This President takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe we look to the cities and small towns of America. This President puts his faith in government. We put our faith in the American people.

My parents shared not only an improbable love they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name Barack or blessed believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

I knew that there were several among African-American leaders who had been put out by me because of my failure or reluctance to endorse Sen. Kerry.

American democracy must be a failure because it places the supreme authority in the hands of the poorest and most ignorant part of the society.

Our nation's Social Security Trust Fund is depleting at an alarming rate and failure to implement immediate reforms endangers the ability of Americans to plan for their retirement with the options and certainty they deserve.

Jobs for every American is doomed to failure because of modern automation and production. We ought to recognize it and create an income-maintenance system so every single American has the dignity and the wherewithal for shelter basic food and medical care. I'm talking about welfare for all. Without it you're going to have warfare for all.

Pharmaceutical companies are enjoying unprecedented profits and access with this Administration. Yet the Republicans' prescription drug plan for seniors has been a colossal failure and over 43 million Americans wake up every morning without health insurance.

Foreign aid is neither a failure nor a panacea. It is instead an important tool of American policy that can serve the interests of the United States and the world if wisely administered.

It is hard as an American to support the failure of American military operations in Iraq. Such failure will bring with it the death and wounding of many American service members and many more Iraqis.

Americans who make more of marrying for love than any other people also break up more of their marriages but the figure reflects not so much the failure of love as the determination of people not to live without it.

African Americans make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population but comprise 32 percent of patients treated for kidney failure giving them a kidney failure rate that is 4.2 times greater than that of white Americans.

Nixon's grand mistake was his failure to understand that Americans are forgiving and if he had admitted error early and apologized to the country he would have escaped.

With the NDAA his failure to close Guantanamo Bay and the ramping use of drones President Obama looks suspiciously like President Bush a man on a quest for American Empire.

The failure of national economic policy is costing us more than jobs it has begun to weaken that uniquely American spirit of risk-taking large ambition and optimism about the future. We must rally them now to bold departures that rebuild our national morale as well as our material prosperity.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt.

I live with one foot in the sand and one in the snow. There's European egocentricity and the African opposite. I normally say that my African experience has made me a better European.

The president felt that it was important to send an ordinary citizen to experience the excitement of space travel as a representative for all Americans.

Have you ever watched someone become American? Last week at a national citizenship conference I organize thirty immigrants from 17 countries swore an oath and became citizens of the United States. It was a stirring experience for the hundreds of people in the room.

The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality basic human rights freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

I want people to think of me as a nice person. I really am so blessed. All of this has been a great experience and I thank the American public so much for putting me in this position. I appreciate every second of it.

I think on-stage nudity is disgusting shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body it would be artistic tasteful patriotic and a progressive religious experience.

The most important American addition to the World Experience was the simple surprising fact of America. We have helped prepare mankind for all its later surprises.

So when you do your family tree and Margaret Cho does hers and... Wanda Sykes and John Legend... we're adding to the database that scholars can then draw from to generalize about the complexity of the American experience. And that's the contribution that family trees make to broader scholarship.

We can not continue to allow this over reliance on government to replace the cornerstone institution that has made the American experience possible.