Background Image

...

We Do Not Want To Keep Our Troops In Afghanistan. We See No Military - We Seek No Military Bases There. It Is Agonizing For America To Lose Our Young Men And Women. It Is Costly And Politically Difficult To Continue This Conflict. We Would Gladly Bring Every Single One Of Our Troops Home If We Could Be Confident That There Were Not Violent Extremists In Afghanistan And Now Pakistan Determined To Kill As Many Americans As They Possibly Can.

-Barack Obama

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

We Do Not Want

Barack Obama

...

We Do Not Want To Keep Our Troops In Afghanistan. We See No Military - We Seek No Military Bases There. It Is Agonizing For America To Lose Our Young Men And Women. It Is Costly And Politically Difficult To Continue This Conflict. We Would Gladly Bring Every Single One Of Our Troops Home If We Could Be Confident That There Were Not Violent Extremists In Afghanistan And Now Pakistan Determined To Kill As Many Americans As They Possibly Can.

Views: 75878

Topic

More From Barack Obama

The United States And Saudi Arabia Have An Extraordinary Relationship And Friendship That Dates Back To Franklin Roosevelt And King Faisal.

Climate Change Constitutes A Serious Threat To Global Security, An Immediate Risk To Our National Security, And, Make No Mistake, It Will Impact How Our Military Defends Our Country.

Health Care Got Done Because There Were A Lot Of People Out There Who Aren't Professional Politicians, But Are Citizens, Who Pushed For It Even When The Politics Was Hard.

I Think That Whenever You Have Got An Incoming President Of The Other Side It Takes A While For People To Reconcile Themselves With That New Reality.

Obviously I'm Grayer, A Few More Wrinkles. One Of The Things I'm Proud About Is That I Think My Basic Character And Outlook Actually Have Not Changed Much. And People Who Are Closest To Me Will Tell You That The Guy Who Came Here Is The Same Guy Who's Leaving.

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

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.

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.

I Won Iowa Not Because The Demographics Dictated That I Would Win Iowa. It Was Because I Spent 87 Days Going To Every Small Town And Fair And Fish Fry And Bfw Hall, And There Were Some Counties Where I Might Have Lost, But Maybe I Lost By 20 Points Instead Of 50 Points. There's Some Counties Maybe I Won, That People Didn't Expect, Because People Had A Chance To See You And Listen To You And Get A Sense Of Who You Stood For And Who You Were Fighting For.

We Are Not Going To Have A Situation Where Our Education Spending Goes Back To Its Lowest Level Since The Year 2000 Despite A Larger Population And More Kids To Educate. We Know That The Single Most Important Thing In Terms Of How Well We Can Compete Around The World Is The Quality Of Our Workforce. We Can't Do That To Our Kids.

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

I Think That It's Important For Judges To Understand That If A Woman Is Out There Trying To Raise A Family, Trying To Support Her Family, And Is Being Treated Unfairly, Then The Court Has To Stand Up, If Nobody Else Will. And That's The Kind Of Judge That I Want.

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

I Think We Would Have Made A Lot More Mistakes And Would Have Accomplished A Lot Less Had We Not Been Grounded In Some Basic Truths.

The Notion That We Would Condition Iran Not Getting Nuclear Weapons In A Verifiable Deal On Iran Recognizing Israel Is Really Akin To Saying That We Won't Sign A Deal Unless The Nature Of The Iranian Regime Completely Transforms. And That Is, I Think, A Fundamental Misjudgment.

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.

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.

There Are Folks Who Will Equivocate. They'll Say, 'you Know, I'm Not A Scientist.' Well, I'm Not Either. But The Best Scientists In The World Know That Climate Change Is Happening.

To Overcome Extremism, We Must Also Be Vigilant In Upholding The Values Our Troops Defend Because There Is No Force In The World More Powerful Than The Example Of America. That Is Why I Have Ordered The Closing Of The Detention Center At Guantanamo Bay, And Will Seek Swift And Certain Justice For Captured Terrorists Because Living Our Values Doesn't Make Us Weaker, It Makes Us Safer And It Makes Us Stronger.

What You Saw Was The People Of New York Having A Debate, Talking Through These Issues. It Was Contentious. It Was Emotional. But Ultimately, They Made A Decision To Recognize Civil Marriage. And I Think That's Exactly How Things Should Work.

I Went Through Six Years Of Battles On Health Care Because I Didn't Have $100 Million Worth Of Advertising Saying How It Would Never Work.

What's Good For America Better Damn Well Be Good For General Motors.

You Like Pie? I Like Pie.

I Don't Want To Be Invited To The Family Hunting Party.

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.

I Will Listen To You, Especially When We Disagree.

You Know, In College, I Smoked A Little Pot, Did A Little Blow.

National Legislation Will Prevent Other States' Flawed Concealed-weapons Laws From Threatening The Safety Of Illinois Residents.

Those Who Are Already Feeling The Effects Of Climate Change Don't Have Time To Deny It - They're Busy Dealing With It.

I Do Think That I Am Generally Optimistic.

Peace Is Not Merely The Absence Of Visible Conflict. Only A Just Peace Based On The Inherent Rights And Dignity Of Every Individual Can Truly Be Lasting.

Sticking Your Head In The Sand Might Make You Feel Safer, But It’s Not Going To Protect You From The Coming Storm.

I Think Ronald Reagan Changed The Trajectory Of America In A Way That Richard Nixon Did Not And In A Way That Bill Clinton Did Not. He Put Us On A Fundamentally Different Path Because The Country Was Ready For It.

Societies Held Together By Fear And Repression May Offer The Illusion Of Stability For A Time, But They Are Built Upon Fault Lines That Will Eventually Tear Asunder.

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

Gabby Giffords Deserves A Vote. The Families Of Newtown Deserve A Vote. The Families Of Aurora Deserve A Vote. The Families Of Oak Creek, And Tucson, And Blacksburg, And The Countless Other Communities Ripped Open By Gun Violence - They Deserve A Simple Vote.

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'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.

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.

The Issue Of Climate Change Is One That We Ignore At Our Own Peril. There May Still Be Disputes About Exactly How Much We're Contributing To The Warming Of The Earth's Atmosphere And How Much Is Naturally Occurring, But What We Can Be Scientifically Certain Of Is That Our Continued Use Of Fossil Fuels Is Pushing Us To A Point Of No Return. And Unless We Free Ourselves From A Dependence On These Fossil Fuels And Chart A New Course On Energy In This Country, We Are Condemning Future Generations To Global Catastrophe.

If You Want To Know Who We Are, Who America Is, How We Respond To Evil-that's It: Selflessly, Compassionately, Unafraid.

People Are Whupped. I'm Whupped. My Wife Is Whupped. Unless It's Your Job To Be Curious, Who Really Has The Time To Sit And Ask Questions And Explore Issues?

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

As President, I Decided That A Strong, Confident America Could Advance Our National Security By Engaging Directly With The Iranian Government. We've Seen The Results.

Everybody Knows Politics Is A Contact Sport.

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.

Libraries Have A Special Role To Play In Our Knowledge Economy. Your Institutions Have Been And Should Be A Place Where Parents And Children Come To Read Together And Learn Together. We Should Take Our Kids There More.

There's A Utility In The Democracy Refreshing Itself On An Ongoing Basis.

His Peaceful Resistance Shook The Foundations Of An Empire, Exposed The Emptiness Of A Repressive Ideology, And Proved That Moral Leadership Is More Powerful Than Any Weapon.

Moral Leadership

A Person’s Zip Code Shouldn’t Decide Their Destiny.

A Number Of Countries, Including Some Who Have Loudly Criticized The Nsa, Privately Acknowledge That America Has Special Responsibilities As The World's Only Superpower, That Our Intelligence Capabilities Are Critical To Meeting These Responsibilities, And That They Themselves Have Relied On The Information We Obtain To Protect Their Own People.

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

I Don't Think Donald Trump Is Ideological.

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.

Together We Resolve That A Great Nation Must Care For The Vulnerable And Protect Its People From Life's Worst Hazards And Misfortune.

If, In [federal Housing Administration] Application, Black Folks Were Excluded From It, Then You Have To Override That By Going After Those Discriminatory Practices.

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

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

As The World's Largest Economy And Second-largest Carbon Emitter, As A Country With Unsurpassed Ability To Drive Innovation And Scientific Breakthroughs, As The Country That People Around The World Continue To Look To In Times Of Crisis, We've Got A Vital Role To Play. We Can't Stand On The Sidelines. We've Got A Unique Responsibility.

We've Seen Those Results In Generations Of Muslim Immigrants - Farmers And Factory Workers, Helping To Lay The Railroads And Build Our Cities, The Muslim Innovators Who Helped Build Some Of Our Highest Skyscrapers And Who Helped Unlock The Secrets Of Our Universe.

Climate Change Poses A Direct Threat To The Infrastructure Of America That We Need To Stay Competitive In This 21st-century Economy.

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.

Our Government Should Work For Us, Not Against Us. It Should Help Us, Not Hurt Us. It Should Ensure Opportunity Not Just For Those With The Most Money And Influence, But For Every American Who's Willing To Work. That's The Promise Of America - The Idea That We Are Responsible For Ourselves, But That We Also Rise Or Fall As One Nation; The Fundamental Belief That I Am My Brother's Keeper; I Am My Sister's Keeper.

We've Got To Be Able To Have A Conversation And Recognize We're All Americans; We All Want The Best For This Country. We May Have Some Disagreements In Terms Of How To Get There, But All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Our Economy Is Strong, That Jobs Are Growing. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That People Aren't Bankrupt When They Get Sick. All Of Us Want To Make Sure That Young People Can Afford An Education.

One Of The Things I Think The Next President Has To Do Is To Stop Fanning People's Fears. If We Spend All Our Time Feeding The American People Fear And Conflict And Division, Then They Become Fearful And Conflicted And Divided. And If We Feed Them Hope And We Feed Them Reason And Tolerance, Then They Will Become Tolerant And Reasonable And Hopeful.

I Believe Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman. I Am Not In Favor Of Gay Marriage. But When You Start Playing Around With Constitutions, Just To Prohibit Somebody Who Cares About Another Person, It Just Seems To Me That's Not What America's About. Usually, Our Constitutions Expand Liberties, They Don't Contract Them.

It's Not Just Enough To Change The Players. We've Gotta Change The Game.

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'd Like To Think That "president Obama Believed Deeply In This Democracy And The American People."

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

If We’re Going To Have Arguments, Let’s Have Arguments — but Let’s Make Them Debates Worthy Of This Body And Worthy Of This Country.

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.

Who Cares If It's A Campaign Strategy, And Who Are Other People To Say It's Ridiculous? I'm Not Gay, But I Strongly Support Gay Marriage. What If Someone Told You You Couldn't Marry The One You Love? I Think It's About Time! Let People Who Love Each Other That Are The Same Sex Get Married. They Deserve The Right To Be Happy Also.

[young People] Are Much Less Likely To Express Attitudes That Defied Us Between Us And Them. They See Themselves As Part Of A Global Economy That They Can Navigate Successfully.

The Genius Of Our Founders Is That They Designed A System Of Government That Can Be Changed. And We Should Take Heart, Because We’ve Changed This Country Before.

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

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.

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

It's The Job, I Think, Of Leaders To Try To Address Peoples' Real Legitimate Concerns And Channel Them In The Most Constructive Ways Possible.

We Cannot Simply Look To Austerity As A Strategy And It Is Incredibly Important That The Greek People See Improvements In Their Daily Lives So That They Can Carry With Them The Hope That Their Lives Will Get Better.

Sometimes It May Seem As If Progress Is Stalled But What History Of Post-war Germany Shows Is That Strength And Determination And Focus And Adherence To The Values That We Care About Will Result In A Better Future For Our Children And Our Grandchildren.

One Of The Best Parts Of The Holiday Season Is Spending Time With The Special People In Your Life.

People In Your Life

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

All I Can Say Is [kids] Have Turned Out To Be Terrific Young Women. We Were Concerned Mostly About Whether They'd Develop An Attitude, Right?

No Discrimination, That's What We're About As A Country.

John Kerry Believes In An America Where Hard Work Is Rewarded.

It's Important To Know That The Vast Majority Of People Who Were Excited In 2008 Are Still Really Enthusiastic. We've Got More Volunteers Now Than Ever, And They're Engaged, They're Motivated, They're Not Paying Attention To The Ups And Downs Of Polls Or Washington.

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.

America Does Not Accept The Legitimacy Of Continued Israeli Settlements.

Israeli Settlements

People Always - I Think Were Surprised About Me Connecting With Folks In Small Town Iowa. And The Reason I Did Was - First Of All, I Had The Benefit That At The Time Nobody Expected Me To Win. And So I Wasn't Viewed Through This Prism Of Fox News And Conservative Media Making Me Scary. At The Time, I Didn't Think Seem Scary, Other Than Just Having A Funny Name. I Seemed Young.

No One In The United States Of America Should Ever Be Targeted Because Of Who They Are, What They Look Like, Or How They Worship.

A Good Compromise, A Good Piece Of Legislation, Is Like A Good Sentence; Or A Good Piece Of Music. Everybody Can Recognize It. They Say, 'huh. It Works. It Makes Sense.'

I Absolutely Think That When We Talk About Family, Faith, Community, I Think It's Important For Democrats To Be Able To Connect With Folks Where They Live.

There Are A Lot Of Very Religious Scientists Around. I Think The Problem Here Is That In Our School Systems, And To Some Degree - And This Is Where It Is Relevant - With School Boards Around The Country That Are Mandating Curriculums And Textbooks, You Start Seeing This Weird Watering Down Of Scientific Fact So That Our Kids Are Growing Up In An Environment - And This Connects To What I Was Saying Earlier Abou The Media - Where Everything's Contested. Where Nothing Is True.

Jimmy Carter Will Go Down In American History As 'the President Who Lost Iran,'

American History

When Individuals Get Crowbars And Start Prying Open Doors To Loot, They're Not Protesting. They're Not Making A Statement. They're Stealing. When They Burn Down A Building, They're Committing Arson.

There Have Been Periods Where The Folks Who Were Already Here Suddenly Say, 'well, I Don't Want Those Folks,' Even Though The Only People Who Have The Right To Say That Are Some Native Americans.

Native American

Fourth, We Will Continue Providing Humanitarian Assistance To Innocent Civilians Who Have Been Displaced By This Terrorist Organization. This Includes Sunni And Shia Muslims Who Are At Grave Risk, As Well As Tens Of Thousands Of Christians And Other Religious Minorities. We Cannot Allow These Communities To Be Driven From Their Ancient Homelands.

So Many Of My Staff Is Young Enough That They're Going To Do Amazing Things. And I'm Going To Be Helping Them Try To Do Them.

We Built This Country By Making Things, By Producing Goods We Could Sell.

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

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.

I Think It's Perfectly Consistent To Say That I Want My Government To Be Operating For All Faiths And All Peoples, Including Atheists And Agnostics, While Also Insisting That There Are Values Tha Tinform My Politics That Are Appropriate To Talk About.

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

Without Investments In Research And Science That Will Create The Next Apple, Create The Next New Innovation That Will Sell Products Around The World, We Will Lose. If We're Not Training Engineers To Make Sure That They Are Equipped Here In This Country, Then Companies Won't Come Here. Those Investments Are What's Going To Help To Make Sure That We Continue To Lead This World Economy Not Just Next Year, But 10 Years From Now, 50 Years From Now, A Hundred Years From Now.

Mothers Are The Rocks Of Our Families And A Foundation In Our Communities. In Gratitude For Their Generous Love, Patient Counsel, And Lifelong Support, Let Us Pay Respect To The Women Who Carry Out The Hard Work Of Motherhood With Skill And Grace, And Let Us Remember Those Mothers Who, Though No Longer With Us, Inspire Us Still.

That Bright Blue Ball Rising Over The Moon's Surface, Containing Everything We Hold Dear - The Laughter Of Children, A Quiet Sunset, All The Hopes And Dreams Of Posterity - That's What's At Stake. That's What We're Fighting For. And If We Remember That, I'm Absolutely Sure We'll Succeed.

In Many Ways [those Middle-aged Black Ladies] My Touchstone, Because They Are What I Meant When I Talked About The Audacity Of Hope.

Why Hang Out With Celebrities When I Can Hang Out With The People Who Made Me One?

In America, We're Getting Too Comfortable With Our Ability To Take Kinetic Strikes Around The World Without Having Enough Process To Avoid Consistently The Kinds Of Civilian Casualties That Can End Up Actually Hurting Us In The War Against Radicalization.

The Sweetest Sound I Know Is The Muslim Call To Prayer.

For In Asia And Around The World, India Is Not Simply Emerging; India Has Already Emerged. And It Is My Firm Belief That The Relationship Between The United States And India - Bound By Our Shared Interests And Values - Will Be One Of The Defining Partnerships Of The 21st Century. This Is The Partnership I Have Come Here To Build. This Is The Vision That Our Nations Can Realise Together.

The Day After The Attack, Governor, I Stood In The Rose Garden And I Told The American People And The World That We Are Going To Find Out Exactly What Happened. That This Was An Act Of Terror And I Also Said That We're Going To Hunt Down Those Who Committed This Crime.

My First Job Is To Say Thank You To Those Who Voted Me. Those Who Didn't, I'm Going To Get Your Vote Next Time.

African American Boys Oftentimes Fall Behind In School Early, Start Feeling Discouraged, Check Out, Drop Out, End Up On The Streets And Then Get Into Trouble.

I Am Confident That We Will One Day End The Scourge Of Modern Slavery, Because I Believe In Those Committed To This Issue.

There Is Enormous Continuity Beneath The Day-to-day News That Makes America That Indispensable Nation When It Comes To Maintaining Order And Promoting Prosperity Around The World.

When Times Change, So Must We.

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.

I Think That America Has To Stand With Democracy.

The Russians Don't Make Determinations About What Our Defense Posture Is.

Because Of The Internet And Communications, The Clash Of Cultures Is Much More Direct. People Feel, I Think, Less Certain About Their Identity, Less Certain About Economic Security.

America And Islam Are Not Exclusive And Need Not Be In Competition. Instead, They Overlap, And Share Common Principles Of Justice And Progress, Tolerance And The Dignity Of All Human Beings.

If You Ask The Average Person They'd Tell Ya, "naw, It's Much More Dangerous," Despite The Fact That Violent Crime Has Dropped Precipitously.

We Are In What We Hope Is An Intensive Diplomatic Phase Now. It Will Not Be Open-ended.

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

Democracies Have

Over More Than A Decade, Iran Had Moved Ahead With Its Nuclear Program. And Before The Deal, It Had Installed Nearly 20,000 Centrifuges That Could Enrich Uranium For A Nuclear Bomb.

If We're Not There Making The Argument Then The Cultural Gulf That Republicans Try To Exploit Saying, "ah, These City Slickers: They're All Looking Down On You, They Don't Care About You. They're Just Trying To Help Out Their Various Special Interest Constituencies," That Argument Ends Up Being Successful.

We Cannot Tolerate A Nuclear Iran. It Would Be A Game Changer. Not Only Would It Threaten Israel, A Country That Is Our Stalwart Ally, But It Would Also Create An Environment In Which You Could Set Off An Arms Race In This Middle East.

The Consequences Of War Are Dire, The Sacrifices Immeasurable. We May Have Occasion In Our Lifetime To Once Again Rise Up In Defense Of Our Freedom, And Pay The Wages Of War. But We Ought Not we Will Not travel Down That Hellish Path Blindly.

Maybe At The Same Time As I'm More Confident Today, I'm Also More Humble.

There's Nothing That America Can't Handle If We Actually Look Squarely At The Problem. ...change Depends On Our Actions.

It’s Important To Make Sure That We’re Talking With Each Other In A Way That Heals, Not In A Way That Wounds." - Barack Obama, 44th U.s. President

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

If All It Took Was Someone Proclaiming I Believe Jesus Christ And That He Died For My Sins, And That Was All There Was To It, People Wouldn't Have To Keep Coming To Church, Would They.

If I Were German And I Had A Vote, I Might Support Angela Merkel.

When I Ran For The U.s. Senate The Assumption Was That Anyone's Name That Was Close To "osama" Doesn't Stand A Chance. So If Somebody Thought That Tacking On "hussein" In There Would Be A Killer, Then I Think They Underestimate The American People And The Seriousness Of The Problems We Face.

The Window Is Closing.

The Surest Path To Success Is To Surround Yourself With Brilliant Women

Surround Yourself

If We Get To A Point Where People In This Country Feel More Affinity With A Leader Who Is An Adversary And View The United States And Our Way Of Life As A Threat To Him, Then We're Gonna Have Bigger Problems Than Just Cyber Hacking.

I Will Call Not Just On Israel, But On The Palestinians, On The Arab States, And The International Community To Join Us In This Effort, Because The Burden Of Making Hard Choices Must Not Be Israel’s Alone.

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 Kids] Complained About Secret Service As They Became Teenagers, And Secret Service Has Done The Very Best Job They Could Accommodating Them, So It Hasn't Restricted Any Of Their Activities.

On The One Hand Information Is Moving Quick Or The Way In Which People Consume Information Is Changing So Fast. Clearly This Worked For [donald Trump], And It Gives Him A Direct Connection To A Lot Of The People That Voted For Him.

Focusing Your Life Solely On Making A Buck Shows A Poverty Of Ambition. It Asks Too Little Of Yourself. And It Will Leave You Unfulfilled.

I Think Back To The Day I Drove Michelle And A Newborn Malia Home From The Hospital Nearly 11 Years Ago - Crawling Along, Miles Under The Speed Limit, Feeling The Weight Of My Daughter's Future Resting In My Hands. I Think About The Pledge I Made To Her That Day: That I Would Give Her What I Never Had - That If I Could Be Anything In Life, I Would Be A Good Father. I Knew That Day That My Own Life Wouldn't Count For Much Unless She Had Every Opportunity In Hers.

I Want To Make Sure That As President Of The United States That I'm Not Asserting In Some Way That My Decisions Overrule The Decisions Of Prosecutors Who Are There To Uphold The Law.

That Sort Of Lack Of Awareness On The Part Of An Activist About The Constraints Of Our Political System And The Constraints On This Office, I Think, Sometimes Would Leave Me To Mutter Under My Breath. Very Rarely Did I Lose It Publicly. Yeah, Usually I'd Just Smile.

There's No Doubt That On The Issue Of Abortion, Oftentimes It's Very Difficult To Split The Difference, Although We Can Agree On The Notion That None Of Us Are Pro-abortion And All Of Us Would Like To See A Reduction In Unwanted Pregnancies, For Example, And We Could Focus On Those Issues.

The United States Of America Has Helped Underwrite The Global Security For More Than Six Decades With The Blood Of Our Citizens And The Strength Of Our Arms. The Service And Sacrifice Of Our Men And Women In Uniform Has Promoted Peace And Prosperity From Germany To Korea And Enabled Democracy To Take Hold In Places Like The Balkans.

I Think Our Basic Principle That This Is A Free Market System And That That Has Worked For Us, That It Creates Innovation And Risk Taking, I Think That's A Principle That We've Gotta Hold To As Well. But What I Don't Wanna Do Is Get Bottled Up In A Lot Of Ideology And Is This Conservative Or Liberal. My Interest Is Finding Something That Works.

We're Not Going To Deputize A Whole Bunch Of American Citizens To Start Grabbing People Or Turning Them In, In Part Because The Ordinary American Citizen May Not Know Whether Or Not This Person Is Illegal Or Not. But, You Know, The Notion That We're Going To Criminalize Priests, For Example, Or Doctors Who Are Providing Services To Individuals, And Throw Them In Jail For Doing What Their Calling Asks Them To Do, Which Is To Provide Help And Service To People In Need, I Think That Is A Mistake. I Think That's Out Of America's Character.

As We Look Forward To The New Year, Let's Resolve To Recommit Ourselves To The Values We Share.

I Think The Greek People, Although It Is Difficult And Challenging And The Politics Of It I Know Are Not Good, Should Appreciate The Fact That In This Global Economy, The Greek Economy Was Going To Have To Go Through Some Structural Reforms.

We've Got To Control Our Own Energy. Now, Not Only Oil And Natural Gas, Which We've Been Investing In; But Also, We've Got To Make Sure We're Building The Energy Source Of The Future, Not Just Thinking About Next Year, But Ten Years From Now, 20 Years From Now. That's Why We've Invested In Solar And Wind And Biofuels, Energy Efficient Cars.

Most People Who Meet My Wife Quickly Conclude That She Is Remarkable. They Are Right About This. She Is Smart, Funny And Thoroughly Charming... Often, After Hearing Her Speak At Some Function Or Working With Her On A Project, People Will Approach Me And Say Something To The Effect Of "you Know, I Think The World Of You, Barack, But Your Wife... Wow!"

We Are One Nation Under God, And We May Call That God Different Names But We Remain One Nation.

We Are Not Going To Keep The Window Open Forever.

I Think It's Useful To Keep In Mind I've Been Now President For Over Seven Years And Gun Sales Don't Seem To Have Suffered During That Time.

I Hoped For Something Else. It's A Simple Dream, But It Speaks To Us So Powerfully Because It Is Our Dream - One That Exists At The Very Center Of The American Experience. One That Says If You're Willing To Work Hard And Take Responsibility, Then You'll Have The Chance To Reach For Something Else; For Something Better.

It Is Now Our Generation's Task To Carry On What Those Pioneers Began. For Our Journey Is Not Complete Until Our Wives, Our Mothers And Daughters Can Earn A Living Equal To Their Efforts. Our Journey Is Not Complete Until Our Gay Brothers And Sisters Are Treated Like Anyone Else Under The Law - For If We Are Truly Created Equal, Then Surely The Love We Commit To One Another Must Be Equal As Well.

We Live In A Moment When The Dream Of Equal Opportunity Is Within Reach.

Now, I've Lived Long Enough To Know That Race Relations Are Better Than They Were 10 Or 20 Or 30 Years Ago No Matter What Some Folks Say. You Can See It Not Just In Statistics, You See It In The Attitudes Of Young Americans Across The Political Spectrum. But We're Not Where We Need To Be. And All Of Us Have More Work To Do.

I Think We Need Missile Defense. But I Want To Make Sure It Works, That It's Cost Effective, That The Technologies Are Operable, That It's Our Best Possible Strategy, And That Hasn't Been Shown.

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

Men Have To Take More Responsibility. Men Have To Intervene

The United States Is Doing Our Part By Increasing The Number Of Refugees We Resettle And I Want Again To Commend Angela [merkel], And More Importantly, The German People For The Extraordinary Leadership And Compassion That You Have Shown In The Face Of What I Know Is A Very Difficult Challenge.

The Borders Of Israel And Palestine Should Be Based On The 1967 Lines With Mutually Agreed Swaps, So That Secure And Recognized Borders Are Established For Both States.

I've Said Very Clearly, Including In A State Of The Union Address, That I'm Against 'don't Ask, Don't Tell' And That We're Going To End This Policy.

Too Often, We Have Failed To Enforce International Norms When It's Inconvenient To Do So.

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.

If There's One Thing I Would Like To See, It'd Be For Us To Be Able To Price The Cost Of Carbon Emissions.

Carbon Emissions

I'm A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption.

Many Of Our Ideas Of Democracy, So Much Of Our Literature And Philosophy And Science Can Be Traced Back To Roots Right Here In Athens.

Political Gerrymandering Makes The Incentive For Most Members Of Congress To Play To The Extremes Of Their Base Rather Than To The Center.

We Are Not Going To Be Able To Rebuild Afghanistan Into A Jeffersonian Democracy.

Politics Has Never Been For The Thin-skinned Or The Faint-of-heart, And If You Enter The Arena, You Should Expect To Get Roughed Up.

There Are Certain People In Our Popular Culture That Just Capture People's Imaginations. And In Death, They Become Even Larger. Now, I Have To Admit That It's Also Fed By A 24/7 Media That Is Insatiable.

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.

Now, If You Have Or Had One Of These Plans Before The Affordable Care Act Came Into Law And You Really Liked That Plan, What We Said Was You Can Keep It If It Hasn't Changed Since The Law Passed.

As Progressives We Believe In Affordable Health Care For All Americans.

I Would Say To People Is, That Investigation, As It Has Already Been Stated, Is A Marathon And Not A Sprint. But It Is One Of Great Concern To The American People. And So We're Committed To Keeping People Informed.

Part Of What Makes Me Most Optimistic Is If You Look At The Attitudes Of Young People. Across The Board, Young People Are Much More Comfortable With Respecting Differences. They Are Much More Comfortable With Diversity.

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.

I Am Looking Forward To Getting Out Of The Bubble. I Am Glad That I'm Leaving This Place At A Relatively Young Age, At 55. So I Have The Opportunity For A Second Maybe Even A Third Act In A Way That I Think Would Be Tougher If I Were, You Know, The Age Of Some Presidents When They Left.

And What Would Help Minority Workers Are The Same Things That Would Help White Workers: The Opportunity To Earn A Living Wage, The Education And Training That Lead To Such Jobs, Labor Laws And Tax Laws That Restore Some Balance To The Distribution Of The Nation's Wealth.

I Am Very Proud Of The Fact I Do Not Cheat When I'm Playing Golf.

I've Always Viewed The Paris Agreement As A Starting Point. If You Look At All The Commitments That Have Been Made By All The Countries, It's Still Not Sufficient To Deal With The Very Dangerous Situation We Face. What It Has Done Is That It Created An Architecture Whereby As Technology Improves, As We Find New Clean Sources Of Energy, As We Make Our Economies More Efficient, Then Gradually We Can Turn Up The Dial And Improve The Outcomes Of Paris.

The Fact That My 15 Minutes Of Fame Has Extended A Little Longer Than 15 Minutes Is Somewhat Surprising To Me, And A Matter Of Bewilderment For My Wife.

The Real Problem, If You Look At How, For Example, Hezbollah Got A Lot Of Missiles That Are A Grave Threat To Israel, It's Not Because They Were Legal, It's Not Because Somehow That Was Authorized Under International Law; It Was Because There Was Insufficient Intelligence Or Capacity To Stop Those Shipments.

The Iranian Regime Supports Violent Extremists And Challenges Us Across The Region. It Pursues A Nuclear Capability That Could Spark A Dangerous Arms Race And Raise The Prospect Of A Transfer Of Nuclear Know-how To Terrorists. Its President Denies The Holocaust And Threatens To Wipe Israel Off The Map. The Danger From Iran Is Grave, It Is Real.

Life Takes Its Own Turns, Makes Its Own Demands, Writes Its Own Story, And Along The Way, We Start To Realize We Are Not The Author.

Inspirational Life

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

You Could Analyze Me And Say That My Father Leaving And Being Absent Was A Motivator For Early Ambition, Trying To Prove Myself To This Apparition Who Had Vanished. You Could Argue That Me Being A Mixed Kid In A Place Where There Weren't A Lot Of Black Kids Around Might Have Spurred On My Ambitions. You Could Go Through A Whole Litany Of Things That Sparked Me Wanting To Do Something Important.

I Think At Times Of Significant Stress People Are Going To Be Looking For Something And They Don't Always Know Exactly What It Is That They're Looking For And They May Opt For Change Even If They're Not Entirely Confident What That Change Will Bring.

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

I Think That We've Had An Economy That's Been Out Of Balance For Too Long. So The General Principle Of Raising Taxes On Higher Income Americans, Like Myself, And Providing Relief To Those Who Haven't Benefited As Much From This New Global Economy, I Think Is A Sound One.

We Continue To Urge China And Other Claimants To Work Constructively To Resolve These Disagreements, So That The South China Sea - Which Is So Vital To The Global Economy - Can Be Defined By Commerce And Cooperation.

Secularists Are Wrong When They Ask Believers To Leave Their Religion At The Door Before Entering Into The Public Square. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - Indeed, The Majority Of Great Reformers In American History - Were Not Only Motivated By Faith, But Repeatedly Used Religious Language To Argue For Their Cause. To Say That Men And Women Should Not Inject Their "personal Morality" Into Public Policy Debates Is A Practical Absurdity.

"undecided," While Running For Re-election To State Senate In 1998, In Response To An Outlines Questionnaire Asking, "do You Favor Legalizing Same-sex Marriage?"

Trending Author

Barry Goldwater

Louisa May Alcott

Category