Wars tend to be very public things, they are visible. There are correspondents traveling with the troops and you get daily dispatches.

I don't have to deal with the issues of the daily news cycle.

It's exciting to work with the kids so devoid of irony, so unguarded. And also terrifying

There are many instances in which those at the uppermost levels of the White House were feeling the President [Barack Obama] was not fully informed of the flow of events and, in some cases, where policies were going in the White House.

[Barack Obama] says that he thinks America felt better, more confident, because Washington was not simply in a gridlock, in stasis, where nothing was being done. And he talks about that as a positive.

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

These were lobbyists—many of them compensated quite handsomely not to react as human beings.