DANIEL FREEDMAN: SMILE WHEN THE PRESIDENT MAKES A MISTAKE
http://blogs.forbes.com/danielfreedman/2010/09/21/smile-when-the-president-makes-a-mistake/
Smile When the President Makes a Mistake
By DANIEL FREEDMAN
These days, even when President Obama tries to avoid making contentious decisions and instead takes a break to play golf, he gets criticized. It’s a far cry from the days of the campaign when he appeared to his supporters to have Superman-like qualities and BP wasn’t on people’s minds. Those supporters shouldn’t mourn, however. That the president appears to be so fallible is good news, even for them.
There is an unfortunate tendency in America to idolize politicians, especially dead ones, almost as demigods. The Founding Fathers often get this treatment, as do subsequent presidents like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan (depending on your political ideology). I once heard a former Reagan White House employee, who now is a Fox News personality, declare at an event: “I worked for Ronald Reagan, and he never made a single mistake in his life.” (The crowd cheered.)
Reagan was a great president, but he certainly wasn’t flawless. Even for the right, his decision not to support Britain in the Falklands War, or his laying a wreath at a cemetery that included the graves of Hitler’s SS henchmen, weren’t his finest hours. Did that mean Reagan wasn’t a great president? No. It meant he was human.
The left is of course just as guilty of this type of hero-worship. John F. Kennedy had many qualities, but fidelity to his wife wasn’t one of them. Yet that side of his character was actively hidden from the public by his supporters, with a CIA chief even destroying the diary of a mistress, as if revealing his personal failings would somehow make his lofty rhetoric and achievements less inspiring.
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One explanation for the tendency to idolize past leaders is the dearth of quality in today’s leaders. According to this view, the right builds up Reagan and the left JFK, because subsequent presidents have been a letdown. This may be true, but the tendency is not new. John Adams – America’s first vice-president, second president, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers – in his retirement warned against the growing movement viewing Washington and Franklin as demigods.
Contrast this American tendency with the Bible which presents some of history’s most famous leaders with their failings. Miriam, the prophetess, spoke badly about her brother and was stricken with leprosy. Even Moses, who spoke directly to God, disobeyed him by hitting the rock, and was punished. Yet he is an inspiring leader precisely because he was human and had failings – teaching people that greatness doesn’t require a flawless character.
One consequence of idolizing leaders is that it creates a more polarized political environment, as aides can’t admit that their chosen leader has any failings – otherwise they’re unworthy of office. That’s why during the last election Barack Obama was either the messiah or a foreign-born communist, and why today Sarah Palin is either America’s savior or a fool.
A second consequence is the message it sends to ordinary people – that unless they can speak like Cicero, think like Plato, and have a sin-record rivaling Abraham’s, there’s no point running for the highest of offices. That’s why it’s good news when a politician as talented as the president makes mistakes. “Mea Culpa, I’m human,” would be an inspiring speech (it sounds more elegant in Latin).
The turning of leaders into demigods and political rallies into mass adulations is more suited to Pyongyang than Washington DC. Dictators need to be worshipped to maintain the farce of their rule. But in America it’s not the politicians who make the country great, but it’s the principles on which the country was built, and the protections offered in the constitution, that turn fallible humans into great (but not flawless) leaders.
Daniel Freedman is the director of strategy and policy analysis at The Soufan Group, a strategic consultancy. His writings can be found at www.dfreedman.org. He writes a fortnightly column for Forbes.com.
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