The higher up you are in government, the tougher the crisis management job.
Mayor’s and county officials must make local decisions, like closing certain roads and how much to invest in emergency medical services. Governors must make state-wide decisions, like closing schools and limiting the number of people who can gather. The President must decide how to allocate critical supplies like ventilators and face masks, when to activate medical ships and where to send them and shutting down airports.
President Truman decided to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing or maiming more than 200,000 people. This ended World War II and saved more than one million lives. He famously said, “The buck stops here.” Attorney General Janet Reno mishandled a crisis when she blew up 76 Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas. She accepted responsibility and moved on.
The governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans failed when they allowed Mardi Gras to go on, and are now paying the price. Their strategy was to cry that they weren’t warned. Local officials in South Florida and the governor blew it when they allowed spring breakers to mingle on the beaches. Unfortunately, the hotel and restaurant lobbies overcame the medical experts.
Florida is paying the price now.
More than three years ago, this column was about the election of President Trump and a concept known as “loyal opposition.” This means that he was our president and while you may not support his policies and actions, he was still our president and leader.
During the past three years, his ability to earn respect and support has been an inverted Bell Curve. Straight down to a Pollyanna ignoring of the expert warnings of a pandemic and then straight up to supporting three relief bills, then down again with a thinking-out-loud blunder suggesting a quarantine of nearly 20 million people in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area. Sunday, he changed course and extended the “social distancing” protocol until the end of April. To be fair, his overall performance has improved and that is showing in his approval ratings.
Suggesting that we need to get people back into churches by Easter and get the economy going is a difficult choice. If we lessen the current strictures on our lives, many more people will die from the virus than necessary.
There may also be a lessening of the risks to our economy if the 3.2 million people who filed for unemployment last week and millions more this week, might begin to be able to go back to work. Dying people and their grieving families versus people who can’t put food on the table. How would you like to have to make that choice?
We must remain hopeful. This too will end and then we can evaluate which leader did well and which did not. Each of us can do our part by being responsible with precautions. We must support and thank our first responders who are at risk and the workers in stores that remain open who are also at risk.
“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star.