I Need a Hero . . .

I recently finished a biography of George C. Marshall.  Principal architect of the United States war effort in the Second World War and distinguished Secretary of State, Marshall's resume is the stuff of a national hero.  What struck me about his biography most was his dogged determination to play the role of dutiful public servant.  Marshall worked diligently to avoid becoming entangled in politics and strove to be an honest broker.

Such larger-than-life heroes seem to be missing from our current national crisis.  No great leader has stepped forward to lead America out of the tangled mess of a post-9/11 world and the wreckage of the 2008 financial crisis.  George Packer, writing in the New Yorker, wrote a longer piece entitled Coming Apart.  I largely agreed with his piece, much of which dealt with the apparent collapse of the American political system.  One of his principal points, and the one that lead me back to think about George C. Marshall, was that our political leaders have failed us. They have not been the leaders we have needed in a time of national crisis.

I would personally like to believe that President Obama has the necessary capacity for leadership.  However, I have come to the conclusion that however great Obama may be at understanding the need for leadership, he is out of step with the times.  While that may sound like a criticism of Obama it is not.  Rather, it is criticism of the rest of our political system.  While our system did produce and elevate an erudite and eloquent leader it left him without a counterpoint. There is no principled opponent with which to bridge the nation's divide.  There is no honest broker willing to put country before partisanship.   Thus, a great compromiser, who is willing to reach across the  political divide in service of a broader faith in the United States of America, is left with no one to compromise with.

Without this counterpoint or counterpoints, Obama is left trying to single-handily move the wheels of governance by himself.  In a system that was designed to preclude the concentration of absolute power in the hands of one man, Obama is left with the impossible task of carrying the whole of the burden himself.   

There appears to be no George C. Marshall waiting in the wings to selflessly guide America back to an even keel.  There is no principled opponent ready to push Obama to take on his party much less deliver the opposition in support of a grand bargain.  Rather, in a time when America expected its leaders to leave parochial and partisan interests at the water's edge, America instead sees its leaders standing upon the shores casting stones at those brave enough to enter the water.

Surely this is a recipe for decline.  While I am loathe to join the crowd bemoaning America's partisan rancor and predicting the rise of our soon-to-be Chinese overlords, I can not help but look around and wonder where we went off track.  The shape of the Republican presidential primary gives me little cause for optimism.

Where is our hero? I fear we will be waiting along time for an answer.