President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk which famously read, “The Buck Stops Here.”
He once explained it, “The President–whoever he is–has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. That’s his job.”
So, as American travelers are standing in excruciatingly long TSA lines at the airport this summer, an explanation is owed by President Obama.
The buck stops with him.
When I recently flew out of the Las Vegas airport the waiting period, from the back of the line to the TSA screeners, was an hour and forty-five minutes. A group of us, stuck in line, started talking about whether there was a manager actually at the airport to field consumer complaints, or whether the whole debacle was being run out of Washington.
“No private business would survive this!” was the common comment from everyone. And that’s a fact.
Some airports have now hired clowns to entertain people waiting in line. Talk about a circus!
The staffing shortages at the TSA are completely unacceptable. The terrorism problem isn’t something that just crept up on us overnight. It’s been 15 years since 9/11 and our security procedures have not improved. The TSA’s own internal tests have proven the current screening process is a flop.
In response to all this the Obama administration has warned “the problem will grow worse this summer” while Congress debates more funding.
Seriously?
That’s it?
Americans deserve better. They deserve a competent system of security that takes no more than an hour, and doesn’t threaten to put the airline industry out of business.
And consumers deserve to have a TSA manager on duty at every airport in which to register complaints and concerns.
This is a crisis. There is no other word for it.
Where are you President Obama? Are you aware of the problem even as you fly on Air Force One? Truman was right, the buck stops with you.
