Compare and contrast the four distinct categories of presidential Essay - 1

Compare and contrast the four distinct categories of presidential personality described in James Barber's habitual action patterns approach - Essay Example Then, one should also look at the positive-negative effect. How well does the person like what he is doing? (Barber 5) Active-positive: The man has high self-esteem and shows consistencies in the activities he carries out. In addition, throughout his life he has shown high level of productivity and conservation of environment. In connection to this, he sees himself as achieving some of his personal goals (Barber 6). Active-negative: This type of leader shows high level of commitment, however, he does not show high level of emotion for that job. On top of that, he behaves like someone who is trying to run away from anxiety. He is also ambitious and power-seeking, and has an aggressive feeling which makes him have a problem in managing the environment (Barber 6). Positive-positive: These types of leader depend a lot on other people’s judgement and they are not assertive. The contradiction here is high optimism and low self-esteem. In addition, they always make politics to be soft. However, because they depend on other people’s judgement, they are likely to be disappointed (Barber 6). Passive-negative: These types of people are always in politics because they feel that it is the right place to be. They do not enjoy being in politics and they also do not have enough experience. Although, a person of this nature normally does well in other areas but in politics, they are always under performers (Barber 6). President Obama can be said to be an active-positive president. This is because he has high self-esteem and shows consistencies in what he does. For example, during his two terms he has invested a lot of emotions and finances during his campaigns. In addition, he is passionate about what he does. It is not that someone forced him to become the president, but he decided out of his will to become the president. Also, he was the first, black president of