Simmering Over Leadership

I spent the whole of Labor Day Holiday Weekend at a slow simmer. I relied on the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament (the superb Srichapan/Sanguinetti match, Agassi's victory, and James Blake's phenomenal tennis in particular), the gritty play of the Nationals, and visits to my Father in the hospital to avoid getting angry at our administration. At dinner at the In-Laws Sunday evening, my levee broke. My Father-in-Law, who is a conservative in the classic Barry Goldwater mode, was still amazed that people in New Orleans didn't evacuate when told to do so. And then it hit me like bullet to the forehead: the reason I was simmering all weekend became very clear to me. And I turned to my Father-in-Law and I said something like this:

You know something, FIL? There is a difference between ordering people to evacuate and evacuating people. The former requires nothing more than wishful thinking while the latter requires something that this administration knows nothing about: leadership. I may not have voted for President Bush, and neither did the majority of people in New Orleans, but we have one thing in common: we're American citizens. And he is our President. And our President must lead all of us. Even those of us who disagree with him. Even those of us who didn't contribute to his campaigns. Even those of us who didn't vote for him. All of us. This President and his administration have proven themselves to be complete failures in the face of a disaster that may make September 11, 2001 look like a bad traffic accident in comparison. I am sick and tired of being angry at my President. Right now, more than ever, I want my President to lead me. But I'm afraid he doesn't know how.

I finished and took another bite of the amazing hamburger that my FIL made. He looked at me and slowly nodded his head in agreement.