Liberal Leadership

La Shawn Barber has a post up on her dismay with African American leaders. She's drawing her piece from a similar Armstrong Williams piece. I can see why black conservatives will be unhappy about "their" leadership. The most telling quote in William's piece (which Barber quotes):

Like the old saying goes, "easiest way to control the mob is to agree with them."

It seems to me this is what a lot of liberal leaders do. They use polling to get out in front of the current trends. Then, once they get to the leading edge of the mob, they shout "Follow me!" and everybody thinks they're leading and setting the agenda. They aren't of course, they're just mimicking the cry of the mob on a larger stage.

Eventually the mob slows down or changes course and the old leader loses touch. Then a new leader shows up and yells "Follow me!" in that direction.

Contrast this to Republican leadership (I hate call the Repubs conservative anymore because, well, lots of them aren't). Bush is known for disagreeing with a lot of the folks in his own party. He dislikes excessive polling because he thinks policy should not be based on a popularity contest, it should be based on judgement and fundamental governing principles.

In the end though I think the real difference is in how the two groups work socially. Conservatives are more authority driven. You follow the leader. Liberals have too much of that hippy culture for that to work. They're more anti-authoritative so you end up with cat-herding leaders. What do you guys think?