Politics & Power Quote by Brad Henry

Crisis makes a cheap but effective solvent: it dissolves party labels long enough for a leader to ask for obedience without saying the word. Brad Henry’s repetition of “This is not the time” works like a verbal gavel, shutting down the normal rhythms of blame, posturing, and score-settling before they can start. It’s a preemptive strike against the coming argument: who failed, who missed warnings, who’s angling for advantage. The phrase “politics as usual” is deliberately vague, a catchall insult that lets everyone hear their least favorite behavior in it while excusing Henry from naming names.

Then comes the roll call of identities. “Democrats... Republicans... Independents” reads like inclusivity, but it’s also a containment strategy: he acknowledges difference only to miniaturize it. Each group gets a brief mention, then is folded into a larger, emotionally loaded category. “Oklahomans first” is a loyalty test disguised as comfort. The subtext: your critique can wait; your solidarity is due now.

The context that makes this land is Oklahoma’s civic memory of disaster and communal response, especially the post-1995 Oklahoma City bombing ethos of unity and resilience that state leaders repeatedly invoke. Henry, as a governor in a conservative-leaning state, is also threading a needle: inviting cooperation across parties without surrendering authority. The line isn’t naive about polarization; it’s an attempt to suspend it by redefining the arena. Not left versus right, but neighbor versus chaos.