"I didn't blink"

It may be old news at this point but "I didn't blink" was Sarah Palin's reply to Charles Gibson's question as to how she responded when John McCain asked her to be his running mate. Did she hesitate and question whether she was experienced enough?

“I didn’t hesitate, no,” she said.

He then asked if that didn’t that take some hubris.

“I answered him yes,” Ms. Palin said, “because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

That "don't blink" approach to leadership scares the poop out of me. You didn't talk to your family? You didn't weigh the responsibilities of the acceptance? Not even for the amount of time it takes to wet the eyeballs?!? No. She didn't blink.

Which is, in other words, cowboy politics. Don't blink. Shoot from the hip, ask questions later. Or, as the current Leader of The Free World has revised the maxim, "Just shoot. And don't ask me questions about why I shot or what I shot at because I know what I'm doing (I am the Decider)." Or: "Shut up. YOU gave me the gun. Poppa knows best. Just shut up."

Jacob Weisberg recently wrote a book called "The Bush Tragedy". I have NOT read the book, but I did listen to a lengthy interview with the author on NPR. Below is an excerpt from Alan Brinkley's book review in The New York Times:

(Weisberg) portrays Bush as a willfully careless figure, only glancingly interested in his legacy or even his popularity. “To challenge a thoughtful, moderate and pragmatic father,” Weisberg argues, “he trained himself to be hasty, extreme and unbending. He learned to overcome all forms of doubt through the exercise of will.” Tragedy, in the Shakespearean form that Weisberg seems to cite (although there is nothing tragic about Henry V either), requires self-awareness and at least some level of greatness squandered. The Bush whom Weisberg skillfully and largely convincingly portrays is a man who has rarely reflected, who has almost never looked back, and who has constructed a self-image of strength, courage and boldness that has little basis in the reality of his life. He is driven less by bold vision than by a desire to get elected (and settle scores), less by real strength than by unfocused ambition, and less by courage than by an almost passive acquiescence in disastrous plans that the people he empowered pursued in his name.

So, "what did you think when ( _____ ) asked you to be his/her running mate?"

The response I would hope for from ANY person considering running for public office (mother/father, man/woman, republican/democrat, etc.) to this question would be something along the lines of: "I thought deeply about the committment. I spoke with my family/trusted friends. They fully support me, they know what an enormous job this would be and they know what a tremendous opportunity this is. I am prepared and I beleive I am the best person for the job for reasons A, B and C."

We need leaders who blink. We need leaders who weigh the options. We need leaders who recognize their hubris and put it aside in favor of making an informed decision.