What drives today’s leaders?
A running theme in Bill Clinton’s office was hope. It was easy for him to remind us of it because he was from a town called Hope, Arkansas. With Clinton, despite his personal failings, many Americans believed that brighter days were ahead. A similar feeling was felt when Ronald Reagan was in office. He campaigned with the theme that it was morning in America. Americans believed that they could survive the high gas prices and the threat of the Soviet Empire. And they did.
Having a positive vision is important not just in sales but also in leading people. Ask yourself the vision you get from today’s leaders. What is the vision of America according to Democracts, Republicans, or The Bush White House? Non-existent and fear, respectively. The Democrats are an opposition party seemingly only contempt in saying “no.” The latter two are virtually synonymous and are giving Americans a healthy diet of “we may all die soon.”
Neither of these visions is acceptable. Despite the sunny spin the White House puts on the Iraq situation, the facts belie them. Steady car bombings and assassinations of local Iraqi officials are always in the news. Rumsfeld has commented that the insurgency may last up to 12 years. What positive vision about America’s future can you get from that?
The State Of . . . America’s vision is blurred. We are not sure when we will ever stop having to take our damn shoes off at the airport! There is nothing we can point to that tells us that we are safer. Osama is still on the loose. No prosecutions have occurred of the Guantanamo detainees and the other federal prosecutions have largely failed. Remember Moussaoui? We need a new vision. One that will tell us when we can feel comfortable in the world again. When we can feel comfortable in our own country again?
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