Leadership

It is very a popular pastime to comment on President Obama’s leadership as a president. Mainly those comments are negative dwelling on what has not happened during his presidency. Those of us who were particularly excited about he being the first black president who seemed to have remarkable credentials and had read his book, The Medacity of Hope saw a man with excellent knowledge of the constitution and history of this country with a vision of what we could be as a nation. And it is true that the dreams his presidency promised have by in large not come to pass.

The question is why. No doubt Obama does not have the leadership skills of Franklin D. Roosevelt or others. But I wonder if he stood a chance at real leadership for our country. I think this for several reasons.

Most obvious is a do nothing congress that has been in existence throughout his presidency. To lead, others must follow. In his case he had a whole parcel of folk who had undue power to derail his agenda, the Tea Party. Folk who had as their number one agenda to oppose anything he did. And for a long time they have carried the day.

Now the leader of the Republicans, John Boehner, has played his role in the process as well, frequently caving in to the radical right and not being able to work for bipartisan solutions. I think he wanted to, but lacked the leadership skills and resolve to do so. Now, I think he is getting more backbone and is willing to move forward despite the radical right seeing that his party may go down the drain if he doesn’t. His recent work on the bipartisan budget bill reflects this. It doesn’t thrill me as it still caters to the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor, but it was movement.

Now we will look for his leadership on the following issues: unemployment insurance, the debt ceiling, the farm bill, the Employment No-Discrimination Act, and immigration. These are major pieces of legislation congress and the president face in the future and will speak loudly about their concern for the common good versus the powerful and wealthy lobby interests that currently dominate congress.

The other major leadership issue is the role and responsibilities of our citizens, the voters. Far too many folk are just too apathetic and uninformed to do anything but complain. But we are also seeing signs of a populist progressive movement getting involved in the political process. It remains to be seen if they can effectively challenge the rich and powerful.

Leadership is a curious thing. Can you lead a people who don’t want to be lead? I look at this from the standpoint of church leadership. In my tradition, which reflects our national political process, a congregation elects folk to run the local church (this carries over to all levels of the church but I will limit myself to the local church in this case.) Their responsibilities as elected leaders of the congregation was not to just reflect and mimic the desires of the congregational members with endless polls or giving ear to particular special interests. Their responsibility was to follow their own consciences and beliefs to do what they considered best for the church. That is the same thing congressional leaders are supposed to do, but are not doing today.

At our meetings I would encourage each of these elected leaders to share their ideas and thoughts equally. Every voice is important in group process and it is the responsibility of the leader of those groups to make sure all are heard and understood. Once an issue (there are very few major issues that take place in a church in a given year, 2 or 3 is usual despite folks fascination with minutia) was thoroughly discussed it would be time for a vote. I preferred consensus decisions but that is not always possible. I also then would ask if any member who was on the losing side of a vote, if they wanted their dissenting vote noted in the minutes. Sometimes, that would happen. I would feel sad when it did happen as I believed that as a group we were to present a united front even if things did not go according to our individual preferences. But some folk just are not team players and are subject to special interest groups. I believed then as I do that process was more important the product. How we reached a decision was more important than the decision itself, and I would put my full support in favor of that decision. For me, that is how I think leadership should work.

With that said, I do believe there are times when open dissent is important and should be made apparent. That is more the case in the political arena than a local church where there is more unanimity to begin with.

It is my prayer for this year and beyond that our President and our congressional leaders assume better leadership styles. I hope they listen to the inner moral centers and do what they believe is best for the common good of the country. I pray that they will be able to set aside antagonistic rhetoric and work for synergistic ideas to move our country forward. I pray that they will be the leaders that lead our country well and work towards a united front.

It is my hope for the future that the pendulum will swing back and the government will work for the common good rather than for special interests though appropriate governmental regulations, fair progressive tax codes, care for those not able to capture the American dream, affordable education that will enable us to be productive and informed voters, and an economic system that spreads the wealth equitably among citizens of this country.