February 1, 2025

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.

Tony Blair (1953- ), British Labour prime minister, speech at Labour Party Conference, 30 September 1993, Jay p.48

Set aside one day to tabulate the number of times someone wanted you to say yes, but the law, regulations, common sense, and myriad other things told you ‘no’ was the only possible answer. Is the number is low? If it is, your constituents are well schooled in what governments can and cannot do.

Part of the reason there is always such an expectation of ‘yes’ on the part of the public is the belief that government has a lot more power and resources than it is admitting to. Maybe, but after a while, from the inside, you begin to realize that the constraints on democratic government are substantial, as they should be, as government is in the hands of imperfect humans. And by the way, Blair seems never to have said no to George W. Bush regarding Iraq—a failure of leadership on Blair’s part, by his own definition.