OPINION:
OP-ED:
To use an image familiar to Sarah Palin, the most dangerous wolf is the one closest to the dog sled. But, in today’s political environment, that observation has changed. No one wolf is closest to the American sled. Most of the pack has already leapt aboard.
As Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama ponder how to slay or to throw these metaphorical wolves overboard, three are especially dangerous. The first is the global economic crisis that could become catastrophic. So far, the three-quarters-of-a-trillion dollar rescue package agreed to by Congress and the White House suffers from a life-threatening case of the triple “toos”: “too little, too late and too slow” in having real impact. And with a lame-duck president, the nation can ill afford to wait while the new administration gains its footing over the coming year.
Consequently, both candidates should choose their new economic teams now so that they will hit the ground running on Nov. 5, not Jan. 20, moving into 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, if necessary to expedite the turnover at Treasury. And the president and president-elect should consider calling the old and new Congresses into special session soon after the election - not to waste time holding hearings to expose failed financial chief executives or score political points, but to take whatever additional actions to reverse the economic meltdown that are needed.
Furthermore, any ideas about tax hikes for the so-called rich should be put on hold. While the upper financial classes may no longer own golden geese, the brass goslings still provide much of the investment capital needed to revive the economy. And both candidates should examine additional stimulus packages along with whether a modern version of FDR’s Work Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935 may be needed if the recession becomes a real depression.
The second wolf is deeply embedded in the sled - a government that is badly broken. Gross excesses in partisanship, devotion to party or ideology above the national interest and an environment in which politics eschew good governance for winning at all costs cannot be ended overnight. However, the two candidates can tell the public what their plans are for fixing these ills and can select the key White House team to be up and running on Nov. 5.
The last dangerous wolf is the apparent absence of a strategic vision or geostrategic understanding for dealing with these extraordinary challenges, dangers and realities. Neither candidate has put forward a strategic vision. Indeed the word strategist has been diluted by the insertion of the adjective “political” before it and applied to the surfeit of talking heads who purport to be advising the presidential candidates on policy.
It is understandable why the two senators are more comfortable with tactical rather than strategic thinking. Mr. McCain has spent his adult life as a naval aviator and legislator. In the former, he was focused on closing with the enemy rather than writing grand strategy. In the latter, politics is highly tactical, dealing with individual issues and pieces of legislation and not broader strategy.
Mr. Obama has been a lawyer and like Mr. McCain a legislator for his career. Lawyers operate on individual cases. And while there clearly are legal strategies, they are directed on a case-by-case basis. Hence his training has not been directed in fashioning geostrategic views and strategic visions.
Given the paucity of real strategists, it may be time to rely on the wisdom and experience of the old war horses - the Brzezinskis, Kissingers and Scowcrofts - for advice and alternate strategic options. And if we were to offshore this, England’s Sir Michael Howard is the dean emeritus of the strategy community.
Because our government is broken and because politics have caromed from providing good governance to destructive behavior, putting the nation back on a safer course is a Sisyphean labor. The sheer number of crises, dangers and challenges, while less threatening than the prospect of thermonuclear annihilation during the Cold War. And the complexity and difficulty of finding workable solutions would test the combined intellect, skill, patience and imagination of our best leaders since the first days of the republic.
Every election in its own way can be critical. However, given our engagement in two land wars, other potential dangers that spread instability, the fear of nuclear or biological terrorism in the shadow of climate change and other natural disasters - not to mention the current economic conditions - we need a government that is agile, intelligent, strategic and prepared to take smart calculated risks.
The candidate that can lead us in these directions is the president that the nation desperately needs. If not, the wolves in the sled will take a huge toll on our way of life and on the American dream.
Harlan Ullman is a columnist for The Washington Times.
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