Leadership Quote by Jennifer Granholm

"The Clinton administration brought 65 cases from 1995 to 2000 before the World Trade Organization. The Bush administration has brought twelve. Twelve cases. They haven't even been able to stand up for our jobs"

Jennifer Granholm, Politician

About this Quote

Numbers are doing the heckling here. Granholm doesn’t just cite a policy difference; she stages a courtroom drama where “65” and “twelve” serve as character witnesses, and the verdict is preloaded: one party fought, the other shrugged. The repetition - “Twelve cases. Twelve cases.” - is the tell. It’s not about arithmetic, it’s about indignation. She’s using a simple, TV-ready metric to translate a sprawling, technical domain (WTO dispute settlement) into a pocket-sized morality play about who’s willing to throw punches for American workers.

The specific intent is electoral and prosecutorial: to frame the Bush administration as passive in the face of globalization’s pressures, and to cast Democratic governance as muscular on trade enforcement. “Brought before the World Trade Organization” sounds like action; “haven’t even been able to stand up” sounds like failure of nerve. That “even” is doing quiet work, implying the bar is low and they still missed it.

Subtext: trade isn’t abstract; it’s jobs, pride, and protection. By collapsing complex trade strategy into case-counts, she offers emotional clarity to audiences who feel whipsawed by plant closures and outsourcing. It’s also a subtle rebuke of elite consensus: if you claim to champion free markets, prove you can police them.

Context matters because WTO cases are an imperfect proxy for defending jobs - administrations may choose negotiation, accept losses, or face different global disputes. Granholm is betting that in politics, a clean contrast beats a nuanced ledger.

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About the Author

Jennifer Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Politician from USA.

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