I’m listening to the news and two stories came back to back. The first was an interview with Sen. Lieberman about Brown’s rise to head of FEMA. The second was an interview with Kofi Annan about reform efforts of the United Nations. I’m not concerned with the political ramifications of these stories; they just struck me with some thoughts I’ll detail later.

45 Minutes of Infamy

Sen. Lieberman is the ranking Democrat on the committee that held the confirmation hearing on Brown’s appointment. At the hearing, four senators were present, one spoke and the vote passed. The hearing lasted 45 minutes.

When asked, the senator reaffirmed that FEMA did not respond in a timely manner. He then pointed out a few things:

• The confirmation was for Brown to be Deputy Chief of FEMA.
• There was no hearing for him to be Chief of FEMA, something that should have happened, but did not because of restructuring FEMA to be a part of the Homeland Security office between his appointment as deputy and his rise to chief.

Lieberman answered with candor, especially in regards to only four senators present at the 45 minute confirmation. Basically, because it was a deputy position, the Congress tends to go along with whomever is nominated. He also spoke plainly about the concerns about future responses and the problems with legislation that created the Homeland Security department. As Congress is charged with oversight of the Federal Government, it did not happen and it needs to be corrected.

You’ve Had More Time than God

The United Nations is trying to reform and many are concerned that the documents released today about those reforms accomplish very little. Secretary Annan spoke of the positives in the document, especially that the UN is charged with protecting civilians from genocide (or ethnic cleansings or whatever term for mass murder chosen). Basically, the UN will get involved no matter where it occurs.

According to the report, Secretary Annan refuses to see the current document as a failure despite the “watering-down” of the original draft proposal. He went on to say that all reform efforts start somewhere and that at least there are good things in the document that can serve as a foundation for more reforms.

He related an anecdote about his first six weeks as leader of the UN. The Russian Ambassador demands action on certain reform commenting, “You’ve had more time than God.” Secretary Annan replied, “Yes, but God works alone.”

So Are You a Liberal?

It’s true I listen to NPR. Yes, I am liberal when it comes to issues of personal freedoms and some financial policies. However, I’m not concerned with the politics as much as the character of the two men. Both are reacting to a crisis and both are being challenged with inactivity when leadership is required. I am struck by three things these men demonstrated:

Candor

Senator Lieberman did not have to include an embarrassing story of not taking a confirmation seriously. He could have said everything else without mentioning that, but he did. I think he did it (besides political reasons) because he had to admit that he made a mistake. Because of that little detail, I was able to hear the rest of what he said. He took responsibility for what he did before moving on to discuss institutional issues.

On a similar note, the President took responsibility for his part in the failures of the Federal Government. Outside of political reasons, I can believe that his admission is sincere. It should have happened one visit to New Orleans ago, but it happened. Such an admission is hard to do and I’m sure he had political aides telling him not to do it. I’m glad he did the right thing.

Patience

Secretary Annan appears to be a big-picture type of a person. Looking at a situation pragmatically, he sees that reform rarely happens all at once in an institution like the United Nations. He is patient with smaller changes over time.

It is important to note, however, that Secretary Annan is straightforward and outspoken about needed changes in the UN. He has been quite public in what he believes to be the central issues and the solutions to those issues. Patience is not equivalent to silence.

Handling Critics

Senator Lieberman handled criticism with candor. Secretary Annan handled an unfair criticism by turning it back on the critic. I respect that way he held his ground without berating the Russian delegate. He didn’t respond him by asking him, “Well what have you done in six weeks?” He didn’t go into a long and involved response about proper UN protocol. He just handled it. If I was the Russian delegate, I would walk away thinking that since this man can deal with me, he may be able to get something done here.

More than Civics

I don’t have time at the moment to go into the implications of this juxtaposition. I hope to write more later tonight. Just wanted to share something that stirred some thoughts within me.