Background Image

...

When People Are Oppressed, And Human Rights Are Denied - Particularly Along Sectarian Lines Or Ethnic Lines - When Dissent Is Silenced, It Feeds Violent Extremism, It Creates An Environment That Is Ripe For Terrorists To Exploit. When Peaceful, Democratic Change Is Impossible, It Feeds Into The Terrorist Propaganda That Violence Is The Only Answer Available.

-Barack Obama

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

When People Are Oppressed,

Barack Obama

...

When People Are Oppressed, And Human Rights Are Denied - Particularly Along Sectarian Lines Or Ethnic Lines - When Dissent Is Silenced, It Feeds Violent Extremism, It Creates An Environment That Is Ripe For Terrorists To Exploit. When Peaceful, Democratic Change Is Impossible, It Feeds Into The Terrorist Propaganda That Violence Is The Only Answer Available.

Views: 8

Topic

More From Barack Obama

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

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

I've Been Involved In The Intelligence Side Of The Federal Government For A Long Time. We All Know That We Have To Have A Balance Between Security To Protect The American People And Liberty. We Take An Oath To Protect And Defend The Constitution And The American People.

Throughout History, The Arts And Humanities Have Helped Men And Women Around The Globe Grapple With The Most Challenging Questions And Come To Know The Most Basic Truths. In Our Increasingly Interconnected World, The Arts Play An Important Role In Both Shaping The Character That Defines Us And Reminding Us Of Our Shared Humanity. This Month, We Celebrate Our Nation's Arts And Humanities, And We Recommit To Ensuring All Americans Can Access And Experience Them.

The Ability Of Republican Leaders To Rile Up Their Base - Helped Along By Folks Like Rush Limbaugh, Some Commentators On Fox News - I Think Created An Environment In Which Republican Voters Would Punish Republicans For Cooperating With Me. That Hothouse Of Back-and-forth Argument And - And Really Sharp Partisanship I Think Has Been Harmful To America.

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

I Refuse To Leave Our Children With A Debt That They Cannot Repay.

Broken Promises

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

What You Have To Do Is To Look At What's Going To Keep Our Economic Growth Going, What's Going To Make Sure Jobs Are Being Created.

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

We Can Rattle Our Sabers All We Want But, Realistically, We Don't Have Troops For An Invasion [iran] And Surgical Strikes Aren't Going To Work.

I've Got Two Daughters And I Want To Make Sure That They Have The Same Opportunities That Anybody's Sons Have. That's Part Of What I'm Fighting For As President Of The United States.

I'm Lebron, Baby. I Can Play On This Level. I Got Some Game.

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

Look, We Live In A Celebrity Culture And Sometimes You Get Caught In The Wave And The Buzz And A Lot Of It's Flattering But, You Know, One Of The Things That I Try To Remind People Of Is, Is That I Was In Politics As A State Senator Operating In Obscurity For Many Years. Before That I Was A Community Organizer Working In Low Income Communities In Chicago And Nobody Knew My Name Then. And So, Having Involved Myself In Public Service For A Pretty Long Time Without Getting Too Much Attention, Hopefully I Can Keep Some Of The Attention That I'm Getting Now In Perspective.

The Ultimate Goal Is Two States For Two People: Israel As A Jewish State And The Homeland For The Jewish People And The State Of Palestine As The Homeland For The Palestinian People - Each State In Joined Self-determination, Mutual Recognition, And Peace.

After A Breakthrough Year For America, Our Economy Is Growing And Creating Jobs At The Fastest Pace Since 1999.

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

My View Is That Discrimination Against Anyone At The Ballot Box Is Wrong And Should Have The Full Enforcement Of The Federal Government.

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

People In Your Life

Right Now I Would Rank Norway As The Largest Country In The World, I Have Never Seen Anything Like It

The Things That Led Me To Run For Office - Trying To Figure Out How We Create An Economy Where Everybody's Got A Fair Shot And If You Work Hard, You Can Achieve Your Dreams.

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

[a]lthough The Principle Of Equality Has Always Been Self-evident, It Has Never Been Self-executing.

If Democrats Are Not Showing Up In Those [rural] Places Even If You're Not Gonna Win Right Away But If You're Not In There At Least Making An Argument That, "hey, You Know What? It's The Democrats Who Are Trying To Raise Your Minimum Wage."

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.

I Think We Can Provide Common-sense Approaches To The Issue Of Illegal Guns That Are Ending Up On The Streets. We Can Make Sure That Criminals Don't Have Guns In Their Hands. We Can Make Certain That Those Who Are Mentally Deranged Are Not Getting A Hold Of Handguns. We Can Trace Guns That Have Been Used In Crimes To Unscrupulous Gun Dealers That May Be Selling To Straw Purchasers And Dumping Them On The Streets.

Through Words He Gave Voice To The Voiceless. Through Deeds He Gave Courage To The Faint Of Heart.

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

Above All, Our Freedom Endures Because Of The Men And Women In Uniform Who Defend It.

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

I Will Continue To Urge Creditors To Take The Steps Needed To Put Greece On A Path Towards A Durable Economic Recovery Because It's In All Of Our Interests That Greece Succeeds.

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...

Everybody Acknowledges That The Current Path We're On Is Unsustainable, Not Just For The People Who Don't Have Health Insurance But For Those Who Do.

The Reason I Take Pride For That Is One Of The Things You Worry About When You're In The Bubble, And There's All This Pomp And Circumstance And Hail To The Chief Is, Do You Lose Touch With What You Thought Was Important And What Brought You Here? And I'm Proud That I Don't Think I Have Lost Touch.

There's No Doubt That I'm A Better President Now Than When I First Took Office. This Is Not A Job Where There's A Manual, And Over Time You Get A Better Sense Of What's Important, What's Not, How To See Around Corners And Anticipate Problems, As Opposed To Just Managing Problems Once They've Arrived.

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.

For The Palestinians' Efforts To Delegitimize Israel Will End In Failure. Palestinian Leaders Will Not Achieve Peace Or Prosperity If Hamas Insists On A Path Of Terror And Rejection. And Palestinians Will Never Realize Their Independence By Denying The Right Of Israel To Exist.

I've Said Many Times Around The World That Like Any Government, Like Any Country, Like, Any Set Of Human Institutions, We Have Our Flaws. We've Operated Imperfectly. There Are Times We've Made Mistakes.

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

I Think Republicans Now Are Recognizing That [obamacare Cancellation] May Not Be What The American People, Including Even [donald] Trump Voters, Are Looking For. And My Hope Is That The President-elect, Members Of Congress From Both Parties Look At, "where Have We Objectively Made Progress, Where Things Are Working Better?" Don't Undo Things Just Because I Did Them. I Don't Have Pride Of Authorship.

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.

Whatever Success I Have Achieved, Whatever Positions Of Leadership I Have Held Have Depended Less On Ivy League Degrees Or Sat Scores Or Gpas And Have Instead Been Due To That Sense Of Connection And Empathy, The Special Obligation I Felt As A Black Man Like You To Help Those Who Need It Most, People Who Didn't Have The Opportunities That I Had Because There, But For The Grace Of God Go I. I Might Have Been In Their Shoes. I Might Have Been In Prison. I Might Have Been Unemployed. I Might Not Have Been Able To Support A Family. And That Motivates Me.

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

We Have To Be Successful At The Cutting-edge Industries Of The Future Like Twitter. But We Also Have Always Been A Country That Makes Stuff.

Being Successful

If You Work Hard. And Are Responsible. You Should Be Rewarded.

If You Don't Have A Record To Run On, You Paint Your Opponent As Someone To Run From.

The Real Test Is Not Whether You Avoid Failure, Because You Won't. It's Whether You Let It Harden Or Shame You Into Inaction, Or Whether You Learn From It. . .

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.

Here At This Site, Solyndra Expects To Make Enough Solar Panels Each Year To Generate 500 Megawatts Of Electricity. And Over The Lifetime Of This Expanded Facility, That Could Be Like Replacing As Many As Eight Coal-fired Power Plants.

That May Prevent Us From Getting A Deal Done, It Is There To Be Had. Whether Ultimately Iran Can Seize That Opportunity - We Will Have To Wait And See, But It Is Not For Lack Of Trying On Our Part.

We'll Build New Ties Of Trade And Of Commerce, Culture And Education That Unleash The Potential Of The Iraqi People.

Independent Economists Say Immigration Reform Will Grow Our Economy And Shrink Our Deficits By Almost $1 Trillion In The Next Two Decades. And For Good Reason: When People Come Here To Fulfill Their Dreams - To Study, Invent, And Contribute To Our Culture - They Make Our Country A More Attractive Place For Businesses To Locate And Create Jobs For Everyone. So Let's Get Immigration Reform Done This Year.

Islam Is Not Part Of The Problem In Combating Violent Extremism - It Is An Important Part Of Promoting Peace.

In The Midst Of This Enormous Economic Crisis, I Think Canada Has Shown Itself To Be A Pretty Good Manager Of The Financial System And The Economy In Ways That We Always - Haven't Always Been Here In The United States.

I Believe That For All Our Imperfections, We Are Full Of Decency And Goodness, And That The Forces That Divide Us Are Not As Strong As Those That Unite Us.

Jerusalem Will Remain The Capital Of Israel, And It Must Remain Undivided.

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

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?

We Don't Ask You To Believe In Our Ability To Bring Change, Rather, We Ask You To Believe In Yours.

I Think That People Are Concerned About The Breakdown Of The Family But They Also Don't Want To See Discrimination Against Gays And Lesbians Who They Work With And They Want To Be Able To Make Sure That Gays Can Visit Each Other In Hospitals And Be Able To Inherit Property.

The Balkanization Of The Media Means That Nobody Is Having A Single Conversation With A Single Set Of Agreed-upon Facts And Assumptions The Way You Had As Recently As The 90s.

If Everybody Voted, Then It Would Completely Change The Political Map In This Country.

The Only Resolution Is For The Aspirations Of Both Sides To Be Met Through Two States, Where Israelis And Palestinians Each Live In Peace And Security. ... Israelis Must Acknowledge That Just As Israel's Right To Exist Cannot Be Denied, Neither Can Palestine's. The United States Does Not Accept The Legitimacy Of Continued Israeli Settlements.

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

What Used To Be Racial Segregation Now Mirrors Itself In Class Segregation, This Great Sorting (has) Taken Place. It Creates Its Own Politics. There Are Some Communities Where Not Only Do I Not Know Poor People, I Don't Even Know People Who Have Trouble Paying The Bills At The End Of The Month. I Just Don't Know Those People. And So There's Less Sense Of Investment In Those Children.

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.' We Are A Nation That Welcomes The Service Of Every Patriot. We Are A Nation That Believes That All Men And Women Are Created Equal. Those Are The Ideals That Generations Have Fought For. Those Are The Ideals That We Upheld Today.

One Of The Proudest Things Of My Three Years In Office Is Helping To Restore A Sense Of Respect For America Around The World.

Ask Osama Bin Laden And The 22-out-of-30 Top Al-qaida Leaders Who've Been Taken Off The Field Whether I Engage In Appeasement. Or Whoever Is Left Out There, Ask Them About That.

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

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

I Thought Brittany Packnett, Who Was One Of The Ferguson Activists, Really Interesting, Smart Young Lady, Really Impressive - You Might Want To Talk With Her. So She Was One Of The Organizers Of The Ferguson Movement, Ended Up Joining Our Task Force. She Came In Here And She Just Knew Her Stuff.

In That Kind Of Environment, Where There's So Much Skepticism About Information That's Coming In, We're Gonna Have To Spend A Lot More Time Thinking About How Do We Protect Our Democratic Process.

Hunger, Disease And Poverty Can Lead To Global Instability And Leave A Vacuum For Extremism To Fill. So Instead Of Just Managing Poverty, We Must Offer Nations And People A Pathway Out Of Poverty. And As President I've Made Development A Pillar Of Our Foreign Policy, Alongside Diplomacy And Defense.

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

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

We Have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, And Their Own Path To Grace Is One That We Have To Revere And Respect As Much As Our Own

We Are Reorganizing How We Work With State And Local Governments To Make Sure That We Are Not Prioritizing Families [for Deportation], And You Are Gonna See, I Think, A Substantial Change Even As The Case Works Its Way Through The Courts.

Do Not Tell Me That We're Not Drilling. We're Drilling All Over This Country. I Mean, I Guess There's Some - There Are A Few Spots Where We're Not Drilling. We're Not Drilling In The National Mall. We're Not Drilling At Your House. I Guess We Could Try To Have Like, You Know, 200 Oil Rigs In The Middle Of Chesapeake Bay.

My Goal Is To Maintain The International Norm On Banning Chemical Weapons. I Want That Enforcement To Be Real. I Want It To Be Serious. I Want People To Understand That Gassing Innocent People, Delivering Chemical Weapons Against Children Is Not Something We Do. It's Prohibited In Active Wars Between Countries. We Certainly Don't Do It Against Kids. And We've Got To Stand Up For That Principle.

Even If The Criticism Is Not Always Perfectly Informed And In Some Cases I Would Deem Unfair, Just The Noise, Attention, Fuss Probably Keeps Powerful Officials Or Agencies On Their Toes. And They Should Be On Their Toes When It Comes To The Use Of Deadly Force.

What I Want To Communicate Is The Fact That In All My Travels Throughout The Muslim World, What I've Come To Understand Is That Regardless Of Your Faith - And America Is A Country Of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Non-believers - Regardless Of Your Faith, People All Have Certain Common Hopes And Common Dreams.

I Mean, If You Think About - If You Think About It, Ups And Fedex Are Doing Just Fine, Right? No, They Are. It's The Post Office That's Always Having Problems.

The Next Phase And This Is Part Of What I'm Interested In Doing After I Get Out Of The Presidency Is To Make Sure That I'm Working With That Next Generation So That They Understand You Can't Just Rely On Inspiration. There's A Little Perspiration Involved In Bringing About Change Too. That You Have To Be Organized, That You Have To Vote Even When It's Not Exciting.

Iran Will For Sure Have Pledged To The International Community That It Will Not Develop A Nuclear Weapon, And Now Will Be Subject To An Additional Protocol, A More Vigorous Inspection And Monitoring Regime That Lasts In Perpetuity.

Americans Coming Home, An Iran That Has Rolled Back Its Nuclear Program And Accepted Unprecedented Monitoring Of The Program -these Things Are A Reminder Of What We Can Achieve When We Lead With Strength And With Wisdom, With Courage And Resolve And Patience. America Can Do And Has Done Big Things When We Work Together.

Enforcement Priorities Developed By My Administration Are Not Affected By This Ruling. This Means That The People Who Might Have Benefited From The Expanded Deferred Action Policies, Long-term Residents Raising Children Who Are Americans Or Legal Residents, They Will Remain Low Priorities For Enforcement, As Long As You Have Not Committed A Crime, Our Limited Immigration Enforcement Resources Are Not Focused On You.

Iraq Is Sort Of A Situation Where You've Got A Guy Who Drove The Bus Into The Ditch. You Obviously Have To Get The Bus Out Of The Ditch, And That's Not Easy To Do, Although You Probably Should Fire The Driver.

To The Muslim World, We Seek A New Way Forward, Based On Mutual Interest And Mutual Respect. To Those Leaders Around The Globe Who Seek To Sow Conflict, Or Blame Their Society's Ills On The West - Know That Your People Will Judge You On What You Can Build, Not What You Destroy. To Those Who Cling To Power Through Corruption And Deceit And The Silencing Of Dissent, Know That You Are On The Wrong Side Of History; But That We Will Extend A Hand If You Are Willing To Unclench Your Fist.

Mutual Interest

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.

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

I Have Great Respect For Both President Obama And The Office That He Holds

Guaranteed, Full Stop, Nobody Gets Treated Differently When It Comes To The Justice Department, Because Nobody Is Above The Law.

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.

He [barack Obama] Talked About A Crisises And He Was Blaming The Republicans On This Crisises. It's Like Me Blaming My Wife For My Drinking. I Don't Se How This Is The Republicans Fault.

We Lose Ourselves When We Compromise The Very Ideals That We Fight To Defend. And We Honor Those Ideals By Upholding Them Not When It's Easy, But When It Is Hard.

I Would Say Of All The Things That Have Happened During The Course Of My Presidency The Knowledge That You Have Hundreds Of Thousands Of People Who Have Been Killed, Millions Who Have Been Displaced, [makes Me] Ask Myself What Might I Have Done Differently Along The Course Of The Last Five, Six Years.

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.

Part Of The Reason That Our Politics Seems So Tough Right Now And Facts And Science And Argument Does Not Seem To Be Winning The Day All The Time Is Because We're Hardwired Not To Always Think Clearly When We're Scared. And The Country's Scared.

To Break Our Addiction To Oil Is One Of The Greatest Challenges That Our Generation Will Have To Master.

I Think Part Of The Reason That I Have Been Successful, Though, Despite Maybe Not Always Fitting My Message Into The Pre-packaged Formulas, Is There Is This Whole Other Media Ecology Out There Of The Internet And Instagram And Memes And Talk Shows And Comedy, And I'm Pretty Good At That.

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.

With The Changing Economy, No One Has Lifetime Employment. But Community Colleges Provide Lifetime Employability.

My Job To The Muslim World Is To Communicate That The Americans Are Not Your Enemy. We Sometimes Make Mistakes. We Have Not Been Perfect.

Money Is The Original Sin In Politics And I Am Not Sinless.

We've Got To Change Our Regulatory System.

I Have Said Repeatedly That America Doesn't Torture And I'm Going To Make Sure That We Don't Torture. Those Are Part And Parcel An Effort To Regain America's Moral Stature In The World.

The Greek People Have Gone Through Some Very Difficult Times And There's Still A Hard Road Ahead, But Despite Those Hardships, Greece Has Continued To Be A Reliable Ally, Has Shown True Compassion To Fellow Human Beings In Need. It's An Example Of The Greek Character.

For As Much As Government Can Do And Must Do, It Is Ultimately The Faith And Determination Of The American People Upon Which This Nation Relies. So Let Us Mark This Day With Remebrance, Of Who We Are And How Far We Have Traveled.

There's One Issue That Will Define The Contours Of This Century More Dramatically Than Any Other, And That Is The Urgent And Growing Threat Of A Changing Climate.

It Is Time To Put In Place Tough, New Common-sense Rules Of The Road So That Our Financial Market Rewards Drive And Innovation, And Punishes Short-cuts And Abuse.

Even As We Implement The Nuclear Deal And Welcome Our Americans Home, We Recognize That There Remain About Differences Between The United States And Iran. We Remain Steadfast In Opposing Iran's Destabilizing Behavior Elsewhere, Including Its Against Israel And Our Gulf Partners And Its Support For Violent Proxies In Places Like Syria And Yemen.

This Is A Time Of Great Change In The World But America's Always Been A Pillar Of Strength And A Beacon Of Hope To Peoples Around The Globe And That's What It Must Continue To Be.

This Self-reflection, This Willingness To Examine Ourselves, To Make Corrections, To Do Better, That's Part Of What Makes Us Americans. It's Part Of What Sets Us Apart From Other Nations, The United States Is The Most Professional, Most Capable, Most Cutting-edge Intelligence Community In The World.

This Is A Core Principle Of My Presidency - If You Threaten America, You Will Find No Safe Haven.

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

Now, As The World's Largest Economy And As The World's Second Largest Emitter, America Bears Our Responsibility To Address Climate Change, And We Intend To Meet That Responsibility.

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.

Michelle, I Love You. The Other Night, I Think The Entire Country Saw Just How Lucky I Am. Malia And Sasha, You Make Me So Proud…but Don't Get Any Ideas, You're Still Going To Class Tomorrow. And Joe Biden, Thank You For Being The Best Vice President I Could Ever Hope For.

I Don't Regret The Excitement, Because I Do Think That It Helped Us Accomplish As Much As We Did.

We're Up Against The Conventional Thinking That Says Your Ability To Lead As President Comes From Longevity In Washington Or Proximity To The White House. But We Know That Real Leadership Is About Candor And Judgment And The Ability To Rally Americans From All Walks Of Life Around A Common Purpose, A Higher Purpose.

I Don't Have A Philosophical Objection, Necessarily, To A Travel Ban If That Is The Thing That Is Going To Keep The American People Safe.

Is This Money Well Spent? This Is Taxpayer Money, It Is Going To Be Adding To The Deficit Short Term And If We Can't Justify It, Then We're Not Going To Spend Tens Or Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars, Just To Make Somebody Happy, If It's Not Good For The Economy.

America Must Always Lead On The World Stage.

Sometimes If Your Only Approach Is Cutting Spending At A Time When The Economy's Contracting, Then The Economy Will Contract Further.

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.

You Are Part Of The First Generation Of Officers To Begin Your Service In A World Where The Effects Of Climate Change Are So Clearly Upon Us. Climate Change Will Shape How Every One Of Our Services Plan, Operate, Train, Equip, And Protect Their Infrastructure, Today And For The Long-term.

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

Like It Or Not, We Have To Have A Financial System That Is Healthy And Functioning.

Financial System

The Second Thing We Have To Do Is To Make Sure That All Of Us Think About How We Approach Our Elections And Our Democracy Not Only To Secure Them From Vote Tampering, But Also To Make Sure That We Understand When Propaganda Is Being Churned Through The System.

I Was Able To Do That [showing Up Of Democratic Benefits] When I Was The Candidate. But I've Not Seen Or Presided Over That Kind Of Systematic Outreach That I Think Needs To Happen.

We Remember The Specter Of Sectarian Violence -- Al Qaeda's Attacks On Mosques And Pilgrims, Militias That Carried Out Campaigns Of Intimidation And Campaigns Of Assassination. And In The Face Of Ancient Divisions, You Stood Firm To Help Those Iraqis Who Put Their Faith In The Future.

You've Got Audiences Cheering At The Prospect Of Somebody Dying Because They Don't Have Health Care And Booing A Service Member In Iraq Because They're Gay. That's Not Reflective Of Who We Are.

We Are A People Of Improbable Hope.

This Is The Defining Issue Of Our Time. This Is A Make-or-break Moment For The Middle Class And For All Those Who Are Fighting To Get Into The Middle Class.

I Can't Even Get A Credit Card Without Three Credit Bureaus Saying I'm Good Enough.

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

Those Who Oppose Reform Will Also Tell You That Under Our Plan, You Won't Get To Choose Your Doctor - That Some Bureaucrat Will Choose For You. That's Also Not True.

If You Listen To The Rhetoric, It Is So Over-the-top And So Overheated, And Most Importantly, Is Not Acknowledging The Fact That There's Nothing Else [like Guns] In Our Lives That We Purchase Where We Don't Try To Make It A Little Safer If We Can.

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

Good Intentions

We've Taken Bold Action At Home By Making Historic Investments In Renewable Energy, By Putting Our People To Work Increasing Efficiency In Our Homes And Buildings, And By Pursuing Comprehensive Legislation To Transform To A Clean Energy Economy.

The Path Towards Sustainable Energy Sources Will Be Long And Sometimes Difficult. But America Cannot Resist This Transition, We Must Lead It. We Cannot Cede To Other Nations The Technology That Will Power New Jobs And New Industries, We Must Claim Its Promise. That's How We Will Maintain Our Economic Vitality And Our National Treasure-our Forests And Waterways, Our Crop Lands And Snow-capped Peaks. That Is How We Will Preserve Our Planet, Commanded To Our Care By God. That's What Will Lend Meaning To The Creed Our Fathers Once Declared.

We Are Committed To A World In Which We Keep America Safe, But We Recognize That Our Power Doesn't Just Flow From Our Extraordinary Military But Also Flows From The Strength In Our Ideals And Our Principles And Our Values.

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

When I Was In Washington, I Would Usually Get Home From The Capitol At About 7:30 Or 8, And I Would Try To Write As Much As Possible. It Was Almost All In The Wee Hours.

This Week I've Travelled More Than 15,000 Miles From America To China To Burma To Australia. I Have No Idea What Time It Is Right Now.

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 Know Hackers Steal People's Identities And Infiltrate Private E-mails. We Know Foreign Countries And Companies Swipe Our Corporate Secrets.

Michelle And I Don't Want Anyone Telling Us Who Our Family's Doctor Should Be - And No One Should Decide That For You Either. Under Our Proposals, If You Like Your Doctor, You Keep Your Doctor. If You Like Your Current Insurance, You Keep That Insurance. Period, End Of Story.

In Five Days, You Can Turn The Page On Policies That Put Greed And Irresponsibility On Wall Street Before The Hard Work And Sacrifice Of Folks On Main Street. In Five Days, You Can Choose Policies That Invest In Our Middle Class, And Create New Jobs, And Grow This Economy, So That Everyone Has A Chance To Succeed, Not Just The Ceo, But The Secretary And Janitor, Not Just The Factory Owner, But The Men And Women On The Factory Floor.

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.

I'm Skeptical That [the Republicans] Can Do [something Better With Healthcare] Mainly Because For Seven Years Now, Including When We First Tried To Pass Health Care, I Said To 'em, "okay, If [obamacare] Doesn't Work Tell Me What Does."

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.

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.

I Do Not Talk To The Fbi Directors About Pending Investigations [on Hillary Clinton].

Making Your Mark On The World Is Hard. If It Were Easy, Everybody Would Do It. But It's Not. It Takes Patience, It Takes Commitment, And It Comes With Plenty Of Failure Along The Way. The Real Test Is Not Whether You Avoid This Failure, Because You Won't. It's Whether You Let It Harden Or Shame You Into Inaction, Or Whether You Learn From It; Whether You Choose To Persevere.

[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.

In The Muslim World, This Notion That Somehow Everything Is The Fault Of The Israelis Lacks Balance - Because There's Two Sides To Every Question. That Doesn't Mean That Sometimes One Side Has Done Something Wrong And Should Not Be Condemned. But It Does Mean There's Always Two Sides To An Issue. I Say The Same Thing To My Jewish Friends, Which Is You Have To See The Perspective Of The Palestinians. Learning To Stand In Somebody Else's Shoes To See Through Their Eyes, That's How Peace Begins. And It's Up To You To Make That Happen.

Please Proceed, Governor.

My Tax Plan Will Cut Taxes For 95 Percent Of Workers, Because We Need To Put Money Back Into The Pockets Of Struggling Middle-class Families And Close The Egregious Tax Loopholes That Have Exploded Over The Last Eight Years. My Plan Eliminates Capital Gains Taxes Entirely For The Small Businesses And Start-ups That Are The Backbone Of Our Economy, As Opposed To John Mccain's Plan, Which Would Tax These Businesses. John Mccain Is Running To Serve Out A Third Bush Term. But The Truth Is, When It Comes To Taxes, That's Not Being Fair To George Bush.

I Don't Want To Pit Red America Against Blue America. I Want To Be President Of The United States Of America.

Broken Promises

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

For The United States Of America, The Best Is Yet To Come.

Best Is Yet To Come

But Let Me Perfectly Clear, Because I Know You'll Hear The Same Old Claims That Rolling Back These Tax Breaks Means A Massive Tax Increase On The American People: If Your Family Earns Less Than $250,000 A Year, You Will Not See Your Taxes Increased A Single Dime. I Repeat: Not One Single Dime.

You Can Put Lipstick On A Pig. It's Still A Pig.

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.

Better May Not Be As Good As The Best, But Better Is Surprisingly Hard To Obtain. And Better Is Actually Harder Than Worse.

We Should Foster A Culture In Which People's Private Religious Beliefs, Including Atheists And Agnostics, Are Respected.

I Would Put Our Legislative And Foreign Policy Accomplishments In Our First Two Years Against Any President - With The Possible Exceptions Of Johnson, Fdr, And Lincoln - Just In Terms Of What We've Gotten Done In Modern History. But, You Know, But When It Comes To The Economy, We've Got A Lot More Work To Do. And We're Gonna Keep On At It.

The Study Of Law Can Be Disappointing At Times, A Matter Of Applying Narrow Rules And Arcane Procedure To An Uncooperative Reality; A Sort Of Glorified Accounting That Serves To Regulate The Affairs Of Those Who Have Power--and That All Too Often Seeks To Explain, To Those Who Do Not, The Ultimate Wisdom And Justness Of Their Condition. But That's Not All The Law Is. The Law Is Also Memory; The Law Also Records A Long-running Conversation, A Nation Arguing With Its Conscience.

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.

We Do Have To Balance This Issue Of Privacy And Security. Those Who Pretend That There's No Balance That Has To Be Struck And Think We Can Take A 100-percent Absolutist Approach To Protecting Privacy Don't Recognize That Governments Are Going To Be Under An Enormous Burden To Prevent The Kinds Of Terrorist Acts That Not Only Harm Individuals, But Also Can Distort Our Society And Our Politics In Very Dangerous Ways.

The Trick Is Figuring Out How Do We Structure Government Systems That Pool Resources, And Hence Facilitate Some [wealth] Redistribution, Because I Actually Believe In Redistribution, At Least At A Certain Level, To Make Sure That Everybody's Got A Shot.

You Could See A Man Talking To Himself As Just Plain Crazy, Or Read About The Criminal On The Front Page Of The Daily Paper And Ponder The Corruption Of The Human Heart, Without Having To Think About Whether The Criminal Or Lunatic Said Something About Your Own Fate.

It Is Legitimate For The Turks To Try To Defend Themselves.

Those Who Threaten Israel Threaten Us. Israel Has Always Faced These Threats On The Frontlines. And I Will Bring To The White House An Unshakable Commitment To Israel's Security. That Starts With Insuring Israel's Qualitative Military Advantage. I Will Insure That Israel Can Defend Itself From Any Threat - From Gaza To Tehran.

Tonight, More Americans Are Out Of Work And More Are Working Harder For Less. More Of You Have Lost Your Homes And Even More Are Watching Your Home Values Plummet. More Of You Have Cars You Can't Afford To Drive, Credit Card Bills You Can't Afford To Pay, And Tuition That's Beyond Your Reach.

When Our Sailors In The Persian Gulf Accidentally Strayed Into Iranian Waters, That Could Have Sparked A Major International Incident. Some Folks Here In Washington Rushed To Declare That It Was The Start Of Another Hostage Crisis. Instead, We Worked Directly With The Iranian Government And Secured The Release Of Our Sailors In Less Than 24 Hours.

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?".

The Public School System Is Not About Educating Black Children. Never Has Been. Inner-city Schools Are About Social Control. Period. They’re Operated As Holding Pens—miniature Jails, Really. It’s Only When Black Children Start Breaking Out Of Their Pens And Bothering White People That Society Even Pays Any Attention To The Issue Of Whether These Children Are Being Educated.

We Are A Nation Of Christians And Muslims, Jews And Hindus, And Nonbelievers.

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

I Was Able To See Faith As More Than Just A Comfort To The Weary Or A Hedge Against Death; Rather, It Was An Active, Palpable Agent In The World.

If People, Whether They Are Conservative Or Liberal, Left Or Right, Are Unwilling To Compromise And Engage In The Democratic Process, And Are Taking Absolutist Views, And Demonizing Opponents, Then Democracy Will Break Down.

Several Americans, Unjustly Detained By Iran, Are Finally Coming Home. In Some Cases, These Americans Faced Years Of Continued Detention, And I've Met With Some Of Their Families. I've Seen Their Anguish, How They Ache For Their Sons And Husbands. I Gave These Families My Word. I Made A Vow That We Would Do Everything In Our Power To Win The Release Of Their Loved Ones, And We Have Been Tireless.

Let It Be Said To Our Children's Children That When We Were Tested We Refused To Let This Journey End, That We Didn't Turn Our Back Nor Did We Falter; And With Eyes Fixed On The Horizon And God's Grace Upon Us, We Carried Forth That Great Gift Of Freedom And Delivered It Safely To Future Generations.

Look, First Of All, The Climate Is Changing. I Don't Think The Science Is Clear What Percentage Is Man-made And What Percentage Is Natural. It's Convoluted. And For The People To Say The Science Is Decided On, This Is Just Really Arrogant, To Be Honest With You, It's This Intellectual Arrogance That Now You Can't Even Have A Conversation About It. The Climate Is Changing, And We Need To Adapt To That Reality.

After I Received The News, Malia Walked In And Said, "daddy, You Won The Nobel Peace Prize, And It Is Bo's Birthday!" And Then Sasha Added, "plus, We Have A Three-day Weekend Coming Up." So It's Good To Have Kids To Keep Things In Perspective.

The Government Of Libya Announced The Death Of Moammar Gadhafi. This Marks The End Of A Long And Painful Chapter For The People Of Libya, Who Now Have The Opportunity To Determine Their Own Destiny In A New And Democratic Libya. The Gadhafi Regime Ruled The Libyan People With An Iron Fist. The Enormous Potential Of The Libyan People Was Held Back And Terror Was Used As A Political Weapon. The Last Major Regime Strongholds Have Fallen. The New Government Is Consolidating The Control Over The Country. And One Of The World's Longest-serving Dictators Is No More.

If We Can Make Sure That That Young Boys Starting At The Age Of Three Or Four Already Knows Their Colors And Their Letters And Are Getting Good Preschool, And By The Time They Get Into School They've Got A Good Teacher And Are Getting The Support That They Need And Are Able To Keep Up With Their Classwork, That Is Going To Do More To Reduce The Incarceration Rate At The Same Time, Obviously, As It Increases The College Enrollment Rate.

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

We Must Build A World Free Of Unnecessary Barriers, Stereotypes, And Discrimination. ... Policies Must Be Developed, Attitudes Must Be Shaped, And Buildings And Organizations Must Be Designed To Ensure That Everyone Has A Chance To Get The Education They Need And Live Independently As Full Citizens In Their Communities.

Donald Trump Is Temperamentally Unfit.

I Said This Right After The Election - We Have To Remind Ourselves We're On The Same Team. Vladimir Putin's Not On Our Team.

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

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

We Can't Have Special Interests Sitting Shotgun. We Gotta Have Middle Class Families Up In Front. We Don't Mind The Republicans Joining Us. They Can Come For The Ride, But They Gotta Sit In Back.

Our Founding Fathers, Faced With Perils We Can Scarcely Imagine, Drafted A Charter To Assure The Rule Of Law And The Rights Of Man, A Charter Expanded By The Blood Of Generations. Those Ideals Still Light The World, And We Will Not Give Them Up For Expedience's Sake.

I Do Believe That Chancellor Merkel And Germany Are A Lynchpin In Protecting The Basic Tenets Of A Liberal, Market-based Democratic Order That Has Created Unprecedented Prosperity And Security For Europe, But Also For The World.

As The Wealthiest Nation On Earth, I Believe The United States Has A Moral Obligation To Lead The Fight Against Hunger And Malnutrition, And To Partner With Others.

Hunger And Poverty

Trending Author

Harvey Fierstein

Category