is Our Moment. This Is Our Time. Our Time To Turn The Page Of The Policies Of The Past.

I'm Measuring My Actions Against That Inner Voice That For Me At Least Is Audible, Is Active, It Tells Me Where I Think I'm On Track And Where I Think I'm Off Track.

And Whether I Earned Your Vote Or Not, I Have Listened To You. I Have Learned From You. And You’ve Made Me A Better President. And With Your Stories And Your Struggles, I Return To The White House More Determined And More Inspired Than Ever About The Work There Is To Do And The Future That Lies Ahead.

Democracy Demands That The Religiously Motivated Translate Their Concerns Into Universal, Rather Than Religion-specific, Values.

It Ought To Concern Every Person, Because It Is A Debasement Of Our Common Humanity. It Ought To Concern Every Community, Because It Tears At Our Social Fabric. It Ought To Concern Every Business, Because It Distorts Markets. It Ought To Concern Every Nation, Because It Endangers Public Health And Fuels Violence And Organized Crime. I’m Talking About The Injustice, The Outrage, Of Human Trafficking, Which Must Be Called By Its True Name - Modern Slavery.

Common Humanity

Nobody Said Democracies Supposed To Be Easy. It's Hard. And In A Big Country Like America, It Probably Should Be Hard.

Ironically, The Single Thing That Has Strengthened Iran Over The Last Several Years Has Been The War In Iraq. Iraq Was Iran's Mortal Enemy. That Was Cleared Away. And What We've Seen Over The Last Several Years Is Iran's Influence Grow. They Have Funded Hezbollah, They Have Funded Hamas, They Have Gone From Zero Centrifuges To 4,000 Centrifuges To Develop A Nuclear Weapon.

The Greek People Are Entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial

I Don't Want To Make Decisions About What I'm Eating Or Wearing. Because I Have Too Many Other Decisions To Make.

I Commended Angela [merkel] For Her Leadership Along With President Hollande In Working To Resolve The Conflict In Ukraine. We Continued To Stand With The People Of Ukraine And For The Basic Principle That Nations Have A Right To Determine Their Own Destiny And We Discussed The Importance Of Maintaining Sanctions Until Russia Fully Complies With The Minsk Agreement.

Libya Is Still A Mess Right Now.

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.

Most People Who Serve In Washington Have Been Trained Either As Lawyers Or As Political Operatives--professions That Tend To Place A Premium On Winning Arguments Rather Than Solving Problems.

I Would Have To Investigate More Of Bill's Dancing Abilities, You Know, And Some Of This Other Stuff Before I Accurately Judge Whether He Was In Fact A Brother.

When I Think About What I'm Going Through, As President, It Doesn't Compare To What The Folks That I'm Representing Are Going Through. They're Losing Jobs. They're Trying To Figure Out How To Pay Their Medical Bills. They've Seen Retirements Suddenly Dissipate Because Of What's Happening In The Stock Market. And So As Tough As The Job Might Be, And The Politics Of Washington Can Sometimes Be I'm Always Reminded Of How Fortunate I Am To Be Here, And What An Extraordinary Responsibility I Have To Try To Deliver On Some Of The Promises That I Made During The Election.

The Role Of Citizen In Our Democracy Does Not End With Your Vote.

We Will Send An Additional 475 Service Members To Iraq. As I Have Said Before, These American Forces Will Not Have A Combat Mission - We Will Not Get Dragged Into Another Ground War In Iraq. But They Are Needed To Support Iraqi And Kurdish Forces With Training, Intelligence And Equipment.

The Day After The Attack, Governor, I Stood In The Rose Garden And I Told The American People And The World That We Are Going To Find Out Exactly What Happened. That This Was An Act Of Terror And I Also Said That We're Going To Hunt Down Those Who Committed This Crime.

Our Nation Owes A Debt To Its Fallen Heroes That We Can Never Fully Repay, But We Can Honor Their Sacrifice.

In Order To Make The Tough Decisions We Have To Know What Our Values Are And Who We're Fighting For And Our Priorities And If We Are Spending $300 Billion On Tax Cuts For People Who Don't Need Them And Weren't Even Asking For Them, And We Are Leaving Out Health Care Which Is Crushing On People All Across The Country, Then I Think We Have Made A Bad Decision And I Want To Make Sure We're Not Shortchanging Our Long Term Priorities.

I Am A Firm Believer That You Don't Do Anything Significant By Yourself. Again, Maybe There Are Exceptions. There's The Picasso Or The Mozart.

Reading Is Important. If You Know How To Read Then The Whole World Opens Up To You

I Think I Will Still Feel That Same Appreciation For What [winston] Churchill And Others Have Said Is The Worst Form Of Government Except All The Alternatives.

Even As We Do All That's Necessary To Ensure Israel's Security, Even As We Are Clear-eyed About The Difficult Challenges Before Us, And Even As We Pledge To Stand By Israel Through Whatever Tough Days Lie Ahead, I Hope We Do Not Give Up On That Vision Of Peace. For If History Teaches Us Anything, If The Story Of Israel Teaches Us Anything, It Is That With Courage And Resolve, Progress Is Possible. Peace Is Possible.

I Do Think That When You Go Into Red States, They're - So-called Red States - I Think They're Troubled With Certain Excesses With Respect To The Patriot Act, But They're Also Concerned With Making Sure We're Secure Against Terrorism.

For The Young People Here: Practicality Is A Good Thing. There Are Times Where Compromise Is Necessary. That's Part Of Wisdom. But It's Also Important To Hang On To What You Believe.

On Easter Or Christmas Day, My Mother Might Drag Me To Church, Just As She Dragged Me To The Buddhist Temple, The Chinese New Year Celebration, The Shinto Shrine, And Ancient Hawaiian Burial Sites.

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