Qualifications of a House Speaker - First Do No Harm

House speaker John Boehner is a leader obsessed with obstruction. Although he pretends to lead his colleagues in the House of Representatives, he fails the basic political test of a public servant to create trust. 

As though Americans need more reasons to mistrust Speaker Boehner, he has now criticized President Obama for not attending a previously scheduled summit meeting with Russian President Putin in early September. House Speaker John Boehner used the development as an opportunity to take a swipe at Obama.
"A reset with Russia just collapsed," he said.  

President Obama has every reason not to attend a summit with Putin in advance of the G-20 economic summit in St. Petersburg.

Apparently, Boehner is unaware of how the US was diplomatically snubbed when the National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden, a man on the lamb for breach of national security, was given asylum by the Russians, despite US protests 

This decision to cancel the summit meeting was made in the interest of affirming America's international leadership in the face of a national security embarrassment over the asylum granted to Snowden by Putin.  

Boehner's criticism of President Obama is making a delicate situation even more fragile. Moreover, the criticism doesn't demonstrate patriotic leadership.  In short, Boehner isn't building trust in America by criticizing the President about this important decision not to attend the summit.  

Putin must have known this response to the summit was coming. For President Obama to attend the summit, while Russia continues to provide Snowden asylum, would be ridiculous, because only acrimony would result. This anticipated negative political affect shared by two world leaders wouldn't be good for either nations' public relations.

One has to wonder if Speaker Boehner even bothers to read the news he needs to know.  (Boehner needs Katie Couric's question. "So, Speaker Boehner, what newspapers do you read?")

Boehner doesn't understand how his leadership is harming our national security and America's international credibility.

In short, Boehner must learn to "first do no harm".

Let's begin with the public servant's obligation to build trust. About the only thing Americans can trust Boehner to do is obstruct any and all things sanctioned with a President Obama imprimatur.

Obviously, Speaker Boehner doesn't recall, or he chooses to ignore, the effective leadership built upon the trust shared by Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neal.  MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews reported in a January 8, 2011 Washington Post op-ed article how politicians today should pay attention to the effective leadership shared by these two elected politicians, who didn't philosophically agree:   "...it seems like a good time to reflect on Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill.  It would serve us well to understand how these very different politicians managed to temper their philosophical divide with a public, and sometimes personal, cordiality," wrote Matthews.

In other words, President Reagan and Speaker O'Neal worked together for the public good.  Although the two didn't agree much, they enjoyed mutual and national respect, leading to trust. 

Certainly, this isn't so with Speaker Boehner and his relationship with President Obama.  In contrast, Boehner's leadership of the US House has driven public opinion for the once dignified august House of Representatives into a walloping Gallop Poll rating of 79 percent disapproval!  Americans can't trust a politician who leads the Congress into a hole covered by public disdain.  

Speaker Boehner is harming American foreign policy by not supporting President Obama, especially when it makes patriotic and international good sense to do otherwise.  

Supporting President Obama's decision not to attend the summit with arrogant President Putin will do no harm to our nation or Speaker Boehner. As a matter of fact, the decision for President Obama not to attend the summit will likely save Americans a lot of tax money needed for travel security.  Support, rather than criticism, won't do any more harm to Speaker Boehner's image with Ohio Democrats, either.

It's really time Americans examine the qualifications of House Speaker John Boehner in the same way we ask to see the licenses of physicians who are treating patients for illness. Speaker Boehner's continuous obstruction of President Obama's agenda is unpatriotic and, therefore, doing more harm than good.

It's time to remove Speaker Boehner from his Congressional leadership position, because he's clearly doing us harm.  I have seen no evidence to the contrary.  There isn't a public initiative I can think of where Boehner's leadership has improved our nation's human condition.  

Boehner is not demonstrating the patriotic qualifications required to continue being Speaker of the House. My vote is to replace Boehner with somebody who garners respect.  Unfortunately, a Republican with qualifications required for this important leadership role seems, at this time, to be nonexistent.

Which may prove that the entire Republican Party needs to be sanctioned for political malpractice, until they can learn how to govern without doing more harm.  

Tom Hanks Movie "The Terminal" - Snowden Is Living the Legend

Edward Snowden is a man fleeing justice in the US, but his unusual high drama international story is hardly original.

Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal" gets a respectable 7.2 stars on IMDb.  Still, this funny movie may not be comical anymore.  In fact, the fictional movie is now historic.

In the movie, an eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there. Director: Steven Spielberg

Storyline in "The Terminal"

Viktor Navorski, a man from an Eastern European country arrives in New York. However after he left his country war broke out. Suddenly Navorski is a man without a country - or one that the U.S. cannot recognize, thus he is denied entrance to the U.S. However, he also can't be deported so he is told by the Security Manager that he has to remain in the airport until his status can be fixed. And also Navorski doesn't speak English very well, so he cannot talk to or understand anyone. But he somehow adapts and sets up residence in the airport, which makes the man who placed him there unhappy, as it seems he is in line for a promotion but Navroski's presence might complicate that. So he tries to get Navorski to leave but Navorski remains where he is. Navorski makes friends with some of the people who work in the airport and is attracted to a flight attendant he runs into whenever she comes in.      

Here is the Edward Snowden translation:  

Edward Snowden, a man on the run from the United States who is on the lamb for suspicion of being a traitor, arrives in the Moscow, Russia Sheremetyevo Airport. He is a man who is fleeing his country.  But, he can't be deported because he has no status and, officially, according to President Putin, he has not officially entered Russia.  

Edward Snowden is still inside the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday – the first official word on the fugitive's whereabouts in more than two days. Putin said Russia has nothing to do with Snowden's plans, and appeared to pour cold water on demands from Washington to hand him over to U.S. prosecutors.

"As regards handing him in - we can hand over foreign nationals only to a country with which we have an agreement about handing over criminals," Putin told reporters at a press conference in Finland. "We do not have such an agreement with the United States."

Snowden doesn't speak Russian very well, so he has difficulty understanding people in the airport. Nevertheless, Snowden manages to set up a residence in the airport.  Snowden decides to stay where he is because, like Tom Hanks, he might very well become an airport star.  (I wonder if Snowden can claim royalties for any songs, stories, movies or news documentaries sold as a result of his true life saga.)

Eventually, and it's just a matter of time, Snowden will likely find a flight attendant and other sympathizers who are attracted to him, at which time, he'll likely find a way out of his transient life.

Meanwhile, Snowden has raised the bar for homeless refugees who find themselves stranded in holding cells in international airports, because they have no immigration status.  I wonder if Snowden has started a new idea for international homeless shelters?

Snowden is living the legend told in "The  Terminal", but his story is hardly entertaining anymore.  Rather, Snowden may have contributed to a less safe world by revealing information used to track and capture terrorists.  Eventually, Snowden will be forced to return to the United States, because his terminal situation cannot be permanent.  

National Security Agency Whistle Blower Crows from the Safety of Hong Kong - One Veteran Officer Responds

Edward Snowden reveals himself as a whistle blower, will seek asylum in Iceland?  He criticizes the work of the NSA while speaking to the media, from Hong Kong.  Maybe there's an iceberg the Icelanders can float him on, where he'll eventually melt into the ocean.

From DonD in Wake Forest North Carolina:  "Let's see. This guy joins the Army, then is upset that the Army teaches one to kill, rather than perform humanitarian acts. He joins the CIA, and gets upset again, this time because the CIA may want him to collect intelligence information. He later discloses his version of what the CIA expected of him which, if true, is a violation of a non-disclosure agreement he would have had to sign."

Iceberg Alert - can we reserve one for Snowden?  

What's Snowden trying to accomplish?  He's putting innocent people at risk by creating doubt about our nation's ability to collect data for national security purposes.  

Honestly, Americans who believe any electronic communications are secure must still believe in the tooth fairy. Moreover, electronic surveillance began with the passage of the Patriot Act, enacted under President George Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC.  The work of the National Security Agency (NSA) must rise above the political rhetoric of the moment and focus on tracking terrorists. Any attempt by politicians, like the pompous Senator Rand Paul, to curtail the surveillance of electronic communications must be carefully evaluated in light of the new normal world we live in.  Citizens can't hire enough public safety people to protect innocent people from terrorism; but we can monitor patterns in electronic communications to pick up patterns that may prevent tragedies.

In response to the Snowdon whistle blower disclosure, a retired Army officer, whose career included assisting international diplomats, writes this op-ed article, used here with his permission:

DonD  Wake Forest, NC

Let's see. This guy joins the Army, then is upset that the Army teaches one to kill, rather than perform humanitarian acts.

He joins the CIA, and gets upset again, this time because the CIA may want him to collect intelligence information. He later discloses his version of what the CIA expected of him which, if true, is a violation of a non-disclosure agreement he would have had to sign.

Next, he works for NSA as a contractor, where he must sign a non-disclosure agreement, but again gets upset, this time with an intelligence organization that collects communications information.

He says he has heroes, Daniel Ellsberg and PFC Bradley Manning, both of whom gained notoriety by disclosing classified information. For the latter, that series of disclosures has put several individual lives at peril. I'm surprised he didn't claim Jonathan Pollard as a hero, as well.

For those who think this is heroic behavior, this individual was custom made to be recruited by a foreign intelligence service, and the old KGB would have had him working for them in a heartbeat. The hook, in Snowden's case would have been a psychological weakness for personal recognition, while assuring him that his actions in no way would be damaging to the US.

I do agree with those who want a more fulsome public dialogue as to the limits of NSA's work, but having gotten there with public disclosure of sensitive methods of collection to a foreign entity cannot be supported.

Thank you Don.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to interfere with the important NSA intelligence work, when all the agency is trying to do is to protect innocent people from becoming victims of terrorism.