Posted on 09/08/2007 11:45:14 PM PDT by humint
"... this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall gather 'round for a hug and a good cry."
-The Gettysburg Address as it might have been delivered had Lincoln been less emotionally cold
In Robert Draper's new book, Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, the president admits to crying quite a bit -- mostly in private -- ever aware that the troops, not to mention the enemies of America, are watching him.
In the past I heard people, from those on television to some friends, express their disappointment that President Bush doesn't publicly cry, or show grave emotion, when talking about even the saddest of situations. I never believed that to be the case, but let's consider the accusation nonetheless.
Bush, like many of us, doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, and I think that should be a requirement for a job such as the presidency.
Lack of outward emotion is often mistaken as heartlessness or a lack of caring by people who TiVo Oprah daily and think that the problem hasn't been invented that can't be solved by a 'jammy party, group hug and weepy confession.
Whenever I hear that Bush isn't outwardly "consumed by grief and sorrow" in awful situations, a question comes to mind: Is a consistent public display of raw emotion something we really want in our leaders?
Imagine you're on a commercial airline, and every time your flight hits severe turbulence your pilot gets on the intercom and screams like a woman who just saw a mouse in the kitchen. Would it ease your nerves to know that the pilot is "just like us" because he's sharing our emotions?
Some view a crying leader as a weak one, and some view a leader who never cries in public as a cold one. I tend to view a weepy politician much like the female orgasm-it's an emotional human reaction that can also, by the right practitioners, be convincingly faked.
I don't know about you, but I don't want a leader who cries at the drop of a hat. Take some of the greats as examples. What if General Patton had altered one of his famous quotes to satisfy those demanding tears from their leaders? "An army is a team. It eats, sleeps, fights and cries as a team."
How about Sir Winston Churchill? He's remembered as one of the world's great leaders, and he wasn't known to bawl in public, nor chastised for failing to do so, for that matter. And it would have been easier for ol' Winston, since bawling comes naturally when you're jacked on Johnnie Walker Black Label while V1s explode nearby.
What if Churchill would have said, "We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire," then choked up and concluded with a weepy, "Clemmie, hand me a Kleenex"?
What if President Truman's nickname was "Give 'em sobbing, Harry"?
What if Martin Luther King Jr. had said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by how much they cry in public"?
What would have happened if Douglas MacArthur said "I shall return, after a good bewailing"? A bunch of Filipinos would have been suddenly a little more insecure, that's what.
What if Reagan had said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this emotional wall between us"?
There have been leaders who cried, and with mixed results. Who? Well, Bill Clinton got misty a lot and was still politically successful. A TV camera does to Bill Clinton what chopping onions does to the rest of us. Clinton can turn on an emotional dime, vacillating between tears and laughter with such ease that he must have trained himself to do so by simultaneously yanking out nose hairs while watching Three Stooges movies.
Not all politicians, however, can pull off tears and survive.
Back in 1972, it was alleged that Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie wept on the steps of the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, N.H., while defending his wife, whom that paper editorialized as "emotionally unstable." Word of Muskie's cry ruined his presidential hopes, and, in many cases, put a quick end to the practice of a politician defending his wife.
Crying is a natural and healthy human emotion, but a leader's success shouldn't be judged by how much waterworks they produce in public. Laughter through tears can be a good feeling, but leadership through tears is darn near impossible.
Doug Powers is a columnist and author from Michigan. He can be reached via his blog at DougPowers.com
When Ulysses S. Grant died in 1885, his reputation as a General was forever etched into the pantheon of great American military leaders. Along with his great adversary, Robert E. Lee, his fame as a military figure was secure. Below are some comments by historians and contemporaries regarding Grant's military acumen.
Shelby Foote:
"Grant the general had many qualities but he had a thing that's very necessary for a great general. He had what they call "four o'clock in the morning courage." You could wake him up at four o'clock in the morning and tell him they had just turned his right flank and he would be as cool as a cucumber. Grant, after that first night in the Wilderness, went to his tent, broke down, and cried very hard. Some of the staff members said they'd never seen a man so unstrung. Well, he didn't cry until the battle was over, and he wasn't crying when it began again the next day. It just shows you the tension that he lived with without letting it affect him... Grant, he's wonderful."
Abraham Lincoln, in conversation, 1864:
"He's the quietest little fellow you ever saw. He makes the least fuss of any man you ever knew. I believe he had been in this room a minute or so before I knew he was here. Grant is the first general I have had. You know how it's been with all the rest. As soon as I put a man in command of the army, they all wanted me to be the general. Now it isn't so with Grant. He hasn't told me what his plans are. I don't know and I don't want to know. I am glad to find a man who can go ahead without me. He doesn't ask impossibilities of me, and he's the first general I've had that didn't."
No one can sell a massacre like a socially compassionate democrat. I believe the majority of the world is deluding themselves about President Bush's soft hand in Iraq. They accuse him of a heavy hand without any connection to historical reality. Personally, I believe they're building the illusion of "Bush the Conquerer" to get into power, regardless of the choices they'll be forced to deal with when they get there. Don't think for a second that the American people are going to take a back seat in life for a bunch of ideologically bankrupt, poorly funded terrorists and saboteurs. We will do what it takes to succeed. We will "bear any burden, pay any price, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe..." If Bush can't solve this during his term, he'll be blamed by historians for being too soft, not too hard.
Crying in public finally caught up to me a few weeks ago. Odd thing is that I’m usually the steely bastard who can witness all sorts of atrocities firsthand and be the guy who keeps his crap together to lead a group no matter what’s occurring.
Then I saw Ben Affleck trying to act...
Seriously though, it was an inundation of realizations cascading all at once in a way that I couldn’t control my physical reaction to. Perhaps it was a showdown between trying to uphold the macho image and all the suppressed crap over a matter of years. My display of tears (while not making a scene) upset the bartenderette enough to make her call the manager to kick me out.
Bottom line - if you’re a guy you’re expected to keep it in no matter the circumstances and you’re painted as a loser if you don’t. Men have emotions and stresses just as women do but societal rules forbid us expressing those extremes out of private.
That was some great storytelling.
A TV camera does to George Bush what a pop quiz in quantum physics does to the rest of us.
Well analyzed and well presented. I am in agreement.
Mark
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