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If There Is Anyone Out There Who Still Doubts That America Is A Place Where All Things Are Possible; Who Still Wonders If The Dream Of Our Founders Is Alive In Our Time; Who Still Questions The Power Of Our Democracy; Tonight Is Your Answer.

-Barack Obama

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If There Is Anyone

Barack Obama

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If There Is Anyone Out There Who Still Doubts That America Is A Place Where All Things Are Possible; Who Still Wonders If The Dream Of Our Founders Is Alive In Our Time; Who Still Questions The Power Of Our Democracy; Tonight Is Your Answer.

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The Genius Of Our Founders Is That They Designed A System Of Government That Can Be Changed. And We Should Take Heart, Because We’ve Changed This Country Before.

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

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

African American

We've Come To Be Consumed By A 24-hour, Slash-and-burn, Negative Ad, Bickering, Small-minded Politics That Doesn't Move Us Forward.

I'm Not Going To Wall Street [after The Presidency]. The Amount Of Time That I'll Be Investing In Issues Is Going To Be High. But It'll Be Necessarily In A Different Capacity.

As A Student Of History, I Also Know Civilization's Debt To Islam.

Unless We Free Ourselves From A Dependence On These Fossil Fuels... We Are Condemning Future Generations To Global Catastrophe

I Am Willing To Work With Anybody Who Wants To Have A Serious Conversation About Our Fiscal Future. We're Not Going To Do This Under The Threat Of Blowing Up The Entire Economy. I Will Not Negotiate Over Congress' Responsibility To Pay The Bills That Have Already Been Racked Up. I Don't Know How I Can Be More Clear About This.

Everybody Acknowledges That The Current Path We're On Is Unsustainable, Not Just For The People Who Don't Have Health Insurance But For Those Who Do.

I Think The Greek People, Although It Is Difficult And Challenging And The Politics Of It I Know Are Not Good, Should Appreciate The Fact That In This Global Economy, The Greek Economy Was Going To Have To Go Through Some Structural Reforms.

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.

In The Face Of Impossible Odds, People Who Love This Country Can Change It.

Prosperity Without Freedom Is Just Another Form Of Poverty.

You're Not Going To Be Able To Make Good Decisions Without Building Some Relationship Of Trust Between Yourself And Community.

In The Muslim World, This Notion That Somehow Everything Is The Fault Of The Israelis Lacks Balance - Because There's Two Sides To Every Question. That Doesn't Mean That Sometimes One Side Has Done Something Wrong And Should Not Be Condemned. But It Does Mean There's Always Two Sides To An Issue. I Say The Same Thing To My Jewish Friends, Which Is You Have To See The Perspective Of The Palestinians. Learning To Stand In Somebody Else's Shoes To See Through Their Eyes, That's How Peace Begins. And It's Up To You To Make That Happen.

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.

For Me And Michelle, This Visit Has Therefore Held Special Meaning. Throughout My Life, Including My Work As A Young Man On Behalf Of The Urban Poor, I Have Always Found Inspiration In The Life Of Gandhiji And In His Simple And Profound Lesson To Be The Change We Seek In The World. And Just As He Summoned Indians To Seek Their Destiny, He Influenced Champions Of Equality In My Own Country, Including A Young Martin Luther King

I Think It's A Healthy Thing For The Democratic Party To Go Through Some Reflection.

Politics In This Country [usa] Is Always Tough. It's Always Contentious, Because This Is A Big Country And A Diverse Country, And People Have Strong Points Of View, And We've Got A Great Diversity Of Interests.

I Want Every Young Man Who Sees Me To Know That I'm Not That Different From Them. I Wasn't Born Into Wealth. I Wasn't Born Into Fame. I Made A Lot Of Mistakes - But I Kept At It.

I'm Consistently On Record And Will Continue To Be On Record As Opposing Concealed Carry.

Jesus Is An Historical Figure For Me, And He's Also A Bridge Between God And Man, In The Christian Faith, And One That I Think Is Powerful Precisely Because He Serves As That Means Of Us Reaching Something Higher.

Never Give Up On Your Dreams.

Year After Year, An Ideological And Economic Barrier Hardened Between Our Two Countries, Meanwhile, The Cuban Exile Community In The United States Made Enormous Contributions To Our Country, In Politics, In Business, Culture And Sports.

In America, We've Set Up A System Whereby When You Take On College Debt, You Will Never Have To Pay More Than 10 Percent Of Your Income In Repayments. And What That Will Do Is Make Sure That You Will Never Be Prevented From Going To School Just Because Of Money. We Want To Make Sure That You And Others Like You Can Succeed.

No Discrimination, That's What We're About As A Country.

I've Always Viewed The Paris Agreement As A Starting Point. If You Look At All The Commitments That Have Been Made By All The Countries, It's Still Not Sufficient To Deal With The Very Dangerous Situation We Face. What It Has Done Is That It Created An Architecture Whereby As Technology Improves, As We Find New Clean Sources Of Energy, As We Make Our Economies More Efficient, Then Gradually We Can Turn Up The Dial And Improve The Outcomes Of Paris.

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.

I'm Not So Out Of Touch That I Don't See How Young People Interact Today.it Was Horrific. And That's An Example Of Something That It's Not As If That's The First Time That A Hate Crime Has Taken Place In This Country. Hate Crimes Have Been Taking Place For Hundreds Of Years In This Country, But It's There On Video.

All I Want To Do, If You've Already Got Health Care, Is Lower Your Costs.

I Think I Was Able To Talk To People About Values In Ways That People - In Ways That Resonated With Folks.

I Think It's Useful To Keep In Mind I've Been Now President For Over Seven Years And Gun Sales Don't Seem To Have Suffered During That Time.

... The Fact Is It Didn't Happen In The First Month, The First Six Weeks, In A Way That Was At All Acceptable. And Since I'm In Charge, Obviously, We Screwed It Up.

It's Harder To End A War Than Begin One. Indeed, Everything That American Troops Have Done In Iraq -- All The Fighting And All The Dying, The Bleeding And The Building, And The Training And The Partnering -- All Of It Has Led To This Moment Of Success. Now, Iraq Is Not A Perfect Place. It Has Many Challenges Ahead. But We're Leaving Behind A Sovereign, Stable And Self-reliant Iraq, With A Representative Government That Was Elected By Its People. We're Building A New Partnership Between Our Nations.

No One Is Exempt From The Call To Find Common Ground.

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.

Because Of The Civil Rights Movement, New Doors Of Opportunity And Education Swung Open For Everybody ... Not Just For Blacks And Whites, But Also Women And Latinos; And Asians And Native Americans; And Gay Americans And Americans With A Disability. They Swung Open For You, And They Swung Open For Me. And That's Why I'm Standing Here Today-because Of Those Efforts, Because Of That Legacy.

Native American

The Two Inaugurations Were Different. The First Inauguration I Was Thinking To Myself, "let's Make Sure I Don't Screw This Up." I Think There Is - People Always Talk About How Cool I Am. I Don't Care How Cool You Are.

A Nuclear Iran Is A Threat To America's National Security, And It Is A Threat To Israel's National Security. We Cannot Afford To Have A Nuclear Arms Race In The Most Volatile Region Of The World.

What We Can Do Is Make Sure That Afghanistan Is Not A Safe Haven For Al Qaeda. What We Can Do It Make Sure That It Is Not Destabilizing Neighboring Pakistan, Which Has Nuclear Weapons. The Key Is We’ve Got To Have A Clear Objective...

Now, As A Nation, We Don't Promise Equal Outcomes, But We Were Founded On The Idea Everybody Should Have An Equal Opportunity To Succeed. No Matter Who You Are, What You Look Like, Where You Come From, You Can Make It. That's An Essential Promise Of America. Where You Start Should Not Determine Where You End Up.

Ultimately, The Challenges Of The 21st Century Can't Be Met Without Collective Action. Agreement Will Almost Never Be Easy, And Results Won't Always Come Quickly. But I Am Committed To Respecting Different Points Of View, And To Forging A Consensus Instead Of Dictating Our Terms... That's How We Will Advance And Uphold Our Ideals.

Physically, I Feel Probably As Good As I've Ever Felt. And I've Got As Much Energy As I Ever Did. But What You Feel After Eight Years - And I Think You'd Feel This No Matter What, But Anytime You Have A Big Transition, It Gets Magnified - Is Time Passes.

The Us And Australia Have A Lot In Common. One Of The Things We Have In Common Is We Produce A Lot Of Carbon.

If In Fact The Republicans Make Some Modifications [of Obamacare], Some Of Which I May Have Been Seeking Previously, But They Wouldn't Cooperate Because They Didn't Wanna Make The System Work, And Re-label It As Trumpcare, I'm Fine With That.

Africa Doesn't Need Strongmen, It Needs Strong Institutions.

The Law Is A Powerful Thing But The Law Doesn't Always Change What's In People's Hearts. And So All Of Us Have An Obligation To Think About How We're Treating Other People.

Our Challenges May Be New. The Instruments With Which We Meet Them May Be New. But Those Values Upon Which Our Success Depends -- Honesty And Hard Work, Courage And Fair Play, Tolerance And Curiosity, Loyalty And Patriotism -- These Things Are Old. These Things Are True. They Have Been The Quiet Force Of Progress Throughout Our History. What Is Demanded, Then, Is A Return To These Truths.

We Cannot Allow Internet Service Providers To Restrict The Best Access Or To Pick Winners And Losers In The Online Marketplace For Services And Ideas.

There Wasn't A Time Where I Felt Fearful That I Couldn't Make The Best Decisions Possible.

I Use A Different Style If I'm Speaking To A Big Crowd; I Can Gin Up Folks Pretty Well. But When I'm In These Town Hall Settings, My Job Is Not To Throw Them A Lot Of Red Meat. I Want To Give Them A Sense Of My Thought Process.

Israel Must Be Able To Defend Itself - By Itself - Against Any Threat.

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

You Know, In College, I Smoked A Little Pot, Did A Little Blow.

The Most Powerful Political Moments For Me Come When I Feel Like My Actions Are Aligned With A Certain Truth. I Can Feel It. When I'm Talking To A Group And I'm Saying Something Truthful, I Can Feel A Power That Comes Out Of Those Statements That Is Different Than When I'm Just Being Glib Or Clever.

It's Particularly Important That We Reach Out To Everybody In Our Countries, Those Who Feel Disaffected, Those Who Feel Left Behind By Globalization And Address Their Concerns In Constructive Ways As Opposed To More Destructive Ways.

I Think That The Democratic Party Is A Big Tent, Which Means That There Are Positions I May Not Agree With.

But At A Time When Our Discourse Has Become So Sharply Polarized - At A Time When We Are Far Too Eager To Lay The Blame For All That Ails The World At The Feet Of Those Who Think Differently Than We Do - It's Important For Us To Pause For A Moment And Make Sure That We Are Talking With Each Other In A Way That Heals, Not A Way That Wounds.

We Have Greater Awareness Of Where We're Falling Short Than We Used To. Just Take The Example Of Community Police Relations.

What Is A Danger Is That We Stay Stuck In A New Normal Where Unemployment Rates Stay High, People Who Have Jobs See Their Incomes Go Up, Businesses Make Big Profits. But They're Learned To Do More With Less, And So They Don't Hire.

If We Can’t Puncture Some Of The Mythology Around Austerity, Politics Or Tax Cuts Or The Mythology That’s Been Built Up Around The Reagan Revolution, Where Somehow People Genuinely Think That He Slashed Government And Slashed The Deficit And That The Recovery Was Because Of All These Massive Tax Cuts, As Opposed To A Shift In Interest-rate Policy - If We Can’t Describe That Effectively, Then We’re Doomed To Keep On Making More And More Mistakes.

Some Of Donald Trump's Gifts That Obviously Allowed Him To Execute One Of The Biggest Political Upsets In History, Those Are Ones That Hopefully He Will Put To Good Use On Behalf Of All The American People.

I Hope You Guys Are Up For A Fight. I Hope You Guys Are Game Because I Haven't Been Putting Up With 19 Months Of Airplanes And Hotel Food And Missing My Babies And My Wife - I Didn't Put Up For That Stuff Just To Come In Second.

When It Comes To The War In Iraq, The Time For Promises And Assurances For Waiting And For Patience Is Over. Too Many Lives Have Been Lost, Too Many Billions Of Dollars Have Been Spent For Us To Trust The President On Another Tired And Failed Policy That's Opposed By Generals And Experts, Democrats And Republicans, Americans And Many Of The Iraqis Themselves.

I'm Not A Particularly Ideological Person. There's Things, Some Values I Feel Passionately About.

My Powers Of Empathy, My Ability To Reach Into Another's Heart, Cannot Penetrate The Blank Stares Of Those Who Would Murder Innocents With Abstract, Serene Satisfaction.

I Believe Moderates Will Need To Be Driven Out In Order To Usher In The Progressive Era.

The People There, The Community, The Lessons That I Learned -- They're All Based Right In This Few Square Miles Where We'll Now Be Able To Give Something Back And Bring The World Back Home After This Incredible Journey.

So Americans Understand The Costs Of War. Yet As A Country, We Will Never Tolerate Our Security Being Threatened, Nor Stand Idly By When Our People Have Been Killed. We Will Be Relentless In Defense Of Our Citizens And Our Friends And Allies. We Will Be True To The Values That Make Us Who We Are.

Our Tears Are Not Enough. Our Words And Our Prayers Are Not Enough. If We Really Want To Honor These Twelve Men And Women, If We Really Want To Be A Country Where We Can Go To Work And Go To School And Walk Our Streets Free From Senseless Violence, Without So Many Lives Being Stolen By A Bullet From A Gun, Then We're Gonna Have To Change. We're Gonna Have To Change.

We Cannot Have A Society, In Which Some Dictator Some Place Can Start Imposing Censorship Here In The United States.

The Incredible Story Of Progress That Is America Has Always Been Built By Those Who Ask Why, What If, And Why Not. Our Schools Must Begin Instilling That Wonder In Our Children Again So That Their Generation Will Unite Around The Next Great Project Of Our Time, Whether It Be Declaring America Energy Independent Or Launching The Next Great Technological Revolution.

I've Been Very Good For Gun Manufacturers.

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 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.

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

We Live In A Complex World And At A Challenging Time.

Challenging Times

If I Had A Son, He'd Look Like Trayvon.

I Have Muslim Members Of My Family. I Have Lived In Muslim Countries.

I Look Forward To Teaching The Occasional Class, 'cause I Was A Professor. And I Had Fun Doing It.

On Syria, It's Clear That The Indiscriminate Attacks On Civilians By The [bashar] Assad Regime And Russia Will Only Worsen The Humanitarian Catastrophe And That A Negotiated End To The Conflict Is The Only Way To Achieve Lasting Peace In Syria.

I Think That Dealing With Guns Is One Way To Handle The Violent-crime Issues That We Have In This Country.

The Biggest Problems With Iran In The Region Are Not Due To The Size Of Their Resources, But Due To The Fact That They've Been More Effective In Supporting Proxies And Stirring Up Dissension And Conflict In The Region Than America Or Our Allies Have Been In Stopping Those Activities.

I'm Not Saying I'm Impervious To Criticism.

The Biggest Deficit That We Have In Our Society And In The World Right Now Is An Empathy Deficit. We Are In Great Need Of People Being Able To Stand In Somebody Else's Shoes And See The World Through Their Eyes.

You Don't Need To See My Birth Certificate, Or My College Records, Or My Legal Writings, Or... Anything.

I've Got A Pen, And I've Got A Phone, And I Can Use That Pen To Sign Executive Orders And Take Executive Action. I've Got A Pen To Talk Executive Actions Where Congress Won't. Where Congress Isn't Acting, I'll Act On My Own. I Have Got A Pen And I Got A Phone. And That Is All I Need.

I Do Make Sure That I've Got People Who Are Experts That Are Helping Me Make The Best Decisions Possible.

Affirmative Action Is Not Going To Be The Long-term Solution To The Problems Of Race In America, Because, Frankly, If You've Got 50 Percent Of African-american Or Latino Kids Dropping Out Of High School, It Doesn't Really Matter What You Do In Terms Of Affirmative Action. Those Kids Aren't Going To College.

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

He [barack Obama] Might Have A Pen, And He Might Have A Phone, But What He Does Not Have Is The Constitutional Power To Run This Country Like A Dictator.

The American People And The Israeli Peoples Share A Faith In The Future And Believe That Democracies Can Shape Their Own Destinies And That Opportunities Should Be Available To All. Throughout Its Own Extraordinary History, Israel Has Given Life To That Promise.

I've Sought A Constructive Relationship With Russia, But What I Have Also Been Is Realistic In Recognizing That There Is Some Significant Differences In How Russia Views The World And How We View The World.

We Have Seen Violence And Terror Perpetrated By Those Who Profess To Stand Up For Faith, Their Faith. Professed To Stand Up For Islam, But In Fact Are Betraying It. Humanity Has Been Grappling With These Questions Throughout Human History. And Lest We Get On Our High Horse And Think This Is Unique To Some Other Place, Remember That During The Crusades And The Inquisition People Committed Terrible Deeds In The Name Of Christ.

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.

Ours Is Not The First Generation To Understand The Dire Need For Health Reform. And I Am Not The First President To Take Up This Cause, But I Am Determined To Be The Last.

Today, I Can Report That, As Promised, The Rest Of Our Troops In Iraq Will Come Home By The End Of The Year.

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.

After All, There Were Thousands Of So-called Campus Radicals, Most Of Them White And Tenured And Happily Tolerated. No, It Remained Necessary To Prove Which Side You Were On, To Show Your Loyalty To The Black Masses, To Strike Out And Name Names.

Leather Jackets

The Truth Is That, In Trying To Get At Terrorists Who Are In Countries That Either Are Unwilling Or Unable To Capture Those Terrorists Or Disable Them Themselves, There Are A Lot Of Situations Where The Use Of A Drone Is Going To Result In Much Fewer Civilian Casualties And Much Less Collateral Damage Than If I Send In A Battalion Of Marines.

What We've Said To The Girls Is: 'if You Guys Ever Decide That You're Going To Get A Tattoo, Then Mommy And Me Will Get The Exact Same Tattoo, In The Same Place.' And We'll Go On Youtube And Show It Off As A Family Tattoo.

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.

No Matter How Long It Takes, The United States Will Find And Bring To Justice The Terrorists Who Are Responsible For Kayla's Captivity And Death, Isil Is A Hateful And Abhorrent Terrorist Group Whose Actions Stand In Stark Contrast To The Spirit Of People Like Kayla.

In Our Household, The Bible, The Koran And The Bhagavad Gita Sat On The Shelf Alongside Books Of Greek And Norse And African Mythology

Cathleen Falsani: What Is Sin? Barack Obama: Being Out Of Alignment With My Values.

There Is No Doubt That Thanks To The Steps That We Took Early On To Rescue Our Economy And To Rebuild It On A New Foundation, We Are Entering Into The New Year With New Confidence That America Is Coming Back.

We Think About The Enormous Costs Of Homelessness, Or The Enormous Cost Of Hiv/aids, Over The Long Term, As People Visit Emergency Rooms, Etc. The More We Are Investing In That Ounce Of Prevention The Better Off We're Going To Be.

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.

I Will Work Every Single Day To Make Sure That America Continues To Be The Greatest Nation On Earth.

The Globe Is Shrinking, The Information Age Is Bringing A Lot Of Changes. People Are Anxious About Their Future And Their Children's Futures.

We Wouldn't Even Be Where We Are Had It Not Been That 70% Of Hispanics Voted For President Obama, Voted Democratic In The Last Election. That Caused An Epiphany In The Senate, That's For Sure. So All Of A Sudden We Have Already Passed Comprehensive Immigration Reform In The Senate. That's A Big Victory.

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

We Should Never Hesitate To Use Military Force, And I Will Not, As President, In Order To Keep The American People Safe. But We Have To Use Our Military Wisely. And We Did Not Use Our Military Wisely In Iraq.

Whatever We Once Were, We Are No Longer Just A Christian Nation; We Are Also A Jewish Nation, A Muslim Nation, A Buddhist Nation, A Hindu Nation, And A Nation Of Nonbelievers.

And Then You've Got President Clinton Who Made The Case As Only He Can. After He Spoke, Somebody Sent Out A Tweet- They Said, You Should Appoint Him Secretary Of Explaining Stuff. I Like That- Secretary Of Explaining Stuff. Although, I Have To Admit, It Didn't Really Say Stuff. I Cleaned That Up A Little Bit.

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.

I Don't Think Marriage Is A Civil Right, But I Think That Being Able To Transfer Property Is A Civil Right.

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.

If We're Trying To Protect The American Public, We Should Not Put In Place A Travel Ban.

I Think Perhaps Education Doesn’t Do Us Much Good Unless It Is Mixed With Sweat.

We're Leaving Behind A Sovereign, Stable And Self-reliant Iraq With A Representative Government That Was Elected By Its People. We're Building A New Partnership Between Our Nations And We Are Ending A War Not With A Final Battle But With A Final March Toward Home. This Is An Extraordinary Achievement

In The Fight Against Isil, We Cannot Rely On An Assad Regime That Terrorizes Its People; A Regime That Will Never Regain The Legitimacy It Has Lost. Instead, We Must Strengthen The Opposition As The Best Counterweight To Extremists Like Isil, While Pursuing The Political Solution Necessary To Solve Syria's Crisis Once And For All.

To Look At The Issue Of Life And Abortion, Actually We're Moving In That Direction Where Most Americans Oppose Most Abortions.

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.

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

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.

That Just Gives Sort Of The Democracy An Opportunity To Test Ideas, For Those Who Lost To Catch Their Breath, Regain Energy, Re-energize Themselves And Then Get Back In The Arena, And Then We'll Make Some More Progress In The Future.

I'm Inspired By The People I Meet In My Travels--hearing Their Stories, Seeing The Hardships They Overcome, Their Fundamental Optimism And Decency. I'm Inspired By The Love People Have For Their Children. And I'm Inspired By My Own Children, How Full They Make My Heart. They Make Me Want To Work To Make The World A Little Bit Better. And They Make Me Want To Be A Better Man.

We All Remember Abraham Lincoln As The Leader Who Saved Our Union. Founder Of The Republican Party.

We Have To Have A President Who Is Clear That You Don't Deal With Russia Based On Staring Into His Eyes And Seeing His Soul. You Deal With Russia Based On, What Are Your - What Are The National Security Interests Of The United States Of America? And We Have To Recognize That The Way They've Been Behaving Lately Demands A Sharp Response From The International Community And Our Allies.

The Notion That We Can Control The Flow Of Information Is Obsolete.

What Is Required Of Us Now Is A New Era Of Responsibility - A Recognition, On The Part Of Every American, That We Have Duties To Ourselves, Our Nation, And The World, Duties That We Do Not Grudgingly Accept But Rather Seize Gladly, Firm In The Knowledge That There Is Nothing So Satisfying To The Spirit, So Defining Of Our Character, Than Giving Our All To A Difficult Task. This Is The Price And The Promise Of Citizenship.

Steve Was Among The Greatest Of American Innovators - Brave Enough To Think Differently, Bold Enough To Believe He Could Change The World, And Talented Enough To Do It...the World Has Lost A Visionary. And There May Be No Greater Tribute To Steve's Success Than The Fact That Much Of The World Learned Of His Passing On A Device He Invented.

The United States Of America Has Helped Underwrite The Global Security For More Than Six Decades With The Blood Of Our Citizens And The Strength Of Our Arms. The Service And Sacrifice Of Our Men And Women In Uniform Has Promoted Peace And Prosperity From Germany To Korea And Enabled Democracy To Take Hold In Places Like The Balkans.

I Want To Thank The Greek People Publicly For Their Humanitarian Response To The Crisis Of So Many Migrants And Refugees Seeking Safety In Europe. Greeks, Especially On The Islands, Have Shown Extraordinary Compassion And They've Rightly Earned The Admiration Of The World.

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.

Let's Take Our Clothes Off And Party

Hope Is The Bedrock Of This Nation. The Belief That Our Destiny Will Not Be Written For Us, But By Us, By All Those Men And Women Who Are Not Content To Settle For The World As It Is, Who Have The Courage To Remake The World As It Should Be.

If We Have Osama Bin Laden In Our Sights And The Pakistani Government Is Unable Or Unwilling To Take Them Out, Then, I Think That We Have To Act And We Will Take Them Out. We Will Kill Bin Laden. We Will Crush Al Qaeda. That Has To Be Our Biggest National Security Priority.

You Know, I Have More Than Enough To Do Without Having To Worry About The Financial System.

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.

The Memoir Was A Very Personal Book. I Wrote It As A Personal Journey And Search About Who My Father Was And How My Family Had Come Together And Come Apart - Sorting All That Out, You Know, Issues Of Personal Identity.

Everybody Potentially Can Make The Claim That We Should All Be Treated Fairly.

We Are Greater Than The Sum Of Our Individual Ambitions

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.

And We Remember The End Of Our Combat Mission And The Emergence Of A New Dawn - The Precision Of Our Efforts Against Al Qaeda In Iraq, The Professionalism Of The Training Of Iraqi Security Forces, And The Steady Drawdown Of Our Forces. In Handing Over Responsibility To The Iraqis, You Preserved The Gains Of The Last Four Years And Made This Day Possible.

The Path Of America's Development Is Never A Straight Line. Sometimes We Move In Ways That Are Forwards; Sometime That Seem Back.

My Conviction Is That Those Fights Need To Be Fought Right Now And Can Be Won. And If In Fact We Have Finite Political Capital, Energy, Resources, We Need To Win Those Fights.

I Reserve The Right, As President Of The United States To Meet With Anybody At A Time And Place Of My Choosing If I Think It's Going To Keep America Safe.

Because Our Right To Worship Freely And Safely, That Right Was Denied To Christians In Charleston, South Carolina, And That Was Denied Jews In Kansas City, And That Was Denied Muslims In Chapel Hill, And Sikhs In Oak Creek. They Had Rights Too. Our Right To Peaceful Assembly, That Right Was Robbed From Movie Goers In Aurora And Lafayette.

As Soon As The Recovery Is Well Under Way, We Need To Set Up A Long-term Plan To Reduce The Structural Deficit And Make Sure We Are Not Leaving A Mountain Of Debt For The Next Generation.

There Are Things I Cannot Say.

[young People] Are Much Less Likely To Express Attitudes That Defied Us Between Us And Them. They See Themselves As Part Of A Global Economy That They Can Navigate Successfully.

What I Worry About Would Be That You Essentially Have Two Chambers, The House And The Senate, But You Have Simply, Majoritarian, Absolute Power On Either Side. And That's Just Not What The Founders Intended.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Is Over, And The Iraqi People Now Have Lead Responsibility For The Security Of Their Country

My Only Agenda For The Next Two Years Is The Same As The One I’ve Had Since The Day I Swore An Oath On The Steps Of This Capitol — to Do What I Believe Is Best For America.

What I'm Interested In Doing After I Get Out Of The Presidency Is To Make Sure That I'm Working With That Next Generation So That They Understand You Can't Just Rely On Inspiration.

Rather Than Double-down On The Top-down Economics That Let A Fortunate Few Play By Their Own Rules, Let’s Embrace An Economic Patriotism That Says We Rise Or Fall Together, As One Nation, And As One People.

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

You Like Pie? I Like Pie.

Before We Get Too Depressed About The State Of Our Politics, Let's Remember Our History ..... Many Forms Of Government Have Been Tried, And Will Be Tried In This World Of Sin And Woe. What Is Amazing, Is That Despite All The Conflict, Our Experiment In Democracy Has Worked Better Than Any Form Of Government On Earth

Democracies Have

In My Heart I Know You Didn't Come Here Just For Me, You Came Here Because You Believe In What This Country Can Be. In The Face Of War, You Believe There Can Be Peace. In The Face Of Despair, You Believe There Can Be Hope. In The Face Of A Politics That's Shut You Out, That's Told You To Settle, That's Divided Us For Too Long, You Believe We Can Be One People, Reaching For What's Possible, Building That More Perfect Union.

We Think Of Faith As A Source Of Comfort And Understanding But Find Our Expressions Of Faith Sowing Division; We Believe Ourselves To Be A Tolerant People Even As Racial, Religious, And Cultural Tensions Roil The Landscape. And Instead Of Resolving These Tensions Or Mediating These Conflicts, Our Politics Fans Them, Exploits Them,and Drives Us Further Apart.

The Key Is Whether Or Not We Have Got Priorities That Are Working For You, As Opposed To Those Who Have Been Dictating The Policy In Washington Lately. And That's Mostly Lobbyists And Special Interests. We Have Got To Put An End To That.

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

I Know That The Politics Around Trade Can Be Very Difficult - Especially In An Election Year.

The Pain I Felt Was My Father's Pain.

Three Months Is A Lifetime In Politics.

Winnie The Pooh Seems To Me To Be A Fundamental Text On National Security.

National Security

Assault Weapons Ban Reintroduced.

Assault Weapons

Politics Has Become So Bitter And Partisan, So Gummed Up By Money And Influence, That We Can't Tackle The Big Problems That Demand Solutions. And That's What We Have To Change First. We Have To Change Our Politics, And Come Together Around Our Common Interests And Concerns As Americans.

Race Is Still A Powerful Force In This Country. Any African American Candidate, Or Any Latino Candidate, Or Asian Candidate Or Woman Candidate Confronts A Higher Threshold In Establishing Himself To The Voters ... Are Some Voters Not Going To Vote For Me Because I'm African American? Those Are The Same Voters Who Probably Wouldn't Vote For Me Because Of My Politics.

... I Just Want To Remind The Owners And The Players: You Guys Make Money Because You Have A Whole Bunch Of Fans Out There Who Are Working Really Hard. They Buy Tickets. They're Watching On Tv. Ya'll Should Be Able To Figure This Out. Get This Done.

I Say That Is Because Those Are The Times Where Sometimes You Feel Actually A Little Bit Hurt. Because You Feel Like Saying To These Folks, "[don't] You Think If I Could Do It, I [would] Have Just Done It. Do You Think That The Only Problem Is That I Don't Care Enough About The Plight Of Poor People, Or Gay People, Or Immigrants, Or ...?"

There Is No Excuse For Not Trying.

In The First Two Years, When I Had A Strong Majority In The House And The Senate, We Were As Productive As Any Administration Has Been Since The '60s. I Mean, We Got A Lot Done.

I Have No Patience With People Who Go Around Blowing Up Innocent People.

African American Boys Oftentimes Fall Behind In School Early, Start Feeling Discouraged, Check Out, Drop Out, End Up On The Streets And Then Get Into Trouble.

Black Children, White Children, Latino Children. America Is Becoming More Diverse, It's Becoming More Tolerant As A Consequence There's More Interactions Between Groups. There Are Going Be Tensions That Arise.

The President [barack Obama] Understands That The Country's Very Concerned About [terrorism] Issue. And I Think What You're Going To Hear From Him Is A Discussion About What Government's Doing To Ensure All Of Our Highest Priority, The Protection Of The American People.

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.

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.

I Will Listen To You, Especially When We Disagree.

If War Explodes In Sudan, It Could Have A Destabilizing Effect That Creates More Space For Terrorist Activity That Could Eventually Be Directed At Our Homeland.

We Are Going Through Historic Times, And My Vision Is A World, First Of All, In Which America Continues To Be That One Indispensable Nation. Because We're Taking Care Of Our Own People, Because Our Economy Is Strong And Our Middle Class Is Growing, And People Feel Like Hard Work Is Rewarded, And We Are Continuing To Expand Opportunity And Diversity And Tolerance And Respect.

We Will Keep The Promise Of Social Security By Taking The Responsible Steps To Strengthen It - Not By Turning It Over To Wall Street.

We Cannot Simply Look To Austerity As A Strategy And It Is Incredibly Important That The Greek People See Improvements In Their Daily Lives So That They Can Carry With Them The Hope That Their Lives Will Get Better.

Donald Trump Is Uniquely Unqualified To Be President.

When It Comes To Preventing Iran From Obtaining A Nuclear Weapon, I Will Take No Options Off The Table. ... That Includes All Elements Of American Power: A Political Effort Aimed At Isolating Iran, A Diplomatic Effort To Sustain Our Coalition And Ensure That The Iranian Program Is Monitored, An Economic Effort That Imposes Crippling Sanctions And, Yes, A Military Effort To Be Prepared For Any Contingency.

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

First And Foremost, It's Important To Remember That, From My Perspective At Least, My Most Important Legacy Was Making Sure That The World Didn't Go Into A Great Depression.

One Thing I Think We Have To Do Is To Make Sure That The Undocumented Workers Who Are Living In America Today, That They Have To Take Responsibility. They've Got To Register, Pay A Fine, Pay Their Back Taxes, Learn English And Then Get On A Pathway In Which They Could Have The Prospect Of Being Here Legally.

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

Iran . . . Has Failed To Take The Opportunity To Demonstrate That Its Nuclear Program Is Peaceful . . . Time Is Not Unlimited.

While The Future Is Unknowable, The Winds Always Blow In The Direction Of Human Progress.

The More We Are Using Clean Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, The Less Environmentally Problematic Facilities End Up Being A Problem For Everybody, But Particularly For Folks Who Have To Suffer The Consequences Of Some Of These Facilities.

In Order For Us To Solve Many Big Problems Around The World, It Is In Our Interest To Work With Russia And Obtain Their Cooperation.

Around The World

You Can't Entirely Compare Between The United States And Greece For A Range Of Reasons, Not Just Because Of The Size Of The Economy.

A Child's Course In Life Should Be Determined Not By The Zip Code She's Born In, But By The Strength Of Her Work Ethic And The Scope Of Her Dreams.

What We Can Be Scientifically Certain Of Is That Our Continued Use Of Fossil Fuels Is Pushing Us To A Point Of No Return

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