Leadership 101 - Obama Needs the Course

Earlier this year on these pages, http://conservativesideas.blogspot.com/2010/01/economic-or-leadership-crisis.html, I wrote an article about leadership, where I described the traits of true leaders in certain circumstances. I then went on to illustrate President Obama’s actual actions in those types of situations to make the point that he is not a leader. He is nothing more than an ideologue whose friends and associates are cut from the same cloth. Academics, politicians, and bureaucrats who have no experience in the private sector and when a crisis arises always look for someone to blame or criticize rather than take charge.

Here again , we see in the Gulf oil spill the same kind of response that I illustrated in that article, which usually comes from someone who has no operational experience, has never run anything, and whom 53% of us have given the most difficult job in the world. Heaven help us!

If you recall the actions of some our past Presidents or political leaders you will see what I mean. JFK in the Cuban missile crisis, Ronald Reagan in the Iran hostage crisis, George Bush, Sr. in the Gulf War, George Bush, Jr. after 9/11, and Rudy Giuliani during and after the 9/11 attack. These men illustrated leadership, compassion, and a determination that gave you the sense that they were in charge and will take care of the problem.

Contrast Mr. Obama, who 52 days into the crisis has yet to talk or meet with the CEO of BP to go over their clean-up plan and make sure that they are using all the best minds in the industry to focus on this problem. Instead, his first move is to send his Attorney General down to Louisiana to make sure we have someone to blame and pay for the damages (as if anyone thought BP was going to skip town), plus his Homeland Security advisor who knows nothing about off-shore drilling, his Climate Control Chief, who will check on whether this will affect the climate (as if we care at this point), the Secretary of Energy who advised that he will “keep his boot on the neck of BP” (which was very comforting), and Mr. Obama goes on the Today Show to let us know that he will “kick ass” for all those who are at fault and then tells us that his administration was “on this from day one”, which is a total fabrication.

Leaders don’t have to tell you repeatedly that they are in charge of the situation. You know it, usually by their actions not their words. Unfortunately, we are finding out the hard way that what we really have is a leadership crisis. Let’s all pray that we don’t face an international or terror event in the next two years. Heaven knows that Iran, North Korea, the European economic situation, Venezuela, and many other hot beds over the world can erupt at any moment.

Let’s try to get Obama into a Leadership 101 course within the next two years and then elect a real leader in 2012.