Leadership Quote by Jay Inslee

“Healing is a moral thing to do” is politics trying to reclaim an old word without blushing. Jay Inslee isn’t talking about bandages; he’s talking about civic repair in an era when grievance is a campaign strategy and “strength” often means refusing to yield. By framing healing as “moral,” he moves it out of the self-help aisle and into the realm of obligation. Not “nice,” not “strategic,” not “good optics” - right.

The line also does a neat piece of triangulation. Healing can sound soft, even suspect, to voters trained to equate empathy with weakness. Inslee preempts that by moralizing it: if you oppose the work of repair, you’re not just disagreeing on policy, you’re failing a basic ethical test. That’s the subtextual jab. It quietly redraws the political map so that compassion becomes a form of seriousness, and cruelty becomes the indulgence.

Context matters. Inslee’s brand as a mainstream Democratic executive - especially in the Trump-era heat and the pandemic’s aftershocks - leans on competency, public health, climate urgency, and a certain Pacific Northwest insistence on collective responsibility. “Healing” here is a bridge word: it can mean mourning after violence, restoring trust in institutions, or simply getting through a crisis without turning neighbors into enemies.

It works because it’s both airy and disciplinary. It invites unity while setting a standard. Healing isn’t framed as a mood; it’s framed as a duty.