Barack Obama Quotes

You don't go to war with the President you want, you go to war with the President you have.

Look, when you're the president, there's all kinds of things said about us. I mean, it's just the nature of the job.

This president has been reluctant to hold anybody accountable. No one was held accountable after September the 11th. Nobody's been held accountable after the clear flaws in intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq.

Remember the picture of the president in the classroom, being told of the attack by chief of staff Andy Card? The American people thought they were seeing a man suddenly thrust into a grave challenge no one could have anticipated.

This issue, if not addressed, leaves any President, including George Bush, open to the criticism that they are essentially ignoring the destruction of the nation and I believe that with all my heart.

You're here to sweat. This program is live. There's about one thousand million people watching you. So, you remember - one wrong word, one foolish gesture and your whole career could go down in flames. Hold that thought and have a nice night.

Only the people who elected the President -- only those people -- can determine the President's fate.

His [President John Adams'] language to the young men at Philadelphia is the most abominable and degrading that could fall from the lips of the first magistrate of an independent people, and particularly from a Revolutionary patriot.

The President has time to go to a rodeo but hasn’t got time to testify before the Presidential commission [investigating September 11.]

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.

The nature of the Presidency is such that you are always asking yourself what else could you be doing?.

That is the way it is in America and it is what makes us a great nation. True leaders must handle difficult situations or have competent people who handle those situations. Sources did give information of a general nature to the Administration and it is obvious that an attack still occurred. This is a more 'impeachable' offense than what was brought before the Congress. Fortunately, George W. Bush will in just a few days become our President. I can assure you that such situations will not be mishandled by his Administration. However general the information might be, the President-elect will act with authority to prevent such tragedies

In 2002, a year after 9-11, as a Congressman, I was banned from the White House by Karl Rove because I told the 'Washington Times' that if there is another terrorist attack on our homeland and we have done nothing more than Bush has done to date, 'Bush will have blood on his hands.'

When a president makes life and death decisions, he should draw strength and wisdom from broad and deep experience with the reasons for and the risks of committing our children to our defense. For no matter how many others are involved in the decision, the president is a lonely man in a dark room when the casualty reports come in.

We need a presidency which acts and protects us.

I'll tell you one thing about Donald Trump: There will never be a Benghazi in a Donald Trump administration.

I just think Trump's character and some of his values makes him unfit to lead. For someone like him to be president and in charge of our troops? It's scary, to be honest.

In a way I never did with George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, I will write about the actions of the Trump presidency with the working assumption that our nation must be protected both by and from the president.

President Bush admitted that the United States went to war in Iraq based on bad intelligence. But he says knowing what we know now he would still do it again. So at least we're learning from our mistakes.

When you're the commander in chief, you're the commander in chief on day one. You don't get like a six-month grace period. The world doesn't just stop and say, well, let's wait until the president catches up before we start challenging America.

Woe to you who insults the intelligence community, if you're president.

After 9/11, I told the American people I would do everything in my power to protect the country, within the law, and that's exactly how I conduct my presidency.

Ruthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done.

The president [Barack Obama] himself has said he thought part of his job was to remind the American people that being president and commander in chief is a serious responsibility.

I think the President's decision to withdraw the United States, to keep a campaign promise in Iraq, without leaving a stay-behind force was a mistake, and I hear that from veterans in Wyoming and from parents who lost children fighting in Iraq. We're seeing it, though, around the world. When we, the United States leads a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in, when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move and fill the void.