Policy Quotes - Page 18

• I do not accept that we cannot find a common sense way to preserve our traditions, including our basic second amendment freedoms and the rights of law abiding gun owners, while at the same time reducing the gun violence that unleashes so much mayhem on a regular basis.

  Barack Obama

  Gun, Rights, Law

  "Washington Navy Yard Massacre — The Aftermath" by Dorian de Wind, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 23, 2013.

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• Sanctions alone could not stop Iran's nuclear program. But they did help bring Iran to the negotiating table.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Science, Technology

  "CNN Newsroom" with Wolf Blitzer, www.cnn.com. April 2, 2015.

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• Ultimately, only diplomacy can bring about a durable solution to the challenge posed by Iran's nuclear program. As President and Commander in Chief, I will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, I have a profound responsibility to try to resolve our differences peacefully, rather than rush towards conflict.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Wisdom, Spring

  "Obama admits Israel has good reason for scepticism over Iran nuclear deal" by Dan Roberts, www.theguardian.com. November 25, 2013.

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• And, as a consequence of the pressure that we've applied over the last couple of weeks, we have Syria -- for the first time -- acknowledging that it has chemical weapons, agreeing to join the convention that prohibits the use of chemical weapons, and the Russians -- their primary sponsors -- saying that they will push Syria to get all of their chemical weapons out. The distance that we've traveled over these couple of weeks is remarkable.

  Barack Obama

  Couple, Distance, Justice

  "Full Transcript: President Obama Speaks Exclusively to George Stephanopoulos on 'This Week'". "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, abcnews.go.com. September 15, 2013.

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• But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people's representatives in Congress.

  Barack Obama

  Military, Government, Long

  "Obama at War". "Frontline", www.pbs.org.

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• I am a little jet lagged from my trip to Malaysia...The lengths we have to go to to get CNN coverage these days.

  Barack Obama

  Cnn, Politics, Littles

  "Transcript: Obama remarks at White House Correspondents' Association dinner", www.foxnews.com. May 4, 2014.

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• No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. None. Here in America, the murder rate is three times what it is in other developed nations. The murder rate with guns is ten times what it is in other developed nations. And there's nothing inevitable about it. It comes about because of decisions we make or fail to make. And it falls upon us to make it different.

  Barack Obama

  Fall, Gun, America

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• But the question is, do we care enough? Do we care enough to keep standing up for the country that we know is possible, even if it's hard, and even if it's politically uncomfortable? Do we care enough to sustain the passion and the pressure to make our communities safer and our country safer? Do we care enough to do everything we can to spare other families the pain that is felt here today?

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Country, Pain

  "CNN Newsroom" with Rosa Flores, www.cnn.com. September 22, 2013.

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• Our tears are not enough. Our words and our prayers are not enough. If we really want to honor these twelve men and women, if we really want to be a country where we can go to work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence, without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we're gonna have to change. We're gonna have to change.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Prayer, School

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• I have been in Washington for a while now, and most things don't surprise me. The fact that twenty 6-year-olds were gunned down in the most violent fashion possible and this town couldn't do anything about it was stunning to me.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Fashion, Party

  Remarks by the President in Q&A with David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. June 10, 2014.

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• For the first time in our history, the winners of the White House Turkey Pardon were chosen through a highly competitive online vote. And once again, Nate Silver completely nailed it. The guy is amazing.

  Barack Obama

  Leadership, Nature, Turkeys

  "Obama pardons two Thanksgiving turkeys with mercy and humour" by Adam Gabbatt, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2012.

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• We Americans are not an inherently more violent people than folks in other countries. We're not inherently more prone to mental health problems. The main difference that sets our nation apart is what makes us so susceptible to so many mass shootings is that we don't do enough, we don't take the basic commonsense actions to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. What's different in America is it's easy to get your hands on a gun.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Gun, Mass Shootings

  "CNN Newsroom" with Rosa Flores, www.cnn.com. September 22, 2013.

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• I will promise you that if I can give you two good scenes -- which is what I always try to do in every movie -- then I feel like I'm doing my job.

  Nicolas Cage

  Jobs, Work, Two

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• We're getting rid of the D [in PTSD]. PTS is an injury; it's not a disorder. The problem is when you call it a disorder, [veterans] don't think they can be treated. An employer says, 'I don't want to hire somebody with a disorder.

  George W. Bush

  Work, Health, Reality

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• I have talked to more people who are in politics who have said to me, "[House of Cards] is closer than you can imagine. It's the most accurate description of how politics actually works that we've ever seen." I mean, West Wing - beautiful, wonderful idea of how democracy should work. But I've had more people in politics say they think House of Cards is closer. I - don't know whether to take that as a compliment or a sad state of affairs.

  Kevin Spacey

  Beautiful, Mean, Thinking

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• The free world has need that its foreign policies should fairly measure the realities of the world in which we live. There are certain principles to which we hold: the sanctity of treaties, good faith between nations, the interdependence of peoples from which no country, however powerful, can altogether escape.

  Anthony Eden

  Country, Powerful, Reality

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• You know, we did a good job in containing the Soviet Union, but we made a lot of mistakes, we supported really nasty guys, we did some things that we are not particularly proud of, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, but we did have a kind of overarching framework about what we were trying to do that did lead to the defeat of the Soviet Union and the collapse of Communism. That was our objective. We achieved it.

  Hillary Clinton

  Leadership, Jobs, Latin

  "Hillary Clinton: 'Failure' to Help Syrian Rebels Led to the Rise of ISIS". Interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, www.theatlantic.com. August 10, 2014.

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• If you look at what the factors were going into the decision, of course there are competing interests and values. And one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. It doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation... It does not matter.

  Hillary Clinton

  War, Home, Reality

  "CNN Newsroom" with Christian Paul and Victor Blackwell, edition.cnn.com. June 7, 2014.

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• When it comes to foreign policy, it is important to remember that politics stops at the water's edge.

  Hillary Clinton

  Water, Important, Remember

  "Shift to GOP control in House signals shift in foreign policy matters" by Charley Keyes, Laurie Ure, Pam Benson, www.cnn.com. November 3, 2010.

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• Recently in Washington, unfortunately, we have seen examples of the wrong kind of leadership -- when politicians choose scorched earth over common ground, when they operate in what I call the 'evidence-free zone,' with ideology trumping everything else.

  Hillary Clinton

  Party, Reality, Justice

  "Hillary Clinton Endorses Terry McAuliffe In Virginia Gubernatorial Race; Four-Year-Old Girl found By Police Without Identification; Escaped Killers' Families Speak Out; Neighbors Describe Death Scene; Bugs Plague College Application Site; The Science Behind Hurricanes; Monsters from the Deep". "CNN Newsroom", www.cnn.com. October 19, 2013.

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• There is one lesson from the past, in particular, that we cannot afford to ignore: You cannot make progress on gender equality or broader human development, without safeguarding women's reproductive health and rights.

  Hillary Clinton

  Leadership, Wisdom, Past

  "Hillary Clinton preaches 'social gospel' not politics in latest speech". Hillary Clinton's address to a group of over 7,000 women about spiritual and social issues at United Methodist Women's Assembly in Kentucky, www.theglobaldispatch.com. April 28, 2014.

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• It is an old adage that honesty is the best policy-this applies to public as well as private life-to States as well as individuals.

  George Washington

  Leadership, Honesty, Individual

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1847). “pt. III. Private letters from the time Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Army to that of his inauguration as president of the United States: December, 1783-April, 1789”, p.146

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• What the press never does say is who the leaker is and why he wants the story leaked. Yet, more often than not, this is the more important story: What policy wins if the one being disclosed loses?

  Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  Winning, Important, Doe

  In Commentary (March 1971).

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• It is generally admitted that the cultural values (humanization) and the existing institutions and policies of society are rarely,if ever, in harmony. This opinion has found expression in the distinction between culture and civilization, according to which "culture" refers to some higher dimension of human autonomy and fulfillment, while "civilization" designates the realm of necessity, of socially necessary work and behavior, where man is not really himself and in his own element but is subject to heteronomy, to external conditions and needs.

  Herbert Marcuse

  Men, Civilization, Expression

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• Hunger, disease and poverty can lead to global instability and leave a vacuum for extremism to fill. So instead of just managing poverty, we must offer nations and people a pathway out of poverty. And as president I've made development a pillar of our foreign policy, alongside diplomacy and defense.

  Barack Obama

  People, President, Pathways

  "Politics and Foreign Aid: What Romney and Obama Can Learn from Huckabee and Lincoln" by Tom Murphy, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 23, 2012.

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