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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.

-Barack Obama

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We Also Recommit To

Barack Obama

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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.

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Because Our Right To Worship Freely And Safely, That Right Was Denied To Christians In Charleston, South Carolina, And That Was Denied Jews In Kansas City, And That Was Denied Muslims In Chapel Hill, And Sikhs In Oak Creek. They Had Rights Too. Our Right To Peaceful Assembly, That Right Was Robbed From Movie Goers In Aurora And Lafayette.

That Just Gives Sort Of The Democracy An Opportunity To Test Ideas, For Those Who Lost To Catch Their Breath, Regain Energy, Re-energize Themselves And Then Get Back In The Arena, And Then We'll Make Some More Progress In The Future.

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I Believe In Term Limits For Presidents Because I Think That There Is No Doubt I'm A Better President Now Than I Was When I Start.

To All Those Watching Tonight From Beyond Our Shores, From Parliaments And Palaces, To Those Who Are Huddled Around Radios In The Forgotten Corners Of The World, Our Stories Are Singular, But Our Destiny Is Shared, And A New Dawn Of American Leadership Is At Hand.

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.

So I Came To My Christian Faith Later In Life, And It Was Because The Precepts Of Jesus Christ Spoke To Me In Terms Of The Kind Of Life That I Would Want To Lead. Jesus Christ Dying For My Sins Spoke To The Humility We All Have To Have As Human Beings, That We're Sinful And We're Flawed And We Make Mistakes, And That We Achieve Salvation Through The Grace Of God.

There Is No Shame In Confusion Or Fear. "there Was Only Shame In The Silence Fear Had Produced. . . . It Was The Silence That Betrayed Us."

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

We Reaffirm That On Days Like This, There Are No Republicans Or Democrats. We Are Americans, United In Concern For Our Fellow Citizens.

I Am Convinced That Whenever We Exaggerate Or Demonize, Oversimplify Or Overstate Our Case, We Lose. Whenever We Dumb Down The Political Debate, We Lose. For It's Precisely The Pursuit Of Ideological Purity, The Rigid Orthodoxy And The Sheer Predictability Of Our Current Political Debate, That Keeps Us From Finding New Ways To Meet The Challenges We Face.

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.

Our Friends At The Republican Convention Were More Than Happy To Talk About Everything They Think Is Wrong With America, But They Didn't Have Much To Say About How They'd Make It Right. They Want Your Vote, But They Don't Want You To Know Their Plan.

I Think The Average American, If They Go To The Workplace, Somebody's Next To 'em, They're Not Poking Around Trying To Figure Out What Their Religious Beliefs Are.

It's Important To Make Sure That Governments Have Some Checks On What They Do, That People Can Oversee What's Being Done So The Government Doesn't Abuse It.

Reading Is Important. If You Know How To Read Then The Whole World Opens Up To You

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 Think It Is Important That We Are Targeting Hiv/aids Resources Into The Communities Where We're Seeing The Highest Growth Rates. That Means Education And Prevention, Particularly With Young People.

I Don't Take A Dime Of Their [lobbyist] Money, And When I Am President, They Won't Find A Job In My White House.

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

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

Marriage Equality

We Continue To Believe That A Two-state Solution Is The Only Way For The Long-term Security Of Israel, If It Wants To Stay Both A Jewish State And Democratic.

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.

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

If John Mccain Wants To Have A Debate About Who Has The Temperament, And Judgment, To Serve As The Next Commander-in-chief, That's A Debate I'm Ready To Have.

Generally Speaking, People Who Know Me Will Tell You That My Public Persona Is Not That Different From My Private Persona.

I Never Understood That Line. The Point Was To Inhale. That Was The Point.

The Globe Is Shrinking, The Information Age Is Bringing A Lot Of Changes. People Are Anxious About Their Future And Their Children's Futures.

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

We Should Foster A Culture In Which People's Private Religious Beliefs, Including Atheists And Agnostics, Are Respected. And That's The Kind Of Culture That I Think Allows All Of Us, Then, To Believe What We Want. That's Freedom Of Conscience. That's What Our Constitution Guarantees.

Nobody Is Listening To Your Telephone Calls.

This Is Not Class Warfare. It’s Math.

We Need Fathers To Step Up, To Realize That Their Job Does Not End At Conception; That What Makes You A Man Is Not The Ability To Have A Child But The Courage To Raise One.

International Inspectors Are On The Ground And Iran Is Being Subjected To The Most Comprehensive, Intrusive Inspection Regime Ever Negotiated To Monitor A Nuclear Program. Inspectors Will Monitor Iran's Key Nuclear Facilities 24 Hours A Day, 365 Days A Year. For Decades To Come, Inspectors Will Have Access To Iran's Entire Nuclear Supply Chain. In Other Words, If Iran Tries To Cheat - If They Try To Find Build A Bomb Covertly, We Will Catch Them.

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?

Mitt Romney Is Familiar With Jobs Being Shipped Overseas Because He Invested In Companies That Were Shipping Jobs Overseas.

A Good Gi Bill Would Increase The Recruit Pool.

One Of The Things That You Come Pretty Early On To Understand In This Job, And You Start Figuring Out Even During The Course Of The Campaign, Is That There's Barack Obama The Person And There's Barack Obama The Symbol, Or The Office Holder, Or What People Are Seeing On Television, Or Just A Representative Of Power. And So When People Criticize Or Respond Negatively To Me, Usually They're Responding To This Character That They're Seeing On Tv Called Barack Obama, Or To The Office Of The Presidency And The White House And What That Represents.

Now Let's Make Two Things Clear: Isil Is Not 'islamic.' No Religion Condones The Killing Of Innocents, And The Vast Majority Of Isil's Victims Have Been Muslim. And Isil Is Certainly Not A State. It Was Formerly Al Qaeda's Affiliate In Iraq, And Has Taken Advantage Of Sectarian Strife And Syria's Civil War To Gain Territory On Both Sides Of The Iraq-syrian Border. It Is Recognized By No Government, Nor The People It Subjugates. Isil Is A Terrorist Organization, Pure And Simple. And It Has No Vision Other Than The Slaughter Of All Who Stand In Its Way.

And, You Know, I Don’t Want To Have To Worry That She Is Going To Get Sick As The Consequence Of Having, Having Her Lunch.

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

We Start This New Year In The Midst Of An Economic Crisis Unlike We Have Seen In Our Lifetime.

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.

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

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

Isis Is A Virulent, Nasty Organization That Has Gained A Foothold In Ungoverned Spaces Effectively In Syria And Parts Of Western Iraq. We Have To Take It Seriously. They've Shown In Paris What They Can Do In An Organized Fashion.

I Don't Want To Make Decisions About What I'm Eating Or Wearing. Because I Have Too Many Other Decisions To Make.

It Probably Wouldn't Be Good For Our Economy For A Bunch Of These Jobs To Come Back Because, There's No Way That People Could Be Getting Paid A Living Wage On Some Of These Jobs - At Least In Order To Be Competitive In An International Setting.

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.

It’s Not That I Want To Punish Your Success. I Want To Make Sure That Everybody Who Is Behind You, That They’ve Got A Chance For Success, Too. My Attitude Is That If The Economy’s Good For Folks From The Bottom Up, It’s Gonna Be Good For Everybody. I Think When You Spread The Wealth Around, It’s Good For Everybody.

Weapons That Were Designed For Soldiers In War Theaters Don’t Belong On Our Streets.

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.

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It's Good To Get Fresh Legs In [the White House]. I Think That It Refreshes Our Democracy.

My Guiding Principle As President Has Been To Try To Do The Right Thing Even When It's Not Politically Convenient.

Guiding Principles

In America, There's A Failure To Appreciate Europe's Leading Role In The World. Instead Of Celebrating Your Dynamic Union And Seeking To Partner With You To Meet Common Challenges, There Have Been Times Where America Has Shown Arrogance And Been Dismissive, Even Derisive.

Every President Who Has Tried To Bring About Big Changes I Think Elicits The Most Passionate Responses.

Do I Wish That Things Were More Orderly In Washington And Rational And People Listened To The Best Arguments And Compromised And Operated In A More Thoughtful And Organized Fashion? Absolutely. But When You Look At History That's Been The Exception Rather Than The Norm.

I Reiterated Our Hope That Negotiations Over The United Kingdom's Exit From The E.u. Will Be Conducted In A Smooth And Orderly And Transparent Fashion And Preserve As Closely As Possible The Economic And Political And Security Relationships Between The U.k. And E.u.

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.

If We Are Not Serious About Facts And What's True And What's Not. And Particularly In An Age Of Social Media Where So Many People Are Getting Their Information In Sound Bites And Snippets Off Their Phones, If We Can't Discriminate Between Serious Arguments And Propaganda, Then We Have Problems.

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

Terrorist Groups

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

I, More Than Anything, Obviously The Presidency Is The People, And It's Been Interesting The Emotions In The Last Few Months. What You Realize Is That You May Never Have The Team That Is Together In The Same Way, Under The Same Pressures, And The Attachments That You Make To Folks From Your Chief Of Staff Down To.

Each And Every Time, A New Generation Has Risen Up And Done What’s Needed To Be Done. Today We Are Called Once More — And It Is Time For Our Generation To Answer That Call. For That Is Our Unyielding Faith — That In The Face Of Impossible Odds, People Who Love Their Country Can Change It.

It's Important To Recognize That You Can't Have 100 Percent Security And Also Then Have 100 Percent Privacy And Zero Inconvenience.

The United States Is Committed To A Regional Order Rooted In International Rules And Norms, Including Freedom Of Navigation, And The Peaceful Resolution Of Disputes. That's The Only Way To Ensure Our Common Security.

Part Of What's Unique About Climate Change, Though, Is The Nature Of Some Of The Opposition To Action. It's Pretty Rare That You'll Encounter Somebody Who Says The Problem You're Trying To Solve Simply Doesn't Exist. When President Kennedy Set Us On A Course For The Moon, There Were A Number Of People Who Made A Serious Case That It Wouldn't Be Worth It; It Was Going To Be Too Expensive, It Was Going To Be Too Hard, It Would Take Too Long. But Nobody Ignored The Science. I Don't Remember Anybody Saying That The Moon Wasn't There Or That It Was Made Of Cheese.

We Know The Battle Ahead Will Be Long, But Always Remember That No Matter What Obstacles Stand In Our Way, Nothing Can Stand In The Way Of The Power Of Millions Of Voices Calling For Change. We Have Been Told We Cannot Do This By A Chorus Of Cynics. They Will Only Grow Louder And More Dissonant. We've Been Asked To Pause For A Reality Check. We've Been Warned Against Offering The People Of This Nation False Hope. But In The Unlikely Story That Is America, There Has Never Been Anything False About Hope.

We Can Be Civil To Each Other, And We Can Try To Express Ourselves Acknowledging That We're All Patriots, We're All Americans, And Not Assume The Absolute Worst In People's Motives.

American Politics Is Always Somewhat Fluid. In This Age Of Social Media, It Means That Voters Can Swing Back And Forth.

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

What I Believe Is That Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman, But What I Also Believe Is That We Have An Obligation To Make Sure That Gays And Lesbians Have The Rights Of Citizenship That Afford Them Visitations To Hospitals, That Allow Them To Be, To Transfer Property Between Partners, To Make Certain That They're Not Discriminated On The Job.

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

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

The Number Of Americans Killed Since 9/11 By Terrorism, It's Less Than 100. If You Look At The Number That Have Been Killed By Gun Violence, It's In The Tens Of Thousands. And For Us Not To Be Able To Resolve That Issue Has Been Something That Is Distressing.

I've Got A Grocery Bill At The End Of Every Month.our Toothpaste, Our Orange Juice, That All Gets Paid. But I - It Is True That I Don't Carry My Wallet That Often.

When I Read History, I [see] What Typically Happens To Presidents And The Other Party During Tumultuous Times And How People React When The Economy Is Collapsing And They're Losing Their Homes, Losing Their Pensions - It Sort Of Tracks, What Ended Up Happening, Because Some Of That Is Human Nature.

If The Critics Are Right That I've Made All My Decisions Based On Polls, Then I Must Not Be Very Good At Reading Them.

My Experience Is That Our Intelligence Officials Try To Do The Right Thing, But Even With Good Intentions, Sometimes They Make Mistakes. Sometimes They Can Be Overzealous.

Good Intentions

You Can't Just Listen To Rush Limbaugh And Get Things Done.

We Are Going Through Historic Times, And My Vision Is A World, First Of All, In Which America Continues To Be That One Indispensable Nation. Because We're Taking Care Of Our Own People, Because Our Economy Is Strong And Our Middle Class Is Growing, And People Feel Like Hard Work Is Rewarded, And We Are Continuing To Expand Opportunity And Diversity And Tolerance And Respect.

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

Here's The Truth: Even If Countries Like The United States Curb Our Emissions, If Growing Countries Like India - With Soaring Energy Needs - Don't Also Embrace Cleaner Fuels, Then We Don't Stand A Chance Against Climate Change.

The Violence Engulfing The Region Today Has Made Too Many Israelis Ready To Abandon The Hard Work Of Peace. But Let’s Be Clear: The Status Quo In The West Bank And Gaza Is Not Sustainable.

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

I Know My Country Has Not Perfected Itself. At Times, We've Struggled To Keep The Promise Of Liberty And Equality For All Of Our People. We've Made Our Share Of Mistakes, And There Are Times When Our Actions Around The World Have Not Lived Up To Our Best Intentions.

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.

What Is True, Though, Is Now We've Got A Bunch Of Videos That Whatever Side Of The Issue You're On, Raises The Temperature On These Issues And Makes People Really Focused .

Rather Than Me Sort Of Characterize The Appropriateness Or Inappropriateness Of What Donald Trump Is Doing At The Moment, I Think What We Have To See Is How Will The President-elect Operate, And How Will His Team Operate, When They've Been Fully Briefed On All These Issues, They Have Their Hands On All The Levers Of Government, And They've Got To Start Making Decisions.

The Russians Can't Change Us Or Significantly Weaken Us. They Are A Smaller Country. They Are A Weaker Country. Their Economy Doesn't Produce Anything That Anybody Wants To Buy, Except Oil And Gas And Arms. They Don't Innovate. But They Can Impact Us If We Lose Track Of Who We Are.

America Is Not - And Never Will Be - At War With Islam. We Will, However, Relentlessly Confront Violent Extremists.

It Is Time For A New Compact Among The Civilized Peoples Of This World To Eradicate War At Its Most Fundamental Source: The Corruption Of Young Minds By Violent Ideology.

For The Young People Here: Practicality Is A Good Thing. There Are Times Where Compromise Is Necessary. That's Part Of Wisdom. But It's Also Important To Hang On To What You Believe.

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.

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.

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.

In A Global Economy Where The Most Valuable Skill You Can Sell Is Your Knowledge, A Good Education Is No Longer Just A Pathway To Opportunity - It Is A Prerequisite.

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.

Each Wave Of Immigrants That Have Come In Have Been Able To Assimilate, Integrate And Then Rise Up And Become Part Of This Great American Dream.

Long Before Being Nerdy Was Cool, There Was Leonard Nimoy.

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.

With Respect To Some Of The Specific Legislation Or Initiatives That I've Made, It's True That Republicans Often Opposed These Things. Sometimes They Opposed Them Because I Proposed Them. Now That They Are Responsible For Governing, I Think They'll Find That Reversing Them Would Be Counterproductive.

Alongside My Own Deep Personal Faith, I Am A Follower, As Well, Of Our Civic Religion. I Am A Big Believer In The Separation Of Church And State.

I Make No Apologies For Us Wanting To Do This [bombing Iraq And Syria] Appropriately And In A Way That Is Consistent With American Values.

No Two Countries Are Identical, And Obviously, There's A Difference Between A Referendum On A Very Complex Relationship Between Great Britain And The Rest Of Europe, And A Presidential Election In The United States.

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

Four Years Ago, I Promised To End The War In Iraq. We Did. I Promised To Refocus On The Terrorists Who Actually Attacked Us On 9/11. We Have. We've Blunted The Taliban's Momentum In Afghanistan, And In 2014, Our Longest War Will Be Over. A New Tower Rises Above The New York Skyline, Al Qaeda Is On The Path To Defeat, And Osama Bin Laden Is Dead.

In Dealing With Those Nations That Break Rules And Laws, I Believe That We Must Develop Alternatives To Violence That Are Tough Enough To Actually Change Behavior -- For If We Want A Lasting Peace, Then The Words Of The International Community Must Mean Something. Those Regimes That Break The Rules Must Be Held Accountable. Sanctions Must Exact A Real Price. Intransigence Must Be Met With Increased Pressure -- And Such Pressure Exists Only When The World Stands Together As One.

In America, We Started The Public School System Very Early In The Century, And As A Consequence We Had More Skilled Workers Than Any Nation On Earth, Which Meant That We Were More Productive Than Any Nation On Earth.

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

Broken Promises

America Must Always Lead On The World Stage. If We Don't, No One Else Will. The Military That You Have Joined Is, And Always Will Be, The Backbone Of That Leadership. But U.s. Military Action Cannot Be The Only - Or Even Primary - Component Of Our Leadership In Every Instance. Just Because We Have The Best Hammer Does Not Mean That Every Problem Is A Nail.

I Think We Want To See New Voices And New Ideas Emerge - That's Part Of The Reason Why Term Limits Are A Really Useful Thing.

We Must Act, Knowing That Our Work Will Be Imperfect.

[donald Trump] Is In The Process Of Building Up An Organization. And Well, We'll Have To See How That Works. And It'll Be A Test, I Think, For Him And The People That He's Designated To Be Able To Execute On His Vision.

I Believe We [americans] Are Strongest As A Nation, When The President And Congress Work Together.

Working Together

The Last Thing That I Want To Do Is To Have The United States Be A Foil.

We Are Running Out Of Time

Running Out Of Time

[this Upset] Means That Means Donald Trump Now Has To Transition To Governance.

[michelle Obama] Was The Hardest Sell. And She Never Fully Embraced Being In The Public Spotlight, Which Is Ironic, Given How Good She Is.

We Long For Unity, But Are Unwilling To Pay The Price. But Of Course, True Unity Cannot Be So Easily Won. It Starts With A Change In Attitudes - A Broadening Of Our Minds, And A Broadening Of Our Hearts.

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 Is A Wonderful Book Called "gandhi's Truth," By Erik Erikson, The Psychologist. It Is A Great Book. And I Remember Reading That And Thinking About This Connection Between What We Think In Our Personal Lives And How That Manifests Itself In Our Politics. Those Are Two Books, Just Off The Top, That I Think Are Sort Of Representative Of Reading That I Did At That Time. I Never Get A Chance To Read Anymore.

[my Kids] Are, Sweet, Kind, Funny, Smart, Respectful People, And They Treat Everybody With Respect. That's Not Just The Biases Of A Parent. We Feel Pretty Good When We Hear Back From Friends, Cause They Still Have Sleepovers And They Go To Other Folks Houses And When The Parents Say, Oh You Know, Malia, She's Just So Sweet, Or Sasha Helped To Pick Up The Dishes.

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

Let's Not Only Provide A Jumpstart To The Economy And Immediately Or Save 3 Million Jobs, But Let's Also Put A Down Payment On Some Of The Structural Problems That We Have In Our Economy.

I Will Sign A Universal Health-care Bill Into Law By The End Of My First Term As President That Will Cover Every American And Cut The Cost Of A Typical Family’s Premium By Up To $2,500 A Year.

Every Decision, Every Debate, No Matter How Important It Is, With The Same Question: 'what Does This Mean For The Next Election? What Does It Mean For Your Poll Numbers? Is This Good For The Democrats Or Good For The Republicans? Who Won The News Cycle?' That's Just How Washington Is. They Can't Help It. They're Obsessed With The Sport Of Politics.

I Think [ Unpopular Presidential Candidates ] Indicates, At Least On The Democratic Side, That We've Got More Work To Do To Strengthen Our Grassroots Networks.

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

Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg Never Gives Up And He Does Not Quit.

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.

Please Proceed, Governor.

It Is My Strong Belief That Israel Has Not Just The Right But The Obligation To Protect Itself.

Let's Face It, Fox News, You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone. It'll Be Harder To Convince The Public That Hillary Clinton Was Born In Kenya.

Our Tears Are Not Enough. Our Words And Our Prayers Are Not Enough. If We Really Want To Honor These Twelve Men And Women, If We Really Want To Be A Country Where We Can Go To Work And Go To School And Walk Our Streets Free From Senseless Violence, Without So Many Lives Being Stolen By A Bullet From A Gun, Then We're Gonna Have To Change. We're Gonna Have To Change.

We Can’t Afford To Be So Worried About Losing The Next Election That We Lose The Battles We Owe To The Next Generation. The Real Gamble In This Election Is Playing The Same Washington Game With The Same Washington Players And Expecting A Different Result. And That’s A Risk We Can’t Take.

Part Of What We Have To Do A Better Job Of, If Our Democracy Is To Function In A Complicated Diverse Society Like This, Is To Teach Our Kids Enough Critical Thinking To Be Able To Sort Out What Is True And What Is False, What Is Contestable And What Is Incontestable. And We Seem To Have Trouble With That. And Our Political System Doesn't Help.

Islam Has Always Been Part Of America

There’s No Black Male My Age, Who’s A Professional, Who Hasn’t Come Out Of A Restaurant And Is Waiting For Their Car And Somebody Didn’t Hand Them Their Car Keys.

Unless We Are Holding Ourselves Accountable Day In, Day Out, Not Just When There's A Crisis For Folks Who Have Power And Influence And Can Hire Lobbyists, But For The Nurse, The Teacher, The Police Officer, Who, Frankly, At The End Of Each Month, They've Got A Little Financial Crisis Going On. They're Having To Take Out Extra Debt Just To Make Their Mortgage Payments. We Haven't Been Paying Attention To Them. And If You Look At Our Tax Policies In America, It's A Classic Example.

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

Because This Is A Country Where Everyone Deserves The Same Freedom And Opportunities To Fulfill Their Dreams.

The American People Recognize That Their Careers Or Their Kids' Careers Are Going To Have To Be More Dynamic. That They Might Not Be Working At A Single Plant For 30 Years. That They Might Have To Change Careers. They Might Have To Get More Education. They Might Have To Retool Or Retrain. And I Think The American People Are Game For That.

What The American People Hope - What They Deserve - Is For All Of Us, Democrats And Republicans, To Work Through Our Differences; To Overcome The Numbing Weight Of Our Politics. For While The People Who Sent Us Here Have Different Backgrounds, Different Stories, Different Beliefs, The Anxieties They Face Are The Same. The Aspirations They Hold Are Shared: A Job That Pays The Bills; A Chance To Get Ahead; Most Of All, The Ability To Give Their Children A Better Life.

Well, Governor, We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets.

Aircraft Carriers

What I Value Most About Pastor Wright Is Not His Day-to-day Political Advice. He's Much More Of A Sounding Board For Me To Make Sure That I Am Speaking As Truthfully About What I Believe As Possible And That I'm Not Losing Myself In Some Of The Hype And Hoopla And Stress That's Involved In National Politics.

The Memoir Was A Very Personal Book. I Wrote It As A Personal Journey And Search About Who My Father Was And How My Family Had Come Together And Come Apart - Sorting All That Out, You Know, Issues Of Personal Identity.

You Don't Defeat A Terrorist Network That Operates In Eighty Countries By Occupying Iraq.

I Was Always Amused That People Were Either Skeptical Or Surprised That I Would Choose A Hillary Clinton As A Secretary Of State. To My Mind, Having Somebody Smart, Tough, Capable With Her Own Stature, Who Could Travel Around The World And Command The Stage, Was A Huge Asset.

There Was Never A Promise That Race Relations In America Would Be Entirely Resolved During My Presidency Or Anybody's Presidency. I Mean, This Has Been A Running Thread - And - And Fault Line In American Life And American Politics Since Its Founding.

One Of The Things That You Learn, Having Been In This [president's] Office For Four Years, Is The Old Adage Of Abraham Lincoln's. That With Public Opinion There's Nothing You Can't Do And Without Public Opinion There's Very Little You Can Get Done.

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.

If Some Of These [republican] Folks Were Around When Columbus Set Sail, They Must Have Been Founding Members Of The 'flat Earth Society.' They Would Not Believe That The World Was Round.

The Key Is Whether Or Not We Have Got Priorities That Are Working For You, As Opposed To Those Who Have Been Dictating The Policy In Washington Lately. And That's Mostly Lobbyists And Special Interests. We Have Got To Put An End To That.

Donald Trump Is Uniquely Unqualified To Be President.

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.

I Was Pretty Realistic To People About What We Could Get Done, And The Situation We Were In, And Trying To Tamp Down Expectations. If You Listen To My Stump Speeches, If You Listen To What I Said At Grant Park, I Kept On Saying, "look, This Is Not Just About Me, This Is Not Going To Happen In One Year, Or One Term, Or Even One Presidency." And We Tried To Layer Into Everything We Were Saying A Sense Of Hope, But Also Realism.

The Quicker You Resolve The Problems With Banks And There's Transparency In That Process, The Faster They Recapitalize And Are Able To Make Investments.

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

There Are Very Few Moments In Our Lives Where We Have The Privilege To Witness History Taking Place. This Is One Of Those Moments. This Is One Of Those Times.

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

No Matter How Long It Takes, The United States Will Find And Bring To Justice The Terrorists Who Are Responsible For Kayla's Captivity And Death, Isil Is A Hateful And Abhorrent Terrorist Group Whose Actions Stand In Stark Contrast To The Spirit Of People Like Kayla.

The System Isn't Working When 12 Million People Live In Hiding, And Hundreds Of Thousands Cross Our Borders Illegally Each Year; When Companies Hire Undocumented Immigrants Instead Of Legal Citizens To Avoid Paying Overtime Or To Avoid A Union; When Communities Are Terrorized By Ice Immigration Raids -- When Nursing Mothers Are Torn From Their Babies, When Children Come Home From School To Find Their Parents Missing, When People Are Detained Without Access To Legal Counsel. When All That's Happening, The System Just Isn't Working.

Keep Exploring. Keep Dreaming. Keep Asking Why. Don’t Settle For What You Already Know. Never Stop Believing In The Power Of Your Ideas, Your Imagination, Your Hard Work To Change The World.

This Comes From A Group Of People Who`ve Been Wrong About Every Foreign Policy Issue Over The Last Two Decades. They Supported Hillary Clinton`s War In Libya. They Supported President [barack] Obama`s Bombing Of Assad.

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

That's Where Peace Begins - Not Just In The Plans Of Leaders, But In The Hearts Of People. Not Just In Some Carefully Designed Process, But In The Daily Connections - That Sense Of Empathy That Takes Place Among Those Who Live Together In This Land And In This Sacred City Of Jerusalem.

Change Will Not Come If We Wait For Some Other Person Or Some Other Time. We Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For. We Are The Change That We Seek.

The Point I Was Making Was Not That Grandmother Harbors Any Racial Animosity. She Doesn't. But She Is A Typical White Person.

It's Harder To End A War Than Begin One. Indeed, Everything That American Troops Have Done In Iraq -- All The Fighting And All The Dying, The Bleeding And The Building, And The Training And The Partnering -- All Of It Has Led To This Moment Of Success. Now, Iraq Is Not A Perfect Place. It Has Many Challenges Ahead. But We're Leaving Behind A Sovereign, Stable And Self-reliant Iraq, With A Representative Government That Was Elected By Its People. We're Building A New Partnership Between Our Nations.

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

We Must Educate Our Children To Become Like Young Egyptian People.

Egyptian Revolution

I Continue To Believe That She Has Not Jeopardized America's National Security. Now, What I've Also Said Is That, And She's Acknowledged, That There's A Carelessness In Terms Of Managing Emails That She Has Owned And She Recognizes. But I Also Think It Is Important To Keep This In Perspective. This Is Somebody Who Has Served Her Country For Four Years As Secretary Of State And Did An Outstanding Job, And No One Has Suggested That In Some Ways, As A Consequence Of How She Handled Emails, That That Detracted From Her Excellent Ability To Carry Out Her Duties.

I Found During The Course Of My Political Career On The National Scene There's A Point Where The Vanity Burns Away And You've Had Your Fill Of Your Name In The Papers, Or Big Adoring Crowds, Or The Exercise Of Power. And For Me That Happened Fairly Quickly. And Then You Are Really Focused On: What Am I Going To Get Done With This Strange Privilege That's Been Granted To Me? How Do I Make Myself Worthy Of It?

I'm Very Consistent About Spending Time With Family. And When You Have Dinner With Your Daughters - They'll Keep You In Your Place And They'll Teach You Something About Perspective.

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

I Believe There Are Too Many Children Who Need Loving Parents To Deny One Group Of People Adoption Rights. A Child Will Benefit From A Healthy, Loving Home, Whether The Parents Are Gay Or Not.

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.

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

I Don't Regret The Fervor, Because I Do Believe, In The African American Community But Also For Other Communities, And I Know From Talking To People, For Communities Around The World, The Election Of An African American To The Most Powerful Office On Earth Meant Things Had Changed, And Not Just In Superficial Ways. That In Some Irreversible Way The World Was Different.

I Did Not Suggest That Iran Is A Democracy; Just The Opposite. I Talked About It Being A Repressive Theocracy. What I Think Is Indisputable Is That Even Within This Repressive Regime, The Political Leaders There - Including The Supreme Leader - Are Sensitive To The Concerns Of The Population Within Bounds.

One Of The Great Things About Our Democracy Is It Expresses Itself In All Sorts Of Ways. And That Includes People Protesting. I've Been The Subject Of Protests During The Course Of My Eight Years And I Suspect That There's Not A President In Our History That At Some Point Hasn't Been Subject To These Protests.

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.

Absolutely. I Think, I Think The American People, At Their Core, Are A Decent People. I Think That We Still Have Prejudice In Our Midst, But I Think That The Vast Majority Of Americans Are Willing, Are Willing To Judge People On The Basis Of Their Ideas And Their Character. And In The Case Of The Presidency, I Think What's Most Important Is Whether The American People Think That You Understand Their Hopes And Dreams And Struggles And Whether They Think You Can Actually Help Them Achieve Those Hopes And Dreams.

America Ranks 21st When It Comes To Math Education. We Rank 25th When It Comes To Science. We Used To Be Number One In The Proportion Of College Graduates. We Now Rank Ninth. And At An Age Where Knowledge, Skills, Are The Determinant Of How Successful We're Going To Be, Unless We Reverse That We're Going To Keep Slipping Behind Economically To A Lot Of Other Countries.

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

I Am Somebody Who Usually Writes Out The Rough Draft In Longhand. Then I Type It Into The Computer, And That Is Where I Do My Editing. I Find That If I Write It On The Computer, I Go Too Quick. So I Like Getting That First Draft Out And Then Typing It In; You Are Less Self-conscious About It.

There Is No Doubt That Thanks To The Steps That We Took Early On To Rescue Our Economy And To Rebuild It On A New Foundation, We Are Entering Into The New Year With New Confidence That America Is Coming Back.

We Have To Stand Up For These Issues When It's Tough, And That's What I've Done. I Did It When I Was In The State Legislature, Sponsoring The Illinois Version Of The Dream Act, So That Children Who Were Brought Here Through No Fault Of Their Own Are Able To Go To College, Because We Actually Want Well-educated Kids In Our Country Who Are Able To Succeed And Become Part Of This Economy And Part Of The American Dream.

Peace Is Not Just The Absence Of War. True Peace Depends Upon Creating The Opportunity That Makes Life Worth Living. And To Do That, We Must Confront The Common Enemies Of Human Beings: Nuclear Weapons And Poverty; Ignorance And Disease.

One Voice Can Change A Room, And If One Voice Can Change A Room, Then It Can Change A City, And If It Can Change A City, It Can Change A State, And If It Change A State, It Can Change A Nation, And If It Can Change A Nation, It Can Change The World. Your Voice Can Change The World.

Let Me Even Say Before I Even Get Inaugurated, During The Transition We Are Going To Be Having Meetings All Across The Country With Community Organizations So That You Have Input Into The Agenda For The Next Presidency Of The United States Of America.

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

For All The Noise And Anger That Too Often Surrounds The Immigration Debate, America Has Nothing To Fear From Today's Immigrants. They Have Come Here For The Same Reason That Families Have Always Come Here-for The Hope That In America, They Could Build A Better Life For Themselves And Their Families. Like The Waves Of Immigrants That Came Before Them And The Hispanic Americans Whose Families Have Been Here For Generations, The Recent Arrival Of Latino Immigrants Will Only Enrich Our Country.

America, We Are Better Than These Last Eight Years. We Are A Better Country Than This.

This Pleased Onyango, For To Him Knowledge Was The Source Of All The White Man's Power, And He Wanted To Make Sure That His Son Was As Educated As Any White Man.

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

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

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