Barack Obama

His first name comes from the word that means "blessed by God" in Arabic.

In the Kenyan town where his father was born, the long-brewed "Senator" brand of beer has been nicknamed "Obama."

U.S. Senator from Illinois since 3 January 2005.

Won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word for the CD version of his autobiography "Dreams From My Father".

Lived in Hyde Park in Chicago.

On "Late Night with Conan OBrien" , he revealed that President George W. Bush nicknamed him "Bama" and "Rock".

The movie he saw on his first date with Michelle Obama was Do the Right Thing .

He is a sixth cousin once removed to Park Overall.

Has two daughters, Malia Obama (born in 1998) and Sasha Obama.

Candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 US presidential election.

Several celebrities including; Halle Berry , George Clooney , Sheryl Crow , Bob Dylan , Topher Grace , Macy Gray , Bruce Springsteen , Oprah Winfrey Tom Hanks , Scarlett Johansson , Hayden Panettiere , Zachary Quinto , Eddie Murphy and John Cleese support his 2008 presidential campaign. Robert De Niro gave his endorsement at the same rally where Barack was endorsed by Caroline and Ted Kennedy.

Enjoys playing basketball and poker.

At his wifes suggestion, he quit smoking before his campaign to win the Democratic nomination began.

His paternal relatives still live in Kenya.

Confessed teenage drug experiences in his memoirs "Dreams from My Father".

One of his ancestors was Mareen Duvall, also an ancestor of actor Robert Duvall.

Shares his surname with a small city in western Japan, which means "small shore" in Japanese.

Plays basketball.

Born to Barack Obama Sr. (1936-1982) and Ann Dunham (1942-1995) married from 1961 to 1965.

Named one of Time magazines "100 most influential people in the world" list in 2005 and 2007.

Chosen as one of "10 people would change the world" by New Statesman magazine.

Won his second Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for "The Audacity of Hope".

On June 3, 2008 he won the Montana primary election giving him enough delegates to become the first Black American presidential candidate to win a major political partys presumptive nomination for the office of President of the United States.

Is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan.

More than 215,000 people attended his speech in Berlin on 24 July 2008.

Has one half-sister, Maya, born to his mother and stepfather in 1970.

Has his look-alike puppet in the French show "Les guignols de linfo" .

Barack Obamas grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham died Sunday November 2, 2008 in the early evening in Honolulu from cancer. She was 86.

Is the first African-American man to be elected President of the United States (November 2008).

When elected President, he won the battleground states of North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Colorado - all of which had voted Republican in 2004.

Is the first American president to be born in Hawaii.

Was the 27th lawyer to be elected American president.

Was elected to be the 44th president of the Unites States of America on 4 November, 2008.

As a child growing up in Hawaii, his classmates knew him as Barry.

Presidential campaign slogan: "Change we can believe in".

His father was Kenyan, from Alego. His mother, who was from Wichita, Kansas, was white, and was of English, with small amounts of Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, Swiss-German, French, and possibly remote African, ancestry.

Favorite movies are Casablanca , Lawrence of Arabia , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest , The Godfather , and The Godfather: Part II .

Is a fan of "The Wire" .

First ever US President to address a Muslim community at an inaugural speech.

Shares the same birthday as long-time White House correspondent and journalism legend, Helen Thomas. On her 89th birthday , they celebrated by blowing birthday cupcakes together in front of the press corps.

First United States Senator to be elected President since John F. Kennedy.

October 2009, won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Fourth US President to win a Nobel Peace Prize after Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Jimmy Carter .

Defended his decision not to issue a formal written statement on the death of controversial pop star Michael Jackson on 25 June 2009.

Half-brother of Maya Soetoro-Ng.

Brother-in-law of Konrad Ng.

Merited a position in Time magazines - The 100 Most Influential People in the World ("Leaders" category) - with an homage contributed by David Remnick (Issue: May 10, 2010).

Received a gift of a Portuguese water dog from Senator Ted Kennedy and his wife Victoria. Because the particular breed is reportedly hypo-allergenic, the First Family and friends were highly unlikely to suffer any allergic reactions in the pets presence.

Obamas appearance on "The View" (29 July 2010) made him the first ever sitting US President to appear as a guest on a daytime TV talk show.

Obamas birthplace of Hawaii makes him the first U.S. president not born in the continental United States.

Brother-in-law of basketball player, coach and author Craig Robinson.

Son of Barack Obama Sr..

The character of Matt Santos in The West Wing is based on him.

The first US President to be born after the Vietnam War started.

Is a big fan of the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and collected the comics as a youth.

Counts "Homeland" as one of his favorite TV shows.

First U.S. President to be personally presented with an Apple iPad 2 by Steve Jobs before it was officially released domestically. Obama is frequently seen using Apple devices.

Notable for being the first United States President to participate in social media. He is the first President to have a personal Facebook page and a Twitter account, and the first President to hold Q&A sessions via those forums and YouTube. He is also the first sitting President to own and use an iPod, Blackberry (custom made for security purposes), and iPad.

His daily newspapers are The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He claims to not watch cable TV news stations.

Introduced the 50th anniversary television broadcast of To Kill a Mockingbird .

Can speak Indonesian to a certain degree, having lived in Indonesia for a number of years during his childhood.

The TV presidential election campaign commercial for Obama featured, Carl Reiner , Garry Marshall , Larry Gelbart , Valerie Harper , Danny DeVito , Rhea Perlman , Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara (slogan: "This Aint Funny, its a serious election. Dont vote out of fear, vote for hope - Vote for Obama").

Was a classmate of Hill Harper s at Harvard Law School.

First United States President to be elected twice with over 50% of the popular vote since Ronald Reagan and the first Democratic President elected as such since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

First two-term President to take the Oath of Office four times. The first time, during his televised first inauguration, Chief Justice John Roberts made a mistake while reading the Oath of Office, which Obama repeated to avoid embarrassment. A few days later, he called Roberts into his office to do it again, and this time read it correctly. By law, the President is sworn in at noon on January 20. In 2013, the month and date fell on a Sunday, but to comply with the Blue Law (no work on Sunday), he was sworn in privately in the Oval Office, and then again publicly the next day. The two before him that were sworn in on Monday, January 21st, were Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 and Ronald Reagan in 1985.

One of Time Magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World.

(September 2013) First US President since Jimmy Carter in 1979 to speak directly on the phone with a leader of Iran - Hassan Rouhani.

(November 2008) Elected the 44th President of the United States of America

Favorite films are The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II .

In the 2008 presidential election, he won the state of North Carolina with a 0.32% margin of victory. Normally considered a solid Republican state, the margin was small enough that it took days after the election to call the state, although this had little regard on calling the election, as nationally it was a landslide victory and winning or losing North Carolina would have made no difference. The last time prior to this that North Carolina elected a democrat was in 1976 when they elected Jimmy Carter.

One of Time Magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World. [April 2014].

He is related to Jimmy Carter in multiple ways. Through Adrian Gordy they are seventh cousins three times removed. Through William Terrell and Susannah Waters they are eighth cousins twice removed.

British author Anthony Horowitz wrote of a Black Prime Minister in 2009 not long before Obama was elected President.

First sitting US President to visit a federal prison when he toured El Reno Correctional Institution in Oklahoma (July 16, 2015).

Became the first sitting US President to enter the Arctic Circle when he visited Kotzebue, Alaska, to address the adverse effects of global warming in that particular region (September 3, 2015).

When a USAF AC-130 gunship attacked the Kunduz Trauma Centre in Afghanistan 3 October 2015, President Barack Obama became the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to bomb another, namely, Mdecins Sans Frontires (Doctors Without Borders).

The Presidents favorite book of 2015 was "Fates and Furies" by award-winning author Lauren Groff.

First sitting US President since Calvin Coolidge to visit Cuba in 88 years. In 1928 President Coolidge arrived in Cuba on a battleship after a 3-day cruise, whereas President Obama touched down in Havana aboard Air Force One after a 3-hour flight (20 March 2016).

How Much A Dollar Cost by Kendrick Lamar was his favorite song of 2015.

The first sitting president to visit Swedens capital Stockholm in 2013. His predecessor George W. Bush visited second city Gothenburg.

Officially endorses Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Presidential race. (June 2016).

Was offered a book publishing deal before graduating from Harvard University.

Was the first African-American to be elected President of the Harvard Law Review.

Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University.

Normalised Full Diplomatic Relations with Cuba in July 2015.

First Sitting US President to visit Myanmar (November 2012).

3rd Sitting US President to visit Vietnam (May 2016).

First Sitting US President to visit Laos. (5 September 2016).

Is the Second US President to visit Greece (November 15 2016).

Met with his successor Donald Trump after the latter won the White House (November 10 2016).

By the end of his second term, he granted clemency to over 1,000 non violent drug offenders which was more than the past 11 presidents combined.

Vowed retaliation against Russia for the cyber attacks.[December 2016].

Awarded 21 recipients The Presidential Medal of Freedom.[November 2016].

Met with CIA director John Brennan, FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., to discuss the cyber attacks made by Russia.[December 2016].

During his 2009 inauguration, he had an approval rating of seventy nine percent, the highest for any modern day incoming president.

Plays poker socially.

Taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Had a 70 percent approval rating at the 100 day mark into his first term as President.

It was the second time he appeared in a video message to support Macron.

Formally endorsed Emmanuel Macron to be Frances next president.[May 2017].

Reportedly proposed to Sheila Miyoshi Jager twice before he was turned down.

Sign one book deal as two separate memoirs with Michelle reportedly worth $60 million.[May 2017].

As part of the deal, the publishers will donate one million books in the Obama familys name to First Book: a nonprofit organization.

Does not drink coffee.

As a child, he had an ape for a pet.

Does not like ice cream.

Played basketball since high school.

Worked at a gift shop as a teenager.

Worked at Baskin-Robbins as a teenager.

Can bench press over 200 pounds.

Gets his haircut from the same barber every week.

Tried modeling when he studying at Harvard by submitting his photographs to be considered one of "Harvards hunks" in their university calendar but was rejected.

Worked at a deli as a teenager.

Fan of comic books.

Has read every Harry Portter book.

First President to use Twitter.

Believes in good luck charms.

Is nicknamed "Renegade" by the secret service.

He is the third youngest person to be elected President of The United States at the age of forty-seven and the fourth youngest President overall.

And it lives on in those Americans -- young and old, rich and poor,black and white, Latino and Asian and Native American, gay and straight,-- who are tired of a politics that divides us and want to recapture,the sense of common purpose that we had when John Kennedy was President,of the United States of America.

. I think we set the bar in terms of transparency and disclosure that,has been a consistent theme of my campaign and my career in politics.

In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything,false about hope.

Change is coming to America.

In America, we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know,we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both,guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not,sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective,institutions and organizations.

In America, we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know,we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both,guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams are not,sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective,institutions and organizations.

Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan,Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own,electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built,entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing,legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere,political correctness or reverse racism.

My image of Onyango, faint as it was, has always been of an autocratic,man - a cruel man, perhaps. But I had also imagined him an independent,man, a man of his people, opposed to white rule. . . What Granny had told,us scrambled that image completely, causing ugly words to flash across,my mind. Uncle Tom. Collaborator. House nigger.

The only way my life makes sense is if - regardless of culture, race,religion, tribe - there is this commonality, these essential human,truths and passions and hope and moral precepts, that we can reach out,beyond our differences. If that is not the case, then it is pretty hard,for me to make sense of my life. That is the core of who I am.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.

Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.

As President of our country and Commander-in-Chief of our military, I,accept that people are going to call me awful things every day, and I,will always defend their right to do so.

Other voices will fill the void: lobbyists and special interests, the,people with ten million dollar checks who are trying to buy this,election.

AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers and not in the hands of crooks.

They belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our,cities.

We discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U. S.

Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas,Jefferson.

Trayvon Martin could have been me thirty-five years ago.

No party has a monopoly on wisdom.

[from a 2012 campaign speech] If you give up on the idea that your voice,can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void: the,lobbyists and special interests; the people with the $10 million checks,who are trying to buy this election, and those who are making it harder,for you to vote.

[downplaying the role of military action in U. S. global leadership] Just,because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a,nail.

[to the graduating class at West Point, 2014] For the foreseeable,future, the most direct threat to America, at home and abroad, remains,terrorism. But a strategy that involves invading every country that,harbours terrorist networks is naive and unsustainable.

What a year, huh? I usually start these dinners with a few,self-deprecating jokes. After my stellar 2013, what can I possibly talk,about? I admit it - last year was rough. Sheesh. At one point, things,got so bad, the 47 percent called Mitt Romney to apologize.

[from a speech on November 20, 2014] To those members of Congress who,question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or,question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one,answer: Pass a bill.

We are not at war with Islam.

[addressing the climate change issue] We only get one planet. There is,no Plan B.

Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States.

[on one of the few regrets he has about his presidency] A president with,the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide.

[after North Korea launched a satellite into space] They are not very,good at feeding their people, but they invest a huge amount in their,weapons.

[on his visit to Cuba, 2016] I have come here to bury the last remnant,of the Cold War in the Americas.

[on the Armenian Genocide during his presidential campaign in 2008] Two,years ago, I criticized the secretary of state for the firing of U. S.

[on the Armenian Genocide] I have consistently stated my own view of,what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed.

I want all of my friends in France to know how much I am rooting for,your success. Because of how important this election is, I also want,you to know that I am supporting Emmanuel Macron to lead you forward.

[on Donald Trump winning the Presidency] Good afternoon, everybody.

Yesterday, before votes were tallied, I shot a video that some of you,may have seen in which I said to the American people, regardless of,which side you were on in the election, regardless of whether your,candidate won or lost, the sun would come up in the morning. And that,is one bit of prognosticating that actually came true. The sun is up.

[his parting letter he left to Donald Trump in the Resolute desk on Sep,3, 2017] Dear Mr. President, Congratulations on a remarkable run.

What I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children — all of our children — a better world. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.

Yes We Can!,In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent or overly practiced. I have the urge to cut the book by fifty pages or so, possessed as I am with a keener appreciation for brevity.

Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.

‎Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.

But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid.

it’s important to make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things.

another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.

We think of faith as a source of comfort and understanding but find our expressions of faith sowing division; we believe ourselves to be a tolerant people even as racial, religious, and cultural tensions roil the landscape. And instead of resolving these tensions or mediating these conflicts, our politics fans them, exploits them,and drives us further apart.

The stakes involved in Washington policy debates are often so high-- whether we send our young men and women to war; whether we allow stem cell research to go forward-- that even small differences in perspective are magnified. The demands of party loyalty, the imperative of campaigns, and the amplification of conflict by the media all contribute to an atmosphere of suspicion. Moreover, most people who serve in Washington have been trained either as lawyers or as political operatives-- professions that tend to place a premium on winning arguments rather than solving problems. I can see how, after a certain amount of time in the capital, it becomes tempting to assume that those who disagree with you have fundamentally different values-- indeed, that they are motivated by bad faith, and perhaps are bad people.

For in the end laws are just words on a page - words that are sometimes malleable, opaque, as dependent on context and trust as they are in a story or poem or promise to someone, words whose meanings are subject to erosion, sometimes collapsing in the blink of an eye.

The absence of even rough agreement on the facts puts every opinion on equal footing and therefore eliminates the basis for thoughtful compromise. It rewards not those who are right, but those - like the White House press office - who can make their arguments most loudly, most frequently, most obstinately, and with the best backdrop.

We are the change we have been waiting for.

In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our view of our past.

So, let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look over not only ourselves, but each other.

Winter came and the city [Chicago] turned monochrome -- black trees against gray sky above white earth. Night now fell in midafternoon, especially when the snowstorms rolled in, boundless prairie storms that set the sky close to the ground, the city lights reflected against the clouds,We will outstretch the hand if you unclench your fist.

We say we value the legacy we leave the next generation and then saddle that generation with mountains of debt. We say we believe in equal opportunity but then stand idle while millions of American children languish in poverty. We insist that we value family, but then structure our economy and organize our lives so as to ensure that our families get less and less of our time.

It [is] that courage that Africa most desperately needs.

Our individualism has always been bound by a set of communal values, the glue upon which every healthy society depends.

None of These Will Come Easy.

We must talk and reach for common understandings, precisely because all of us are imperfect and can never act with the certainty that God is on our side; and yet at times we must act nonetheless, as if we are certain, protected from error only by providence.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost; a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.

the underlying struggle - between worlds of plenty and worlds of want; between the modern and the ancient; between those who embrace our teeming, colliding, irksome diversity, while still insisting on a set of values that binds us together, and those who would seek, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text, a certainty and simplification that justifies cruelty toward those not like us. . .

Like any value, empathy must be acted upon.

Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing.

The most important thing you need to do [in this job] is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that, in our democracy, government is us.

That is the one thing that makes me a Democrat, I suppose - this idea that our communal values, our sense of mutual responsibility and social solidarity, should express themselves not just in the church or the mosque or the synagogue; not just on the blocks where we live, in the places where we work, or within our own families; but also through our government.

But that’s part of what makes America wonderful, is we always had this nagging dissatisfaction that spurs us on. That’s how we ended up going west, that’s how we--“I’m tired of all these people back east; if I go west, there’s going to be my own land and I’m not going to have to put up with this nonsense, and I’m going to start my own thing, and I’ve got my homestead. ” . . . It is true, though, that that restlessness and that dissatisfaction which has helped us go to the moon and create the Internet and build the Transcontinental Railroad and build our land-grant colleges, that those things, born of dissatisfaction, we can very rapidly then take for granted and not tend to and not defend, and not understand how precious these things are.

Implicit … in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or theology or “ism,” any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single, unalterable course, or drive both majorities and minorities into the cruelties of the Inquisition, the pogrom, the gulag, or the jihad. . . . A rejection of absolutism, in all its forms, may sometimes slip into moral relativism or even nihilism, an erosion of values that hold society together…,It’s not just absolute power that the Founders sought to prevent. Implicit in its structure, in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or theology or “ism,” any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single, unalterable course, or drive both majorities and minorities into the cruelties of the Inquisition, the pogrom, the gulag, or the jihad. The Founders may have trusted in God, but true to the Enlightenment spirit, they also trusted in the minds and senses that God had given them. They were suspicious of abstraction and liked asking questions, which is why at every turn in our early history theory yielded to fact and necessity.

My liberty depends on you being free, too.

America is big enough to accommodate all their dreams.

Our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted.

A nation ringed by walls will only imprison itself.

He was an American character, one typical of men of his generation, men who embraced the notion of freedom and individualism and the open road without always knowing its price, and whose enthusiasms could as easily lead to the cowardice of McCarthyism as to the heroics of World War II. Men who were both dangerous and promising precisely because of their fundamental innocence; men prone, in the end, to disappointment.

We hang on to our values, even if they seem at times tarnished and worn; even if, as a nation and in our own lives, we have betrayed them more often that we care to remember. What else is there to guide us? Those values are our inheritance, what makes us who we are as a people. And although we recognize that they are subject to challenge, can be poked and prodded and debunked and turned inside out bu intellectuals and cultural critics, they have proven to be both surprisingly durable and surprisingly constant across classes, and races, and faiths, and generations. We can make claims on their behalf, so long as we understand that our values must be tested against fact and experience, so long as we recall that they demand deeds and not just words.

I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help we diminish ourselves.

The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.

We have no authoritative figure, no Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow whom we all listen to and trust to sort out contradictory claims. Instead, the media is splintered into a thousand fragments, each with its own version of reality, each claiming the loyalty of a splintered nation.

Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance.

Our values call upon us to care about the lives of people we will never meet.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

We may not be able to stop evil in the world, but how we treat one another is entirely up to us.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better.

Let us remember we are all part of one American family. We are united in common values, and that includes belief in equality under the law, basic respect for public order, and the right of peaceful protest.

There are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.

The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.

Where the stakes are the highest, in the war on terror, we cannot possibly succeed without extraordinary international cooperation. Effective international police actions require the highest degree of intelligence sharing, planning and collaborative enforcement.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

But do I think that our actions in anyway violate the War Powers Resolution, the answer is no.

So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.

Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done.

It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.

When we think of the major threats to our national security, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat lurks beyond our shores, one from nature, not humans - an avian flu pandemic.

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos.

It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was al-Qaeda. We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you - and fight alongside you - until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy.

What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal - that all of us are created equal, and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land.

I know that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage - they like their plan and, most importantly, they value their relationship with their doctor.

And we can see the positive impacts right here at Solyndra. Less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot. But through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations. This new factory is the result of those loans.

You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt.

I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U. S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

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.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.

You have young men of color in many communities who are more likely to end up in jail or in the criminal justice system than they are in a good job or in college. And, you know, part of my job, that I can do, I think, without any potential conflicts, is to get at those root causes.

After a century of trying, we declared that healthcare in America is not a privilege for a few, it is a right for everybody. After decades of talk, we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil. We doubled our production of clean energy. We brought more of our troops home to their families, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden.

For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant - Moammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world - including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.