Today we continue a never ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time.
Barack ObamaI'd like to help struggling homeowners who can't pay their mortgages, I'd like to invest in our crumbling infrastructure, I'd like to reform the tax system so multimillionaires can't pretend their earnings are capital gains and pay at the rate of 15 percent. I'd like to make public higher education free, and pay for it with a small transfer tax on all financial transactions. I'd like to do much more - a new new deal for Americans. But Republicans are blocking me at every point.
Barack ObamaThe 20th Century was a bloodbath, and for all the frustrations and failures of the project to unify Europe, the last five decades have been periods of unprecedented peace, growth, and prosperity in Europe.
Barack ObamaNobody gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the United States just to extract political concessions.
Barack ObamaWe're showing that there's no excuse for other nations to come together, both developed and developing, to achieve a strong global climate agreement next year.
Barack ObamaI'm not sure that the American people are looking for a lot of speeches. I think what they're looking for is action. But one of the things that I do think is important is to be able to explain to the American people what you're doing, and why you're doing it. That is something that I think every great president has been able to do. From FDR to Lincoln to John Kennedy to Eisenhower.
Barack Obama