Obama fails to lead in crisis
I received little leadership education in pursuit of a college degree. It was not until my military service that I began to understand the principles of leadership. My time at the U.S. Infantry School provided me with some of the most valuable education on leadership principles. The motto of the infantry school is “Follow Me!” To my way of thinking, leadership involves a few basic principles. Seek wise counsel, evaluate your options, choose your words carefully, be decisive, and take ownership of your actions — good or bad.
The recent police shootings in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge followed by the retaliation against Dallas police officers illustrates some glaring problems of leadership from this administration in Washington. President Obama is all too quick to play the race card of victimization that he learned as a Saul Ansky community organizer. He seems unable to put that role aside and take on the role of President.
Immediately after the St. Paul and Baton Rouge police shootings of black men, he went on the air with a list of statistics to illustrate the victimization of persons of color in this country. These statistics are likely quite valid but this was neither the time nor place to present them as it would fan the flames of violence. “Choice of Words!”
Compare this rhetoric with that of Attorney General Loretta Lynch after the Dallas police murders. She begged for calm and tolerance as the investigations of the killing of the two black men goes forward. That should have been the president’s message prior to the Dallas police murders. His role should be to calm and inspire the country to rise above our differences rather than to divide us along race lines. This is not the first time he has jumped in with guns blazing on black victimization. Look at his handling of the black professor, the Ferguson situation, and the Freddy Gray thing in Baltimore. In all three cases he jumped in against the police before all facts were known. As a former law professor he seems to have little patience for the wheels of justice to explore the facts.
As a black man in the office of President, Obama has had eight years of a bully pulpit that could have been inspirational and healing for this country. President Obama has squandered an opportunity to heal this nation and complete Martin Luther King’s vision of “I have a dream.” He has instead fanned the flames of racial differences by his rhetoric during difficult times by his choice of words. I would like to think that his motives are pure and he has just suffered from poor timing and a misguided message. The pattern, however, appears to be one of racial division for political gain. I did not vote for him but I did pray that he would be an inspirational figure as the nation’s first black president in furthering race relations in this country. He has been unable to take off the Community Organizer hat and put on the Presidential one, however.
Interestingly, I was stopped in Phoenix for a traffic violation a couple years ago. The police officer asked if I had a weapon in the car and I told him I did. This officer had every reason to be edgy, as a fellow officer had been shot just the day before. His procedure was to ask me where the gun was and then ask me to step out of and away from the car while he retrieved the gun. He then took the gun to his car and proceeded with the citation on the traffic stop. When complete he then returned the gun to me, which was unloaded.
A procedure such as this might have saved the St. Paul victim. If you think police are edgy before the recent police shootings, consider how they must feel after Dallas! Police occasionally make mistakes that cost lives but an indictment of those officers before the facts are known serves no one except those who are willing to sacrifice a few officers for political expedience.
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Don Phelan is a Coeur d’Alene resident.