How did George W. Bush, the 43rd. President of the U. S. manage to do it? He attended Yale University. He flew with the Air National Guard, but like Cheney, he avoided the Viet Nam War. Yet, he was supported by most of the U.S. when a pre-emptive war was declared on Iraq. While he was not necessarily a successful businessman, George Bush also served as the Governor of Texas before he became President of the U.S.A. Neither of these last two achievements was a mean feat. However, while George Bush managed as an average governor of Texas, he is now failing miserably as President of the United States of America.

Finally the citizens who rallied behind George Bush with determination and fervor, along with those who marched and rallied against him are concluding that Bush just does not have it. Despite all those wonderful promises George W. Bush has been a failure as President of the U.S.A. Observers are already declaring him the worse president of the U.S. ever: A war the U. S could have lived without; energy prices out of control; the largest deficit ever; the entire U.S. business world in disarray; and China virtually taking the baton of business leadership from a seemingly tired and broken U.S. A.

What was Bush’s magic? How did he make it to the presidency as a knight in shining armor? It was not the economy. It was his family name and his family connections. In the U.S.A., as in the Virgin Islands, certain family names have been awed and revered over time.

Quite often in this life, there are such groups of persons perceived in societies as superior beings, labeled as elites and aristocrats because of their family connections, and because of their ability to manipulate and awe the mass of the population. However, as George W. Bush is now demonstrating to the entire world, despite the shows and the rituals, like everyone of us, such persons are puny men – mere fallible mortals, all subject to the march of time. Further, unlike what they usually claim, they are neither blue blooded nor born to lead. History is replete with the evidence. Visions of grandeur held by such persons can often be haunting. But at times they are little more than untenable dreams. And for such dreamers, just as is the reality of nothingness at the end of the rainbow, there is no inevitable success to their dreams. Rather, like Sancho Panza in de Cervantes Saavedra’s novel Don Quixote, such persons see wind mills but call them castles. However, in time, both their doting friends and the non believers become victims of the folly.

Family names and family connections are never safe harbors for anchoring one’s hope for the future when searching for leadership in human societies. Too often the ideals some of the men in whom others put their trust struggle with delusions, not reality. Consequently, in times of real testing such persons become spineless, irrational, and crumble under the pressures of life. Behind those family names and the family connections there are times when one sees men of little mettle. They hold visions of leadership which are inept, warped, and blurred. Such persons can be too limited to see and understand the challenges of the future. At the same time they can be too steeped in their ignorance to acknowledge and understand their true limitations.

In time, the same thing that the advertisement promises about the internet can happen to the ineptness and fallacies that surround family names. The time comes when they cannot be hidden anymore. The weaknesses burst forth in the open and everyone sees them for what they really are. Time brings those symbolic rituals of aristocracy to light and to crashing endings. Time causes the obeyance of the true believers to cease. Time absolves the faith of the skeptics. Also, like a rare but popular movie, time brings the folly of the sacredness, the conspiracy to exploit the ignorance of the masses, and the necessity for critical thinking to a glorious light.

Are there lessons here for us in the Caribbean? Sure, we too are part of this world. It is still as Thomas Hobbes noted back in the 1600s. Human beings are still selfish and brutish. Dominating and exploiting others for wealth and power is still desirable. So, we in the Caribbean too, have had our experiences with family names and family connections. However, particularly in these times be skeptical. Never be awed by promises, rituals, or symbols of power. Rather, pray for time. Examine the mettle of the men and women who lead. True leaders understand that other human beings have minds of their own. They respect their right to be different and accept their capacity to succeed just like themselves. No reputable leader stands alone!