One of the great things about children is that they have no other concern than to be simply interested in things. It is considered by some the height of mindfulness to approach the world afresh like a child.

Talking to the press is not always good.

There is a basic idea to this fighting spirit: that there are standards worth devoting yourself to that are more important than your self-interest.

A president cannot grow a long-term lack of trust in someone with whom they had full confidence the day before.

One of the roles of the press is to make sure that the president, in the voice of the people, is telling the truth.

When I was first asked to be on 'Washington Week', I never prepared more for an appearance.

The 2008 battle in Iowa for the Democratic caucus was perhaps the most titanic single nominating contest in the history of modern politics.

You lose yourself in the to-do list and never tackle those big things you promised you would when the campaign came to an end.

When Barack Obama was asked about his lack of executive experience in 2008, he pointed to his successful campaign as proof he could manage the presidency.

Using the term 'locker room talk' blurs the line between what is criminal and what is simply oafish. That's not a line anyone should want blurred.

You're basically like glass: People see the candidates through you.

Presidents have to learn how to adapt. Every president comes into the job; it's different than they expect. They must adapt.

Michael Flynn was forced to resign, we are told, because he told a big lie. But what about the little ones?

If people feel like the boss doesn't respect them, they don't stretch for the boss.

The math of durability in McCain's life is extraordinary.

In order for a president to be transformational, the old order has to fall as the orthodoxies that kept it in power exhaust themselves.

There's the human side of people who are in public life that connects people. Whether it's favorable or unfavorable, it gives them some connection with the person who's onstage, and I think those connections are edifying.

Campaigns maybe encourage us to pay attention to attributes that maybe aren't that important in the presidency.

I couldn't wait to get out, and at 14, I moved into a three-room Georgetown town house with Dad. I never went back. When they eventually sold the house, in 1984, Mom had a goodbye party for 'Merrywood.' I refused to go.

Politics is not the nicest business, but there are still times when people do the right thing.

There is no human-resources training for how to respond when you work for an unpredictable president. It's perhaps fitting that when you visit the website of the White House Office of Administration it says, 'Check back soon for more information.'

What is the appetite for truth in the Trump White House? That's not a question about the untrue things the president says. It's about the level of truth the system expects.

The challenge with Donald Trump is that he'll deny things he said the day before or even in the same interview. And then sometimes when you try and talk about a fact that he misstated or something that he said out loud that he now disagrees with himself on, it's very frustrating.

The swashbuckling independence of my childhood was not all good, and as a father, I'm puzzling out how to be part of my children's lives rather than shoehorning them into mine. But there's a risk that I'll overcompensate, of course.