Barack Obama: My conviction is that those fights need to be fought rig...

Democracy is hard work.

Barack Obama

hard democracy hard-work

I'll be honest, there have been times when I've listened to the rhetoric in Europe where an easy equivalent somehow between the United States and Russia and between how our governments operate versus other governments operate, where those distinctions aren't made.

Barack Obama

russia government europe

I can say to the German people that the United States has been good for Germany. Has looked out for Germany. Has provided security for Germany. Has helped rebuilt Germany. And unify Germany.

Barack Obama

germany united-states people

[Donald Trump] ran an extraordinarily unconventional campaign and it resulted in the biggest political upset in perhaps modern political history. American history.

Barack Obama

upset campaigns political

[This upset] means that means Donald Trump now has to transition to governance.

Barack Obama

upset transition mean

What I said to Donald Trump was that what may work in generating enthusiasm or passion during elections may be different than what will work in terms of unifying the country and gaining the trust even of those who didn't support him.

Barack Obama

support passion country

My hope is that's something [Donald Trump] is thinking about, because not only is the president of the United States somebody that the entire country looks to for direction but sets the agenda internationally in a lot of ways.

Barack Obama

president country thinking

With respect to Syria, we are going to continue to work as we have over the last five, six years to push towards a political transition and settlement.

Barack Obama

transition political years

I will support Iraqis and Syrians fighting to reclaim their communities.

Barack Obama

support community fighting

It's time to end the hypocrisy of those who accumulate wealth through the global economy, and then siphon funds to those who teach children to tear it down.

Barack Obama

tears hypocrisy children

Before I even came into office, I said that preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon was a priority.

Barack Obama

priorities iran office

The map isn't always the territory, and you have to kind of walk through it to get a feel for it.

Barack Obama

maps territory kind

If you look at Libya, I was deeply concerned about what would happen after Qaddafi was gone.

Barack Obama

libya gone looks

There's no way to resolve Syria without Iran being involved, given its financing of Assad and the fact that Hezbollah is probably the most effective fighting force that Assad can count on.

Barack Obama

hezbollah iran fighting

It is legitimate for the Turks to try to defend themselves.

Barack Obama

trying

You don't like dealing with somebody who denies horrible things happening to your people or threatens future horrible things to your people.

Barack Obama

horrible deny people

I think we all know that world owes an enormous debt to Greece and the Greek people.

Barack Obama

greek people thinking

I'm personally very grateful to my many friends in the Greek-American community, sons and daughters of Greece who have found success in every walk of American life.

Barack Obama

grateful daughter son

I think raising wages, investing in infrastructure, making sure that people have access to good educations that equip them for the jobs of the future. Those are all agenda items that would help alleviate some of those economic pressures and dislocations that people are experiencing. The problem was I couldn't convince the Republican Congress to pass a lot of them.

Barack Obama

jobs people thinking

There is enormous continuity beneath the day-to-day news that makes America that indispensable nation when it comes to maintaining order and promoting prosperity around the world.

Barack Obama

news order america

My conviction is that those fights need to be fought right now and can be won. And if in fact we have finite political capital, energy, resources, we need to win those fights.