David Axelrod Quotes

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.

I hope you'll find that my campaign was a reflection of how I plan to govern - bringing people together, building coalitions, and finding common ground.

But if we can work with people in other parties to get the right answer for the country we'll do that.

I think if you're going to get anything done in the Senate, you have to be on the same sheet of music. If you don't get people on the same sheet of music it comes out pretty horrible.

In the United States Senate, we cannot do great things without reaching across the aisle and working together - and I look forward to the challenges ahead.

Bipartisanship means you work together to work it out.

In a common project, we can bring together well-meaning people from the Left and the Right.

Every one of us in Congress has a responsibility to keep working together and stay focused on what matters.

We have to get back to a government where leaders are willing to talk across party lines and do not have absolute politics as the goal.

I'm a huge fan of bipartisanship and working together to get things done.

I'll be reaching across the aisle to find opportunities to work with Democrats on the issues that desperately need to be addressed.

I did look for compromise. I worked in a bipartisan way.

If the parties get too close together they lose their identities, if they get too far apart you're not going to get a whole lot done because you almost always need to have some folks on the other side of the aisle to accomplish anything.

Bipartisanship helps to avoid extremes and imbalances. It causes compromises and accommodations. So let's cooperate.

I sure tried to help deliver compromise, consensus, bipartisanship.

Things happen in American politics in the political center. If the President will meet us in the center, there are things we can accomplish.

I believe any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing.

I'm happy to work with Democrats. After all, they have to represent their districts just as I have to represent mine.

Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship.

True bipartisanship isn’t talking about it. It’s delivering it.

Compromises may not make great heroes, but they do make great democracies.

Believe it or not, one of the things I try to do around here is try to look for opportunities to work with people across the aisle. I know that's not the common narrative. But the truth is if you want to get anything done, that's an absolute requirement.

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.

Moderation and bipartisan consensus go hand in hand.

One of the ways usually that you build a bipartisan agreement is one side gives up a little, and the other side gives up a little.