Obama has seen to the passage of the most radical legislation in recent American history and so-called progressives should be thanking him for it – even as many of the rest of us rear in horror from its implications. – John Podhoretz
This has always been the way of presidential politics. The president rises above the fray while his surrogates go on the attack. They throw the spears and fling the mud he sits upon the throne. – John Podhoretz
While negativity is politically useful, it is also demoralizing unless it is accompanied – and to some extent overshadowed – by elevated and inspiring ideas about the American future. – John Podhoretz
Political folk talk a lot these days about messaging – a neologism designed to describe the way in which parties and politicians consciously characterize their efforts. It is only intended to be positive – i.e., Our messaging is designed to show we care. – John Podhoretz
We think that diamonds are very important, gold is very important, all these minerals are very important. We call them precious minerals, but they are all forms of the soil. But that part of this mineral that is on top, like it is the skin of the earth, that is the most precious of the commons. – Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), Dirt! The Movie, 2009