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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Racial Relation and Life of African American

In America, ethnicity and race frequently shape the Americans‘ life and

history. With many races that can be defined from physical looks and ethnicities

from cultural behavior (Yu, 2007, p. 103), America becomes a multicultural

country. The multicultural society forms an astounding diverse cultures from

Asia, Europe, or Africa, in one place. The different race and ethnicity in America

lead to not only the beauty of multiculturalism, but also the dynamic of the

American society in a negative way.

The race and ethnicity problem in America is an uneven battle between the

group of people that already resides in America who possess a dominant power in

the society and the racial and ethnic groups. Henry Yu explains that there is a

class separation in which due to and leads to the alienation of ethnic group (2007,

p. 104). Yu also adds via Warner and Srole‘s Social System of American Ethnic

Group about the destiny of the ethnic groups, ―future of American ethnic groups

seems to be limited,‖ (2007, p. 104). Furthermore, Yu provides an example of the

limitation of ethnic groups when the U.S. government issue exclusion policies for

the particular immigrants (2007, p. 105).

The limited future of racial and ethnic groups leads to another issue that

related to their social life. Roderick A. Ferguson says about race in America that,

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―With regard to economic and political formations, race has shaped the meaning

and profile of citizenship and labor.‖ (2007, p. 192). Sometimes Amrican film

capture true events that related to the history of the racial minority people such as

The Help (2011) that deals with the life of black women who mostly work as

housemaids for white families in the 1960‘s in the South or Shanghai Noon

(2000) in which tells the era when Chinese people become labours who built

railways during the westward. These films show how difficult the racial and

ethnic groups living in America. They have to learn and work harder than the

dominant (i.e. whites) to gain a better living rather than become working class.

Disadvantages of discrimination, segregation, and alienation are some of the

problems that occur in racial and ethnic groups‘ life, and one of the notable one is

African American.

Historically, African Americans are not in a good side in terms of racial

relation, either related to their relationship with the white people or the U.S.

Constitution. They had been thorough a harsh life as slaves since early 17th when

laws was only considered them as properties to their white masters. Although, it

is the small part of the long journey of African Americans to get to the glorious

city upon a hill. This part is a discussion on the history and social life of African

Americans from the perspective of a non-American observer.

African Americans were known as slaves during the early Americ, until

the Civil War took place and President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation

Proclamation to abolish slavery. As stated by the Jacksonville Community

Council Inc. (JCCI), the United States government was constantly passing the

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laws for the emancipation of African Americans on American soil, ―The 13th

Constitutional Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery. In 1868, the 14th

Amendment provided for equal protection under the law, regardless of the former

condition of servitude. In 1870, the 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote

for all men, and black men began voting in elections in Florida.‖ (2002, p. 6).

The end of slavery was followed by another issue that made African

Americans lived in their worst nightmare once again. In 1896, the Supreme Court

issued a law known as Jim Crow laws, which used to segregate public facilities,

education sector, even military, between whites and colored people. ‗Separate but

equal‘ became the part of Americans‘ life for about a century. The paradox of a

country with the pride of liberty for all men, but their freedom was determined by

the color of the skin.

Howard Zinn questions about the racial issues in America in his book entitled A

People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present. He says,

―There is not a country in the world history in which racism has

been more important, for so long a time, as the United States. And the

problem of ―the color line,‖ as W.E.B. DuBois put it, is still with us. So it

is more than a purely historical question to ask: How does it start? - and an

even more urgent question: How might it end? Or to put it differently: Is it

possible for whites and blacks to live together without hatred?‖ (2010, p.

23).

Zinn tries to point out that America and racial issues are inseparable, and he

sounds irritated by this issue and tries to trace back to the era when black people

or African-Americans are much more of the same with any other races, especially

white. The intriguing part of Zinn‘s theory is when he points out, whether the

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‗racism‘ of the whites toward African Americans are by nature or because of a

certain condition (2010, p.30). Later on, he finds out that way before slavery

begins in America or even in Europe, any other than white people, the unknown,

the blackness, are weaker and lower (2010, p. 30). The prejudice subconsciously

becomes a part of understanding of the whites when they talk about African

Americans. Unfortunately, it leads to African American children‘s low self-

esteem in the society.

Bryant Marks and other researchers state that there is an assumption that

African Americans, especially children, are suffered from low self-esteem. In their

book entitled African American Racial Identity: A Review of Contemporary

Models and Measures, they try to determine how African Americans discover

their identity within the unending exposure of white-dominated culture and

lifestyle, although, in the further discussion, they find out that African Americans

are as equal levels of self-esteem as whites. It started in the 1960‘s and 1970‘s,

which was during and after the Civil Rights movement era, ―At that time [in the

late 1960‘s], studies directly measuring self-esteem consistently found results

suggesting that African Americans do not suffer from low self-esteem. In fact,

African American children often reported higher levels of self-esteem than those

reported by White children.‖ (2004, p. 384). It implies that the Civil Rights

movement does not only just the effort to gain equal rights before the laws, but

they also discover their identity and their position in American society. At the end

of the movement, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 are

issued, and it boost up their pride as American citizens.

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Everything went downhill from there. In 1980‘s, African American youth

found the rap and hip-hop culture and music. While in the 1990‘s, African

Americans gained more opportunities in the workplace that used to be white

people‘s jobs such as policeman and fire fighter.

The gradual progress of African Americans‘ life finally came to the fullest

as Barack Obama is elected as the first African American president in history on

November 4th, 2008. It was a sign of the acceptance and trust of the white-

dominant society towards African American. Back in the Civil Rights movement

era, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are major figures in inspiring others.

Those ‗others‘ are African Americans. In this case, Obama is far different from

King and X. Linda Burnham‘s book entitled Changing The Race: Racial Politics

and the Election of Barack Obama, exposed Barack Obama‘s vast influence and

acceptance of all races, including Whites, Latinos, Hispanics, and of course

African Americans; men and women; youngsters and oldies. Sylvia Manzano

states in the same book that Latinos contributed a large portion of votes for

Obama, despite the issue of tension of Black and Latino (2009, p. 16). As Martin

Luther King Jr inspired youth to follow his nonviolent protest by doing sit ins in

1960, Barack Obama also attracted young African Americans and Latinos to vote

him. This phenomenon is called as ‗youthquake‘:

―Young people came out deep and fierce in the 2008 presidential

election. Twenty-three millions of people under the age of 30 made up this

―youthquake,‖ 3.4 millions more than in 2004. And more than two-thirds

of them voted for Barack Obama. Ninety-five percent of black youth and

76 percent of young Latina/os voted Democratic. But youthquake numbers

don‘t tell the whole story about what this election meant for our generation

and what we meant to it.‖ (2009, p.26).

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It appears that the low self-esteem is absolutely no longer an issue in the 2000s for

African Americans and Obama increases the political awareness among youth

voters. Now, they have a perfect example of being as a proud African American.

During his term, President Obama has some initiatives and programs that

he already planned for his campaign, and the most important and most popular

initiative is health care. Officially named as Patient Protection and Affordable

Care Act (PPACA) or popularly known as ObamaCare, is President Obama‘s

initiative to give people an affordable and quality health insurance (see

http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts/). The question is whether President

Obama‘s healthcare approval rating as high as his influence during his

presidential campaign. For example, CBS News has been recorded since March

2010 to May 2015 that the poll shows that Americans disapprove the PPACA by

52% to 61% (Dutton, De Pinto, Salvanto, & Backus, 2015). Kaiser Health

Tracking Poll in April 2014 also found that the Act‘s performance is below

government‘s expectation by the fact that 46% of the Americans are unfavorable

with PPACA despite about 8 million people have signed up for the health

insurance (Hamel, Firth, & Brodie, 2014). Obamacarefacts.com concludes that

the negative trends of the PPACA‘s approval rating are due to the lack of

understanding of the Americans about PPACA. Americans need to understand

more about the government‘s law for the sake of their prosperity, and that is the

President‘s and the government‘s job.

In the end, it is all about Obama‘s race and ethnic identity. Race is the

matter of the color of the skin, but ethnicity is about the environment that

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influences the person. Obama is a result of both Black and White. He gets Black

lineage from his father and Ivy League education of Whites. All and all, African

American life is slowly but surely leading into a happy ending since the early

America, despite the long span of struggle from one racial issue to another.

B. Presidential Powers and Succession

President‘s powers, duties, and privileges are very interesting topics to

discuss as well as his inability. Also, how an American presidents use the power

and the succession of their reign are also a great addition to this part of this

research. Those topics are regulated in the Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution regulates the duties and powers of the President,

which states,

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Naval

of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called

into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in

writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments,

upon any Subjects relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he

shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the

United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. (U.S. Const. art. II, § 3).

Historically, not all of the presidents use this inherent power to keep the country

peaceful and prosperous. Some of U.S. presidents were somehow misused their

power as the Commander in Chief in military by making the country more of a

bully rather than a peacekeeper. As Gene Healy in his book entitled The Cult of

the Presidency says,

―Our chief executives capitalize on that belief, declaring

metaphorical wars on all manner of social harms or real wars on foreign

adversaries. Again and again throughout the American history, presidents

have used the power of the bully pulpit and their power to command the

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army to redefine their role, transforming themselves from humble chief

magistrates to domineering commanders in chief.‖ (2009, p. 11).

Based on the explanation above, Healy tries to expose how a President of the

United States uses the Article II of the Constitution as his source power and shield

to alienate and to eliminate who or what the president believes as America‘s

adversaries, although it does not mean all of the presidents use their power badly.

Healy suggests that in some capacity, U.S. President possesses power

overseas. The foreign policy that stands out besides U.S‘s involvement in the

Middle-East is the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea. North Korea‘s

nuclear weapon program is considered as a threat to America and its allies.

Missile tests in 1993 and 1998 that landed and flew over Japan‘s territory are

earlier examples of the threats (BBC News Asia, 2015). It is America‘s

responsibility to protect its allies (Japan and South Korea as two closest ally

countries to North Korea) from the threat, and considers the Korean peninsula as a

strategic economic region, ―.. The divided Korean peninsula has become an arena

of more subtle strategic and economic competition among the region‘s powers.‖

(Chanlett-Avery, Rinehart, Nikitin, & Park, 2015, p. 2).

In order to prevent the nuclear war against North Korea, U.S. President

uses his power in foreign policy by making agreements and negotiations. During

Bill Clinton‘s presidency, the nuclear tension was decreased due to the U.S.-North

Korea 1994 Agreed Framework to freeze the North Korea‘s nuclear weapon

program and in return, U.S. arranged to provide fuel oil and two nuclear power

plans for North Korea (Chanlett-Avery, Rinehart, Nikitin, & Park, 2015, pp.4-5).

8 years later, during George W. Bush‘s presidency, North Korea broke the 1994

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Agreed Framework by developing uranium as the nuclear weapon material. From

2003 to 2008, United States, China, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, and Japan

formed a multilateral talks called ‗Six-Party Talks‘ after U.S. halt the oil supply to

North Korea on October 2002 (Chanlett-Avery, Rinehart, Nikitin, & Park, 2015,

p. 5). The talk is doomed to fail because since 2006, North Korea keeps testing

their missiles and claiming that the missiles can reach the U.S. mainland (BBC

News Asia, 2015).

In terms of internal government collaboration, a federal government

country with three branches of government, President (who carries out the laws)

has to work properly side by side with Congress (who makes the laws) and the

Supreme Court (who evaluates laws) as U.S. Legislative branch and the Judicial

branch respectively to run the country. This separation of power is inspired by a

French political philosopher, Baron de Montesquieu,

――In every government,‖ Montesquieu wrote, ―there are three sorts of

power. The legislative power extended to all lawmaking, including

original enactment, amendment, and abrogation. The executive power

cleaved in two – execution under international law and execution under

domestic law. The former authorized decisions about defense and foreign

relations. The latter, which he re-named the power of judging (puissance

de juger), authorized decisions punishing criminals and resolving

disputes.‖ (Claus, 2004, p. 5)

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the

State of the Union, and recommend to their Occassions, convene both

Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them,

with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such

Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other

public Ministers; he shall take care that the Laws faithfully executed, and

shall commission all the Officers of the United States. (U.S. Const. art. II,

§ 3).

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Abraham Lincoln is a good example of a president that uses his authority

as the Commander in Chief with inherent power, but without showing any

―domineering commander-in-chief‖ manner. In dealing with the Civil War in late

1850‘s to mid 1860‘s, President Lincoln realized that the Congress also has a

power to approve the action or the decision of the president. As a result, Lincoln

and the Congress work side by side (Fisher, 2007, p. 3). Louise Fisher in his

articles entitled Invoking Inherent Power: A Primer, explains that, unlike the

aggressive and dominating manner of George W. Bush in War on Terror,

President Lincoln is much more defensive but yet effective. President Lincoln still

cannot declare the Civil War, unless the Congress approved it, ―[Robert] Grier

(Supreme Court Justice) specifically limited the president‘s power to take

defensive action, noting that he has ―no power to initiate or declare a war either

against a foreign nation or a domestic State.‖‖ (Fisher, 2007, p. 4). Fisher gives

another perspective that a president has an immense power yet not unlimited.

The founding fathers were not only fascinated by the European democratic

system that dealt with power like what Montesquieu did in France, but also the

representation of power in the form of buildings and architectures. Ancient Greek

style building can be seen in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The

Lincoln Memorial is inspired from the Greek temple of the Parthenon

(http://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-memorial-design-and-

symbolism.htm). The Parthenon itself is a temple in Athens dedicated to the

Greek Olympians, Athena. Athena is the goddess of war, wisdom, peace, and

compassion (Daly, 2009, p. 21). Statue of President Abraham Lincoln inside the

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memorial building represents the similar representation of Athena, ―One of the

president's hands is clenched, representing his strength and determination to see

the war through to a successful conclusion. The other hand is a more open,

slightly more relaxed hand representing his compassionate, warm nature.‖

(http://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-memorial-design-and-

symbolism.htm). It shows that the previous leader of the United States wanted to

make Abraham Lincoln as the manifestation of Greek goddess Athena in the real

world.

The power of the President is not vast. The limited power of the President

can be seen by the duration of the administration, which is four years with two

terms for each president. Later on, the new President will be elected by vote by

the process called the Electoral College, which consists of 538 electors

(archive.gov). Besides, President‘s death, resignation, or removal from the office

can trigger the succession of the presidency. The vacancy of the President is

regulated in the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and

the Presidential Succession Act.

In case of the removal of the President from office or his

resignation, the Vice President shall become President. (U.S. Const.

amend. XXV, § 1).

Eight Presidents of the United States died and one resigned during their

term. William Henry Harrisson (the 9th President of the United States), Zachary

Taylor (the 12th President of the United States), Warren G. Harding (the 29th

President of the United States), and Franklin D. Roosevelt (the 32th President of

the United States died in the office due to the health issue. Abraham Lincoln (the

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16th President of the United States), James A. Garfield (the 20th President of the

United States), William McKinley (the 25th President of the United States), and

John F. Kennedy (the 35th President of the United States) are assassinated during

their term. Meanwhile, Richard M. Nixon (the 37th President of the United States)

is the only U.S. President who resigned from the office. All of those presidents are

succeeded by their Vice Presidents (senate.gov/history/essays.htm).

Although, there is also a law that regulates the temporary presidency

position due to the unavailability of the current president in running the office.

The regulation is written in the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States

Constitution, as it follows,

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of

the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written

declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties shall be

discharged by the Vice President as Acting President. (U.S. Const. amend.

XXV, § 3).

There are three occasions in the U.S. history when the Vice President becomes the

acting President. Most of them only last in a matter of hours. The first Vice

President who serves as the acting president of the United States is Vice President

George Bush in 1985. In July 13, 1985, President Ronald Reagan had a colon

cancer surgery, which made Vice President George Bush became an acting

President during President Reagan‘s surgery (presidency.ucsb.edu). Meanwhile,

the other two occasions were when Vice President Richard B. Chaney took charge

as the acting President for President George W. Bush in 2002 and 2007. President

Bush had colonoscopy procedures, which only last for about two hours.

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(presidency.ucsb.edu). Both Bush Sr. and Cheney did not make any significant

order or policy during his interim as president.

If both President and Vice President cannot run the office, The Speaker of

the House of Representative becomes the next president in the line of succession

of U.S. presidency, either permanently or temporarily. The regulation about this is

regulated in 3 U.S. Code § 19,

If, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, inability,

or failure to qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice President to

discharge the powers and duties of the office of President, then the

Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, upon his resignation as

Speaker and as Representative in Congress, act as President. (3 U.S.C. §

19, cl. a1).

The list goes on from President pro tempore, Secretary of State, to the Secretary

of Homeland Security. Although, historically, the succession down to this level

does not happen yet,

If, at the time when under subsection (a) of this section a Speaker

is to begin the discharge of the powers and duties of the office of

President, there is no Speaker, or the Speaker fails to qualify as Acting

President, then the President pro tempore of the Senate shall, upon his

resignation as President pro tempore and as Senator, act as President. (3

U.S.C. § 19, cl. b).

If, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, inability,

or failure to qualify, there is no President pro tempore to act as President

under subsection (b) of this section, then the officer of the United States

who is highest on the following list, and who is not under disability to

discharge the powers and duties of the office of President shall act as

President: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of

Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of

Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of

Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban

Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary

of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Homeland

Security. (3 U.S.C. § 19, cl. d1).

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And so, the President of the United States possesses a massive power as

the government‘s highest ranking officer and the Commander in Chief U.S.

military. Some of them use the power to start wars and on the other side ends the

wars. The President‘s power is represents in the form of memorial such as Lincoln

Memorial in Washington D.C. However, every four years, a new President is

always elected unless the death, sickness, resignation, or impeachment in the

middle of the administration triggered the XXV Amendment of the U.S.

Constitution. Meanwhile the rest of the presidential succession is regulated in the

3 U.S.C § 19.

C. Leadership Quality

Presidential leadership is a type of leadership related to politics. The

presidential leadership, like any other types of leadership such as marketing

leadership, military leadership, or spiritual leadership, has qualities and

characteristics of its own. Those qualities and characteristics are the benchmarks

to show how big the influence of a leader, or in this case, a president, towards

her/his people in effort to achieve the goals, ―A TRUE LEADER NEEDS to

possess the quality to inspire the masses‖ (DePaul,2009. p.40).

A president is a political leader. As a political leader or a leader in general,

has some duties such as, ―interpret problem, prescribe ends and means to solve

them [the problems], propagate personal visions as solution, or, at least, responses

to problems, and mobilize followers to implement those solution or responses

(Masciulli, Molchanov, & Knight, n.d., p.7). In order to do those duties, a

president has to possess some skills and qualities. Masciulli, Molchanov, and

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Knight focus on some leadership qualities that a leader should have from the

perspective of political leadership. They mention three aspects of leadership,

―instrumental (ability to influence people and effect outcomes), organizational

(goal-setting and motivation), strategic-visionary and entrepreneurial (innovative

adaptation and creativity)‖ (Masciulli, Molchanov, & Knight, n.d., p.10).

Political leadership qualities of Masciulli, Molchanov, and Knight are very

similar to Victoria C. DePaul‘s theory of leadership quality. Victoria C. DePaul in

her book entitled Obama: The Leadership of We Are One, provides some

leadership qualities on how to be an ideal president, especially in a as

multicultural country as the United States. Based on Barack Obama‘s presidential

campaign in 2008 until his inauguration in 2009, DePaul provides some

leadership qualities in Barack Obama such as intrapreneurial leadership,

innovation, autonomy, risk-taker, situational analysis, empowerment, commitment

and vision.

The first leadership quality is about intrapreneurial leadership. DePaul

relates the intrapreneurial not with a person who works as an entrepreneur, but

with the energy within a person or a leader that fuels the leadership qualities such

as passion, commitment, creativity, and resourcefulness (2009, p.5). DePaul

defines the intrapreneurial leadership as, ―understanding that positive results

depend on the ability to understand the human energies of people within

organizations‖ (2009, p.19). The ability to read or understand about what

followers‘ need is the key to gain trust and credibility, and in return, the leader

will delivers the positive feedbacks in the form of speech motivational speech,

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decision, or policy so they have a self-worth and self-efficacy to achieve the goal

(followers‘ need) (Winston & Patterson, 2006, p.8)

According to DePaul, there are some positive actions that need to be

considered in order to have a good decision, ―Positive actions that leaders can take

include keeping your word, being on time, listening attentively, working with

quality and diligence, acting with response-ability and accountability‖ (2009,

p.47). These positive actions will lead to innovative idea that can finish the goals.

DePaul defines innovation as, ―The creative ability to come up with new and

innovative ideas and cherish the opportunity to implement them.‖ (2009, p.7).

One of the characteristics of an innovative leader is her/his charisma that appeals

to many people, ―Innovative leaders frequently demonstrate exceptional

(‗charismatic‘) leadership which seems to emanate from the personality of a

leader.‖ (Masciulli, Molchanov, & Knight, n.d, p.9). Some of the theorists agree

that an innovative leader with such creativity will help her/his followers to be

innovative and creative as well (Winston & Patterson, 2006, pp.24-25).

As a leader, organizing the followers well to achieve the goals is part of

the leadership quality of autonomy. DePaul explains the term ‗autonomy‘ as

―working independently if necessary‖ (2009, p.29). A leader has to show his work

ethics independently so her/his followers can do it as well, by showing

commitment, persistence, ability to plan and design, and other positive actions.

DePaul also says that ego is the opposite side of autonomy since it is considered

as self-centered trait and created the sense of superiority by making others

inferior.

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There are always risks in decision-making or policy-making, so a leader

has to be a risk-taker despite the outcome is possibly not according to the plan. To

lower the risk, the leader as the decision-maker and her/his advisors and

subordinates have to cooperate well, ―Comfortable with risk, the Intrapreneurial

leader works to create an environment that is safe for others to take calculated

risks based on analysis and sound judgment. All new thoughts, growth, and ideas

can only originate within the context of risk‖ (DePaul, 2009. p.8).

In some cases, a leader has to deal with emergency situations that need

immediate decision. A leader has to be a sharpshooter in decision-making and the

quality of situational analysis plays a significant role. DePaul explains the

situational analysis as, ―the ability to analyze and evaluate data independently in

order to make effective and accurate decision.‖ (2009, p.43). According to

Matthew N. Beckmann in his essay entitled ―A President‘s Decisions and The

Presidential Difference‖, he says that all decisions that a president takes comes

from tough problems both internal and foreign affair. Beckmann provides the

insight of President Obama‘s duty as the ultimate decision-maker, ―In a 60

Minutes interview, President Obama described the job similarly: ―The only things

that land on my desk are tough decisions. Because if they were easy decisions,

somebody down the food chain has already made them‖ (3/20/09).‖ (2015, p.4).

Providing insights and objectives about the vision to the followers are the

characteristics of empowerment. It is a leader‘s task to supervise and to direct the

followers to fulfill the vision. Constantly, it demands followers‘ accountability

36

and response in order to solve the issue. As DePaul says, empowerment is ―the

ability to instill the vision in all members of the organization.‖ (2009, p.67).

Commitment is also very important to the success of the result. Devotion

from the leader for the project or the operation will boost the morale of the

followers. Moreover, it will keep the leader focus on the result, ―resiliency is the

necessary ingredient to stay focused on the end result. (DePaul, 2009, p.8).

The last leadership quality theory of DePaul, vision, has similarity to

leadership quality theory of vision of Michael Siegel. Both theorists agree that

compelling vision is very important for a leader. DePaul relates the vision to the

objectives that have to be accomplished with discipline, organization, and

prioritization (2009, p.9). Michael Siegel implies that the vision will shape the

goals of the presidency and the majority of her/his policies are based on the

vision. Siegel uses President Reagan as example where he embraces lower taxes

and less social welfare spending during his presidency (Fox, 2012) and President

Kennedy‘s vision to send men to the moon and people rallied and used all of the

resources of the country to make it worked (Federal Judicial Center, 2010.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quk_8CxwfNc).

Michael Siegel also adds some leadership qualities that do not include in

DePaul‘s theory. Siegel in his book, The President as Leader, explains that the

qualities that a president should have are focus on few significant goals at a time,

selective in picking followers, and effective decision-maker. (Fox, 2012.

Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/what-

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makes-a-president-a-great-leader/2012/11/06/2f0ef12c-2825-11e2-96b6-

8e6a7524553f_story.html). Basically, Michael Siegel‘s leadership quality version

complements DePaul‘s version.

Siegel implies that by focusing on the job in the few major goals is more

effective for a leader to make the goals done. Siegel mentions that President

Carter can deliver a long list of his goals during his term. President Carter dealt

with a lot of issues during his term such as the energy crisis, inflation and

recession, crisis on Iran, and many more. On the other hand, President Reagan

focused on fewer goals at a time and he accomplished most of them, ―Reagan

focused on three to four major goals immediately after his election. He hit the

ground running and got a large part of his agenda implemented.‖ (Fox, 2012).

As a leader, being selective in picking a person as her/his advisers is very

crucial in order to achieve the goals. Siegel focuses on this idea on the way

whether a leader, or in this case, a president, appoints professionals or friends as

her/his advisers or assistants, ―the president has to have the wherewithal to

implement his vision. The president has to appoint professionals — not friends —

to help develop and influence policy.‖ (Fox,2012). Siegel basically implies that a

president has to pick the right persons and put them in the right place in their

respective field of expertise. Some presidents still appoint politicians from their

campaign as secretary or advisers in the cabinet rather than experts or

professionals whose way is more familiar and understand the issues in the society.

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According to Michael Siegel, decision-making is about how a president

understands the process and the implication of it (Fox,2012). Siegel points out that

a president has to have people behind or around her/him to give inputs or

suggestions. From the situational analysis paragraph before, the president is the

ultimate decision-maker who deals with the toughest decision. By surrounding

herself/himself with the best and brightest people in the country, it will make the

president easier to process the information from them and feels confident about

her/his decision-making. Siegel wants to show that a leader‘s willingness to listen

to her/his followers‘ suggestions and to let them involved in the decision-making

process indicate a good leadership quality rather than a dictatorship quality.

-�

Figure 1.

And so, each theorist has their own version of leadership qualities.

Masciulli, Molchanov, and Knight‘s political leadership quality theory justify

DePaul‘s leadership quality theory and it can be as the measurement to see what

leadership qualities of a leader have. In addition, Michael Siegel adds more

leadership qualities of a president that neither Masciulli, Molchanov, Knight nor

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DePaul discuss in their theory. Based on the diagram above (see figure a.1),

DePaul and Siegel agree that a leader has to have a clear and compelling vision.

To implement the vision, intrapreneurial leadership, innovation, autonomy, risk-

taker, situational analysis, empowerment, and commitment are some of the

leadership qualities that a leader must have as well as focus on a few major goals

at a time, selective in picking the advisers or followers, and become an effective

decision-maker.

D. Semiotics Film

Studying the language and the signs of a film is as fascinating as studying

other forms of art. Both denotative and connotative dimensions in a film can draw

the emotions of the audiences. The denotative side of the film is obviously the

images or scenes throughout the film, but the connotative one is how those images

and scenes are taken and edited by filmmakers. Mise-en-scene, dialogue, camera

angles, sound, and lighting are some of the aspects that complement the dramatic

work of the actors and deliver the message, either hidden or not, from the film to

the audience.

Semiotics film is a study of signs that can help us understand the meaning

thoroughly about film. The semiotics film theory explains the way of filmmakers

put the elements or codes of film so the audience can catch the meaning, the

emotion, and the message of the film, ―Cinema uses codes and conventions of

representation which are shared by both filmmakers and audiences, so that the

audience actively constructs meaning by reference to codes which structure

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mythic meanings in the social world in which film-going exists‖ (Bignell, 1997, p.

191).

The codes of film or cinematic codes are very important to the film. Every

camera motion and angles or high tempo or low tempo of the score have their own

specific purpose. There are some key codes that essential to the film, and some of

them have subcodes. The first one is mise-en-scene. Everything within the shot is

mise-en-scene. Derived from French meaning ―putting in the scene‖, mise-en-

scene is the filmmakers‘ ‗weapon‘ to manipulate the shot. James Monaco on his

book entitled How to Read Film, explains that there are ten area of concern about

the shot, but he dense it into two aspect: the limitation of frame and the

composition inside the frame (Monaco, 2000, p.183). For the limitation of frame,

Monaco provides detail and technical explanation of the aspect ratio of the shot.

Aspect ratio is basically the size and the definition of the frame. The bigger the

aspect ratio, the wider the shot will be taken and more components (actors,

background set, etc.) can be added in one shot to set the mood of the film, ―.. wide

screens permitted more efficient exploitation of action and landscape codes.‖

(Monaco, 2000, p. 184). Meanwhile, the composition of the frame is the visual

arrangement of the elements of the film within the frame or shot (Alberhasky,

2014). There are some types of framing the composition: symmetry composition

framing (object(s) is/are in the center of the shot), asymmetry composition

framing (object(s) is/are in either right or left of the shot), loose framing (provides

more space around the object(s)), and tight framing (provides less space around

the object(s). The purpose of those framing techniques is to control the depth of

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the shot and to attract audience‘s attention to the significant object within the

frame.

The second is lighting. Lighting is the most important aspect of the

filmmaking to create the tone of the film and each type of the lighting effect and

placement provides its own dramatic effect and meaning to the scene. There are

two types of lighting in terms of the source: key light (the main source of light),

and fill light (additional light to soften the shadow). The key light itself is divided

into three: high, balance, low. The high key gives more brightness to the scene

with less shadow and contrast, suggesting a positive tone to the scene. The

balance key provides more natural images for the film (Monaco, 2000, p. 194).

The low key is usually found in the horror films to add an ominous, dangerous, or

mysterious vibe to the scenes. The placement of lighting also provides a different

outcome to the film. Front lighting suggests openness. Lighting from below or

sides add the sadness, ambiguous, or evil.

The shot distance and focus are the next two important cinematic codes.

There are three shot distance: long shot (taking the shot from some distance to

provide the time and space setting of the film), close-up (the object fills most of

the frame to intensify the scene and adds the sense of authoritative), and neutral

shot. Meanwhile, focus has more various forms. There are six types of focus: deep

focus (foreground, middle ground, background are in the sharp focus in effort to

capture the mise-en-scene), shallow focus (one of the ground in the sharp focus as

the main attention to the shot), soft focus (for the romantic nuance and lighter

mood), sharp focus, follow focus (maintaining focus in one moving object), rack

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focus (sudden focus on either foreground or background to force the audience to

see one object quickly) (Monaco,2000, p.198).

The next one is the camera angle. The camera angle is basically how the

filmmaker puts the camera in a certain position to capture the actor‘s performance

or objects. There are four kinds of camera angle: overhead angle, high angle (the

camera position is higher than the subject to represent vulnerability and

inferiority), eye-level angle (neutral angle shot), low angle (the camera is lower

than the subject to capture the superiority and powerful presence in the shot)

(Bradley, 2010).

Besides camera angle, the movements of the camera such as pan, track or

dolly, zoom, and tilt are also substantial for a film. Pan is when the camera pivots

sideways or horizontally to capture the environment around the character. Track

camera moves along with the moving object to enhance the sense of the action for

the audience. Zoom technique is used to make the object looks bigger or smaller

in an effort to get more detail and to highlight an important object in the shot.

Finally, tilt is when the camera pivots upward or downward (vertically) to express

the size or distance in the shot (Bradley, 2010).

The last but not least is about the sound in film. Besides the sound of

objects like dogs barking or waterfall chasing, the sound is actually related to the

dialogue too, but it depends on how the dialogue or perhaps the monologue is

delivered within the film sequence. There are three kinds of sound in film:

diegetic, nondiegetic, and internal diegetic. Diegetic sound is the sound that

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logically can be heard by the characters in the film such as the dialogue or

background noise. On the other hand, the nondiegetic sound is the sound that

logically impossible to be heard by the character in the film, for example the

music score and voice-over narration. Meanwhile, the internal diegetic is the

sound that can be heard by one character while the other cannot. Internal diegetic

is usually appears in the form of the voice inside of the character‘s mind, whether

it is his/her own voice or others‘ voice (Bradley, 2010).

In summary, semiotic film theory provides the whole different perspective

in the film. The mise-en-scene, lighting, shots, camera works, sound, and all other

cinematic codes are very important in making and learning the film. Moreover,

the hidden meaning and the message of the film that cannot be found easily, but it

can be discovered by using those cinematic codes as the guidelines.