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To Me The Question Right Now Is: How Do I Close That First Three-quarters Of The Achievement Gap, Education Gap, Wealth Gap? What Gives Me The Best Chance To Do That? And I'm Pretty Darn Sure That If America Is A Just Society And Treating People Well Right Now, Irrespective Of Past Wrongs, That I'm Going To Close A Big Chunk Of That Gap. I've Seen It.

-Barack Obama

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To Me The Question

Barack Obama

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To Me The Question Right Now Is: How Do I Close That First Three-quarters Of The Achievement Gap, Education Gap, Wealth Gap? What Gives Me The Best Chance To Do That? And I'm Pretty Darn Sure That If America Is A Just Society And Treating People Well Right Now, Irrespective Of Past Wrongs, That I'm Going To Close A Big Chunk Of That Gap. I've Seen It.

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We Are The Change We Have Been Waiting For.

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.

There's A Reason Why The Nra's Not Here. They're Just Down The Street. And Since This Is The Main Reason They Exist, You'd Think That They'd Be Prepared To Have A Debate With A President.

People'd Be Like, "oh, Spending Taxpayer Money." It's Like, "no, No, I Actually I'm Paying For All Of This. The Only Thing I Don't Pay For Is Secret Service And An Airplane."

What Is True, And I Think That We Can't Deny It, Is That Some Of The Same Concerns About Globalization, About Technology, Rapid Social Change That Were Reflected In Brexit, That's Been Reflected In Some Of The Debates In Germany And France And Other Places, That Those Exist In The United States As Well. My View Is That Over The Long Term, Over The Next 10, 15, 20 Years, If We Are Able To Address The Legitimate Economic Concerns Of Those Who Feel Left Behind By Globalization, Then Many Of These Tensions Will Be Reduced. And We Will See A World That Is Less Divided.

I Was Able To Excite And Engage People Who Previously Hadn't Been Involved In Politics, And Part Of The Reason That I Was Able To Be Re-elected And Stay Relatively Popular In The United States Was Because Even When The Economy Was Bad Or We Had Problems, People Sensed That I Listened To Them And I Was On Their Side.

All The Strands Of My Life Came Together And I Really Became A Man When I Moved To Chicago.

America Can Do Whatever We Set Our Mind To. That Is The Story Of Our History, Whether It's The Pursuit Of Prosperity For Our People, Or The Struggle For Equality For All Our Citizens; Our Commitment To Stand Up For Our Values Abroad, And Our Sacrifices To Make The World A Safer Place. 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.

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

We, The People, Declare Today That The Most Evident Of Truths - That All Of Us Are Created Equal - Is The Star That Guides Us Still; Just As It Guided Our Forebears Through Seneca Falls, And Selma, And Stonewall; Just As It Guided All Those Men And Women, Sung And Unsung, Who Left Footprints Along This Great Mall, To Hear A Preacher Say That We Cannot Walk Alone; To Hear A King Proclaim That Our Individual Freedom Is Inextricably Bound To The Freedom Of Every Soul On Earth.

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

African American

I Do Think That When You Go Into Red States, They're - So-called Red States - I Think They're Troubled With Certain Excesses With Respect To The Patriot Act, But They're Also Concerned With Making Sure We're Secure Against Terrorism.

I Am Absolutely Convinced That Race Relations On The Whole Are Actually Better Now Than They Were 20 Years [ago].

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

America's Not Just [about] Looking Out For Yourself, It's Not Just About Greed, It's Not Just About Trying To Climb To The Very Top And Keep Everybody Else Down. ... Hard Work, That's A Value. Looking Out For One Another, That's A Value. The Idea That We're All In It Together And [that] I'm My Brother's Keeper And [my] Sister's Keeper, That's A Value.

Isil Poses A Threat To The People Of Iraq And Syria, And The Broader Middle East - Including American Citizens, Personnel And Facilities. If Left Unchecked, These Terrorists Could Pose A Growing Threat Beyond That Region, Including To The United States.

We Can Lose So Much Of What We've Gained In Terms Of The Kind Of Democratic Freedoms And Market-based Economies And Prosperity That We've Come To Take For Granted.

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.

We Can't Change The Way Washington Works Unless We First Change How Congress Works.

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

We Will Not Engage In An Endless Process Of Negotiations.

America, Now Is Not The Time For Small Plans.

If We Want To Really Reduce Foreign Influence On Our Elections, Then We Better Think About How To Make Sure That Our Political Process, Our Political Dialogue Is Stronger Than It's Been.

No, You Can't Deny Women Their Basic Rights And Pretend It's About Your 'religious Freedom'. If You Don't Like Birth Control, Don't Use It. Religious Freedom Doesn't Mean You Can Force Others To Live By Your Own Beliefs.

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.

I Think That What Is Always True When You Run Against An Incumbent President Is, Is That You End Up Talking More About That President's Record Than Your Vision For The Future, And I Think That The Democrats Do Have To Present A Proactive Agenda And Vision For The Country And Not Simply Run Against Something If They're Going To Be Successful.

My Administration Is Committed To Creating An Unprecedented Level Of Openness In Government. We Will Work Together To Ensure The Public Trust And Establish A System Of Transparency, Public Participation, And Collaboration. Openness Will Strengthen Our Democracy And Promote Efficiency And Effectiveness In Government.

I Will Cut Investments In Unproven Missile Defense Systems.

Now Suddenly You Got Members Of Your [white House] Team Who Were 23, 24. They've Met Their Wives Here, Or Their Husbands Here.

I Reject Discrimination Against Muslim Americans - Who Are Just As Patriotic As We Are.

We Believed We Could Prepare Our Kids For A More Competitive World. And Today, Our Younger Students Have Earned The Highest Math And Reading Scores On Record. Our High School Graduation Rate Has Hit An All-time High. And More Americans Finish College Than Ever Before.

Even The Smallest Act Of Service, The Simplest Act Of Kindness, Is A Way To Honor Those We Lost, A Way To Reclaim That Spirit Of Unity That Followed 9/11.

Ultimately, I Remain Optimistic About Not Just America's Future, But The Direction That The World Is Growing.

Tough Talk Often Draws Headlines, But War Rarely Conforms To Slogans.

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

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

I'll Change The Posture Of Our Federal Government From Being One Of The Most Anti-science Administrations In American History To One That Embraces Science And Technology.

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

We Can Still See God In Other People And Do Our Best To Help Them Find Their Own Grace. So That’s What I Strive To Do And Pray To Do Every Day.

I Think It's About Time! Who Cares Whether He Is Looking For Votes Or Not! At Least Your Country Is Moving Forward With The Times!

For We, The People, Understand That Our Country Cannot Succeed When A Shrinking Few Do Very Well And A Growing Many Barely Make It.

At Least Romney And Mccain, They Respect The Rule Of Law. At Least Romney And Mccain, They Understand Their Limitations.

The Peaceful Transition Of Power Is One Of The Hallmarks Of Our Democracy.

The Problem Is, That We've Got A Position, Often Times By The Nra That Says Any Regulation Whatsoever Is The Camel's Nose Under The Tent. And That, I Think, Is Not Where The American People Are At.

Today I Am Pledging To Cut The Deficit We Inherited In Half By The End Of My First Term In Office.

Broken Promises

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

Grace Bell Lived In Belhaven, North Carolina Her Entire Life, All 100 Years Of Her Life. Just A Few Weeks Ago Republicans Challenged Her Voter Registration Status And Tried To Remove Her From The Voter Rolls. Now Grace Got Her Voter Registration Reinstated. And You Better Believe She`s Going To Vote. But This 100-year Old Woman Wasn`t Alone In Being Targeted. The List Of Voters Republicans Tried To Purge Was Two-thirds Black And Democratic. That Didn`t Happen By Accident.

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.

I'm A Big Believer In Tolerance. I Think That Religion At It's Best Comes With A Big Dose Of Doubt.

[a] Family With Two Kids That Earns The Minimum Wage Still Lives Below The Poverty Line. That's Wrong. That's Why, Since The Last Time This Congress Raised The Minimum Wage, 19 States Have Chosen To Bump Theirs Even Higher. Tonight, Let's Declare That In The Wealthiest Nation On Earth, No One Who Works Full-time Should Have To Live In Poverty, And Raise The Federal Minimum Wage To $9 An Hour.

And I Will Do Everything That I Can As Long As I Am President Of The United States To Remind The American People That We Are One Nation Under God, And We May Call That God Different Names But We Remain One Nation.

I Would Have I Think Made A Bigger Mistake If I Had Said, "eh, Chemical Weapons. That Doesn't Really Change My Calculus." I Think It Was Important For Me As President Of The United States To Send A Message That In Fact There Is Something Different About Chemical Weapons [in Syria].

Love And Hope Can Conquer Hate.

All Americans Should Be Deeply Troubled By The Fatal Shootings Of Alton Sterling In Baton Rouge, Louisiana And Philando Castile In Falcon Heights, Minnesota. We've Seen Such Tragedies Far Too Many Times, And Our Hearts Go Out To The Families And Communities Who've Suffered Such A Painful Loss.

Now, As A Nation, We Don't Promise Equal Outcomes, But We Were Founded On The Idea Everybody Should Have An Equal Opportunity To Succeed. No Matter Who You Are, What You Look Like, Where You Come From, You Can Make It. That's An Essential Promise Of America. Where You Start Should Not Determine Where You End Up.

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.

What Is True Is [bashar] Assad Got Rid Of His Chemical Weapons.

Chemical Weapons

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.

More Broadly, Prime Minister Lee [hsien Loong] And I Will Work To Advance The Us-singapore Partnership Across The Board. We're Committed To Sustaining The Dynamism Of Our Economies With The Trans-pacific Partnership - The Highest-standard Trade Agreement Ever - Which Will Support Trade And Innovation In Both Our Countries.

If We Truly Believe In Our Public Schools, Then We Have A Moral Responsibility To Do Better - To Break The Either-or Mentality Around School Reform, And Embrace A Both-and Mentality. Good Schools Will Require Both The Structural Reform And The Resources Necessary To Prepare Our Kids For The Future.

The Thing That Has Disturbed Me Most About The Russian Hacking Episode Is - And The Thing That Surprised Me Most Has Not Been The Fact Of Russian Hacking. The Cyber World Is Full Of Information Gathering, You Know, Propaganda, Et Cetera. I Have Been Concerned About The Degree To Which, In Some Circles, You've Seen People Suggest That Vladimir Putin Has More Credibility Than The U.s. Government. I Think That's Something New.

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.

I'm Suspicious Of Too Much Certainty In The Pursuit Of Understanding Just Because I Think People Are Limited In Their Understanding.

Presidential Elections Always Turn On Personalities, They Turn On How Campaigns Are Run, They Turn On Natural Desires For Change.

America Is Not The Crude Stereotype Of A Self-interested Empire. Given Our Interdependence, Any World Order That Elevates One Nation Or Group Of People Over Another Will Inevitably Fail.

There Is Not A Black America And A White America; A Latino America, An Asian America. There Is The United States Of America.

The World Must Come Together To Confront Climate Change. There Is Little Scientific Dispute That If We Do Nothing, We Will Face More Drought, Famine And Mass Displacement That Will Fuel More Conflict For Decades.

No One Built This Country On Their Own. This Nation Is Great Because We Built It Together.

John Conyers And I Were The Ones Who Wrote The Bill That Provides For Medicare For All. And, So, Even Though The Single-payer Plan Is Not What's Before The Congress, To Expand Medicare, So That People 55 And Up Would Be - Would Have The Chance To Buy In, That's - That Would Be A Step In The Right Direction, No Question About It.

I've Said Repeatedly That Where We See Terrorist Organizations Like Al-qaeda Or Isil, They Have Perverted And Distorted And Tried To Claim The Mantle Of Islam For An Excuse, For Basically Barbarism And Death. These Are People Who Kill Children, Kill Muslims, Take Sex Slaves - There's No Religious Rationale That Would Justify In Any Way Any Of The Things That They Do.

Every Single Thing I`ve Done, From The Affordable Care Act To Pushing To Raise The Minimum Wage, To Making Sure That Young People Are Able To Go To College And Get Good Job Training, To What We`re Pushing Now In Terms Of Sick Paid Leave,everything I Do Has Been Focused On How Do We Make Sure The Middle Class Is Getting A Fair Deal.

Let's Face It, I Like Stanford Grads. I'd Always Hear About This Campus, And Everybody Is Riding Bikes, And People Hopping Into Fountains.

It Is My Firm Belief That It Will Be In The Interests Of The United States, Especially Our Economic Interests, To Pursue Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

What I Said To Donald Trump Was That What May Work In Generating Enthusiasm Or Passion During Elections May Be Different Than What Will Work In Terms Of Unifying The Country And Gaining The Trust Even Of Those Who Didn't Support Him.

People Take Pride In Being Irish-american And Italian-american. They Have A Particular Culture That Infuses The Whole Culture And Makes It Richer And More Interesting. I Think If We Can Expand That Attitude To Embrace African-americans And Latino-americans And Asian-americans, Then We Will Be In A Position Where All Our Kids Can Feel Comfortable With The Worlds They Are Coming Out Of, Knowing They Are Part Of Something Larger.

If You're Really Concerned About Deficits, You Cannot Take Seriously A Budget That Would Give $30 Billion A Year Worth Of Tax Cuts To Not Just The Top 1 Percent But The Top 0.1 Percent.

One Of The Things I Think We Have To Do Is Make Sure That College Is Affordable For Every Young Person In America. And I Also Think That We're Going To Have To Rebuild Our Infrastructure, Which Is Falling Behind, Our Roads, Our Bridges, But Also Broadband Lines That Reach Into Rural Communities. So There Are Some Things That We've Got To Do Structurally To Make Sure That We Can Compete In This Global Economy. We Can't Shortchange Those Things. We've Got To Eliminate Programs That Don't Work, And We've Got To Make Sure That The Programs That We Do Have Are More Efficient And Cost Less.

You Don't Know How It Would Have Turned Out If [kids] Would Grown Up In Chicago Instead, And A More Normal Environment.

For Me, Lincoln Is Like Just A Handful Of People - A Gandhi, Or A Picasso, Or A Martin Luther King Jr. - Who Is An Original And Captures Something Essential.

The Interesting Thing About The African-american Experience In This Country Is That We Are Sort Of A Mongrel Of People. I Mean We're All Kind Of Mixed Up.

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

Any Time Bombs Are Used To Target Civilians It Is An Act Of Terror.

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

We Have Greater Awareness Of Where We're Falling Short Than We Used To. Just Take The Example Of Community Police Relations.

What I'm Interested In Doing After I Get Out Of The Presidency Is To Make Sure That I'm Working With That Next Generation So That They Understand You Can't Just Rely On Inspiration.

I Stand Here Today As Hopeful As Ever That The United States Of America Will Endure, That It Will Prevail, That The Dream Of Our Founders Will Live On In Our Time.

I Will Tell You, When 20 6-year-olds Are Gunned Down And Congress Literally Does Nothing, Yeah That's The Closest I Came To Feeling Disgusted.

Here`s A Guy Who Says He`s A Great Businessman. But It Seems Like A Lot Of Trump's Business Is Built Around Stiffing Small Businesses And Workers Out Of What He Owes Them, Work They`ve Done. He Thinks That`s Cute Or Smart Or Funny To Basically Not Pay Somebody Who`s Done Work For Him And Say Go Ahead And Sue Me Because I`ve Got More Money Than You And You Can`t Do Anything About It.

As Soon As The Recovery Is Well Under Way, We Need To Set Up A Long-term Plan To Reduce The Structural Deficit And Make Sure We Are Not Leaving A Mountain Of Debt For The Next Generation.

I Don't Buy The Hype When Everybody Is Saying How Wonderful Things Are And How Great I Am, And I Don't Get Too Down When People Say, "this Is A Disaster And He's Done For."

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.

It Was As If He Had Come To Mistrust Words Somehow. Words, And The Sentiments Words Carried.

Persevere. Nothing Worthwhile Is Easy.

Now Is The Time To Keep The Promise Of Equal Pay For An Equal Day's Work, Because I Want My Daughters To Have Exactly The Same Opportunities As Your Sons.

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.

It's The Answer Told By Lines That Stretched Around Schools And Churches In Numbers This Nation Has Never Seen; By People Who Waited Three Hours And Four Hours, Many For The Very First Time In Their Lives, Because They Believed That This Time Must Be Different, That Their Voice Could Be That Difference.

You Don't Take It Personally. You Understand That If People Are Angry That Somehow The Government Is Failing, Then They Are Going To Look To The Guy Who Represents Government.

Al Qaeda Is Still A Threat. We Cannot Pretend Somehow That Because Barack Hussein Obama Got Elected As President, Suddenly Everything Is Going To Be Ok.

I Think That [donald Trump] Clearly Was Able To Tap Into A Lot Of Grievances. And He Has A Talent For Making A Connection With His Supporters That Overrode Some Of The Traditional Benchmarks Of How You'd Run A Campaign Or Conduct Yourself As A Presidential Candidate. What Will Be Interesting To See Is How That Plays Out During The Course Of His Presidency.

Let's Remember That Our Leadership Is Defined Not Just By Our Defence Against Threats, But By The Enormous Opportunities To Do Good And Promote Understanding.

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

I Look Forward To Hosting Prime Minister Lee [hsien Loong], Whose Friendship And Partnership I Appreciate Very Much And With Whom I've Worked Throughout My Administration. This Will Also Be An Opportunity For Me To Reciprocate The Hospitality That The Prime Minister And The People Of Singapore Showed To Me During My Visit To Singapore For The Apec Summit In 2009.

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

All Of These Different Strands In Me - The Black, The White, The African - All Of That Has Contributed Directly To My Success Because When I Meet People, I See A Piece Of Myself In Them. And Maybe They See A Piece Of Themselves In Me.

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.

I Think When You Spread The Wealth Around It's Good For Everybody.

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.

I Don't Think That Hedge Funds Are Bad Per Se. I Think They're Just One More Financial Tool. And In That Sense, They're Useful.

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

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.

Keep In Mind That, When I Came In, We Had Had A Crisis That Was The Worst We've Seen Since The 1930s, And Working With People Like Chancellor Merkel, Working With The G-20 And Other Institutions Internationally, We Were Able To Stabilize The Financial System, Stabilize The Us Economy And Return To Growth.

Battling Terrorism Must Go Beyond Belligerence Vs. Isolation.

There Is A Word In South Africa - Ubuntu - That Describes His Greatest Gift: His Recognition That We Are All Bound Together In Ways That Can Be Invisible To The Eye; That There Is A Oneness To Humanity; That We Achieve Ourselves By Sharing Ourselves With Others, And Caring For Those Around Us.

Robin Williams Was An Airman, A Doctor, A Genie, A Nanny ... And Everything In Between. But He Was One Of A Kind.

I Have Made It A Top Priority For My Administration To Deepen Cooperation With Israel Across The Whole Spectrum Of Security Issues - Intelligence, Military, Technology.

We Are Very Grateful For The Vital Contributions Germany Has Made To This Fight, Training Local Forces In Iraq, Sharing Intelligence Providing Reconnaissance Aircraft Including The Recent Deployment Of Additional Nato Awacs.

There Is No Individual Salvation Without Collective Salvation

Both President Kennedy And President Reagan Were Roundly Criticized By Parts Of The Foreign Policy Establishment That Felt They Were Being Weak By Engaging Our Adversaries. So Some Of It Is Built Into A Political Lexicon That Makes You Sound Tougher If You Don't Talk To Somebody, And Rather, Very Loudly, Wield A Big Stick.

Suppressing Ideas Never Succeeds In Making Them Go Away.

We Will Encourage More Americans To Study In Muslim Communities

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

I Believe That We Have Better Ideas. But I Also Believe That Good Ideas Don't Matter If People Don't Hear Them.

I'm Going To Insist On Making Sure That We've Got Decent Funding, That We've Got Enough Teachers, That We've Got Computers In The Classroom, But Unless You Turn Off The Television Set And Get Over A Certain Anti-intellectualism That I Think Pervades Some Low-income Communities, Our Children Are Not Going To Achieve.

Everybody Deserves Fair Treatment, Equal Treatment In The Eyes Of The Law And The State. And That Includes Gays, Lesbians, Transgender Persons. I Am Not A Fan Of Discrimination And Bullying Of Anybody On The Basis Of Race, On The Basis Of Religion, On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation Or Gender. This Is Actually Part And Parcel Of The Agenda That's Also Going To Be Front And Centre, And That Is How Are We Treating Women And Girls.

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.

Even When Our Heart Aches, We Summon The Strength That Maybe We Didn't Even Know We Had, And We Carry On; We Finish The Race.

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.

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. That We Can Have An Idea And Start Our Own Business Without Paying A Bribe Or Hearing A Sudden Knock On The Door. That We Can Participate In The Political Process Without Fear Of Retribution, And That Our Votes Will Be Counted.

Those Opposed To Abortion Cannot Simply Invoke God's Will-they Have To Explain Why Abortion Violates Some Principle That Is Accessible To People Of All Faiths.

We Should Never Hesitate To Use Military Force, And I Will Not, As President, In Order To Keep The American People Safe. But We Have To Use Our Military Wisely. And We Did Not Use Our Military Wisely In Iraq.

I Don't Think [pot] Is More Dangerous Than Alcohol.

I Was Elected Because I Believed In What We Call "grassroots Politics," Politics From The Bottom Up, Not The Top Down.

Whatever We Once Were, We Are No Longer Just A Christian Nation; We Are Also A Jewish Nation, A Muslim Nation, A Buddhist Nation, A Hindu Nation, And A Nation Of Nonbelievers.

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.

There's Just A Whole Different Attitude And Vibe When You're Not In Power As When You're In Power.

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

My Central Focus Is What Are We Doing To Protect The American People And The American Homeland? Afghanistan And Pakistan Are Critical Elements In That Process.

We Have To Deal With The 11 Million Individuals Who Are Here Illegally. The Bill That Senator [marco] Rubio Put Forward, I Think Is A Great Place To Start.

We Invest In Early Childhood Education. We Invest Additional Job Training Dollars. We Make Sure That We've Got A Strong Research And Development Strategy So That We Continue To Innovate. Rebuilding Our Infrastructure, Which We Know Will Attract Businesses.

Research And Development

Donald Trump Seems To Do A Good Job Mentioning His Own Name.

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

So We Have A Choice To Make. We Can Once Again Let Washington's Bad Habits Stand In The Way Of Progress. Or We Can Pull Together And Say That In America, Our Destiny Isn't Written For Us But By Us. We Can Place Good Ideas Ahead Of Old Ideological Battles, And A Sense Of Purpose Above The Same Narrow Partisanship. We Can Act Boldly To Turn Crisis Into Opportunity And, Together, Write The Next Great Chapter In Our History And Meet The Test Of Our Time.

Iraq Will Require Us Occupation Of Undetermined Length.

And That Means That No Matter How We Reform Health Care, We Will Keep This Promise To The American People: If You Like Your Doctor, You Will Be Able To Keep Your Doctor, Period. If You Like Your Health Care Plan, You'll Be Able To Keep Your Health Care Plan, Period. No One Will Take It Away, No Matter What.

Keeping Promises

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

I Would Not Advise People Who Feel Strongly Or Are Concerned About Some Of The Issues That Have Been Raised During The Course Of The [president Electing] Campaign.

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.

And As Husbands And Fathers And Brothers, We Have To Step Up - Because Every Girl’s Life Matters. Every Daughter Deserves The Same Chance As Our Sons. Every Woman Should Be Able To Go About Her Day - To Walk The Streets Or Ride The Bus - And Be Safe, And Be Treated With Respect And Dignity. She Deserves That.

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

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

Just As Black Anger Often Proved Counterproductive, So Have These White Resentments Distracted Attention From The Real Culprits Of The Middle Class Squeeze - A Corporate Culture Rife With Inside Dealing, Questionable Accounting Practices, And Short-term Greed.

The Notion That We Can Control The Flow Of Information Is Obsolete.

It's Not Appealing To Deal With Countries That Express Hatred Towards Us.

If You Only Think About Yourself - How Much Money Can I Make, What Can I Buy, How Nice Is My House, What Kind Of Fancy Car Do I Have? - Over The Long Term, I Think, You Get Bored. I Think Your Life Becomes Diminished. The Way To Live A Full Life Is To Think: What Can I Do For Others?

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

Anybody Gone Into Whole Foods Lately And See What They Charge For Arugula? I Mean, They're Charging A Lot Of Money For This Stuff.

You Can Choose A Future Where More Americans Have The Chance To Gain The Skills They Need To Compete, No Matter How Old They Are Or How Much Money They Have. Education Was The Gateway To Opportunity For Me. It Was The Gateway For Michelle. And Now More Than Ever, It Is The Gateway To A Middle-class Life.

I Wanna Thank The German People For The Incredible Partnership That Our Countries Have Been Able To Establish All These Years.

Those Are Values That Help Guide Not Just My Family's Christian Faith, But That Of Jewish Americans, And Muslim Americans; Nonbelievers And Americans Of All Backgrounds. And No One Better Embodies That Spirit Of Service Than The Men And Women Who Wear Our Country's Uniform And Their Families.

I'm Not The Strapping Young Muslim Socialist That I Used To Be.

Now, Because He Knows That His Economic Theories Don't Work, He's Been Spending These Last Few Days Calling Me Every Name In The Book. Lately He's Called Me A Socialist For Wanting To Roll-back The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthiest Americans So We Can Finally Give Tax Relief To The Middle Class. I Don't Know What's Next. By The End Of The Week He'll Be Accusing Me Of Being A Secret Communist Because I Shared My Toys In Kindergarten. I Shared My Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich.

I Take The Constitution Very Seriously. The Biggest Problems That We're Facing Right Now Have To Do With [the President] Trying To Bring More And More Power Into The Executive Branch And Not Go Through Congress At All. And That's What I Intend To Reverse When I'm President Of The United States Of America.

I Can Document This Past Week [of Presidency] We've Put Out Memos From Every Agency Showing What Did We Do. Try To Be As Honest As Possible. There's A Little Hype Involved Obviously. It's Spin Because It's Our Agencies. We Feel Some Pride About It. But Tried To Be Self-critical As Well.

California Is Our Biggest Economy. California Is Our Biggest Agricultural Producer. So What Happens Here Matters To Every Working American.

Nobody's Changing What You've Got. You Get To Keep It.

I Think What You're Seeing Is A Profound Recognition On The Part Of The American People That Gays And Lesbians And Transgender Persons Are Our Brothers, Our Sisters, Our Children, Our Cousins, Our Friends, Our Co-workers, And That They've Got To Be Treated Like Every Other American. And I Think That Principle Will Win Out.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Is Over, And The Iraqi People Now Have Lead Responsibility For The Security Of Their Country

All Across The World, ...increasingly Dangerous Weather Patterns And Devastating Storms Are Abruptly Putting An End To The Long-running Debate Over Whether Or Not Climate Change Is Real. Not Only Is It Real, It's Here, And Its Effects Are Giving Rise To A Frighteningly New Global Phenomenon: The Man-made Natural Disaster.

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.

Cathleen Falsani: What Is Sin? Barack Obama: Being Out Of Alignment With My Values.

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.

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

And To All Those Who Have Wondered If Americas Beacon Still Burns As Bright - Tonight We Proved Once More That The True Strength Of Our Nation Comes Not From Our The Might Of Our Arms Or The Scale Of Our Wealth, But From The Enduring Power Of Our Ideals: Democracy, Liberty, Opportunity, And Unyielding Hope. For That Is The True Genius Of America - That America Can Change. Our Union Can Be Perfected. And What We Have Already Achieved Gives Us Hope For What We Can And Must Achieve Tomorrow.

How Does The Saying Go? When Two Locusts Fight, It Is Always The Crow That Feasts.' Is That A Luo Expression?' I Asked. Sayid's Face Broke Into A Bashful Smile. We Have A Similar Expression In Luo,' He Said, 'but Actually I Must Admit That I Read This Particular Expression In A Book By Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian Writer. I Like His Books Very Much. He Speaks The Truth About Africa's Predicament. The Nigerian, The Kenya - It Is The Same. We Share More Than Divides Us.

I Think The American People Can Change Washington. But I Think That It Is Not Going To Change, Because Somebody From On High Directs That Change.

People Can Change

Globalization Makes Our Economy, Our Health, And Our Security All Captive To Events On The Other Side Of The World. And No Other Nation On Earth Has A Greater Capacity To Shape That Global System, Or To Build Consensus Around A New Set Of International Rules That Expand The Zones Of Freedom, Personal Safety, And Economic Well-being. Like It Or Not, If We Want To Make America More Secure, We Are Going To Have To Help Make The World More Secure.

One Of The Issues The Democrats Have To Be Clear On Is The Given Population Distribution Across The Country. We Have To Compete Everywhere. We Have To Show Up Everywhere. We Have To Work At A Grassroots Level, Something That's Been A Running Thread In My Career.

We've Evolved A Lot Since 9/11 Also, In Terms Of Our Law Enforcement Capabilities, Our Intelligence Capabilities, Military, Counterterrorism.

Entrepreneurs Embody The Promise Of America: The Idea That If You Have A Good Idea And Are Willing To Work Hard And See It Through, You Can Succeed In This Country. And In Fulfilling This Promise, Entrepreneurs Also Play A Critical Role In Expanding Our Economy And Creating Jobs.

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

I Think That At A Certain Stage Those Early Ambitions Burn Away, Partly Because You Achieve Something, You Get Something Done, You Get Some Notoriety. And Then The Particularities Of Who You Are And What Your Deepest Commitments Are Begin Expressing Themselves. You're Not Just Chasing The Idea Of "me" Being Important, But You, Rather, Are Chasing A Particular Passion.

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

We Have To Ensure Free And Open Exchange Of Information. That Starts With An Open Internet. I Will Take A Backseat To No One In My Commitment To Network Neutrality. Because Once Providers Start To Privilege Some Applications Or Websites Over Others Then The Smaller Voices Get Squeezed Out And We All Lose. The Internet Is Perhaps The Most Open Network In History, And We Have To Keep It That Way.

The Silence Killed Your Faith.

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.

The Holy Koran Tells Us, 'o Mankind! We Have Created You Male And A Female; And We Have Made You Into Nations And Tribes So That You May Know One Another.'

I Would Say That I Have Been Consistent In My Broad View Of How American Power Should Be Deployed, And The View That We Underestimate Our Power When We Restrict It To Just Our Military Power. We Shortchange Our Influence And Our Ability To Shape Events When That's The Only Tool We Think We Have In The Toolbox.

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

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.

I Will Set Big Goals For This Country As President - Some So Large That The Technology To Reach Them Does Not Yet Exist.""i Will Recruit New Teachers And Make New Investments In Rural Schools, We'll Connect All Of America To 21st Century Technology And Telecommunications.

Civility Also Requires Relearning How To Disagree Without Being Disagreeable. Surely You Can Question My Policies Without Questioning My Faith Or, For That Matter, My Citizenship.

What I Want To Try To Do Is Unify The Two Wings Of The Democratic Party. What's Considered The More Progressive Wing Of The Democratic Party - The More Centrist Wing Of The Party. I Think We Can Craft An Approach That Is More American, Pro-worker, Pro-business, Pro-growth.

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

Hostility And Hatred Are No Match For Justice; They Offer No Pathway To Peace.

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

Around The World, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela -- What They Did Was Hard. It Takes Time. It Takes More Than A Single Term. It Takes More Than A Single President. It Takes More Than A Single Individual.

Perfect Is Unattainable. Better Is Possible.

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

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

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Gary L. Francione

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