True statesmanship is the art of changing a nation from what it is into what it ought to be

My theory has always been that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap - and pleasanter - than the gloom of despair.

Thomas Jefferson, 1817

He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

We ain't got a black president, Jefferson, because God ain’t ready for that yet.

Archie Bunker to George Jefferson, "All in the Family" @ 1975

Obama said Sasha, who is 7 years old, stared at Lincoln's second inaugural address and said, "Looks long." She asked if her dad's speech would be that long.

To which Malia, 10, replied, "First African-American president, better be good."

Washington Post, January 15, 2009

Bartlet: Why are you doing this? You are a player. You are bigger in the party than I am. Hoynes would probably make you national chairman. Leo, tell me this isn't one of the twelve steps.
Leo: That's what it is. Right after admitting that we are powerless over alcohol and a higher power can restore us to sanity. That's where you come in.
Bartlet: Leo....
Leo: Because I am tired of it. Year, after year, after year. Of having to choose between the lesser of Who Cares. Of trying to get myself excited over a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can't get elected president. I don't believe that. Do you?
Bartlet: And you think I'm that man?
Leo: Yes.
Bartlet: Doesn't it matter that I'm not as sure?
Leo: Nah. 'Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you.' Put another way, 'Fake it until you make it.'

The West Wing, "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II," 2000

Bartlet: What's on your mind?
Toby: 'The era of big government is over.'
Bartlet: You want to cut the line.
Toby: I want to change the sentiment. We're running away from ourselves and I know we can score points that way. I was a principal architect of that campaign strategy right along with you and Josh. But we're here now. Tomorrow night we do an immense thing; we have to say what we feel, that government, no matter what it's failures in the past and in times to come for that matter, government can be a place where people come together and where no one gets left behind. No one... gets left behind. An instrument of good.

The West Wing, "He Shall, from Time to Time..., " 1999