Confidence is the public face of competence.

By virtue of some of the ways the game is played, in terms of message discipline, in terms of access for reporters, and especially in the way that sources and subjects, especially famous subjects, treat the media, almost by default there's more news that's falling into books.

The informed, unmanaged question. That's the most dangerous thing at a press conference anywhere.

Many years later, a psychiatrist friend of mine said something to us. He said, "Respect denial." It's a powerful force.

I think that [Barack Obama] does say something that's - that is telling on that score, when he talks about the [George W.] Bush tax cuts and the swap he makes after the midterm elections, which is he doesn't agree with the Bush tax cuts.

If you write something that gets a bad response, or someone commits candor or is off message, there are often consequences almost immediately when it appears in the paper or a magazine, that somebody gets called into the boss's office. And sometimes it can result in a loss of access for the reporter.

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