The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
As President Joe Biden’s Air Force One landed Wednesday in Japan for a carefully planned G-7 summit, he had a world of problems on his mind:
Tensions with China. Russia’s war on Ukraine. The global economy’s 21st century problems. And the political and real world economic hell he had to rush home to: Washington’s run-amok juvenile sandbox politics that could force his world-leading economy to shamefully default itself, any day now. With the whole world watching.
Watching Biden in Japan, I recalled a bizarre, made-for-TV muck-up I witnessed the first time any U.S. president visited Japan. And I remembered the lesson it taught (that our leaders keep forgetting): Careful planning never guarantees that things will go according to plan.
It happened in November 1974. President Gerald Ford flew to Japan with a seemingly flawless plan— just spread a peace-through-friendship message and forge a trade partnership with Asia’s emerging economic power.
What could go wrong?
Ford’s centerpiece would be a televised speech to the people of Japan. The White House press corps was herded into the Japan Press Club to cover Ford’s speech — with one exception: Newsday’s Washington bureau chief. I wanted to watch alongside ordinary Japanese people. So I went to the tall, white Sony headquarters building in downtown Tokyo. Surely Sony would have TV screens in its lobby.
Would people on their lunch break stop to watch America’s first visiting president speak? Or just walk by, uncaring?
Bingo. Sony’s lobby had a wall of TV screens. People were hurrying to lunch — but 28 stopped, watched, listened intently to the nine color TV sets on the bottom row that were tuned to Channel 1, where America’s president began speaking to Japan’s people:
“Together we removed the legacies of World War II. … Americans and Japanese know the value of peace. … We do not want to send our sons into battle again. …”
Suddenly, people’s attention was diverted to nine other TV screens on the top row that were tuned to Channel 12. As Ford’s words of peace echoed from the bottom row, they saw a vivid film of Japanese warplanes relentlessly bombing a harbor filled with warships. And they heard history’s infamous code words:
“Tora! Tora! Tora!”
It meant “tiger” but also “lightning attack.” And as Ford talked of “friendship” on the bottom row of TVs, the top screens glowed with bright orange balls of flame. Direct hits on Pearl Harbor. (Japanese lettering said this was a special preview of the iconic 1970 joint U.S.-Japan film “Tora! Tora! Tora!” the tale of Pearl Harbor, told from both sides, now coming to theaters in Japan.) Meanwhile, former U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Ford was speaking on the bottom row TVs:
“I believe that we are not just temporary allies; we are permanent friends. We share the same goals — peace, development, stability, and prosperity.”
The 28 people in the lobby, who had hopefully called this the start of a grand new era, were stunned, quietly embarrassed by the brain-boggling juxtaposition.
Fast-forward: When Biden landed in Japan, White House correspondents bombarded the figurehead of the global economy with shouted questions that had nothing to do with the G-7 summit. They were asking about the politically irresponsible econo-hell he had at home. House Republicans were still refusing to raise the debt limit — as they routinely did for Republican presidents — unless Democrats agreed to drastic cuts and work requirements for aid to needy Americans. No freeloading on luxuries such as food, housing and even Medicaid.
Never mind that the debt limit isn’t about future spending. It’s about America keeping its promise and paying its old debts.
Biden had firmly controlled just one thing in all this. He controlled the timing of the economic orange ball of flames that is now enveloping him at the global economic summit — showcasing his lack of control at the worst moment. With the whole world watching.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
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