Leaders and Followers
Hillary Clinton says, “I have experience.” Barack Obama says, “I have vision.”
Both of them have similar policy ideas.
But where they differ is on the question of leadership. As I’ve been watching the campaigns unfold over the past months, what I see is a consistent pattern of one leading and the other following by imitation. I’ve taught my kids for years that they shouldn’t be offended by imitation but instead count it as flattery and an affirmation that they are thinking creatively and constructively.
Over the past week, there have been some shining examples of the imitation pattern:
- John McCain’s victory speech on Tuesday night, where he ends with “We’re fired up and ready to go”, an Obama campaign slogan for months.
- John McCain’s abandonment of his principles and “maverick” image to follow the lead of the mainstream Republican party. Consider his stance on torture as a shining example, along with his embrace of the man who tried to destroy him without so much as an apology in 2000.
- Hillary Clinton’s subtle use of the “Yes, We Can” slogan in her recent speeches, also an Obama slogan.
- This week’s campaign focus shifts to the Internet. In the past week, I’ve received an email from Chelsea Clinton calling me to the Clinton phonebanking efforts with a goal of 1,000,000 calls by March 4th. Barack Obama’s phonebanking efforts have had a meaningful impact on getting out the vote and getting it out for Obama. They’ve been engaged in phonebanking for months, successfully building a coalition of grass-roots campaigners willing to make a sacrifice of time to reach out and touch voters in every primary state. In the past week, over 100,000 calls have been made to the Obama campaign to voters in the upcoming primary states.
- Gathering large groups in large venues for stump speeches. Obama does this consistently; Clinton had a press release out this week about her 12,000 group in El Paso, along with the TV opps.
- Use of viral video. The Obama “Yes We Can” video 2 weeks ago and the Clinton “Hillary 4 U & Me” video this week.
- Using email to call supporters to make small donations. This is also a hallmark of the Obama campaign, with one striking difference. Every email I’ve received from Barack Obama’s campaign has been a celebration of what the campaign has achieved thus far and a call to help them achieve more. Not one email has had any negative wording against Hillary Clinton or any of the other Democratic candidates.
The email I received today from the Clinton campaign had the following title: “Bright Lights and Speeches” and the first paragraph was nothing more than a subtle slam on Obama. Not nasty, just marginalizing. The opening salvo: “When the bright lights are off and the speeches are over, who can you count on to listen to you, to stand up and deliver solutions?”
I’m not criticizing Hillary Clinton for looking at what’s working for Barack Obama and incorporating it into her own campaign efforts. On the contrary, I think it speaks to her (or her managers’) ability to recognize savvy management when they see it. But it’s not leadership; it’s acknowledgment of another’s leadership and innovation.
It seems to me that when considering choices involving leadership and the Presidency, I’d much rather have the leader than the follower, particularly when considering a progressive agenda with new ideas as part of the package. The President is the leader, the manager, and the inspirer. Those are great qualities for a President to have. He’s obviously got some great thinkers on his campaign staff, and has good instincts when making decisions around how to conduct it. For me, McCain isn’t even a consideration, especially after his grand flip-flop on torture. But for voters struggling to make a choice between two strong Democratic candidates the choice seems to be made as soon as one considers the question of who is leading and who is following, and who has been the best steward of the financial, human and technological resources at their disposal.
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