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" The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not likely to get it done. "
H. W. Brands
Minutes
Stuff
Union
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" George W. Bush has shown himself to be a decent guy, not exploiting his former office to make top dollars giving speeches. "
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" The candidate who promises the most has the best chance of winning. "
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" To me, the puzzle of Ronald Reagan is how a comparatively ordinary man, someone with not extraordinary talent, accomplished such extraordinary results. At the age of 50, no one expected that this was going to be the guy who would become, at least in my interpretation, one of the two most important presidents of the 20th century. "
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" He used humor more effectively than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Reagan was not an especially warm person, but he appeared to be. Many people disliked his policies, but almost no one disliked him. "
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" I'm more inclined to say the presidency has changed Trump rather than Trump changed the presidency. He has moderated or reversed himself on most of the positions he took as a candidate. Reality has set in, as it does with every new president. "
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" When people think of the oil industry, they think of Rockefeller, much like when people think of the software industry, they think of Bill Gates. "
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Think
" When a president doesn't know the policy, it doesn't make for a very effective leader. "
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Leader
Make
Policy
" I had long known the story of Aaron Burr, but when I heard about his remarkable daughter, Theodosia, about the relationship between the two and about her tragic disappearance, I knew I wanted to tell their story. "
H. W. Brands
Daughter
Two
Story
" Our love for the Founders leads us to abandon, and even to betray, the very principles they fought for. "
H. W. Brands
Abandon
Us
Our Love
" When a president was elected with foreign policy experience, it was usually less about his foreign policy experience than other things. "
H. W. Brands
Experience
Foreign Policy
Less
" President Obama ran a campaign in 2008 that was entirely expected from a non-incumbent. You promise, and you imply that if you elect me, everything good is going to happen. "
H. W. Brands
Happen
Me
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" Even when candidates have degrees from Harvard and Yale, they try to run as the candidate of the common man. "
H. W. Brands
Yale
Run
Common
" If the incumbent or his party has been discredited sufficiently, the challenger can run a successful, content-free campaign. "
H. W. Brands
Run
Been
Campaign
" If you wanted to, you could write history in Haiku. "
H. W. Brands
You
Wanted
Write
" Booker Washington was essentially the head Republican boss in the South. He was a power broker. "
H. W. Brands
Republican
Power
He
" In some ways, I would be absolutely fascinated if Trump gets elected. "
H. W. Brands
Trump
Some
Absolutely
" Some years ago, I read Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution, and I was very taken by the way he told the story, and it seemed as though I was right in the middle of things. And it took me a while to figure out how he achieved that effect, and one of the ways was to write it in the present tense. "
H. W. Brands
Revolution
History
Story
" Most presidents have not considered 100 days a significant milepost. "
H. W. Brands
Considered
Days
Most
" The American political system is based on the president taking the initiative and Congress responding. With President Trump, it's been the opposite. "
H. W. Brands
System
Congress
Political
" I read in all forms: paper, computer, phone, audio. "
H. W. Brands
Paper
Phone
Read
" Reagan is the subject of ongoing political debate, and a lot of liberals don't want to take Reagan any more seriously than they did when he was president. I understand why they don't, but they should. "
H. W. Brands
Understand
Political
Seriously
" It's hard to get in the head of somebody. The closest we can get is through the words they've left behind, either their contemporary correspondence or after-the-fact memoirs. "
H. W. Brands
Head
Hard
Behind
" The race question in America has often been about race, but it has equally often been about power. "
H. W. Brands
Been
Race
Question
" I cannot think of a president or administration that has taken seriously the 100 days. "
H. W. Brands
Days
Taken
Seriously
" It wasn't the smiling Trump that people elected. It was the frowning, glowering, angry Donald Trump that people elected. "
H. W. Brands
Angry
Smiling
People
" When the Constitution was written in 1787, there was this supposition that American politics would be above party. The people who would staff the positions in government would have the interests of the country, or at least their states and congressional districts, at heart, and so they wouldn't form permanent political parties. "
H. W. Brands
Heart
Politics
Government
" On style points alone, Donald Trump makes GWB look magnificently presidential. "
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Alone
Style
Makes
" The Catalonian movement is quite serious; I don't think it's simply symbolic. I think that they believe that Catalonia can be more successful on its own than as part of Spain. "
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Think
Successful
Serious
" You might say presidents are drafting the first chapter of their memoirs in these seventh-year State of the Union addresses. They're trying to get the public and the media to think about their presidencies in the way that they would like to have them thought of. "
H. W. Brands
Say
Think
Thought
" There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which you comport yourself. As an observer of the presidency, I have to wonder if Trump would follow that pattern. "
H. W. Brands
Dignity
People
Wonder