The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.
I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker acknowledges the abhorrence of a regime while recognizing that its fate ultimately lies with its leader.
In this quote, Tony Blair expresses a complex perspective on leadership and the political landscape, emphasizing that while he personally finds Saddam Hussein's regime unacceptable, the continuation or fall of such a regime is determined by Hussein himself. This highlights the notion that political authority and responsibility rest firmly with those in power, despite external perceptions of their governance.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on political responsibility, one could reference Tony Blair's quote to highlight the role of leaders in maintaining their regimes.
More from Tony Blair
All quotes βThere is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must.
Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.
However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalize a woman who, in very difficult circumstances, makes that choice.
I want my son to grow up in a place where the people are more powerful than the government and not the other way around.
The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.
Similar quotes
I'm also very much aware that it is you who brought democracy to Chile, you set up a constitution suitable for democracy, you put it into effect, elections were held, and then, in accordance with the result, you stepped down.
The President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power in the Federal Constitution or in an act of Congress passed in pursuance thereof. There is no undefined residuum of power which he can exercise because it seems to him to be in the public interest.
Elections are an enduring spectacle of free India, and have provided foreign journalists with the opportunity to remind the world that India remains the world's largest democracy.
The task of the media in a democracy is not to ease the path of those who govern, but to make life difficult for them by constant vigilance as to how they exercise the power they only hold in trust from the people.
We all deserve credit for this new surveillance state that we live in because we the people voted for the Patriot Act. Democrats and Republicans alike....We voted for the people who voted for it, and then voted for the people who reauthorized it, then voted for the people who re-re-authorize d it.
I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by my friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance.