This thought was prompted by an email thread which sought to understand the process and objectives by which Obama will be making his VP pick.
It’s astounding how little we know about Obama’s character as a leader. For all we know, he could be sitting in those meetings letting Eric Holder pull his strings. Or he could be deciding out of insecurity, and will intentionally pick a person of lesser quality than himself. Or, he could be acting like Zod, and will choose capriciously just to keep his people off-balance.
And just as bad, he could be a soft-spoken father-figure who says inspiring things and teaches you stuff, but never makes a tough decision.
I’ve known some entrepreneurs who could well be characterized as inspiring leaders of movements. They can be incredibly effective at getting enterprises off the ground, as Obama has with his campaign. But after a few months you don’t want to be in the same room with them, because they tend to have nasty character flaws that drive everyone crazy, and their day-to-day decision-making is erratic.
If only Obama had served a few years as a dogcatcher or something, somewhere. Then there’d be some data about how the guy runs things. Even Warren Harding had been a newspaper executive. We’re seriously considering electing a man President that has never managed anything in his life.
I’m sure if Obama were here, he’d be talking about how leadership and management are two different things. Yes, they are. The way that Obama understands it, leadership is all about looking good, sounding good, and making as few decisions as possible, otherwise someone might end up not liking you for good reasons.
But management is all about deciding on a strategy (which takes guts) and then getting a lot of not-disinterested people to agree to it and move it forward (which takes experience).
Bill Buckley said that he’d rather be governed by 2000 people chosen at random, than by the faculty of Harvard. He may get his wish. Barack Obama is pretty darned close to a random choice.
-Francis Cianfrocca
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
I couldn't agree more Francis
Brian Simpson (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 12:27PM EST (link)I really don’t think that we have had a lesser qualified individual at the top of a ticket like this. [Well, at least not for one of the two major parties of the time.]
| My RedState archive |
Important principles may and must be inflexible. ~ Abraham Lincoln
But..
Jason Gillman Jr. (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 12:37PM EST (link)He’s got hope! That makes it all good, right? Right?
Leadership and management are different. BUT
streetwise (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 1:00PM EST (link)the leader is supposed to lead people to act in pursuit of agreed upon goals. If the goals are difficult, he must be inspirational.
There’s the rub. Obama is very short on specific goals except for the celebration of His Glorious Self. His chameleonesque approach to hard policy choices is just another variant of the Kerry “I was for it before I was against it” approach, albeit with more attractive packaging. If people don’t know where the leader is going, they don’t tend to follow.
Obama’s other problem is that his inspirational powers are coming increasingly into question. His message is getting stale, and looks increasingly self-centered. His phrasing is getting hackneyed and repetitive. His set speeches may be good, but a guy who dissolves into a sea of “uhs, umms, ers” whenever he has to think on his feet is radiating a zone of doubt around himself.
I wish what we know wasn't so bad
itrytobenice (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 1:54PM EST (link)I was reminded last night of his efforts on ethics reform, where he cooperated with John McCain right up to the point of having to buck the party leaders, but then backed out, leaving McCain in the lurch and kissing up to the party bosses.
Not exactly a good sign.
Proper grammar saves lives.
Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.
I can't believe you actually got all those words
mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, August 17th at 8:25PM EST (link)in this diary. When I saw the title I was SURE that the entry would be blank.
As usual, an excellent job.
Yeah, it is really sort of frightening.
larueladue (Diary) Monday, August 18th at 3:53PM EST (link)To think that approximately one-half of the country seems to care so little about how the country is run that they would nominate someone with such poor qualifications.
I have often wondered lately whether it is the lack of caring, or if it is instead that people are so clueless and ignorant that they cannot tell he is unqualified. It almost makes me yearn for the old (very old) days of having to qualify to be able to vote (say, being a property owner), and not to be just breathing when you pull the lever…