MIA

 

Woody Allen famously said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

In the midst of multiple crises, the adults in charge simply don’t show up. 

The American people can be quite forgiving even if things go wrong if you are honest and forthright and look like you’re trying really hard to solve the problem.

In one of America’s capstone projects, the Apollo program, 3 of our astronauts were burned to a crisp in that horrible launchpad fire in January, 1967.   Two and a half years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin proudly stepped onto the surface of the moon.

We overcome missteps.  But you gotta show up and own up.

Less than a year in, Team Biden has show that when the going gets tough, the tough go on paid leave.

Biden put Kamala Harris in charge of the border crisis.  Harris didn’t visit the border until Donald Trump shamed her into it by threatening to visit the border first.  The only concrete Harris initiative was to stand at the podium and plea to the immigrants not to come and pledge to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration.  To date, there has been no plan put forward to fortify the border, provide for more security, or disincentivize immigrants from pouring in.

With regard to Afghanistan, as the horror show unfolded with the Afghan military in collapse, the country overrun by Taliban, and as our military scooted out, leaving equipment, Americans and our allies behind, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki was unavailable because she was on vacation.  Secretary of State Anthony Blinken headed to the Hamptons.  And old Joe claimed success at the podium, turned and walked away.   Meanwhile, 13 of our service men and women were killed and Afghanis were falling from the skies after futilely clinging to airplanes, reminiscent of the Americans jumping to their deaths on 9/11.

And the latest absence is Mayor Pete Buttigieg, our gay Secretary of Transportation, who wears his gender preference like a badge of honor and has no inhibitions about using it as both a sword and a shield.  He was last seen getting out of a van loaded with his bicycle, so he could be seen as a “green” worker pedaling to work instead of using the old combustion engine.

In the midst of a supply chain crisis, with cargo ships backed up and companies unable to get important goods, it turns out that Mayor Pete is on parental leave, and has been for two months.

Now, it’s fine to have a vacation.  It’s ok to take some time to be with your new child.  But there are roles and times when it’s simply not possible.  As an attorney, I know how hard it is to completely get away from the office.  It’s sometimes nearly impossible, even when you have adequate colleagues to pick up the slack.  Most attorneys concede that it is a hazard of the profession.  Likewise, almost every business owner I know is required to handle things while they are out of the office.   A day off for farmers?  You’ve got to be kidding.   And if you are in the restaurant business, vacations or “time off” simply doesn’t happen for you.

In these jobs, in a national emergency, with peoples lives and livelihoods at stake, these people don’t have the luxury of time away.  It was abhorrent that Psaki just wasn’t around to answer question during the Afghanistan crisis.  In a democracy, she owed it to our 330 million citizens to explain exactly what was going on, and the policy choices behind it. 

Mayor Pete needs to be working 18 hour days to unclog our ports and clear these cargo ships.

Instead,  Mayor Pete and Psaki declare a “success” and called it a day.

This is why conspiracy theories start.  People aren’t stupid.  When they see that no one is in charge or the person that’s supposed to be in charge is MIA, they assume that things are the way they are because the administration wants them to be that way.  Otherwise they would have SOMEBODY in charge working tirelessly to change course.

We can differ about policies and approaches.

But you have to show up to work.