It’s not spelled out in the job description, but when you are a leader–whether it’s of a city or a country–your role also includes public surrogate. Empathizer-in-chief, if you will. It can include channeling the public’s pride, for example, in a Stanley Cup champion or gold-medal Olympians. It also means, as we know too well, being the mourner-in-chief.
Pam Iorio was a rock in taking one for Team Tampa in the aftermath of the murder of two TPD officers last year. She walked the fine line between outrage and grief–paying tribute to the fallen and easing the tribulations of the families.
President Ronald Reagan, at his avuncular best, consoled the nation from the Oval Office after the “Challenger” tragedy in 1986. It was a non-ideological, “Gipper” moment for the ages when we most needed one.
And just last week President Barack Obama gave a moving address to the country from the University of Arizona in memory of those gunned down in Tucson. It was personalized, and it was poignant. And it addressed–by its very civility–the alarming spiral of vitriol that is so much of contemporary public discourse. Words used to console were also utilized to heal–not wound. He implored that our partisan debates be “worthy of those we lost.”
That last entreaty, of course, is now up to us.