Politics & Power Quote by Bruce Babbitt

There is a telling modesty in Babbitt’s delivery: the softener ("Look, I think") and the clunky, conversational syntax aren’t verbal tics so much as political self-protection. He’s describing a bruising episode - a case that became a stress test for governance - without naming the fight directly, because in Washington specificity is liability. Instead, he offers a bipartisan redemption arc: "everybody on both sides of the aisle" arrives at the same sober conclusion. That’s not just narrative; it’s insulation. If everyone agreed, no one has to own the mess.

The key phrase is "this kind of process". It’s a deliberately vague indictment, aimed less at a single statute than at a governing habit: litigation-driven policy, procedural gimmicks, or a legal mechanism that turned normal administration into a perpetual courtroom drama. Babbitt frames repeal as institutional self-correction, the rare moment when Congress admits the machine is grinding itself to dust.

The subtext is a plea for competence over ideology. "We can't run a government" is a quiet rebuke to performative obstruction - the idea that rules can be weaponized until the state becomes unmanageable. He also places his own case as catalyst, not crusade: the outcome is "good" because it restores governability, not because it vindicates a personal position.

It’s pragmatic moralizing: reform presented as common sense, with the sharp edges filed down so it can pass through Congress.