Barack Obama Quotes

We have seen in Washington the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock. There is nothing wrong with our country. There is much wrong with our politics ….

I think it's a time to be sad about what's been done to the United States Senate, the greatest deliberative body in the world.

Congress is dysfunctional.

We've gotten to the point now where Republicans and Democrats have nothing in common besides being members of the 'caustic caucus,' and we can't get anything done.

It's a cliche that the Senate is broken, and like most cliches, it's true.

Incumbents are safe, but party majorities are not. This fosters symbolic votes, message politics and little serious legislating in Congress.

And I'm here to tell you, the reaction that I'm getting around the country, people are sick and tired of this word in Washington, compromise. This is why nothing ever gets done.

The Congress is a dysfunctional institution; it's broken. One of our three branches of government is broken.

My viewpoint is the Senate is dysfunctional.

Congress has been reformed so much that it can't get anything done.

We have moved toward a kind of scorpions-in-a-bottle Government where you have two branches [executive and legislative] that don't understand many of the legitimate needs of the other branch.

We have a level of obstruction and an abuse of the Senate rules that we have never had before… We have a dysfunctional Senate. Some say it’s a broken Senate.

Dear God, in mercy and grace, prevent the Senate from being like Humpty Dumpty. Keep it from being so fractured and fragmented that no one will ever be able to put it together again.

Divided government need not be dysfunctional government.

Watching Congress is like being in permanent divorce court

Our Congress makes the UN look efficient by comparison

Congress actively undermines the best of legislative practice.

The more we do to avoid risk and protect our members from tough votes, the more ineffective and polarized the institution becomes

We're all tired of a Washington that has these partisan camps where nothing gets done.

The people in Iowa know that Washington isn't working. It's devolved into partisan politics and a lot of gridlock and obstruction.

Congress seems to be very good at doing nothing.

There is too much blind partisanship in Congress, which has blocked progress on critical issues. Too many members view compromise as weakness rather than the essence of our democracy. This has to end.

There's a big gap between public opinion polls and the vote in Washington, in Congress. The majority consciousness has changed, and often that has made very clear, practical changes in our daily lives, but the centers of power are still not occupied, for the most part, by this new consciousness.

I was talking to Marylanders... What we were hearing, everywhere, was an overwhelming sense of frustration. People felt a huge disconnect between Annapolis and the rest of Maryland.

You've heard me question whether the partisanship in Washington has made us, as a nation, ungovernable - and, indeed, Democrats are doing their very best to make sure of it.