The notion that we would somehow start now in this high-profile way and announce it to the world even as we're looking into the faces of other hostage families whose loved ones are being held hostage and say to them that we don't pay ransom defies logic.
Obama argues against the idea that the payment to Iran was ransom, highlighting the implications for other hostage families.
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I think when you understand the complexities of America and the contradictions of America, I don’t think it makes you love it less. I think it makes you love it more.
It fortifies you to say that, yes, this has been part of the journey that we’re on.
This idea that any suggestion or criticism that America was anything other than perfect is unpatriotic... is a suggestion that you hate your country.
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