YouSaid · the spoken record

Howard Wolfson

lines on the record: 81
first: 2018-12-17
most recent: 2018-12-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I don't think that's going to be the decisive factor. But I work in a place that allows people to create some balance in their lives, which is something that he encourages people to do. You know, if he runs for office, that'll be my priority. But the life that I've been able to carve out for myself with my family since 08 is really important to me. I guess the other thing I would say is prior to 2008, I would have said that my dream job was to work in the White House and be the press secretary of the communications director. And it wasn't clear to me at that point that I could be satisfied professionally if I hadn't accomplished that. And now I sort of think I'm fine with it. It would have been a great job. Love to do it.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that was a really important moment for me. The bond between a parent and a child, there's nothing more important. And I think since then I have tried to create a little bit more of a balance in my own life between my professional pursuits, which are really meaningful to me, and time with my kids, which ultimately is more meaningful. I do work for a great boss in terms of...”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And one of the things that I tried to do every day was to either drop her off or pick her up from daycare, regardless of what I was doing. And I felt that this was a way that I was able to spend time with her in a way that was meaningful. And I got a call one day, daycare, and they said, you know, Sarah Kate got into a fight with another kid. And I think thinking to myself, you know, what kind of fight does a four-year-old get into, a playground and daycare? And I said, why? And what happened? And they said, well, when we asked her why she did it, she said, I'm angry because I never see my daddy. Oh.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One of the things I really admire about the book is that you grapple with these questions about work life balance and the story that is most meaningful to me. So the 07-08 campaign for both of us, I think, was all consuming in ways that were pretty unhealthy in terms of trying to find a balance in life. And I had been spending a lot of time with my daughter, who at that point was three.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of the things that you wrote a great book about your life and your time in office, which I imagine listeners have read, but if they haven't, they should. One of the things that I really.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I am, but also because these are great candidates. It was really thrilling to support them. These are really interesting people who've done an awful lot of great things with their lives. But I help make the ads. I help design the polls. You'd read the polls. You'd target the resources. And I had a great time doing that. But I also have a really great time. Running our education portfolio, and I have frankly an even better time spending time with my kids. Yeah, I know. That's important.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, you know, I've been able to satisfy my own Desire and to remain involved in politics by doing it every two years as opposed to every day. I had an enormously great time those last few months working on these races. Because you're”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When you leave government and you have the ability to really make a difference, and that ends rather quickly when you leave office,”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it's funny. So as you and I have talked about being in municipal government, being a deputy mayor or a mayor, you get to wake up every day and feel like you can make a difference in the life of the place that you live. And it's very energizing and innovating. And a couple days after we left City Hall, when our Mike's tenure in office was over, I woke up early to read the New York Times as I do and there was a story about a company that was placing illegal dumpsters in neighborhoods around the city claiming that they were collecting clothes for charity but actually taking the clothes and selling them. And there was a scam. And in addition to the fact that they were scamming people into giving their clothes,”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The joke that I tell, which I think has some grain of truth to it, is that after Hillary lost in 08, I was so depressed that I needed to get out of the country and I didn't care whether I lived or died to do it. So I got on a plane to the UK and was able to take a number of trips there. Just snapped out of it. If I could figure out the answer, I'd write a book and make a lot of money.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think can be in that arena, can stand on that stage. I don't think there's any question that somebody like Mike Bloomberg given his record of accomplishment over a lifetime is somebody who can stand on the stage with Donald Trump and be successful.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Six years people, you know, running for president is hard, and people are going to assess his fitness on the trail. And if they think that it's a problem, they won't vote for him. The other thing I think look, I think that on, as I said, key areas of concern to Democrats, not only does he check the box, but he has been a real leader, I also think that he's somebody who can take on Donald Trump. So we want somebody who stands for the things that we stand for, and we also want somebody who's going to win. We have to get this guy out of the White House. Mike Bloomberg is not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump. He's not going to be afraid of Donald Trump. He has stood toe to toe with a lot tougher characters as mayor of New York, as a business leader. He's an adult and a very successful person. And you don't get to be as successful as he has shying away from fights or being intimidated by people. Now everybody is going to say, yeah, I can go toe-to-toe with Donald Trump, and people will make a decision about who they really are.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Equity around employment or education, as Mike has. And I think that that's a record that he will be proud to do. Should age be an issue?”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, I don't think that there is anybody running who can claim to have done as much as Mike has on issues that animate the Democratic electorate. A lot of great people running, a lot of people you and I know well, a lot of people you and I like. And all of them will, I think, have a story to tell and a set of policies that they will promulgate. Mike is somebody who's able to stand up and say, when it comes to guns, I took on the NRA. I took on the NRA and I've been beating them. When it comes to climate, I had the temerity to stand up to the coal industry and help shut down the plants that were polluting the country and the world when it comes to tobacco industry poisoning our kids and selling cigarettes to them. I've been the one who's been willing to stand up and take them on. So he has a record of accomplishment. Other people obviously also have records, but I don't think anybody has done as much, whether it's jobs creation or”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I don't know how I don't think there's any Democrat who's going to run for president this time who should be willing to shy away from those issues if they are.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Or the work on climate or taking on to the big tobacco consortia or educational equity and opportunity, job creation, all of those things are under threat by this administration. I think he has done an extraordinary amount here at the foundation to fight this administration's agenda. I don't think anybody has done more, for instance, to take on the gun lobby and the NRA than Mike Bloomberg has. I don't think anybody's done more to fight the coal industry than Mike has. But there's a lot more you can do as president than you can as a philanthropist, as great as his philanthropy is. And if he decides to run, it will be for that reason.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think he is profoundly troubled by President's tenure in office, about the state of the country and the state of the world and thinks he can make a difference. He gave a speech in 2016 at the Democratic National Convention. He was invited to come as an independent and speak on behalf of Hillary. And he really spoke with a lot of passion, warning about what a Trump presidency would mean for the country and mean for the world. And unfortunately for all of us, he was proved correct. The current administration has been a disaster in so many ways. And so many of the issues that he has spent a lifetime fighting for, whether it be gun safety or”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the gift that he gave to Johns Hopkins, the $1.8 billion, is a very dramatic extension of that work, where basically he is providing the opportunity for Hopkins to commit to a needs-blind admissions process in perpetuity. So a kid who applies to Hopkins, if they're qualified to get in, Hopkins is going to make sure that they can go regardless of what the family income is. And so, you know, when you want to talk about issues of equity and opportunity, that's something that I'm focused on every day in the work that I do at the philanthropy. And clearly something that animates him to the tune in this case of almost $2 billion.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not be as good as a school that he could get into, he or she could get into. We have a program that's aimed at helping those kids. We've got virtual advisors who match with them to try to encourage them and help them with their essays and applications. And then we have a consortia of colleges called the American Talent Initiative, colleges that have agreed to take more PEL eligible kids over time so that we're PEL.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is Philanthropy and you work on his politics. So putting the politics aside. So I run the education portfolio here at the foundation. And one of the areas of focus for us is providing opportunity for highly qualified, well-qualified, low income and moderate income kids to go to college. And there is a phenomenon in the country where you've got a lot of these kids who undermatch. So a kid could, based on his scores and his resume could conceivably get into a top flight school, but the kid doesn't apply to a top flight school because he doesn't see the opportunity, doesn't know it exists, concerned about the financial impacts, and sort of undermatches to a school that may”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is, but it's not dispositive. We both know plenty of wealthy people who've spent a lot of money in losing causes. This is a guy who got the votes of a lot of Democrats who care about issues like equity and inequality and who saw in Mike Bloomberg somebody who was focused on creating jobs and opportunity for people in the city. And I think if you look at his record on education, if you look at his record on job creation and economic development, you'll see a guy who was really focused on creating the broadest base possible for advancement. And I think people recognize that. Not everyone, obviously. But I would stack his record in New York against any progressive Democrats in the country in terms of focusing on issues of equity and opportunity.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, I think if you look at his 12 year record as mayor, first of all, he was elected three times in a city that is overwhelmingly democratic, twice as a Republican, and one as an independent. And he got a lot of.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is really about people are sharing in the culture of the city and you want everyone to feel like they have a stake. And so you don't want to create a situation where people feel like they have nothing. The best legislative outcomes are ones where people feel like they've participated in the process and they get something out of it. So there was a point in my life where I became much more comfortable with the win-win scenario than the zero-sum scenario. Which is.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I loved it. The best job I ever had. I would describe the difference between politics and government, at least at the municipal level. Politics, again, as you know, is a zero-sum game. In elections, there is a winner. There is a loser. Somebody wins everything and the other person wins nothing. It's a total zero-sum outcome. And even if you win by one vote, one person gets everything the other person walks away with nothing. Government is really, at least in the way we practice it, it is about win-win, right? You are negotiating with the same people again and again and again over legislation that people have a shared interest in. And you want to create outcomes where people all feel like they got something out of the process. To me, that's what democracy, I don't want to be overly high falutin about it, but to me, that's what democracy is.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I was pretty tough on him. And when they reached out to me in 09, when Kevin Sheiki, who was his. Principal guy reached out to me in 09 and asked me to come work for Mike, I said, you know, I've been pretty unkind to the mayor. Is he aware of that? Are you aware of that? I assume you all are. And he said, well, you know, what do you think of him now? And I said, I think he's been a really good mayor and I think he deserves to get re-elected. And he said, if you say that to Mike Bloomberg, that's all he'll want to hear. I have to tell you, we live in a world in which a lot of people hold grudges. For a very long time. And this is a guy who looked at me and knew what I had said about him and was willing to take me on.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was very, very much involved in defeating the nonpartisan elections referenda that he put on the ballot in 03. And we made the election really a referenda on him and we were successful. And then in 04 and 05, the state party was a client. I was pretty comfortable.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it is. The result in 16 was so shockingly upsetting that, you know, I'm not sure what I would attribute it to, but I don't think that the campaign that I saw from the outside in 16 looked better than the one that I experienced from the inside in 08. Let's put it that way.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Seem that the campaign was better run in sixteen, I didn't get the same sense of the drama that we had in oh eight in sixteen maybe I, it was happening and I was missing.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hers was not the only one that had its fair share of dysfunction. In my experience, more campaigns than not have that kind of Unfocused on productive energy from time to time.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did. The only thing I would say going back a page is that. Campaigns are hard, as you know, better than I do. You've been in more of them.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And say that one of the enormous benefits of working for Mike Bloomberg in any capacity is the incredibly positive Culture that he sets for his organizations, whether it's a campaign or City Hall or a business or philanthropy, there is a Bloomberg way of doing things that is collegial and productive and focused and ethical. And I'm lucky to be a part of that.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know. I mean, it's a fair question. It's certainly a question that any of us who have worked for her have asked ourselves.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Month or two without those qualities. But if you're running a year and a half long campaign, it's a gauntlet and you are under the enormous scrutiny from day one through to the end.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But that was obviously not as true when she started. She's a person of immense strength and fortitude and focus. There are things that would keep you and I underneath our bed for weeks, that she just gathers herself and stands up and carries on. And I think people, they can see that. They can respect it. And it's a very admirable quality. In addition to the fact that she herself is very, very, very, very smart, understands the details of legislation very committed to the causes that she had fought for her whole life. But the thing that I was always most impressed with was her strength and her focus and her fortitude. And as you know, when you're running a long campaign, I mean, you can run a campaign for a”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She got to be a better campaigner, even over the Time of the two year campaign for Senate in 1999 and 2000, she became more comfortable, more adept. And I actually think that you saw a version of that when she was running against Bernie Sanders in the primary here, where she really sort of cleaned his clock in the New York primary in 16, because she was very comfortable in New York. She'd become really comfortable in the New York environment.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Maybe that's true. Here I was having just come off the successful Schumer campaign, which had been sort of the most recent successful Democratic statewide effort. I was kind of the obvious choice to be involved. And I was in the right place at the right time.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. You know, if Hillary Clinton had run for Senate in Illinois, no one would ever have tapped me to be her communications director. But here she was running an estate.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Local tax deduction. Inconceivable that any other New Yorker would do something like that. He is now single-handedly blocking funding for a really important tunnel between New Jersey and New York. So I don't know what it really means for him to be a New Yorker in the context of the things that New York needs.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I wish it meant more. I wish that there was something good to be said for New York about the fact that you have two New Yorkers in such positions of power. But when you look at Trump's positions vis- ⁇-vis the city, they're negative. Could you imagine a New Yorker goes down, becomes president, and signs legislation getting rid of the tax break that benefits New Yorkers?”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he understands the value of press and what you need to do to get it and the importance of communications. But I think he is not the same person he was when he was 25, right? So press might have been in ends in and of itself when he was in his 20s. I think it is very much a means to an ends for him now.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But very substantive, in my experience. I mean, he knows the ins and outs of the legislative details pretty well from my time with him. He certainly understands the New York City media market.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He did. But that's who he, I mean, he wanted this more than we did, and he was willing to work harder than any of us. And he is, as I said, he's brilliant and indefatigable.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of a sudden, the phone starts ringing. It's five in the morning, and I pick up the phone and it's Chuck. Someone has told him that I'm at work and he's up early because he's anxious and he wants to start talking about the day. And this happens the first day, the second day. Finally, the third day, I said, I'm here to avoid talking to you.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In the last week of the campaign, I was getting to work increasingly early in order to kind of just compose myself. And it was dark out and it was, I don't know, 4.30 in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I get anxious in the closing days and weeks of a campaign, I will start coming to work earlier and earlier in order to sort of get my thoughts ready for the day and make sure that my desk is clean and I'm ready to do what I need to do. And so”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I did go to work for Chuck when he was running for Senate against Al Damado, and Al Damado was at that time perceived to be the Bet Noir of all of us good liberals and progressives in New York. And he was, as you say, a very tough political customer, had run statewide successfully in New York twice before, had vanquished some pretty tough people along the way, and was a very widely and successful politician. And it felt like this was an important cause that we were all involved in. And it was a great campaign. Chuck is, he's brilliant, he is tireless. He's indefatigable. And working for him was a real education. One of the things that I do.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think over time, anyone who has a leadership position in the Congress is going to get tarred with the unpopularity of the institution. So at some point, whoever you are, your negatives are going to rise, your positives are going to fall, and you become a convenient target. And there were successful House candidates who distanced themselves from her. I guess what I would say is that to the extent that the Republicans made this election a referendum on Nancy Pelosi, she won and they lost. And I assume that that's part of the case that she's making to newly elected members in support of her speakership.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Um... She has done, in my opinion, an extraordinary job of managing a fractious, complicated caucus in the house, and not only in support of her own leadership, but in support of historic legislation like the health care bill. I think history will say that she's been one of the most successful speakers in our history. And I think you can see why in the last couple of weeks, I mean, she comes out of that election. There's all of this conversation about will she be replaced and who's going to replace her. And she just systematically went to work. Diffuse the challenge”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If you combine the influence of the New York media market, the influence of successful television personality and the influence of a successful promoter, that's Donald Trump.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think there are a couple of things to remember. So we talked about the impact of the New York media market on him. The second is the impact of his television career. This is a guy who was a very successful television personality. So he does have a pretty rich appreciation for what makes for good TV, why people tune in, why they stay. That is another big influence on him. I mean, I think the third is he's a marketer. My boss, Mike Bloomberg, likes to say he's not really a businessman. He's a promoter. He's a marketer. Right.”
2018-12-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 295 — Howard Wolfson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source