Barack Obama Quotes

Nearly all legislation is the result of compromise.

The political status legislation which emerged in Congress in 1990 and 1991 did not receive the support needed for enactment into law during my tenure as Attorney General.

You can't have your own way in Congress.

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

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

Politics is the art of realizing what there is to realize.

Getting one bill passed is close to impossible. Ask any kid who has spent a summer in Washington, or better yet a semester, and can't understand how people tolerate its menu of constant frustration. Imagine mastering it.

Ultimately, Congressional medicine is like veterinary medicine: It must be strong enough to work, and tasty enough to swallow.

On immigration, there are a lot of hurdles before anything arrives at the White House.

I enjoyed the administrative work because it involved working with Congress, city council, and the mayor. I had never been a politician so it was fun - learning political maneuvering.

In a divided government, you can't just say, 'It's my way or the highway.'

You do the policy, I'll do the politics.

I know how to take good ideas and turn them into sensible law at great odds.

As I've learned in my time in the state legislature, important legislation is always a work in progress.

Politics is the art of the possible.

If you look through history, all of the great work we've done in Congress has been around a table of compromise, when it comes to the most difficult problems.

Politics, to a degree, is about legislation, administration. You can't be there in the trenches.

Politics doesn't matter, policy does.

Governing is hard. If you’re in the majority, you’ve got to do the hard work of governing

On any big issue in government there are always going to be disagreements.

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time.

You've got to have a theme if you're going to get Congress to do something difficult.

The way you get anything done in the Congress is through coalitions.

[Addressing Congress:] The people await action. They did not send us here to bicker ... Let us negotiate soon—and hard. But in the end, let us produce.

In the White House there is always struggle and contention.