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In Obama's most recent State of the Union address, he said he wanted Congress to give paid sick leave to more American workers. He justified this by saying, "It is simply the right thing to do." By justifying this morally versus practically, he appealed to more Americans. The article is centered around the idea that if politicians justify their decisions or actions with a moral reasoning, people will respond better than if you justify it with a practical reasoning.  The way politicians justify their decisions or actions could decide the public's opinion on them. If they justify it morally people think of them as a nicer, warmer person of good character and integrity, all attributes of a good leader. If they justify their actions on solely practical grounds, people will tend to think of them as a person with less moral character, and not as focused on the people.

This is relevant to the course because we have very recently talked about public opinion and how it affects our government. When the framers were putting together our government, they were not worried about the opinion's of the people, because the government was set up to keep order and achieve the goals set out in the Preamble. Politicians today are focused on public opinion because it decides whether or not they get reelected. Politicians try to appeal to the people more, which dictates most things they do, even how they present their ideas and how they justify them.

I believe that people are more likely to feel they are being represented well by a good leader if the leader is more relatable and down to earth. Americans want someone "like them" vouching for their wants and ideas. Politicians seem more like normal people when they justify decisions with moral reasons, because it shows they care about the people. It shows they care about the people getting jobs and not just trying to get unemployment numbers down.