In Toronto and New Jersey, people can watch the impact of elected bullies on governance.
Toronto has Mayor Rob Ford, a bellicose, aggressive, hectoring bully. When Richard Florida, a resident of Toronto, consistently highlights Ford's appalling ineptitude at managing public policy in your city, you should realize that the leader is becoming the story, not the policy.
New Jersey has Chris Christie, who, as this story makes clear, seems to have a tendency that he cannot control to get involved in negative, street-brawling encounters with people. At the same time, Christie seems to want sympathy for the reality that he is morbidly obsese. He appears to be so utterly self-absorbed that he cannot see the ginormous paradox of his whole attitude.
As a studier of bullying pathologies, due to my becoming a target for them in my youth, it is pretty clear to me that both Mayor Ford and Governor Christie are weapons-grade bullies. Their actions are contrary to the standards that elected officials should be living up to. Whether their electorates will draw the correct conclusions I do not know. I am not optimistic. In recessions, electors tend to be drawn to candidates who project themselves as "tough", "no-nonsense" etc. Those attributes are prized more highly in a crisis than the attributes of being a decent respectful human being.