The past always seems somehow more golden more serious than the present. We tend to forget the partisanship of yesteryear preferring to re-imagine our history as a sure and steady march toward greatness.

It's time to look beyond the budget ax to assure access to health care for all. It's time to look for bipartisan solutions to the problems we can tackle today and to work together for tomorrow - building a health care system that works for all Americans.

They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.

The truth is that relative income is not directly related to happiness. Nonpartisan social-survey data clearly show that the big driver of happiness is earned success: a person's belief that he has created value in his life or the life of others.

The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.

The politics of partisanship and the resulting inaction and excuses have paralyzed decision-making primarily at the federal level and the big issues of the day are not being addressed leaving our future in jeopardy.

President Obama has offered a plan with 4 trillion dollars in debt reduction over a decade with two and a half dollars of spending reductions for every one dollar of revenue increases and tight controls on future spending. It's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

Most Evangelicals claim to be politically non-partisan and say they only identify with the Republican Party because the Republicans are committed to 'family values.'

What is more comforting to the terrorists around the world: the failure to pass the 9/11 legislation because we lacked 'a majority of the majority ' or putting aside partisan politics to enact tough new legislation with America's security foremost in mind?

All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract or in any case one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience.

I've worked very hard in this book to keep the lines of communication open. I don't want to turn someone away from this information for partisan political reasons.

Exploiting people's emotions of fear envy and anxiety is not hope it's not change it's partisanship. We don't need partisanship. We don't need demagoguery we need solutions.

After I left the White House I kept a foothold in the business of American politics as a talk-show host analyst commentator speechmaker and occasional writer. I was no longer a practitioner but I was still a partisan a Democrat a blue-stater through and through.

The best way to begin genuine bipartisanship to make America stronger is to work together on the real crises facing our country not to manufacture an artificial crisis to serve a special interest agenda out of touch with the needs of Americans.

Today I think the attitude is that governing is not necessarily good politics and the result is that it's much more partisan and much more divided.

The American people are smart. They've gotten sick of the predictable hyperpartisan talking points and canned anger.