A crisis is an unexpected tragic event that devastates a country. Both President Obama and Chile President Sebastian Pinera have experienced a few crisis situations during the first several years of their presidential terms. Obama’s biggest test was the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Pinera has faced both a massive earthquake and more recently an epic mining accident that trapped 33 miners more than 2000 feet below the earth’s surface.
The Obama and federal government response to the oil spill was at best inept and flawed in every way. In contrast Pinera’s response to the massive earthquake was also widely criticized, but his response to the mining disaster was brilliant. Pinera learned from the mistakes he made managing the earthquake and the mistakes Obama committed on the oil spill. In essence, Pinera demonstrated leadership on the level of what Rudy Giuliani displayed following 9-11.
The first and most important concept in handling a crisis is that it should be priority number one and it should consume the entire focus of national leaders. During the oil spill Obama continued to go to campaign fundraisers, he went on vacation, he attended sporting events, he hosted White House parties, and he did not reduce the frequency of his personal golf and basketball games. Obama and the first lady spent a total of one week investigating coastal damage over the course of the 85 days that the oil well dumped crude into the Gulf and onto our shores. And what’s worse Barack and Michele visited the ravaged coastline dressed as if they were on their way to a White House party. On the other hand, Pinera cancelled events to focus and concentrate solely on the trapped miners. When most of the country was convinced that the miners had perished, Pinera was confident and determined to continue the search. Pinera never wavered and when the miners were found he closely managed the rescue mission. Pinera and his wife (Cecilia Marcel) spent more than 20% of their time at the scene of the accident where they were dressed to lend a helping hand.
Even when Obama was focusing on the oil spill, his actions failed to address the most important aspect of the crisis – to contain and stop and the leak. Instead, Obama was opening a Department of Justice investigation into any criminal wrongdoing by BP and trying to enforce a moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. These actions essentially placed more hardships on those most affected by the disaster and it placed more obstacles for BP to worry about instead of them focusing on capping the leak. Obama also failed to accept foreign aid and assistance to contain and clean up the oil spill. And if all of this is not bad enough, Obama also acted slowly to use chemical dispersing agents and to approve the building sand barriers to contain the spill. Obama caved to the pressures of environmental special interest groups who feared the potential side effects that chemicals and sand barriers could have on the environment. On the other hand, Pinera was not side tracked by opening investigations or placing moratoriums on mining, instead he was focused on the main objective of saving 33 lives. Pinera not only accepted, but sought the advice, technology, and assistance from 12 other nations. And finally, Pinera was not influenced by special interest groups and their concerns during the crisis.
Finally, and the most important contrast between Obama and Pinera is the emotion they expressed. Sure, leaders must look strong, but there is nothing wrong with showing a little emotion and compassion. Pinera and the first lady looked like as if they were the father and mother of the 33 trapped miners. You could see the anguish, despair, and helplessness as they worked to free the miners and you could see the sincere joy and happiness when they were rescued. Meanwhile, the Obama’s looked inconvenienced by the oil spill. They looked as if they wanted to be somewhere else – perhaps at one of their White House galas.
In the end, both crisis were resolved invoking new and innovative ideas and technology. However, there is a major difference. The schedule to rescue the miners in Chile exceeded expectations and was done months faster than what was previously expected. On the other hand, the BP oil spill dragged on longer than expected but what’s worse, the Obama administration failed to contain and start clean up efforts in a timely manner to mitigate the damages from the spill.
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