Barack Obama Archives - Page 6 of 10

Obama’s Take on the World: It’s a Mess

September 2, 2014 Buck Banks

If you watch the nightly news, it feels like the world is falling apart… And I can see why a lot of folks are troubled…. the truth of the matter is, is that the world has always been messy.

— President Obama, quoted by BuzzFeed, at a Democratic fundraiser.

How Obama Came to Trust Sharpton

August 22, 2014 Buck Banks

He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought.

— Rev. Al Sharpton, in an interview with Politico, on how he became President Obama’s confidant on race.

President Obama’s Statement on the Murder of James Foley

August 20, 2014 Buck Banks

President Obama delivered the following remarks in Martha’s Vineyard on the beheading of American journalist James Foley by the militant group Islamic State. Transcript courtesy of Federal News Service.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody.

Today, the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of Jim Foley by the terrorist group ISIL. Jim was a journalist, a son, a brother and a friend. He reported from difficult and dangerous places, bearing witness to the lives of people a world away.

He was taken hostage nearly two years ago in Syria, and he was courageously reporting at the time on the conflict there. Jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocked the conscience of the entire world. He was 40 years old, one of five siblings, the son of a mom and dad who worked tirelessly for his release. Earlier today, I spoke to the Foleys and told them that we are all heartbroken at their loss and join them in honoring Jim and all that he did.

[…]

Obama Justifies His ‘Minimalist’ Position

August 11, 2014 Buck Banks

Increasingly politicians are rewarded for taking the most extreme maximalist positions, and sooner or later, that catches up with you.

— President Obama, in an interview with Tom Friedman, on the rise of the Republican far right.

Obama Bewildered Clinton, Biden Would Consider a Prez Run

July 22, 2014 Buck Banks

I think that, for both Joe and for Hillary, they’ve already accomplished an awful lot in their lives. The question is, do they, at this phase in their lives, want to go through the pretty undignifying process of running all over again.

— President Obama, quoted by the New Yorker, expressing “bewilderment that his friends would want to subject themselves” to another presidential campaign.

Boehner Calls Obama’s Climate-Change Plan ‘Nuts’

June 3, 2014 Buck Banks

The president’s plan is nuts, there’s really no more succinct way to describe it.

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by the Washington Post, on President Obama’s new EPA rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Most Americans Don’t See Obama as Black

April 17, 2014 Buck Banks

52%

Percentage of Americans who don’t see President Obama as black but instead consider him mixed-race, a new Pew Research poll finds.

Obama Defends His Jeans

March 17, 2014March 17, 2014 Buck Banks

I’ve been unfairly maligned about my jeans. The truth is, generally I look very sharp in jeans.

— President Obama, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest.

There Goes McCain, Complaining About Obama Again

March 3, 2014 Buck Banks

I thought when he had a couple of dinners with Republican senators, we really had a good environment there. Because he is a very very articulate and attractive guy in a setting with eight or nine senators and him. Because he was smarter than the rest of us. But I don’t see that now. I don’t see any of that.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in an interview with Time, on working with President Obama.

A SOTU Preview

January 28, 2014 Buck Banks

The president’s speechwriters will have started out to craft an important and thoughtful speech, determined to avoid having their boss deliver another really boring monologue that is both a laundry list of what the president wants to do and what he would do if the opposition party and special-interest groups rolled over and played dead for the rest of the year. But by the end of the process, despite the best of intentions, it will very likely sound like all of the others.

If you watch the nightly news, it feels like the world is falling apart… And I can see why a lot of folks are troubled…. the truth of the matter is, is that the world has always been messy.

— President Obama, quoted by BuzzFeed, at a Democratic fundraiser.

He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought.

— Rev. Al Sharpton, in an interview with Politico, on how he became President Obama’s confidant on race.

Increasingly politicians are rewarded for taking the most extreme maximalist positions, and sooner or later, that catches up with you.

— President Obama, in an interview with Tom Friedman, on the rise of the Republican far right.

I think that, for both Joe and for Hillary, they’ve already accomplished an awful lot in their lives. The question is, do they, at this phase in their lives, want to go through the pretty undignifying process of running all over again.

— President Obama, quoted by the New Yorker, expressing “bewilderment that his friends would want to subject themselves” to another presidential campaign.

The president’s plan is nuts, there’s really no more succinct way to describe it.

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by the Washington Post, on President Obama’s new EPA rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

52%

Percentage of Americans who don’t see President Obama as black but instead consider him mixed-race, a new Pew Research poll finds.

I’ve been unfairly maligned about my jeans. The truth is, generally I look very sharp in jeans.

— President Obama, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest.

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in an interview with Time, on working with President Obama.

— Charlie Cook, in the National Journal.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%