Lee Iacocca’s Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Well, another interesting email is making the circuit – this time about Lee Iacocca. IF this is just a marketing tool for his latest book, then I am impressed. Impressed enough to go out and get a copy when it is availible.
Anyway – check out the body of the email as I received it. Plus, as a bonus, at the end, I did a Snopes.com check on it as well.
Email begins-
Just as true today as it was when his book first came out. He was, and still is, a brilliant businessman! Often we need to be reminded of Iococca’s words.
Remember Lee Iacocca , the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He’s now 82 years old and has a new book, ‘Where Have All The Leaders Gone?’
Lee Iacocca Says:
‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We’ve got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers’ money, much less build a hybrid car . But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘trust me the economy is getting better…’
Better? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the Democrats out along with Obama!’
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 most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs… While we’re fiddling in Afghanistan , Iran is completing their nuclear bombs and missiles and nobody seems to know what to do. And the liberal press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘ America ‘ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C’s of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with thumb up your butt and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here’s where we stand.
We’re immersed in a bloody war now with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. But our soldiers are dying daily.
We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the world, and it’s getting worse every day!
We’ve lost the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs .
Gas prices are going to skyrocket again, and nobody in power has a lucid plan to open drilling to solve the problem. This country has the largest oil reserves in the WORLD, and we cannot drill for it because the politicians have been bought by the flea-hugging environmentalists.
Our schools are in a complete disaster because of the teachers union.
Our borders are like sieves and they want to give all illegals amnesty and free healthcare.
The middle class is being squeezed to death every day.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping the government will make it better for them. Now, that’s just crazy.. Deal with life.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, look what Obama did about it!
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis , or managing the health care problem . The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the Chicago gangsters in Congress. We didn’t elect you to turn this country into a losing European Socialist state . What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough ? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope – I believe in America . In my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America ‘s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: The ‘Great Depression ,’ ‘ World War II ,’ the ‘ Korean War ,’ the ‘Kennedy Assassination,’ the ‘ Vietnam War ,’ the 1970′s oil crisis , and the struggles of recent years since 9/11.
Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It’s our country, folks, and it’s our future. Our future is at stake!!
***********************************
LET’S GET THE MUSLIM ROOKIE OUT OF THE WHITEHOUSE!!!
***********************************
Post Script: The title to this book is very interesting. Of late, I’ve been thinking that what our country needs is a man not too unlike General George S. Patton to be the next president. However, I know what our Defense Department produces when it comes to Generals over the past 30 years. There IS NO PATTON anywhere to be found. Therefore, a civilian that has the same fire and spirit as the good general will have to do a gut check and then step forward. Anyway, this email got me to thinking about a Patton like President is needed for our survival. So I just toss that idea out into the internet ether to see what happens.
And before anyone claims that this poster did not check out if this email was true or not… just go to Snopes.com yourself and type in Lee Iacocca. I got two hits the first of which is posted below:
1. snopes.com: Lee Iacocca – Where Have All the Leaders Gone? ••••
E-mail reproduces excerpt from Lee Iacocca’s ‘Where Have All the Leaders Gone?’
…Claim: Excerpt reproduces passages from Lee Iacocca’s Where Have All the Leaders Gone? Example: [Iacocca, 2007] Am I the only guy in this country…
…My friends tell me to calm down. They say, “Lee, you’re eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people.” I’d love to as soon as I can pry them…
…drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, “Remember, Lee, the only thing you’ve got going for you as a human being is your…
Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:31:20 GMT http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp.
This book says nothing about Obama and the Democrats in office today. This has been plagarized. He is writing of Bush and it says so in many parts of the book. It was written in 2006 and published in 2007 when Obama wasn’t even thought of.
Well, I do plan on reading this book when I can get ahold of a copy.
You’ve proved that you’re can repost the lies some right wing idiot made up–and you are obviously one too
Another Dem/Obama Kool-Aid drinker response to this post.
Very interesting.
So the book was published in 2007 (under the administration of GWB). OK. So the concepts presented in this book ONLY apply to GWB/Republicans. If the concepts can ALSO be applied to ANOTHER individual who is holding the same office after the first one – its against Federal law to do so huh? To point it out, “hey the emperor is wearing no clothes?!”
Well, maybe in the (Un)United Socialist States of America, that is the case. I admit that since I do not follow MSM as in watching the nightly news (my work schedule is of a night time shift until recently), my life has become much better. As far as my outlook on life that is.
I guess I better restate some facts about myself. One; while I voted both times for GWB, I did not agree with him 100% of the time. The guys who were running against GWB I did not like and they had to be stop – so there. Hate me all you want (now).
By the Way, Hey Al Gore, where’s your Global Warming now dude?
The illegal alien issue the primary reason I disagreed with GWB on. Supposedly, we now have a wall on our southern border (false). The War against Terrorism wasn’t constant in my view. Did the Bush Admin get suckered on weapons of mass destruction (I will have to say yes-lesser grades of chemical weapons were found, but to the MSM and Dems – GWB came up with a big old goose egg).
The Dems made great propgranda points when the carrier USS Lincoln put up that banner on the island and GWB made a speech from her flight deck. What was overlooked in their glee was that the Lincoln was returning home from deployment and that her crew HAD indeed earned a well deserved Mission Accomplished. And GWB didn’t try to correct the mistake. It hurt him, but he didn’t try to shove the blame off onto someone else to save his political behind.
I lost my home to foreclosure while GWB was in office. I’m living in a 28 foot RV from the 1970s where my living room used to be! I don’t blame him personally for what happened, but the problems in the housing market did come to a head under his watch at the end there. Bush (and Obama since hes in there now) will get the credit for both good and bad when it happens. That just goes with the job they have.
Under the current steward ship of Obama and company – this country took a hard turn to the left (socialism). Cap and Trade, Healthcare “reform”, etc. They had the votes, but were unable to shove that crap down our throats because of individuals in BOTH PARTIES objected to this course of action!
Because there were Americans out there that are angry as hell and will not take it any more to use that famous movie line! That is why the Tea Party Movement is as big as it is. IT is also why the Obama kool-aid drinkers try to down play the Tea Party people by the insulting phrase “Tea Baggers.”
So most of the points in the book were focus towards the time frame when GWB was in office. Fine. Since hes gone now, should we just collect all of these books and burn them because now they are out of date (according to a few people so far)?
Betty, Jeff… thank you both for dropping by for a visit.
The problem with the text that you attribute to Lee Iacocca, is that it is a heavily edited excerpt from his 2007 book. Criticism of GWB has been removed and replaced with criticism of Obama, democrats and liberals, and whole paragraphs have been added.
The proper thing would be to acknowledge this and remove the attribution to Lee Iacocca, as this is not his work.
Whatever your politics, I am sure that you would not like people to change what you write, completely turn it around so that it has the opposite meaning, and then add whole paragraphs of stuff you didn’t write, and then attribute it to you.
You write:
[quote]So most of the points in the book were focus towards the time frame when GWB was in office. Fine. Since hes gone now, should we just collect all of these books and burn them because now they are out of date[quote]
You have completely misunderstood. Lee Iacocca did not critisize ‘the federal government’, he critisized GWB and his administration specificly and republicans more broadly.
The text you have above is a distortion of his writings and if you wish to keep it, then atleast be honourable and not attribute it to Lee Iacocca.
You can look snopes.com, they have the original excerpt and your version posted as well at the bottom.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iacocca.asp
Replace George W. Bush with Barrack H. Obama, replace him with Bush Senior. Replace him with Bill Clinton, etc, etc. etc.
I’m trying, in my “limited’ way it seems, to put across the idea that NO MATTER WHO IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE – the critisms STAND for everybody who has been in that office/the overall Federal government for the past 20 years at least!
Iacocca was critical of George W. Bush. Other folks reconized that those same words can apply to Barrack Obama and sent out that email that I have now posted to this blog and all you fine folks have responded to.
Both sides of the asile have complaints of how the past 10 years have gone. Yes, GWB just sat there on his ass reading to those kids while trying to think of how to react to the attack. I remember some newscasters saying that the president did good not to “panic” in front of the kiddos. I get the impression that the democrats wanted to see him running all over that stage in front of the news cameras IN A PANIC! Like a chicken with his head cut off. That way, they have something to use against him in 2004 campaign.
Flying around the country in Air Force One with fighter escort doesn’t look good. The Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t want the Commander-in-Chief back in the target area just in case there was another airplane out there. One that could have been carrying a dirty bomb or actual nuke on it. But we’re engaging in Monday morning quarterbacking here.
Andy, I approved your comment since you had the link to snopes.com in your posting. I will let that be the last word for anybody who wants to go further with this.
Clever editing of the whole excerpt.
While the comments made here about the book may very well be true and that he said it was verified at http://www.snopes.com….www.snopes.com is owned by David and Barbara Mikkelson (they are big Obama supporters) and essentially provide much of their own research from their home in California’s San Fernando Valley. It is public knowledge that their articles reflect a disturbingly left tilt, while frequently distorting or eliminating contradictory information.