Gloria Steinem Quotes

Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.

The men who have had great vision in the White House are those who are most enduring in the minds of the public. America loves visionary Presidents.

Both Kennedy and Obama exuded a dash of glamour in their roles as commander-in-chief and became the darlings of Hollywood. As president, each brought to the White House a fashionable and accomplished First Lady, two adorable young children and scene-stealing pets.

I am just a humble worker. Commander Chavez decided I should be president. To President Obama, we remember that young leader and of the workers of Chicago. So we have a different kind of relation. For him and John Kerry. We talked to Edward Kennedy.

I think George W. Bush has a warm, engaging personality. But, you know, the presidency is more than just a popularity contest.

It has always seemed to me that Barack Obama has studied intensely and learned a great deal from Lincoln.

Legislating is perceived as governing and governing is perceived as legislating. Legislation—conceiving it, proposing it, fighting over it, winning or losing, making the proper proclamation when passed or signed—not only is the main ‘action’ seen in Washington but is the key political currency in dealing with the voting public.... The President must necessarily consider legislative initiatives and actions as central to his own interest and his own leadership efforts.

I left the White House but I’m still here.

I will make a prophecy that may now sound peculiar. In fifty years Lincoln's name will be inscribed close to Washington's on this Republic's roll of honor.

Sometimes a President seems greater after he has left office than while he was in it.

Barack Obama is probably the coolest president this country will ever have.

I'm a big historian. Big JFK fan. I got to take a picture under the official JFK White House portrait.

As soon as a regular guy like Bill Clinton becomes the president, he wears a mantle of greatness. He's the president.

Washington and Lincoln mean as much to us as any two men could mean to a civilization, a people, and age, but I told Mr. Coolidge when he dedicated this monument that this rock is being carved with a monument that will outlive our government.

I have a lot of respect for President Obama, and while I deeply disagree with some of his actions or lack of action on issues I care about, I still recognize the significance of the first black presidency and the challenges that come with that.

They all start competing against Lincoln as the greatest president. And the [library] building becomes the symbol, the memorial to that dream.

I think Obama is going to go down as one of our greatest presidents because what this guy has done and has tried to do, and over the kind of opposition that I don't know if Lincoln had, except he had to go to war. This speaks so brilliantly of Obama and the way he conducts himself. I think he is already one of our greatest presidents.

In the course of a presidency, a U.S. president says millions of words in public. You never know which of them end up cementing a certain impression.

I was pretty realistic to people about what we could get done, and the situation we were in, and trying to tamp down expectations. If you listen to my stump speeches, if you listen to what I said at Grant Park, I kept on saying, "Look, this is not just about me, this is not going to happen in one year, or one term, or even one presidency." And we tried to layer into everything we were saying a sense of hope, but also realism.

See, one of the interesting things in the Oval Office - I love to bring people into the Oval Office - right around the corner from here - and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person.

Why would anyone want to be President today? The answer is not one of glory, or fame; today the burdens of the office outweigh its privileges. Its not because the Presidency offers a chance to be somebody, but because it offers a chance to do something.

At first I didn’t give a damn to go down in history. I wanted to win. But the more I won, the more I thought about leaving something behind. Yes, it's as important as hell to me. I want to leave something that people will remember me by. Of course, a lot of boxers want to do that. But it's not easy. Take Larry Holmes, he was the big man after Muhammad Ali, he wanted to emulate him, but for some reason the public didn’t take him like they did to Ali. I think people won’t fully understand what I contributed to the sport for years.

On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children's children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.

Governor Romney has been a great success in business. He has been a great success as executive, as governor of Massachusetts. I think that's the kind of guy we want in the White House.

One of the things I think I can bring to the presidency is to make government and public service cool again.