Background Image

...

Those Of Us Who Have The Privilege To Serve This Country Have An Obligation To Do Our Job As Best We Can. We Come From Different Parties, But We Are Americans First. And That's Why Disagreement Cannot Mean Dysfunction. It Can't Degenerate Into Hatred. The American People's Hopes And Dreams Are What Matters, Not Ours. Our Obligations Are To Them. Our Regard For Them Compels Us All, Democrats And Republicans, To Cooperate, And Compromise, And Act In The Best Interests Of Our Nation - One Nation, Under God, Indivisible With Liberty And Justice For All.

-Barack Obama

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Those Of Us Who

Barack Obama

...

Those Of Us Who Have The Privilege To Serve This Country Have An Obligation To Do Our Job As Best We Can. We Come From Different Parties, But We Are Americans First. And That's Why Disagreement Cannot Mean Dysfunction. It Can't Degenerate Into Hatred. The American People's Hopes And Dreams Are What Matters, Not Ours. Our Obligations Are To Them. Our Regard For Them Compels Us All, Democrats And Republicans, To Cooperate, And Compromise, And Act In The Best Interests Of Our Nation - One Nation, Under God, Indivisible With Liberty And Justice For All.

Views: 15833

Topic

More From Barack Obama

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.

Ours Is A Nation Of Laws: Of Citizens Who Live Under Them And For The Citizens Who Enforce Them. So, To A Community In Ferguson That Is Rightly Hurting And Looking For Answers, Let Me Call Once Again For Us To Seek Some Understanding Rather Than Simply Holler At Each Other. Let's Seek To Heal Rather Than To Wound Each Other.

Number One, It Is Important That We Fix The Legal Immigration System, Because Right Now We've Got A Backlog That Means Years For People To Apply Legally. And What's Worse Is, We Keep On Increasing The Fees, So That If You've Got A Hard Working Immigrant Family, They've Got To Hire A Lawyer; They've Got To Pay Thousands Of Dollars In Fees. They Just Can't Afford It. And It's Discriminatory Against People Who Have Good Character, We Should Want In This Country, But Don't Have The Money. So We've Got To Fix That.

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

When It Comes To Immigration, I Have Actually Put More Money, Under My Administration, Into Border Security Than Any Other Administration Previously. We've Got More Security Resources At The Border - More National Guard, More Border Guards, You Name It - Than The Previous Administration. So We've Ramped Up Significantly The Issue Of Border Security.

I [give] Maybe The Long-winded Speeches That Not Everybody Reads, But I Can Also Do A Slow Jam On Jimmy Fallon Better Than Most.

We Have An Obligation And A Responsibility To Be Investing In Our Students And Our Schools.

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.

That Is Why We Fight - In Hopes Of A Day When We No Longer Need To.

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

My Hope Is That's Something [donald Trump] Is Thinking About, Because Not Only Is The President Of The United States Somebody That The Entire Country Looks To For Direction But Sets The Agenda Internationally In A Lot Of Ways.

We Have Not Always Been In Sync On Every Issue In Terms Of Our Core Values, In Terms Of Her Integrity, Her Truthfulness, Her Thoughtfulness, [angela Merkel] Doing Her Homework, Knowing Her Facts, Her Commitment To Looking Out For The Interests Of The German People First, But Recognizing That Part Of Good Leadership On Behalf Of The Nation Requires Engaging The World As A Whole, And Participating Effectively In Multilaterally Institutions, I Think She's Been Outstanding.

My Bible Tells Me That If We Train A Child In The Way He Should Go, When He Is Old He Will Not Turn From It. I Think Faith And Guidance Can Help Fortify A Young Woman's Sense Of Self, A Young Man's Sense Of Responsibility, And A Sense Of Reverence All Young People For The Act Of Sexual Intimacy.

Battling Terrorism Must Go Beyond Belligerence Vs. Isolation.

I Think Perhaps Education Doesn’t Do Us Much Good Unless It Is Mixed With Sweat.

We, The People, Still Believe That Our Obligations As Americans Are Not Just To Ourselves, But To All Posterity.

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.

Ultimately, I Think The Equal Protection Clause Does Guarantee Same-sex Marriage In All Fifty States.

If You're Reading Something From A Nobel Prize-winning Physicist Next To Some Guy In His Underwear Writing In His Basement, Or His Mom's Basement, On Text, It Looks Like It's Equally Plausible.

Cutting The Deficit By Gutting Our Investments In Innovation And Education Is Like Lightening An Overloaded Airplane By Removing Its Engine. It May Make You Feel Like You're Flying High At First, But It Won't Take Long Before You Feel The Impact.

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 Miss Saturday Morning, Rolling Out Of Bed, Not Shaving, Getting Into My Car With My Girls, Driving To The Supermarket, Squeezing The Fruit, Getting My Car Washed, Taking Walks.

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

The Values That We Share - Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Religious Practice, Freedom For Civil Society, Free And Fair Elections, All The Innovation That's Been Created Through A Market-based Economy - Those Things Are Ultimately Going To Be The Path For Us To Continue Into A Better Future. I Hope That, Despite Some Of The Challenges We Have, That People Appreciate That.

If You Work Hard. And Are Responsible. You Should Be Rewarded.

I Have Said Repeatedly That I Intend To Close Guantanamo, And I Will Follow Through On That. I Have Said Repeatedly That America Doesn't Torture. And I'm Gonna Make Sure That We Don't Torture. Those Are Part And Parcel Of An Effort To Regain America's Moral Stature In The World.

When You Take On The Position Of President, You Are Committing Yourself To, First And Foremost, Protecting The American People. You Are Accepting An Institutional Role That Requires You To Make Hard Decisions And Hard Choices, And As A Consequence You Have To Take Your Moral Sense And Not Put It Aside.

We Have To Enforce The Laws We've Already Got, Make Sure That We're Keeping Guns Out Of The Hands Of Criminals, Those Who Are Mentally Ill. I Also Share Your Belief That Weapons That Were Designed For Soldiers In War Theaters Don't Belong On Our Streets. And So What I'm Trying To Do Is To Get A Broader Conversation About How Do We Reduce The Violence Generally.

I'd Like To Help Struggling Homeowners Who Can't Pay Their Mortgages, I'd Like To Invest In Our Crumbling Infrastructure, I'd Like To Reform The Tax System So Multimillionaires Can't Pretend Their Earnings Are Capital Gains And Pay At The Rate Of 15 Percent. I'd Like To Make Public Higher Education Free, And Pay For It With A Small Transfer Tax On All Financial Transactions. I'd Like To Do Much More - A New New Deal For Americans. But Republicans Are Blocking Me At Every Point.

I Can No More Disown (jeremiah Wright) Than I Can Disown The Black Community. I Can No More Disown Him Than I Can My White Grandmother - A Woman Who Helped Raise Me, A Woman Who Sacrificed Again And Again For Me, A Woman Who Loves Me As Much As She Loves Anything In This World, But A Woman Who Once Confessed Her Fear Of Black Men Who Passed By Her On The Street, And Who On More Than One Occasion Has Uttered Racial Or Ethnic Stereotypes That Made Me Cringe.

I Just Want People To Know The Facts And Science And The Information... Measles Is Preventable.

In Europe, Where The Terrorist Threat Is Probably Greatest At The Moment, The Amount Of Information-sharing That's Been Taking Place, The Effectiveness Of Law Enforcement Across Borders Gives Us The Ability To Protect Ourselves While Still Being True To The Basic Precepts Of Our Liberal Democracies. I Hope That That Continues, And It Is Something That I Think We Should Be Worried About.

There Are So Many Errors And Misstatements In That List That I Won't Even Begin To Name Them. Obama Was Right About One Thing, Though - Islam Has Always Been A Part Of America's Story.

As A Nuclear Power - As The Only Nuclear Power To Have Used A Nuclear Weapon - The United States Has A Moral Responsibility To Act.

Nuclear Terrorism

Peace Is Not Merely The Absence Of Visible Conflict.

Corporations Aren’t People. People Are People.

I Believe That The Free Enterprise System Is The Greatest Engine Of Prosperity The World's Ever Known.

Together, We Could Open Up Government And Invite Citizens In, While Connecting All Of America To 21st Century Broadband. We Could Use Technology To Help Achieve Universal Health Care, To Reach For A Clean Energy Future, And To Ensure That Young Americans Can Compete - And Win - In The Global Economy.

I'm No Longer Just A Candidate. I'm The President. I Know What It Means To Send Young Americans Into Battle, For I Have Held In My Arms The Mothers And Fathers Of Those Who Didn't Return. I've Shared The Pain Of Families Who've Lost Their Homes, And The Frustration Of Workers Who've Lost Their Jobs.

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.

Religious Freedom Doesn't Mean You Can Force Others To Live By Your Own Beliefs

I Think What Is True Is That There's Been An Underlying Division In The United States. Some Of It Has To Do With The Fact That Economic Growth And Recovery Tends To Be Stronger In The Cities And In Urban Areas. In Some Rural Areas, Particularly Those That Were Reliant On Manufacturing, There Has Been Weaker Growth, Stagnation, People Feeling As If Their Children Won't Do As Well As They Will.

Many Of You Know That I Got My Name, Barack, From My Father. What You May Not Know Is Barack Is Actually Swahili For 'that One.' And I Got My Middle Name From Somebody Who Obviously Didn't Think I'd Ever Run For President.

And, As A Consequence Of The Pressure That We've Applied Over The Last Couple Of Weeks, We Have Syria -- For The First Time -- Acknowledging That It Has Chemical Weapons, Agreeing To Join The Convention That Prohibits The Use Of Chemical Weapons, And The Russians -- Their Primary Sponsors -- Saying That They Will Push Syria To Get All Of Their Chemical Weapons Out. The Distance That We've Traveled Over These Couple Of Weeks Is Remarkable.

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

In The Eyes Of God, A Child On The Other Side Of The Border Is No Less Worthy Of Love And Compassion Than My Own Child. We - We Can't Distinguish Between Them In Terms Of Their Worth And Their Inherent Dignity And That They're Deserving Of Shelter And Love And Education And Opportunity. We Can't Isolate Ourselves. We Can't Hide Behind A Wall.

If You Actually Took The Number Of Muslims Americans, We'd Be One Of The Largest Muslim Countries In The World.

Israel Has Legitimate Concerns About Its Security Relative To Iran. I Mean, You Have A Large Country With A Significant Military That Has Proclaimed That Israel Shouldn't Exist, That Has Denied The Holocaust, That Has Financed Hezbollah, And As A Consequence, There Are Missiles That Are Pointed Towards Tel Aviv. There Are Very Good Reasons Why Israelis Are Nervous About Iran's Position In The World Generally.

Americans Have Always Pursued Our Dreams Within A Free Market That Has Been The Engine Of Our Progress. It's A Market That Has Created A Prosperity That Is The Envy Of The World, And Rewarded The Innovators And Risk-takers Who Have Made America A Beacon Of Science, And Technology, And Discovery. But The American Economy Has Worked In Large Part Because We Have Guided The Market's Invisible Hand With A Higher Principle - That America Prospers When All Americans Can Prosper. That Is Why We Have Put In Place Rules Of The Road To Make Competition Fair, And Open, And Honest.

Be The Best Father You Can Be To Your Children. Because Nothing Is More Important.

Young Men Need To Show Women The Respect They Deserve And Recognize Sexual Assault And To Do Their Part To Stop It.

Domestic Violence

I've Now Been In 57 States. I Think One Left To Go.

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.

Two-thirds Of Americans Believe That, After A Baby's Heart Is Beating And They Can Feel Pain, That They Need Some Protection.

We Have To Have A President Who Is Clear That You Don't Deal With Russia Based On Staring Into His Eyes And Seeing His Soul. You Deal With Russia Based On, What Are Your - What Are The National Security Interests Of The United States Of America? And We Have To Recognize That The Way They've Been Behaving Lately Demands A Sharp Response From The International Community And Our Allies.

So Don't Get Cynical. Cynicism Didn't Put A Man On The Moon. Cynicism Has Never Won A War, Or Cured A Disease, Or Built A Business, Or Fed A Young Mind. Cynicism Is A Choice. And Hope Will Always Be A Better Choice.

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 Will Send An Additional 475 Service Members To Iraq. As I Have Said Before, These American Forces Will Not Have A Combat Mission - We Will Not Get Dragged Into Another Ground War In Iraq. But They Are Needed To Support Iraqi And Kurdish Forces With Training, Intelligence And Equipment.

Let's Also Say That The Justice Department And The Courts Are Making Sure, As I've Said In A Speech Before, That When Jamal Sends His Résumé In, He's Getting Treated The Same As When Johnny Sends His Résumé In.now, Are We Going To Have Suddenly The Same Number Of Ceos, Billionaires, Etc., As The White Community? In 10 Years? Probably Not, Maybe Not Even In 20 Years. But I Guarantee You That We Would Be Thriving, We Would Be Succeeding. We Wouldn't Have Huge Numbers Of Young African American Men In Jail.

When We Think About Immigration, We Have To Understand There Are Folks All Around The World Who Still See America As The Land Of Promise. And They Provide Us Energy, And They Provide Us Innovation. And They Start Companies Like Intel And Google, And We Want To Encourage That.

Those Jeans Are Comfortable, And For Those Of You Who Want Your President To Look Great In His Tight Jeans, I'm Sorry I'm Not The Guy. It Just Doesn't Fit Me. I'm Not 20.

On This Thanksgiving, As We Spend Time With Our Family And Friends, Let's All Reflect On What We're Thankful For In Our Own Lives. And Let's Remember Those Who Cannot Be With Their Loved Ones Because They're Serving Overseas. But Let's Also Do Our Part To Help Those Who Have No Place To Go For A Meal. I Encourage All Americans To Do What They Can To Help Those In Need-because The Best Way To Show Our Gratitude For What We Have Is By Doing Our Part For Those Who Have Less.

Family And Friends

The Gulf States Are Extraordinarily Suspicious Of Iran For Good Reason. They View Iran As Meddling In Their Affairs. They Have Seen Iran Level Asymmetric Attacks Against Their Facilities Or Their Interests.

There’s Only One Thing We Can Be Sure Of, And That Is The Love That We Have -- For Our Children, For Our Families, For Each Other. The Warmth Of A Small Child’s Embrace -- That Is True. The Memories We Have Of Them, The Joy That They Bring, The Wonder We See Through Their Eyes, That Fierce And Boundless Love We Feel For Them, A Love That Takes Us Out Of Ourselves, And Binds Us To Something Larger -- We Know That’s What Matters. We Know We’re Always Doing Right When We’re Taking Care Of Them, When We’re Teaching Them Well, When We’re Showing Acts Of Kindness. We Don’t Go Wrong When We Do That.

None Of This Is Fair To You. And Should It Continue, It Will Make It More Difficult To Keep Attracting The Kind Of Driven, Patriotic, Idealist Americans To Public Service That Our Citizens Deserved And That Our System Of Self-government Demands.

The Opportunity Will Not Remain Open Indefinitely.

It Ought To Concern Every Person, Because It Is A Debasement Of Our Common Humanity. It Ought To Concern Every Community, Because It Tears At Our Social Fabric. It Ought To Concern Every Business, Because It Distorts Markets. It Ought To Concern Every Nation, Because It Endangers Public Health And Fuels Violence And Organized Crime. I’m Talking About The Injustice, The Outrage, Of Human Trafficking, Which Must Be Called By Its True Name - Modern Slavery.

Common Humanity

I've Come To Embrace The Notion That I Haven't Done Enough In My Life. I've Come To Confirm That One's Title, Even A Title Like President Of The United States, Says Very Little About How Well One's Life Has Been Led. No Matter How Much You've Done Or How Successful You've Been, There's Always More To Do, Always More To Learn, And Always More To Achieve.

Many Of Us Were Kind Of Irritated With Obama For Larding It With Tax Cut, Which We Didn't Think Was Going To Be Stimulative.

What I'm Thinking About Are The Millions Of People, Many Of Whom Write Me Very Personal Letters :"dear Mr. President: I Did Not Vote For You. I Was Against Obamacare. And Then My Son Who Didn't Have Health Insurance Signed Up And We Just Found Out That He Had An Illness. And Thankfully He's Now Covered, Otherwise He Might Not Have Gotten Treatment And I Might Have Lost My House."

The People There, The Community, The Lessons That I Learned -- They're All Based Right In This Few Square Miles Where We'll Now Be Able To Give Something Back And Bring The World Back Home After This Incredible Journey.

Every Three Weeks, We Bring Online As Much Solar Power As We Did In All Of 2008.

The United States Is Not, And Never Will Be, At War With Islam.

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.

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].

There Are People In Iran Who Have The Same Aspirations As People All Around The World For A Better Life.

A Budget Is More Than Just A Series Of Numbers On A Page; It Is An Embodiment Of Our Values.

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.

Every Three Weeks, We Bring Online As Much Solar Power As We Did In All Of 2008...that’s Why, Over The Past Six Years, We’ve Done More Than Ever Before To Combat Climate Change, From The Way We Produce Energy, To The Way We Use It.

I Have Always Had Extraordinarily Good Relations With Very Conservative Colleagues. And That's Not Because I Agree With Any Of Them Or Fudge On My Positions, But People Feel I Listen To Them And Give Them The Benefit Of The Doubt. I Assume The Best Of People. And That, I Think, Is An Attitude That Is Maybe Rare In Politics.

I Know What The Counterterrorism Feels Like Because I Was There. But I Also Operated Within Limits. And Within The United States Government, We've Decided Long Ago That There Are Limits On What We're Going To Do In The War Against Terrorism.

I've Been To 57 States.

What We Have To Do Is Make Sure That Here In America, If You Work Hard, You Can Get Ahead. If You Worked Hard, Not Only Did You Have A Good Job, But You Also Had Decent Benefits, Decent Health Care. We've Got To Make Sure That We're Doing Everything We Can To Expand The Middle Class And People Who Are Working Hard Can Get Into The Middle Class.

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.

We Were Still Able To See The Phone Records Of A Potential Terrorist Cause, We Held Them, Now You Have To Hope The Phone Company Still Has Them, You Have To Argue With Their Chief Counsel By The Time You Get Access To It, And Try To Find Out Who They've Been Talking To Before It's Too Late.

A Change Is Brought About Because Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things.

Long Before Being Nerdy Was Cool, There Was Leonard Nimoy. Leonard Was A Lifelong Lover Of The Arts And Humanities, A Supporter Of The Sciences, Generous With His Talent And His Time. And Of Course, Leonard Was Spock. Cool, Logical, Big-eared And Level-headed, The Center Of Star Trek’s Optimistic, Inclusive Vision Of Humanity’s Future. I Loved Spock.

One Of The Great Things About The United States Is That When It Comes To World Affairs, The President Obviously Is The Leader Of The Executive Branch, The Commander-in-chief, The Spokesperson For The Nation, But The Influence And The Work That We Have Is The Result Not Just Of The President, It Is The Result Of Countless Interactions And Arrangements And Relationships Between Our Military And Other Militaries, And Our Diplomats And Other Diplomats, The Intelligence Officers And Development Workers.

On September 11th, 2001, In Our Time Of Grief, The American People Came Together. We Offered Our Neighbors A Hand And We Offered The Wounded Our Blood. We Reaffirmed Our Ties To Each Other And Our Love Of Community And Country. On That Day, No Matter Where We Came From, What God We Prayed To, Or What Race Or Ethnicity We Were, We Were United As One American Family.

So My Biggest Fun Has Been Watching My Daughters Grow Up. Now, Unfortunately They're Hitting The Age Where They Still Love Me, But They Think I'm Completely Boring. And So They'll Come In, Pat Me On The Head, Talk To Me For 10 Minutes, And Then They're Gone All Weekend. Right? They Break My Heart! So Now I've Got To Start Thinking, Well What's Going To Replace That Fun?

Winnie The Pooh Seems To Me To Be A Fundamental Text On National Security.

National Security

John Mccain Has Not Spoken About My Muslim Faith.

The Biggest Problems With Iran In The Region Are Not Due To The Size Of Their Resources, But Due To The Fact That They've Been More Effective In Supporting Proxies And Stirring Up Dissension And Conflict In The Region Than America Or Our Allies Have Been In Stopping Those Activities.

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 Don't Think Marriage Is A Civil Right, But I Think That Being Able To Transfer Property Is A Civil Right.

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.

I Think I Was Able To Talk To People About Values In Ways That People - In Ways That Resonated With Folks.

We Can Give Our Intelligence And Law Enforcement Community The Powers They Need To Track Down And Take Out Terrorists Without Undermining Our Commitment To The Rule Of Law, Or Our Basic Rights And Liberties.

That Is The True Genius Of America, A Faith In The Simple Dreams Of Its People, The Insistence On Small Miracles. That We Can Say What We Think, Write What We Think, Without Hearing A Sudden Knock On The Door.

The Government Can't Solve Every Problem, But An Enlightened Government Can Make Sure That People Can Work Hard For Their Dreams And Achieve Them.

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.

We Can't Get To The $4 Trillion In Savings That We Need By Just Cutting The 12 Percent Of The Budget That Pays For Things Like Medical Research And Education Funding And Food Inspectors And The Weather Service. And We Can't Just Do It By Making Seniors Pay More For Medicare.

One Of The Things I Think I Can Bring To The Presidency Is To Make Government And Public Service Cool Again.

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

The Challenge There Is That Isil Doesn't Have An Air Force, So The Damage Done There Is Not Against Isil, It's Against The Syrian Regime.

With The Changing Economy, No One Has Lifetime Employment. But Community Colleges Provide Lifetime Employability.

It Could Be Another Election Where The Alignments Between Republicans And Democrats Are Different Than They Were This Time And Who A Foreign Country Prefers.

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

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

I Have To Say That My Kids, Like Every Child In America, Is Completely Absorbed With Harry Potter. And So, I Have Gotten Sucked Into It, Too; I Can't Wait For The Next One To Come Out. I Am Trying To Figure Out What Happens With Harry And Voldemort. So We Have Been Reading That.

I Confess To Wincing Every So Often At A Poorly Chosen Word, A Mangled Sentence, An Expression Of Emotion That Seems Indulgent Or Overly Practiced. I Have The Urge To Cut The Book By Fifty Pages Or So, Possessed As I Am With A Keener Appreciation For Brevity.

Michelle And I Don't Want Anyone Telling Us Who Our Family's Doctor Should Be - And No One Should Decide That For You Either. Under Our Proposals, If You Like Your Doctor, You Keep Your Doctor. If You Like Your Current Insurance, You Keep That Insurance. Period, End Of Story.

I Think That Most Americans Don't Resent People For Getting Rich. They Want To Get Rich Themselves.

The United States Does Not Have A Monopoly On Crazy People. It's Not The Only Country That Has Psychosis. And Yet We Kill Each Other In These Mass Shootings At Rates That Are Exponentially Higher Than Anyone Else. Well, What's The Difference? The Difference Is That These Guys Can Stack Up A Bunch Of Ammunition In Their Houses, And That's Sort Of Par For The Course.

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

So If Somebody Wants To Build A Coal-powered Plant, They Can; It's Just That It Will Bankrupt Them Because They're Going To Be Charged A Huge Sum For All That Greenhouse Gas That's Being Emitted.

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

Working Together

Both Our Nations [malasian And American] Are Committed To Building A Regional Order Where All Nations Play By The Same Rules And Disputes Are Resolved Peacefully And This Visit Will Be An Opportunity To Continue Deepening Our Cooperation On Behalf Of Regional Stability And Prosperity.

Yes, We Can. Yes, We Can Change. Yes, We Can.

If We Aren't Willing To Pay A Price For Our Values, Then We Should Ask Ourselves Whether We Truly Believe In Them At All.

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

My Job Is To Keep My Eye On The Ball And To Stay Focused On What Can We Get Done Every Single Day To Advance The Vision And Values That Brought Me Here.

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.

There Is No Doubt That The Actions Of Isis Are Designed To Amplify Their Power And The Threat That They Pose. That Helps Them Recruit. That Adds In The Twisted Thoughts Of Some Young Person That They Might Want To Have Carry Out An Action That Somehow They're Part Of A Larger Movement.

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

If We Are Enforcing What Should Be The Rules Around Medicare And Making Sure The People Are Getting The Bang For The Buck, It's Not Going To Be Possible For Insurance Companies To Simply Pass On Those Costs To Medicare Recipients, Because Ultimately It's Uncle Sam That's Paying For Those Services Anyway.

I'm Kind Of A Night Owl.

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.

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

The Idea Of America Endures. Our Destiny Remains Our Choice. And Tonight, More Than Two Centuries Later, It Is Because Of Our People That Our Future Is Hopeful, Our Journey Goes Forward, And The State Of Our Union Is Strong.

We Believe That No Matter Where You Live - Whether A Village In Punjab Or The Bylanes Of Chandni Chowk, An Old Section Of Kolkata Or A New High-rise In Bangalore - Every Person Deserves The Same Chance To Live In Security And Dignity, To Get An Education, To Find Work, And To Give Their Children A Better Future.

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

I Don’t Believe It Is Possible To Transcend Race In This Country. Race Is A Factor In This Society. The Legacy Of Jim Crow And Slavery Has Not Gone Away. It Is Not An Accident That African-americans Experience High Crime Rates, Are Poor, And Have Less Wealth. It Is A Direct Result Of Our Racial History.

In Order For Us To Solve Many Big Problems Around The World, It Is In Our Interest To Work With Russia And Obtain Their Cooperation.

Around The World

Clem (clementa Pinckney) Understood That Justice Grows Out Of Recognition Of Ourselves, In Each Other.

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

As I Got Older, Then My Particular Ambitions Started Cohering Around Creating A World In Which People Of Different Races Or Backgrounds Or Faiths Can Recognize Each Other's Humanity, Or Creating A World In Which Every Kid, Regardless Of Their Background, Can Strive And Achieve And Fulfill Their Potential.

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.

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

I've Said This Before, And I Know This Raises Questions In The Minds Of Some Evangelicals. I Do Not Believe That My Mother, Who Never Formally Embraced Christianity As Far As I Know ... I Do Not Believe She Went To Hell.

Raises Questions

It Is Important For Us To Understand That The Way We Are Perceived In The World Is Going To Make A Difference, In Terms Of Our Capacity To Get Cooperation And Root Out Terrorism. And One Of The Things That I Intend To Do As President Is To Restore America's Standing In The World.

Making A Difference

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.

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.

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

You Not Only Do You Appreciate The Sacrifices People Have Made And The Hours They've Kept And The Soccer Games They Missed And The Birthday Parties, But I Also Had A Lot Of Young People Who Came In Here [to White House], And This Probably, You Know, Echoes With You, In Your Own Experience, You Were Young When You Got Here.

When We Helped Prevent The Massacre Of Civilians Trapped On A Distant Mountain, Here's What One Of Them Said: "we Owe Our American Friends Our Lives. Our Children Will Always Remember That There Was Someone Who Felt Our Struggle And Made A Long Journey To Protect Innocent People." That Is The Difference We Make In The World.

Don't Let Your Failures Define You.

We Remain More Than A Collection Of Red States And Blue States. We Are And Forever Will Be The United States Of America.

We've Protected Thousands Of People In Libya; We Have Not Seen A Single U.s. Casualty; There's No Risks Of Additional Escalation. This Operation Is Limited In Time And In Scope.

We Too Often Let The Material Things Serve As Indicators That We're Doing Well, Even Though Something Inside Us Tells Us That Were Not Doing Our Best. That We Are Avoiding That Which Is Hard, But Also Necessary. That We Are Shrinking From Rather Than Rising To The Challenges Of The Age.

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.

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

I Don't Have Much Patience For Anyone Who Denies That This Challenge Is Real.

N Case You Missed It, This Week, There Was A Tragedy In Kansas. Ten Thousand People Died - An Entire Town Destroyed.

Know That America Is A Friend Of Each Nation And Every Man, Woman, And Child Who Seeks A Future Of Peace And Dignity...[for] We Are Shaped By Every Language And Culture, Drawn From Every End Of This Earth.

I Don't Think There's Anybody Who's Run A Campaign Like [donald Trump] Successfully In Modern History, Not That I Can Think Of. And, As A Consequence Because He Didn't Have The Supports Of Many Of The Establishment In His Own Party, Because He Ran Sort Of An Improvisational Campaign.

I Think That [having Not A Lot Of Time Sweating The Details] Can Be Both A Strength And A Weakness. I Think It Depends On How [donald Trump] Approaches It. If It Gives Him Fresh Eyes, Then That Can Be Valuable. But It Also Requires You Knowing What You Don't Know And Putting In Place People Who Do Have The Kinds Of Experience And Background And Knowledge That Can Inform Good Decision Making.

I Believe In American Exceptionalism, Just As I Suspect That The Brits Believe In British Exceptionalism And The Greeks Believe In Greek Exceptionalism.

We Will Continue To Deepen Our Engagement Using Every Element Of American Power - Diplomacy, Military, Economic Development, The Power Of Our Values And Our Ideals.

I Think I Have An Ongoing Conversation With God. I Think Throughout The Day, I'm Constantly Asking Myself Questions About What I'm Doing, Why Am I Doing It.

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.

If You Give Up On The Idea That Your Voice Can Make A Difference, Then Other Voices Will Fill The Void

Politics Didn't Lead Me To Working People. Working People Led Me Into Politics.

Let Me Tell You Another Place To Look For Some Savings. We Are Currently Spending $10 Billion A Month In Iraq When They Have A $79 Billion Surplus. It Seems To Me That If We're Going To Be Strong At Home As Well As Strong Abroad, That We Have To Look At Bringing That War To A Close.

For The United States Of America, The Best Is Yet To Come.

Best Is Yet To Come

I Think That What Is True Is That The Russians Intended To Meddle, And They Meddled. And It Could Be Another Country In The Future.

We Don't Really Have Any Kind Of Regulatory Structure At All.

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.

People Call Me A Socialist Sometimes. But, No, You Gotta Meet Real Socialists. You'll Have A Sense Of What A Socialist Is.

To Try To Blackmail A President Into Giving Them Some Concessions On Issues That Have Nothing To Do With The Budget.

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.

Based On Current Surveys Of Public Opinion In The United States, It Turns Out That The Majority Of Americans Think I've Done A Pretty Good Job.

I Want To Deal With The Homeless Situation Here In Washington, D.c. I Think It Is A Travesty That We've Got Men - And Increasingly Women - Families, Across The Street And The In Shadow Of This Great Capital, That Shows A Lack Of Concern, Not Just For The Capital, But For American, When We Are Allowing Something Like That To Happen.

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.

We Can't Afford To Stand Pat While The World Races By. The United States Of America Did Not Become The Most Prosperous Nation On Earth By Sheer Luck Or Happenstance. We Got Here Because Each Time A Generation Of Americans Has Faced A Changing World, We Have Changed With It. We Have Not Feared Our Future; We Have Shaped It.

Whatever Decisions I Make Are Going To Be Based First On A Strategy To Keep Us Safe And Then We'll Figure Out How To Resource It.

If You Have Health Care, My Plan Will Lower Your Premiums. If You Don't, You'll Be Able To Get The Same Kind Of Coverage That Members Of Congress Give Themselves.

No U.s. Soldier Ever Dies In Vain Because They're Carrying Out The Missions Of Their Commander In Chief. And We Honor All The Service That They've Provided. Our Troops Have Performed Brilliantly. The Question Is For The Next President, Are We Making Good Judgments About How To Keep America Safe Precisely Because Sending Our Military Into Battle Is Such An Enormous Step.

The Iranians May Simply Try To Run Out The Clock.

We Must Begin By Acknowledging A Hard Truth. We Will Not Eradicate Violent Conflict In Our Lifetimes. There Will Be Times When Nations, Acting Individually Or In Concert, Will Find The Use Of Force Not Only Necessary But Morally Justified.

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.

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

When It Comes To Immigration, I Think Americans Expect That Our Immigration Process Is Orderly And It Is Legal.

I Think There Is Nothing Wrong With Instituting Policies That Say That Harassment Of Any Form, Whether It Comes Through The Internet Or Whether It Happens To You Face To Face, Is Unacceptable; That We've Got Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Sexual Harassment, We Have Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Harassing People Because Of Their Sexual Orientation, Because Of Their Race, Because Of Their Ethnicity.

Inequality Also Distorts Our Democracy. It Gives An Outsized Voice To The Few Who Can Afford High-priced Lobbyists And Unlimited Campaign Contributions, And Runs The Risk Of Selling Out Our Democracy To The Highest Bidder. And It Leaves Everyone Else Rightly Suspicious That The System In Washington Is Rigged Against Them - That Our Elected Representatives Aren't Looking Out For The Interests Of Most Americans.

There Is Nothing Wrong With Our Country, There Is Something Wrong With Our Politics...when This Country Is Operating Off A Common Ground, Nobody Can Stop Us. But When We're Divided, Then We End Up Having A Whole Lot Of Self-inflicted Problems.

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.

We Made America More Respected Around The World, Took On The Mantle Of Leadership In The Fight To Protect This Planet For Our Kids, And Much, Much More.

I'm Really Excited About The Prospect Of A Woman President Of The United States.

Now, Today, Some Children Are Enrolled In Excellent Programs. Some Children Are Enrolled In Mediocre Programs. And Some Are Wasting Away Their Most Formative Years In Bad Programs....that's Why I'm Issuing A Challenge To Our States: Develop A Cutting-edge Plan To Raise The Quality Of Your Early Learning Programs; Show Us How You'll Work To Ensure That Children Are Better Prepared For Success By The Time They Enter Kindergarten. If You Do, We Will Support You With An Early Learning Challenge Grant That I Call On Congress To Enact.

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.

Listening To Evangelicals Bridges Major Political Fault Line.

No One Is Exempt From The Call To Find Common Ground.

We Won't Apologise For Our Way Of Life, Nor Will We Weaver In Its Defence, And For Those Who Seek To Advance Their Aims By Inducing Terror And Slaughtering Innocents, We Say To You Now That Our Spirit Is Stronger And Cannot Be Broken, You Cannot Outlast Us, And We Will Defeat You.

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

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.

I've Been Fighting With Acorn, Alongside Acorn, On Issues You Care About, My Entire Career.

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

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

In America, We've Set Up A System Whereby When You Take On College Debt, You Will Never Have To Pay More Than 10 Percent Of Your Income In Repayments. And What That Will Do Is Make Sure That You Will Never Be Prevented From Going To School Just Because Of Money. We Want To Make Sure That You And Others Like You Can Succeed.

Trending Author

Maynard James Keenan

Hilda Doolittle

Muriel Rukeyser

Christine Gregoire

Cathy Guisewite

Category