Barack Obama

Barack: When I came into office, I inherited the biggest deficit in our history. And over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90% of that is as a consequence of two wars that weren't paid for, as a consequence of tax cuts that weren't paid for, a prescription drug plan that was not paid for, and then the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Now we took some emergency actions, but that accounts for about 10% of this increase in the deficit...

Barack: (while giving a speech in Hawaii) When I meet with world leaders, what's striking...whether it's in Europe or here in Asia...

Barack: (on healthcare reform) The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.

Barack: The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.

Barack Obama: (on the Israel/Palestinian situation) The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.

Barack Obama: My grandparents served during World War II. He was a soldier in Patton's army; she was a worker on a bomber assembly line. And together, they shared the optimism of a nation that triumphed over the Great Depression and over fascism. They believed in an America where hard work paid off, and responsibility was rewarded, and anyone could make it if they tried...no matter who you were, no matter where you came from, no matter how you started out.

Barack Obama: Hope...Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation.

Barack Obama: What Washington needs is adult supervision.

Barack Obama: If we make some good choices, I'm confident that we can limit some of the damage in 2009, and that in 2010 we can start seeing an upward trajectory on the economy.

Barack Obama: (About being multiracial) I began to notice there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog...and that Santa was a white man. I went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking the way I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me.

Barack Obama: (Elko, Nevada, September 17, 2008) I believe that our free market has been the engine of America's great 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's why we've put in place rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest. Our capital markets cannot succeed without the public's trust. It's time to get serious about regulatory oversight, and that's what I will do as President.

Barack Obama: (Newport News, Virginia, October 4, 2008) Let me be clear - I don't think government can solve all our problems. But I reject the radical idea that government has no role to play in protecting ordinary Americans. I reject the thinking that says preserving our free market means letting corporations and special interests do as they please.

Barack Obama: (St. Louis, Missouri, July 7, 2008) Over the last few decades, revolutions in technology and communication have made it so that corporations can send good jobs anywhere in the world there's an internet connection. Children in Charlotte aren't just competing for the same good jobs with children from Boston, but with children in Bangalore and Beijing as well. Two-income families haven't just become more common, they've become a necessity to keep up with rising costs and wages that haven't grown.

Barack Obama: You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits, but I hope you don't. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although I believe you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, although I do believe you have that debt. It's because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition.

Barack Obama: My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Barack Obama: (2008 Presidential Election Victory Speech) Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

Barack Obama: (2008 Presidential Election Victory Speech) The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.

Barack Obama: (2008 Presidential Election Victory Speech) This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Barack Obama: America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.

Barack Obama: During the holidays, it's like a mini United Nations. I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher.

Barack Obama: (in reference to the Rev. Wright scandal) I regret the efforts by the Republicans to politicize this matter, and I believe that if Sen. McCain were serious he would do more than just send a letter.

Barack Obama: I have been a member of Trinity Church since 1992. I have known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years.

Barack Obama: There's not a liberal America and a conservative America. There's the United States of America. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states, and have gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war, and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

Barack Obama: My first job is to say thank you to those who voted me. Those who didn't, I'm going to get your vote next time.

Barack Obama: Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

Barack Obama: It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.

Barack Obama: If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

Barack Obama: (speech given for the Race Against Time - World AIDS Day) I took my own trip to Africa a few months ago. As I'm sure Rick and Kay would agree, it's an experience that stays with you for quite some time. I visited an HIV/AIDS hospital in South Africa that was filled to capacity with people who walked hours - even days - just for the chance to seek help. I met courageous patients who refused to give up for themselves or their families. And I came across AIDS activists who meet resistance from their own government but keep on fighting anyway.

Barack Obama: (about his unusual name) People have called me "Alabama" or "Yo Mama."