Deserved Leadership

We often hear after an election that we get the leadership we deserve. Those saying this are usually on the losing side, blaming the stupidity of those who made the wrong choice. But the expression works both ways. We always deserve effective leadership, and many are ready to say that as of January 20th, we have it.

Not to get religious on you, but the Bible, whether you believe in it or not, is full of stories of seemingly unlikely people being elevated to positions of authority. The most famous example is Moses, who was tending his father-in-law’s sheep when he saw the burning bush. When the Lord told him he would be leading the Jews out of Egypt, his reaction was, “Who am I?” He didn’t have President Obama’s oratorical gifts. I guess that’s why the Lord needed the stone tablets to get the Ten Commandments across. David didn’t look nearly as much like a king as his brothers, but he was the one chosen by the prophet to reign over Israel. And Jesus was just a carpenter. He had a lot of trouble convincing others that he had been anointed.

During the presidential election campaign it was pointed out that Barack Obama lacked experience; his work as a community organizer was demeaned, and, of course, he is black, or half-black, to be precise. Many probably still feel that Hillary Clinton and John McCain would have made fine presidents. But it just didn’t happen that way.

The jokes about Obama’s election representing the second coming abound. But the fact that 2 million people stood out hours in the cold to watch him take the oath shows how many believe that that’s what we deserve. Did we get it?

Of course, we won’t know the answer to that for a while, and in a year from now, many of us may have very different feelings about Mr. Obama. As for comparisons to Jesus, well, it seems a very good bet that our new president won’t be ascending into heaven before our eyes anytime soon. At least not before the end of his second term.

There, now I’ve said it.