Walk the walk, Mr. Geithner!

I confess, I do not know much about Timothy Geithner, except that he is President Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary. I have heard that he is highly qualified to head the IRS and lead us out of this economic mess.

I have also heard about his “innocent” (quote Sen. Max Baucus) mistake in not correctly paying his own taxes for 4 years in a row, which makes me wonder how credible he would be as the head of IRS. After all, this is the position to which we are all ultimately accountable to, for filing our own taxes!

As a country, our strength lies in the fact that we respect our leaders very much and entrust them with enormous leeway to make decisions on our behalf. Maybe because of this and because our leaders have the ability to impact so many lives with their decisions, we hold them to higher standards than we would an average Joe. We expect them to have earned the right to make decisions on our behalf. That right comes with an enormous responsibility. While I agree that no one can be infallible all the time, just look around and see the havoc that has been wrought in these past 8 years because we have not held our leaders accountable to walk the walk.

Granted that there were extenuating circumstances to Mr.Geithner’s oversight. Granted Mr. Geithner is an upright, forthright and very knowledgeable individual. Unfortunately, the mistakes made are not only very recent, they are in direct correlation to the job he is seeking. And that job is of enormous importance to this country, especially at this period in history.

Life is such…There are some mistakes that cannot be rectified because they are so context-sensitive. If a fighter pilot loses concentration for a split second, his plane can crash, killing him and others. There is no condoning that mistake. But if a desk worker loses concentration for more than a hour, it wont matter at all. Mr. Geithner’s mistake must be viewed in the context of the job he is being asked to perform. It could probably be condoned were he to apply for any other position in the Obama team. But, Treasury Secretary making this mistake? Its like the babysitter pinching the baby first and then rocking the cradle.

Nothing personal Mr.Geithner, but as an average citizen, I think its time we held our leaders to the same standards they expect of us.

Lame duck ducks!!

I don’t consider myself a big fan of George W. In fact, like many others in the US, I do believe he is at fault for a lot of our economic pain.

But I have to be fair and applaud him for  his gamely handling of the shoe-throwing incident at Iraq. I have to admire him for his fantastic ducking reflexes and his diffusing the situation immediately afterward with the joke about the shoe size. I must especially commend him for the White House press secretary, Dana Perino’s recent press conference when she said that Bush had requested the Iraqis to desist from overreacting to the incident.

Much has been written about the shoe throwing incident. Perhaps, the one of the most vitriolic articles about this is written by one of the New York Times writers, Nicholas Kristof – “Paying down the deficit with whizzing shoes“. I know I laughed when I first read the blog post, but as I started reading the comments in response to that blog, I started feeling a bit uneasy. There was a deep undercurrent of anger in many of the responses. Now, who am I to judge what people feel is George Bush’s legacy to the US? But I still felt a certain sense of disquiet at Bush’s image in this country. Much blame has been laid at Bush’s door. I am sure a lot of it is well deserved.

But this actually begs a larger question: wasn’t the US constitution written to protect the people from a despot? How is it that Bush became so powerful that he could do all the damage that he is reportedly accused of? Why do we assume Bush and only Bush is culpable in the mess that is left behind at the end of his era?

Where is our share in all this? Is not omission also a part of commission? Are the people themselves not responsible? Who voted Bush into office, not once, but twice? Who looked the other way or convinced themselves that he was “protecting” the country when he set up Gautanamo Bay and when he instituted the Patriot act? Who voted for Bush because they felt he was perfect for being one of the most powerful men in the world, simply by virtue of the fact that he was someone they could drink a beer with? Who allowed the congress to renege on their responsibilities to the people by continuously allowing Bush / Cheney to do whatever they wanted with the legislation? Who ALLOWED the Constitution to fail?

WE, THE PEOPLE!