A Hell of a Mess

[Bob Juch]

A Hell of a Mess:
Observations by Lee Iacocca

So here's where we stand:

We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.

We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask:

"Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense?

I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again.

Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies?

How did this happen? And more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.

What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobble head on Fox News will call them a name?

Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change? Had enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises:

The Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. hether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough.

Excerpted from "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
Copyright 2007 by Lee Iacocca.

[TheConfessor]

There's a longer version here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp

[MarleysGh0st]

There's a longer version here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp

Oh. And this one really was written by Iacocca. The Snopes article gives an attribution, which these chain e-mails never do:

The attribution was correct, and the timing was no coincidence, as the text is an excerpt from the opening of Iacocca's just-released book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, written with Catherine Whitney and published by Scribner.

Last updated: 17 April 2007

[BackInTex]

My questions to Lee are:

Why aren't you running?
Isn't $400,000 a year, plus American pride and hone enough?
Where is your courage?

Its easy to write a book about leading a county. Its hard to lead a country.

You did a good job, borrowing your country's money and paying it back. You're a good credit risk.

According to your book our leaders ARE sitting on their asses. One of them in your chair.

[Sir_Galahad]

Sounds like an Obama speech to me.

[Rexer25]

My questions to Lee are:

Why aren't you running?
Isn't $400,000 a year, plus American pride and hone enough?
Where is your courage?

Its easy to write a book about leading a county. Its hard to lead a country.

You did a good job, borrowing your country's money and paying it back. You're a good credit risk.

According to your book our leaders ARE sitting on their asses. One of them in your chair.

According to the Snopes article, he's 82 years old. I don't think that's gonna be something most voters can live with.

Edited to correct age.

[BackInTex]

My questions to Lee are:

Why aren't you running?
Isn't $400,000 a year, plus American pride and hone enough?
Where is your courage?

Its easy to write a book about leading a county. Its hard to lead a country.

You did a good job, borrowing your country's money and paying it back. You're a good credit risk.

According to your book our leaders ARE sitting on their asses. One of them in your chair.

According to the Snopes article, he's 82 years old. I don't think that's gonna be something most voters can live with.

Edited to correct age.

So this is the first presidential election since he borrowed and paid back the money? NO.

His 'courage' talk is no better than a so-called chicken hawk. This country has been in the trouble he talks about since mid-GHWB's only term, and yet he waits until he is too old to do anything about it to put it in a book?

He should have run in '92.

[SportsFan68]

My questions to Lee are:

Why aren't you running?
Isn't $400,000 a year, plus American pride and hone enough?
Where is your courage?

Its easy to write a book about leading a county. Its hard to lead a country.

You did a good job, borrowing your country's money and paying it back. You're a good credit risk.

According to your book our leaders ARE sitting on their asses. One of them in your chair.

I agree with BiT.

If you're not happy with the way things are going, get your butt out there and run yourself. Or find a candidate who thinks the way you do and put your money where your mouth is.

I disagreed with Ross Perot a lot, but when it came time to put or shut up, guess which one he did.

I loathe Ralph Nader for creating the situation that elected the worst President in history, but he still believes passionately in his message and insists on delivering it from the campaign trail, not from behind a nice comfy chair in front of a word processor.

[starfish1113]

I loathe Ralph Nader for creating the situation that elected the worst President in history, but he still believes passionately in his message and insists on delivering it from the campaign trail, not from behind a nice comfy chair in front of a word processor.

He ran in '92, as well?

[Appa23]

I loathe Ralph Nader for creating the situation that elected the worst President in history, but he still believes passionately in his message and insists on delivering it from the campaign trail, not from behind a nice comfy chair in front of a word processor.

He ran in '92, as well?

See, I was trying to figure out how he was linked to James Buchanan or Jimmy Carter.

[peacock2121]

I loathe Ralph Nader for creating the situation that elected the worst President in history, but he still believes passionately in his message and insists on delivering it from the campaign trail, not from behind a nice comfy chair in front of a word processor.

He ran in '92, as well?

fishie made me laugh and laugh






and




laugh