Valerie Jarrett Quotes

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Obama and his associates are fantastic campaigners but have little ability or skill to govern.

The wound-tight, travel-light Obama has a distaste for the adversarial and the random. But if you stick too rigidly to a 'No Drama' rule in the White House, you risk keeping reality at bay. Presidencies are always about crisis management.

We need a great president.

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.

When you're in the real world as President of the United States it doesn't go according to the script.

Presidents ... become hermits only at their peril. Running the executive branch is now a team sport. It is operated best by politicians who thrive on command, possess a fine and sure touch for the levers of power and enjoy the company of those who serve them.

The president has to govern.

America is exceptional: but because it yields the likes of Obama, not the likes of Bush.

I love Obama's calm and dignity. A lot of people confuse that with being aloof, but I know people that have held that job. It's a 24-hour barrage of information.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

You are the President. You tell them to go to hell.

As to mere power I have been for years in the daily exercise of more personal authority than any President habitually enjoys.

Headmasters have powers at their disposal which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.

The first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.

Effective Presidents are those who can achieve a balance between purpose and prudence.

I've had to learn to understand Presidents.

Governing is about selecting.

No ruler who lacks the gift of persuasion can stay in office long; it is the indispensable condition of government. It would be an idle illusion to assume that any government, no matter how good, could lastingly do without public consent.

I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them. That's all the powers of the President amount to.

The office of the presidency is what's important, no matter who's in it.

Theodore Roosevelt, when he was out of office, he would do things to draw attention. But when you are president, you don't need to shout. When you are in office, you are the story.

Leadership is important in politics.

Politics is the science of urgencies.

It's so much easier to throw rocks than it is to govern.