The Leadership Void In Washington Continues to Grow

The concept of leadership has many facets and can manifest itself in many different ways to different people. To some people, leadership is taking responsibility for results, even if the leader was not the direct cause of those results. To others, leadership is maintaining a strong sense of positive principals and acting consistently even when those acts might be distasteful. Leadership might be the ability to get people unified behind a common cause to act against their best interests in the interest of the greater good. Leadership might look like confidence and humility co-existing together rather than self worth and ego running the show.

I thought about different forms of leadership lately as I watch the political class continue to fumble away at their jobs in Washington D.C. The latest example of the leadership void arose this past week when a Congressional ethics panel formally admonished New York Congressman Charles Rangel for accepting a corporate sponsored trip to the Caribbean. The panel had proof that his staff had warned him on at least three occasions that taking the trip would be a violation of Congressional gift rules. However, the Congressman took the trip anyway and does not deny taking the trip.

Rather than step up and take responsibility for this violation, what does the Congressman do? He blames his staff for not informing him of the violation. Remember, this is a Congressman that has been in office for about forty years, I seriously doubt that he did not know that a trip to the Caribbean might violate some sort of House rules on gifts. He should have had the wherewithal to check and make the trip was legitimate even if his staff did not inform him, which they apparently did at least three times. Rather than be a leader, he threw his staff under the bus and denied any responsibility for results.

This incident takes us to the second aspect of leadership discussed above, maintaining a strong set of positive principals and acting consistently even when those acts might be distasteful. What did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi do when the organization she "leads", the House of Representatives, formally admonishes a member like Rangel? Doe she take any punitive action even though it would harm a member of her own party? No, she does absolutely nothing, saying that "we'll just see what happens next." Why wait? The ethics panel has spoken, the panel that Pelosi ultimately has responsibility for. When Republican Joe Wilson publicly called Obama a liar in public last year during a Presidential speech, Pelosi made sure a formal censure measure of Wilson was immediately passed by the House, despite the fact that Wilson immediately and personally apologized to the President and the President accepted the apology. The inconsistency of behavior proves that Pelosi is not the leader she thinks she may be despite the fact that she promised to "drain the swamp" of ethics abuses back in 2006. By the way, Rangel is still facing a whole host of other potential ethics violations. If guilty, it should be interesting to see if Pelosi steps up to her leadership role and drains the swamp of Charles Rangel.

Speaking of taking responsibility, Obama has got be the king of not taking responsibility. For the entire first thirteen months of his administration, nothing that has gone wrong has been his fault. Unemployment rising faster and faster with no end in sight? The fault of the Bush administration even though Bush has been out of office for over a year and the Democrats have controlled Congress for over three years.. Federal budget deficit skyrocketing? The fault of the Bush administration even though the Bush administration has been out of office for over a year and the Democrats have controlled Congress for over three years. Banks got too much money in taxpayer bailout funds? The fault of the Bush administration even though the Bush administration has been out of office for over a year, Obama the Senator voted to pass the bailout funding, Congress has been controlled by the Democrats for over three years and Bush tried to prevent the housing meltdown dozens of times but was blocked from doing so by the Democrats. Washington gets a record breaking snowfall? The fault of the Bush administration even.... Just kidding on the last point but you get the point. A true leader steps up and takes responsibility for both good news and bad. This President's lack of humility does not allow him to perform in that manner, his ego will not allow it.

The leadership ability to get people unified behind a common cause requires a standard of respect for differing opinions, something that has been severely lacking in Washington these past years. In just the past thirteen months, those that have disagreed with Obama's policies have been called racists, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, a%$holes, un-American and a few other names. What has Obama done to squelch the divisive name calling and work towards unifying the country? He has been silent in every case, allowing the name calling to escalate and further divide the country.

A great leader unifies the people for the greater good, bad leaders divide the country for no one's good. Whether it is ignoring ethics violations, blaming others for their own shortcomings, forcing distasteful and ill conceived programs onto people, calling people names, etc., we are faced with a tremendous leadership void in this country and it is slowly ripping the fabric of freedom and community apart. Please visit "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," specifically pages xxii and xxiii, to see how the Freedom Pyramid theory can restore both individual freedom and leadership to the country today.


Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.