During a 1983 strike on Metro-North commuter trains, many suburban riders ventured onto outer-borough subway lines to get to Manhattan. One of those riders, a man from Stamford, Conn., told the New York Times that he was unnerved by the obvious neglect.
“The subways are a little frightening to us,” he said as he struggled to stand upright on the Lexington Avenue line. “The graffiti makes you wonder just who is in charge down here anyway.”
That anecdote perfectly captured what most people expect from their government when they are unnerved: a sense that they are safe because someone is in charge. The graffiti signaled to the man from Stamford that he was on his own.
Consider another New York moment, just seven years later. With violent crime spiraling out of control, a famous Post front page made a desperate plea to Mayor David Dinkins: “Dave, Do Something!”
The words expressed a common sentiment — that City Hall was inert in the face of rising bloodshed. Action, not dithering, was required.
History is filled with examples of leaders who rose to meet crises of public confidence, and those who didn’t. Winston Churchill rallied the British people from what looked like certain defeat at the hands of Hitler, and Rudy Giuliani was the consummate leader for a terrified and grieving New York in the aftermath of 9/11.
The details of leadership are always important, but in the beginning, they matter less than the demonstration of an ironclad will. A “rally ’round the flag” moment is possible only when there is a leader to rally around.
Consider a contrary example. President George W. Bush was too slow to act when public opinion was turning against the Iraq War. Eventually, his 2007 troop surge worked, but the nation already had lost patience, and then came the 2008 financial crisis. The result was a Democratic rout in the elections, with Barack Obama winning the White House and Dems expanding their majorities in Congress.
Which brings us to President Trump. In a relatively short period of time, the coronavirus has exploded into a global threat and is presenting him with the most critical test of his presidency.
His response is improving, but still needs work.
Fighting with the shadows of a partisan impeachment and wary of a hostile media that has demonized him for three years, the president initially gave the impression of being a reluctant commander-in-chief in the war against the deadly disease.
Other than travel restrictions he wisely imposed on non-American citizens from China at the end of January, the president seemed to regard the issue as overblown. There were hints he saw the attacks from Democrats on the administration’s response and media criticism as a continuation by another name of the Russia, Russia, Russia and Ukraine efforts to bring him down.
His words and actions reflected those experiences — that it would be a no-win situation if he gave legitimacy to what he regarded as yet another effort to delegitimize his presidency.
And so he tweeted about the “good” news of “gasoline prices coming down!” and compared the relatively few deaths in the US from coronavirus to the many thousands from ordinary flu. “Think about that!” he wrote Monday.
All true, but off-key. The panic that is sweeping the globe and playing havoc with stock markets cannot be discounted just because the other side is trying to score political points. Fish gotta swim and career pols will use any tragedy to score points.
Against a backdrop of fights over toilet paper in supermarkets and stories about rationing and price-gouging of hand sanitizer, the president’s trip to Mar-a-Lago for golfing and a meeting with the president of Brazil last weekend was ill-timed.
It is not an imaginary problem when multiple states have issued declarations of emergency. By any measure, public fear and confusion are rising.
Schools are closing, sporting events are shutting out fans and presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders canceled political rallies. The term “social distancing” is heard everywhere, reflecting a consensus that it is wise to move away from others and toward isolation.
The panic is spreading faster than the disease, and is a force multiplier of the virus. Unless both are confronted, the damage in lives and confidence lost will be enormous. A collapsing stock market could actually create a recession, which would undo the president’s historic economic achievements.
Tuesday’s sharp bounce back on Wall Street was welcome, but the wild swings feed the sense of instability. The rally intensified after the president visited Senate Republicans and promised “very substantial relief” for the areas hardest hit. Earlier, he met with health industry executives.
He had appeared at a press briefing Monday to float a payroll tax cut and promised to help sick individuals recover lost pay and support airlines and cruise ship companies, which have been hit especially hard by the outbreaks.
Those appearances have been welcome signs that the president is getting personally engaged, but there is still more to do. The take-charge leadership and focus he demonstrated through better trade deals, tax cuts and deregulation has been lacking.
Again, history shows the way. FDR’s fireside radio chats are now regarded as brilliant moves that kept Americans calm during the Depression and World War II, and also helped to cement his relationship with voters.
Other presidents have used Oval Office addresses for similar purposes. Trump’s challenge is to find his way of calming the country and explaining the facts to head off the panic.
It is a moment when good policy is good politics. The high road is still open.
Nobody expects grand oratory, but every fair-minded person needs to know the president feels America’s pain.
Otherwise, Trump could lose the battle now and the war in November.
Hillary ‘Biden’ her time
Reader Barbara Polito offers her two cents on how Hillary Clinton could get back into the White House. She writes:
“I believe she will take the VP slot with Biden, and he will step down/fall down … within a year, and Hillary will become president.”
But stronger pick: Mrs. O
Reader Bob Mangi sees a different Dem scenario, this one involving Michelle Obama. He writes: “She’s the real V-2 secret weapon. I like her even less than I do Hillary, but she can beat Trump. Woman, black, progressive liberal, all the boxes are checked.”
He adds: “Don’t say anything, maybe the Dems won’t think of it.”
Why NYCHA is in such a big ‘fix’
Example #979 why New York is such a mess.
Fifteen long months after the city Housing Authority struck a deal with unionized maintenance workers to do weekend repairs, instead of just Monday to Friday, an arbitrator finally approved the deal. But now management says it may not be able to make the changes systemwide this year.
Help!