Marne Levine Quotes

I never set out to work in the 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 never dreamed I would one day work at it White House.

I'm an appointee of President Obama.

Yeah, I want a job in Barack's Cabinet. How about a job, Mr. Obama? Please? Please?

Most people in Washington assumed if Obama made it to the White House he would appoint Biden as his secretary of state, a position Biden openly admitted he wanted.

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.

I am a mom as well as a senator!

My father was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. My grandfather had been in politics, too; however, my own inclination was for a job other than politics. I wanted to be a diplomat, perhaps do some journalism - certainly not politics.

I was on leave from local and regional politics, as long as I was a Minister.

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

Elective office and public service are obviously something that have long ties with my family, and something I'm definitely interested in.

When I entered federal parliament at the end of 2007, I was appointed parliamentary secretary for disabilities.

When I entered politics, I took the only downward turn you could take from journalism.

The 'transition' involves the transfer of power from one president to another. In recent times, the incoming President has designated a Director of the Transition, a team leader, to oversee and administer the orderly transfer of power.

As America knows, Obama turned down the lucrative career path guaranteed to the first African-American president of The Harvard Law Review to pursue the missions of service and teaching instead. The potential rewards for our country, now that that early choice has led him into the White House, are enormous.

I always thought of myself is a private-sector person. I was a reluctant candidate. I put in my time. Now it's somebody else's turn to take charge. But I am still very interested in politics.

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.

I loved what I did. I could've been secretary of state for ever.

I never translated from my days in the Navy to being a congressman.

I have directed all of my cabinet to work to prepare a transition plan for the incoming administration.

I think I could have worked for the Clinton administration.

Every time I would give a talk, someone would say, 'You ought to go into politics.' I prefer to call it government leadership. My life has taken me to places where I have experiences that I think I can share. A lot of times, we see people who are career politicians. I'm not the conventional candidate, nor do I want to be.

It's pretty hard to say no when a vice president-elect and a president-elect ask you to be part of the national team.

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.