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Campaigns, Cliches, and Context: Part I. Substance and Slogans

© Carey Goodman

"Mr. Chairman, I was reading the Declaration of Independence today, and I came across the line that says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident". Well, Mr. Chairman, we are now at the climax of what some scholars call legal relativism, and the President embodies the entire notion of legal relativism. If William Jefferson Clinton had written the Declaration of Independence rather than than Thomas Jefferson, this is what he would write: "We hold these relativistic moral assertions to be relatively evident and true. Sometimes they work for me. Let's see how well they work for you". - Congressman Englis during his opening statement to the debate on the Clinton Impeachment Articles (10 December 1998).

"A statesman is a politician who is dead". - Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac; some sources also attribute the statement to Mark Twain in The Gilded Age.

Politics always is a many-faceted thing that creates more confusion than any other trade or occupation. In this era we call the "Information Age", the political system works in a more complex, nuanced manner. In aspects such as public accountability this is good. In aspects such as selective use of legislative votes, public comments, and other "verifiable and factual" measures, it is not good. At some juncture deference to context yielded to deference to sloganized one line "zingers".

It is impossible to assign a date to this transfer of discourse, but it is valid to conclude the shallow dialogue is not in voters' best interest. As any observer of politics knows, candidates for any office typically offer their opponents a limited array of barbed insults. The most rampantly selected of these assertions is that the other candidate (usually the incumbent) at some crucial moment displayed a lack of leadership. The candidate then proceeds to complain of what his/her opponent did not do, but the office seeker rarely elaborates on what he/she would do if presented the same facts and circumstances.

Voters desperately want the substance neither Presidential candidate will give them. Therein lies the main problem with discussions of this thing we call leadership. What exactly does it mean to exercise good leadership? At its essence perhaps the question derives simply from opinion. Perhaps exercising good leadership is analogous to exercising good judgment. The standards one person applies as criteria for good judgment or leadership may clash blatantly with the standards someone else applies to define these concepts. Some political activists sincerely believe a President exercises good leadership when he reduces defense spending and welfare funds for the sake of ensuring the federal budget balances. Other activists believe equally sincerely that deficit spending is a necessary consequence to ensure the military and national security services are well prepared to solve any foreign or domestic crisis that may erupt.