Three months ago in this space, I glibly talked about the drumbeat of change, as the term was being used in the Presidential campaign. I then used this theme as a jumping off point for a brief discussion of the continuing effects of the subprime lending fiasco, which then led, in some convoluted fashion, into my concern for an even bigger fiasco, the environmental disaster that seems to be looming in our near future.
Were I smarter, or clairvoyant, I would have seen the true scope of the unfolding financial meltdown and the overwhelming speed with which it would overrun us, and taken steps to better protect us from its fallout. This is both personal and professional. Not to underestimate the importance of the environmental concerns that still need to be dealt with, but without a functioning economy, work on those problems will be delayed.
I could not imagine the nationalization of our secondary mortgage markets, the failure of so many giants in the financial service industry, and the speed and severity of the movement into a deep worldwide recession. You couldn’t have sold a screenplay based on this scenario. No one would have believed it, and science fiction without bug-eyed monsters just does not sell.
And yet, here we are in the midst of what will probably go into the record books as the worst recession since the depression of 1929-34, stunned and looking for answers and villains.
The villains are plentiful, from executives infected with a toxic combination of hubris and greed, to regulators in the financial services who were acting more like cheer leaders for their industry rather than guardians of the public trust, to all of us who refused to turn a critical eye on any of these excesses as we quietly participated in this party in our own peripheral ways.
To paraphrase author Dave Eggers, we now find ourselves enmeshed in this heartbreaking work of staggering stupidity. Where do we turn for solace? I think I glimpsed the answer on Jan. 20, with the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
This feeling goes way beyond bridging the divisiveness of red and blue states, and the antagonisms of right and left, liberal and conservative. This man, who now has the unenviable task of trying to orchestrate a recovery from this train wreck, has clearly tried to define this as an all-American problem, with no easy answers, and much to be asked from all of us.
In his inaugural address, he pointedly noted that “our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices…” Later in his address, following a delineation of many of our problems, he clearly stated “…as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”
As Bob Herbert, in a New York Times op-ed piece on January 24 said, “We’ve been watching…something this week, and it’s called leadership. Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.”
It is way too early in his role as President to know how effective he will be in helping us recover from the current crisis, but the early signs are positive. In many ways, our very real problems have been exacerbated by a crisis of confidence in our recent leadership. Candidate Obama started telling us in Iowa that he would not tell us what we wanted to hear, but instead would focus on what we needed to know.
The process of recovery has begun. I am optimistic that we have a man of strong resolve and quiet intellect, who through his own example will set the tone for each of us to figure out how we can best assist in correcting the excesses of the past and put us on a path where the world can once again turn to us for exemplary leadership.
