Barack Obama Quotes

The Congress is the place where ordinary mortals go about the business of compromise—of compromise that gets us through the day.

Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and Clinton passed legislation because they understood and appreciated the difficult political process. They fought for their principles yet recognized the need for compromise to get anything done.

The government was built on compromising. And it's frustrating as hell.

I worked for President Bush and President Obama. I had Democratic bosses and Republican bosses. I believe in order to actually get things done, we do need to buckle down and often reach across the aisle.

Every Donald Trump person that I've talked to - everyone from every walk of life - has said pretty much the same thing. If Trump has to work with Democrats to get some of what he wants done, so be it. I haven't run into anybody... Now, and this is purely anecdotal, and I don't talk to a lot of people.

Politics is like sausage being made. It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be.

The reason we're governing right now is because we defeated moderate Republicans with moderate Democrats. And people need to be patient about that and realize that compromise is not evil.

I would be open about the fact that, clearly, politicians should be able to speak to each other. David Cameron doesn't seem to accept this, but if the British people have voted then of course you have to try and provide good stable government.

The Democrats filibustered something in the Senate when I was eight years old. I don't remember what it was on and I didn't honestly care when I was eight years old. I cared about the history and the Senate rules.

We shouldn't deny the right of the minority to filibuster, but we need to do a much better job of making them own it. That way, the American people could figure out who is being obstructionist and who is willing to compromise.

Occupancy of the Front Bench imposes penalties as well as privileges. Its members have to surrender some of the freedom which the back benches afford, and they have to consider much more closely whether what they do and say may help or compromise the position of the Party.. These obligations are so trying at times that men … do not care to assume them, preferring the greater freedom of the back benches. I would not personally press anyone to change back bench freedom for Front Bench reticence and circumspection, but I should like you to consider whether or not you cared to do so. If you thought that you could stand the yoke (and I have not found it too difficult) it would be a pleasure to me to tell the members of the Party that I proposed to ask you to join those who sit on the Front Bench.

Americans tend to go for it all. In international politics you can’t have it all. You have to compromise.

The dominant color of politics is gray; difficult choices and compromise are required at almost every step of the journey toward a major new program.

President Bush said that he wanted to change the tone in Washington. He has; it has gotten worse.

All legislation of any consequence is a compromise. You have to recognize that.

Government is the art of the momentarily feasible, of the least bad attainable, and not of the rationally most desirable.

Nearly all legislation is the result of compromise.

Government is about hard choices.

The President has to persuade Congress to do what they do not want to do.

From time to time we must remind ourselves that the President has a role in the legislative process.

There are some in Congress who would rather see their opponents lose than see their country win. That has got to stop…. They must find a way to put country ahead of party.

We have a constitution that says that the way you get things is by passing legislation, not by threatening to destroy the country unless you get your way.

We need to maintain law and order. We need to maintain peace in the world. We need to protect the environment. We need to have some degree of social justice, equality of opportunity. The markets are not designed to take care of those needs. That's a political process.

If we’re going to do all the things that the Constitution says that legitimately we can do as a country, … we have to be able to have a Congress where people can talk together like our Founding Fathers did.

The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.