Great Leaders Lead, They Don't Follow

I was reading Tom Friedman's column in today's New York Times and it made me think that George Bush faces a very interesting test over the next four years.

Great leaders build legacies by leading their people (whether its a country, a company, or a cause) to do something that was considered impossible.

Nixon went to China.  Clinton restructured welfare.  Johnson passed the civil rights act.  None of these were popular with their politcal base.  But they saw the opportunity to use their political capital to do something that needed to be done and did it.

Friedman quotes Yaron Ezrahi who says about Ariel Sharon, "Sharon has started to give up his popularity among his own constituency, because he realizes the welfare of the Israeli people, as a whole, requires decisions that are unpopular but unavoidable."

I personally cant' imagine George W. Bush behaving in the same manner.  But if he was suddenly taken with an interest in his legacy, I'd suggest the following intractable problems as ones he could use some of his political capital on:

• The Israel Palenstine issue
• True non-partisan election reform
• Alternative energy
• Making quality healthcare truly available for all americans

I am not expecting Bush to take on any of these problems with any real energy but I would be happy to see him try.

Comments

[Chris]

I don't know if I agree that Clinton reformed welfare. That was a Republican Congressional initiative, one of Gingrich's "points" IIRC. (and probably the only one they ever got done) Clinton deserves credit for working with the Congress and not vetoing it, but we would never have seen that reform if he had maintained a Democratic Congress for his second term. Actually, as I remember the hyperbole from the left - that particular reform was going to cause mass starvation, people dying in the streets, etc. Good thing they were wrong ;)

[Adam Fritzler]

Unfortunately, to Bush, 'alternative energy' means drilling domestic oil ("reducing dependence on foreign oil"), not developing new non-oil energy sources.

[boris]

the energy issue is probably here to stay for a long time as the main constraint to future growth. The most important political statemenyt Bush made as a president was when he said american standard of living is not negotiable, and that standard of living involve lots of energy. What Buh can realistically doto ensure a decent short-to-medium term future is curbing the financial irresponsability that gripped america (and most of the world) in the last years. It's already bad enough having overindebted distressed consumers, you can't really affor to screw up the budget forever. halting the mickey mouse management of the deficit is the best legacy Bush could leave, it is probably gonna involve an ugly recession (kinda like the late 80's early 90's) well in my opinion it is necessary to face a few years of dire straits. The key is to restore the credibility of the US dollar (the biggest american asset and the best selling american product), i've never seen any society prospering over the long term with a weak currency, never. if bush has the guts to amdit he went too far and it's time to start saving and pay off debts, well he would make up for lots of mistakes. and also let's not forget the social security issue , on which i totally agree with a what alice marshall said in a post a few days ago. Privatizing SS maybe actually the first managed, controlled default on public debt carried out by a major western powerhouse in decades: it can be done, it can even be healthy but it requires a carefully planned political work i doubt your average politician around the world is able to roll out.

[jackson]

I don't know if he'll have time to improve anything, he's too busy destroying stuff. When he's done we'll have to fix the economy, the Constitution, foriegn relations, you name it.

[boris]

foreign relations heal fast when there's mutual convenience (read: money) involved, unless it's the middle east we are talking about, that's the exception to the rule. i really don't see why apparently an increasing number of americans are worried about what the rest of the world think of them, sounds like you guys wanna be popular :) in my perception (maybe cos i live in a right-wing nation) anti-americanism is more a over-hyped media fabrication than actual reality. btw i hope somebody will have the guts to campaign to shut off the UN for good

[pjid]

I think the president has undertaken some incredibly bold reforms. No Child Left Behind is right up there with Clinton's welfare restructuring in terms of its scope and goals. For the first time, the government (both democrats and republicans) have said that every child must be proficient in reading and math. And it is telling that democrats aren't calling for a repeal of the law. There is some proposed tweaking and a never ending battle on funding (despite Bush providing the largest increase in US history) but there is no political support to do away with the law.

You mentioned alternative energy and the President has a pretty good record here too. He has dedicated $1.7 billion over five years to develop hydrogen fuel cells and related infrastructure needed to support hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The 2005 budget includes $228 million for the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, a 43% increase over 2004 funding, to develop the technologies to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen for use in fuel-cell vehicles, electricity generation, and other applications. The budget also includes $4.1 billion worth of tax incentives to spur the use of clean renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.

The President also launched the FutureGen program in 2004 which invests $1 billion to create the world’s first zero-emissions fossil fuel plant.

More future-oriented, in January 2003, Bush committed the U.S. to participate in ITER, the largest research project in the world designed to prove the viability of fusion energy.

There are other examples as well - prescription drug card for medicare. Wanted by democrats for years and delivered by the President. The first modernization of overtime regulations in more than 50 years. The willingness to tackle social security and tax reform.

Say what you want about the President. He definetely demonstrates a willingness to take on consequential issues.

[tono]

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