Barack Obama actually said...

"There is something about tough times that brings out the best in us."

"Sylvia has spent a career fighting for working families, and she was part of an OMB team that presided over three budget surpluses in a row."

"That all of us have a stake in their success, and all of us have a stake in a country that expresses this incredible quality of compassion and concern."

"I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at all public buildings ..."