You’re The Boss

President Obama didn’t create the secret waiting lists at the Veterans Administration hospitals. Most of the misbehavior didn’t occur on his watch. No matter. The boss takes the heat for failures below him and is responsible for cleaning it up. Much like Mary Barra at General Motors, the crisis was handed on to him. In fact, Obama has even less responsibility for the failure than Barra, a GM lifer. Yet, Obama gets to deal with the scalding rage of both sides of the aisle. He has tried to tamp down the ire but it is taking time to do so, and he hasn’t stopped the waves of criticism so far. He could be forgiven for saying, “Don’t blame me”, but a leader stands in and takes the abuse while turning a situation around. The demand of Congress and the public is loud and clear. “You’re the boss. Fix it.” There are many perks for being President. This isn’t one of them.