Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.

When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.

When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

In Washington, the first thing people tell you is what their job is. In Los Angeles you learn their star read more

In Washington, the first thing people tell you is what their job is. In Los Angeles you learn their star sign. In Houston you're told how rich they are. And in New York they tell you what their rent is.

It’s a sorry statement about how broken Washington is that we could not take advantage of this unique and sad read more

It’s a sorry statement about how broken Washington is that we could not take advantage of this unique and sad moment in history and enact serious lobbying reform. We owed it to the people who sent us to Washington to root out corruption, and the Senate turned its back on a golden opportunity today.

Where are they now that we, the men whom they sent off to war, have returned? These are commanders who read more

Where are they now that we, the men whom they sent off to war, have returned? These are commanders who have deserted their troops, and there is no more serious crime in the law of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never leave even their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They have left the real stuff of their reputation bleaching behind them in the sun in this country.

It would be hard to blame you for having trouble taking much of what is said in Washington seriously. You read more

It would be hard to blame you for having trouble taking much of what is said in Washington seriously. You heard about the Medicare actuary who was forced to fudge the numbers and lie to Congress to keep his job. You heard the falsified numbers in Iraq on everything from the cost of the war to the number of trained Iraqi troops to a slam dunk case for weapons of mass destruction. You heard about the administration sponsored fake newscasts to mislead people all across America.

Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by read more

Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it; whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them -- this is of the essence of leadership.

I refuse to stand by while our democracy is trampled by politicians more concerned about amassing power than helping the read more

I refuse to stand by while our democracy is trampled by politicians more concerned about amassing power than helping the people who sent them to Washington in the first place.