Presidential Leadership

A recent Washington Post article caught my eye, an interview with the author of, Why presidents are rarely breakthrough leaders. It was based on Thomas Cronin’s latest book, “Leadership Matters” written along with Michael A. Genovese of Loyola Marymount University. Both of these men are long time students of the American presidency which they find filled with paradoxes.

It seems it is our nature to be skeptical or cynical of our political leaders, as people have been throughout the ages. But he, Cronin, points out that you can’t love representative democracy and hate politicians; scorn for them scorns us as well.

Cronin worries little about apparent flip flopping as everyone changes their mind, fortunately, it us part of human progress. And the office often facilitates changes in attitude. LBJ moved to a champion of civil rights when he became president not just a Texas democrat. Obama also is no longer limited to being a Chicago democrat. Lincoln changed, even Nixon.

The interviewers said that folk say Obama “leads from behind” and is that a good thing. Cronin agrees with that assessment and it is effective; presidents, any leaders should not get too far ahead of the constituents. They are typical transactional leaders rather than transformational leaders. As one who lived out the role of pastoral leadership I well understand that for of leadership and approve of it strongly. I saw process as more important than product in leadership, if you are to make progress. Folk have to be on board. It is more like being the wagon master rather than scout in wagon train thinking.

They also talk about “management by committee” which if seen negatively but is an important aspect of their book. This is part and parcel of the above. I like committees, I like and trust group process and I distrust loners; my way or the highway folk. There is a time to lead and a time to follow for all of us even if we are the leaders.

Now comes an interesting part; they ask, “You argue that political leadership has different stages and roles. It seems that Obama started out as an inspirational Act I or Act II leader, a coalition builder and raiser of hopes, and has quickly evolved into a more pragmatic, incremental Act III leader. Is that a good thing?”

They see it as a good thing as do I. Cronin uses the words of Frederick Douglass, about folk who want “crops without plowing the ground…and rain without thunder and lightning.”

Leadership is truly multistage and I believe Obama understands that and tries to lead in that manner. But people seem to have incredibly short memories when it comes to politics and to life in general. We want what we want right now, is today’s mantra. We ignore the previous eight years before Obama’s administration as though they did not effective his leadership. Much less do we seem to remember the last 35 years of reckless economic thought and overspending and expect today’s leaders to change all that damage in a single term. It cannot be done and to think otherwise is simplistic and naïve. If the people were real people in the anti-Obama political campaign ad who complain about Obama being mediocre and not fixing things when he had his chance, I just like to shake them and talk sense to them.

As a servant-leader, the model I affirmed and used in my ministry, I well understood group process leadership. I was also fully aware if you are going to lead a congregation they have to be willing to be led and to also provide leadership themselves; we move forward as a group. But if a group is divided and bickers and really rejects all ideas except for a select few they are in big trouble. Those churches fall by the wayside because they have lost their sense of mission.

Our country is in a similar situation. But ours is complicated by a group of well funded elitists who want only what is best for them and that leads to a path for destruction. Again, that is seen in churches which are really governed by an individual, a patriarch or matriarch, who calls the shots no matter what the elected leaders say. Those churches are doomed; they have no vision of the common good, just a myopic sense of what good for them and want they want. They may even be well intentioned, but they are still doomed because they do not develop leaders for the future and hand those leadership reins to others with grace and graciousness.

We have a president with a tremendous leadership vision and a willingness to use group process for the common good. But I am afraid it will be to no avail if the other legislators of our country refuse to participate in the process. For example, the pledge signing for no new taxes, is a doomsday process. The intractable will put the entire nation into traction; sitting in our hospital beds have a train wreck needing to be fed through a straw and with no one there to give and hold the straw.