The Wisdom Is In the System

I do not listen to conservative talk radio, but I felt compelled to tune in to Scott Hennen and Sean Hannity today (November 8, 2006) on WDAY radio to hear their post-mortems on yesterday’s election results. They struggled mightily to be gracious losers, but they seem constitutionally unable to hide their venom, and they whined as fast as they could talk.

Their defenses were high: blame, projection, minimization, rationalization, and explanation ad nauseam. They couldn’t expunge their angst fast enough in their frenetic efforts to make themselves and their faithful feel better.

On the surface the election results appeared to reflect the outrage of Americans with the war in Iraq. If we look deeper, the Democrats takeover of the House of Representatives and possible majority in the Senate, followed by the hasty firing of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, are about President Bush’s failure of leadership. Success or disappointment is always about leadership.

President Bush had the complete support of the American people and of the global community after 9/11. The war with Afghanistan was the right thing to do. Energy was high. The failure of leadership was the decision to invade Iraq—the wrong war, for the wrong reasons, done the wrong way--a fundamental misjudgment driven by the grandiose vision of neoconservatives for the Middle East, the unfulfilled past agendas of Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and President Bush’s understandable desire to strike out against an enemy he could see.

Fighting the wrong war depleted our energy and treasure, divided our people, and alienated our friends. We became bogged down fast--hastened by the incompetent arrogance that permeates the Bush administration. Corruption (much, I believe, yet to be exposed) and a stubborn and rigid determination to force reality to bend to their will followed naturally. We sit in quagmire unable to see options other than to fight against reality or to leave.

Had Mr. Bush focused on capturing Osama Bin Laden and renewing the Afghan nation, who knows what successes those choices would have led to and what yesterday’s results would have been?

The silver-lining in yesterday’s humiliations for Republicans, as Mr. Hannity stated, is that they have two years to renew their party with a new vision for the future, a dusting off of their values, and a long, hard look in the mirror.

The Democrats got what they wished for—a voice at the table and power. Now instead of being rebels against President Bush, they have to lead or the same thing will happen to them in 2008. To renew the Republican Party and for Democrats to provide leadership, we need creative leadership in both parties. The rock-star reactions to Illinois Senator Barack Obama express our national hunger for leadership.

We have a vacumn of leadership in the United States. President Bush lacked the talent, skills, and knowledge to lead us in this chaotic world. If he was fit to be President, he was fit for an earlier time. The American people neutralized him yesterday. They did the right thing. The leaders we yearn for will emerge and they won’t be who we think they will be today.

Fasten your seat belts; the ride will be fast, furious, and fascinating the next two years.