26 Leadership Quotes From Oprah Winfrey’s Interview With President George Bush

How are you going to remember former President George W. Bush?  I think as time goes on history will be very kind to him.

With the release of his new book Decision Points, President Bush appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show this week.  The following are the amazing quotes from the man who will be known as the President that kept our country safe. 

1. “The peaceful transfer of power makes America a special place.”
2. “I was honored to serve our country for eight years.”
3. “I view politics as a chapter of my life.  Not my life.”
4. “One of the sacrifices you make is loss of anonymity.”
5. “I want our President to succeed.  I love our country.”
6. “It was much harder to be the son of the President and watch my dad get criticized than to be President.”
7. “If I would have allowed the critics to affect me during the presidency, I would not have done my job as a leader.”
8. “Alcohol was crowding out my affections for my wife and my daughters.”
9. “Alcohol at times made me a fool.”
10. “My job was to protect the people.”
11. “During a crisis the leader must project calm.”
12. “I’m the Commander and Chief.  I want to be in Washington.”
13. “I would not give the enemy the satisfaction of seeing the President of the United States holed up in a bunker underground.”
14. “We had to find them and bring them to justice before they hurt us again.”
15. “Everybody thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”
16. “Often times history judges you on the decisions you make but a lot times they don’t judge you on the decisions you don’t make.”
17. “My decision (to go to combat) would weigh more heavily on me if I cared more about my political standing than completing the mission.”
18. “I made a mistake.  I should have landed (in New Orleans).”
19. “Katrina is an interesting case study of emergency management.”
20. “I want to treat my successor the way I would want to have been treated.  There will be plenty of critics and he doesn’t need me criticizing him.  I don’t think it’s good for the presidency.”
21. “I saw a problem with the mortgage market.”
22. “If you make a bad decision in the marketplace you ought to fail.”
23. “Serving as President is the honor of a lifetime.”
24. “Don’t sell your soul for the sake of politics.  Have a set of principles.  Defend those principles no matter what it might cost you in the polls.”
25. “One of my proudest accomplishments is that I didn’t sell my principles for the sake of popularity.”
26. “If you chase popularity you’re chasing something for a fleeting moment.  Principles last forever.”

Do you agree with President Bush’s comments?  Let me know your thoughts.

To automatically receive future posts on leadership, simply subscribe or click here.