Weekend Digest: In Recess, Congressional Job Approval Rises
by October 27, 2012 7:51 am 108 views
For our weekend political readers:
LEAVING A MARK
“Consider the 44 men who have been president. How many would you say have left an indelible mark?”
So how did Lincoln become Lincoln and Andrew Johnson become, well, Andrew Johnson? At the Harvard Business School, organizational psychology professor Gautam Mukunda says it comes down to a handful of key decisions.
What are those key decisions and how do different types of leaders arrive at them? In a post from NPR, Fukuda analyzed decisions by 40 U.S. presidents and found a key link they all had in common.
He’s found that the greatest presidents didn’t just make the right calls. The reason we think of them as indispensable is because the calls they made? Everyone around them thought those decisions were terrible mistakes.
Read the entire story here to learn what surprising process Mukunda says produces the worst leaders and find out what are “filtered” presidents as opposed to “unfiltered.”
CONGRESSIONAL RECESS GETS GOOD POLL RESULTS!
What? Well it’s true says Politico.
A whopping 21 percent of Americans have a positive view of Congress’s job performance in October, according to a Gallup Poll — up from 13 percent a month earlier. The most obvious thing that changed for Congress in that time is it left town.
But was the recess the real reason for the rise in the polls? Maybe not.
Read the whole story to find out more about what explanation Gallup pollsters have for the rise.
BALLOT WOES
Whoops! The presidential race is very close, but it can’t end in a tie. To be sure Mashable has posted an actual ballot from Jefferson County, Washington to prove it.
Click here to see.
“I’VE GOT A SECRET. I SAW LINCOLN GET SHOT”
YouTube has posted a grainy black and white video of a contestant on the 1950’s-60’s television program, “I’ve Got a Secret,” who really did witness the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
The Atlantic has the story and video link here.
CAN PRESIDENTIAL HALLOWEEN MASKS PRODUCE SPOOKY RESULTS IN THE BIG RACE?
Absolutely says Spirit Halloween, the largest Halloween retailer in the country.
The store has correctly predicted who will win the presidential race based on mask sales since 1996.
So who is surging ahead according to the mask sales and why do some critics say buying a presidential mask is actually not particular a good thing for the candidate? Huffington Post has the scoop at this link.
And wait a minute while you at it, learn about other highly “scientific” predictors like the 7-Eleven election poll, the Washington Redskins “reliable” election picker, and “Lakers Law” derived from the playoff results of the NBA team.