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Barack Obama: “Our nation began with a promise of freedom that applied only…”

Featuring: Barack Obama, Democratic | 44th President of the United States | National

Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly

Published September 20, 2016 | Video Starts at 22:05

Now, I will admit my belief that governments serve the individual and not the other way around is shaped by America's story. Our nation began with a promise of freedom that applied only to the few. But because of our democratic constitution, because of our Bill of Rights, because of our ideals, ordinary people were able to organize and march and protest. (22:05–22:10)

CLAIM

Asserts that the U.S. initially promised freedom to a limited group.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Barack Obama

“Over the last 25 years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been cut from nearly 40% of humanity to under 10%.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 05:19-05:28
“The number of democracies around the world has nearly doubled in the last 25 years.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 06:40-06:47
“Nearly $8 trillion stashed away in tax havens and a shadow banking system that grows beyond the reach of effective oversight.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 12:19-12:30
“A world in which 1% of humanity controls as much wealth as the other 99% will never be stable.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 12:33-12:42
“After the recession, the top 1% of Americans were capturing more than 90% of income growth. But today that's down to about half.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 15:14-15:24
“Last year, poverty in this country fell at the fastest rate in nearly 50 [years].”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 15:25-15:30
“We coordinated our response to avoid further catastrophe and return the global economy to growth.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 00:26-00:34
“We've taken away terrorist safe havens, strengthened the non proliferation regime, resolved the Iranian nuclear issue.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 00:35-00:46
“Through diplomacy, we opened relations with Cuba, helped Colombia and let end Latin America's longest war.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 00:45-00:57
“We established a framework to protect our planet from the ravages of climate change.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 01:17-01:32
“They [Ukrainians] demanded change because they saw life get better for people in the Baltics and in Poland.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 04:34-23:56
“The integration of our global economy has made life better for billions of men, women, and children.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 05:09-05:18
“China and India remain on a path of remarkable growth.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 07:40-07:46
“The existing path to global integration requires a course correction.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 08:19-08:24
“International institutions are ill-equipped, underfunded, under-resourced to handle transnational challenges.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 08:25-08:51
“A nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 10:15-10:19
“Globalization, combined with rapid progress in technology, has weakened the position of workers.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 11:12-11:31
“Open markets, capitalism have raised standards of living around the globe.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 11:12-11:21
“In advanced economies like my own, unions have been undermined and many manufacturing jobs have disappeared.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 11:32-11:40
“American businesses have created now 15 million new jobs.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 15:09-15:13
“We've worked with other nations to create higher and clearer standards for banking and taxation.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 15:59-16:05
“We've pushed for transparency and cooperation in rooting out corruption and tracking illicit dollars.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 16:15-16:23
“We've worked to reach trade agreements that raise labor standards and raise environmental standards, as we've done with the Trans Pacific…”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 16:33-16:41
“For the small fraction of what we spent at war in Iraq, we could support institutions so that fragile states don't collapse.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 17:15-17:24
“The Paris Agreement gives us a framework to act, but only if we scale up our ambition.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 17:55-18:00
“For the wealthiest countries, a Green Climate Fund should only be the beginning.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 18:10-18:15
“I believe in a liberal political order, an order built not just through elections and representative government, but also through respect…”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 19:17-19:33
“Entrepreneurs need to access information in order to invent.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 21:08-21:13
“Young people need a global education in order to thrive.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 21:14-21:18
“Independent media needs to check the abuses of power.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 21:18-21:24
“The countries that have succeeded are ones in which people feel they have a stake.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 23:16-23:25
“In Europe, the progress of those countries in the former Soviet bloc that embraced democracy stand in clear contrast to those that did not.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 23:27-23:37
“The people of Ukraine did not take to the streets because of some plot imposed from abroad.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 23:38-23:44
“In America, there is too much money in politics, too much entrenched partisanship, too little participation by citizens.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 24:37-24:49
“A patchwork of laws makes it harder to vote [in America].”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 24:37-24:49
“In Europe, a well-intentioned Brussels often became too isolated from the normal push and pull of national politics.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 24:51-25:00
“Democracy needs to be driven by civic engagement from the bottom up, not governance by experts from the top down.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 25:07-25:15
“Every country will organize its government, informed by centuries of history and the circumstances of geography and the deeply held beliefs…”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 25:31-25:40
“Global integration has led to a collision of cultures.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 27:12-27:16
“We see Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 27:43-27:51
“Leaders sought legitimacy, not because of policies or programs, but by resorting to persecuting political opposition or demonizing other…”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 29:32-29:47
“These forces built up for years and are now at work helping to fuel both Syria's tragic civil war and the mindless medieval menace of ISIL.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 30:00-30:10
“No external power is going to be able to force different religious communities or ethnic communities to coexist for long.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 30:25-30:33
“Our international community must continue to work with those who seek to build rather than to destroy.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 30:38-30:44
“It means being united and relentless in destroying networks like ISIL, which show no respect for human life.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 30:47-30:54
“In a place like Syria, where there is no ultimate military victory to be won, we're going to have to pursue the hard work of diplomacy.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 30:56-31:05
“Extremism will continue to be exported overseas, and the world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall and prevent it from…”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 31:48-32:02
“Surely we can sustain our unique traditions while giving women their full and rightful role in the politics and economics of a nation.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 32:18-32:26
“Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 32:58-33:04
“America has been a rare superpower in human history insofar as it has been willing to think beyond narrow self-interest.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 34:18-34:32
“We have secured allies. We've acted to protect the vulnerable. We've supported human rights and welcomed scrutiny of our own actions.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 34:55-35:06
“We cannot escape the prospect of nuclear war unless we all commit to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 35:50-35:57
“When Iran agrees to accept constraints on its nuclear program that enhances global security.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 36:01-36:10
“Those nations with these weapons, like the United States, have a unique responsibility to pursue the path of reducing our stockpiles.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 36:27-36:36
“We can't combat a disease like Zika that recognizes no borders, mosquitoes don't respect walls.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 36:44-36:52
“Many nations, particularly those blessed with wealth and the benefits of geography, can do more to offer a hand [to refugees].”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 41:01-41:13
“The choices of individual human beings led to repeated world war.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 42:43-42:47
“The choices of individual human beings created a United Nations so that a war like that would never happen again.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 42:53-43:00
“Young people are more educated and more tolerant and more inclusive and more diverse and more creative than our generation.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 43:57-44:17
“Young people's access to information about other peoples and places [is] an understanding unique in human history.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 44:21-44:27
“America has been built by immigrants from every shore.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 45:57-46:02
“Our identities do not have to be defined by putting someone else down, but can be enhanced by lifting somebody else up.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 46:12-46:24
“The embrace of these principles as universal doesn't weaken my particular pride, my particular love for America. It strengthens it.”
Final Address by President at United Nations General Assembly | Uploaded September 20, 2016 | 46:35-46:47