I am a leader. Leaders always get heat. They're always going against the grain. Jimi Hendrix got heat Bob Marley got heat Miles Davis got heat. Every great artist got heat. Heat means you're doing something right.

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This and not much else is the essence of leadership.

I'm sad to report that in the past few years ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control.

Through mutual understanding sincerity and goodwill and with great wisdom and broad views the leaders on both sides should jointly initiate new opportunities for peace stability cooperation and mutual benefit.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through argument debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.

All the ills of mankind all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books all the political blunders all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent. I dream of our vast deserts of our forests of all our great wildernesses.

From the beginning there have been some religious leaders who greeted the funding of faith-based social services by government with ambivalence.

We are watching industries crumble Wall Street firms disappear unemployment spike and unprecedented government intervention. And our designated opinion leaders want to know: Is Obama up this week? Is he down? And is his leadership style more like Bill Clinton's or Abraham Lincoln's?

Leaders at the highest levels of our government are undertaking a deliberate and systematic effort to redefine our government our economy and our country.