On leadership, Joe Biden is a role model 

Hours after his inauguration, President Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders, memoranda and proclamations setting in motion a flurry of activity during his first 100 days in office, ending April 30.

President Biden’s favourite American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, took the reins in 1933 during the Great Depression. 

FDR’s first 100 days are something for the history books: tackling unemployment, steering the country back to economic recovery and resetting the agricultural systems. It would appear that Biden is following in the footsteps of his idol, perhaps more so because he feels a certain solidarity, coming in during a deadly pandemic.

In the first week in office, President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement, the World Health Organisation and withdrew the Muslim ban. He also made significant moves to ensure the realisation of his two main objectives; to deal with Covid-19 and provide relief to millions of US families suffering from the loss of over 10 million jobs.

He also promised to ensure that at least 100 million Americans will be vaccinated by the end of his 100 days in office.

Last week I talked about the lessons we can learn from the US when I went all mushy on how “love always wins” and now, watching Biden swing into action has caused me to think some more about leadership.

Empathetic leader

So, consider this an encore from last week’s piece.

When you look at what Biden has so far done for the American people and the effort his administration has made to deal with Covid-19 and to put money in the pockets of millions of Americans, one cannot help but reflect about what good leadership is all about.

This is especially so, when you live in a country occupied with everything except the things that really matter.

While on the other side of the world their leadership is spending sleepless nights and countless of hours in meetings hosted on Google Meets deliberating on policies and Bills to pushed to Congress for the good of the people, we on this side of the world are distracted by non-issues like who is running for president next year, who owes “a debt” to whom and the curious dichotomy of hustlers versus dynasties.

One cannot help but envy Americans. God knows they have their own demons to deal with —systemic racism top on the pile —but they sure made a good decision, when it came to their leadership. And they are already reaping some early benefits.

Finally, they have an empathetic leader who understands the pain of unemployment, the grief of losing a loved one and a man keen on uniting them.

It is said that we get the leaders we deserve. Painful as it may be, we deserve this state we are in, we elected these people, after all. But if the US is to teach us anything, let it be the power of a single vote. Maybe this is a good time to reflect deeply on the leadership we want.

Dr Chege is the director of the Innovation Centre at the Aga Khan University; [email protected]