Leadership? Is it lacking?

At war with no leader

Once again, someone much more articulate than I am summarizes my feelings quite well.

One of the things that distress me about the current American administration is the lack of the elusive thing called “Leadership.” Unfortunately, neither President Barack Obama nor his cadre of senior leaders seem to know what that is.

It is, as President Harry Truman once put it, an attitude that “the buck stops here.”

Even if subordinate staff fails at their jobs, the responsibility still lies with the leader. That, apparently, is something that the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the UN ambassador and others fail to grasp. Just look at who is getting blamed for the ever changing narrative about the assassination of the American ambassador to Libya.

It is becoming increasing obvious that the Global War on Islamic Terrorism has not ended, nor is it really winding down. It is, however, shifting to new theaters of operation while in the old theaters of operation seems to be finding new life as the forces of Islamic Terrorism regroup, reassess, adapt, innovate and overcome.

This is what always happens in the ebb and flow of war and, yes folks, we are engaged in a “war”, even if it remains “undeclared” and most people wish it would just go away. It won’t.

The Americans do not like wars. Honest, they don’t. They are taxing, dirty, ugly affairs that disrupt the tranquility of their existence, which to most mean being allowed to do their business in relative peace and harmony. As some political wag in the past said, the business of the US is business … and war disrupts business so it becomes an annoying bother.

However, conflict is endemic to human relations and war is conflict writ on a large scale. I wish people would realize that, but I am very aware that most people would rather ignore that little aspect of human relations.

That is where leadership comes in. Leaders help followers understand those things that the followers don’t want to face. Leaders help followers see what needs to be done and why, and inspire them to do the work necessary to accomplish whatever needs to be done.

Our leaders are not doing that right now. They are failing us.