What are the responsibilities of a CEO? Classical definition would encompass leading, communicating, decision making and managing the affairs of a corporate entity to ensure that all its stakeholders’ issues are addressed and the shareholders’ interests are fulfilled. Going by this definition would it not be the responsibility of any CEO to juxtapose the expenses and revenues, both real and projected, while trying to maintain a healthy profitability?
Aren’t the American CEOs well known all over the world for their exceptional business sense, often employing strategies to drive both short term and long term profitability of their respective companies? Is it not an accepted fact that corporate America ruthlessly cull CEOs who do not perform exceptionally on any of the responsibilities entrusted to them? Is it also not a fact that even some of those CEOs who generate decent results just because they fail to live up to the expectation of the shareholders, are replaced? If the answers to all of the above questions are a resounding yes, why, then, is the United States, the capitalist beacon of hope, run in any other way?
Why is a balanced budget, for that matter even a functional budget, an arcane concept for the CEO of the USA? Why is he not held accountable for not having passed a budget for the last 800 plus days? What are his key performance indicators (KPIs)? not to be confused with the economic indicators. Who are the shareholders he is accountable to and what exactly has he been reporting to them about his own performance and that of the country he has been running for the past two and half years? Would any conventional corporate CEO have survived even four quarters with the kind of results achieved by this CEO? Why has he not been able to foresee, with all the resources at his disposal, the needs of the country and preempt at least some of the current unimaginably complex and disastrous situations? CEOs cannot shrug off their responsibilities by blaming the poor performance of their predecessor, the reason why there was a change in the first place.
Media, Doomsday Predictions and TEA Party Bashing
The answers to all these questions are quite obvious but the fourth estate chooses to ignore them while focusing on doomsday predictions and Tea Party bashing. The American people, the share holders of the United States of America, were extremely perceptional. They were very quick to realize the ineptitude of the new CEO they elected to office and at the first democratic opportunity they registered their displeasure by electing Republican Senator Scott Brown from Massachusetts. That was not indication enough for the new CEO to understand the change of mood among the shareholders, as he continued unabashedly on his ideology driven, agenda ridden administration. At the next democratic opportunity the shareholders voted to take away the solid majority enjoyed by the Democrats in the House and left even the Senate Democrats gasping in their fury. Surprisingly, still the CEO learned nothing constructive from such an emphatically expressed opinion of the shareholders. If the failure to adapt the first time around could be attributed to his inexperience, sheer hubris has to be factored in along with his monumental ineptitude, the second time around.
The shareholders had spoken unequivocally not once, but twice. Even the most unimaginative could garner some sense of the gravity of their collective democratic opinion expressed in the most civil and constitutionally prescribed way. They hoped that the country would not fail and voted for change swiftly, just as passionately as they had voted in the presidential elections two years earlier. Yes, the message of hope and change had come home to roost. Yet the CEO was oblivious of what was going on around him or at least his action gave that impression. The country had undergone a silent revolution, silent mainly due to the stunning abdication of responsibility by the otherwise vociferous mainstream media. They had given the incumbent a pass on one of the most disappointing and devastating performances as the nations CEO.
The shareholders had spoken and they demanded real change unlike the verbally bloated version of change that originates from a teleprompter. The change came in the form of a fresh crop of Tea Party members of congress who came in with an unambiguous mandate to control the clueless CEO and his actions. To control the relentless growth of the government and its expenditure, to address the rapidly expanding deficit and the lack of a budget, to stop the vicious cycle of relentless borrowing and the frenzied spending and to affect change in the way Washington functioned. For the shareholders, November 2010 elections were a watershed moment when they finally made the message clear even to the slow-to-comprehend GOP members of congress, enough is enough.
Ever since the Tea party started flexing their muscles the thus-far silent mainstream media again turned vociferous and increasingly uncivil and bellicose
Ever since the Tea party started flexing their muscles the thus-far silent mainstream media again turned vociferous and increasingly uncivil and bellicose, often attaching an array of denigrating attributes including racism and terrorism. Tea party leaders quickly became the favorite objects of ridicule for the liberal elites of the so-called mainstream media. The hatchet wielding ideologues camouflaged as journalists were just beginning their field day. Interestingly the CEO was hiding behind the smoke screen created by this biased media avoiding all his responsibilities to the point where the entire country, excepting the no-matter-what liberals and Democrats, was wondering, who is actually in control?
The current impasse and the fervent negotiations to avoid a default and the principled stance of the Tea Party representatives have to be viewed from this perspective. Suddenly the tea party representatives are the Hezbollah, they are terrorists and the latest talking point is the economic doom that awaits the US and the world on October second. It does not matter anymore that the CEO did absolutely nothing so far which the American people elected him to do other than improving his handicap on a golf course while the entire nation and the world at large was really handicapped.
The Tea Party was made to be the sole reason for the impending doom and everyone else suddenly rooting for the American people. While rejecting bill after Republican bill in the senate, the Democrats have latched on to words they cannot even begin to comprehend, such as compromise and bipartisanship, as if they hold the patents to them. Democrats, along with the mainstream media, have been behaving like a lynch mob out to stigmatize the Tea Party as a bunch of racist morons, political pariahs and terrorists who needed to be stopped in their tracks.
American people are definitely tolerant and democratic, may be a little bit naïve, but they are certainly not stupid, the Tea Party has proved it yet again
Meanwhile this CEO is focused on a single negotiating point in the whole deal which made it necessary for him to seek a debt ceiling hike one more time before his reelection. He even threatened to veto any bill that includes this component, no matter what happens to the country and the people that have been entrusted to him. He can overlook the tax hikes, even a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget; but seeking a higher debt limit to borrow more funds in an election year? That is his sacred political ground, tread light. The media; they are still mesmerized by the audacity of the hopeless.
The disconnect is so very obvious to anyone who cares. He probably still believes that the share holders will give him one more chance as the nation’s CEO despite the fiasco of an administration he is currently providing. How much louder should the people shout for him to come out of his stupor? American people are definitely tolerant and democratic, may be a little bit naïve, but they are certainly not stupid, the Tea Party has proved it yet again.
Mohan Eapen, is a Christian currently living in Ontario. Mohan has a degree inComputer Engineering with a Masters in International Management from Pondichery Central University in India.
Mohan was worked in Bombay and Dubai in Public Relations, combined media, production and advanced telecommunication solutions for businesses.
Mohan still offer consulting services for clients ranging from multinationals to local entities and can be reached at: moneapen@yahoo.com
