Politics & Power Quote by Donna Shalala

There’s a quiet political jujitsu in Shalala’s praise: she applauds Bush for risking something unpopular, then immediately reminds you he failed and retreated. The line performs two jobs at once. It signals a technocrat’s respect for governing at scale - Social Security is the third rail precisely because it is vast, beloved, and structurally hard to reform - while also keeping a partisan ledger of outcomes. “Tried to step up” frames Bush as attempting adult responsibility; “not been successful and backed off” reasserts the verdict of reality, not rhetoric.

The context matters. Bush’s mid-2000s push to partially privatize Social Security collided with public skepticism and congressional resistance. Shalala, a veteran of Democratic governance and policy machinery, speaks from inside that world: she’s not dazzled by ambition alone, but she understands the incentive structure that punishes it. Polls are the modern referendum politicians can’t stop reading, and she treats them as both obstacle and excuse. By naming them, she underscores that Bush knowingly walked into a headwind.

The subtext is a normative argument about leadership: bravery isn’t only winning; it’s choosing a fight that will make you lose. That’s an unfashionable stance in an era when politicians are rewarded for symbolic skirmishes and message discipline. Shalala’s admiration is conditional and instructive: tackle “big problems,” but expect backlash, and don’t confuse audacity with achievement. It’s a compliment that doubles as a cautionary tale about how American politics smothers long-term policy with short-term punishment.