Crisis of Leadership: President MIA
On this Veterans Day I reflected on all the people who have fought for and protected this country with their lives. Heroes all. That makes the current political situation even more disgraceful.
We are at war. The war we are fighting is invisible to the naked eye. This enemy will not be defeated with nuclear weapons or overwhelming military force. This enemy will be defeated by the tireless work of the many scientific researchers, frontline workers in hospitals, and essential workers keeping all of us supplied with the basic necessities of life.
While our warriors keep fighting they are being let down. Where is the leadership? I don’t mean the government taking over and telling everyone how to run their lives. I mean where are the leaders necessary to identify the problem, gather the facts, listen to a variety of ideas and then implement a strategic plan to solve it?
The United States won World War II against tremendous odds. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood that the American people were in a period of isolationism. In order to protect our long term interests all Americans would need to step up and make sacrifices for the good of the country. President Roosevelt identified the enemy, explained the challenges to the people and asked that every man, woman and child contribute to the war effort. He brought the people of the country along as the United States mobilized and won the war.
The United States government has transitioned many times in my lifetime. There have been presidents elected that I voted for and presidents elected that I have not voted for. There were presidents that I did not vote for in their first term but admired their leadership and voted for them during their second term. I have voted for democrats and I have voted for republicans.
There has never been a President of the United States that I have found embarrassing, until now. We expect small children that have lost the ball game to act as “good sports” and congratulate the winners. That is why after every sporting event my kids were involved in both teams lined up and shook the hands of the opposing team members.
Every election in my life-time has ended when the losing candidate called and congratulated the president- elect. Every one of them put the needs of the country before their personal needs no matter how bitter the campaigns had been.
The current president is refusing to acknowledge the results of the election and is trying to use every lever of the government to change the results of the election. Imagine if the captain of the ball team, after the last touchdown or home run stood up and refused to acknowledge defeat. I can’t because even when a game ends on a “bad call” everyone acknowledges the results and moves on.
Currently the United States is averaging more than 121,000 new cases a day of COVID-19. I don’t need to watch the news media to understand that we are in trouble. It does not take a mathematician to look at the current data graphs and see exponential growth in the number of COVID-19 cases in states across the US. I can see without sophisticated models where we are headed over the next couple of months if a plan is not implemented to change the course of the spread of COVID-19.
The president has publicly denied the dangers of COVID-19 while privately acknowledging how bad it would be. The disparagement of mask wearing by making fun of those that wear them has turned a public health policy into a political statement. The combination of a failure to manage a COVID-19 response effort and denial that he lost the election have left the United States without leadership in a time of war.
There is a quote from the movie “The American President” where President Andrew Shepherd acknowledges “ I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job”. I am watching as Republican “leaders” jump through hoops to ensure that they do not give the President a reason to “tweet” about them to his followers. Concern over showing the base they support the President’s behavior, no matter how immature his actions are, is preventing the leaders of our country from working together to find solutions.
I don’t want to hear any more arguments about why things are not getting done starting with the phrase “the Democrats…” or “the Republicans…”. I want to see leaders step up and use the resources of the government that people provide with their hard earned tax dollars to figure out how to move forward, get this enemy under control and win this war.
The President of the United States is MIA and his “allies” are accommodating him. It is time to stop. The current needs of our country should trump the potential loss of power.