{"author":"George Packer","author_id":"George+Packer","total_quotes":26,"quotes":[{"text":"Both Obama and Romney ended up in the wrong place: the former thought American exceptionalism was no longer true and should be given up while the latter thought it was still true. Neither was willing to tell Americans that they were no longer exceptional but should try to be again.","author":"George Packer","tags":["inspirational","politics"],"id":8178,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"It's essential for the U.S. And Europe to prevent Putin from going farther and reversing the hard-won independence of former Soviet republics.","author":"George Packer","tags":["europe","soviet","going "],"id":11903,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"The attacks of 9/11 were the biggest surprise in American history, and for the past ten years we haven't stopped being surprised. The war on terror has had no discernible trajectory, and, unlike other military conflicts, it's almost impossible to define victory. You can't document the war's progress on a world map or chart it on a historical timetable in a way that makes any sense. A country used to a feeling of being in command and control has been whipsawed into a state of perpetual reaction, swinging wildly between passive fear and fevered, often thoughtless, activity, at a high cost to its self-confidence.","author":"George Packer","tags":["9-11","9-11-10th-anniversary","american-history","command","control","progress","reaction","self-confidence","surprise","terror","victory","war"],"id":15481,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"I've read a lot of war writing, even World War I writing, the British war poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves's memoir 'Goodbye to All That,' and a civilian memoir, 'Testament of Youth,' by Vera Brittain.","author":"George Packer","tags":["war","goodbye","writing "],"id":35669,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"Before the nineteen-seventies, most Republicans in Washington accepted the institutions of the welfare state, and most Democrats agreed with the logic of the Cold War. Despite the passions over various issues, government functioned pretty well. Legislators routinely crossed party lines when they voted, and when they drank; filibusters in the Senate were reserved for the biggest bills; think tanks produced independent research, not partisan talking points. The 'D.' or 'R.' after a politician's name did not tell you what he thought about everything, or everything you thought about him.","author":"George Packer","tags":["1970s","bipartisanship","democrats","politicians","politics","republicans","u-s-politics","washington-dc"],"id":49345,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"No one pretends anymore that the Olympics are just about sports. It's routine to talk about what effect holding the Games in this or that capital will have on the host country's international reputation, how a nation's prestige can be raised by its medal count.","author":"George Packer","tags":["reputation","country","nation "],"id":66233,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"Ideology knows the answer before the question has been asked.Principles are something different: a set of values that have to be adapted to circumstances but not compromised away.","author":"George Packer","tags":["circumstances","compromise","ideology","principles","values"],"id":77964,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"At the heart of the matter is a battle between wish and fear. Fear generally proves stronger than a wish, but it leaves a taste of disappointment on the tongue.","author":"George Packer","tags":["disappointment","fear","inspirational","life","wish"],"id":84453,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"When I interviewed Paul Bremer in his office, he had almost no books on his shelves. He had a couple of management books, like 'Leadership' by Rudolph Giuliani. I didn't take it as an encouraging sign.","author":"George Packer","tags":["management","office","sign "],"id":162860,"author_id":"George+Packer"},{"text":"What I found in Silicon Valley is an industry that's sort of been kept a very far remove from Washington and had an attitude of 'Just let us do our thing and make the miracles that people love around the world and leave us alone.'.","author":"George Packer","tags":["love","alone","world "],"id":196370,"author_id":"George+Packer"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":26,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}