Denial by Republicans

What many Republicans can't seem to do is think clearly about why they lost this election. It's easier to blame the melt-down of the stock market and the failure of some of the largest financial institutions as the reason why Senator McCain lost. But, to the contrary, I believe that this time around what the Republicans needed was an effective chief executive, and McCain wasn't that person.

This is not sniping and criticism; it seems to me to be fact: First of all, McCain didn't know how to organize a group of people, how to "vet" those who ran his campaign so they made sense when they built strategies, how to mobilize them and actually lead them, how to inspire them. These are qualities of a good CEO, a good campaign leader, a good general. Sorrily, McCain never did seem to have those qualities and I've seen no example of where he did anything like that in his past actions.

I find it amusing that so many Republicans put Senator Obama down for being merely a "community organizer". The truth is that's a very good starting point for learning about organizing groups of people, about motivating them, about dirty tricks and resoluteness in the face of scarce resources. Especially on the rough South Side of Chicago. Someone said, and I really loved it because it nailed the situation, "Jesus was a community organizer."

The proof is that, despite the wreckage that George W. Bush leaves behind and the bad taste in everybody's mouth left by his terms in office and the incalculable damage he has done to this country that we love so much, McCain, with his flawed campaign, did so well. Had he broken with Bush earlier and stayed there instead of doing that at the last minute, and had he had the qualities that I've talked about above, he might be the President-elect today. Had McCain carefully vetted Governor Palin, who dragged him down as the descending polls foretold, and not impulsively chosen her, he might, indeed, be the winner. Had he put together a group that was capable of building a coherent program for our country, to really change our country, he might have had a much better chance.

All of the teaching about leadership starts with a leader's vision. It must be compelling and it serves to motivate those who hear it. But vision isn't enough. The organization that supports the vision must be built and must be managed. In both of these, because McCain vacillated all over the place and didn't have a consistent message, and because he didn't build an effective organization that worked together, his campaign failed.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..." This quote, from Shakespeare, is a good one to remember when reviewing the ignominious defeat that the Republican Party has suffered during this election. But, truth to tell, I expect the Republicans to continue again and again to shift the blame to the bad economy as if it were a shield against taking responsibility for the outcome. The wound is too deep and too traumatic.