Being attentive to inequality and not tone deaf to it. But offering prescriptions that are actually going to help folks in communities that feel forgotten. That's going to be our most important strategy. And I think we can successfully do that. Barack Obama More Quotes by Barack Obama More Quotes From Barack Obama I've said many times around the world that like any government, like any country, like, any set of human institutions, we have our flaws. We've operated imperfectly. There are times we've made mistakes. Barack Obama government mistake country When your team loses, everybody gets deflated. And it's hard, and it's challenging. Barack Obama hard team challenges I think when you're governing, it will become increasingly apparent that if you were to just eliminate trade deals with Mexico, for example, well, you've got a global supply chain. The parts that are allowing auto plants that were about to shut down to now employ double shifts is because they're bringing in some of those parts to assemble out of Mexico. And so it's not as simple as it might have seemed. Barack Obama example simple thinking If we got there and we looked up and we said, "You know what? Black folks are still doing a little bit worse off than whites, but it's not like it was 20 years ago," then we can have a discussion about how do we get that last little bit. But that's a high-class problem to have. Barack Obama black class years If you have a family member who maybe is undocumented, then you have an even greater reason to vote. Barack Obama members vote reason People are discouraged from voting and part of what is important for Latino citizens is to make your voice heard, because you're not just speaking for yourself. You're speaking for family members, friends, classmates of yours in school. Barack Obama voice people school I continue to believe when I said in Hanover, that the E.U. remains one of the world's great political and economic achievements, and that those achievements should not be taken for granted. Barack Obama achievement taken believe I think we would have made a lot more mistakes and would have accomplished a lot less had we not been grounded in some basic truths. Barack Obama made mistake thinking The first thing I would do would be to move forward with an agenda to make sure that we give D.C. the opportunity to elect its own representatives and have some political power on Capitol Hill. Barack Obama opportunity giving moving If I were German and I had a vote, I might support Angela Merkel. Barack Obama vote support might [Young people] are showing enormous and entrepreneurship and working with each other across borders. Barack Obama entrepreneurship borders people If people, whether they are conservative or liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process, and are taking absolutist views, and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down. Barack Obama democracy views people I think my most important advice is to understand what are the foundations of a healthy democracy and how we have to engage in citizenship continuously, not just when something upsets us; not just when there's an election or when an issue pops up for a few weeks. It's hard work. Barack Obama issues hard-work thinking I have got to figure out a system because I have bad filing, sorting, and organizing habits. Barack Obama sorting habit figures If you look at countries like South Africa, where you had a black majority, there have been efforts to tax and help that black majority, but it hasn't come in the form of a formal reparations program. Barack Obama effort black country One of the things you learn as president is, as powerful as this office is, you have limited bandwidth. And the time goes by really quickly and you're constantly making choices, and there are pressures on you from all different directions - pressures on your attention, not just pressures from different constituencies. And so you have to be pretty focused about where can you have the biggest, quickest impact. Barack Obama impact powerful office Certainly I've appreciated Angela Merkel as a partner. Barack Obama angela partners appreciated Sometimes it may seem as if progress is stalled but what history of post-war Germany shows is that strength and determination and focus and adherence to the values that we care about will result in a better future for our children and our grandchildren. Barack Obama determination war children I try to make it a rule not to meddle in other people's politics. Barack Obama trying people I think what is true is that there's been an underlying division in the United States. Some of it has to do with the fact that economic growth and recovery tends to be stronger in the cities and in urban areas. In some rural areas, particularly those that were reliant on manufacturing, there has been weaker growth, stagnation, people feeling as if their children won't do as well as they will. Barack Obama recovery children thinking
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