What I've seen in my own life is that when I get something important done it's because of a lot of other people - some who get credit, some who don't.
Barack ObamaWe all know a lot of people who died in 9/11, the World Trade Center. A lot of money funding that mission is directly tied - from the 9/11 Commission, directly tied to Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas.
Barack ObamaSo just to be clear, I'm not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rate from going up for folks at the top 2 percent.
Barack ObamaGoing back to the discussion we were having about immigration reform, some of the most challenging discussions I've had are with activists who essentially would argue that any immigrant from Central America, let's say, who gets here to this country should be allowed to stay because their country is dangerous, their country is poor, and the opportunities for that mom and that kid are much greater here, and why would you send them back?
Barack ObamaWe have states. And we have cities. And we have counties. And we have the private sector. And - and so the country still works even when Washington's dysfunctional.
Barack ObamaThe bottom line is that it's hard to find a model in which you can practically administer and sustain political support for those kinds of efforts. And what makes America complicated as well is the degree to which this is not just a black/white society, and it is becoming less so every year.
Barack Obama