Regarding Ron Paul: Leadership?
November 3, 2007 — wickleMost people seem to have a love-or-hate relationship with Rep. Ron Paul, the good doctor and Libertarian running for the GOP nomination. Frankly, I’m not on either extreme with him.
I don’t hate him, but I don’t care for him that much. Mostly, he’s not Presidential material. He’s a good enough guy, sure. But he doesn’t lead. USA Daily has an article today identifying his record as his secret weapon going forward. It’s an interesting article. I appreciate his record as its listed, but there is this one little thing about it … everything listed is a failure on his part.
He has never voted for a tax increase or an unbalanced budget. Great. They got passed, anyway. What did he do to fight them, or did he just vote against them? If he led any kind of charge against them, I guess I’d like to know what he thinks he’ll do as President to be successful that he hasn’t been able to do as Congressman.
He has never voted to increase Congressional pay. Great … so? Pay increases happened, anyway.
He returns part of his salary and doesn’t participate in the pension plan. These are nice character traits. They say very good things about him. They don’t tell me that he has the ability to lead, though.
He voted against the USAPATRIOT Act. I’m glad. I wish more people had. While he was on the right side of the issue, he didn’t accomplish anything.
He has written a lot, he’s been on the right side of many, many issues … but he hasn’t demonstrated the ability to lead others. He hasn’t built consensus, he hasn’t won over other votes. He votes the right way, and he says a lot of good things.
To be perfectly honest and blunt, that makes him a good member for the House of Representatives. Maybe he could be a Senator. I’d never vote to put him in the Executive Branch from what I’ve seen so far. He does fine on his own, but he hasn’t managed to accomplish much as a leader.
I like Ron Paul, personally. But the more I look at his record, the more I see that he really isn’t ready for the White House.
November 25, 2007 at 3:09 am
If you are standing in a room full of people who are wrong, should you not stand up for what is right? I don’t understand how you can bash him for having a good voting record. The fact that these bills passed through congress is not the fault of congressmen like Paul. This is the fault of the congressmen who supported these bills. I think these congressmen are the ones that deserve some harsh scrutiny from the American people.
Does the president of our country not need to be someone who stands up for what is right or do they just need to be someone who follows the rest of the pack? If so, Hillary is doing a very good job at following the rest of the pack. I think you might want to rethink your argument.
November 25, 2007 at 8:38 am
You see, it’s this simple: Ron Paul might have a good record, but he’s never been the one leading a resistance. I see no indication that he’s ever persuaded anyone to vote with him who wouldn’t have done so otherwise.
To be a President means being able to lead others.
Dr. Paul claims that he’s going to abolish the IRS and most of the Cabinet, reverse US foreign policy, and abolish the Federal Reserve System. How, exactly, is he going to do that, if he shows no history of being able to win other people over?
All he has is a voting record. That’s fine, as far as it goes.
With other candidates, I can demonstrate what they’ve done to try to win people over to their points of view. Good or bad, that shows that they have some interest and aptitude at leadership.
Rep. Paul votes, and then he says that it’s everyone else’s fault that things don’t go his way. I would argue that that demonstrates that he’s not ready to be a leader. He belongs in a crowd of people in a legislative body, at least until he shows that he can mount a resistance.
Mike Gravel, for example, held the “one man filibuster” that undid the Vietnam draft. While I’d never vote for Gravel, that proves that he’s got strength, commitment, and some interest in leadership. I don’t see anything equivalent from Rep. Paul.