The way we have to measure progress is not, “Is there ever going to be an incident of racism in the country?” It’s, “How does the majority of our country respond?”
The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil.
The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.
The private sector is doing fine.
We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it’s easy, but when it is hard.
Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.
America must always lead on the world stage.
Change is never easy, but always possible.
Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security.
Tough talk often draws headlines, but war rarely conforms to slogans.
For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.
But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.
That is our generation’s task, to make these works, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.
I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.
What is certainly true is that the United States has to have a presence to promote the values that we care about.
John McCain has not spoken about my Muslim faith.
Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22-out-of-30 top al-Qaida leaders who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is left out there, ask them about that.
The notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete.
I think it’s useful to keep in mind I’ve been now President for over seven years and gun sales don’t seem to have suffered during that time.
Each of us deserves the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness. No one deserves to be bullied.