"Scandals - Lessons in Responsibility? We'll See"

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“Scandals – Lessons in Responsibility? We’ll See”

September 19, 2011

As the President traverses the country with his pitch to pass his jobs bill “now,” he insists his message is about governance, not about politics. We must, he says, get America back to work again. He’s right. With more Americans out of work today than when he took office that needs to be the priority! But, we hear no words reflecting an admission of responsibility for our current state of affairs. The buck no longer stops at the Oval Office. Usually it is Bush’s fault, even though Mr. Obama has been in office thirty-two months. Recently there have been Congressional Republicans and acts of God that are being held responsible for our sad state of affairs.

An op-ed in Friday’s New York Times had lessons for us all, including the President. David Roberts, a mountaineer and author of several books on climbing, authored a piece entitled “Exploits, Now Not So Daring.” His message was about responsibility. In his world, satellite phones, GPSs, helicopters and radios have altered the parameters of risk taking when it comes to climbing. He relates a couple of stories. One dealt with the Italian Walter Bonatti who, in 1955, became trapped on the Petit Dru in the French Alps. Alone, Mr. Bonatti had to rely on his own ingenuity to eventually free himself from a harrowing situation. The second tells the story of two climbers, one German and the other Japanese, who found themselves stuck on Ama Dablam, “a moderately difficult peak near Everest.” They radioed for a rescue, but in the first attempt one helicopter clipped the slope plunging it 6000 feet, killing both the pilot and the engineer. Both men were saved by a second helicopter.

The message of self responsibility is important. It applies to rogue traders on Wall Street, to homeowners on Main Street, to politicians like Congressman Barney Frank, Senator Chris Dodd and others who encouraged recklessness at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Increasingly our society has become permissive of allowing people to remove themselves from the consequences of their action. On Wall Street it became a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation. The same appears to be the case at the White House where blame for the economy is anybody’s fault but their own. Unfortunately that lesson is taught in many of our schools where students are praised and rewarded regardless of performance, based on the premise that it is more important to make a child feel good about themselves, than for that child to learn success through failure.

This avoidance of responsibility has become manifest in a series of scandals sweeping the Administration. All Presidential Administrations are subject to scandals. The President is always removed from the actual events, and in most cases unaware of the wrongs being perpetuated, or the harm being done to the Office. But, it is the President who sets the tone and it is he who is ultimately responsible.

Three scandals now threaten the positive perception most people have of the character of Mr. Obama. The first is “Fast and Furious,” a DEA gun-running caper gone awry. Ostensibly its purpose was an attempt to track down illegal buyers of weapons, especially those selling weapons to drug cartels in Mexico. Unfortunately (and idiotically) the DEA lost track of weapons that ended up killing American law enforcement personnel. While it has been shown that elements from the White House and the Justice Department were involved in the program, responsibility for its unfortunate consequences has yet to be assumed.

The Solyndra scandal is potentially more devastating to the Administration. The problem is not the loan; the U.S. government has a long history of investing in fledgling industries. The problem is the connection of George Kaiser, who is both a major investor in the company and who is a principal fund raiser and donator to Mr. Obama. The allegation, if true, that a recent loan from Mr. Kaiser, or one of the investment firms he controls, to Solyndra comes before the government in the event of bankruptcy appears unethical and possibly illegal. Someone will have to assume responsibility. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 stipulates that outside investors are not permitted to jump ahead of the government in a default. The President and his administration are obviously concerned. Solyndra had been the center piece of his “green agenda” when he visited the company in May of 2010. During his “Jobs” speech two weeks ago, there was no mention of a “green agenda.”

The third scandal surrounds LightSquared, a satellite network company owned principally by Phil Falcone owner of the hedge fund, Harbinger Partners. Phil Falcone is a major donor to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party. The protestations surround the fast-tracked approval by the FCC for LightSquared to invest $14 billion to build a national wireless network utilizing 4G technology. The approval came despite the protestations of NASA, the Department of Trade, the Department of Justice and (unsurprisingly) virtually the entire GPS industry who argue that LightSquared’s proposal will cripple current GPS systems and threaten national security. The most damning piece of news was the allegation by the “Daily Beast” that General William Shelton, head of the Air Force Space Command, was pressured to change his testimony to support LightSquared.

It is the avoidance of responsibility for these scandals – the passing of the buck – that ultimately has serious consequences for our society. President Kennedy, after the failure of the Bay of Pigs and accepting responsibility, said: “Success has a thousand fathers; failure is an orphan.”

As mentioned above, Washington is not alone in being inflicted with a bad case of NMF (Not My Fault.) The question of failing to take responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions is a growing, societal issue. As mentioned above, it is taught in our schools. Litigation attorneys have personally made millions of dollars convincing juries and judges that it is the cigarette, the weapon or the car that is responsible for injuries or deaths. According to their arguments it is not the fault of the individual who chose to smoke, the person who willfully fired his gun, or the one who totaled his car. This is not to argue that manufacturers do not make mistakes and at times take shortcuts that produce a damaged or error-prone product. They do and they should be held responsible. But, in immunizing the people from the consequences of their own actions, the pendulum has swung too far.