Everyone at the table can see the problem sitting there. The leader is just the first one willing to point at it.

Most problems are not secrets. Everyone in the room has already noticed, and everyone is waiting for someone else to carry the cost of saying it out loud. That cost is real, which is why the naming is rarer than the noticing, and why it counts for so much when someone does it.

When you next feel that particular silence, say the plain sentence instead of the diplomatic one. Keep it short and about the problem rather than a person. The relief in the room will tell you how long everybody had been holding it.