Obama, like Carter, is reacting to warning signs by seeking to split the difference between dispirited Democrats and increasingly radicalized Republicans.
We may be a nation of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, but first and foremost we are all human beings and Americans.
Undoubtedly, the biggest misconception about me is that I'm some staunch conservative, blind, rightwing hardcore Republican who doesn't want to hear anything from the other side.
Folks are really tired of this rabid division between Republicans and Democrats. Folks want people to come together and solve the problems and the challenges of America.
I don't know a single Republican in Montana who would get in a fight in a bowling alley for John McCain.
I've always avoided expressing an opinion about where I think the republican movement should go - if it should go anywhere at all.
Too many people try to please their parents. My parents were Republicans, which is too bad, but they allowed me to be who I wanted to be.
The harshness and choice of words can cut deeply. Republicans need to show compassion and to be reasonable when talking to any ethnic group.
When Jefferson and the Republicans rallied to the Union and to the existing Federalist organization, the fabric of traditional American democracy was almost completely woven.
The combination of Federalism and Republicanism which formed the substance of the system, did not constitute a progressive and formative political principle, but it pointed in the direction of a constructive formula.
My hypothesis is that conservative Republicans have very clear values, and when you have that, you're simply more relaxed.
There's no light at the end of the tunnel in the Republican message, no promise of better things to come. There's only the present stagnation, followed by a slow decline.
Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.
My guess is more reporters probably vote Democrat than Republican - just because I think reporters are smart.
Candidates and their consultants keep making the same mistake. They assume that all independents are bundled neatly together ideologically between Republicans and Democrats.
I'd hate to paint with a broad brush, but many Democrats don't feel that we have a crisis in entitlements, and Republicans do.
Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. They'd all fit more under the Libertarian label than the modern day Republican label.
The changes that take place when liberal Democrats replace not so liberal or compassionate Republicans (or Democrats) are merely cosmetic.
Democrats single out glaring examples of tax preferences or spending priorities that favor the wealthy and Republicans cry 'class warfare!'
I think Democrats often hold the unconstrained vision, and Republicans focus more on the Rule of Law.
Republicans aren't bad people. They've got some views that are legitimate... and I'd like to think they believe the same of me.
