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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.

-Barack Obama

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It's Time To "stop

Barack Obama

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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.

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America Isn't Congress. America Isn't Washington. America Is The Striving Immigrant Who Starts A Business, Or The Mom Who Works Two Low-wage Jobs To Give Her Kid A Better Life. America Is The Union Leader And The Ceo Who Put Aside Their Differences To Make The Economy Stronger.

We Are Not A Nation That Says 'don't Ask, Don't Tell.' We Are A Nation That Says 'out Of Many, We Are One.'

If We Choose Only To Expose Ourselves To Opinions And Viewpoints That Are In Line To Our Own, We Become More Polarized, More Set In Our Own Ways. It Will Only Reinforce And Deepen The Political Divides In Our Country. But If We Choose To Actively Seek Out Information That Challenges Our Assumptions And Beliefs, Perhaps We Can Begin To Understand Where The People Who Disagree With Us Are Coming From.

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.

We Are In What We Hope Is An Intensive Diplomatic Phase Now. It Will Not Be Open-ended.

You Have Countries Like India That Have Tried To Help Untouchables, With Essentially Affirmative-action Programs, But It Hasn't Fundamentally Changed The Structure Of Their Societies.

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

When You've Got Little Kids, And You're Tucking Them In. When You Open A Door And They're In Their Pajamas And They're, You Know, Wrestling With You And Asking You, You Know, To Read To Them And Stuff, [the White House] Starts Feeling Like Home Pretty Quick. Not To Mention Having A Mother-in-law Upstairs, And The Dog, And Now Two.

For We Have A Choice In This Country. We Can Accept A Politics That Breeds Division, And Conflict, And Cynicism. We Can Tackle Race Only As Spectacle - As We Did In The Oj Trial - Or In The Wake Of Tragedy, As We Did In The Aftermath Of Katrina - Or As Fodder For The Nightly News. We Can Play Reverend Wright's Sermons On Every Channel, Every Day And Talk About Them From Now Until The Election, And Make The Only Question In This Campaign Whether Or Not The American People Think That I Somehow Believe Or Sympathize With His Most Offensive Words.

Societies In Which We Are Able To Unify Ourselves Around Values And Ideals And Character And How We Treat Each Other And Cooperation And Innovation, Ultimately Are Gonna Be More Successful Than Societies That Don't.

We'll Build New Ties Of Trade And Of Commerce, Culture And Education That Unleash The Potential Of The Iraqi People.

With Only 2 Percent Of The World's Oil Reserves, Oil Isn't Enough. This Country Needs An All-out, All-of-the-above Strategy That Develops Every Available Source Of American Energy. A Strategy That's Cleaner, Cheaper, And Full Of New Jobs.

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.

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

I Was Able To Excite And Engage People Who Previously Hadn't Been Involved In Politics, And Part Of The Reason That I Was Able To Be Re-elected And Stay Relatively Popular In The United States Was Because Even When The Economy Was Bad Or We Had Problems, People Sensed That I Listened To Them And I Was On Their Side.

My Little Girls Can Break My Heart. They Can Make Me Cry Just Looking At Them Eating Their String Beans.

We Are Not Going To Keep The Window Open Forever.

Right Now I Would Rank Norway As The Largest Country In The World, I Have Never Seen Anything Like It

I'm A Christian By Choice.

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

Iran Will For Sure Have Pledged To The International Community That It Will Not Develop A Nuclear Weapon, And Now Will Be Subject To An Additional Protocol, A More Vigorous Inspection And Monitoring Regime That Lasts In Perpetuity.

Sustaining The Energy And Focus Involved In Doing A Good Job I Think Starts To Gets Tougher The Longer You Do It.

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

I Will Cut Investments In Unproven Missile Defense Systems.

Healthcare System Is Broken Without Lifetime Employment.

I Have Made It Clear That We Will Hunt Down Terrorists Who Threaten Our Country, Wherever They Are. That Means I Will Not Hesitate To Take Action Against Isil In Syria, As Well As Iraq. This Is A Core Principle Of My Presidency: If You Threaten America, You Will Find No Safe Haven.

My Question Would Be Whether There Is Active Persecution Of Atheists.

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 Then Spoke To Chancellor (angela) Merkel Of Germany And We Agreed That The United States And Our European Allies Will Work Closely Together In The Weeks And Months Ahead.

As Opposed To Getting Into Arguments About, Well, These Folks Have Been Treated Fairly So Now We're Going To Be Doing Things That, Very Easily In The Minds Of A Lot Americans Feel Like, "now I'm Being Treated Unfairly."

We Can't In Any Way Criticize Or At Least Indict Or Impeach Administration [of Democratic Presidents] For Doing What They Did.

I'm Not Talking About Blind Optimism, The Kind Of Hope That Just Ignores The Enormity Of The Tasks Ahead Or The Road Blocks That Stand In Our Path. I'm Not Talking About The Wishful Idealism That Allows Us To Just Sit On The Sidelines Or Shirk From A Fight. I Have Always Believed That Hope Is That Stubborn Thing Inside Us That Insists, Despite All The Evidence To The Contrary, That Something Better Awaits Us So Long As We Have The Courage To Keep Reaching, To Keep Working, To Keep Fighting.

I Think Back To The Day I Drove Michelle And A Newborn Malia Home From The Hospital Nearly 11 Years Ago - Crawling Along, Miles Under The Speed Limit, Feeling The Weight Of My Daughter's Future Resting In My Hands. I Think About The Pledge I Made To Her That Day: That I Would Give Her What I Never Had - That If I Could Be Anything In Life, I Would Be A Good Father. I Knew That Day That My Own Life Wouldn't Count For Much Unless She Had Every Opportunity In Hers.

There Are Institutional Obligations I Have To Carry Out That Are Important For A President Of The United States To Carry Out, But May Not Always Align With What I Think Would Move The Ball Down The Field On The Issues That I Care Most Deeply About.

Whether It's Coming From Fdr Or It's Coming From Ronald Reagan, If The Idea Is Right For The Times Then We're Gonna Apply It. And Things That Don't Work We're Gonna Get Rid Of.

The President Of The United States Is Supposed To Lead The Free World And Not Follow It. Other Nations Have Been More Outspoken. So, I Hope That We'll Hear More Of This Because Young Men And Women Taking To The Streets In Tehran Need Our Support. The Signs Are In English. They're Basically Asking For Us To Speak Up On Their Behalf.

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

Broken Promises

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

The Truth Is, Some Of These Comments, When You Actually Ask 'well, This Is Based On What? This Notion That Obama's A Socialist, For Example?' Nobody Can Really Give You A Good Answer.

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

On This Day, We Gather Because We Have Chosen Hope Over Fear, Unity Of Purpose Over Conflict And Discord.

Someone Once Said That Every Man Is Trying To Live Up To His Father's Expectations Or Make Up For Their Father's Mistakes.

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.

If You Don't Have A Record To Run On, You Paint Your Opponent As Someone To Run From.

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

The Shadow Of Crisis Has Passed, And The State Of The Union Is Strong.

America Remains The One Indispensable Nation. And The World Needs A Strong America.

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

Isil Poses A Threat To The People Of Iraq And Syria, And The Broader Middle East - Including American Citizens, Personnel And Facilities. If Left Unchecked, These Terrorists Could Pose A Growing Threat Beyond That Region, Including To The United States.

When You're A Candidate And You Say Something That Is Inaccurate Or Controversial, It Has Less Impact Than It Does When You're President Of The United States. Everybody Around The World's Paying Attention. Markets Move. National Security Issues Require A Level Of Precision In Order To Make Sure That You Don't Make Mistakes.

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

No Challenge Poses A Greater Threat To Future Generations Than Climate Change.

Tonight, I Can Report To The American People And To The World That The United States Has Conducted An Operation That Killed Osama Bin Laden, The Leader Of Al Qaeda, And A Terrorist Who's Responsible For The Murder Of Thousands Of Innocent Men, Women, And Children.

We The People Declare Today That The Most Evident Of Truth That All Of Us Are Created Equal ... That Our Individual Freedom Is Inextricably Bound To The Freedom Of Every Soul On Earth.

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.

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 ...?"

I Don't Think I Underestimated [vladimir Putin], But I Think That I Underestimated The Degree To Which, In This New Information Age, It Is Possible For Misinformation For Cyber Hacking And So Forth To Have An Impact On Our Open Societies, Our Open Systems, To Insinuate Themselves Into Our Democratic Practices In Ways That I Think Are Accelerating.

I Think When You're Governing, It Will Become Increasingly Apparent That If You Were To Just Eliminate Trade Deals With Mexico, For Example, Well, You've Got A Global Supply Chain. The Parts That Are Allowing Auto Plants That Were About To Shut Down To Now Employ Double Shifts Is Because They're Bringing In Some Of Those Parts To Assemble Out Of Mexico. And So It's Not As Simple As It Might Have Seemed.

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

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.

Cutting Our Education Budget, That's Not A Smart Choice. That Will Not Help America Compete With China.

I Am Asking My Attorney General To Create A Special Unit Of Federal Prosecutors And Leading State Attorneys General To Expand Our Investigations Into The Abusive Lending And Packaging Of Risky Mortgages That Led To The Housing Crisis. This New Unit Will Hold Accountable Those Who Broke The Law, Speed Assistance To Homeowners, And Help Turn The Page On An Era Of Recklessness That Hurt So Many Americans.

A Better Politics Is One Where We Appeal To Each Other’s Basic Decency Instead Of Our Basest Fears.

By The Way, You Know, Mitt Romney And Mccain, I Don't Agree With Them, But They Would Have Been Okay. I Could Have Been Satisfied With Them.

The Sort Of Seeing Cruelty And Callousness Of That Sort From Young People Is Heartbreaking.

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

We Will Stand Against Violence And Intimidation. We Will Stand For The Rights And Dignity Of All Human Beings.

Against Violence

There Isn't Anyone Who Can't Serve ... Nobody Who Can't Help Somebody Else.

I Have To Make The Very Best Judgments I Can Make In Terms Of What's Gonna Keep The American People Safe. And Is What, What's Gonna Uphold Our Constitution And Our Traditions Of Due Process.

I Think We Can Provide Common-sense Approaches To The Issue Of Illegal Guns That Are Ending Up On The Streets. We Can Make Sure That Criminals Don't Have Guns In Their Hands. We Can Make Certain That Those Who Are Mentally Deranged Are Not Getting A Hold Of Handguns. We Can Trace Guns That Have Been Used In Crimes To Unscrupulous Gun Dealers That May Be Selling To Straw Purchasers And Dumping Them On The Streets.

You Can Choose A Future Where More Americans Have The Chance To Gain The Skills They Need To Compete, No Matter How Old They Are Or How Much Money They Have. Education Was The Gateway To Opportunity For Me. It Was The Gateway For Michelle. And Now More Than Ever, It Is The Gateway To A Middle-class Life.

If The Global Economy Is Unresponsive To People Who Feel Left Behind, If Inequality Continues To Grow, Then We Could End Up Seeing More And More Of These Divisions Arise Throughout Advanced Economies Around The World.

Now Let's Make Two Things Clear: Isil Is Not 'islamic.' No Religion Condones The Killing Of Innocents, And The Vast Majority Of Isil's Victims Have Been Muslim. And Isil Is Certainly Not A State. It Was Formerly Al Qaeda's Affiliate In Iraq, And Has Taken Advantage Of Sectarian Strife And Syria's Civil War To Gain Territory On Both Sides Of The Iraq-syrian Border. It Is Recognized By No Government, Nor The People It Subjugates. Isil Is A Terrorist Organization, Pure And Simple. And It Has No Vision Other Than The Slaughter Of All Who Stand In Its Way.

In Recent Years, We've Become Enamored With Our Own Past Success. Lulled Into Complacency By The Glitter Of Our Own Achievements. We've Become Accustomed To The Title Of Military Superpower, Forgetting The Qualities That Got Us There. We've Become Accustomed To Our Economic Dominance In The World, Forgetting That It Wasn't Reckless Deals And Get Rich Quick Schemes That Got Us Where We Are, But Hard Work And Smart Ideas, Quality Products And Wise Investments.

The Last Thing That I Want To Do Is To Have The United States Be A Foil.

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

In This New, Hyper Competitive Age, None Of Us, None Of Us Can Afford To Be Complacent.

The Elevation Of Appearance Over Substance, Of Celebrity Over Character, Of Short Term Gains Over Lasting Achievement Displays A Poverty Of Ambition. It Distracts You From What's Truly Important.

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.

Since I've Been In The Senate, Is That My Work With People Like Tom Coburn On Opening Up Transparency In Government, Making Sure That Every Dollar The Federal Government Spends That's Out There - That That's All Posted On A Searchable Database On The Internet.

[america] Will Stand Steadfast With Israel In Pursuit Of Security And A Lasting Peace.

When I Came Into Office, The World Was Divided. Iran Was Resurgent. Iran Is At Its Weakest Point, Economically, Strategically, Militarily, Then Since - Then In Many Years. And We Are Going To Continue To Keep The Pressure On To Make Sure That They Do Not Get A Nuclear Weapon. That's In America's National Interest And That Will Be The Case So Long As I'm President.

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.

Every Major World Religion Has Identified Marriage As Between A Man And A Woman.

World Religions

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.

I Went Through Six Years Of Battles On Health Care Because I Didn't Have $100 Million Worth Of Advertising Saying How It Would Never Work.

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

I Am Not In Favor Of Concealed Weapons. I Think That Creates A Potential Atmosphere Where More Innocent People Could (get Shot During) Altercations.

America Is A Strong And Resilient Country. And I Know We Will Succeed, If We Put Aside Partisanship And Politics And Work Together As One Nation.

I Have Seen, The Desperation And Disorder Of The Powerless: How It Twists The Lives Of Children On The Streets Of Jakarta Or Nairobi In Much The Same Way As It Does The Lives Of Children On Chicago 's South Side.

I Think The American People, You Know, They're Going To Want That New Car Smell. They Want To Drive Something Off The Lot That Doesn't Have As Much Mileage As Me.

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.

I Think If You Worked At The Community Level In Chicago And Then A Politician On The South Side Of Chicago, And Worked At The State Level, Then You're Pretty Familiar With All The Variations Of Politics In The African American Community And Criticisms You May Get. If You're Not Familiar With Those Or You Don't Have A Thick Enough Skin To Take It, Then You Probably Wouldn't Have Gotten Here.

African American

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.

Reading Makes All Other Learning Possible. We Have To Get Books Into Our Children's Hands Early And Often.

That Is The True Genius Of America, A Faith In The Simple Dreams Of Its People, The Insistence On Small Miracles. That We Can Say What We Think, Write What We Think, Without Hearing A Sudden Knock On The Door. That We Can Have An Idea And Start Our Own Business Without Paying A Bribe Or Hearing A Sudden Knock On The Door. That We Can Participate In The Political Process Without Fear Of Retribution, And That Our Votes Will Be Counted.

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

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

Globalization Makes Our Economy, Our Health, And Our Security All Captive To Events On The Other Side Of The World. And No Other Nation On Earth Has A Greater Capacity To Shape That Global System, Or To Build Consensus Around A New Set Of International Rules That Expand The Zones Of Freedom, Personal Safety, And Economic Well-being. Like It Or Not, If We Want To Make America More Secure, We Are Going To Have To Help Make The World More Secure.

We Can't Have Special Interests Sitting Shotgun. We Gotta Have Middle Class Families Up In Front. We Don't Mind The Republicans Joining Us. They Can Come For The Ride, But They Gotta Sit In Back.

Tonight, More Americans Are Out Of Work And More Are Working Harder For Less. More Of You Have Lost Your Homes And Even More Are Watching Your Home Values Plummet. More Of You Have Cars You Can't Afford To Drive, Credit Card Bills You Can't Afford To Pay, And Tuition That's Beyond Your Reach.

There Are Folks Who Will Equivocate. They'll Say, 'you Know, I'm Not A Scientist.' Well, I'm Not Either. But The Best Scientists In The World Know That Climate Change Is Happening.

One Of The Gratifying Things, I Think, About The End Of My Presidency Even Though Admittedly My Successor Ran Against A Lot Of What We Stood For, Is When You Look At The Individual Issues And The Progress That We've Made On A Lot Of Those Issues, We Got The Support Of A Pretty Decent Majority.

The Iranians May Simply Try To Run Out The Clock.

[the Democrats] Have Got To Do A Better Job Of Showing Up.

I Have Always Believed That What Brings Us Together Is Stronger Than What Pulls Us Apart.

Part Of What We Have To Do A Better Job Of, If Our Democracy Is To Function In A Complicated Diverse Society Like This, Is To Teach Our Kids Enough Critical Thinking To Be Able To Sort Out What Is True And What Is False, What Is Contestable And What Is Incontestable. And We Seem To Have Trouble With That. And Our Political System Doesn't Help.

If You Think You Got A Better Idea In Terms Of How To Approach This That's Not Gonna Result In More Pollution, And More Asthma, And More Illness Then Put Your Ideas Out There. But Don't Just Oppose Things Because, "this Was Obama's Agenda."

Toughest Decision Was Early In My Presidency When I Ordered 30,000 More Troops Into Afghanistan. As Somebody Who Had Run To End A Large Troop Presence Overseas.

We Created A Whole Lot Of Millionaires To Boot. Businesses Did Just Fine. And You Know There Are Plenty Of Patriotic, Successful Americans All Across The Country -- I Meet Them Every Day -- Who'd Be Willing To Make This Contribution Again Because They Understand There Is Such A Thing As The Common Good. They Understand That We're In This Thing Together.

The Pyramids Are One Of Those Things That Live Up To The Hype. They're Elemental In Ways That Are Hard To Describe.

We Are Not Going To Be Able To Rebuild Afghanistan Into A Jeffersonian Democracy.

All Across The World, ...increasingly Dangerous Weather Patterns And Devastating Storms Are Abruptly Putting An End To The Long-running Debate Over Whether Or Not Climate Change Is Real. Not Only Is It Real, It's Here, And Its Effects Are Giving Rise To A Frighteningly New Global Phenomenon: The Man-made Natural Disaster.

Some May Still Deny The Overwhelming Judgment Of Science.

I Know The American People. I've Met A Lot Of Them. I've Met A Lot More Of Them Than Any Columnist Has, Or Any Talking Head On Tv Has. And They're Pretty Sophisticated.

America Is Much Less Violent Than It Was 20, 30 Years Ago, And Immigration Is Much Less A Problem Than It Was Not Just 20, 30 Years Ago, But When I Came In As President.

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

I Think One Of The Tragedies Of The Civil Rights Movement Was Because The Civil Rights Movement Became So Court-focused, I Think That There Was A Tendency To Lose Track Of The Political And Community Organizing, And Activities On The Ground, That Are Able To Put Together The Actual Coalitions Of Power Throughout Which You Bring About Redistributive Change. And In Some Ways, We Still Suffer From That.

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.

We Want Everybody To Act Like Adults, Quit Playing Games, Realize That It's Not Just My Way Or The Highway.

Mr Speaker, Mr Vice President, Members Of Congress, Distinguished Guests, And Fellow Americans, Last Month I Went To Andrews Air Force Base And Welcomed Home Some Of Our Last Troops To Serve In Iraq. Together, We Offered A Final, Proud Salute To The Colors Under Which More Than A Million Of Our Fellow Citizens Fought, And Several Thousand Gave Their Lives. We Gather Tonight Knowing That This Generation Of Heroes Has Made The United States Safer And More Respected Around The World.

It Is Legitimate For The Turks To Try To Defend Themselves.

I Think That Leadership More Than Anything Is About Setting A Course And Describing A Vision For People.

We Live In A Culture That Discourages Empathy. A Culture That Too Often Tells Us Our Principle Goal In Life Is To Be Rich, Thin, Young, Famous, Safe, And Entertained.

Here's The Truth: Even If Countries Like The United States Curb Our Emissions, If Growing Countries Like India - With Soaring Energy Needs - Don't Also Embrace Cleaner Fuels, Then We Don't Stand A Chance Against Climate Change.

The Russians Sought To Interfere With The Election Process - That The Cyber Hacking That Took Place By The Russians Was Part Of That Campaign, And That They Had A Clear Preference In Terms Of Outcomes.

Election Process

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.

As Long As Countries Like China Keep Going All In On Clean Energy, So Must We.

I Get A Thick Book Full Of Death, Destruction, Strife, And Chaos. That's What I Take With My Morning Tea.

We're Opposing Russia's Aggression Against Ukraine, Which Is A Threat To The World, As We Saw In The Appalling Shoot-down Of Mh17.

If We Choose To Keep Those Tax Breaks For Millionaires And Billionaires, If We Choose To Keep A Tax Break For Corporate Jet Owners, If We Choose To Keep Tax Breaks For Oil And Gas Companies That Are Making Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars, Then That Means We've Got To Cut Some Kids Off From Getting A College Scholarship.

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

I Feel Good When I'm Engaged In What I Think Are The Core Issues Of The Society, And Those Core Issues To Me Are What's Happening To Poor Folks In This Society.

The Presidency Has A Funny Way Of Making A Person Feel The Need To Pray.

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

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

I Can Be Much More Sarcastic And, I Think, Sometimes Withering In My Assessments Of Things Than I Allow To Show In My Public Life.

My Particular Passion For Lincoln Dates Back From My Earliest Memories Of Politics.

It's The Idea Held By Generations Of Citizens Who Believed That America Is A Constant Work In Progress; Who Believed That Loving This Country Requires More Than Singing Its Praises Or Avoiding Uncomfortable Truths. It Requires The Occasional Disruption, The Willingness To Speak Out For What's Right, And Shake Up The Status Quo.

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

The Most Frustrated And Most Stymied It Is The Fact That The United States Of America Is The One Advanced Nation On Earth In Which We Do Not Have Sufficient Common-sense, Gun-safety Laws. Even In The Face Of Repeated Mass Killings.

In Order For Us To Compete With China, We've Also Got To Make Sure, Though, That We're Taking - Taking Care Of Business Here At Home. If We Don't Have The Best Education System In The World, If We Don't Continue To Put Money Into Research And Technology That Will Allow Us To Create Great Businesses Here In The United States, That's How We Lose The Competition.

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

Those Are Values That Help Guide Not Just My Family's Christian Faith, But That Of Jewish Americans, And Muslim Americans; Nonbelievers And Americans Of All Backgrounds. And No One Better Embodies That Spirit Of Service Than The Men And Women Who Wear Our Country's Uniform And Their Families.

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 Many Ways [those Middle-aged Black Ladies] My Touchstone, Because They Are What I Meant When I Talked About The Audacity Of Hope.

My First Job As Commander In Chief Is To Keep The American People Safe.

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

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

Let's Take The Money That We've Been Spending On War Over The Last Decade To Rebuild America, Roads, Bridges Schools. We Do Those Things, Not Only Is Your Future Going To Be Bright But America's Future Is Going To Bright As Well.

The Biggest Threat That We Face Right Now Is Not A Nuclear Missile Coming Over The Skies. It's In A Suitcase. This Is Why The Issue Of Nuclear Proliferation Is So Important. It Is The - The Biggest Threat To The United States Is A Terrorist Getting Their Hands On Nuclear Weapons.

Everybody Deserves Fair Treatment, Equal Treatment In The Eyes Of The Law And The State. And That Includes Gays, Lesbians, Transgender Persons. I Am Not A Fan Of Discrimination And Bullying Of Anybody On The Basis Of Race, On The Basis Of Religion, On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation Or Gender. This Is Actually Part And Parcel Of The Agenda That's Also Going To Be Front And Centre, And That Is How Are We Treating Women And Girls.

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.

We Right Now Give $15 Billion Every Year As Subsidies To Private Insurers Under The Medicare System. Doesn't Work Any Better Through The Private Insurers. They Just Skim Off $15 Billion.

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.

We've Got To Be Able To Have A Conversation And Recognize We're All Americans; We All Want The Best For This Country. We May Have Some Disagreements In Terms Of How To Get There, But All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Our Economy Is Strong, That Jobs Are Growing. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That People Aren't Bankrupt When They Get Sick. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Young People Can Afford An Education.

Reverend Wright Has Been My Friend And Mentor For Over 20 Years.

Whatever Success I Have Achieved, Whatever Positions Of Leadership I Have Held Have Depended Less On Ivy League Degrees Or Sat Scores Or Gpas And Have Instead Been Due To That Sense Of Connection And Empathy, The Special Obligation I Felt As A Black Man Like You To Help Those Who Need It Most, People Who Didn't Have The Opportunities That I Had Because There, But For The Grace Of God Go I. I Might Have Been In Their Shoes. I Might Have Been In Prison. I Might Have Been Unemployed. I Might Not Have Been Able To Support A Family. And That Motivates Me.

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.

Nobody Wants To Put The Creditworthiness Of The United States In Jeopardy. Nobody Wants To See The United States Default. So We've Got To Seize This Moment, And We Have To Seize It Soon.

Guaranteed, Full Stop, Nobody Gets Treated Differently When It Comes To The Justice Department, Because Nobody Is Above The Law.

The Hard Truth Is Carbon Pollution Has Built Up In Our Atmosphere For Decades Now. And Even If We Americans Do Our Part, The Planet Will Slowly Keep Warming For Some Time To Come.

[donald Trump] Is In The Process Of Building Up An Organization. And Well, We'll Have To See How That Works. And It'll Be A Test, I Think, For Him And The People That He's Designated To Be Able To Execute On His Vision.

If You Don't Have Any Fresh Ideas, Then You Use Stale Tactics To Scare The Voters. If You Don't Have A Record To Run On, Then You Paint Your Opponent As Someone People Should Run From. You Make A Big Election About Small Things.

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.

Nobody Really Thinks That Bush Or Mccain Have A Real Answer For The Challenges We Face, So What They're Going To Try To Do Is Make You Scared Of Me. You Know, He's Not Patriotic Enough. He's Got A Funny Name. You Know, He Doesn't Look Like All Those Other Presidents On Those Dollar Bills, You Know. He's Risky.

That's Just How White Folks Will Do You. It Wasn't Merely The Cruelty Involved; I Was Learning That Black People Could Be Mean And Then Some. It Was A Particular Brand Of Arrogance, An Obtuseness In Otherwise Sane People That Brought Forth Our Bitter Laughter. It Was As If Whites Didn't Know They Were Being Cruel In The First Place. Or At Least Thought You Deserved Of Their Scorn.

We've Gotta Restore The American People's Confidence In The Ethics Process By Ensuring That Political Self-interest Can No Longer Prevent Politicians From Enforcing Ethics Rules.

And I Want To Work With This Congress, To Make Sure Americans Already Burdened With Student Loans Can Reduce Their Monthly Payments, So That Student Debt Doesn't Derail Anyone's Dreams.

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

I Want To Make Sure That As President Of The United States That I'm Not Asserting In Some Way That My Decisions Overrule The Decisions Of Prosecutors Who Are There To Uphold The Law.

Let's Also Make Sure That A High School Diploma Puts Our Kids On A Path To A Good Job. Right Now, Countries Like Germany Focus On Graduating Their High School Students With The Equivalent Of A Technical Degree From One Of Our Community Colleges, So That They're Ready For A Job. At Schools Like P-tech In Brooklyn ... Students Will Graduate With A High School Diploma And An Associate Degree In Computers Or Engineering. We Need To Give Every American Student Opportunities Like This.

I Think The American People Have A Generous Instinct. They Understand That We're A Nation Of Immigrants. But If Those Folks Are Going To Live In This Country, They Have To Be Put On A Pathway To Citizenship That Involves Them Paying A Fine, Making Sure That They Are At The Back Of The Line And Not Cutting In Front Of People Who Applied Legally To Come Into The Country.

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.

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.

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.

We Have To Uphold A Free Press And Freedom Of Speech - Because, In The End, Lies And Misinformation Are No Match For The Truth.

Freedom Of Speech

Keep In Mind That, When I Came In, We Had Had A Crisis That Was The Worst We've Seen Since The 1930s, And Working With People Like Chancellor Merkel, Working With The G-20 And Other Institutions Internationally, We Were Able To Stabilize The Financial System, Stabilize The Us Economy And Return To Growth.

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

Sometimes Hillary Clinton Doesn't Get The Credit She Deserves. But The Fact Is, Hillary Is Steady, And Hillary Is True.

The Success Of Our Economy Has Always Depended Not Just On The Size Of Our Gross Domestic Product, But On The Reach Of Our Prosperity; On The Ability To Extend Opportunity To Every Willing Heart - Not Out Of Charity, But Because It Is The Surest Route To Our Common Good.

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.

Jesus Christ Is The Lord. I Believe In That.

The President Does Not Have Power Under The Constitution To Unilaterally Authorize A Military Attack In A Situation That Does Not Involve Stopping An Actual Or Imminent Threat To The Nation. As Commander In Chief, The President Does Have A Duty To Protect And Defend The United States. In Instances Of Self-defense, The President Would Be Within His Constitutional Authority To Act Before Advising Congress Or Seeking Its Consent.

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

"undecided," While Running For Re-election To State Senate In 1998, In Response To An Outlines Questionnaire Asking, "do You Favor Legalizing Same-sex Marriage?"

I Would Say That I Have Been Consistent In My Broad View Of How American Power Should Be Deployed, And The View That We Underestimate Our Power When We Restrict It To Just Our Military Power. We Shortchange Our Influence And Our Ability To Shape Events When That's The Only Tool We Think We Have In The Toolbox.

As A Practical Matter, It Is Hard To Think Of Any Society In Human History In Which A Majority Population Has Said That As A Consequence Of Historic Wrongs, We Are Now Going To Take A Big Chunk Of The Nation's Resources Over A Long Period Of Time To Make That Right.

With The World's Unprecedented Inspections And Access To Iran's Program, We'll Know If Iran Ever Tries To Break Out.

We Reject All Efforts To Denigrate The Religious Beliefs Of Others.

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

I Would Say To People Is, That Investigation, As It Has Already Been Stated, Is A Marathon And Not A Sprint. But It Is One Of Great Concern To The American People. And So We're Committed To Keeping People Informed.

I Think I'm Able To Reach A Lot Of Folks, Despite The Fact That The Conventional News Media Sometimes Says, "you Know, This Speech Is Too Long," Or "it's Too Complicated," Or "he Needs To Have Better Sound Bites," Or What Have You.

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.

I Believe In Returning The Nation's Wealth To Its Rightful Owners.

I Think That At A Certain Stage Those Early Ambitions Burn Away, Partly Because You Achieve Something, You Get Something Done, You Get Some Notoriety. And Then The Particularities Of Who You Are And What Your Deepest Commitments Are Begin Expressing Themselves. You're Not Just Chasing The Idea Of "me" Being Important, But You, Rather, Are Chasing A Particular Passion.

Even Limited Military Actions End Up Carrying With Them Great Costs And Unintended Consequences.

If We Have Actionable Intelligence About High Value Terrorist Targets And President [pervez] Musharraf Will Not Act, We Will.

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