Bill Haslam Quotes

I've got an extreme bias toward governors... they know what it's like to make hard decisions. They know what it's like to actually balance a budget - have a budget, first of all, and have a balanced budget.

Mitch Daniels in Indiana was the best governor in America for eight years. I've gone to Indianapolis to study with him.

I really don't think there's a lack of good will between members of the parties. I go back a long way with a lot of Republicans, so I don't think it's personal. But there does seem to be a much greater gap in both the philosophy and emphasis on partisan victories as opposed to policy development.

I never thought I'd say this: what Obama needs in his personality is a little George Bush.

Government is about hard choices.

There's a lot to learn from President Clinton. It kills me as a strong Republican saying it, but he was the most effective president during my lifetime. And when business got out of line, he smacked them.

The politicians, they try to please everybody and when you want to please everybody, you won't please everybody. That's not my way of doing politics.

There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide. Hence, leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills.

Second, the President's popularity has not translated into increased support for the Republican party or for the policies and approaches on domestic policy championed by the President.

I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example.

Congress suffers a great deal of criticism for its partisan acrimony. But while we may disagree politically, and air our opposition in this chamber, it is the conversation behind the scenes that cements and defines our relationships.

I think leadership is most effective when it's your own personality. But I feel like it's a natural progression as a quarterback, as well.

My concern about Barack Obama is he ran a campaign in 2008 where he said we're going to bring people together and solve big problems. And he specifically talked about the need to reach across the aisle and deal with issues like the economy, which was obviously the top issue in 2008. It has not happened.

Obama seemed poised to realign American politics after his stunning 2008 victory. But the economy remains worse than even the administration's worst-case scenarios, and the long legislative battles over health care reform, financial services reform and the national debt and deficit have taken their toll. Obama no longer looks invincible.

Sequestration, sequestation - however you pronounce that word - and gridlock aren't all that bad.

I understand everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand.

All leaders, male or female, innately possess feminine qualities like empathy, candor and vulnerability - the difference lies in which leaders choose to suppress those qualities, and which choose to leverage them as strengths.

Too many problem-solving sessions become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on power rather than intelligence.

On any big issue in government there are always going to be disagreements.

When you are President you have to get something done, and that often means compromise.

Rarely in American history has any particular Congress been held in high esteem …

One of the problems of being a prime minister is that you can't do what people want all at once.

Effective leadership may now well require the strength to accept rejection and hostility from a substantial segment of the electorate, while making sure that the disaffected remain a functional minority, especially on election day.

Governments almost never act with moral clarity and for very good reason. They are dealing with competing interests.

I have never seen American politics so divisive…. We can’t have Congressman not voting for things America needs because it is not popular in their district. We have to put America first.