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The Profound Mistake Of Reverend Wright's Sermons Is Not That He Spoke About Racism In Our Society. It's That He Spoke As If Our Society Was Static; As If No Progress Has Been Made; As If This Country - A Country That Has Made It Possible For One Of His Own Members To Run For The Highest Office In The Land And Build A Coalition Of White And Black; Latino And Asian, Rich And Poor, Young And Old - Is Still Irrevocably Bound To A Tragic Past.

-Barack Obama

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The Profound Mistake Of

Barack Obama

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The Profound Mistake Of Reverend Wright's Sermons Is Not That He Spoke About Racism In Our Society. It's That He Spoke As If Our Society Was Static; As If No Progress Has Been Made; As If This Country - A Country That Has Made It Possible For One Of His Own Members To Run For The Highest Office In The Land And Build A Coalition Of White And Black; Latino And Asian, Rich And Poor, Young And Old - Is Still Irrevocably Bound To A Tragic Past.

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

America's Strong Bonds With Israel Are Well Known - This Bond Is Unbreakable.

I'm Not Sure We Have The Right Strategy In Afghanistan. Let Me Think This Over For A Few Months.

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

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

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 ...?"

If You Want A Model For What Is Possible, If You Want To See How To Build A Peaceful And Prosperous And Dynamic Society, Then Look At Berlin And Look At Germany.

Battling Terrorism Must Go Beyond Belligerence Vs. Isolation.

We Do Not Benefit From A Relationship With China Or Any Other Country In Which We Put Our Values And Our Ideals Aside.

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

We Can't Drive Our Suvs And Eat As Much As We Want And Keep Our Homes On 72 Degrees At All Times... And Then Just Expect That Other Countries Are Going To Say Ok. That's Not Leadership. That's Not Going To Happen.

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.

[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."

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.

Environmentalism Is Not An Upper-income Issue, It's Not A White Issue, It's Not A Black Issue, It's Not A South Or A North Or An East Or A West Issue. It's An Issue That All Of Us Have A Stake In. And If I Can Do Anything To Make Sure That Not Just My Daughter But Every Child In America Has Green Pastures To Run In And Clean Air To Breathe And Clean Water To Swim In, Then That Is Something I'm Going To Work My Hardest To Make Happen.

All The Good Things That Are Happening In America Don't Get Reported On A Lot.

If We Get To A Point Where People In This Country Feel More Affinity With A Leader Who Is An Adversary And View The United States And Our Way Of Life As A Threat To Him, Then We're Gonna Have Bigger Problems Than Just Cyber Hacking.

We Were Very Effective, And I Was Very Effective, In Shaping Public Opinion Around My Campaigns. But There Were Big Stretches, While Governing, Where Even Though We Were Doing The Right Thing, We Weren't Able To Mobilize Public Opinion Firmly Enough Behind Us To Weaken The Resolve Of The Republicans To Stop Opposing Us Or To Cooperate With Us. And There Were Times During My Presidency Where I Lost The Pr Battle.

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

America Will Rise Again. And Hope Will Rise Again.

[...] We Must Start By Inspiring Our Children With A Sense Of Purpose...by Nurturing Their Imagination So That They May Dream Big And Then Work Hard To Reach Those Dreams. Too Often, Our Children Spend Hours Playing Playstation Without Ever Finding Out How To Build Playstation. They Watch Television But Never Wonder How It's Put Together. They Surf Web Page After Web Page On The Internet, But Are Never Taught How To Design One.

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.

I Think The American People Recognize Is After A Decade Of War It's Time To Do Some Nation Building Here At Home. And What We Can Now Do Is Free Up Some Resources, To, For Example, Put Americans Back To Work, Especially Our Veterans, Rebuilding Our Roads, Our Bridges, Our Schools, Making Sure That, You Know, Our Veterans Are Getting The Care That They Need When It Comes To Post-traumatic Stress Disorder And Traumatic Brain Injury, Making Sure That The Certifications That They Need For Good Jobs Of The Future Are In Place.

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

I'm Always Suspicious Of Politics Dividing People Instead Of Bringing Them Together.

Some Banks Won’t Make It. Other Banks Are Going To Make Sure That We Strengthen. All Deposits Are Going To Be Safe For Ordinary People, But We’re Going To Have To Bring Out Some Of These Bad Assets.

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.

I Do Have Confidence That We're Gonna Be Able To Get It Right. But It's Not Gonna Be Overnight. And There's No Silver Bullets To This. The Fact Of The Matter Is, Is That We Are Suffering From A Massive Hangover From A Binge Of Risk Taking.

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

Being A Father Is Sometimes My Hardest But Always My Most Rewarding Job. Happy Father's Day To All The Dads Out There.

We Cannot Drill Our Way Out Of Our Addiction To Oil.

And I Believe The Nation That Invented The Automobile Cannot Walk Away From It.

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.

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.

What I Believe Unites The People Of This Nation, Regardless Of Race Or Region Or Party, Young Or Old, Rich Or Poor, Is The Simple, Profound Belief In Opportunity For All - The Notion That If You Work Hard And Take Responsibility, You Can Get Ahead.

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

I've Got Two Daughters And I Want To Make Sure That They Have The Same Opportunities That Anybody's Sons Have. That's Part Of What I'm Fighting For As President Of The United States.

We Have States. And We Have Cities. And We Have Counties. And We Have The Private Sector. And - And So The Country Still Works Even When Washington's Dysfunctional.

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

Call Loretta Lynch For A Vote. Get Her Confirmed. Put Her In Place. Let Her Do Her Job.

The Role Of Citizen In Our Democracy Does Not End With Your Vote.

I Don't Wanna Preempt An Announcement Next Week. And There's A Lot Of Technical Aspects To It. And If I - Say - That We're Doing One Thing. Then The Markets Might Interpret It Differently From What It Ends Up Being.

We Have An Epidemic Of Fatherlessness Here, And That's What I Agree With The President [barack Obama] On, And We Should Be Doing More To Promote And Protect Marriage As Between A Man And A Women For The Needs Of Our Children.

The Market Alone Can't Solve Our Health-care Woes.

I Think I Have A Pretty Good Take On Popular Culture That Maybe Makes Up For The Fact That I'm Not A Sound-bite Politician For The Nightly News.

I Think That Canada Is One Of The Most Impressive Countries In The World, The Way It Has Managed A Diverse Population, A Migrant Economy. The Natural Beauty Of Canada Is Extraordinary. Obviously There Is Enormous Kinship Between The United States And Canada, And The Ties That Bind Our Two Countries Together Are Things That Are Very Important To Us.

I Can Think About What [mahatma] Gandhi Said Or [martin Luther] King Said About Violence Begetting Violence, And Still Be True To My Job By Asking Myself The Question Whenever We're Confronted With A Situation Where Some May Be Arguing For Military Action: Will This Actually Result In America Being Safer, Or The Most Lives Being Saved?

There's No Reason Why Americans Should Die When Afghans Are Perfectly Capable Of Defending Their Own Country.

Those Who Oppose Reform Will Also Tell You That Under Our Plan, You Won't Get To Choose Your Doctor - That Some Bureaucrat Will Choose For You. That's Also Not True.

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.

Think About It: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - These Countries Are Tiny Compared To The Soviet Union. They Don't Pose A Serious Threat To Us The Way The Soviet Union Posed A Threat To Us.

It Is Very Important For I Think Those Of Us Who Desperately Want Peace, Who See War As, At Some Level, A Break-down, A Manifestation Of Human Weakness, To Understand That Sometimes It’s Also Necessary – And You Know, To – To Be Able To Balance Two Ideas At The Same Time; That We Are Constantly Striving For Peace, We Are Doubling Up On Our Diplomacy, We Are Going To Actively Engage, We Are Going To Try To See The World Through Other People’s Eyes And Not Just Our Own.

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.

A Man Who Took History In His Hands, And Bent The Arc Of The Moral Universe Toward Justice.

Don't Just Consume Things, Create Things

The Arts Are What Makes Life Worth Living. You've Got Food, You've Got Shelter, Yeah. But The Things That Make You Laugh, Make You Cry, Make You Connect - Make You Love Are Communicated Through The Arts. They Aren't Extras.

And If We Walk Away Now, If We Simply Retreat Into Our Respective Corners, We Will Never Be Able To Come Together And Solve Challenges Like Health Care, Or Education, Or The Need To Find Good Jobs For Every American.

I Think Our Basic Principle That This Is A Free Market System And That That Has Worked For Us, That It Creates Innovation And Risk Taking, I Think That's A Principle That We've Gotta Hold To As Well. But What I Don't Wanna Do Is Get Bottled Up In A Lot Of Ideology And Is This Conservative Or Liberal. My Interest Is Finding Something That Works.

The Greek People Have Gone Through Some Very Difficult Times And There's Still A Hard Road Ahead, But Despite Those Hardships, Greece Has Continued To Be A Reliable Ally, Has Shown True Compassion To Fellow Human Beings In Need. It's An Example Of The Greek Character.

The Opportunity Will Not Remain Open Indefinitely.

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

Challenging Times

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

So Just To Be Clear, I'm Not Going To Sign Any Package That Somehow Prevents The Top Rate From Going Up For Folks At The Top 2 Percent.

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

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

If We Fall Into The Trap Of Painting All Muslims With A Broad Brush And Imply That We Are At War With An Entire Religion, Then We Are Doing The Terrorists' Work For Them.

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

If You Give Up On The Idea That Your Voice Can Make A Difference, Then Other Voices Will Fill The Void: Lobbyists And Special Interests; The People With The $10 Million Checks Who Are Trying To Buy This Election And Those Who Are Making It Harder For You To Vote; Washington Politicians Who Want To Decide Who You Can Marry, Or Control Health Care Choices That Women Should Make For Themselves.

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.

No Single Nation Should Pick And Choose Which Nations Holds Nuclear Weapons. And That's Why I Strongly Reaffirmed America's Commitment To Seek A World In Which No Nations Hold Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear Weapons

This Is The Moment When We Must Build On The Wealth That Open Markets Have Created, And Share Its Benefits More Equitably. Trade Has Been A Cornerstone Of Our Growth And Global Development. But We Will Not Be Able To Sustain This Growth If It Favors The Few, And Not The Many.

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.

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

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

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

It Would Be Naive Of Me To Suggest That With Russia Committed Militarily, As It Is, To Supporting What In Many Cases Are Barbarous Tactics By The Assad Regime To Crush The Opposition.

In My First Term, I Sang Al Green. In My Second Term, I'm Going With Young Jeezy.

Health Care Has Become A Proxy For A Broader Set Of Issues About How Much Government Should Be Involved In Our Economy, Particularly Coming Off A Huge Economic Crisis.

It's Important To Listen To What Scientists Have To Say, Even When It's Inconvenient, Especially When It's Inconvenient

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

We Need More Responsibility, But We Need It Not Just When There's A Crisis. I Mean, We've Had Years In Which The Reigning Economic Ideology Has Been What's Good For Wall Street, But Not What's Good For Main Street.

A Person’s Zip Code Shouldn’t Decide Their Destiny.

One Of The Things That I Am Concerned About Is The Degree To Which We've Seen A Lot Of Commentary Lately Where There Were, There Are Republicans Or Pundits Or Cable Commentators Who Seemed To Have More Confidence In Vladimir Putin Than Fellow Americans Because Those Fellow Americans Were Democrats. That Cannot Be.

The Problem Is That, Over Time, Big Pieces Of Business That Have To Get Done Without Leadership From Washington, Don't Get Done.

It Will Take Time To Eradicate A Cancer Like Isil. And Any Time We Take Military Action, There Are Risks Involved - Especially To The Servicemen And Women Who Carry Out These Missions. But I Want The American People To Understand How This Effort Will Be Different From The Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan. It Will Not Involve American Combat Troops Fighting On Foreign Soil.

Here In Europe, I Think That There Are A Lot Of Young People Who Forget The Issues That Were At Stake During The Cold War.

If We Are Truly Created Equal Than Truly The Love We Commit To One Another Must Be Equal As Well, This Ruling Will Strengthen All Of Our Communities By Offering To All Same Sex Couples The Dignity Of Marriage Across This Great Land.

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.

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

The Time To Fix Our Broken Immigration System Is Now... We Need Stronger Enforcement On The Border And At The Workplace... But For Reform To Work, We Also Must Respond To What Pulls People To America... Where We Can Reunite Families, We Should. Where We Can Bring In More Foreign-born Workers With The Skills Our Economy Needs, We Should.

We Remain A Young Nation, But In The Words Of Scripture, The Time Has Come To Set Aside Childish Things. The Time Has Come To Reaffirm Our Enduring Spirit; To Choose Our Better History; To Carry Forward That Precious Gift, That Noble Idea, Passed On From Generation To Generation: The God-given Promise That All Are Equal, All Are Free, And All Deserve A Chance To Pursue Their Full Measure Of Happiness.

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

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

Across The Globe There Are Girls Who Will One Day Lead Nations, If Only We Afford Them The Chance To Choose Their Own Destinies.

People Are Less Certain Of Their National Identities Or Their Place In The World. It Starts Looking Different And Disorienting. And There Is No Doubt That That Has Produced Populist Movements Both From The Left And From The Right In Many Countries In Europe.

Usually, I'm Pretty Good About Sorting Through The Options And Then Making Decisions That I'm Confident Are The Best Decisions In That Moment, Given The Information We Have. But There Are Times Where I Think I Wish I Could Have Imagined A Different Level Of Insight.

People Are Whupped. I'm Whupped. My Wife Is Whupped. Unless It's Your Job To Be Curious, Who Really Has The Time To Sit And Ask Questions And Explore Issues?

We've Endured Too Many Tragedies. And Each Time I Learn The News I React Not As A President, But As Anybody Else Would - As A Parent.

The Bush Administration's Failure To Be Consistently Involved In Helping Israel Achieve Peace With The Palestinians Has Been Both Wrong For Our Friendship With Israel, As Well As Badly Damaging To Our Standing In The Arab World.

Some Of The Same Politicians And Pundits That Are So Quick To Reject The Possibility Of A Diplomatic Solution To Iran's Nuclear Program Are The Same Folks Who Were So Quick To Go To War In Iraq And Said It Would Take A Few Months.

You Mention The Navy, For Example, And The Fact That We Have Fewer Ships Than We Did In 1916. Well Governor, We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets.

I Think We Would Have Made A Lot More Mistakes And Would Have Accomplished A Lot Less Had We Not Been Grounded In Some Basic Truths.

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

Scientists And Engineers Ought To Stand Side By Side With Athletes And Entertainers As Role Models.

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...

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

Let's Remember That Our Leadership Is Defined Not Just By Our Defense Against Threats, But By The Enormous Opportunities To Do Good And Promote Understanding Around The Globe To Forge Greater Cooperation, To Expand New Markets, To Free People From Fear And Want. And No One Is Better Positioned To Take Advantage Of Those Opportunities Than America.

There Are Patriots Who Opposed The War In Iraq And There Are Patriots Who Supported The War In Iraq. We Are One People, All Of Us Pledging Allegiance To The Stars And Stripes, All Of Us Defending The United States Of America.

I Believe That For All Our Imperfections, We Are Full Of Decency And Goodness, And That The Forces That Divide Us Are Not As Strong As Those That Unite Us.

[a]lthough The Principle Of Equality Has Always Been Self-evident, It Has Never Been Self-executing.

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.

I Believe That The Starting Point Of Faith Is Some Doubt, Not Bein' So Full Of Yourself And So Confident That You Are Right And That God Speaks Only To Us And Doesn't Speak To Others, That God Only Cares About Us And Doesn't Care About Others.

Nations Are More Successful When Their Women Are Successful.

For We Know That Our Patchwork Heritage Is A Strength, Not A Weakness.

I'm Asking You To Believe. Not Just In My Ability To Bring About Real Change In Washington . . . I'm Asking You To Believe In Yours." Keeping Faith With Those Who Serve Must Always Be A Core American Value And A Cornerstone Of American Patriotism. Because America's Commitment To Its Servicemen And Women Begins At Enlistment, And It Must Never End.

On The Other Hand, It Is Also Undeniable That The Palestinian People - Muslims And Christians - Have Suffered In Pursuit Of A Homeland.

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.

In Order To Make The Tough Decisions We Have To Know What Our Values Are And Who We're Fighting For And Our Priorities And If We Are Spending $300 Billion On Tax Cuts For People Who Don't Need Them And Weren't Even Asking For Them, And We Are Leaving Out Health Care Which Is Crushing On People All Across The Country, Then I Think We Have Made A Bad Decision And I Want To Make Sure We're Not Shortchanging Our Long Term Priorities.

Immigration Keeps This Country Young, It Keeps It Dynamic, We Have Entrepreneurs And Strivers Who Come Here And Are Willing To Take Risks, And That's Part Of The Reason Why America Historically Has Been Successful.

Hope - Hope In The Face Of Difficulty. Hope In The Face Of Uncertainty. The Audacity Of Hope!

I Do Think That You're Starting To See Young People Pay Attention To Some Longterm Issues That They Feel Washington Has Neglected.

A Lot Of Countries Have Advanced Capabilities. And Given The Vulnerabilities Of Our Infrastructure And Our Economies To Digital Platforms, We Have To Be Careful In Making Sure That This Doesn't Become A Lawless, Low-level Battlefield.

When It Comes To Crime, The Violent Crime Rate In America Has Been Lowered During My Presidency And Any Time In The Last Three, Four Decades.

Our Politics At Its Best Involves Us Recognizing Ourselves In Each Other. And Our Politics At Its Worst Are When We See Immigrants Or Women Or Blacks Or Gays Or Mexicans As Somehow Separate, Apart From Us.

The Asia Pacific Is Home To Nearly Half The World's Population, A Growing Middle Class And Holds So Much Opportunity For Us All.

How We Think About Terrorism Has To Be Defined And Specific Enough That It Doesn't Lead Us To Think That Any Horrible Actions That Take Place Around The World That Are Motivated In Part By An Extremist Islamic Ideology Is A Direct Threat To Us Or Something That We Have To Wade Into.

Hope -- Hope In The Face Of Difficulty. Hope In The Face Of Uncertainty. The Audacity Of Hope! In The End, That Is God’s Greatest Gift To Us...a Belief In Things Not Seen. A Belief That There Are Better Days Ahead.

And Yes, My Plan Will Continue To Reduce The Carbon Pollution That Is Heating Our Planet - Because Climate Change Is Not A Hoax. More Droughts And Floods And Wildfires Are Not A Joke. They're A Threat To Our Children's Future. And In This Election, You Can Do Something About It.

Yes To Trade, But Trade That Ensures That These Other Countries That Trade With Us Aren't Engaging In Child Labor.

The United States Is Imposing Sanctions On Individuals And Companies Working To Advance Iran's Ballistic Missile Program, And We Are Going To Remain Vigilant About It. We're Not Going To Waver In The Defense Of Our Security Or That Of Our Allies And Partners.

And Above All, Children Need Our Unconditional Love - Whether They Succeed Or Make Mistakes; When Life Is Easy And When Life Is Tough.

I Was Never Great, But I Was A Good [basketball] Player, And I Could Play Seriously. Now I'm Like One Of These Old Guys Who's Running Around, And The Guys I Play With, Who Are All A Lot Younger, They Sort Of Pity Me And Sympathize With Me. They Tolerate Me, But We All Know That I'm The Weak Link On The Court. And I Don't Like Being The Weak Link.

My God, Donald Trump Is Unfit! He's Ill-tempered, He's Unsuited, He Is Not Qualified, He's Unsuited To Be President.

You Wouldn't Know That If You Talked To Human Rights Watch Or Amnesty International Or Some Of The International Activist Organizations. Certainly You Wouldn't Know That If You Were Talking To Some Of The Writers Who Criticize Our Drone Policy. But I've Actually Told My Staff It's Probably Good That They Stay Critical Of This Policy, Even Though I Think Right Now We're Doing The Best That We Can In A Dangerous World With Terrorists Who Would Gladly Blow Up A School Bus Full Of American Kids If They Could.

How Do We In The African American Community Build A Culture In Which We Are Saying To Our Kids, "here's What It Takes To Succeed. Here's The Sacrifices You Need To Make To Be Able To Get Ahead. Here's How We Support Each Other. Here's How We Look Out For Each Other."

My Staff Was Very Excited For Brisvegas. When I Arrived, They Advised I Needed Some Xxxx.

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?

I Found This National Debt Doubled, Wrapped In A Big Bow Waiting For Me As I Stepped Into The Oval Office.

I Don't Have To Negotiate An Arms Agreement With Great Britain Or With France.

A Low-carbon, Clean Energy Economy Can Be An Engine Of Growth For Decades To Come.

On Easter I Do Reflect On The Fact That As A Christian I Am Supposed To Love, And I Have To Say That Sometimes, When I've Listened To Less-than-loving Expressions By Christians, I Get Concerned.

It’s Important To Make Sure That We’re Talking With Each Other In A Way That Heals, Not In A Way That Wounds." - Barack Obama, 44th U.s. President

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

Against Violence

Starting Today, We Must Pick Ourselves Up, Dust Ourselves Off, And Begin Again The Work Of Remaking America.

Strong Countries And Strong Presidents Talk To Their Adversaries. That's What Kennedy Did With Khrushchev. That's What Reagan Did With Gorbachev. That's What Nixon Did With Mao. I Mean Think About It. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - These Countries Are Tiny Compared To The Soviet Union. They Don't Pose A Serious Threat To Us The Way The Soviet Union Posed A Threat To Us. And Yet We Were Willing To Talk To The Soviet Union At The Time When They Were Saying We're Going To Wipe You Off The Planet.

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

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

To Everyone In This Congress Who Still Refuses To Raise The Minimum Wage, I Say This: If You Truly Believe You Could Work Full-time And Support A Family On Less Than $15,000 A Year, Go Try It. If Not, Vote To Give Millions Of The Hardest-working People In America A Raise.

For Now, Decisions Are Upon Us And We Cannot Afford Delay. We Cannot Mistake Absolutism For Principle Or Substitute Spectacle For Politics, Or Treat Name-calling As Reasoned Debate.

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.

It's Also Wonderful To Be Back With My Great Friend And Ally, Chancellor [angela] Merkel. As I Reflect Back Over The Last Eight Years, I Could Not Ask For A Steadier Or More Reliable Partner On The World Stage, Often Through Some Very Challenging Times.

It Will Be Up To Each Of You To Make Sure That Young People, African Americans, Latinos And Women Who Powered Our Victory In 2008 Stand Together Once Again.

African American

I'm Especially Grateful That They're Here At A Time When The Rest Of Ireland Is Focused On The Final Round Of The Six Nations Rugby Tournament And The Last Match Of The Legendary Brian O'driscoll.

I'm Not The Caricature That You See On Fox News Or Rush Limbaugh, But I'm Somebody Who Is Interested In Solving Problems And Is Pretty Practical, And That, Actually, A Lot Of The Things That We've Put In Place Worked Better Than People Might Think.

For Everywhere We Look, There Is Work To Be Done. The State Of Our Economy Calls For Action: Bold And Swift. And We Will Act Not Only To Create New Jobs But To Lay A New Foundation For Growth. We Will Build The Roads And Bridges, The Electric Grids And Digital Lines That Feed Our Commerce And Bind Us Together. We Will Restore Science To Its Rightful Place And Wield Technology's Wonders To Raise Health Care's Quality And Lower Its Costs.

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

My Fellow Americans, We Are And Always Will Be A Nation Of Immigrants. We Were Strangers Once, Too.

Undocumented Workers

The United States Has Been A Pacific Nation For Over Two Centuries. That's Not Going To Change.

Honestly This Is Not Going To Change Unless The People Who Want To Prevent These Kinds Of Mass Shootings From Taking Place Feel At Least As Passionate, At Least As Mobilized And Well-funded As The Nra And The Gun Manufacturers Are Because The Politics In Congress Are Such Where Even Members Of Congress Who Know Better Are Fearful If They Vote Their Conscience And Support Common Sense Measures Like Background Checks, They're Worried They're Going To Lose.

Don't Just Buy A New Video Game, Make One. Don't Just Download The Latest App, Help Design It. Don't Just Play On Your Phone, Program It.

My Administration Is Committed To Creating An Unprecedented Level Of Openness In Government.

Broken Promises

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.

If You Look At Libya, I Was Deeply Concerned About What Would Happen After Qaddafi Was Gone.

Democracy Cannot Be Imposed On Any Nation From The Outside. Each Society Must Search For Its Own Path, And No Path Is Perfect.

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.

What I Think Is Fair To Say Is That, Coming Out Of The Republican Camp, There Have Been Efforts To Suggest That Perhaps I'm Not Who I Say I Am When It Comes To My Faith - Something Which I Find Deeply Offensive, And That Has Been Going On For A Pretty Long Time.

Citizenship Means Standing Up For Everyone's Right To Vote.***

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

Today We Are Engaged In A Deadly Global Struggle For Those Who Would Intimidate, Torture, And Murder People For Exercising The Most Basic Freedoms. If We Are To Win This Struggle And Spread Those Freedoms, We Must Keep Our Own Moral Compass Pointed In A True Direction.

For The Sake Of Our Economy, Our Security, And The Future Of Our Planet, I Will Set A Clear Goal As President: In Ten Years, We Will Finally End Our Dependence On Oil From The Middle East.

You Can't Manage [country] The Way You Would Manage A Family Business.

More Than A Building That Houses Books And Data, The Library Represents A Window To A Larger World, The Place Where We've Always Come To Discover Big Ideas And Profound Concepts That Help Move The American Story Forward And The Human Story Forward.

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

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

I Am Encouraged By The President-elect's [donald Trump] Insistence That Nato Is A Commitment That Does Not Change. And His Full Commitment To Nato As The Foundation For Our International Security I Think Is Very Important.

David [cameron] Has Been An Outstanding Friend And Partner On The Global Stage And, Based On Our Conversation, I'm Confident That The Uk Is Committed To An Orderly Transition Out Of The Eu.

Those Who Adhere To The Ideology Of Rejecting Israel’s Right To Exist, They Might As Well Reject The Earth Beneath Them Or The Sky Above, Because Israel Is Not Going Anywhere.

What Is Important Is That We Make Sure To Work Together, That We Understand Our Strength Comes From Unity And Not Division.

Working Together

When We Send Our Young Men And Women Into Harm's Way, We Have A Solemn Obligation Not To Fudge The Numbers Or Shade The Truth About Why They're Going, To Care For Their Families While They're Gone, To Tend To The Soldiers Upon Their Return, And To Never Ever Go To War Without Enough Troops To Win The War, Secure The Peace, And Earn The Respect Of The World.

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

I Intend To Protect A Free And Open Internet, Extend Its Reach To Every Classroom, And Every Community, And Help Folks Build The Fastest Networks, So That The Next Generation Of Digital Innovators And Entrepreneurs Have The Platform To Keep Reshaping Our World.

Today We're Seeing That Climate Change Is About More Than A Few Unseasonably Mild Winters Or Hot Summers. It's About The Chain Of Natural Catastrophes And Devastating Weather Patterns That Global Warming Is Beginning To Set Off Around The World.. The Frequency And Intensity Of Which Are Breaking Records Thousands Of Years Old.

We Buy Our Own Toilet Paper Even Here In The White House.

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.

...started By Missionaries In 1841, Punahou Academy Had Grown Into A Prestigious Prep School, An Incubator For Island Elites...it Hadn't Been Easy To Get Me In, My Grandparents Told Her (my Mother); There Was A Long Waiting List, And I Was Considered Only Because Of The Intervention Of Gramps' Boss, Who Was An Alumnus (my First Experience With Affirmative Action, It Seems, Had Little To Do With Race).

We Don't Quit. I Don't Quit. Let's Seize This Moment.

Having The United Kingdom In The European Union Gives Us Much Greater Confidence About The Strength Of The Transatlantic Union And Is Part Of The Cornerstone Of Institutions Built After World War Ii That Has Made The World Safer And More Prosperous.

The Fact Is That I'm Also Friendly With Tom Coburn, One Of The Most Conservative Republicans In The United States Senate, Who, During His Campaign, Once Said That It Might Be Appropriate To Apply The Death Penalty To Those Who Carried Out Abortions.

We've Got To Be Able To Distinguish Between Dangerous Individuals Who Need To Be Incapacitated And Incarcerated Versus Young People Who Are In An Environment In Which They Are Adapting, But If Given Different Opportunities, A Different Vision Of Life, Could Be Thriving The Way We Are. That's What Strikes Me. There But For The Grace Of God. And That, I Think, Is Something That We All Have To Think About.

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

Sometimes When These Kinds Of Things Happen, It Can Seem A Little Bit Too Much To Bear. But What I Want The People Of Louisiana Know Is That You're Not Alone On This. Even After The Tv Cameras Leave, The Whole Country Is Going To Continue To Support You And Help You Until We Get Folks Back In Their Homes And Lives Are Rebuilt.

With Respect To The Pledge I Made That If You Like Your Plan You Can Keep It. The Way I Put That Forward Unequivocally Ended Up Not Being Accurate.

It's Not A Choice Between Our Environment And Our Economy; It's A Choice Between Prosperity And Decline.

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

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

Owes Unions Who Endorsed Him; That's Why He's In Politics.

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.

We Know That Isil And Other Terrorist Groups Are Actively Encouraging People, Around The World And In Our Country, To Commit Terrible Acts Of Violence, Oftentimes As Lone-wolf Actors.

Terrorist Groups

That's What Building A Body Of Work Is All About. It's About The Daily Labor, The Many Individual Acts, The Choices Large And Small That Add Up Over Time, Over A Lifetime To A Lasting Legacy. It's About Not Being Satisfied With The Latest Achievement, The Latest Gold Star, Because The One Thing I Know About A Body Of Work Is That It's Never Finished. It's Cumulative. It Deepens And Expands With Each Day You Give Your Best. You May Have Setbacks And You May Have Failures, But You're Not Done.

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

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