I happen to think the present leader does a very good job, and works hard beyond the call of duty, at all hours and weekends.
Think about the scale of AOPA US. Then think about the scale of their regulatory task. 14 CFR Part 91 and Part 61 for the most. Barely changes from year to year. The odd issue pops up from time to time. Of course they are on top of all the key regulatory issues. Now think of the much smaller national AOPAs in Europe - dealing with all the local airport issues through to NAA issues through to the thousands of pages of new regulation EASA churn out. Of course AOPA is going to miss something or get something wrong from time to time.
And, as this thread shows, and from many I know personally, there is a lot of historical baggage which prevents great many pilots joining.
That is exactly what I am criticising. The pilots who let their pet peeves and perceived slights "prevent" them from joining AOPA. Come on, dragging up some thread from 2005?
I am not saying anyone should join AOPA because it won't ever do something that annoys them or upsets them in the future. I am saying that it does an awful lot of good amongst doing the things that irritate some people and have them hold grudges for years, it seems. On balance, it's net effect is significantly positive. It could be more positive if more than a small proportion of pilots joined.
I stand by my earlier statement that we get the regulation we deserve if these are the reasons people are "prevented" from joining their representative organisations.