Quotes from Jodi Kantor

Sometimes, when you look at an adviser's failings or perceived failings, I think the tough question you have to ask as a journalist is, 'What does this say about the president?'

I would say that Barack Obama has always been a real optimist about what can be accomplished. He believes that government can be used to create systemic, long-term, real change. And the first lady is more of a skeptic.

Those close to Mr. Obama say he grows irritated at being misunderstood - not just by opponents who insinuate that he caters to African-Americans, but also by black lawmakers and intellectuals who fault him for not making his presidency an all-out assault on racial disparity.

Every presidential candidate highlights patriotism, but Mr. Romney's is backed by the Mormon belief that the United States was chosen by God to play a special role in history, its Constitution divinely inspired.

First ladies, you know, we look at Michelle Obama, and we look at most first ladies, and they seem like they have it all. You know, they live in the White House, they go to state dinners, they ride on Air Force One, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But first ladies do often feel that they are given short shrift or forgotten or left at the margins.

I spent a lot of time in the White House in the public areas where reporters are allowed to go, but I spoke to people about the private quarters as well. Some of the things I learned were small, novelistic details. For example, the fact that there were still pet stains on the carpets from the Bush cats when the Obamas moved in.

Michelle Obama has gone from political skeptic to political partner to a woman with a White House agenda of her own, and an approval rating higher than the president's.

I guess there were things about the Obamas I discovered that I do think are universal to marriage. I found it very interesting in my reporting that their most difficult periods in the White House almost never seemed to coincide. When one was down, the other one was holding it together. In my experience, that's true of marriage generally.

Interpreting anyone's marriage - a neighbor's, let alone the president's - is extremely difficult. And yet, examining the first couple's relationship - their negotiations of public and private life, of conflicts and compromises - offers hints about Barack Obama the president, not just Barack Obama the husband.

Harassers were often accepted, or even cheered, as mischievous bad boys.

If white men could have a playground, this would be it.

I have to know the hill on which I'm willing to die," she told the group. "The equality of the sexes is that hill for me.

It was a rousing defense, not just of journalism but of the rights of women to make allegations against powerful men. When the Times published the letter on its website, it went immediately viral.

They only tackle you when you've got the ball.

in the world at large, the emergence of new information was just the beginning—of conversation, action, change.

There isn't ever going to be an end," she said. "The point is that people have to continue always speaking up and not being afraid.

I can't change what happened to you in the past, but together we may be able to use your experience to help protect other people.

Had the reckoning gone too far, with innocent men tarnished with less-than-convincing proof, or not far enough, with a frustrating lack of systemic change?

Some of the women had gone public. Others had told Paltrow that because they succumbed to Weinstein sexually, they felt they could never speak out. Weinstein denied he had ever made those claims about Paltrow, but it seemed this was why he had been so worried about the prospect of her speaking up: Once others knew her story, his scheme would fall apart.

Positive reputation management. I Googled your name, and a few obnoxious articles popu up. I work with the leading reputation management company that can backlink to the positive articles to make a "firewall" which prevents negative pieces from ranking well on Google. Your first page of Google is key as 95% never go beyond the first Google page. Let's improve this. Easy to do.

Even at that late hour, they sounded more concerned with the welfare of the company than the welfare of the women, which had been the problem all along.

After Madden spoke, she turned to Ford, mentioning that she had been able to speak out about Weinstein in part because she was confident her encounters with him were part of a broader predatory pattern. "To stand up on your own was quite something," Madden said. "Yeah, I didn't know if there were other people" Ford replied.

Jodi cut to the point: The United States had a system for muting sexual harassment claims, which often enabled the harassers instead of stopping them. Women routinely signed away the right to talk about their own experiences. Harassers often continued onward, finding fresh ground on which to commit the same offenses.

The most profound lessons about journalism I've learned have been taught to me by the people I've covered.