A Leadership Crisis
David Gergen and I are in complete agreement: the refusal of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote for the bailout plan as proposed by Treasure Secretary Hank Paulson reflects a major leadership crisis. And it’s not merely a crisis on the side of the administration, or the legislative branch.
It is also a Congressional problem. After all, Congress’ leaders supported the plan, but their footsoldiers did not.
Gergen goes further than that though. He argues, I think he’s right, that the leadership crisis is not merely political. It is also a business problem, a media problem, an institutional problem.
Polls and other research indicate that Americans in general complain about a lack of leadership. This leadership problem (in society) is, I think, very real. What it also reflects, however, is that modern citizens are in the danger of becoming too dependent on some kind of perfect, or nearly perfect, ‘leader.’ Leaders have always had weaknesses, they have always had problems. One of the greatest ‘leaders’ in America’s history, was not able to convince 50% of the Union to support him and his cause.
One can often hear Americans in the blogosphere, media, on television, and so on, talk about how they need ‘better leaders.’ The question should be asked, however, what they expect from ‘a leader.’ What is it they think ‘leaders’ can accomplish they cannot accomplish by themselves, and what kind of leaders do they think America had in the past?
To me, the growing demand for a stronger leadership in every area of life is a troubling developing. It means citizens do not take responsibility for their own problems, and for their own choices, for their own country but, instead, let everything depend on ‘leaders’ who are automatically deemed unworthy when they don’t succeed in creating a wonderful utopian world for everyone.
Well, just take a look at how the two House leaders acted. John Boehner called the Paulson bill a "crap sandwich", and Nancy Pelosi told many of her party’s members that she did not expect them to vote for the bill.
That’s either an unwillingness to lead people toward an unpopular solution, or it belies their true feelings that the plan was a bad one.