What if I told you a mystery factor will decide the presidential race – nowhere in the news? “What?” you say. That’s right, the real determinant is intangible, the power to credibly lead.
Let me unpack that. When we hear candidates, we take them with salt. We are tired of the countless lies and being manipulated. We doubt and should doubt.
Across the political horizon, we see money spent to influence us, to make us think this way or that. We know we are the object of their intent to inform – and to mislead.
Often missing is what we really want – authenticity and a sense that we – not they – are in charge. We know realness. The human ability to see through fakes is inborn and hard to knock out.
We know when politicians are making pie-in-the-sky promises, telling us what they think we want, giving away money (ours), declaring the obvious, adopting fake accents. We are not stupid.
At this moment in history, politicians often do more – they promise to punish those with whom we disagree, make them pay, and put them in prison. They play to our basest instincts and feed the beast.
But they are wrong. The majority of Americans – and this is key – see through this, and have no a declining appetite for hate. It tires them. They do not like being gamed or talked down to.
So, what wins? What do people crave, and want more of? What do politicians miss? Answer: We want the quality of political actors to rise. We are ready to be our better selves, not our worst.
We want them to remember who we are – all of us – and help us to regain lost balance, and lost pride in our nation, whether tradesmen or artisans, parents or students, lawyers, doctors, or teachers. We want higher expectations.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well. “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” That is it, right there. Most of us know right from wrong and want some lift.
What is leadership, then? Our Founders, Lincoln, TR, Truman, and Reagan taught us, as did millions upon millions of parents, teachers, veterans, and leaders of the past.
Leadership is not telling people what to do, luring them with money, dividing them into groups, or pitting them against each other. Leadership is not mandates or dodging, but being an example.
Leadership is having a clear vision of the good, the strength to hold that vision in adversity, knowing what it takes to bring others to it, believing they can do it, and empowering them. That is it. The mystery factor in this cycle is credible leadership, acts from the heart, and authenticity.
Our Founders did not tell us what to do but invited us to share a vision, freedom, and responsibility for our own destiny, individually and as one. They wanted government limited.
Lincoln, TR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, and Reagan did not find greatness by deception, dodging, or concentrating power. They did not lead by unnecessary mandates and hubris.
Lincoln’s style was finding common cause with the common man, letting us lead. “You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence…A man’s happiness is his own responsibility.” Lincoln asked us to hear “the better angels of our nature.”
TR wrote 37 books and led by example all his life. From “The Strenuous Life” to “Man in the Arena,” his speeches are riveting, dig for truth and share it.
On leadership, he wrote volumes, much on responsibility and accountability. “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” Say what you will, but leadership begins at home.
“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people…To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship …” And leadership.
Truman, condemned for hard decisions, was about plain talk, and hearing diverse opinions. “When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.” So, listen to the people, trust them, and act.
Reagan was equally direct. “The greatest leader is not … the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things.” So leading, in parenting or politics, is not about giving away the farm … but getting others to take responsibility for that farm.
So, what will decide this election? What is the mystery factor? Credible leadership. That is the wild card, mystery factor, quiet voice that speaks to all of us … Who really is a leader? That is it.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
