Let me begin by acknowledging the fact that all governments have their defects and some government officials are bound to be corrupt. This is simply the way it is because of the power issue. People feel an overwhelming desire for money and power which leads to abuse by the officials. However, as to whether or not the government functions as it should when there are a few bad apples, of course it does. It's not as if all elected officials are corrupt and fail to execute their necessary tasks. As long as a majority of government officials care about the country and do follow up on their tasks, the government will continue to work beautifully. This has been proved countless times in history through corruption scandals such as Watergate, and all the way to Blagojevich. Even though these scandals have occurred, our government has persevered and not collapsed. Why is this? It is because our government is resilient and has a majority of officers who actually care what happens and therefore execute their jobs efficiently and properly. The primary reason that the American public allows such scandals to continue is simply ignorance. Much of the American public is not attentive and has no idea what is happening with our government. Another main reason is because this is a democracy and checks and balances keep a majority from simply, say, throwing out an officer. It takes time and investigation to rid the government of scandals and a majority of the public doesn't have the time or just doesn't care.
This is an extremely broad question. First off, all leaders are different, and therefore, all choose to utilize different methods of proper leadership. I will admit, there are several qualities that Presidents, and all other leaders, must exhibit such as charisma, confidence and integrity. No person will trust a leader unless they feel he is being truthful with them. A leader must show charisma and confidence to help steady other's worries. He is the leader and therefore has to exhibit properties that inspire followers and such. If a leader is weak and sour, no one will want to listen to him because they will feel he isn't up to the tasks presented to him. Confidence is key and a major quality that leaders need. A proper leader will continue to the very end of the game. He will do everything in his power to attain the proper accomplishments and won't stop until it's absolutely necessary. This idea can and has been abused but good leaders realize when to stop pushing certain issues and what not. Some will succeed, others will fail.