“Bill Clinton was not a symbol. People did not invest in him their idea of what America should be or, worse, their pride in what they thought America had become. There was no great moral self-congratulation in having elected a president from Arkansas.” PeopleShouldIdeasSelfAmericaPresidentMoralPrideBillsClintonSymbolsCongratulationsArkansas Author:Charlie Pierce
“The idea that America elected a black man to be its president forty years after it declined to allow Martin Luther King Jr. to stand on a balcony without getting shot still maintains its power to awe and inspire.” MenYearsStillsIdeasAmericaBlackPresidentInspireKingsShotsAweFortyLutherBalconies Author:Charlie Pierce
“According to the people who dearly would love to throw him out of office, Barack Obama was elected to be 'above politics.' He wasn't elected to be president, after all. He was elected as an avatar of American tolerance. His attempts to get himself reelected imply a certain, well, ingratitude.” PeopleWellsCertainPresidentOfficeToleranceBarackIngratitude Author:Charlie Pierce
“In order to get big things done, sometimes, presidents have to be deft at moving the pea around under the shells.” SometimesDoneBigsMovingOrderPresidentShellsBig ThingsThings DonePeas Author:Charlie Pierce
“You know, what genuinely makes me uneasy with the way things are going are not - is not really that Trump is going to do everything he said he was going to do, it`s that he has no idea of his job as president. Plus, the people who have been up close and realized that he has no idea how to do this job are leaking like sieves.” PeoplePresidentUneasy Author:Charlie Pierce
“Every president learns on the job because nobody`s really prepared for the kind of decisions that cross your desk every day. No one`s prepared for that. No vice president who has scended to the presidency has ever truly been ready for that. Certainly, no vice president who`s assumed the presidency in extremis, like Harry Truman, has been ready for that. But this Trump guy doesn`t seem to be ready for a career in government.” KindGuyPresidentDecisionVice PresidentTruman Author:Charlie Pierce
