Ari Fleischer President Quotations

The president typically never does comment on anything involving the Supreme Court cases, Supreme Court ruling, or Supreme Court finding, typically.

If Mr. Obama wants to get things done, he must recognize that in Washington only the president has the power to make the first big move.

After two years of fighting, government shutdowns and little to no agreement on anything except welfare reform in 1996, President Clinton was re-elected and decided it was time for compromise.

When President George W. Bush cut taxes, he cut them for everyone.

The press secretary who starts to narrow down or close the president's options because he answers delicate negotiating questions no longer serves the president.

As the president has said, if the United Nations will not disarm Saddam Hussein, it will be another international organization, a coalition of the willing that will be made up of numerous nations that will disarm Saddam Hussein.

The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it.

Joe is one of the president's staunchest supporters and good friends. The president is going to miss him a great deal. We're all on the staff level going to miss Joe a great deal. He's a great guy -- a real kind man, a gentle giant.

I think from the president's point of view, any questions about how long it will last are, of course, are entirely legitimate questions ... The president understands people want to know, but it's also an unknowable issue. But I do think there is a difference between asking that question and the suggestion that,

The American people are going to give the President a second look here in his sixth year because he?s engineering these changes. That?s helpful. He needs the country to give him a second look.

The president has said before that he is patient, the American people are patient, and he is confident that in time we will find this.

The president has full faith ... the vice president can take care of himself,

The president has confidence in Senator Santorum, both as a senator and as a member of the Senate leadership,

The president can accomplish what he wanted to accomplish at APEC.

The president believes that it's an American way of life.

The president will, of course, take into account any recent developments that need to be factored into any decision he makes.

The president thinks this is the chance now for Yasser Arafat to demonstrate real leadership that is lasting, that is enduring, that puts people responsible for this away, and does so in such a way that they can't get out again and commit more terror. The president thinks it is very important that the Palestinian jails not only have bars on the front but no longer have revolving doors at the back.

The president thinks this is a positive. The president expressed his belief that this will increase the prospects to bring peace to the region. Israel has said it will continue withdrawals. It is. The withdrawals are continuing.

The president thinks the ICC is fundamentally flawed because it puts American servicemen and women at fundamental risk of being tried by an entity that is beyond America's reach, beyond America's laws and can subject American civilian and military to arbitrary standards of justice.

The president is going through a bad time, and it is related to policies. It's related to Iraq, and the advantage of making a change is it allows the public to take a second look at a president who has been in office six years.

It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it. It could have and should have been handled differently.

If there are any growth proposals from the Democrats, the president would be very interested in hearing them.

If you allow those who are the most vocal and most antagonistic to get a meeting with the president for fear that publicity will hurt you if you don't, you're creating incentives for your critics to become even more antagonistic and more vocal. Then, you're forever stuck in: Will you or won't you meet? You'll no longer lead. You'll just wrestle with meetings.