I came to the conclusion that the voting public was clearly expressing a desire for leadership that “gets it right” as opposed to “being right.”  And I also came to the conclusion that the two campaigns recognized this, and tailored their messages accordingly.

For example, earlier in the campaign, Senator McCain played up the fact that when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives, he had advised then-President Reagan that McCain was very uncomfortable with U.S. Marines being stationed in Beirut, Lebanon as �??peacekeepers�?? without a specific mission other than to be present.  President Reagan was a hero to Senator McCain, so this disagreement �?? and the aftermath of the bombing of the Marine barracks, was a painful subject to Senator McCain.  Nevertheless, the McCain campaign originally chose to hold this example up as though it was a positive trait.

Toward the end of the campaign, we did not hear much about this vignette from Senator McCain�??s past in part because although it may illustrate that he �??was right,�?? he did not actually �??get it right�?? �?? he did not succeed in acting forcefully enough (if that were even possible at the time) to prevent the tragic result.  One would surmise that this vignette does not really illustrate �??success,�?? and with sophisticated tracking of the public�??s reaction to various issues, this example eventually evaporated from the campaign’s message �?? it was even removed from Senator McCain�??s website.

The Obama campaign was not immune, either.  A famous example is that President-Elect Obama has claimed that he was �??against the war in Iraq from the beginning.�??  Never mind that there was nowhere for him to �??officially�?? vote on the war �?? he was a State Senator in Illinois when the issue was put to vote in the U.S. Congress in 2002.  The Obama campaign’s website did indicate that he was �??against the war�?? and �??spoke out against the war in 2002,�?? but this item was the very last paragraph on the Iraq issue.

I submit that this was so because the Obama campaign also learned that the public is much more responsive to leadership based on proposals and specific examples that deal with the present and the future �?? not �??I told you so�??s�?? from and about the past.  It can be fairly said that the Kerry campaign did not succeed in 2004, because as dissatisfied as the voting public may have been with President Bush in 2004, Senator Kerry�??s message continually articulated a �??vote for me�?? message on the basis of �??the other guy�??s not doing a good job�?? �?? without sufficiently or successfully articulating why someone should vote for Kerry.

So �?? what type of a leader are you?  How much do you rely on your prior experiences without being accused of “living in the past?”  How do you juxtapose the maxim �??the past is prologue�?? with the reality of the present and future in an increasingly �??what have you done for me lately�?? world?

I�??d really like to hear from you on this one - please post a comment or send me an e-mail using the “CONTACT” button above.  And if you are not called upon to lead, but have been an environment that has led you to follow someone else�??s lead, you are also welcome to write with examples �?? whether they inspired you and led to success, or whether they had a negative result.  Be as specific as you�??d like.  I will publish a follow-up article, omitting individual and company names.

Thanks for reading and participating!

Ron