In Lincoln's day a President's religion was a very private affair. There were no public prayer meetings no attempts to woo the Religious Right. Few of Lincoln's countrymen knew anything at all of his religious beliefs.

I love it when the left and when the president say 'Don't try to impose your values on us you folks who hold your Bibles in your hand and cling to your guns.' They have values too. Our values are based on religion based on life. Their values are based on a religion of self.

We saw what happened in Jimmy Carter's administration. President Carter was a good man with the best of intentions. But he came to Washington without a good working relationship with Democratic members of Congress which played a big part in his administration's problems.

You know I think that President Obama is a person who has a great relationship with a number of people. Colin Powell does too. I think Colin Powell is a fine American a great leader and sees things in President Obama that he agrees with. He's entitled to have his opinion.

He didn't want to tell his son what to do but told me to write the president a letter. I didn't name a country but there are many countries we have a fragile relationship with.

But even after the first week when Hart got out of the presidential race because of the Washington Post's threat to reveal a long-term relationship Hart had apparently been having with a prominent Washington woman the media continued to embellish my past.

A Bush Administration will I believe enjoy a better relationship with the new Congress although President-elect Bush will be faced with real challenges in getting along with the Congress.

Since the beginning of the 21st century thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides China-U.S. relationship has on the whole enjoyed steady growth. Since President Obama took office we have maintained close contact through exchange of visits meetings telephone conversations and letters.

As far as my relationship with President Putin is concerned it's fine.

First President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.

Every president needs to deal with the permanent government of the country and the permanent government of the country is Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats and the questions becomes what is the relationship between that president and Wall Street.

The most important aspect of the relationship between the president and the secretary of state is that they both understand who is president.

I certainly know that this relationship could not have continued the way it did when I was at the Pentagon and the president was obviously at the White House without Betty.

The relationship between the prophet and the President the priest and the President is a sacred one.

I spend a great deal of time with the President. We have a very close personal loyal relationship. I'm not as they say a potted plant in these meetings.

There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress and that is continuously incessantly and without interruption. If it is really going to work the relationship has got to be almost incestuous.

Nowhere has the political power of coal been more obvious than in presidential campaigns.

In the sense that you're not at the centre of power like a president or prime minister of a major power everyone is marginalised my position doesn't isn't unique in that respect. I think there are different sorts of relevance in different contexts.

There is much to dislike about President Obama's approach to the financial crisis. But opposition it seems will have to come from somewhere other than conservatism. The party out of power is also a party out of touch.

Given the daunting challenges that we face it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

I foresee the Chinese ruling the world. What are you going to do to stop it? No president of the United States will ever have enough power to stop the Chinese when they want to take over the world.

Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president from a murderous general or a beloved leader I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon.

Bill Clinton sitting on Air Force One getting his hair cut while people around the country cooled their heels and waited for him became a metaphor for a populist president who had gotten drunk with the perks of his own power and was sort of you know not sensitive to what people wanted.

You should see what our Founding Fathers used to say to each other and in the early part of our nation. But what they were able to do especially in Philadelphia in 1787 four months they argued about what a House should be what a Senate should be the power of the president the Congress the Supreme Court. And they had to deal with slavery.