Most positive outcomes in politics are the result of skillful planning.

Most positive outcomes in politics are the result of skillful planning.

12:05-12:35

Politics is a very turbulent field that is never definite in its outcomes and is a profession of chance. The primary purpose of politics in a democracy is to serve as a voice for the people in the legislature to bring important issues attention. Politics is not only found in government but in daily life amongst common citizens where some people tend to have favoritism and power over issues than others.  However not all instances in politics are based on chance, but some are a result of skillful planning and organization of thought. Whether a positive outcome in politics is a result of skillful planning or chance depends on the circumstances.

First consider a situation when a positive outcome in politics is a result of skillful planning and implementation. For example, in 2011 when the Obama Administration were determined to weed out the terrorist organizations, Osama Bin Laden was the first priority. Before making any drastic moves, President Obama discussed the matter with his staff and army personnel to find the best strategy that would make the operation a success. Obama took this step because if the operation failed then the image of the United States and Obama as President would crumble. Therefore, careful analysis of past failed missions served as an outline and strategy to carry out the present mission. In this case, the army used President Carter’s blotched Operation Eagle Claw which aimed to free US hostages and POWs from Tehran. Carter had failed this mission primarily from inadequate planning and random acts of military power. He failed to order militaty personnel to do practice drills, joint practice session amongst all units involved and to stick to the plan. As a result, by taking this past mistake from Carter, President Obama used skillful planning to kill Osama Bin Laden and succeeded resulting as a positive outcome and strength in his efforts to recampaing in the 2012 election.

On the other hand, there are instances where positive outcome in politics are a result of a person in the right place at the right time. In some cases a person’s fate and luck may play a role. For example in the 2008 election the Republicans had a line up of many candidates such as John McCain, Sarah Palin and many others to run against Obama. However, since many voters and the general population wanted a change from Republican failure and mistrust. Therefore since Obama  stepped in at the right time he was able to convince so many constituents of his plan for change. In the meantime many Republican candidates spent too much time attacking Obama when they had internal flaws themselves. For example, Sarah Palin was accused of money laundering and corruption by using tax payer money to go on vacations with family and  McCain sponsored many oil drilling projects. These actions further improved Obama’s reputation. Likewise in the current Presidential race, Mitt Romney is considered to be very luck candidate for the GOP. Although he failed miserably in other caucuses he snagged the Iowa primary by focusing on what his party had to offer rather than the divisions that were present in the GOP. He also spent less time attacking President Obama, as did other GOP candidates, and spent more time focusing on the next steps to bring back the American people back to work. As a result, in both cases Obama and Romey are examples of politicians who are success stories in politics from luck and circumstances from weak political competitors.

In all,  positive outcome in politics come in either by skillful planning or luck, but it depends on the situation. If there is a very important issue such as finding an international criminal responsible to taking many lives (eg. Osama Bin Laden) then the Obama administration had to use skillful planning otherwise their reputation is at stake. Skillful plan in the case of Obama resulted in success. However, in the case of Mitt Romney and Obama in the presidential race was based on luck because both candidates stepped into the race at the right time when weak candidates were present. Therefore luck played a role, but only works in rare circumstances such as this but in most cases skilful planning is best.