I am the eternal optimist. I think that, over time, people respond to civility and — and rational argument.

BARACK OBAMA, press conference, Feb. 9, 2009

“But who’s got time for that? Race Card, away!”

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded, then, is a return to these truths.

BARACK OBAMA, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20. 2009

“I mean for YOU suckers, not me.”

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.

BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope

“Which is why I’m opposed to it.”

As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.

BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009

“Turns out that nation was Germany, so bankruptcy ahoy!”

Americans have always pursued our dreams within a free market that has been the engine of our progress. It’s a market that has created a prosperity that is the envy of the world, and rewarded the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon of science, and technology, and discovery. But the American economy has worked in large part because we have guided the market’s invisible hand with a higher principle – that America prospers when all Americans can prosper. That is why we have put in place rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Sep. 16, 2008

“But who needs roads when we can have high-speed rail? It’s future-tastic!”

Nowhere is it ordained that history moves in a straight line.

BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope

“Or red ones.”

My whole goal over the next four years is to make sure that, whatever arguments are persuasive and backed up by evidence and facts and proof that they can work, that we are pulling people together around that kind of pragmatic agenda.

BARACK OBAMA, press conference, Feb. 9, 2009

“And if I don’t have persuasive arguments, I’ll just have the media pummel you with propaganda.”

We know that government can’t solve all our problems – and it shouldn’t try. But it should work for us, not against us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American willing to work.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Sep. 10, 2008

“And with all the new taxes in Obamacare, every American will be working for the government.”

There are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

BARACK OBAMA, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20. 2009

“Well, they can forget about the free men and women part, because now they’ve got free health care instead.”

To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.

BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009

“The only logical way to do that is to regulate coal, oil, and natural gas until it’s UNprofitable”

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.

BARACK OBAMA, Washington Post, Feb. 5, 2009

“I’m talking about President Washington’s bad habits – I’m going to rewrite the Constitution. Progress!”

I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity. For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world. In each case, government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive.

BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009

“So I’m going to help America adapt and thrive by starting wars and creating depressions. Hooray for adversity!”

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, press conference, Feb. 9, 2009

“I didn’t actually listen to a word they said, and I rejected all their ideas, but hey… overtures!”

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.

BARACK OBAMA, The Audacity of Hope

“This forgery must be stopped!”

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.

BARACK OBAMA, DNC speech, Aug. 28, 2008

“And that’s how I intend to lead America – uncertain, bound, and blindered.”