Leadership vacuum

The candidate I voted for didn't win. It's not the first time. It's also not the first time I voted for someone I wasn't excited about. I like him. I'm pretty sure he's an honest, intelligent, compassionate man. Someone I know I would enjoy knowing personally, but not someone I was gung-ho convinced should be in higher office.
It was a leadership conundrum. So much of what makes a good leader is about "character" but being a leader worth following does involve a whole lot more. It encompasses a set of ideas, values, philosophies and principles, as well as a proven record that exhibits what the ideas, values etc look like when applied to real life decisions. And yet, a leader might possess ideas, values, principles etc that I like, but if she can't communicate them and persuade others to listen and often adopt those ideas, then there still could be a big problem.
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I wonder where all the strong leaders have gone. Have we made public service so difficult and personally costly that good people stay away?