Good point ZeroJunk, it is not possible to relate the challenge of building and leading to those that haven't borne that responsibility. That very perspective may explain much of the lack of understanding when it comes to leaders. The 'what is leadership' question and the 'you can't lead till you can follow' axiom can't be comprehended by those outside the process.
Leaders are natural targets because the critics have the great advantage of hindsight and lack the requisite grasp of coupling vision, planning, logistics, implementation and human nature into a manifest organization with viability and purpose. Many think it is a simple matter of mixing the ingredients and poof it's there. The coupling described above requires ability in managing the empirical and the nuanced.
It's easy to snipe and easier still to slander, the real mark of leadership is influence. Is the influence productive or not. The lazy, but temporary effective, influence of slander and misrepresentation, will in short order get the practitioner of such tactics pushed to the rear on that matter. Repeated use will result in being discounted out of hand before one is even heard and permanently undermined any ability to gain further influence.
The General has proven repeatedly over and over throughout his career that he gets the job done. He is doing that in Iraq but, as he said, he has much more to go.
The Democrat leadership is moving more and more toward lacking influence as evidenced by this futile misrepresentation of Rush and the MoveOn ad. The antics are being repeated. The 'Blue Dog' brand of Democrat are the one's asserting real influence and those folks are the one actually leading despite not having the titles next to their names. Leadership is influence and those Democrats that resemble the pre-leftist Democrat will be the ones that eventually win Republican votes and therefore leadership positions.
The concept of the coupling described before can't be grasped if bitterness, hate, depression, greed, etc. have a hold on someone. It narrows vision and that is step one in leadership. Only those that share that issue will pay one any heed. Nothing built off this kind of narrow vision can stand as they are all very shallow albeit strong emotions.
This latest effort by Senator Reid is not leadership and is another example of repeated behavior that will (if not already) render them unable to gain any influence in the future.
Thank you ZeroJunk. Often people (myself included) live in a realm so long that we count our knowledge and experience as common and forget that the principles and ideals that are everyday and have become automatic aren't common and aren't everyone's everyday experience. It was a good reminder that most people aren't responsible for the future of an organization or for the livelihoods of more people than just themselves.