PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES INVOKE LEADERSHIP

“Presidential candidates, of course, invoke the idea of leadership with special urgency. In his victory speech after the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz praised Rick Perry, Glenn Beck, and other ‘leaders who have stood and led’; in the sixteen Presidential debates since August, candidates have used the word ‘leadership’ more than a hundred times. It’s an especially useful term for politicians. ‘Experience’ and ‘expertise’ are virtues with downsides. ‘Leadership’ sums up, in a vague way, everything that’s desirable and none of what’s not.”

Joshua Rothman, “Shut Up and Sit Down, Why the Leadership Industry Rules,” the New Yorker, February 29, 2016, page 64.