I see my task as serving the majority of people. The question is, how do you find out what they want, how best to serve them? My answer is to stay close to ordinary people because, at heart, I am one of them.
You cannot dictate to those whose sense you are entrusted to represent.
The people’s priorities are our priorities. The people’s concerns are our concerns.
Lincoln said, public sentiment is everything. We have to listen to the people and come together as we prioritize our agenda and go forward.
I think a president has to be able to think like the people think.
A leader is not born out of the blue. You have to know the pulse of the people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat to Guwahati. You have to relate yourself with them, and only then does one become a leader.
I think the big lesson to the political class is stop listening so much to each other, and start listening to the people.
Look, Americans will go for leadership that makes sense. Our job, you know, as public officials, is not to put our finger in the air. Our job is to listen, and then lead.
