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What we are looking at on all our TV sets is a man who finally, after 24 years of frenzied effort, became the President of the United States with a personal salary of $200,000 a year and an unlimited expense account including a fleet of private helicopters, jetliners, armored cars, personal mansions and estates on both coasts and control over a budget beyond the wildest dream of King Midas . . . and all the dumb bastard can show us, after five years of total freedom to do anything he wants with all this power, is a shattered national economy, disastrous defeat in a war we could have ended four years ago on far better terms than he finally came around to, and a hand-picked personal staff put together through five years of screening, whose collective criminal record will blow the minds of high-school American History students for the next 100 years.

Hunter S. Thompson#82

PoliticsWarLeadershipPowerEconomyFailurePresident

About this quote

What does it mean?
The author criticizes a president for having immense power and wealth but producing poor economic and military results.
In plain terms
A president with unlimited resources has left the country in worse shape after years in office.
What can you take from it?
Holding power requires delivering results, not just having resources.

Where it applies

  • political critique
  • leadership review
  • elections

Putting it to work

  • demand performance from leaders
  • track national metrics

Questions to consider

  • What defines a successful presidency?
  • How do you judge a leader after one term?

Another view

Assessing a single leader's total impact on a complex economy is difficult.

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