[Dean's World] Ron Coleman: Judging our leaders

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Posted by Ron Coleman:
Judging our leaders
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157555831.shtml


   Jonathan Rosenblum [1]writes, acknowleding how easy it is to
   second-guess leadership:

     "Do not judge your friend until you reach his place," (Pirkei Avos
     2:5 ).

     Presumably that rule also applies to national leaders. True, every
     democratically elected leader knows that criticism goes with the
     job. But that does not free the rest of us from the obligation to
     acknowledge that the view from "there" â i.e., where decisions are
     actually made -- is very different than from "here" â i.e., where
     advice is free and responsibility nil.

     It is easy to sit in our armchairs yelling that Israel should send
     50,000 reservists into Lebanon for a massive ground action or stand
     outside shul demanding that the IAF level every Lebanese village
     from which Hizbullah rocket fire emanates. Far more difficult is
     taking responsibility for the consequences of those decisions. . .
     .

     The toughest decisions are those that offer no good solution, just
     a choice between two bad outcomes. And they usually depend on
     numerous guesses about the future and unquantifiable factors.There
     may be right or wrong answers to these judgments, but often they
     cannot be known until years later. A leader who focuses only on the
     number of lives likely to be lost or saved in the immediate future,
     and ignores the potential long-term consequences of his actions is
     irresponsible. But one who too easily ignores the immediate and
     known cost in lives is inhuman.

   Leadership, of course, is virtually always sought voraciously by those
   who achieve it. Being second-guessed both in one's times and by
   history is part of the package. These days, you are not only
   second-guessed immediately but your motives are assumed to be of the
   basest nature. Bill Clinton was assumed to have sent missiles into
   Libya to distract from his "domestic affairs." George Bush was not
   only arguably wrong about Iraqi WMD's, but he "lied" to get the U.S.
   into war with Iraq. Not only wingnuts but "respected" persons believe
   this, or claim to, with all their hearts and souls.

   And in Israel? Ehud Olmert, actually, seems not be nearly as much a
   victim of character assassination as his predecessor was from, in
   time, either side of the aisle. He is mostly regarded as incompetent
   or, at worst -- and by some I've argued with on this board -- lacking
   in courage.

   Still and all, those of us who second-guess in at least a semblance of
   good faith should remember that it costs us nothing to serve as
   armchair quarterback, and it's not even much of a parlor trick to do
   it with a game we're watching on the VCR.

References

   1. http://www.jewishmediaresources.org/article/1001/