Becoming Quote by Gilberto Gil

So to some extent he [Barack Obama] is a victim of the expectations and the high hopes that we experienced.

— Michael Fullilove

Obama won the presidency on the strength of his message and the skills of the messenger. Now the talk of hope and change feels…

— Ron Fournier

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…

— Valerie Jarrett

There was something so empowering about having President Obama in office because I know that for many of us, that's something that we never…

— Jesmyn Ward

I've always believed that government tends to screw up whatever it touches, but Obama in particular seemed different. He understood tech issues that left…

— Michael Arrington

Obama promised a return to competence and confidence and asked the nation to believe again that the government could do big things well. In…

— Nancy Gibbs

The best power of all is to be free, but Obama is not a free person. He is a prisoner of a military system.…

— Adolfo Perez Esquivel

Obama was quite serious when he said he was going to change the world. And now he has a national crisis, a personal mandate,…

— Charles Krauthammer

What I really appreciated about Obama in the last campaign was that he was not reactive, and we're such a reactive culture... It takes…

— Greg Berlanti

Obama was elected on the shoulders of an incipient movement that he allowed to languish once he became president.

— Ben Fountain

Obama was elected on a slogan of hope and change because both were in short supply: the military exhausted by two wars, the banks…

— Nancy Gibbs

For a guy who believes in hope, Obama doesn't seem to be able to spread much of it around. How can he? We know…

— Tina Brown