“Obama has courted that risk knowingly because he thinks -- as I do -- that the nation really is in peril. His party in Congress and its leadership are too often more narrow-minded and parochial than the president. And the Republicans have chosen the easy path of near-unanimous opposition. None of this would rise above the level of petty Washington gossip except that some of Emanuel's friends are so eager to exonerate him that they are threatening to undermine the president”

“Beyond the disloyalty and all that, the real reason the Milbank column has enraged so many left-wing bloggers and liberal columnists is that Emanuel's understanding of the political landscape puts him in the reality-based community. And that is a community the Obama cult refuses to join.”

“What does seem to be happening is that the Postal Service is in a dying industry, and no one quite knows how to manage the decline.”

“I think I'd rather have him doing nothing than putting those liberal ideals and ideas he has into practice.”