Some people believe that in order to be effective, political leaders must yield to public opinion and abandon principle for the sake of compromise. Others believe that the most essential quality of an effective leader is the ability to remain consistently

Country's future mainly depends upon the political leaders. They are responsible for social economic development of country. Effective leaders means decide anything considering every aspect like public opinion, current situation etc.People have elected them to take best decision which is beneficial for country. So, i am not fully agree with the author's statement.

If we look back in history we can see that every successful leader had own principle. Their principle can be different but the main thing is development. They cannot give best to country under the influence of other principle. They should act independently. For example, Mahatma Gandhi was a follower of nonviolence and he used nonviolence as a weapon to fight for independence .He was not influenced by other people who support violence. We can also take Hitler as a example his principle was different from most of the people but still the aim was same to revitalize the country's power. If those leaders followed the public opinion then most probably they could have not achieve those arduous task.

Contrary to above points some time it becomes necessary for the leaders to abandon principle for the sake of compromise. In some particular situation public opinion becomes more important .For example local market of particular region is getting affected by foreign supply of material. This way local people income will get reduced. So local people can demand their political leaders to make some policy changes to stop foreign investment in the market. In this situation people becomes more important in decision making. In this case leaders should not remain committed to old principles and they should accept those public demands.

In sum, I would say that political leaders should stick to their own principle and opinion but also they should not ignore public opinion .Political leaders should take any decision in policy making, considering all the factors like current situation, public opinion etc.If there is any necessity of change arises due to above the reasons they should certainly modify related principle.