Time & Perspective Quote by Eddie Bernice Johnson

Politics is never just a calendar of elections; it is an argument about what comes after the applause. Eddie Bernice Johnsons line lands like a quiet rebuke to the partys addiction to the immediate: the next news cycle, the next donor call, the next intra-party skirmish. By centering "the future", she is pulling the camera back from tactical drama and forcing a strategic reckoning: what is the party for, beyond winning?

The phrasing is deliberately collective and managerial. "We have to" is not a suggestion, its a discipline. It casts forward-thinking as an obligation, implying that without it the party risks becoming reactive, fragmented, and easily manipulated by the urgencies of the moment. "Think about" softens the command, but the softness is rhetorical; it invites buy-in from colleagues who might bristle at overt lecturing, while still insisting on a reset.

"Accomplish from this party" is the tell. She is not talking about personal ambition or factional purity; she is talking about outputs: policy, governance, material change. Coming from a long-serving lawmaker known for infrastructure, science, and constituency-focused work, the subtext reads as institutional seriousness. A party that cannot name its intended accomplishments becomes a brand without a program, a coalition without a mission. In an era when political identity can drift toward performance, Johnson is insisting on purpose: define the destination first, then argue about the route.