Trey Gowdy asks: 'What do we want and expect from our leaders?'
'Fox News Primetime' host asks whether Americans want 'leaders who will tell us what we want to hear?'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FOX News contributor and former House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy began Tuesday's edition of "Fox News Primetime" by reflecting on the leadership of American presidents.
GOWDY: If we were to do the math, something like 545 million people have lived in this country since we began as a country. Forty-five have become president.
What do you think when you think of those 45 individuals we have called president? How many do you think have done a good job? What do we want in a leader? Do we even expect the president to be a leader? Do we want leaders who will tell us what we want to hear? Do we want leaders who will tell us the truth, even if it's not what we want to hear?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There is some consensus that we like George Washington. Probably the same with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. I've always admired Abraham Lincoln, in large part because of everything he overcame. The failures, the self-doubt -- he overcame it to lead us during the most divisive time in our country's history ...
I liked Ronald Reagan, because he was hopeful. He also lost. He lost the [Republican] nomination [in 1976] and came back to become one of the more popular Presidents we've had.
My grandmother spoke highly of Franklin Roosevelt. Americans still mourn what could have been with John F. Kennedy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}What do we want and expect from our leaders? If we can't name many presidents we like, admire, and respect, is that their fault or is it our fault?