Who is to Say What Makes a Good Leader?

Leadership.  Who is to determine what characteristics makes up a good leader versus a bad one? Well the nameless writer to the editorial, Perry Falls Short on Texas Shortfall Leadership, believes that he has the right to determine how Governor Rick Perry should lead our state.  Why should we, as an audience, take anything he says as correct when we don’t know who he is and what his credentials are? I understand the fact of keeping a column private, but when you are expressing your feelings on such a pertinent subject, the audience should be able to know the background of the author.  

In this editorial, there is a main theme of bashing Governor Perry, but what is the reasoning behind it? The author kept proposing that Governor Perry tell us his exact plans for fixing our deficit, which yes that would be nice, but there isn’t a reason to tell the world what he proposes to fix the deficit if his proposal hasn’t been approved yet.  As a leader, you don’t want to tell the people what you hope to do if there is any possibility that your plan could not be approved.  Also, the author isn’t throwing out any suggestions to help our deficit.  All he can do is critique the one leading our state.  

Who was our mysterious writer trying to reach?  The author was trying to reach an audience member that doesn’t really pay attention to what is going on around them and how bad the deficit is.  Another type of person the author could be attempting to reach would be the person that is upset by the deficit which would intern rally more people against the Governor and his choices.  Does it do any good though to rally anyone against the leader of our state? No it doesn’t.  That doesn’t mean we need to just sit back and watch the Governor destroy the world around us, but we could at least be somewhat supportive and see what he has in store for us.  In general, the author’s opening statements are not backed by anything.  He is telling his audience what a good speaker should be doing, but where did he get this information? Who made him the judge of what a sound speaker should do? With that said, throughout this editorial, the author makes claims but can’t back them up.  Are you going to fall for this unknown person’s opinion?   

-Kelsey Scott