Leadership Quote by Marion Berry

Berry’s line is a masterclass in political jujitsu: he takes a concrete failure - busted water mains, the most unglamorous kind of civic breakdown - and flips it into a logic trap that dares the public to admit they only notice government when it fails. The joke lands because it’s technically coherent while morally evasive. Of course it’s his responsibility either way. That’s the point of management: prevent what you can, respond to what you can’t, and be accountable for both. Berry’s question pretends that responsibility is activated only by complaint, not by duty.

The subtext is sharper than the punchline. He’s not just defending himself; he’s redefining the rules of blame. If broken mains are inevitable, then outrage becomes irrational, and leadership becomes a kind of weather report. It’s a bid to move the conversation from competence to inevitability - from “Why wasn’t this maintained?” to “Why are you mad that infrastructure ages?” In a city like D.C., where aging systems, federal oversight, and local politics tangle into chronic dysfunction, that reframing has real strategic value.

Berry also taps into a familiar urban cynicism: citizens suspect the fix is always reactive, never preventative, because preventative work is invisible and politically thankless. His line weaponizes that reality. It’s funny, defensive, and revealing: a politician admitting, accidentally, that the public is stuck paying attention only after the street floods.