Thursday, October 03, 2019

Leadership



As some point the "Green Lantern theory of politics" in popular online discussion went from "you can't clap louder to win a war" to "President Obummer can't will Joe Lieberman to vote for a public option" to "the world is as it is, public opinion is what it is, leadership means nothing, whatchagonnado."



It's quite possible that if, for example, Obummer did the same sex marriage issue precisely correctly, and given the ultimate outcome that is a reasonable view, but it's also the case that if he'd loudly switched his view on it in early 2009 (majority opposed then) that a bunch of Democrats who were muddled on the issue would have jumped with him. People do take their cues from their leaders on some issues at least. Especially in a year in which a dominant message has been "trust Pelosi, she is very smart and knows what she's doing," of course impeachment support would follow her lead.