Chuck Grassley: “yesterday, I spoke about the void in moral leadership in the White House. I felt obliged, as Teddy Roosevelt said, to…”

“yesterday, I spoke about the void in moral leadership in the White House. I felt obliged, as Teddy Roosevelt said, to speak the truth about the President. Let me quote him once more. Some of my colleagues may not have heard me yesterday. He said it is absolutely necessary that we have full liberty to tell the truth about the President and his acts. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President . . . is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public . . . It is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else. I quoted yesterday from another great President, also named Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt. He said, The Presidency is not merely an administrative office . . . It is more than an engineering job . . . It is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. That is why it is important to reflect on this issue. I speak about the moral leadership issue because I believe it is critical. Because it is lacking. I make a distinction between leadership and moral leadership. Leadership means the capacity for exercising responsible authority. There are many in this body who are outstanding leaders. This is reflected in the many important laws we write for the Nation. Moral leadership is different. Moral leadership means we do not just pass laws for the rest of the Nation, and exempt ourselves.…”