Top 40 Dee Dee Myers Quotes

Democrats single out glaring examples of tax preferences or spending priorities that favor the wealthy and Republicans cry ‘class warfare!’

Women’s particular experiences continue to shape not just their points of view but their actions, in the United States and around the world.

After I left the White House, I kept a foothold in the business of American politics; as a talk-show host, analyst, commentator, speechmaker, and occasional writer. I was no longer a practitioner, but I was still a partisan, a Democrat, a blue-stater through and through.

That’s not to say that women’s priorities are better than men’s. Rather, when women are empowered, when they can speak from the experience of their own lives, they often address different, previously neglected issues. And families and whole communities benefit.

I think a lot of presidents learn to be president by being president.

For generations, Americans who aren’t rich have been generous and admiring of their wealthy compatriots – want a country where people who work hard can succeed, where the same rules apply to everyone. They expect to have their own shot at getting rich. But increasingly, they are seeing that the game is rigged.

1992 became known as the ‘Year of the Woman’ because so many of us were elected to public office that November, including a record six to the United States Senate.

Study after study confirms that even when you control for variables like profession, education, hours worked, age, marital status, and children, men still are compensated substantially more – even in professions, like nursing, dominated by women. No wonder there’s a gender gap.

A lot of people over time have had this kind of pattern in their relationship with Bill Clinton. You first meet him and you’re overwhelmed by his talent. He’s so energetic and articulate and full of ideas and he calls himself a congenital optimist and that optimism is contagious.

Yes, Bill Clinton is a big flirt.

Clinton’s resilience became sort of the secret weapon of the campaign. He was never going to just give up and get out.

Many differences are rooted in biology and reinforced through culture, so it’s important to acknowledge that. Because if you say men and women are the same and if male behaviour is the norm, and women are always expected to act like men, we will never be as good at being men as men are.

I think how pay gets determined is pretty broad – experience, how people look, what they bring to the job. But there’s no question women are paid less. Women don’t ask.

Barack Obama is the most famous living person in the history of the world.

President Clinton intentionally created a structure that was a little loose. And one that kept him a little in the center. He didn’t want one person filtering all the information that went to him. He had always operated with a lot of information coming in and a lot of stuff going out.

As women slowly gain power, their values and priorities are reshaping the agenda. A multitude of studies show that when women control the family funds, they generally spend more on health, nutrition, and education – and less on alcohol and cigarettes.

And Clinton was like that – he saw the whole playing field. He didn’t just see the event that he was at or the circumstances of that week or that month. He saw the whole playing field all the time.

Having a sense of humor has served me more than it has hurt me – just in the sense that it has allowed me to keep my sanity.

Trying to negotiate getting a couple of kids to watch the same TV show requires serious diplomacy.

The exposed nature of life in the public square affects leaders’ attitudes toward risk – and failure.

The dirty little secret is that the pool man, who’s making $30,000 a year, is subsidizing the million-dollar mortgage for the family whose pool he cleans. No wonder people want to get rid of tax breaks for corporate jets.

Obama seems like he tries to talk everyone into what he believes – and that’s part of why we elected him, because he’s a calm, reasonable guy – but behind that, there has to be some fight. You have to be able to take a few punches and throw a few punches.

It’s a lot easier to opine from the sidelines.

On the day I started college in 1979, no woman had ever been on the United States Supreme Court or served as the Speaker of the House. None had been an astronaut or the solo anchor of a network evening news broadcast. Not one had been president of an Ivy League college or run a serious campaign for president.

No reporter is flying around in borrowed twin-engine airplanes.

Even tax breaks that are supposed to help the middle class too often skew toward the wealthy. Consider the mortgage interest deduction. While political leaders in both parties have long considered it untouchable, it actually helps those at the top of the income scale far more than those at the bottom.

Exponential growth in access to the Internet, satellite television and radio, cell phones, and P.D.A.’s means that breaking news now reaches virtually every corner of the globe.

President Barack Obama would do well to take a page or two from Clinton’s playbook.

This is a generation weaned on Watergate, and there is no presumption of innocence and no presumption of good intentions. Instead, there is a presumption that, without relentless scrutiny, the government will misbehave.

We don’t take credit for our accomplishments. I can’t tell you how many times you’ll say to a woman, ‘Oh God, what you did was so great’, and they say, ‘Really? I didn’t think it was that good.’

The press never accepts at face value that the President is taking a certain action because he wants to create jobs or because he believes that it is in the best interests of the American people or that he is genuinely committed to making life better for people.

Washington is still very much a male-oriented culture. Being from Los Angeles, I think it is less so there – there is less attachment to tradition, perhaps, there is more flexibility, more acceptance of change generally. That is partly because of Hollywood.

In a way I think Bill Clinton is more likely to forgive and move on or at least try to woo people who don’t love him. But he never really tried to woo the press as much as he might have.

Because if you say men and women are the same and if male behaviour is the norm, and women are always expected to act like men, we will never be as good at being men as men are.

As women have played an increasingly important role in politics, there is no question that they’ve brought a different perspective, focusing attention on a broader set of issues and building alliances with other women.

I am encouraged to see women are being elected in Chile, Argentina, Liberia, Ireland. More is more.

I was supposed to be authoritative, but at the same time had to be likeable, a quality that is a bonus, not a requirement, for men in the same position.

But research confirms that both Republican and Democratic women are more likely than their male counterparts to initiate and fight for bills that champion social justice, protect the environment, advocate for families, and promote nonviolent conflict resolution.

One thing I think is least realistic is that there were five people that made decisions in the fictional ‘West Wing.’ In real life, there are about five million people that weigh in.

I don’t think women hold all the answers, but with their skills, their strengths, we can get to a better place.