Barack Obama
Sustaining the energy and focus involved in doing a good job I think starts to gets tougher the longer you do it.Collection: Jobs
That's part of what I tried to describe to my team and supporters after the election, there was a lot of disappointment.Collection: Disappointment
What I've said to [my team] is, "Look, we ran our leg of the race and we did a darn good job."Collection: Jobs
In the past, there have been a range of treaties that divided Congress and every administration was able to get them through.Collection: Past
The degree of polarization that currently exists in Washington is such where I think it's fair to say if I presented a cure for cancer, getting legislation passed to move that forward would be a nail-biter.Collection: Cancer
There are always going to be some complications.Collection: Complication
If you look at Libya, I was deeply concerned about what would happen after Qaddafi was gone.Collection: Looks
Cutting our education budget, that's not a smart choice. That will not help America compete with China.Collection: Smart
The campaign was a more significant training ground than I think people give it credit for. By the time I got here, I think I had a pretty good sense of what was required. But the circumstances in which I came in were different than most executives, right? The enterprise was in the midst of a major crisis.Collection: Thinking
I just want to say that the only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money into the auto industry.Collection: Want
A political candidacy built around hope and change and compromise would eventually become a presidency of crisis and confrontation.Collection: Political
In the campaign back in 2007, 2008, people would say, "Oh, he's being naïve. He thinks that there's no red states and blue states. And wait 'til he gets here." And I will confess that, I didn't fully appreciate the ways in which individual senators or members of Congress now are pushed to the extremes by their voter bases. I did not expect, particularly in the midst of crisis, just how severe that partisanship would be.Collection: Thinking
I became a lightning rod for some partisan battles. I could not be prouder of the track record we've put together. By almost every measure, the country is significantly better off than when I came in.Collection: Country
We were very effective, and I was very effective, in shaping public opinion around my campaigns. But there were big stretches, while governing, where even though we were doing the right thing, we weren't able to mobilize public opinion firmly enough behind us to weaken the resolve of the Republicans to stop opposing us or to cooperate with us. And there were times during my presidency where I lost the PR battle.Collection: Battle
The framers, in their wisdom, designed the [political] system so that power's pretty disbursed.Collection: Political
[Two of the most unpopular presidential candidates selected by the two parties in history] indicates that there is a lot of cynicism out there. It indicates that the corrosive nature of everything from talk radio to fake news to negative advertising has made people lack confidence in a lot of our existing institutions.Collection: Party
[Donald Trump] is in the process of building up an organization. And well, we'll have to see how that works. And it'll be a test, I think, for him and the people that he's designated to be able to execute on his vision.Collection: Thinking
First of all, I think everybody has to acknowledge don't underestimate the guy [Donald Trump], because he's going to be 45th president of the United States.Collection: Thinking
That is why we fight - in hopes of a day when we no longer need to.Collection: Hope
It is in the interests of all of us - the United States, China and the rest of the world - to make sure that the rules of the road are upheld. These rules and norms are part of the foundation of regional stability, and they have allowed nations across the region, including China, to grow and prosper.Collection: Foundation
Presidential elections always turn on personalities, they turn on how campaigns are run, they turn on natural desires for change.Collection: Running
My top priority in any trade negotiation is expanding opportunity for hardworking Americans. It's no secret that past trade deals haven't always lived up to their promise, and that's why I will only sign my name to an agreement that helps ordinary Americans get ahead, the bill put forward today would help us write those rules in a way that avoids the mistakes from our past, seizes opportunities for our future and stays true to our values.Collection: Mistake
The amount of information, the amount of incoming that any administration has to deal with today and respond to much more rapidly than ever before, that makes it different.Collection: Different
To restore America's competitiveness, we must recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders by investing in diversity.Collection: Technology
Reality has a way of asserting itself.Collection: Reality
Yes to trade, but trade that ensures that these other countries that trade with us aren't engaging in child labor.Collection: Country
We have not always been in sync on every issue in terms of our core values, in terms of her integrity, her truthfulness, her thoughtfulness, [Angela Merkel] doing her homework, knowing her facts, her commitment to looking out for the interests of the German people first, but recognizing that part of good leadership on behalf of the nation requires engaging the world as a whole, and participating effectively in multilaterally institutions, I think she's been outstanding.Collection: Integrity
Here in Europe some of the challenges have to do with structures that are so complicated. You've got Brussels, and you've got parliament, you've got councils and then you've got national governments. So people sometimes don't feel as if they know who's making decisions, and the more that we can bring people in and engage them, the better. Some of it is also cultural and social, people's sense of identity.Collection: Government
I don't regret the fervor, because I do believe, in the African American community but also for other communities, and I know from talking to people, for communities around the world, the election of an African American to the most powerful office on Earth meant things had changed, and not just in superficial ways. That in some irreversible way the world was different.Collection: Powerful
The way we have to measure progress is not, "Is there ever going to be an incident of racism in the country?" It's, "How does the majority of our country respond?"Collection: Country
If the Court finds that there is not a state interest in discriminating and showing moral disapproval of homosexuality then we can't stop equal marriage rights.Collection: Rights
For the Palestinians' efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure. Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection. And Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.Collection: Israel
I refuse to give in to the notion that the American people can't handle complicated information.Collection: Giving
I mentioned charter schools, and experimenting with our school system, to make it work. I think that's something we really have to pay attention to.Collection: School
Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I've seen your passion and I've seen your service... I've seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course.Collection: Graduation
And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.Collection: Opportunity
Whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy, the special obligation I felt as a black man like you to help those who need it most, people who didn't have the opportunities that I had because there, but for the grace of God go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.Collection: Opportunity
I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay.Collection: Children
I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.Collection: Believe
To keep Nigeria ONE, is a task that must be DONE.Collection: Tasks
The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.Collection: Powerful
Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possibleCollection: Education
Democracy is hard work.Collection: Hard Work
I can say to the German people that the United States has been good for Germany. Has looked out for Germany. Has provided security for Germany. Has helped rebuilt Germany. And unify Germany.Collection: People
In an age where there's so much active misinformation and its packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television. Where some overzealousness on the part of, you know, a U.S. official is equated with constant and severe repression elsewhere.Collection: Age
The rise in health care costs since Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed, have been at their lowest rate in 50 years. Those savings have extended the Medicare trust fund by 11 years. So we've got a baseline of facts.So it is true theoretically that all that progress can be undone, and suddenly 20 million people or more don't have health insurance.Collection: Years
I think Republicans now are recognizing that [Obamacare cancellation] may not be what the American people, including even [Donald] Trump voters, are looking for. And my hope is that the president-elect, members of Congress from both parties look at, "Where have we objectively made progress, where things are working better?" Don't undo things just because I did them. I don't have pride of authorship.Collection: Party
If in fact the Republicans make some modifications [of Obamacare], some of which I may have been seeking previously, but they wouldn't cooperate because they didn't wanna make the system work, and re-label it as Trumpcare, I'm fine with that.Collection: Obamacare
Toughest decision was early in my presidency when I ordered 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. As somebody who had run to end a large troop presence overseas.Collection: Running