Politics & Power Quote by Pete Domenici

Domenici is doing what seasoned lawmakers do when a war or a weapons program starts sputtering: translating institutional anxiety into a patience pitch. The line is built like a brief to the public, but it’s really a message to Washington’s oversight class. Notice how he splits the military into two sanctified tiers - “those who run...at the top” and the “boots...on the ground” who “run the machinery.” That pairing is strategic. It wraps brass authority and enlisted credibility into one seamless voice, implying unanimity and competence across a hierarchy that, in reality, often disagrees internally and competes for blame.

The repeated “run” matters, too. It’s an incantation of control: these are the people who “run” things, therefore trust them. By casting the military as “sending a signal,” he frames it as a disciplined, apolitical institution communicating in good faith, not an agency lobbying for budget, cover, or time. “You asked us to do something” flips accountability back onto civilians: Congress, presidents, and voters authorized the mission; now they’re morally obligated to stay the course.

“Give us some time” is the quiet center of gravity. It concedes that something has gone wrong - procurement failures, readiness gaps, a messy occupation, a scandal - without naming the failure. The promise “we will solve the problems” is less a forecast than a boundary-setting move: delay judgment, resist hearings, don’t cut funding, don’t demand resignations. Domenici’s intent is to manufacture political patience by borrowing the military’s aura of competence, and to convert uncertainty into a narrative of inevitable fixability.