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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.

-Barack Obama

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There Is No Doubt

Barack Obama

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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.

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

Tonight, Let Us Think Back To The Sense Of Unity That Prevailed On 9/11.

We Rise And Fall As One People, One Nation.

We Have A Stake In One Another...what Binds Us Together Is Greater Than What Drives Us Apart.

It Is This World, A World Where Cruise Ships Throw Away More Food In A Day Than Most Residents Of Port-au-prince See In A Year, Where White Folks' Greed Runs A World In Need, Apartheid In One Hemisphere, Apathy In Another Hemisphere...that's The World! On Which Hope Sits!

We Stand With Women By Fighting For Economic Security, Protecting Access To Health Care And Supporting Women's Leadership Across The Country

I Have Complete Confidence In Secret Service. These Guys And Gals Are Unbelievably Professional. They Know What They’re Doing And I Basically Do What They Tell Me To Do. Now, Sometimes I’m The First One To Admit That It Chafes A Little Bit Being Inside This Bubble. It’s The Hardest Adjustment Of Being President, Not Being Able To Just Take A Walk.

I Am Who I Am. You Sort Of Get What You See With Me.

What I've Seen In My Own Life Is That When I Get Something Important Done It's Because Of A Lot Of Other People - Some Who Get Credit, Some Who Don't.

I Think, As You Get Older, That's When Your Ambitions Become "peculiar".

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 Are Not Going To Have A Situation Where Our Education Spending Goes Back To Its Lowest Level Since The Year 2000 Despite A Larger Population And More Kids To Educate. We Know That The Single Most Important Thing In Terms Of How Well We Can Compete Around The World Is The Quality Of Our Workforce. We Can't Do That To Our Kids.

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.

Contrary To The Claims Of Some Of My Critics And Some Of The Editorial Pages, I Am An Ardent Believer In The Free Market.

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.

When Americans Are Called On To Innovate, That's What We Do - Whether It's Making More Fuel-efficient Cars Or More Fuel-efficient Appliances, Or Making Sure That We Are Putting In Place The Kinds Of Equipment That Prevents Harm To The Ozone Layer And Eliminates Acid Rain. At Every One Of These Steps, There Have Been Folks Who Have Said It Can't Be Done. There Have Been Naysayers Who Said This Is Going To Destroy Jobs And Destroy Industry. And It Doesn't Happen Because Once We Have A Clear Target To Meet, We Typically Meet It. And We Find The Best Ways To Do It.

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

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.

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

If We Can't Meet With Our Friends, I Don't Know How We're Going To Lead The World In Terms Of Dealing With Critical Issues Like Terrorism.

Now, Some Have Said I Blame Too Many Problems On My Predecessor, But Let's Not Forget That's A Practice That Was Initiated By George W. Bush.

I Think We've Done A Pretty Good Job Staying In Touch With The American People. But At A Certain Point You Can't Help But Lose Some Feel For What's On The Ground Because You're Not On The Ground.

I've Never Said That Troops Should Be Withdrawn. What I've Said Is, Is That We've Got To Make Sure That We Secure And Execute The Rebuilding And Reconstruction Process Effectively And Properly, And I Don't Think We Should Have An Artificial Deadline When To Do That.

Never Read Who Moved My Cheese In The Workplace When You Can Read The Joy Of Not Working.

It Is Now Our Generation's Task To Carry On What Those Pioneers Began. For Our Journey Is Not Complete Until Our Wives, Our Mothers And Daughters Can Earn A Living Equal To Their Efforts. Our Journey Is Not Complete Until Our Gay Brothers And Sisters Are Treated Like Anyone Else Under The Law - For If We Are Truly Created Equal, Then Surely The Love We Commit To One Another Must Be Equal As Well.

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.

The Absence Of Hope Can Rot A Society From Within.

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.

I Could Never Be A Politician. But As Uncomfortable As I Would Be Doing So, I Have No Problem With Obama's Long-planned 'change Of Heart.' This Dude's Made Huge, Measurable Strides For Gay Rights, And If Being Coy About His Plans For Gay Marriage For A Few Years Was Needed To Get Him Elected, Then So Be It. Lgbt Persons Will Be Better Off, And Federal Same-sex Marriage Recognition Will Come Sooner Because Of It.

Cuba Is Actually One Where I Am More Optimistic Because Of The Unique Nature Of Cuba - 90 Miles Off Our Shore With A Massive Ex-patriot Population, Now Cuban-american Population That Still Have Deep Links To The Island. There I Am More Confident That Over Time That The Winds Of Commerce And Telecommunication And Travel Start Shifting The Nature Of That Regime. But That's A Small Country Which Has Almost A Unique Relationship To Us.

We Are Going To Trace More Effectively, How These Guns Are Ending Up On The Streets, To Unscrupulous Gun Dealers, Who Often Times Are Selling To Straw Purchasers. And Cracking Down On The Various Loopholes That Exist In Terms Of Background Checks For Children, The Mentally Ill.

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.

We Will Outstretch The Hand If You Unclench Your Fist.

Donald Trump Is Temperamentally Unfit.

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

You Know, Sometimes I'll Go To An 8th-grade Graduation And There's All That Pomp And Circumstance And Gowns And Flowers. And I Think To Myself, It's Just 8th Grade ... An 8th-grade Education Doesn't Cut It Today. Let's Give Them A Handshake And Tell Them To Get Their Butts Back In The Library!

If You're An American And You Are, You Know, Subscribing To The Ideals And The Creed And The Values That We Believe In As A Country, You Know, Then We Don't Have A Religious Test In This Country.

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

Health Care Costs Generally Have Gone Up At A Significantly Slower Rate Since Obamacare Was Passed Than They Did Before, Which Has Saved The Federal Treasury Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars.

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.

America, Now Is Not The Time For Small Plans.

We Have Got To Dispel This Myth That Bullying Is Just A Normal Rite Of Passage.

This Is The Moment When We Must Come Together To Save This Planet. Let Us Resolve That We Will Not Leave Our Children A World Where The Oceans Rise And Famine Spreads And Terrible Storms Devastate Our Lands.

As Citizens, We Understand That It Is Not About What America May Do For Us. It's About What Can Be Done By Us, Together.

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

We Are On Alert 24/7. And Everything That You Report Will Be Investigated. We Do It In Private. We Do It Covertly. This Could Be A Problem, It Could Simply Be Your Neighbor Having A Bad Day. But Better Be Safe Than Sorry.

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 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.

Michelle [obama] Never Fully Took To The Scrutiny. I Mean, She's Thrived As A First Lady, But It's Not Her Preference.

The Fact Is Every Single Day In The Ordinary American People, America's Families Have To Make Decisions About Their Families And That Should Be Made By Them, Not By The Texas Or United States.

In An Age Where There's So Much Active Misinformation And Its Packaged Very Well And It Looks The Same When You See It On A Facebook Page Or You Turn On Your Television. Where Some Overzealousness On The Part Of, You Know, A U.s. Official Is Equated With Constant And Severe Repression Elsewhere.

I Will Promise You This, That If We Have Not Gotten Our Troops Out By The Time I Am President, It Is The First Thing I Will Do. I Will Get Our Troops Home, We Will Bring An End To This War. You Can Take That To The Bank.

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

The Degree Of Polarization That Currently Exists In Washington Is Such Where I Think It's Fair To Say If I Presented A Cure For Cancer, Getting Legislation Passed To Move That Forward Would Be A Nail-biter.

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.

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.

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.

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

Justice Needs To Be Served, What I Think People Of Baltimore Want More Than Anything Else Is The Truth. That's What People Around The Country Expect.

Every Four Minutes, Another American Home Or Business Goes Solar.

That Bright Blue Ball Rising Over The Moon's Surface, Containing Everything We Hold Dear - The Laughter Of Children, A Quiet Sunset, All The Hopes And Dreams Of Posterity - That's What's At Stake. That's What We're Fighting For. And If We Remember That, I'm Absolutely Sure We'll Succeed.

What We Want Is For People To Know That You Can Get Affordable Health Care And Most Young Americans, They're Not Covered And The Truth Is They Can Get Coverage All For What It Costs To Pay Your Cell Phone Bill.

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.

History Doesn't Always Move In A Straight Line. Sometimes It Zigs And Zags.

Here At Home, We Will Strengthen Our Defenses But Not Succumb To A Siege Mentality That Sacrifices The Open Society And Liberties And Values That We Cherish As Americans, Because Great And Proud Nations Don't Hunker Down And Hide Behind Walls Of Suspicion And Mistrust.

Race Remains A Potent And Often Divisive Force In Our Society.

I Absolutely Think That When We Talk About Family, Faith, Community, I Think It's Important For Democrats To Be Able To Connect With Folks Where They Live.

I Haven't Been Sorting Through Each And Every Aspect Of This. Here's What I Know: Hillary Clinton Was An Outstanding Secretary Of State. She Would Never Intentionally Put America In Any Kind Of Jeopardy.' Mr. Wallace Pressed Further On The Jeopardy Angle, And Mr. Obama Responded Again: 'i Continue To Believe That She Has Not Jeopardized America's National Security. Now What I've Also Said Is That - And She Has Acknowledged - That There's A Carelessness, In Terms Of Managing Emails...'"

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.

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.

As I've Said, There Were Patriots Who Supported This War, And Patriots Who Opposed It. And All Of Us Are United In Appreciation For Our Servicemen And Women, And Our Hopes For Iraqis' Future.

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."

Consistent With Section 202(d) Of The National Emergencies Act, 50 U.s.c. 1622(d), I Am Continuing For 1 Year The National Emergency Previously Declared On September 14, 2001, In Proclamation 7463, With Respect To The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11, 2001, And The Continuing And Immediate Threat Of Further Attacks On The United States. Because The Terrorist Threat Continues, The National Emergency Declared On September 14, 2001, And The Powers And Authorities Adopted To Deal With That Emergency Must Continue In Effect Beyond September 14, 2010.

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.

The Best Judge Of Whether Or Not A Country Is Going To Develop Is How It Treats Its Women. If It's Educating Its Girls, If Women Have Equal Rights, That Country Is Going To Move Forward. But If Women Are Oppressed And Abused And Illiterate, Then They're Going To Fall Behind.

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

Our Campaign Was Not Hatched In The Halls Of Washington -- It Began In The Backyards Of Des Moines And The Living Rooms Of Concord And The Front Porches Of Charleston. ...this Is Your Victory.

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

There's Nothing That America Can't Handle If We Actually Look Squarely At The Problem. ...change Depends On Our Actions.

You Have To Be Involved In Terms Of What's Happening In Your Local Neighborhood And What Issues Are There.

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.

One Of The Proudest Things Of My Three Years In Office Is Helping To Restore A Sense Of Respect For America Around The World.

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.

I Hope People Appreciate Chancellor Merkel Because, Although She Traditionally Is Considered Center-right And I'm Considered Center-left, The Truth Is That We Share Those Core Values, And Those Are Worth Protecting. As The Senior Leader In Europe, As The Leader Who's Been Longest Lasting, I Think She Has Great Credibility, And She Is Willing To Fight For Those Values. I'm Glad That She's There, And I Think The German People Should Appreciate Her. Certainly, I Have Appreciated Her As A Partner.

We've Subsidized Oil Companies For A Century. That's Long Enough. It's Time To End The Taxpayer Giveaways To An Industry That Rarely Has Been More Profitable, And Double-down On A Clean Energy Industry That Never Has Been More Promising. Pass Clean Energy Tax Credits. Create These Jobs.

The Best Way To Not Feel Hopeless Is To Get Up And Do Something.

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

When We Succeed, We Succeed Because Of Our Individual Initiative, But Also Because We Do Things Together.

Jerusalem Will Remain The Capital Of Israel, And It Must Remain Undivided.

You Have The Ability And Gifts To Do Whatever You Want". It Is Your Turn Now To Change The World. Yes We Can!

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.

My Hope Is That More And More Investors Around The World See An Opportunity To Do Business In Greece.

I Did Not Run For Office To Be Helping Out A Bunch Of, You Know, Fat Cat Bankers On Wall Street.

Jesus Lived A Life Of Peace, Love, Kindness And Forgiveness, During The Hustle And Bustle Of The Christmas Season, May We All Do Our Best To Follow His Example.

My Second Piece Of Advice Is To Stay Global. As The World Continues To Change And We Become More Connected To Each Other, Globalization Will Bring Both Benefits And Disruptions To Our Lives. But Either Way, It's Here, And It's Not Going Away.

There Are Some Who Might Say That Somebody Named Barack Obama Can't Be Elected Senator In The State Of Illinois. They're Probably The Same Folks Who Said That A Guy Named Rod Blagojevich Couldn't Be Elected Governor Of The State Of Illinois.

The Problem Is That The Way [president] Bush Has Done It Over The Last Eight Years Is To Take Out A Credit Card From The Bank Of China In The Name Of Our Children, Driving Up Our National Debt From $5 Trillion Dollars For The First 42 Presidents - Number 43 Added $4 Trillion Dollars By His Lonesome - So That We Now Have Over $9 Trillion Dollars Of Debt That We Are Going To Have To Pay Back. [that's] $30,000 For Every Man, Woman And Child. That's Irresponsible. It's Unpatriotic.

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.

If The Court Finds That There Is Not A State Interest In Discriminating And Showing Moral Disapproval Of Homosexuality Then We Can't Stop Equal Marriage Rights.

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.

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.

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

I Spoke On The Phone With President Rouhani Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran. The Two Of Us Discussed Our Ongoing Efforts To Reach An Agreement Over Iran's Nuclear Program. While There Will Surely Be Important Obstacles To Moving Forward And Success Is By No Means Guaranteed, I Believe We Can Reach A Comprehensive Solution.

Find Somebody To Be Successful For. Raise Their Hopes. Rise To Their Needs.

I'm Convinced We're Going To Rebuild Not Only The Auto Industry, But The Economy Better And Stronger Than Before. And At Its Heart Is Going To Be Three Powerful Words: Made In America. Made In America.

We've Said To The Iranians All Along . . . We Still Remain Open To Diplomacy. But It's Been Very Clear That The Iranians Don't Want To Engage With Us.

In Our Democracy And Our Civic Discourse, It Seems As If Folks Who Take Religion The Most Seriously Are Sometimes Also Those Who Are Suspicious Of Those Not Like Them.

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.

I’m Convinced That A World In Which Girls Are Educated Is A Safer, More Stable, More Prosperous Place.

Congress Should Fund Research On The Effects That Violent Video Games Have On Young Minds... We Don't Benefit From Ignorance. We Don't Benefit From Not Knowing The Science.

I Don't Have Time To Complain. I'm Going To Press On.

Most People Who Serve In Washington Have Been Trained Either As Lawyers Or As Political Operatives--professions That Tend To Place A Premium On Winning Arguments Rather Than Solving Problems.

I Am The Eternal Optimist. I Think That, Over Time, People Respond To Civility And -- And Rational Argument.

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

That Sort Of Lack Of Awareness On The Part Of An Activist About The Constraints Of Our Political System And The Constraints On This Office, I Think, Sometimes Would Leave Me To Mutter Under My Breath. Very Rarely Did I Lose It Publicly. Yeah, Usually I'd Just Smile.

This Country Of Ours Has More Wealth Than Any Nation, But That's Not What Makes Us Rich. We Have The Most Powerful Military On Earth, But That's Not What Makes Us Strong. Our Universities And Our Culture Are The Envy Of The World, But That's Not What Keeps The World Coming To Our Shores. Instead, It Is That American Spirit - That American Promise - That Pushes Us Forward Even When The Path Is Uncertain; That Binds Us Together In Spite Of Our Differences; That Makes Us Fix Our Eye Not On What Is Seen, But What Is Unseen, That Better Place Around The Bend.

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 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.

A Free Market Was Never Meant To Be A Free Licence To Take Whatever You Can Get, However You Can Get It.

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

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

Moral Values Includes The Immorality Of 45 Million Uninsured Or The Immorality Of Working People Who Are Having Trouble Raising A Family Despite Working Full-time. That Has To Be Part Of The Moral Equation. And If We Are Able To Frame Things In That Fashion, Then I Think We Can Be Successful.

We Can't Just Drill Our Way Out Of The Energy And Climate Challenge That We Face.

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

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

The Fear Among Economists Across The Political Spectrum That Was - Was That We Were Rapidly Plummeting Towards A Second Great Depression. So, In The Weeks And Months That Followed, We Undertook A Series Of Difficult Steps To Prevent That Outcome. And We Were Forced To Take Those Steps Largely Without The Help Of An Opposition Party, Which, Unfortunately, After Having Presided Over The Decision-making That Had Led To The Crisis, Decided To Hand It Over To Others To Solve.

The Cold War Has Been Over For A Long Time. I'm Not Interested In Having Battles That, Frankly, Started Before I Was Born.

There Is No Military Solution To The War In Iraq. Our Troops Can Help Suppress The Violence, But They Cannot Solve Its Root Causes. And All The Troops In The World Won't Be Able To Force Shia, Sunni, And Kurd To Sit Down At A Table, Resolve Their Differences, And Forge A Lasting Peace. In Fact, Adding More Troops Will Only Push This Political Settlement Further And Further Into The Future, As It Tells The Iraqis That No Matter How Much Of A Mess They Make, The American Military Will Always Be There To Clean It Up.

We've Achieved This Historic Progress Through Diplomacy, Without Resorting To Another War In The Middle East. I Want To Also Point Out That By Working With Iran On This Nuclear Deal, We Were Better Able To Address Other Issues.

Issues Are Never Simple. One Thing I'm Proud Of Is That Very Rarely Will You Hear Me Simplify The Issues.

Iran Was Nearing Completion Of A New Reactor Capable Of Producing Plutonium For A Bomb.

If Everything Seems To Be The Same And No Distinctions Are Made, Then We Won't Know What To Protect. We Won't Know What To Fight For.

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.

Elections Matter And Voting Counts.

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.

Our Vulnerability To Russia Or Any Other Foreign Power Is Directly Related To How Divided, Partisan, Dysfunctional Our Political Process Is. That's The Thing That Makes Us Vulnerable.

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

We Are A People Of Improbable Hope.

Going Back To The Discussion We Were Having About Immigration Reform, Some Of The Most Challenging Discussions I've Had Are With Activists Who Essentially Would Argue That Any Immigrant From Central America, Let's Say, Who Gets Here To This Country Should Be Allowed To Stay Because Their Country Is Dangerous, Their Country Is Poor, And The Opportunities For That Mom And That Kid Are Much Greater Here, And Why Would You Send Them Back?

We Had A Farewell Dinner For Some Of My Senior Staff, And Generally Everybody Likes To Talk About How Cool I Was.

It Wasn't Until About A Year, Year And A Half In Where I Began To Realize That The Pentagon And Our National-security Apparatus And The Cia Were All Getting Too Comfortable With The Technology As A Tool To Fight Terrorism, And Not Being Mindful Enough About How That Technology Is Being Used And The Dangers Of A Form Of Warfare That Is So Detached From What Is Actually Happening On The Ground. And So We Initiated This Big Process To Try To Get It In A Box.

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

African American

I Don't Care Whether You're Driving A Hybrid Or An Suv. If You're Headed For A Cliff, You Have To Change Direction. That's What The American People Called For In November, And That's What We Intend To Deliver.

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

If All It Took Was Someone Proclaiming I Believe Jesus Christ And That He Died For My Sins, And That Was All There Was To It, People Wouldn't Have To Keep Coming To Church, Would They.

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

We've Been Able To Build Up The Afghan Security Forces And Stabilize It.

There's A Little Perspiration Involved In Bringing About Change Too.

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

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.

Together We Can Change Our Culture For The Better By Ending Violence Against Women And Girls, Artists Have A Unique Power To Change Minds And Attitudes And Get Us Thinking And Talking About What Matters, And All Of Us, In Our Lives, Have The Power To Set An Example. Join Our Campaign To Stop This Violence.

I Didn't Have A Perfect Model, But I Wanted To Try To Blend My Own Personal Reflections And Experiences With This Broader Canvas To See How A Lot Of The Narratives We Have About Economy And Foreign Policy Got Stuck. Because We Have These Categories Of Liberal, Conservative, Free Marketer, Open Government - All These Stereotypes About Our Politics And The Categories We Try To Put Things In Are Inadequate To This Sort Of Complex, Ambiguous, Sometimes Contradictory Experience We Have As Ordinary People And That I Have As An Elected Official.

We're Breaking Protocol Here. That's The Good Thing About Being President - I Can Do Whatever I Want.

The Real Problem, If You Look At How, For Example, Hezbollah Got A Lot Of Missiles That Are A Grave Threat To Israel, It's Not Because They Were Legal, It's Not Because Somehow That Was Authorized Under International Law; It Was Because There Was Insufficient Intelligence Or Capacity To Stop Those Shipments.

When I Was A Kid, I Inhaled. Frequently. That Was The Point.

If You Look At What Happened, I Came In The Middle Of The Worst Financial Crisis Since The Great Depression. And Unlike Franklin Delano Roosevelt Who Waited, Well, Didn't Take Office Until About Three Years Into The Great Depression, It Was Happening Just As I Was Elected.

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

People Are Discouraged From Voting And Part Of What Is Important For Latino Citizens Is To Make Your Voice Heard, Because You're Not Just Speaking For Yourself. You're Speaking For Family Members, Friends, Classmates Of Yours In School.

I Think That Mr. Snowden Raised Some Legitimate Concerns. How He Did It Was Something That Did Not Follow The Procedures And Practices Of Our Intelligence Community. If Everybody Took The Approach That I Make My Own Decisions About These Issues, Then It Would Be Very Hard To Have An Organized Government Or Any Kind Of National Security System.

Security Systems

I Became A Lightning Rod For Some Partisan Battles. I Could Not Be Prouder Of The Track Record We've Put Together. By Almost Every Measure, The Country Is Significantly Better Off Than When I Came In.

I Think There Are A Lot Of Factors Going Into An Election. I Think The Bottom Line Is - Is That Donald Trump Is Gonna Be Sworn In As The 45th President Of The United States Of America. And It's Not Necessarily Profitable To Sort Of Try To Untangle All The Different Factors That Went Into It.

A Political Candidacy Built Around Hope And Change And Compromise Would Eventually Become A Presidency Of Crisis And Confrontation.

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

The Amount Of Information, The Amount Of Incoming That Any Administration Has To Deal With Today And Respond To Much More Rapidly Than Ever Before, That Makes It Different.

I Think You Need To Have People Around You Who Can Remind You That, Actually, What You Just Said Makes No Sense. Fortunately, I Have My Wife To Do That Continually.

Faith Doesn't Mean That You Don't Have Doubts.

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.

As Has Been Well Documented, I Smoked Pot As A Kid, And I View It As A Bad Habit And A Vice, Not Very Different From The Cigarettes That I Smoked As A Young Person Up Through A Big Chunk Of My Adult Life. I Don't Think It Is More Dangerous Than Alcohol.

Now, I Swore An Oath To Uphold The Laws On The Books... Now, I Know Some People Want Me To Bypass Congress And Change The Laws On My Own... Believe Me, The Idea Of Doing Things On My Own Is Very Tempting. I Promise You. Not Just On Immigration Reform. But That's Not How - That's Not How Our System Works. That's Not How Our Democracy Functions. Thats Not How Our Constitution Is Written.

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

When You Try To Sow The Seeds Of Doubt In People`s Minds About The Legitimacy Of Our Election, That Undermines Democracy. Then You`re Doing The Work Of Our Adversaries For Them.

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.

My Finely Honed Political Instincts Tell Me That Almost Nobody Believes That They Should Be Paying Higher Taxes.

Look At Chancellor [angela] Merkel, Her Personal Story Helps To Tell A Story Of Incredible Achievement That The German People Have Embarked On And I Think Is Something That You Should Be Very Proud Of.

Community Colleges Play An Important Role In Helping People Transition Between Careers By Providing The Retooling They Need To Take On A New Career.

No One In The United States Of America Should Ever Be Targeted Because Of Who They Are, What They Look Like, Or How They Worship.

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.

The Future Is Ours To Win. But To Get There We Can't Just Stand Still.

As President, I'm Committed To Making Washington Work Better And Rebuilding The Trust Of The People Who Sent Us Here.

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'll Remember The View Out This Window [from Oval Cabinet], Because This Is Where We Had Our - The Playground That We Put In When Malia And Sasha Came In. Being Able Every Once In Awhile To Look Out The Window And See Your Daughters During The Summer, Swinging On That Swing Set, That Made The Presidency A Little Bit Sweeter.

There Are Always Things That I Think I Wish I Could Have Done Better.

Washington Is A Place Where Good Ideas Go To Die.

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'd Like To Think That "president Obama Believed Deeply In This Democracy And The American People."

I Have Never Had To Travel More Than Thirty Seconds From Home To Office, And It's Because Of That That I've Been Able To Maintain, Really A Family Life That Has Nurtured And Sustained Me During This Time [of Presidency].

It Is Our Generation's Task, Then, To Reignite The True Engine Of America's Economic Growth - A Rising, Thriving Middle Class.

As Commander In Chief, I Will Maintain The Strongest Military In The World, Keep Faith With Our Troops And Go After Those Who Would Do Us Harm. But After A Decade Of War, I Think We All Recognize We've Got To Do Some Nation Building Here At Home, Rebuilding Our Roads, Our Bridges And Especially Caring For Our Veterans Who Sacrificed So Much For Our Freedom.

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.

There Is A Wide Range Of Views Within The Jewish Community, So It's Not Monolithic.

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.

Even If The Criticism Is Not Always Perfectly Informed And In Some Cases I Would Deem Unfair, Just The Noise, Attention, Fuss Probably Keeps Powerful Officials Or Agencies On Their Toes. And They Should Be On Their Toes When It Comes To The Use Of Deadly Force.

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

I Know Many Of You Are Hurting And Angry About The Economy, And I Don't Blame You. It's The Worst Economy Since The Great Depression. When Consumers Can't Buy And Businesses Won't Expand For Lack Of Customers, The Government Has To Be The Purchaser And Employer Of Last Resort. We Learned That In The Great Depression, But Republicans Obviously Didn't - And They've Blocked Every Jobs Program I've Offered.

Great Depression

It Is Time To Put In Place Tough, New Common-sense Rules Of The Road So That Our Financial Market Rewards Drive And Innovation, And Punishes Short-cuts And Abuse.

The United States, Therefore, Works To Ensure That Any Actions We Take Are Consistent With International Laws And Norms - Including Those Reflected In The Law Of The Sea Convention. It's Worth Remembering That Our Presence In The Region Is Nothing New.

When Our Government Is Spoken Of As Some Menacing, Threatening, Foreign Entity, It Ignores The Fact That In Our Democracy, Government Is Us

It's A Generational Project Just To Get America To Live Up Fully To Its Ideals And To Have The Kind Of Society Where Everybody Has A Shot, And Every Kid Is Getting A Good Education, And People Are Getting Living Wages, And They Have Decent Retirement.

The Senators Know It's Important To Win Statewide To Have Hispanics And Other Immigrant Populations Supporting Them.

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