Detailed Abstractions

It’s a truism of real leaders since the dawn of time; they find themselves, not from true success and stable times, but rather from adversity and chaos. When faced with those seemingly insurmountable odds, it’s the strongest who remain calm, read the landscape, and discover new answers from which they can seek out continued success.

Though under great stress, we humans tend towards the flight or flight response. True leaders however, can use these difficulties against themselves to provide both motivation and a sense of urgency to gain the ingenuity required for such challenges.

This is understood well in society. Like business leaders who understand innovation can be helped significantly by design constraints (here):

Great designers understand this. Charles Eames says design is all about innovating around constraints. And it’s the constraints – the scarcity – that fires the designer’s creativity. Smart business people “get it” too. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos embraces self-imposed scarcity saying, “One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”

They understand that principle of economic scarcity. As do military leaders. Sun Tzu notes in the Art of War:

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

For President Obama, the Tea Party & the Republicans taking back control of the House of Representatives could give him the opportunity to display true deft.

Assuming it does happen as predicted (here via the Philly Inquirer) however, the President is accorded a tough task ahead.

He would now have the body responsible for appropriations bills (all spending bills much start in the House & they are very important. For instance, they can kill health care by simply not funding it….) mainly in place due to running against him. Secondarily, while they don’t wish to be seen as obstructers, their willingness to work with Obama will be small even without their election strategy. Because any bill passed, regardless of how/why, if it turns out to be a good or well liked idea, Obama will naturally take credit to further his chances for re-election in 2012.

& the Democrats know that neither the President nor health care is a selling point for this election, even if they are communicating differently. The facts are that se hasn’t really made many direct candidate speeches, just backyard BBQs in key districts in key states. They are essentially, and correctly, playing against their weakness – his popularity.

Not a bad strategy in the short term, but I think people have heard him speak enough and any celebrity (yes, while the President is certainly more important and more powerful than any normal celebrity, s/he is still a celebrity) runs the risk of over saturation.

Irregardless, with Obama, the question is can he live inside those constraints?

What we know is given a new landscape, the answer for tomorrow’s question will not be the same answer as today’s. I think if he can push himself with a sense of urgency, surveys the landscape to see what he has and what he can accomplish with what he has. Then uses both the sense of urgency and strategic thinking by changing his game plan when the field of battle changes…. well, then we’ll see a real leader who may live up to his Nobel Peace Prize (here).

Or said more succinctly, it’s a crappy state of affairs you might find yourself in Mr. President, but challenges is how leaders prove themselves.

Honestly, I don’t think he’ll be able to do it. I think he’s too insecure (here) about himself and his handlers seem to know little more than an approval ratings drop equals time for Obama to give more speeches. & I don’t honestly think that’s likely to change…. but predictions are better left to Ms. Cleo.

What is likely however is the people around him understand exactly this point.  They do know it. The question is whether their emotions towards their beliefs (see: Confirmation Bias here & here) combined with the difficulty of telling a President who gives great speeches to shut up. Not to mention game theory predicts leaders to surround themselves with “yes men”.

All of that makes significant and required change seem unlikely, but I’d never count out someone who made it to the Presidency, nor, the team that helped him get there.

So Mr. President, here’s your chance.

Coward #1 cleric Anwar al-Awlaki - thinks people should die, so long as they’re easy targets and he gets others to do it (via Aol news here):

(July 12) — Molly Norris, the American cartoonist who started “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” has been placed on the hit list of radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki….

Coward(s) #2, NAACP is leveling charges of racism as a tool against those they simply disagree with (via CNN here):

The NAACP has passed a resolution that condemns what it feels is rampant racism in the Tea Party movement….

Coward(s) #3, France – scared of freedom (via BBC here):

France’s lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public….

For weeks now I’ve been hearing the talking points from the left calling those expressing dissent of the current health care legislation anti-American, paid GOP operatives, insurance industry paid operatives… and really anything other than dissenter.

First, I haven’t really commented on this because it’s stupid.  This party just a few short years ago told the American people that dissent was the highest form of American civil duty and calling people “un-American” for disagreeing with you was far, far below the belt.

Of course there was actually no concerted campaign to call dissenters un-American at that time, just a straw man they burnt fairly easily, but that’s really a different story.

For now – it should be obvious that the WH & Congressional Democrat leaders are working on a strategy to marginalize the opposition and doing so pretty effectively with the use of the media and the bully pulpit the President naturally has at his disposal.

What’s more than a little amusing is at the same time the Obama administration and leading Democrat figures are calling all dissenters paid operatives, they are currently seeking paid operatives right now through Craig’s list and what’s amusing is that if the insurance industry or GOP were using the same vehicle, searching for Obama would bring up their results as well.  For the Sacramento area:

Aug 11 – *Help CURE the Health Care Crisis & MAKE MONEY* $9-$13/hr, FT* - (East Sacramento) img <<nonprofit

Aug 7 – Make social change – Help Pass Obama’s Health Care Reform!!! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Aug 4 – Help pass Obama’s Health Care Reform!!! Earn $9-14 an hour!!! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Aug 3 – ***Help Pass Obama’s Health Care Plan and Earn $325-$500/Week - (Sacramento, CA) img <<nonprofit

Jul 31 – Help Pass Obama’s Health Care Reform! Earn $325-550 per week! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Jul 29 – Work to Pass Obama’s Plans this Summer! Earn $9-14/hr! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Jul 28 – Build Support for Obama’s Plans!!! Earn $325-550 a Week! - (Sacramento) img <<nonprofit

Jul 27 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLANS AND EARN $325-550 A WEEK!!! - (Berkeley) img <<nonprofit

Jul 27 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLANS AND EARN $325-550 A WEEK!!! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Jul 23 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLAN TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING! EARN $9-14/HOUR!!! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Jul 21 – BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR OBAMA’S PLAN & EARN $9-14 AN HOUR!!! - (Sacramento) img <<nonprofit

Jul 15 – Make $350-550 per Week Working for OBAMA’s PROGRESSIVE AGENDA!!! - (Sacramento) img <<nonprofit

Jul 14 – SUMMER CAMPAIGN STAFF POSITIONS AVAILABLE!!! EARN $350-550 A WEEK! - (Sacramento) img <<et cetera

Of course the Republicans are now much more pro-dissent then they were 4 years ago, but in this particular case, the hypocrisy is easier to see on the Democrat’s side.

What a difference a few short years makes…