The American story has never been about things coming easy. It has been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard. About rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity. About seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That is why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a president who took office in a time of turmoil: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Barack ObamaIf you can look back and say, "The economy's better. Our security's better. The environment's better. Our kids' education is better," if you can say that you've made things better, then considering all the challenges out there, you should feel good. But I'm the first to acknowledge that I did not crack the code in terms of reducing this partisan fever.
Barack ObamaIt's my job as President and Congressโs job to maker sure that thereโs some rules of the road that people are going to abide by and that weโve got transparency and accountability that this stuff is being posted and one of the things that we are going to do is put together an independent board on the recovery packageโฆ
Barack ObamaThe public school system is not about educating black children. Never has been. Inner-city schools are about social control. Period. Theyโre operated as holding pensโminiature jails, really. Itโs only when black children start breaking out of their pens and bothering white people that society even pays any attention to the issue of whether these children are being educated.
Barack ObamaIf condoms and potentially microbicides can prevent millions of deaths [from AIDS], they should be made more widely available. I know that there are those who, out of sincere religious conviction, oppose such measures. And with these folks, I must respectfully but unequivocally disagree.
Barack Obama