IS "RESOLUTENESS" REALLY A QUALITY THAT WE SHOULD WANT IN A LEADER?

From the CSMonitor, "Bush...beats Kerry handily for an image of 'resoluteness' - a quality that liberals would define as 'stubbornness.' [CSM pollster Raghavan] Mayur reports 83 percent of Americans believe Bush stands firm on his beliefs, while Kerry scores at only 48 percent." Mayur further states that, "Bush seems to have accumulated a cache of what I call leadership points since 9/11."

My difficulty with this goes back to the 'flip-flop' label that the Bush campaign has tried to attach to John Kerry, and the connection to this notion of 'resoluteness.' I would agree that a person should be resolute, or determined, to follow a decision with action in hopes of accomplishing a goal. I think this would be an outstanding quality. What worries me about this type of question in a leadership poll, however, is that many people see the word 'resolute' and connect it to very strong opinions. I would agree that Bush does have very strong opinions, but in my mind this is to his detriment. Bush does not seem to be the type of man who is willing to alter his positions to fit the circumstances. He has very strong opinions, right or wrong, and these will be what allows him to make decisions. If the decision turns out to be bad, he won't admit that he was wrong; he will simply find a way to 'better explain' his decision, or he will blame others (can anyone say George Tenet?).

Kerry, on the other hand, has always been willing to consider decisions on a case-by-case basis during his time in the Senate. Even if you might argue this is for political gain, I see this as a positive trait for a leader. I certainly do not support basing decisions solely on 'polling numbers,' but, rather, basing decisions on thoughtful consideration of the issues. From my reading about John Kerry, I think this is the type of leader that he has been during his time in the Senate--a thoughtful, deliberative legislator who is willing to consider each piece of legislation on its merits AT THE TIME; a person who has not always been set upon one path to the exclusion of alternatives. As Cheney just pointed out again this weekend, Kerry is said to have the most liberal voting record in the Senate. If that is true, then surely he hasn't done very much 'flip-flopping' during his years in office; however, on some key votes he does seem to have been willing to say, "I voted the wrong way the first time. This time I will vote differently," and for better or worse, he has changed his vote. Shouldn't a leader be willing to do that from time to time?