Every person has their pantheon - the Bible, Hollywood, Shakespeare - their way of understanding the world.

The President, who really had been mostly managing his one-man Barack Obama narrative and journey his whole life, without executive experience, certainly - he's not a governor. Some governors, of course, they have experience in executing power, which is something fairly unique, actually, in government. And he has, neither, a set of nourishing experiences.

Civilizations rise and fall on confidence. America had figured out a way to borrow money to manufacture it.

Who besides guys like me are part of the reality-based community?

[Barack Obama] says at one point, "[Jimmy] Carter, [Bill] Clinton and I suffer from," what he called, "the policy wonk's disease."

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.

It is one thing to rouse the passion of a people, and quite another to lead them.