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How Does The Saying Go? When Two Locusts Fight, It Is Always The Crow That Feasts.' Is That A Luo Expression?' I Asked. Sayid's Face Broke Into A Bashful Smile. We Have A Similar Expression In Luo,' He Said, 'but Actually I Must Admit That I Read This Particular Expression In A Book By Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian Writer. I Like His Books Very Much. He Speaks The Truth About Africa's Predicament. The Nigerian, The Kenya - It Is The Same. We Share More Than Divides Us.

-Barack Obama

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How Does The Saying

Barack Obama

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How Does The Saying Go? When Two Locusts Fight, It Is Always The Crow That Feasts.' Is That A Luo Expression?' I Asked. Sayid's Face Broke Into A Bashful Smile. We Have A Similar Expression In Luo,' He Said, 'but Actually I Must Admit That I Read This Particular Expression In A Book By Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian Writer. I Like His Books Very Much. He Speaks The Truth About Africa's Predicament. The Nigerian, The Kenya - It Is The Same. We Share More Than Divides Us.

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We Are Reaching A Tipping Where The Pace Of Settlements, During The Course Of My Presidency Has Gotten So Substantial That It's Getting Harder And Harder To Imagine An Effective, Contiguous Palestinian State. And I Think It Would Have Long-term Consequences For Peace And Security In The Region, And The United States, Because Of Our Investment In The Region, And Because We Care So Deeply About Israel, I Think Has A Legitimate Interest In Saying To A Friend, "this Is A Problem."

We Are Growing The Economy In Smart Ways And Rebuilding Our Infrastructure And Investing In Science And Development And That We Stay True To Those Values That Helped To Get Us Here.

I Thought I Could Start Over, You See. But Now I Know You Can Never Start Over. Not Really. You Think You Have Control, But You Are Like A Fly In Somebody Else's Web. Sometimes I Think That's Why I Like Accounting. All Day, You Are Only Dealing With Numbers. You Add Them, Multiply Them, And If You Are Careful, You Will Always Have A Solution. There's A Sequence There. An Order. With Numbers, You Can Have Control.

Moral Values Includes The Immorality Of 45 Million Uninsured Or The Immorality Of Working People Who Are Having Trouble Raising A Family Despite Working Full-time. That Has To Be Part Of The Moral Equation. And If We Are Able To Frame Things In That Fashion, Then I Think We Can Be Successful.

I Have No Interest In Increasing The Size Of Government. I Just Want To Make Sure We Have Got A Smart Government That Is Regulating, For Example, The Financial Institutions Smartly, So I Don't Have To Engage In Any Kind Of Bank Bailouts.

[the Americans] Believe In The Idea That Jamal And Johnny Should Be Treated Equally.

The Warren Court Wasn't That Radical. It Didn't Break Free From The Essential Constraints That Were Placed By The Founding Fathers In The Constitution... I Intend To Succeed Where They Failed.

When We Were Working On Immigration Reform And There Was A Young Latino Man, Young Immigration Activist Here Who, In The Roosevelt Room, Refused To Shake My Hand.he Made A Point Of Saying, "i Can't Shake Your Hand; You're Deporting Too Many People." And I Just Said To Him, "young Man, I'm Glad That You Feel So Passionately About This Issue, But You're With The President Right Now In The White House. You've Got To Think About What's Going To Be Most Effective In Getting What You Need, What You're Trying To Accomplish. Because This May Not Be Your Best Strategy."

We Have The Power To Make The World We Seek, But Only If We Have The Courage To Make A New Beginning.

I Will Listen To You, Especially When We Disagree.

America And Islam Are Not Exclusive And Need Not Be In Competition. Instead, They Overlap, And Share Common Principles Of Justice And Progress, Tolerance And The Dignity Of All Human Beings.

The Challenge There Is That Isil Doesn't Have An Air Force, So The Damage Done There Is Not Against Isil, It's Against The Syrian Regime.

But To Truly Transform Our Economy, Protect Our Security, And Save Our Planet From The Ravages Of Climate Change, We Need To Ultimately Make Clean, Renewable Energy The Profitable Kind Of Energy. So I Ask This Congress To Send Me Legislation That Places A Market-based Cap On Carbon Pollution And Drives The Production Of More Renewable Energy In America.

But If You - If What - The Reports Are True, What They're Saying Is, Is That As A Consequence Of Us Getting 30 Million Additional People Health Care, At The Margins That's Going To Increase Our Costs, We Knew That.

Let's Remember That Our Leadership Is Defined Not Just By Our Defence Against Threats, But By The Enormous Opportunities To Do Good And Promote Understanding.

We Had To Get Out Of Chicago So Quick. Election Night Happens, Suddenly I'm Talking To Ben Bernanke And Hank Paulson And Trying To Figure Out Whether The World's Going To Fly Apart, And Michelle Is Trying To Figure Out Where The Girls Are Going To Go To School. And We Pack Up And Leave And Basically Our House In Chicago Just Became Like A Time Capsule. My Desk In My Home Office Still Had Stacks Of Articles And Bills And Stuff From 2008.

The Quibble I Have With President [barack] Obama Is,and I Think Some Other People Will Have It, Too Is That The Rhetoric Is Fine, And Identifying The Problem Is Fine. But It`s To Use A Football Analogy, He Sort Of Pushes It Into The Red Zone, And Then Tends To Settle For A Field Goal.

I Believe We Can Keep The Promise Of Our Founders, The Idea That If You're Willing To Work Hard, It Doesn't Matter Who You Are Or Where You Come From Or What You Look Like Or Who You Love. It Doesn't Matter Whether You're Black Or White Or Hispanic Or Asian Or Native American Or Young Or Old Or Rich Or Poor, Able, Disabled, Gay Or Straight, You Can Make It Here In America If You're Willing To Try.

Native American

The Thing That Has Disturbed Me Most About The Russian Hacking Episode Is - And The Thing That Surprised Me Most Has Not Been The Fact Of Russian Hacking. The Cyber World Is Full Of Information Gathering, You Know, Propaganda, Et Cetera. I Have Been Concerned About The Degree To Which, In Some Circles, You've Seen People Suggest That Vladimir Putin Has More Credibility Than The U.s. Government. I Think That's Something New.

We Are Going To Trace More Effectively, How These Guns Are Ending Up On The Streets, To Unscrupulous Gun Dealers, Who Often Times Are Selling To Straw Purchasers. And Cracking Down On The Various Loopholes That Exist In Terms Of Background Checks For Children, The Mentally Ill.

In The Wake Of 9/11, My Meetings With Arab And Pakistani Americans, For Example, Have A More Urgent Quality, For The Stories Of Detentions And Fbi Questioning And Hard Stares From Neighbors Have Shaken Their Sense Of Security And Belonging. They Have Been Reminded That The History Of Immigration In This Country Has A Dark Underbelly; They Need Specific Reassurances That Their Citizenship Really Means Something, That America Has Learned The Right Lessons From The Japanese Internments During World War Ii, And That I Will Stand With Them Should The Political Winds Shift In An Ugly Direction.

I Honor, We Honor The Service Of John Mccain, And I Respect His Many Accomplishments, Even If He Chooses To Deny Mine. My Differences With Him Are Not Personal; They Are With The Policies He Has Proposed In This Campaign.

Its Important For People To Know That I Will Make Many Promises To Get Their Votes.

If Fake News That's Being Released By Some Foreign Government Is Almost Identical To Reports That Are Being Issued Through Partisan News Venues, Then It's Not Surprising That That Foreign Propaganda Will Have A Greater Effect, Because It Doesn't Seem That Far-fetched Compared To Some Of The Other Stuff That Folks Are Hearing From Domestic Propagandists.

It Took A Lot Of Blood, Sweat And Tears To Get To Where We Are Today, But We Have Just Begun. Today We Begin In Earnest The Work Of Making Sure That The World We Leave Our Children Is Just A Little Bit Better Than The One We Inhabit Today.

Companies In Mexico Are Not Going To Do Well If They Don't Have Some Connection To Not Just Markets, But Also Suppliers And Technology From The United States.

What We Saw Was That The Ferguson Police Department In Conjunction With The Municipality Saw Traffic Stops, Arrests, Tickets As A Revenue Generator, As Opposed To Serving The Community, And That It Systematically Was Biased Against African-americans In That City Who Were Stopped, Harassed, Mistreated, Abused, Called Names, Fined.

Nothing Is More Powerful Than The Black Church Experience. A Good Choir And A Good Sermon In The Black Church, It's Pretty Hard Not To Be Move And Be Transported.

America Must Always Lead On The World Stage. If We Don't, No One Else Will. The Military That You Have Joined Is, And Always Will Be, The Backbone Of That Leadership. But U.s. Military Action Cannot Be The Only - Or Even Primary - Component Of Our Leadership In Every Instance. Just Because We Have The Best Hammer Does Not Mean That Every Problem Is A Nail.

Not Out Of Mere Charity, But Because Peace In Our Time Requires The Constant Advance Of Those Principles That Our Common Creed Describes; Tolerance And Opportunity, Human Dignity And Justice.

That's Why I Stand Here Tonight. Because For Two Hundred And Thirty Two Years, At Each Moment When That Promise Was In Jeopardy, Ordinary Men And Women - Students And Soldiers, Farmers And Teachers, Nurses And Janitors - Found The Courage To Keep It Alive.

We Have A Stake In One Another...what Binds Us Together Is Greater Than What Drives Us Apart.

People Need To Remember We Are The Governing Party Because We Have Diversity Of Opinion In Our Party. We're Not Pure. We Have Moderates And We Have More Progressives.

I Think It's Fair To Say That [donald Trump] And I Are Sort Of Opposites In Some Ways.

We Will Encourage More Americans To Study In Muslim Communities

We're Going To Achieve Our Goal. We Are Going To Degrade And Ultimately Defeat Isil.

This Is Our Moment...while We Breathe, We Hope. And Where We Are Met With Cynicism And Doubts And Those Who Tell Us That We Can't, We Will Respond With That Timeless Creed That Sums Up The Spirit Of A People: Yes, We Can.

We Continue To Stand United With Germany And Our Nato Allies In Our Ongoing Efforts To Build Peace And Stability In Afghanistan.

The Banks, Because Of Mismanagement, Because Of Huge Risk Taking, Are Now In Very Vulnerable Positions. We Can Expect That We're Gonna Have To Do More To Shore Up The Financial System. We Also Are Gonna Have To Make Sure That We Set Up Financial Regulations So That Not Only Does This Never Happen Again, But You Start Having Some Sort Of - Trust In How The Credit Markets Work Again.

Stock Market Risk Is Ok, But Not For Social Security.

I Have To Be Able To Implement A Policy That Doesn't Completely Erase Borders And Boundaries. Not Because I Think That Honduran Child Who's Gotten Here Is Less Worthy Of Love, Attention, Opportunity Than My Child, But Because I'm The President Of The United States Of America And I'm Not Speaking As A Religious Leader.

What Reagan Ushered In Was A Skepticism Toward Government Solutions To Every Problem. I Don't Think That Has Changed

In That Kind Of Environment, Where There's So Much Skepticism About Information That's Coming In, We're Gonna Have To Spend A Lot More Time Thinking About How Do We Protect Our Democratic Process.

I Have 90 Percent Or 95 Percent Support In The African American Community And It's Not Sort Of "well, He's Black, So It's Okay. We're Not Going To Say Anything Even Though We're Seething." And I Hang Out With A Lot Of Middle-aged Black Women, And They're Not Casual In Their Support Of Me. There's A Lot Of Love Forthcoming. Partly Because They Understand The Constraints Of This Society. They Know That This Is Hard.

African American

Know That America Is A Friend Of Each Nation And Every Man, Woman, And Child Who Seeks A Future Of Peace And Dignity...[for] We Are Shaped By Every Language And Culture, Drawn From Every End Of This Earth.

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.

Yes, This Is Hard. But There Should Be No Question That The United States Of America Is Stepping Up To The Plate. We Recognize Our Role In Creating This Problem; We Embrace Our Responsibility To Combat It. We Will Do Our Part, And We Will Help Developing Nations Do Theirs. But We Can Only Succeed In Combating Climate Change If We Are Joined In This Effort By Every Nation - Developed And Developing Alike. Nobody Gets A Pass.

I Have Been A Strong Proponent Of Pay-as-you-go. Every Dollar That I've Proposed, I've Proposed An Additional Cut So That It Matches.

Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg Never Gives Up And He Does Not Quit.

I'm Suspicious Of Too Much Certainty In The Pursuit Of Understanding Just Because I Think People Are Limited In Their Understanding.

We've Seen Those Results In Generations Of Muslim Immigrants - Farmers And Factory Workers, Helping To Lay The Railroads And Build Our Cities, The Muslim Innovators Who Helped Build Some Of Our Highest Skyscrapers And Who Helped Unlock The Secrets Of Our Universe.

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.

If We Are Going To Solve The Challenges We Face, You Need A President Who Will Pursue Genuine Solutions Day In And Day Out. And That Is My Commitment To You. We Need Immigration Reform That Will Secure Our Borders, And Punish Employers Who Exploit Immigrant Labor; Reform That Finally Brings The 12 Million People Who Are Here Illegally Out Of The Shadows By Requiring Them To Take Steps To Become Legal Citizens. We Must Assert Our Values And Reconcile Our Principles As A Nation Of Immigrants And A Nation Of Laws. That Is A Priority I Will Pursue From My Very First Day.

The Flame Of The Diya, Or Lamp, Reminds Us That Light Will Ultimately Triumph Over Darkness.

We're Showing That There's No Excuse For Other Nations To Come Together, Both Developed And Developing, To Achieve A Strong Global Climate Agreement Next Year.

We Will Continue To Deepen Our Engagement Using Every Element Of American Power - Diplomacy, Military, Economic Development, The Power Of Our Values And Our Ideals.

The Truth Is That America Has Been Closely Divided Politically For Quite Some Time. That Was Reflected In Some Of The Challenges I Had With The Republican Congress.

I'm Trying To Move An Aircraft Carrier Here, I'm Not Just Steering The Speedboat.

Aircraft Carriers

Michelle, I Love You. The Other Night, I Think The Entire Country Saw Just How Lucky I Am. Malia And Sasha, You Make Me So Proud…but Don't Get Any Ideas, You're Still Going To Class Tomorrow. And Joe Biden, Thank You For Being The Best Vice President I Could Ever Hope For.

All Too Rarely Do I Hear People Asking Just What It Is That We've Done To Make So Many Children's Hearts So Hard, Or What Collectively We Might Do To Right Their Moral Compass - What Values We Must Live By.

The Pain I Felt Was My Father's Pain.

It's Useful For Activists Just To Be Out There To Keep You Mindful And Not Get Complacent, Even If Ultimately You Think Some Of Their Criticism Is Misguided.

The Best Way To Not Feel Hopeless Is To Get Up And Do Something.

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.

Anybody Gone Into Whole Foods Lately And See What They Charge For Arugula? I Mean, They're Charging A Lot Of Money For This Stuff.

I Think My Most Important Advice Is To Understand What Are The Foundations Of A Healthy Democracy And How We Have To Engage In Citizenship Continuously, Not Just When Something Upsets Us; Not Just When There's An Election Or When An Issue Pops Up For A Few Weeks. It's Hard Work.

The Authorization I Propose Would Provide The Flexibility To Conduct Ground Combat Operations In Other More Limited Circumstances, Such As Rescue Operations Involving U.s. Or Coalition Personnel Or The Use Of Special Operations Forces To Take Military Action Against Isil Leadership, It Would Also Authorize The Use Of U.s. Forces In Situations Where Ground Combat Operations Are Not Expected Or Intended, Such As Intelligence Collection And Sharing, Missions To Enable Kinetic Strikes Or The Provision Of Operational Planning And Other Forms Of Advice And Assistance To Partner Forces.

During The Course Of My Presidency Crime Has Been The Lowest It's Been Probably Since The '60s. Butyou Wouldn't Know It If You Were Watching Tv Or Looking At The Internet, And You Certainly Wouldn't Know It, Listening To This Past [donald Trump's] Campaign.

This Notion That's Peddled By The Religious Right - That They Are Oppressed Is Not True. Sometimes It's A Cynical Ploy To Move Their Agenda Ahead. The Classic Example Being That Somehow Secularists Are Trying To Eliminate Christmas, Which Strikes Me As Some Kind Of Manufactured Controversy.

What You Have Is Mitt Romney Running Around The Country Saying 'well, You Know, My Wife Tells Me That What Women Really Care About Are Economic Issues, And When I Listen To My Wife, That's What I'm Hearing.' Guess What? His Wife Has Actually Never Worked A Day In Her Life.

Today, About 40 Percent Of America's Carbon Pollution Comes From Our Power Plants. There Are No Federal Limits To The Amount Those Plants Can Pump Into The Air. None. We Limit The Amount Of Toxic Chemicals Like Mercury, And Sulfur, And Arsenic In Our Air And Water, But Power Plants Can Dump As Much Carbon Pollution Into Our Atmosphere As They Want. It's Not Smart, It's Not Right, It's Not Safe, And I Determined It Needs To Stop.

But The Basic Principle That We’re Going To Have To See Some Of This Debt Written Down, That The Government Is Going To Have To Support Some Banks, That Others That Are Not Viable, Essentially That We’re Going To Have To Do Something With Those Assets.

I Don't Want To Pit Red America Against Blue America. I Want To Be President Of The United States Of America.

Broken Promises

During The Course Of My Presidency, It Feels As If A Couple Times A Year, I End Up Having To Speak To The Country And To Speak To A Particular Community About A Devastating Loss. The Grieving That The Country Feels Is Real, The Sympathy, The Prioritizing, The Comforting Of The Families, All That’s Important. But I Think Part Of The Point That I Wanted To Make Was That It’s Not Enough Just To Feel Bad.

There's No Doubt That On The Issue Of Abortion, Oftentimes It's Very Difficult To Split The Difference, Although We Can Agree On The Notion That None Of Us Are Pro-abortion And All Of Us Would Like To See A Reduction In Unwanted Pregnancies, For Example, And We Could Focus On Those Issues.

If There's A Senior Citizen In Downstate Illinois That's Struggling To Pay For Their Medicine And Having To Chose Between Medicine And The Rent, That Makes My Life Poorer Even If It's Not My Grandparent.

The Terror Attacks Have Reshaped The Campaign And May Have Given Another Boost To Donald Trump.

It Probably Wouldn't Be Good For Our Economy For A Bunch Of These Jobs To Come Back Because, There's No Way That People Could Be Getting Paid A Living Wage On Some Of These Jobs - At Least In Order To Be Competitive In An International Setting.

The Framers, In Their Wisdom, Designed The [political] System So That Power's Pretty Disbursed.

Political Systems

Iran Is The Latest Expression Of A Deep, Ancient, Powerful Culture That's Different Than Ours. And We Don't Know How It's Going To Play Itself Out.

I Absolutely Think That It's Possible For Us To Find Common Ground.

International Inspectors Are On The Ground And Iran Is Being Subjected To The Most Comprehensive, Intrusive Inspection Regime Ever Negotiated To Monitor A Nuclear Program. Inspectors Will Monitor Iran's Key Nuclear Facilities 24 Hours A Day, 365 Days A Year. For Decades To Come, Inspectors Will Have Access To Iran's Entire Nuclear Supply Chain. In Other Words, If Iran Tries To Cheat - If They Try To Find Build A Bomb Covertly, We Will Catch Them.

State Visits Are Often An Opportunity For The United States To Reaffirm Our Ties And Friendship With Our Closest Partners Around The World.

My Mother Was The One Constant In My Life. When I Think About My Mom Raising Me Alone When She Was 20, And Working And Paying The Bills, And, You Know, Trying To Pursue Your Own Dreams, I Think Is A Feat That Is Unmatched.

There's No One Who I Believe Has Ever Captured The Soul Of America More Profoundly Than Abraham Lincoln Has.

I'm No Longer Just A Candidate. I'm The President. I Know What It Means To Send Young Americans Into Battle, For I Have Held In My Arms The Mothers And Fathers Of Those Who Didn't Return. I've Shared The Pain Of Families Who've Lost Their Homes, And The Frustration Of Workers Who've Lost Their Jobs.

Now That Iran's Actions Have Been Verified, It Can Begin To Receive Relief From Certain Nuclear Sanctions And Gain Access To Its Own Money That Had Been Frozen.

I Attend Trinity United Church Of Christ, And My Pastor [was] Jeremiah Wright.

I See Tragedy And Comedy And Pain And Irony And All That Stuff. But In The End I Think Life Is Fascinating, And I Think People Are More Good Than Bad, And I Think That The Possibilities Of Progress Are Real.

There Is A Word In South Africa - Ubuntu - That Describes His Greatest Gift: His Recognition That We Are All Bound Together In Ways That Can Be Invisible To The Eye; That There Is A Oneness To Humanity; That We Achieve Ourselves By Sharing Ourselves With Others, And Caring For Those Around Us.

I Would Love To See An America Where Race Is Understood In The Same Way That The Ethnic Diversity Of The White Population Is Understood.

Become A Teacher. Your Country Needs You.

My Relationship With Silicon Valley And The Tech Community Historically Has Been Really Good. Many Of These Folks Are My Friends.

What We Should Be Asking Is Not Whether We Need A Big Government Or Small Government, But How We Can Create A Smarter And Better Government.

But Something Stirred Across The Country Because Of What Happened In Selma, Alabama, Because Some Folks Were Willing To March Across A Bridge. And So They [my Parents] Got Together, Barack Obama Jr. Was Born. So Don't Tell Me I Don't Have A Claim On Selma, Alabama. Don't Tell Me I'm Not Coming Home When I Come To Selma, Alabama.

It's Easier To Make Negative Attacks And Simplistic Slogans [in Social Media] Than It Is To Communicate Complex Policies.

The Size Of Your Paycheck Shouldn’t Determine Your Child’s Future.

I Like My Quiet Time. There Is A Writer's Sensibility In Me Sometimes, Where I Step Back.

If You're 54 Or 55, You Might Want To Listen Because This Will Affect You. The Idea, Which Was Originally Presented By Congressman Ryan, Your Running Mate, Is That We Would Give A Voucher To Seniors And They Could Go Out In The Private Marketplace And Buy Their Own Health Insurance.

Now, I Know That He's Taken Some Flak Lately, But No One Is Prouder To Put This Birth Certificate To Rest Than The Donald. Now He Can Get To Focusing On The Issues That Matter. Like, Did We Fake The Moon Landing? What Really Happened In Roswell? And Where Are Biggie And Tupac?

The Interests Of All Cypriots Would Be Advanced With A Bizonal Bicommunal Federation.

Those Are The Ladies Sitting In Church. And In The Same Way That They Might Feel A Joy And Release On Sunday, They Are Still Going To Work On Monday. And That's Who I Was Listening To During This Process. And If At The End Of My Presidency They Feel Like I Did A Pretty Good Job, Then I'll Feel Pretty Good.

We Will Convey Our Deep Appreciation For The Islamic Faith, Which Has Done So Much Over The Centuries To Shape The World - Including In My Own Country.

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.

But What I Would Say To My Successor Is That It Is Important Not Just To Shoot But To Aim. And It Is Important, In This Seat, To Make Sure That You're Making Your Best Judgments Based On Data, Intelligence, The Information That's Coming From Your Commanders And Folks On The Ground And You're Not Being Swayed By Politics.

Ten Thousand People Died, An Entire Town Destroyed.

If [black] Nationalism Could Create A Strong And Effective Insularity, Deliver On Its Promise Of Self-respect, Then The Hurt It Might Cause Well-meaning Whites, Or The Inner Turmoil It Caused People Like Me, Would Be Of Little Consequence.

When I Ran For The U.s. Senate The Assumption Was That Anyone's Name That Was Close To "osama" Doesn't Stand A Chance. So If Somebody Thought That Tacking On "hussein" In There Would Be A Killer, Then I Think They Underestimate The American People And The Seriousness Of The Problems We Face.

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.

I Look Forward To Hosting An Iftar Dinner Celebrating Ramadan Here At The White House Later This Week, And Wish You A Blessed Month.

At The Dawn Of The 21st Century, Where Knowledge Is Literally Power, Where It Unlocks The Gates Of Opportunity And Success, We All Have Responsibilities As Parents, As Librarians, As Educators, As Politicians, And As Citizens To Instill In Our Children A Love Of Reading So That We Can Give Them A Chance To Fulfill Their Dreams.

Too Many Americans Who Struggle With Mental Health Illnesses Are Suffering In Silence Rather Than Seeking Help, And We Need To See To It That Men And Women Who Would Never Hesitate To Go See A Doctor If They Had A Broken Arm Or Came Down With The Flu, That They Have That Same Attitude When It Comes To Their Mental Health.

The Cuban People Must Know That They Have A Friend And Partner In The United States Of America.

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.

There Is Not A Liberal America And A Conservative America - There Is The United States Of America. There Is Not A Black America And A White America And Latino America And Asian America - There's The United States Of America.

A Good Gi Bill Would Increase The Recruit Pool.

The American People Are A Non-ideological People. They Very Much Are Looking For Common-sense, Practical Solutions To The Problems That They Face. Oftentimes They've Got Contradictory Senses Of Various Issues And Policy Positions And I Don't Think That Either The Republican Party Or The Democratic Party Necessarily Capture Their Deepest Dreams When Those Parties Are Described In Caricature Or In Policy Terms.

But At The End Of The Day, The Circumstances Of Your Life What You Look Like, Where You Come From, How Much Money You Have, What You've Got Going On At Home That's No Excuse ... Where You Are Right Now Doesn't Have To Determine Where You'll End Up. No One's Written Your Destiny For You. Here In America, You Write Your Own Destiny. You Make Your Own Future.

I Think The Big Challenge That We've Got On Education Is Making Sure That From Kindergarten Or Prekindergarten Through Your 14th Or 15th Year Of School, Or 16th Year Of School, Or 20th Year Of School, That You Are Actually Learning The Kinds Of Skills That Make You Competitive And Productive In A Modern, Technological Economy.

My Administration Doesn’t Have Any Secrets, And From Now On, Neither Will You.

We Reject The Use Of National Security Letters To Spy On Citizens Who Are Not Suspected Of A Crime.

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.

You Know, Sometimes I'll Go To An 8th-grade Graduation And There's All That Pomp And Circumstance And Gowns And Flowers. And I Think To Myself, It's Just 8th Grade ... An 8th-grade Education Doesn't Cut It Today. Let's Give Them A Handshake And Tell Them To Get Their Butts Back In The Library!

I Think [ Unpopular Presidential Candidates ] Indicates, At Least On The Democratic Side, That We've Got More Work To Do To Strengthen Our Grassroots Networks.

Your Voice Can Change The World.

It Is Very Rare I Come To An Event Where I’m Like The Fifth Or Sixth Most Interesting Person.

I Think That One Of The Things That We All Agree To Is That The Touchstone For Economic Policy Is, Does It Allow The Average American To Find Good Employment And See Their Incomes Rise; That We Can't Just Look At Things In The Aggregate, We Do Want To Grow The Pie, But We Want To Make Sure That Prosperity Is Spread Across The Spectrum Of Regions And Occupations And Genders And Races; And That Economic Policy Should Focus On Growing The Pie, But It Also Has To Make Sure That Everybody Has Got Opportunity In That System.

I Think Part Of The Reason That I Have Been Successful, Though, Despite Maybe Not Always Fitting My Message Into The Pre-packaged Formulas, Is There Is This Whole Other Media Ecology Out There Of The Internet And Instagram And Memes And Talk Shows And Comedy, And I'm Pretty Good At That.

On The Spectrum Of Successful Politicians, I'm Not Introverted The Way Some Have Been.

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

It Is Time To Put In Place Tough, New Common-sense Rules Of The Road So That Our Financial Market Rewards Drive And Innovation, And Punishes Short-cuts And Abuse.

We Have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, And Their Own Path To Grace Is One That We Have To Revere And Respect As Much As Our Own

I Do Think That Saving The Economy Was A Pretty Big Deal. We Did A Lot Of Stuff Early That Ended Up Having An Impact. I Believe That The Work We've Done In Moving Our Energy Future In A Cleaner Direction Is Going To Stick Even If Some Of The Individual Steps That We Took Are Reversed By Future Administrations. I Think That It's Embedded Itself In The Economy.

Our Journey Is Not Complete Until We Find A Better Way To Welcome The Striving, Hopeful Immigrants Who Still See America As A Land Of Opportunity, Until Bright Young Students And Engineers Are Enlisted In Our Workforce Rather Than Expelled From Our Country.

I Believe, In The Words Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., That There Is Such A Thing As Being Too Late, And When It Comes To Climate Change, That Hour Is Almost Upon Us.

Many Of You Know That I Got My Name, Barack, From My Father. What You May Not Know Is Barack Is Actually Swahili For 'that One.' And I Got My Middle Name From Somebody Who Obviously Didn't Think I'd Ever Run For President.

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 Don't Buy The Hype When Everybody Is Saying How Wonderful Things Are And How Great I Am, And I Don't Get Too Down When People Say, "this Is A Disaster And He's Done For."

It's Time To "stop Being Ambivalent." ... They (groups Like The Islamic State) Have No Ideology Beyond Violence And Chaos And The Slaughter Of Innocent People.

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.

Winter Came And The City [chicago] Turned Monochrome -- Black Trees Against Gray Sky Above White Earth. Night Now Fell In Midafternoon, Especially When The Snowstorms Rolled In, Boundless Prairie Storms That Set The Sky Close To The Ground, The City Lights Reflected Against The Clouds

Sometimes I Wonder How Much Of These Debates Have To Do With The Desire, The Legitimate Desire, For That History To Be Recognized. Because There Is A Psychic Power To The Recognition That Is Not Satisfied With A Universal Program, It's Not Satisfied By The Affordable Care Act, Or An Expansion Of Pell Grants, Or An Expansion Of The Earned-income Tax Credit.

The Future Must Not Belong To Those Who Bully Women. It Must Be Shaped By Girls Who Go To School And Those Who Stand For A World Where Our Daughters Can Live Their Dreams Just Like Our Sons.

Tim Kaine Has A Message Of Fiscal Responsibility And Generosity Of Spirit. That Kind Of Message Can Sell Anywhere.

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

The Importance Of Making Sure That The Sense Of Accountability When, In Fact, Law Enforcement Is Involved In A Deadly Shooting Is Something That I Think Communities Across The Board Are Going To Need To Consider, We Have A Great Opportunity, Coming Out Of Some Great Conflict And Tragedy, To Really Transform How We Think About Community Law Enforcement Relations So That Everybody Feels Safer And Our Law Enforcement Officers Feel, Rather Than Being Embattled, Feel Fully Supported.

Unless You're One Of The First Americans, A Native American, You Came From Someplace Else. Somebody Brought You.

Native American

You Don't Defeat A Terrorist Network That Operates In Eighty Countries By Occupying Iraq.

We Know That The Nation That Goes All-in On Innovation Today Will Own The Global Economy Tomorrow. This Is An Edge America Cannot Surrender.

I Want To Make Sure That We, As A Nation, Stay Unified Because That's How We're Going To Achieve Our Missions.

What You Saw Was The People Of New York Having A Debate, Talking Through These Issues. It Was Contentious. It Was Emotional. But Ultimately, They Made A Decision To Recognize Civil Marriage. And I Think That's Exactly How Things Should Work.

We're Up Against The Conventional Thinking That Says Your Ability To Lead As President Comes From Longevity In Washington Or Proximity To The White House. But We Know That Real Leadership Is About Candor And Judgment And The Ability To Rally Americans From All Walks Of Life Around A Common Purpose, A Higher Purpose.

Health Care Got Done Because There Were A Lot Of People Out There Who Aren't Professional Politicians, But Are Citizens, Who Pushed For It Even When The Politics Was Hard.

We Don't Have Time For A Meeting Of The Flat Earth Society.

I'm Named Barack Hussein Obama. I'm African-american.

African American

To Those Americans Whose Support I Have Yet To Earn, I May Not Have Won Your Vote Tonight, But I Hear Your Voices. I Need Your Help. And I Will Be Your President, Too.

America, We Cannot Turn Back. Not With So Much Work To Be Done. Not With So Many Children To Educate, And So Many Veterans To Care For. Not With An Economy To Fix And Cities To Rebuild And Farms To Save. Not With So Many Families To Protect And So Many Lives To Mend. America, We Cannot Turn Back. We Cannot Walk Alone. At This Moment, In This Election, We Must Pledge Once More To March Into The Future. Let Us Keep That Promise - That American Promise - And In The Words Of Scripture Hold Firmly, Without Wavering, To The Hope That We Confess.

On Every Front There Are Clear Answers Out There That Can Make This Country Stronger, But We're Going To Break Through The Fear And The Frustration People Are Feeling. Our Job Is To Make Sure That Even As We Make Progress, That We Are Also Giving People A Sense Of Hope And Vision For The Future.

I Think That The Risk To All The Progress We've Made Was At Stake In The Election Because Not Just The President-elect But A Lot Of Members Of Congress, Including Now The Speaker Of The House And The Senate Majority Leader, Have Said That Their Principal Agenda Was To Undo A Lot Of This Progress. But As I've Been Talking About Over The Last Several Days When It Comes To Health Care, The Gains That We've Made Are There. Twenty Million People Have Health Insurance That Didn't Have It Before. The Uninsured Rate Is The Lowest It's Ever Been.

Majority Leader

We As A Country Have To Do Some Soul-searching.

And So Our Goal On Health Care Is, If We Can Get, Instead Of Health Care Costs Going Up 6 Percent A Year, It's Going Up At The Level Of Inflation, Maybe Just Slightly Above Inflation, We've Made Huge Progress. And By The Way, That Is The Single Most Important Thing We Could Do In Terms Of Reducing Our Deficit. That's Why We Did It.

Over The Last Several Days, We Have Heard From Members Of Congress Who Want Their Voices To Be Heard. I Absolutely Agree.

So We Don't Need More Top-down Economics. We've Tried That Theory. We've Seen What Happens. We Can't Afford To Go Back To It.

Let's Say Hypothetically, Knowing What We Know Now About Public Policy, That We Could Close The Education Gap So That It Was Only A Couple Percentage Points, And We Could Make Sure That Hiring Barriers And Educational Barriers Had Been Leveled Down, And Unemployment Among African Americans Right Now Instead Of Being Double Was Only 10 Percent Higher Than White Unemployment - If We Got To That Point , America As A Whole Would Be A Lot Richer.

The Path Towards Sustainable Energy Sources Will Be Long And Sometimes Difficult. But America Cannot Resist This Transition, We Must Lead It. We Cannot Cede To Other Nations The Technology That Will Power New Jobs And New Industries, We Must Claim Its Promise. That's How We Will Maintain Our Economic Vitality And Our National Treasure-our Forests And Waterways, Our Crop Lands And Snow-capped Peaks. That Is How We Will Preserve Our Planet, Commanded To Our Care By God. That's What Will Lend Meaning To The Creed Our Fathers Once Declared.

For People Who Have Health Insurance, We Can Provide Health Insurance Reforms That Make The Insurance They Have More Secure. And We Can Do That Mostly By Using Money That Every Expert Agrees Is Being Wasted And Is Currently In The Existing Health Care System.

America, This Is Our Moment. This Is Our Time. Our Time To Turn The Page On The Policies Of The Past. Our Time To Bring New Energy And New Ideas To The Challenges We Face. Our Time To Offer A New Direction For The Country We Love.

I Don't Know The Facts Of When Joe Soptic's Wife Got Sick Or When She Died.

You Know, It's Fashionable Right Now For People To Be Cynical. We Go In Cycles Like This And Right Now A Lot Of People Are Saying, 'oh, America Is Doing Terribly' And 'what Are We Going To Do?'

I'm Blown Away. I'm Flabbergasted The President [barack Obama] Made The Phone Call To Rouhani After 30-plus, `79, 33 Years Or So. And There's A Reason We Haven't Negotiated With Iran, Because They're State-sponsored Terrorists. They're The Central Bank For Terrorism Around The World.

I Have The Authority To Address The Threat From Isil, But I Believe We Are Strongest As A Nation When The President And Congress Work Together. So I Welcome Congressional Support For This Effort In Order To Show The World That Americans Are United In Confronting This Danger.

But Let Me Perfectly Clear, Because I Know You'll Hear The Same Old Claims That Rolling Back These Tax Breaks Means A Massive Tax Increase On The American People: If Your Family Earns Less Than $250,000 A Year, You Will Not See Your Taxes Increased A Single Dime. I Repeat: Not One Single Dime.

I'm Proud Of The Fact That I Stood Up Early And Unequivocally In Opposition To Bush's Foreign Policy. [...] That Opposition Hasn't Changed.

Will Not Collect A Ransom In Exchange For Not Crashing The American Economy.

American Economy

A Number Of Countries, Including Some Who Have Loudly Criticized The Nsa, Privately Acknowledge That America Has Special Responsibilities As The World's Only Superpower, That Our Intelligence Capabilities Are Critical To Meeting These Responsibilities, And That They Themselves Have Relied On The Information We Obtain To Protect Their Own People.

What I Want To Communicate Is The Fact That In All My Travels Throughout The Muslim World, What I've Come To Understand Is That Regardless Of Your Faith - And America Is A Country Of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Non-believers - Regardless Of Your Faith, People All Have Certain Common Hopes And Common Dreams.

I Have Been To This Point Unwilling To Sign On To Same-sex Marriage Primarily Because Of My Understandings Of The Traditional Definitions Of Marriage. But I Also Think You're Right That Attitudes Evolve, Including Mine.

I'm Very Consistent About Spending Time With Family. And When You Have Dinner With Your Daughters - They'll Keep You In Your Place And They'll Teach You Something About Perspective.

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

One Thing I Will Not Compromise Over Is Whether Or Not Congress Should Pay The Tab For A Bill They've Already Racked Up. If Congress Refuses To Give The United States The Ability To Pay Its Bills On Time, The Consequences For The Entire Global Economy Could Be Catastrophic.

The World Only Makes Sense To Me Given My Life And My Background If, In Fact, We're Not Just An Assortment Of Tribes That Can Never Understand Each Other, But That We're, Rather, One Common Humanity That Can Meet And Learn And Love Each Other.

Common Humanity

I Think That Mr. Snowden Raised Some Legitimate Concerns. How He Did It Was Something That Did Not Follow The Procedures And Practices Of Our Intelligence Community. If Everybody Took The Approach That I Make My Own Decisions About These Issues, Then It Would Be Very Hard To Have An Organized Government Or Any Kind Of National Security System.

Security Systems

We've Got To Identify New Strategies To Use Cleaner Energy, Because That Is A Recipe For Reducing The Overall Amount Of Pollution That's Out There.

One Faction Of One Party, In One House Of Congress, In One Branch Of Government, Doesn't Get To Shut Down The Entire Government Just To Refight The Results Of An Election.

My Life Story Is Something Obviously That Belongs To Me Very Personally. And The Fact Of The Matter Is That I Had Choices And Chances And Opportunities That Were Provided To Me, Based On The Way I Was Able To Direct My Own Decision-making. And What I'm Working To Fight For Is To Make Sure That All Women Have The Ability To Do That.

How Donald Trump Reaches Out To Groups That May Not Have Supported Him, How He Signals His Interest In Their Issues Or Concerns, I Think Those Are The Kinds Of Things That Can Set A Tone That Will Help Move Things Forward Once He Has Actually Taken Office.

I Think It's Really Important To Enlarge The Issue Behind Abortion. I Have Been Serving For Over Two Decades And I Have Seen Year In And Year Out Largely The Republicans Voting Against Women's Contraception, Family Planning.

I Think It Was Not A Bad Idea To Wrap Barack Obama In The Mantle Of Teddy Roosevelt. He`s Been Assuming A Sort Of Progressive Mantle, And He Ticked Off Some Large And Systemic Problems That This Country Faces.

I Think I Have An Ongoing Conversation With God. I Think Throughout The Day, I'm Constantly Asking Myself Questions About What I'm Doing, Why Am I Doing It.

If You're Willing To Put In The Work, The Idea Is That You Should Be Able To Raise A Family And Own A Home, Not Go Bankrupt Because You Got Sick, 'cause You've Got Some Health Insurance That Helps You Deal With Those Difficult Times; That You Can Send Your Kids To College; That You Can Put Some Money Away For Retirement. That's All Most People Want. Folks Don't Have Unrealistic Ambitions. They Do Believe That If They Work Hard, They Should Be Able To Achieve That Small Measure Of An American Dream.

There Is A Big Risk For The Republicans In A Race, Especially With Hillary Clinton As A Likely Democratic Nominee In A Contest That Will Focus On The Possibility Of The First Woman President To Be Six Months Suspending Up The Nomination Of A Black Woman, Who Is Imminently Qualified.

The True Test Of The American Ideal Is Whether We're Able To Recognize Our Failings And Then Rise Together To Meet The Challenges Of Our Time. Whether We Allow Ourselves To Be Shaped By Events And History, Or Whether We Act To Shape Them. Whether Chance Of Birth Or Circumstance Decides Life's Big Winners And Losers, Or Whether We Build A Community Where, At The Very Least, Everyone Has A Chance To Work Hard, Get Ahead, And Reach Their Dreams.

Each And Every Time, A New Generation Has Risen Up And Done What’s Needed To Be Done. Today We Are Called Once More — And It Is Time For Our Generation To Answer That Call. For That Is Our Unyielding Faith — That In The Face Of Impossible Odds, People Who Love Their Country Can Change It.

We All Know A Lot Of People Who Died In 9/11, The World Trade Center. A Lot Of Money Funding That Mission Is Directly Tied - From The 9/11 Commission, Directly Tied To Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas.

A Budget Is More Than Just A Series Of Numbers On A Page; It Is An Embodiment Of Our Values.

Sometimes They're Nothing, Sometimes They're Something, Sometimes There's A Connection That Years Later May Show Up. All Of This Information Is Useful.

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.

I Don't Know What The Word Is In Austrian.

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.

If You Think That Running Your Economy Into The Ground And Having To Send Troops In In Order To Prop Up Your Only Ally Is Leadership, Then We've Got A Different Definition Of Leadership.

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