Politics & Power Quote by Austan Goolsbee

The most telling move here is the double hedge: "I'm not a political expert, but I believe..". Goolsbee, an economist-turned-public-servant, is performing humility as a credibility tactic. In Washington, claiming certainty reads as ideology; claiming modesty reads as pragmatism. The line is engineered to make "middle ground" feel less like a compromise and more like the natural center of gravity for reasonable adults.

The bipartisan roll call - "Democrats and Republicans, business people and workers" - is a rhetorical stitching exercise. He pairs the most familiar political opponents with the most familiar economic antagonists, then implies their interests can be reconciled by focusing on outcomes rather than values. Notice what disappears: redistribution, regulation fights, cultural flashpoints. "Get this - the economy growing faster" is a pivot away from moral argument into managerial problem-solving, where metrics can substitute for ideology.

There's also a subtle inoculation against cynicism. In an era when "consensus" often sounds like a euphemism for elite dealmaking, he frames it as broad and commonsense, not insider-ish. "Getting people back to work" is the emotional payload: growth is abstract, employment is visceral. It's a classic post-crisis governance script (very 2009-2012): promise technocratic competence, invite everyone into the tent, and define success in jobs, not partisan wins. The intent isn't just to persuade opponents; it's to reassure anxious listeners that politics can still function like maintenance, not warfare.