The best leaders

Posting for Tuesday, 8/16.

This is another post on a serious note. Now, I'm not big on politics, in fact I'll admit I can be described as 'apathetic' towards most of the struggle. Yeah, you can tell me all about how these currents will affect my life and many others but that doesn't change my feelings about it. For every person who thinks things should best be done one way, there is someone who just as staunchly believes otherwise. I truly believe that the best leaders are those who got into the position without seeking power. There was a passage in one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, I cannot remember which one, in which a group of men in suits ask an old hermit questions about how to run the universe or some such then leave. If you recall that scene then you should understand what I mean. If you don't, go read those books! It's good stuff.
Anyway, where was I... Oh yes. You remember John McCain? Back in the day he was actually a really good politician in my opinion. Despite being a Republican, he did a lot of good work. I laughed heartily every time I saw him branded a 'maverick' because he didn't follow the Republican party line. Good for you, sir, for having some integrity. Clearly something your party doesn't appreciate. And I'm not even trying to be scathing. Sadly, the man lost one too many times when he lost the Republican nomination against George W. Bush in 2000. When he came around to face off against Obama in 2008 he was kind of a changed man. For the worse. A lot of his 'views' had fallen more in line with orthodox conservative thinking and there you could see that he really, really wanted to win that one. If I may say, he "sold out" in a final bid for the presidency. Since then he's gotten worse. I might even go so far as to say he's become an obstructionist. And his party is probably proud of that.
I will say this though, McCain was a good man. Shit, he was a better man than most of his supporters. You can see what I mean here:



Really, how must it feel to know that you have to depend on jingoists, racists, and other ignorant types to vote you into power? I'm am confident that McCain felt twinges of frustration inside when he had to endure the boos of that crowd of 'supporters'. On the plus side, I'm happy to see that when the old lady calls Obama an Arab the blonde lady behind McCain's elbow shakes her head exasperatedly. It's good to know there are some good apples in that batch.

I say if you want to lead, you'd better want it because you feel you know what's best, not because you want control.
Try this exercise. How do you determine who gets the remote for the TV? Do you want to hold it even if you don't particularly have anything you want to watch? That's a pretty good indicator that you want the power, common good be damned.

Applying that to the real world, right now I don't think the Republican party actually really wants to defeat Obama in the upcoming election. Hell, I don't even think they know what they would do if they got the presidency. It's probably better for them if they just let Obama go another four years and focus their efforts on fucking up the system from the inside, gleefully jeering at Obama the entire time.