"I am going out of retirement because I am deeply worried about this country I love." -- Lee Iacocca in Livonia, Mich., on May 21, 2007
CHIPPAWA, Ont. -- Lee Iacocca, the former Chrysler chairman, pitchman and best-selling author, finds the state of our nation deeply troubled, with inept, isolated and misguided politicians posing as leaders largely responsible for the mess. He is challenging the public to wake up and make our political leaders accountable for their deeds and is urging people to be much better informed when choosing leaders in the first place.
Over the years I've heard Iacocca pontificate on dozens of occasions on all matters great and small. He's an optimist and exudes confidence in his own ability to identify and deal with problems. But when I heard him speak last week, the gravity in his tone was unusual and telling. He said starkly of our nation, "We have lost our way."
Iacocca spoke at a packed luncheon at the Metro Detroit Book & Author Society. He was there to plug his new book "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" co-written with New York journalist Catherine Whitney.
I have never been a big Iacocca fan. Yes, I know he did a fine job saving Chrysler from bankruptcy. But President Jimmy Carter, members of Congress and United Auto Workers President Doug Fraser deserve as much of the credit for bailing out Chrysler in the late 1970s, to say nothing of the American people, whose money really saved the day.
Iacocca paid back the taxpayers and made a fortune for himself. His autobiography "Iacocca" became a bestseller shortly after I arrived on the Detroit scene and his words of wisdom and mug were everywhere. Maybe it was his ubiquitous presence that grated me or maybe like Henry Ford II, who said after firing Iacocca as president ofÊFord, "Sometimes you just don't like somebody."
For whatever reason, I never joined the Iacocca idolaters in the media. Then he did a few things that I just didn't like. He demanded restriction on cars imported from Japan at the same time Chrysler -- more than any of the old Big Three -- used parts in its vehicles manufactured overseas.
Iacocca introduced the Chrysler minivan in 1984, and although wildly successful initially, the evolution of that segment of the market became the symbol of the gas guzzlers; and like all the American auto industry leaders, he opposed higher fuel efficiency standards.
In 1995, Iacocca joined forces with his billionaire buddy Kirk Kerkorian to attempt a hostile takeover of Chrysler. They failed and many employees then vilified Iacocca as a traitor. The company board even tossed out plans to name Chrysler's new headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., in honor of Iacocca.
When Iacocca departed Chrysler, he picked Robert Eaton, a General Motors man, as his anointed successor. The move enraged veteran Chrysler executives who had toiled for years to make the company viable. GM types were often condescending in their views of the much smaller, often struggling Chrysler and its people.
Eaton proceeded to engineer the "merger of equals" with Germany's Daimler-Benz, which just ended in an ugly divorce. Many Chrysler executives still blame Iacocca for putting Eaton in power and the subsequent turmoil for the company.
But Iacocca is resilient and -- unlike George W. Bush and Dick Cheney -- occasionally admits making a mistake. He also is much more curious and creative than most in the nation's political leadership. "Keep an open mind. We live in a big world, a global society," Iacocca said.
He sees the need for a more informed, more literate nation: "Reading requires thought and reflection and we live in an age where there is too little of that. People hear a sound bite on TV and they think that's all they need to know about a subject. It's time to get serious folk."
Iacocca wants people to wake up, ask questions and listen. "No one should think that he can't learn something," he said. Iacocca scoffs at "The Decider," the "Commander Guy" George W. Bush's reading habits.
"I know we have a president who brags about never reading a newspaper, jeez," he moaned. "I don't think we should follow his example in this case. Read everything you can get your hands on. Ask questions."
Read only what supports your position, ask no questions and eschew curiosity is the formula for disaster the Bush administration uses with regularity. We are finally learning the truth about what the Busheviks knew about the perils Iraq would face after Saddam Hussein's government was ousted.
For three years following the invasion of Iraq, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a loathsome, miserable man, ran the Senate Intelligence Committee with an iron fist and did everything he could to bury the truth.
He insisted that the committee would not pursue the questions about the intelligence used to sell the war and that the senators -- let alone the public -- could not read the reports predicting what might happen after the invasion of Iraq.
But, now, under the leadership of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), our eyes are seeing the glory of the coming of the truth. The National Intelligence Council Report completed in January 2003 provides revealing information about the perils the war in Iraq would present -- perils hidden from the American people.
The report titled "Principal Challenges in Post-Saddam Iraq" predicted the very bloodshed and chaos we are now witnessing every day. The report noted that Iraq would be unlikely to split apart or disintegrate as a nation-state but "A post-Saddam authority would face a deeply divided society with a significant chance that domestic groups would engage in violent conflict with each other unless an occupying force prevented then from doing so."
The New York Times reports Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), now the ranking Republican on the Intelligence committee, said it is a "bad idea" to look back. What he means is that the Republicans consider it a "bad idea" for the public to know the truth about the fabricated reasons for war and the specific warnings the administration received about the dangerous consequences.
While Dick Cheney was confident U.S. troops would be "greeted as liberators" in Iraq, he had a report from the National Intelligence Council he failed to read or -- more likely -- simply ignored. Bush reads little and surely dismisses anything that doesn't jive with "What my gut tells me."
The report was chillingly prescient: "Rogue ex-regime elements could forge an alliance with existing terrorist organizations or act independently to wage guerrilla warfare against the new government or coalition forces."
The style of leaders Iacocca advocates would be open to views that challenge their preconceived notions. He deplores the cowboy speak we've heard so often: "You see, swagger isn't courage, tough talk isn't courage. Forget 'shock and awe.' Forget 'Bring 'em on.' Let's try a little honesty and humility. Don't just say mistakes were made, we know that. Step up to the plate."
Iacocca's broadsides against George W. Bush during his speech were mild compared to excerpts from his book. He voted for Bush in 2000 but supported John Kerry in 2004. At age 82, Iacocca has become like a fine cheese or wine, to be savored and revered.
He makes his case with righteous indignation: "Had enough? Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is the outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind and we can't even clean up after a hurricane, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.' Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The president of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones and lead us to war with a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know that to do. And the press is waving pompoms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for."
I never bothered reading "Iacocca." I will be reading "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 29 2007 |