Barack Obama: Leadership

With his dynamic legislative skills, Barack Obama was also a great leader as President. President Obama has a history of making difficult decisions despite opposition on both sides of the aisle.

One example of this was his Executive Order 13491. This Executive Order said that "...interrogation of individuals detained in any armed conflict, such persons shall in all circumstances be treated humanely and shall not be subjected to violence to life and person (including murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture), nor to outrages upon personal dignity (including humiliating and degrading treatment), whenever such individuals are in the custody...", which, in laments terms, ended the usage of torture by the US government.
With his signature on this executive, President Obama showed the world that America does not lead from behind and is one the forefront on major Human Rights Issues. This signaled a new era of American military interactions. The President showed what a real leader is supposed to do: make decisions, easy or tough, that put the collective good in front of the overwhelmingly louder smaller opposition.




Another example of this was during the American Automaker Crisis he faced during his first few days in office. His evaded the pitfalls of partisan politics was on display when faced the tough decision of bailing out the failing Automakers in the US. The President proved to not be a pushover though and just give the money to General Motors and Chrysler without anything in return. Instead, he required GM and Chrysler make “deep cuts in return for taxpayer aid” and if they did not comply, “bankruptcy was still an option” (Roth “Milestones in the Carmakers’ Crisis”). A leader is not supposed to be someone who approaches things with an almost naive viewpoint but instead say it like it actually is. To make sure the taxpayers were protected, he made the companies make cuts in bonuses to their corporate people and made sure these companies would never be in this kind of situation again by making them come up with sustainability plans

Sources: Executive Order 13491

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/16/business/20090216_AutoBailout_Timeline.html?ref=autoindustry