Charlie Black Quotations

I don't think he's lost any of his zeal for Social Security reform, ... The action has sort of shifted to the Hill now and the Ways and Means Committee so we'll have to kind of see what they can come up with.

My personal preference is to go along with the press' sense of entitlement because it's easier to go along with it than try to fight it. But I don't think he thinks that way.

There are incentives for the construction of refineries in the energy bill that he just signed, and it would make sense to talk about that. There is a real opportunity to help educate people about the nature of this problem.

Even though the president's job-approval numbers are down a bit, the RNC is still raising money at a record clip. It's likely a case where it's the party activists that give, and they give no matter what. And perhaps they give more when the party faces challenges.

The thing that has worried me for most of the year is that the economy is very good, but the majority of voters don't think so. Pocketbook issues matter for the ability to win elections in 2006.

The (Bush) campaign would prefer not to have a floor fight on anything. Because the more we talk about the things we want to talk about, the better.

A lot of the goals are going to relate to spending, as opposed to going after a radical tax-reform package.

It's naive all of a sudden to say that the White House just realized that there's going to be a tough confirmation fight in the Senate. Of course there's pressure from both sides, but he's not going to cave to pressure from the left or the right.

I'm not sure there's a big win available. You've got to hit a bunch of singles.

If the president decides he would be the best choice, he's going to pick him. That's it.

He's reaching out and trying to repair things. He is working very hard at it.

Gas prices are the classic pocketbook issue for the average person and the average family, and these are things that they notice very much. It helps explain the paradox we see in the polls: The economy is very good, but right now a majority of people say it isn't. The hurricane, and its aftermath, will only exacerbate this problem.

If he can sometimes be a lightning rod and keep some of the criticism away from the president, I think that's fine with him.