So, Let Us Summon A New Spirit

I Had Said From The Start That I Thought Iraq Was A Mistake, That We Should Have Stayed Focused On Afghanistan. I Think It Was The Right Decision Because The Taliban At That Point Had Gotten A Lot Of Momentum Before I'd Gotten Into Office, Partly Because We Hadn't Been Paying Attention As Much As We Needed To To Afghanistan.

The Problem Is, That We've Got A Position, Often Times By The Nra That Says Any Regulation Whatsoever Is The Camel's Nose Under The Tent. And That, I Think, Is Not Where The American People Are At.

America Is A Land Of Big Dreamers And Big Hopes. It Is This Hope That Has Sustained Us Through Revolution And Civil War, Depression And World War, A Struggle For Civil And Social Rights And The Brink Of Nuclear Crisis. And It Is Because Our Dreamers Dreamed That We Have Emerged From Each Challenge More United, More Prosperous, And More Admired Than Before.

I Think That One Of The Things That We All Agree To Is That The Touchstone For Economic Policy Is, Does It Allow The Average American To Find Good Employment And See Their Incomes Rise; That We Can't Just Look At Things In The Aggregate, We Do Want To Grow The Pie, But We Want To Make Sure That Prosperity Is Spread Across The Spectrum Of Regions And Occupations And Genders And Races; And That Economic Policy Should Focus On Growing The Pie, But It Also Has To Make Sure That Everybody Has Got Opportunity In That System.

We Are A People Of Improbable Hope.