According to Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, his boss Missouri’s Democrat Governor Jay Nixon was apparently “hiding” when the rioting started in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, following the release of the Grand Jury decision in the Michael Brown case.
As Ferguson burned amid gunfire and looting, troops from the Missouri National Guard were assembled not far away, awaiting orders from the governor to deploy them into Ferguson to protect residents and their property. Not until the wee hours of the morning did troops finally begin to take to the streets of Ferguson. Hours after much of the damage had already been done by looters and arsonists.
But why with the police being overwhelmed and with the obvious massive civil unrest, which was being broadcast on national television and was occurring just a short distance away from National Guard troops who might have been able to help protect property and restore order, did Governor Nixon sit on his thumbs and fail to give the order for the Guard to help assert control over the situation? An order that was eventually given, but far too late to be effective.
Could it be that Governor Nixon was experiencing the ‘Benghazi Effect’? Was Nixon awaiting orders from the White House before sending his troops into the fray? Was the Obama Administration invested in civil unrest as a means of furthering their efforts to “fundamentally transform” the United States? Or was Nixon just frozen into inaction by indecision and incompetence?
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From the very beginning of this tragedy for the Brown family AND Officer Wilson, Missouri’s governor has seemed to be unsure how to respond. He certainly has failed to display any leadership or moral clarity. During his initial public comments shortly after the incident, in an obvious play to activists in the black community, he practically indicted the officer without an investigation or evidence being collected, up until the most recent news conference where he fumbled and stumbled over his words trying to answer a simple question about “where the buck stopped”.
Nixon has cow-towed to the rioters in an act of appeasement hardly seen from a politician since Neville Chamberlain. Instead of standing firm and on the side of law and order and maintaining control of the Streets of Ferguson, Governor Nixon displayed cowardice. Or was it just plain stupidity? Or was it something more than that, was it indifference to the calls for help from the people of Ferguson?
His lack of leadership has cost the business owners and residents of the City of Ferguson dearly. Instead of stepping forward and defending the process AND the evidence that exonerated Officer Wilson of wrong-doing, Nixon remained silent. He failed to give the order to introduce National Guards troops to help the police until far too late, allowing insurgents to destroy and loot millions.
Were Nixon serving in the very Missouri National Guard he commands he would be considered absent without leave. AWOL from his duty and obligation to serve ALL the people of the State of Missouri, not just a potential voting bloc aligned with the Democrat Party.
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