On The Back Of An Envelope

President Obama loves to be compared to Abraham Lincoln.  I'm longing to say, "I knew Abraham Lincoln.  He was a friend of mine.  Mr. President, you are no Abraham Lincoln."  Of course, neither of the first two statements is true.  The third however is.

Something struck me today as I read an article on the Politico website about how pervasive Obama's use of the teleprompter is.  Just last week I was defending his use of it as normal for presidents.  At the time I did not realize that he has to have a teleprompter for literally every comment no matter how short.

What struck me, however, is not just about Obama.  I believe the days of our leaders having true core beliefs.  Gone is the transparent honesty about agendas and plans.  Today everything is crafted by groups of speech writers, tested with focus groups and then carefully choreographed for the most effect.  

The common story of the Gettysburg Address has Lincoln writing it on the back of an envelope during his train trip to the event.  It's probably not true.  That is really not important, however.  It was a speech that Lincoln himself wrote and delivered based on the true beliefs and values he held.  

We get the leaders we deserve.  Right now, we deserve the polished shells of politicians masquerading as leaders, hiding their true intents.  We deserve them because we have allowed our political process to become a popularity contest.