My July/August 2008 AARP Bulletin just arrived.  In a timely Opinion Section/book excerpt, Andrew Yarrow writes about the explosion of public debt during the Bush years.  Just above Yarrow's piece is Lee Iacocca's cry for leadership in Washington.

In his latest book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone, the former president of Ford and Chrysler exercises the ancient synapses from the value-laden constituencies of his highly fasciculated grey matter.

A famous US patriot once said "These are the times that try men's souls." At the time, he spoke of the events and circumstances surrounding the birth of a nation destined to be defined by the rights and freedoms of the people; a nation led by government of the People, by the People and for the People, where leaders could inspire the People to stand united in spite of differing opinions or particular religious influence.

The advent of the twenty-first century has marked the most severe departure from our founding principles than ever before. We stand on the brink of self-immolation, leaderless and adrift, while selfish, arrogant hypocrites steer our ship of state toward the shoals.

Should we fail now to grow resolute and united in our determination to right this ship, we fail not only ourselves but our children, and their children's children.

It is time to look to those children for inspiration and a reminder of what we, as adults, are tasked with as parents and guardians: to create and foster an environment where children can grow to adulthood, secure in the knowledge that we have passed along the best models for ethical leadership and responsible stewardship of this nation that we know how.

Members of Congress should read Lee Iacocca's new book, then "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" (preferably lead)

In this morning's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, there is an editorial written by Lee Iacocca that absolutely lacerates Bush. He does this by detailing W's performance against what he calls the "Nine C's of Leadership"--Competence, Common Sense, etc. Here is one excerpt:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place.

George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper...As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

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Lee Iococca in his interview with Charlie Rose, speaks about chrysler, what hurt chrysler, what chrysler should do to become profitable and how chrysler's relationship with Daimler did not work. He also talks about how his hybrid cars project was killed. On politics he talks  about how he supported Bush and Fell out of it. How how deficit can hurt the economy, His opinion on current presidential front runners.

He has a lot on his recent book out. Where Have all the leaders Gone ?

For the link to the full passage where the Iacocca diatribe against Bush is available on the web, please visit my blog.

I just read this rant, e-mailed to me by a friend.  This guy just goes OFF on Bushco, and the media, and spineless Democrats and everything else.  He sounds EXACTLY like one of us!   Who might this be?

82-year-old Lee Iacocca, that's who.

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

The following excerpt is from Lee Iacocca's new book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Had Enough? Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? ...We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

The entire excerpt of Lee Iacocca should be read by all. Thanks to John Alto for posting this short version but the entire thing should be read.
"Lee Iacocca on the White House: Throw the bums out!"

Lee has put into words all that I have posted in my previous diaries here on DailyKOS.
Here are Lee's words and we all share these ideals! Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Thousands of people are dead. Millions of emails are missing. The so-called President is finally being called on gathering the power of a dictator into his bony, privileged fists.

And America is still limping along, watching its soaps and sitcoms, drinking its beer, and scratching its collective jock while the country burns.

Sometimes when you're suffering from outrage burnout, it's nice to know that there are 82-year-old former CEOs who can pick up the ball and run with it.  From Lee Iacocca's new book, Where Have all the Leaders Gone?:

You remember Lee Iaccoca, of Chrysler bailout fame?

He’s stumping for Devos now, and it ain’t pretty.

John Truscott said “the campaign decided to feature him because 'everybody here knows him as the greatest turnaround expert in Michigan'.”

At first, I couldn’t figure this out. Iacocca supported Kerry in 2004. And he’s a self made man. Why would he be supporting a whiny little weasel like DeVos?

And then it hit me … Iacocca and DeVos have a few things in common:

I never dreamed that some people would actually read this article and come away with anything bad to say of Mr. Iacocca. Perhaps the few who did, haven't really read the article or didn't understand the snippets that I posted. It's a shame that some people can't value another person's opinion simply because the other person may happen to be wealthy. If the article were read, it would have been obvious that Mr. Iacocca has a vastly kind and generous heart and he has dedicated the last 20 years to eradicating the worst form of diabetes... autoimmune Type 1 diabetes which took his wife's life and left him searching for a cure. It is my hope that someday, people will stop discriminating on the amount of money a person may have and instead, concentrate on the deeds and words. If that level of critique were given to Lee Iacocca, I've no doubt that you would see what I see...a rare human being. An old fashioned hero in a modern day world.

"I look around me and I see Wall Street executives being dragged away in handcuffs.  I see a national deficit so high that I can't count the zeroes. I see the government paying farmers not to plant their land while the homeless go hungry on the streets. Something's rotten out there - and it's not in Denmark."


"The only way to get this country back on track is to return to good old-fashioned horse sense. We've got to start with the basics:  how we raise our kids, how we care for our sick and homeless, what it is each of us truly believes. And we've got to remember what America stands for, so that we can take our tarnished values and make them shine again."

- Lee Iacocca from his 1984 book, Talking Straight