The first thing I found out when I arrived at the President’s Summit for America’s Future, also known as the summit on volunteerism, was that I had come to the wrong place.
I had been invited by Arianna Huffington, the famous “compassionate conservative” columnist and activist, to appear on a panel of media heavyweights chaired by ABC’s Sam Donaldson, all of whom would discuss the “role of the media” in America’s future.
But when I arrived at the hotel where the discussion was to be, I discovered there was no summit there. All of the major summit officials and activities were a couple of miles away at Philadelphia’s Convention Center.
When I got to the center, I could not find anyone who could tell me where to get credentials, a program or guidance.
In fact, I could not find anyone who knew who I or Arianna Huffington was.
After persuading a sympathetic volunteer at the credentials desk to slip me some “dignitary” credentials, I found out that my panel, originally scheduled for 2 p.m., had been moved to 4 p.m., without warning to me or, it turned out, many of my fellow panelists.
“Sorry, Clah-rence,” said the Greece-born Huffington in her Zsa Zsa-like accent, “but it is all a lee-tle beet dees-organized.”
Just a leetle beet.
But, then, that’s the world of volunteerism, isn’t it? Unlike the profit-oriented world of business or the under-the-spotlight world of the public sector, the world of volunteers is less disciplined, very local, very diverse and often quite disorganized. The world of volunteers often must make up with a lot of heart, commitment and elbow grease for what it lacks in money or computerized efficiency.
But when you consider how quickly the summit was put together and the vast numbers of mayors, governors, former presidents, community activists, corporate representatives and other concerned citizens it attracted, it is a wonder it all came off as smoothly as it did.
As several mayors and governors pointed out–and as the dees-organized aspects of the summit illustrated–we should have no illusion that volunteers can fill the enormous gap left by welfare reform and budget cuts in programs for the poor. But it also is true that, even if we had the will and the wallet to fund a massive war on poverty like President Lyndon B. Johnson waged in the 1960s, there still would be plenty of work for volunteers.
That made retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, the summit’s general chairman, the most intriguing volunteer of all. For years, presidents have been calling for more volunteers. Powell’s commanding presence has put a new, energizing face on the crusade. As a black man who grew up in the South Bronx and worked his way to success, he makes the perfect Role Model-in-Chief, a walking example of how Americans can work together and solve problems across lines of race and class.
He famously passed on a chance to try to become America’s first black president last year. But, standing presidentially with President Clinton and former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush in front of cheering crowds, he appeared to have become America’s surrogate black president. In some ways, that’s almost as good.
In the days leading up to the summit, he was featured on almost all of the major talk shows and magazine covers, most dramatically on the April 28 Newsweek cover, where he was portrayed pointing like Uncle Sam over the headline, “I WANT YOU.”
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One could not help but imagine what a great presidential campaign poster that would make, especially when a CNN poll before the summit was showing his national approval ratings to be a whopping 77 percent.
But I am one of those who believes Powell meant it when he said the presidency was a calling he does not hear. His track record reveals him to be a prudent leader, always willing to be on point, not lagging behind or, significantly, surging too far ahead of the pack.
Why should he put up with all the abuse a grueling campaign would take when he can retire peacefully, collect enormous speaking fees and put his political capital to work for worthy causes?
Of course, the less he appears to want the office, the more people seem to want him to run for it. If he does, his approval ratings undoubtedly will go down, since voters are almost automatically skeptical of anyone who shows the hunger for the office that a campaign demands.
So, I don’t blame Powell if he would prefers the voluntary role of surrogate president to that of president. As far as popularity is concerned, it doesn’t get any better than this.