tell me: do we really value accountability?

Hang around me for only a small while and you’ll quickly know there’s about 37 things I love passionately. For brevity sakes, I’ll mention a mere 7 today:

(1) Jesus, (2) football season, (3) my gifted sons, (4) respectful dialogue, (5) “Friends,” (6) authenticity, and (7) accountability.

Not in any certain order, of course. 🙂

I’ll admit… it wasn’t until later in life that I realized the joy, benefit, and sagacity of accountability. When you’re younger — and let me throw only myself under the proverbial bus — I didn’t really see the need… Sure, I made my share of mistakes — no doubt I still do — but I’ve got time to grow in that area. And while I may be wrong sometimes — having some inaccurate, maybe even unhealthy perspectives or behavior I accept or engage in, it’s only sometimes, not often and certainly not all the time…

Accountability didn’t seem like a necessary thing. Note: I’ve since changed my mind. I’m not certain, however, that the change in my opinion is a popular one.

To be clear, accountability isn’t just taking responsibility. It is also the state of being answerable. When something doesn’t mesh with what we know to be good and right and true, it’s a willingness to be present, still accepting and answering the tough questions; it’s a commitment to communicating honestly even about what’s hard. To avoid the question, therefore, is to refuse accountability. It is to refuse what is wise.

It’s no secret, friends, that the Intramuralist is not a card-carrying member of either of the two most recent Presidents’ fan clubs. I sincerely mean no disrespect to either; I simply believe that neither character nor competency should be in question in the highest office in the land, and regardless of partisan leanings, I am unwilling to minimize or ignore that which I believe to be important.

Not wanting to minimize or ignore, my current concern focuses on our acceptance of a lack of accountability. In other words, why won’t Pres. Biden take questions?

I’m not talking about the questions his team plans ahead, when the reporters and inquiries are scripted. I’m also not attempting to fuel any existing conspiracy theory. I’m simply asking the obvious: why is Joe avoiding the press? Is there a reason he is avoiding the accountability the so-called Fourth Estate provides?

To continue to be clear, I also don’t believe it to be good and wise and true to answer dishonestly. That’s not authentic — my 6th passionate love above. It is also equally inauthentic to punt to the press secretary who — with all due respect to Intramuralist faves, Dana Perino and George Stephanopolous — seems to have evolved to sharing less about an administration’s reaction and more about making an administration look better than they really are.

When Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Pres. Biden in the Oval Office last week,  only Johnson took questions. Conservative and liberal outlets are acknowledging the reluctance. 

On the incident, from the editorial board of the Boston Herald: “Johnson took care of his nation’s media as he should. But when U.S. reporters tried to question their own leader, Biden’s communications team, in this instance better understood as a non-communications team, basically drowned out their own boss and hustled reporters out of the room. At that point, the Biden administration’s lack of transparency and the president’s unwillingness to hold a news conference became too much even for sympathetic reporters. All over New York and Washington, the righteous indignation of a trained journalist trying to do a job crucial to American democracy kicked into gear. The memory of Biden not taking questions after major addresses on Aug. 16, Aug. 18, Aug. 31, and Sept. 9 started to smart, and many reporters took to Twitter to say, in essence, why the heck is this administration so afraid of questions? We’re amplifying those observations here: Why indeed?”

On the bigger issue, from Yahoo!: “Biden, 78, often declines to interact with the press and has suggested that he is not in control of when and from whom he can take questions.”

Where’s the accountability? 

Accountability and authenticity are always good, friends. Also true, no less, is that sometimes it takes a long time to realize that… and to not allow any of our leanings to minimize or ignore.

Respectfully…

AR