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February 4, 2012 at 1:49 pm 
Daniel Fincke In South Carolina’s debates watching Newt Gingrich debate Mitt Romney was like watching Cicero debate automated customer service telephone prompts. So Romney diligently and proactively went out and got an excellent debate coach, Brett O’Donnell. And Romney went on to utterly neutralize and deflate Gingrich next they met, in Florida. So that’s a point in Romney’s column. He competently and quickly took charge of a bad situation and turned it around in an impressive fashion. This also nicely fits Romney’s preferred narrative of himself as an efficient fixer.
But then staffers started crediting the debate coach for Romney’s debate win and Romney responded yesterday in a way that reflects really poorly on him. He fired O’Donnell for upstaging him.
Great leaders are not threatened by great advisers. They don’t compete with them for credit. They don’t risk sabotaging their own effectiveness by treating worthy collaborators as dangerous rivals. Weak leaders, who are more focused on their over-sensitive egos than objective success, do that.
Your Thoughts?
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…Isn’t this exactly how we get a government full of boot-licking yes-sayers who enshrine all their leaders’ horrible mistakes no matter the cost?
To modify a quote by Forrest Gump, “character is as character does”. Sooner or later people need to start seeing Romney for the egotistical weasel he sure looks like to me!
Guys, he likes to fire people.
My thought is that Romney is simply a whore for votes and will do anything to get them. Policy, people, issue and compassion have never counted with Willard Mitt, The guy who put his dog on the roof of the car on a trip to Canada.
Agreed. Surely part of being a great leader is choosing and listening to smart advisers.
One shiny new internet for you!
Comparing Gingrich to Cicero is like…
I’m aghast; I got nothin’
He was Cicero compared to Mitt Romney.
My favorite comment about Gingrich:
I agree with all of the above….
A man who lets his ego dictate who advises him isn’t fit to be President.
If an automated customer service telephone prompter were running for the Repug nomination, I think it would be the front runner by a wide margin.
Romney had a problem so he hired someone to fix the problem. When Romney’s sycophants attempted to show how good Romney was as a problem fixer by hiring good help, Romney fired the good help for upstaging him. Thus showing Romney is good at shooting himself in the foot.
A guy who makes a living as a debate coach? Yeah, I’d fire him for being a debate coach. What the hell is that?
As for Romney: “If there’s anything in this room bigger than my ego, I want it caught and shot now.”
I don’t know what would reflect well on Romney, but firing the guy who helped him get what he wanted is stupid and childish.
Why is “debate coach” a bad thing to be? Debate is a skill; it can be taught; some people are good at that.
I’d certainly vote for it ahead of any of the alleged humans currently in the running.
If an automated customer service telephone prompter were running for the Repug nomination, I think it would be the front runner by a wide margin.
Like HELL it would be.
The teabaggers would’ve flayed it alive the first time it responded “Press for English…”