A Tale of Two Leaders

The back pages of my local newspaper provided two articles side by side on Saturday and an easy comparison of the egos, courage and actions of two globally known leaders . Each leader was from a very different, yet democratic, country

Current US President Obama lauded himself because after dithering for months, he finally allowed US Navy Seals to eliminate Osama bin Laden, the butcher of more than 3,000 Americans, and as a targeted killing no less, without the mess of legal process. Obama’s belated decision to allow Seal Team 6 to put themselves in clear and present personal danger was apparently “courageous” because Osama was “hidden” a grenade’s throw from Pakistan’s “West Point”. In his own words, Obama is quoted as saying “I said we would go after Bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him. And I did.” This leads to an interesting train of questionning. Was Obama on the raid to Pakistan in person? Or did he confuse reality with the “video-game-esque” relay to the White House? Is “I” Obama’s favourite letter, pronoun, word or name? Why did Obama name the Presidential dog Bo using his own initials? At what point does allowing others to endanger themselves in pursuit of a mass-murdering terrorist become courageous? It is plain common sense.

On the same page, we saw analysis of the current Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, who actually was a Special Forces soldier. One of the few operations that Netanyahu is known to have taken part in, only because he was wounded, was the release of 90 hostages from a Sabena airplane hijacked by terrorists in 1972. We do not know what other anti-terrorist operations Netanyahu took part in but we do know that this a person who has laid his life on the line in defence of his fellow citizens. Netanyahhu also has an election coming up sometime in the next 18 months and whilst dealing with a clear and present existential threat to his people, yet there is nary a word from Netanyahu about his family’s loss of his elder brother or about the danger to his person whilst he served his country.

When choosing leaders, voters should consider if they want a contortionist who talks the walk whilst patting himself on his back, or one who has walked the walk.