Author: Tom Mctague
Affiliation: The Atlantic
Organization /Publisher: The Atlantic
Date/Place: November 23, 2020/USA
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 2027
Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/11/barack-obama-margaret-thatcher/617180/
Keywords: Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher, Political Leaders
Brief:
The author believes that both Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama had/have a leadership vision, and according to him, they are, in fact, prophets who came to embody the stories of their countries, and that they were people who moved history according to their will by supporting their visions for the future. The author talks about his experience watching the Netflix series The Crown, a series (based on fact) of the British royal family, the 4th season of which focuses on the life of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The writer has nostalgia to that time when Thatcher was in the political sphere, and he talks about her experience in ruling and making her Cabinet follow decisions, such as reshaping the moribund British economy, and the restoration of the Falkland Islands. The author questions the capabilities of Boris Johnson, or any of Thatcher’s other successors, and their capabilities to bring back that leadership that many yearn for. According to historian of modern Britain Dominic Sandbrook, Thatcher lost many fights and may not have fundamentally changed Britain as we think. Assessing the former President Obama and his recently published memoirs, the author highlights how the former president cannot stop believing in his myth, which constituted a kind of failure in his own eyes as it gave rise to Trump’s success in the 2016 presidential election. Political leaders rarely blame themselves for the political landscape that followed their departure. According to historian Richard Burke, politicians have long since realized that their ability to predict the future—to be on the right side of history—is fundamental to their legitimacy as decision-makers. And if any statesman says that he has failed to predict the future, then he admits that he has failed as a statesman. The author brings up an important idea, which is that in the end, the problem lies with us as much as it lies with these leaders. It lies in what we expect from leaders and what leaders, in turn, expect of themselves.
By: Taqwa Abu Kmeil, CIGA Research Assistant
