Political Expectations Quotes

The Democrats have this high level of expectation of what government can do.

Ordinary people want good government.

There's a sense in which politicians can never work hard enough.

President Obama ran a campaign in 2008 that was entirely expected from a non-incumbent. You promise, and you imply that if you elect me, everything good is going to happen.

Americans expect too much of politics.

When people talk about how in America, anybody can grow up to be President, I'm not sure George Bush is exactly what they had in mind.

Politicians are notoriously economically illiterate. And even when they know what would be the right thing, we don't really expect them to do it.

Of course, in my country most political leaders are really, well, I suppose I think of them as being, well, not gangsters but more or less the same kind of thing, no? I mean—people who go in for getting elected. What can you expect of a man like that?

Five years ago, when I was elected, I had the feeling that the president doesn't have much to do. I've realized, though, that this is not a rubber-stamp position.

The Oval Office symbolizes... the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I'm going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it's appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President.

In the course of his presidency, Obama has gone from an almost magical charismatic figure to an ordinary politician. Ordinary. Average.

You mustn't expect prime ministers to enjoy themselves. If they do, they mustn't show it - the population would be horrified.

By the time a second term rolls around, the illusions about a president have largely evaporated.

If you expect democratic government will be efficient government, you will be disappointed.

When I joined Bill Clinton's start-up presidential campaign in 1991, I was confident that women would play an ever more important role, but I never gave a minute's thought to what would happen if we won. When we did - and I became the first woman to serve as White House press secretary - it changed my life. But it didn't change the world.

A party should be more than a fundraising vehicle and job placement vehicle.

Brazil go into every World Cup expecting to win - so when it is in Brazil, it is expected even more. You can't understand what the World Cup means to our country. Not just the fans and players, but everybody in Brazil lets us know that they expect it. Our president, people in politics, all tell us to come back with the World Cup.

As for the President-elect [Donald Trump], he has his own views on things, and this is also fairly natural.

The trouble with conservatives is that too many of them come to Washington thinking they are going to drain the swamp, only to discover that Washington is a hot tub.

You have got to convince people, the Drive-By Media, the mainstream media, is never going to support us, and if you continue to define political success as the media supporting us and not supporting a Democrat, you're never gonna be happy, because that's never going to happen. And if that remains your measure of success, then you're gonna get fooled each and every time.

One of the questions that I often get is, 'Why are you running to be President?'. To Be President! What did I miss? I'm not running to go to Disneyland.

There was a lot of feeling that with an African-American president, life on the South Side of Chicago would be radically different.

[The American President] has to take all sorts of abuse from liars and demagogues.… The people can never understand why the President does not use his supposedly great power to make ’em behave. Well, all the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

When you're the commander in chief, you're the commander in chief on day one. You don't get like a six-month grace period. The world doesn't just stop and say, well, let's wait until the president catches up before we start challenging America.

If you are the wife of a governor or the wife of a vice president, I think you can be prepared for it.