Friday, September 7, 2012

People need to relate to their leader



After critiquing Obama's leadership style, let me show you what bothers me about Romney. Despite claims of having to eat off an ironing board when newly married, this governor's son hardly had a rags to riches childhood. He is accustomed to his perks and has a hard time appealing to voters that he is 'one of them.' Forbes claims he will be the richest president if he wins in November with assets worth $230 million.

Vacationing on a family compound on Lake Winnipesaukee seemed reminiscent of the Bush's vacations in Maine until we saw the boat:

And who makes a $10,000 bet on national television? Not a person like me where that represents a significant portion of my yearly income.


Then there are his awkward moves to try and connect with voters. While posing for a picture with a group of waitresses, he pretended one of them goosed him (grabbed his ass). Click on this link for the video.

Huffington Post put up a good video mash up of his more awkward moments:
A leader is someone who followers can look up to. It's OK to be rich. Kennedy followed up a litany of rags to riches stories from fellow Democrats to claim, I'm the one who didn't come up the hard way. But when a leader is so much better off than his followers, he'd better be very careful about how he tries to connect. Romney has made gaffe after gaffe in his attempts and I, for one, am not convinced that he gets me.

7 comments:

  1. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/08/02/move_on_web_ad_uses_talking_dressage_horse_to_target_romney.html

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  2. i'm not as concerned with romney's disconnection from the hoi polloi as i am with his dearth of ideas beyond the failed "tinkle-down" economics. the republican convention consisted of pathetic rhetoric and a scary, anachronistic platform. how can anyone vote for them now - reince priebus as a spokesperson? really???

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    1. Intresting. I had pretty much the same feeling listening to the Democratic convention. Same old stuff. "The man is stealing our money. We gotta tax him to get it back. Lay off our entitlements."

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  3. Please let me explain the difference: platitudes vs actual plans. Today Romney said, "I want our children to have access to a great education, blah blah blah." Well, we all want that. But Romney offers no ideas of how he would end the teacher's strike in Chicago. We all want more jobs, a better economy and retention our rights. But the Republicans will not spell out the details of their economic plans... they just mouth feel-good statements.

    On the other hand, the Democrats have plans in place that are already improving Wall Street, the car companies and jobs are on the rise. In addition, the Democrats have accomplished so many other socially progressive plans. Whether you like them or not, we all do know exactly what the Democrat's plans are. Romney criticizes, but offers no solid proposals.

    Putting it in PM terms, the Republicans have objectives, but no credibly defined deliverables or action items. The Democrats are mid-way through their successful project implementation.

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    1. Dear Anonymous,

      There are plenty of blogs and websites out there who welcome partisan politics and would love to hear and argue with or against your opinions. This blog is not the place. It is dedicated to Project Management and Leadership.

      I thought I did a pretty even-handed critique of both leaders vying for this presidential election. You commented purely on one side and I chose to defend the other side, maintaining the neutrality of the post. But we'll leave it there. I'm not likely to change your politics and you're unlike to change mine.

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