More On Leadership

When Jimmy Carter was president he tried to solve the problems of the Middle East, particularly the relations of Israel with its neighbors. The Republicans who followed achieved nothing on that front because they didn't want to upset the Saudis who controlled the flow of most of the world's oil.

Pres. Carter also considered the energy issue and decided to set a course:  to develop alternative energy sources. He even put a solar panel on top of the White House and set the White House thermostat lower and pushed through a law to limit the speed of cars on the Interstate highway system. All good ideas at the time. The first thing Ronald Reagan did was appoint George H. W. Bush as his Vice President knowing Bush had run an oil company and was completely against alternative energy sources. The second was to remove the solar panel from the White House.

Sometimes leading the nation requires time to educate the public about issues and time to campaign to create a sufficiently large coalition that change can be made and kept in place.

When President Clinton wanted to reform the healthcare system he was following in the footsteps of several presidents: Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter. The cost of healthcare was rising rapidly and he knew it was time for change. But, at that time there had not been a sustained campaign to gain momentum. His plan was rebuffed, but in time the Obama administration could build on that and got a plan (barely) passed into law. Now the effort has to be to keep it and improve it over time. The Republicans opposed these changes from start to finish and still claim they want to repeal the law. They, of course, also say they would replace it with something effective, but they have no real plan for that. If the Supreme Court doesn't knock it down this law will remain. And, it's due to the thoughtful leadership of previous recent Democratic presidents who took a lot of slings & arrows for trying to push the issue and the debate.

The Obama administration had to deal a lot with the economics of the country and regulating financial markets & banks. This helps us incrementally improve our standing with the American public on that topic. It hasn't yet enabled us to do significant change to improve the situation. However, we had achieved similar growth rates when Presidents Carter and Clinton ran the economy. Carter ran into the OPEC oil cartel, but Clinton achieved much more. By the end of his first term we had great results and a low unemployment rate (it went even lower), but we didn't have sufficient Congressional support for doing more. In fact, the Republicans had won the political arguments and had control of the House of Representatives. To slow Clinton they Impeached him over a personal scandal. This not only prevented further progress on the economy, but it became possible for a Republican to win the next presidential race. That victory came from the Supreme Court (a 5-4 vote) and it led to terrible disasters, both economic and others. The Obama administration had to pick up the pieces of that mess and fix a lot of problems. It did so quickly, but he too lost the House to Republicans in 2010. They couldn't Impeach him, but they tried everything else to harass him and slow him. In the Senate they filibustered all significant legislation and prevented nominations from being confirmed. It seems everything the Republicans touch leads to disaster. Even so, the Obama administration and the Democrats (when they had some power) pushed forward on clean alternative energy sources and the use of more rail (which is more energy efficient than trucking).

Leadership isn't always easy or fast, but if the issues before the nation are very important it's what a president has to aim for. Even if it means starting a conversation it has to be done with no self-congratulations since there is no certainty of achievement during that term.