From Lee Iaccoa's new book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone" It's worth
reading.
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with
what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We
should be screaming b----y murder. We've got a gang of
clueless bozos steering our ****p of state right over a
cliff, we've got cor****ate gangsters stealing us
blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane
much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting
mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when
the politicians say, "Stay the course"!
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is
America, not the ****ed Titanic. I'll give you a sound
bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting
senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I
have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize
this country anymore. The President of the United
States is given a free pass to ignore the
Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a
pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by
passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I
don't need it). The most famous business leaders are
not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.
While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is
burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the
press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard
questions. That's not the promise of America my
parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've
had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You
can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged.
This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. Crisis
Leaders are made, not born. Leader****p is forged in
times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet
up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's
kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield
yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world
comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more
than any other time in our history. We needed a steady
hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George
Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids
in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept
sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look
on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for
yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route
back to Wa****ngton and immediately going on the air to
reassure the panicked people of this country, he
decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House.
He basically went into hiding for the day, and he told
Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker.
We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of
our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we
were going to be okay, and there was nobody home.
It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and
devise the right photo op at Ground Zero. That was
George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed.
And what did he do when he'd regained his composure?
He led us down the road to Iraq; a road his own father
had considered disastrous when he was President. But
Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher
father. He prides himself on being faith based, not
reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of
you, I don't know what will. A Hell of a Mess.
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a b----y
war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
We're running the biggest deficit in the history of
the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to
Asia, while our once-great companies are getting
slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are
skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent
energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders
are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed
every which way. These are times that cry out for
leader****p. But when you look around, you've got to
ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?"
Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where
are the people of character, courage, conviction,
competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for
alliteration, but I think you get the point. Name me a
leader who has a better idea for homeland security
than making us take off our shoes in air****ts and
throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of
dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we
know how to do is react to things that have already
happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the
crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend
a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane,
or demanding accountability for the decisions that
were made in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it
doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms
happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what
you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively
about how we can restore our competitive edge in
manufacturing. Who would have believed that there
could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to
Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more
im****tant, what are we going to do about it? Name me a
government leader who can articulate a plan for paying
down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or
managing the health care problem. The silence is
deafening. But these are the crises that are eating
away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect
you to sit on your ***** and do nothing and remain
silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our
greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is
everybody so afraid of? That some bobble head on Fox
News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't
you guys show some spine for a change? Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom
here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out
because I have hope. I believe in America. In my
lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some
of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced
some of our worst crises: the Great Depression, World
War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the
Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles
of recent years culminating with 9/11.
If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get
anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for
somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a
better car or building a better future for our
children, we all have a role to play. That's the
challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to
action for people who, like me, believe in America.
It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So
let's shake off the horse**** and go to work. Let's
tell 'em all we've had enough..."
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