Arafat 101

If you've ever taken a basic course in leadership, you're told that Rule Number 1 for building sustainable communities is to ensure that you have a successor. That person should be groomed, educated, and assured that they will maintain the values, objectives, and aspirations of a community if the leader is, for whatever reason, absent. This rule holds whether you're a president, activist, CEO, radical, athlete on a team, military officer, executive director, or chairman.

Mr. Yasser Arafat, moving through the crowd in a bulletproof coffin, had a tremendous amount of time to ensure that his complex constituency would be represented and empowered. As in his life, in which he surely represented the dreams of many Palestinians but could never get past his intransigence to earn his people real peace, he has failed in his death to be a leader of substance and action. It's a sad judgment and a sad day for many people but I actually believe the future for Palestinians may start today.

Posted by Andrew at November 12, 2004 10:16 AM