I agree that leadership takes a lot more than just knowing details. I
think that Clinton would make an exceptional leader because she sees
the big picture as well as the details. She proposes solutions grounded
in facts not based on ideology (GW). She looks at each issue in
contexts, both historical and in its relationship to other things going
on in the world. She is the opposite of ideological precisely because
she cares about empirical facts. For instance, when asked about
abortion vs pro-choice, she easily could've just said that she believes
in a woman's right to choose, period. Instead, she talked about the
countries that she' been to and the women of other countries she's
encountered. She situated Roe v Wade in the world along with Romania's
former ban of abortion and all forms of contraception, and China's
one-child policy and forced sterilization programs. You can call that
wonkishness but you can also see that she really considers things
outside of herself to come to the conclusions that she does.
And most
importantly, I think that she inspires people to solve specific
problems (such as global warming) with specific solutions (such as save
energy, help low-income families insulate their homes, talk with energy
industries about how to help them become cleaner, do research on green
technology, etc.). No she does not inspire people with the idea of
change itself, but doesn't change only happen if people accomplish
actual things such as decrease CO2 levels by x amount? The desire to
make changes is only the beginning, the actual work of make change lie
in specifics. And to inspire people to do specific things is many steps
further than to just inspire people to change.
