On the Contrary

What is it about checking the polls before we do anything?  It has become the measure of what is possible.  How many people believe that global warming exists?  How many people support continued troop deployments in Afghanistan?  Is there strong support in the country for tough Wall Street Regulations?  What percentage of the voters thinks there should be a public option for health care?  What percentage thinks we should investigate torture?  It goes on and on and it tells us nothing about what we should do, only the challenge we face to convince people of the problem.

Leadership is about telling the people what they should do and then convincing them to follow.  We seem to have forgotten that.  Leadership is about finding what will really work to solve our problems and then convincing people to do it.  It would appear that we are getting buried in the conventional wisdom about what the voters will support, and everything else is getting buried as impractical.

Health care is the prime example.  Is it more important to know what the electorate wants or is it more important to figure out what will really provide 100% coverage and start to restructure our system to lower costs with better outcomes?  If the two aren’t aligned isn’t it the leaders job to show the voters what will work and convince them to support him?  If you believe that the Republicans will never vote for a public option, should you negotiate it away even if you think it is critical to your reform package?  Maybe if you really went out there and fought for the public option, there would be enough pressure on the Republicans to change some of their votes.  It’s called leadership.

I love the discussion that is going on right now whether the voters will stand for more troops in Afghanistan.  Wrong discussion.  The American voters will support a troop increase if they are convinced it is in our long-term interests.  So the discussion ought to be on what is our goal, what are the policy choices, what are our alternatives, and what does it cost.  Once you have a plan forward that you believe in, then the job is selling it.  It’s called leadership.

My real consternation is with this idea that health care needs to be bipartisan to work.  Actually it needs to have the right elements to work and if the Republicans continue to try to block things, then the President should lead for an effective policy, not one that is fatally flawed so we can include elements of failed philosophical ideas.  Sometimes the other side just doesn’t have any good ideas and it is just time to move on.  Now is that time.  Right now 66% of our population is “confused” about health care.  If that is not an indictment of failed leadership, nothing is.

For my own part, I take issue with most of the conventional wisdom of today about most of our policy issues.  The conventional wisdom is that we should not be too far to the left or right, but continue a middle of the road approach that most of the voters will be comfortable with.  But as I look at the challenges that face us, I am convinced that old go slow approaches are no longer operative.  In order to get back into the race, regain a leadership position in the world, and secure the financial security for our children, we need a totally different approach.  This means government has a major role in bringing about these changes because the market place has shown that its only interest is in the status quo of the moneymakers.  Not only do we need to convince the voters of this, but we need to convince these same people to make the necessary sacrifices in taxes and life choices, to secure our future.

David Brooks in his column on Monday said, “It means he (the President) has to align his proposals to the values of the political center: fiscal responsibility, individual choice and decentralized authority.” But the political center, by which he means right of center, and decentralized authority, is what is leading to our downfall.  It doesn’t mean we give up on market solutions, it just means that the market is not the be all and end all of policy solutions.  It is time to move in another direction and we need the leadership to show us that direction.  So far it has been sadly lacking.  If you think I am wrong, ask yourself why 66% of the nation is confused on health care.  This one is a no-brainer.