I don't want to call it only cosmetic, because these things do have an effect, but how profound the effect is, that I would question. Much of this is not about policy, it's about motion. It shows that they are responding; that they are moving. |
I gather that there are drifts in different races. I don't see any great breeze bowing all the races in any one direction. |
I mean this is primarily about Iraq. There is no sense talking about his education policy or something like that. I mean he has been in office now for nearly six years. He has got one major policy in which he has thrown all the chips into the game. Is it going to work? We shall see. |
I think as we become more and more of a celebrity culture -- as we expect to learn more and more about the people who we elect president or make movie stars -- we are intrigued by their families. |
I think the outcome is going to be pretty close to what we have now. |
I think the president might have defused the situation if he had invited her in instantly. |
If he loses two houses of Congress, or even one, the last two years of his presidency are toast. |
If it were an ordinary year, a traditional year, sort of a simple first year of a president's second term, you would have to say he had a pretty good year. |
If she had just gone home I think she would have been remembered importantly, but she didn't just go home. |
In a strange way, the issue is not as salient, as important or resonates on Main Street as much as politicians or legislators think it does. The reason is simple ? Main Street already thinks politicians are taking favors from lobbyists. |
In other instances, it's political incompetence. |
In some cases, it's managerial incompetence. |
It certainly has some effect on his immediate domestic agenda. He has no money for anything but Katrina. |
It certainly made this presidency. There was no question that there was a new presidency that had a new agenda. ... It certainly did seem to focus him grandly and powerfully. |
It doesn't change the nature of the court. |