President Obama is a very confused man. He continuously references leadership in a manner that reflects a lack of understanding of what the word means. In many occasions he mentions his intention to “do what is right, not what is popular,” or rephrases it in another way, "The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. They are waiting for us to act. They are waiting for us to lead. I don't know how this plays politically, but I know it's right."
But what the President fails to understand is that a leader is not one who sets a goal and expects people to follow blindly. A true leader is one who sets goals and then convinces the people of the correctness of those goals so that all or most agree to follow.
One thing the President has not learned is that the self-righteousness of a goal does not make it so. A person may believe that his ideals or actions are correct, but regardless of the truth or falsehood of that premise, if that person is in a position of leadership, like the President, it is paramount that he convinces his followers of the validity of his position. To say or believe, “I am right, I am leader, follow me” is not true leadership: it is demagoguery.
As the conflict with the Republicans, and the public opposition to the proposed health care bill continued, the President invariably demonstrated an inordinate lack of understanding of the role of a good leader. His lame attempts to appear bipartisan were limited to lip service to the critics of his plan. Instead of listening to the strength of the objections and making appropriate corrections, he insisted on ramrodding his plan, ignoring the issues that were important to the critics of his program.
By asking Congress to pass this legislation by dubious constitutional methods, a legislation that the American people time and again have rejected, he betrayed the nation and his oath of office. Although elected by a portion of the nation, he is now the president of the entire country and should respect the wishes of those who are not in his camp. A good leader would. A demagogue would not.