“By college, I had a really grand, preposterous vision of myself as becoming a writer, but I don't think I had the discipline or the patience - or the ability or the humility. It took 20 years to acquire those things.” ThinkingYearsAbilityVisionHumilityCollegeBecomingDisciplineAcquire Author:Nguyen Viet Thang
“The first thing I would do would be to move forward with an agenda to make sure that we give D.C. the opportunity to elect its own representatives and have some political power on Capitol Hill.” GivingFirstsWould BeMovingPoliticalOpportunityMoving ForwardHillsAgendasRepresentativesPolitical PowerCapitolCapitol Hill Author:Barack Obama
“I never called myself a writer because it seemed so pretentious - a writer was what somebody else called you, a title bestowed.” TitlesPretentious Author:Nguyen Viet Thang
“No one wants for their child to become a refugee. It's an awful experience.” WantChildrenAwfulRefugee Author:Nguyen Viet Thang
“I want to deal with the homeless situation here in Washington, D.C. I think it is a travesty that we've got men - and increasingly women - families, across the street and the in shadow of this great capital, that shows a lack of concern, not just for the capital, but for American, when we are allowing something like that to happen.” ThinkingMenWantShowsHappensDealsSituationStreetsShadowConcernAllowingHomelessTravesty Author:Barack Obama
“I think it is important that we are targeting HIV/AIDS resources into the communities where we're seeing the highest growth rates. That means education and prevention, particularly with young people.” PeopleThinkingMeanImportantYoungGrowthCommunitySeeingHighestResourcesRateAidsHivPreventionHiv Aids Author:Barack Obama
“We think about the enormous costs of homelessness, or the enormous cost of HIV/AIDS, over the long term, as people visit emergency rooms, etc. The more we are investing in that ounce of prevention the better off we're going to be.” PeopleThinkingLongTermRoomsCostInvestingAidsEnormousLong TermEtcBetter OffEmergenciesHomelessnessHivPreventionHiv AidsEmergency Room Author:Barack Obama
“I think we have two conflicting traditions in this country. I think it's important for us to recognize that we've got a tradition of handgun ownership and gun ownership generally. And a lot of people - law-abiding citizens use if for hunting, for sportsmanship, and for protecting their families. We also have a violence on the streets that is the result of illegal handgun usage. And so I think there is nothing wrong with a community saying we are going to take those illegal handguns off the streets.” PeopleIfsThinkingTwoImportantCountryUseLawCommunityResultsViolenceStreetsCitizensGunTraditionIllegalHuntingOwnershipAbidingUsageSportsmanshipHandgunsLaw Abiding CitizenGun Ownership Author:Barack Obama
“We are going to trace more effectively, how these guns are ending up on the streets, to unscrupulous gun dealers, who often times are selling to straw purchasers. And cracking down on the various loopholes that exist in terms of background checks for children, the mentally ill.” ChildrenTermStreetsGunIllVariousBackgroundsChecksSellingDealerStrawsMentally IllLoopholesBackground ChecksPurchasers Author:Barack Obama
“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.” PeopleThinkingProblemPositionNosesRegulationTentsCamelsNra Author:Barack Obama