I imagine that if you or I came upon a fellow human being whose chest had been ripped open and whose beating heart glistened in front of us, we might have a wide range of emotional and physical responses: panic, confusion, nausea, anxiety, and even paralysis because we didn’t know what to do. In any event, I doubt we’d be very helpful to the poor soul in front of us.
And yet, doctors and nurses confront this very situation thousands of times a day in this country. Perhaps they find themselves treating the victim of a horrific car crash. Or maybe they’ve stepped into an operating room and are preparing to perform bypass surgery. In either circumstance, these professionals handle the situation with a focus and calm that a mere civilian could never muster. We probably would not have much confidence in a surgeon who burst into tears when confronting a traumatically injured patient. In that situation, we don’t want our doctors and nurses to be emotional.
Why is it then that President Obama is taking so much grief for his emotional response to the oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico? The spill is just the latest excuse for commentators to question Obama’s “coolness” and whether he is sufficiently angry. A reporter recently asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to describe Obama’s rage. “Does he yell and scream?” the reporter asked. This may be one of the dumbest questions ever asked at presidential press briefing.
Does anyone think that Obama screaming, shaking his fist, holding his breath and stomping his feet will plug the pipe any faster? Reporters may want to see rage, but rage doesn’t solve anything. Whatever goes on behind the scenes—and I can only image that the President has had many strong words with BP officials—the only emotion that a leader needs to show publicly in a crisis is empathy for the victims. In this regard, Obama has done fine. He has visited the Gulf Coast several times and has pledged the full support of the government to those suffering. Compare that to BP CEO Tony Hayward, who recently complained to a reporter that he would “like his life back.” Dude, tell that to the fishermen and see what happens.
At some point, the gusher of oil will be plugged. Maybe then all the people involved, including the President, can have a good cry. In the meantime, I wish the news media would worry less about presidential emoting and more about the policy, political, and business decisions that got us into this mess in the first place. Those alone are enough to make you angry.
