deciding to retire now and he said he would have retired a long time ago had it not been for a meeting with George W. Bush after 9-11 where he found got a taste of how Bush was going to govern; my way or the highway. Even though he and other members of the House had bipartisan agreement on additions to the budget they wanted to make, Bush wasn't interested in listening to any of their suggestions.

He also said he would not have retired now if he did not know that they had a good field of Democrats to take his place. Obey said he also wanted to make sure the health care bill passed and that it looked like the economy was moving back on track before he announced his plans to leave.