Greatest Leader?

[William33 110]

No thoughtful replies..... typical VJ Bullsh!t!!!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

James K. Polk

In four short years he met his every goal

He seized the whole southwest from Mexico

Made sure the tarriffs fell

And made the English sell the Oregon territory

He built an independent treasury

Having done all this he sought no second term

Really? Not Martin van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist?

or James Buchanan, a moderate?

or even...Lewis Cass, a general and expansionist?

[pedroh 21]

El Che Guevara

Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo

Isabel Garcia

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Geez, everyone speaks of leaders they read about, rather than ones they lived through. ...

How about the last 20-30 years? Unless of course, you were there for the others.

Maybe you missed the NEGATIVE posts about the latter type (such as Brit posts on Thatcher, mine on Mrs. Gandhi, ...).

We consider them as useless DUE TO the fact we lived through them!

[Itsmeitsmeitsree! 0]

Just to go off on a completely different tangent, is there someone in your family or community whom your young'un would consider a great leader? someone whom she would look up too for their leadership abilities?

I think a more personal bent to this question might get some brownie points.

on saying this, when I was in school one of our questions was "who do you consider an influential New Zealander and why do you consider them so?" I answered my uncle, granted he is considered a living treasure for his knowledge of maori heritage and culture but I think it was the personal aspect of someone actually having a profound influence on my beliefs rather than just the standard quoting that this politician was great because.....

My thoughts exactly as I read through all the political replies. I thought to myself that the greatest leader I ever knew was my paternal grandfather. He raised himself beginning at the age of 14. He led people by example, not by harsh words or brute force. He was a kind and gentle man who barely ever raised his voice, and never raised his fist. He was admired and respected by many. His funeral, though a desperately sad occasion, was also a celebration of his life...attended by nearly 1,000 people. He's been gone nearly 26 years, but his leadership is still with his friends and family even today.

[William33 110]

Geez, everyone speaks of leaders they read about, rather than ones they lived through. ...

How about the last 20-30 years? Unless of course, you were there for the others.

Maybe you missed the NEGATIVE posts about the latter type (such as Brit posts on Thatcher, mine on Mrs. Gandhi, ...).

We consider them as useless DUE TO the fact we lived through them!

Yes, I did see those. However, the majority of "recommendations" were leaders of the past. In my mind, it is really difficult to evaluate a leader based upon anecdotal evidence.

[zyggy 9]

What makes a leader great isn't the positions that they take.. it's that they had a plan about where they wanted to go, got the necessary capital to implement their vision and then implemented it... you don't have to like what someone did to consider them a good leader...

For instance.. I consider Pope John Paul II a good leader... Did I agree with everything that he did.. no... but he had a vision and implemented it to great success... Or how about Nelson Mandela... another great leader... South Africa could have gone the way of Zimbabwe with anger and revenge and blood thirsty power on the part of the ANC like Zimbabwe is with ZANU-PCF... no one else could have led with such magnamity and brought his people together with a vision for a better future...

There were lots of leaders whose plans are not what I agreed with... but I still consider them a good leader...

Edited March 7, 2007 by zyggy

[Caladan 19]

Geez, everyone speaks of leaders they read about, rather than ones they lived through.

I would not even begin to hold any belief of some dead person, based upon anecdotal evidence of their significant existence. Books and University Professor claims are not always accurate, you know that.

How about the last 20-30 years? Unless of course, you were there for the others.

One of the things that makes a leader great is the benefit of hindsight. It's not just agreement with their policies, but whether what they believed stood the test of time, or changed the world, or at least were powerful enough to make the history books tell their stories.

It's very hard to evaluate a leader based on the present day, because the effects of their actions usually take a few generations to sort out. (This is Bush's only hope, and he knows it.)

On the no thoughtful replies: Perot?!?!?? That counts as thoughtful? What did he lead?

We can make a case, perhaps in 1992, that Perot was a great potential leader, but after he doesn't get elected and sort of goes off the deep end with conspiracy theories, not too much comes of it. Except handing Clinton the election. I mean, that's not a bad result, maybe, but Perot's main effect was to siphon away what's now the small sane center away from the Republican majority.

[almaty 19]

perot was a chopf##k

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

No thoughtful replies..... typical VJ Bullsh!t!!!

really? Did you even read this thread?

[Dean/Gra 0]

Impressive accomplishments for that day and age, yet Ross Perot offered equal results for a dollar.

A surprising amount of Americans voted for him, including myself.

That is the type of leader we need. One that has no subversive agenda, yet wants to foster positive change for this country.

Who is on board with that mentality?

James K. Polk

In four short years he met his every goal

He seized the whole southwest from Mexico

Made sure the tarriffs fell

And made the English sell the Oregon territory

He built an independent treasury

Having done all this he sought no second term

A Ross Perot is exactly what we need today!

[Mirorgate 0]

No thoughtful replies..... typical VJ Bullsh!t!!!

really? Did you even read this thread?

No. Can I vote for Pol Pot now? I brought the coffee.

[Ta Ta 1]

What makes a leader great isn't the positions that they take.. it's that they had a plan about where they wanted to go, got the necessary capital to implement their vision and then implemented it... you don't have to like what someone did to consider them a good leader...

For instance.. I consider Pope John Paul II a good leader... Did I agree with everything that he did.. no... but he had a vision and implemented it to great success... Or how about Nelson Mandela... another great leader... South Africa could have gone the way of Zimbabwe with anger and revenge and blood thirsty power on the part of the ANC like Zimbabwe is with ZANU-PCF... no one else could have led with such magnamity and brought his people together with a vision for a better future...

There were lots of leaders whose plans are not what I agreed with... but I still consider them a good leader...

That was my thought .... Nelson Mandela was an excellent leader. So many corrupt

African leaders these days that are only concerned with stuffing their own pockets

and don't care about the people. Mandela had a vision he followed with sincerity

and dignity.

[slim 1,525]

Why does a "greatest leader" have to be political?

How about someone like Bill Gates (Commercial) or Vince Lombardi (Competitive) or even someone like Jim Jones (PSYCHO!!!)?

I'm a smart @$$ by nature, so I would have to pick someone like Osama bin Laden or Hugo Chavez.

For a school-age child, I guess someone like Mr. Rodgers would be cool. After all, he led that whole neighborhood.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Why does a "greatest leader" have to be political?

How about Papa Smurf?