 "The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States."
Barack H. Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072902624.html
Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we’re only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we’re considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity – that that’s a pretty narrow vision. It’s not one that, I think, describes what’s best in America.
Barack H. Obama
[secondary source] http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/10/26/barack-obama-doesnt-think-ayn-rand-is-a-fountainhead-of-ideas/
So much of the argument out there all the time is up at 40,000 feet, these abstract arguments about who's conservative or who's liberal," Obama said. "Most Americans — and certainly most small business owners — you guys are just trying to figure out how do we make things work, how do we apply common sense. And that's what this is about
Barack H. Obama
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10148099-obama-seeks-power-to-merge-agencies
Before we ask seniors to pay more for Medicare, we should ask people like me to give up tax breaks that we don't need and weren't even asking for.
Barack H. Obama
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/07/obama-opposes-short-term-debt-deal-from-boehner/1?csp=34news
"The fourth step in our approach is to reduce spending in the tax code. 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. And I refuse to renew them again."
Barack H. Obama
Barack Obama, speech about the federal deficit
"The fact is, close to five years after 9/11 and fifteen years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States still lacks a coherent national security policy. Instead of guiding principles, we have what appear to be a series of ad hoc decisions, with dubious results. Why invade Iraq and not North Korea or Burma? Why intervene in Bosnia and not Darfur?...Are we committed to use force wherever there's a despotic regime that's terrorizing its people—and if so, how long do we stay to ensure democracy takes root?...Perhaps someone inside the White House has clear answers to these questions. But our allies—and for that matter our enemies—certainly don't know what the answers are. More important, neither do the American people. Without a well-articulated strategy that the public supports and the world understands, America will lack the legitimacy—and ultimately the power—it needs to make the world safer than it is today."
Barack H. Obama
Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope", page 302.
"We are sort of a mongrel people ... I mean we're all kinds of mixed up. That's actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it."
Barack H. Obama
The Hill.com
"If it's really a charitable contribution, I'm assuming [the tax savings] shouldn't be the determining factor of whether you're giving to the homeless shelter down the street." The change in the deduction rate, he added, "is not going to cripple" wealthy taxpayers.
Barack H. Obama
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/24/live_blogging_obamas_press_con.html
I don't expect 100 per cent agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people's business right now. ... The American people expect action.
Barack H. Obama
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/01/28/obama-economy.html
What's required is a new declaration of independence. Not just in our nation but in our own lives. Independence from ideology and small thinking. Independence from prejudice and bigotry. Independence from selfishness. An appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.
Barack H. Obama
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99529782
We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.
Barack H. Obama
http://rebirthofreason.com/Spirit/Videos/109.shtml
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
Barack H. Obama
http://www.obama2008.eu/
John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.
Barack H. Obama
Barack H. Obama, Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’
John McCain and Sarah Palin, they call this socialistic. Y'know, I don't know when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness. Y'know, the next thing I know, they're gonna find evidence of my communistic tendencies because I shared my toys in kindergarten -- cause I split my peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my friend in sixth grade.
Barack H. Obama
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_a_vote_for_me_is_vote_fo.php
I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to.
Barack H. Obama
Obama explaining collapse of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch; in news article: "Obama says McCain is running dishonest campaign"
For over two decades, [McCain has] subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.
Barack H. Obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080830/pl_politico/12964
I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree.
Barack H. Obama
2008 Convention Acceptance Speech
... the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. That's the promise we need to keep.
Barack H. Obama
Nomination Speech at the 2008 DNC
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