Skip to main content

Daily Inspiration Quote by Laura Bush

"But we talk about issues, we talk about people, we talk about personalities. George is a very good reader of people, and he's very perceptive about people, and you know, that's fine"

About this Quote

The most revealing part here is the shrugging cadence: "and you know, that's fine". Laura Bush isn’t trying to dazzle; she’s trying to domesticate. In a few plain clauses, she rebrands George W. Bush’s famously instinct-driven political style as something safer, even endearing: not ideological rigidity, not policy thinness, but a human skill set. "Issues" get name-checked first, as if to satisfy the grown-ups in the room, then quickly displaced by "people" and "personalities" - a pivot from governance to temperament, from outcomes to vibes.

The repetition works like soft insistence. By looping "we talk about..". she frames politics as conversation rather than combat, a living-room register that fits a First Lady’s public role: validator-in-chief, smoothing edges without appearing to spin. Calling him "a very good reader of people" is more than praise; it’s a justification for decision-making that critics often saw as gut-level and loyalist. "Perceptive" signals discernment without naming what he discerns, which keeps it flattering and unfalsifiable.

Context matters: post-2000s politics, when Bush’s persona - plainspoken, decisive, relational - was both asset and liability. Laura Bush’s line performs damage control with velvet gloves. It quietly suggests: if he misreads a policy brief, he still reads the room. And in an era when personality can outrun substance, that final "that's fine" lands like a cultural tell, not a conclusion: the standards are being renegotiated in real time.

Quote Details

TopicHusband & Wife
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Bush, Laura. (2026, January 15). But we talk about issues, we talk about people, we talk about personalities. George is a very good reader of people, and he's very perceptive about people, and you know, that's fine. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-we-talk-about-issues-we-talk-about-people-we-19316/

Chicago Style
Bush, Laura. "But we talk about issues, we talk about people, we talk about personalities. George is a very good reader of people, and he's very perceptive about people, and you know, that's fine." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-we-talk-about-issues-we-talk-about-people-we-19316/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"But we talk about issues, we talk about people, we talk about personalities. George is a very good reader of people, and he's very perceptive about people, and you know, that's fine." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-we-talk-about-issues-we-talk-about-people-we-19316/. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Laura Add to List
We Talk About Issues, People, Personalities - Laura Bush
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Laura Bush (born November 4, 1946) is a First Lady from USA.

29 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes