I was not elected to produce a pile of vetoes.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the duty of a leader to take action rather than merely reject proposals.
William J. Clinton's quote reflects the responsibility of elected officials to actively engage in governance and make decisions that benefit the public, rather than simply vetoing or dismissing ideas. It suggests that leadership involves taking initiative and being accountable for enacting change, rather than avoiding commitment through inaction.
In practice
During a political debate to emphasize the importance of taking decisive actions for constituents.
You know, there was a recent poll which said that young people in the generation of the students here felt it was far more likely that they would see a UFO than that they would draw Social Security... It's very important you understand this. Once you understand this, you realize this is not an episode from the X Files, and you're not more likely to see a UFO if you do certain specific things.
When we got organized as a country, [and] wrote a fairly radical Constitution, with a radical Bill of Rights, giving radical amounts of freedom to Americans, it was assumed that Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly...When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move to limit it.
For too long we've been told about 'us' and 'them.' Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that 'they' are the problem, not 'us.' But there can be no 'them' in America. There's only us.
There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
Our paradigm now seems to be: Something terrible happened to us on September 11, and that gives us the right to interpret all future events in a way that everyone else in the world must agree with us. And if they don't, they can go straight to hell.
All of us are mentors. You're mentors right here and now. And one of the things I've always done throughout my life, I have always found that person, that group of people that I was going to reach my hand out and help bring them along with me.
Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.
Our offices must always be headed by the kind of men who command respect. Not phonies, zeros or bastards.
If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees.
Kindness makes for much better teamwork.
Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high.
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