Words matter. These are the best Ron Fournier Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Political reporters and political professionals rushed to judgment against Romney because we crave clear, unambiguous story lines.
Close elections tend to break toward the challenger because undecided voters – having held out so long against the incumbent – are by nature looking for change.
The fact that Obama is getting criticism from the left and the right might reflect his understanding of the underlying political dynamics.
Historians will likely give Obama credit for steering the country away from the brink of economic collapse in 2009.
Although we were never pals and occasionally butted heads, my relationship with Clinton and his wife, Hillary, made me a better journalist.
Got good news and bad news for you, Mr. President. The good news is that Chief Justice John Roberts just saved your legacy and, perhaps, your presidency by writing for the Supreme Court majority to rule health care reform constitutional.
Perhaps we should wait until his second term begins before carving Barack Obama’s face in Mount Rushmore. Is that asking too much?
In times of tumult, voters are likely to forgive a president, if not reward him, for compromises made in service of solutions.
Obama won the presidency on the strength of his message and the skills of the messenger. Now the talk of hope and change feels out of tune when so many Americans are out of work, over-mortgaged, and worried that life will be even tougher for their children.
A sagging economy, a soaring national debt, and an increasingly restive Congress pushed Obama to order troop reductions that are both deeper and faster than recommended by his military commanders.
If history is a guide, a victory for Obama means he faces the prospect of a second term dogged by scandal or inertia.
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?
Once a popular Alaska governor with a modest record of accomplishment, Palin could conceivably revive her reputation in this era of short memories. But it’s hard to imagine her name atop the GOP ballot in 2016, when a cast of heavyweights who sat out 2012 will be vying for the nomination.
It’s an appeal as old as America and its presidency: This is an extraordinary country populated by hard-working, big-dreaming, freedom-loving people graced by God when they’re not pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.
A concrete agenda and landslide victory might not even guarantee a president his mandate in a capital as polarized as Washington.
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.
The problem, gentlemen, is that Obama is right: The promise of upward mobility is dying in America, and no amount of political demagoguery will fix it.
Most political journalists come to Washington because they’re snappy writers, big thinkers, or news breakers. Me? My ticket to the big leagues had little to do with talent. It was mostly about the governor I was covering, Bill Clinton.
Anything may be possible in America, but a Palin presidency is virtually implausible.
By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn’t suffer fools – a striving politician who considers himself above politics.
Obama does not need to worry as much as past Democratic presidents about being labeled soft on national security – not after giving the order that led to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. No, his biggest concern is being labeled tone deaf on joblessness and debt.
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.
I’m hearing echoes of Bill Clinton, circa 1996, in President Obama’s reelection rhetoric.
Barack Obama may have found the answer to his biggest rhetorical challenge: When millions of voters are unemployed or underemployed, how does a president simultaneously sound realistic and optimistic?
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.
Palin seems to have forgotten that her poll ratings have plummeted since the summer of 2011.
Christie led the way – with a bulldozer. The governor is blunt, brash, and self-consciously authentic, the antithesis to what turns off today’s voters: flip-flopping politicians who speak in poll-tested platitudes. Yes, he’s the anti-Romney.
American exceptionalism is the recurring character in the nation’s narrative.
According to a Public Policy Polling survey, most Americans find lice and colonoscopies more appealing than Capitol Hill.
If Mitt Romney is vanilla, Chris Christie is three hefty scoops of Rocky Road topped with whipped cream, Red Bull, and gravel.
Obama will learn from his mistakes.
Obama still has work to do with the vision thing. Convincing voters that he has a credible, practical plan to turn the nation around is a process, not a speech.
If acknowledging that racial misgivings and misunderstandings are still a part of politics and life in America, I plead guilty.
Say what you want to say about the rest of his presidency, including his tone-deaf response to Katrina and a war waged in Iraq on false pretenses, Bush connected with Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 because he looked as frail and unforgiving as we felt.
The 2016 presidential election is ripe for the emergence of a game-changing political leader who either dramatically reforms one of the existing parties or mounts an independent bid.
Every now and then, a presidential candidate surprises us with a truly human and honest moment.
White House operatives went to great lengths to show Obama shifting focus from wars abroad to domestic issues at home.
Like a cowboy saddling a bucking stallion, Republican leaders tried to tame the Tea Party while riding it to victories.
The failure of the White House and Congress to seriously address the nation’s fiscal situation is certain to broaden the belief among many voters that the U.S. political system is broken.
Voters don’t have to love him, Romney advisers say, but they will respect him.
Obama might do well to remember that his fast rise from the Illinois state Senate was due in large part to an uncanny ability to make friends and find mentors.
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.
You can almost see voters nodding their heads at home: The public’s faith in politicians and political institutions has been on a steep and dangerous decline for decades, because elected leaders fail to deliver.
Don’t stigmatize in a rush to explain inexplicable evil.
Election night is the easiest time to act like a grownup.
