Presidential Election of 2008 & Institutional Failure - Lessons from the Wizard of Oz

I revisit and expand on a theme, topic, insight that I mused about on July 12, 2008, in this post. Before her death, the late American historian Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) warned America risked institutional failure, the withdrawal of confidence of its people in its systems, especially its systems of government. The American presidential election of 2008 provides further proof that her concern had firm foundation. Here's why.

The process more and more degrades the office itself by trivializing the pursuit of it. When I grew up in Portage, Wisconsin, during the 1950's, my first memory of a President was General Dwight David Eisenhower. I purposely use the title General, for Eisenhower was a serious man, who had achieved serious results before becoming President. In third grade, we school children joined hands and marched around our small schoolhouse chanting, "I like Ike. I like Ike." "I like Ike" still for he was the last serious person to hold the office of President of the United States in my lifetime. Since him, it has been downhill until today when we have "affirmative action," media retail candidates.

GOP VP pick Sarah Palin's signal qualification seems to be media skills honed as a sportscaster in Alaska. Democrat presidential pick Barak Obama's main recommendation seems to be assuaging lingering white guilt over slavery - still. GOP presidential pick John McCain, although a genuine war hero, suffers frankly from old age and shaky health, which the tortures he endured as a prisoner of war likely undermined. This leaves Democrat VP pick Senator Joseph Biden, who actually offers a serious track record as a U.S. Senator. The media uproar over the serious flaws of the first three of these four candidates in this paragraph diminishes the office they seek. This, in turn, risks very real institutional failure, as people consider the whole process to be a joke.

The situation reminds me of the movie/story The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard enjoyed power through the use of flimflam, until Toto, Dorothy's dog, pulled back the curtain to reveal a mere mortal pulling levers to fool onlookers. When more and more people consider our leaders to be fakes, phonies, and frauds, similar to the Wizard of Oz, we are flirting with serious institutional failure. There is good reason why great leaders carry an aura of majesty about them.