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You Know, When I Made A Series Of Overtures To The Republicans, Going Over To Meet With Both Republican Caucuses, You Know, Putting Three Republicans In My Cabinet -- Something That Is Unprecedented -- Making Sure That They Were Invited Here To The White House To Talk About The Economic Recovery Plan, All Those Were Not Designed Simply To Get Some Short-term Votes. They Were Designed To Try To Build Up Some Trust Over Time. And I Think That, As I Continue To Make These Overtures, Over Time, Hopefully That Will Be Reciprocated.

-Barack Obama

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You Know, When I

Barack Obama

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You Know, When I Made A Series Of Overtures To The Republicans, Going Over To Meet With Both Republican Caucuses, You Know, Putting Three Republicans In My Cabinet -- Something That Is Unprecedented -- Making Sure That They Were Invited Here To The White House To Talk About The Economic Recovery Plan, All Those Were Not Designed Simply To Get Some Short-term Votes. They Were Designed To Try To Build Up Some Trust Over Time. And I Think That, As I Continue To Make These Overtures, Over Time, Hopefully That Will Be Reciprocated.

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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.

Strong Countries And Strong Presidents Talk To Their Adversaries. That's What Kennedy Did With Khrushchev. That's What Reagan Did With Gorbachev. That's What Nixon Did With Mao. I Mean Think About It. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela - These Countries Are Tiny Compared To The Soviet Union. They Don't Pose A Serious Threat To Us The Way The Soviet Union Posed A Threat To Us. And Yet We Were Willing To Talk To The Soviet Union At The Time When They Were Saying We're Going To Wipe You Off The Planet.

The Time To Fix Our Broken Immigration System Is Now... We Need Stronger Enforcement On The Border And At The Workplace... But For Reform To Work, We Also Must Respond To What Pulls People To America... Where We Can Reunite Families, We Should. Where We Can Bring In More Foreign-born Workers With The Skills Our Economy Needs, We Should.

Today, We Are Closer To Fulfilling America's Promise Of Economic And Social Justice Because We Stand On The Shoulders Of Giants Like Dr. King, Yet Our Future Progress Will Depend On How We Prepare Our Next Generation Of Leaders. We Must Fortify Their Ladders Of Opportunity By Correcting Social Injustice, Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty In Struggling Communities, And Reinvesting In Our Schools. Education Can Unlock A Child's Potential And Remains Our Strongest Weapon Against Injustice And Inequality.

Perhaps I Possess A Certain Midwestern Sensibility That I Inherited From My Mother And Her Parents, A Sensibility That Warren Buffet Seems To Share: That At A Certain Point One Has Enough, That You Can Derive As Much Pleasure From A Picasso Hanging In A Museum As From One That's Hanging In Your Den, That You Can Get An Awfully Good Meal In A Restaurant For Less Than Twenty Dollars, And That Once Your Drapes Cost More Than The Average American's Yearly Salary, Then You Can Afford To Pay A Bit More In Taxes.

Let's Not Only Provide A Jumpstart To The Economy And Immediately Or Save 3 Million Jobs, But Let's Also Put A Down Payment On Some Of The Structural Problems That We Have In Our Economy.

On This Thanksgiving, As We Spend Time With Our Family And Friends, Let's All Reflect On What We're Thankful For In Our Own Lives. And Let's Remember Those Who Cannot Be With Their Loved Ones Because They're Serving Overseas. But Let's Also Do Our Part To Help Those Who Have No Place To Go For A Meal. I Encourage All Americans To Do What They Can To Help Those In Need-because The Best Way To Show Our Gratitude For What We Have Is By Doing Our Part For Those Who Have Less.

Family And Friends

We Shouldn’t Have A Bunch Of Politicians, A Majority Of Whom Are Men, Making Health Care Decisions On Behalf Of Women.

You Now Have The Potential Of 200 People Deciding Who Ends Up Being Elected President Every Single Time.

I Think There Is Nothing Wrong With Instituting Policies That Say That Harassment Of Any Form, Whether It Comes Through The Internet Or Whether It Happens To You Face To Face, Is Unacceptable; That We've Got Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Sexual Harassment, We Have Zero Tolerance When It Comes To Harassing People Because Of Their Sexual Orientation, Because Of Their Race, Because Of Their Ethnicity.

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

My Family, Frankly, They Weren't Folks Who Went To Church Every Week. My Mother Was One Of The Most Spiritual People I Knew But She Didn't Raise Me In The Church, So I Came To My Christian Faith Later In Life And It Was Because The Precepts Of Jesus Christ Spoke To Me In Terms Of The Kind Of Life That I Would Want To Lead.

How Does The Saying Go? When Two Locusts Fight, It Is Always The Crow That Feasts.' Is That A Luo Expression?' I Asked. Sayid's Face Broke Into A Bashful Smile. We Have A Similar Expression In Luo,' He Said, 'but Actually I Must Admit That I Read This Particular Expression In A Book By Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian Writer. I Like His Books Very Much. He Speaks The Truth About Africa's Predicament. The Nigerian, The Kenya - It Is The Same. We Share More Than Divides Us.

One Of The Issues The Democrats Have To Be Clear On Is The Given Population Distribution Across The Country. We Have To Compete Everywhere. We Have To Show Up Everywhere. We Have To Work At A Grassroots Level, Something That's Been A Running Thread In My Career.

I've Got Certain Responsibilities That I Have To Carry Out In A Very Specific Institution And In A Specific Moment In Time.

Year After Year, An Ideological And Economic Barrier Hardened Between Our Two Countries, Meanwhile, The Cuban Exile Community In The United States Made Enormous Contributions To Our Country, In Politics, In Business, Culture And Sports.

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

The Cuban People Must Know That They Have A Friend And Partner In The United States Of America.

I Stand Here Today Humbled By The Task Before Us, Grateful For The Trust You Have Bestowed, Mindful Of The Sacrifices Borne By Our Ancestors.

Boston Is A Tough And Resilient Town. So Are Its People. I'm Supremely Confident That Bostonians Will Pull Together, Take Care Of Each Other, And Move Forward As One Proud City. And As They Do, The American People Will Be With Them Every Single Step Of The Way.

Let's Not Play Games. I Was Suggesting - You're Absolutely Right That John Mccain Has Not Talked About My Muslim Faith.

I've Called Chicago Home For Nearly 25 Years. It's A City Of Broad Shoulders And Big Hearts And Bold Dreams; A City Of Legendary Sports Figures, Legendary Sports Venues, And Legendary Sports Fans.

The Good News Is I Think There Are A Lot Of Young People Certainly Who Were Involved In My Campaigns, And I Think Continue To Be Involved In Work Not Just Politically, But Through Nonprofits And Other Organizations, That Can Carry This Hard Work Of Democracy Forward.

I Think Where I Get Frustrated At Times Was The Belief That The President Can Do Anything If He Just Decides He Wants To Do It.

You Haven't Seen A Lot Of Turnover In My Campaign. And The Culture Of My Campaign Is One In Which I Think Everybody Feels A Great Sense Of Ownership.

Ultimately, The Challenges Of The 21st Century Can't Be Met Without Collective Action. Agreement Will Almost Never Be Easy, And Results Won't Always Come Quickly. But I Am Committed To Respecting Different Points Of View, And To Forging A Consensus Instead Of Dictating Our Terms... That's How We Will Advance And Uphold Our Ideals.

I Thought I Could Start Over, You See. But Now I Know You Can Never Start Over. Not Really. You Think You Have Control, But You Are Like A Fly In Somebody Else's Web. Sometimes I Think That's Why I Like Accounting. All Day, You Are Only Dealing With Numbers. You Add Them, Multiply Them, And If You Are Careful, You Will Always Have A Solution. There's A Sequence There. An Order. With Numbers, You Can Have Control.

One Of The Challenges Of A Democratic Government Is Making Sure That Even In The Midst Of Emergencies And Passions, We Make Sure That Rule Of Law And The Basic Precepts Of Justice And Liberty Prevail.

You [bill Maher] Seem To Have Done Alright With Your Tv Show... I Mean, I Don't Get A Sense... To The Extent That They're Boycotting You, It's Because Of Your Other Wacky Views Rather Than Your Particular Views On Religion.

If We [american Nation] Are Only Thinking About Tomorrow Or The Next Day And Not Thinking About 10 Years From Now, We're Not Going To Control Our Own Economic Future, Because China, Germany - They're Making These [clean Energy] Investments. And I'm Not Going To Cede Those Jobs Of The Future To Those Countries. I Expect Those New Energy Sources To Be Built Right Here In The United States.

After My Election There Was Talk Of A Postracial America. And Such A Vision, However Well Intended, Was Never Realistic.

[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.

What We Can Be Scientifically Certain Of Is That Our Continued Use Of Fossil Fuels Is Pushing Us To A Point Of No Return

Being A Father Is Sometimes My Hardest But Always My Most Rewarding Job. Happy Father's Day To All The Dads Out There.

I Believe In Term Limits For Presidents Because I Think That There Is No Doubt I'm A Better President Now Than I Was When I Start. I Would Argue That I Am The Best President I've Ever Been Over The Last Year Or Two. My Team Is More Effective Than It's Ever Been.but What Is Also True Is That Number One, This Is Grueling.

I Want To Make Sure That We, As A Nation, Stay Unified Because That's How We're Going To Achieve Our Missions.

As Opposed To Getting Into Arguments About, Well, These Folks Have Been Treated Fairly So Now We're Going To Be Doing Things That, Very Easily In The Minds Of A Lot Americans Feel Like, "now I'm Being Treated Unfairly."

I Reserve The Right, As President Of The United States To Meet With Anybody At A Time And Place Of My Choosing If I Think It's Going To Keep America Safe.

Cutting The Deficit By Gutting Our Investments In Innovation And Education Is Like Lightening An Overloaded Airplane By Removing Its Engine. It May Make You Feel Like You're Flying High At First, But It Won't Take Long Before You Feel The Impact.

I Think That People Are Born With A Certain Makeup, And That We're All Children Of God.

In A Global Economy Where The Most Valuable Skill You Can Sell Is Your Knowledge, A Good Education Is No Longer Just A Pathway To Opportunity - It Is A Prerequisite.

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

We Are Now At A Point Where Because We In Fact Have Been Successful At Stopping A Number Of Plots, A Threat Has Evolved. We Do See These Lone-wolf Actors. We Do See These Encouragements For Troubled Individuals To Pick Up A Gun And Act Out Of This Ideology.

I Think A Basic Principle Of Our Constitution Is Nobody Above The Law

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

We Don't Believe In A Small America. We Believe In A Big America - A Tolerant America, A Just America, An Equal America - That Values The Service Of Every Patriot.

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

Cutting Benefits Is Not The Right Answer. Raising The Retirement Age Is Not The Best Option.

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.

Today, Women Make Up About Half Our Workforce. But They Still Make 77 Cents For Every Dollar A Man Earns. That Is Wrong, And In 2014, It’s An Embarrassment. Women Deserve Equal Pay For Equal Work.

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.

The Capacity Of Iraq's Security Forces Has Improved, And Iraq's Leaders Have Made Strides Toward Political Accommodation

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

I've Got Two Daughters. 9 Years Old And 6 Years Old. I Am Going To Teach Them First Of All About Values And Morals. But If They Make A Mistake, I Don't Want Them Punished With A Baby.

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

The Bottom Line Is This - Whereas Iran Was Steadily Expanding Its Nuclear Program, We Have Now Cut Off Every Single Path That Iran Could Have Used To Build A Bomb.

We're Going To Have To Come Together And Take Meaningful Action To Prevent More Tragedies Like This, Regardless Of The Politics.

The United States Is Committed To A Regional Order Rooted In International Rules And Norms, Including Freedom Of Navigation, And The Peaceful Resolution Of Disputes. That's The Only Way To Ensure Our Common Security.

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

The Two Inaugurations Were Different. The First Inauguration I Was Thinking To Myself, "let's Make Sure I Don't Screw This Up." I Think There Is - People Always Talk About How Cool I Am. I Don't Care How Cool You Are.

Not Much Happens In Russia Without Vladimir Putin.

This Book [dreams From My Father] Was More Of A Reflection On My Public Life, Now As A U.s. Senator And Before That As A State Senator; How My Perspectives Around The Issues Of The Day Are Shaped By My Background.

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.

Fear, Uncertainty And Discomfort Are Your Compasses Toward Growth. If You Run You Stand A Chance Of Losing, But If You Don't Run You've Already Lost.

We've Come To Be Consumed By A 24-hour, Slash-and-burn, Negative Ad, Bickering, Small-minded Politics That Doesn't Move Us Forward. Sometimes One Side Is Up And The Other Side Is Down. But There's No Sense That They Are Coming Together In A Common-sense, Practical, Nonideological Way To Solve The Problems That We Face.

The Alternative, No Limits On Iran's Nuclear Program, No Inspections, An Iran That's Closer To A Nuclear Weapon, The Risk Of Regional Nuclear Arms Race, And The Greater Risk Of War - All That Would Endanger Our [american] Security.

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 That We Are In A Position To Continue To Make Progress, But It's Gonna Require Us To Both Recognize What The Problems Are, Also Recognize The Progress We've Made. Last Point I'd Make On This, Since We're On Criminal Justice: During The Course Of My Presidency Crime Has Been The Lowest It's Been Probably Since The '60s.

A Relentless Focus On The Outward Markers Of Success Can Lead To Complacency. It Can Make You Lazy.

Funny Graduation

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

I Think Every Case Is Different. Every Situation Is Different. People Come On The F.b.i.'s Radar Screen For A Variety Of Reasons At A Variety Of Times.

You're Not Going To Be Able To Make Good Decisions Without Building Some Relationship Of Trust Between Yourself And Community.

So We Have A Choice To Make. We Can Once Again Let Washington's Bad Habits Stand In The Way Of Progress. Or We Can Pull Together And Say That In America, Our Destiny Isn't Written For Us But By Us. We Can Place Good Ideas Ahead Of Old Ideological Battles, And A Sense Of Purpose Above The Same Narrow Partisanship. We Can Act Boldly To Turn Crisis Into Opportunity And, Together, Write The Next Great Chapter In Our History And Meet The Test Of Our Time.

I've Always Wanted To Come To Greece.

We Honor Those Who Walked So We Could Run. We Must Run So Our Children Soar. And We Will Not Grow Weary.

The Affordable Care Act Is Here To Stay.

Affordable Care Act

No Two Countries Are Identical, And Obviously, There's A Difference Between A Referendum On A Very Complex Relationship Between Great Britain And The Rest Of Europe, And A Presidential Election In The United States.

I Think It's Important To Realize That I Was Actually Black Before The Election.

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

There Is A Certain Percentage Of The White Population ... If They Started Having More Middle-class Black Kids Who Are Friends With Their Kids, Eating Cheerios In Their Kitchen, Their Attitudes Start Changing.

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

If You Look At Libya, I Was Deeply Concerned About What Would Happen After Qaddafi Was Gone.

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.

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

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 Think That When It Comes To Issues Of Trade, I Think It Is Important For Us To Be In Favor Of Trade, But I Also Think It Is Important To Make Sure That We Are Putting In Place The Labor Standards, The Environmental Standards, That Are Going To Provide Some Of A Fighting Chance For American Workers.

I Was Never Great, But I Was A Good [basketball] Player, And I Could Play Seriously. Now I'm Like One Of These Old Guys Who's Running Around, And The Guys I Play With, Who Are All A Lot Younger, They Sort Of Pity Me And Sympathize With Me. They Tolerate Me, But We All Know That I'm The Weak Link On The Court. And I Don't Like Being The Weak Link.

My Job Is Exhilarating. It's Challenging. I Find That The Governance Part Of It, The Decision Making Part Of It - Actually Comes - Comes Pretty Naturally. I Think I've Got A Great Team. I Think We're Making Good Decisions. The The Hardest Thing About The Job Is Staying Focused. Because There's So Many Demands And Decisions That Are Pressed Upon You.

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 Father's Voice Had Nevertheless Remained Untainted, Inspiring, Rebuking, Granting Or Withholding Approval. 'you Do Not Work Hard Enough, Barry. You Must Help In Your People's Struggle. Wake Up, Black Man!

I Think That Our Politics Everywhere Are Gonna Be Going Through This Bumpy Phase. But As Long As We Stay True To Our Democratic Principles, As Long As Elections Have Integrity, As Long As We Respect Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Religion, As Long As There Are Checks And Balances In Our Governments So That The People Have The Ability To Not Just Make Judgments About How Well Government Is Serving Them But Also Change Governments If They're Not Serving Them Well, Then I Have Confidence That Over The Long Term, Progress Will Continue.

What We Want Is For People To Know That You Can Get Affordable Health Care And Most Young Americans, They're Not Covered And The Truth Is They Can Get Coverage All For What It Costs To Pay Your Cell Phone Bill.

There Is No Doubt That Thanks To The Steps That We Took Early On To Rescue Our Economy And To Rebuild It On A New Foundation, We Are Entering Into The New Year With New Confidence That America Is Coming Back.

Long Before Being Nerdy Was Cool, There Was Leonard Nimoy.

I Don’t Believe It Is Possible To Transcend Race In This Country. Race Is A Factor In This Society. The Legacy Of Jim Crow And Slavery Has Not Gone Away. It Is Not An Accident That African-americans Experience High Crime Rates, Are Poor, And Have Less Wealth. It Is A Direct Result Of Our Racial History.

I Commended Angela [merkel] For Her Leadership Along With President Hollande In Working To Resolve The Conflict In Ukraine. We Continued To Stand With The People Of Ukraine And For The Basic Principle That Nations Have A Right To Determine Their Own Destiny And We Discussed The Importance Of Maintaining Sanctions Until Russia Fully Complies With The Minsk Agreement.

True Leadership Will Not Be Measured By The Ability To Muzzle Dissent, Or To Intimidate And Harass Political Opponents At Home. The People Of The World Want Change. They Will Not Long Tolerate Those Who Are On The Wrong Side Of History.

I Can Document This Past Week [of Presidency] We've Put Out Memos From Every Agency Showing What Did We Do. Try To Be As Honest As Possible. There's A Little Hype Involved Obviously. It's Spin Because It's Our Agencies. We Feel Some Pride About It. But Tried To Be Self-critical As Well.

There's No Doubt That Probably At Least Once A Week, Maybe Once A Day, I Said, "ah, I Should Have Done That Better."

[j]ust Because You Have An Individual Right Does Not Mean That The State Or Local Government Can't Constrain The Exercise Of That Right.

One Of The Brightest Lights Of Our Time-a Brilliant Writer, A Fierce Friend, And A Truly Phenomenal Woman.

I Am A Firm Believer That You Don't Do Anything Significant By Yourself. Again, Maybe There Are Exceptions. There's The Picasso Or The Mozart.

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.

The American People Are Going To Have A Good Choice.

There Are War-torn Countries, People Full Of Poverty, Who Still Voted, 60, 70 Percent. If Here In The United States Of America, We Voted At 60 Percent, 70 Percent, It Would Transform Our Politics.

But At A Time When Our Discourse Has Become So Sharply Polarized - At A Time When We Are Far Too Eager To Lay The Blame For All That Ails The World At The Feet Of Those Who Think Differently Than We Do - It's Important For Us To Pause For A Moment And Make Sure That We Are Talking With Each Other In A Way That Heals, Not A Way That Wounds.

Even As Ramadan Holds Profound Meaning For The World’s 1.5 Billion Muslims, It Is Also A Reminder To People Of All Faiths Of Our Common Humanity And The Commitment To Justice, Equality, And Compassion Shared By All Great Faiths. In That Spirit, I Wish Muslims Across America And Around The World A Blessed Month, And I Look Forward To Again Hosting An Iftar Dinner Here At The White House. Ramadan Kareem.

There's A Reason Why The Nra's Not Here. They're Just Down The Street. And Since This Is The Main Reason They Exist, You'd Think That They'd Be Prepared To Have A Debate With A President.

It's No Wonder That America's Engagement In The Region Has Strong, Sustained, Bipartisan Support. So I'll Be Handing My Successor A Strong Foundation - Including Closer Ties With Singapore - On Which To Continue Building, And I'm Optimistic That Will Happen.

Hope - Hope In The Face Of Difficulty. Hope In The Face Of Uncertainty. The Audacity Of Hope!

All The Good Things That Are Happening In America Don't Get Reported On A Lot.

I Want To Reduce America's Deficit By Cutting Spending That We Don't Need But Also By Asking The Wealthy To Do A Little Bit More So That We Can Invest In Things Like Research And Technology That Are The Key To A 21st Century Economy.

When I've Sent Young Men And Women Into Harm's Way, I Always Understand That That Is The Last Resort, Not The First Resort.

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

Without Regard To Whether Some Place Is Wealthy Or Poor, Everybody Should Have The Chance At Clean Air And Clean Water.

Markets Will Rise And Fall, But This Is The United States Of America. No Matter What Some Agency May Say, We've Always Been And Always Will Be A Triple A Country.

I Insist On The Dignity And God- Given Potential And Work Of Every Child, Regardless Of Race Or Gender Or Sexual Orientation Or What Zip Code They Were Born In.

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.

For The Sake Of Our Economy, Our Security, And The Future Of Our Planet, I Will Set A Clear Goal As President: In Ten Years, We Will Finally End Our Dependence On Oil From The Middle East.

Leadership Isn't Just Legislation, That It's A Matter Of Persuading People And Giving Them Confidence, And Bringing Them Together And Setting A Tone.

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.

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

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

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.

We Have To Create That Bridge For The Future. And That Means Making Sure We're Paying Attention To The Wages Of Workers In Countries, Making Sure That We're Investing In Their Education And Their Skills.

Let's Be Grateful For What We Have. Let's Be Mindful Of Those Who Have Less. Let's Appreciate Those Who Hold A Special Place In Our Lives, And Make Sure They Know It. And Let's Think About Those Who Can't Spend The Holiday With Their Loved Ones - Especially The Members Of Our Military Serving Overseas.

Instead Of Having A Set Of Policies That Are Equipping People For The Globalization Of The Economy, We Have Policies That Are Accelerating The Most Destructive Trends Of The Global Economy.

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

On This Day, We Gather Because We Have Chosen Hope Over Fear, Unity Of Purpose Over Conflict And Discord.

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

Part Of America's Genius Has Always Been Its Ability To Absorb Newcomers, To Forge A National Identity Out Of The Disparate Lot That Arrived On Our Shores.

This Pleased Onyango, For To Him Knowledge Was The Source Of All The White Man's Power, And He Wanted To Make Sure That His Son Was As Educated As Any White Man.

No Party Has A Monopoly On Wisdom. No Democracy Works Without Compromise.

You Can't Rest On Your Laurels. Your Own Body Of Work Is Yet To Come.

America, We Cannot Turn Back. Not With So Much Work To Be Done. Not With So Many Children To Educate, And So Many Veterans To Care For. Not With An Economy To Fix And Cities To Rebuild And Farms To Save. Not With So Many Families To Protect And So Many Lives To Mend. America, We Cannot Turn Back. We Cannot Walk Alone. At This Moment, In This Election, We Must Pledge Once More To March Into The Future. Let Us Keep That Promise - That American Promise - And In The Words Of Scripture Hold Firmly, Without Wavering, To The Hope That We Confess.

I'm Not Sure We Have The Right Strategy In Afghanistan. Let Me Think This Over For A Few Months.

We Have Greater Awareness Of Where We're Falling Short Than We Used To. Just Take The Example Of Community Police Relations.

Our Journey Is Not Complete Until All Our Children... Know That They Are Cared For And Cherished And Always Safe From Harm.

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.

For All The Noise And Anger That Too Often Surrounds The Immigration Debate, America Has Nothing To Fear From Today's Immigrants. They Have Come Here For The Same Reason That Families Have Always Come Here-for The Hope That In America, They Could Build A Better Life For Themselves And Their Families. Like The Waves Of Immigrants That Came Before Them And The Hispanic Americans Whose Families Have Been Here For Generations, The Recent Arrival Of Latino Immigrants Will Only Enrich Our Country.

If [black] Nationalism Could Create A Strong And Effective Insularity, Deliver On Its Promise Of Self-respect, Then The Hurt It Might Cause Well-meaning Whites, Or The Inner Turmoil It Caused People Like Me, Would Be Of Little Consequence.

... The Fact Is It Didn't Happen In The First Month, The First Six Weeks, In A Way That Was At All Acceptable. And Since I'm In Charge, Obviously, We Screwed It Up.

I Am Asking My Attorney General To Create A Special Unit Of Federal Prosecutors And Leading State Attorneys General To Expand Our Investigations Into The Abusive Lending And Packaging Of Risky Mortgages That Led To The Housing Crisis. This New Unit Will Hold Accountable Those Who Broke The Law, Speed Assistance To Homeowners, And Help Turn The Page On An Era Of Recklessness That Hurt So Many Americans.

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

Battling Terrorism Must Go Beyond Belligerence Vs. Isolation.

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.

In Texas, We Hold Very Dear To Intrusions Against Our Personal Liberty. We Fight Very Hard Against That.

We've Protected Thousands Of People In Libya; We Have Not Seen A Single U.s. Casualty; There's No Risks Of Additional Escalation. This Operation Is Limited In Time And In Scope.

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

We Have To Deal With Issues Like Inequality, We Have Deal With Issues Of Economic Dislocation, We Have To Deal With Peoples Fears That Their Children Won't Do As Well As They Have. The More Aggressively And Effectively We Deal With Those Issues, The Less Those Fears May Channel Themselves Into Counter-productive Approaches That Pit People Against Each Other.

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.

There Is A Theory That Basically Says That We Can Shred Regulations And Consumer Protections And Give More And More To The Most, And Somehow Prosperity Will Trickle Down. It Hasn't Worked. And I Think That The Fundamentals Of The Economy Have To Be Measured By Whether Or Not The Middle Class Is Getting A Fair Shake.

The United Kingdom And The European Union Will Remain Indispensable Partners Of The United States Even As They Begin Negotiating Their Ongoing Relationship To Ensure Continued Stability, Security And Prosperity For Europe, Great Britain And Northern Ireland, And The World.

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.

In The Wake Of 9/11, My Meetings With Arab And Pakistani Americans, For Example, Have A More Urgent Quality, For The Stories Of Detentions And Fbi Questioning And Hard Stares From Neighbors Have Shaken Their Sense Of Security And Belonging. They Have Been Reminded That The History Of Immigration In This Country Has A Dark Underbelly; They Need Specific Reassurances That Their Citizenship Really Means Something, That America Has Learned The Right Lessons From The Japanese Internments During World War Ii, And That I Will Stand With Them Should The Political Winds Shift In An Ugly Direction.

If You Have Health Care, My Plan Will Lower Your Premiums. If You Don't, You'll Be Able To Get The Same Kind Of Coverage That Members Of Congress Give Themselves.

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.

The Truth Is, Some Of These Comments, When You Actually Ask 'well, This Is Based On What? This Notion That Obama's A Socialist, For Example?' Nobody Can Really Give You A Good Answer.

I'm Named Barack Hussein Obama. I'm African-american.

African American

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.

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

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.

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.

The Muslim Call To Prayer Is One Of The Prettiest Sounds On Earth At Sunset.

Change Doesn't Come From Washington. Change Comes To Washington

There Is A Wonderful Book Called "gandhi's Truth," By Erik Erikson, The Psychologist. It Is A Great Book. And I Remember Reading That And Thinking About This Connection Between What We Think In Our Personal Lives And How That Manifests Itself In Our Politics. Those Are Two Books, Just Off The Top, That I Think Are Sort Of Representative Of Reading That I Did At That Time. I Never Get A Chance To Read Anymore.

As Commander In Chief, I Will Maintain The Strongest Military In The World, Keep Faith With Our Troops And Go After Those Who Would Do Us Harm. But After A Decade Of War, I Think We All Recognize We've Got To Do Some Nation Building Here At Home, Rebuilding Our Roads, Our Bridges And Especially Caring For Our Veterans Who Sacrificed So Much For Our Freedom.

Cool, Logical, Big-eared And Level-headed, The Center Of Star Trek's Optimistic, Inclusive Vision Of Humanity's Future. I Loved Spock.

Senator Joe Biden Is Pretty Clean And Articulate For A White Guy.

Those Jeans Are Comfortable, And For Those Of You Who Want Your President To Look Great In His Tight Jeans, I'm Sorry I'm Not The Guy. It Just Doesn't Fit Me. I'm Not 20.

Our Intelligence Communities Spend A Lot Of Time And Effort Gathering A Lot Of Strands And A Lot Of Data [on Russian Hacking]. There Are Times Where They're Very Cautious And They Say, "we Think This Is What Happened, But We're Not Certain."

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.

Last Time I Checked, Congress Was Created To Uphold The Values Of The Constitution, Not The Bible And Its Biased Teachings. 'all Men (including Women) Are Created Equal' And Are Afforded Unalienable Rights. Way To Go, Mr. President! Stand Up For What You Believe And For The People Of This Country.

There Was Never A Promise That Race Relations In America Would Be Entirely Resolved During My Presidency Or Anybody's Presidency. I Mean, This Has Been A Running Thread - And - And Fault Line In American Life And American Politics Since Its Founding.

I Have The Authority To Address The Threat From Isil, But I Believe We Are Strongest As A Nation When The President And Congress Work Together. So I Welcome Congressional Support For This Effort In Order To Show The World That Americans Are United In Confronting This Danger.

These Days, The House Republicans Actually Give John Boehner A Harder Time Than They Give Me. Which Means Orange Really Is The New Black.

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

[white House] Feels Even More Like Home Now Because You Have All These Memories That Were Formed Watching Your Kids Grow Up.

Winter Came And The City [chicago] Turned Monochrome -- Black Trees Against Gray Sky Above White Earth. Night Now Fell In Midafternoon, Especially When The Snowstorms Rolled In, Boundless Prairie Storms That Set The Sky Close To The Ground, The City Lights Reflected Against The Clouds

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.

I've Been To 57 States.

Each Side Has Legitimate Aspirations - And That's Part Of What Makes Peace So Hard. And The Deadlock Will Only Be Broken When Each Side Learns To Stand In The Other's Shoes; Each Side Can See The World Through The Other's Eyes. That's What We Should Be Encouraging. That's What We Should Be Promoting.

If We Are Truly Created Equal Then Surely The Love We Commit To One Another Must Be Equal As Well

I Want People Around The World To Hear Me. To All Those Who Would Do Us Harm, No Act Of Terror Will Go Unpunished. It Will Not Dim The Light Of The Values That We Proudly Present To The Rest Of The World. No Act Of Violence Shakes The Resolve Of The United States Of America.

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

Donald Trump Is Temperamentally Unfit.

We Remember, We Rebuild, We Come Back Stronger.

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.

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

What I Would Advise, What I Advised Before The Election, And What I Will Continue To Advise After The Election, Is That Elections Matter; Voting Matters; Organizing Matters; Being Informed On The Issues Matter.

Part Of What's Unique About Climate Change, Though, Is The Nature Of Some Of The Opposition To Action. It's Pretty Rare That You'll Encounter Somebody Who Says The Problem You're Trying To Solve Simply Doesn't Exist. When President Kennedy Set Us On A Course For The Moon, There Were A Number Of People Who Made A Serious Case That It Wouldn't Be Worth It; It Was Going To Be Too Expensive, It Was Going To Be Too Hard, It Would Take Too Long. But Nobody Ignored The Science. I Don't Remember Anybody Saying That The Moon Wasn't There Or That It Was Made Of Cheese.

We Americans Are Not An Inherently More Violent People Than Folks In Other Countries. We're Not Inherently More Prone To Mental Health Problems. The Main Difference That Sets Our Nation Apart Is What Makes Us So Susceptible To So Many Mass Shootings Is That We Don't Do Enough, We Don't Take The Basic Commonsense Actions To Keep Guns Out Of The Hands Of Criminals And Dangerous People. What's Different In America Is It's Easy To Get Your Hands On A Gun.

I Think If You Look At Almost Every Year Under Every President Over The Last, I Don't Know, 20, 30 Years, You're Going To Be Hard-pressed To Find A Year In Which The Majority Of Americans Thought We Were On The Right Track.

There’s Only One Thing We Can Be Sure Of, And That Is The Love That We Have -- For Our Children, For Our Families, For Each Other. The Warmth Of A Small Child’s Embrace -- That Is True. The Memories We Have Of Them, The Joy That They Bring, The Wonder We See Through Their Eyes, That Fierce And Boundless Love We Feel For Them, A Love That Takes Us Out Of Ourselves, And Binds Us To Something Larger -- We Know That’s What Matters. We Know We’re Always Doing Right When We’re Taking Care Of Them, When We’re Teaching Them Well, When We’re Showing Acts Of Kindness. We Don’t Go Wrong When We Do That.

That Is The Nature Of Democracy. It Is Hard. It Is Not Always Inspiring.

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.

Yes, Our Greatness As A Nation Has Depended On Individual Initiative, On A Belief In The Free Market. But It Has Also Depended On Our Sense Of Mutual Regard For Each Other, Of Mutual Responsibility. The Idea That Everybody Has A Stake In The Country, That We're All In It Together And Everybody's Got A Shot At Opportunity. Americans Know This. We Know That Government Can't Solve All Our Problems - And We Don't Want It To. But We Also Know That There Are Some Things We Can't Do On Our Own. We Know That There Are Some Things We Do Better Together.

We Can Lead This World And Make It Safer And More Secure For Our Children And Our Grandchildren, For Generations To Come.

Why Can't I Just Eat My Waffle?

Part Of American Leadership Is Making Sure That We're Doing Nation Building Here At Home. That Will Help Us Maintain The Kind Of American Leadership That We Need.

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