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New era of leadership?Leadership is a trait often sought after. In reality, many men and women are placed in leadership positions but lack strong leadership qualities. Some believe one is born with strong leadership skills, while others believe they can be learned. I'm no scholar who can solve that debate, but I have been around D.C. long enough to witness leadership styles that work and don't work. Teddy Roosevelt is quoted as saying, "The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." It appears that some folks on the Hill today could benefit from the advice of our 26th President. Talk of another short term farm bill extension continued this week as the Conference Committee failed to make any progress. Farm bill negotiations are in the same place they were in last week, which is the same place they were in a month ago. The trio of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and agriculture chairmen Rep. Colin Peterson and Sen. Tom Harkin has failed to get their members or the Congress for that matter to follow their lead. (What does that say about their colleagues' opinions of their self-elected leaders?) Each have their own leadership style. Harkin takes the "hands off" approach while Peterson is more "hands on." Pelosi, however, certainly takes a "my way or the highway" approach. It's the Pelosi approach that is truly causing the delay in this bill. Speaker Pelosi has repeatedly intervened in the agriculture policy debate with a list of demands even though she is not an agriculture policy expert. She continuously demands more money for the nutrition program, which already receives the largest increase in funding at $9.5 billion. Remember, this committee is looking to spend only $10 billion in new money for this bill and at least $9.5 billion will go to nutrition programs like Food Stamps, yet Pelosi demands more. On top of the demand for the additional dollars to nutrition programs, she is also demanding that $500 million to $1 billion more comes out of the Direct Payment program. She and those who follow her believe producers receive too much assistance and it is in the best interest of the American public to cut their safety net so more people can be eligible for Food Stamps. Production agriculture advocates immediately criticized this approach. This is exactly what good old Teddy Roosevelt warned against. Speaker Pelosi's desire for increased funding for programs that help her constituents in San Francisco may best be served by allowing the Conference Committee to work out the details. However, stepping back to allow others to do their job is not a leadership trait that she was either born with or learned over the years. 4/28/08 Date: 4/23/08
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