"There is probably a perverse pride in..." - Quote by Barack Obama
There is probably a perverse pride in my administration... that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who's occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can't be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.
More by Barack Obama
“Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models.”
“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.”
“What we've seen at least since 1979 is Iran making constant, calculated decisions that allow it to preserve the regime, to expand their influence where they can, to be opportunistic, to create what they view as hedges against potential Israeli attack in the form of Hezbollah and other proxies in the region.”
More on Governance
“He who regards the world as he does the fortune of his own body can govern the world. He who loves the world as he does his own body can be entrusted with the world.”
“Democracy is not a fragile flower; still it needs cultivating.”
“A country that is governed by its national army can never be morally free and, therefore, its so-called weakest member can never rise to his full moral height.”
More on Policy
“Any policy is a success by sufficiently low standards and a failure by sufficiently high standards.”
“Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”
“There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.”