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They, And We, Are The Legacies Of An Unbroken Chain Of Proud Men And Women Who Served Their Country With Honor, Who Waged War So That We Might Know Peace, Who Braved Hardship So That We Might Know Opportunity, Who Paid The Ultimate Price So That We Might Know Freedom.

-Barack Obama

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They, And We, Are

Barack Obama

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They, And We, Are The Legacies Of An Unbroken Chain Of Proud Men And Women Who Served Their Country With Honor, Who Waged War So That We Might Know Peace, Who Braved Hardship So That We Might Know Opportunity, Who Paid The Ultimate Price So That We Might Know Freedom.

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I Think Every Case Is Different. Every Situation Is Different. People Come On The F.b.i.'s Radar Screen For A Variety Of Reasons At A Variety Of Times.

The World Is Less Violent Than It Has Ever Been.

When We Were Working On Immigration Reform And There Was A Young Latino Man, Young Immigration Activist Here Who, In The Roosevelt Room, Refused To Shake My Hand.he Made A Point Of Saying, "i Can't Shake Your Hand; You're Deporting Too Many People." And I Just Said To Him, "young Man, I'm Glad That You Feel So Passionately About This Issue, But You're With The President Right Now In The White House. You've Got To Think About What's Going To Be Most Effective In Getting What You Need, What You're Trying To Accomplish. Because This May Not Be Your Best Strategy."

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.

Rather Than Pointing Fingers Or Assigning Blame, Let’s Use This Occasion To Expand Our Moral Imaginations, To Listen To Each Other More Carefully, To Sharpen Our Instincts For Empathy And Remind Ourselves Of All The Ways That Our Hopes And Dreams Are Bound Together.

Since Taking Office, I've Made It Clear That The United States Was Prepared To Begin A New Chapter Of Engagement With The Islamic Republic Of Iran. We Offered The Iranian Government A Clear Choice. It Could Fulfill Its International Obligations And Realize Greater Security, Deeper Economic And Political Integration With The World, And A Better Future For All Iranians. Or It Could Continue To Flout Its Responsibilities And Face Even More Pressure And Isolation.

The Bottom Line Is This - Whereas Iran Was Steadily Expanding Its Nuclear Program, We Have Now Cut Off Every Single Path That Iran Could Have Used To Build A Bomb.

In America, One Of Our Challenges, Historically, Is That We Have Very Low Voting Rates, Even During Presidential Elections.

...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).

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

Broken Promises

Of Course, Violence Will Not End With Our Combat Mission. Extremists Will Continue To Set Off Bombs, Attack Iraqi Civilians And Try To Spark Sectarian Strife. But Ultimately, These Terrorists Will Fail To Achieve Their Goals.

America At Its Best Is Inclusive And Not Exclusive.

The Best Anti-poverty Program Is A World-class Education.

Rather Take That Moral Sense And Apply It To The Particulars Of A Job That Is Going To Test Those Ethical And Moral Precepts Differently Than If You're A Professor, Or A Business Person, Or A Dad. And If I Were Not Comfortable With The Judicious Use Of Our Military To Protect The American People, Than I Shouldn't Have Run For President. And Having Said That, I Do Think That The Wisdom Of A [martin Luther] King Or A [mahatma] Gandhi Can Inform My Decisions.

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

Number One, It Is Absolutely Critical That We Tone Down The Rhetoric When It Comes To The Immigration Debate, Because There Has Been An Undertone That Has Been Ugly. Oftentimes, It Has Been Directed At The Hispanic Community. We Have Seen Hate Crimes Skyrocket In The Wake Of The Immigration Debate As It Has Been Conducted In Washington, And That Is Unacceptable.

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.

The Democrats Are Using The Human Trafficking Bill's Language That's Been There For 40 Years, Regarding The Use Of Federal Funds For Abortion.

Hillary Clinton Has Been In Politics For The Same Reason I Am - Because We Can Improve Other People's Lives By Doing This Work.

No Party Has A Monopoly On Wisdom. No Democracy Works Without Compromise.

The Thing I Know For Sure Is That At The End Of My Life, What I'm Going To Remember Is The Love I Felt For My Family And My Friends, And Whatever Good I Did For Other People.

In Texas, We Hold Very Dear To Intrusions Against Our Personal Liberty. We Fight Very Hard Against That.

I Know That Campaigns Can Seem Small, And Even Silly. Trivial Things Become Big Distractions. Serious Issues Become Sound Bites. And The Truth Gets Buried Under An Avalanche Of Money And Advertising. If You're Sick Of Hearing Me Approve This Message, Believe Me - So Am I.

We've Persevered Because Of A Belief We Share With The Iraqi People - A Belief That Out Of The Ashes Of War, A New Beginning Could Be Born In This Cradle Of Civilization. Through This Remarkable Chapter In The History Of The United States And Iraq, We Have Met Our Responsibility. Now, It's Time To Turn The Page.

We Think About The Enormous Costs Of Homelessness, Or The Enormous Cost Of Hiv/aids, Over The Long Term, As People Visit Emergency Rooms, Etc. The More We Are Investing In That Ounce Of Prevention The Better Off We're Going To Be.

I Think The Irony ... Is That I Actually Would Like To See A Relatively Light Touch When It Comes To The Government.

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

America Is The Greatest Country On Earth. But Because Of Some Of The Mistakes That Have Been Made, We, I Think, Are Going To Have A Lot Of Work To Do In The Next Administration To Restore That Sense That America Is That Shining Beacon On A Hill.

Washington Is A Place Where Good Ideas Go To Die.

It Was Not A Religion That Attacked Us That September Day. It Was Al-qaeda. We Will Not Sacrifice The Liberties We Cherish Or Hunker Down Behind Walls Of Suspicion And Mistrust.

We Need To Steer Clear Of This Poverty Of Ambition, Where People Want To Drive Fancy Cars And Wear Nice Clothes And Live In Nice Apartments But Don't Want To Work Hard To Accomplish These Things. Everyone Should Try To Realize Their Full Potential.

There Are Certain Occupations - Probably, Most Prominently, Politics - Where There Would Be A Bias Against Somebody Who's Agnostic Or Atheist In Running For Office.

Ultimately, Peace Is Just Not About Politics. It's About Attitudes; About A Sense Of Empathy; About Breaking Down The Divisions That We Create For Ourselves In Our Own Minds And Our Own Hearts That Don't Exist In Any Objective Reality, But That We Carry With Us Generation After Generation. And I Know, Because America, We, Too, Have Had To Work Hard Over The Decades, Slowly, Gradually, Sometimes Painfully, In Fits And Starts, To Keep Perfecting Our Union.

If You Run You Stand A Chance Of Losing, But If You Don't Run You've Already Lost.

Us Intelligence Agencies Will Only Use Such Data To Meet Specific Security Requirements: Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, Counterproliferation, Cybersecurity, Force Protection For Our Troops And Allies, And Combating Transnational Crime, Including Sanctions Evasion.

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

I Like My Quiet Time. There Is A Writer's Sensibility In Me Sometimes, Where I Step Back.

Medicare In Particular, Will Run Out Of Money, And We Will Not Be Able To Sustain That Program.

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.

Ultimately, The Challenges Of The 21st Century Can't Be Met Without Collective Action. Agreement Will Almost Never Be Easy, And Results Won't Always Come Quickly. But I Am Committed To Respecting Different Points Of View, And To Forging A Consensus Instead Of Dictating Our Terms... That's How We Will Advance And Uphold Our Ideals.

Poorly Secured Nuclear Material In The Former Soviet Union, Or Secrets From A Scientist In Pakistan Could Help Build A Bomb That Detonates In Paris. The Poppies In Afghanistan Become The Heroin In Berlin. The Poverty And Violence In Somalia Breeds The Terror Of Tomorrow.

For People Who Have Health Insurance, We Can Provide Health Insurance Reforms That Make The Insurance They Have More Secure. And We Can Do That Mostly By Using Money That Every Expert Agrees Is Being Wasted And Is Currently In The Existing Health Care System.

When Times Change, So Must We.

So Long As Our Relationship Is Defined By Our Differences, We Will Empower Those Who Sow Hatred Rather Than Peace, Those Who Promote Conflict Rather Than The Cooperation That Can Help All Of Our People Achieve Justice And Prosperity. This Cycle Of Suspicion And Discord Must End.

There's Something About The American Spirit - Inherent In The American Spirit -- We Don't Hang On To The Past. We Always Move Forward.... We Are Going To Leave Something Better For Our Children - Not Just Here In The United States, But All Around The World.

I Believe, In The Words Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., That There Is Such A Thing As Being Too Late, And When It Comes To Climate Change, That Hour Is Almost Upon Us.

The President Is Eager To Get To Work And Looks Forward To Working With The New Congress On Policies That Will Make Sure Middle-class Americans Are Sharing In The Economic Recovery, But The President Is Clear That He Will Not Let This Congress Undo Important Protections Gained -- Particularly In Areas Of Health Care, Wall Street Reform And The Environment.

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

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

Chancellor [angela] Merkel Is Perhaps The Only Leader Left Among Our Closest Allies That Was There When I Arrived. So In Some Ways We Are Now The Veterans Of Many Challenges Over The Last Eight Years.

This Is Not Some Distant Problem Of The Future. This Is A Problem That Is Affecting Americans Right Now. Whether It Means Increased Flooding, Greater Vulnerability To Drought, More Severe Wildfires - All These Things Are Having An Impact On Americans As We Speak.

It Is Important To Combine Structural Reforms And Good Fiscal Stewardship With A Growth Strategy, Because When Your Economy's Growing And More Revenue's Coming In, That Helps Relieve Debt.

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

We 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.

The President [barack Obama] Understands That The Country's Very Concerned About [terrorism] Issue. And I Think What You're Going To Hear From Him Is A Discussion About What Government's Doing To Ensure All Of Our Highest Priority, The Protection Of The American People.

Donald Trump Will Be The Next President, The 45th President Of The United States. And It Will Be Up To Him To Set Up A Team That He Thinks Will Serve Him Well And Reflect His Policies. It Takes A While For People To Reconcile Themselves With That New Reality. Hopefully, It`s A Reminder That Elections Matter. I Think It`s Important For Us To Let Him Make His Decisions, And I Think The American People Will Judge Over The Course Of The Next Couple Of Years Whether They Like What They See.

Let's Say Hypothetically, Knowing What We Know Now About Public Policy, That We Could Close The Education Gap So That It Was Only A Couple Percentage Points, And We Could Make Sure That Hiring Barriers And Educational Barriers Had Been Leveled Down, And Unemployment Among African Americans Right Now Instead Of Being Double Was Only 10 Percent Higher Than White Unemployment - If We Got To That Point , America As A Whole Would Be A Lot Richer.

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].

People In Every Country Should Be Free To Choose And Live Their Faith Based Upon The Persuasion Of The Mind, And The Heart, And The Soul. This Tolerance Is Essential For Religion To Thrive.

The Forces That Divide Us Are Not As Strong As Those That Unite Us.

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

On Every Continent, There Are Girls Who Will Go On To Change The World In Ways We Can Only Imagine, If Only We Allow Them The Freedom To Dream.

So Here's What I Want You To Know, And Here's What I Want All Our Men And Women In Uniform To Know: Because Of You, We Are Ending These Wars In A Way That Will Make America Stronger And The World More Secure. Because Of You.

I Think It's Fair To Say That [donald Trump] And I Are Sort Of Opposites In Some Ways.

Of Course, There's Been A Real Debate About Where To Invest And Where To Cut, And I'm Committed To Working With Members Of Both Parties To Cut Our Deficits And Debt. But We Can't Simply Cut Our Way To Prosperity.

But Today, Just A Few Years Into The Twenty-first Century, We Already Find Ourselves In A Different And Precarious Position. As Revolutions In Communications And Technology Have Broken Down Barriers Across The World, It Has Given More Power To Both Our Competitors And Our Enemies.

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.

I Think That Today, Faith Drives So Much Of Our Politics, That I Thought, "if You Don't Talk About It, You Are Missing A Whole Big Part Of What Is Going On Politically."

We Should Not Anticipate That Every Time Countries Come Together That We Are Doing Some Revolutionary Thing. Instead Of Hitting Home Runs, Sometimes We're Going To Hit Singles.

You Can't Just Heely Away From Your Problems Forever

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

With Respect To Russia, My Principal Approach To Russia Has Been Constant Since I First Came Into Office. Russia Is An Important Country. It Is A Military Superpower. It Has Influence In The Region And It Has Influence Around The World.

I Will Never Forget Who This Victory Truly Belongs To. It Belongs To You.

My Core Goal Is To Dismantle, Defeat, Destroy Al Qaeda And Its Allies That Killed Americans And Are Still Plotting To Go Kill Americans.

Let Us Remember That We Can Do These Things Not Just Because Of Wealth Or Power, But Because Of Who We Are: One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

Justice For All

I Think That There Is A Particular Mindset That Was On Display In The Run-up To The Iraq War That Continues To This Day. Some Of The Folks Who Were Involved In That Decision Either Don't Remember What They Said Or Are Entirely Unapologetic About The Results, But That Views The Middle East As A Place Where Force And Intimidation Will Deliver On The Security Interests That We Have, And That It Is Not Possible For Us To At Least Test The Possibility Of Diplomacy.

The Role Of Government Has Never Been To Plan Every Detail Or Dictate Every Outcome. At Its Best, Government Has Simply Knocked Away Barriers To Opportunity And Laid The Foundation For A Better Future. Our People -- With All Their Drive And Ingenuity -- Always End Up Building The Rest. And If We Can Do That Again -- If We Can Continue Building That Foundation And Making Those Hard Decisions On Behalf Of The Next Generation -- I Have No Doubt That We Will Leave Our Children The America That We All Hope For.

The Government Has To Treat All Citizens Equally. I Am A Strong Supporter Not Of A Weak Version Of Civil Unions, But Of A Strong Version, In Which The Rights That Are Conferred At The Federal Level To Persons Who Are Part Of The Same-sex Union Are Compatible. When It Comes To Federal Rights, The Over 1,100 Rights That Right Now Are Not Being Given To Same-sex Couples, I Think That's Unacceptable.

We Cannot Solve The Problems Of America If Every Time Somebody Somewhere Says Something Stupid, That Everybody Gets Up In Arms And We Forget About The War In Iraq Or We Forget About The Economy.

Islam Has Always Been Part Of America

The Changes In Thinking About Same-sex Marriage Have Come Slowly At First And Then In Rapid Course. If Such Change Is Possible In This Area, Is It Also Possible In The Vexed And Sordid Realm Of Race Relations?

You Will Not See Any Of Your Taxes Increase One Single Dime.

Netanyahu Made All Sorts Of Claims. This Was Going To Be A Terrible Deal. This Was Going To Result In Iran Getting 50 Billion Dollars Worth Of Relief. Iran Would Not Abide By The Agreement. None Of That Has Come True.

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

We May Come From Different Places And Have Different Stories, But We Share Common Hopes, And One Very American Dream.

They Assert That Their Program Is Purely Peaceful. . . . We Want Them To Demonstrate Clearly In The Actions They Propose That They Have Truly Abandoned Any Nuclear Weapons Ambition.

When I Talked To [donald Trump] About - Our Intelligence Agencies, What I've Said To Him Is - Is That There Are Gonna Be Times Where You've Got Raw Intelligence That Comes In And In My Experience, Over Eight Years, The Intelligence Community Is Pretty Good About Saying, "look, We Can't Say For Certain What This Means." But There Are Gonna Be Times Where The Only Way You Can Make A Good Decision Is If You Have Confidence That The Process Is Working, And The People That You Put In Charge Are Giving You Their Very Best Assessments.

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.

That Applies, By The Way, Even To Some Of The Folks Who Are Now [donald] Trump Supporters. They're Responding To A Fictional Character Named Barack Obama Who They See On Fox News Or Who They Hear About Through Rush Limbaugh.

Muslim Leaders Around The Globe Have To Continue Working With Us To Decisively And Unequivocally Reject The Hateful Ideology That Groups Like Isil And Al Qaeda Promote. To Speak Out Against Not Just Acts Of Violence, But Also Those Interpretations Of Islam That Are Incompatible With The Values Of Religious Tolerance, Mutual Respect, And Human Dignity.

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

Let's Take Our Clothes Off And Party

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.

If You're Looking For The Safe Choice, You Shouldn't Be Supporting A Black Guy Named Barack Obama To Be The Next Leader Of The Free World.

The Challenges Posed By Threats Like Terrorism, Proliferation, And Cyber Attacks Are Not Going Away Any Time Soon, And For Our Intelligence Community To Be Effective Over The Long Haul, We Must Maintain The Trust Of The American People And People Around The World.

We're Starting To Make Some Progress. But There's Still Gonna Be Some Pain Out There. If I Don't Have This Done In Three Years, Then There's Gonna Be A One-term Proposition.

Any Strategy To Reduce Intergenerational Poverty Has To Be Centered On Work, Not Welfare--not Only Because Work Provides Independence And Income But Also Because Work Provides Order, Structure, Dignity, And Opportunities For Growth In People's Lives.

I Warn Young People That I Interact With About This - You Get Into Unrealistic Expectations Where You Think That, "oh, We're Gonna Eliminate Racism Like That. After Obama's Elected How Could There Be Any Racism?".

America's Nurses Are The Beating Heart Of Our Medical System.

I'm Inspired By The People I Meet In My Travels--hearing Their Stories, Seeing The Hardships They Overcome, Their Fundamental Optimism And Decency. I'm Inspired By The Love People Have For Their Children. And I'm Inspired By My Own Children, How Full They Make My Heart. They Make Me Want To Work To Make The World A Little Bit Better. And They Make Me Want To Be A Better Man.

Throughout History, Islam Has Demonstrated Through Words And Deeds The Possibilities Of Religious Tolerance And Racial Equality.

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

If You Like Your Healthcare Plan, You'll Be Able To Keep Your Healthcare Plan, Period. No One Will Take It Away, No Matter What.

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

A Little Reminder To Those Who Don't Back Obama And Gay Marriage. It's Probably Cause You're Gay.

The United Kingdom And The European Union Will Remain Indispensable Partners Of The United States Even As They Begin Negotiating Their Ongoing Relationship To Ensure Continued Stability, Security And Prosperity For Europe, Great Britain And Northern Ireland, And The World.

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

Thanksgiving Reminds Us That No Matter Our Differences, We're Still One People, Part Of Something Bigger Than Ourselves.

Fdr, Jfk, Lbj [all Democratic Presidents ] We Have A Pretty Long List Of Presidents Who Maybe Were Not Entirely Forthcoming With Intelligence Information Before They Went To War, So I'd Be Cautious Against Making Legal Cases Against The Administration.

We Are Engaging In The Diplomatic Efforts That Are Required Within Iraq Among The Shia, The Sunni And The Kurd, Among Friends, Like Egypt, And Turkey And Saudi Arabia, But Also Enemies Like Iran And Syria. They Have To Have Buy-in Into That Process.

This Is An Extraordinary Achievement, Nearly Nine Years In The Making.

You Like Pie? I Like Pie.

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.

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

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

Democracies Have

The United States Often Finds Itself In A Situation Where If It Goes In Militarily Then It Is Criticized For Going In Militarily, And If It Doesn't Go In Militarily, Then People Say, Why Aren't You Doing Something Militarily?

I'll Be Honest, There Have Been Times When I've Listened To The Rhetoric In Europe Where An Easy Equivalent Somehow Between The United States And Russia And Between How Our Governments Operate Versus Other Governments Operate, Where Those Distinctions Aren't Made.

All Of Us Take Offense To Anyone Who Reaps The Rewards Of Living In America Without Taking On The Responsibilities Of Living In America. And Undocumented Immigrants Who Desperately Want To Embrace Those Responsibilities See Little Option But To Remain In The Shadows, Or Risk Their Families Being Torn Apart.

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

What Is Portrayed As High-minded Positions On Issues Sometimes Is Just Designed To Carve Out Some Of Their Commercial Interests.

Even As Ramadan Holds Profound Meaning For The World’s 1.5 Billion Muslims, It Is Also A Reminder To People Of All Faiths Of Our Common Humanity And The Commitment To Justice, Equality, And Compassion Shared By All Great Faiths. In That Spirit, I Wish Muslims Across America And Around The World A Blessed Month, And I Look Forward To Again Hosting An Iftar Dinner Here At The White House. Ramadan Kareem.

Here In Europe Some Of The Challenges Have To Do With Structures That Are So Complicated. You've Got Brussels, And You've Got Parliament, You've Got Councils And Then You've Got National Governments. So People Sometimes Don't Feel As If They Know Who's Making Decisions, And The More That We Can Bring People In And Engage Them, The Better. Some Of It Is Also Cultural And Social, People's Sense Of Identity.

You're Not Going To Be Able To Make Good Decisions Without Building Some Relationship Of Trust Between Yourself And Community.

In The Campaign Back In 2007, 2008, People Would Say, "oh, He's Being Naïve. He Thinks That There's No Red States And Blue States. And Wait 'til He Gets Here." And I Will Confess That, I Didn't Fully Appreciate The Ways In Which Individual Senators Or Members Of Congress Now Are Pushed To The Extremes By Their Voter Bases. I Did Not Expect, Particularly In The Midst Of Crisis, Just How Severe That Partisanship Would Be.

I Happen To Be A Proponent Of A Single-payer Universal Health Care Plan.

The More We Can Encourage Entrepreneurship, Particularly For Young People, The More They Have Hope. That Requires Some Reforms In These [african] Governments: Rooting Out Corruption, Increased Transparency And How Government Operates, Making Sure That Regulations Are Not Designed Just To Advantage Elites, But Are Allowing People Who Have A Good Idea To Get Out There And Get Things Done.

Arne Duncan Is Done More To Bring Our Educational System, Sometimes Kicking And Screaming, Into The 21st Century Than Anyone Else.

But What I Would Say To My Successor Is That It Is Important Not Just To Shoot But To Aim. And It Is Important, In This Seat, To Make Sure That You're Making Your Best Judgments Based On Data, Intelligence, The Information That's Coming From Your Commanders And Folks On The Ground And You're Not Being Swayed By Politics.

If We Have Osama Bin Laden In Our Sights And The Pakistani Government Is Unable Or Unwilling To Take Them Out, Then, I Think That We Have To Act And We Will Take Them Out. We Will Kill Bin Laden. We Will Crush Al Qaeda. That Has To Be Our Biggest National Security Priority.

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 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.

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.

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

I Do Think That I Am Generally Optimistic.

I Think If You Look At Almost Every Year Under Every President Over The Last, I Don't Know, 20, 30 Years, You're Going To Be Hard-pressed To Find A Year In Which The Majority Of Americans Thought We Were On The Right Track.

We Cannot Continue To Rely Only On Our Military In Order To Achieve The National Security Objectives That We've Set. We've Got To Have A Civilian National Security Force That's Just As Powerful, Just As Strong, Just As Well-funded.

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.

The American People Are Both Anxious For Change. We're In A Time Of Flux.

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

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

In A Moment When The Outcome Of Our Revolution Was Most In Doubt The Father Of Our Nation Ordered These Words Be Read To The People. Let It Be Told To The Future World That In The Depth Of Winter, When Nothing But Hope And Virtue Could Survive, That The City And The Country Alarmed At One Common Danger Came Forth To Meet It.

If You Look At The Current Mosul Campaign Against Isil, For Example The Few Thousand Troops That We Have There To Support That Effort Allows The Iraqi Military To Move Forward In An Effective Way.

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

My Strong Preference Has Always Been To Legislate When I Can Get Legislation Done.

I Learned To Slip Back And Forth Between My Black And White Worlds. One Of Those Tricks I Had Learned: People Were Satisfied So Long As You Were Courteous And Smiled And Made No Sudden Moves. They Were More Than Satisfied; They Were Relieved -- Such A Pleasant Surprise To Find A Well-mannered Young Black Man Who Didn't Seem Angry All The Time.

Black And White

What Is Certainly True Is That The United States Has To Have A Presence To Promote The Values That We Care About.

Any So-called Leader Who Does Not Take This Issue (climate Change) Seriously Or Treats It Like A Joke Is Not Fit To Lead

I Think There Are A Whole Host Of Things That Are Civil Rights, And Then There Are Other Things - Such As Traditional Marriage - That, I Think, Express A Community's Concern And Regard For A Particular Institution.

The Point Is Isil Leaders Cannot Hide. And Our Next Message To Them Is Simple - You Are Next.

We Could Come Together, Democrats And Republicans, To Find Practical, Commonsense Solutions To Health Care, To Education, To Energy Issues, Because Although I'm A Proud Democrat, I'm A Prouder American. And I Think All Of Us Believe, Regardless Of Our Party Affiliations, That This Is A Critical Time, Where We've Got To Solve Big Problems.

My Presidency Is Not Over. I've Got Another Five Years Coming Up.

What We Have To Do Moving Forward Is To Make Sure That Small Businesses That Account For Most Of The Job Growth In Our Economy Are Getting The Kind Of Financing That They Need.

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!"

A Green, Fifa Coins| Fifa Coins| Fifa Coins| Fifa Coins| Fifa Coins| Replica Watches|renewable Energy Economy Isn't Some Pie-in-the-sky, Far-off Future - It Is Now. It Is Creating Jobs - Now. It Is Providing Cheap Alternatives To $140-per-barrel Oil - Now. And It Can Create Millions Of Additional Jobs, An Entire New Industry, If We Act - Now.

I've Said Consistently That I Always Reserve The Right, In Conjunction With A Broader International Effort, To Prevent Genocide Or Any Wholesale Slaughter Than Might Happen Inside Of Iraq Or Anyplace Else.

We Have To Recognize We've Got Some Big Problems On Race, Just Like We Got Still Big Problems On Crime, Just Like We Got Big Problems On Just About Everything. But We Also Have To Make Sure That We've - Draw Confidence From The Progress That We Have Made, 'cause Otherwise, You Get Into This Cycle Of Cynicism.

I Love Listening To These Guys Give Us Lectures About Debt And Deficits. I Inherited A Trillion-dollar Deficit. ... This Notion That Somehow We Caused The Deficits Is Just Wrong. It's Just Not True. ... If They Start Trying To Give You A Bunch Of Facts And Figures Suggesting That It's True, What They're Not Telling You Is They Baked All This Stuff Into The Cake With Those Tax Cuts And A Prescription Drug Plan That They Didn't Pay For And The Wars.

Under My Plan Of A Cap And Trade System, Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket… Because I’m Capping Greenhouse Gasses, Coal Power Plants, Natural Gas…you Name It…whatever The Plants Were, Whatever The Industry Was, They Would Have To Retro-fit Their Operations. That Will Cost Money…they Will Pass That Money On To The Consumers.

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

Our Journey Is Not Complete Until All Our Children... Know That They Are Cared For And Cherished And Always Safe From Harm.

I Would Meet Directly With The Leadership In Iran.

Try To Be As Honest As Possible.

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.

Here At This Site, Solyndra Expects To Make Enough Solar Panels Each Year To Generate 500 Megawatts Of Electricity. And Over The Lifetime Of This Expanded Facility, That Could Be Like Replacing As Many As Eight Coal-fired Power Plants.

Of Course I Have Got Concerns. Donald Trump And I Differ On A Whole Bunch Of Issues.

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

Their Foreign Policy Is So Disjointed, Confusing, And Chaotic That, Really, People Need To Reexamine Those Who Want To Be Involved In Every War.

On Memorial Day We Come Together As Americans To Let These Families And Veterans Know That They Are Not Alone. We Give Thanks For Those Who Sacrificed Everything So That We Could Be Free. And We Commit Ourselves To Upholding The Ideals For Which So Many Patriots Have Fought And Died.

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

I Believe That Marriage Is The Union Between A Man And A Woman. Now, For Me As A Christian - For Me - For Me As A Christian, It Is Also A Sacred Union. God's In The Mix.

I Have Been In Washington For A While Now, And Most Things Don't Surprise Me. The Fact That Twenty 6-year-olds Were Gunned Down In The Most Violent Fashion Possible And This Town Couldn't Do Anything About It Was Stunning To Me.

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

We Don't Turn Back. We Leave No One Behind. We Pull Each Other Up.

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

I Think It Is Important For Europe To Understand That Even Though I Am President And George Bush Is Not President, Al Qaeda Is Still A Threat.

We Can Get This Done! Take A Vote, And Send Me That Bill.

We Don't Make Determinations About Who We Love. And That's Why I Think That Discrimination On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation Is Wrong.

Part Of American Leadership Is Making Sure That We're Doing Nation Building Here At Home. That Will Help Us Maintain The Kind Of American Leadership That We Need.

I Know There Are Problems That I Say To Myself, If Maybe I Was A Little More Gifted I Might Have Been Able To Solve. But That's Not Because I Believe What I Did Was A Mistake. It's That Maybe It Required The Talents Of A Lincoln.

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.

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

If It's On Facebook, It All Looks The Same.

If We're Not Vigilant Foreign Countries Can Have An Impact On The Political Debate In The United States In Ways That Might Not Have Been True 10, 20, 30 Years Ago In - In Part Because Of The Way News Is Transmitted And In Part Because So Many People Are Skeptical Of Mainstream News Organizations That - Everything's True And Everything's False.

Winter Came And The City [chicago] Turned Monochrome -- Black Trees Against Gray Sky Above White Earth. Night Now Fell In Midafternoon, Especially When The Snowstorms Rolled In, Boundless Prairie Storms That Set The Sky Close To The Ground, The City Lights Reflected Against The Clouds

I 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.

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.

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.

Our Focus On The Investigation Is Really Wide-ranging. And We Can't Limit It To Just One Point In Time.

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

You [as A President] Have To Have A Strong Team Around You. You Have To Have Respect For Institutions And The Process To Make Good Decisions Because You Are Inherently Reliant On Other Folks.

When You've Got A Economy In Which 40 Percent Of Economic Growth Is Happening In The Financial Sector, That Turns Out That Was All An Illusion, That It Wasn't Growth Based On Real Products And Services, But Just A Bunch Of Paper Shuffling And A House Of Cards, Then What's Gonna Emerge, At Some Point, Is A Sense Of Resentment, A Sense That The System's Rigged, And It's Not Working For Ordinary People. And It's Not Fulfilling The Basic American Dream.

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

Marriage Equality

State Visits Are Often An Opportunity For The United States To Reaffirm Our Ties And Friendship With Our Closest Partners Around The World.

I Bowled A 129... It Was Like The Special Olympics Or Something!

My View Is That Discrimination Against Anyone At The Ballot Box Is Wrong And Should Have The Full Enforcement Of The Federal Government.

The Greek People Are Entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial

A Central Notion In The Affordable Care Act Was We Had An Inefficient System With A Lot Of Waste That Didn't Also Deliver The Kind Of Quality That Was Needed That Often Put Health Care Providers In A Box Where They Wanted To Do Better For Their Patients, But Financial Incentives Were Skewed The Other Way... We Don't Need To Reinvent The Wheel; You're Already Figuring Out What Works To Reduce Infections In Hospitals Or Help Patients With Complicated Needs.

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

Futures Together

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

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