Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

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108 politics and governance
But the dichotomy of leaders versus mobilized publics is a false
one; both are necessary, either alone is not enough. We will need
both because the relation between them is reciprocal. No wouldbe
leader anywhere can get too far out in front of the public. “An
activated citizenry,” in Robert Kuttner’s words, “is not just a passive
army of political supporters who will cheer and vote on cue”
(2008, p. 109). Movements, however, can be formless and ineffective
without the focusing effect of visionary leadership. It would
be diffi cult to imagine the movement to liberate India without
Gandhi, or Gandhi without the force of the people behind him.
We do not yet know whether the Internet will amplify and accelerate
progressive social movements more than those pushing in
the other direction. Neither do we know whether advancing
communications technology will be immune to various corruptions
characteristic of other forms of communication.
We do know, however, that addressing climate destabilization
will require presidential leadership of a high order and a massive
amount of what Paul Hawken calls “blessed unrest,” and
lots of other things as well. But presidential leadership on any
issue of human survival has been rare. One exception was John
F. Kennedy’s speech at American University in June of 1963, which
led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Another was Ronald Reagan’s
attempt with Mikhail Gorbachev at the Reykjavík Summit in
October 1986 to abolish nuclear weapons. By some accounts, they
came close. But on issues of sustainability in general and climate
change in particular, no president until Obama has yet offered
vision and leadership, or used the White House as a “bully pulpit”
in the manner of Theodore Roosevelt. Instead, presidents have
mostly ignored, evaded, and, most recently, actively denied the
reality of the issue. If we are to avoid the worst that could happen,
however, the United States must rejoin the world community in
the effort to stabilize and reduce greenhouse gases, and that will
require, in turn, active, creative, and transformational leadership by
this president and all thereafter.