Picking a President is hard, but at least our vote does not count so much. If we are wrong (and I have certainly regretted every vote for any candidate named Arnold), our vote was not decisive. Our guilt need not be so great. Still I want to choose. . . wisely. . . not because divine wrath will fall on me (as it would if I picked the wrong grail), but because it is better to be right than wrong.
Political leaders are not the only ones we pick. Many of us pick church, club, neighborhood, union, or work leaders. Are there any guideposts to choosing wisely?
One (nearly) infallible rule in my experience is to find people who enjoy life, at least life with other people. Abraham Lincoln was a great storyteller, joker, and friend . . . though he sometimes was hard on himself. Even when he was not happy, Lincoln made other people happy. Reagan had a hard knock life to start and was self-contained, yet those who knew him got pleasure from his company.
A good leader generally makes the people around him happier, even if he is sad.
We always live in serious times, so beware the person who depresses you just to be near them. The man morose about himself and about other people . . . the one who is always seeing the defects in the nation, the company, the school, or the church will kill the group he leads. The good leader is often critical of his performance while loyal to the workers around him.
The opposite of the sunny leader is the Nixon-character. This person sees enemies all around and never forgets a slight. He or she may not keep a written enemies list like Nixon, but it is there in his or her mind. The hard work they do feels like hard work as you watch them do it. If there is one personality reason to keep Clinton out of the White House, it is her joyless campaigning. She wants the job despite the fact that getting it is painful.
Avoid the leader whose average day of work is hard.
Reagan spoke to the nation at the Challenger disaster and gave us hope. I cried when I heard his speech and yet thought the sacrifice worthwhile. Reagan transformed tragedy to epic and so placed our hurt in the divine story of redemption. A bad leader focuses like Jimmy Carter on the foibles of his failed followers as he fixes the White House tennis schedule personally . . . since only he can do it. Reagan had a team that followed him for the joy of being with Reagan. Nixon hired people.
Of course, being funny and hopeful is not enough . . . there is competence, after all. Still, at the very top most people are competent in different ways and so what separates the best from the worst tends to be loving service. A great leader makes the people around him better, a bad leader is always let down by his team.
As we look for the next President of the United States, one place to look is for someone who is comfortable in their skin, elevates the people around them, has a team that sticks with the candidate, and is full of hope. God send us a Reagan or Lincoln this time around.
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