Barack Obama's Speeches On The Big Issues
The New President Speaks on Iraq, Oil, Guantanamo and the Future
Jan 21, 2009
With Barack Obama sworn in as the 45th President of the Unites States, there will be much debate over what he believes in. Some clues about what Obama believes in may be found in these extracts from his speeches across the years.
Barack Obama on the War in Iraq: Federal Plaza, Chicago, 2nd October 2002
"I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the great depression.
"That’s what I am opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics."
Barack Obama on America’s Reliance on Oil and the Bush Administration: Chicago, 3 April 2006
"The Bush administration’s record on climate change is almost legendary. This is the administration that commissioned government experts and scientists to do a study on global warming, only to omit the part from the final report that said it was caused by humans.
"Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step programme. Its not enough to identify the challenge, we have to meet it."
Barack Obama on ‘Taking Back America’: Washington 14th June 2006
"This is our time. Our time to make a mark on history. Our time to write a new chapter in the American story. Our time to leave our children a country that is freer and kinder, more prosperous and more just than the place we grew up in."
Barack Obama on Guantanamo and Homeland Security: Washington 27 September 2006
"The bottom line is this. Current procedures under the Combatant Status Review Tribunals are such that a perfectly innocent individual could be held and could not rebut the government’s case and has no way of proving his innocence.
"I would like somebody in this chamber (the Senate), somebody in this government (the bush administration) to tell me why this is necessary.
"I would gladly take up arms myself against any terrorist threat to make sure my family is protected.
"As a parent I can also imagine the terror I would feel if one of my family members were rounded up in the middle of the night and sent to Guantanamo without even getting one chance to ask why they were being held and being able to prove their innocence.
"As one US commander of Guantanamo told the Wall Street Journal, ‘Sometimes we just don’t get the right folks.’ "
