Those reactions may seem different. But, below the surface, they are knee-jerk emotional reactions masquerading as analysis.
According to those explanations, someone else is always to blame. As the end of the current administration rapidly approaches, it is common to hear even high-level officials heap all blame for failures solely on the president whose confidence and largess they shared.
Whoever is explaining doesn’t have to change. We don’t even have to think differently. We expect to carry on exactly as we always have yet somehow produce better results. That is the definition of magical thinking.
With the 2017 elections fast-approaching, our never-ending search for a Liberian “messiah” is likely to intensify. Liberians went from chanting “everybody knows Tolbert is a man” while the “man” was president to jubilating after his assassination. So too, Samuel K. Doe fell from “redeemer” to “dokko.” And, where are all the Charles “Gahnkeh” Taylor supporters who once chanted “he kill mah ma, he kill mah pa, I will vote for him”?
This time around, we need more than a new “driver.” And we certainly don’t need a new “taxi,” as proposed by those who have made careers out of tinkering with the Constitution. What we need are new passengers. At least passengers who are prepared to act differently because, at last, we are willing to do the hard work required to think differently.