20160112_Obama_state_of_the_union.tsv

1	Obama	Of course, a great education isn't all we need in this new economy.	0
2	Obama	We also need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security.	0
3	Obama	After all, it's not much of a stretch to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber.	0
4	Obama	For everyone else, especially folks in their forties and fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has gotten a lot tougher.	0
5	Obama	Americans understand that at some point in their careers, they may have to retool and retrain.	0
6	Obama	But they shouldn't lose what they've already worked so hard to build.	0
7	Obama	That's why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever; we shouldn't weaken them, we should strengthen them.	0
8	Obama	And for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything else is today.	0
9	Obama	That's what the Affordable Care Act is all about.	0
10	Obama	It's about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, we'll still have coverage.	0
11	Obama	Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far.	0
12	Obama	Health care inflation has slowed.	0
13	Obama	And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law.	1
14	Obama	Now, I'm guessing we won't agree on health care anytime soon.	0
15	Obama	But there should be other ways both parties can improve economic security.	0
16	Obama	Say a hardworking American loses his job – we shouldn't just make sure he can get unemployment insurance; we should make sure that program encourages him to retrain for a business that's ready to hire him.	0
17	Obama	If that new job doesn't pay as much, there should be a system of wage insurance in place so that he can still pay his bills.	0
18	Obama	And even if he's going from job to job, he should still be able to save for retirement and take his savings with him.	0
19	Obama	That's the way we make the new economy work better for everyone.	0
20	Obama	I also know Speaker Ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty.	0
21	Obama	America is about giving everybody willing to work a hand up, and I'd welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like expanding tax cuts for low-income workers without kids.	0
22	Obama	But there are other areas where it's been more difficult to find agreement over the last seven years – namely what role the government should play in making sure the system's not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations.	0
23	Obama	And here, the American people have a choice to make.	0
24	Obama	I believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy.	0
25	Obama	I think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed, and there's red tape that needs to be cut.	0
26	Obama	But after years of record corporate profits, working families won't get more opportunity or bigger paychecks by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at the expense of everyone else; or by allowing attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered.	0
27	Obama	Food Stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did.	0
28	Obama	Immigrants aren't the reason wages haven't gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns.	0
29	Obama	It's sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts.	0
30	Obama	In this new economy, workers and start-ups and small businesses need more of a voice, not less.	0
31	Obama	The rules should work for them.	0
32	Obama	And this year I plan to lift up the many businesses who've figured out that doing right by their workers ends up being good for their shareholders, their customers, and their communities, so that we can spread those best practices across America.	0
33	Obama	In fact, many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative.	0
34	Obama	This brings me to the second big question we have to answer as a country: how do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges?	0
35	Obama	Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny Sputnik was up there.	0
36	Obama	We didn't argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget.	0
37	Obama	We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon.	0
38	Obama	That spirit of discovery is in our DNA.	0
39	Obama	We're Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver.	0
40	Obama	We're Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride.	0
41	Obama	We're every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world.	0
42	Obama	And over the past seven years, we've nurtured that spirit.	0
43	Obama	We've protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online.	0
44	Obama	We've launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.	0
45	Obama	But we can do so much more.	0
46	Obama	Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer.	0
47	Obama	Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they've had in over a decade.	0
48	Obama	Tonight, I'm announcing a new national effort to get it done.	0
49	Obama	And because he's gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I'm putting Joe in charge of Mission Control.	0
50	Obama	For the loved ones we've all lost, for the family we can still save, let's make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.	0
51	Obama	Medical research is critical.	0
52	Obama	We need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources.	0
53	Obama	Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it.	0
54	Obama	You'll be pretty lonely, because you'll be debating our military, most of America's business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it's a problem and intend to solve it.	0
55	Obama	But even if the planet wasn't at stake; even if 2014 wasn't the warmest year on record – until 2015 turned out even hotter – why would we want to pass up the chance for American businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?	0
56	Obama	Seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history.	0
57	Obama	Here are the results.	0
58	Obama	In fields from Iowa to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power.	0
59	Obama	On rooftops from Arizona to New York, solar is saving Americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more Americans than coal – in jobs that pay better than average.	0
60	Obama	We're taking steps to give homeowners the freedom to generate and store their own energy – something environmentalists and Tea Partiers have teamed up to support.	0
61	Obama	Meanwhile, we've cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly sixty percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth.	0
62	Obama	Gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either.	0
63	Obama	Now we've got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy.	0
64	Obama	Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future – especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels.	0
65	Obama	That's why I'm going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.	0
66	Obama	That way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of Americans to work building a 21 st century transportation system.	0
67	Obama	None of this will happen overnight, and yes, there are plenty of entrenched interests who want to protect the status quo.	0
68	Obama	But the jobs we'll create, the money we'll save, and the planet we'll preserve – that's the kind of future our kids and grandkids deserve.	0
69	Obama	Climate change is just one of many issues where our security is linked to the rest of the world.	0
70	Obama	And that's why the third big question we have to answer is how to keep America safe and strong without either isolating ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere there's a problem.	0
71	Obama	I told you earlier all the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air.	1
72	Obama	Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker.	1
73	Obama	The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth.	1
74	Obama	Period.	0
75	Obama	It's not even close.	0
76	Obama	We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined.	1
77	Obama	Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world.	0
78	Obama	No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that's the path to ruin.	0
79	Obama	Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.	0
80	Obama	As someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous time.	0
81	Obama	But that's not because of diminished American strength or some looming superpower.	0
82	Obama	In today's world, we're threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states.	0
83	Obama	The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia.	0
84	Obama	Economic headwinds blow from a Chinese economy in transition.	0
85	Obama	Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine and Syria – states they see slipping away from their orbit.	0
86	Obama	And the international system we built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality.	0
87	Obama	It's up to us to help remake that system.	0
88	Obama	And that means we have to set priorities.	0
89	Obama	Priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks.	0
90	Obama	Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in today's world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage.	0
91	Obama	They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies.	0
92	Obama	But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands.	0
93	Obama	Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped.	0
94	Obama	But they do not threaten our national existence.	0
95	Obama	That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit.	0
96	Obama	We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions.	0
97	Obama	We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.	0
98	Obama	That's exactly what we are doing.	0
99	Obama	For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISIL's financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology.	0
100	Obama	With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons.	0
101	Obama	We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria.	0
102	Obama	If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL.	0
103	Obama	Take a vote.	0
104	Obama	But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them.	0
105	Obama	If you doubt America's commitment – or mine – to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden.	0
106	Obama	Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell.	0
107	Obama	When you come after Americans, we go after you.	0
108	Obama	It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit.	0
109	Obama	Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it can't stop there.	0
110	Obama	For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world – in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia.	0
111	Obama	Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees.	0
112	Obama	The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians.	0
113	Obama	That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage.	0
114	Obama	We also can't try to take over and rebuild every country that falls into crisis.	0
115	Obama	That's not leadership; that's a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately weakens us.	0
116	Obama	It's the lesson of Vietnam, of Iraq – and we should have learned it by now.	0
117	Obama	Fortunately, there's a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power.	0
118	Obama	It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight.	0
119	Obama	That's our approach to conflicts like Syria, where we're partnering with local forces and leading international efforts to help that broken society pursue a lasting peace.	0
120	Obama	That's why we built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.	0
121	Obama	As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war.	0
122	Obama	That's how we stopped the spread of Ebola in West Africa.	0
123	Obama	Our military, our doctors, and our development workers set up the platform that allowed other countries to join us in stamping out that epidemic.	0
124	Obama	That's how we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia.	0
125	Obama	It cuts 18,000 taxes on products Made in America, and supports more good jobs.	0
126	Obama	With TPP, China doesn't set the rules in that region, we do.	0
127	Obama	You want to show our strength in this century?	0
128	Obama	Approve this agreement.	0
129	Obama	Give us the tools to enforce it.	0
130	Obama	Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America.	0
131	Obama	That's why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people.	0
132	Obama	You want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere?	0
133	Obama	Recognize that the Cold War is over.	0
134	Obama	Lift the embargo.	0
135	Obama	American leadership in the 21 st century is not a choice between ignoring the rest of the world – except when we kill terrorists; or occupying and rebuilding whatever society is unraveling.	0
136	Obama	Leadership means a wise application of military power, and rallying the world behind causes that are right.	0
137	Obama	It means seeing our foreign assistance as part of our national security, not charity.	0
138	Obama	When we lead nearly 200 nations to the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change – that helps vulnerable countries, but it also protects our children.	0
139	Obama	When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend upon.	0
140	Obama	When we help African countries feed their people and care for the sick, that prevents the next pandemic from reaching our shores.	0
141	Obama	Right now, we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and we have the capacity to accomplish the same thing with malaria – something I'll be pushing this Congress to fund this year.	0
142	Obama	That's strength.	0
143	Obama	That's leadership.	0
144	Obama	And that kind of leadership depends on the power of our example.	0
145	Obama	That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: it's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.	1
146	Obama	That's why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion.	0
147	Obama	This isn't a matter of political correctness.	0
148	Obama	It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong.	0
149	Obama	The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.	0
150	Obama	His Holiness, Pope Francis, told this body from the very spot I stand tonight that "to imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place."	0
151	Obama	When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer.	0
152	Obama	That's not telling it like it is.	0
153	Obama	It's just wrong.	0
154	Obama	It diminishes us in the eyes of the world.	0
155	Obama	It makes it harder to achieve our goals.	0
156	Obama	And it betrays who we are as a country.	0
157	Obama	We the People.	0
158	Obama	Our Constitution begins with those three simple words, words we've come to recognize mean all the people, not just some; words that insist we rise and fall together.	0
159	Obama	That brings me to the fourth, and maybe the most important thing I want to say tonight.	0
160	Obama	The future we want – opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids – all that is within our reach.	0
161	Obama	But it will only happen if we work together.	0
162	Obama	It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates.	0
163	Obama	It will only happen if we fix our politics.	0
164	Obama	A better politics doesn't mean we have to agree on everything.	0
165	Obama	This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests.	0
166	Obama	That's one of our strengths, too.	0
167	Obama	Our Founders distributed power between states and branches of government, and expected us to argue, just as they did, over the size and shape of government, over commerce and foreign relations, over the meaning of liberty and the imperatives of security.	0
168	Obama	But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens.	0
169	Obama	It doesn't work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic.	0
170	Obama	Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us.	0
171	Obama	Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention.	0
172	Obama	Most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn't matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest.	0
173	Obama	Too many Americans feel that way right now.	0
174	Obama	It's one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better.	0
175	Obama	There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.	0
176	Obama	But, my fellow Americans, this cannot be my task – or any President's – alone.	0
177	Obama	There are a whole lot of folks in this chamber who would like to see more cooperation, a more elevated debate in Washington, but feel trapped by the demands of getting elected.	0
178	Obama	I know; you've told me.	0
179	Obama	And if we want a better politics, it's not enough to just change a Congressman or a Senator or even a President; we have to change the system to reflect our better selves.	0
180	Obama	We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.	0
181	Obama	We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families and hidden interests can't bankroll our elections – and if our existing approach to campaign finance can't pass muster in the courts, we need to work together to find a real solution.	0
182	Obama	We've got to make voting easier, not harder, and modernize it for the way we live now.	0
183	Obama	And over the course of this year, I intend to travel the country to push for reforms that do.	0
184	Obama	But I can't do these things on my own.	0
185	Obama	Changes in our political process – in not just who gets elected but how they get elected – that will only happen when the American people demand it.	0
186	Obama	It will depend on you.	0
187	Obama	That's what's meant by a government of, by, and for the people.	0
188	Obama	What I'm asking for is hard.	0
189	Obama	It's easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn't possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don't matter.	0
190	Obama	But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.	0
191	Obama	Those with money and power will gain greater control over the decisions that could send a young soldier to war, or allow another economic disaster, or roll back the equal rights and voting rights that generations of Americans have fought, even died, to secure.	0
192	Obama	As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.	0
193	Obama	We can't afford to go down that path.	0
194	Obama	It won't deliver the economy we want, or the security we want, but most of all, it contradicts everything that makes us the envy of the world.	0
195	Obama	So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen.	0
196	Obama	To vote.	0
197	Obama	To speak out.	0
198	Obama	To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us.	0
199	Obama	To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day.	0
200	Obama	It won't be easy.	0
201	Obama	Our brand of democracy is hard.	0
202	Obama	But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I'll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.	0
203	Obama	Voices that help us see ourselves not first and foremost as black or white or Asian or Latino, not as gay or straight, immigrant or native born; not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans first, bound by a common creed.	0
204	Obama	Voices Dr. King believed would have the final word – voices of unarmed truth and unconditional love.	0
205	Obama	They're out there, those voices.	0
206	Obama	They don't get a lot of attention, nor do they seek it, but they are busy doing the work this country needs doing.	0
207	Obama	I see them everywhere I travel in this incredible country of ours.	0
208	Obama	I see you.	0
209	Obama	I know you're there.	0
210	Obama	You're the reason why I have such incredible confidence in our future.	0
211	Obama	Because I see your quiet, sturdy citizenship all the time.	0
212	Obama	I see it in the worker on the assembly line who clocked extra shifts to keep his company open, and the boss who pays him higher wages to keep him on board.	0
213	Obama	I see it in the Dreamer who stays up late to finish her science project, and the teacher who comes in early because he knows she might someday cure a disease.	0
214	Obama	I see it in the American who served his time, and dreams of starting over – and the business owner who gives him that second chance.	0
215	Obama	The protester determined to prove that justice matters, and the young cop walking the beat, treating everybody with respect, doing the brave, quiet work of keeping us safe.	0
216	Obama	I see it in the soldier who gives almost everything to save his brothers, the nurse who tends to him 'til he can run a marathon, and the community that lines up to cheer him on.	0
217	Obama	It's the son who finds the courage to come out as who he is, and the father whose love for that son overrides everything he's been taught.	0
218	Obama	I see it in the elderly woman who will wait in line to cast her vote as long as she has to; the new citizen who casts his for the first time; the volunteers at the polls who believe every vote should count, because each of them in different ways know how much that precious right is worth.	0
219	Obama	That's the America I know.	0
220	Obama	That's the country we love.	0
221	Obama	Clear-eyed.	0
222	Obama	Big-hearted.	0
223	Obama	Optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.	0
224	Obama	That's what makes me so hopeful about our future.	0
225	Obama	Because of you.	0
226	Obama	I believe in you.	0
227	Obama	That's why I stand here confident that the State of our Union is strong.	0
228	Obama	Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.	0