Ready to Fight? Ready to Lead.

October 16--
As I watched the debates, and all the pre-debate spin, I kept thinking about the same thing over and over again.

What we have here is a decision to make about what kind of President we want. But I will try to frame this in a different way. I think we want to decide if we want a leader or a fighter. A pragmatist, or a dogmatist.

Barack Obama has looked at America, its problems, and its people, and wants to be a leader of the nation. He wants to listen to the problems of its people, its allies and adversaries, and work towards pragmatic solutions, (on War, energy, Finance, etc) wherever possible. I will call this a pragmatic approach to dealing with issues, and showing leadership.

John McCain has looked at America, it problems, and its people, and wants to be a leader of the nation. He wants to lay out a clear plan for America's victory in the world of finance, energy, and war, and define the enemy, so that the American's can get ready for the fight. It's us against the world, the good guys vs. the bad guys. Let's call this the more dogmatic approach to dealing with issues and showing leadership.

Neither man is interested in doing the country harm. Both men want to leave America in a better place than where they found it. The question is, are Americans ready for Pragmatic leadership, or Dogmatic leadership?

We have had 8 years of Pragmatic leadership (Bill Clinton), followed by 8 years of Dogmatic leadership (George W. Bush). Both styles have their pros and cons.

Pragmatism is often accompanied with reactions to polls, a confusing set of principles to guide decision making, and a leadership style that is opaque, sometimes slow, and conciliatory. It is also inclusive, clear-eyed, and less-emotional.

Dogmatism is often accompanied by an easily defineable a belief structure (religious or otherwise), top-down decisions that come quickly, and with immediate results (good or bad). Leaders take strong stands, rile emotions for good and evil, and do NOT consult or amend positions based upon differing points of view.

Either one CAN be effective in a crisis.

As I watch these debates, it is clear to me that McCain is the Dogmatist--the fighter. He wants America to "stand up and fight".

The reason I think this is a losing line, though, is that America doesn't want to stand up and fight. Chris Matthews said it so well on his show. (I am paraphrasing here). He said that American's don't want to fight. They are scared about losing their retirements. They are looking for leaders. I think that's spot on. But I would say it a little differently. I would say that McCain, having been a military man all his life, sees these political situations as "battles" or "fights" where we have to "stand up" to the enemy. I think a lot of people out there see that we are already fighting two wars (with varying results), and are weary of the battles. And who would we be "fighting" here? Greed on Wall Street? That's too obscure an enemy. You can't punch out Merrill Lynch. You can't perform a midnight raid on Bear Stearns, or put Countrywide Financial in Guantanamo, for questioning.

Obama has spent the past few weeks talking to Volker, Buffet, Rubin, and the smartest minds on the subject he can find. His proposals have been more moderate, and sensible than the crazy "liberal agenda" items that we were warned he would come up with. He has remained calm. Calm at the debates, calm in his speeches, calm in his message to the American people.

I think people have been pulled into decisions by a dogmatic administration for so long, that they had forgotten what a pragmatic leader looks like. The fact that this leader has a different skin tone, and funny ears (I should talk! You know the saying, people in glass houses...) has given people reason for pause. But as they listen, they are reminded of what an executive leader COULD sound like. We have all forgotten that a pragmatist can also be inspiring, and not remind us all of the staid, vanilla offerings of someone like Al Gore.

In the end, the Pragmatist (Obama) looks like a leader, and the Dogmatist (McCain) looks like a fighter. In other years, the fighter would be winning. It remains to be seen if we would prefer a leader this time around...