"One individual is not enough, I think we need bigger change. The [video] is great in spirit but at the same time, it's an affectation.. it's a bumper sticker, it's an effing Che Gueverra T-Shirt. It's lip service it's dissent conveniently packaged with the teeth removed... one cant do it alone.. we've proven that to ourselves time and again. We don't need Ghandis or MLKs or JFKs, that takes the onus off of 'us' and 'ourselves' while we wait for the next 'great hope' to come along and deliver us from ourselves. But what we really need is each other. Then we've got a movement that will transcend race, income, education, religion, political party and country.Yep. I really had a sense of that this year when people reacted to Obama galloping over the hill on his steed: "Maybe he's the one." This notion that we can get the country back if only we invest power in good enough people comes from the child in all of us (I think it's all of us) that wants Daddy or Mommy to clean up this awful mess. TAB is a job nobody else, no matter how wonderful, can do for us.
Then we CAN change the world."
And yet...didn't we need those folks in the video to get some great stuff done? Leadership seems to be an elegant balance of inspiring people with power (a noticeable, "famous" function) and getting out of the way so that they can effectively use it (not something high-level politicians tend to do well). Does that sound right? What leaders in your experience pull that off?
2 comments:
WOW Jeff, your thought on leadership really nailed what I was feeling and trying to express.
The idea that leaders "inspire and then get out of the way"
I think that great leaders always inspire and in that sense, one has to look at revolutionary thinkers and cultural figures who posess tremendous charisma and capacity to inspire. I remember being a young man and listening to Bill Clinton speak on television early on and whether or not you liked his politics Bill Clinton could work a room and as an icon it was very easy for me to project my hopes upon him, I was 18 at the time and voting in my first election and I remembered staying up late and watching the returns coming in and feeling like I'd done something good for the country, like I was helping to make a difference. His persona was one that allowed me to project my own optimism and idealism back onto him.
I think President Bush posesses a similar persona, his personality and charisma is such that it's easy for individuals to project their own ideas and thoughts and fears upon him and have them reflected back. He talks tough, he doesn't really seem like he enjoys talking to intellectuals, he is a wiseass, he's got a folksy persona that people can connect with and project upon.
In a very surreal kind of way it's been almost fascinating for me to watch him craft and work his persona and public image over the years.
Jeff I think you also bring up a good point about the "daddy and mommy" issue at work, like if we just found someone good and noble and wise and honest, they'll fix it and it's up to us to find that person, but then we elect them and it's their "job" to clean up.
I think that type of psychology continues to be trigged as individuals continue to talk about the attacks on September 11th as either a rallying cry or a cautionary image of what might happen if we make the wrong choices or do the wrong things... like a parent warning their child "remember what happened last time? remember? do you want that to happen again?" and it puts individuals back in their worried/fearful state and it becomes hard for us to think rationally about issues that are important to us.
I am honestly at a loss to think of any leaders right now who are using their charisma and passion to inspire and lead... I think our society has become so polarized on so many issues that it's difficult for anyone in the public eye to take a definitive or courageous stand on anything.
I've always thought Michael Moore to be a bit of a demagogue, that's part of his brand, but I admire his ability to ask or craft the questions and use his celebrity and his persona to get some noise going about issues that are important to him. I think that one could say the same thing about Bill O'Rielly, and again I think their personas are crafted in such a meticulous manner that it's easy for us to project our values upon them and have them reflected back at us.
I enjoy hearing a lot of what Joe Biden is saying and at the same time I am also very interested in a lot of things that Ron Paul has to say as well. I always am concerned for candidates who have great ideas but not the best charisma, who might not neccessarily fit with our consensual idea of what "the candidate" should be for us, often get lost in the shuffle as the big party juggernaughts roll in.
The last thing I will say is that I've noticed in talking with a lot of people on every side of the fence that just about everyone I talk to does seem a lot more engaged in the political process right now and that is encouraging to me!
I've never posted on a blog before. This is new, but I like this discussion on leadership.
Leaders like Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Nader do a wonderful service for us. They show us what is possible. But we forget that it is not these people alone who do the necessary back breaking, soul inspiring, mind expanding, intelligence gathering, heart warming work that brings the issues to light and to articulation. Behind each charismatic leader there are hundreds and thousands of people giving them what they need to be out front. This is a courageous job. This job also bucks a system that does not want to be bucked. This job builds the very communities that are needed to fulfill on the very ideas being talked about.
Let us never forget about the unsung leaders for without them, their spokesperson would not be able to stir the hearts of the people.
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