I said [to Republicans], ‘You want to repeal healthcare? Go at it. We’ll have that debate. You’re not going to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we’re stupid? – April 14, 2011 open microphone taunting Republicans over their attempts to repeal healthcare reform and their failure to defund Planned Parenthood

The only question is whether politics or ideology is going to get in the way of preventing a shutdown…We are now at a point where there is no excuse to extend this further. I shouldn’t have to oversee a process where Congress deals with last-year’s budget when we only have six months left…We don’t have time for games. Not on this. – April 5, 2011, surprise White House briefing on the budget standstill in Congress

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Beginning in 2017, if you can come up with a better system for your state to provide coverage of the same quality and affordability as the Affordable Care Act, you can take that route instead. – February 28, 2011 meeting with governors at White House, discussing the option to opt out of Obamacare

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Video below: Obama mixes up Afghanistan and Iraq on a couple of occassions

We’re going back to Thomas Edison’s principles. We going to build stuff and invent stuff. – January 21, 2011

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One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize — an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice. – discussing the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, December 2010

I feel obliged to take maybe one question from the Korean press — since you guys have been such excellent hosts…Anybody? This gentleman right here — he’s got his hand up. He’s the only one who took me up on it. Go ahead. And I’ll probably need a translation, though, if you’re asking the question in Korean. In fact, I definitely will need a translation.

“Unfortunately, I hate to disappoint you, President Obama, I’m actually Chinese,” the reporter said.  – - after answering a string of questions from White House reporters during his post-G-20 summit news conference, November 12, 2010

One of the things that is striking is, because it is almost on the exact opposite side of the world, I think not enough Americans know about this great country. And, hopefully my visit here will help to promote additional interest and understanding. You know people have heard of Bali and they’ve heard of Java, but they don’t always know how to locate it on a map back home. I think that increasing awareness about Indonesia is something I’m interested in doing. – November 9, 2010 visiting in India, Indonesia

In every discussion I’ve had with Indian businesses, what I’ve seen is that our countries are matched up in a way that allows for enormous win-win potential. – November 8, 2010 during tour in India

Driving the car in the ditch metaphors

We’re down there. It’s hot. We were sweating. Bugs everywhere. We’re down there pushing, pushing, pushing on the car. Every once in a while we’d look up and see the Republicans standing there. They’re just standing there fanning themselves–sipping on a Slurpee. -  Bowie State University in Maryland speech on October 28, 2010

I don’t want to give them the keys back. They don’t know how to drive. They’re going to pop it into reverse and have special interests riding shotgun and we’d be right back in the ditch. – Labor Day 2010, annual Milwaukee Area Labor Council Laborfest

After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back. No! You can’t drive. We don’t want to have to go back into the ditch. We just got the car out. – referring to the GOP, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in New York City on May 13, 2010

I probably should have used the word ‘opponents’ instead of enemies. – interview with talk radio host Michael Baisden November 1, 2010 (see comment below)

If Latinos sit out the election instead of, ‘we’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’ — if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder. – Univision interview October 2010

The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition — it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It’s a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue, responding to the question: “What do you think of Fox News? Do you think it’s a good institution for America and for democracy?”

I don’t think it’s a shock. I had served in the United States Senate; I had seen how the filibuster had become a routine tool to slow things down, as opposed to what it used to be, which was a selective tool — although often a very destructive one, because it was typically targeted at civil rights and the aspirations of African-Americans who were trying to be freed up from Jim Crow. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue, responding to “How do you feel about the fact that day after day, there’s this really destructive attack on whatever you propose? Does that bother you? Has it shocked you? ”

“…we were able to wear them down, so that we were able to finally get really important laws passed, some of which haven’t gotten a lot of attention — the credit-card reform bill, or the anti-tobacco legislation, or preventing housing and mortgage fraud. We’d be able to pick off two or three Republicans who wanted to do the right thing.” – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue

Well, on the economic front, their only agenda seems to be tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. If you ask their leadership what their agenda will be going into next year to bring about growth and improve the job numbers out there, what they will say is, “We just want these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which will cost us $700 billion and which we’re not going to pay for.” – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue, responding to “What do you think the Republican Party stands for today?”

I think the Tea Party is an amalgam, a mixed bag of a lot of different strains in American politics that have been there for a long time. There are some strong and sincere libertarians who are in the Tea Party who generally don’t believe in government intervention in the market or socially. There are some social conservatives in the Tea Party who are rejecting me the same way they rejected Bill Clinton, the same way they would reject any Democratic president as being too liberal or too progressive. There are strains in the Tea Party that are troubled by what they saw as a series of instances in which the middle-class and working-class people have been abused or hurt by special interests and Washington, but their anger is misdirected. And then there are probably some aspects of the Tea Party that are a little darker, that have to do with anti-immigrant sentiment or are troubled by what I represent as the president. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue, responding to “What do you think of the Tea Party and the people behind it?”

The reason that was so important was not because I was concerned about making sure that the folks who had been making hundreds of millions of dollars were keeping their bonuses for the next year. The reason was because we were seeing 750,000 jobs a month being lost when I was sworn in. The consequence to Main Street, to ordinary folks, was catastrophic, and we had to make sure that we stopped the bleeding. We managed to stabilize the financial markets at a cost that is much less to taxpayers than anybody had anticipated. The truth of the matter is that TARP will end up costing probably less than $100 billion, when all is said and done. Which I promise you, two years ago, you could have asked any economist and any financial expert out there, and they would have said, “We’ll take that deal.” – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue discussing financial reform

I ended one of those wars, at least in terms of combat operations. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue

When I was campaigning, I was very specific. I said, “We are going to end the war in Iraq, that was a mistake,” and I have done that. What I also said was that we need to plus up what we’re doing in Afghanistan, because that was where the original terrorist threat emanated, and we need to finish the job. That’s what we’re doing. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue

We wrestled away billions of dollars of profit that were going to the banks and middlemen through the student-loan program, and now we have tens of billions of dollars that are going directly to students to help them pay for college. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue

Tim Geithner never worked for Goldman; Larry Summers didn’t work for Goldman. – Rolling Stone interview October 15, 2010 issue

CNBC Town Hall Discussion on Jobs – September, 20, 2010

Well, look, the truth of the matter is that the federal government is probably less intrusive now than it was 30 years ago. Our tax rates are lower now than they were under Ronald Reagan. They’re much lower than they were under Dwight Eisenhower.

It is true that there are some areas that we regulate more. But you know what, the truth is everybody here probably thinks it’s a pretty good idea that we regulate the food industry, for example, so we don’t get E. coli and salmonella. Well, that requires somebody overseeing businesses — most of whom are trying to do a good job, but some of them may not have the safety provisions in place to do that.

I think most people here think it is a good idea to make sure that you’re not cheated if you are seeking a mortgage. Well, that requires some oversight. So we’re always going to try to balance regulation with making sure that people can go about their business and go about their lives without a bunch of people meddling in it.

President Obama leaves out “Creator” while quoting the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – “by their Creator” omitted during a lengthy pause, September 19 2010 (see video below)

The easiest thing for the other side to do is to ride this fear and anger all the way to the election. A lot has changed since I came here in those final days of the last election, but what hasn’t is the choice facing this country. It’s still fear versus hope, the past versus the future. It’s still a choice between sliding backward and moving forward. – September 8, 2010 speech in Cuyahoga Community College West Campus in Parma, Ohio

Michelle and I are where we are today because even though our families didn’t have much, they worked tirelessly — without complaint — so that we might have a better life. My grandfather marched off to Europe in World War II and my grandmother worked in factories on the home front. I had a single mom who put herself through school, and would wake before dawn to make sure I got a decent education. – September 8, 2010 speech in Cuyahoga Community College West Campus in Parma, Ohio

I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. – August 14, 2010 “clarifying his comments supporting the ‘Ground Zero’ mosque

Muslims “have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama said, according to a White House transcript. “That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” – Ramadan dinner at White House August 13, 2010

They don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas–not one…We got here after 10 years of an economic agenda in Washington that was pretty straight forward. You cut taxes for millionaires, you cut rules for special interests, and you cut working folks loose to fend for themselves. That was the philosophy of the last administration and their friends in Congress. – August 2, 2010 at a DNC fundraising event (still blaming Bush)

The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office,” Obama said. “People are angry, and they’re frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years. – January 2010 after Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts

Barack Obama on “The View” July 29, 2010

There are still inequalities out there. There’s still discrimination out there…but we’ve made progress. – discussing racial tensions, especially following the Shirley Sherrod situation “The View” July 29, 2010

I was not invited – referring to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding – “The View” July 29, 2010

I support teachers 110%. – July 29, 2010

So, for anyone who wants to use Race to the Top to blame or punish teachers – you’re missing the point. Our goal isn’t to fire or admonish teachers. Our goal is accountability. It’s to provide teachers with the support they need to be as effective as they can be. It’s to create a better environment for teachers and students alike. – July 29, 2010

VOICE: Have you spoken directly to Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP?

OBAMA: I have not spoken to him directly and here’s the reason, because my experience is when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he’s going to say all the right things to me. I’m not interested in words. I’m interested in action.

This 1995 quote has resurfaced as Glenn Beck emphasizes a portion of this statement:

I think whether or not my children or your children will have to struggle with these same issues depends on what we do – and whether we take some mutual responsibility for bridging the divisions that exist right now. And I really want to emphasize the word responsibility. Whether you are a white executive living in the suburbs who doesn’t want to pay taxes to inner-city children for them to go to school, or you are an inner-city child who doesn’t want to take responsibility for keeping your street safe and clean. Both of those groups have to take some responsibility if we’re going to get beyond the kinds of divisions we have right now.  – 1995

Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions. – exasperated by reporters after a news conference

I believe in returning the nation’s wealth to its rightful owners.

If we don’t reform how healthcare is delivered in this country, then we are not going to be able to get a handle on that [escalating healthcare costs]. – May 13, 2009

If you like your health care you can keep it.

ACORN

I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That’s what I did for three and half years before I went to law school.   That’s the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it.  I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career.  Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work. – February 20, 2008 quoted by Sam Graham Felsen in announcement that ACORN endorses Obama (source here)

The only involvement I’ve had with ACORN was I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs – October 15, 2008 Presidential election

Now, with respect to ACORN, ACORN is a community organization. Apparently what they’ve done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn’t really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names. It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved,” he declared. – October 15, 2008 Presidential election after John McCain brought up Obama’s involvement

2007:
Q: “Could they count on you in your first 100 days to sit down with them?”

Obama responded, “Yes. But let me even say before I even get inaugurated, during the transition, we’re going to be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda. We’re going to be having meetings all across the country with community organizations so that you have input into the agenda for the next presidency of the United States of America.” – December 1, 2007  at Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum, Community Organizing Groups including ACORN

 

in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. . . . What I think we know — separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in their country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact. — commenting ona white police officer’s arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass., at a news conference, July 22, 2009

INSENSITIVITY

The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred in our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that’s just the nature of race in our society. – interview on Philadelphia sports radio show (610 WIP Angelo Cataldi), March 20, 2008

You got into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. – Campaign trail 2008 explaining his troubles winning over some working-class voters

No, no. I have been practicing…I bowled a 129. It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something. – “The Tonight Show” March 19, 2009 (Obama later called the head of the Special Olympics to apologize)

I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances. – after saying he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepared to take office, Washington, D.C., Nov. 7, 2008 (Obama later called Nancy Reagan to apologize)

RELIGION…INCLUDING REV. WRIGHT

I can no more disown (Jeremiah Wright) than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. – March 2008

What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. – in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, who jumped in to correct Obama by saying “your Christian faith,” which Obama quickly clarified. (Video here)

TRAGEDY

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed. – on a Kansas tornado that killed 12 people

GAY RIGHTS

I will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’…My expectation is that when you look back on these years you will look back and see a time when we put a stop against discrimmination…whether in the office or the battlefield. – October 10, 2009 speech on gay rights

MISC BLUNDERS

I’ve now been in 57 states — I think one left to go. – at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon

How’s it going, Sunshine? – campaigning in Sunrise, Florida

It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of — I don’t know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing. -confusing German for “Austrian,” a language which does not exist, Strasbourg, France, April 6, 2009

FROM HIS BOOKS

When people who don’t know me well, black or white, discover my background (and it is usually a discovery for I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites) I see the split-second adjustments they have to make, the searching of my eyes for some telltale sign. They no longer know who I am. – introduction Dreams from my Father

Still, there was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white - he’d said himself that was a problem. – Dreams from my Father, page 142: regarding Marty Kaufman and the interview to work with Kaufman in the racially polarized city

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed necolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society’s stifling constraints. We weren’t indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated.  But this strategy alone couldn’t provide the distance I wanted, from Joyce or my past. After all, there were thousands of so-called campus radicals, most of them white and tenured and happily tolerated. No, it remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names. – Dreams from my Father, page 101-102

Yes, I’d seen weakness in other men – Gramps and his disappointments, Lolo and his compromise. But these men had become object lessons for me, men I might love but never emulate, white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela. And if later I saw that the black men I knew – Frank or Ray or Will or Rafiq – fell short of such lofty standards; if I had learned to respect these men for the struggles they went through, recognizing them as my own – my father’s voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval.  You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people’s struggle. Wake up, black man! – Dreams from my Father, page 220

Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant. Like a spy behind enemy lines, I arrived every day at my mid-Manhattan office and sat at my computer terminal, checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages from across the globe. – “Dreams of my Father” Chapter 7

In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction. - The Audacity of Hope page 261

NOT BY OBAMA BUT FALSELY ATTRIBUTED TO HIM

In reality, Obama provides a disturbing test of the best-case scenario of whether America can indeed move beyond race. He inherited his father’s penetrating intelligence; was raised mostly by his loving liberal white grandparents in multiracial, laid-back Hawaii, where America’s normal race rules never applied; and received a superb private school education. And yet, at least through age 33 when he wrote Dreams from My Father , he found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against his mother’s race. – 2007 article in American Conservative by Steve Sailer