Barack Obama displays several leadership traits that helped him become president, including integrity, respect, fairness, and caring. He has confidence in his ability to lead the country out of its economic and military challenges. As president, Obama makes mindful decisions and surrounds himself with diverse advisors to consider different perspectives on issues.

1. Barack Obama's Leadership and Character Traits
Integrity
Integrity is the act of keeping to your personal morals or ethics. Malcom
Friedberg wrote about who he thinks Barack Obama is and why he thought
he should be president:
” ….that's the man I want to run my country: the man who has the courage to

2. do what's best for all of us, and not to compromise because it provides him
with some short-term gain. Show me the man that will risk losing the election
because he won't compromise his values, and I'll show you the man that
deserves the right to be called the President of the United States of America.”
-from “Barack Obama’s Integrity” by Malcolm Friedberg, posted Mar. 21.
2008
Respect
President Obama, before he was even named the 2008 Democratic
Candidate for President, supported diplomacy as the first measure to be
taken in response to any suspicious activity. In particular, Obama supported
the re-initiation of diplomatic action with Iran. He opposed the bill that would
regard the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, thereby allowing
the president to position troops in Iran, which could be interpreted as military
action against the Iranians. This shows that the President respects all
organizations, regardless of their history or relationships and that his first
thought when approaching foreign organizations, is diplomacy.
Fairness
The introductory paragraph to the Obama Administration's tax plan states:
“Barack Obama’s tax plan delivers broad-based tax relief to middle class
families and cuts taxes for small businesses and companies that create jobs
in America, while restoring fairness to our tax code and returning to fiscal
responsibility.” Fairness is an especially important trait for any leader
because a good leader must treat everyone with equality, regardless of race,
gender or social status. For more information, refer to the Obama tax plan.
Citizenship
Citizenship is the character of an individual viewed as a member of society or
their behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a
citizen. President Obama demonstrated very eloquent citizenship when he
worked as a community organizer in the south side of Chicago:
“In June 1985, Obama moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director

3. of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community
organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater
Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South
Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May
1988. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from one to
thirteen and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000. He helped set
up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a
tenants' rights organization. Obama also worked as a consultant and
instructor for a community organizing institute.”
-From “Early life and career of Barack Obama", Wikipedia
The positive changes that occured during Obama's management display his
self-motivation in the community that he was a part of at that time.
Caring
In my opinion, one of the most difficult tasks that any world leader will face
is balancing time with their two major obligations; the population that they are
leading and their actual family. There's no hiding the strong bonds between
the members of the Obama family; the family reserves time for a sit-down
dinnertime every night. Barack Obama is certainly a family man; he's seen in
public all of the time with his loving family.
Additionally, Barack Obama is committed to creating universal health care in
America. This shows that the health of the individual American is one of his
top priorities.
Confidence
With the 2009 inauguration, Mr.Obama inherited two wars, one of the worst
economic disasters in American history, and a multi-trillion dollar
debt. President Obama has displayed that he knows how to inspire
confidence in people, and he will have to if the United States is going to
make it out of these challenges intact. President Obama attacks the

4. economic recession daily, creates new plans to counter the U.S. debt, and
has already put his troop withdrawal and distribution plans into action. The
American people must know that the government is working hard so that they
can gain trust in the Federal government once again. Obama knows the true
meaning of leadership: to encourage the American people to act for a
common purpose because they want to. Here is a phrase that President
Obama used in one of his recent speeches:
"Starting today, we must pick ouselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the
work of remaking America"
Barack Obama, 2009 Inaugural Address
He has certainly held true to his word on this quote. To help to alleviate the
recession, he has spent more money in his first sixty days than in an entire
term of any other president. Obama hasn't just talked about plans of
rebuilding America, he has acted on them. Americans are gradually
investing more and more trust in their government as each crisis is dealt with.
Mindful Decision Making
A deliberate decision of Mr. Obama was to surround himself with people that
don't neccessarily agree with his views. This way, the President will gain
different perspectives on difficult issues. If his cabinet were to contain people
that constantly agree with him, he could make purely 'Obama' choices all of
the time, and the right decision might not always be made- nobody's
perfect.
Barack Obama has shown his decisiveness through the inummerable times
he has taken action in just about the sixty days that he has spent in the White
House.