Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" Clearly, the Obama presidency hasn't wiped out racial prejudices. "

Related Quotes:

" Voters don't have to love him, Romney advisers say, but they will respect him. "

" In the time it takes to heat a TV dinner, Clinton had convinced me that he was the smartest person in the room and that I was the center of his attention. In the next 25 years, I would see countless others fall just as quickly to the Clinton Touch. "

" The fact that Obama is getting criticism from the left and the right might reflect his understanding of the underlying political dynamics. "

" If history is a guide, a victory for Obama means he faces the prospect of a second term dogged by scandal or inertia. "

" Republicans would have preferred the court overturn the health care bill, an act that would have underscored Obama's biggest liability - the perception among voters, including those who like and trust him, that he has been ineffective. "

" A dose of humility goes a long way in life and in politics. "

" Somebody must be up and somebody must be down. Trouble is, campaigns are messy, subtle creatures that don't follow convenient narratives. "

" Blending hard-bitten realism with long-view optimism, Obama said that every 20 or 30 years brings a new cycle of pessimism in America. "

" White House operatives went to great lengths to show Obama shifting focus from wars abroad to domestic issues at home. "

" Obama will learn from his mistakes. "

" Washington's answer to a self-inflicted financial crisis reminded Americans why they so deeply distrust the political class. The 'fiscal cliff' process was secretive and sloppy, and the nation's so-called leadership lacked the political courage to address our root problems: joblessness and debt. "

" Election night is the easiest time to act like a grownup. "

" One of Obama's most impressive attributes is his quiet confidence: Voters sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, a dedicated father and friend who won't waste time with the phony rituals of Washington. "

" Part of the problem is voters know relatively little about Romney. And some of what they know about him complicates his task: Romney has a history of flip-flopping on issues, he's extraordinarily wealthy, and he can be tone-deaf about what moves voters. He just doesn't seem comfortable in his skin. "

" Andrew Jackson was the first president to claim that the desires of the public overrode Congress's constitutional prerogatives. Virtually every president since Jackson has claimed the mantle, even while lacking two ingredients of an electoral mandate: a landslide victory and a specific agenda. "

" Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt faced adversities that, in their times, seemed impregnable. Great presidents overcome great odds. "

" Political reporters and political professionals rushed to judgment against Romney because we crave clear, unambiguous story lines. "

" A concrete agenda and landslide victory might not even guarantee a president his mandate in a capital as polarized as Washington. "

" Hollywood has a history of raising expectations beyond Washington's reach, of appealing to the very American desire to mythologize political leaders, particularly the president. "

" According to a Public Policy Polling survey, most Americans find lice and colonoscopies more appealing than Capitol Hill. "

" This is Romney's biggest political weakness. His policy flip-flops and the general sense that he's not comfortable in his own skin leads voters, including many supporters, wondering about his core values. "

" Like a cowboy saddling a bucking stallion, Republican leaders tried to tame the Tea Party while riding it to victories. "

" For a man who has compared himself to Theodore Roosevelt and the nation's challenges to those of the Gilded Age, Obama put forward a tepid agenda. "

" One side of the American psyche wants smaller government, lower taxes, and more choices for individuals, even if those choices increase risk. The other wants a strong social safety net to protect the weakest among us, even if it costs more to minimize risk. "

" Barack Obama won a second term but no mandate. Thanks in part to his own small-bore and brutish campaign, victory guarantees the president nothing more than the headache of building consensus in a gridlocked capital on behalf of a polarized public. "

" At his best, Obama promised to work with Republicans to reduce the deficit in a way that honors both individualism and community. "

" Obama is capable - as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him. "

" At the start of his second term, one wonders less about Obama's fitness than his willingness: Why doesn't he do more to build and maintain the relationships required to govern in era of polarization? "

" Perhaps we should wait until his second term begins before carving Barack Obama's face in Mount Rushmore. Is that asking too much? "

" It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic. "