01c. 1961 ADWe need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.Barack Obama / quote ↗
02c. 1961 ADPeople of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.Barack Obama / quote ↗
03c. 1961 ADWe can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we're getting back to basics, and doing what America has always done best: We're making things again.Barack Obama / quote ↗
04c. 1961 ADThat's the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.Barack Obama / quote ↗
05c. 1961 ADOur higher education system is one of the things that makes America exceptional. There's no place else that has the assets we do when it comes to higher education. People from all over the world aspire to come here and study here. And that is a good thing.Barack Obama / quote ↗
06c. 1961 ADI would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president - with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln - just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we've got a lot more work to do. And we're gonna keep on at it.Barack Obama / quote ↗
07c. 1961 ADSo while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you - and fight alongside you - until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.Barack Obama / quote ↗
08c. 1961 ADIn a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy.Barack Obama / quote ↗
09c. 1961 ADWhat makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal - that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.Barack Obama / quote ↗
10c. 1961 ADYou can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.Barack Obama / quote ↗
11c. 1961 ADWe also can't try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis. That's not leadership; that's a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us. It's the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq - and we should have learned it by now.Barack Obama / quote ↗
12c. 1961 ADWe can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.Barack Obama / quote ↗
13c. 1961 ADAfter a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land.Barack Obama / quote ↗
14c. 1961 ADAnd so our goal on health care is, if we can get, instead of health care costs going up 6 percent a year, it's going up at the level of inflation, maybe just slightly above inflation, we've made huge progress. And by the way, that is the single most important thing we could do in terms of reducing our deficit. That's why we did it.Barack Obama / quote ↗
15c. 1961 ADBut if you - if what - the reports are true, what they're saying is, is that as a consequence of us getting 30 million additional people health care, at the margins that's going to increase our costs, we knew that.Barack Obama / quote ↗
16c. 1961 ADI know that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage - they like their plan and, most importantly, they value their relationship with their doctor.Barack Obama / quote ↗
17c. 1961 ADFifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. That's why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people.Barack Obama / quote ↗
18c. 1961 ADAnd we can see the positive impacts right here at Solyndra. Less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot. But through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations. This new factory is the result of those loans.Barack Obama / quote ↗
20c. 1961 ADI believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America's about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them.Barack Obama / quote ↗
21c. 1961 ADWhat I believe is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but what I also believe is that we have an obligation to make sure that gays and lesbians have the rights of citizenship that afford them visitations to hospitals, that allow them to be, to transfer property between partners, to make certain that they're not discriminated on the job.Barack Obama / quote ↗
22c. 1961 ADI opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.Barack Obama / quote ↗
23c. 1961 ADI don't think marriage is a civil right, but I think that being able to transfer property is a civil right.Barack Obama / quote ↗
24c. 1961 ADI think there are a whole host of things that are civil rights, and then there are other things - such as traditional marriage - that, I think, express a community's concern and regard for a particular institution.Barack Obama / quote ↗
