Although I don't necessarily agree with every action listed below, I do believe that decisive action and the willingness to take risks is the only way leadership ever succeeds:
The South talked about secession and fired on Ft Sumter -- Lincoln called up an army and invaded his own country. His goal was to force states to recognize the supremacy of the federal government.
Woodrow Wilson won re-election promising to keep us out of WWI. The Luisitania was sunk -- we were in Europe darn quick: army, marines, airplanes, navy. The Germans surrendered within the year.
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. All talk of American Isolationism stopped immediately. We fought our way across the Pacific -- as well as Africa, Italy, France and Germany. In the end, we dropped two atomic bombs. Don't mess with Uncle Sam.
President Kennedy said we would go to the moon. In less than 10 years, we were standing on it.
Now, since Apollo ended, how has our Space Program been doing?
When was the last time we actually won a war?
Do we really have a clearly defined approach to handling Ebola, or are we treating it as a political problem to be managed within the confines of today's news cycle?
Something changed in America. We used to take the bull by the horns and DEAL with the situation. Today, the government is all about their pensions. They take no interest in anything else.
We use to elect people that had accomplished something, even for local office. Most politicians had military experience, work and or business experience and that was considered a requirement by the voters. Now many politicians have never been anything but politicians.
It seems to me in the past we chose to be lead by people who wanted the best for this country and the citizens. Not sure how we choose people now, but what we end up with is people who do not care about anything but themselves. Most are only willing to stand up and actually do something if the polls of their voters require them to act. By the time the polls are done, it is too little too late.