Roh Moo-hyun Quotes

I counted on sixty days only, but I held out for 133. I didn't go into power, but to get power I borrowed some power from the President and made him sign a number of decrees and give me enough power to create a system capable of handling crisis situations.

I cannot agree to destroy the harmonious working of the Constitution for the sake of getting rid of an Unacceptable President.

My belief was that it was not only the President's right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done many things not previously done by the President.

The key question is who determines if a President is unable to perform his duties?

The President may be right in how he reads the Constitution. But he also may be wrong. And if he is wrong, who is there to tell him so? And if there is no one, the President, of course, is free to pursue his course of erroneous interpretations. What then becomes of our constitutional form of government?

Gentleman, I can't do it. You may be right, and I may be wrong; but I'll tell you what I can do: I can resign in favor of Mr. Hamlin [the Vice President]. Perhaps Mr. Hamlin could do it.

No one is ready to be President. If you end up with the title, you adjust to the position.

There are circumstances where the President could fail to follow the will of Congress when doing so would interfere with the core of his responsibilities.

The government bodies known to you have presented me a resignation demand. Taking into account that the execution of the constitutional power of the president in the situation that has been created could pose serious danger to the stability of the country, I accept that demand and announce my resignation.

I will not take orders from Bob Haldeman and the West Wing. Unless I can take orders from you only, I am going to resign.

I declare the last election to be illegal …. And I am assuming the presidency.

The great challenge to the White House is that nothing inconsequential every comes there.

I had the gravest forebodings about this organization and warned the President that as set up, neither he, the National Security Council, nor anyone else would be in a position to know what it was doing or control it.

When the economy gets wobbly, people pay attention to the leadership failures.

In a democracy, when you have 20 million people in the street, you resign. Unfortunately, we don’t have a process of recall or impeachment as you have. It was a popular uprising rejecting Mr. Morsi’s continuing in power. Unfortunately, people had to call on the army to intervene. The army had to intervene because short of that, we would have ended up in a civil war.

A President finds that his job has shrunk to cajoling a recalcitrant Congress, exhorting and indifferent public, and reconciling warring factions in an administration—where he takes the blame for actions over which he has no control and that he probably would have opposed had he been given any advance notice of them.

Being a wartime President is never just about leading the war. It is also about leading a nation at war.

Simply eight young men … standing amidst the ruins of one administration with the foundation of another not yet laid …. No police were functioning through the country, no system of justice was operating, the wheels of the administration hung idle, battered out of recognition by the clash of rival jurisdictions.

The President was determined to have his way, and the Senate were equally determined to have theirs. Unfortunately, the Senate had the power to compel the President to yield or lose confirmation of the Treaty, and equally unfortunately, he refused to give way. As far as his approach to the Senate was concerned, in my judgment, the President's purpose was impeccable but his manner unfortunate.

My position is not designed to win votes. It is designed to address itself to what I think is a problem of crisis proportions. I believe that when you are facing that kind of emergency, you have to be willing to prescribe some pretty tough action.

An uncontrollable situation, in which there are no clearly defined spheres of authority, has come about in the country. Under these conditions, normal life is impossible.

You can never predict what problems a President will face.

It would be improper to put it in the power of any Man to negative a Law passed by the Legislature because it would give him the control of the Legislature

The single head may be sick. Who is to conduct the public affairs in that case? When he dies, who are to conduct until a new election?

There are many ways for the Federal bureaucracy to undermine the leadership of the nation.