Your View: Leader needed

As a life-long staunch Republican, I have come to demand certain qualities in leadership. I believe an honest self-concept and wisdom in judgment are likely the most important qualities a president can possess.

An honest self-concept will cause a good leader to recognize and admit to his or her own short comings. This is the basic first step. Without an open and honest self-concept, no leader can set realistic goals, plan, and then act in a way that brings about positive results.

A leader with an open and honest self-concept is able to look at his own shortcomings and apply wisdom in judgment to surround himself with people who have experience and knowledge in the areas of expertise other than that of the leader. For instance, a leader who finds himself fielding questions about his foreign policy experience may select a running mate who has been the long-time chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Looking back through our history, every President since JFK, (except for GHW Bush… who selected Quayle), chose a VP candidate with a broader range of experience than the President himself possessed.

This election season, we have two candidates, both of whom claim to have a history of exercising good judgment… however only one of these men has coupled wise judgment with an open and honest self-concept, and applied this to their selection of a running mate.

The other candidate has apparently convinced himself that his only short coming is his gender… and has selected a running mate who brings absolutely nothing other than gender to the table.

Because an honest self-concept and wise judgment matter in our president, I am a proud Republican for Obama.

Lourie Burke,
New Madrid