There’s something about the American spirit — inherent in the American spirit — we don’t hang on to the past. We always move forward…. We are going to leave something better for our children — not just here in the United States, but all around the world.
BARACK OBAMA, speech at DNC fundraising reception, Oct. 15, 2009
“Just wait until you see how I fix that decrepit old Constitution. Forward!”
We’ve got some enormous challenges out there…. And I am confident that the American people and America’s political leaders can come together in a bipartisan way and solve these problems. We always have. But we’re not going to be able to do it if we are distracted. We’re not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We’re not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.
BARACK OBAMA, remarks in press briefing room, Apr. 27, 2011
“So step right up, folks, and feast your eyes on this shiny object that has nothing to do with the problems I’ve caused that I’m hoping I can make you not pay any attention to!”
You can’t let your failures define you — you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.
BARACK OBAMA, National Address to America’s Schoolchildren, Sep. 8, 2009
“Or you can just stonewall and cover them up.”
History is clear: Every time we’re in sight of reform, the special interests start fighting back with everything they’ve got. They use their influence. They run their ads. And let’s face it, they get people scared. And understandably — I understand why people are nervous. Health care is a big deal. In fact, whenever America has set about solving our toughest problems, there have always been those who’ve sought to preserve the status quo by scaring the American people. That’s what happened when FDR tried to pass Social Security — they said that was socialist. They did — verbatim. That’s what they said. They said that everybody was going to have to wear dog tags and that this was a plot for the government to keep track of everybody. When JFK and then Lyndon Johnson tried to pass Medicare, they said this was a government takeover of health care; they were going to get between you and your doctor — the same argument that’s being made today.
BARACK OBAMA, town hall meeting, Aug. 15, 2009
“By the way, Social Security IS socialist, Medicare IS a government takeover of health care, the government DOES get between you and your doctor, and Obamacare SHOULD make you scared, unless you’re in a coma – in which case you’ll soon be unplugged for bugetary reasons.”
That is why we fight — in hopes of a day when we no longer need to.
BARACK OBAMA, speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Nov. 11, 2009
“Submitting to our enemies will accomplish this.”
I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed, confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people, the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas. They are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 4, 2009
“Except, you know, in America.”
For all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.
BARACK OBAMA, Nobel Lecture, Dec. 10, 2009
“and Eric Holder will do his best to straighten it out.”
One of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way we’ve internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little from the world and from themselves.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 17, 2009
“But don’t worry… just keep voting Democrat and everything will be ok.”
All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear, when the holy land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be, when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 4, 2009
“Or at least for Muslims, anyway.”
The war does not end when you come home. It lives on in memories of your fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who gave their lives. It endures in the wound that is slow to heal, the disability that isn’t going away, the dream that wakes you at night, or the stiffening in your spine when a car backfires down the street.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 27, 2009
“…or that sinking feeling of dread Jay Carney gets when he calls on a reporter from Fox News. I tell ya, the war on terror wouldn’t be so bad if people would just stop asking so many questions about it.”
With the magnitude of the challenges we face right now, what we need in Washington are not more political tactics — we need more good ideas. We don’t need more point-scoring — we need more problem-solving.
BARACK OBAMA, press conference, Mar. 17, 2009
“Ironically, this speech itself is a political tactic that just scored 3. Nuthin’ but net! BOO-YAH!”
I will never forget that the only reason I’m standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn’t popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jan. 8, 2008
“Now shut up and stand where you’re told.”
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend – because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists – because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger.
BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009
“Hey guys, I was TOTALLY gonna close Gitmo, but the shop that prints the “Closed” signs had to shut down due to the sequester, so that’s the Republicans’ fault”
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
BARACK OBAMA, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20. 2009
“…by submitting to the benevolent rule of the exalted leaders of the New Caliphate”.
The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it’s educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they’re going to fall behind.
BARACK OBAMA, Ladies’ Home Journal, Sep. 2008
Still to be determined: what happens when you give them all free birth control.
