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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.

-Barack Obama

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We Know The Battle

Barack Obama

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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.

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For Top Executives To Award Themselves These Kinds Of Compensation Packages In The Midst Of This Economic Crisis Isn't Just Bad Taste, It's Bad Strategy, And I Will Not Tolerate It As President.

No Single Nation Should Pick And Choose Which Nations Holds Nuclear Weapons. And That's Why I Strongly Reaffirmed America's Commitment To Seek A World In Which No Nations Hold Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear Weapons

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.

We Ask Our Men And Women In Uniform To Leave Their Families, Our Guardsmen And Reservists To Leave Their Jobs. We Ask You To Fight, To Sacrifice, To Risk Your Lives For Your Country. The Last Thing You Should Have To Do Is Fight For A Job When You Come Home.

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

The Trade Agreement Itself Does Have Labor And Environmental Protections, But We Have To Stand For Human Rights And We Have To Make Sure That Violence Isn't Being Perpetrated Against Workers Who Are Just Trying To Organize For Their Rights.

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.

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

I've Been Called Worse On The Basketball Court.

Basketball Court

We Are Growing The Economy In Smart Ways And Rebuilding Our Infrastructure And Investing In Science And Development And That We Stay True To Those Values That Helped To Get Us Here.

There’s No Doubt That There’s Some Folks Who Just Really Dislike Me Because They Don’t Like The Idea Of A Black President.

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.

Simple Exchanges Can Break Down Walls Between Us, For When People Come Together And Speak To One Another And Share A Common Experience, Then Their Common Humanity Is Revealed. We Are Reminded That We're Joined Together By Our Pursuit Of A Life That's Productive And Purposeful, And When That Happens Mistrust Begins To Fade And Our Smaller Differences No Longer Overshadow The Things That We Share. And That's Where Progress Begins.

Common Humanity

Beside The Two Wars He Inherited In Iraq And Afghanistan, And Promised To End, A Financial Crisis At Home Had Pushed The United States To The Brink Of Another Great Depression. When We Spoke With The New President In March Of 2009, The Economy Was Losing 800,000 Jobs A Month, The Government Was Throwing Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars At Failing Banks, And The Auto Industry Was On The Verge Of Collapse. Politically Pummeled From All Sides, Obama Did His Best To Keep A Sense Of Humor.

I Think A Lot Of Teachers Want To Talk About How To Continually Improve Performance.

The Boarded-up Homes, The Decaying Storefronts, The Aging Church Rolls, Kids From Unknown Families Who Swaggered Down The Streets - Loud Congregations Of Teenage Boys, Teenage Girls Feeding Potato Chips To Crying Toddlers, The Discarded Wrappers Tumbling Down The Block - All Of It Whispered Painful Truths.

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.

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.

I Don't Presume To Have Knowledge Of What Happens After I Die. But I Feel Very Strongly That Whether The Reward Is In The Here And Now Or In The Hereafter, The Aligning Myself To My Faith And My Values Is A Good Thing.

Christian Values

My Particular Worries On Any Given Day - How I'm Doing In The Polls Or What Somebody Is Saying About Me... For Good Or For Ill - Isn't Particularly Relevant. What Is Relevant Is: What Am I Building That Lasts?

What We Saw Was That The Ferguson Police Department In Conjunction With The Municipality Saw Traffic Stops, Arrests, Tickets As A Revenue Generator, As Opposed To Serving The Community, And That It Systematically Was Biased Against African-americans In That City Who Were Stopped, Harassed, Mistreated, Abused, Called Names, Fined.

I Think What Grows The Economy Is When You Get That Tax Credit That We Put In Place For Your Kids Going To College. I Think That Grows The Economy. I Think What Grows The Economy Is When We Make Sure Small Businesses Are Getting A Tax Credit For Hiring Veterans Who Fought For Our Country. That Grows Our Economy.

For History Tells Us That While These Truths May Be Self-evident, They've Never Been Self-executing. That While Freedom Is A Gift From God, It Must Be Secured By His People Here On Earth.

We Are On Alert 24/7. And Everything That You Report Will Be Investigated. We Do It In Private. We Do It Covertly. This Could Be A Problem, It Could Simply Be Your Neighbor Having A Bad Day. But Better Be Safe Than Sorry.

The Point Is Isil Leaders Cannot Hide. And Our Next Message To Them Is Simple - You Are Next.

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.

We Can't, You Know, Use Our Military To Make Sure The Planet Doesn't Get Warmer. And So That Kind Of Leadership, Of Being Able To Bring People Together, To Apply Practical Commonsense Solutions Based On Facts, Based On Science, Based On What Works You Know, That's Been The Approach I Have Taken Consistently As A Public Servant. That's The Kind Of Style That I Think We Need In The Presidency Right Now.

You Want To Be Commander-in-chief? You Can Start By Standing Up For The Men And Women Who Wear The Uniform Of The United States, Even When It's Not Politically Convenient.

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

Aircraft Carriers

Nobody's Cooler Than My Two Girls. They Just Seem To Take Whatever Comes With, You Know - Happiness And - Steadiness. And They're Loving School. They're Making Friends... And - They've Already Joined Some Clubs. And Sasha, You Know - I Think Maybe To Endear - Myself To Her, She - She Decided She Wanted To Join A Basketball Team. So - What More Could I Want?

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

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Number One, It Is Absolutely Critical That We Tone Down The Rhetoric When It Comes To The Immigration Debate, Because There Has Been An Undertone That Has Been Ugly. Oftentimes, It Has Been Directed At The Hispanic Community. We Have Seen Hate Crimes Skyrocket In The Wake Of The Immigration Debate As It Has Been Conducted In Washington, And That Is Unacceptable.

And Yes, My Plan Will Continue To Reduce The Carbon Pollution That Is Heating Our Planet - Because Climate Change Is Not A Hoax. More Droughts And Floods And Wildfires Are Not A Joke. They're A Threat To Our Children's Future. And In This Election, You Can Do Something About It.

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.

The United States Has Been A Pacific Nation For Over Two Centuries. That's Not Going To Change.

Sometimes Slow, Steady Effort Is Rewarded With Justice That Arrives Like A Thunderbolt.

The Terror Attacks Have Reshaped The Campaign And May Have Given Another Boost To Donald Trump.

I Get A Thick Book Full Of Death, Destruction, Strife, And Chaos. That's What I Take With My Morning Tea.

One Of The Most Durable And Destructive Legacies Of Discrimination Is The Way We've Internalized A Sense Of Limitation; How So Many In Our Community Have Come To Expect So Little From The World And From Themselves.

For Decades, This Great Leader, Often At Dr. King’s Side, Was Denied His Rightful Place In History Because He Was Openly Gay. No Medal Can Change That, But Today, We Honor Bayard Rustin’s Memory By Taking Our Place In His March Towards True Equality, No Matter Who We Are Or Who We Love.

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Donald Trump Will Be The Next President, The 45th President Of The United States. And It Will Be Up To Him To Set Up A Team That He Thinks Will Serve Him Well And Reflect His Policies. And Those Who Didn't Vote For Him Have To Recognize That That's How Democracy Works. That's How This System Operates.

I Think, The Argument Sometimes That I've Had With Folks Who Are Much More Interested In Sort Of Race-specific Programs Is Less An Argument About What Is Practically Achievable And Sometimes Maybe More An Argument Of "we Want Society To See What's Happened, And Internalize It, And Answer It In Demonstrable Ways." And Those Impulses I Very Much Understand.

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Surround Yourself

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It's Not A Nice-to-have - It's A Must-have. It's Time We Stop Treating Child Care As A Side Issue, Or A Women's Issue, And Treat It Like The National Economic Priority That It Is For All Of Us.

When We Succeed, We Succeed Because Of Our Individual Initiative, But Also Because We Do Things Together.

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

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

For Decades, Our Differences With Iran Meant That Our Governments Almost Never Spoke To Each Other. Ultimately, That Did Not Advance America's Interests.

All This Marked Them As Vaguely Liberal, Although Their Ideas Would Never Congeal Into Anything Like A Firm Ideology; In This, Too, They Were American.

It Should Be The Power Of Our Vote, Not The Size Of Our Bank Accounts, That Drives Our Democracy

Because Of You, In Afghanistan We've Broken The Momentum Of The Taliban. Because Of You, We've Begun A Transition To The Afghans That Will Allow Us To Bring Our Troops Home From There. And Around The Globe, As We Draw Down In Iraq, We Have Gone After Al Qaeda So That Terrorists Who Threaten America Will Have No Safe Haven, And Osama Bin Laden Will Never Again Walk The Face Of This Earth.

There's Been A Lot Of Talk About Body Cameras As A Silver Bullet Or A Solution. I Think The Task Force Concluded That There Is A Role For Technology To Play In Building Additional Trust And Accountability, But It's Not A Panacea, It Has To Be Embedded In A Broader Change In Culture And A Legal Framework That Ensures That People's Privacy Is Respected And That Not Only Police Officers But The Community Themselves Feel Comfortable With How Technologies Are Being Used.

I Did Not Run For Office To Be Helping Out A Bunch Of, You Know, Fat Cat Bankers On Wall Street.

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.

The Problem Is That, Over Time, Big Pieces Of Business That Have To Get Done Without Leadership From Washington, Don't Get Done.

American Values And Legal Traditions Do Not Permit The Indefinite Detention Of People Beyond Our Borders.

Reading Makes All Other Learning Possible. We Have To Get Books Into Our Children's Hands Early And Often.

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.

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We Have An Epidemic Of Fatherlessness Here, And That's What I Agree With The President [barack Obama] On, And We Should Be Doing More To Promote And Protect Marriage As Between A Man And A Women For The Needs Of Our Children.

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

You Can't Manage [country] The Way You Would Manage A Family Business.

There's No Doubt That When It Comes To Our Treatment Of Native Americans As Well As Other Persons Of Color In This Country, We've Got Some Very Sad And Difficult Things To Account For. I Personally Would Want To See Our Tragic History, Or The Tragic Elements Of Our History, Acknowledged. I Consistently Believe That When It Comes To Whether It's Native Americans Or African-american Issues Or Reparations, The Most Important Thing For The U.s. Government To Do Is Not Just Offer Words, But Offer Deeds.

Native American

I Have Got To Figure Out A System Because I Have Bad Filing, Sorting, And Organizing Habits.

You Look At Something Like Health Care, The Affordable Care Act. And For All The Controversy, We Now Have 20 Million People Who Have Health Insurance Who Didn't Have It. It's Actually Proven To Be More Effective, Cheaper Than Even Advocates Like Me Expected.

You Mention The Navy, For Example, And The Fact That We Have Fewer Ships Than We Did In 1916. Well Governor, We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets.

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.

My Core Goal Is To Dismantle, Defeat, Destroy Al Qaeda And Its Allies That Killed Americans And Are Still Plotting To Go Kill Americans.

The Ideals And The Values Of The United States Inspired The Entire World. I Don't Think Any Of Us Can Say That Our Standing In The World Now, The Way Children Around The World Look At The United States, Is The Same. And Part Of What We Need To Do Is To Send A Message To The World That We Are Going To Invest In Issues Like Education, We Are Going To Invest In Issues That Relate To How Ordinary People Are Able To Live Out Their Dreams. And That Is Something That I'm Going To Be Committed To As President Of The United States.

We Know What Happens When Europeans Start Dividing Themselves Up And Emphasizing Their Differences And Seeing A Competition Between Various Countries In A Zero Sum Way.

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.

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.

This Is About Respect For Women, The Judgments That Women Make And Their Doctors About Their Reproductive Health. It's An Important Part Of Who Women Are, Their Reproductive Health.

Another Tradition To Politics, A Tradition (of Politics) That Stretched From The Days Of The Country’s Founding To The Glory Of The Civil Rights Movement, A Tradition Based On The Simple Idea That We Have A Stake In One Another, And That What Binds Us Together Is Greater Than What Drives Us Apart, And That If Enough People Believe In The Truth Of That Proposition And Act On It, Then We Might Not Solve Every Problem, But We Can Get Something Meaningful Done.

Now You Have A Choice: We Can Give More Tax Breaks To Corporations That Ship Jobs Overseas, Or We Can Start Rewarding Companies That Open New Plants And Train New Workers And Create New Jobs Here, In The United States Of America.

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.

First Of All, I Think Everybody Has To Acknowledge Don't Underestimate The Guy [donald Trump], Because He's Going To Be 45th President Of The United States.

Congress Should Fund Research On The Effects That Violent Video Games Have On Young Minds... We Don't Benefit From Ignorance. We Don't Benefit From Not Knowing The Science.

You Have To Be Involved In Terms Of What's Happening In Your Local Neighborhood And What Issues Are There.

After All, There Were Thousands Of So-called Campus Radicals, Most Of Them White And Tenured And Happily Tolerated. No, It Remained Necessary To Prove Which Side You Were On, To Show Your Loyalty To The Black Masses, To Strike Out And Name Names.

Leather Jackets

Nobody Really Thinks That Bush Or Mccain Have A Real Answer For The Challenges We Face, So What They're Going To Try To Do Is Make You Scared Of Me. You Know, He's Not Patriotic Enough. He's Got A Funny Name. You Know, He Doesn't Look Like All Those Other Presidents On Those Dollar Bills, You Know. He's Risky.

There Was A Time When If You Had A Financial Crisis In Southeast Asia Somewhere, It Had No Impact On Our Markets. Today It Does.

Buy Health Insurance, Or Go To Jail.

People Of Berlin - People Of The World - This Is Our Moment. This Is Our Time.

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

Our Efforts Will Only Be Effective If Ordinary Citizens In Other Countries Have Confidence That The United States Respects Their Privacy Too. And The Leaders Of Our Close Friends And Allies Deserve To Know That If I Want To Learn What They Think About An Issue, I Will Pick Up The Phone And Call Them, Rather Than Turning To Surveillance.

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

Think About It: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - These Countries Are Tiny Compared To The Soviet Union. They Don't Pose A Serious Threat To Us The Way The Soviet Union Posed A Threat To Us.

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

We've Seen How Militarized Gear Can Sometimes Give People A Feeling Like There's An Occupying Force, As Opposed To A Force That's Part Of The Community That's Protecting Them And Serving Them.

I Am Here For My Mother And All The Americans Who Are Forced To Spend Time Arguing With Health Insurance Companies Instead Of Focusing On Getting Well. I Am Here For The Millions Of Lives That Will Be Touched And In Some Cases, Saved, By Health Insurance Reform. I Am Here For The Small Businesses Who Are Forced To Choose Between Health Care And Hiring. I Am Here For The Seniors Who Are Unable To Afford The Prescriptions They Need.

Faith Doesn't Mean That You Don't Have Doubts.

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

When It Comes To Preventing Iran From Obtaining A Nuclear Weapon, I Will Take No Options Off The Table. ... That Includes All Elements Of American Power: A Political Effort Aimed At Isolating Iran, A Diplomatic Effort To Sustain Our Coalition And Ensure That The Iranian Program Is Monitored, An Economic Effort That Imposes Crippling Sanctions And, Yes, A Military Effort To Be Prepared For Any Contingency.

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

I Invigorated The Grassroots In The Republican Party As Well As The Democratic Party.

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

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

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

Today We Continue A Never Ending Journey To Bridge The Meaning Of Those Words With The Realities Of Our Time.

What We've Seen At Least Since 1979 Is Iran Making Constant, Calculated Decisions That Allow It To Preserve The Regime, To Expand Their Influence Where They Can, To Be Opportunistic, To Create What They View As Hedges Against Potential Israeli Attack In The Form Of Hezbollah And Other Proxies In The Region.

There Is A Reason Why George Washington Is Always One Of The Top Three Presidents, And It's Not Because Of His Prowess As A Military Leader; It's Not Because Of The Incredible Innovations In Policy That He Introduced. It's Because He Knew When It Was Time To Go.

Issues Are Never Simple. One Thing I'm Proud Of Is That Very Rarely Will You Hear Me Simplify The Issues.

Every Woman Should Be In Control Of The Decisions That Affect Her Own Health.

Unless You're One Of The First Americans, A Native American, You Came From Someplace Else. Somebody Brought You.

Native American

I Believe We Can Seize This Future Together, Because We Are Not As Divided As Our Politics Suggests. [...] We Are Greater Than The Sum Of Our Individual Ambitions. [...] We Are And Forever Will Be The United States Of America. [...] We Will Continue Our Journey Forward And Remind The World Just Why It Is That We Live In The Greatest Nation On Earth.

Obviously, If Congress Wants To Talk About Anything, We're Happy To Provide Information. We're Committed To Moving Forward Under The Current Act.

I Think [ Chief Organizer Of The Democratic Party ] It's Something That I Have An Interest In.

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.

What I Could Not Support Was A Dumb War, A Rash War, A War Based Not On Reason But On Passion, Not On Principle But On Politics.

You Always Hear About Waste And Abuse In Washington. And Usually It Doesn't Mean Much, Because Nobody Ever Finds Where That Waste And Abuse Is.

But I'm Here To Say That When We Do Speak Out, We're Going To Do So Because The United States Of America Does Believe, And Will Always Stand For, A Certain Set Of Universal Values.

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

We've Got A Tax Code That Is Encouraging Flight Of Jobs And Outsourcing. And That's Why We've Specifically Recommended In This Campaign That Congress Change Our Tax Code So That We Stop Giving Tax Breaks To Companies That Are Moving To Mexico And China And Other Places, And Start Putting Those Tax Breaks Into Companies That Are Investing Here In The United States.

As I've Said, There Were Patriots Who Supported This War, And Patriots Who Opposed It. And All Of Us Are United In Appreciation For Our Servicemen And Women, And Our Hopes For Iraqis' Future.

I Think We Should All Hope For A Russia That Is Successful, Where Its People Are Employed And The Economy Is Growing And They Are Having Good Relationships With Their Neighbors.

And If That Child Should Ever Get The Chance To Travel The World And Someone Should Ask Her Where Is She From, We Believe That She Should Always Be Able To Hold Her Head High With Pride In Her Voice When She Answers, "i Am An American." That Is The Course We Seek. That Is The Change We Are Calling For.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

I Am Willing To Work With Anybody Who Wants To Have A Serious Conversation About Our Fiscal Future. We're Not Going To Do This Under The Threat Of Blowing Up The Entire Economy. I Will Not Negotiate Over Congress' Responsibility To Pay The Bills That Have Already Been Racked Up. I Don't Know How I Can Be More Clear About This.

The Future Must Not Belong To Those Who Bully Women. It Must Be Shaped By Girls Who Go To School And Those Who Stand For A World Where Our Daughters Can Live Their Dreams Just Like Our Sons.

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

I Think There Are A Whole Host Of Things That Are Civil Rights, And Then There Are Other Things - Such As Traditional Marriage - That, I Think, Express A Community's Concern And Regard For A Particular Institution.

Nobody Is Listening To Your Telephone Calls.

Even When Folks Are Hitting You Over The Head, You Can't Stop Marching. Even When They're Turning The Hoses On You, You Can't Stop.

We Have Known For Decades That Our Survival Depends On Finding New Sources Of Energy. Yet We Import More Oil Today Than Ever Before.

I Warn Young People That I Interact With About This - You Get Into Unrealistic Expectations Where You Think That, "oh, We're Gonna Eliminate Racism Like That. After Obama's Elected How Could There Be Any Racism?".

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

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

The Role Of Government Has Never Been To Plan Every Detail Or Dictate Every Outcome. At Its Best, Government Has Simply Knocked Away Barriers To Opportunity And Laid The Foundation For A Better Future. Our People -- With All Their Drive And Ingenuity -- Always End Up Building The Rest. And If We Can Do That Again -- If We Can Continue Building That Foundation And Making Those Hard Decisions On Behalf Of The Next Generation -- I Have No Doubt That We Will Leave Our Children The America That We All Hope For.

You Like Pie? I Like Pie.

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.

We Have Now Just Enshrined, As Soon As I Sign This Bill, The Core Principle That Everybody Should Have Some Basic Security When It Comes To Their Healthcare.

... Our Interests And Our Conscience Compel Us To Act On Behalf Of Those Who Long For Freedom. And We Must Be A Source Of Hope To The Poor, The Sick, The Marginalized, The Victims Of Prejudice.

The Kind Of Violence, Looting, Destruction That We Saw From A Handful Of Individuals In Baltimore, There's No Excuse For That. That's Not A Statement. That's Not Politics. That's Not Activism. That's Just Criminal Behavior.

I Think That Donald Trump Is Coming To This Office With Fewer Set Hard-and-fast Policy Prescriptions Than A Lot Of Other Presidents Might Be Arriving With.

Democracy Is Hard Work.

Operations In Iraq And Afghanistan And The War On Terrorism Have Reduced The Pace Of Military Transformation And Have Revealed Our Lack Of Preparation For Defensive And Stability Operations. This Administration Has Overextended Our Military.

The Amount Of Information, The Amount Of Incoming That Any Administration Has To Deal With Today And Respond To Much More Rapidly Than Ever Before, That Makes It Different.

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

You Know, The Bowling Alley Doesn‘t Seem To Be Improving My Game. That‘s The One Thing I Have Noticed.

I Know That The Politics Around Trade Can Be Very Difficult - Especially In An Election Year.

I’m Convinced That A World In Which Girls Are Educated Is A Safer, More Stable, More Prosperous Place.

Scripture Tells Us To "run With Endurance The Race That Is Set Before Us." As We Do, May God Hold Close Those Who’ve Been Taken From Us Too Soon.

I Was Reminded That It Is My Obligation Not Only As An Elected Official In A Pluralistic Society, But Also As A Christian, To Remain Open To The Possibility That My Unwillingness To Support Gay Marriage Is Misguided.

And We Remember The End Of Our Combat Mission And The Emergence Of A New Dawn - The Precision Of Our Efforts Against Al Qaeda In Iraq, The Professionalism Of The Training Of Iraqi Security Forces, And The Steady Drawdown Of Our Forces. In Handing Over Responsibility To The Iraqis, You Preserved The Gains Of The Last Four Years And Made This Day Possible.

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

Ultimately There Is No Dividing Line Between Main Street And Wall Street. We Will Rise Or We Will Fall Together As One Nation.

What Makes Us Exceptional - What Makes Us American - Is Our Allegiance To An Idea Articulated In A Declaration Made More Than Two Centuries Ago: “we Hold These Truths To Be Self-evident, That All Men Are Created Equal; That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights; That Among These Are Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness.”

Pursuit Of Happiness

We're Going To Achieve Our Goal. We Are Going To Degrade And Ultimately Defeat Isil.

I Will Never Forget That The Only Reason I'm Standing Here Today Is Because Somebody, Somewhere Stood Up For Me When It Was Risky. Stood Up When It Was Hard. Stood Up When It Wasn't Popular. And Because That Somebody Stood Up, A Few More Stood Up. And Then A Few Thousand Stood Up. And Then A Few Million Stood Up. And Standing Up, With Courage And Clear Purpose, They Somehow Managed To Change The World.

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.

One Of The Great Things About Being Commander In Chief Is Getting To Know Our Men And Women In Uniform In A Very Intimate Way, Whether It's Visiting Walter Reed And Seeing Our Wounded Soldiers, Or Being On A Base And Talking To Families, Or Interacting With Them On Missions. They're The Best Of The Best: Always Thinking About The Mission, Not Thinking About Credit, Not Thinking About Who's Up Front.

The Window Is Closing.

The American People Are A Non-ideological People. They Very Much Are Looking For Common-sense, Practical Solutions To The Problems That They Face. Oftentimes They've Got Contradictory Senses Of Various Issues And Policy Positions And I Don't Think That Either The Republican Party Or The Democratic Party Necessarily Capture Their Deepest Dreams When Those Parties Are Described In Caricature Or In Policy Terms.

I 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.

I Think That Part Of My Optimism Comes From The Belief That We As A People Could Actually, Regardless Of All The Disadvantage Of The Past, Regardless Of The Fact That A Lot Of Other Folks Got A Head Start In The Race, If We Were Able To Make The Race Fair Right Now.

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.

But Do I Think That Our Actions In Anyway Violate The War Powers Resolution, The Answer Is No.

America Is Governed By Rules Of Law, And Those Are Not Ones That The President Of The United States Or Anybody Else Can Just Set Aside For The Sake Of Expediency Even When We Are Deeply Supportive Of Turkish Democracy, And Even When We Care Deeply About Any Attempts To Overthrow Their Government Or Any Other Illegal Actions, We've Got To Go Through A Legal Process.

When Our Interests And Values Are At Stake, We Have A Responsibility To Act.

If We're Not Vigilant Foreign Countries Can Have An Impact On The Political Debate In The United States In Ways That Might Not Have Been True 10, 20, 30 Years Ago In - In Part Because Of The Way News Is Transmitted And In Part Because So Many People Are Skeptical Of Mainstream News Organizations That - Everything's True And Everything's False.

The Easiest Way To Save Money Is To Waste Less Energy.

If We're Going To Prevent People From Being Susceptible To The False Promises Of Extremism, Then The International Community Has To Offer Something Better And The United States Intends To Do Its Part.

The Opportunity Will Not Remain Open Indefinitely.

I Opposed The Defense Of Marriage Act In 1996. It Should Be Repealed And I Will Vote For Its Repeal On The Senate Floor. I Will Also Oppose Any Proposal To Amend The U.s. Constitution To Ban Gays And Lesbians From Marrying.

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.

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.

Although We May Come From Vastly Different Stories And Very Different Walks Of Life, We Are One People Who Possess Common Values And Common Ideals; Who Celebrate Individual Excellence But Also Share A Recognition That Together, We Can Accomplish Great And Wonderful Things We Can't Accomplish Alone.

Together We Can

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.

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

What Is Portrayed As High-minded Positions On Issues Sometimes Is Just Designed To Carve Out Some Of Their Commercial Interests.

And When It Comes To Developing The High Standards We Need, It's Time To Stop Working Against Our Teachers And Start Working With Them. Teachers Don't Go In To Education To Get Rich. They Don't Go In To Education Because They Don't Believe In Their Children. They Want Their Children To Succeed, But We've Got To Give Them The Tools. Invest In Early Childhood Education. Invest In Our Teachers And Our Children Will Succeed.

This Is The Moment When We Must Come Together To Save This Planet.

There Aren't A Lot Of Situations Where I Look Back And I Say, The Decision I Actually Made Or The Course We Actually Pursued Was The Wrong Course.

Don't Let Your Failures Define You.

I Wonder, Sometimes, Whether Men And Women In Fact Are Capable Of Learning From History--whether We Progress From One Stage To The Next In An Upward Course Or Whether We Just Ride The Cycles Of Boom And Bust, War And Peace, Ascent And Decline.

I'm Told There's A Saying From Those Ancient Times, Kalos Kai Agathos, When Someone Or Something Is Good And Beautiful On The Outside, But Is Also Good And Noble On The Inside In Terms Of Character And In Terms Of Purpose. And I Think That's A Fine Description Of The Friendship That Exists Between The Greek People And The American People.

For Now, Decisions Are Upon Us And We Cannot Afford Delay. We Cannot Mistake Absolutism For Principle Or Substitute Spectacle For Politics, Or Treat Name-calling As Reasoned Debate.

[the White House Staff] Start Bringing In Their Kids, Who You Think Should Be Babies And Now Are In Second Grade Or Something, And You've Watched Them Grow Up. So I Think What Ends Up Happening Is You End Up Maintaining Those Networks And Those Contacts, But The Concentrated Interactions And Experience That You Have Here, I Don't Think, I Don't Expect You Can Duplicate Anyplace Else.

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

[white House Is] The Finest Prison In The World.

The United States, We Know What Happens When We Start Dividing Ourselves Along Lines Of Race Or Religion Or Ethnicity.

If Iran Cheats, The World Will Know It.

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.

Nothing In Life That’s Worth Anything Is Easy.

I'm Convinced We're Going To Rebuild Not Only The Auto Industry, But The Economy Better And Stronger Than Before. And At Its Heart Is Going To Be Three Powerful Words: Made In America. Made In America.

Become A Teacher. Your Country Needs You.

We Think Of Faith As A Source Of Comfort And Understanding But Find Our Expressions Of Faith Sowing Division; We Believe Ourselves To Be A Tolerant People Even As Racial, Religious, And Cultural Tensions Roil The Landscape. And Instead Of Resolving These Tensions Or Mediating These Conflicts, Our Politics Fans Them, Exploits Them,and Drives Us Further Apart.

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

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.

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Christina Perri

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