"Now, I'm not suggesting we're going to wait 40 years or even four years, but I think we have to put in perspective the fact that we've come quite a distance. We have quite a distance to come - go, as well"
About this Quote
Chertoff is doing that peculiar kind of Washington triage: acknowledging pain without conceding failure, promising urgency without committing to a deadline. The line opens with a preemptive disclaimer - "I'm not suggesting we're going to wait 40 years or even four years" - which immediately reveals what he fears: being heard as complacent. By naming absurdly long timelines, he signals empathy for impatience while quietly lowering expectations for quick, satisfying fixes.
The real work happens in the pivot to "perspective". That word is a pressure valve. It reframes whatever crisis or reform he is addressing (likely security or institutional overhaul, given his post-9/11 profile) as a long, grinding project where progress should be measured in incremental distance, not dramatic milestones. "We've come quite a distance" is an argument for institutional legitimacy: the system is not broken; it's mid-renovation. "We have quite a distance to come - go, as well" keeps the public from thinking the job is done, but it also protects the bureaucracy from the demand for immediate transformation.
Even the stumble - "come - go" - matters. It reads like live, careful improvisation: he is steering between two political cliffs, panic and impatience. The subtext is managerial: trust the process, accept partial victories, and let the timeline remain flexible. It's a public servant's rhetoric of continuity, designed to buy time while keeping the audience just hopeful enough not to revolt.
The real work happens in the pivot to "perspective". That word is a pressure valve. It reframes whatever crisis or reform he is addressing (likely security or institutional overhaul, given his post-9/11 profile) as a long, grinding project where progress should be measured in incremental distance, not dramatic milestones. "We've come quite a distance" is an argument for institutional legitimacy: the system is not broken; it's mid-renovation. "We have quite a distance to come - go, as well" keeps the public from thinking the job is done, but it also protects the bureaucracy from the demand for immediate transformation.
Even the stumble - "come - go" - matters. It reads like live, careful improvisation: he is steering between two political cliffs, panic and impatience. The subtext is managerial: trust the process, accept partial victories, and let the timeline remain flexible. It's a public servant's rhetoric of continuity, designed to buy time while keeping the audience just hopeful enough not to revolt.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
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