Prospect co-editor Robert Kuttner talked with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about presidential leadership:
RK: Democrats, going back to Jimmy Carter, seem to have gotten stuck in a small-scale incremental mentality that doesn't really inspire anybody. It's not just a product of divided government because Carter had a big Democratic majority and Clinton started with a Democratic majority. Is there a risk that this habit of settling for small-scale incremental gains that aren't transforming people's lives, that aren't inspiring, will spill over into how the next Democratic president thinks about his or her job? DKG: It's been four decades, really, since we've had a belief in transformative policies. It's partly because, when they get in office, the pollsters say to them, "You need to have a success quickly." It's almost like the equivalent of the business quarterly reports. Supposedly, you build on that little success, and maybe you'll get the next one. But that's not the way it works. At this critical period in American life success has to come from transforming attitudes toward government, transforming attitudes toward the relationship of liberty to security, transforming what responsibilities we owe to the citizens who are struggling, why the growing gap between rich and poor is such a problem. Presidential leadership has to mobilize people to want something more from their country. It's also a question of timing. A great leader has to understand that when the country is mobilized, then you can decide which program you go for, instead of going for the program first. It's almost like they have it backward. RK: Would you be happier if the Democratic candidates and the eventual Democratic nominee were talking more like this as a part of the campaign? DKG: Absolutely.
Read the rest (and comment) here. --The Editors
