The Opacity Of Hope

I usually like the things Barack Obama says; I almost always like the way he says them. But when it comes to putting his words into action, the U.S. President still has some work to do.

Obama has long been advocating a reform of the American health care system. He made a campaign promise to put in place a taxpayer funded public system as we have Canada (though without the Canadian restrictions on optional private healthcare). He claimed repeatedly that reforming the health system was his first priority.

Yet according to this report on TimesOnline, Obama is now ready to abandon his pledge of bringing in public healthcare because of a sharp decline in his approval ratings.

Obama may yet succeed, but it seems increasingly unlikely. Bill Clinton stumbled at the same block, and the stars don't seem to be lining up any differently today. If Obama does succeed, he will instantly become one of the most influential politicians in U.S. history. If he fails, he will still be regarded as transformational, but in the same way as Bill Clinton, not as Franklin Roosevelt.

All of this reminds us once again of how important is it for leaders to have personal courage. It's one think to speak well, to look driven, or to look competent. Truly great leaders are the ones who have the will of iron to make the unpopular but necessary decisions. Stephen Harper doesn't have this, as he has shown for the last three and a half years. Michael Ignatieff, the new Liberal Leader, is certainly like Obama in terms of his passion for writing and his Harvard pedigree, but there's no evidence to suggest that he has personal courage. The only leader of recent times with true personal courage was Stéphane Dion. He was responsible for the passage of the Clarity Act, which cost him his reputation is Quebec. He presented his Green Shift before the election campaign, which was undeniably a brave things to do.

Dion might have been unelectable, but he might have been a better Prime Minister that the universally loved Barack Obama is President