[Barack Obama] says at one point, "[Jimmy] Carter, [Bill] Clinton and I suffer from," what he called, "the policy wonk's disease." Ron Suskind More Quotes by Ron Suskind More Quotes From Ron Suskind Confidence is the immaterial residue of material actions. Confidence is the public face of competence. Ron Suskind competencefacesaction Confidence is the public face of competence. Ron Suskind competencefaces It is one thing to rouse the passion of a people, and quite another to lead them. Ron Suskind one-thingpassionpeople The idea that our son would be like Raymond Babbitt was a shocking reordering of everything. And something we couldn't quite fathom, really. Ron Suskind would-beideasson The substance of faith is a hope in the unseen. Ron Suskind unseensubstancefaith If you write something the White House doesn't like, they take you in and say, 'If you ever write something like you did today, nobody from the White House will ever talk to you again Ron Suskind whitehousewriting I've been a reporter for 20 years, and I don't ever get things wrong. That's important in terms of my professional status. Ron Suskind termimportantyears Many years later, a psychiatrist friend of mine said something to us. He said, "Respect denial." It's a powerful force. Ron Suskind denialpowerfulyears I don't have to deal with the issues of the daily news cycle. Ron Suskind dealsissuesnews Al-Qaeda has a kind of loose, almost entrepreneurial structure with lots of cells in various countries that are semi-independent. Ron Suskind independentcellscountry I absolutely reject that idea that the press is liberal and what it does is liberal. In my view, it's like accusing a doctor of malpractice or a lawyer of malfeasance. Ron Suskind doctorsviewsideas You try to hold on to some notions you might have had before, that this will somehow work out, this is a spell that will lift or be broken. Ron Suskind work-outbrokentrying Message matters. Message matters almost as much as actions. Ron Suskind messagesmatteraction The fact is, I can vote for anybody; independents, Republicans, Democrats. But I'm a registered Democrat in the District of Columbia. Ron Suskind voterepublicanfacts The fact is, most journalists I know are not particularly political. They move around a lot. Ron Suskind politicalfactsmoving I think that there's a lot of anxiety out there in people wanting their children to be part of the mainstream, to achieve based on the well-worn yardsticks. Ron Suskind childrenpeoplethinking The informed, unmanaged question. That's the most dangerous thing at a press conference anywhere. Ron Suskind pressesconferencesdangerous If you write something that gets a bad response, or someone commits candor or is off message, there are often consequences almost immediately when it appears in the paper or a magazine, that somebody gets called into the boss's office. And sometimes it can result in a loss of access for the reporter. Ron Suskind officelosswriting The fact is that in a way, journalists become a kind of default in the system when you don't have substantive two-party back-and-forth inside of the government. Ron Suskind partygovernmenttwo Two sons, they'll both be presidents after they win their Nobel Prizes. And the daughters, they'll be prima ballerinas before they become the president of Princeton and start their Internet company. And I just started to think about What's the conventional load of those expectations you carry around? You have to pull them out one by one and smash them in the corner. You realize the pile is quite high. But in a way, it becomes oddly liberating to do that. Ron Suskind daughterwinningson
