John Podesta Quotes

Ultimately I think what people care about, particularly on an issue like Social Security, is not really what’s right and what’s left but what’s right and what’s wrong.

There are people who kind of gravitate towards running politics based on new ideas and issues, and that was what the secret was for Clinton.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they have to have an explicit proposal that they put forward that all Democrats sign up to, but I think they need to throw some ideas out that, at least directionally, point the way forward.

So I think it’s important to communicate with the people in terms of what the real facts are on these proposals and try to have a discussion and a dialogue that gives people information. I think they’re hungry for that rather than just political rhetoric.

So I think in those circumstances, there’s some potential that you could see a big pendulum swing like 1994, which people you thought weren’t vulnerable all of the sudden get in trouble.

In fact, I think that Governor Clinton, when he was running, and President Clinton, when he was serving, actually governed with a wide range of advisors and a perspective that blended the best of ideas from the center and the left.