The High Price for Absent Leadership

It has been revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operatives knew of the corrupt practices of many mortgage brokers and understand the ramifications if these activities were to go unchecked. However, nothing was done to address this apparent and serious criminal behavior. The ostensible reason that was provided was that not enough resources were available to the agency at the time.

This is yet another example of the dire consequences we now face as a people that is a direct result of choosing a President who has been essentially absent these last eight years. George W. Bush was, in reality, so ineffectual, incapable and essentially intellectually compromised that he failed to act decisively on many areas of national life that required attention including, the economy, energy, global warming, healthcare and national infrastructure. In the arena of foreign policy, he exhibited a cavalier and reckless attitude that led us into the costly and protracted Iraq War and the abandonment of civil liberties at home. The conceptual framework that directed him to take such extreme positions relied on an ideological view that envisioned a simplistic world delineated by good and evil, in which the United States is, conveniently, always on the side of good. Foreign policy based on such a skewed and inaccurate representation of reality, was bound to fail and diminish the standing of the United States in the world.

Hopefully, the American electorate will rise from this nadir period with a greater appreciation of the value of intellect and reason in the lives and character of the individuals they choose to lead them.