 If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes. |
| Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive. |
| I don't do quagmires. |
| Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House. |
| I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that. |
| If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it. |
| Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people. |
| Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war. |
| Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning. |
| Learn to say "I don't know." If used when appropriate, it will be often. |
| If in doubt, move decisions up to the President. |
| Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men. |
| When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later. |
| Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small. |
| In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it. |
| It is easier to get into something than to get out of it. |
| The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments. |
| Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning. |
| Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there. |
| If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't "sail" anyway. Send it back for further thought. |
