Barack Obama and The Pirates

No sooner was Captain Phillips rescued and the talking heads provided political meaning to the event. In fact, many of them started the speculation within hours after the seizure of the merchant sea captain last week.

We can all speculate as to what this means for the future:

• An escalation of tactics by the pirates.
• An escalation by the international community to stop the piracy.
• A firm linkage between the pirates and political terrorists.

Before we look too far into the future, we should revisit the past.

During the 2008 presidential campaign there was speculation that Barack Obama could not respond to a crisis. It was hypothesized, that with no military training and no international diplomatic experience, he did not have the qualifications to lead.

Obviously that was not the case.

Leadership is comprised of many facets. One is the technical knowledge - the marksman skilled with a weapon, the social worker skilled in counseling, the computer programmer skilled in creating software.

Each one of these people takes knowledge of their craft, but it does not mean the leader has to have the exact experiences or profound knowledge of the specific profession.

Instead, the leader must analyze, make tough decisions, and take risks.

One errant shot by a Navy SEAL, which had nothing to do with Obama's decisions, and the outcome is different.

But Obama was willing to make the decision that allowed an optimum outcome.

So far, so good.

Comments

[Jeff]

Oh my god, making mountains out of molehills here. A crisis? Hardly. One guy held hostage by some pirates. A minor incident at best. Frankly, the President should not even be involved in the decision here. It's a waste of his time, there are much more pressing matters to attend to. Lower level officers and officials are fully qualified to handle these things.

[antpoppa]

I agree with the President's decision to a hostage situation when no other diplomacy will work.
However:
The Somalia pirates took to a cause of preventing toxic dumping off their coast back in 1984. Many people of Somalia are suffering the effects of this dumping through horrible disease. I remember them asking for an 8 million ransom for a clean up of our and Europe's dumping. Perhaps, a trial of the last pirate will allow us to determine if this is piracy or ecological survival.
Was this ship dumping and is that why it was so easy to catch while still in the water with the crew occupied?

[Marius]

1.Maybe "A minor incident at best", but perhaps not to the "One guy held hostage by some pirates," his family or the rest of the world.
In any case, the President could never not have been involved.
And the right wing loonies (starting with principal poseur Newt Gingrich) began making him wrong from the outset and continue to do so after the fact despite the successful outcome. (I notice that President "O" didn't drag our George W's "Mission Accomplished" banner.)

2. Paul: "Leadership is compromised of many facets." I assume you mean "comprised".

[paul]

Marius, thanks, I fixed it

[Brian]

But what about the pirates here at home? The insurance companies. How much leadership is Mr. Barack Obama showing when 59% of the public, 60% of doctors and 60% of nurses want single payer?

These are the leaders. Obama can't even follow.