There is both a science and an art to good leadership. Competence, no matter how one chooses to define it, is the essential quality of good leadership. It takes better than average intelligence. It is the ability to not only recognize one’s own strengths, but one’s limitations, as well. It takes courage, and the ability to recognize and admit mistakes. It takes sound judgment and a willingness to subject that judgment to the scrutiny of others. It requires impeccable honesty and integrity. It is the art the possible through collegial and collaborative relationships. It is the ability to gather the best minds around you into a cohesive and dedicated team. A good leader embodies the collective wisdom of his/her team, not run rough-shod over others because of a gargantuan ego. It is the ability to dignify one voice of dissent as much as those of a legion of supporters. It is the ability to understand that anything is possible so long as no one cares who gets the credit. It is the ability to make an unpopular decision and take full responsibility for it when your instincts tell you that is the wisest course of action. It is the ability to understand that power is most effective when used sparingly; and praise is most effective when used generously. Leadership is situational. It is the essential difference between being boss and playing boss.
I have watched Sarah Palin with fascination and the adoration for her that has emerged in just a few weeks. Her interview with Charlie Gibson on ABC News was most insightful. It is reminiscent of Bert Parks asking the “one burning question” of each contestant for the title of Miss America, with all of the substance and spontaneity associated with the exercise. She is attractive and poised, as one would expect from a former beauty queen. Her knowledge, judgment and experience are not particularly remarkable. I have over 40 years experience in senior management positions in large, complex and some international organizations. I hardly think that would, ipso facto, qualify me to be one heart-beat away from the Presidency. All of the orchestrated praise and fawning over her doesn’t alter the facts. She is what she is; a small-town mayor and a small-time governor. Nothing more. She is a lightweight when it comes to education and experience. I cannot recall that the University of Idaho’s program in journalism is regarded as one of the premier schools in that particular discipline, over which the best in the business compete for admission. She served on the City Council of Wasilla, Alaska for 4 years and 6 as the town’s mayor, the population of which is reputed to be somewhere between 5,500 and 9,000. It hardly qualifies as one of the nation’s major metropolitan areas. Alaska, with a total population of 650,000 could hardly compete with most of our major cities. I don’t regard either as heavy experience on any executive officer’s resume. Her latest ploy is to stonewall an investigation into her conduct while she was Governor of Alaska. Sound a bit like another 4 years of Bush - Cheney?
As for being a rather accomplished liar, I won’t hold that against Sarah. After all, that seems to be a malady that afflicts most politicians to some extent. But, as for being a leader, she doesn’t qualify. Rather, she is a tyrant who misuses the authority of her office to enhance her own personal ambitions. When I see her new-found followers in rapt attention, seizing on every word, almost in a complete state of rapture, the sheer absence of any rationality is sobering. I have only witnessed similar phenomena twice in my life. The first instance was when, out of intellectual curiosity, I went to a meeting of born-again Christians at the local Moose (no pun intended) Lodge. The second instance was at an Amway convention where Rich Devoss, one of the founders of Amway, was the cheerleader. There is something rather frightening about all that. I don’t regard the fundamentalist Christians and social conservatives, who thrust her into a position of prominence on the Republican ticket, as particularly rational human beings. Their religious philosophy seems to be predicated more on what preacher is waving a bible under their noses at any given time than any objective evidence. All I can say to anyone who professes to speak in tongues is that there is a huge market out there looking for a new hallucinogenic agent to try. Might be a good fund-raising ploy for the last few weeks of the campaign.
At the end of the day, Sarah Palin is about as qualified to be Vice-President as any waitress at Hooter’s. Pathetic, really. Her choice as candidate for Vice-President is the most egregious error in judgment by John McCain so far. However, not at all out of character with his record as a political opportunist.
Joe Biden has an education grounded in Catholic schools. Those Catholic schools have a reputation for discipline and academic excellence that is well known. He is a solid family man with decades of experience in the United States Senate, serving on the Foreign Relations Committee and as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. To be sure, he has stumbled and has made his share of mistakes along the way. However, he is a seasoned veteran in politics and government, and he has served this country with dedication, honor and distinction. He knows and has first-hand experience about the major issues of our day, and how to deal with them. Frankly, we could all sleep better knowing he is the one who is just a heart-beat away from the Presidency.
John McCain is touted as an exceptional and well qualified leader. He is ascribed qualities such as sound judgment and the ability to work by “reaching across the aisle.” Being fifth from the bottom of his class at the U.S. Naval Academy does not impress me as a particularly solid academic foundation for acquiring the knowledge and skills required of leadership. Serving as the squadron commander of a flight wing doesn’t seem like an overwhelmingly heavy challenge in leadership skills either.
John established himself as a playboy and womanizer while he was a midshipman at Annapolis, a reputation he seems to have carried with him into later life. I doubt that his rise up the ranks as a U.S. Naval Officer would have been quite as dramatic were it not for the fact that both his grandfather and his father were full admirals. Political influence carries significant weight in those circles.
Nothing is extolled quite as often, both by others and by himself, as the fact that he is a bona fide war hero. As for his POW experience qualifying him as a hero, I would submit that all of those who were POW’s under similar circumstances are as deserving as John McCain ever was for that same distinction. Without wishing to minimize his suffering, he has no corner on that claim.
One would think his experience in the Hanoi Hilton would have humanized John to some extent, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. He wasted no time in pitching his first wife (who was crippled in a car accident during his time as a POW), in favor of a wealthy heiress whose family could provide him with both the money and the influence to launch his political career. Otherwise, it is doubtful that he could have been elected to anything of greater prominence than that of dog-catcher of Maricopa County, Arizona.
His political acumen in both the House and the Senate seems to have been more a factor of his temper than his mastery of the art of negotiation and persuasion. A pall still hangs over his character because of his involvement as one of the now infamous “Keating Five,“ in the 1980’s Savings and Loan scandal, not to mention his later cozy relationship with Phil Gramm who was largely instrumental in stripping all meaningful safeguards from the financial industries, now tanking in droves.
His friendships appear to be more a factor of his political ambitions than any type of kinship. He did a complete turn-around and readily adopted the agenda of George W. Bush who was once his nemesis in the election of 2000. He has sided up to anyone who could benefit him, politically, despite his own rather fluid convictions to the contrary. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed and the like are only a few who readily come to mind. No one is a more persuasive liar than John, particularly when he adopts the facial expression and voice of a family therapist - cool, calm and soft-spoken. But, whatever works for the guy at any given moment, I suppose.
During his political career, John seems to have had some difficulty in deciding whether he wanted to remain a Republican or a Democrat. He flirted with changing parties, then flirted with running as Vice-President with John Kerry in 2004, but decided otherwise. It seems he can’t go anywhere, anymore without being attached at the hip to Joe Lieberman on one side and Lindsey Graham on the other. Hardly bulwarks of political acumen and personal statesmanship. Because of these relationships, I am still having difficulty reconciling John’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running-mate over either of these two. Maybe, while Sarah is cramming to become his understudy in affairs of state, he hopes to give each of them a spare bedroom in the White House so they can tuck him in at night and shore up his image as president.
John McCain is clueless when it comes to leadership. He just doesn’t have it nor is he to be trusted with the highest office in the land as his personal learning ground. Time for him to go back to the ranch in Sedona and pitch horseshoes.
Barack Obama is the product of a multi-cultural family who appears to be the product of a pretty normal upbringing. He manifested behavior at times that was typical of an adolescent and a young man, about which he has been forthcoming in both of his books.
He is a graduate of Columbia University, the Harvard Law School and was President of the Harvard Law Review, plus 12 years as a Constitutional Law Professor. No small achievements and testimony to his intelligence and his discipline. He has been married to the same woman for 19 years and is the father of two daughters, all of whom have been, and continue to be, followers of a Protestant Christian Faith.
Barack spent three years as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago among some of the poorest and most disenfranchised. He faced one of the toughest challenges of leadership in that whatever he accomplished was largely the result of persuasion and negotiation. He followed with 8 years as a member of the Illinois Senate, representing a district of 750,000 people in Chicago. As a state senator, he served as Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee in the Illinois State Legislature. He has served 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people. During that time he has sponsored 113 bills and has served on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
Like all of us, he has made his share of mistakes, the most notable of which was his relationship to Tony Resco. The real estate deal involving his purchase of a home through this relationship was certainly an example of poor judgement, but he has been forthcoming about that issue and, in retrospect, he acknowledges that was not wise or prudent on his part.
Barack is commonly referred to as “young” at 47 years of age. From my vantage point, I would classify him as middle-aged. That presupposes a certain amount of wisdom that goes with it. I believe he has done a rather good job of demonstrating that attribute. He has shown his leadership abilities, and I am satisfied that he will do the nation proud as its 45th President. I have no doubt that he will manifest the finest qualities of leadership, if for no other reason than the fact that he already knows that real leadership is analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra, not in mastering every musical instrument. I have every confidence that he will surround himself with the best minds and experience he can bring to bear on the challenges and the burdens he will inherit, should he be elected.
Given what has befallen this country during the course of the last 7 plus years, not to mention the last few days, I just don’t see how we can afford to take a chance on one who seems to be a true believer when it comes to the policies of George W. Bush & Company. What has come down around us all is just too ominous and foreboding to entrust to John McCain and Sarah Palin, their hollow rhetoric and adoring fans not withstanding.
We aren’t focusing on the issues, we are fixating on personalities. This is not the time to cast our precious votes on a cult of personality or political opportunism. The tenor of our times cries out for real leadership. All things considered, I believe Barack Obama has clearly shown that he has what it takes, not only because of his education and experience, but because of the leadership acumen he embodies, and his choice of the man standing in wings.
Cowboy Bob
September 19, 2008
I have watched Sarah Palin with fascination and the adoration for her that has emerged in just a few weeks. Her interview with Charlie Gibson on ABC News was most insightful. It is reminiscent of Bert Parks asking the “one burning question” of each contestant for the title of Miss America, with all of the substance and spontaneity associated with the exercise. She is attractive and poised, as one would expect from a former beauty queen. Her knowledge, judgment and experience are not particularly remarkable. I have over 40 years experience in senior management positions in large, complex and some international organizations. I hardly think that would, ipso facto, qualify me to be one heart-beat away from the Presidency. All of the orchestrated praise and fawning over her doesn’t alter the facts. She is what she is; a small-town mayor and a small-time governor. Nothing more. She is a lightweight when it comes to education and experience. I cannot recall that the University of Idaho’s program in journalism is regarded as one of the premier schools in that particular discipline, over which the best in the business compete for admission. She served on the City Council of Wasilla, Alaska for 4 years and 6 as the town’s mayor, the population of which is reputed to be somewhere between 5,500 and 9,000. It hardly qualifies as one of the nation’s major metropolitan areas. Alaska, with a total population of 650,000 could hardly compete with most of our major cities. I don’t regard either as heavy experience on any executive officer’s resume. Her latest ploy is to stonewall an investigation into her conduct while she was Governor of Alaska. Sound a bit like another 4 years of Bush - Cheney?
As for being a rather accomplished liar, I won’t hold that against Sarah. After all, that seems to be a malady that afflicts most politicians to some extent. But, as for being a leader, she doesn’t qualify. Rather, she is a tyrant who misuses the authority of her office to enhance her own personal ambitions. When I see her new-found followers in rapt attention, seizing on every word, almost in a complete state of rapture, the sheer absence of any rationality is sobering. I have only witnessed similar phenomena twice in my life. The first instance was when, out of intellectual curiosity, I went to a meeting of born-again Christians at the local Moose (no pun intended) Lodge. The second instance was at an Amway convention where Rich Devoss, one of the founders of Amway, was the cheerleader. There is something rather frightening about all that. I don’t regard the fundamentalist Christians and social conservatives, who thrust her into a position of prominence on the Republican ticket, as particularly rational human beings. Their religious philosophy seems to be predicated more on what preacher is waving a bible under their noses at any given time than any objective evidence. All I can say to anyone who professes to speak in tongues is that there is a huge market out there looking for a new hallucinogenic agent to try. Might be a good fund-raising ploy for the last few weeks of the campaign.
At the end of the day, Sarah Palin is about as qualified to be Vice-President as any waitress at Hooter’s. Pathetic, really. Her choice as candidate for Vice-President is the most egregious error in judgment by John McCain so far. However, not at all out of character with his record as a political opportunist.
Joe Biden has an education grounded in Catholic schools. Those Catholic schools have a reputation for discipline and academic excellence that is well known. He is a solid family man with decades of experience in the United States Senate, serving on the Foreign Relations Committee and as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. To be sure, he has stumbled and has made his share of mistakes along the way. However, he is a seasoned veteran in politics and government, and he has served this country with dedication, honor and distinction. He knows and has first-hand experience about the major issues of our day, and how to deal with them. Frankly, we could all sleep better knowing he is the one who is just a heart-beat away from the Presidency.
John McCain is touted as an exceptional and well qualified leader. He is ascribed qualities such as sound judgment and the ability to work by “reaching across the aisle.” Being fifth from the bottom of his class at the U.S. Naval Academy does not impress me as a particularly solid academic foundation for acquiring the knowledge and skills required of leadership. Serving as the squadron commander of a flight wing doesn’t seem like an overwhelmingly heavy challenge in leadership skills either.
John established himself as a playboy and womanizer while he was a midshipman at Annapolis, a reputation he seems to have carried with him into later life. I doubt that his rise up the ranks as a U.S. Naval Officer would have been quite as dramatic were it not for the fact that both his grandfather and his father were full admirals. Political influence carries significant weight in those circles.
Nothing is extolled quite as often, both by others and by himself, as the fact that he is a bona fide war hero. As for his POW experience qualifying him as a hero, I would submit that all of those who were POW’s under similar circumstances are as deserving as John McCain ever was for that same distinction. Without wishing to minimize his suffering, he has no corner on that claim.
One would think his experience in the Hanoi Hilton would have humanized John to some extent, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. He wasted no time in pitching his first wife (who was crippled in a car accident during his time as a POW), in favor of a wealthy heiress whose family could provide him with both the money and the influence to launch his political career. Otherwise, it is doubtful that he could have been elected to anything of greater prominence than that of dog-catcher of Maricopa County, Arizona.
His political acumen in both the House and the Senate seems to have been more a factor of his temper than his mastery of the art of negotiation and persuasion. A pall still hangs over his character because of his involvement as one of the now infamous “Keating Five,“ in the 1980’s Savings and Loan scandal, not to mention his later cozy relationship with Phil Gramm who was largely instrumental in stripping all meaningful safeguards from the financial industries, now tanking in droves.
His friendships appear to be more a factor of his political ambitions than any type of kinship. He did a complete turn-around and readily adopted the agenda of George W. Bush who was once his nemesis in the election of 2000. He has sided up to anyone who could benefit him, politically, despite his own rather fluid convictions to the contrary. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed and the like are only a few who readily come to mind. No one is a more persuasive liar than John, particularly when he adopts the facial expression and voice of a family therapist - cool, calm and soft-spoken. But, whatever works for the guy at any given moment, I suppose.
During his political career, John seems to have had some difficulty in deciding whether he wanted to remain a Republican or a Democrat. He flirted with changing parties, then flirted with running as Vice-President with John Kerry in 2004, but decided otherwise. It seems he can’t go anywhere, anymore without being attached at the hip to Joe Lieberman on one side and Lindsey Graham on the other. Hardly bulwarks of political acumen and personal statesmanship. Because of these relationships, I am still having difficulty reconciling John’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running-mate over either of these two. Maybe, while Sarah is cramming to become his understudy in affairs of state, he hopes to give each of them a spare bedroom in the White House so they can tuck him in at night and shore up his image as president.
John McCain is clueless when it comes to leadership. He just doesn’t have it nor is he to be trusted with the highest office in the land as his personal learning ground. Time for him to go back to the ranch in Sedona and pitch horseshoes.
Barack Obama is the product of a multi-cultural family who appears to be the product of a pretty normal upbringing. He manifested behavior at times that was typical of an adolescent and a young man, about which he has been forthcoming in both of his books.
He is a graduate of Columbia University, the Harvard Law School and was President of the Harvard Law Review, plus 12 years as a Constitutional Law Professor. No small achievements and testimony to his intelligence and his discipline. He has been married to the same woman for 19 years and is the father of two daughters, all of whom have been, and continue to be, followers of a Protestant Christian Faith.
Barack spent three years as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago among some of the poorest and most disenfranchised. He faced one of the toughest challenges of leadership in that whatever he accomplished was largely the result of persuasion and negotiation. He followed with 8 years as a member of the Illinois Senate, representing a district of 750,000 people in Chicago. As a state senator, he served as Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee in the Illinois State Legislature. He has served 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people. During that time he has sponsored 113 bills and has served on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
Like all of us, he has made his share of mistakes, the most notable of which was his relationship to Tony Resco. The real estate deal involving his purchase of a home through this relationship was certainly an example of poor judgement, but he has been forthcoming about that issue and, in retrospect, he acknowledges that was not wise or prudent on his part.
Barack is commonly referred to as “young” at 47 years of age. From my vantage point, I would classify him as middle-aged. That presupposes a certain amount of wisdom that goes with it. I believe he has done a rather good job of demonstrating that attribute. He has shown his leadership abilities, and I am satisfied that he will do the nation proud as its 45th President. I have no doubt that he will manifest the finest qualities of leadership, if for no other reason than the fact that he already knows that real leadership is analogous to the conductor of a symphony orchestra, not in mastering every musical instrument. I have every confidence that he will surround himself with the best minds and experience he can bring to bear on the challenges and the burdens he will inherit, should he be elected.
Given what has befallen this country during the course of the last 7 plus years, not to mention the last few days, I just don’t see how we can afford to take a chance on one who seems to be a true believer when it comes to the policies of George W. Bush & Company. What has come down around us all is just too ominous and foreboding to entrust to John McCain and Sarah Palin, their hollow rhetoric and adoring fans not withstanding.
We aren’t focusing on the issues, we are fixating on personalities. This is not the time to cast our precious votes on a cult of personality or political opportunism. The tenor of our times cries out for real leadership. All things considered, I believe Barack Obama has clearly shown that he has what it takes, not only because of his education and experience, but because of the leadership acumen he embodies, and his choice of the man standing in wings.
Cowboy Bob
September 19, 2008
