When thinking of ethos and its broad definition of authority, trustworthiness, and motivation, I can't help but draw my attention to our 2012 presidential candidates; specifically Mitt Romney. I know politics can be a controversial topic, but in talking about ethos, I can think of no better person to talk about that a presidential candidate. Let me just say that I do not support either presidential candidate, so this is not an endorsement for anyone, just an observation.
Mitt Romney has been described as extremely charismatic with his controversial plans and his background in politics. His authority on political issues is derived from his business degree from Harvard, his stint as Massachusetts Governor, as well as his roles in the 2002 Olympics and 2008 presidential campaign. A casual citizen would look at this list of credentials and see that yes, he does have some authority when talking about current issues because he has dealt with so much of the same sort of things in the past: I am inclined to agree that he has authority in speaking on important issues. In the last couple months, when asked to reveal tax files, Romney has been unwilling to do so, which plays with peoples' view of his trustworthiness as well as his motivation. If a person such as the president is keeping such details from an entire country, are they hiding something? If they can't reveal something so common as a tax file, how will they run a country where everybody wants to know what is going on?
A presidential candidate tries to present their ideas for change in a way that everybody can understand and support. These ideas range anywhere from healthcare to budget cuts. Most recently, Romney aimed his budget cuts at the humanities and the arts in an effort to cut 4 trillion dollars from the federal deficit. These cuts would only amount to about 200 million dollars of that deficit which makes me question the motivation behind this plan. Seeing that Romney cut the Massachusetts debt by almost 3 billion dollars, one could argue that these cuts would benefit the country (I do not agree). I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart when he presented a clip that showed how Romney rarely acknowledges his inconsistencies and problems with his plan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9eV2b9_bRE
I think a big part of ethos is being able to see that the person in question acknowledges mistakes and makes an effort to fix them, not cover them up. What other qualities are important when evaluating ethos?
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