President Sebastian Pinera during the Chilean earthquake
One of the most un-American aspects of the Chilean Mine rescue is the active and personal involvement of the President Sebastian Pinera. And this is precisely the common lament about the detachment of both Bush and Obama during the Katrina and the BP Oil spill respectively. Similarly during the recent mining disasters in America the Presidents stayed remote, never visited the mines and leaned on the agencies and the businesses to resolve the issues. Instead the American way is to unleash the lawyers to “make them pay” (just look at the Senate chart to figure out why). America is the country of the laws.
This is a uniquely American shtick, by the founding design. The Founding Fathers wanted a ceremonial President, without the European royal stamp on all aspects of the nation. But there comes a time when the challenges are so severe, it’s unimaginable that a nation can overcome without summoning the collective energy. And how can you energize the people without the emotional, practical and visible involvement of the leaders. This absurdity is grotesquely underlined by the fact that America is fighting two prolonged wars with the seemingly uninvolved Presidents at the helm. Half of the country is out work, swept by the cataclysmic structural economic upheavals, and the pundits say that the President really “can’t do much” about it.
The jury on the pristine Presidential model of the Founding Fathers is still out. Of course a lot depends on the unique character of a President. But then the electorate process favors a detached, unsentimental makeup in a President. Only a person who has the discipline to hide his real thoughts, emotions and reactions at all times can carry the carefully orchestrated electable message the required distance and is worthy of the free rent. This is perhaps the flaw in the founding design. Before the mass media you could be an American President and still retain your humanity. The mass media President ceremonially gravitates towards the absolutist, totalitarian and “iconic” model, even when absolutely without power. The Chilean mine rescue (post the American installed Pinochet) is a good illustration of the contrast.
Further reading: