Leadership Part II

People want politicians to be leaders correct? I don't think so. I don't think enough people really want our politicians to be leaders. If we wanted it we would have more of them.

Ronald Reagan was a leader. He had vision, he didn't follow the polls, and he brought the people along with him. Reagan made his party the majority party within six years of the end of his term. Lets contrast the last two occupants of the White House since him.

Let me preface by saying I am no fan of Clinton. He is a first class demagogue. In my opinion he made his party worse. He took actions by polls, and lead his party to minority status. Clinton was a first class communicator. With more personal integrity could have been a great leader. By integrity I don't refer to his personal failings with women, I refer to his propensity to act on what would get him more power, or elected. Welfare reform was a prime example. He was personally opposed to it, but signed it after vetoing it three times. Dick Morris told him he had to sign it to get re-elected.

George Bush. Bush gets high marks for vision. He does not follow polls. I agree with him on the war on terror. I disagree with most of his spending. Where he falls down in the area of leadership is communication. I suspect he will not fulfill his potential to make his party the dominant party for a long time. With the current weakness of the Democrats, this could be accomplished. My personal opinion is that he detests the press and avoids talking to them. In this area he could take some lessons from the Gipper. The Washington Press hated Reagan as much as they hate Bush. Reagan used the press to talk to the people. Bush needs to do the same. If he would communicate his visions on a regular basis and not just during national speeches and Press Conferences, his visions will resonate with the people.

Presidents have an easier time being leaders. Congressmen and Senators have to compromise as a job description. This tends to make them look less like leaders. This may also explain why it is difficult for them to become President. A long term Senator has a long track record to be exploited in ads. John Kerry suffered from this in the last election. He worked very hard at appearing moderate. His long track record of left leaning votes made him look wishy-washy. His main weakness, however was that I don't think he thought he could be honest about his left views. In the end he could not have looked less like a leader. He ran away from his record rather than pointing to it as a source of pride. With the war not being very popular during the compaign, he could have won with a consistent message. In my opinion, thank goodness he didn't.