Barack Obama: “We deplore the use of violence and we're very concerned about what we've -- the reports we've seen from Syria.”

When we choose, when we make that decision, I do believe – and there is evidence for this – that the world gets incrementally better, and that is a worthy goal and it’s worth fighting for.

I think when we act on that basis, it doesn't always work out, but over time things do get better.

I’m going to insist that we can do better than we’re doing right now.

It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.