Barack Obama

We cannot solve our problems until we solve them together.

As we look to the future, we can learn from our past, for history shows us that both our nations benefit from engagement that is grounded in mutual interest and mutual respect.

I look forward to working together to advance the peace and prosperity of the people not only of the United States but also people all around the world.

It is a great honor to welcome you to the first meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China.

I hope that you all know that this fact guides our respect for different peoples.

I compliment FIFA on their efforts to incorporate community service, education and public health projects into their plans for staging the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

I want to say thank you and thank you to all the WNBA athletes who work hard each day to set a positive example to which all our daughters can aspire.

It's hard to believe the WNBA has already been around for 12 years.

Thank you for the soccer balls you brought for my daughters.

Congratulations on the success of this league and the inspiration it provides to young women everywhere.

We owe it to them to finally get it done, and to get it done this year.

We are closer than ever before to finally passing reform that will reduce costs, expand coverage, and provide more choices for our families and businesses.

I am not looking for free health care. I would just like to get my premiums reduced enough to be able to afford it.

Use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars. It is not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works.

There are some who say that as president I shouldn't have stepped into this at all, because it's a local issue.

I have to tell you that that thing -- that part of it, I disagree with.

I wanted to address you guys directly, because over the last day and a half, obviously, there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

At the end of the conversation, there was discussion about -- my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was a discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House.

The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that, you know, race is still a troubling aspect of our society.

I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station.

I, unfortunately, gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically. And I could have calibrated those words differently.

My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event, this ends up being what's called a teachable moment.

Ultimately, their education is up to them; it's up to their parents; it's up to their teachers; it's up to all of us.

This competition will not be based on politics or ideology.

We're beginning to break free from the partisanship and the petty bickering that have stood in the way of progress for so long.