Skip to comments.

Posted on 12/29/2001 9:18:38 AM PST by Chi-townChief

A successful leader is a person who has two primary assets. First, he knows where he is going and is going to the right place. He has a vision, a plan, and a set of fixed principles—a North Star—to get himself there. Second, he has the ability to persuade others to follow him. He recruits strong individuals, builds a powerful team, and empowers that team to achieve the vision using their unique, God-given talents and skills.

We have all witnessed George W. Bush emerge as an exceptional world leader when we needed one most. For this he deserves to be Human Events Man of the Year.

1. He unified the country. Just a year ago, America agonized through one of the most divisive elections in our history. Bush won, but narrowly. Many questioned his legitimacy. No more. His handling of the September 11 crisis has been masterful. Principled. Decisive. Tough. Empathetic. Bush quickly figured out where we needed to go, and brilliantly set about to rally the nation, and the world.

He declared America at war. No Carteresque hedging. He vowed to "smoke out" bin Laden and the "evildoers" from their caves and bring them to justice. He quickly linked terrorism with those who harbor terrorists. His performances at the National Cathedral and the joint session of Congress were inspired, as was his trip to Ground Zero to meet with New York’s finest and bravest.

2. He chose a superb Vice President. Dick Cheney was born for this moment. Three decades of experience. Cool under fire. Great on TV. No future political ambitions. But only Bush seemed to get that—instinctively—18 months ago. Thank God.

3. He chose a first-rate national security team. Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher and Sandy Berger were the keepers of the counter-productive Clinton Doctrine: Do nothing of consequence, but have lots of photo-ops. Clinton and his team had eight years to get bin Laden "dead or alive," but didn’t. They could have avenged the last World Trade Center bombing, but didn’t. They could have truly gone after the Khobar Tower killers, but didn’t. Not so with Bush and his team. The world sleeps better knowing Don Rumsfeld, Condi Rice and Colin Powell are on the job. Now they just need to let Paul Wolfowitz convince them Saddam Hussein should be next in line.

4. He made missile defense a top priority. And stuck to his guns. Bush gets this issue. He knows America is extremely vulnerable to missile attack. And he is relentless about getting it done. It helps that the Air Force tests are finally going well.

5. He is developing an historic relationship with Russia. If Bush didn’t have a sound national security vision, his early schmoozing with—and gushing about—Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been cause for concern. But Bush, impressively, has persuaded Putin to be on our side in the war on terrorism, and to keep an open mind on missile defense. He’s dispatched Commerce Secretary Don Evans to strengthen our economic ties, especially with Russia’s emerging gas and oil industries. He’s also repeatedly praised Putin’s move last year to scrap Moscow’s corruptingly complex tax code in favor of a 13% flat tax. No wonder Russia’s economy is finally beginning to grow at a healthy clip.

6. He has restored honor and dignity to the White House. The man wears a suit and tie in the Oval Office. Always. Enough said.

7. He is open about his faith. One of the truly wonderful things about Bush and his wife is their comfort-level in talking about their faith in Jesus Christ, without setting off alarm bells in people who believe differently. Clearly, faith and prayer are deeply important to this President, and with great results. They have clearly been a wellspring of strength and comfort and compassion for him during this crisis. And in turn the President has helped encourage a stunned and rattled nation to turn its eyes towards the God who loves us and can guide us through the valley of the shadow of death.

Challenge ahead: Bush has mastered the art of war. Now he must master the art of growth. He must publicly and aggressively put Tom Daschle and the Democrats on notice: Pass a bold, sweeping, pro-growth tax cut (including sharp, across-the-board, marginal tax rate cuts; accelerated expensing; and a cut in the capital gains tax rate), or be personally responsible for putting millions of Americans out of work. Expanded unemployment benefits are nice. But people need jobs, not handouts. Vaclav Havel once said: "The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself, but when he plays the role destiny has for him." George W. Bush is passing with flying colors.

________________

Mr. Forbes, who is Chief Executive Officer of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes mgazine, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 to 2000.

© Human Events, 2001

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.