Barack Obama Quotes

Health care is very complicated, and the government's had its tentacles woven deeply into this whole charade for over 50 years. But I don't understand why it's this hard that you can't do anything? It's the same thing as, "Well, Rush, you know, once an entitlement's been put into law, Rush, you can't take it away." Yes, you can! It's just you can't have elected people do it thinking they'll get reelected if they do it. But you can do it.

I have this insane optimistic streak that the American people prevail over the stupidity that the leadership exhibits time and time again, and I think that's the truth.

I think people are very focused on the economic issues. They want an economy that works for everybody.

... on the whole 'blasphemy' has been a force for good in human history. It is part of the process by which millions of people have come to reject theocracy and think for themselves.

I think we are living in a time, where as a whole, as a community, people do want to push the boundaries.

I definitely think the price of food is going up. We need to figure out ways to manage that in a sustainable way. We have to figure out ways of increasing wages so people can afford it. That means redistribution, and rich people don't like to hear that. This administration simply won't hear of it. But without it, I fear even more Americans will be going hungry in the future.

I think somebody that got along with the Democrats could change instantaneously. But the level of animosity... You know, in the old days "across the aisle" wasn't the worst thing. People got along. Today, the level of hatred, the level of anger is high.

The black unemployment rate has to be twice that of the white rate in the US. If the national unemployment rate were 6.8 percent, everyone would be freaking out. We ought to not take too much solace in the 6.8 percent, but ask ourselves what can we do to bring that down to white rates, which are below 4 percent now. Some of that has to do with education, but that's just part of the story. You find that those unemployment differentials persist across every education level. I think it means pushing back on discrimination and helping people who can't find work get into the job market.

Anyone who supported Bernie Sanders who thinks we should raise the minimum wage, who thinks that we should have universal health care coverage, who thinks that the wealthy have not paid their fair share, and I could go on and on, would certainly not find that Donald Trump's views are in line with theirs.

Ultimately the social change has to come from the people who make the movies, so the people who make the movies have to look at the landscape and say to themselves, "Well, you know, these things are changing, and I'm okay with their having changed, and I think it's okay to start reflecting those changes through the movies we make."

Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.

You can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust.

It hurts me to think that people in their rush for everything modern despise all their ancient traditions and ignore them in their lives.

I have been very careful to put forward new ideas - on tackling inequality, extending democratic reform and the green agenda, because I think these are all absolutely fundamental to a successful next period of office for Labour

There are many miles to go before we get this done ... But I have a feeling that ... we're going to have a big bipartisan vote for this in the end. My sense is that people are more optimistic than they've been in 20 years about addressing this problem.

When the representatives of "Big Business" think of the people, they do not include themselves.

We're in this space right now where things are very precarious for women and things in the States are so terrifying. There are so many rollbacks of rights women have gained - and it can happen quickly, more quickly than we think. I think it would be good for us to think back and ahead to protect the space we're in.

I don't think there will ever be a time when people will stop wanting to bring about change.

This is a big world. Billions - rapidly increasing billions - of people live outside our borders. Obviously, a great number of them, being much poorer than they think most of us are, look enviously over those borders and would like, if they could, to come here.

Of course, I could never suggest that only poor people are misogynistic; too many rich folk are just as hateful of women as any poor person might be. I don't know if social problems are only circular; perhaps other geometric metaphors might better describe the triangular effects of social vulnerability, political oppression, and racial disadvantage. I think you're right - we've got to focus on both analyses and solutions. And sometimes, an adequate analysis goes far along in suggesting a suitable solution.

Society flourishes when people think entrepreneurally.

I don't think most Americans understand that, for certain very wealthy people, our federal income tax system is a subsidy system that makes them richer.

I'm not pessimistic. It is the world that is terrible. How can we be optimistic in the face of a planet where people live so badly, nature is being destroyed and the dominant empire is money?

People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don't vote. They always say that that everyone should vote but I think that if the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people that represented their interests there would be a real democratic revolution.

The Arab world had a big problem of frankly venal elites. That is why these revolutions happen, because people didn't think the opportunities were being shared fairly.