The general consensus among historians among the ones who can handle the fact that 'Lincoln' is in fact historical fiction is that we demonstrate enormous fidelity to history and that beyond that we've actually contributed a line of thinking about Lincoln's presidency that's somewhat original.

Everybody knows they're on the Obama team: There isn't vice presidential vs. presidential division there's not a generational pull. People have internalized that this is a real moment in history.

Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.

If America wants to retain its position as a global power its president must listen to the people and show strong leadership at this turning point in human history.

From Jefferson to Jackson to Lincoln to FDR to Reagan every great president inspires enormous affection and enormous hostility. We'll all be much saner I think if we remember that history is full of surprises and things that seemed absolutely certain one day are often unimaginable the next.

I do have to say that I think that President Obama is the greatest President in the history of all of our Presidents and that he can do no wrong in my book. So how's that for prejudice on the Democratic side?

Nixon in 1968 unlike Obama 2008 was elected as a minority president with only 43 percent of the vote. Yet in 1972 he won what in some measures was the most lopsided election in American history with 61 percent.

What people forget is that the most radical thing about Obama is that he was the first black man in history to imagine that he could become president who was able to make other Americans believe it as well. Other than that he is a centrist just like I try to be. He's been bridging divisions his whole life.

The Democrats co-opted the credit for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But if you go back and look at the history a larger percentage of Republicans voted for that than did Democrats. But a Democrat president signed it so they co-opted credit for having passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Unlike any other leader in modern American history we are led today by a president that has decided to pit Americans against each other.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

President Barack Obama has stood watch over the greatest job loss in modern American history. And that my friends is one inconvenient truth that will haunt this President throughout history.

I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president - with the possible exceptions of Johnson FDR and Lincoln - just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history. But you know but when it comes to the economy we've got a lot more work to do. And we're gonna keep on at it.

I want to reform the tax code so that it's simple fair and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250 000 - the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs the biggest surplus in history and a lot of millionaires to boot.

Although... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only but of the whole people of the United States.

You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't take my job.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River the headline that afternoon would read: 'President Can't Swim.'

Increased revenues meaning higher taxes will be a central element of any successful long-term budget plan and President Obama is right to insist that the wealthy - the slice of America that has come through the recession in by far the best financial health - should provide those funds.

Thankfully President Obama has stood firmly behind women's health care issues by supporting coverage for contraception and reaffirming commitment to organizations like Planned Parenthood.

More than five million seniors have already saved money on their prescription drugs and almost 33 million have benefited from free preventive services. The president cracked down hard on Medicare and health care fraud recovering a record-breaking $10.7 billion over the last three years protecting our seniors. That's what change looks like.

Seven presidents before him - Democrats and Republicans - tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done.

In speech after speech on his health care plan the President has tried to convince us that what he is proposing will be good for America. But how can it be good for America if it raises taxes by a half trillion dollars and costs a trillion dollars or more to implement?