Convulsions

The past few weeks have seen turmoil like we have not seen since 1968 and with the Republican convention coming up, it does not appear that it will abate.   We have seen terror attacks in Turkey and France, shooting of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, and perhaps the biggest setback in U.S. foreign policy since the fall of the Shah—a failed coup in Turkey.

The public statements of our leaders have made things immeasurably worse.  The day before the Dallas shooting decried the “systemic racism” in law enforcement (just as he declared ISIS “contained” the day before the Paris attacks, and then used the memorial service in Dallas, in part to advance his political agenda.    And he met with Black Lives Matter leaders for three hours in the White House – the same group that has been publicly calling for the death of cops and celebrating when it happens.  Donald Trump inexplicably praised Saddam Hussein for using gas on terrorists (never mind the collateral damage).  Hillary Clinton contradicted James Comey’s findings, stuck to her already discredited story and claimed that she did jeopardize national security.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg broke with protocol to condemn Donald Trump’s candidacy, a move that is highly inappropriate.  And in a statement that was as anti-Churchillian as one can get, the French prime minister responded to the truck attack in Nice by stating, “Times have changed and we should learn to live with terrorism.” Gulp.

With the world in chaos and our domestic fabric fraying at the seams,  it appears that we could not find a single Western leader anywhere that could find the right words, do the right thing, send the appropriate message, and not use events to advance his or her own agenda.

Except one.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown showed us what leadership is all about.   Throughout this crisis, Brown has stepped up and in a calm and firm manner consistently found appropriate words that were comforting, calming and designed not to inflame an already volatile situation.   He comforted the families of the fallen officers, “we are your family now,”  and refused to be drawn into policy decisions that are not his to make, telling Jake Tapper that he was going to punt the question of gun control back to him.  He appropriately signaled and challenged politicians and the Black Lives Matter members to take ownership of the issue, telling the politicians, “we are asking the cops to do too much in this country.”   He obliquely challenged the president, “We don’t feel much support these days." 

Brown also challenged BLM but in a positive way and without being combative, "Get off the protest line and apply for a job. We're hiring.  We'll give you an application.  We'll help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about." 

After the last few weeks of chaos and bloodshed both here and abroad with our leaders seemingly clueless, inappropriate or saying and doing things to make matters worse, one leader has stepped up to remind us of what leadership looks like.

If David Brown decides to run for office, I’d be on board.