Ben Rhodes Quotes

I never dreamed I would one day work at it White House.

I left the White House in 2007. You know, I knew when I went there that it would be for a limited period of time. I was grateful that the average tenure of a white house senior aide is 18 to 20 months. I was there for nearly seven years.

I actually think, as unusual as it might sound, that working in the White House is an extraordinary life.

I vividly remember my first day on the White House staff. My office, of course, was in the Old Executive Office Building. I didn't rate one in the West Wing; but don't try to tell me or any of the rest of us working there that we weren't working in the White House.

I think I could have worked for the Clinton administration.

I'd worked at the White House for two years, and I'd read a bunch of White House memoirs because everybody who works at the White House, even for five minutes, writes a memoir usually not less than 600 pages long - and never without the word 'power' in the title.

Cheney's memoir is not about 9/11, or solely about Bush's administration, but about his entire life and political career.

I am not seeking any position in a Dole Administration.

I was in the trade field as White House fellow in the first Bush administration.

My second child came in September 2008, and I joined the Obama transition team in November. I was part of the group that opened the White House doors on Inauguration Day. And then I basically didn't leave for two years.

The one thing I didn't want to do was a show about the White House. I was too close to it.

In terms of going into the West Wing, I will do whatever the president-elect and the vice president-elect - I worked with Mike Pence for 10 years - they believe is my best and highest use for them.

The first person who contacted us was the assistant to President Eisenhower... in the White House.

I used to imagine working as a White House staffer some day, so it was pretty amazing to be there... realizing another dream.

I'm an appointee of President Obama.

I have worked with Presidents since Eisenhower. We serve together.

I've had some wonderful times at the White House. I've been with Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush.

I'd worked in the state senate in college and seen how important legal decisions were. And at the last minute, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said, 'Why don't you come do an internship?' That turned into almost 15 years in the government, in the White House, and at the State Department.

The idea of being in the State Department was exciting. On the other hand, I always had in the back of my mind going into politics. If I stayed in Washington, I might end up a government hack.

What happens in the White House stays in the White House.

Working in the White House is a relentlessly demanding responsibility.

White House

You don’t make any money in the White House—that’s for darn sure—but you can get things done….The most rewarding experience I have ever had was my three years in the White House.

I got to meet one Chief of Staff: Sam Skinner. He was Chief of Staff at the end of George Sr.'s White House.

I actually became a lawyer because I thought you had to be a lawyer in order to get into national politics.