When the Going Gets Tough...

 

There is nothing like a disaster to test the mettle of our leaders. I am reminded of a classic encounter between Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) and Lou Grant (Ed Asner) on her show where Lou explains his survival in the tough world of television broadcasting. He claimed that his longevity was the result of learning how to “delegate blame.”

The Los Angeles fires are just another example of how shallow some of our leaders can be. While the good ones are looking for both immediate and long-term solutions to the complex wildfire problem in a drought-savaged environment, others are looking for political advantage with outstretched fingers pointing to delegate blame.

Enter our “Blamer in Chief” (NY Times description) to seize the day and place the entire event at the feet of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Yes, the president-elect-convicted-felon Donald Trump went so far as to break out his eight-page-with-Stormy-Daniels-centerfold dictionary, to come up with a derogatory term, twisting the governor’s last name to “Newscum.” Yes, the PECF soon-to-be PCF (President-Convicted-Felon) slithered to the cameras to once again try to distract from his own clown-car pile-up of a life to deride a political opponent instead of offering sage advice. I’m guessing that sage isn’t on his spice rack.

Of course, PCF Trump would have been prepared for such an event if he were in charge. That statement might have some validity if we just forget about hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria where, 5 months into his presidency he had failed to appoint administrators at FEMA or NOAA and had frozen 216 positions at the National Weather Service. We do have to credit then President Trump (he had not yet earned his coveted CF, convicted felon title) who, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, personally tossed Puerto Ricans rolls of paper towels to mop up their own mess. We can also ignore the failed federal response while he was president that resulted in almost 3,000 unnecessary deaths in that 2017 disaster.

Certainly, there is a time for reflection, analysis, and Monday morning quarterbacking, but while raging fires are still destroying homes and placing lives at risk, now is not the time to score political points. If you can’t use your hands to help the situation, keep your hands and pointing fingers in your pocket.