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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I think it is all about image.  Roosevelt was well aware that standing 
tall was important as he spent a good deal of time in a wheelchair.  He 
understood first hand about what images convey.  There was a lot of 
hoopla about Obama's abs, and Kennedy's abs....they looked fit and fit 
equals strong.  Reagan did not look fit, but he had movie personas 
working for him(and against him), and of course, he was often filmed and 
photographed on a horse, a trick of prowess and size, a trick Putin also 
has mastered.  Obama is Christian, but cultivates his Muslim heritage in 
areas of the world where that will work for him.  George H.W. Bush 
cultivated an image based on his past directorship of the CIA.  People 
fear the CIA, they don't fear klutzy presidents or peanut farmers.
Sadly, President Obama's race and heritage are his image, not his legal 
accomplishments or his Senate record or his leadership ability.  If your 
image is tainted by scandal(Clinton) or drug addiction(Bush2), then it 
is really hard to overcome and project anything positive.

Even children know that you can't be friends with everyone.  There is 
gonna be someone that doesn't like you because you are nice or because 
you live in a big house or because you wear second hand clothes, etc.  I 
think the best leaders are those who have instilled a bit of fear.

This made me think of who might qualify as the world's best political 
leader.  I looked at the Time top 20 leaders who have shaped our world:

David Ben-Gurion, Ho Chi Minh, Winston Churchill, Mohandas Gandhi, 
Mikhail Gorbachev, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King, Ayatullah Ruhollah 
Khomeini, V.I. Lenin, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan
Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Margaret 
Thatcher, Margaret Sanger, Lech Walesa, Mao Zedong

Interesting list, huh?
I think a bit of fear goes with just being the President, because 
sometimes incompetence breeds fear, but I think if a leader presents a 
strong image and then wields the big stick in the right moment with the 
right person, he can find the balance and power without really bashing 
his own image.

As usual, I'm longwinded, but I think it is more important for a world 
leader to be feared than to be liked.  Even if you are not liked, you 
get respect, and if you are liked, sometimes you don't have as much 
respect.  Of course, most of the world is trying to just survive day to 
day and couldn't care less about whether our President is feared or 
loved....they just remain hopeful and cautiously optimistic.

To close, I wanted to share this site I found.  I have no idea of who 
some of these people are, so I have some research to do, but isn't it 
interesting that this Iranian page omits both of our two most recent 
Presidents?


Bev

--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is 
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed 
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA