George W. Bush's  

Leadership Style: Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people.

Description of candidate's position: "Republicans draw a sharp contrast between what they portray as Bush's directness and what they call rival John F. Kerry's tendency to worry issues to death. White House aides describe a president who gathers a small circle of trusted advisers, listens to brief debates and then offers swift, gut-based solutions to problems." Link

Quotation from the candidate: President Bush: "Principled leadership that shares our values." September 27, 2004.

"Do I take action to defend this country? Given that choice, I will defend America every time." September 25,2004. Link

Assessment of the proposal: 

Positive: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice described Bush as the anchor of the White House team, a man who recognizes that big, strategic decisions will bring with them good times and bad times and who is not distracted by news coverage that can fluctuate by the day or even by the hour. "If you had a president who was doing that" -- watching the polls and the daily headlines -- "the country would be in deep trouble," she said. from the Washington Post. 

Negative: Fred I. Greenstein, a Princeton University political scientist and authority on presidential leadership styles, said Bush's clarity of purpose reduces the tendency in government to let matters drift, but too often "results in a vision that may be simplistic or insufficiently examined or something that undermines itself." from the Washington Post

Comparison: Kerry will not want to repeat the missteps of Clinton's transition in 1992 and the early months of his administration. Crucial time was lost in developing effective governance. Nor will Bush want to duplicate Richard Nixon's second term transition in 1972, when he asked for the wholesale resignations of his Cabinet and top aides. The result was demoralizing and confounding. Charles O. Jones is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and the Hawkins Professor of Political Science (emeritus) at the University of Wisconsin.

Alexander L. George, a Stanford University professor emeritus of political science and author of a text about presidential decisions, said Bush "does not look for complexity" "He doesn't appear to have second thoughts about anything, which is worrisome when things aren't going so well," from the Washington Post.

Link to Kerry's issue page.