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Photo: US National Archives
US Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice react to 9/11 attacks
Photo: US National Archives
Eitan Haber

We want human leaders, not robots

Op-ed: We don't need a perfect leader who is never embarrassed, doesn't cry or laugh at critical moments and doesn't rest his feet on his desk. We want a leader who knows how to loosen his tie and who hesitates 66 times before cutting short the life of a soldier or a civilian as a result of his decisions.

A few days ago, the White House released a series of photos showing the United States' leaders in their most difficult hour: The attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

  

 

The photos featured an embarrassed, perhaps even terrified, group of leaders during those critical hours. Among them was the vice president, who is seen placing one foot, or maybe two, on his desk as he watches the events unfold on a television screen in front of him.

 

That picture created a buzz: Why did he put up his foot? Is that the only thing he could do during the American nation's difficult moments? Does the foot on the table suggest disregard, arrogance, embarrassment? Commentators around the world competed over who would explain what it was all about.

 

First of all, we should know (if the regulations haven't changed in the meantime) that the White House's official photographer is allowed to enter every discussion, even the most secret one. He enters for a moment, takes the picture and tiptoes out of the room. He is almost the busiest person in the White House, because the US president wants every moment of his term perpetuated, and who doesn’t want to be perpetuated with the American president?

 

Cheney with his foot up. The odd interpretations of this image point to the era we live in, an era in which privacy has been lost, an era in which hypocrisy thrives (Photo: US National Archives)
Cheney with his foot up. The odd interpretations of this image point to the era we live in, an era in which privacy has been lost, an era in which hypocrisy thrives (Photo: US National Archives)

 

But the odd interpretations of the location of the foot of Vice President Dick Cheney, who was the most senior official present during those catastrophic hours, point to the era we live in, an era in which privacy has been lost. An era in which hypocrisy thrives.

 

What will we lack in the coming years and what will replace the conduct we are familiar with? Not a single leader in the current generation, let alone the next, will allow himself to loosen his suffocating tie, mutter an assertive word like "sh*t," ask his secretary not to "transfer that idiot's call" or to "get rid of him," not to mention a healthy burp and other blows a person is hit with at the exact moment he doesn’t want them.

 

He won't be able to grab a nap, or even shut his eyes for a second. He will always seek to appear as the perfect leader, and a perfect leader is not embarrassed, doesn’t cry or laugh at critical moments, and definitely does not place his foot or feet on the table, Heaven forbid. He also addressed his secretary with words such as, "Would you please ask Mr. So and So if he would be willing to call in an hour, and I would be glad to talk to him for a while." Leaders who act that way will be the robots of the 21st century.

 

We want perplexed leaders who deliberate (especially before an operation which could result in victims). We want leaders who hesitate 66 times before any of them cuts short the life of a soldier or a civilian as a result of his decisions. We have had enough brave leaders who decided very fast, and the outcomes of their decisions can be seen daily in the rows at Israel's military cemeteries. As far as we are concerned, the defense minister can collapse before every decision and the chief of staff can hesitate and hesitate.

 

We want a leader who knows how to loosen his tie, who knows how to steal chocolate from the silver box even if it's only intended for guests. We want a leader who will say to someone during a discussion "give me a break" and "kiss my a**" in street language, and it won't do any harm for a certain minister to hear that he's an idiot sometimes. We want to see a leader with tehina running down his chin (but he shouldn't wipe his hands on the tablecloth; there's a limit to exaggeration).

 

In short, we want human beings as our leaders. People who are not afraid of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, who say exactly what they think rather than how the "people" will perceive it. We have enough hypocrites and robots.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.01.15, 15:16
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