"We Shall Overcome"

I am glad the drama is finally over, but the world has been watching the US Congress dealing with its chaotic stalemate unseen in a hundred years in selecting its House Speaker - leaving the country without the indispensable functions of one third of the government. On the one hand, it is democracy at work and it is exactly how the process is supposed to play out. On the other hand, it is also interesting to see the leadership styles and leadership principles from our political leaders. Just last week, My family visited the Lyndon B Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin.

Although John F Kenneday, as the?youngest ever elected U.S. president, is often remembered for his vision and leadership with his charm and optimism,?President Lyndon B Johnson is often defined by his inability to lead the US out of the Vietnam war.

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim!" - President Lyndon Johnson

Domestically, Johnson's ambitious "Great Society" policy was aimed at expanding civil rights, healthcare, aid to education and the arts, urban and rural development, and public services. He never diverge from it. In fact, his wide-reaching achievements had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of millions of Americans.

Johnson was an imposing figure who was ruthlessly effective at getting bipartisan legislation passed through his career as a?US representative, US Senator, Senator majority leader, Vice President, and the President. He not only worked hard, Johnson also had his particular brand of persuasion, known as "The Johnson Treatment" - “it was an incredible blend of badgering, cajolery, reminders of past favors, promises of future favors, predictions of gloom if something doesn't happen. When that man started to work on you, all of a sudden, you just felt that you were standing under a waterfall and the stuff was pouring on you."

Johnson knew that the continued war in Vietnam was risking his domestic agenda of building a great society, but the tension between his domestic vision and the Vietnam War was never able to reconcile. "It was a man that absolutely tortured by the realization that he just simply did not have the power or the vision available to find way out of this thing." In the end, it destroyed his body as well as his heart knowing that so many of his achievements would now be shadowed by the war.

Back to the current political environment, the increased polarization along ideological lines for domestic policy often does not sit well with the need to have a unified long term strategy to copy with the challenges on the world stages. The increasingly fractured relationship with Russia, the emerging strategic competition with China, the need for international cooperation to tackle issues such as pandemic or climate change will all have significant implications on the domestic agendas in many ways. While democracy is inherently messy, we need to have a functioning government to tackle the challenges in many fronts. In order for the country to move forward, it will take true leadership to bring the country together and work with each?other, especially with those who do not agree with you.

This is a reminder of a time of LBJ in 1965 when - despite all the struggles and challenges?- the U.S. was taking great forward strides and moving in the right direction. Quoting President Johnson’s famous address to the Congress at the time on his proposed Civil Rights Bill, "We shall overcome".

I certainly hope that is true for the current gridlock as well.

Related Article

Vietnam War, Chinese Medicine, and Nobel Prize (01/02/2021)

The Fall of Kabul and Lessons from 911 (09/11/2021)

(Please join the 279,000 subscribers to my newsletter by clicking the?subscribe?button on the top of the article to be notified of new editions, and visit my Leadership?website . Better yet, please join the conversation by sharing your comments. Thanks.)