People don’t understand that all presidents, the minute they become president, get a knock at the door. And there’s a man there saying, ‘Let’s talk about your funeral.’ At the time I thought, God, that’s a terrible thing. Later on, I thought it was pretty wise.
You know how old I am? I’m so old, I remember when Letterman used to be funny and it was presidents who were serious. That’s how old I am.
I have been chastised by a president, I have antagonized and angered presidents, and I have taken on my own leadership.
Bill Clinton was in the line of great progressive presidents who faced the realities in his own time and applied innovative solutions to problems.
In fact, American presidents never apologize for what America does in war, because in the American mind, all its wars are defensive, always fought from the high moral ground, always good versus evil.
When I am speaking about American presidents, I have to speak about my very special relations with President Clinton. He contributed more to peace than anybody else in the American sense.
It is never ok for politicians to abuse their power for self enrichment, and even for has-beens and also-rans there has to be some brand of justice so present and future presidents don’t get lured into taking crafty, well disguised bribes pretending it’s ‘charity.’
I’m just raising money. Dead presidents are my relatives.
I spent time in refugee camps in Southeast Asia, and in the projects of Chicago. I’ve been to State dinners with Presidents. I met the Queen of England on a beach in Anguilla. No one is any more valuable or important than you are. No one is more important than your family and your friends.
But presidents matter. That’s one of the biggest lessons I learned being in the White House.
Our relationship with presidents is often like that of a teenager and parent. He’s our leader, but sometimes we rail against his decisions for us. We push back at times to make sure he knows who’s boss.
There’s already been black presidents who’ve been corrupt, so it doesn’t strike me that having a black man in office means he’s going to be the Messiah.
There is no prospect of any of us being able to kick out any of the presidents of Europe; they operate in a sphere and a realm well away from and out of reach of and out of touch with the people.
Truman has become the patron saint of failed presidents because he left office with a 27 percent approval rating, and people were saying, ‘To err is Truman,’ yet look at what he did: the Marshall Plan, the creation of NATO, the Truman Doctrine.
The Cold War is over. The kind of authority that the presidents asserted during the Cold War has now been diminished.
Ever since we’ve had electronic communications, and particularly during a time of war, presidents have authorized the electronic surveillance of the enemy.
We, the people. Manifest Destiny. Conceived in liberty. Fear itself. Ask not. Morning in America. United we stand. Yes, we can. In times of great change and tumult, presidents seek to inspire beleaguered Americans by reminding them of their national identity.
Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change.
Before the Kennedys were elected, there had been older Presidents. Then here was this devastatingly attractive young couple with two beautiful children. They were so intelligent, graceful, gracious and funny. They enjoyed life so much. That’s what caught America’s eye.
The unknown has undone many a president, and no matter the popularity of an Oval Office occupant, any and all presidents are vulnerable. Of course, one thing that seems to set Obama part from his recent predecessors is his ability to keep an inner calm about tough issues.
The laws have become so straight-jacketing that presidents and their aides dare not keep journals or diaries, lest they be subpoenaed by avid special prosecutors.
The principles and policy of these Presidents were marked by the most enlarged and comprehensive statesmanship, promoting the highest interests of the Republic.
I would have to say that Richard Nixon is probably the most gifted and skilled political practitioner, in his pre-presidential years, of all of the American presidents in the 20th century.
All of the American presidents, certainly all of the notable ones, have been pretty original.
Iran would have become a nuclear power had President Obama not united most of the world in boycotting Iranian oil sales, which crippled Iran’s economy and forced it to negotiate. Other presidents tried to stop Iran’s nuclear program. They failed. Obama succeeded.
Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy shared more than just being leaders during critical times and the misfortune of lives cut short. They shared a power of will to drive the nation, sometimes single-handedly, toward a destination that few but they realized was attainable.
I have known several presidents quite well, including my husband, and I worked closely with President George W. Bush and the White House then after 9/11, and I served with President Obama. I disagree with all three of those presidents on certain things.
And what does reward virtue? You think the communist commissar rewards virtue? You think a Hitler rewards virtue? You think, excuse me, if you’ll pardon me, American presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout?
Look, I worked with American Republican presidents and Democratic presidents, all of them, and each of them has shown a deep and profound friendship to Israel, you know? I can’t remember anybody who was in that sense negative as far as Israel is concerned.
Traditionally Presidents Day was Washington’s birthday. It was celebrated as a public holiday on February 22 each year, in peace or in war.
Doctrines provide an architecture for both Republican and Democrat presidents to carry out policies.
I think during a campaign it’s perfectly OK to do what you need to do. But then the idea, I would argue is for former presidents to fall in line and do the best they can to support the current president, whoever that might be.
Surgeon generals are appointed by presidents, but our work isn’t about politics. Our highest duty to to the public. Our true guide is science. Our job is to speak the truth about public health, even when it’s controversial or perceived as political.
Presidents and prime ministers, whether they live in the rich or the poor world, are insulated and isolated from the devastating impact of global poverty. They read the statistics, but they rarely witness at first hand the misery and degradation of life on a dollar a day.
In England, the club presidents do not seek publicity or have a high profile. In Spain, they like to be considered the most important person at the club.
As an economist specializing in the global economy, international trade and debt, I have spent most of my career helping others make big decisions – prime ministers, presidents and chief executives – and so I’m all too aware of the risks and dangers of poor choices in the public as well as the private sphere.
Weak presidents are neither respected nor electorally rewarded by their publics.
From the outside, Yahoo was extremely successful. It was making money; it was still bigger than Google. But when I got there, I learned what a disaster of a company looks like from the inside. There were a lot of vice presidents, and it was basically a turf battle between them.
I’ve been really privileged to work for two presidents – President Obama and President Clinton – who are both people of faith, who value faith, and who respect that others have the same feelings in their own lives.
True, most Americans give lip service to the proposition that even the most exalted among us have their flaws, but we are eager to believe that presidents manage to rise above the limitations that beset the rest of us.
Successive American presidents have turned a blind eye to piles of evidence that Saudi money is being used to foment holy war against America.
Presidents have the right to nominate their own cabinet secretaries. But their nominees don’t have a right to confirmation. Senators have a constitutional duty to advise and consent to the appointment of all Cabinet officials. They should take that duty seriously.
People tend to judge presidents on how the economy performs, and yet we don’t expect them to have the power to do much about it. Or we don’t want them to exercise that power, if they were to have it.
You’ve all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve, and character – one of the finest presidents we have ever had.
All information belongs to everybody all the time. It should be available. It should be accessible to the child, to the woman, to the man, to the old person, to the semiliterate, to the presidents of universities, to everyone. It should be open.
With the sole exception of President Bill Clinton, whose ‘bridge to the 21st century’ evoked the vision and optimism of other great Democratic presidents of the 20th century, such as FDR and John F. Kennedy, pessimism about America’s economic future has been the hallmark of modern progressivism.
