David Axelrod Quotes (35 Quotes)


    We can't have - we can't have a patchwork of 50 states developing their own immigration policy. I understand the frustration of people in Arizona. They want the federal government to step up and deal with this problem once and for all, and that's what we want to do.

    The place where we don't agree is on whether there should be some restraint on insurance companies and whether they should be allowed to run wild. We believe there should be some restraint; some on the other side don't think so.

    I realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it's probably the only time I will ever play there. I had so much fun. When I got up there and realized where I was and thought about all the famous musicians who played there it gave me chills.

    I think that more and more you're going to see people of good will on their side of the aisle say you know what, we got to get off the bus here, this is not headed in the right direction.

    At the end of the day I think people understand that relationships are difficult sometimes.


    But obviously, we're looking for all good ideas to help deal with our long-term debt problem. This is something that is going to affect our economy. It affects our kids. And we need to deal with it.

    I can only conclude the same geniuses who put the county budget together are now working as his campaign advisors.

    I came to the conclusion months ago, and I said it to members of Congress, that the only way people are going to fully appreciate what this reform is if we pass it and implement it and it becomes not a caricature but a reality, and I still believe that. So I think it will be easier to sell it moving forward than it was to this point.

    We know that 10 million more people will lose insurance in the next 10 years if we don't act.

    I think President Obama is a committed, practicing nonideologue. He's consumed by neither tactics nor ideology. He is more concerned about outcomes than he is about process and categorizations.

    But we are not going to stand by and go back to allowing people with preexisting conditions to be discriminated against, go back to the situation where people can be thrown off their insurance simply because they become seriously ill or you can't get on your parents' insurance after the age of 20.

    Two years before the last election you nor anyone else would have predicted that Barack Obama was going to get elected president of the United States.

    The goal here is to signify to people that they are getting real and reliable information. I think he better make sure the contraption can fly before he markets it.

    Emotions always get cranked up after incidents of this type. It's good to step back and let common sense prevail. I appreciate Bill Duffy's willingness to help work through this with the Davis family and ours. That's how things get worked out, when people are willing to talk.

    My advice was to stay a million miles away from it.

    The district itself is ripe for change. Tammy represents something that would make the district proud in the sense that she's got a life of service, and no one is going to trivialize her or characterize her in ways that Republicans have sometimes tried to do with others.

    We don't want to go back to the same policies and the same practices that drove our economy into a ditch, that punished the middle class, and that led us to this catastrophe. We have to keep moving forward.

    You know, we - if, for example, Jerry Brown can withstand, you know, what will probably end up being $200 million of spending by his opponent and get elected governor of California, that will be a big victory in the nation's largest state.

    He was gratuitously insulting 50 million Americans who call themselves Republicans, some of whom we hope will vote Democrat.

    Any time you have loose ballots, you have to worry about shenanigans. It's a shame such a hard-fought election has to come down to something like this.

    We've got ballots flying around, being counted by hand, arriving by truck and in God knows whose custody.

    People understand we're on the doorstep of doing something really historic that will help the American people and strengthen our country for the long run.

    The truth is that as we move forward, if one side says we can't raise any taxes on anybody or any interest, and the other side says we can't cut anything, we're obviously not going to make progress on this. And our interest is in making progress on this.

    We have to deal with the world as we find it. The world of what it takes to get this done.

    I have never believed in the Wizard of Oz theory of consulting, that I am all-knowing and all-seeing, and that everyone around me is kind of a backbencher.

    No one wants to go back to a situation where, if you have a pre-existing medical condition, you, you can be deprived of coverage. No one wants to go back to a situation where, if you get seriously ill, you can get thrown off your insurance. Seniors don't want to go back to paying more for their prescription drugs.

    This ought to be a season for cooperation in terms of pushing our economy forward, job creation, steadying the middle class, and laying the groundwork for a better future. And that's what we want to work on with Republicans and Democrats.

    This marketplace where people can buy insurance who don't have it today - a competitive marketplace: That's an idea that both sides embrace.

    I see my job simply as helping disseminate the message of Barack Obama, working with the communications team to make sure that we're true to the ideals and the values and the programs that he wants to advance in this country. And that's the extent of my involvement.

    I haven't given up on working... across the aisle on issues and maybe it'll take an election or two for that to fully ferment, maybe it you know sometimes it takes awhile for people to realize what the best path is.

    But you say, does it represent change? The change is that we are fighting an insurance industry that has killed health reform for generations. They're spending tens of millions of dollars right now to defeat this bill, and we're on the doorstep of winning a great victory for the American people.


    If you look at the themes that he struck from the minute he started running for president through today, there is a very high level of consistency, and there is a sense that he is who he is. Obama's governing is completely consistent with the way he campaigned and the themes on which he campaigned, the issues he highlighted, the vision he shared.

    Now, China, India have set goals. We're going to be able to review what they're doing. We're going to be able to challenge them if they don't meet those goals. We're going to pursue this anyway, because the President understands that our future lies with a clean energy economy. We've doubled renewables this year. There are millions of jobs to be had there, more energy security, so we're going to pursue this.

    The fact is if we do our job right, if we keep worrying not about polls but about the jobs of the American people, about their health care, about their ability to educate their kids, stay in their homes and own their homes, send their kids to college, the basic pillars of a middle-class life, if we keep worrying about the future and building a stronger future for this country, these things will take care of themselves.


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