Comment on: "Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

For original Freedman column, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-where-have-you-gone-joe-dimaggio.html?_r=1&hp


While I agree with Mr. Friedman's oft stated view:
"To do that, we need to reinvigorate our traditional formula for success — quality education and infrastructure, open immigration, the right rules to incentivize risk-taking and government-financed scientific research",
his assertion that Steve Jobs embodies the kind of leadership qualities we need in politics, however, is ludicrous. There is nothing "democratic" (small d) about successful corporate leaders. They are more akin to dictators, and we want to be careful about a populous longing for a "strong man" or dictator to get us out of our current troubles. It is exactly the fact that Americans, different from most other countries during the last Great Depression, did not succumb to the temptation to turn to a dictator to lead them out of their miseries, which makes America different. All right, I'll grant you that FDR had many of the qualities of a "strong man" leader, some on the Right would even say, a dictator. But we as Americans did manage to keep things within the framework of a democratic government and society.
I agree that leaders like Steve Jobs are important in a free-market, entrepreneurial society, but let's make sure we keep the boundaries between good corporate leadership (generally un-democratic) and good public leadership, clearly defined.