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No doubt, the White House thinks the American people know Obama's story. But since the Inauguration, we've seen only the president's present: his perfect family, his Ivy League elegance, his effortless mastery of complex issues. We never see him sweat. And we forget that he ever had to struggle.

Dee Dee Myers

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Dee Dee Myers
Age: 63
Born: 1961
Born: September 1
Former White House Press Secretary
Opinion Journalist
Political Scientist
Politician
Writer
Margaret Jane Myers
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American
Present
Elegance
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Mastery
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Inauguration

More quotes by Dee Dee Myers

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Throughout his presidency, Clinton made a point of getting close - physically and emotionally - to the people whose problems his administration was working to solve.
Dee Dee Myers
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1992 became known as the 'Year of the Woman' because so many of us were elected to public office that November, including a record six to the United States Senate.
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The first time I met Bill Clinton was actually 1988.
Dee Dee Myers
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There is an institutional cynicism that causes reporters to question everything the President says, and the motives of everything the President and his Administration try to accomplish.
Dee Dee Myers
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If people believe you're on their side, they will trust your decisions.
Dee Dee Myers
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That's not to say that women's priorities are better than men's. Rather, when women are empowered, when they can speak from the experience of their own lives, they often address different, previously neglected issues. And families and whole communities benefit.
Dee Dee Myers
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There's no question almost press secretaries talk about the sense of serving two masters. On the one hand you want to protect the president's interests, and you represent his interests to the press. And the press is a proxy for the American people.
Dee Dee Myers
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Clinton's resilience became sort of the secret weapon of the campaign. He was never going to just give up and get out.
Dee Dee Myers
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Washington is still very much a male-oriented culture. Being from Los Angeles, I think it is less so there - there is less attachment to tradition, perhaps, there is more flexibility, more acceptance of change generally. That is partly because of Hollywood.
Dee Dee Myers
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Research confirms that both Republican and Democratic women are more likely than their male counterparts to initiate and fight for bills that champion social justice, protect the environment, advocate for families, and promote nonviolent conflict resolution.
Dee Dee Myers
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As women have played an increasingly important role in politics, there is no question that they've brought a different perspective, focusing attention on a broader set of issues and building alliances with other women.
Dee Dee Myers
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No reporter is flying around in borrowed twin-engine airplanes.
Dee Dee Myers
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I'm a baseball freak.
Dee Dee Myers
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Obama seemed poised to realign American politics after his stunning 2008 victory. But the economy remains worse than even the administration's worst-case scenarios, and the long legislative battles over health care reform, financial services reform and the national debt and deficit have taken their toll. Obama no longer looks invincible.
Dee Dee Myers
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Every press secretary faces an enormous amount of information. Events move really fast. You're responsible for a tremendous amount of information, and again, a tremendous amount on competing agendas. Not everybody grease in the White House.
Dee Dee Myers
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In the run-up to the 1992 Democratic convention, Clinton's campaign realized that voters thought the young governor had a privileged upbringing. They didn't buy his alleged concern for the middle class.
Dee Dee Myers
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It isn't fate but fecklessness that has shoved Sarah Palin to the sidelines of national politics. The real tragedy is that she's taken a lot of other serious Republican women with her.
Dee Dee Myers
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During my years as a press secretary, I developed a powerful internal filter, which worked to strip all things 'off message' from my thoughts before they came out of my mouth. It didn't always work, of course, and I said more than a few things I regretted.
Dee Dee Myers
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Women have a lot of power in private life. There are many men who would say, 'Hey, women already rule my life.' But with women, more is more. The more there are, the more the world gets used to seeing them. We change the culture. We begin to expand options and lead and manage.
Dee Dee Myers
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You as the press secretary have to protect the president's interests and the White House's interests more broadly. And a lot of people inside the White House, as you learned, sometimes with painful experience, have competing agendas, have differing points of view, have priorities they're trying to protect.
Dee Dee Myers