From the category archives:

Leadership

One CEO to Go, Please.

June 17, 2010

When he became BP’s CEO in 2007, Tony Hayward was quoted as saying that he would focus on safety matters like a laser.  But his mind-blowing evasiveness and complete failure to show what he did in that regard before a frustrated Congressional Committee proved he could not muster the intensity of a bathroom nightlight. America, [...]

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What Are You Waiting for, Mr. President?

June 1, 2010

Fire BP.  Incompetence, pure and simple, for the mishandling of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. When the Titanic sank in 1912, it was the biggest calamity of its kind in history.  Fortunately, the world was spared the spectacle of seeing the captain and owners repeatedly botch the rescue of the survivors.  But that [...]

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Lessons from Europe’s Past for an Uneasy World Today

May 8, 2010

What is happening in Greece and elsewhere in Europe should cause leaders to recall how easily the  seeds of disaster are  sewn amid the winds of resentment and desperation. Sixty-five years ago, the Allied forces accepted the unconditional surrender of the German military regime, bringing an end to the war in Europe.  It took formal [...]

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Outrage of the Week: Washington Silent as Dow Plunges [UPDATED]

May 6, 2010

Panic makes an encore appearance after Wall Street’s record drop.  America’s leaders do not. The word perilous hardly begins to describe the times.  Much of the world’s economy is only beginning to see daylight after the financial storm of generations.  Trust in Wall Street and the mechanisms of government is at record lows. In Europe, [...]

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Turbo Populism Arrives in Washington, and Anywhere Else it Wants

January 20, 2010

Wise leaders know that it is never sensible to underestimate either the forces of nature or the power of public outrage. Washington and Wall Street are about to receive an important lesson in history. The winds of change can blow in both directions.  One year ago, they propelled Barack Obama into the White House on [...]

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Obama Peace Prize Puts Spotlight on Nobel’s Ex-Politicians Who Decide

October 9, 2009

In the long history of this honor, no head of state has ever received the Peace Prize while he has been in the midst of prosecuting, much less preparing to escalate, an active war.  This year’s choice raises many questions, starting with: Who is behind the award? The first point to be made about the [...]

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The Black View of Ted Kennedy

September 3, 2009

Has the far-right become so bereft of ideas and spokespersons to generate its ill-tempered discussions that it now has to turn to institutionalized felons like Conrad Black for its inspiration? Among the more puzzling of the commentaries prompted by the passing of Edward M. Kennedy, the long-sitting senior Senator from Massachusetts, is surely the one [...]

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The Trajectory of Nuclear Madness

May 25, 2009

The tendency of politicians to exaggerate the prospects of success, to flee the taking of tough stands, and to downplay the dangers of the dark clouds into which they insist upon steering is as much with us today as it was a century ago. North Korea’s testing of a nuclear bomb, the second in just [...]

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The Architect-in-Chief

February 25, 2009

In his first address to a joint session of Congress last night, President Barack Obama showed a craftsmanship with words that is possible only by political leaders who possess a unique appreciation for the promise of language and a rare gift for writing the ideas that have historically transformed civilizations.  America finally has an architect [...]

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