Reason #13: Second Stringers in the White House
When electing the most powerful leader in the world, we’d better make sure that person is the cream of the country’s crop. Most importantly, we’d better look for someone who’s willing to speak hard truths instead of just telling us what we want to hear or distracting us with divisive hot button issues. These days, though, we’re constantly elevating substandard candidates to our highest office. Just look at our last few White House occupants and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Leadership is everything in business or politics. Morals filter down from the top. A leader models appropriate behavior and also demands appropriate behavior from those around him. He sets the tone. Experience is helpful. It provides a track record, but it doesn’t necessarily prove wisdom. And these days, “experience” in politics might just be the worst thing someone can offer.
The main experience career politicians acquire over the years is how to raise cash and parrot the party line so they can move up the political ladder from office to office. But how do those activities teach anyone to lead a country? And why would we ever expect the best and the brightest to enter public service when it demands that they constantly prostitute themselves in this way?
We need wisdom in our presidential candidates, not flash or the ability to talk in sound bites. I’d rather have a pot-bellied, buck-toothed, good decision-maker than a handsome, know-nothing hack. Unfortunately, in this election season, we’re looking at another bunch of second rate minds who know precious little about the hard decisions of real leadership but plenty about how to raise money and play politics.
Put simply, we’re settling for second string talent in Washington at a moment when we’re in desperate need of the first string. The problem is, all the first stringers - the people with brains and integrity - are out in the real world, working real jobs. They refuse to debase themselves in Washington’s swamp of endless electioneering.
When Leaders Knew More Than Politics
The career politician is a recent phenomenon. For most of our history, our leaders proved themselves in the real world before entering politics. Abraham Lincoln worked as a storekeeper, a lawyer, a surveyor, and a postmaster. Teddy Roosevelt made his living as an author, a rancher, and a military officer. And Herbert Hoover’s primary occupation was as a mining engineer. Hoover even published a translation of a Renaissance-era book on mining.
How many men and women in Washington today can show half as much variety of experience as these past leaders? And if their only professional qualification for office is a lifetime of gaming the political system, how in the world does that prepare them to make the tough decisions?
NEXT: Reason #14: The White House Hustle - Presidents Cash In on their Offices
Comments
We invite civil and constructive comments about the writings on this web site.