“[You] have to believe in what you’re doing, see. You have to believe in certain principles and beliefs. And you can’t let the public opinion polls and focus groups, one, cause you to abandon what you believe and become the reason for making decisions.

“My job is a job where I make a lot of decisions. And I decide big things and little things. And there are certain principles to decision making. You make decisions — you know, you have to make a lot of decisions. And you don’t put your finger in the air to figure out how to make a decision. And neither should the President of the United States. And you have to know what you believe.

“Good decision making rests on certain basic principles. I believe in the universality of freedom. I believe democracies lead to peace. I believe people ought to worship freely. I do believe there’s an Almighty God that has spread freedom — making freedom available for everybody. I believe in private enterprise. I believe in free enterprise. I believe in high standards in education. These are basic beliefs that I’m not going to change.

“And I know some would like me to change, but you can’t be a good decision maker if you’re trying to please people. You’ve got to stand on what you believe. That’s what you’ve got to do, if you’re going to make decisions that are solid and sound. And I understand some of the things I’ve done are unpopular. But that’s what comes with the territory.

“If you’re afraid to make decisions, and you only worry about whether or not people in the classroom are going to say nice things about you, you’re not leading. And I think we’ve got to lead. We’ve got to lead to spread the peace, we’ve got to lead to protect this country, and we’ve got to lead to make sure we’re the preeminent economic power, so our people can benefit.”

— President Bush, on March 10, 2006, describing the process by which he continues to make one wrong decision after another

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