A Quote by Barack Obama
To sustain a governing majority, that requires an ability for Republicans and Democrats to find some common ground. And right now, the structure of the system is such where it makes it really hard for people to work together.
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Nationalism is not that hard. It's not that hard to incite people against another, and it's also - and this is the harder thing: Democrats have, and the challenge we have all the time, is we believe in governing and governance and trying to find middle ground.
Over the last few years a lot of people have become aware of the inequities in the criminal justice system, right now, with our overall crime rate and incarceration rate both falling, we're at a moment when some good people in both parties, Republicans and Democrats and folks all across the country, are coming up with ideas to make the system work smarter and better.
The reason we're governing right now is because we defeated moderate Republicans with moderate Democrats. And people need to be patient about that and realize that compromise is not evil.
It's really, really hard to get in rooms with people you don't usually work with and try to find common ground.
People that I know, the vast majority, who are successful work really, really hard. Sure, there's some people that either get lucky or inherited it or don't have to work hard for some reason, but the vast majority who are successful work really, really hard.
As a young lawyer, I learned to try to find common ground with people, to look for a human connection. When I got to the Senate, despite the fact that there were a lot of people who didn't want me to get there - and were sure they'd never even talk to me, let alone work with me - I really tried to do the job I was sent there to do by the people of New York, which was to get things done for my constituents. I worked with Republicans, and we found a lot of common ground. It isn't easy, but it's part of what we have to do in politics today.
Whether you're an opera singer, a legislator or customer service operator, there is a way that we can find common ground with our audience - be they young or old, Democrats or Republicans, rich or poor, religious or secular.
I think with empathy... It's more looking out at the people. And that includes the Republicans, you know the people that might be opposed to us. Trying to understand why is it that they want what they want. And then how do we find common ground. I mean sometimes there is no common ground to be had if it's only about profit.
To be able to influence someone or to be able to have a group of guys come together to have a successful team and to be together all the time every day for, you know, a year and longer together, you have to have a - find a common ground. And that common ground for us is football.
As the Republicans run to the crazy Tea Party right, they leave behind the huge mass of genuinely moderate and independent Americans that make up the majority of voters. The ones that used to consider themselves now-extinct moderate Republicans. They're up for grabs. And the Democrats have to grab them!
My constituency, the majority of them are Republicans, but the biggest majority of them are people who really vote for people because of their individuality and because of how hard they work. And that's what I've always done.
Somebody once said that the ideal size of a country for democracy to work is around 10 million people - and that kind of makes sense if you think of it in very crude terms. In a smaller country, I guess it's easier to maintain some kind of common ground.I do think the Swedish system of government works really well. Obviously, everything doesn't work perfectly, but I like the principle of it.
69 percent of the people want our politicians to work together. And I think this should be a message to Democrats and Republicans to work together. And this is why people are very upset about Washington today.
I don't see people who are eager for shutdowns. While some people have a romantic ideal about shutdowns, the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats believe you have to try to work problems out rather than having a shutdown.
I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans.
Republicans believed that their job was not governing but blocking any idea coming from President Obama and the Democrats, and wiping out Democrats in the 2012 election.
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