Linguistic and Numeric Literacy in Leadership

23 June 2011

I am not convinced that US President Obama has a handle on either domestic or global economic troubles, nor am I quite sure what he did to earn the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, he is able to pronounce almost all the words he says correctly.

I noticed on the news last night that he used the term "Taliban" correctly, emphasizing the "ee" sound (Ta-lee-BAN).

After hearing GWB say "nukulur" a few too many times, it is refreshing to have a literate and articulate president.

If Mr. Obama doesn't win re-election, I hope we don't see another president who is "absent a brain" elected (Sarah Palin being the most obvious present example).

Ron Paul keeps standing up and nailing the truth about the economy. I have no idea if he is fit for the presidency, but he is certainly economically literate, and in this case, much more so than Mr. Obama.

In Canada, the literate, engaging and articulate Michael Ignatieff was trounced by the broadly unpopular Harper Conservatives, perhaps due to overlooking coalition opportunities with Jack Layton's far less astute populist hordes.

Though Mr. Harper is literate, he is uncommunicative, thus undoing the entire point of literacy.

As to economic literacy in Canada, Paul Martin had it nailed. He did EVERYTHING right economically, as far as I can tell, aided by his background in business.

By way of contrast, Harper, abetted by the evil Jim Flaherty and Mark Carney, overlooks no opportunity to pillory small investors and savers in the interest of minority factionalism.

So, in the US, let's keep Mr. Obama in the presidency due to his ability to speak without mangling the language, and just put Ron Paul in charge of finances.

In Canada, let's bring back Michael Ignatieff as leader based on his brilliance as a communicator (he is already re-ensconced in academia, unfortunately), and we'll return Paul Martin to the post of finance minister to save the day for our country!

Let's not let Mr. Harper throw us another curve ball!

That would fix everything important, as far as I can tell!
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