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Is It Too Much To Expect Real Leadership?

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By STEVE OTTO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2008

So here it is Sunday morning in Florida and time has run out.

A presidential primary isn't the beginning or end of the world, but in Florida it's at least a warning, like the signs of a tropical disturbance out in the Atlantic of storms just beyond the horizon.

If Florida is where dreams can come true, we're finding out it is also where nightmares happen. When the rest of the country shudders, Florida shakes.

Remember how not too long ago we talked about a thousand people moving into Florida every day? Now people are leaving. Now an insurance crisis is cutting into fixed incomes. Now services critical to literally millions of Floridians are being slashed at the same time the costs of fundamental living needs are soaring. Health care is not just an issue in Florida, it is that storm cloud hanging over our heads.

There are serious issues that need to be discussed and directions to be followed. That's where the leadership thing is supposed to kick in. That's what a presidential primary should have been about.

It should have been about all of those things. Florida is not Iowa, Michigan or South Carolina. It is all of those states and more.

A Little Bit Of Everything

Florida is every issue critical to this country, from illegal immigration to real estate woes to the high cost of energy. It's environmental issues from water to urban sprawl. It is everything from the high cost of education to the low quality of health care.

So what have we heard from the wannabe presidents?

From the Democrats - nothing. To them, Florida was some kind of political game. It was probably a relief they didn't have to come here and spend fortunes combing the diversity of this state. They didn't have to face a Sun City Center audience or downtown Kiwanis club. They didn't have to visit local public schools or see what life is like in assisted living homes. They didn't have to see rows of "for sale" signs or unoccupied office and retail space. They didn't have to sit in crowded hospital waiting rooms or wonder why the traffic jam they were sitting in never seemed to move.

If for a brief moment you thought the Democratic contenders cared about the problems of Florida, now you know the answer.

For Better Or Worse

At least, for better or worse, the Republicans showed up. They had to. Some, like Rudy Giuliani, could have even been mistaken for one of those snowbirds who come down for the winter to their RV in Cape Coral.

You make your own choices, of course, but Floridians I've talked to on the Republican side feel like they are caught somewhere between "The Wizard of Oz" and "Young Frankenstein."

They wish they could find a candidate who has the brains of a Mitt Romney, the heart of a John McCain and the spirit of a Mike Huckabee. They wish they could find one with maybe a couple of those qualities and a vision for what to do with them.

Instead, they are left with deciding which parts they can do with and which ones they might be able to do without.

Next week, they'll all be gone, off to the winds of what is called Super Tuesday. They'll be back, even the Democrats. There is too much money and too many voters around here to ignore us completely. But if this is where the election process has led us so far, I'm not even sure a great and wonderful wizard somewhere can give us the choice we need.

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