Chris Rock:

George W. Bush was the first cable-television president, and the thing liberals don't like about Obama is that he's a network guy. He's kind of Les Moonves.

"Les Moonves":

To further demonstrate our commitment to artistic integrity, we will ... assure you, our loyal viewers, that anything and everything you see is merely empty-tainment and that no inferences are to be drawn from anything, at any time.

Louis CK:

There's a huge amount of work that goes into placating a network in regular television. It's literally 70% or 80% of your workload, is showing them the material, getting their notes and presenting it to them and making sure they weigh in. It's a huge amount of work.

The Economist on Obama, from 2008:

He has to start deciding whom to disappoint.

Isaiah Berlin:

You must believe me, one cannot have everything one wants -- not only in practice, but even in theory. The denial of this, the search for a single, overarching ideal because it is the one and only true one for humanity, invariably leads to coercion. And then to destruction, blood -- eggs are broken, but the omelette is not in sight, there is only an infinite number of eggs, human lives, ready for the breaking. And in the end the passionate idealists forget the omelette, and just go on breaking eggs.