For Serious People

President Andrew Shepherd in An American President (written by Aaron Sorkin, who went on to create The West Wing:)

"Being President of this country is entirely about character...America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You got to want it bad because it's going to put up a fight...

We have serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson isn't the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who to blame for it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character...

We've got serious problems and we need serious people. And if you want to talk about character, you better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to debate character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up."

Senator Barack Obama, in the Philadelphia debate Wednesday, from the transcript:

I think what's important is to make sure that we don't get so obsessed with gaffes that we lose sight of the fact that this is a defining moment in our history. We are going to be tackling some of the biggest issues that any president has dealt with in the last 40 years. Our economy is teetering not just on the edge of recession, but potentially worse. Our foreign policy is in a shambles. We are involved in two wars. People's incomes have not gone up, and their costs have. And we're seeing greater income inequality now than any time since the 1920s.

In those circumstances, for us to be obsessed with this -- these kinds of errors I think is a mistake. And that's not what our campaign has been about. What our campaign has been about is offering some specific solutions to how we move these issues forward and identifying the need to change the culture in Washington, which we haven't talked at all about, but that has blocked real reform decade after decade after decade. That, I think, is the job of the next president of the United States. That's what I intend to do. That's why I'm running.