To review, our job description...
THE JOB: President of the United States of America
Role: Head of State
Duties: National Leader
Ceremonial Head of State
Chief Diplomat
Party Leader
Qualifications: Integrity, Inspirational Figure, Vision, Passion
Role: Head of Government
Duties: Chief Executive
Chief Administrator
Commander in Chief
Chief Legislator
Qualifications: Judgement, Bridge Builder, Communicator, Competence
Today's discussion...
National Leader
Duties:
As Americans, we ask our presidents to do more than govern; we expect them to lead. As has become painfully clear throughout the Bush administration of the past seven years, no aspect of the chief executive's job is more important than articulating our nation's principles, taking on new challenges, providing comfort and inspiration in times of crisis, and, in Abraham Lincoln's words, appealing to "the better angels of our nature."
The importance of Presidential leadership has often been met on these pages with contentious debate. But when we look back in history, this is the main quality we use to judge a president.
Leadership Experience:
Hillary Rodham Clinton:
United States Senator (D-NY), 2001-present
First Lady of the United States, 1993-2001
First Lady of Arkansas, 1979-1981, 1983-1992
Partner, Rose Law Firm, 1979-1992
Yale Law School, Class of 1973
Related Experience: Congressional legal counsel, Member - Walmart Board of Directors, Member - Board of the United States Legal Services Corporation, Staff Attorney - Childrens Legal Defense Fund, Member - Board of the Arkansas Childrens Hospital, Organizer - Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Barack Hussein Obama:
United States Senator (D-IL), 2005-present
Illinois State Senator, 1997-2004
Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School, 1993-2004
Associate, Miner, Barnhill, & Galland, 1993-1996
Harvard Law School, Class of '91, magna cum laude
Related Experience: Research Assistant - Business International Corporation, Community Activist - NYPIRG, Church-based Community Organizer - Chicago, Director - Developing Communities Project, President - Harvard Law Review.
Interview: Why are you applying for this position?
Hillary Rodham Clinton:
I'm not just starting a campaign, though, I'm beginning a conversation -- with you, with America. Because we all need to be part of the discussion if we're all going to be part of the solution. And all of us have to be part of the solution.
Let's talk about how to bring the right end to the war in Iraq and to restore respect for America around the world.
How to make us energy independent and free of foreign oil.
How to end the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare.
And let's definitely talk about how every American can have quality affordable health care.
You know, after six years of George Bush, it is time to renew the promise of America. Our basic bargain that no matter who you are or where you live, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can build a good life for yourself and your family.
I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America, and we believed in that promise.
I still do. I've spent my entire life trying to make good on it.
Whether it was fighting for women's basic rights or childrens' basic health care. Protecting our Social Security, or protecting our soldiers. It's a kind of basic bargain, and we've got to keep up our end.
So let's talk. Let's chat. Let's start a dialogue about your ideas and mine.
Because the conversation in Washington has been just just a little one-sided lately, don't you think? And we can all see how well that works.
Barack Hussein Obama:
I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.
The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.
For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.
That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people - as Americans.
All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years.
What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
References:
Former President Bill Clinton for Hillary Rodham Clinton:
The reason I think she should be president is that she's got a 35-year record of being an agent for positive change. She has never been in a situation that she hasn't left better than when she found it.
And that's all that really matters: whether people are better off when you finish than when you started. Do children have a better future? Are we moving in the right direction? Are we coming together? You will never have another chance to vote for anyone who has done more creative, effective things to make a positive difference in other people's lives than Hillary.
So do I think that it's great that people around the world think a lot of her? I do. Am I proud of the policies she's advocating? I am. I love her health care and education and economic and climate change plans. But the reason you ought to support her is the reason she would be the best president, because she's the best change agent.
Caroline Kennedy for Barack Hussein Obama:
OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama.
...I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
Editorial: I see true leadership as a relationship built around a shared vision and set of values. The most effective leader is the one who inspires others to give their all in pursuit of the common goal. Both candidates demonstrate a record of positive change and leadership, but in the end, I think it important that we choose the candidate who appeals, in Lincoln's words, "to the angels of our better nature".
Obviously, we have two strong applicants for the position. Tomorrow, wé'll take a look at the candidates' qualifications as "Ceremonial Head of State".
FULL DISCLOSURE: On February 5th, after considering both applicants' resumes, interviews, and references, I cast my vote in the Democrats Abroad online primary for Barrack Hussein Obama.
