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I Found This National Debt, Doubled, Wrapped In A Big Bow Waiting For Me As I Stepped Into The Oval Office.
But Let Me Perfectly Clear, Because I Know You'll Hear The Same Old Claims That Rolling Back These Tax Breaks Means A Massive Tax Increase On The American People: If Your Family Earns Less Than $250,000 A Year, You Will Not See Your Taxes Increased A Single Dime. I Repeat: Not One Single Dime.
The United States Has Been Enriched By Muslim Americans. Many Other Americans Have Muslims In Their Families Or Have Lived In A Muslim-majority Country - I Know, Because I Am One Of Them.
Contrary To The Claims Of Some Of My Critics And Some Of The Editorial Pages, I Am An Ardent Believer In The Free Market.
We Proved That We Are Still A People Capable Of Doing Big Things And Tackling Our Biggest Challenges.
I Just Miss - I Miss Being Anonymous.
When Bp Was Not Moving Fast Enough On Claims, We Told Bp To Set Aside $20 Billion In A Fund - Managed By An Independent Third Party - To Help All Those Whose Lives Have Been Turned Upside Down By The Spill.
Our Combat Mission Is Ending, But Our Commitment To Iraq's Future Is Not.
As I've Said, There Were Patriots Who Supported This War, And Patriots Who Opposed It. And All Of Us Are United In Appreciation For Our Servicemen And Women, And Our Hopes For Iraqis' Future.
Of Course, Violence Will Not End With Our Combat Mission. Extremists Will Continue To Set Off Bombs, Attack Iraqi Civilians And Try To Spark Sectarian Strife. But Ultimately, These Terrorists Will Fail To Achieve Their Goals.
We Are Not At War Against Islam.
We All Knew This. We All Knew That It Would Take More Time Than Any Of Us Want To Dig Ourselves Out Of This Hole Created By This Economic Crisis.
And 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.
Part Of The Reason That Our Politics Seems So Tough Right Now And Facts And Science And Argument Does Not Seem To Be Winning The Day All The Time Is Because We're Hardwired Not To Always Think Clearly When We're Scared. And The Country's Scared.
I've Said Very Clearly, Including In A State Of The Union Address, That I'm Against 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' And That We're Going To End This Policy.
Now We're In The Midst Of Not Just Advocating For Change, Not Just Calling For Change - We're Doing The Grinding, Sometimes Frustrating Work Of Delivering Change - Inch By Inch, Day By Day.
In December, I Agreed To Extend The Tax Cuts For The Wealthiest Americans Because It Was The Only Way I Could Prevent A Tax Hike On Middle-class Americans. But We Cannot Afford $1 Trillion Worth Of Tax Cuts For Every Millionaire And Billionaire In Our Society. We Can't Afford It. And I Refuse To Renew Them Again.
Of Course, There Is No Question That Libya - And The World - Will Be Better Off With Gaddafi Out Of Power. I, Along With Many Other World Leaders, Have Embraced That Goal, And Will Actively Pursue It Through Non-military Means. But Broadening Our Military Mission To Include Regime Change Would Be A Mistake.
We Want Everybody To Act Like Adults, Quit Playing Games, Realize That It's Not Just My Way Or The Highway.
What Is A Danger Is That We Stay Stuck In A New Normal Where Unemployment Rates Stay High, People Who Have Jobs See Their Incomes Go Up, Businesses Make Big Profits. But They're Learned To Do More With Less, And So They Don't Hire.
I Have Muslim Members Of My Family. I Have Lived In Muslim Countries.
You Know, One Of The Things I Think You Understand As President Is You're Held Responsible For Everything, But You Don't Always Have Control Of Everything, Right?
The Last Thing You Want To Do Is Raise Taxes In The Middle Of The Recession Because That Would Just Suck Up And Take More Demand Out Of The Economy And Put Businesses In A Further Hole.
I'm A Warrior For The Middle Class.
If You're Looking For The Safe Choice, You Shouldn't Be Supporting A Black Guy Named Barack Obama To Be The Next Leader Of The Free World.
And 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.
Here At This Site, Solyndra Expects To Make Enough Solar Panels Each Year To Generate 500 Megawatts Of Electricity. And Over The Lifetime Of This Expanded Facility, That Could Be Like Replacing As Many As Eight Coal-fired Power Plants.
I 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.
It Was The Labor Movement That Helped Secure So Much Of What We Take For Granted Today. The 40-hour Work Week, The Minimum Wage, Family Leave, Health Insurance, Social Security, Medicare, Retirement Plans. The Cornerstones Of The Middle-class Security All Bear The Union Label.
I Mean, I Do Think At A Certain Point You've Made Enough Money.
Unlike My Opponent, I Will Not Let Oil Companies Write This Country's Energy Plan, Or Endanger Our Coastlines, Or Collect Another $4 Billion In Corporate Welfare From Our Taxpayers.
You 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.
I Will Never Turn Medicare Into A Voucher. No American Should Ever Have To Spend Their Golden Years At The Mercy Of Insurance Companies. They Should Retire With The Care And Dignity They Have Earned.
We Will Keep The Promise Of Social Security By Taking The Responsible Steps To Strengthen It - Not By Turning It Over To Wall Street.
If The Critics Are Right That I've Made All My Decisions Based On Polls, Then I Must Not Be Very Good At Reading Them.
Those Who Oppose Reform Will Also Tell You That Under Our Plan, You Won't Get To Choose Your Doctor - That Some Bureaucrat Will Choose For You. That's Also Not True.
I Want To Be Very Clear: I Will Not Sign On To Any Health Plan That Adds To Our Deficits Over The Next Decade.
Michelle And I Don't Want Anyone Telling Us Who Our Family's Doctor Should Be - And No One Should Decide That For You Either. Under Our Proposals, If You Like Your Doctor, You Keep Your Doctor. If You Like Your Current Insurance, You Keep That Insurance. Period, End Of Story.
As President, I'm Committed To Making Washington Work Better And Rebuilding The Trust Of The People Who Sent Us Here.
In The End, That's What This Election Is About. Do We Participate In A Politics Of Cynicism Or A Politics Of Hope?
What I Believe Unites The People Of This Nation, Regardless Of Race Or Region Or Party, Young Or Old, Rich Or Poor, Is The Simple, Profound Belief In Opportunity For All - The Notion That If You Work Hard And Take Responsibility, You Can Get Ahead.
The Shift To A Cleaner Energy Economy Wont Happen Overnight, And It Will Require Tough Choices Along The Way. But The Debate Is Settled. Climate Change Is A Fact.
There Are Millions Of Americans Outside Washington Who Are Tired Of Stale Political Arguments And Are Moving This Country Forward. They Believe, And I Believe, That Here In America, Our Success Should Depend Not On Accident Of Birth, But The Strength Of Our Work Ethic And The Scope Of Our Dreams.
After 2014, We Will Support A Unified Afghanistan As It Takes Responsibility For Its Own Future.
Building New Roads And Bridges Creates Jobs. Growing Our Exports Creates Jobs. Reforming Our Outdated Tax System And Our Broken Immigration System Creates Jobs.
In Too Many Communities, Too Many Young Men Of Color Are Left Behind And Seen Only As Objects Of Fear. Through Initiatives Like My Brother's Keeper, I'm Personally Committed To Changing Both Perception And Reality.
As I Said Last Week In The Wake Of The Grand Jury Decision, I Think Ferguson Laid Bare A Problem That Is Not Unique To St. Louis Or That Area, And Is Not Unique To Our Time, And That Is A Simmering Distrust That Exists Between Too Many Police Departments And Too Many Communities Of Color.
Millions Of Us, Myself Included, Go Back Generations In This Country, With Ancestors Who Put In The Painstaking Work To Become Citizens. So We Don't Like The Notion That Anyone Might Get A Free Pass To American Citizenship.
Let's Be Honest - Tracking Down, Rounding Up, And Deporting Millions Of People Isn't Realistic. Anyone Who Suggests Otherwise Isn't Being Straight With You. It's Also Not Who We Are As Americans.
Are We A Nation That Educates The World's Best And Brightest In Our Universities, Only To Send Them Home To Create Businesses In Countries That Compete Against Us? Or Are We A Nation That Encourages Them To Stay And Create Jobs, Businesses, And Industries Right Here In America?