Barack Obama: “The sooner that Assad steps aside, the sooner the Syrian people will be able to complete a political transition.”

A drift towards extremism was "not inevitable

Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.

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.

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