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When We Helped Prevent The Massacre Of Civilians Trapped On A Distant Mountain, Here's What One Of Them Said: "we Owe Our American Friends Our Lives. Our Children Will Always Remember That There Was Someone Who Felt Our Struggle And Made A Long Journey To Protect Innocent People." That Is The Difference We Make In The World.

-Barack Obama

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When We Helped Prevent

Barack Obama

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When We Helped Prevent The Massacre Of Civilians Trapped On A Distant Mountain, Here's What One Of Them Said: "we Owe Our American Friends Our Lives. Our Children Will Always Remember That There Was Someone Who Felt Our Struggle And Made A Long Journey To Protect Innocent People." That Is The Difference We Make In The World.

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We've Got An Extraordinarily Complex Tax System That's Full Of Loopholes That Are Exploited By Special Interests. I'd Like To See Those Loopholes Closed.

We've Got To Identify New Strategies To Use Cleaner Energy, Because That Is A Recipe For Reducing The Overall Amount Of Pollution That's Out There.

You Have To Exercise, Or At Some Point You'll Just Break Down.

Any Strategy To Reduce Intergenerational Poverty Has To Be Centered On Work, Not Welfare--not Only Because Work Provides Independence And Income But Also Because Work Provides Order, Structure, Dignity, And Opportunities For Growth In People's Lives.

If Everybody Who Voted In 2008 Shows Up In 2010, We Will Win This Election. We Will Win This Election.

There's No Straight Line To Progress.

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

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

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

While I Understand The Passions And The Anger That Arise Over The Death Of Michael Brown, Giving Into That Anger By Looting Or Carrying Guns, And Even Attacking The Police Only Serves To Raise Tensions And Stir Chaos.

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

There Is Nothing Wrong With Our Country, There Is Something Wrong With Our Politics...when This Country Is Operating Off A Common Ground, Nobody Can Stop Us. But When We're Divided, Then We End Up Having A Whole Lot Of Self-inflicted Problems.

Suppressing Ideas Never Succeeds In Making Them Go Away.

I Think That The Risk To All The Progress We've Made Was At Stake In The Election Because Not Just The President-elect But A Lot Of Members Of Congress, Including Now The Speaker Of The House And The Senate Majority Leader, Have Said That Their Principal Agenda Was To Undo A Lot Of This Progress. But As I've Been Talking About Over The Last Several Days When It Comes To Health Care, The Gains That We've Made Are There. Twenty Million People Have Health Insurance That Didn't Have It Before. The Uninsured Rate Is The Lowest It's Ever Been.

Majority Leader

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.

I'm A Big Believer In Tolerance. I Think That Religion At It's Best Comes With A Big Dose Of Doubt.

The True Test Of The American Ideal Is Whether We're Able To Recognize Our Failings And Then Rise Together To Meet The Challenges Of Our Time. Whether We Allow Ourselves To Be Shaped By Events And History, Or Whether We Act To Shape Them. Whether Chance Of Birth Or Circumstance Decides Life's Big Winners And Losers, Or Whether We Build A Community Where, At The Very Least, Everyone Has A Chance To Work Hard, Get Ahead, And Reach Their Dreams.

We Can Give Our Intelligence And Law Enforcement Community The Powers They Need To Track Down And Take Out Terrorists Without Undermining Our Commitment To The Rule Of Law, Or Our Basic Rights And Liberties.

If We Don’t Uphold Our Constitution And Our Values, That Over Time, That Will Make Us Less Safe And That Will Be A Recruitment Tool For Organizations Like Al Qaeda. That’s What I Have To Keep My Eye On.

We As A Country Have To Do Some Soul-searching.

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.

This Is Our First Task-caring For Our Children. It's Our First Job. If We Don't Get That Right, We Don't Get Anything Right. That's How, As A Society, We Will Be Judged.

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.

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

Even As We Do All That's Necessary To Ensure Israel's Security, Even As We Are Clear-eyed About The Difficult Challenges Before Us, And Even As We Pledge To Stand By Israel Through Whatever Tough Days Lie Ahead, I Hope We Do Not Give Up On That Vision Of Peace. For If History Teaches Us Anything, If The Story Of Israel Teaches Us Anything, It Is That With Courage And Resolve, Progress Is Possible. Peace Is Possible.

He Described To Me How Crocodiles Kill More People Than Sharks. There Are Just A Lot Of Things In Australia That Can Kill You.

Now Is The Time To Keep The Promise Of Equal Pay For An Equal Day's Work, Because I Want My Daughters To Have Exactly The Same Opportunities As Your Sons.

Those Who Adhere To The Ideology Of Rejecting Israel’s Right To Exist, They Might As Well Reject The Earth Beneath Them Or The Sky Above, Because Israel Is Not Going Anywhere.

I'm Not Talking About Blind Optimism, The Kind Of Hope That Just Ignores The Enormity Of The Tasks Ahead Or The Road Blocks That Stand In Our Path. I'm Not Talking About The Wishful Idealism That Allows Us To Just Sit On The Sidelines Or Shirk From A Fight. I Have Always Believed That Hope Is That Stubborn Thing Inside Us That Insists, Despite All The Evidence To The Contrary, That Something Better Awaits Us So Long As We Have The Courage To Keep Reaching, To Keep Working, To Keep Fighting.

Black Children, White Children, Latino Children. America Is Becoming More Diverse, It's Becoming More Tolerant As A Consequence There's More Interactions Between Groups. There Are Going Be Tensions That Arise.

I Changed Those Things That Were In Direct - My Direct Control. I Mean, I - Look, I'm Proud Of The Fact That, With Two Weeks To Go, We're Probably The First Administration In Modern History That Hasn't Had A Major Scandal In The White House.

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.

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

America Is Not The Crude Stereotype Of A Self-interested Empire. Given Our Interdependence, Any World Order That Elevates One Nation Or Group Of People Over Another Will Inevitably Fail.

America Ranks 21st When It Comes To Math Education. We Rank 25th When It Comes To Science. We Used To Be Number One In The Proportion Of College Graduates. We Now Rank Ninth. And At An Age Where Knowledge, Skills, Are The Determinant Of How Successful We're Going To Be, Unless We Reverse That We're Going To Keep Slipping Behind Economically To A Lot Of Other Countries.

On Every Front There Are Clear Answers Out There That Can Make This Country Stronger, But We're Going To Break Through The Fear And The Frustration People Are Feeling. Our Job Is To Make Sure That Even As We Make Progress, That We Are Also Giving People A Sense Of Hope And Vision For The Future.

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.

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 Underlying Struggle - Between Worlds Of Plenty And Worlds Of Want; Between The Modern And The Ancient; Between Those Who Embrace Our Teeming, Colliding, Irksome Diversity, While Still Insisting On A Set Of Values That Binds Us Together, And Those Who Would Seek, Under Whatever Flag Or Slogan Or Sacred Text, A Certainty And Simplification That Justifies Cruelty Toward Those Not Like Us.

What Makes America Exceptional Are The Bonds That Hold Together The Most Diverse Nation On Earth.

One Of The Great Things About The United States Is That When It Comes To World Affairs, The President Obviously Is The Leader Of The Executive Branch, The Commander-in-chief, The Spokesperson For The Nation, But The Influence And The Work That We Have Is The Result Not Just Of The President, It Is The Result Of Countless Interactions And Arrangements And Relationships Between Our Military And Other Militaries, And Our Diplomats And Other Diplomats, The Intelligence Officers And Development Workers.

I've Said To [donald Trump], And I Think Others Have Said To Him That The Day That He Is The President Of The United States, There Are World Capitals And Financial Markets And People All Around The World Who Take Really Seriously What He Says, And In A Way That's Just Not True Before You're Actually Sworn In As President.

The Future Rewards Those Who Press On. I Don't Have Time To Feel Sorry For Myself. I Don't Have Time To Complain. I'm Going To Press On.

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.

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

I Will Continue To Believe That Israel's Security Is Paramount.

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

The Irony Is That We've Seen This Model Work Really Well In Massachusetts Because Gov. Romney Did A Good Thing, Working With Democrats In The State To Set Up What Is Essentially The Identical Model And, As A Consequence, People Are Covered There. It Hasn't Destroyed Jobs. And As A Consequence, We Now Have A System In Which We Have The Opportunity To Start Bringing Down Costs As Opposed To Just Leaving Millions Of People Out In The Cold." "gov. Romney Said This Has To Be Done On A Bipartisan Basis

It's True That I Have Not Been Able To Completely Close Guantanamo, But We've Drastically Reduced The Population From 700 Or So To Around 60 Now.

I Believe In American Exceptionalism, Just As I Suspect That The Brits Believe In British Exceptionalism And The Greeks Believe In Greek Exceptionalism.

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

Now, Today, Some Children Are Enrolled In Excellent Programs. Some Children Are Enrolled In Mediocre Programs. And Some Are Wasting Away Their Most Formative Years In Bad Programs....that's Why I'm Issuing A Challenge To Our States: Develop A Cutting-edge Plan To Raise The Quality Of Your Early Learning Programs; Show Us How You'll Work To Ensure That Children Are Better Prepared For Success By The Time They Enter Kindergarten. If You Do, We Will Support You With An Early Learning Challenge Grant That I Call On Congress To Enact.

The American People Are Not Expecting Miracles. I Think If You Talk To The Average Person Right Now That They Would Say, 'well, Look, You Know Well, We're Having A Tough Time Right Now. We've Had Tough Times Before.' 'and You Know, We Don't Expect A New President Can Snap His Fingers And Suddenly Everything Is Gonna Be Okay. But What We Do Expect Is That The Guy Is Gonna Be Straight With Us. We Do Expect That He's Gonna Be Working Really Hard For Us.'

Let's Make Two Things Clear: Isil Is Not "islamic." No Religion Condones The Killing Of Innocents, And The Vast Majority Of Isil's Victims Have Been Muslim. And Isil Is Certainly Not A State.

My Administration Is Committed To Creating An Unprecedented Level Of Openness In Government. We Will Work Together To Ensure The Public Trust And Establish A System Of Transparency, Public Participation, And Collaboration. Openness Will Strengthen Our Democracy And Promote Efficiency And Effectiveness In Government.

Every Country Has Violent, Hateful, Or Mentally Unstable People. What's Different Is Not Every Country Is Awash With Easily Accessible Guns.

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.

The Men And Women Of America's Homeland Security Apparatus Do Important Work To Protect Us, And Republicans And Democrats In Congress Should Not Be Playing Politics With That.

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

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.

The United States Wants A Strong United Kingdom As A Partner. And The United Kingdom Is At Its Best When It's Helping To Lead A Strong Europe.

Africa Doesn't Need Strongmen, It Needs Strong Institutions.

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

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

Yes, This Is Hard. But There Should Be No Question That The United States Of America Is Stepping Up To The Plate. We Recognize Our Role In Creating This Problem; We Embrace Our Responsibility To Combat It. We Will Do Our Part, And We Will Help Developing Nations Do Theirs. But We Can Only Succeed In Combating Climate Change If We Are Joined In This Effort By Every Nation - Developed And Developing Alike. Nobody Gets A Pass.

Get Involved In An Issue That You're Passionate About. It Almost Doesn't Matter What It Is ... We Give Too Much Of Our Power Away, To The Professional Politicians, To The Lobbyists, To Cynicism. And Our Democracy Suffers As A Result.

We Rise And Fall As One People, One Nation.

I Want To Thank The Greek People Publicly For Their Humanitarian Response To The Crisis Of So Many Migrants And Refugees Seeking Safety In Europe. Greeks, Especially On The Islands, Have Shown Extraordinary Compassion And They've Rightly Earned The Admiration Of The World.

There Are People In Iran Who Have The Same Aspirations As People All Around The World For A Better Life.

We, The People, Recognize That We Have Responsibilities As Well As Rights; That Our Destinies Are Bound Together; That A Freedom Which Only Asks What's In It For Me, A Freedom Without A Commitment To Others, A Freedom Without Love Or Charity Or Duty Or Patriotism, Is Unworthy Of Our Founding Ideals, And Those Who Died In Their Defense.

A Low-carbon, Clean Energy Economy Can Be An Engine Of Growth For Decades To Come.

It's Time To End The Hypocrisy Of Those Who Accumulate Wealth Through The Global Economy, And Then Siphon Funds To Those Who Teach Children To Tear It Down.

Our Friends At The Republican Convention Were More Than Happy To Talk About Everything They Think Is Wrong With America, But They Didn't Have Much To Say About How They'd Make It Right. They Want Your Vote, But They Don't Want You To Know Their Plan.

We Want To See The Iranians Engage, And As You Know, We Have Attempted To Bring About That Engagement Over The Course Of The Last Three-plus Years. It Has Not Proven Effective.

Every Single Thing I`ve Done, From The Affordable Care Act To Pushing To Raise The Minimum Wage, To Making Sure That Young People Are Able To Go To College And Get Good Job Training, To What We`re Pushing Now In Terms Of Sick Paid Leave,everything I Do Has Been Focused On How Do We Make Sure The Middle Class Is Getting A Fair Deal.

Around The World, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela -- What They Did Was Hard. It Takes Time. It Takes More Than A Single Term. It Takes More Than A Single President. It Takes More Than A Single Individual.

That Is Why We Fight - In Hopes Of A Day When We No Longer Need To.

Generally The Constitution Is A Charter Of Negative Liberties, Says What The States Can't Do To You, Says What The Federal Government Can't Do To You. But It Doesn't Say What The State Or Federal Government Must Do On Your Behalf.

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

How Do We Transform Mere Power Into Justice, Mere Sentiment Into Love?

We Need Earmark Reform, And When I'm President, I Will Go Line By Line To Make Sure That We Are Not Spending Money Unwisely.

Rather Than Double-down On The Top-down Economics That Let A Fortunate Few Play By Their Own Rules, Let’s Embrace An Economic Patriotism That Says We Rise Or Fall Together, As One Nation, And As One People.

It Is Very Important For I Think Those Of Us Who Desperately Want Peace, Who See War As, At Some Level, A Break-down, A Manifestation Of Human Weakness, To Understand That Sometimes It’s Also Necessary – And You Know, To – To Be Able To Balance Two Ideas At The Same Time; That We Are Constantly Striving For Peace, We Are Doubling Up On Our Diplomacy, We Are Going To Actively Engage, We Are Going To Try To See The World Through Other People’s Eyes And Not Just Our Own.

I Am Sorry That They Are Finding Themselves In This Situation Based On Assurances They Got From Me.

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.

A Mother Deserves A Day Off To Care For A Sick Child Or Sick Parent Without Running Into Hardship - And You Know What, A Father Does, Too. It's Time To Do Away With Workplace Policies That Belong In A 'mad Men' Episode.

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

What I Value Most About Pastor Wright Is Not His Day-to-day Political Advice. He's Much More Of A Sounding Board For Me To Make Sure That I Am Speaking As Truthfully About What I Believe As Possible And That I'm Not Losing Myself In Some Of The Hype And Hoopla And Stress That's Involved In National Politics.

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.

Robin Williams Was An Airman, A Doctor, A Genie, A Nanny ... And Everything In Between. But He Was One Of A Kind.

I Haven't Been Sorting Through Each And Every Aspect Of This. Here's What I Know: Hillary Clinton Was An Outstanding Secretary Of State. She Would Never Intentionally Put America In Any Kind Of Jeopardy.' Mr. Wallace Pressed Further On The Jeopardy Angle, And Mr. Obama Responded Again: 'i Continue To Believe That She Has Not Jeopardized America's National Security. Now What I've Also Said Is That - And She Has Acknowledged - That There's A Carelessness, In Terms Of Managing Emails...'"

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

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.

People Have To Recognize That It’s Going To Take Some Time For Trust To Be Built Not Only Between Democrats And Republicans, Between Congress And The White House, Between The House And The Senate. You Know, We’ve Had A Dysfunctional Political System For A While Now.

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

We Are God's Partners In Matters Of Life And Death.

One Of The Great Qualities Of Chancellor Merkel Is That She Is Steady. She Analyzes A Situation. She's Honest. Sometimes We've Had Disagreements, But When We Do, It's Very Constructive. And We Are Consistently Open With Each Other About How We Should Approach These Issues.

At Various Periods In American History, People Get Pretty Rambunctious When It Comes To Our Democratic Debate.

American History

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.

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

Young People Recognize The Big Challenges That Are Coming Up.

We Stand With Israel As A Jewish Democratic State Because We Know That Israel Is Born Of Firmly Held Values That We, As Americans, Share: A Culture Committed To Justice, A Land That Welcomes The Weary, A People Devoted To Tikkun Olam. ... So America's Commitment ... And My Commitment To Israel And Israel's Security Is Unshakeable. It Is Unshakeable. ... I Am Proud To Say That No U.s. Administration Has Done More In Support Of Israel's Security Than Ours. None. Don't Let Anybody Else Tell You Otherwise. It Is A Fact.

If We're Going To Prevent Large Parts Of This Earth From Becoming Not Only Inhospitable But Uninhabitable In Our Lifetimes, We're Going To Have To Keep Some Fossil Fuels In The Ground Rather Than Burn Them And Release More Dangerous Pollution Into The Sky.

In An Age Where There's So Much Active Misinformation And Its Packaged Very Well And It Looks The Same When You See It On A Facebook Page Or You Turn On Your Television. Where Some Overzealousness On The Part Of, You Know, A U.s. Official Is Equated With Constant And Severe Repression Elsewhere.

If We're Serious About Building An Economy That Lasts, We Have Got To Get Serious About Education. We Are Going To Have To Pick Up Our Games And Raise Our Standards.

Their [the Evangelicals'] Success Also Points To A Hunger For The Product They Are Selling, A Hunger That Goes Beyond Any Particular Issue Or Cause... They Need An Assurance That Somebody Out There Cares About Them, Is Listening To Them.

How Do We In The African American Community Build A Culture In Which We Are Saying To Our Kids, "here's What It Takes To Succeed. Here's The Sacrifices You Need To Make To Be Able To Get Ahead. Here's How We Support Each Other. Here's How We Look Out For Each Other."

The Other Reason Might Be That You Want To Talk To Voters When You've Got Seven Primaries In Seven Days. Understand What's Happened In This Race - Where We Campaign Actively In A State, And Voters Have The Chance To See Me Directly, They Check Under The Hood, And They Kick The Tires, When We Don't Have As Much Time.

The Biggest Deficit That We Have In Our Society And In The World Right Now Is An Empathy Deficit. We Are In Great Need Of People Being Able To Stand In Somebody Else's Shoes And See The World Through Their Eyes.

The Most Important Thing We Can Do Is To Make Sure That We Are Creating Jobs In This Country. But Not Just Jobs, Good Paying Jobs. Ones That Can Support A Family.

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

I Believe That The Free Enterprise System Is The Greatest Engine Of Prosperity The World's Ever Known. I Believe In Self-reliance And Individual Initiative And Risk-takers Being Rewarded. But I Also Believe That Everybody Should Have A Fair Shot And Everybody Should Do Their Fair Share And Everybody Should Play By The Same Rules, Because That's How Our Economy's Grown. That's How We Built The World's Greatest Middle Class.

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.

The Holy Koran Teaches That Whoever Kills An Innocent Is As - It Is As If He Has Killed All Mankind.

We Have An Obligation And A Responsibility To Be Investing In Our Students And Our Schools.

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

How You Staff, Particularly The Chief Of Staff, The National Security Adviser, Your White House Counsel, How You Set Up A Process In The System To Surface Information And Generate Options For A President, Understanding That Ultimately The President Is Going To Be The Final Decision-maker. That's Something That Has To Be Attended To Right Away.

No U.s. Soldier Ever Dies In Vain Because They're Carrying Out The Missions Of Their Commander In Chief. And We Honor All The Service That They've Provided. Our Troops Have Performed Brilliantly. The Question Is For The Next President, Are We Making Good Judgments About How To Keep America Safe Precisely Because Sending Our Military Into Battle Is Such An Enormous Step.

I Think Barack Obama 'll Talk About The Actions That We've Taken, Not Just Since 9/11, But Since Paris, To Help Keep The American People And American Interests Safe.

The Idea Of America Endures. Our Destiny Remains Our Choice. And Tonight, More Than Two Centuries Later, It Is Because Of Our People That Our Future Is Hopeful, Our Journey Goes Forward, And The State Of Our Union Is Strong.

Now Is Not The Time To Gut These Job-creating Investments In Science And Innovation. Now Is The Time To Reach A Level Of Research And Development Not Seen Since The Height Of The Space Race.

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.

At The Dawn Of The 21st Century, Where Knowledge Is Literally Power, Where It Unlocks The Gates Of Opportunity And Success, We All Have Responsibilities As Parents, As Librarians, As Educators, As Politicians, And As Citizens To Instill In Our Children A Love Of Reading So That We Can Give Them A Chance To Fulfill Their Dreams.

The Framers, In Their Wisdom, Designed The [political] System So That Power's Pretty Disbursed.

Political Systems

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.

Civility Also Requires Relearning How To Disagree Without Being Disagreeable. Surely You Can Question My Policies Without Questioning My Faith Or, For That Matter, My Citizenship.

I Am A Little Jet Lagged From My Trip To Malaysia...the Lengths We Have To Go To To Get Cnn Coverage These Days.

I Bowled A 129... It Was Like The Special Olympics Or Something!

You Have Social Media And The Internet And Immigration And So, Suddenly, Cultures Are Clashing And People Feel As If They're Less Familiar With The People Around Them. That Causes Social Anxieties.

So We Don't Need More Top-down Economics. We've Tried That Theory. We've Seen What Happens. We Can't Afford To Go Back To It.

Ultimately, Only Diplomacy Can Bring About A Durable Solution To The Challenge Posed By Iran's Nuclear Program. As President And Commander In Chief, I Will Do What Is Necessary To Prevent Iran From Obtaining A Nuclear Weapon. However, I Have A Profound Responsibility To Try To Resolve Our Differences Peacefully, Rather Than Rush Towards Conflict.

Just Like I Described In Health Care, Yeah, Somebody Comes In, They Got New Ideas, Maybe Ideas That Are Completely Opposite Of My Ideas. Maybe Some Of It Goes, Maybe Some Of That Progress Goes Back. Maybe They Think Of Some Things We Didn't Think Of, And So In Some Other Areas - We Can Learn Something.

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.

I Think That Where I've Gotten Frustrated During The Course Of My Presidency Has Never Been Because I Was Getting Pushed Too Hard By Activists To See The Justness Of A Cause Or The Essence Of An Issue.

It Is True, I Worry About The Hype. The Only Person More Over-hyped Than Me Is You.

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. . .

You Have To Be Involved During Midterm Elections, You Have To Care About What Happens At A School Board Level.

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

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

We Will Harness The Sun And The Winds And The Soil To Fuel Our Cars And Run Our Factories.

Yesterday, John Mccain Actually Said That If He's President That He'll Take On, And I Quote, 'the Old Boys Network In Washington.' Now I'm Not Making This Up. This Is Somebody Who's Been In Congress For Twenty-six Years, Who Put Seven Of The Most Powerful Washington Lobbyists In Charge Of His Campaign. And Now He Tells Us That He's The One Who's Gonna' To Take On The Old Boys Network. The Old Boys Network? In The Mccain Campaign That's Called A Staff Meeting. Come, On!

There Are Always Going To Be Some Complications.

It Was A Creed Written Into The Founding Documents That Declared The Destiny Of A Nation. Yes We Can. It Was Whispered By Slaves And Abolitionists As They Blazed A Trail Towards Freedom Through The Darkest Of Nights. Yes We Can. It Was Sung By Immigrants As They Struck Out From Distant Shores And Pioneers Who Pushed Westward Against An Unforgiving Wilderness. Yes We Can.

In Reaffirming The Greatness Of Our Nation, We Understand That Greatness Is Never A Given. It Must Be Earned. Our Journey Has Never Been One Of Shortcuts Or Settling For Less. It Has Not Been The Path For The Faint-hearted, For Those Who Prefer Leisure Over Work, Or Seek Only The Pleasures Of Riches And Fame. Rather, It Has Been The Risk-takers, The Doers, The Makers Of Things -- Some Celebrated, But More Often Men And Women Obscure In Their Labor -- Who Have Carried Us Up The Long, Rugged Path Towards Prosperity And Freedom.

What Has Made America The Wealthiest, Most Successful Country On Earth Historically Has Been Our Commitment To Education.

If We Are Not Serious About Facts And What's True And What's Not. And Particularly In An Age Of Social Media Where So Many People Are Getting Their Information In Sound Bites And Snippets Off Their Phones, If We Can't Discriminate Between Serious Arguments And Propaganda, Then We Have Problems.

Iran's Supreme Court Has Issued A Fatwa Against The Development Of Nuclear Weapons. President [hassan] Rouhani Has Indicated Iran Will Never Develop Nuclear Weapons. I've Made Clear That We Respect The Right Of The Iranian People To Access Peaceful Nuclear Energy In The Context Of Iran Meeting Its Obligations.

We Are A People Of Improbable Hope.

The Iranian People Are Getting Restive Because Of The Challenges That Sanctions Have Posed To Their Economy.

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

Nothing In Life That’s Worth Anything Is Easy.

It Is The Kindness To Take In A Stranger When The Levees Break; The Selflessness Of Workers Who Would Rather Cut Their Hours Than See A Friend Lose Their Job Which Sees Us Through Our Darkest Hours. It Is The Firefighter's Courage To Storm A Stairway Filled With Smoke, But Also A Parent's Willingness To Nurture A Child, That Finally Decides Our Fate.

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

Essentially, Iran Was Sanctioned Because Of What Had Happened At Fordow, Its Unwillingness To Comply With Previous U.n. Security Resolutions About Their Nuclear Program, And As Part Of The Package Of Sanctions That Was Slapped On Them, The Issue Of Arms And Ballistic Missiles Were Included.

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.

The American People Intuitively Understand This, Which Is Why The Majority Of Catholics Practice Birth Control And Some Of Those Opposed To Gay Marriage Nevertheless Are Opposed To A Constitutional Amendment To Ban It. Religious Leadership Need Not Accept Such Wisdom In Counseling Their Flocks, But They Should Recognize This Wisdom In Their Politics.

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

I Don't Look At My Pension. It's Not As Big As Yours So It Doesn't Take As Long.

Take Off Your Bedroom Slippers, Put On Your Marching Shoes. Shake It Off. Stop Complaining, Stop Grumbling, Stop Crying. We Are Going To Press On. We’ve Got Work To Do.

I Am Encouraged By The President-elect's [donald Trump] Insistence That Nato Is A Commitment That Does Not Change. And His Full Commitment To Nato As The Foundation For Our International Security I Think Is Very Important.

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

When All Americans Are Treated As Equal We Are All More Free.

Marriage Equality

Societies In Which We Are Able To Unify Ourselves Around Values And Ideals And Character And How We Treat Each Other And Cooperation And Innovation, Ultimately Are Gonna Be More Successful Than Societies That Don't.

I've Been Very Good For Gun Manufacturers.

Some People Only Speak Of Freedom Of Speech While They're Out Of Power. Once They're In Power, They're Ruthless In Suppressing The Rights Of Others.

Freedom Of Speech

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.

Constitution Is A Living Document; No Strict Constructionism.

I Am Designating A New Director Of Recovery For Auto Communities And Workers To Cut Through Red Tape And Ensure That The Full Resources Of Our Federal Government Are Leveraged To Assist The Workers, Communities, And Regions That Rely On Our Auto Industry.

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.

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

To Look At Long Term Trends In Our Economy, In Our Society, In The International Sphere And Using My Best Judgment, Shape Policies That Will Serve The American People, Keep Them Safe, Keep Our Economy Growing, Put People Back To Work.

The More We Are Using Clean Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, The Less Environmentally Problematic Facilities End Up Being A Problem For Everybody, But Particularly For Folks Who Have To Suffer The Consequences Of Some Of These Facilities.

This Is A Matter Of Congress Authorizes Spending. They Order Me To Spend.

I Know My Country Has Not Perfected Itself. At Times, We've Struggled To Keep The Promise Of Liberty And Equality For All Of Our People. We've Made Our Share Of Mistakes, And There Are Times When Our Actions Around The World Have Not Lived Up To Our Best Intentions.

I Have Been In Washington For A While Now, And Most Things Don't Surprise Me. The Fact That Twenty 6-year-olds Were Gunned Down In The Most Violent Fashion Possible And This Town Couldn't Do Anything About It Was Stunning To Me.

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.

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

When It Comes To The War In Iraq, The Time For Promises And Assurances For Waiting And For Patience Is Over. Too Many Lives Have Been Lost, Too Many Billions Of Dollars Have Been Spent For Us To Trust The President On Another Tired And Failed Policy That's Opposed By Generals And Experts, Democrats And Republicans, Americans And Many Of The Iraqis Themselves.

The Warren Court Wasn't That Radical. It Didn't Break Free From The Essential Constraints That Were Placed By The Founding Fathers In The Constitution... I Intend To Succeed Where They Failed.

No Matter How Long It Takes, The United States Will Find And Bring To Justice The Terrorists Who Are Responsible For Kayla's Captivity And Death, Isil Is A Hateful And Abhorrent Terrorist Group Whose Actions Stand In Stark Contrast To The Spirit Of People Like Kayla.

I Have Always Had Extraordinarily Good Relations With Very Conservative Colleagues. And That's Not Because I Agree With Any Of Them Or Fudge On My Positions, But People Feel I Listen To Them And Give Them The Benefit Of The Doubt. I Assume The Best Of People. And That, I Think, Is An Attitude That Is Maybe Rare In Politics.

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.

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.

We Know That The Nation That Goes All-in On Innovation Today Will Own The Global Economy Tomorrow. This Is An Edge America Cannot Surrender.

Stock Market Risk Is Ok, But Not For Social Security.

John F.kennedy Gave Probably The Greatest Inauguration Speech Ever That First Time, But I Guarantee You When He First Walked Out There He Was Thinking, "goodness Gracious This Is Big And I Better Be Up To The Task."

I Think That Dealing With Guns Is One Way To Handle The Violent-crime Issues That We Have In This Country.

With Patient And Firm Determination, I Am Going To Press On For Jobs. I'm Going To Press On For Equality. I'm Going To Press On For The Sake Of Our Children. I'm Going To Press On For The Sake Of All Those Families Who Are Struggling Right Now. I Don't Have Time To Feel Sorry For Myself. I Don't Have Time To Complain. I Am Going To Press On.

I Say That Is Because Those Are The Times Where Sometimes You Feel Actually A Little Bit Hurt. Because You Feel Like Saying To These Folks, "[don't] You Think If I Could Do It, I [would] Have Just Done It. Do You Think That The Only Problem Is That I Don't Care Enough About The Plight Of Poor People, Or Gay People, Or Immigrants, Or ...?"

I Think That Sometimes The Democrats Have To Run Upstream Or Swim Upstream Because We've Got The Republicans Making It Out As If We Don't Care About These Things, And We Should Be Able To Engage And Be Willing To Engage In The Discussion About Morality And Values.

Ironically, The Single Thing That Has Strengthened Iran Over The Last Several Years Has Been The War In Iraq. Iraq Was Iran's Mortal Enemy. That Was Cleared Away. And What We've Seen Over The Last Several Years Is Iran's Influence Grow. They Have Funded Hezbollah, They Have Funded Hamas, They Have Gone From Zero Centrifuges To 4,000 Centrifuges To Develop A Nuclear Weapon.

Israel Must Be Able To Defend Itself - By Itself - Against Any Threat.

For Democrats Who Are Feeling Completely Discouraged, I've Been Trying To Remind Them, Everybody Remembers My Boston Speech In 2004. They May Not Remember Me Showing Up Here In 2005 When John Kerry Had Lost A Close Election, Tom Daschle, The Leader Of The Senate, Had Been Beaten In An Upset. Ken Salazar And I Were The Only Two Democrats That Won Nationally. Republicans Controlled The Senate And The House, And Two Years Later, Democrats Were Winning Back Congress, And Four Years Later I Was President Of The United States.

Part Of What's Changed In Politics Is Social Media And How People Are Receiving Information.

America Can Do Whatever We Set Our Mind To. That Is The Story Of Our History, Whether It's The Pursuit Of Prosperity For Our People, Or The Struggle For Equality For All Our Citizens; Our Commitment To Stand Up For Our Values Abroad, And Our Sacrifices To Make The World A Safer Place. Let Us Remember That We Can Do These Things Not Just Because Of Wealth Or Power, But Because Of Who We Are: One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

For We, The People, Understand That Our Country Cannot Succeed When A Shrinking Few Do Very Well And A Growing Many Barely Make It.

I'm Proud Of The Fact That I Stood Up Early And Unequivocally In Opposition To Bush's Foreign Policy. [...] That Opposition Hasn't Changed.

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.

When The United States Stands Up For Human Rights, By Example At Home And By Effort Abroad, We Align Ourselves With Men And Women Around The World Who Struggle For The Right To Speak Their Minds, To Choose Their Leaders, And To Be Treated With Dignity And Respect. We Also Strengthen Our Security And Well Being, Because The Abuse Of Human Rights Can Feed Many Of The Global Dangers That We Confront - From Armed Conflict And Humanitarian Crises, To Corruption And The Spread Of Ideologies That Promote Hatred And Violence.

I Think I'm The Best President I've Ever Been Right Now. And I Think The Team That Is Operating Right Now Functions As Well As Any Team That I've Had. And So, You Know, There Is A Part Of You That Thinks, "man, We're Pretty Good At This Stuff Right Now." And You Hate To See That Talent Disperse.

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Christopher Parker

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