George H.W. Bush: “My idea of leadership is to, yes, to have the States be the laboratories for innovation. And you see, there's where I…”

“My idea of leadership is to, yes, to have the States be the laboratories for innovation. And you see, there's where I differ with some up in the Congress who think the only way to do it is to have the Federal Government put mandates on the States. I am not in favor of mandates. I'm in favor of encouraging the States to innovate, to be creative, whether it's in education, whether it's in welfare reform. And that has been our philosophy since I've been President, and I believe it was President Reagan's philosophy. But do we need to do more in encouraging this kind of innovation in welfare? Yes, and I'll be doing more about it.”