Background Image

...

Perhaps I Possess A Certain Midwestern Sensibility That I Inherited From My Mother And Her Parents, A Sensibility That Warren Buffet Seems To Share: That At A Certain Point One Has Enough, That You Can Derive As Much Pleasure From A Picasso Hanging In A Museum As From One That's Hanging In Your Den, That You Can Get An Awfully Good Meal In A Restaurant For Less Than Twenty Dollars, And That Once Your Drapes Cost More Than The Average American's Yearly Salary, Then You Can Afford To Pay A Bit More In Taxes.

-Barack Obama

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Perhaps I Possess A

Barack Obama

...

Perhaps I Possess A Certain Midwestern Sensibility That I Inherited From My Mother And Her Parents, A Sensibility That Warren Buffet Seems To Share: That At A Certain Point One Has Enough, That You Can Derive As Much Pleasure From A Picasso Hanging In A Museum As From One That's Hanging In Your Den, That You Can Get An Awfully Good Meal In A Restaurant For Less Than Twenty Dollars, And That Once Your Drapes Cost More Than The Average American's Yearly Salary, Then You Can Afford To Pay A Bit More In Taxes.

Views: 12

Topic

More From Barack Obama

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

The Ideals And The Values Of The United States Inspired The Entire World. I Don't Think Any Of Us Can Say That Our Standing In The World Now, The Way Children Around The World Look At The United States, Is The Same. And Part Of What We Need To Do Is To Send A Message To The World That We Are Going To Invest In Issues Like Education, We Are Going To Invest In Issues That Relate To How Ordinary People Are Able To Live Out Their Dreams. And That Is Something That I'm Going To Be Committed To As President Of The United States.

You Know, When Trayvon Martin Was First Shot I Said That This Could Have Been My Son. Another Way Of Saying That Is Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me 35 Years Ago. And When You Think About Why, In The African American Community At Least, There's A Lot Of Pain Around What Happened Here, I Think It's Important To Recognize That The African American Community Is Looking At This Issue Through A Set Of Experiences And A History That Doesn't Go Away.

I Think That To The Extent That We Focus On Problems Where We Can Build A Moral And A Political Consensus, Then I Think That We Move The Country Forward And When We Are Divided And Our Politics Is Focused On Dividing, Then I Think We're Less Successful, Not Just From The Perspective Of The Democratic Party Or The Republican Party But From The Perspective Of The Nation As A Whole.

Since 2010, America Has Put More People Back To Work Than Europe, Japan, And All Advanced Economies Combined.

Like It Or Not, We Have To Have A Financial System That Is Healthy And Functioning.

Financial System

Turns Out I'm Really Good At Killing People. Didn't Know That Was Gonna Be A Strong Suit Of Mine.

I Hope We Can All Agree That, Instead Of Continuing To Subsidize Yesterday's Energy Sources. We Need To Invest In Tomorrow's.

The Democrats Are As Concerned About Raising Our Kids And Making Sure That The Values Of Empathy And Hard Work And Discipline And Self-respect Are Instilled In Our Children, And I've Got A Six-year-old Daughter And A Three-year-old Daughter, And I'm Not Afraid To Talk About How I Want To Provide Them With The Sort Of Cultural Framework That's Going To Allow Them To Be Successful, Happy People.

Legislatively, The Thing I'm Most Proud Of Is Healthcare, And I Will Continue To Be Most Proud Of It Because Not Only Do We Have 30 Million People Who Are Going To Get Healthcare, We've Got Six Million Young People Who Are Able To Stay On Their Parents' Plan Until They're 26.

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.

I Do Have An Obligation To Make Sure That I Am Following Some Of The Rules. I Can't Simply Ignore Laws That Are Out There.

We're All In This Together. That's How We Campaigned, And That's Who We Are. This Happened Because Of You. Thank You.

The Supreme Court Had The Choice Not Only Which Way To Rule, Pro- Or Anti-gay Marriage Rights, But Also How They Were Going To Rule. They Could Have Ruled Just Federalism, Saying, "this Isn't A Matter For Federal; This Isn't A Federal Issue At All. States Should Decide It." Or They Could Decide It On Equal Protection Grounds And Say That, "gay Discrimination Is Wrong."

The United States Believes That Every Nation Should Respect International Law, Including In The South China Sea.

America Leads - Not With Bluster, But With Persistent, Steady Resolve.

The Journey Will Be Difficult. The Road Will Be Long. I Face This Challenge With Profound Humility, And Knowledge Of My Own Limitations. But I Also Face It With Limitless Faith In The Capacity Of The American People.

Filibuster Has Long Tradition, But Used To Harm Civil Rights.

I Don't Look At My Pension. It's Not As Big As Yours So It Doesn't Take As Long.

Trump Is Not Somebody Who`s Fit To Be President In Any Circumstances. I Would Feel Deeply Frustrated, Not Because Anything He Said About Me, But Because I Would Fear For The Future Of Our Country.

And Terrorists Who Seek To Harm Our Citizens Will Feel The Long Arm Of American Justice.

There Was A Time When If You Had A Financial Crisis In Southeast Asia Somewhere, It Had No Impact On Our Markets. Today It Does.

And, You Know, I Don’t Want To Have To Worry That She Is Going To Get Sick As The Consequence Of Having, Having Her Lunch.

[our Troops In Iraq And Afganistan] Does Give Us The Ability To Make Sure That We Are Strengthening Those Folk Who Are Interested In Building Up Their Countries Rather Than Destroying Them, And Doing So In A Way That Is Sustainable And Doesn't Put A Constant Burden On The Amazing Men And Women That We've Got In Uniform.

Boston Is A Tough And Resilient Town. So Are Its People. I'm Supremely Confident That Bostonians Will Pull Together, Take Care Of Each Other, And Move Forward As One Proud City. And As They Do, The American People Will Be With Them Every Single Step Of The Way.

One Of The Things I've Learned About Being President Is That We'll Work On Issues For Long Periods Of Time, Sometimes In Obscurity.

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!"

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

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.

Does That Mean That All Vestiges Of Past Discrimination Would Be Eliminated, That The Income Gap Or The Wealth Gap Or The Education Gap [between Afro-americans And White] Would Be Erased In Five Years Or 10 Years? Probably Not, And So This Is Obviously A Discussion We've Had Before When You Talk About Something Like Reparations.

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.

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

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.

There Are Some Who Question The Scale Of Our Ambitions, Who Suggest That Our System Cannot Tolerate Too Many Big Plans. Their Memories Are Short, For They Have Forgotten What This Country Has Already Done, What Free Men And Women Can Achieve When Imagination Is Joined To Common Purpose, And Necessity To Courage.

Some People Only Speak Of Freedom Of Speech While They're Out Of Power. Once They're In Power, They're Ruthless In Suppressing The Rights Of Others.

Freedom Of Speech

To Sustain A Governing Majority, That Requires An Ability For Republicans And Democrats To Find Some Common Ground. And Right Now, The Structure Of The System Is Such Where It Makes It Really Hard For People To Work Together.

Working Together

We’re Making New Investments In The Development Of Gasoline And Diesel And Jet Fuel That’s Actually Made From A Plant-like Substance-algae... We Could Replace Up To 17 Percent Of The Oil We Import For Transportation With This Fuel That We Can Grow Right Here In The United States.

This Is Where I Think Policies Do Need To Be Somewhat Race-specific, Is Making Sure That Institutions Are Not Discriminatory. So You've Got Something Like The Fha [federal Housing Administration], Which Was On Its Face A Universal Program That Involved A Huge Mechanism For Wealth Accumulation And People Entering Into The Middle Class.

Absolutely. I Think, I Think The American People, At Their Core, Are A Decent People. I Think That We Still Have Prejudice In Our Midst, But I Think That The Vast Majority Of Americans Are Willing, Are Willing To Judge People On The Basis Of Their Ideas And Their Character. And In The Case Of The Presidency, I Think What's Most Important Is Whether The American People Think That You Understand Their Hopes And Dreams And Struggles And Whether They Think You Can Actually Help Them Achieve Those Hopes And Dreams.

When Our Sailors In The Persian Gulf Accidentally Strayed Into Iranian Waters, That Could Have Sparked A Major International Incident. Some Folks Here In Washington Rushed To Declare That It Was The Start Of Another Hostage Crisis. Instead, We Worked Directly With The Iranian Government And Secured The Release Of Our Sailors In Less Than 24 Hours.

We Do Have To Balance This Issue Of Privacy And Security. Those Who Pretend That There's No Balance That Has To Be Struck And Think We Can Take A 100-percent Absolutist Approach To Protecting Privacy Don't Recognize That Governments Are Going To Be Under An Enormous Burden To Prevent The Kinds Of Terrorist Acts That Not Only Harm Individuals, But Also Can Distort Our Society And Our Politics In Very Dangerous Ways.

Scripture Tells Us To "run With Endurance The Race That Is Set Before Us." As We Do, May God Hold Close Those Who’ve Been Taken From Us Too Soon.

It's Not Surprising Then They Get Bitter, They Cling To Guns Or Religion Or Antipathy To People Who Aren't Like Them, Or Anti-immigrant Sentiment, Or Anti-trade Sentiment, As A Way To Explain Their Frustrations.

Because This Is A Country Where Everyone Deserves The Same Freedom And Opportunities To Fulfill Their Dreams.

If Democrats Are Not Showing Up In Those [rural] Places Even If You're Not Gonna Win Right Away But If You're Not In There At Least Making An Argument That, "hey, You Know What? It's The Democrats Who Are Trying To Raise Your Minimum Wage."

It Is In The Interests Of All Of Us - The United States, China And The Rest Of The World - To Make Sure That The Rules Of The Road Are Upheld. These Rules And Norms Are Part Of The Foundation Of Regional Stability, And They Have Allowed Nations Across The Region, Including China, To Grow And Prosper.

Iran Has Made Vile Comments, Anti-semitic Comments, Comments About The Destruction Of Israel. It Is Precisely For That Reason That Even Before I Became President, I Said Iran Could Not Have A Nuclear Weapon.

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

One Of The Best Investments We Can Make In A Child’s Life Is High-quality Early Education.

The Ultimate Goal Is Two States For Two People: Israel As A Jewish State And The Homeland For The Jewish People And The State Of Palestine As The Homeland For The Palestinian People - Each State In Joined Self-determination, Mutual Recognition, And Peace.

Not Much Happens In Russian Federation Without Vladimir Putin.

The Iranian People Are Getting Restive Because Of The Challenges That Sanctions Have Posed To Their Economy.

If We Can Make Sure That That Young Boys Starting At The Age Of Three Or Four Already Knows Their Colors And Their Letters And Are Getting Good Preschool, And By The Time They Get Into School They've Got A Good Teacher And Are Getting The Support That They Need And Are Able To Keep Up With Their Classwork, That Is Going To Do More To Reduce The Incarceration Rate At The Same Time, Obviously, As It Increases The College Enrollment Rate.

As You Get Older, Your Mind Gets A Little More Set. And It Needs The Poking And Prodding And Breaking Through Of Stereotypes That I Think Young People Provide.

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.

Our First And Immutable Commitment Must Be To The Security Of Israel, Our Only True Ally In The Middle East And The Only Democracy.

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 Look At Some Of The Kids That I Interact With, And They Were Born With So Many Disadvantages. And You Could Start Off In Your First Interaction With Them Saying, "unless They Get A Lot Of Compensatory Help, They're Not Going To Be Able To Compete; They're Just So Far Behind, And They're Wounded And They're Hurt."

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

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

My Liberty Depends On You Being Free, Too.

Because As Tough As Things Have Been, I Am Convinced You Are Tougher. I've Seen Your Passion And I've Seen Your Service... I've Seen A Generation Eager, Impatient Even, To Step Into The Rushing Waters Of History And Change Its Course.

In The Unlikely Story That Is America, There Has Never Been Anything False About Hope. For When We Have Faced Down Impossible Odds; When We've Been Told That We're Not Ready, Or That We Shouldn't Try, Or That We Can't, Generations Of Americans Have Responded With A Simple Creed That Sums Up The Spirit Of A People: Yes We Can.

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

Obviously, We've All Had Disagreements And Differences In The Past. I Suspect We'll Have Them Again In The Future. But Last Night As Americans Learned That The United States Had Carried Out An Operation That Resulted In The Capture And Death Of Osama Bin Laden. I Think We Experienced The Same Sense Of Unity That Prevailed On 9/11. We Were Reminded Again That There Is A Pride In What This Nation Stands For. And What We Can Achieve That Runs Far Deeper Than Party, Far Deeper Than Politics.

Beside The Two Wars He Inherited In Iraq And Afghanistan, And Promised To End, A Financial Crisis At Home Had Pushed The United States To The Brink Of Another Great Depression. When We Spoke With The New President In March Of 2009, The Economy Was Losing 800,000 Jobs A Month, The Government Was Throwing Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars At Failing Banks, And The Auto Industry Was On The Verge Of Collapse. Politically Pummeled From All Sides, Obama Did His Best To Keep A Sense Of Humor.

In The White Community, The Path To A More Perfect Union Means Acknowledging That What Ails The African-american Community Does Not Just Exist In The Minds Of Black People; That The Legacy Of Discrimination - And Current Incidents Of Discrimination, While Less Overt Than In The Past - Are Real And Must Be Addressed.

Tonight, With A New Iraqi Government In Place, And Following Consultations With Allies Abroad And Congress At Home, I Can Announce That America Will Lead A Broad Coalition To Roll Back This Terrorist Threat.

He [barack Obama] Talked About A Crisises And He Was Blaming The Republicans On This Crisises. It's Like Me Blaming My Wife For My Drinking. I Don't Se How This Is The Republicans Fault.

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

I've Got Certain Responsibilities That I Have To Carry Out In A Very Specific Institution And In A Specific Moment In Time.

[michelle Obama] Used To Say To Our Friends, "barack's Exactly The Kind Of Guy I Want To Be President. I Just Wish He Didn't Want To Do It When I Was Married To Him."

We Must Build A World Free Of Unnecessary Barriers, Stereotypes, And Discrimination. ... Policies Must Be Developed, Attitudes Must Be Shaped, And Buildings And Organizations Must Be Designed To Ensure That Everyone Has A Chance To Get The Education They Need And Live Independently As Full Citizens In Their Communities.

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.

I Came In With A Healthy Skepticism About These Programs. My Team Evaluated Them. We Scrubbed Them Thoroughly. We Actually Expanded Some Of The Oversight, Increased Some Of The Safeguards. But My Assessment, And My Team's Assessment Was That They Help Us Prevent Terrorist Attacks. In The Abstract, You Can Complain About 'big Brother' And How This Is A Potential Program Run Amok. But When You Actually Look At The Details, Then, I Think We've Struck The Right Balance.

Empowering Women Isn’t Just The Right Thing To Do - It’s The Smart Thing To Do.

We Need Not Throw Away 200 Years Of American Jurisprudence While We Fight Terrorism. We Need Not Choose Between Our Most Deeply Held Values, And Keeping This Nation Safe.

There May Be No Greater Tribute To Steve Jobs' Success Than The Fact That Much Of The World Learned Of His Passing On A Device He Invented.

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

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

We Remember The Grind Of The Insurgency -- The Roadside Bombs, The Sniper Fire, The Suicide Attacks. From The 'triangle Of Death' To The Fight For Ramadi; From Mosul In The North To Basra In The South -- Your Will Proved Stronger Than The Terror Of Those Who Tried To Break It.

Part Of What's Unique About Climate Change, Though, Is The Nature Of Some Of The Opposition To Action. It's Pretty Rare That You'll Encounter Somebody Who Says The Problem You're Trying To Solve Simply Doesn't Exist. When President Kennedy Set Us On A Course For The Moon, There Were A Number Of People Who Made A Serious Case That It Wouldn't Be Worth It; It Was Going To Be Too Expensive, It Was Going To Be Too Hard, It Would Take Too Long. But Nobody Ignored The Science. I Don't Remember Anybody Saying That The Moon Wasn't There Or That It Was Made Of Cheese.

When All Americans Are Treated As Equal We Are All More Free.

Marriage Equality

I Will Call Not Just On Israel, But On The Palestinians, On The Arab States, And The International Community To Join Us In This Effort, Because The Burden Of Making Hard Choices Must Not Be Israel’s Alone.

We Have Now Just Enshrined, As Soon As I Sign This Bill, The Core Principle That Everybody Should Have Some Basic Security When It Comes To Their Healthcare.

We Are Running Out Of Time

Running Out Of Time

You Might Be Locked In A World Not Of Your Own Making, Her Eyes Said, But You Still Have A Claim On How It Is Shaped. You Still Have Responsibilities.

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.

There Are Some Exceptions: Chicago, My Hometown, In Particular. But Overall In The Country This Is A Much Safer Place Than It Used To Be.

I Think It's Important Not To Start Drawing Parallels, For Example, Between Theresa May, A Fairly Traditional Conservative Politician, Who's Now Prime Minister And Le Pen In France. Those Aren't The Same And The Situation In Each Country Is Different.

I Began Feeling The Way I Imagine An Actor Or Athlete Must Feel When, After Years Of Commitment To A Particular Dream...he Realizes That He's Gone Just About As Far As Talent Or Fortune Will Take Him. The Dream Will Not Happen, And He Now Faces The Choice Of Accepting This Fact Like A Grownup And Moving On To More Sensible Pursuits, Or Refusing The Truth And Ending Up Bitter, Quarrelsome, And Slightly Pathetic.

In The Unlikely Story That Is America, There Has Never Been Anything False About Hope.

Our Objective Is Clear: We Will Degrade, And Ultimately Destroy, Isil Through A Comprehensive And Sustained Counter-terrorism Strategy.

This Was The Moment When The Rise Of The Oceans Began To Slow And Our Planet Began To Heal.

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

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

Do Not Tell Me That We're Not Drilling. We're Drilling All Over This Country. I Mean, I Guess There's Some - There Are A Few Spots Where We're Not Drilling. We're Not Drilling In The National Mall. We're Not Drilling At Your House. I Guess We Could Try To Have Like, You Know, 200 Oil Rigs In The Middle Of Chesapeake Bay.

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

I Think Same Sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married.

For All The Noise And Anger That Too Often Surrounds The Immigration Debate, America Has Nothing To Fear From Today's Immigrants. They Have Come Here For The Same Reason That Families Have Always Come Here-for The Hope That In America, They Could Build A Better Life For Themselves And Their Families. Like The Waves Of Immigrants That Came Before Them And The Hispanic Americans Whose Families Have Been Here For Generations, The Recent Arrival Of Latino Immigrants Will Only Enrich Our Country.

I've Said Many Times Around The World That Like Any Government, Like Any Country, Like, Any Set Of Human Institutions, We Have Our Flaws. We've Operated Imperfectly. There Are Times We've Made Mistakes.

The Terms Of Peace May Be Negotiated By Political Leaders, But The Fate Of Peace Is Up To Each Of Us.

We Can't Afford More Top-down Economics. What We Need Are Policies That Will Grow And Strengthen The Middle Class.

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.

There Was No Such Thing As Al Qaeda In Iraq, Until George Bush And John Mccain Decided To Invade Iraq.

The Holy Koran Teaches That Whoever Kills An Innocent Is As - It Is As If He Has Killed All Mankind.

The Only People Who Don't Want To Disclose The Truth Are The People With Something To Hide.

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

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

My Task Over The Last Two Years Hasn't Just Been To Stop The Bleeding. My Task Has Also Been To Try To Figure Out How Do We Address Some Of The Structural Problems In The Economy That Have Prevented More Googles From Being Created.

We Are At A Time In Our Country's History That Inclusive Language Is Better Than Exclusive Language.

We Rise And Fall As One People, One Nation.

If Any Individual Who Objects To Government Policy Can Take It In Their Own Hands To Publicly Disclose Classified Information, Then We Will Never Be Able To Keep Our People Safe Or Conduct Foreign Policy.

Isis Is A Virulent, Nasty Organization That Has Gained A Foothold In Ungoverned Spaces Effectively In Syria And Parts Of Western Iraq. We Have To Take It Seriously. They've Shown In Paris What They Can Do In An Organized Fashion.

We Are Still The America That Does The Hard Things, That Does The Great Things. We're The Nation That Always Dared To Dream. We're The Nation That Dared To Take Risks.

My Hope Is That We Can Get A Republican-democratic Agreement On How We Strengthen Social Security As Well As Looking At Some Of These Other Major Expenditures That We Have That We've Got To Deal With To Make Sure That We're Not Just Leaving You Guys With A Mountain Of Debt.

We Should Raise The Minimum Wage So That No One Who Works Full Time Has To Live In Poverty

I Agree With The Basic Principle That Anybody Who Wants To Serve In Our Armed Forces And Make Sacrifices On Our Behalf, On Behalf Of Our National Security, Anybody Should Be Able To Serve. And They Shouldn't Have To Lie About Who They Are In Order To Serve.

Throughout History, The Arts And Humanities Have Helped Men And Women Around The Globe Grapple With The Most Challenging Questions And Come To Know The Most Basic Truths. In Our Increasingly Interconnected World, The Arts Play An Important Role In Both Shaping The Character That Defines Us And Reminding Us Of Our Shared Humanity. This Month, We Celebrate Our Nation's Arts And Humanities, And We Recommit To Ensuring All Americans Can Access And Experience Them.

My Hope Is That The President-elect [donald Trump] Coming In Takes A Similarly Constructive Approach, Finding Areas Where We Can Cooperate With Russia, Where Our Values And Interests Align. But That The President-elect Also Is Willing To Stand Up To Russia Where They Are Deviating From Our Values And International Norms.

I Was Raised By A Single Mom Who Had To Put Herself Through School While Looking After Two Kids. And She Worked Hard Every Day And Made A Lot Of Sacrifices To Make Sure We Got Everything We Needed. My Grandmother, She Started Off As A Secretary In A Bank. She Never Got A College Education, Even Though She Was Smart As A Whip. And She Worked Her Way Up To Become A Vice President Of A Local Bank, But She Hit The Glass Ceiling. She Trained People Who Would End Up Becoming Her Bosses During The Course Of Her Career.

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.

[afghanistan And Iraq] Are Still Countries That Are Fragile Enough That We're Gonna Have To Partner With Them In Some Way.

As I've Said Many Times, The Nuclear Deal Was Never Intended To Resolve All Of Our Differences With Iran. But Still, Engaging Directly With The Iranian Government On A Sustained Basis For The First Time In Decades Has Created A Unique Opportunity, A Window, To Try To Resolve Important Issues.

Libraries Remind Us That Truth Isn't About Who Yells The Loudest But Who Has The Right Information.

We Understand The Concerns That People Have With Not Only Protecting Our Values, But Our Privacy Interests As Well. We Think That The Usa Freedom Act Was A Good Resolution Of That.

Our Government Should Work For Us, Not Against Us. It Should Help Us, Not Hurt Us. It Should Ensure Opportunity Not Just For Those With The Most Money And Influence, But For Every American Who's Willing To Work. That's The Promise Of America - The Idea That We Are Responsible For Ourselves, But That We Also Rise Or Fall As One Nation; The Fundamental Belief That I Am My Brother's Keeper; I Am My Sister's Keeper.

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

Historically - When You Look At How America Has Evolved, Typically We Make Progress On Race Relations In Fits And Starts. We Make Some Progress, And Then There's Maybe Some Slippage.

Building New Roads And Bridges Creates Jobs. Growing Our Exports Creates Jobs. Reforming Our Outdated Tax System And Our Broken Immigration System Creates Jobs.

If 90 Percent Or 95 Percent Of Those - Chemical Stockpiles [in Syria] Were Eliminated, That's A Lot Of Chemical Weapons That Are Not Right Now In The Hands Of Isil Or Nusra Or, For That Matter, The Regime.

Well, I Think That When You Think About The Challenges We Face, These Are Challenges That Require Us To Look Forward And Not Backwards. When It Comes To The Economy I Think We Have To Recognize That We Are Now In A Global Economy. And That The Measure Of Our Success Is: How Well Are We Training Our Workers? How Well Are We Investing In The New Energy Economy?

You Look At Something Like Health Care, The Affordable Care Act. And For All The Controversy, We Now Have 20 Million People Who Have Health Insurance Who Didn't Have It. It's Actually Proven To Be More Effective, Cheaper Than Even Advocates Like Me Expected.

No Religion Is Responsible For Terrorism. People Are Responsible For Violence And Terrorism.

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.

That Is Another Theme In The Book [dreams From My Father]. How Do We Exercise More Empathy In Our Public Discourse? How Do We Get The Black To See Through The Eyes Of The White? Or The Citizen To See Through The Eyes Of The Immigrant? Or The Straight To See Through The Eyes Of The Gay? That Has Always Been A Struggle In Our Politics.

I Think That Sometimes The Democrats Have To Run Upstream Or Swim Upstream Because We've Got The Republicans Making It Out As If We Don't Care About These Things, And We Should Be Able To Engage And Be Willing To Engage In The Discussion About Morality And Values.

Part Of What's Changed In Politics Is Social Media And How People Are Receiving Information.

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

We Did Not Come To Fear The Future. We Came Here To Shape It.

I've Just Concluded That For Me Personally It Is Important For Me To Go Ahead And Affirm That I Think Same-sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married.

I Don't Regret At All Saying That If I Saw Bashar Al-assad Using Chemical Weapons On His People That That Would Change My Assessments In Terms Of What We Were Or Were Not Willing To Do In Syria.

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

Back In The '50s And '60s, Most Politicians Were Concerned About Not Talking About Faith, Partly Because There Were Consequences You Had To Deal With - (for Instance) Catholicism Had Been Made An Issue.

Secularists Are Wrong When They Ask Believers To Leave Their Religion At The Door Before Entering Into The Public Square. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - Indeed, The Majority Of Great Reformers In American History - Were Not Only Motivated By Faith, But Repeatedly Used Religious Language To Argue For Their Cause. To Say That Men And Women Should Not Inject Their "personal Morality" Into Public Policy Debates Is A Practical Absurdity.

We Also Recommit To Supporting Tribal Self-determination, Security, And Prosperity For All Native Americans. While We Cannot Erase The Scourges Or Broken Promises Of Our Past, We Will Move Ahead Together In Writing A New, Brighter Chapter In Our Joint History.

Native American

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

I Think That We've Had An Economy That's Been Out Of Balance For Too Long. So The General Principle Of Raising Taxes On Higher Income Americans, Like Myself, And Providing Relief To Those Who Haven't Benefited As Much From This New Global Economy, I Think Is A Sound One.

Ensuring That The Us Continues To Lead The World In Science And Technology Will Be A Central Priority For My Administration.

On The One Hand Information Is Moving Quick Or The Way In Which People Consume Information Is Changing So Fast. Clearly This Worked For [donald Trump], And It Gives Him A Direct Connection To A Lot Of The People That Voted For Him.

The Friendship That We Established Early On In Our Marriage ... That Carries You Through Tough Times. That And A Good Sense Of Humor.

Empathy Is A Quality Of Character That Can Change The World.

We Need To Eradicate The Slander That Says A Black Youth With A Book Is Acting White.

I Think That Our Politics Everywhere Are Gonna Be Going Through This Bumpy Phase. But As Long As We Stay True To Our Democratic Principles, As Long As Elections Have Integrity, As Long As We Respect Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Religion, As Long As There Are Checks And Balances In Our Governments So That The People Have The Ability To Not Just Make Judgments About How Well Government Is Serving Them But Also Change Governments If They're Not Serving Them Well, Then I Have Confidence That Over The Long Term, Progress Will Continue.

It [is] That Courage That Africa Most Desperately Needs.

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 Actually Believe That We Need Missile Defense, Because Of Iran And North Korea And The Potential For Them To Obtain Or To Launch Nuclear Weapons, But I Also Believe That, When We Are Only Spending A Few Hundred Million Dollars On Nuclear Proliferation, Then We're Making A Mistake.

Working Full-time Should Mean Enough To Support A Family.

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

I Have A Deep Appreciation For The Wisdom Of This Guy , George Washington.

In Order To Make Reforms Sustainable, The Greek Economy Needs The Space To Return To Growth And Start Creating Jobs Again.

I Don't Want To Be Invited To The Family Hunting Party.

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

Faced With The Potential Of Mass Atrocities And A Call For Help From The Libyan People, The United States And Our Friends And Allies Stopped Gadhafi's Forces In Their Tracks. A Coalition That Included The United States, Nato And Arab Nations Persevered To Protect Libyan Civilians. So This Is A Momentous Day In The History Of Libya. The Dark Shadow Of Tyranny Has Been Lifted, And With This Enormous Promise The Libyan People Now Have A Great Responsibility: To Build An Inclusive And Tolerant And Democratic Libya That Stands As The Ultimate Rebuke To Gadhafi's Dictatorship.

[white House Is] The Finest Prison In The World.

The Borders Of Israel And Palestine Should Be Based On The 1967 Lines With Mutually Agreed Swaps, So That Secure And Recognized Borders Are Established For Both States.

Going Through The Legislative Process Is Always Better, In Part Because It's Harder To Undo.

Legislative Process

Effective Immediately, We Will Only Pursue Phone Calls That Are Two Steps Removed From A Number Associated With A Terrorist Organization Instead Of Three.

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.

As Tough As Things Have Been, I Am Convinced You Are Tougher. I've Seen Your Passion And I've Seen Your Service. I've Seen You Engage And I've Seen You Turn Out In Record Numbers. I've Heard Your Voices Amplified By Creativity And A Digital Fluency That Those Of Us In Older Generations Can Barely Comprehend. I've Seen A Generation Eager, Impatient Even, To Step Into The Rushing Waters Of History And Change Its Course.

I Refuse To Accept Any Approach That Isn't Balanced. I'm Not Going To Ask Students And Seniors And Middle-class Families To Pay Down The Entire Deficit While People Like Me, Making Over $250,000, Aren't Asked To Pay A Dime More In Taxes.

While We Have Come A Long Way Since The Stonewall Riots In 1969, We Still Have A Lot Of Work To Do. Too Often, The Issue Of Lgbt Rights Is Exploited By Those Seeking To Divide Us. But At Its Core, This Issue Is About Who We Are As Americans. It's About Whether This Nation Is Going To Live Up To Its Founding Promise Of Equality By Treating All Its Citizens With Dignity And Respect.

I Think That It's Important For Judges To Understand That If A Woman Is Out There Trying To Raise A Family, Trying To Support Her Family, And Is Being Treated Unfairly, Then The Court Has To Stand Up, If Nobody Else Will. And That's The Kind Of Judge That I Want.

Time Is Running Out For Iran To Address The International Community's Growing Concerns About Its Nuclear Program.

I Believe In Term Limits For Presidents Because I Think That There Is No Doubt I'm A Better President Now Than I Was When I Start. I Would Argue That I Am The Best President I've Ever Been Over The Last Year Or Two. My Team Is More Effective Than It's Ever Been.but What Is Also True Is That Number One, This Is Grueling.

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.

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

I Can Say To The German People That The United States Has Been Good For Germany. Has Looked Out For Germany. Has Provided Security For Germany. Has Helped Rebuilt Germany. And Unify Germany.

Any Discuss About Taxes Ends Up Being, Are You Raising Them Or Lowering Them, As The Opposed To The Question I Ask - Are We Raising Them For High Income Individuals That Can Afford It, And Lowering Them For Lower Income People Who Really Need Help. Those Old Categories Don't Work, And They're Preventing Us From Solving Them Problems.

It’s Not That I Want To Punish Your Success. I Want To Make Sure That Everybody Who Is Behind You, That They’ve Got A Chance For Success, Too. My Attitude Is That If The Economy’s Good For Folks From The Bottom Up, It’s Gonna Be Good For Everybody. I Think When You Spread The Wealth Around, It’s Good For Everybody.

I Make No Apologies For Being Reasonable.

My Administration Will Not Authorize The Indefinite Military Detention Without Trial Of American Citizens. Indeed, I Believe That Doing So Would Break With Our Most Important Traditions And Values As A Nation.

I Just Want To Repeat That There's Nothing That We've Proposed That Would Make It Harder For You To Purchase A Firearm.

With Respect To Syria, We Are Going To Continue To Work As We Have Over The Last Five, Six Years To Push Towards A Political Transition And Settlement.

The Actions Of Those In Power Can Have Enormous Consequences - A Price That They Themselves Almost Never Have To Pay.

My Faith Reminds Me That We All Are Sinners.

I Don't Expect To Get 100 Percent Of What I Want, But What We Can't Do Is Go Back To The Kind Of Top-down Economics That Doesn't Work.

Here In The United States, Hopefully, What We're Building Are Not Just Pyramids, Are Not Icons To One Pharaoh. What We're Building Is A Culture And A Way Of Living Together That We Can Look Back On And Say, [this] Was Good, Was Inclusive, Was Kind, Was Innovative, Was Able To Fulfill The Dreams Of As Many People As Possible.

Making Products We Sell Around The World, Stamped With Three Proud Words, 'made In The Usa!'

We Have Reaffirmed Again And Again That The United States Is Not And Never Will Be At War With Islam. Islam Teaches Peace, And When It Comes To America And Islam, There Is No Us And Them, There's Only Us, Because Millions Of Muslim Americans Are Part Of The Fabric Of Our Country. So, We Reject Any Suggestion Of A Clash Of Civilizations.

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.

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.

In Fact, The American People Did Decide, Back In 2012, When They Elected Me President Of The United States.

The Same Would Be True For Something Like Social Security, Where Historically, If You Just Read The Law And The Fact That It Excluded Domestic Workers Or Agricultural Workers, You Might Not See Race In It, Unless You Knew That That Covered A Huge Chunk Of African Americans, Particularly In The South.

African American

I Believe In Keeping Guns Out Of Our Inner Cities, And That Our Leaders Must Say So In The Face Of The Gun Manufacturer's Lobby.

To The Muslim World, We Seek A New Way Forward, Based On Mutual Interest And Mutual Respect. To Those Leaders Around The Globe Who Seek To Sow Conflict, Or Blame Their Society's Ills On The West - Know That Your People Will Judge You On What You Can Build, Not What You Destroy. To Those Who Cling To Power Through Corruption And Deceit And The Silencing Of Dissent, Know That You Are On The Wrong Side Of History; But That We Will Extend A Hand If You Are Willing To Unclench Your Fist.

Mutual Interest

The Men And Women Of America's Homeland Security Apparatus Do Important Work To Protect Us, And Republicans And Democrats In Congress Should Not Be Playing Politics With That.

Our Goal Is To Have A Country That's Not Divided By Race.

One Of The Most Durable And Destructive Legacies Of Discrimination Is The Way We've Internalized A Sense Of Limitation; How So Many In Our Community Have Come To Expect So Little From The World And From Themselves.

Your Ability To Let Go Is Part Of The Duty That You Have.

Trending Author

Blanche Lincoln

Louis D. Brandeis

Sherwood Anderson

Category