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I think the great trick to a successful run in politics is to have both what you've called the wussy-mommy qualities and the macho-tough qualities. If you're only one or the other, you're going to get into trouble. A party without compassion and without intellect and without appreciation for ambiguity is going to get in trouble in an environment where there are many moving parts, not all of which are under your control. On the other hand, if all you have is empathy and ambiguity and you don't know when to stand and fight and when to say no, then in the end all the sand will run out of the hourglass before you really can prevail.
I think the Republicans are better at understanding how to get and keep power. They've shown that since 1968. The Democrats tend to be more responsible in the exercise of power but sometimes don't understand how to get it or how to keep it. We have to understand, we Democrats, that not all politics is rational and you have to deal with people's fear, their need for security. We have to understand that when the Republicans come at us and paint cartoon-like images of us, even if, like [former Georgia Senator] Max Cleland, we left half our body in Vietnam, they do it for one simple reason - because it's worked so much. And they will keep on doing it until it doesn't work, because they're in business to beat us. We've got to beat them.
-- Bill Clinton, interviewed in Time
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