Barack Obama

Born 1961 · 44th President of the United States (2009–2017)

Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, the first Black American elected to the office. A former community organizer, constitutional law lecturer and U.S. Senator from Illinois, he built his political rise substantially on his voice — the 2004 convention keynote, the 2008 campaign, and a cadence borrowed openly from the Black church and the civil rights pulpit. That inheritance is audible in this passage, which lands right after he quotes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and which he delivered in a preacher’s rhythm to a room of 3,000.

Traced to source

5 quotes we’ve traced to Barack Obama

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for”

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“In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope”

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“The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on”

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“We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”

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“Yes we can”

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