There's an undercurrent surrounding the meltdowns around the world, from the literal one in Japan to the figurative ones in the Middle East and a growing number of states here at home. The underlying theme is the palpable lack of leadership from the one person we normally expect to step forward - our country's President.
In Japan, while the historic earthquake and accompanying tsunami devastated their island, our President was playing golf and thinking about his NCAA brackets. His traditional Saturday radio address was phoned in from before the disaster so he could take the weekend off, and was just about one of the Left's favorite topics - equal pay for women.
The pattern is more important than the appearance that he cares more about his tee time, getting on ESPN to share his basketball tournament picks, vacationing in Rio, and throwing bones to the left-wing base than about stepping up to help solve the world's problems. The pattern is clear and undeniable.
Egypt and Syria: He cheered the ouster of Mubarak in Eqypt, but did nothing about it other than express his support after it became apparent that the protesters would succeed. Likewise, he's stated that Gaddafi must go, but has done nothing to help make it happen. Regardless whether it was a good idea to support the rebels in Libya, he failed miserably in even the simple expression of a comprehendable policy on the matter.
Japan's Nuclear Problem: He sent the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. He promised to help with shipping relief and nuclear engineers. He expressed condolences. But Japan desperately needs help with those melting reactor cores, while the President's actions implicitly communicate that it's not his problem. A true leader would have recruited and appointed the best nuclear scientist to head up a team to go help Japan solve the problem, backed up by every piece of technology they require. He would have started building this team as soon as the disaster happened (giving up his tee time to do so), and immediately met with Japan's Prime Minister and the Power Company to pave the way for his team of experts to hit the ground running.
Growing Strife at Home: From the budget fight to the individual state battles, one might call what he's done leadership. That is, if you consider fanning the flames of protest by directing his PAC, Organizing for America, and affiliated organizations like MoveOn.org to load up busloads of folks and pay them minimum wage to go protest in what's now something like 8 states and growing. A true leader would put his partisanship aside and travel to each of these states to invite the statehouse Republican and Democrat combatants and attempt to serve as a peacemaker, trying to help find the middle ground that helps them solve their problems. A true leader would have put out a federal budget proposal that takes deficit reduction seriously, but he chose instead to send a budget that makes it far worse. Then he has been conspicuously absent from the debate, basically telling congress to give him what he wants or he'll use the veto pen.
Energy: The alarming run-up in energy cost seems to fit his agenda, as he strongly suggests $4 gas is a good thing, because it somehow will help us accelerate our transition to "clean and renewable energy". Only the far left would consider his action (or inaction) on this problem leadership. He arguably has worked hard to make sure abundant North American energy sources including oil, coal, and natural gas are shut down. It would seem he's immune or uncaring about the economic disaster these rising energy costs and associated food costs is already taking form.
We desperately need a leader. 2012 may be too late to find one.
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