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When We Don't Pay Close Attention To The Decisions Made By Our Leaders, When We Fail To Educate Ourselves About The Major Issues Of The Day, When We Choose Not To Make Our Voices And Opinions Heard, That's When Democracy Breaks Down. That's When Power Is Abused. That's When The Most Extreme Voices In Our Society Fill The Void That We Leave. That's When Powerful Interests And Their Lobbyists Are Most Able To Buy Access And Influence In The Corridors Of Power - Because None Of Us Are There To Speak Up And Stop Them.

-Barack Obama

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When We Don't Pay

Barack Obama

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When We Don't Pay Close Attention To The Decisions Made By Our Leaders, When We Fail To Educate Ourselves About The Major Issues Of The Day, When We Choose Not To Make Our Voices And Opinions Heard, That's When Democracy Breaks Down. That's When Power Is Abused. That's When The Most Extreme Voices In Our Society Fill The Void That We Leave. That's When Powerful Interests And Their Lobbyists Are Most Able To Buy Access And Influence In The Corridors Of Power - Because None Of Us Are There To Speak Up And Stop Them.

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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.

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.

How We Think About Terrorism Has To Be Defined And Specific Enough That It Doesn't Lead Us To Think That Any Horrible Actions That Take Place Around The World That Are Motivated In Part By An Extremist Islamic Ideology Is A Direct Threat To Us Or Something That We Have To Wade Into.

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.

I See Donald Trump As A Phenomenon Of An Expression Of Certain Fears, Certain Resentments, That Have Been A Running Thread In American History.

As Soon As The Recovery Is Well Under Way, We Need To Set Up A Long-term Plan To Reduce The Structural Deficit And Make Sure We Are Not Leaving A Mountain Of Debt For The Next Generation.

The Opportunity Will Not Remain Open Indefinitely.

America Is A Strong And Resilient Country. And I Know We Will Succeed, If We Put Aside Partisanship And Politics And Work Together As One Nation.

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.

We Have Proved That The True Strength Of Our Nation Comes Not From The Scale Of Our Wealth But From The Power Of Our Ideals - Opportunity, Democracy, Liberty And Hope.

The Notion That We Can Control The Flow Of Information Is Obsolete.

But Another Thing I Know Is This — We Can’t Steer Ourselves Out Of This Crisis By Heading In The Same, Disastrous Direction. We Can’t Change Direction With A New Driver Who Wants To Follow The Same Old Map. And That’s What This Election Is All About.

My Parents Shared Not Only An Improbable Love, They Shared An Abiding Faith In The Possibilities Of This Nation. They Would Give Me An African Name, Barack, Or Blessed, Believing That In A Tolerant America Your Name Is No Barrier To Success.

N Case You Missed It, This Week, There Was A Tragedy In Kansas. Ten Thousand People Died - An Entire Town Destroyed.

[people] Are Looking For Some Means Of Control And What That Means Is Is That The Politics In All Of Our Countries Is Gonna Require Us To Manage Technology And Global Integration And All These Demographic Shifts In A Way That Makes People Feel More Control, That Gives Them More Confidence In Their Future.

First And Foremost, It's Important To Remember That, From My Perspective At Least, My Most Important Legacy Was Making Sure That The World Didn't Go Into A Great Depression.

My Wife Has Been My Closest Friend, My Closest Advisor. And ... She's Not Somebody Who Looks To The Limelight, Or Even Is Wild About Me Being In Politics. And That's A Good Reality Check On Me. When I Go Home, She Wants Me To Be A Good Father And A Good Husband. And Everything Else Is Secondary To That.

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.

I Think Dona;d Trump Is Sincere In Wanting To Be A Successful President And Moving This Country Forward And I Don't Think Any President Ever Comes In Saying To Himself "i Want To Figure Out How To Make People Angry Or Alienate Half The Country."

There Are Patriots Who Opposed The War In Iraq And There Are Patriots Who Supported The War In Iraq. We Are One People, All Of Us Pledging Allegiance To The Stars And Stripes, All Of Us Defending The United States Of America.

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

Best Is Yet To Come

From Obama's Book, "the Audacity Of Hope:" "i Am Not Willing To Have The State Deny American Citizens A Civil Union That Confers Equivalent Rights On Such Basic Matters As Hospital Visitation Or Health Insurance Coverage Simply Because The People They Love Are Of The Same Sex - Nor Am I Willing To Accept A Reading Of The Bible That Considers An Obscure Line In Romans To Be More Defining Of Christianity Than The Sermon On The Mount."

Non-islamic, Non-foreign-motivated Terrorist Actions Have Killed At Least As Many Americans On American Soil As Those Who Were Promoted By Jihadists. But What We Have Also Seen Is Isil Evolve, Because Of The Sophistication Of Their Social Media, To A Point Where They May Be Inspiring More Attacks - Even If They're Self-initiated, Even If They Don't Involve Complex Planning - Than We Would Have Seen Some Time Ago.

In Our Household, The Bible, The Koran And The Bhagavad Gita Sat On The Shelf Alongside Books Of Greek And Norse And African Mythology

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

We Are Not Entitled To Success We Have To Earn It

Your Voice Can Change The World.

Our Resources May Be Finite, But Our Will Is Infinite, And I Am Confident That If We Come Together And Summon That Great American Spirit Once Again, We Will Meet The Challenges Of Our Time And Write The Next Great Chapter In Our American Story.

We Can Have Reasonable, Thoughtful Gun Control Measure That I Think Respect The Second Amendment And People's Traditions.

If Any Individual Who Objects To Government Policy Can Take It In Their Own Hands To Publicly Disclose Classified Information, Then We Will Never Be Able To Keep Our People Safe Or Conduct Foreign Policy.

I'm Confident That America's Foreign Policy Rebalance To The Region Will Endure Beyond My Presidency Because It's In The National Interest Of The United States.

We Can Choose A Future Where We Export More Products And Outsource Fewer Jobs. After A Decade That Was Defined By What We Bought And Borrowed, We're Getting Back To Basics, And Doing What America Has Always Done Best: We're Making Things Again.

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

I Think That Leadership More Than Anything Is About Setting A Course And Describing A Vision For People.

I Said To One Young Activist Who Herself Was The Daughter Of An Undocumented Worker, And So Could Speak From A Very Personal And Legitimate Perspective - I Remember Saying To Her: I Agree With You, From A Moral Perspective, That A Child From Honduras Is Worth The Same As My Daughter. God Is Not A Respecter Of Boundaries; He's Not Saying That American Kids Deserve A Better Life Than Honduran Kids. But I'm The President Of The United States, And The Nation-state By Definition Means That Boundaries Mean Something And Borders Mean Something.

In America, We Want A Peaceful Planet. We Want People To Be Able To Enjoy Their Lives And Know They're Going To Have A Bright And Prosperous Future, Not Be At War. That's Our Purpose.

Prosperous Future

I Mentioned Charter Schools, And Experimenting With Our School System, To Make It Work. I Think That's Something We Really Have To Pay Attention To.

Today We Are Engaged In A Deadly Global Struggle For Those Who Would Intimidate, Torture, And Murder People For Exercising The Most Basic Freedoms. If We Are To Win This Struggle And Spread Those Freedoms, We Must Keep Our Own Moral Compass Pointed In A True Direction.

If You Give Up On The Idea That Your Voice Can Make A Difference, Then Other Voices Will Fill The Void: Lobbyists And Special Interests; The People With The $10 Million Checks Who Are Trying To Buy This Election And Those Who Are Making It Harder For You To Vote; Washington Politicians Who Want To Decide Who You Can Marry, Or Control Health Care Choices That Women Should Make For Themselves.

This Counter-terrorism Campaign Will Be Waged Through A Steady, Relentless Effort To Take Out Isil Wherever They Exist, Using Our Air Power And Our Support For Partner Forces On The Ground. This Strategy Of Taking Out Terrorists Who Threaten Us, While Supporting Partners On The Front Lines, Is One That We Have Successfully Pursued In Yemen And Somalia For Years.

I Know That Campaigns Can Seem Small, And Even Silly. Trivial Things Become Big Distractions. Serious Issues Become Sound Bites. And The Truth Gets Buried Under An Avalanche Of Money And Advertising. If You're Sick Of Hearing Me Approve This Message, Believe Me - So Am I.

The Promotion Of Human Rights Cannot Be About Exhortation Alone. At Times, It Must Be Coupled With Painstaking Diplomacy. I Know That Engagement With Repressive Regimes Lacks The Satisfying Purity Of Indignation. But I Also Know That Sanctions Without Outreach -- Condemnation Without Discussion -- Can Carry Forward Only A Crippling Status Quo. No Repressive Regime Can Move Down A New Path Unless It Has The Choice Of An Open Door.

I've Been Talking About Things Like Reversing The Rise Of Inequality And Strengthening Social Mobility,since Before It Was Cool.

Know That America Is A Friend Of Each Nation And Every Man, Woman, And Child Who Seeks A Future Of Peace And Dignity...[for] We Are Shaped By Every Language And Culture, Drawn From Every End Of This Earth.

You Know, One Of The Things I Think You Understand As President Is You're Held Responsible For Everything, But You Don't Always Have Control Of Everything, Right?

Sometimes We Take Somebody Who's Been In The Trenches And Fought The Good Fight And Been Steady For Granted. Sometimes We Act As If Never Having Done Something And Not Knowing What You're Doing Is A Virtue.

So Here's What I Want You To Know, And Here's What I Want All Our Men And Women In Uniform To Know: Because Of You, We Are Ending These Wars In A Way That Will Make America Stronger And The World More Secure. Because Of You.

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.

I Could Never Be A Politician. But As Uncomfortable As I Would Be Doing So, I Have No Problem With Obama's Long-planned 'change Of Heart.' This Dude's Made Huge, Measurable Strides For Gay Rights, And If Being Coy About His Plans For Gay Marriage For A Few Years Was Needed To Get Him Elected, Then So Be It. Lgbt Persons Will Be Better Off, And Federal Same-sex Marriage Recognition Will Come Sooner Because Of It.

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.

The Fact That We Are Here Today To Debate Raising America's Debt Limit Is A Sign Of Leadership Failure... It Is A Sign That We Now Depend On Ongoing Financial Assistance From Foreign Countries To Finance Our Government's Reckless Fiscal Policies.

This Is Why The Anti-discrimination Principle Being Enforced Is Important. Because It Won't Stop If Some Of The Underlying Biases Aren't Challenged And Surfaced. And That In And Of Itself Creates Backlash And Denial. This Is What I Mean When I Say Better Is Hard.

I Have Complete Confidence In The American People And Our Legal Traditions And The Prosecutors, The Tough Prosecutors From New York Who Specialize In Terrorism.

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

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

But At The End Of The Day, The Circumstances Of Your Life What You Look Like, Where You Come From, How Much Money You Have, What You've Got Going On At Home That's No Excuse ... Where You Are Right Now Doesn't Have To Determine Where You'll End Up. No One's Written Your Destiny For You. Here In America, You Write Your Own Destiny. You Make Your Own Future.

We [americans] Are A Nation Of Immigrants. We All Understand What This Country Has Become Because Talent From All Around The World Wants To Come Here, People Who Are Willing To Take Risks, People Who Want To Build On Their Dreams And Make Sure Their Kids Have An - Even Bigger Dreams Than They Have.

Whenever I Look At The History Of Presidents I Deeply Admire - The One Thing That I'm Always Struck By Is Persistence. It's A Quality That's Underrated. Being Able To Plough Through, Being Able To Stay Buoyant In The Face Of Challenges.

In America, There's A Failure To Appreciate Europe's Leading Role In The World.

We Are At A Time In Our Country's History That Inclusive Language Is Better Than Exclusive Language.

The Philippines Made A Lawful And Peaceful Effort To Resolve Their Maritime Claims With China Using The Tribunal Established Under The Law Of The Sea Convention (unclos). The Tribunal's Ruling Delivered A Clear And Legally Binding Decision On Maritime Claims In The South China Sea As They Relate To China And The Philippines - And That Ruling Should Be Respected. We Believe This Decision Can And Should Serve As An Opportunity To Renew Efforts To Address Maritime Claims Peacefully.

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

If You Run You Stand A Chance Of Losing, But If You Don't Run You've Already Lost.

That Window Is Closing. . . . Now, The Clock Is Ticking. . . . We're Not Going To Have These Talks Just Drag Out In A Stalling Process. . . . We Haven't Given Away Anything - Other Than The Opportunity For Us To Negotiate

Clock Is Ticking

Fdr, Jfk, Lbj [all Democratic Presidents ] We Have A Pretty Long List Of Presidents Who Maybe Were Not Entirely Forthcoming With Intelligence Information Before They Went To War, So I'd Be Cautious Against Making Legal Cases Against The Administration.

One Of The Things That We Have To Change In This Country Is The Idea That People Can't Disagree Without Challenging Each Other's Character And Patriotism. I Have Never Suggested That Sen. Mccain Picks His Positions On National Security Based On Politics Or Personal Ambition. I Have Not Suggested It Because I Believe That He Genuinely Wants To Serve America's National Interest. Now, It's Time For Him To Acknowledge That I Want To Do The Same. Let Me Be Clear: I Will Let No One Question My Love Of This Country.

On Issues Like Ukraine, On Issues Like Syria, We've Had Very Significant Differences [with Russia].

The American People Want To Make Sure That The Rules Of The Game Are Fair. And What That Means Is That If You Look At Surveys Around Americans' Attitudes On Trade, The Majority Of The American People Still Support Trade. But They're Concerned About Whether Or Not Trade Is Fair, And Whether We Get The Same Access To Other Countries' Markets That They Have With Us. Is There Just A Race To The Bottom When It Comes To Wages, And So Forth.

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

Torture Is How You Create Enemies, Not How You Defeat Them.

The United States Often Finds Itself In A Situation Where If It Goes In Militarily Then It Is Criticized For Going In Militarily, And If It Doesn't Go In Militarily, Then People Say, Why Aren't You Doing Something Militarily?

My Goal Is Not To Resolve Conflicts And Tensions In The Region Through More War. My Goal Is To Make Sure That, You Know, We Are Able To Negotiate A Deal That We Can Verify.

My Staff Was Very Excited For Brisvegas. When I Arrived, They Advised I Needed Some Xxxx.

We're Showing That There's No Excuse For Other Nations To Come Together, Both Developed And Developing, To Achieve A Strong Global Climate Agreement Next Year.

It Was Not A Religion That Attacked Us That September Day. It Was Al-qaeda. We Will Not Sacrifice The Liberties We Cherish Or Hunker Down Behind Walls Of Suspicion And Mistrust.

The Size Of Your Paycheck Shouldn’t Determine Your Child’s Future.

[fall Of The Berlin Wall] Is A Reminder That The Commitment Of The United States, To Europe Is Enduring And It's Rooted In The Values We Share; Our Commitment To Democracy, Our Commitment To Rule Of Law, Our Commitment To The Dignity Of All People In Our Own Countries And Around The World.

But Something Stirred Across The Country Because Of What Happened In Selma, Alabama, Because Some Folks Were Willing To March Across A Bridge. And So They [my Parents] Got Together, Barack Obama Jr. Was Born. So Don't Tell Me I Don't Have A Claim On Selma, Alabama. Don't Tell Me I'm Not Coming Home When I Come To Selma, Alabama.

As Has Been Well Documented, I Smoked Pot As A Kid, And I View It As A Bad Habit And A Vice, Not Very Different From The Cigarettes That I Smoked As A Young Person Up Through A Big Chunk Of My Adult Life. I Don't Think It Is More Dangerous Than Alcohol.

I Have Somehow, Continued To Miss Oktoberfest So That's Probably Something That Is Better For Me To Do As A Former President Rather Than As President, I'll Have More Fun.

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

I Look Forward To Hosting An Iftar Dinner Celebrating Ramadan Here At The White House Later This Week, And Wish You A Blessed Month.

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

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.

The Problem Is That Because The Voucher Wouldn't Necessarily Keep Up With Health Care Inflation, It Was Estimated That This Would Cost The Average Senior About $6,000 A Year.

I Know The American People. I've Met A Lot Of Them. I've Met A Lot More Of Them Than Any Columnist Has, Or Any Talking Head On Tv Has. And They're Pretty Sophisticated.

Honestly This Is Not Going To Change Unless The People Who Want To Prevent These Kinds Of Mass Shootings From Taking Place Feel At Least As Passionate, At Least As Mobilized And Well-funded As The Nra And The Gun Manufacturers Are Because The Politics In Congress Are Such Where Even Members Of Congress Who Know Better Are Fearful If They Vote Their Conscience And Support Common Sense Measures Like Background Checks, They're Worried They're Going To Lose.

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.

Assault Weapons Ban Reintroduced.

Assault Weapons

America Isn't Congress. America Isn't Washington. America Is The Striving Immigrant Who Starts A Business, Or The Mom Who Works Two Low-wage Jobs To Give Her Kid A Better Life. America Is The Union Leader And The Ceo Who Put Aside Their Differences To Make The Economy Stronger.

If I Did Not Love America, I Wouldn't Have Moved Here From Kenya.

If We Have Osama Bin Laden In Our Sights And The Pakistani Government Is Unable Or Unwilling To Take Them Out, Then, I Think That We Have To Act And We Will Take Them Out. We Will Kill Bin Laden. We Will Crush Al Qaeda. That Has To Be Our Biggest National Security Priority.

I Can Think About What [mahatma] Gandhi Said Or [martin Luther] King Said About Violence Begetting Violence, And Still Be True To My Job By Asking Myself The Question Whenever We're Confronted With A Situation Where Some May Be Arguing For Military Action: Will This Actually Result In America Being Safer, Or The Most Lives Being Saved?

Sanctions Alone Could Not Stop Iran's Nuclear Program. But They Did Help Bring Iran To The Negotiating Table.

If You Looked At Their Cable Bill, Their Telephone, Their Cell Phone Bill, Other Things They're Spending Money On, It May Turn Out That, It's Just That They Haven't Prioritized Health Care.

I'm Here With The Girardo Family Here In St. Louis.

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.

Members Of Congress On Both Sides Of The Aisle, Are Motivated By All Kinds Of Issues. They're Sincerely Interested In The Economy, In Terrorism, In Social Issues. But The One Overriding Thing They're Interested In Is Getting Reelected. And If They Think That It's Harder For Them To Get Reelected By Cooperating With Each Other, Then They Won't Cooperate.

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.

Not Much Happens In Russia Without Vladimir Putin.

And, As A Consequence Of The Pressure That We've Applied Over The Last Couple Of Weeks, We Have Syria -- For The First Time -- Acknowledging That It Has Chemical Weapons, Agreeing To Join The Convention That Prohibits The Use Of Chemical Weapons, And The Russians -- Their Primary Sponsors -- Saying That They Will Push Syria To Get All Of Their Chemical Weapons Out. The Distance That We've Traveled Over These Couple Of Weeks Is Remarkable.

The Tea Party I Have Huge Disagreements With, Obviously. But I Give Them Credit For Having Activated Themselves. And They Made A Difference In Terms Of Moving The Republican Party, In Terms Of Moving The Country In A Particular Direction. It's A Direction I Disagreed With. But It Showed That, In Fact, You Get Involved, If Your Voice Is Heard It Has An Impact.

This Country Of Ours Has More Wealth Than Any Nation, But That's Not What Makes Us Rich. We Have The Most Powerful Military On Earth, But That's Not What Makes Us Strong. Our Universities And Our Culture Are The Envy Of The World, But That's Not What Keeps The World Coming To Our Shores. Instead, It Is That American Spirit - That American Promise - That Pushes Us Forward Even When The Path Is Uncertain; That Binds Us Together In Spite Of Our Differences; That Makes Us Fix Our Eye Not On What Is Seen, But What Is Unseen, That Better Place Around The Bend.

If Fake News That's Being Released By Some Foreign Government Is Almost Identical To Reports That Are Being Issued Through Partisan News Venues, Then It's Not Surprising That That Foreign Propaganda Will Have A Greater Effect, Because It Doesn't Seem That Far-fetched Compared To Some Of The Other Stuff That Folks Are Hearing From Domestic Propagandists.

The American People Are Going To Have A Good Choice.

If Iran Cheats, The World Will Know It.

There Is No Military Solution To The War In Iraq. Our Troops Can Help Suppress The Violence, But They Cannot Solve Its Root Causes. And All The Troops In The World Won't Be Able To Force Shia, Sunni, And Kurd To Sit Down At A Table, Resolve Their Differences, And Forge A Lasting Peace. In Fact, Adding More Troops Will Only Push This Political Settlement Further And Further Into The Future, As It Tells The Iraqis That No Matter How Much Of A Mess They Make, The American Military Will Always Be There To Clean It Up.

When You Look At What [new Generation] Believe In, How They Value Diversity, How They Believe In Science, How They Care About The Environment, How They Believe In, You Know, Everybody Getting A Fair Shot, How They Believe In Not Discriminating Against People For Sexual Orientation And You Know, Their Belief That We Have To Work With Other Countries To Create A More Peaceful World And To Alleviate Poverty, That's The Majority An Entire Generation That's Coming Up Behind Us.

The Greek People Are Entrepreneurial.

Entrepreneurial

Nobody Gets To Threaten The Full Faith And Credit Of The United States Just To Extract Political Concessions.

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

I Think It's Very Important To Remember That So Much Of The Work That Gets Done Between Countries Is Not Done At The Level Of Presidents, But Is Done Within Various Agencies, Whether It's Law Enforcement Or Economic Ministries. And When They Establish Relationships And Systems Of Communications And Shared Projects And Shared Visions, Those Structures Continue Even After Any Particular President Is Gone. It Builds Trust And Understanding Between Countries That Are Critically Important.

We Will Stand Against Violence And Intimidation. We Will Stand For The Rights And Dignity Of All Human Beings.

Against Violence

We're Opposing Russia's Aggression Against Ukraine, Which Is A Threat To The World, As We Saw In The Appalling Shoot-down Of Mh17.

Foreign Assistance Is Not An End In Itself. The Purpose Of Aid Must Be To Create The Conditions Where It's No Longer Need.

Rand`s [paul] A Libertarian. He Has A View Of The World That I Don`t Share. He Said That We Shouldn`t Have Any Troops In Iraq. He Agreed With Obama That Was A Disaster. When There Was A Chance To Do Something Constructive About Syria With A No-fly Zone, He Said We Don`t Need One.

As A Practical Matter, It Is Hard To Think Of Any Society In Human History In Which A Majority Population Has Said That As A Consequence Of Historic Wrongs, We Are Now Going To Take A Big Chunk Of The Nation's Resources Over A Long Period Of Time To Make That Right.

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

That's Silly Talk... Talk To My Wife. She'll Tell Me I Need To Learn To Just Put My Socks On The Hamper.

It Was Young People Who Stubbornly Insisted On Justice, Stubbornly Refused To Accept The World As It Is That Transformed Not Just The Country But Transformed The World.

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

My Sister Is A Teacher, So I Am A Strong Support Of Teachers, But I'm Not Going To Be Bound By Just A Certain Way Of Talking About These Things, In Order For Us To Move Forward On Behalf Of Our Kids.

The Old Rules May Say We Can’t Protect Our Environment And Promote Economic Growth At The Same Time, But In America, We’ve Always Used New Technologies - We’ve Used Science; We’ve Used Research And Development And Discovery To Make The Old Rules Obsolete.

Research And Development

So While An Incredible Amount Of Progress Has Been Made, On This Fifth Anniversary, I Wanted To Come Here And Tell The People Of This City Directly: My Administration Is Going To Stand With You - And Fight Alongside You - Until The Job Is Done. Until New Orleans Is All The Way Back, All The Way.

No One Is Pro-abortion.

What Is True Is [bashar] Assad Got Rid Of His Chemical Weapons.

Chemical Weapons

I Began Feeling The Way I Imagine An Actor Or Athlete Must Feel When, After Years Of Commitment To A Particular Dream...he Realizes That He's Gone Just About As Far As Talent Or Fortune Will Take Him. The Dream Will Not Happen, And He Now Faces The Choice Of Accepting This Fact Like A Grownup And Moving On To More Sensible Pursuits, Or Refusing The Truth And Ending Up Bitter, Quarrelsome, And Slightly Pathetic.

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.

To Anyone Out There Who Has Ever Been Assaulted: You Will Never Be Alone. You Are Never Alone. We Have Your Back. I've Got Your Back.

Violence Against Women

The Iranians May Simply Try To Run Out The Clock.

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

Specifically, The Part Where In The Early 19th Century America Reconstituted The U.s. Marine Corps To Battle The Islamic Barbary Pirates, Though I Don't Think That's What Obama Meant.

No Development Strategy Can Be Based Only Upon What Comes Out Of The Ground, Nor Can It Be Sustained While Young People Are Out Of Work.

Whatever We Think Of The Past, We Must Not Be Prisoners To It.

Nobody Is Listening To Your Telephone Calls.

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

I Make No Apologies For Being Reasonable.

Reality Has A Way Of Asserting Itself.

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.

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.

My Liberty Depends On You Being Free, Too.

Our Nation Owes A Debt To Its Fallen Heroes That We Can Never Fully Repay, But We Can Honor Their Sacrifice.

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.

Those Opposed To Abortion Cannot Simply Invoke God's Will-they Have To Explain Why Abortion Violates Some Principle That Is Accessible To People Of All Faiths.

Democracy Is Hard Work.

Cutting Our Education Budget, That's Not A Smart Choice. That Will Not Help America Compete With China.

You Bomb Isil. You're Not Trying To Bomb Innocent People. And That Requires Intelligence And Confidence In Our Military To Be Able To Develop The Kinds Of Targets That We Need. We're Already Doing Special Forces, Who Are Going To Help Us Gather That Intelligence And Help Advise And Assist And Train Local Forces So That They Can Go After Isil In Areas Like Raqqah And Mosul.

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

As Part Of The Coalition Against Isil, We Are Putting That Terrorist Network Under Tremendous Pressure.

One Of The Things That I've Learned, And I Think We've All Learned, Is That We Are Not Going To Get The Kind Of Decisive, Permanent Victories In This Fight Against Terrorism That We Would Get From Fighting Another Country. We're Not Going To Get That Macarthur/emperor Moment, Because By Definition, Even After Decimating Al Qaeda In The Fata, Even After Taking Out [osama] Bin Laden There's Still People There Who Have Both The Interest And The Capacity If We Don't Maintain Vigilance To Strike Against The United States.

I've Never Said That Troops Should Be Withdrawn. What I've Said Is, Is That We've Got To Make Sure That We Secure And Execute The Rebuilding And Reconstruction Process Effectively And Properly, And I Don't Think We Should Have An Artificial Deadline When To Do That.

All Of Us - We Should Do Everything We Can To Make Sure This Country Lives Up To Our Children's Expectations.

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

Now, I Swore An Oath To Uphold The Laws On The Books... Now, I Know Some People Want Me To Bypass Congress And Change The Laws On My Own... Believe Me, The Idea Of Doing Things On My Own Is Very Tempting. I Promise You. Not Just On Immigration Reform. But That's Not How - That's Not How Our System Works. That's Not How Our Democracy Functions. Thats Not How Our Constitution Is Written.

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.

Health Care Has Become A Proxy For A Broader Set Of Issues About How Much Government Should Be Involved In Our Economy, Particularly Coming Off A Huge Economic Crisis.

When What You’re Doing Doesn’t Work For 50 Years, It’s Time To Try Something New.

Government Without A Tough And Vibrant Media Is Not An Option For The United States Of America.

Politics In This Country [usa] Is Always Tough. It's Always Contentious, Because This Is A Big Country And A Diverse Country, And People Have Strong Points Of View, And We've Got A Great Diversity Of Interests.

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.

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.

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

I Had Said From The Start That I Thought Iraq Was A Mistake, That We Should Have Stayed Focused On Afghanistan. I Think It Was The Right Decision Because The Taliban At That Point Had Gotten A Lot Of Momentum Before I'd Gotten Into Office, Partly Because We Hadn't Been Paying Attention As Much As We Needed To To Afghanistan.

For Everywhere We Look, There Is Work To Be Done. The State Of Our Economy Calls For Action: Bold And Swift. And We Will Act Not Only To Create New Jobs But To Lay A New Foundation For Growth. We Will Build The Roads And Bridges, The Electric Grids And Digital Lines That Feed Our Commerce And Bind Us Together. We Will Restore Science To Its Rightful Place And Wield Technology's Wonders To Raise Health Care's Quality And Lower Its Costs.

The Brain Is A Body Part Too; We Just Know Less About It.

We Don't Quit. I Don't Quit. Let's Seize This Moment.

As You Get Older, Your Mind Gets A Little More Set. And It Needs The Poking And Prodding And Breaking Through Of Stereotypes That I Think Young People Provide.

Who Is Barack Obama? Contrary To The Rumors You Have Heard, I Was Not Born In A Manger. I Was Actually Born On Krypton And Sent Here By My Father Jor-el To Save The Planet Earth. Many Of You Know That I Got My Name, Barack, From My Father. What You May Not Know Is Barack Is Actually Swahili For 'that One.' And I Got My Middle Name From Somebody Who Obviously Didn't Think I'd Ever Run For President. If I Had To Name My Greatest Strength, I Guess It Would Be My Humility. Greatest Weakness, It's Possible That I'm A Little Too Awesome.

I'm Suspicious Of Too Much Certainty In The Pursuit Of Understanding Just Because I Think People Are Limited In Their Understanding.

The Wort Terrorist Attack In American History Also Brought Out The Best In Our Country...we Are United As Americans.

American History

Transparency And The Rule Of Law Will Be The Touchstones Of This Presidency.

I Look Forward To Teaching The Occasional Class, 'cause I Was A Professor. And I Had Fun Doing It.

People Need To Remember We Are The Governing Party Because We Have Diversity Of Opinion In Our Party. We're Not Pure. We Have Moderates And We Have More Progressives.

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

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.

The President Is Eager To Get To Work And Looks Forward To Working With The New Congress On Policies That Will Make Sure Middle-class Americans Are Sharing In The Economic Recovery, But The President Is Clear That He Will Not Let This Congress Undo Important Protections Gained -- Particularly In Areas Of Health Care, Wall Street Reform And The Environment.

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

With Respect To Syria, We Are Going To Continue To Work As We Have Over The Last Five, Six Years To Push Towards A Political Transition And Settlement.

I Continue To Believe When I Said In Hanover, That The E.u. Remains One Of The World's Great Political And Economic Achievements, And That Those Achievements Should Not Be Taken For Granted.

I See Tragedy And Comedy And Pain And Irony And All That Stuff. But In The End I Think Life Is Fascinating, And I Think People Are More Good Than Bad, And I Think That The Possibilities Of Progress Are Real.

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.

We Should Not Anticipate That Every Time Countries Come Together That We Are Doing Some Revolutionary Thing. Instead Of Hitting Home Runs, Sometimes We're Going To Hit Singles.

We Don't Have Time For A Meeting Of The Flat Earth Society.

America Is, Is No Longer, Uh, What It, Uh, Could Be, Uh, What It Was Once Was, Uh, And I Say To Myself, Uh, I Don't Want That Future, Uh, For My Children.

I'd Say, Probably, Intellectually I've Drawn As Much From Judaism As Any Other Faith.

You Wouldn't Know That If You Talked To Human Rights Watch Or Amnesty International Or Some Of The International Activist Organizations. Certainly You Wouldn't Know That If You Were Talking To Some Of The Writers Who Criticize Our Drone Policy. But I've Actually Told My Staff It's Probably Good That They Stay Critical Of This Policy, Even Though I Think Right Now We're Doing The Best That We Can In A Dangerous World With Terrorists Who Would Gladly Blow Up A School Bus Full Of American Kids If They Could.

There Are Institutional Obligations I Have To Carry Out That Are Important For A President Of The United States To Carry Out, But May Not Always Align With What I Think Would Move The Ball Down The Field On The Issues That I Care Most Deeply About.

I Think I Will Still Feel That Same Appreciation For What [winston] Churchill And Others Have Said Is The Worst Form Of Government Except All The Alternatives.

For The Sake Of Our Children And Our Future, We Must Do More To Combat Climate Change.

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

I'm Kind Of A Night Owl.

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.

Hostility And Hatred Are No Match For Justice; They Offer No Pathway To Peace.

I'll Go Anywhere And I'll Do Whatever It Takes To Get This Done. It's Too Important For Washington To Screw This Up. Now's The Time For Us To Work On What We All Agree To, Which Is Let's Keep Middle-class Taxes Low. That's What Our Economy Needs. That's What The American People Deserve.

America Is Not The Crude Stereotype Of A Self-interested Empire. The United States Has Been One Of The Greatest Sources Of Progress That The World Has Ever Known. We Were Born Out Of Revolution Against An Empire. We Were Founded Upon The Ideal That All Are Created Equal. And We Have Shed Blood And Struggled For Centuries To Give Meaning To Those Words, Within Our Borders And Around The World. We Are Shaped By Every Culture. Drawn From Every End Of The Earth, And Dedicated To A Simple Concept, E Pluribus Unum: Out Of Many, One.

I Think Same Sex Couples Should Be Able To Get Married.

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

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

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.

But The Basic Principle That We’re Going To Have To See Some Of This Debt Written Down, That The Government Is Going To Have To Support Some Banks, That Others That Are Not Viable, Essentially That We’re Going To Have To Do Something With Those Assets.

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William A. Dembski

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