A successful head coach was once asked, “What makes a great coach?”
His answer was, “Great players.” Many coaches honor that philosophy,
whether spoken or not, as they battle each other to attract the best
talent in their respective sports. But can a coach really make a
difference? Intuitively and experientially we can respond, “Yes.” It was
once said of the legendary Alabama head football coach Bear Bryant, “He
can take his’n and beat your’n or take your’n and beat his’n.”
Something about Bear just made the 11 men on the field play better.
So how does this translate to a president? Being president is not as simple as coaching football—it’s as different as tic-tac-toe is to three-dimensional chess. But what difference can the commander in chief make on something as large, complex, and internationally integrated as the U.S. economy?
Rhetorically, for the past four years, we have heard the Democrats and the media consistently hammer home the idea that whatever is wrong with our economy lies at the feet of George W. Bush. “It was his policies and them alone that got us here,” they would proclaim. But their position has recently changed, and they’re now saying, “The president [meaning Barack Obama] really has very little ability to influence such a complex organism.”
Read more: http://online.worldmag.com/2012/07/02/can-presidents-influence-the-economy/
So how does this translate to a president? Being president is not as simple as coaching football—it’s as different as tic-tac-toe is to three-dimensional chess. But what difference can the commander in chief make on something as large, complex, and internationally integrated as the U.S. economy?
Rhetorically, for the past four years, we have heard the Democrats and the media consistently hammer home the idea that whatever is wrong with our economy lies at the feet of George W. Bush. “It was his policies and them alone that got us here,” they would proclaim. But their position has recently changed, and they’re now saying, “The president [meaning Barack Obama] really has very little ability to influence such a complex organism.”
Read more: http://online.worldmag.com/2012/07/02/can-presidents-influence-the-economy/
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