When President Bush declared war on terrorism, it sounded, to many people, like a war against the Islamists. The international community took the statement in a bad light. They saw it as a conspiracy, by President George W. Bush, to prove to the global community that America was the number one superpower. The intelligence reports, upon which president bush relied in making a decision to identify Osama bin laden as America’s most wanted international terrorist, were said to be malicious propaganda engineered in America. Some critics even went an extra mile and said that Osama did not exist. They accused president bush of creating an imaginary terrorist so as to appear like a superhero. It later became apparent that; indeed, president bush was right. He had taken it upon himself, as a leader and loyal of the United States, to fight terrorism and protect American sovereignty (Popadiuk 69). It is estimated that two decades from now, Americans will hold the decisions of President Bush in high regard. They will see that indeed, George W. Bush was a strong leader. This paper seeks to explain leadership, as a quality that makes a man or a woman, a good president.
Leadership has been described variously as the ability to make people do things according to the wishes of one individual. The ability to influence dedication and approval forms the basis of good leadership. For anyone to be a good president, they must possess qualities of good leadership. Presidents possess leadership skills, which influence others to believe that the individual is indeed an ideal choice for the position of the national leader (Edwards and Stephen 111). Essentially, a president is the head of the country. As such, he or she must possess desirable qualities. According to political scientists, a political leader has to possess an admirable character. They should exercise control with fairness and uniformity.
Bush has been celebrated as an efficient leader in the reasoning that, he did not make any apologies for the actions of the United States government; instead, he took pride in his country (Popadiuk 76). In addition to having an excellent character, leadership entails the ability to convince people through words. In this case, President George Bush, the fictionalized figure in the film W uses words in many occasions to convince people of gain their trust. Arguably, the capability of using words in speeches is typical of all presidents as observed in both real life, and in the fictional movies. Both William Russell and Joe Cantwell possess excellent oratory skills and use such skills variously in convincing the masses.
Leadership, in all capacities, is concerned with decision making. The president, being the most powerful and exceptional leader of a country, ought to hold good leadership skills so as to be in a position to make quality decisions. Presidential decisions are critical in determining the long term direction of the country. The idea here is that, for an individual to be able to make excellent decisions, they must display outstanding leadership skills (Popadiuk 89). Such skills will determine their decision making capacities as they are required to assess the public interest in making policy decisions. It takes a good leader to subordinate personal interest to public wellbeing. When Bush made such decisions as the war on terrorism, he passed as the most disliked administrator in the history of the United States. The unpopularity did not make him change his purpose since he knew clearly that as a good leader, being hated as an individual is not any significant compared to loss of public interest.
Leadership skills are associated with enthusiasm and dedication. Clearly William Russell and Joe Cantwell are proud to work in their capacities as national leaders. This applies to Jack Stanton and George Bush, as well. People, who are in power by virtue of being elected as having possessed excellent leadership skills, take pride in their positions and are never willing to capitulate. As opposed to presidents with managerial skills, presidents with good leadership qualities are amenable to change and are willing to innovate and develop new things (Edwards and Stephen 124). They challenge the status quo and push for new ways of going about things. For a woman or a man to be a good president, they must possess the capacity and readiness to challenge the status quo. By challenging the status quo, it means that the leader should be organized and ready to focus ahead and see beyond the short term planning horizons.
It is no mystery then, why leadership is that one quality that a man or a woman must possess so as to be president. It is clear from the foregoing that leadership plays a key role in making a person possess the capacity to maintain the highest office in the land. From the above discussion, it is evident that leadership skills are associated with proper oratory skills, enthusiasm, dedication, national pride and patriotism, confidence as well as the ability to subordinate personal interest to the national interest. It is a question of general knowledge that, during political campaigns, it is the possession of leadership qualities that distinguish potential presidents from those with no potentiality at all.
Works cited
Edwards, George C., and Stephen J. Wayne. Presidential leadership: politics and policy making. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.
Popadiuk, Roman. The leadership of George Bush: an insider's view of the forty-first president. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2009. Print.
