Political Succession Quotes

Political prodigies are rare in a nation that grooms top leaders through decades of Communist Party road-testing and pageantry. And because Chairman Mao's cult of personality led the country into extremism, the Party spent the next three decades engineering its politicians to be as indistinguishable as possible.

My father was the prime minister and we had Tamil Nadu's support.

Meanwhile, the Bush dynasty comes to an official end.

I had a unique circumstance in which my career was associated with George W. Bush, who went straight to the top. I went to work for him in October of 1993. So my whole identity in national politics is associated with this president, and you know, I kind of want to leave it that way. It's not tugging at me to go do the '08 cycle.

When I arrived at the Capitol in 2007 to take my oath as a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I had the privilege of filling the seat held for so long and so well by my friend Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress. I was so grateful to her.

When I was born, my father was governor of Arkansas.

So benevolent, enlightened, wise dictators are the most efficient form of government. The problem is what comes afterwards, right?

There definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good, and the Conservative Party has got some great people coming up - the Theresa Mays, and the George Osbornes, and the Boris Johnsons.

I think that we need, you know, Sen. Vitter is quite conservative, and I think we need to replace a good strong conservative with another conservative.

Five decades ago, as India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, began visibly ailing, the nation and the world were consumed by the question: 'After Nehru, who?' The inexpressible fear lay in the subtext to the question: 'After Nehru, what?'

It wasn't until after I was reelected in 1982 that I thought of myself as a long-term member of Congress.

The vice presidential candidate does not usually make much difference at the polls. But that may be changing as voters become more aware that the understudy must be ready to take over if needed.

[In ancient Rome,] why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew? Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.

I am just a humble worker. Commander Chavez decided I should be president. To President Obama, we remember that young leader and of the workers of Chicago. So we have a different kind of relation. For him and John Kerry. We talked to Edward Kennedy.

Stalin is too coarse for the position of General Secretary. We need someone more polite and more considerate.

I'm inspired by the example of Prime Minister Abe, who overcame many challenges after his first term as prime minister to successfully return to the highest office in Japan six years later, and is now hopefully leading Japan in an extremely promising direction.

I think the country has had enough Bushes.

Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them.

My grandmother didn't live to see us begin our lives in public service. But she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two generations after she arrived in San Antonio, one grandson would be the mayor and the other would be on his way - the good people of San Antonio willing- to the United States Congress.

The old politician maintain the chair for a lot of decades. So if we will lose the referendum, this is not a problem for me. It's a problem for the new generation of Italians. Because it's a lost opportunity.

The only successor to President Putin is President Putin himself and we could of course dream about President Putin stepping down voluntarily and picking out successor which would be probably as bad as him.

North Korean dictator Kim Jung Il may be stepping down. Yeah, experts in the State Department say he could be replaced by his son, Menta Li Ill.

It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, it may take another Clinton to clean up after the second one

I note that [Benazir] Bhutto demonstrates her own deep commitment to democracy by giving herself the title chairperson for life of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

I believe whoever the Labour Party chooses to replace Tony Blair will beat David Cameron.