Barack Obama Quotes

We have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11.

There are a lot of things that have to be considered in National. The military aspect of it is only one of them. I'm confident that President Bush will have all of those things laid out for him before he makes the decision.

I am voting for this war so as not to be disloyal to President Bush.

I don't think people realize how many decisions the president of the United States makes about military action.

I hope President [Hamid] Karzai understands that our national security interests don't depend entirely on his decision there whether to allow a recount. Obviously the legitimacy of that government is an important component of it. My point is it shouldn't be the lynch pin for us deciding whether we're going to protect our national security interests in that region.

Every decision in government is so important, especially when it comes to the military where thousands of people can lose their lives.

I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces.

I can tell you this: If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war.

Next to upholding the Constitution of the United States, the president's highest duty is to protect the security of this country - our national security.

Anyone weighing whether to re-elect the President should take the bin Laden operation into account: it is a powerful exhibit that Obama is a steely Commander in Chief - a critical test for many Americans.

Presidents do not go into war lightly. It's a tremendous responsibility in making decisions, and I know Bush must deeply believe this is the only course.

So with the end of the Cold War, it became increasingly obvious that there was no basis upon which any decision was being made, not in the White House, and certainly because of that, not in the Congress.

Going to war is a serious matter. And it should be done very carefully and deliberately with clear national interests at stake before the United States or our Commander-in-Chief acts.

The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.

Our national aims can be realized only by military means. The matter needs no further elaboration or interpretation.

Time after time … when policy makers confronted a conflict between foreign policy and domestic interests, the diplomatic imperative prevailed.

Congress cannot—nor should it—run foreign policy on a day-to-day basis. That is a truism.

The Pentagon is always going to be the last to want to intervene. It is up to the civilians to tell us what they want to do and we’ll figure out how to do it.

Congress is the great commanding theater of this nation, and the threshold to whatever department of office a man is qualified to enter.

The Congress must regain the will to govern.

No choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction, by force, for its preservation.

We elect our presidents to protect U. S. national interests.

Congress shall not make or declare war, or authorize acts of hostility against any foreign nation, without the concurrence of two-thirds of both Houses, except such acts of hostility be in defense of the territories of the United States when actually invaded.

The involvement of the government in military adventures always results in the expansion, at least temporarily, of Presidential power.

Giving Obama credit for killing Bin Laden is Ike giving Harry Truman credit for dropping the [atomic] bomb: any president would’ve pushed that button.