Lack Of Leadership

If anyone is wondering why Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis continues to lag so far behind Donald Trump, one only needs to look at what happened after Hurricane Idalia crossed the state causing billions of damage in her aftermath. President Joe Biden has done what he and other presidents have done countless times following major natural disasters in states where a “show of unity” between leaders starts with the governor on behalf of its citizens. That is when on too few occasions, a sense of unity is exhibited between leaders of both political parties because the work of rebuilding should show no political lines that should not be crossed. It doesn’t matter how “rich” a state may be, it is not wealthy enough to cover the entire amount of money/resources that it takes to rebuild one community, let alone dozens that suffer catastrophic damages from hurricanes. In some cases, it doesn’t have to be a hurricane that can affect a community but floods or severe heat that can drain a community’s resources. So, when President Biden toured regions of Florida affected by Idalia, America’s next perceived national leader Ron DeSantis was nowhere to be seen. Furthermore, the move by the governor did not go unnoticed. The ironic thing about DeSantis’ snub of Biden is that there have been times when DeSantis did appear with the president in the wake of a natural disaster. When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022, guess who was at Biden’s side? When a condo suddenly collapsed in 2021 killing dozens of Florida residents, DeSantis appeared with Biden at the scene of the tragedy. What changed between the two men this year? Biden is still the president and DeSantis is still governor. The difference is that DeSantis wants to replace Biden in the White House, as it would be kind of difficult for him to appear “chummy” with Biden, having to say nice things about the relief that is once again coming from his administration, all the while smiling and shaking the president’s hand. One need not be a rocket scientist to know the optics of appearing in a show of unity with the guy about whom you can’t say anything good for fear of your conservative base. However, there is no such thing as a “conservative” or “liberal” hurricane striking southern states, nor are there hurricanes happening because of gay people.

DeSantis snubbing Biden is showing fear of standing strong during a moment where leadership matters for all your constituents, not just the ones who voted for you. President Biden is in the position that DeSantis aspires to be one day, but hiding during the time when one should be showing that he “is worthy” of that position, shows weakness. Biden is not the boogey man, Trump is, but DeSantis is afraid to attack Trump. Besides that’s just the way Trump would prefer things to be. But even in the face of being snubbed, Biden took the high road by not criticizing DeSantis for not giving him just five minutes of his time. A spokesperson for the governor said, “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.” Somehow “security preparations” didn’t stop Biden from previous visits. If that was the best DeSantis could have done, then one can see why his campaign is in free fall. Imagine what the campaign would have said if Biden didn’t show up. Fox would be having a field day. People who follow politics knew that DeSantis appearing with Biden was a liability that Democrats would use in their campaign ads, something that DeSantis could ill afford. Donald Trump would quickly call DeSantis a RINO for cozying up to Biden. DeSantis does not want to “make the mistake” that former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie made when he embraced former president Barack Obama when he visited the state following a hurricane. Christie, to his credit, stood by his decision to meet and embraced Obama, saying that he did it for the people who elected him into office. He needed aid for his constituents, something that his critics couldn’t deliver. DeSantis could learn from that if he had led by example instead of trying to lead from the shadows. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.