When you're young, and even at times when you're older, it's hard to fathom this: What needs to be nurtured is the stuff that's different, that sets you apart from the pack, rather than the stuff that helps you blend in.
Maureen DowdI think Hillary Clinton's a very clever politician but she would be too easy to stereotype the way John Kerry was.
Maureen DowdI find having a column a very difficult form of journalism. I'm not a natural like Tom Friedman and Anna Quindlen.
Maureen DowdI feel like I owe it to the readers to try to pull back the veil and give them the honest version of what's going on. But it's not more fun. If Obama, as he does sometimes already, gets a little snippy with me about something I've written, you're thinking, 'Oh God, the president of the United States is already annoyed with me.'
Maureen Dowd