First Blog

Has President  Trump not only bypassed the establishment of his party, but inspired others of extreme wealth to grab at the ultimate brass ring?    There is an undertow in this country that politicians are most expert at achieving nothing of greatness.    There may be a growing belief that the Presidency should be held by someone who understands how to administrate an ultra massive organization.    So far, we have a few possibles for 2020. Donald Trump – Republican Howard Schultz - Democrat Tom Steyer – Progressive Jaime Diamond – Unknown Michael Bloomberg - Independent The presidential days of the old-style college professor, simple socialist, senator, or even governor may be gone.  In marches a new group, already robed in royal purple, ready and perhaps able to command the helm of a ship essentially too big for anyone of modest means.

It’s in the DNA of both political parties.  When the Republicans lost the Presidency in 2008 and 2012, they blamed the candidates.  These two, McCain and Romney, were blamed on all fronts for the debacles.  Reps learned their lesson, through Trump, who was off the charts of the same-old-styles.  He was different; he was new breath of hope for many. The same brew-of-blame has been fermenting on the Democratic side, now for more than half a decade.  Lately, when Hillary lost, the blame was directed toward President Trump, not Democrats.  This persisted through months of various charges, particularly the Russian collusion investigations with no actual evidence.  Now after four straight loses to Republicans in special elections, the Democrats, true to their predilections, have turned blame upon their own Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi.  Many blame her for these loses. Her tenure is at risk.  Poor Nancy.  She may be a bit ruthless, but lately was trying to do what was expected:

What is tweeting?  A method to exhale an incomplete thought in a moment of haste.  Pro’s: Get your idea out there quickly.  Can make an important point transcendent of media filters. Con’s: Once written it is permanent, sometimes cryptic, open to misinterpretation, and incomplete. Ancient tweeting forms: interviews given to media, unprepared press conferences, off-hand comments, op-eds, letters.  Few have permanence in favor of the tweeter. It is easy to see a future book: The rise and fall of the twitter world .  Certainly a hundred PhD theses, dozens of books. History may record that tweeting is an existential threat to the presidency.   Will the current President learn this in time?  Doubtful. There is an old saying that the same tools used to gain power are used to sustain power. This applies in politics, not just business – to all players, independent of persuasion.  A universal law, it is reminiscent of the ancient aphorism about the proverbial “leopard tha

John Kerry is our new Secretary of State.    This is an Administration appointment at the very highest level.   This puts Kerry as fourth in  line for ascension to the presidency after Joe Biden, Patrick Leahy, and John Boehner. This is a heady job. Wow. Yet Kerry believes he should be the actual president.  (Once you got the bug, it never goes away.  So I'm told.)  Really, he campaigned for the job.  He almost won.  He has his credentials fully in order.  He believes he's the guy that should be making all the big decisions.  So, how will he perform as a distant administration advocate? We'll  see.  My goodness, he just did an interview with FOX news.  What the...?  My (cynical) guess is that if he sees the future presidency is in there somewhere, anywhere, he will go along and play along.  If not, he will follow his own recognizance.  He may do a great job in his new post.  Who knows?  Let hope for him, i.e for us. 

Whether you support either Governor Romney or President Obama, whether you have strong political views favoring one or the other, whether you don't really care who wins, there is one aspect of this political race that is missing all news coverage.  It is Age . Gov. Romney is 65 years old, putting him at the traditional retirement age for most people.  This age of retirement is when folks, having worked a lifetime, can take moments to reflect on life, enjoy their family, read a few books, and otherwise take it easy.  Romney, at this same age, is competing for the most stressful job on earth.  It is one of those 24/7 jobs where just one misstep can cost billions in dollars, millions in jobs, and thousands in lives. This job allows its holder to set long term trajectories for a powerful nation, arguably the most powerful nation on earth. Yet, his age has not been a factor at all.  The beautiful thing here is that the age of 65 seems not to be important as a foundatio