by Bill Gallagher

Barack Obama is showing what it means to lead. He is willing to take risks, reverse wrongs and, above all, make decisions based on what the facts indicate instead of adhering to the blind ideology, partisanship and visceral, vacuous reactions that drove his predecessor's decision making.

The transformation from the presidency of our first president with an MBA degree - from Harvard no less - to a Harvard educated attorney who honed his organizational skills working with community groups on the streets of Chicago is stunning.

Beyond the horrible judgments that flowed from his booze-damaged brain, and messianic megalomania, George W. Bush was the worst manager to occupy the White House in memory. Incurious, ill-informed, unread and cocky, Bush's decisions reflected those unfortunate traits now heaping recognized and still untold suffering on the nation and world.

If they haven't already, the faculty at the Harvard Business School should prepare course and case study on the serial management blunders and policy failures their infamous alumnus crafted during his disastrous presidency. No sane person would put George W. Bush in charge of anything important, including a two-car funeral.

Obama, who not only likes to read, but can write, has already shown the difference a curious, well-informed, practical and self-assured person can make in the Oval Office. He is much more in tune with substance and the serious responsibilities of his office than the image and symbolism that so consumed the Karl Rove-orchestrated-presidency of Bush.

Obama is also showing his propensity for hard work and willingness to tackle a broad range of issues at the same time. Perhaps he has no choice considering the magnitude of the mess he's inherited. But the early evidence shows a president who toils ceaselessly to bring change to a deeply troubled nation.

Last Friday, Obama announced the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq, the most ignominious stain on Bush's watch. The reasons for the war were fabricated, sold by the compliant, mainstream media and bought by a gullible, ill-informed public.

Six years later, with more than one million Iraqi casualties, 4200 Americans killed, billions of dollars down the drain and the wrath of most of the world directed toward us, Obama is saying enough is enough.

The plan calls for the withdrawal of most of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq by the summer of 2010. Obama made the announcement at Camp Lejeune, N.C., telling the Marines in the audience, "Let me say this as plainly as I can. By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

Unlike commander-in-chief George W. Bush - who on June 5, 2003 dressed up like a pilot and strutted across the deck of an aircraft carrier like a bantam rooster before announcing under the banner " Mission Accomplished" that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

Obama wore a business suit and told the Marines and the world, "I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned."

Obama is placing the longest, most unnecessary and one of the most divisive wars in U.S. history on the path of conclusion. "Stuff happens" is how former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, another inept manager for the ages, once described the lawlessness and violence the U.S. invasion unleashed.

The failure of Bush and his minions to plan for post-invasion Iraq, commit the resources to restore basic government services and to consider the likelihood of sectarian violence and civil unrest represent a degree of negligence and mismanagement for which modern parallels are hard to find.

Bush and his warmongers tried to substitute arrogance, hubris and triumphalism for the leadership and vision they so sorely lacked. Their singular contribution to history is the stark lesson of what not to do.

The legacy of a shattered society - singed with the memories of Western, imperialist armies killing loved ones and destroying their homes - will endure for generations. Suffering refugees and diaspora will be the lasting testimony to Bush's madness, along with the lasting enmity of much of the Arab and Muslim world.

The same day Obama announced the draw down of troops from Iraq, the front page of The New York Times provided a telling description of the breadth and pace of his determination to bring change and move past the deceptions, incompetence, and taste for authoritarianism of his predecessor.

The top of the page headline announced, "OBAMA, BREAKING 'FROM A TROUBLED PAST,' SEEKS A BUDGET TO RESHAPE U.S. PRIORITIES." The headline into the story read, "Tax Rise for Wealthy - Push on Health and Education." An analysis of the economic implications of Obama's budget had the headline, "A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas" and described the president's determination to raise taxes for the richest Americans and reduce taxes for everyone else.

Reporter David Leonhart called Obama's budget, "a bold, even radical departure form recent history," adding, "More than anything else, the proposals seek to reverse the rapid increase in economic inequality over the last 30 years. They do so first by rewriting the tax code and, over the longer term, by trying to solve some big causes of the middle-class income slowdown, like medical costs and slowing educational gains."

In his budget speech, Obama made it clear he wants to take the nation away from the fiscal and economic policies and "troubled past" the Harvard MBA brought us. Obama called the mess the result of "an era of profound irresponsibility that engulfed both private and public institutions from some of the largest companies' executive suites to the seats of power in Washington D.C."

For the first time, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are included in the budget. Bush and the Republicans in Congress disgracefully kept the cost of war off the books. "For seven years, we have been a nation at war." Obama said, "No longer will we hide its price."

Another Times headline read, "In Reversal, U.S. Plans to Try Qaeda Suspect in Civilian Court." Again, Obama's departure from Bush's policies is dramatic and direct. The president is not a despotic monarch who can imprison people without charges and hold them indefinitely in the name of protecting freedom. Obama seeks to return us to a nation of laws and rejects the baseless claims that the president is answerable to no one.

Finally on the front page, was a photograph of flag-draped coffins in a military transport plane. "A Ban on Pictures Ends" was the cut line and under the photograph read the sentence, "In a reversal of military policy, the news media will now be allowed to photograph the coffins of the war dead," referring readers to a story in the inside pages.

Barack Obama is a determined, busy man dealing with burdens, not of his making, but showing great willingness to confront them. His experiences as a community organizer serves him and the nation well. He knows what it's like to try to bring change with limited resources and face obstacles that seem insurmountable.

But with innovation, intelligence and calm perseverance he knows even the most difficult problems can be overcome and progress made. Obama instills confidence and appeals to our better instincts. He is fully engaged and strives to remain in touch with the people.

Each day, The Washington Post reports, Obama's staff picks ten letters from the 40-thousand that arrive at the White House every day and gives them to him to read - notes and concerns from everyday Americans. He reads them alone and reflects on the words of the people.

In his quiet moments, George W. Bush preferred to play video games and trade flatulence jokes with Karl Rove. Those blind, crude and cynical days are past. We now have a president who pays attention to the duties of state - a leader, not a hack.

Father Theodore Hesburgh, the retired President of Notre Dame University, once said, "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."

Barack Obama sees hope and is hitting the right notes with the American people because he is right. The community organizer is building vast support for the worthy agenda the Harvard MBA ignored.

Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit for Fox2 News.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment