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In Europe, Where The Terrorist Threat Is Probably Greatest At The Moment, The Amount Of Information-sharing That's Been Taking Place, The Effectiveness Of Law Enforcement Across Borders Gives Us The Ability To Protect Ourselves While Still Being True To The Basic Precepts Of Our Liberal Democracies. I Hope That That Continues, And It Is Something That I Think We Should Be Worried About.

-Barack Obama

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In Europe, Where The

Barack Obama

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In Europe, Where The Terrorist Threat Is Probably Greatest At The Moment, The Amount Of Information-sharing That's Been Taking Place, The Effectiveness Of Law Enforcement Across Borders Gives Us The Ability To Protect Ourselves While Still Being True To The Basic Precepts Of Our Liberal Democracies. I Hope That That Continues, And It Is Something That I Think We Should Be Worried About.

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You May Want To Prove That You're Worthy Of Other Kids Or Neighbors Who Were Wealthier Than You And Teased You. You May Want To Prove That You're Worthy Of High Expectations. But I Do Think That There Is A Youthful Ambition That Very Much Has To Do With Making Your Mark In The World. And I Think That Cuts Across The Experiences Of A Lot Of People Who End Up Achieving Something Significant In Their Field.

I Would Not Have The Justice Department Prosecuting And Raiding Medical Marijuana Users. It's Not A Good Use Of Our Resources.

I Will Continue To Believe That Israel's Security Is Paramount.

I Will Begin To Remove Our Troops From Iraq Immediately.

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

I Strongly Agree With Vice President Gore That We Cannot Drill Our Way To Energy Independence, But Must Fast-track Investments In Renewable Sources Of Energy Like Solar Power, Wind Power And Advanced Biofuels...

Let It Be Said To Our Children's Children That When We Were Tested We Refused To Let This Journey End, That We Didn't Turn Our Back Nor Did We Falter; And With Eyes Fixed On The Horizon And God's Grace Upon Us, We Carried Forth That Great Gift Of Freedom And Delivered It Safely To Future Generations.

Our Hearts Are Broken Today For The Parents And Grandparents, Sisters And Brothers Of These Children And The Families Of The Adults We Lost....may God Bless The Memory Of The Victims And In The Words Of Scripture Heal The Broken Hearted And Bind Up Their Wounds.

If There's One Thing I Would Like To See, It'd Be For Us To Be Able To Price The Cost Of Carbon Emissions.

Carbon Emissions

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.

This Pleased Onyango, For To Him Knowledge Was The Source Of All The White Man's Power, And He Wanted To Make Sure That His Son Was As Educated As Any White Man.

Although Israel Was Founded Based On The Historic Jewish Homeland And The Need To Have A Jewish Homeland, Israeli Democracy Has Been Premised On Everybody In The Country Being Treated Equally And Fairly. And I Think That That Is What's Best About Israeli Democracy.

Democracies Have

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

A Lot Of The Issues That I See, It Is Not An Either-or Situation.

What Is The Empathy Deficit? The Inability Of People To Stand In Other Folks Shoes. It's Hard To Empathize With People Who Have Different Values Than You

Israel Is Our Friend, That We Will Assist In Their Security.

Look, First Of All, The Climate Is Changing. I Don't Think The Science Is Clear What Percentage Is Man-made And What Percentage Is Natural. It's Convoluted. And For The People To Say The Science Is Decided On, This Is Just Really Arrogant, To Be Honest With You, It's This Intellectual Arrogance That Now You Can't Even Have A Conversation About It. The Climate Is Changing, And We Need To Adapt To That Reality.

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

Markets Will Rise And Fall, But This Is The United States Of America. No Matter What Some Agency May Say, We've Always Been And Always Will Be A Triple A Country.

And We Can See The Positive Impacts Right Here At Solyndra. Less Than A Year Ago, We Were Standing On What Was An Empty Lot. But Through The Recovery Act, This Company Received A Loan To Expand Its Operations. This New Factory Is The Result Of Those Loans.

[a] Family With Two Kids That Earns The Minimum Wage Still Lives Below The Poverty Line. That's Wrong. That's Why, Since The Last Time This Congress Raised The Minimum Wage, 19 States Have Chosen To Bump Theirs Even Higher. Tonight, Let's Declare That In The Wealthiest Nation On Earth, No One Who Works Full-time Should Have To Live In Poverty, And Raise The Federal Minimum Wage To $9 An Hour.

Michelle Will Tell You That When We Get Together For Christmas Or Thanksgiving, It's Like A Little Mini-united Nations... I've Got Relatives Who Look Like Bernie Mac, And I've Got Relatives Who Look Like Margaret Thatcher... We've Got It All.

I Look Forward To Hosting Prime Minister Lee [hsien Loong], Whose Friendship And Partnership I Appreciate Very Much And With Whom I've Worked Throughout My Administration. This Will Also Be An Opportunity For Me To Reciprocate The Hospitality That The Prime Minister And The People Of Singapore Showed To Me During My Visit To Singapore For The Apec Summit In 2009.

If Everybody Who Voted In 2008 Shows Up In 2010, We Will Win This Election. We Will Win This Election.

... 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.

When We Think Of The Major Threats To Our National Security, The First To Come To Mind Are Nuclear Proliferation, Rogue States And Global Terrorism. But Another Kind Of Threat Lurks Beyond Our Shores, One From Nature, Not Humans - An Avian Flu Pandemic.

This Idea That America Is Somehow On The Verge Of Collapse, This Vision Of Violence And Chaos Everywhere, Doesn't Really Jibe With The Experience Of Most People.

When George Bush Came Into Office, We Had Surpluses. And Now We Have Half-a-trillion-dollar Deficit Annually. When George Bush Came Into Office, Our National Debt Was Around $5 Trillion. It's Now Over $10 Trillion. We've Almost Doubled It.

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

Without Investments In Research And Science That Will Create The Next Apple, Create The Next New Innovation That Will Sell Products Around The World, We Will Lose. If We're Not Training Engineers To Make Sure That They Are Equipped Here In This Country, Then Companies Won't Come Here. Those Investments Are What's Going To Help To Make Sure That We Continue To Lead This World Economy Not Just Next Year, But 10 Years From Now, 50 Years From Now, A Hundred Years From Now.

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.

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

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

We Didn't Become The Most Prosperous Country In The World Just By Rewarding Greed And Recklessness. We Didn't Come This Far By Letting The Special Interests Run Wild. We Didn't Do It Just By Gambling And Chasing Paper Profits On Wall Street. We Built This Country By Making Things, By Producing Goods We Could Sell.

I Always Enjoy Watching Republicans Compliment Bill Clinton Now, Because At The Time, I'm Sure He Didn't Feel A Lot Of The Love.

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.

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."

Third, We Will Continue To Draw On Our Substantial Counterterrorism Capabilities To Prevent Isil Attacks. Working With Our Partners, We Will Redouble Our Efforts To Cut Off Its Funding; Improve Our Intelligence; Strengthen Our Defenses; Counter Its Warped Ideology; And Stem The Flow Of Foreign Fighters Into - And Out Of - The Middle East. And In Two Weeks, I Will Chair A Meeting Of The Un Security Council To Further Mobilize The International Community Around This Effort.

Gabby Giffords Deserves A Vote. The Families Of Newtown Deserve A Vote. The Families Of Aurora Deserve A Vote. The Families Of Oak Creek, And Tucson, And Blacksburg, And The Countless Other Communities Ripped Open By Gun Violence - They Deserve A Simple Vote.

The Window Is Closing.

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

Nobody's Cooler Than My Two Girls. They Just Seem To Take Whatever Comes With, You Know - Happiness And - Steadiness. And They're Loving School. They're Making Friends... And - They've Already Joined Some Clubs. And Sasha, You Know - I Think Maybe To Endear - Myself To Her, She - She Decided She Wanted To Join A Basketball Team. So - What More Could I Want?

Stamina. There Is A Greater Physical Element To This Job Than You Would Think, Just Being Able To Grind It Out. And I Think Your Ability To Not Just Mentally And Emotionally, But Physically Be Able To Say, "we Got This. We're Going To Be Ok."

We Should Be More Modest In Our Belief That We Can Impose Democracy On A Country Through Military Force.

The United States Was Proud To Stand With The People Of Germany As This Nation And This Continent Reunited And Rebuilt And Reached For A Better Future.

Iran Has To Live Up To Its International Obligations. . . . The President Has Said That Our Patience Is Not Unlimited.

I Don't Think That Any Economist Disputes That We're In The Worst Economic Crisis Since The Great Depression. The Good News Is That We're Getting A Consensus Around What Needs To Be Done.

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

The Shift To A Cleaner Energy Economy Wont Happen Overnight, And It Will Require Tough Choices Along The Way. But The Debate Is Settled. Climate Change Is A Fact.

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

Most People Who Meet My Wife Quickly Conclude That She Is Remarkable. They Are Right About This. She Is Smart, Funny And Thoroughly Charming... Often, After Hearing Her Speak At Some Function Or Working With Her On A Project, People Will Approach Me And Say Something To The Effect Of "you Know, I Think The World Of You, Barack, But Your Wife... Wow!"

I Don't Think The Democrats Should Think In Narrow Tactical Terms About Mid-term Elections.

We Know The Battle Ahead Will Be Long. But Always Remember That, No Matter What Obstacles Stand In Our Way, Nothing Can Stand In The Way Of The Power Of Millions Of Voices Calling For Change.

No Black Or White America-just United States Of America.

The 20th Century Was A Bloodbath, And For All The Frustrations And Failures Of The Project To Unify Europe, The Last Five Decades Have Been Periods Of Unprecedented Peace, Growth, And Prosperity In Europe.

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

It Is My View That If Society Was Doing The Right Thing With Respect To You, [and There Were] Programs Targeted At Helping People Rise Into The Middle Class And Have A Good Income And Be Able To Save And Send Their Kids To School, And You've Got A Vigorous Enforcement Of Anti-discrimination Laws, Then I Have Confidence In The Black Community's Capabilities To Then Move Forward.

[white House] Feels Even More Like Home Now Because You Have All These Memories That Were Formed Watching Your Kids Grow Up.

I Don't Regret The Excitement, Because I Do Think That It Helped Us Accomplish As Much As We Did.

[american Citizenship] Captures The Enduring Idea That This Country Only Works When We Accept Certain Obligations To One Another And To Future Generations

The Science [of Global Warming] Is Beyond Dispute... Delay Is No Longer An Option. Denial Is No Longer An Acceptable Response

All Of Us - We Should Do Everything We Can To Make Sure This Country Lives Up To Our Children's Expectations.

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 ...?"

As I Reflect Back On What's Worked For Me In This [presidential] Office It's Been That I've Gotten People Who Maybe Didn't Believe In The Process To Get Engaged. Ironically, I've Even Gotten The Other Side That Maybe Didn't Believe In The Process To Get Engaged.

The United States Was Founded On The Idea That All People Are Endowed With Inalienable Rights, And That Principle Has Allowed Us To Work To Perfect Our Union At Home While Standing As A Beacon Of Hope To The World. Today, That Principle Is Embodied In Agreements Americans Helped Forge - The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, The Geneva Conventions, And Treaties Against Torture And Genocide - And It Unites Us With People From Every Country And Culture.

Now, The Iranian People Are A Great People, And Persian Civilization Is A Great Civilization. Iran Has Acted In Ways That's Not Conducive To Peace And Prosperity In The Region: Their Threats Against Israel; Their Pursuit Of A Nuclear Weapon Which Could Potentially Set Off An Arms Race In The Region That Would Make Everybody Less Safe; Their Support Of Terrorist Organizations In The Past - None Of These Things Have Been Helpful.

There's Not A Liberal America And A Conservative America - There's The United States Of America.

Our Kids Grew Up Here [in The White House]. Some Of Our Best Friends Have Been Made Here In This Place. There Have Been Moments That Were Highlights For Us - That - You Know, Are Going To Be Hard To Duplicate.

This Is Our First Task-caring For Our Children. It's Our First Job. If We Don't Get That Right, We Don't Get Anything Right. That's How, As A Society, We Will Be Judged.

Generally Speaking In America, A Lot Of Environmentally Problematic Facilities Tend To Be Located In Places Where Poor Folks Live Because Wealthier Folks Have The Ability To Say, "not In My Backyard."

The Future Rewards Those Who Press On. I Don't Have Time To Feel Sorry For Myself. I Don't Have Time To Complain. I'm Going To Press On.

Politics Didn't Lead Me To Working People. Working People Led Me Into Politics.

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.

Most Americans Believe That Escalation Will Not Bring The War In Iraq To A Responsible End, And That's Why I've Proposed Not Just A Troop Cap, But A Phased Redeployment That Will Start Bringing Our Troops Home.

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

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

By So Many Measures, Our Country Is Stronger And More Prosperous Than It Was When We First Got Here. And I'm Hopeful We'll Build On The Progress We've Made In The Years To Come.

[about His Marijuana Use] I Did. It's Not Something That I'm Proud Of. It Was A Mistake As A Young Man, But You Know? I Mean Not Going To -- I Never Understood That Line. The Point Was To Inhale. That Was The Point.

Our Government Shouldn't Make Promises We Cannot Keep, But We Must Keep The Promises We've Already Made.

Fourth, We Will Continue Providing Humanitarian Assistance To Innocent Civilians Who Have Been Displaced By This Terrorist Organization. This Includes Sunni And Shia Muslims Who Are At Grave Risk, As Well As Tens Of Thousands Of Christians And Other Religious Minorities. We Cannot Allow These Communities To Be Driven From Their Ancient Homelands.

America Is Not - And Never Will Be - At War With Islam. We Will, However, Relentlessly Confront Violent Extremists.

I've Said Very Clearly, Including In A State Of The Union Address, That I'm Against 'don't Ask, Don't Tell' And That We're Going To End This Policy.

The United States Has Been Enriched By Muslim Americans. Many Other Americans Have Muslims In Their Families Or Have Lived In A Muslim-majority Country - I Know, Because I Am One Of Them.

You Don't Like A Particular Policy Or A Particular President? Then Argue For Your Position. Go Out There And Win An Election. Push To Change It. But Don't Break It. Don't Break What Our Predecessors Spent Over Two Centuries Building. That's Not Being Faithful To What This Country's About.

Part Of What Makes Me Most Optimistic Is If You Look At The Attitudes Of Young People. Across The Board, Young People Are Much More Comfortable With Respecting Differences. They Are Much More Comfortable With Diversity.

It's A Moral Imperative, It's An Economic Imperative, And It Is A Security Imperative. For We've Seen How Spikes In Food Prices Can Plunge Millions Into Poverty, Which, In Turn, Can Spark Riots That Cost Lives, And Can Lead To Instability. And This Danger Will Only Grow If A Surging Global Population Isn't Matched By Surging Food Production. So Reducing Malnutrition And Hunger Around The World Advances International Peace And Security - And That Includes The National Security Of The United States.

If You Actually Took The Number Of Muslims Americans, We'd Be One Of The Largest Muslim Countries In The World.

We Rise And Fall As One People, One Nation.

If We Don't Reform How Healthcare Is Delivered In This Country, Then We Are Not Going To Be Able To Get A Handle On That Escalating Healthcare Costs.

It's Important To Make Sure That Governments Have Some Checks On What They Do, That People Can Oversee What's Being Done So The Government Doesn't Abuse It.

I Marched With You In The Streets Of Chicago To Meet Our Immigration Challenge. I Fought With You In The Senate For Comprehensive Immigration Reform. And I Will Make It A Top Priority In My First Year As President.

People Are Very Hungry For Something New. I Think They Are Interested In Being Called To Be A Part Of Something Larger Than The Sort Of Small, Petty, Slash-and-burn Politics That We Have Been Seeing Over The Last Several Years.

He Described To Me How Crocodiles Kill More People Than Sharks. There Are Just A Lot Of Things In Australia That Can Kill You.

The United States Will Do What We Must To Prevent Iran From Obtaining A Nuclear Weapon.

Both Of Our Nations [america And Germany] Were Proud To Join The Paris Climate Agreement Which The World Should Work To Implement Quickly. Continued Global Leadership On Climate In Addition To Increasing Private Investment And Clean Energy Is Gonna Be Critical To Meeting This Growing Threat.

That Is The American Story. People, Just Like You, Following Their Passions, Determined To Meet The Times On Their Own Terms. They Weren't Doing It For The Money. Their Titles Weren't Fancy. But They Changed The Course Of History And So Can You.

I Actually Believe In Redistribution (of Wealth)

Redistribution Of Wealth

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.

I Mean, If You Think About - If You Think About It, Ups And Fedex Are Doing Just Fine, Right? No, They Are. It's The Post Office That's Always Having Problems.

It Was Unknowable Then, But So Much Of The Progress That Would Define The 20th Century, On Both Sides Of The Atlantic, Came Down To The Battle For A Slice Of Beach Only Six Miles Long And Two Miles Wide.

We Can't, You Know, Use Our Military To Make Sure The Planet Doesn't Get Warmer. And So That Kind Of Leadership, Of Being Able To Bring People Together, To Apply Practical Commonsense Solutions Based On Facts, Based On Science, Based On What Works You Know, That's Been The Approach I Have Taken Consistently As A Public Servant. That's The Kind Of Style That I Think We Need In The Presidency Right Now.

To Young People: You Have To Stay Encouraged.

I Don't Think That There's A Hard-and-fast Deadline. . . .what We Have Said All Along Is That This Is Not An Open-ended Process, We Are Not In This Just To Talk For Talk's Sake. . . . We Expect Prompt, Concrete Steps To Be Taken Over The Next Couple Of Weeks.

Persevere. Nothing Worthwhile Is Easy.

I Think There Is Nothing Wrong With Instituting Policies That Say That Harassment Of Any Form, Whether It Comes Through The Internet Or Whether It Happens To You Face To Face, Is Unacceptable; That We've Got Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Sexual Harassment, We Have Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Harassing People Because Of Their Sexual Orientation, Because Of Their Race, Because Of Their Ethnicity.

We Need To Spend A Trillion Dollars Rebuilding Our Schools, Our Roads, Our Basic Science And Research Here In The United States.

Americans Should Tremble Before Suggesting That Any Fellow Citizen Lacks Patriotism.

I'm Not Denouncing The Church, And I'm Not Interested In People Who Want Me To Denounce The Church. It's Not A Church Worthy Of Denouncing.

We Will Kill Bin Laden. We Will Crush Al Qaeda. That Has To Be Our Biggest National Security Priority.

When The Economy's Shrinking, Providing Jobs, Spending On Things Like Infrastructure Can Actually Increase Revenue And Drive Down Debt. And Then, There's Going To Be A Time At Which Point Debt Has To Be Taken Care Of.

What Is True Is [bashar] Assad Got Rid Of His Chemical Weapons.

Chemical Weapons

With The Changing Economy, No One Has Lifetime Employment. But Community Colleges Provide Lifetime Employability.

No Country Should Deny People Their Rights Because Of Who They Love, Which Is Why We Must Stand Up For The Rights Of Gays And Lesbians Everywhere.

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

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.

What Washington Needs Is Adult Supervision.

From The Day I Took Office, I've Been Told That Addressing Our Larger Challenges Is Too Ambitious; Such An Effort Would Be Too Contentious. I've Been Told That Our Political System Is Too Gridlocked, And That We Should Just Put Things On Hold For A While. For Those Who Make These Claims, I Have One Simple Question: How Long Should We Wait? How Long Should America Put Its Future On Hold?

Instead Of Having A Set Of Policies That Are Equipping People For The Globalization Of The Economy, We Have Policies That Are Accelerating The Most Destructive Trends Of The Global Economy.

The Notion That Somehow As A Consequence Of Me Knowing Somebody Who Engaged In Detestable Acts 40 Years Ago, When I Was 8 Years Old, Somehow Reflects On Me And My Values Doesn't Make Much Sense.

What Makes Us Exceptional - What Makes Us American - Is Our Allegiance To An Idea Articulated In A Declaration Made More Than Two Centuries Ago: “we Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident, That All Men Are Created Equal; That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights; That Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.”

Pursuit Of Happiness

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.

We've Got To Make Sure That Our Economy Is Strong At Home So That We Can Project Military Power Overseas.

Grace Bell Lived In Belhaven, North Carolina Her Entire Life, All 100 Years Of Her Life. Just A Few Weeks Ago Republicans Challenged Her Voter Registration Status And Tried To Remove Her From The Voter Rolls. Now Grace Got Her Voter Registration Reinstated. And You Better Believe She`s Going To Vote. But This 100-year Old Woman Wasn`t Alone In Being Targeted. The List Of Voters Republicans Tried To Purge Was Two-thirds Black And Democratic. That Didn`t Happen By Accident.

I Think The American People Recognize That The World Has Shrunk. That It's Interconnected. That You're Not Going To Put That Genie Back In The Bottle.

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.

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

Maybe You Could Be A Great Writer - Maybe Even Good Enough To Write A Book Or Articles In A Newspaper - But You Might Not Know It Until You Write That English Paper - That English Class Paper That's Assigned To You.

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

But You See, A Rich Country Like America Can Perhaps Afford To Be Stupid.

My Hope Would Be That, As We're Moving Through The World Right Now, We're Able To Get That Psychological Or Emotional Peace By Seeing Very Concretely Our Kids Doing Better And Being More Hopeful And Having Greater Opportunities.

The Problem Was, And We Saw Some Of This In The Immigration-reform Issues As Well, Was They Hadn't Done Sufficient Homework To Know That I Didn't Have All The Capacity They Thought I Did In Order To Just Execute This Through The Stroke Of A Pen.

Africa Is On The Move; A New Africa Is Emerging!

I Am Convinced That Whenever We Exaggerate Or Demonize, Oversimplify Or Overstate Our Case, We Lose. Whenever We Dumb Down The Political Debate, We Lose. For It's Precisely The Pursuit Of Ideological Purity, The Rigid Orthodoxy And The Sheer Predictability Of Our Current Political Debate, That Keeps Us From Finding New Ways To Meet The Challenges We Face.

John F.kennedy Gave Probably The Greatest Inauguration Speech Ever That First Time, But I Guarantee You When He First Walked Out There He Was Thinking, "goodness Gracious This Is Big And I Better Be Up To The Task."

No Other Advanced Nation Endures This Kind Of Violence. None. Here In America, The Murder Rate Is Three Times What It Is In Other Developed Nations. The Murder Rate With Guns Is Ten Times What It Is In Other Developed Nations. And There's Nothing Inevitable About It. It Comes About Because Of Decisions We Make Or Fail To Make. And It Falls Upon Us To Make It Different.

One Of The Things I Think We Have To Do Is Make Sure That College Is Affordable For Every Young Person In America. And I Also Think That We're Going To Have To Rebuild Our Infrastructure, Which Is Falling Behind, Our Roads, Our Bridges, But Also Broadband Lines That Reach Into Rural Communities. So There Are Some Things That We've Got To Do Structurally To Make Sure That We Can Compete In This Global Economy. We Can't Shortchange Those Things. We've Got To Eliminate Programs That Don't Work, And We've Got To Make Sure That The Programs That We Do Have Are More Efficient And Cost Less.

I Don't Think There's Anybody Who's Run A Campaign Like [donald Trump] Successfully In Modern History, Not That I Can Think Of. And, As A Consequence Because He Didn't Have The Supports Of Many Of The Establishment In His Own Party, Because He Ran Sort Of An Improvisational Campaign.

Weapons That Were Designed For Soldiers In War Theaters Don’t Belong On Our Streets.

Just Like I Described In Health Care, Yeah, Somebody Comes In, They Got New Ideas, Maybe Ideas That Are Completely Opposite Of My Ideas. Maybe Some Of It Goes, Maybe Some Of That Progress Goes Back. Maybe They Think Of Some Things We Didn't Think Of, And So In Some Other Areas - We Can Learn Something.

This Doesn't Mean Abandoning Our Values And Ideals; Wherever We Can, It's In Our Interest To Help Foster Democracy Through The Diplomatic And Economic Resources At Our Disposal.

Today, More Than Ever Before, Science Holds The Key To Our Survival As A Planet And Our Security And Prosperity As A Nation. It's Time We Once Again Put Science At The Top Of Our Agenda And Work To Restore America's Place As The World Leader In Science And Technology.

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

African American

We Cannot Meet 21st Century Challenges With A 20th Century Bureaucracy.

If You Like Your Existing Plan You Get To Keep It

I've Called On Congress To Repeal The So-called Defense Of Marriage Act To Help End Discrimination To Help End Discrimination Against Same-sex Couples In This Country. Now, I Want To Add We Have A Duty To Uphold Existing Law, But I Believe We Must Do So In A Way That Does Not Exacerbate Old Divides. And Fulfilling This Duty In Upholding The Law In No Way Lessens My Commitment To Reversing This Law. I've Made That Clear.

We Stand With Israel As A Jewish Democratic State Because We Know That Israel Is Born Of Firmly Held Values That We, As Americans, Share: A Culture Committed To Justice, A Land That Welcomes The Weary, A People Devoted To Tikkun Olam. ... So America's Commitment ... And My Commitment To Israel And Israel's Security Is Unshakeable. It Is Unshakeable. ... I Am Proud To Say That No U.s. Administration Has Done More In Support Of Israel's Security Than Ours. None. Don't Let Anybody Else Tell You Otherwise. It Is A Fact.

Suppressing Ideas Never Succeeds In Making Them Go Away.

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

Generally The Constitution Is A Charter Of Negative Liberties, Says What The States Can't Do To You, Says What The Federal Government Can't Do To You. But It Doesn't Say What The State Or Federal Government Must Do On Your Behalf.

I Put Forward A Budget Of What I Called "middle-class Economics" That Continues To Be Fiscally Prudent But Makes Necessary Investments For Us To Continue The Economic Momentum And Job Growth.

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 Think That The Fda Has Not Been Able To Catch Some Of These Things As Quickly As I Expect Them To Catch And So We’re Going To Be Doing A Complete Review Of Fda Operations. At Bare Minimum, We Should Be Able To Count On Our Government Keeping Our Kids Safe When They Eat Peanut Butter. That’s What Sasha Eats For Lunch. Probably Three Times A Week...

If You're A Progressive, You've Got To Be Worried About How The Federal Government Is Spending Its Revenue, Because We Don't Have Enough Money To Spend On Things Like Early Childhood Education That Are So Important.

The Politics Around Trade Has Always Been Tough, Particularly In The Democratic Party, Because People Have Memories Of Outsourcing And Job Loss.

Money Is The Original Sin In Politics And I Am Not Sinless.

We Ask Our Men And Women In Uniform To Leave Their Families, Our Guardsmen And Reservists To Leave Their Jobs. We Ask You To Fight, To Sacrifice, To Risk Your Lives For Your Country. The Last Thing You Should Have To Do Is Fight For A Job When You Come Home.

When Individuals Get Crowbars And Start Prying Open Doors To Loot, They're Not Protesting. They're Not Making A Statement. They're Stealing. When They Burn Down A Building, They're Committing Arson.

Nobody Cares How Tough Your Upbringing Was. Nobody Cares If You Suffered Some Discrimination.

If We Want America To Stay On The Cutting Edge, We Need Young Americans To Master The Tools And Technology That Will Change The Way We Do Just About Everything.

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

If Everybody Voted, Then It Would Completely Change The Political Map In This Country.

When You Look At What [new Generation] Believe In, How They Value Diversity, How They Believe In Science, How They Care About The Environment, How They Believe In, You Know, Everybody Getting A Fair Shot, How They Believe In Not Discriminating Against People For Sexual Orientation And You Know, Their Belief That We Have To Work With Other Countries To Create A More Peaceful World And To Alleviate Poverty, That's The Majority An Entire Generation That's Coming Up Behind Us.

No, You Can't Deny Women Their Basic Rights And Pretend It's About Your 'religious Freedom'. If You Don't Like Birth Control, Don't Use It. Religious Freedom Doesn't Mean You Can Force Others To Live By Your Own Beliefs.

One Of The Best Parts Of The Holiday Season Is Spending Time With The Special People In Your Life.

People In Your Life

You Didn't Build That. Somebody Else Made That Happen.

Presidential Election

Even Those Who Claim The Bible's Inerrancy Make Distinctions Between Scriptural Edicts, Sensing That Some Passages - The Ten Commandments, Say, Or A Belief In Christ's Divinity - Are Central To Christian Faith, While Others Are More Culturally Specific And May Be Modified To Accommodate Modern Life.

There Is A Theory That Basically Says That We Can Shred Regulations And Consumer Protections And Give More And More To The Most, And Somehow Prosperity Will Trickle Down. It Hasn't Worked. And I Think That The Fundamentals Of The Economy Have To Be Measured By Whether Or Not The Middle Class Is Getting A Fair Shake.

Our Nation Honors Its Unbroken Line Of Fallen Heroes - And I See Many Of Them In The Audience Here Today.

We Can’t Afford To Be So Worried About Losing The Next Election That We Lose The Battles We Owe To The Next Generation. The Real Gamble In This Election Is Playing The Same Washington Game With The Same Washington Players And Expecting A Different Result. And That’s A Risk We Can’t Take.

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

Aircraft Carriers

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.

Where You Are Right Now Doesn't Have To Determine Where You'll End Up.

Through Words He Gave Voice To The Voiceless. Through Deeds He Gave Courage To The Faint Of Heart.

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

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.

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

As I Travel Around The World, It's Fascinating; European Leaders, Asian Leaders, They All Say To Me, America Is Actually Poised To Be The World Leader For Another Century - If We Can Fix Some Of This Political Dysfunction. ... We've Got A Lot Of National Security Challenges, But If We Get Our Economy Together, And If We Can Get Our Political System To Work Well, I Am Really Confident About Our Future.

[the Americans] Believe In The Idea That A Child Shouldn't Be Consigned To Poverty Just Because Of Circumstances Of Their Birth.

I Have Become A Symbol Of The Possibility Of America Returning To Our Best Traditions.

There Have Been Periods Where The Folks Who Were Already Here Suddenly Say, 'well, I Don't Want Those Folks,' Even Though The Only People Who Have The Right To Say That Are Some Native Americans.

Native American

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

Yes, We Can. Yes, We Can Change. Yes, We Can.

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

We Can Seize This Future Together Because We Are Not As Divided As Our Politics Suggests.

Futures Together

So, Let Us Summon A New Spirit Of Patriotism, Of Responsibility, Where Each Of Us Resolves To Pitch In And Work Harder And Look Over Not Only Ourselves, But Each Other.

Today I Am Pledging To Cut The Deficit We Inherited In Half By The End Of My First Term In Office.

Broken Promises

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.

We Invest In Early Childhood Education. We Invest Additional Job Training Dollars. We Make Sure That We've Got A Strong Research And Development Strategy So That We Continue To Innovate. Rebuilding Our Infrastructure, Which We Know Will Attract Businesses.

Research And Development

It Would Be Good For The Workers In Vietnam Even As It Helps Make Sure That They're Not Undercutting Competition Here In The United States.

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

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.

Nowhere Is It Ordained That History Moves In A Straight Line.

As An Elected Official Who Comes From The African-american Community, There Are Some Similarities. You Are Always Trying To Reconcile Your Own Personal Biography And Affiliations With The Demands Of The Broader Democracy. And You Need To Make Sure You Are Representing Everybody.

African American

Globalization Is A Fact, Because Of Technology, Because Of An Integrated Global Supply Chain, Because Of Changes In Transportation. And We're Not Going To Be Able To Build A Wall Around That.

Over The Last Few Years A Lot Of People Have Become Aware Of The Inequities In The Criminal Justice System, Right Now, With Our Overall Crime Rate And Incarceration Rate Both Falling, We're At A Moment When Some Good People In Both Parties, Republicans And Democrats And Folks All Across The Country, Are Coming Up With Ideas To Make The System Work Smarter And Better.

It's Important To Recognize That You Can't Have 100 Percent Security And Also Then Have 100 Percent Privacy And Zero Inconvenience.

Iraq Is Sort Of A Situation Where You've Got A Guy Who Drove The Bus Into The Ditch. You Obviously Have To Get The Bus Out Of The Ditch, And That's Not Easy To Do, Although You Probably Should Fire The Driver.

You Can’t Let Your Failures Define You. You Have To Let Your Failures Teach You.

We Honor Those Who Walked So We Could Run. We Must Run So Our Children Soar. And We Will Not Grow Weary.

If You Want To Right-size Executive Power Relative To The Other Branches Of Government, The Best Way To Do That Is To Have A Healthy Congress In Which The Two Parties Are Debating, Disagreeing, But Also Occasionally Working Together To Pass Legislation.

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