In Washington, as we learned from the White House transcripts, a president may speak of kicking butts, call a problem a can of worms, decide not to be in the position of basically hunkering down, anticipate something hitting the fan, propose to tough it through, sight minefields down the road, see somebody playing hard ball, claim political savvy, and wonder what stroke some of his associates have with others.

There is far less to the Presidency, in terms of essential activity, than meets the eye.

Every President reconstructs the Presidency to meet his own psychological needs.

While the Nixon Presidency induced a momentary sense of congressional unity, a more skillful President could readily restore the customary situation where members of Congress felt more solidarity with a President of their own party than with colleagues of the opposite party

What higher obligation does a President have than to explain his intentions to the people and persuade them that the direction he wishes to go is right?

In the White House, the future rapidly becomes the past; and delay is itself a decision.

The President is the representative of the whole nation and he's the only lobbyist that all the 160 million people in this country have.

President George] Bush talked to us like we were a bunch of morons and we ate it up. Can you imagine, the Pledge of Allegiance, read my lips-can you imagine such crap in this day and age?

When the Presidential virus attacks the system there is a tendency for the patient in his fever to move from the Right or the Left to the Center where the curative votes are.

The President's decisions make the weather, and if he is great enough, change the climate, too.