While we bemoan the absence of true political leadership in the current election campaign, it could be worse. We could be Pakistanis.

For a lesson on how to slit your political throat, Pakistan president Asif Ali Zadari has rewritten the textbook. As his country suffers from the worst floods in modern history, destroying millions of homes, the president has been touring Europe, bedding down in ritzy hotels, spruiking the political prospects of his sons and even visiting the 16th century chateau he owns in Normandy.

Back home, amid appalling optics, the military, Pakistan’s king-makers, are delivering the assistance that hasn’t been forthcoming from Zadari’s bumbling government.

The basic principles of political leadership are universal, as are the basic failures, but Zadari’s miscalculation puts our own leadership vacuum in some perspective.