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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.

-Barack Obama

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We Can Lose So

Barack Obama

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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.

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

Those Are The Ladies Sitting In Church. And In The Same Way That They Might Feel A Joy And Release On Sunday, They Are Still Going To Work On Monday. And That's Who I Was Listening To During This Process. And If At The End Of My Presidency They Feel Like I Did A Pretty Good Job, Then I'll Feel Pretty Good.

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

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.

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.

With Effort We Can Protect The Foundation Of Our Democracy, For Which So Many Marched Across This Bridge, The Right To Vote.

The Politics Around Trade Has Always Been Tough, Particularly In The Democratic Party, Because People Have Memories Of Outsourcing And Job Loss.

America Leads - Not With Bluster, But With Persistent, Steady Resolve.

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

Our Challenges May Be New. The Instruments With Which We Meet Them May Be New. But Those Values Upon Which Our Success Depends -- Honesty And Hard Work, Courage And Fair Play, Tolerance And Curiosity, Loyalty And Patriotism -- These Things Are Old. These Things Are True. They Have Been The Quiet Force Of Progress Throughout Our History. What Is Demanded, Then, Is A Return To These Truths.

My Hope Is That The President-elect [donald Trump] Coming In Takes A Similarly Constructive Approach, Finding Areas Where We Can Cooperate With Russia, Where Our Values And Interests Align. But That The President-elect Also Is Willing To Stand Up To Russia Where They Are Deviating From Our Values And International Norms.

We Right Now Give $15 Billion Every Year As Subsidies To Private Insurers Under The Medicare System. Doesn't Work Any Better Through The Private Insurers. They Just Skim Off $15 Billion.

I Think That To The Extent That We Focus On Problems Where We Can Build A Moral And A Political Consensus, Then I Think That We Move The Country Forward And When We Are Divided And Our Politics Is Focused On Dividing, Then I Think We're Less Successful, Not Just From The Perspective Of The Democratic Party Or The Republican Party But From The Perspective Of The Nation As A Whole.

I'm Less Interested In How We Label Ourselves. I'm More Interested In How We Treat Each Other. And If We're Treating Each Other Right, Then I Can Be African-american, I Can Be Multi-racial, I Can Be You Name It, What Matters Is, Am I Showing People Respect, Am I Caring For One, For Other People.

The President Of The United States Is Supposed To Lead The Free World And Not Follow It. Other Nations Have Been More Outspoken. So, I Hope That We'll Hear More Of This Because Young Men And Women Taking To The Streets In Tehran Need Our Support. The Signs Are In English. They're Basically Asking For Us To Speak Up On Their Behalf.

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

I Have Been A Strong Proponent Of Pay-as-you-go. Every Dollar That I've Proposed, I've Proposed An Additional Cut So That It Matches.

We Need Somebody Who's Got The Heart, The Empathy, To Recognize What It's Like To Be A Young Teenage Mom, The Empathy To Understand What It's Like To Be Poor Or African-american Or Gay Or Disabled Or Old - And That's The Criterion By Which I'll Be Selecting My Judges.

If You Want To Get At African American Poverty, The Income Gap, Wealth Gap, Achievement Gap, That The Most Important Thing Is To Make Sure That The Society As A Whole Does Right By People Who Are Poor, Are Working Class, Are Aspiring To A Better Life For Their Kids.

This Kind Of Inequality - A Level That We Haven’t Seen Since The Great Depression - Hurts Us All. When Middle-class Families Can No Longer Afford To Buy The Goods And Services That Businesses Are Selling...it Drags Down The Entire Economy From Top To Bottom. America Was Built On The Idea Of Broad-based Prosperity... That’s Why A Ceo Like Henry Ford Made It His Mission To Pay His Workers Enough So That They Could Buy The Cars He Made. It’s Also Why A Recent Study Showed That Countries With Less Inequality Tend To Have Stronger And Steadier Economic Growth Over The Long Run.

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.

I Have Much More Confidence In My Ability, Or Any President Or Any Leader's Ability, To Mobilize The American People Around A Multiyear, Multibillion-dollar Investment To Help Every Child In Poverty In This Country Than I Am In Being Able To Mobilize The Country Around Providing A Benefit Specific To African Americans As A Consequence Of Slavery And Jim Crow.

Sustaining The Energy And Focus Involved In Doing A Good Job I Think Starts To Gets Tougher The Longer You Do It.

And So Our Goal On Health Care Is, If We Can Get, Instead Of Health Care Costs Going Up 6 Percent A Year, It's Going Up At The Level Of Inflation, Maybe Just Slightly Above Inflation, We've Made Huge Progress. And By The Way, That Is The Single Most Important Thing We Could Do In Terms Of Reducing Our Deficit. That's Why We Did It.

There Is Not A Liberal America And A Conservative America - There Is The United States Of America. There Is Not A Black America And A White America And Latino America And Asian America - There's The United States Of America.

The Spirit's There And That's Not Just My Imagination. I Think If You Look At Surveys And Attitudes Among Young People, You See It.

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

We Will Keep The Promise Of Social Security By Taking The Responsible Steps To Strengthen It - Not By Turning It Over To Wall Street.

I Think There Are Hard-liners Inside Of Iran That Think It Is The Right Thing To Do To Oppose Us, To Seek To Destroy Israel, To Cause Havoc In Places Like Syria Or Yemen Or Lebanon, If They Don't Change At All, We're Still Better Off Having The Deal.

Working Full-time Should Mean Enough To Support A Family.

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

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.

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

Sustaining The Energy And Focus Involved In Doing A Good Job I Think Starts To - Starts To Gets Tougher The Longer You Do It.

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.

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

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.

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

It's Not Enough To Celebrate The Ideals That We're Built On, Liberty And Justice And Equality For All. Those Just Can't Be Words On Paper, The Work Of Every Generation Is To Make Those Words Mean Something, Concrete In The Lives Of Our Children. And We Won't Get There As Long As Kids In Baltimore Or Ferguson Or New York Or Appalachia Or The Mississippi Delta Or The Pine Ridge Reservation Believe That Their Lives Are Somehow Worthless.

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.

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 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.

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.

Change Has Come To America.

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.

We Will Not Engage In An Endless Process Of Negotiations.

Here's What I Can Tell The American People: 95 Percent Of You Will Get A Tax Cut. And If You Make Less Than $250,000, Less Than A Quarter-million Dollars A Year, Then You Will Not See One Dime's Worth Of Tax Increase.

It's No Wonder That America's Engagement In The Region Has Strong, Sustained, Bipartisan Support. So I'll Be Handing My Successor A Strong Foundation - Including Closer Ties With Singapore - On Which To Continue Building, And I'm Optimistic That Will Happen.

As President Of The United States, I Don't Bluff.

I've Just Concluded That For Me Personally It Is Important For Me To Go Ahead And Affirm That I Think Same-sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married.

We Cannot Have A Society In Which Some Dictator Some Place Can Start Imposing Censorship Here In The United States. If Somebody Is Able To Intimidate Folks Out Of Releasing A Satirical Movie, Imagine What's Going To Happen When They See A Documentary They Don't Like Or News Reports They Don't Like."

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.

John Mccain Has Not Spoken About My Muslim Faith.

Sometimes People Just Feel As If We Want To Try Something To See If We Can Shake Things Up.

You Have To Be Organized, That You Have To Vote Even When It's Not Exciting.

I Use A Different Style If I'm Speaking To A Big Crowd; I Can Gin Up Folks Pretty Well. But When I'm In These Town Hall Settings, My Job Is Not To Throw Them A Lot Of Red Meat. I Want To Give Them A Sense Of My Thought Process.

I Have Been To This Point Unwilling To Sign On To Same-sex Marriage Primarily Because Of My Understandings Of The Traditional Definitions Of Marriage. But I Also Think You're Right That Attitudes Evolve, Including Mine.

Reality Has A Way Of Asserting Itself.

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 Think Same Sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married.

We Have To All Shoulder The Responsibility For Keeping The Planet Habitable, Or We're Going To Suffer The Consequences - Together.

It's The Idea Held By Generations Of Citizens Who Believed That America Is A Constant Work In Progress; Who Believed That Loving This Country Requires More Than Singing Its Praises Or Avoiding Uncomfortable Truths. It Requires The Occasional Disruption, The Willingness To Speak Out For What's Right, And Shake Up The Status Quo.

If Poverty Is A Disease That Infects The Entire Community In The Form Of Unemployment And Violence, Failing Schools And Broken Homes, Then We Can't Just Treat Those Symptoms In Isolation . We Have To Heal That Entire Community.

When I Came Into Office, The World Was Divided. Iran Was Resurgent. Iran Is At Its Weakest Point, Economically, Strategically, Militarily, Then Since - Then In Many Years. And We Are Going To Continue To Keep The Pressure On To Make Sure That They Do Not Get A Nuclear Weapon. That's In America's National Interest And That Will Be The Case So Long As I'm President.

We've Now Got A Group Of Young People In This Country Who For All Practical Purposes Are American. They Grew Up Here. They've Gone To School Here. They Don't Know Anything Other Than Being American Kids. But Their Parents May Have Brought Them Here Without All The Proper Paperwork - Might Have Brought Them Here When They Were Three, Might Have Brought Them Here When They Were Five. And So, Lo And Behold, By The Time They Finish School, And They're Ready To Go To College, They Find Out They Can't Go To College And, In Fact, Their Status As Americans Are Threatened.

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

If You Think You Got A Better Idea In Terms Of How To Approach This That's Not Gonna Result In More Pollution, And More Asthma, And More Illness Then Put Your Ideas Out There. But Don't Just Oppose Things Because, "this Was Obama's Agenda."

I'm Not Denouncing The Church, And I'm Not Interested In People Who Want Me To Denounce The Church. It's Not A Church Worthy Of Denouncing.

I Believe Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman. I Am Not In Favor Of Gay Marriage.

Get Informed, Not By Reading The Huffington Post.

Try To Be As Honest As Possible.

I Believe In Returning The Nation's Wealth To Its Rightful Owners.

Our Stories May Be Singular, But Our Destination Is Shared.

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

Young People: I Understand This Is Important To You, But As You Be Thinking About Climate Change, The Economy And Jobs, War And Peace, Maybe Way At The Bottom You Should Be Thinking About Marijuana.

I Want To Make Sure America Has Got The Best Education System In The World. And We're Retaining Our Workers For The Jobs Of Tomorrow.

[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.

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.

I'm Willing To Work With Anyone Of Either Party Who Has A Good Idea And The Commitment To See Through. And We Should All Expect You To Hold Us Accountable For Our Progress Or Our Failure To Deliver.

Climate Change Is One Of The Issues I Worry Most About Because Its Impacts Are Enormous. But They're Gradual, They're Not Immediate.

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.

When It Comes To Our Foreign Policy, You Seem To Want To Import The Foreign Policies Of The 1980s, Just Like The Social Policies Of The 1950s And The Economic Policies Of The 1920s.

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

Our Enemies Are Also Seeking The Abilities To Sabotage Our Power Grid, Our Financial Institutions, Our Air Traffic Control Systems.

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.

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

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

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.

Whether Our Forebears Were Strangers Who Crossed The Atlantic Or The Pacific Or The Rio Grande, We Are Here Only Because This Country Welcomed Them In And Taught Them That To Be An American Is About Something More Than What We Look Like, Or What Our Last Names Are, Or How We Worship.

This Is Our Moment...while We Breathe, We Hope. And Where We Are Met With Cynicism And Doubts And Those Who Tell Us That We Can't, We Will Respond With That Timeless Creed That Sums Up The Spirit Of A People: Yes, We Can.

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

It Is Very Rare I Come To An Event Where I’m Like The Fifth Or Sixth Most Interesting Person.

The Map Isn't Always The Territory, And You Have To Kind Of Walk Through It To Get A Feel For It.

Few Challenges Facing America And The World Are More Urgent Than Combating Climate Change. The Science Is Beyond Dispute And The Facts Are Clear.

If You Were President 50 Years Ago, The Tragedy In Syria Might Not Even Penetrate What The American People Were Thinking About On A Day To Day Basis. Today, They're Seeing Vivid Images Of A Child In The Aftermath Of A Bombing.

The Supreme Court Nominations [example]. I Mean, The Fact That Mitch Mcconnell, The Leader Of The Republicans, Was Able To Just Stop A Nomination Almost A Year Before The Next Election And Really Not Pay A Political Price For It, That's A Sign That The Incentives For Politicians In This Town To Be So Sharply Partisan Have Gotten So Outta Hand That We're Weakening Ourselves.

You Like Pie? I Like Pie.

I Think A Basic Principle Of Our Constitution Is Nobody Above The Law

Short Term, The Most Important Thing Is To Put People Back To Work ... If They're Working, That Means They're Paying Taxes, That Means That They're Buying Goods And Services - And The Economy, Instead Of Being On A Downward Spiral, Starts Back Up On An Upward Spiral.

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

We Don't Have This Huge Footprint, We Are Less Likely To Be Targeted As, You Know, Occupiers [in Afghanistan And Iraq].

My Expectation Would Be That If We Can Begin Discussions Soon, Shortly After The Iranian Elections, We Should Have A Fairly Good Sense By The End Of The Year As To Whether They Are Moving In The Right Direction.

Degrade And Ultimately Destroy Isil

Counter Terrorism

What Matters Is How Well We Have Loved, And What Small Part We Have Played In Making The Lives Around Us Better.

After My Election There Was Talk Of A Postracial America. And Such A Vision, However Well Intended, Was Never Realistic.

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

In November [2016], Americans Are Gonna Have To Make A Decision About What We Care About And Who We Are. We Get These Spasms Of Politics Around Immigration And Fearmongering And Then Our Traditions And Our History And Our Better Impulses Kick In. That's How We All Ended Up Here. 'cause I Guarantee You At Some Point Every One Of Us Has Somebody In Our Background Who People Didn't Want Coming Here. And Yet Here We Are.

I Think The Turks' Willingness To Take Seriously Action On The Borders To Stop The Flow Of Foreign Fighters Joining Isil Is Significant.

But The Question Is, Do We Care Enough? Do We Care Enough To Keep Standing Up For The Country That We Know Is Possible, Even If It's Hard, And Even If It's Politically Uncomfortable? Do We Care Enough To Sustain The Passion And The Pressure To Make Our Communities Safer And Our Country Safer? Do We Care Enough To Do Everything We Can To Spare Other Families The Pain That Is Felt Here Today?

Our Unalienable Right To Life And Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness, Those Rights Were Stripped From College Kids In Blackburg And Santa Barbara, And From High Schoolers At Columbine. And, And From First Graders In Newtown, First Graders.

Pursuit Of Happiness

The War Does Not End When You Come Home. It Lives On In Memories Of Your Fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen And Marines Who Gave Their Lives. It Endures In The Wound That Is Slow To Heal, The Disability That Isn't Going Away, The Dream That Wakes You At Night, Or The Stiffening In Your Spine When A Car Backfires Down The Street.

That's What Building A Body Of Work Is All About. It's About The Daily Labor, The Many Individual Acts, The Choices Large And Small That Add Up Over Time, Over A Lifetime To A Lasting Legacy. It's About Not Being Satisfied With The Latest Achievement, The Latest Gold Star, Because The One Thing I Know About A Body Of Work Is That It's Never Finished. It's Cumulative. It Deepens And Expands With Each Day You Give Your Best. You May Have Setbacks And You May Have Failures, But You're Not Done.

The President Does Not Have Power Under The Constitution To Unilaterally Authorize A Military Attack In A Situation That Does Not Involve Stopping An Actual Or Imminent Threat To The Nation. As Commander In Chief, The President Does Have A Duty To Protect And Defend The United States. In Instances Of Self-defense, The President Would Be Within His Constitutional Authority To Act Before Advising Congress Or Seeking Its Consent.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

One Thing I Will Not Compromise Over Is Whether Or Not Congress Should Pay The Tab For A Bill They've Already Racked Up. If Congress Refuses To Give The United States The Ability To Pay Its Bills On Time, The Consequences For The Entire Global Economy Could Be Catastrophic.

One Thing You Learn In This Job [being Us President] Is That Even If Something's Not Your Fault, You're Still Responsible. And That's How It Should Be.

Leadership Isn't Just Legislation, That It's A Matter Of Persuading People And Giving Them Confidence, And Bringing Them Together And Setting A Tone.

I Think Raising Wages, Investing In Infrastructure, Making Sure That People Have Access To Good Educations That Equip Them For The Jobs Of The Future. Those Are All Agenda Items That Would Help Alleviate Some Of Those Economic Pressures And Dislocations That People Are Experiencing. The Problem Was I Couldn't Convince The Republican Congress To Pass A Lot Of Them.

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

It's Time To Put Country Ahead Of Party. It's Time To Put The Next Generation Ahead Of The Next Election.

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.

Our Patience Is Not Infinite. We're Not Willing To Let This Go On Forever.

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

We've Got To Make Sure That Our Economy Is Strong At Home So That We Can Project Military Power Overseas.

Jesus Christ Is The Lord. I Believe In That.

Today, The World Lost A Creative Icon. Michelle And I Join Millions Of Fans From Around The World In Mourning The Sudden Death Of Prince.

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].

One Of The Things That I've Urged The President-elect To Do Is To Develop A Strong Working Relationship With The Intelligence Community And I Think It's Important That Congress, On A Bipartisan Basis.

It Is My View That If Society Was Doing The Right Thing With Respect To You, [and There Were] Programs Targeted At Helping People Rise Into The Middle Class And Have A Good Income And Be Able To Save And Send Their Kids To School, And You've Got A Vigorous Enforcement Of Anti-discrimination Laws, Then I Have Confidence In The Black Community's Capabilities To Then Move Forward.

To Those Of You Mourn The Loss Of A Loved One Today, My Heart Goes Out To You. We Remember That The Blessings That We Enjoy As Americans Came At A Dear Cost. Our Nation Owes A Debt To Its Fallen Heroes That We Cannot Ever Fully Repay. But We Can Honor Their Sacrifice, And We Must. We Must Honor It In Our Own Lives By Holding Their Memories Close To Our Hearts, And Heeding The Example They Set.

And We Can See The Positive Impacts Right Here At Solyndra. Less Than A Year Ago, We Were Standing On What Was An Empty Lot. But Through The Recovery Act, This Company Received A Loan To Expand Its Operations. This New Factory Is The Result Of Those Loans.

So, Let Us Summon A New Spirit Of Patriotism, Of Responsibility, Where Each Of Us Resolves To Pitch In And Work Harder And Look Over Not Only Ourselves, But Each Other.

Our Politics At Its Best Involves Us Recognizing Ourselves In Each Other. And Our Politics At Its Worst Are When We See Immigrants Or Women Or Blacks Or Gays Or Mexicans As Somehow Separate, Apart From Us.

We're Not Going To Baby Sit A Civil War.

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.

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.

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.

I Think I Did In The Sense That There's A Whole Generation Coming Up Behind Us That Was Engaged, Inspired, Worked For Change During The Course Of My Presidency, Saw What Was Possible. And That Generation, It's Coming.

When I've Sent Young Men And Women Into Harm's Way, I Always Understand That That Is The Last Resort, Not The First Resort.

Cutting Benefits Is Not The Right Answer. Raising The Retirement Age Is Not The Best Option.

I Strongly Agree With Vice President Gore That We Cannot Drill Our Way To Energy Independence, But Must Fast-track Investments In Renewable Sources Of Energy Like Solar Power, Wind Power And Advanced Biofuels...

I Think That The Issues We Have With Science These Days Are Not Restricted To What's Happening With Respect To Religion. There Are A Lot Of Very Religious Scientists Around.

We Wouldn't Even Be Where We Are Had It Not Been That 70% Of Hispanics Voted For President Obama, Voted Democratic In The Last Election. That Caused An Epiphany In The Senate, That's For Sure. So All Of A Sudden We Have Already Passed Comprehensive Immigration Reform In The Senate. That's A Big Victory.

The Window Is Closing.

The Problem Is That Young People Are Less Likely To Vote Than Older People. What Results Is A Situation In Which Sometimes The Elections Don't Fully Reflect The Views Of The American Population.

You Know, I Think That We Are Going To Be Ok. Look, Malia Is 10, So Three Years From Now She Is 13. Who Knows What Happens To Teenagers?

I Want Every Math Teacher To Know Math. I Want Every Science Teacher To Have Expertise In Science. I Want Them To Know How To Inspire And Engage Young People.

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.

Republicans In Congress Have Two Choices Here: They Can Act Responsibly, And Pay America’s Bills; Or They Can Act Irresponsibly, And Put America Through Another Economic Crisis. But They Will Not Collect A Ransom In Exchange For Not Crashing The American Economy.

Now We're In The Midst Of Not Just Advocating For Change, Not Just Calling For Change - We're Doing The Grinding, Sometimes Frustrating Work Of Delivering Change - Inch By Inch, Day By Day.

We Proved That We Are Still A People Capable Of Doing Big Things And Tackling Our Biggest Challenges.

You Don't Like A Particular Policy Or A Particular President? Then Argue For Your Position. Go Out There And Win An Election. Push To Change It. But Don't Break It. Don't Break What Our Predecessors Spent Over Two Centuries Building. That's Not Being Faithful To What This Country's About.

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

I Believe It`s Important To Be Open And Honest, Especially With Your Friends.

The Goal Of This Office Will Not Be To Favor One Religious Group Over Another - Or Even Religious Groups Over Secular Groups. It Will Simply Be To Work On Behalf Of Those Organizations That Want To Work On Behalf Of Our Communities, And To Do So Without Blurring The Line That Our Founders Wisely Drew Between Church And State.

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 Are Running Out Of Time

Running Out Of Time

It's Time To Recognize That Under The Equal Protection Clause Of The United States [constitution], Same-sex Couples Should Have The Same Rights As Anybody Else.

I Have Muslim Members Of My Family. I Have Lived In Muslim Countries.

You Might Slow Down A Little Bit, You Might Not Jump As High As You Used To, But I Know What I'm Doing And I'm Fearless.

I Want My Children - I Want Malia And Sasha - To Understand That They've Got Responsibilities Beyond Just What They Themselves Have Done. That They Have A Responsibility To The Larger Community And The Larger Nation, That They Should Be Sensitive To And Extra Thoughtful About The Plight Of People Who Have Been Oppressed In The Past, Are Oppressed Currently.

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

When This Crisis Began, Crucial Decisions About What Would Happen To Some Of The World's Biggest Companies - Companies Employing Tens Of Thousands Of People And Holding Trillions Of Dollars In Assets - Took Place In Hurried Discussions In The Middle Of The Night. We Should Not Be Forced To Choose Between Allowing A Company To Fall Into A Rapid And Chaotic Dissolution Or Forcing Taxpayers To Foot The Bill.

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

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.

I Think That When It Comes To Social Security, All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Our Senior Citizens Can Retire With Dignity And Respect. And Everybody Has To Be Open-minded In Thinking How Do We Firm Up A System That, In Fact, Is Going To Be In Difficulty In The Coming Years.

On The Other Hand, It Is Also Undeniable That The Palestinian People - Muslims And Christians - Have Suffered In Pursuit Of A Homeland.

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

I Have Nothing To Hide. I Enjoy Being Myself. I'm Not Going To Change Who I Am Just Because It's Halloween.

I Think That There's No Doubt That As I See Friends, Families, Children Of Gay Couples Who Are Thriving, You Know, That Has An Impact On How I Think About These Issues.

Rather Than Fight The Same Tired Battles That Have Dominated Washington For Decades, It's Time To Try Something New. Let's Invest In Our People Without Leaving Them A Mountain Of Debt. Let's Meet Our Responsibility To The Citizens Who Sent Us Here. Let's Try Common Sense.

I Want Every Young Man Who Sees Me To Know That I'm Not That Different From Them. I Wasn't Born Into Wealth. I Wasn't Born Into Fame. I Made A Lot Of Mistakes - But I Kept At It.

I Don't Have To Negotiate An Arms Agreement With Great Britain Or With France.

Let's Take The Money That We've Been Spending On War Over The Last Decade To Rebuild America, Roads, Bridges Schools. We Do Those Things, Not Only Is Your Future Going To Be Bright But America's Future Is Going To Bright As Well.

By So Many Measures, Our Country Is Stronger And More Prosperous Than It Was When We First Got Here. And I'm Hopeful We'll Build On The Progress We've Made In The Years To Come.

We Can't Discount How Scary And Shaken Not Just The Turkish Government Is, But Turkish Society Is. Imagine If You Had Some Rump Group Of Military Officials Here In The United States Who Started Flying Off With F-16s Or Other Artillery And Were Taking Shots At Government Buildings, And People Were Killed And Injured. People Would Be Scared And Rightfully So.

And I Do Not Want, And I Will Not Accept, A Deal In Which I Am Asked To Do Nothing, In Fact, I'm Able To Keep Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars In Additional Income That I Don't Need, While A Parent Out There Who Is Struggling To Figure Out How To Send Their Kid To College Suddenly Finds That They've Got A Couple Thousand Dollars Less In Grants Or Student Loans.

My Administration Doesn’t Have Any Secrets, And From Now On, Neither Will You.

I Think That The Democratic Party Is A Big Tent, Which Means That There Are Positions I May Not Agree With.

The Thing About Hip-hop Today Is It's Smart, It's Insightful. The Way They Can Communicate A Complex Message In A Very Short Space Is Remarkable.

Islamic Culture Has Given Us Majestic Arches And Soaring Spires; Timeless Poetry And Cherished Music; Elegant Calligraphy And Places Of Peaceful Contemplation.

We Cannot Meet 21st Century Challenges With A 20th Century Bureaucracy.

There's No Way To Resolve Syria Without Iran Being Involved, Given Its Financing Of Assad And The Fact That Hezbollah Is Probably The Most Effective Fighting Force That Assad Can Count On.

For More Than 60 Years, The United States Has Stood By Our Allies And Partners In The Asia Pacific. That Includes Our Defence Partnership With Singapore, Which Stretches Back More Than Two Decades.

The Sort Of Seeing Cruelty And Callousness Of That Sort From Young People Is Heartbreaking.

There Isn't Anyone Who Can't Serve ... Nobody Who Can't Help Somebody Else.

One Of The Things I Advised Donald Trump To Do Was To Make Sure That, Before He Commits To Certain Courses Of Action, He Has Really Dug In And Thought Through How Various Issues Play Themselves Out.

I Don't Oppose All Wars. What I Am Opposed To Is A Dumb War. What I Am Opposed To Is A Rash War.

The Arc Of The Moral Universe May Bend Towards Justice, But It Doesn't Bend On Its Own.

In Missouri, It's A 50/50 State, So I'm Kind Of Used To Half The State Being Mad At Me.

The Values That We Talked About, The Values Democracy And Free Speech And International Norms And Rule Of Law, Respecting The Ability Of Other Countries To Determine Their Own Destiny And Preserve Their Sovereignty And Territorial Integrity. Things Are Not Something That We Can Set Aside.

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

America Is A Country Of Strong Families And Strong Values. My Life's Been Blessed By Both.

The Affordable Care Act Is Here To Stay.

Affordable Care Act

Germany, South Korea - These Are All Countries That Are Investing Massively In Education. We've Got To Do The Same Thing In America.

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