Leaders are meant to bring out the best in us. They draw us into being our better selves, to being a part of something bigger and better than our own selfish interest.

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Pauline Hanson is no such leader.

John Kennedy was president of the United States during the Cold War. His inaugural address was as uplifting a speech as I have ever read or heard. Many remember the famous call to "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". Why is that so important? It is because it says to every citizen that they have a valuable contribution to make to society. He builds their confidence in themselves.

He goes on and says "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty".

This is a leader telling citizens they collectively have the courage and the backbone to achieve great things.

One of the most telling remarks is what you will never hear from Hanson. Kennedy says: "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course". Again, he pours value in to every citizen. He says this is more about you than it is about me. She only talks about herself.

Hanson doesn't seek to build us up nor to bring out the best in us. She preys upon our lesser instincts. She tells us not about the contribution we can make nor our strength or our courage. She tells us to be afraid and invites us to hate. It's all about her, not us.

When she is not telling us how much we need her she is off making statements that simply do not fit into the prime ministerial category. She can complain about the price and quality of paper bags at big supermarkets. She may be right. But it's hardly the stuff of a future prime minister.

It's extraordinary that Hanson has let her ego contemplate becoming prime minister when she clearly doesn't understand how and why our parliamentary system is set up as it is. How could you go to the dispatch box as prime minister when you've spent decades........

© The Examiner