A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.
I am walking over hot coals suspended over a deep pit at the bottom of which are a large number of vipers baring their fangs.
The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.
The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience. Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare.