Rahm Emanuel Quotes (46 Quotes)


    I sometimes joke, Paula, even paranoid people have enemies.

    I think there's a lot of anger and we're gaining because of that. We could blow it. They can gain ground they've lost, but there's a big shift going on.

    In the White House, you can be on the pitcher's mound or you can be in the catcher's position. Put points on the board. Show people you can govern. Deliver on what you said you were going to deliver on.

    I still believe the Lewinsky investigation was way off from the focus of what Whitewater was, which turned out to be nothing at the end of the process. And I think that there were people who were determined as political opponents to not allow his presidency to succeed.

    We have work to do, and Tuesday Americans sent Washington a clear message - get the job done.


    Instead of a State of the Union address, the president kicked off his re-election campaign. His speech was long on rhetoric and short on resources.

    We're getting at best an impressionistic sense of what's going on in the economy. Major policy decisions are being made based on data that is inadequate to the task.

    You could make progress on this in a New York minute, ... We're getting very close here.

    This is not a mystery anymore. We know what needs to be done, ... The Great Lakes has gotten nine studies in four years from this administration, and Iraq has gotten 4.5 billion. Give Iraq the studies, and we'll take the money.

    We're going to make progress on the people's business, and if Republicans choose to marry themselves up with Ken Starr, that's their business.

    There may be political jabs and barbs between the two of us, but at the end of the day there is deep respect,

    There's no safe Republican district. You can run, but you cannot hide.

    The fact is, Bush's war policy has failed. It's failed! Who better to say so than Jack Murtha?

    The schedule speaks volumes -- he's persona non grata around the country, ... Challengers and incumbents can't be seen with him. But at the Capitol, he's a powerful force. This Congress is his domain. The interests he supports continue to reign.

    We invoke the sacrifices of our fallen heroes in the abstract, but we seldom take time to thank them individually.

    They ended up spending a total, their campaign plus the independent, about 1.3 million. I only ended up spending about - not only, but I spent about 2 million. But I had no intention of doing that until I was attacked with a negative ad by an independent group.

    All the chemistry for a big election is beginning to take shape.

    In the most significant test of the political environment since 2004, Americans yesterday resoundingly supported the new priorities of Democratic candidates over the status quo policies of President Bush and Republican leadership.

    Everybody knows they're on the Obama team: There isn't vice presidential vs. presidential division, there's not a generational pull. People have internalized that this is a real moment in history.


    A strong economy depends on a strong middle class, but George Bush has put the middle class in a hole, and John McCain has a plan to keep digging that hole with George Bush's shovel.

    My gut tells me he doesn't really care about the nitty-gritty of politics. It's just not what his interest is. But guess what In government, there's politics. So you don't get a pass to say, 'I gave it to somebody else.' He outsourced it, which is one of the reasons I'm against outsourcing. You're not allowed to outsource your politics.

    Rather than doing the kind of fact-checking that normally goes with a story, you ran with certain stories for not wanting to get beat. There's a pressure that exists in your profession. I would be surprised in any honest exchange that you say that doesn't exist.

    When people told me 'It's great to be here', they meant at the house, not with me.

    The American people... want change. They want big ideas, big reform.

    I don't want to go negative on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but he didn't pass an economic deal in the first 100 days. We have passed the largest Recovery Act in the history of the country.

    the president wanted an open and honest discussion .... the full transcript will be made available.

    If they think they can go forward as if nothing's changed, they do not understand what the rest of America has witnessed over the past week.

    As individuals, we will be judged in our lives by the totality of our actions. Not one thing will stand out. And I think that's how we get judged by our colleagues and that's how we get judged by the good lord.

    Things happened there that I don't think are the finest hours for anybody, whether it was a journalist, the legal system or, in that case of the political system, who would say that was an example of when Washington worked best.

    I believe the record I was allowed to help establish by the side of the president was important.

    The president wants to get the information that the grand jury needs,

    When it comes to federal elections law, Tom DeLay and his special-interest friends live by one set of rules, and everyone else lives by a very different set.

    You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

    We've come to this historical opportunity and this historical time to get a balanced budget and a targeted tax cut, ... Fox News Sunday.

    I would like to run for the mayor of the city of Chicago. That has always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives.

    At the very time our country yearns for national unity in the wake of hurricane Katrina, these comments reflect a spirit of hate and division.

    The Republican Congress is about to slash more than 50 billion from investments in our children's future in health care and education. And yet, because of Republican priorities, they are going to actually add 20 billion to our budget deficit. Only in a Republican Congress.

    You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

    What is more comforting to the terrorists around the world: the failure to pass the 9/11 legislation because we lacked 'a majority of the majority,' or putting aside partisan politics to enact tough new legislation with America's security foremost in mind?

    The mayor deserves criticism -- not for what he knew, but for what he did not know. While he focused his attention ... on the day-to-day work of governing, he should have focused more on how his political agenda was being carried out. If he had done that, he could have avoided some of the problems he is facing today,

    I've never been in a place where winning has hurt the ability to do anything.

    Here in Illinois it's known as Kid Care, and I talked about expanding it to family care. So if you work full- time, you get health care.

    When you get down to it, voters hate everyone right now. Do you blame them They feel let down.

    But Democrats clearly face hurdles that make it harder to translate national discontent into big changes in the House. The map is not skewed for competitive races, ... On the other hand, you have voters who are sick and tired of the direction that the country is going. Which will outweigh If anyone tells you a year out, they've never been in politics.

    While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for reelection, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago.


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